“Because our app hooked you two up.” He grinned behind his glass.
I did the same as both of them checked the app on their phones.
“Nice!” Grayson nodded his head appreciatively.
Brittany practically glowed. “So what does this mean?”
“Well …” I sipped my drink and set it down. “If you both click on the ‘dateable’ button, then you’ll see—” They did it before I had a chance to finish. “—you can now message back and forth. If you want, you can go to homecoming together.”
Grayson typed quickly. Brittany’s phone chirped, and she giggled, typing back. When Grayson’s phone chirped, he grinned. “It worked.”
“Sooo, you’re going together?” I needed absolutes, not little smiles and my best guess.
“Yes!” Brittany threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Let’s go tell my mom.” She half dragged him away, a goofy smile on his face.
John lowered his phone. I hadn’t even realized he’d been taking pictures. He looked up and glanced around. “Let’s get this thing out of beta.” He started toward the house, taking me with him.
My pulse thrummed like wings. “Tonight?”
“Yeah, we need to strike while it’s going well.”
“But it was only one couple.” I tripped over the threshold into his kitchen. The place was spotless white, a creamy Easter blue, and stainless steel. Lots of steel, which gave it a sterile feeling. Appreciated in a kitchen, but I hoped the rest of the house wasn’t this cold.
He pressed forward, through a dining and sitting room, a billiards room, and a movie theater that looked like an Italian grotto. The wall covered in marble was probably a fountain that had been turned off. There were water stains on the rocks. I slowed down to take it in, but he pulled me onward. “Almost there.”
I picked up the pace, and we made it to a home office with a glass ceiling. An actual glass ceiling. “Is this your dad’s office?”
“Yeah.”
My dad would have a heyday with the symbolism and the subconscious decision for a male to put a glass ceiling in his home office.
“But he won’t care if we’re in here.”
He might care if I was in there. But I wasn’t about to say anything to John.
He half sat in the large leather chair and changed his mind. “Here, you do the programming. I’ll do the social media on my phone.”
I sat down, feeling like a kid playing office, and hit the space bar to bring the computer to life. John leaned against the desk and bent his head over his phone.
I brought up the school website and then the database housing our assignment. In a few minutes, I had us ready for the public. I wasn’t thrilled with the look, but it was functional. If I dared, I’d ask the designer who did his mom’s blog to take a look at it. We probably couldn’t afford her, though, and hiring out was considered cheating. “Okay, we’re a go.”
He grinned down at me. “I love how you said that—like we’re launching a rocket from the space center or something.”
“Well, it’s big.” I smiled back.
He dropped back into his task. “I’m only sending it to people who go to our school.”
“They have to log in with their student number anyway, so even if the link leaked, we’d have a fail-safe.”
“Genius,” he said to himself.
I warmed from head to toe. A tiny movement happened on the screen. I leaned forward to get a better look. “We have three people already signed up.” I got to my feet and grabbed his shoulders. “It’s working.”
He cupped my face and kissed me. It was quick and celebratory and completely took my breath away. I’m not even sure I kissed him back.
“Re—” he started to say, but I clamped my hand over his mouth.
“If you tell me you kissed me for research, I’m going to hack into the school system and change your GPA to a 2.0.”
I felt his lips clamp together under my palm. My heart fluttered at the movement. He gently pulled my hand away, his green eyes dropping to my mouth and then back up to meet my gaze. Slowly, achingly slowly, he placed his hands on my hips and pulled me closer. “I promise you, I am not going to kiss you for research.”
His voice was deeper, huskier than I’d ever heard. I couldn’t draw a breath; all I could do was wait for our lips to come together again.
He leaned down and I rose up to meet him, needing this more than I needed air. As soon as our mouths came together, I sagged into him, my knees giving out completely.
There must have been an explanation for how he could cause me to melt like a piece of chocolate in the sunshine—in Mexico. But I really didn’t care to figure it out. I wanted this moment to last forever.
We finally pulled apart, and he tucked me against his chest, leaning his chin on my head.
“I never had a lab partner like you before,” I said.
He chuckled, the sound lovely under my ear. “Me neither.” He kissed my hair, and I instantly felt precious. “Will you go to homecoming with me?”
I pulled back and looked up at him. “I’ll have to check my app.”
He tickled my side. “I’m pretty sure I know what it will say.”
I grinned. “Me too.”
His phone beeped, and he checked his texts. “We’d better get outside. The photographer wants a few shots of teenagers. Do you mind?”
Mind? Did I mind being part of his magical world where parties happen in a fairy wonderland and kisses take place in the office? “Not at all.”
Chapter Fifteen
With as wonderful as Friday night with John had been, I expected Saturday to be just as stunning. Images of hiking on Mount Rainier while holding hands or boating around the school island carried me off to sleep.
But I didn’t hear a word from John. Sunday rolled around, and I hadn’t gotten so much as a text. I mean, come on.
My parents were out of town for some conference at Niagara Falls. I googled it because they’d been so vague and it was weird for them to miss one of our brunches. It was a marriage conference. The trouble was, I didn’t know if they were going so Dad could present or if they were going to get help on their marriage.
Instead, Sydney and I had Rufus take us into Seattle, where we settled into a coffee shop just off of Pike Place Market. Tourists crowded in to watch the fishmongers toss salmon. Locals flooded the flower stalls to buy roses and daisies for five dollars a bunch.
I scowled at it all, especially the couple making kissy-faces two tables over. They were so cute in their scarves and matching Seahawks hats. “Is it normal for a guy to kiss you and then never talk to you again?”
Sydney choked on her chai tea. Several dribbles went down her shirt.
“Sorry.” I handed her a napkin. “I should have waited.”
“Who kissed you?” she gasped out. Apparently, that information was more important than air.
“John.” I flicked my hand. “But I haven’t heard from him since, and I’m starting to think it was some kind of misunderstanding.” Except it wasn’t. I’d clearly told him he couldn’t kiss me for research purposes. But there were so many other reasons he could have done it. And I was such a newb, I was pathetic. “I’m dying.” I pressed both hands to my chest and rounded my shoulders as if protecting my heart. “But I can’t text him first.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have no idea what to say. I’m so not cool, and I would come off sounding pathetic.”
She got on her phone and found him online. “Looks like he’s spent the last couple of days waterskiing with his family and some friends.”
I pulled her phone over so I could see it better. “Oh, gag! Nicole! Really?” I threw her hand and phone back at her. My insecurities ran amok.
“It’s nothing. Nicole and Terrance are a thing now.”
“How do you know this?” Sydney was like a magic mirror of information. Terrance was a forward on the basketball team. His dad had played professionally for ten yea
rs and was a legend.
“It’s all over her feed.” She showed me pics of them kissing in front of the Space Needle. So cliché.
Not saying I wouldn’t totally give my laptop for a pic like that with John.
My phone beeped, and I checked the latest match. I’d programmed the app to let me know when two people matched up and agreed to go to the dance through the app. So far, we had eleven couples. Twelve now.
“Oh no.” I stared at the screen. “Oh no, no, no.”
“What?” Sydney demanded.
I debated confidentiality versus the situation about to blow up in my face. John and I hadn’t ever discussed about the point when we could talk about the matches on the app. And since he wasn’t talking to me, I needed someone to go to for guidance. “Um, my app just matched Terrance with Jennica.”
Sydney’s nose wrinkled. “The girl who was the lead in the musical last year?”
“Yeah.” I flipped back and forth between their profiles.
“But isn’t she dating Kevin?”
“Yeah,” I repeated.
“Why are they even trying your app?”
“I don’t know!” I whined. “Maybe they wanted to see what was out there—or they did it on a dare. How am I supposed to know the mind of a teenager?”
She pressed her fingers to her temple. “Oh, this is not good.”
“No.” I crossed my arms on the table and laid my head down. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
She grabbed my shoulder. “You need to tell John.”
“I can’t!” I wailed into the tabletop. “He kissed me, and like a lovesick fool, I thought it meant something. I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be.” She rubbed my back. “I’m sure he cares about you.”
I wished I could agree with her. Instead, I sat up and scrubbed my face. “My project is about to blow up in my face. Nicole won’t take this lightly. She’ll probably kill me. Want to sleep in my room tonight? You can testify in court at the murder trial.”
She stuck out her lower lip. “I won’t let her within ten feet of you.”
“Thanks. You’re a good friend.” I stared at my bagel, no longer hungry. As far as last meals went, this one was subpar.
Chapter Sixteen
“It was just a kiss,” I muttered under my breath as I maneuvered my way down Jock Hall to the locker room. All the athletes had their lockers here because they spent most of the day in training. The rest of us mere mortals had regular gym classes.
Coach Nicolson had sent out a text the night before that we should carb up because we were running five miles today. Five miles. I hated him because five miles was monotonous and left my brain free to stress over John, the kiss, the lack of phone calls/texts from him, and his party weekend with Nicole.
I made it to the locker room and changed quickly but barely made it out to the track before he fired the starting gun. I glared at him. “You realize this is not a race, right?” I knelt down to attach a tag to my shoe that would count my laps. Our school was nothing if it wasn’t high-tech. The number would flash on the screen as I ran by.
He laughed. “Everything’s a competition, Miss Greenwood. Get out there.” He waved his arm for me to get going.
I rolled my eyes but picked it up to a low jog to warm up. I made it around once and limbered up enough to go faster.
I was on my third lap when I felt a presence at my elbow. “On your left.”
I started at the deep voice. Our class wasn’t co-ed. Stumbling, I turned to see John, wearing running shorts and a tee shirt that hugged his chest as tightly as I wanted to.
I schooled my feelings and told the butterflies spinning circles in my stomach to knock it off. He’d kissed and run—that wasn’t cool.
“We have a problem.” He wasn’t even breaking a sweat, and I could feel moisture collecting under my bra. In about thirty seconds, I was going to melt in front of him.
“Where did you come from?” I asked.
“I snuck out of history. Shh, I’m in disguise.” His eyes danced with mirth.
“What problem?” As far as I could see, there were several problems between us, starting with a kiss that I was starting to think I’d imagined.
“Nicole.” He pointed to the phone strapped to his arm in some kind of running band. I instantly wanted one. My phone was back in my locker.
“What about her?” I emotionally braced myself for the words I knew were coming. He’d realized he was totally in love with her and was taking her to homecoming. I couldn’t breathe. That could have been because I had to sprint to keep up with John’s long legs. I tried to look at the screen while we ran, but couldn’t read the tiny words. I grabbed his arm and held it in front of me. His skin was warm, and he smelled spicy.
He had to be ahead to make it work, but he adjusted without complaining. I scanned the post. Terrane had dumped Nicole and asked Jennica to the dance because our app had matched them up. All my fears were right there in black and white.
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. She’s calling us a hoax and threatening to socially destroy anyone who uses the app.”
“She can’t do that!”
“She did.” He had to look over his shoulder to talk to me.
I let go of his arm and moved up beside him. My brain wasn’t running as fast as my feet. I blamed it on the distribution of blood—when I ran, it all pooled in my legs and left me lightheaded. See? Running sucks.
Even with my mental issues, I caught on that he wasn’t dumping me for Nicole, and I broke into a smile.
He pulled his eyebrows together. “I thought you’d be more upset. We had twelve kids drop out, and no one new has signed on.”
I cursed. My dream was falling to pieces around me, and I was gathering daisies about a cute boy. Pay attention, I scolded myself. “We may have to adjust the algorithm to include a crush.” My brain was a lap behind, but I did my best to drag it along.
“Why? What do you mean?”
“If someone has a crush on someone else and they don’t get matched up, they won’t enjoy the date as much. But if there’s a way to give precedence to a crush, then our matches would be more successful. At least in the initial phase. How they get along at the dance is up to them.”
He was shaking his head long before I finished talking. “No one’s going to tell us that.”
“It’s secure. No one is breaking into our database.”
He breathed through his nose for a minute as he thought. “I think your rep would be insurance enough. No one would question you if you said it was safe.”
I warmed all over in a way that had nothing to do with being on my fifth lap. “Do you think so?”
“Yeah. Everyone knows you’re a genius.”
“Then why wouldn’t they trust the app?”
“Because they have proof that it broke someone up.”
I moaned. “They’d been dating for, like, two days.”
“Right.” We passed Coach, and John lifted two fingers in a wave.
I gasped. “I thought you were flying under the radar.”
“The best way to do that is to be as visible as possible. Sneaking around only makes you look guilty.”
I laughed. “You’ve got guts. I’ll give you that.”
“Okay, back to this crush thing. What do we do if, say, three guys like one girl?” He looked at me hard, out of the corner of his eye.
I had this weird feeling that he was talking about me. But I couldn’t come right out and ask. Just like I couldn’t ask him what the kiss meant to him. I mean, three guys couldn’t be crushing on me. I would have known.
Okay, probably not. I had no idea what was going on in the world of crushes outside of my own.
“I guess the guy she has a crush on wins.” I met his stare, hoping he understood that I was trying to tell him I liked him back. We drifted closer together, and my stomach fluttered.
“I feel bad for the other two guys.” His voice had gone husky.
&n
bsp; I was caught up in him, in the way his green eyes had grabbed hold of my stare and the pulse at the base of his neck. I wanted to touch him, to assure myself that he was real and looking at me like I was the only person in the world—in his world.
“Adelle, I wanted to tell you—”
Just as I reached out, I ran smack into Jenny Meek and we both fell in a tumble. Jenny screamed like I’d dropped a snake in her shirt. I tucked and rolled to the best of my ability, but my elbow stung with track rash.
Jenny threw her black hair off her face and glared at me. “You idiot.” She added a bunch of other words; some I’d heard before, but others were new. We’re always expanding our vocabulary here at MLA.
Jenny was part of a clique with Chloe Davenport. Chloe wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with, because she’d done some horrible things. Her family lawyer probably hated her because she added work to his already full load.
Great. Now I’d not only ticked off Nicole, but Jenny too.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as John helped me up. I brushed off my palms, and he reached for Jenny.
She instantly brightened and gave him a pouty look. “I think I hurt my ankle. Can you help me to the nurse?” She hung on his arm like a Christmas tree ornament—all hooks.
He glanced at me.
“Go on. I have to finish my laps anyway.” I glanced down to make sure my knees were unscathed. The small rash on my elbow wasn’t bleeding and didn’t need attention, but it stung something fierce.
“Are you sure you can’t come?” He glanced down at Jenny.
“My grade depends on this, and I don’t have time this week to make it up.” The more he looked like he wanted me with him, the more I wanted to go.
I was just about to give in and figure the rest out later when Coach showed up. “What’s going on?”
Jenny drew tears to her eyes. I didn’t know how she managed to pull them out of thin air, but she did. “Adelle tripped me.”
“On accident,” I added quickly.
“John offered to take me to the nurse. My ankle really hurts.”
Don't Kiss Your Lab Partner Page 8
