Becky shrugs helplessly, holding that ugly frog close to her chest.
“C’mon, let’s go and find the guys.”
Together we move around, looking for our friends. Becky sees a stand with cotton candy, and the girls decide to buy one to share.
I snap some photos as they get their faces all covered in candy, which results in Becky chasing after me to get my phone.
You’d think after seventeen years of friendship, she’d be better at this by now, but she’s still the least athletic person I know. Becky trips twice, almost falling face first, when Miguel appears and catches her before she breaks her nose.
“I think that’s our cue to go.” Miguel laughs as he helps steady her. He looks down at the ugly frog she’s still clutching tightly. “What’s that thing?”
I pat him on the shoulder as I pass them by on my way back to Kate and Penny. “Her Prince Charming. Good luck with that.”
Kate and Penny are still standing where we left them, munching on the candy.
“You have something…” I swipe my finger over the tip of Kate’s nose. “There, that’s better.” I look between the two girls. “You ladies ready to go home?”
“Yup.”
The rest of the crew joins us on our way out. There are fewer people now than there were when we got here, so we get back to the parking lot in no time. Becky, Nico, and Miguel huddle in Miguel’s truck, waving their goodbyes.
The drive back is quiet. The radio is playing softly in the background, and Penny is sitting between the two of us, dozing off. Kate and I share occasional glances, but neither of us says anything.
Just as I’m pulling onto their street, Kate shakes Penny awake. “We’re home.”
“Oh, okay.”
Penny rubs at her eyes sleepily as I park in their driveaway. I get out and meet them on the passenger side, just as Kate helps Penny out.
Penny looks up, her eyes almost meeting mine. “Thank you for today, Emmett. I had so much fun.”
“C’mere.” I offer her my hand, which she takes, coming into my arms and hugging me, squishing the pink teddy between us in the process.
“And thank you for Pinky.”
“It was my pleasure.”
Giving me one final squeeze, she pulls back. “I’m going inside. I’ll see you soon, Emmett.”
We watch her as she gets to the door. As soon as she pulls it open, she’s assaulted by Henry’s slobbery tongue. Giggling softly, she pushes the dog inside so she can enter.
“Next time, we should take the dog too. I think you broke the poor pup’s heart.”
Kate turns toward me, observing me silently for a moment. Her face is unreadable, making me nervous. Lifting my ball cap off my head, I ruffle my hair before putting it back.
“You’re something else, Emmett Santiago,” Kate says finally, after what feels like forever.
“Is that a good thing?”
There is another pause where she just looks at me. I’m not sure what to make of it.
After what seems like an eternity, she nods. “Yeah, it’s a good thing.”
Lifting on the tips of her toes, she presses her mouth against my cheek. It’s soft. So soft I can barely feel it. Just a brush of her mouth against my cheek, and then she’s pulling back, and I have to convince myself I didn’t imagine it.
“Thank you for today. I really had fun.”
Kate smiles at me while I stand there, dumbfounded. My heart is thundering in my chest so loudly I can barely decipher her words. Blood rushing through my veins. It’s like lightning has struck me, and I can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t—
“Emmett?”
“Hmmm?” I blink, trying to focus on her instead of the tingling sensation her lips left on my skin.
“I kissed you first,” she says, as if I need to hear that to know what just happened.
She kissed me.
Katherine kissed me first.
It wasn’t the kiss I had imagined for weeks. No, in a way, it was even better.
With one final smile, Kate turns around to walk away, but before she can slip out of my reach, I wrap my hand around her wrist and pull her back to me. She crashes into my chest, sucking in a breath, but before she can say anything, I bend down and place my mouth on hers.
I can hear her soft inhale as I kiss her gently, swiping my mouth over hers slowly so I can prolong this moment as much as possible.
Her mouth is lush under mine as she returns my kiss. My tongue slides over her lips, seeking entrance, and a soft moan rips from her lungs as her tongue tangles with mine. Swirling. Sucking. Tasting.
Kate wraps her arms around my neck, her fingers running through the hair at the back of my neck as I give one final sweep of my mouth before pulling back.
“Kitty?”
She blinks her eyes open, dazed like I was just moments ago. “Hmm?”
Her cheeks are pink, mouth swollen from our kiss. I swipe my thumb over her lower lip, enjoying the softness of her skin.
“I kissed you back.”
“Yeah,” she sighs. “Yeah, you did.”
I grin at her. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“That you liked tonight as much as I did?”
“That too, but also…” I press my mouth against hers once more. Just a quick peck on the lips before pulling back. “You’re mine now.”
Chapter Twenty
KATHERINE
“That was brutal,” I groan as we exit the classroom.
“Tell me about it. There is no way I’ll pass.” Becky shakes her head. “And my momma will kill me.”
“Like, seriously, who thought pop quizzes were a good way to measure somebody’s knowledge?”
“Beats me.” Becky rubs her temples. “The only thing they give me is a premature heart attack.” She looks at me. “How did you do?”
“No idea.” I shrug. Maybe if I’d spent more of the weekend studying and less thinking about a certain boy, and the way his eyes darkened as he kissed me. Yeah, better not to go there. “I figured if I write something, at least it’ll look like I was paying attention, you know?”
“You know what? Who cares? What’s done is done. But they better have some mac and cheese in the cafeteria because I’m starving from all this stress.”
“Priorities,” I chuckle, my own stomach growling in agreement.
“Damn right.”
We chat the rest of the way to the cafeteria about the rest of our classes. Becky had Mrs. Marty last year, and she’s telling me all about the class as we grab our lunch and pay.
Becky looks up, eyes scanning the crowd until they land on our table. It’s funny—if you asked me last week, I’d have told you it’s their table, but not today.
Is it because of the kiss? No, I don’t think so. It was a nice kiss, don’t get me wrong, better than nice, really, but little by little, these people started to sneak under my skin, making me feel accepted into their group.
“You can always rely on that they’ll be here, eating as soon as the bell rings,” she says, shaking her head.
My eyes fall on the table in the middle of the room that’s filled with Emmett and his teammates, my stomach doing a somersault as he laughs at something Nico said.