Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys)(60)

“Still,” I say. “I wanted to be official. I should have said it, but I was nervous, too.”

“Okay,” he says. WAY TO BE VAGUE, TED.

“So do you want to be?” I ask. “Now that you know I’m a big jerk weirdo?”

“You’re not a jerk,” he says. “And I already knew you were a weirdo.”

I grin at him and lean in to kiss him. BUT HE DODGES ME.

“Every single person we know here is watching us,” he says. “And some girl who I think is on TV.”

I turn around, and they aren’t even trying to hide it! We have this huge audience of looky-loos. I’m plotting where we can sneak off to for major making out, but Ted shrugs at me like we may as well just give in. I start to head back to our group.

And he kisses me.

It is not a Ted-style timid kiss; it is a Ted-style big, swoony romantic kiss. It’s exactly what I’ve been dreaming of. I run my hands through his hair, and his fingertips find a gap to graze between my jeans and my shirt I didn’t know was there. Ted tastes like a green apple Jolly Rancher.

“I missed you.” He whispers it right in my ear, his warm breath almost like another kiss. Okay, not almost, but it’s hot. “Can you hang out later?”

“Yes, definitely,” I tell him. “You don’t have to get up early to fry hot dogs?”

“Yeah, but I don’t care,” he says. Then he takes my hand as we walk back over to our group. From the stage I hear the opening riff of my favorite Murphy-Gomez song, and the crowd starts filling in around us.

Ted smiles at me as I grin back at him, and he leans in to kiss me again. “I really liked your song.”




ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Staying motivated when I first started working on this book was, for a number of boring and depressing reasons, quite difficult. Thank you so much to Nadia Osman for working through scenes with me, writing songs for me, and in general being exactly the friend I needed during this time. I’m glad I could honor your favorite president in this book.

Thanks also to Stephanie Perkins for the insane amount of support, for the mind-bogglingly helpful notes, and for taking my panicky phone calls. Lady, that stuff never went unnoticed.

Thanks to my agent, Kate Schaefer Testerman, for continued awesomeness, three books in!

Thank you times one billion to my editor, Elizabeth Bewley, for the notes, support, and hard work. I laugh now to think this book was in nearly finished shape when it went to you, because through your guidance I ended up someplace far better.

Thanks to the Pams: Gruber for stepping in, and Garfinkel for always being around to assist. A huge thank-you to the whole Poppy/Little, Brown team for always making me feel appreciated and taken care of, and for loving Riley as much as I do.

Thanks to Carrie Harris for drumming help. Thanks to Scott Singer for, as always, the science. Thanks to Todd Martens for major music help. Thanks to Hope Larson for letting me fictionalize her cat. Thanks to Ariel Schrag for naming boys on command.

Thanks to my early readers and note-givers: Sarah Skilton, Courtney Summers, Trish Doller, Meghan Deans, Brandy Colbert, and Jasmine Guillory. A special shout-out goes to Trish and Courtney for the title!

Lastly, of course, thanks to Pat and Mark Spalding for their eternal support.