The Year of Second Chances (A Sunnyvale Novel Book 3) (2 page)

“You know what?” I say in an attempt to shift the attention away from my blushing. “Just because you said that, I’m totally taking you out of all my superhero drawings. From now on, you’re going to be the evil villain.”

“And what’d be my form of torture? Torturing you with awesome surprises?” he questions with a hint of laughter.

“You say that like that couldn’t be a real thing”—I cross my arms and elevate my brows—“but you’re totally wrong.”

He snorts a laugh. “You think so?”

“Nope. I
know
so.”

“Okay, explain it to me, then. And if it sounds believable, then I’ll let you open your eyes and see the surprise.”

“Deal.” I clear my throat. “So here’s how it works. The excitement I’m feeling right now is making my heart race super-fast, like mad crazy,
The Flash
, kind of fast. And, if you kept up the whole suspenseful, buildup-to-the-surprise thing for long enough, my heart would eventually get exhausted and stop beating. Then I’d die.”

He chuckles. “Well, we wouldn’t want that now, would we?” Light footsteps sound across the room. I may not be able to see him, but I feel him stop in front of me and lean close. “All right. Open your eyes before your heart gives out.”

I uncontrollably shiver from the feel of his breath against my ear, and my skin warms like melted, gooey caramel.

Great job, Isa. Way to react like a spaz.

I wait for Kai to tease me about my ridiculously silly reaction, but he gives me another surprise by remaining silent.

Taking a steadying breath to calm my flustered nerves, I open my eyes to see Kai has put a little room between us, which I’m grateful for … well, sort of.

“So, which hand first. Left or right?” he asks with his hands tucked behind his back.

“Um …” I thrum my finger against my lips. “Left. No, right. No, left. No, definitely right.”

Kai works to restrain a smile. “Is that your final answer?”

I hesitate then nod. “Yep.”

His grin slips through as he sticks out his right hand, revealing a purple and black paintball gun.

“We’re going paintballing?” I ask, going into bouncy ball mode again.

“Not just paintballing. Zombie paintballing.”

“I’m not sure what that is, but it sounds awesome.”

“It’s definitely awesome. You’ll be running around, shooting people dressed up as zombies. It’ll be like starring in your own zombie movie.” He hands me the paintball gun. “The gun’s a little used, but a friend of mine was giving it away, and I thought you might want your own instead of renting one.”

I clasp the handle of the paintball gun, struggling not to burst into tears. I don’t even know why I’m getting all teary-eyed. I’m not sad or anything. I’m actually happy. Like, really, really, living in a real version of
Candyland
happy. It’s just that it’s been so long since someone has done something this nice for me, and I’m overwhelmingly touched.

When Kai notices my impending waterworks, he panics.

“Shit. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He reaches for me but then lowers his hand nervously. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d like this.”

“I do like it. I promise. It’s just that …” I suck back the tears, set the paintball gun down on the bed, and throw my arms around him. “Thank you. I love it. I really do.”

He slips his free hand around my waist and presses his palm against the small of my back. “You’re welcome … But it’s not really a big deal. I actually got the tickets from a friend. Technically, everything was free.”

“I don’t care if it was free.” I hug him more tightly. “It’s still the best present ever.”

“You’re too easy to please.” He buries his face into my hair. “God, if you get this excited over the paintball thing, I can’t wait to see how you’ll react to my other surprise.”

Smiling, I start to move back, but he urges me closer.

“Hold on just a second.”

I do what he asks and keep my feet planted with my arms wrapped around him.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nope. Everything’s great. More than great, actually,” he murmurs into my hair as his fingers brush the sliver of skin peeking out between my tank top and pajama bottoms.

I fight back a shiver, my mind going all tilt-a-whirl. I’m not sure what he’s doing, but the longer we stand with our bodies smashed together, the more we step out of the buddy-buddy zone and into touchy-feely, holy-crap-I-can-feel-his-body-heat-along-with-a-lot-of-other-things zone and the more I go into the overanalyzing-guys-way-too-much mode.

But seriously, what is he doing? Why does he keep smelling my hair? Does it smell good? Or can he tell that I haven’t washed it for few days and is about to tell me I would blend right in with the zombies because I smell as bad as rotting flesh?

I’ve opened my mouth to ask him when he steps back and smiles as if nothing just happened, as if he didn’t just treat my hair like an aromatherapy candle.

I comb my fingers through my long, brown hair, feeling self-conscious. “Are you sure everything’s okay? You’re acting kind of … I don’t know … weird.”

He waves me off, making a
pft
sound. “I’m always fine.” His brow teases upward. “But are you? You seem a bit flustered.”

“Why would I be flustered”—I point at the paintball gun—“when I just got the coolest present ever?”

“Coolest, huh?” His smile grows but then fades with a heavy sigh. “All right, I’m going to give you the next surprise, but you have to swear that, after we talk about it, you’ll still come with me paintballing. You can’t back out, okay?”

I nod, confused. “Why would I back out of something I really,
really
want to do?”

“To obsess over the other present.” He frowns when I visibly tense. “It’s not a bad thing”—his lips quirk—“or it wouldn’t be a present. I just know you’ve had a really shitty week and want to make sure you get out and have some fun, so I’m going to make you promise this paintball thing will for sure happen.”

Worry and eagerness arise inside of me. Just what kind of present is he about to give me?

Ready to find out, I nod, agreeing to his terms. “I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle through Hannah’s eye that I’ll go paintballing with you today no matter what happens.”

“Good. Now that we have that settled…” He relaxes a smidgen then removes his other hand from behind his back.

My brows knit at the sight of his empty hand. “Um … thanks? I’ve always wanted one of those.” I slap my palm against his, giving him a low five like a total spaz, not knowing what else to do when he’s acting like he has something awesome in his hand, and all I can see is his palm.

Hmmm … Maybe it’s an invisibility cape.

He gives me a tolerant look then snatches hold of my hand and threads his fingers through mine. “The surprise isn’t my hand.” He pulls me toward the door. “It’s out here.”

“I didn’t think it was your hand,” I protest as he leads me into the hallway.

He throws an amused glance over his shoulder. “Then what’d you think it was? Because you looked really confused.”

“I thought it was an”—I shrug, feeling silly—“invisibility cape or something, and that’s why I couldn’t see anything.”

He bites back a smile. “Silly girl, if I was going to give you an invisibility cape, I’d get a cool enough one that you could at least see it turn invisible.”

A goofy smile spans across my face. “So you’re admitting you think they exist?”

His lips twitch, threatening to turn upward. “Maybe.” He turns around and pulls me into the living room, mumbling, “I’d admit anything if it got you to smile like that.”

He says it so faintly, but I still hear it, and my heart flutters in my chest like a hummingbird buzzing on a nectar high.

Kai is always so nice to me, like all the time. And everything is so easy with him, unlike with his older brother Kyler.

Kyler. Le sigh.

I’m not sure what to do about him. He texted me the other day, asking if I wanted to go out today. I replied with a lie like a coward, telling him I couldn’t because I had to help my grandma Stephy with something. I know I need to have a talk with him and tell him that I think we should be friends or something along those lines. I’ve never had that kind of a talk with a guy before, though, and I really want to get Indigo’s advice first. I’m completely clueless over what to do, what the right thing is to say. All I know is that my years and years long crush on Kyler is flatlining the more time I spend with Kai. While I don’t know what that means—whether I like Kai that way or not—I don’t think I should be going on dates with Kyler.

After Kai steers me to the sofa, he instructs me to sit down then collects his laptop from the coffee table and plops down beside me. Balancing the laptop on his lap, he boots up the screen, and for once, a passcode box doesn’t immediately pop up.

“No way … You didn’t … Did you …?” My heart races so violently that I really do wonder if I was correct about surprise presents being a form of torture.

He places a hand on my knee, steadying my bouncing leg. “Calm down, okay? What’s on here”—he tosses a quick glance at the computer screen—“could be a good thing, but I don’t want you to freak out yet. Not until I look through all the files and folders.”

“But you did it, right?” I ask. “You cracked the code on the flash drive?”

His gaze glides back to me, and he nods. “I seriously don’t even know how I did it, but I did. And there’s a ton of files on here about your mom’s case.” He rakes his fingers through his hair, making the blond strands go askew. “But, like I said, I haven’t gone through all of them yet … Still, some of the stuff on here seems promising—”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I cut him off, looping my arms around his neck.

Nervousness, excitement, worry, and gratefulness crash through me simultaneously, and I start to tremble with emotional overload.

“I know this doesn’t mean she’s innocent, but just hearing you say the word
promising
is, like, the best thing I’ve heard in weeks.” I hug the living daylights out of him for another moment or two then pull away.

Again, he doesn’t immediately release me, circling his arms around my waist, instead.

“Some of the stuff I’ve skimmed through already … It makes me question how she was ever found guilty,” he says softly, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Just try not to get too excited until I read through everything, okay?”

I try to do what he asks and not get overly thrilled, especially when my mom is currently behind bars, but what Kai just told me makes a tiny bit of weight fall off my shoulders.

“I’ll try not to.” I hug the bejesus out of him. “But I’m still going to say thank you at least a million times … And I’m going to make this up to you … somehow.”

“You don’t need to make anything up to me.” He traces a path up and down my spine. “I wanted to do this for you.”

“Still, you worked so hard.” I swallow hard as his fingers tangle through my hair. “And I know you haven’t been sleeping that great …” I trail off as he nuzzles his face against the crook of my neck.

“The only thing I want is for you to go out and have some fun with me today,” he says. “We’re supposed to be at the paintball place at noon, and I want you to be ready to have some fun.”

I nod, planning on finding a way to make this up to him. I’m not sure if he realizes what a big deal this is to me—giving me a glimmer of hope at the end of a very long tunnel I’ve been stuck sprinting down for days. The end never seemed to be within reach, and I was starting to worry I was going to run until my legs and lungs gave out. And now I have hope that maybe, one day, I’ll be able to rest again and escape the damn tunnel.

Gratitude overpowers me, and I turn my head, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. I’ve never been much for kissing or hugging, probably because I haven’t really been hugged or kissed a lot in my life. But my gesture seems appropriate for the circumstances. At least, I hope it does.

“Thank you, Kai,” I say. “Not just for this, but for being there for me and making sure I didn’t lose it.”

He lifts his head, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted in shock.

Crap, maybe I misread that. Maybe a cheek kiss is not the kind of thing to do when my possibly best friend just gave me the best gift ever.

His shocked expression gradually evaporates as he searches my eyes. “You’re welcome,” he finally says then leans forward and grazes his lips against mine.

I suck in a breath, caught off guard. Then my shock quickly goes
poof
because, holy tap dancing butterflies, his lips are so deliciously soft. Like chocolate velvet cake with buttercream frosting soft. No, better than that. Better than any sugary treat I can think of. Indescribably better.

I want more. I wonder if he does, too, or if he’s just giving me a friendly kiss back. I’m unsure. I’m unsure about everything right now. I seriously might be the most unsure girl in the world. My new superhero nickname could be Clueless About Kissing, and my kryptonite would be cute guys who used to live next door, ones who can make me smile almost effortlessly.

Kai lets out a soft groan, his lips parting and his tongue slipping out. My heart slams against my chest.

Holy crap, he’s going to kiss me. Like, really, really kiss me.

“Isa, have you seen my car keys!” Grandma Stephy shouts from the hallway, dousing the moment like a cold bucket of ice water.

Kai and I jerk back like we just got busted making out, though we weren’t. We were just friendly kissing.

Weren’t we?

“Okay, you’re not in your room,” grandma Stephy says loudly with heavy suspicion in her tone. Her voice rises, her footsteps growing closer. “I hope that doesn’t mean you slept on the couch.”

“No,” I call out, smoothing my hands over my hair. “We’re just hanging out, looking at something … on the computer.”

Kai chuckles. “Is that what we were doing? Hmm … I didn’t know looking at stuff on the computer required so much lip contact.”

“You shush.” I aim a finger at him. “If she hears you, she’ll think we were doing something dirty.” I tap the computer screen with my finger. “Pretend like you’re doing something on your computer.”