It didn’t take Simon and Gray long before they were aiming their mischievous stares at me.
“You’re welcome,” Gray muttered as he tossed me a log that I dropped into the pit.
“Oh yeah, thanks for your noble sacrifice. That must have been hard for you.”
“Easy, Altman,” he responded. “I know we promised your parents we’d be bunking separately, but this new arrangement works out for everybody.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “I’m on edge for some reason.”
Simon laughed. “They’ll do that to you.”
“Guys, I’m gonna tell her.” I dropped my arms at my side and tried to force my shoulders to relax.
“About time.” Simon clapped his hand on my back as he threw some lighter fluid on the wood.
“Just maybe Sunday...instead of today,” Gray said with an uneasy expression.
“Yeah, of course.” I dropped into one of the camping chairs stationed around the fire pit. “What do I do if she rejects me?”
Neither of them answered. Neither of them had anything to go on. Their girlfriends didn’t reject them. And even if they had, they didn’t risk losing their best friend and favorite person on the planet. I wanted to back out of this plan so bad.
But then the girls returned, wrapped in large blankets and in their fancy girl sweatpants. Addy plopped down on Gray’s lap, even though there were plenty of chairs for everyone. Lucy and Simon shared a giant blanket with their chairs pressed together. They had only really been together for a few months and clearly weren’t as physical as the other two—lucky me.
But every once in a while, I would catch them watching the other couple like it was some sort of PDA competition.
And if that was the case, I couldn't wait to be in the race because we would smoke them all.
Naturally, Nora took the seat next to me. Maybe she didn’t want to sit alone or too close to the others, so I always had to remind myself that she was always by me. From the very beginning, Nora chose me, sometimes over Addy.
I just hoped she chose me this weekend.
My palms began to sweat.
“What’s up with you?” she asked. Man, she could see right through me.
“Nothing,” I quipped back, trying to act as normal as possible.
In the distance, we could hear music playing from another campsite, and it made the whole scene feel very romantic. I yawned and pulled my jacket tighter around my body.
“We couldn’t go to Cancun for spring break,” I mumbled.
Nora snickered. “You could have.”
“And leave you to sleep alone in the igloo?”
“No way,” she answered as she let her head rest against my shoulder. “You ever leave me alone with those four, I’ll murder you.”
Leaning my head against hers, I whispered, “Then, I’ll never leave you.”
I heard her swallow and felt her stiffen. It was a stupid, cheesy thing to say, but the moment called for it. And it was true. As a friend or as more, I would never leave Nora. When the rest of them left Delinki, it would just be the two of us left.
My heart pounded in my chest. Every warning sign in my head went off telling me to abort the mission and never tell Nora how I really felt. I could literally lose everything.
She wrapped her arm through mine and let out a yawn. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Max.”
Then, with the fragrance of her shampoo and the warmth of her body next to mine, I was feeling out of my mind, and I did something bold. I turned my head and pressed my lips against her hair. It was neither silent nor subtle.
And god did I hope she felt it. I hoped she picked up on the less-than-subtle hint that in so many ways, we already belonged to each other. That we were already more than a couple.
That I was already ridiculously in love with her and had been for as long as I could remember.
I realized that that was a lot to get out of one small forehead kiss, but Nora and I had been toeing the line for too long. The hand holding. The cuddling. Sharing shakes, and yeah, even the hair kisses were all just part of this game we played with each other, like kissing chicken.
She pulled her head from my shoulder, and her face turned up toward mine. Lit only by the crackling fire, she searched my expression. Confirmation that she felt the kiss and didn’t quite know how to respond now.
Leaning back in her own chair, she reached her arms up and stretched. “It’s late, and we have a big day tomorrow.” She stood and waved goodnight to the others as she turned to leave.
“I’ll bring the lantern,” I answered, following her to our tiny tent.
Nora
There were lips in my hair. This was not an overactive Nora imagination kind of thing. Boy lips, were all up in my flowing locks. What was I supposed to do about that? Did I call him on it? Like hey, Max, did you just pucker up to my part? I couldn’t. Because what if he answered? And what if his answer was something I didn’t want to hear like, hey girl hey, I love you. I was freaking out and we hadn’t even made it from the fire to the tent.
“I’ll bring the lantern,” he said, scurrying behind me as my mind raced back and forth between, kiss that boy in a tent and it’s a trap! And then once we were in the tent the two of us just stood there looking at each other in the lantern light.
“Do you want to do the thing where we change in our sleeping bags or should I leave the tent and then you tell me when the coast is clear?” The expression on Max’s face was dead serious and it occurred to me that despite how hard he was trying to appear confident, he was as scared as I was.
“Sleeping bags, I guess.” I answered, before retrieving pajamas from my duffle.
“Got it,” said Max. The two of us climbed into our bags, the air heavy with an awkwardness I hadn’t thought possible around Max. “I’m gonna turn off the lantern for this part, okay?”
I didn’t answer, but the tent went black anyway. I wasn’t afraid of the dark. I was afraid of what each of us were thinking.
I could hear the rustle of his jeans as he worked to wiggle out of them, and I tried really hard not to think about Max in his boxers, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. The funny part was, it was pitch black in the tent, even if one of us stole a glance in the other’s direction (which I was about 400 percent sure was not happening) you couldn’t make out the other person’s shape let alone anything sexy. Still, the nervous boy/girl thing had us maneuvering like magicians in those sleeping bags. And for our next trick we shall remove and replace all of our clothing without revealing one inch of skin, ooh’s and ahh’s from the audience erupt.
“This is harder than I thought,” huffed Max, tossing something toward the back of the tent. A heavy thump let me know he had successfully removed his hoodie.
“Tell me about it,” I replied, tossing my own sweatshirt as well. When the swishing and zipping of clothes coming on and off finally ceased, Max clicked the lantern back on.
He was facing me now, propped up on one elbow. I should not have been looking at him the way I was, but it was involuntary. When did Max go from my nerdy friend to this boy in the lantern light, eyes all dark and broody? The shadows carved out his features in ways I had never paid attention to before. I forced my eyes to focus on the floor of our tent.
“We should go to bed,” I murmured.
“We could,” he answered, his eyes saying something completely different than his lips.
I swallowed hard. Maybe this was the moment Max was talking about that night, circling the park after the rodeo.
His eyes stayed trained on mine, waiting for an answer. The problem was, I didn’t know what I wanted more—to crawl into his sleeping bag and let him pull me close, his skin melting into mine with a kiss that would tilt the earth’s axis, or to click off the lantern and pretend none of these feelings were real. The latter was easier, but the first one, the first one was playing over and over again in my head like a song so good you couldn’t help but hit repeat each time it ended.
Outside our tent a giggle broke the tension. “Open up,” cried Addy. We have important merchandise to distribute. The corner of Max’s mouth tilted up in a half smile. Was he relieved or disappointed? I couldn’t tell.
Max leaned forward and unzipped the tent, allowing Addy and Lucy to come spilling in.
“Plug your ears Max. We have important Squad Goals issues to discuss,” said Addy, waving her finger in a tisk tisk motion. Max gave me one last look before pulling a pair of earbuds from the side pocket of our tent and turning to face the wall.
“We found him,” whispered Addy.
“Him?” I asked, still distracted by a shirtless Max, the muscles of his back, daring me to reach over and touch them, just once, to know what contact felt like when I wasn’t thinking of him as Addy’s brother.
“The guy from Cinderella’s Closet. Duh! It took serious internet stalking, but I found him in the staff section on the store’s website, and then I cross checked his name with Facebook.”
There was Addy for you. She was nothing if not persistent. “You need to stop watching those murdery true crime shows,” I said.
“So true, but…”
“But, what?”
“But he’s here!” squealed Lucy. “At this friggin music festival? First the dress. Now the festival. That can’t be a coincidence right?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Max shift just a little. I had a feeling if I swiped one earbud I would find there was no music traveling through those cords.
The girls were thrilled, so thrilled that they went on and on about Mr. Perfect for a good five minutes before Max finally sat up and ordered them to leave. I rolled my eyes at Addy and Lucy, like I was annoyed with Max but truth was I hated the way it felt, talking about my goal in front of Max.
I felt like I should apologize, but doing so would be telling Max I knew how he felt and I wasn’t trying to start that conversation.
“Goodnight, Nora,” said Max, turning off the lantern without so much as one suggestive glance my way.
There would be no solar system altering kissing tonight.
Chapter Thirteen
Max
Nora was still asleep when I woke up the next morning. It was barely sunrise, and I spent the first fifteen minutes of the day watching her sleeping bag move slowly with her breath. She was buried so far inside that only her light brown waves showed from the top. I kept replaying the events of the evening in my head—mostly the look in her eye across the dim tent when I suggested the insane notion that we do anything but sleep.
She didn’t shoot me down. Not at all actually. She could have, but she didn’t.
And I would have slept on those dreams alone if it hadn’t been for my sister, the dream-crusher. She mentioned some Mr. Perfect.
So much for no competition.
After everyone woke up and freshened up as much as possible when on a camping trip, we headed into the festivities. There was one main stage and a few other smaller ones. The girls had meticulously planned our day based on stage times and bands they wanted to see. With a few exceptions, we were mostly all together all day.
But now, my sister, stalker-extraordinaire, was practically tossing the schedule out the window to find some dress store guy so that she could ruin my life.
“How about we just relax and have a good time?” I suggested when she pulled Nora toward a tent where a band played that she ‘had a good feeling about.’
“We are having a good time,” she argued. “You’re the only one being a grump.”
Nora sent me an apologetic smile as we camped our butts on a blanket toward the back of the crowd. The band that came on was fun, but none of us really knew them. Before Lucy and Addy started peering around the crowd for this mystery guy, who was apparently so tall we could find him without looking, Nora grabbed their arms.
“Let’s leave it to fate. If we find him, we find him. But I’d much rather start my relationship on a coincidence than a misdemeanor.”
I let out a loud cackle as my sister sent me a scowl. After tossing Nora a granola bar, she sat down next to me, so close that her knee rested on mine. Thank god for small blankets.
“Remember that concert we went to in ninth grade when we met the lead singer in the parking lot, but Lucy didn’t realize it,” Nora said. She was talking to the group, but I was pretty sure I was the only one who heard it.
“Ha! Yes. What was the band’s name?” I remembered that night very specifically because it was the first time our parents let us go to a concert alone and only because it was at a really small venue and because Addy was obsessed with the band.
“Something with hashtag?” she asked.
“Oh God, they were awful,” I groaned, letting my head fall onto her shoulder.
“So bad,” she laughed.
A flashback of that night suddenly hit me. The girls were in high school, but I was still just a middle school loser. Addy didn’t want me to go, but Mom and Dad said she couldn’t go without me, so I went. She was so mad that I was a tag-a-long, being a real brat all night. Except when we met up with her then-boyfriend, now-ex, Mitch. His lame friends started being jerks to me, but Addy defended me. She called one of them a douche-canoe. To his face. Then, we ditched them.
I glanced over at my sister, but she was too busy watching out for some random guy who would somehow make a better boyfriend for her best friend than me. When did I become such a non-negotiable?
She caught me looking at her, and frowned at the way Nora had her head on my shoulder. With a quick gesture of her head, she tried to signal that we should sit farther apart, but I only frowned back.
“What are you two talking about over there?” she shouted. Lucy and Simon were between us, and the tent was getting louder.
Nora sat up and answered her. “Who was that band you loved freshmen year? We saw them in concert.”
Addy smiled. “Hashtag Pound Sign!”
The group collectively groaned.
“That’s the stupidest band name ever,” Nora laughed.
“It really is!” Addy agreed, and everyone sort of got lost in the memory for a moment. Well, everyone but Gray who looked at us all like we were crazy, which I guess we were.
The music on stage started to grow on me, and I even recognized a couple songs that I’d heard mostly in commercials, but I still felt my sister watching me from the other side of the blanket. Especially when I put my arm around Nora.
It was about time Addy accepted the idea that I was aiming to be more than Nora’s friend. I wasn’t just the kid brother anymore, and judging by the way she glared at me, there was going to be a confrontation about it. Mr. Perfect or not, she could bring it because I wasn’t going to back down now.
Nora
I wanted to run into Mr. Perfect as badly as Addy and Lucy did, but that didn’t mean I wanted to throw our entire festival plan out the window. I came here for the music and time with my friends, and I wasn’t going to miss that for boy-finding purposes. Besides, sitting with my head resting on Max’s shoulder made it hard to picture talking to anyone else. My brain was still circling around the shape of his lips as he stared across the tent last night.
“Oh snap!” cried Addy. “There he is.”
My head snapped up. Sure enough, not a hundred feet away from us stood the boy from the dress shop. Now that I wasn’t standing awkwardly in formal wear, I had time to really look at him. It wasn’t his appearance that made him Mr. Perfect. It was the way he seemed to give off Nora would dig me vibes in every direction.
First off, he had long, shaggy brown hair—just like Sam Winchester from Supernatural. And second he was alone at a musical festival. That took guts and a certain level of weirdness I could relate to. And last but certainly not least, he was wearing a ‘Raid Area 51 T-shirt.’ If it turned out he was raised on a farm, I was willing to accept his marriage proposal immediately.
“That is the dude you guys kept me up babbling about?” asked Max. He was trying to p
lay it cool, but that little edge in his voice gave him away.
“He’s perfectly charming and a solid nine on the hot scale,” replied Addy.
“You know who else was charming?” asked Max. “Ted Bundy. And we all know how that played out.”
Addy took a deep breath. She was probably channeling all of her energy into not pummeling her brother in public. Meanwhile the rest of us were cracking up, picturing Mr. Perfect with his own Netflix documentary.
“Making of a Music Festival Murderer,” continued Max. “Is this really the kind of guy you’re looking for?”
I shook my head as if I disapproved, but inside I was loving the way jealousy looked on him.
“Come on,” said Addy, hopping to her feet. “It’s time to make fate happen.”
“I don’t think it works that way,” said Gray, exchanging a look with Simon. We ignored the boys as Addy, Lucy, and I sidled up beside my Mr. Perfect. He was standing fifty feet from the stage waiting for the next set to start, eighties style sunglasses covering his eyes.
I wished I had remembered my own glasses. Then I could look at him without fear of being caught. Also, I wouldn’t be squinting like a little old lady who has misplaced her reading glasses.
Addy intentionally stumbled into him. “Oops, sorry about that,” she giggled and then ever so coyly. “I recognize you!”
Mr. Perfect looked from Addy, to Lucy and me, then back to Addy again.
“From my mom’s store,” he said with a grin.
“That’s right,” said Addy. “We were on a prom dress mission with our misters. Lucy and I anyway. Nora is still searching.” She nudged me forward, causing me to nearly collide into him myself. Normally, an interaction like this would cause me to blush, or at least forget my words, but for some reason none of that was happening. If anything, I felt oddly comfortable in his presence.
“I’m Andrew,” said Mr. Perfect, extending one hand as if he were introducing himself for a job interview and not to a girl. “And if you bought that dress I don’t think you’re going to be single for too much longer.”
Promised by Prom Page 8