“Good, huh?”
I broke his gaze, mumbled mm-hmm as the cake melted in my mouth. My fingers were pruney from the water. I turned off the faucet and shook my hands dry. Luke handed me a paper towel.
“That’s an unusual necklace,” he said.
“Um, thanks,” I replied, focusing on drying the cake server and putting it away.
“Do you mind?” he asked, reaching toward my neck. Before I could say anything, Luke had the charms in his hand, gently tugging me toward him. I had no choice but to follow, afraid the necklace would break otherwise. His face was calm with concentration as he studied it.
“Love,” he said, directly to me. “Grayson gave this to you?”
“Perceptive,” I replied, to which he arched an eyebrow. “Now could you let go?”
He held on to it a second longer, then let the charms fall to my collarbone. I went back to cleaning up, hoping he’d take the snub as a sign to leave.
“I was with him when he got that.”
“Right,” I said. The likelihood of Grayson and Luke going jewelry shopping together was absurd.
“Seeing Grayson later?”
“Yes. He’s picking me up from school.”
“Could you tell him I need to speak to Mike Pearson?”
“If you’re his best friend, why don’t you just call him?” I asked, walking past him and throwing the cake plate into the garbage can. When I turned around, I was nose to nose with the Polo insignia on Luke’s red sweater.
“Because it would mean more coming from you.”
My curiosity was piqued, and against my better judgment, which would have been to just freakin’ walk away, I asked, “Does this have anything to do with the favor he did for you?”
Luke’s face contorted in confusion; he tilted his head to the side. “Favor. For me?”
Even though I’d tried to give Grayson the benefit of the doubt, I still had the feeling he was holding something back. As much as I hated bringing it up with Luke, I forged ahead, hoping to get some more information.
“You know, the girl at the mall?”
He looked past me, blinking a few times before his full lips curled in understanding.
“Allegra? The hot chick about yay high,” he said, putting his hand up to his chest to show her height, then cupping both his hands to mime boobs. “Rack like that? So you know about her?”
My legs felt like liquid as all my worst fears danced in my head. I stared down at my feet and bit the inside of my cheek.
“Come on, you believe Grayson was doing me a favor? You’re smarter than that.”
“Leave me alone.” I shoved past him.
“Wren, chill. I’m not surprised Grayson wouldn’t talk to you about hooking up with that girl. Hell, I’m jealous for you.”
“Don’t be,” I snapped, frantically looking for something to do, but the kitchen was clean. The last thing I wanted to do was go back and pretend to be in a holiday mood, but that was better than staying with Luke. He stepped closer, putting his hands on either side of the counter, cornering me before I had the chance to move away.
“Hey,” he said, softer, his head hung low, his mouth by my ear. “I wasn’t trying to upset you.”
“Sure you were,” I said, shifting to glare at him.
“This is between me and Grayson. You just happen to be in the way.”
“Let me fix that.”
“Wren, wait,” he whispered, blocking my exit.
His face was so close, I could make out the different shades of brown and green in his eyes. He broke our gaze, glancing down at my mouth. The tip of his nose brushed against my cheek as his lips touched mine. The kiss was soft, and it caught me off guard. Instinctively I closed my eyes as my mouth melted against the warmth of his, but then I pushed him away, trembling with anger. Our lips parted with a soft smacking noise. The swinging doors opened with a groan, causing us both to jump.
Ava. Her mouth formed a small, surprised O. Had she seen?
“The guy from the paper is here,” she said, her voice small, echoing through the quiet kitchen. “He wants to take a group picture.” The last sentence trailed off as she calculated the scene.
“We were just talking about Grayson,” Luke said, sauntering over to her. He threw an arm around her shoulder. “How we should all hang out.”
Ava closed her eyes and shivered. “Whatever. Let’s just take this effing picture and get out of here. I’ve filled my community-service quota for the decade.”
The two of them disappeared through the swinging doors, and I crumpled. There was no way I was going to take a group picture—the thought of this event being commemorated in any way made my skin crawl—but then Mrs. Fiore poked her head into the kitchen.
“Come on, Miss Co-chair. You’re needed!” she said. She was wearing the hat with the dancing Christmas tree and looked just this side of crazy. Before I could protest, she hurried me out to the group huddled in front of the tree and placed me right next to Luke.
When the photos were done, and the spots in my eyes from the flash evaporated, I was the first to pull away from the group.
“Wren,” Luke said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I swatted it off. “I’ll talk to Grayson; just get away from me.”
“You closed your eyes,” he said as I walked away.
I stopped, a stream of students and residents continued flowing around me.
“What?”
“When we kissed,” he said, coming closer to me. “You closed your eyes.”
My jaw dropped. I jerked my head from side to side to see if anyone had heard what he’d just said. Someone plunked a few keys on the piano, and Mrs. Fiore told the students to form a line to get their coats.
“We,” I said as low as I could, “didn’t kiss. You kissed me. And I pushed you away, and—”
“And you closed your eyes, and for a second you just went with it,” he finished. “All I’m saying is I thought we kind of rocked it, and I think you’d be lying if you said different.”
How could I answer that? Closing my eyes had been a reflex, pure and simple. I had been curious, but it was the same sort of curiosity that drew me to the edge of the second floor of the mall, wondering what it would be like to toss myself off. I’d never do that, never go over the railing because I knew it would hurt and I’d break something or die right in front of Old Navy. Still, I’d kissed Luke. So there I was. Splat.
“You’re deluded,” I answered, walking away to get my coat. He easily kept up with me, and we stood at the back of the line, inching up as each person retrieved his or her belongings.
“When you have that conversation with Grayson, and you’re feeling really awful about that hot chick from the mall,” he said, “just, you know, keep me in mind, if you want a revenge hookup.”
“How can you talk like that? You’re with Ava. I thought you were Grayson’s best friend.”
For a moment I could see that I’d hit a nerve. On some level his friendship with Grayson mattered to him. Whatever he was playing at now had nothing to do with friendship. Ava came by and shoved his jacket into his chest. He raked his teeth across his lower lip. The glimpse was gone. He stood up straight and put one arm through the sleeve of his jacket.
“All’s fair, Wren,” he said, walking away, jogging to catch up with Ava, who glared over her shoulder at me. So much for rekindling our BFF status.
I grabbed my coat, avoiding further contact with anyone, and scored a window seat on the bus ride back to Sacred Heart. Mrs. Fiore returned my phone. I had five texts from Grayson. Normally I would have torn right through them, but I rested my head against the window, trying to make sense of all that had happened.