Kiss with Cherry Flavor (Grover Beach #4) (6 page)

“SAIL” WAS PLAYING, by
Awolnation. I lay on my bed, arms folded behind my head, and studied the ceiling. I’d been doing this for the past forty-five minutes. And it’d gotten me nowhere. Just like last night, when I’d done the same…for hours. Brilliant.

Lisa
…Sam…Lisa…Sam…

I loved one. And I couldn’t get the other out of my head.

Nothing made sense.

“Ah, fuck it,” I growled and sat up. It was time to get to Charlie’s
. Maybe working my shift this afternoon would help me stop thinking about the girls currently turning my life upside down.

I pulled my T-shirt off and draped it over the back of my desk chair. On weekends, Charlie wanted me to wear black trousers and a white shirt, but during the week, he didn’t care. Skimming through the tees in my wardrobe, I remembered the collision with Sam after AVE today. She had given me my
hoodie back.

I’d wanted to grab her hand then and make her stay—make her listen to me.
Apologize
. But the truth was I wouldn’t even have known what to say. She’d been right with all the crap she’d thrown at my head yesterday. She’d read me better than I knew myself.

From the plastic bag on my desk, I pulled out the black
hoodie she’d worn in the woods last weekend. Although the damn thing could have served her as a mini-dress, Sam had looked adorable in it.
Hot
. Black was her color. Not because it matched her crazy hair but because it complemented her beautiful brown eyes. Eyes that had turned soft every time she’d looked at me over the past few days.

I lifted the s
weatshirt to my face and took a deep breath. The scent of the detergent reminded me of how she’d smelled when I’d carried her to my bed. Closing my eyes, I clasped the fabric tighter, burying my face in it.

I missed her.

Liz was there for me, always. She was Hunter’s girlfriend now, but whenever I needed someone, she was the first to come and listen to my shit. We still hung out a lot, the three of us—went to movies, got caught up in video game battles, went to the beach, and met at her place every Wednesday night to watch
Vikings
together. I saw her at school, and sometimes even at soccer. I loved having her near me. But when she
wasn’t
there, I didn’t think about her. There was simply no need to. I knew I would see her again the next day, or the next.

With Sam, it was totally different. I inhaled every minute with her, and when she wasn’t around, my longing for her grew even stronger. There was nothing that could stop me from thinking about
her
.

Why couldn’t I have told her this yesterday when she’d called me out on my lie to Liz? She would have liked to hear it. Maybe it would have made more sense to her than it made to me right now.
Because frankly, it confused the hell out of me. I knew it was possible to love two women at the same time. But I wondered if this really applied to me. It didn’t feel like I was in love with both girls. Only with one of them.

I glanced at my wristwatch. Shit. I was running late. Quickly, I pulled on the
sweatshirt, reveling in the familiar scent for another second, then I rushed to put on my sneakers and tucked my cell phone and keys into the pockets. Something in there felt strange. I stopped dead, looking down at myself, as I pulled my stuff out again, tossed it on the bed, and slipped my hands into the pockets once more.

What the fuck? There were countless
shreds of paper inside.

What had Sam put in there? I took out a handful, studying the shreds, trying to understand what
it was. Pencil lines were on some pieces, others were totally blank.

I fished out the rest of the
bits and heaped them on my desk, pushing them around, turning some over. After a few moments, I caught one with my initial on it—my brand for my drawings.

My heart gave a twinge as I finally realized what Sam had given back with the
hoodie.

SUSAN PICKED ME up
later, and we drove to the café in town where I’d met Tony for the first time. My knees shook a little, but I told myself I could do this. I could spend an afternoon with my friends and not feel down because of the boy who currently bussed tables there.

Relieved when we entered and he wasn’t
anywhere to be seen, I followed Susan to the back of the café, where Simone and Lisa were already sitting at a table close to a window and laughing about something we’d missed.

As soon as we
sat down with them, Susan propped her elbows on the table. “Where’s Tony?”

“No idea,”
Lisa answered. “I already texted him, but he didn’t reply.”

At that moment, her cell
beeped on the table. “On the way,” she read out loud then looked at us with a puzzled grimace.

“It’s not like him to be late for anything,” Simone pointed out.
Lisa shrugged. And I tried not to listen.

Talking about Tony was the last thing I wanted to do right now. Could we not just
give our order to Charlie and get our ice cream already? Fortunately, the middle-aged man came over a half minute later and wrote down our selection on a small pad of paper.

He was gone and half
done with preparing our orders when the door opened and Tony came in. My heart thudded in my throat and my fingers clamped around the sugar packet I was playing with. He was wearing the black sweatshirt I had given him back today. I hadn’t reckoned he would, but it made my mouth water in a strange way.

With the sleeves shoved up to his elbows and the hood
bunched on his shoulders, he looked incredibly hot. The dark color accentuated his California tan and clashed with his tousled, blond hair.

Since only a few patrons sat in the café with us, his gaze fell on our table first.
A little of both hurt and anger appeared in his eyes as he saw me—maybe because of what he must have found in the pockets. I didn’t know how to react, other than to look away as fast as I could—which was about five full seconds after he’d locked gazes with me.

“Tony, lad, you’re late.” Charlie’s deep, rumbling voice drifted to us.

“Yeah, sorry,” Tony said. “I got caught up in…something.”

“Ah, no worries.
The place isn’t busy today. Here’s the order for table nine. You can carry it over to your friends.”

Shit. Tony would come to our table in just a few seconds, and I wasn’t ready to face him. What if he said something to me? What if he stayed, chatting with us?

What if he just left and said nothing at all?

Oh boy, me and my big mouth. Why did I have to suggest ice cream anyway?

I sneaked a glance over to where Tony stood at the bar with his back to us. And once again, it was his hoodie that caught my attention. Maybe because I had worn it only a few days ago and knew how soft it felt—and how good it smelled, oh my God.

My gaze traveled up to his neck
where his hair was cropped at the back. With only a little imagination, I could still see the water drops from yesterday sliding down the sides. Way hot. I licked my lips. Oh no, I had to stop thinking about it, and fast.

Forcing my mind to go in another direction, I concentrated on my friends again, listening to Simone, who was telling us about how freaking jealous Alex had been
acting recently. None of us understood why, because Simone sure didn’t give him the slightest reason for it.

“Ladies,” Tony said in a cheerful voice a moment later, and I looked up. He placed Susan and
Lisa’s chocolate sundaes in front of them, but his eyes hung on my face. And they didn’t match his smiling tone at all.

Was it a c
harade? In order to not get anyone suspicious? I hadn’t told the girls that we’d kissed again. Since none of them had tried to squeeze information out of me, I assumed Tony hadn’t talked to anyone either. Surely, he wouldn’t. All it would do is destroy his chances with Lisa if she ever broke up with Ryan…which I thoroughly doubted she’d ever do. But that was just me. Tony probably prayed every night for it to happen.

Must be the highlight of his day to find her here without her boyfriend for a change.
Meant he could blatantly stare at her without getting killed for it afterward.

But h
is eyes still bored into mine.

“Hey, Tony.”
I barely registered Lisa’s voice when she spoke. “Ryan can’t come over tonight. So it’ll only be the two of us.”

Simultaneously, Tony and I turned toward her.
Come again, please?
I didn’t know they had a date tonight—even if it was a threesome. And damn, I shouldn’t even care! But to hear that Tony was going to spend the evening alone with Lisa made my guts churn.

Argh, I didn’t want this feeling.
Go away!
I screamed inwardly, but the jealous sting remained.

“What’s Hunter doing?” Tony asked
, confused, surprised, happy as hell—I couldn’t tell which.

“He’s helping Rachel and Phil move. They bought a house at San Luis.”

“Oh.”

“Oh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lisa quirked her brows at him. “Don’t say you’re not planning on coming either.”

I looked at Tony, wondering why his “Oh”
had
sounded uncertain, indeed.

Tony didn’t turn to me, but he glanced at me
from the corner of his eye before he answered, “I can’t. Sorry. I have tons of homework.”

“AVE again?”
Lisa moaned.

“Yeah.
Tough project to finish.”

“Can’t you do it tomorrow? I don’t want to watch
Vikings
alone.”

“Not a chance. It’s due tomorrow.”

“That sucks,” she whined. “Your aunt shouldn’t burden you with so much homework.”

It
more than sucked—it was totally
odd
, because Caroline Jackson hadn’t given us homework. Not for the entire week.

“Maybe ask one of the girls,” Tony suggested and shrugged. “I’m sure Simone would love to come and watch those hunky guys with you…if Alex lets her.” He winked at Simone, who giggled at that.

Leaving us alone for a second, he walked back to the bar to get Simone’s strawberry milkshake and my vanilla sundae—with cherries on top.

Lisa
turned a frustrated face at us. “Guys—how can they prefer homework to an evening with popcorn and hunky Vikings?”

“They can because they’re
guys
. Promise them an evening with Lara Croft and you’ll have them at your total disposal,” Susan pointed out, making us all laugh.

When Tony came back and placed the
glasses in front of Simone and me, Lisa gave it one last shot. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

Tony hesitated for an odd moment,
then he answered, “I am.” It was strange how he didn’t look at her when he said it, but at me.

And even stranger was the funny quirk in my stomach at that moment. So he’d passed on an invitation from the one he loved?
On an evening
alone
with her? For the sake
of
fake homework
?
I didn’t get it.

Subtly, so only Tony would notice, I lifted my brows.

His answer was a slight tilt of his head and pressing his lips together. Then he turned around and walked back behind the counter to deliver more orders from other patrons.

“Sam…?
Hey, Sam!”

“Hmm?”
I snapped my head around to find the girls eying me.

“What are
you gaping at?” Simone asked me then chuckled. “No, don’t tell me. I already know.”

Unpleasant warmth flooded my face. I tried to cool
myself off with a spoonful of ice cream.

“It’s a shame he doesn’t want to come to my place,”
Lisa whispered to me, leaning closer. “I planned to invite you, too, and play matchmaker.” She let a conspiratorial smirk slip around the spoon in her mouth. “I guess that will have to wait until Saturday then.”

I stopped the next heap of ice cream in front of my mouth.
“Saturday?”

“Yeah.
At the party. Tony will be there…and you will be, too. It’s the perfect night to get a little romantic with him. You had such a great time at the sleepover, and then he kissed you, didn’t he?”

“I— Yes, he did.” I grimaced, licking the ice cream off my spoon. “But I don’t know…
It’s not like that between us.”

“Ah, don’t play the shy bunny. You like him,” Simone seconded. “It’s so obvious it hurts. And the jerk likes you, too.”

“Maybe.” I sighed. “But not the way you think.” Or the way I wished he would.

Susan leaned forward, closing our totally obvious
we’re-talking-boys
circle, and said in what was an unusually serious tone for her, “I know why you’re reluctant, Sam.”

We all looked at her.

“You think he’s still in love with Lisa, because we told you all that crap about last summer. But you know what? I think he changed his mind.
You
changed it.”

“Yeah, she’s right.”
Lisa pointed her long-stemmed spoon at Susan but looked at me. “Just think about how he dismissed me just now. Art homework?” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I
beg
you. As if that’s ever kept him from coming to my place. I swear if I’d asked him last week, he’d have been on my doormat ten minutes early.” Then she touched my forearm and grinned. “By the way, what did you two do in his room yesterday? I could tell you were
not
working on another drawing project.”

“Damn, what is it about you girls?” I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest, and narrowed my eyes at all of them. “I swear not even the CIA would suck information like you guys do.”

They grinned back, and Susan pointed out, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “That’s what you call
friends
, Samantha. We know you better than you know yourself.” She put her index finger in her mouth and flicked it like the singers did in the song “Lollipop”. “Get used to it.”

Get used to a bunch of crazy girls who could make me laugh when only ten minutes ago I’d thought I wanted to bawl?

You so had to love them.

“The really important question right now is do you want our help
with this or not?” Simone demanded, sucking her strawberry milkshake through the straw.

“Can I think about it for a while?” I whined, punching my spoon into my sundae. I didn’t really want anybody to interfere, but neither did I want to hurt their feelings.

“Sure. You have two minutes.”

“What?” My eyes grew wide at Simone.

She smiled sweetly. “One minute and fifty seconds…”

“If I say no, will you help me anyway?” There was a certain resignation in my voice.

“Absolutely,” all three said at once.

Simone added, “I’ll take that as a yes. So let me just make a call to my guy.”

“Call Alex? Why?”

“He’s at Frederickson’s place right now, and I think the man might come in handy
today.” She shoved her milkshake away from her, got her iPhone out, and swiped her thumb across the screen twice. Then she pressed the phone to her ear. “Baby, this is an emergency call. Can you and Frederickson come to Charlie’s, like, right now?” She looked to the ceiling as she listened to his answer. “No, nothing of that sort. Just get your sweet butt over here.” A grin flashed across her face. “Sam wants to see Nick. I’ll text you with the details.”

It felt like my face
had fallen off. I wanted to see Nick? Was she nuts? What would Nick think? And worse, I had no idea
why
I supposedly wanted to see him at all.

“Get a grip, Sam,” Simone said in a low voice as she rang off and then wildly punched in a message. “Today we’ll teach you how to get a guy’s undivided attention.”

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to learn from her, but when the others seemed enthusiastic about it, I caved in. “Fine. So what’s your brilliant plan?”

“Simple. You’ll have a little fun today.” She grabbed her glass and sucked at the straw again, batting her lashes at me almost innocently.
“With another guy.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re going to flirt with Frederickson. He won’t mind. I know he likes you. And you’ll see how that will make Tony all fussed up and wondering. He’ll be like your puppy at the end of the day.”

Oh no
, I wanted to whine.
Get me out of this
. But at that moment, Tony went by to wait on a few guys two tables from ours. I sank lower in my chair, trying not to follow him with my gaze as my heart tapped a frantic rhythm in my chest.

The girls immediately knew what was up, and they all gave me their best
See?
look.