The Way to Game the Walk of Shame (30 page)

I loved him.

30

-Evan-

I shoved the heart-shaped balloons down in Rudy’s backseat just as Taylor showed up. Even if I hadn’t heard her heaving and panting down the stairs, I felt her presence. Like the Force. Or Patrick Swayze in that old movie Taylor made me watch with her.

She skidded to a stop a few feet away, bent over at the waist. Her face was red, and her damp ponytail stuck to the back of her neck.

“What are you doing?”

Taylor waved her hand in the air while the other rested on her stomach. Her blue blouse scrunched together beneath her fingers. I’d never seen her look so disheveled. Taylor let out a loud whoosh of air and straightened. “I was in the cafeteria, and I saw you.”
Pant. Pant.
“I had to jump over a lot of people to get out here. I might have accidentally kicked a couple kids, too, but I had to see you.” Large inhalation of breath. “So you’re leaving?”

“Yeah, I am…” The sight of her distracted me from what I was going to say. She was in front of me. Here. Now. I mean, I was thrilled to see her, but this wasn’t part of the plan. “Aren’t you supposed to be giving a speech right now?”

“Oh.” She looked a little flustered. “I decided to skip it.”

My eyebrows shot up. She had been preparing for this thing for as long as we’d been “dating.” Hell, she even made me help her with it. And now she was skipping it? Just like that? “Why?”

Her eyes twinkled at me. “I told you. I had to see you.”

Damn, not to sound sappy or anything, but I swear my heart melted at her words. I had this whole elaborate setup planned to win her over, and she ruined everything with five simple words. And I didn’t care.

She was good. She was really good.

I moved toward her in one fluid movement and swept her into my arms. It felt so good to hold her. Like everything was suddenly right again. “God, I’ve been wanting to do that all weekend.”

Taylor leaned into my embrace. “Why didn’t you? Why’d you have to wait this long?”

“Because I’m a stupid moron.”

Her lips curved into a smile against my arm. “That can’t be your excuse all the time, though.”

I kissed her cheek. “I know.” Kissed the other one. “But I’m also an ass.” Kissed her forehead. “And annoyingly wrong and confused.” Kissed the tip of her nose. “And naive, while you’re so understanding.”

She clamped her hand over her mouth before I could kiss there and looked down at our feet. “Flattery and kisses aren’t going to work on me.”

I laughed. “I forgot how stubborn you are. One of the many reasons I love you.”

Her head snapped up so quickly that she almost clipped me in the jaw, like she had that morning in my room. Luckily, I dodged her in time by jumping out of the way. My reflexes were sharpened from all the injuries she’d caused. Her eyes brightened, and she beamed up at me. “You love me?”

My hand brushed against her cheek, and I lightly pinched it with my fingers. “I thought that was obvious.”

Her brown eyes grew big and watery like she was about to cry. Instead, she took me by surprise and jumped on me. Literally jumped on me. Her feet left the ground. Her arms wrapped around my neck and hung on for dear life as she kissed me. Her soft, sweet lips crushed against mine.

And it was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced.

I couldn’t keep myself from kissing her back with everything I felt.

“That’s one hell of a kiss,” I managed to comment when I was able to catch my breath again. My heart thundered in my ears.

“Well, I do aim to please,” she said with a grin. “By the way, why are you wearing a suit?”

My hand smacked my forehead. “It’s all your fault! I had this big surprise—I was going to show up in front of everyone after your presentation with flowers and balloons—”

Frantic barking filled the air, interrupting me. Taylor pulled away just as Oreo started bouncing up and down on the passenger seat, even though I had put him in the backseat. The navy bow tie I’d clipped on his collar was already falling off. He must have climbed up front somehow. He got more excited when he spotted Taylor and struggled to climb through the window.

“—and I even brought Oreo along,” I finished with a sigh. All that weekend brainstorming and prepping with Carly and Aaron was ruined now.

Taylor tried to smother her laughter against her hand as she hugged me close. “It’s so cheesy. Did you plan fireworks and skywriting, too?”

I waved my hand behind her head, hoping that Aaron and Carly understood to cancel the final plan. If she thought this was already cheesy, I didn’t need her to know the rest. “No, that would be going overboard. What kind of guy do you think I am?”

“You’re my guy.”

“I am.” With a grin, I brushed her bangs out of her face. “So about me moving to Florida—”

Her arms tightened around me even more. “We can make it work. We can video chat and call each other all the time. And we can even coordinate our visits back to North Carolina so we could see our parents and each other, and it would be cheaper. We could just meet halfway.”

She took the words right out of my mouth. “You’re brilliant, as usual. What made you change your mind?”

“Just that I realized you’re worth fighting for.” Suddenly, she leaned back a little and punched my shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me about your dad and college sooner? I’m so proud of you I could cry!”

“I wanted to, but I got distracted with all the Brian stuff.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip and looked down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

I pinched her lips together with my index finger and thumb—not enough to hurt, but enough for her to stop talking. “It’s my turn to talk now, and I’m telling you that it’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything. I understand.” My hand moved beneath her chin to push her face upward. With a sigh, I wiped at the tear on her cheek. “Let me guess, more allergies?”

“Yeah, spring really does suck.” She laughed and wiped at her tears. “So let’s just forget about everything, okay? Today could be a fresh start for the both of us. No apologies, no contracts. Just us.”

“So you want to start over?”

“Yep.”

“Seems like a waste, though.” I leaned in until my lips were right by her ear again. “I’ve been starting to get more of my memories from that night, and believe me, there are just some things I’d rather not forget.”

Her blush spread straight to her roots. “Wouldn’t you rather make new memories instead? I guarantee that you’ll never forget these, even if you tried.”

“Oh really?” My eyebrow rose with interest. “Are you having dirty thoughts again?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sounds tempting. I think I’ll have to take you up on that challenge.” I dipped my head down until our lips were barely touching. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Just as we were about to kiss, bubbles suddenly surrounded us. Hundreds of them floated down to us, swirling in the wind to create a fairy-tale atmosphere. Or at least what Carly thought was one. Distracted, Taylor pulled away. Her eyes were round and amazed as she stared around us. “What’s going on?”

Guess they hadn’t gotten my hint. I closed my eyes and let out a defeated sigh. “Look up.”

She did and suddenly burst out with laughter. Aaron and Carly were hovering out of the auditorium windows above us, armed with a bubble gun in each hand as they fired all the bubbles in our direction. They must have been hanging out on the balcony this whole time.

Carly stopped and blew on the top of one of her guns like it was smoking.

“Don’t mind us. Just keep kissing!” Aaron yelled down at us.

Clenching her stomach from laughing so hard, Taylor peered up at me. Her eyes were shining again. “I thought you weren’t a cheesy guy?”

Pulling out the coin necklace from my pocket, I slipped it around her neck. When it was secure in its rightful place, I looped an arm around her waist. “I wasn’t until you made me one. I used to be cool. And now I’m just a moping idiot without you. And since you effectively ruined
my
reputation, I think you have to make it up to me. Starting now.” I held out my hand for her, wiggling my fingers. “Deal?”

Her hand wrapped around mine, and she held on tight. “Deal.”

BEFORE

-Evan-

Taylor caught my attention as soon as I spotted her at the party. She drifted through the crowd with a drink in her hand. Her other hand swept her dark hair out of her eyes as she bobbed her head to the loud music.

I don’t really know why I noticed her in the first place. She was a little more dressed up than usual, but there were a lot of other pretty girls wearing tighter, more revealing clothes. Especially the one on my lap. I think her name was Abby? Annie?

My fingers traced along Abby/Annie’s collarbone and shoulders. “So, are you having fun?”

She smirked and leaned in closer to nuzzle against my neck. “Especially now that you’re here.”

“Back at you.” I tried to concentrate, but my eyes kept flickering back to Taylor. This time she was swaying to herself by the fireplace. Her hand was braced against the brick mantel. There were a couple of guys looking at her, but no one came close. Probably because they didn’t want to get rejected by the Ice Queen, as everyone called her.

Giving up, I finally gave Abby/Annie a kiss on the cheek and stood up. She slid off my lap with a squeak. “I’ll be back later.” I turned away from her outraged face and slipped through the crowd to get to Taylor. She didn’t notice me. Not even when I was standing directly behind her. “Hey.”

She spun around and peered at me. “Oh, it’s you.”

Well, that was a pretty cool greeting. I was beginning to understand why everyone called her the Ice Queen. I leaned against the fireplace to face her, study her. “Uh, yeah. Are you okay? You don’t look so great.”

“I’m fine. Terrific. Stupendous.” Taylor suddenly let out a small burp and covered her mouth. “And a little flatulent.”

Snorting with laughter, I shook my head, too surprised by what was happening to know what to say. “Maybe you shouldn’t be drinking so much if you’re such a lightweight.”

“What’s a lightweight?”

“Someone who can’t handle her drink.”
Like you
, I added silently.

Her face beamed, and she leaned in toward me, patting my arm. “Then that’s not me. I had two! And I’m perfectly fine.”

“Oh yeah?” I held up three fingers. “How many is this?”

She rolled her eyes. “Three. If you want to see if I’m drunk, you’ve got to use a better method than that. I’ve been counting since I was fourteen months old.” She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a pen. Flicking off the top of the pen, she started writing on her own arm. “Look, I can still write perfectly. Drunk people can’t write, can they?”

I took her arm and examined it. She did write her name really neat. With lots of swirls.
Taylor Simmons.
Since her handwriting was so perfect, it almost looked like a tattoo. I unconsciously caressed my thumb along the inside of her wrist. It was soft and warm. “Anybody can write their own name.”

“Fine, then I’ll write yours.”

“Don’t you need to know my name first?”

She grabbed my arm and rubbed her palm against the surface of my skin. Liking the way she was touching me, I took another step toward her. “Oh, everyone knows who you are, Evan.”

Feeling a little flattered, I watched as she drew out my name. With her tongue sticking out a little bit, she concentrated on each letter. Finally curling the
y
like a lightning bolt, she tossed the pen over her head. It hit some dude’s shoulder. “Done.” Her hand slid down to grasp my hand.

“Nice. Now that I know you’re not drunk, I think I should get you a drink.” Still holding her hand, I wrapped my other arm around her waist and guided her through the crowd toward the beer keg and bottles of liquor on the kitchen counter. A giant blue cooler full of Cokes and other soda was on the ground.

Taylor followed me with a little skip in her step. “How do I know
you’re
not drunk?”

“Oh, believe me, I can drink better than anyone here.”

Looking very interested, her dark eyes flashed dangerously. She leaned against the counter and pointed a finger at me. “Oh yeah? That sounds like a pretty big dare. Why don’t we test that out? For every shot that I drink, then you have to drink three.”

Really? Was she really trying to challenge me? I didn’t regret coming over to Taylor at all. The party had been getting a little boring, but this conversation with her was worth making out with five girls. Snickering to myself, I handed her a small stack of white plastic shot cups. “Deal.”

With a grin of triumph, she grabbed a bottle of tequila and poured shots into them. She concentrated on getting the same amount in each one until there were three cups in front of her. I thought she was only going to drink one, but she let out a deep breath and grabbed them all, one by one. My jaw dropped as she downed three cups in a row before grabbing a can of Coke to chug.

Wiping at her chin, she shoved the bottle at me. “I had three, so that means nine more for you, Mr. Big Shot.”

I gave her an admiring look. Damn, she was tough. A lot tougher than I’d originally thought. My pride was yelling at me to do it, while my head told me to just let it go. As usual, my pride won. Oh, I was definitely going to regret this in the morning, but I couldn’t turn down her challenge. I splashed tequila in the cups she’d just used.

Here goes nothing.
I took each shot before I could back down. After the ninth shot, I couldn’t help gagging. I was a good drinker, but I’d already had a few drinks. Not to mention, I hated tequila. Dark liquor flowed down much smoother. I waved the last empty cup at Taylor in triumph. The room was already starting to spin a little bit, but determined not to embarrass myself, I kept my feet firmly planted on the ground. “Happy?”

“Awesome. Let’s have another one.”

I had to pry her away from the counter when she tried to lunge for the bottle again. Pride or no pride, I wasn’t planning to get shitfaced at the party tonight, and I knew I was already at my limit. “Let’s dance instead.”