Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
“You did?” he asked. “How about that?”
“You had to know,” I said, suddenly turning myself back toward the bar and motioning to the bartender. It was going to be a many-drink-night. “Everyone knew. Everyone that noticed my existence, at least.”
“I didn’t know,” he said. “Honest. I had no idea. I wish I had.”
“I used to come watch your games,” I said. “You saw me a couple of times. You made eye contact with me. I know you knew I was there.”
“Then you avoided me like the plague after,” he said. “I would come looking for you, and you were gone. I figured you didn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
I scoffed incredulously as the bartender brought me a large, fruity drink. And another shot. Bless him, he could tell what I needed.
I downed the shot and shuddered as the alcohol burned down my throat. I needed it to steel myself. The fruity yumminess was simply a chaser for the whiskey. I took a long sip of that, loving the sweetness and feeling the flush of the alcohol as it coursed through my system.
I had two choices now. I could try to change the subject and maybe even end the night early, saving myself the embarrassment of him knowing what I wanted to say. Or I could tell him. Let it all out. Give myself the chance to empty out all the thoughts and feelings I’d had about him for so many years and get it off my chest.
“I wanted everything to do with you,” I said, emboldened by the alcohol and ten years of pent-up sexual frustration. It came out of my mouth in one big clump, like it wanted to be said so badly that the words were bunched up on top of each other. “I was such a nervous wreck back in high school. I didn’t have any confidence in myself. I was a socially incapable mess. I knew people, but I didn’t really know people. They were friends, but aside from Tessa and Kat, none of them knew much about me other than my name and whatever class they shared with me.
“Then there was you. You were so cool. You were famous in school. You were dating the head cheerleader. How much of a cliché is that? You could do whatever you wanted; why would you want to talk to me? Why would you notice me, except when you ran into me in the hallway? Even then, you made me so nervous.”
“That’s crazy,” Graham said, shaking his head. “I mean, I know I was popular. I just wasn’t anyone special as a person, though. You met me. You knew that.”
“No, I didn’t know anything,” I said. “I knew you were an athlete and brilliant. And you were homecoming king! Come on! You were a walking, talking eighties movie heartthrob! I was just the nerdy, shy, theater kid. Who the hell was I?”
“Look,” he said. “I was attracted to you. I’ll swear on the grave of Cy Young, I was crushing on you from the minute we ran into each other in the hall and wondered where you ran off to afterward.”
“Well, I never had any reason to think that,” I said. “You were nice to me. That’s all. You weren’t showing any signs I could see.”
There was a quiet moment as he sat there, staring at me, like he was contemplating something. He took a deep pull of his drink and set it down and turned fully toward me again.
“Maybe this will be clearer,” he said.
He stood, and I turned toward him. What was he doing? He was closing the space between us quickly. His eyes were softer, and I felt myself focusing on his lips. They were full and parted ever so slightly. His head turned to the side a little, and I barely knew what was happening before he was on me.
Our lips crushed together, and I melted into it. The surprise fell away and pooled into a warm, excited heat that buzzed through my body and lit my nerves on fire. The kiss grew more passionate, and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.
12
GRAHAM
I pulled back from the kiss and searched her eyes. There was a fire there, deep within. The same kind of fire I recognized in myself. Passion that welled deep and had only been stoked by our chance meeting in the bar years before. How many nights had she thought about our kiss? How many nights had we both dreamed about the other? On the same night?
Her eyes, soft and blue, were begging for another kiss. I could see it in them. And I had no intention of disappointing her.
I leaned forward to kiss her again, and she met me halfway. Our lips pressed into one another, and my tongue slid into her mouth. I could taste the sweet, sugary drink that she had been sipping, a ghost of fruit and alcohol on her breath. The kiss intensified immediately, and we pulled deep into each other, our bodies pressed tightly together.