Page 20 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
I should have been more annoyed, but I had never heard him laugh before. It was loud and throaty and… addictive.
Still, I scowled. “I thought I ruined it for you!”
“With a look?” he said, his laughter slowing. “You’re not that easy to read. Trust me.”
The mirth shifted to something new that flipped my stomach. I turned my attention back to the book, running my fingers down the spine. “I can’t believe we have to wait another year for the next one. I wish I could just read this all night tonight.”
“Not in the partying mood?” he asked.
“Not really.”
“Then why’d you come?”
For some reason, I felt the impulse to be honest. To tell him that I did whatever I could to stay out of the house when Mom was in a dark place, which had been happening more and more. Dread encroached knowing it would get worse once I told her about Dad’s text.
But I swallowed the urge to air my sad little story and held up my camera. “Yearbook duty. Team events always give good content. I want to be a documentary filmmaker, and I need all the practice I can get.”
I don’t know why I told him. Guys I was used to, guys like Josh,usually made fun of my love for documentaries.You’re too hot to be so boring, Clara.
I rushed to say, “I know it’s nerdy, but—”
Reid’s warm smile cut me off. “That’s really cool.”
The thud made us both jump when the book hit the floor. We each scrambled for it. Crouched down low, our eyes caught.
“Besides,” he continued, “Glass Swordsiswaynerdier.”
A surprised laugh escaped me. “True.”
His gaze moved all around my face. Delaney had done my eye makeup a little darker than usual, and I wondered if he noticed. What he thought.
“Your sweater matches your eyes,” he said.
The hairs on my neck rose, and my response tumbled over a nervous laugh. “That is such a cheesy line.”
He frowned. “It wasn’t a line. You look beautiful.”
No one had ever called me beautiful before. Cute maybe. Pretty sometimes. But never beautiful. It kicked my heart into a sprint. I was so unfamiliar with whatever feeling was bubbling up in me I panic-blurted, “Nicole’s gonna be so excited you’re here.”
His dark eyebrows furrowed further as we both stood slowly. “Nicole?”
“She’s been talking about you nonstop,” I said. “I think she likes you.”
Confusion shifted to genuine surprise. “Oh.”
I winced. In my nervous haste, I was pretty sure I had broken girl code.
“So, yeah, tonight,” I kept going, my tone light, my mouth incapable of shutting up, “you’re here, and she’s here. You can hang out.”
A group of juniors walked by, squeezing past us to get to the nextroom. It forced me to take a step closer to Reid, and heat prickled my cheeks. At five foot nine I wasn’t used to people towering over me. He did.
He scanned my face again. “So. You want me to hang out withNicoletonight?”
“No. That’s not what I said—”
“Then you don’t want me to hang out with her?”
Was he enjoying watching me squirm? “I don’t care what you do. Just, be nice to her. Please don’t tell her I told you all that. And definitely don’t dothis.” I gestured up and down between us.
