Authors: Keris Stainton
Emma hearts LA (19 page)
I look down at myself and then back up at him. ‘So do you.’
We both grin.
‘I think we need to talk,’ I tell him.
He nods. ‘I know just the place. Come with me.’
I follow him up the staircase at the side of the building. There are a couple of people posing for photos in front of the view, but I follow Oscar around towards the back and then it’s just us.
‘I’ve been freaking out,’ I tell him. I look out at the view, at all the lights stretching out into the distance, towards the ocean, towards where I live now.
‘Because of the kiss?’ he says.
I look at him and then back at the view. ‘Yes, because of the kiss. I’m so sorry I pulled away like that. You just took me by surprise.’
‘I know. It wasn’t my best work.’
I laugh. ‘The whole thing took me by surprise. Not just the kiss. You’ve changed, you know? You’ve kept all the funny, quirky, weird—’
‘I think “eccentric” is the polite word.’
‘Well, you’ve still got all the eccentric bits, but now you’ve got this amazing smile and sexy arms and you’re so confident and together. I didn’t expect it.’
‘You’re just as gorgeous as you always were,’ he says. ‘But now you’re here.’
My stomach flips over almost painfully. I turn away from the view and look at Oscar.
He takes a deep breath and then he says, ‘I really like you. When you left with Alex that night, I really wanted to punch him. And you know that wouldn’t have ended well for me.’
‘I’m so sorry about that. I think I only invited him because I was scared to be alone with you.’
Oscar laughs. ‘You could’ve just said no when I asked you to come to the Wok.’
‘I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise our friendship.’
‘I know. And I felt such an idiot when I kissed you that day. I didn’t mean to do it like that. I was going to ask you out or at least say something, but then you were there and I really wanted to and I know it freaked you out. I just didn’t really know how to fix it. It’s hard to say “I really like you and if you don’t like me the same way I’ll be devastated, but I really want us to stay friends. Will you be OK with me sniffing your hair every now and then?”’
‘You could’ve put it in a song,’ I say, grinning.
‘You think I didn’t try?’ He smiles.
We stare at each other.
‘So,’ I say, ‘if you wanted to sniff my hair now, that would be fine with me.’
‘Really?’ he says. ‘And what if I wanted to kiss you?’
I don’t bother answering, I just kiss him. Oscar.
His hands slide round my waist and I move mine up his back. One of his hands moves up into my hair and I press up closer to him. Then I hear someone coming up the steps and I pull away. Oscar and I lean back against the wall while a woman with spiky white hair takes photos of the view with an enormous camera, pretending we’re not there. All the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck.
‘I spoke to my dad,’ I say.
‘Really? That’s great.’ He hooks his index finger around mine and we just stand like that, holding fingers. It’s nice.
‘Yeah. I told him how pissed off I was that he left, but how I want him to be happy so I’m trying to get over it.’
‘That sounds…promising.’
I laugh. ‘I’m paraphrasing. I said some nice stuff too.’
Oscar hooks his middle finger with mine.
‘I think that was part of why I had such a hard time with this,’ I say, lifting up our hands.
‘Because of your dad?’
I nod. ‘I really thought I’d lost him, you know? I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him. And it’s been so good with you since we got here… I didn’t want to risk losing you too.’
‘That’s not going to happen,’ Oscar says.
‘It might,’ I say.
‘OK, it might,’ he says, ‘but let’s promise to try really, really hard for it not to.’
‘OK,’ I say.
‘OK,’ he says, smiling.
The woman finishes taking photos and goes back down the steps. I look at Oscar.
He grins back at me. ‘So this is nice.’
I laugh. ‘Don’t make it weird.’
‘Well, it is a bit weird. I mean, I’ve been thinking about this for years and now…’
‘For years? Seriously?’
‘You didn’t know?’
‘I had no idea.’
‘Well, I was trying to be subtle. Keep it low key, you know.’
‘You did a good job,’ I say, smiling.
We look at each other for a few seconds and he glances down at my mouth. I look at his. It’s nice. He’s definitely grown into it. I kiss him again.
I don’t know how long we’re up there kissing, but by the time we stop it’s completely dark and I’m utterly flustered.
‘I think I need to sit down,’ Oscar says, dropping one last kiss just under my ear – it sends tingles through my entire body.
‘I think there are some seats near the food,’ I say, but before I’ve even finished the sentence, Oscar’s sitting down on the floor.
I sit next to him. He puts his arm around me and I snuggle against him. He smells lovely. Familiar. Like Oscar.
‘Look,’ he says, pointing.
It’s a full moon. I hadn’t even realised. And it’s clear enough to see the stars.
‘One day you’ll be up there,’ I say.
‘I’ll give you a wave,’ he says.
‘I really hope you get there,’ I say. ‘I bet you will.’
‘I bet you will too,’ Oscar says.
‘Where?’
‘Wherever you want to go.’
I kiss him again.
I meet Oscar by the duck pond. He’s leaning over the railings chatting to the ducks as if they can actually understand him. Completely barmy. I wrap my arms around his waist from behind and rest my head between his shoulders.
‘Come here,’ he says. ‘I can’t kiss you if you’re back there.’
I kiss the back of his neck. ‘But I can kiss you.’
He grabs me and swings me round into a dip. I howl, laughing, and, I admit, shriek a bit. I don’t want to be dropped on the pavement.
‘Cover your eyes,’ he says to the ducks. ‘This may get a bit steamy.’
He pulls me to my feet and I look over at the ducks, half-expecting them to have their wings over their faces. I’m becoming as mad as Oscar.
Oscar pulls me against him and kisses me and I grab hold of the railing for support. We’ve done a lot of kissing over the past few months and it has all been utterly excellent. I can’t believe I spent so many years not kissing Oscar. If I’d known what I was missing, I would’ve jumped him back home in Manchester.
We say goodbye to the ducks – I think they appreciate it – and, holding hands, walk back to the canal and then head for the beach.
Oscar and I cross the bridge and the main road and then walk down one of the narrow walk streets that leads to the beach.
‘How did your class go?’ Oscar asks me.
I’m enrolled in school and absolutely love it. I go to Venice High, which was used for the movie
Grease
. Bex and I were obsessed with that movie a couple of years ago, so it’s pretty surreal that I go there now. They’re running art classes for extra credit and the first one was yesterday.
‘I loved it,’ I tell him.
‘I knew you would,’ he says, hugging me against him.
As we turn onto the Boardwalk, a girl crosses in front of us and I realise it’s Tabby. She’s wearing a mini dress, carrying her shoes in one hand and talking on the phone.
‘Walk of shame?’ Oscar whispers to me and I grin.
I take a quick snap of her back view with my phone. My project for the art class is ‘community’ and I’m planning to sketch the things I see around Venice.
We walk along the Boardwalk towards Santa Monica. I take a few more photos for my project and then, when Oscar picks a spot to busk, I sit on the grass embankment behind him and take out my sketchbook.
I’m supposed to be sketching the crowd, but I find myself sketching Oscar instead. I can’t believe I used to have to ask myself if I thought he was attractive. Now I find him utterly gorgeous. His face is interesting and funny and so familiar – I never get tired of looking at it.
I still can’t quite believe I had to come halfway across the world to fall in love with someone I’ve known for most of my life, but I’m not all that surprised. I think it was in the stars. Or is that too cheesy?
THE END
Thank you to…
My agent, Alice, for having my back.
My editor, Caitlin, for pushing me to make this book SO MUCH better. Even if she did make me take out an
S Club 7
reference.
Thy Bui and Mike Lemanski for the gorgeous cover. I love it even more than the last one, which I wouldn’t have thought possible.
Stella for accompanying me to LA, driving me everywhere, not complaining when her feet were reduced to bloody stumps and being an all-round-fabulous travelling companion and friend. Where shall we go next?
Anstey Spraggan for being my travel guru (and dim sum orderer).
Beki Hobbs for the
Stellar Highway
suggestion.
Sally Lawton and Anis Khan for showing me round the theatre and inspiring an important scene in
Jessie Hearts NYC
. I forgot to thank them last time and I felt AWFUL about it.
My online writing sisters: Sophia Bennett, Cat Clarke, Keren David, Susie Day, Fiona Dunbar, Tamsyn Murray, Gillian Philip, Luisa Plaja, Kay Woodward.
My *other* online writing sisters (I’m very lucky): Anstey, Claire, Clodagh, Debs, Emily, Fionnuala, Helen, Jacqui, Michele, Paula, Sarah, Trina, Zoe.
Laura (Sisterspooky) and Raimy (Readaraptor) for cheerleading, butt-kicking and for being THE BEST first readers, and Steffi for being the first pre-orderer!
All the lovely book bloggers whose dedication and enthusiasm are so inspiring.
Everyone who’s bought or borrowed my previous books.
Melissa Cox for being so incredibly supportive.
Alex, Anne-Marie, Diane, Erin, Jenni, Kate, Stephanie, Susan and Tanya for making Twitter such a lovely place to spend…almost all of my time.
My in-laws, Enid and Andrew, for always being more than happy to take Joe off my hands, even under the most difficult circumstances.
The staff at Starbucks, Blackburn, for not asking me to leave when I muttered dialogue to myself, banged my head on my laptop, or sat for three hours over two lattes.
My family: Leanne, Steve, Jake, Toby, Aunty Barb, Uncle John and Aunty Phyl.
But most of all to David, Harry and Joe for never – okay, hardly ever – complaining when I hog the computer, spend all day with my nose in a book or, er, fly off to LA without them for ‘research’. (Special thanks to Harry for always bigging up my books.)
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