Page 4 of My Best Bet

“Alright, Bennett,” he said, his lips twitching into a grin.

He came closer to me then. He was tall, like a full head taller than me even though I had skates on. And his smell, it was just so… guy-ish, like laundry detergent and fresh cut grass. His hand touched my side and a flurry of jitters went off inside my stomach. That was… new.

He angled his head down, closer to me. His eyes fluttered closed, and his long eyelashes stood out against his pale face.

I wanted to kiss him. I did. But also…

My brain really was a problem.

“Ahh,” I released a strangled noise and backed up. “Sorry, but I’ve never…” My face burned and my neck itched like hell now. I shook my head and swallowed. “I’ve never… before… ya know?”I bit my lip and squinted up at him, hoping I didn’t completely ruin everything, hoping that he’d understand what I was trying to say.

“Oh?” His eyebrow furrowed. Then it dawned on him. “Ohhh.” He quickly shook his head. “We don’t have to.” A blush crept into his cheeks again.

His two friends suddenly cracked up at something behind us, and their laughter kind of grated on my nerves.

I suddenly wanted Colt to win this bet.

And… I wanted my first kiss to be with him.

Swallowing hard, I gathered up my courage and took a step closer to him. His body went completely still as his eyes met mine. Going on my tiptoes, I whispered, “How bad do you want to win that bet?”

His eyebrows flew up in surprise, then he smoothed his face into a mock-serious look. “Sosobad,” he said. His grin was back in an instant. His face was just sosmiley. I wanted to reach out and touch his dimple, which was weird– that was weird, right? But he just had a lightness, a happiness, about him. He was the kind of guy that people gravitated toward, that people listened to. I could tell. He was smarter than his friends. And nicer. And cuter. I loved the little freckles I could just barely see under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. He was maybe the cutest guy I’d ever seen.

He angled his neck down to me again and his eyes fluttered closed.

His lips pressed down against mine. They were soft, and I could even feel his smile in the kiss, and then they were gone in an instant.

His buddies hooted and hollered behind us, but his eyes were locked on mine, a grin on his face.

We heard someone coming down the hall then and his eyes snapped to the stairwell that led up to the rink lobby.

“You boys better get back here and clean up that mess,” Hans yelled.

“Oh shit.” He ripped his hand away from my side and I instantly missed his touch. “Sorry,” he cringed, “gotta go.”

I swiftly turned away from him and touched my still tingly lips–Did that really just happen?

A second later, I heard him yell, “Bennett!”

I whirled back around to see him at the end of the hall, wedged in the rink door.

“I’ll be seein’ ya around,” he said with a grin.

I swallowed hard. “You will?”

“Yeah…” He suddenly looked a little shy. “Wait, is that okay?”

“C’mon Colt!” the one called Kappy yelled.

“He’s gonna beat our asses, man,” JP added with wide eyes, craning his neck over Colt’s shoulder to see if Hans was coming.

But Colt wasn’t budging. He was fully focused on me, waiting on my answer.

“You boys better get over here!” Hans practically growled behind me. He was on the stairs now, his face red and his neck veins bulging.

Not wanting Colt to get in trouble, I shooed him away.

“Colt, we gotta go!” His buddies tried to yank him from the door, but he was just staring at me, the picture of calm.

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