The Year of Falling in Love (Sunnyvale #2) - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,2
his eyes at me then gently tugs on a strand of my long, brown hair. “Let’s get something straight. The only sexy next-door neighbor you have is me. Got it?”
The thought of Kyler Meyers, Kai’s older brother, who I’ve had a crush on forever, pops into my head. I was supposed to be on a date with him tonight—our very first date to be exact—but had to cancel because I couldn’t quit sobbing. I didn’t tell Kyler that, though. I just told him something came up. He was really sweet about it and asked me out next weekend. Of course, I said yes. I just hope I feel better by then.
Not wanting to get into that with Kai, since Kyler is a touchy subject for him, I heave a dramatic sigh. “Fine, my one and only sexy next-door neighbor, what’s your awesome idea?”
His eyes light up. “I was thinking, if you went to live with your grandma, I could give you a ride to and from school.”
My heart melts like warm chocolate. That might be the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me. Well, except for when he stopped the whole straightjacket rumor Hannah tried to spread about me. That one is pretty high up there. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course. That’s what friends do for each other, right?”
The way he says friends, as if the word is amusing, turns me into an overanalyzing, read-between-the-lines-way-too-much girl. Why did it sound like he finds it funny that we’re friends? Or maybe I’m just over-thinking it. Why do I care?
Hormones, dude, hormones. Get a grip over yourself.
“While I appreciate the offer, I’m not sure I feel comfortable with you doing that,” I tell him, even though I don’t want to turn down his offer. “I mean, you’d have to get up like an hour earlier than you normally do.”
“An hour isn’t that big of a deal,” he insists, picking up the remote and shutting off the television.
“You’re not a morning person, Kai. You told me the other day that you hate waking up any earlier than noon. That you turn into a cranky monster.”
“I didn’t say cranky monster. I said asshole. And that’s only on weekends. I get up at like seven-thirty on weekdays.”
“Only when you go to school on time. You’re usually late.”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to start being on time.” He gives a casual shrug, pretending it’s not a big deal, even though it is.
At least, it is for me.
“You really don’t have to do this,” I say. The last thing I want to do is force him to drive all the way across Sunnyvale to pick my sorry butt up and get himself on a schedule when he’s clearly an I’ll-do-what-I-want-whenever-I-want-to kind of guy. “It might be good for me to start a new school, anyway. It’ll force me to make friends without your ever-so-awesome unicorn guidance.” I press my palms together and bow to him.
He chuckles, shaking his head. “It’s really not a big deal.” He gives my knee a squeeze. “So just accept my offer.”
My knee jolts from his touch and I hastily clear my throat, unsure how to respond.
While he keeps referring to us as friends, I’m not so sure our relationship is that simple. Yeah, Kai and I are friends, but we’ve drunkenly kissed once and almost kissed another time. While the kiss was brief, I swear to God fireworks and explosions burst through me. I felt like I’d stepped into one of those sappy rom-coms or something. According to Kai, though, he kisses everyone when he’s drunk. But then he almost kissed me in our old hideout, a hollowed out tree trunk. And that was while he was completely sober. He hasn’t tried to make up an excuse for that one. We’re just pretending it never happen.
“So, what do you say? Will you please let me be your chauffeur?” he asks, drawing me back to reality.
His fingers are still on my knee, tracing delicate circles across my skin, his fingertips moving higher on my thigh toward the bottom of my skirt. I’m not even sure he knows he’s doing it. I should probably wiggle my leg before he unknowingly feels me up, but I can’t seem to move or breathe. Do anything really, except idiotically gape at his fingers.
Noting where I’m staring, his gaze drops to his hand. He stares for a second or two before swiftly withdrawing and coughing into his hand.