Page 11 of Grumpy Darling

“Give it back, Parker.” But he wasn’t listening. Instead, his eyes were devouring the page.

“Parker!” When I got close to him, I tried to grab the paper, but he lifted it high out of my reach and continued to read. This was a nightmare. He was the last person I wanted to see the list.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking down at me with a glint of mischief in his eyes. He lowered the list, and I finally managed to take it from him.

“Nothing.”

“You seem very upset over nothing.”

“Well, it’s private.”

“Not anymore.”

Perhaps Reed and Grayson were right about Parker. He was the worst.

“Looked like some kind of list to me...” he continued.

“Yeah, for groceries.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “If it’s just groceries, then I’m sure you’ll be happy to let me see it again.”

I groaned up at the ceiling. “You’re really not going to leave this alone, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Not even if I ask nicely?”

“Especially not if you ask nicely.”

I released a sigh. “Fine. You’re right. It is a list. It’s my senior year bucket list.” He looked confused so I tried to explain. “You know, all the things I want to do before I graduate.”

“Yeah, I get that,” he replied. “What I don’t get is why I saw ‘knitting’ and ‘ballroom dancing’ on it.”

I didn’t really want to get into the reasons the list existed with Parker. He didn’t need to know that I’d started it as a way to find my one true passion, so I could prove to my parents there was more to life than getting a boring office job and climbing the corporate ladder. Somewhere along the line, the list had expanded to include all sorts of things I felt I needed to try before high school came to an end. I decided to give Parker the short version of the story.

“Because I’ve never done those things before, and I wanted to try them,” I said. “And knitting has been ticked off the list already. Don’t you remember the mittens I gifted you at the start of winter?”

“Oh yeah, I wondered why you gave me those.” He paused for a moment but then snatched the list away from me again, completely ignoring my complaints as he read through it.

“Yoga?” he muttered. “And baking? Is that why you made those muffins?”

“Yes.” He sounded confused, but I was struggling to see the issue. “Is that a problem?”

He glanced up at me like I’d somehow let him down. “The problem, Paige, is if this is really a senior year bucket list, then baking shouldn’t be on here. If anything, you should be trying togetbaked.”

Ofcoursethat was Parker’s advice.

“I’m serious,” he continued. “This is the worst-looking bucket list I’ve ever seen in my—wait, what’s this one...” His voice trailed off as his eyes caught on something toward the bottom of the list. When he looked back up at me, his face was covered in shock. “‘My first kiss’?”

“Oh no.” He’d found the final item—one that remained very much unchecked. I’d forgotten it was even there, probably because I’d given up hope of ever completing it. “Please forget you just read that.”

“Paige, how the hell have you never kissed anyone?”

I wanted to crawl under the table, curl up, and die. Unfortunately, the smirk on Parker’s lips made it clear that he’d taunt me about this even beyond the grave.

“I don’t know,” I protested. “I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

“Haven’t gotten around to it? This isn’t a homework assignment, Paige.” He shook his head like he couldn’t have been more disappointed in me. “Does Grayson know about your virgin lips?”

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