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I just want to be home.
Liam and Felicity’s wedding is an excellent excuse to be back here with no one asking questions. I kind of left this place in a huff, eager to prove I didn’t need anyone here. I could make it on my own three thousand miles from home, thank you very much.
Oh, how I was wrong about that.
I swirl my drink and stare into the dark wine as if I can see my past, present, and future in it while my thoughts draw me away from the surrounding party.
College hasn’t been at all what I expected. I thought I would join a sorority, find my place amongst my sisters, and sail through my classes with ease.
The classes aren’t so hard, but the sisterhood I thought I would find didn’t exactly pan out. As much as I thought I was on the fringes of Clover Creek, I’m truly on the fringes of Nu Theta Nu Nu. Being home is like slipping into a warm blanket, but I can’t really let anyone know or I’ll never hear the end of it.
“Pictures are finally done.” My brother plops down next to me and I swig my wine before I answer him.
Elijah watches me, eyes narrowed, red hair mussed from the day’s activities. “What’s wrong? I know you hate being home, but mom’s thrilled—”
I hand him my glass and stand up, plastering a smile onto my face. For once, it’s not fake. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m headed to get some snacks. Want anything?”
He tips his beer and shakes his head. “Nope. Just hiding out here before mom calls for another round of pictures.”
I snort and leave my brother behind as I go in search of a snack.
I see exactly what I want at the chocolate fondue fountain.
“Hi,” I breathe.
Ben clutches a tiny paper plate and grins as he faces me. “Hey there. I was just grabbing some food and coming to find you—”
Emboldened by the wine and giddy from how good it feels to be home, I loop my arm in his. “There’s this secret place. You might not know about it. I know you graduated like a decade before me—”
He scoffs and dips his head right next to my ear. “I graduated like eight years before you.”
The fact he knows that—and the heat of his breath on my neck—sends a shiver through me. Ben must have felt that shiver too, because he sets his food down and pulls me closer to him. “You were saying?”
“You graduated ages before me,” I squeak out, trying to sound more confident than I am. “But I’m guessing the make-out spot was the same for your generation?”
“My generation?” His words rumble from his chest and through my arm as he laughs.
“So? Have you heard of it?” I smirk and look up at him through heavy eyelids.
It would be easy to blame this feeling on the wine, but I only had one glass. It’s him. Just him. I’m drunk on Ben Steel.
“Of course I’ve heard of it.” His mouth ticks up into this mischievous smile and he steers me around the tables, out of the big white tent, and into the park.
My heart’s thundering and my stomach’s ready to jump out of my body as I do my best to keep my cool. The guy I loved from afar when I was little, but always knew was off limits, is leading me through a maze of trees to the worst kept secret in Clover Creek.
“Do I know the make-out spot?” he murmurs, tugging me around the biggest tree in the park. “Do you know the make-out spot?”
He presses me against the tree that’s hiding me from the rest of the wedding party, and as his lips meet mine before I can answer, I know I’ve never been to the make-out spot like this before.
Chapter Two
Ben
“You are so beautiful, Phoebe Decker.” With my lips pressed to her neck, I drink in her sweet scent, her wild red curls dancing between us.
She started the night with an updo worthy of any Jane Austen movie adaptation, but after hours of pictures and an unnaturally humid spring day, she’s transformed into this natural goddess and I can’t get enough of her in either form.
I search my mind for some way to convey this to her. She’s used to reading romance novels where the leading man has all these suave quips and I want to say something that will wow her, but I can’t find the words. I’m sure if her hands weren’t on my arm, I could think straight.
