Page 57 of The Fast Lane
“Alright, yes, I’m hungry, thank you.” I took the bag, careful not to touch his fingers, and hightailed it back to the bed. “I don’t know what this is, but it smells like Heaven.”
Theo entered the room and closed the door slowly. He made his way to the only place to sit in the room that wasn’t the bed—a rickety wooden chair tucked under a built-in desk.
“General Tso’s Chicken. My favorite.”
“Yeah, I know. I can’t promise how good it is. The place also had pizza, hamburgers, lamb, and all-day breakfast on the menu.”
“I don’t care,” I said, taking a bite. The spicy goodness hit my tongue. With a moan of glee, I slid my eyes shut. “It’s so good.”
Theo cleared his throat. My eyes popped open. His blue gaze was watching me intensely. That kiss, the one I was trying desperately to forget, came rushing back. Don’t look at his mouth, Ramos. Do not do it.
But I did anyway. Who would have thought his lips would be so soft, or how fast he’d taken control? Had he wondered, too, about what it would be like to kiss me?
After setting the takeout box on the nightstand, I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “Thanks for dinner.”
“No problem.”
The ensuing silence was painful. PAINFUL.
“I should get to bed,” I said at the same time he said, “We should talk.”
With a groan, I fell back on the bed. “I hate talking.”
“Nice try. I seem to remember you once vowed to talk for twenty-four hours straight just to annoy us.”
I laughed. “You all never could find that walkie-talkie.”
The four of them were having yet another boys-only sleepover. Eleven-year-old me was not invited. So, I’d put a fresh set of batteries in my walkie-talkies, hid one carefully and out of sight in my brothers’ bedroom where they were spending the evening, and waited. When midnight hit, I started talking. I recited the Pledge of Allegiance about twenty times, listed off every person in my fifth-grade class and everything I knew about them, and then began reading one of Mom’s pilfered romance novels aloud.
“I wonder how long I talked for?”
“At least three hours. You fell asleep mid-sentence.”
I grinned at the ceiling. “I was a brat, wasn’t I?”
“But you were fun to have around.”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
The chair squeaked and a moment later, Theo’s face appeared above me. “We do need to talk.”
“That sounds so grown up.”
The bed bounced as he plopped next to me, close enough that his thigh brushed mine. Ignore it, Ali. “It’s a good thing we’re adults then.”
I flung an arm across my eyes, the better to hide myself. “Speak for yourself.”
Fingers closed around my arm and lifted it from my face. Blinking, I turned my head and found him studying me with steady blue eyes. He said nothing, just watched me, his expression unreadable.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen. I was trying to get that woman off your back. I only meant to kiss you on the cheek. Then you turned and…” As my voice trailed off, the heat climbed up my face. Even my ears felt hot.
“It was a mistake,” Theo said, his voice low and oddly tense.
It hadn’t felt like a mistake though.
“Right.” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat and said it more forcefully. “Right. A mistake. Because we’re not like that, you and me. We’re friends.”
Sixteen-year-old Ali would have gnawed off her right hand for the chance to kiss Theo. That was the same Ali who had practically thrown herself at him one embarrassing never-to-be-spoken-of day. The same Ali whose heart was shattered in a million tiny little shards by the end of that same day.