“No, you’re not,” I say fiercely. “But you’re not a celebrity. I’d love you to come.”
I take her hands, lean over, and brush my lips along hers.
“We can shock the world. Let them know I’m taken.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I knew it the moment I saw you,” I tell her.
I caution myself to slow down, but then she kisses me hard. She kisses me like she’s starving for it, and I return the kiss, tasting her body, feeling her, as if something in her and in me is joining, fusing.
“I’m not sure,” she says. “The whole celebrity thing…I think I’ll skip this one. Just for now. Is that okay?”
I peck her on the cheek, knowing I’ll lose control otherwise.
“Whatever you choose is okay with me,” I tell her.
My phone starts to vibrate from the glove compartment. I take it out and glance at it.
“It’s Bryce. He’s called me eleven times. What the hell?”
“It must be important…”
I’m about to answer when Rachael’s phone starts to ring. It distracts me, then Bryce stops calling. From the notifications, I can see he’s left me several voicemails.
“What?” Lucy says down the phone, then her voice rises. “Are you serious?”
She hangs up and looks at me.
“We need to go upstairs.”
“What is it?”
“Please, just come with me. I can’t tell you. Jane has it ready.”
Before she can finish, a woman bursts from the apartment. She’s tall with blonde hair, running across the street in workout gear. She runs right up to the car with her phone in her hand.
Lucy and I climb out. My phone starts ringing again.
“Can you believe it?” says the woman, presumably her roommate, Jane. “Ican’t.”
“What?” I say.
“Look,” Lucy murmurs from beside me.
We both walk around the car, staring at Jane’s phone.
It’s a photo of Lucy and me taken at the window of the community center.
We’re kissing.
I answer my phone and hold it to my ear. “Yeah, Bryce. I’ve just seen it.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Lucy
“I know you warned me,” Logan says on the phone, looking almost surreal as he sits on the couch, phone in his hand like I can’t believe he’s here.