Page 52 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions

Alex’s smile was sad. “I really am sorry, George. Seriously,genuinelysorry. And I swear if you forgive me—even though I know I don’t deserve it—I will make it up to you. I’ll be honest from here on out. I won’t play games anymore. Not with you, and not with myself. As crazy as it sounds…I think we’re kindred spirits.”

I’d forgiven him the moment he’d brought out the goddamn pickles. His explanation was nice though, and appreciated. No one, in all my life, had ever apologized to me so sincerely. And so…endearingly pathetically? Like a kicked puppy. And like he really, actually cared what I thought.

What a trip.

“You were flirting with me as a joke?” I confirmed, because he hadn’t addressed that. “Because I didn’t like you, and you thought it was funny.”

“No.” Alex shook his head. “The flirting was all real. It was the…other shit that wasn’t.”

“Huh.”

I frowned, processing this.

“So, do you—” Alex bit his lip.

“I forgive you.”

He sagged, giant frame collapsing forward. The rocks had to be digging into his knees, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Thank god.”

“I don’t know why you care,” I said, pickles still clutched close.

“Honestly? I don’t either.” Alex reached a hand out, hovering it over myknee before retracting it. “All I know is the idea that you might hate me makes me sick to my stomach.”

“I don’t hate you,” I reassured. Maybe I had, a little, but it’d been fleeting and before the puppy eyes.

“Yeah?” I swear to god if he’d had a tail it’d be wagging.

“You gave me pickles.”

“I did.”

“You’re hurting my knees just looking at you,” I grimaced. “Please get off the ground.” Alex was on his feet before I could blink, blocking the sun again. He smiled down at me, golden and sweaty.

I didn’t understand why he would flirt with me when he wasn’t looking for a relationship. Maybe he found it fun? Like a psychopath. I suppose it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t like I was looking either.

Alex shut my door for me, jogged around the back of the car, then slid into his seat. I studied the “Hell is Real” sign thoughtfully, deciding what to do now that we’d reached a tentative truce.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t…like you,” I confessed.

Alex’s presence alone made the inside of the car several degrees hotter.

He let the AC blast, but made no move to pull back onto the road. Twisting to look at me, his eyes were swimming with intelligence. Every ounce of his focus was on me. It made me feel bare, and I wasn’t sure how to react to that.

“I’ve just…never been treated that way. And I was…embarrassed. For obvious reasons,” I said.

Alex made a soft sound. “Treated what way?”

I rolled my eyes, self-conscious. I glowered at the cornfields outside the window. “You wouldn’t stop paying attention to me.Flirtingwith me. It was confusing.”

“Confusing how?”

“I’ve never…experienced that.”

“You’ve never been flirted with?” Alex sounded appalled. I hummed noncommittally.

“My recent ex wasn’t particularly…open with his affections.” That was the understatement of the century. “We were together for a very long time.”

“He didn’t pay attention to you?” Alex’s voice was full of disbelief. “How is that possible? Have you seen your legs? And your face?”

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