“Ah. That one.” She shook her head. “I guess he really didn’t like me then. He didn’t need to lie about concentrating on football though.” She swallowed. “Maybe I really am hideous.”
“You’re as far from hideous as it’s possible to be.” Tanner winked.
“So why didn’t he want to take me to the dance?” Maybe she was more hurt than she thought. God, she hated this whole being a teenager thing. Just a few more months and they’d be graduating, and she could escape from this damn town and its gossip and expectations.
“Because he’s an asshole.” Tanner let out a mouthful of air. “And because I told him not to.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“He was talking about you in the locker room and I didn’t like it.” Tanner eyed her warily. “Kept talking about how you were bound to put out if you were anything like your mom. So I told him not to take you to the dance.”
“And he just agreed to that?”
Tanner shrugged. “I might have sweetened the deal with a threat or two.”
Heat flushed through her. “Damn, Tanner. I can’t believe you did that.”
“I’m just looking out for you. It completely sucks, but guys talk about girls in the locker room all the time. They rate them out of ten. I don’t want you to be the one they’re talking about. Because I’ll end up having to fight someone.”
“Like I did?”
He almost smiled. “Yeah. Except when you hit Chrissie it wasn’t exactly the way guys hit.”
“You are sexist. I knew it.”
“I’m not sexist. I’m a realist. And I’m not going to listen to a guy talk about you like that and not do something about it.” He sighed. “So do me a favor and avoid the football team.”
“It’s clear they’re avoiding me, not the other way around.” She tried to feel angry, but it was impossible with Tanner. And as much as she hated the way the world worked, there was truth in his words. She knew how strong he was, could see it in every movement. If he hit Nathan Daniels it would hurt him bad. And Tanner would be in big trouble. “I’m never going to be kissed, am I?”
“Of course you will. By the right guy.”
“And who decides if he’s right?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips. “You?”
“I know how guys think. And I know that you’re not the kind of girl who wants to be thought about like that. We’ve got a plan, remember? We’re gonna study like crazy, get into college, and get the hell out of here. You don’t want to mess it up with kissing the wrong guys.”
“Maybe I do. Maybe I want to be kissed and touched and shown that I’m more than Tanner’s friend. More than the daughter of the town slut. Maybe I want a guy to kiss me so hard I forget my name.”
The moonlight sharpened the lines of his face, highlighting the bone structure all the girls went crazy over. “Van...”
“What?”
He stopped walking, grabbing her arm to stop her, too. “You’re beautiful,” he told her. “You know that. And guys want you. Why wouldn’t they? You’re like a piece of fucking sunshine that’s fallen to the ground.”
She blinked. “A piece of sunshine?”
“I’m a mathematician, not a poet.”
Still, the words hit her right in the chest.
He reached out to cup the side of her face, her chin tucked into his palm. “You. Are. Beautiful. And the thought of those assholes
kissing you kills me.”
Her breath caught in her throat, because he was staring at her in a way she’d never thought possible. Like she was the moon and the stars and everything in between. It made her legs feel weak.
“Tanner…”
“You want to be kissed?” he whispered. “Then I’ll kiss you.”