The Perks of Kissing You (Perks Book 3)

by Stephanie Street

  Me: You are not going to believe this!

  Lilly: Ooh! Ooh! What?

  Me: Guess who is in my backyard right this second?

  Lilly: Chris Hemsworth!

  Lilly: Shawn Mendez!

  Lilly: A Jonas brother? Any of them!

  Me: LOL! No!

  Lilly: Ok. I give up then. Who?

  Me: Walker Thomas!

  Lilly: Walker Thomas?!

  Lilly: THE Walker Thomas that you’ve had a secret crush on since first grade! THAT Walker Thomas?

  Lilly: Why?!

  Me: For dinner. They just moved back. And guess where they live?

  Lilly: I can’t even.

  Me: The Hansen’s house. He practically lives in our backyard!

  Lilly: You have got to be kidding me! Are you serious?

  Me: I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

  After a quick shower, I dressed in a pair of navy capris and a white peasant top. I brushed the wet tangles from my hair, deciding it was too hot to blow dry it even in the air conditioning. Besides, I really didn’t have time. I knew my family wouldn’t start dinner without everyone present and I didn’t want to hold everything up. So, with a quick swipe over my lashes with mascara and a layer of gloss on my lips, I made my way back outside.

  I was right. When I opened the back door, I saw that everyone had gathered around the picnic table filled with all kinds of cookout fixings. And they were waiting on me.

  “Sorry everybody!” I called out as I made my way down the steps.

  “There you are,” Dad said, motioning toward me. “Okay, let’s get this party going. First, I’d like to welcome the Thomas family back to Indiana and especially back to Richardson and Thomas, CPA Firm. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you back, Rog,” Dad paused to smile and shake Roger’s hand. “I know Claire is just tickled to have Becky as our new neighbor and now our kids can play together, just like they used to.” Dad paused again, his gaze encompassing all of us, a satisfied smile on his face like all was right with his world. “Now enough of that. Let’s eat!”

  Everyone laughed when a very bored looking Joy cried out, “Finally!”

  We filled our plates amid laughter and catching up. I barely noticed what I put on my plate as I tried to avoid staring at Walker. The adults sat down at a glass topped patio table while the little kids sat at the picnic table. I opted for the back steps, far, far away from my siblings and watched through my lashes as Walker dug a pop out of a cooler by the picnic table. He glanced at the kids, already laughing about farts and boogers. Eyes wide with a hell, no look on his face, Walker turned to where I sat on the steps. A little smile turned his lips up.

  He slid his pop can into a pocket on his cargo shorts and made his way over to me. I slid to one side to make room for him.

  “You aren’t even going to say hi to me, Bly,” he asked as he settled in beside me, close enough the hairs on his arms tickled my elbow. I inched away, hoping he thought I was just trying to give him more room. Oh my gosh, he smelled good!

  I glanced at him, rolling my eyes, trying to play it cool. “Hi.”

  Walker laughed and took a huge bite of his cheeseburger. My hand stopped halfway to my mouth with my own burger as I watched the muscles of his jaw work as he chewed, entranced. He even made chewing hot.

  Walker glanced at me and paused mid-bite. He raised a brow in question and I realized I was staring at him.

  With my mouth open.

  I quickly looked away and stuffed my face with my hamburger.

  Walker

  Oh, wow. She was just as adorable as I remembered. It had taken all my restraint to not laugh out loud at the expression on her face as she noticed me earlier, when she first walked into her backyard. Her cheeks turned ten shades of red before landing on green. It was hilarious. She was hilarious. It all came rushing back to me, all the fun we’d had as little kids. How much I liked hanging out with Blythe. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy it now just as much as I had before my Dad picked us up and moved us across the country.

  I couldn’t believe it when he’d dropped the bomb on us last month that we were moving again and I would be finishing out my senior year of high school in the same school district I’d started kindergarten as a kid. I should have been upset considering I’d been at the high school in California since my freshman year, but I wasn’t. All my best memories were here in Indiana and I planned to come back for college anyway. It seemed like a win-win to me.

  I glanced out the corner of my eye at Blythe, who after staring at me like a lunatic, was now studiously avoiding eye contact. I fought back a grin.

  “So, babysitting, huh?” I asked before taking another bite of my burger. Blythe nodded and chewed faster, her eyes widening. She swallowed hard, her throat convulsing. I tried not to snort.

  “Yeah, all summer. Three little boys,” she croaked then cleared her throat. I watched with amusement as she picked up her pop and took a big gulp.

  “Three boys, huh?” Lucky little turds. I never had any babysitters that looked like Blythe growing up. And she was fun, too. She probably played games with them rather than messing around on her phone all day.

  Blythe rolled her eyes. “Yes, three. And man, are they a handful.”

  “Oh, yeah. What’s the craziest thing they did this summer?” Being a guy and having two brothers myself, I knew what kind of trouble little boys could get into.

  “Wow, I’m not sure I could narrow it down to one thing.” Her brows pulled down as she thought about it, crinkling her forehead and making me smile.

  “Okay, well, then just something crazy they did today.”

  Her eyes twinkled with the memory she was about to share. “So, you know kebabs, right? Those skewers you usually cook meat on?”

  “Sure.” I nodded and began working on the potato salad. Mrs. Richardson made the best!

  “Well, I saw this idea online to make a rainbow kebab with fruit. You know, red strawberries, orange was cantaloupe,” she stopped and grinned at me from under her lashes. “You get the idea.”

  “I get it.”

  “Well, I pictured in my head that I’d set out the fruit and give them a skewer and they’d very nicely line up the colors and I’d take a picture of our beautiful kebabs, right?”

  “Right.” But I could feel the laughter already building, because there was no way three little boys didn’t wreck her whole crafty food idea.

  “Wrong. So very, very wrong. Instead, a fruit battle ensued.” She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and swiped until she got to her photos. “Check this out.” She leaned into my shoulder, making me suddenly very aware of her. She smelled like strawberries. I focused on the picture on her phone. She was right, it looked like a war zone. A very colorful war zone. She scrolled through three or four pictures and then stopped on a picture of three boys and her. They were all covered in fruit. But they were smiling.

  “Looks like they had fun.” I turned my head. My nose was just inches from her dark hair.

  She breathed a laugh. “Yeah, I think they did.” She turned to look up at me and gasped, realizing how close we’d become. I watched as her eyelids closed slowly over her golden-green eyes. And then she sat back, inhaling a quick breath. She clicked her phone off and stuck it back in her pocket. All business. “I’m glad I’m done, though.”

  I turned back to my potato salad. “What are your plans, now? Aren’t there still two weeks before school starts?”

  She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders a little. “Not sure. Sleep in. Catch up on Netflix.”

  I laughed. “Sounds fun.”

  Suddenly, Blythe’s dad clapped his hands. “Alright, everybody. We have an announcement to make.”

  All four adults were grinning like maniacs and it made me nervous. What did they have planned now? Wasn’t it enough that we moved two thousand miles?

  Blythe’s little sister, Joy, bounced around her father’s legs. “What is it, Daddy? What is it?”

&nb
sp; David Richardson laughed, patting her on the head. “Well, sweetheart, I’ll tell you. We-” he paused for effect, his gaze resting on each of us before he continued, “are going to the beach!”

  Wait. What?

  “What?”

  I glanced at Blythe when I heard her voice the very question running through my head. She turned to me.

  “The beach? Where?”

  I shrugged and turned back to our parents who were struggling against the swarm of little bodies surrounding them.

  “Okay, okay!” Blythe’s dad called out with an indulgent smile. “Rog, you want to tell them?”

  “You bet, Dave.” My dad bent down, resting his hands on his thighs above his knees putting him closer to Joy’s excited pixie face. “We, the Richardson and Thomas families are going to Cape Hatteras!”

  The kids erupted into cheering and dancing. Blythe and I looked to each other.

  “Where the heck is Cape Hatteras?” I asked.

  Blythe shrugged and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket once more, presumably to Google Cape Hatteras. I figured it was a good idea and dug mine out of my shorts pocket.

  “Cape Hatteras is made up of three islands. Hatteras, Bodie, and Ocracoke in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina.” Blythe looked up from her phone. “North Carolina?”

  “Oh, no,” I groaned. “How long of a drive is that?” Because I’m pretty sure not that long ago I just spent a week in a vehicle with my brothers. I opened the maps app on my phone and plotted the route. “Holy shit!”

  Blythe’s eyes widened. “What?”

  I turned to face her, my expression grim. “It’s like a twelve-hour drive.”

  “And we leave in the morning!” My dad shouted above the fray.

  “Holy-,” Blythe paused to glance at me, “crap.”

  See what I mean? Adorable.

  Us at the Beach is available on Amazon.

  Sample Chapters of Save Me

  Chapter 1

  Joie

  With sweating palms, I rang the doorbell to the house across the street. It had been more than three years since the last time I stood on this porch. Back then I never rang the bell or knocked, instead walked in knowing I was as welcome there as if it were my own house. But that was a long time ago. Things have changed since then. Or maybe they haven’t as much as I’d like to think. Either way, desperate times called for desperate measures and I was desperate.

  Mrs. Lewis had finally given me the go-ahead to start preliminary stages of production for the play I’d written. The play was my ticket out of here. The only problem- there hadn’t been a dramatic production at my high school in over a decade. It had taken some serious effort, and by effort, I mean begging and pleading, to find a teacher willing to sponsor the play and participate as the resident voice of authority over the newly formed drama club, of which I was currently the president and only member.

  And so here I was, at the house across the street. Because everyone knows any great production needed a celebrity. And Cole Parker was the closest thing to a celebrity our little town could claim.

  “Joie! What a surprise!” Mrs. Parker greeted, a furrow forming between her brows even as her lips curled into a happy smile.

  “Hi, Mrs. Parker. Is Cole home,” I asked, nerves shaking my voice.

  If possible, Mrs. Parker’s smile widened. “Of course, he’s up in his room. Should I call him down or do you want to go on up?”

  “Oh, no. I can go up.” I glanced up the stairs. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

  Mrs. Parker placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure. It’s good to see you, Joie.” She gave me a sad smile. She had no idea why I stopped showing up on her doorstep and for the first time, I felt bad about it. Not just for my own sake or Cole’s, but for this family who had been as much mine as his. Before I could talk myself out of it, I gave Mrs. Parker a quick hug.

  “It’s good to see you.” She squeezed me tight when I would have pulled away, holding on for a few seconds more.

  “Go on up. He’s supposed to be doing homework.” Mrs. Parker’s expression turned jokingly sour. “But he’s probably watching Sports Center.”

  I laughed, because even though I hadn’t talked to Cole in a long time, I felt certain she was right. Taking a deep breath, I placed my foot on the first step leading to the second story of the Parker’s home. Memories pulsed through my mind with each one. Cole and I as little kids, sliding down the steps in slick sleeping bags. Picnics on the landing with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grape Kool-Aid. Building castles and spaceships with Legos in his room for hours and hours until his mom called us down for dinner. Forcing him to play house after his sister, Macy, was born, pretending she was our daughter. Ha. Maybe I could use that one as blackmail.

  Too soon, I stood in front of his door. Taking a deep breath, I slid my damp palms down the thighs of my boot cut jeans. From inside the room, sports commentators discussed the likelihood of some college basketball team making it into the tournament next month. I could picture Cole easily in my mind. Just because we hadn’t spoken in years didn’t mean I hadn’t seen him as recently as a couple of hours ago. In fact, I’d seen him not thirty minutes ago when he pulled his beat up old Camaro into the driveway out front. I’d given it that long before coming over, so he’d have time to shower and eat.

  Cole would be reclined on his bed, books strewn around him. He was a good student and would get his homework done, even with Sports Center on. His dark brown hair would probably still be damp from his shower and he’d smell like Acqua Di Gio. He’d started wearing it before- well, just before. And he’d be wearing some kind of Cambridge High garb. Sweats and a t-shirt. If I was a betting girl, that’s what I’d gamble on. Not that Cole was predictable, except when it came to school spirit.

  Come on, Joie. You can do this. But I wasn’t entirely sure I could. He’d caught my eye a few times since well, then, and I’d seen it in his eyes. The confusion. The anger. Emotions he attempted to hide behind a mask of indifference. Every time, I turned away from him as quickly as I could. It was fine. He didn’t need me. And I didn’t need him. He had his football team. His basketball team. The love and adoration of the whole school. What did it matter he didn’t have small, insignificant me? It didn’t.

  And me? Well, I had my writing. My plans. My goals. And as soon as I could- I’d be out of here. At the beginning of this year, my senior year, I’d begun a countdown. One hundred and five days and I would graduate. Another ninety-two before classes started at USC, the top-five school for performance arts that was the furthest from my hometown of South Bend, Indiana. And that was why I was here, in the one place I swore I’d never be again. Because I needed my play to be a success if I was ever going to leave this place. And I needed Cole to do it.

  I raised my knuckles and knocked on his door.

  Cole

  “I’m doing my homework, I swear, Ma!” I shouted, scrambling for the remote buried in my comforter and pushing the mute button. Damn! Where was my Calculus book? Grabbing it off the floor, I opened to a random page. Notebook? Check. Where was that pencil? There.

  “Cole.”

  I froze. I knew that voice. An aching pain sluiced through my body. What was she doing here? And why in the hell had my mother sent her up to my room? Jumping from the bed, I threw on a Cambridge High t-shirt. If I was going to see her, it wasn’t going to be bare-chested. She knocked again.

  “Cole. Please. It’s me.”

  Like I didn’t already know. Pretending I wanted to check the mirror for...something, and that I wasn’t too chicken to open my bedroom door, I studied my reflection. I took a second to wonder what Joie saw when she looked at me these days. If she looked at me at all- the way I looked at her.

  I’ve tried not to over the years. Not to notice the way she’d grown a couple of inches since middle school. And that even with the extra height she still didn’t come up passed the middle of my chest. I didn’t notice the way she’d grown out
her long chocolate brown hair until it reached the top of her round bottom, which I also didn’t notice. I didn’t even notice when she sat by herself in the school cafeteria or when she walked home alone after school. I especially didn’t notice when she sat at the window in her room, her gaze straying toward mine every now and then. I never saw that.

  Come on, man. Get it together. Rolling my shoulders, I tried to psych myself out, jumping up and down a couple of times and jabbing the air in front of me, practiced breaths puffing out of my mouth. If I was going open that door, I better get my game face on.

  Chapter 2

  Joie

  Just as I was about to give up on Cole ever answering his door, it swung open. Seeing him in sweats and a Cambridge High t-shirt almost made me smile. Had I called that, or what? I didn’t smile though. Instead, I stood, rooted to the carpet outside his room, intimidated by the cold, impassive expression on his face, trying not to be affected by the scent of him washing over me.

  “Hey.” I wanted to roll my eyes at myself but refrained. My first words to the boy in years and I open with ‘hey’?

  “Hey,” he replied, not giving an inch. I expected no less. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Can I come in?” I gestured to his room.

  Cole didn’t answer for a moment, just continued to stare, his clear blue gaze piercing my armor against my will. I would need to shore up my defenses- and quick. I pushed my thick-rimmed glasses up the slick bridge of my nose. They slid back down.

  Cole’s lip twitched, and his eyes sparked with the first sign of emotion I’d seen since that day. I fought the urge to remove my glasses and wipe them and my nose with the cuff of my sleeve. I lifted one brow, challenging.