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“Did you.”
“Yep.” Her lips curl in a Cheshire cat grin. “Had my first kiss right there on that bed.”
“With who?”
“Tommy Dalton,” she tells me. “He was in my algebra class.”
I grind my teeth. “Any good?”
“Not really,” she laughs. “Too much tongue.”
Why the fuck do I hate this so much?
“Poor Tommy,” I mutter, absolutely not meaning it at all.
“Yeah, well,” she says with another quiet chuckle. “I was pining for someone else, so the poor guy never stood a chance.”
“Someone else?”
Her gaze finds mine, her mouth pressing into a line as she studies me. “Yeah. Someone older.”
My stomach flutters with…something.
“Oh?”
“Mhm.” She takes a step toward me, and I feel my heart begin to race. “Someone who just saw me as a kid.”
I swallow thickly, watching her take another step. “I guess it never worked out, then, huh?”
“Nah. He was always going to see me as Jack’s little sister back then.” Her teeth press against her lip, and fuck if I’m fixated on the sight. “But I still think about him.”
Fuck, does she mean…?
I clear my throat. “Anyone I know?”
“Hm. You could say that.”
She’s close now, and her hand reaches to toy with the collar of my shirt, just a light touch that still causes goose bumps to break out along my skin. Without thinking, my hand shoots out to wrap my fingers around her wrist, watching her pupils dilate as I grip it tight, forcing her palm to press against my chest. I can feel the warmth of it through my shirt, and her eyes slowly move down to stare at my hand. They linger there for a second, maybe more, and when she tilts her head back up to meet my gaze, I realize I’m holding my breath.
“Lila, I—”
“You really never noticed?”
Her voice is barely a whisper now, and I feel like I’m under a spell, watching her lean in ever so slightly.
“I…” I struggle for words, because the implication is there, but to acknowledge it would be a game changer for the both of us. It would mean changing everything we’ve ever known, everything we’ve ever been—and is that really wise? Am I actually leaning in too? “Lila, I—”
“You two found it yet?” Bea calls from back in the dining room. “It’s on the top shelf!”
Lila steps away from me lightning fast, the warmth from her closeness fading like it had never been there and a happy mask sliding over her features as she flashes me a grin. “Sorry,” she says. “I just like seeing you flustered, Cupcake.”
My mouth parts, only to close again, something deflating inside. She was joking with me? Really?
“Very funny,” I manage dryly.
That glint of sadness is back in her eyes, and it comes and goes so quickly I might almost miss it, but I don’t. I see it. I see it well enough that it makes me wonder if she was really joking. And if she wasn’t, what does that mean for us and all the thoughts I keep having?
“Let’s grab that game and head back,” Lila says. “Bea gets cranky when you make her wait.”
