The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(41)

Taylor laughed and closed the pizza box. “I thought the point of us being together was to make the gossip die down?”

Was it? Sometimes I forgot why we were pretending in the first place. Being with her was so natural. It was easy and fun. I almost didn’t miss the lack of bed action these days. Almost.

“I have something else for you. Sort of,” I said, changing the subject as I pulled the packet of papers from my book bag and waved them in front of her face.

“More?” She took the papers from me with a confused look. “But these are the applications that I gave to you…”

“Except now they’re filled out.”

Her brown eyes widened with shock, and she fumbled through them. “Wait, what?”

I couldn’t help but grin with pride at her surprise. It was Aaron’s idea. Sort of. I was going to get flowers with the pizza, but he told me to do something that was important to her. And the college applications just popped in my head. Still, I tried to play it off with a shrug. “I had nothing better to do earlier, so I figured why not?”

Her eyes shone with excitement. “This is way better than roses. Even better than jewelry!”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “You’re really weird, you know that?”

“I prefer the word special.” Taylor gave me back the applications with a huge smile. “So you’re going to mail these out, right? Like today? Right after school?”

“Yeah, but that’s it. No promises after that.” I still didn’t know if I wanted to go to college. Hell, maybe Taylor was right and it was already too late. But if it wasn’t … it was kind of nice to have the option. Keep the door open, at least.

She lifted her legs on the bench and leaned back on her palms. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.”

I shrugged and mimicked her stance on the other bench. “It’s not a big deal. It wasn’t that much trouble.”

Her voice grew so soft that it was hard to hear her over the rain. “No, it is a big deal. It’s a huge deal. I—” She broke off and looked away.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to say thanks.”

There was more that she wasn’t saying, but I wasn’t going to force it out of her. I doubted that I could. Not only because she was a girl, but because sometimes she could be one of the most stubborn girls I’d ever met.

“No problem.” I glanced at my watch and frowned. Damn it. It was already almost time to go. How did the hour pass so quickly? “We should get back. Don’t want to be late for class.”

“Nope, don’t want that.” She laughed to herself.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just think it’s weird to see you worried about class, that’s all.”

It was weird. But I wasn’t worried for myself. I was worried for her. I snorted at the irony and tucked the box beneath my arm. “Well, stranger things have happened.”

“You mean, like us getting together?”

“Just about.” We stood on the edge of the shaded tarp and peered out at the rain. “Maybe we should wait for the rain to die down.”

In response, a streak of lighting tore across the sky, and the rain pounded down even harder than before.

She chewed on her lower lip. “We’ll be here forever.”

“Is that so bad?” Without waiting for her answer, I grabbed Taylor’s hand, and we raced across the grass. Our shoes made wet suction noises with each step. Even though we ran as fast as we could, we were both drenched when we got to the door. Taylor didn’t seem to mind, judging by her laughter, which grew louder when I shook my head. Droplets flew at her.

“Evan?”

“Yeah?” My breath got caught in my throat. Her hair glistened with raindrops. Dark strands were plastered to her face. And her cheeks were pale from the cold. I don’t know how I ever thought she was plain. She’d never looked more gorgeous to me.

Taylor grasped the top of my arms, and I froze. I could only watch wordlessly as she lifted on her toes to gently kiss my lips, even though there wasn’t anyone around to watch. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”





13

-Evan-

There was a surprise waiting for me onshore after my morning surf that Saturday. Lauren was lounging on a huge beach blanket with a carton of fresh strawberries and a brand-new jar of Nutella. Her long-sleeved cream dress barely skimmed her thighs and was so sheer that I could see her blue bikini underneath. Small, stringy, and fitting in all the right places. And definitely not leaving much to the imagination. She lay on her stomach with her feet kicked up in the air behind her. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey.” Propping my board on its side, I dropped down beside her with a surprised grin. “Why are you here so early, bearing gifts?”

“I just thought we could hang out and have breakfast.” She bit into a strawberry and licked at the juice that ran down her fingers. “Maybe sweeten you up a bit so you won’t say no.”

I grabbed a strawberry and used the tip to scoop up a huge chunk of the chocolate spread. “Say no about what?”

“About going on a date tonight.” She reached out and swiped a little bit of chocolate off my strawberry with a grin. “I have some concert tickets at the new club downtown. I figured we could have a couple of drinks before heading over there. And then, who knows what happens next.”