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“Hey, she offered.”
Nolan shook his head, dirty blond hair made lighter by the sun, falling into his eyes. Isla watched as a smile tugged at the edges of his mouth. She loved when he smiled; it was infectious and made her happy.
They only made it one more block before Harper came to a halt. “Okay, train stops here.”
Milo slipped off her back and bent down in front of her. “You want a lift now?”
“No.”
“No?” Milo slapped a hand to his chest and let his knees wobble. “You wound me. I’m just trying to be a gentleman.”
Harper rolled her eyes, though she was clearly amused. She gave Milo a shove, and they all fell into pace together. Harper’s street was next, and Milo, being the gentleman he was, walked her the rest of the way while Isla and Nolan headed toward his place.
She wanted to stop by and say hi to Grandma, so she walked with him.
“I had fun today,” Nolan said as he kicked a pebble in the road.
“Me too.” They hadn’t done much other than walk around town and grab some pizza, but it didn’t matter. It was always a good time when they were all together. They made it fun.
They turned on to Nolan’s street, but he came to a stop and sat down on the curb. He bent to tie his shoe, but it was already tied. Isla sat next to him, grateful for the break in walking, even though their destinations were only a couple hundred feet away.
“Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow?” Nolan asked.
“Sure, I can call Harper and Olivia and see if they’re down.”
Nolan’s shoulders fell forward, and he let out a slow breath before meeting her gaze. “I mean just the two of us. Like a date.”
“A date? But we’re friends,” Isla said.
Nolan sighed. “Friends don’t think about kissing each other.”
Isla’s head snapped up, and she felt her eyes widen. “You think about kissing me?”
“All the time,” he said without hesitation.
“Oh.” She bit her lip, trying to conceal the smile that was attempting to spread wide. Heat rushed into her cheeks, and she glanced up at him. “I think about kissing you, too. Maybe not all the time, but a lot.” This time she didn’t bite her lip, letting her smile naturally bloom.
“Then maybe we should.”
“Maybe we should!” she declared, hoping it would cover her nerves, but as soon as the words were out, she realized the high-pitched tone only highlighted them. “I mean… let’s do it.”
“You sure?” he asked, his voice dropping to a whisper. His blue eyes pinned her in place, and she nodded, momentarily forgetting how to speak. He moved closer to her, his thigh pressing against hers until he shifted to face her.
She sucked in a surprised breath at how close he actually was. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheeks and smell the mint of the gum he’d been chewing. Oh no! What if she had garlic breath? She ate pizza and now she was kicking herself for not taking a piece of gum from Olivia. Darn it! If only she had a time machine to go back and say yes instead of, I’m good. But how was she supposed to know Nolan Parker wanted to kiss her?
They’d known each other since they were six, and he never wanted to kiss her before. Well… according to him he thought about it… a lot. But he never made a move or said anything to her. And now here she was, completely unprepared for a kiss she’d thought about on numerous occasions.
How could she not? The boy was super cute with his blue eyes and Justin Bieber inspired haircut. Though he was much cuter than the Biebs. At least in her eyes, anyway.
His face came closer, and she sucked in a breath, afraid to breathe on him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I should’ve chewed gum!” she announced, and she swore her voice echoed through the entire neighborhood.
“Your breath is fine,” he said as if he knew exactly where her train of thought had gone.
“How do you know?”
