Back to You(62)

“Aaand, now we’re in the movie Grease,” Lauren said as she sat down next to her, and Jenn laughed, nudging her with her shoulder.
“Ah, there’s my two favorite girls!”
Lauren and Jenn both turned to see Michael hopping over the fallen tree they were sitting on, reaching over to muss Jenn’s hair in the process, and she pulled away from him, casting an irritated look in his direction.
“Idiot,” she muttered, bringing her hand up to straighten her hair, and Michael smirked, his eyes on her as he took a sip from his cup.



“So, Jenn,” he said once he had swallowed, sitting on the other side of Lauren. “You think you might ever get over your deal with me?”
“That depends,” she said. “You think you might ever stop being a complete *?”
“Guys,” Lauren scolded firmly, rolling her eyes. Few things entertained Michael more than getting a rise out of Jenn, and no matter how many times Lauren asked her to ignore him, she would always take the bait. Every time. Lauren had grown extremely tired of their little routine after two years.
“You know what your problem is?” Michael said, ignoring Lauren’s reprimand and leaning toward Jenn. “You need to loosen up. Learn how to have a little fun.”
“Please,” Jenn said, her expression disinterested as she looked away from him. “Like I need lessons from you muscle flex in the side of his jawes, glancing up at himon how to have a good time.”
Lauren watched the smirk lift Michael’s mouth, and she knew this conversation was going nowhere good.
“Okay then,” Michael said, motioning with his head toward a group of boys standing around just a few feet away. “In that case, I think you should go up to Dennis Kinley and make out with him.”
“Michael,” Lauren said reproachfully just as Jenn shook her head.
“You’re such a child,” she sighed, and Michael laughed.
“Hey, you said you didn’t need lessons on how to have fun, right? It’s a party. Dennis seems like a cool kid. It’s just a kiss after all. No big deal.”
Jenn turned toward Michael, her brow quirked. “Yeah? Well then in that case, I think you should kiss Lauren.”
Instantly Lauren whipped her head toward her friend, her expression incredulous.
She could have killed her.
Despite the fact that Michael and Lauren had been friends for almost two years, and he had never even come close to making a move on her, Jenn was insistent there was more to their friendship than what the two of them were acknowledging.
But none of her attempts to prove it had ever been as blatant as this.
Lauren turned toward Michael, ready to tell him to ignore Jenn, but before she could speak, Michael silenced her, leaning down with ease as he brought his mouth to hers.
Instantly she froze, her lips pressed tightly together, too stunned to react or respond in any way to what was happening.
But then his lips parted gently and he leaned into her, taking her bottom lip between his with a tenderness even Lauren would never have given him credit for. Instinctively, she felt the tension melt away from her mouth as she tentatively kissed him back.
His mouth opened one more time, and hers responded automatically, their lips brushing against each other’s. Again, he captured her lip between his, holding it for a second before gently releasing it. He lifted his chin, brushing his full bottom lip over her top one before he finally pulled away from her.
It took her a few seconds to open her eyes, and when she did, she saw Michael looking over her head, smiling triumphantly at Jenn.
She couldn’t breathe.
It felt like something had ignited inside of her. Her chest was burning, sending little heated sparks down through her stomach and out through her fingertips.
With an embarrassingly sharp intake of breath, she finally started breathing again, but neither Jenn nor Michael seemed to notice. Lauren was vaguely aware of the bantering going on over her head—something about how Jenn should have known better than to dare Michael to do anything—but she couldn’t focus on their conversation.
Her lips felt warm and tingly, and she fought the urge to touch them with her fingertips.
She noticed Michael look down at her then, and she lifted her eyes just in time to see him smile at her; he tugged a piece of her hair and winked, and then he picked up his drink and walked away as casually as if he’d just said a passing hello to them.
Lauren stared after him, watching him walk away, still unable to form a coherent thought.
“Well, shit,” Jenn said from beside her, although her voice seemed far away. “I gotta give him credit; it certainly looked like the boy has skills.”