“If that’s true, then Max is my new hero,” he said.
I let out a little huff of rueful laughter. “Yeah, mine too.”
“Well then,” he said, turning to face me outright. “I guess the question is do you do the same for her? If you’re really trying to be selfless these days, maybe you should be asking yourself if you bring out the best in her.”
I stared at him for way too long as his words lodged in my gut like a fist. A sucker punch that wouldn’t quit. Crap. I hadn’t even stopped to think about that. Maybe that was why she was pushing me away.
Maybe I wasn’t good for her, and she knew it. Maybe the selfless thing to do would be to walk away.
That punch to the gut turned to a roiling nausea at the thought.
Avery’s voice reached us when she was still a few feet away. “Okay, is this Freaky Friday or something?”
I glanced up. “What?”
She pointed from me to Cristian and back again before snuggling up against Cristian’s side. “How come my broody boyfriend is grinning and you’re over there looking like you’re trying to solve the mysteries of the universe?”
“Because he is,” Cristian said as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Alex here is figuring out what it means to be in love.”
I jerked back with a wince. “Simmer down there, Romeo. No one used the L-word.”
But it was no use. Avery was laughing and he was grinning and...they were officially mocking me. I held back a sigh. I deserved it, I supposed. I’d had more than a few laughs at Cristian’s expense when I’d watched him fall madly in love with my health class partner.
“I love it,” Avery said. “No one deserves to be happy as much as Max, and I have no doubt that you can be the guy to appreciate her the way she deserves.”
I made a sort of grunting noise because I wanted to be that guy. I just wasn’t sure I was. Or if she even wanted me to be. I scratched at the back of my head. But I supposed if Avery thought I had a chance, that was a good sign.
Avery’s grin softened as she reached out to nudge my arm. “Hey, just give her some time, okay? She’s never been in a relationship. She’s never even had a crush on anyone before. This is all new for her.”
I nodded. It was all new for me too, so I got it to some extent. “You really think she’ll come around? I mean, she wouldn’t even come out tonight and it wasn’t even a real date.”
She hitched her lips to the side and rested her head against Cristian’s chest. “Don’t take her rejection tonight too hard. She’s going through a lot of family stuff. I mean, she’s going to see her dad and meet his new family tomorrow, so she’s nervous and—”
“She is?” I rudely and loudly cut her off, and Avery blinked in surprise. “Max talked to her dad?”
Avery nodded. “Yeah. And honestly, I’m really proud of her. She reached out to him.”
“She did?”
Now Avery and Cristian were staring at me like I’d sprouted a second head. Avery glanced at Cristian before turning back to me. “Uh, yeah. She said that she’s decided to work on forgiving him. She seems to think she has some fatal flaw? Which sounds a little melodramatic to me, honestly, but—”
“Cristian, can I take the car?”
They were both wide-eyed with shock at my sudden turn in conversation. Not to mention my new intensity, no doubt. But I couldn’t help it, because my heart was pounding and my blood was pumping. Adrenaline had me itching to move—to go to her.
I held my hands out as he used his free hand to dig into his jeans pockets for the keys to our shared car.
“I’ll come pick you guys up when you’re ready to leave,” I said. “But I’ve got to see Max.”
Avery’s brows drew together in concern. “Are you sure? She might just need to be alone.”
“I just need to tell her one thing,” I said. “Or a couple of things.” Namely, that I was proud of her. But also, that we needed to be together whether it scared the crap out of her or not.
Because it sure as heck scared the crap out of me. But I wasn’t about to let that stop me.
“Are you sure about this?” Cristian asked as he dropped the keys into my waiting palm.
I grinned. “No. But I’ve got to try because I’m pretty sure she needs me just as much as I need her.”
“Awww.”
I ignored Avery’s high-pitched sappy sigh behind me as I headed toward the door. It was terrifying to need someone, and I had no doubt that Max was freaked too. But if there was one thing I knew about Max, it was that she could deal with being scared.
Max blinked when she opened the door and saw me standing on Avery’s doorstep. “You’re back,” she said.
“I’m back.” I held up a bag of goodies I’d snagged at the gas station on my way over like a peace offering. “Can I come in?”
She looked confused as she took the bag and pulled out a pack of Twizzlers, but she backed up enough so I could enter. I weighed my options and opted for arrogant jerk. We were both more at ease when we played the roles we’d assigned for ourselves at some point along the way. Thrusting my hands in my pockets, I led the way to the living room like I owned the place.
“So, what are we watching?” I asked as I flung myself down on the couch, patting the seat right beside me.
“Uh...I am watching The Exorcist.”
“Cool,” I said, slinking down even further. When she didn’t hit play or join me on the couch, I looked up and saw her frowning down at me in confusion.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Watching a movie with you. What are you doing?” I teased.
Her brows drew down and she shifted on her feet, adorably vulnerable and so cute when she was perplexed. “You don’t like scary movies,” she pointed out.
“But you do. And I want to spend time with you.”
Her eyes flickered to the still-paused screen as she took a deep breath. I patted the seat beside me again, and she eyed it warily before sitting beside me. She still didn’t reach for the remote. “Why?”
I fought back a wave of nerves. I’d never once been nervous around a girl before, but tonight was a night for firsts. And besides… I reminded myself again that maybe she needed me. That maybe tonight I had to be the brave one.
I shifted in my seat to look at her. “I propose we play a game.”
Her brows drew together, but she moved toward me, so… That was a good sign, right? “What kind of game?”
I took a deep breath. “I’ll do something scary if you do.”
Her frown deepened, but I could see she was intrigued. A second later, she sank onto the couch beside me, her gaze never wavering from mine. “Is this like Truth or Dare?”
“Sort of,” I said. “More like truth and a dare.”
Her brows drew down even further in confusion, but I saw her lips twitch with amusement. “What’s your something scary?”
I had this urge to make a joke, to laugh off this moment and say that me watching a horror movie was mine. It would be so easy to run away from this and go back to being frenemies or whatever it was we were on our way to being if one of us didn’t take this plunge.
My heart was in my throat. My lungs felt like they might burst. I swallowed. “Mine is coming over here tonight and telling you that I like you.”
Her lips parted, and her eyes widened. But was that horror or happiness in her eyes? It kind of looked like both.
“I like you as more than a friend,” I clarified, just in case my meaning wasn’t clear.
She stared at me.
“And more than a not-not a friend.” I tried to laugh as I said it, but my joke fell flat. I was too nervous to act nonchalant, let alone tell a joke.
“I…” She licked her lips. “I don’t believe you.”
I winced, and she seemed to realize how that sounded. “I mean, I don’t think you’re lying or trying to trick me or anything. I just… I’m not your type.”
“I don’t have a type,” I told h
er. “I’ve never liked a girl like this before. I’ve never…” Ah crap, this was hard. “I’ve never had...feelings like this before.”
She blinked a few times as that sank in. Then her gaze was on me, and it was intense. It was fiery and passionate and critical and smart. It was everything that terrified me about Max and everything that made me want to get closer to her too.
“What’s my scary dare?” she asked. I was heartened by the fact that her eyes looked gorgeously dazed, and her voice had come out shockingly breathless.
Once again, I thought about making a joke. Or just kissing her until she admitted that she liked me too. But I needed to do this right. I didn’t want this to be a hookup or some sort of hazy shade of friendship. I wanted something real, and I wanted it with her.
And I needed her to want that too.
I leaned forward. “Your scary dare is to let me in.” She blinked in obvious confusion as I hurried on. “Look, I know it’s hard for you to let people in. I get it.” My heart was threatening to jump out of my chest. “I know it’s scary for you because you care alot and you’re not nearly as tough as people think.”
Her eyes were wide, and she looked just as terrified as I felt.
“But I’m here to tell you that I want in. And I want...I want to be one of those people you care about. I can’t promise that I’ll never hurt you, but I don’t want to. I’d do everything in my power not to, and...and I know that this is fast and that we were barely even friends up until recently, but I think...I think there’s something here, and I think you feel it too. And—”
She kissed me. She cut me off mid-sentence by leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. We were frozen like that for a second before my shock was replaced with a heady joy that had me dragging her closer so I could deepen the kiss and hold her tight.
She kissed me back, and her kiss told me everything. That she was scared, that she was brave, that she was the sweetest girl I’d ever known.
When she pulled back, I brushed a frizzy little curl away from her eyes and tucked it back into her braid. One day maybe I’d get her to wear it loose again, but I was totally cool knowing that I was one of few who knew what she looked like when she wasn’t all buttoned up and prickly.
“Now what?” I asked quietly as we shared a long look filled with confusion and wonder and fear and about a million other emotions.
“Well…” She toyed with the buttons on my shirt as I pulled her closer against me. “I’d say we could watch the rest of the movie together, but I don’t want to see you run out of here shrieking like a little girl.”
I choked on a laugh. “Nice. Real nice.”
She grinned, and there they were. The elusive dimples. She could mock me all day long if it made her smile like that.
“And here I was just thinking that you might be the sweetest girl I knew,” I said with feigned disappointment.
She gave a snort of amusement. “Oh please. Sweet is overrated.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
“Wait, did we just…” She pressed a hand to my chest to pull back with wide eyes. “Did we just agree on something?”
“Oh, babe, we agree on a lot of things.”
“Never call me ‘babe,’” she murmured sweetly.
I ignored her. “We agree that I’m the hottest guy in our class,” I started.
She let out a sharp laugh.
“We agree that you were wrong, and I was right—”
“About what?” she protested.
“That you like me,” I said. “I knew it all along.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. “You’re so conceited.”
“And you’re way too much fun to tease,” I said, leaning forward to kiss her again, softly, gently. Because for all her sharp words, she had surprisingly soft skin.
And I supposed for all my bravado, I had a shocking amount to learn about who I was and the kind of man I wanted to be.
She turned into my touch and kissed me back, so sweetly for a girl who claimed she wasn’t sweet. “So then,” she whispered against my lips. “If my scaredy-cat date can’t watch the horror movie on TV, what should we do?”
I grinned like a fool. “Date, huh? Maybe one day soon I’ll be upgraded to boyfriend.”
“Maybe if you’re lucky,” she teased. Her answering smile was just as goofy, and those dimples made my head spin. But I focused on her question as I toyed with her braid.
“As for what to do tonight, luckily for you, I came prepared.” I nodded toward the abandoned bag of goodies on the coffee table.
She arched a brow as she picked it up. “The Twizzlers?” Both brows shot up. “Don’t tell me you actually want to reenact Lady and the Tramp.”
I laughed. “I love that you remembered that, but no...that was not what I meant.” I nodded toward the bag again. “Check again.”
She looked adorably confused as she pulled out a bottle of Pepsi. “A drink?”
“A bottle,” I said pointedly.
“Okay.” She looked from it to me again, a question in her eyes. “So you want to share a soda with me?”
“Nah, you can have the soda. Once you’re done, you owe me a game of Spin the Bottle.”
She started to laugh as she turned back to me. “But there’s only two of us—”
“Exactly.”
She was still laughing as I leaned in to kiss her. Who needed a bottle when I had the girl of my dreams right here? Exactly where she belonged.
Thank you for reading! For more sweet YA romance, be sure to check out Maggie Dallen’s series The Bet Duet.
One bet. Two Romances. More Kisses than we can count…
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About the Author
MAGGIE DALLEN IS a big city girl living in Montana. She writes romantic comedies in a range of genres including young adult, historical, contemporary, and fantasy. An unapologetic addict of all things romance, she loves to connect with fellow avid readers. Subscribe to her newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bFEVsL
Sleepover with the Enemy (How to Catch a Crush Book 5) Page 10