Page 17 of Double Trouble

Yes. “Uh…”

She laughs. “I totally made you forget, didn’t I?”

Absolutely not. But I let out a humorless laugh. “Way to go.”

“Sorry.” She bumps into my side as we make our way back to the louder spaces of the party. “Let me know if it comes to ya.”

My entire left side warms where she walks just an inch away, and I yell at my lips to form the damn words.Come on, Tanner. Ask her out for real. A real date. Hold her hand. Board with her till the sun comes up. Kiss her. Say the three little words.

My eyes drift to her hand as we walk. She tugs on her dress, wriggling around like she’d like nothing more than to rip the thing off and walk around in bike shorts and a sports bra.

I love her so much. Too much. Too much, too fast, too soon…

“Feel like a drink?” my lips say instead of what I want them to.

“Driving tonight.”

“They got mocktails and shit.”

“Ooh… shit. Yum.”

I knock into her side, but she’s sturdy and tough, so it barely interrupts her gait. “How ‘bout a Gatorade?”

She lifts a brow. “They have that at the bar?”

“No, but I’ll hook you up.” I lead her toward the inside door, taking her down the lit hallway and past the food court and up to the arcade. She follows next to me, skipping some of the steps as she pretends to be on a skateboard.

“Maybe I’ll add in a hardflip,” she says, mimicking the motion of the advanced trick. By her tone, she’s kidding, but it’s not a bad idea.

“You should.”

She snorts and gives me a look. “And fall on my ass in front of all those judges? How fun!”

“I’ve seen you do it plenty, Brink.” We get to the top of the stairs, entering inside the shut down arcade. The game lights are all out, and the eerie darkness surrounds us, but it feels like home to me.

“Fall?”

“Land the flip, smartass.” I lead her to the only lit up machine here—the vending. “Seriously, you should consider a lot more of the advanced tricks in your audition.”

“The hardflip requires a lot of faith in your board, and while I love my little Millennium Falcon, she’s getting up there.”

“I think she’s got it in her.” I slip a couple bucks in the machine and click the Arctic Blitz button. It’s her favorite. The bottle bangs and rumbles the machine on its way down the chute, plunking into the bottom. I pull it out for her and slap it into her waiting palm.

“One day she’ll retire.” She cracks the seal on the bottle. “Until then, I think I’ll stick to the stuff she knows.”

For the life of me, I don’t know why she just doesn’t get a new board. Not sure if she’s just attached, or she doesn’t feel like she can spend money on herself. They aren’t freakishly expensive. Mine was about a hundred and twenty, but it was worth every penny.

And I’ve thought about buying one for her more than once, but those words Lydia said forever ago just haunt the hell out of me, and I don’t want to mess up my chances by coming on too strong.

Knowing Mad, she probably wouldn’t accept it, anyway.

“You know,” she says after a minute, “we could totally sneak into the Wheel Zone now and no one would give a crap.”

I smirk at the vending machine, sliding in a couple more bills. “You got the Millennium Falcon with ya?”

“In my car,” she lilts. “We should totally do it.”

My own Gatorade plops and crashes to the bottom. “It’s almost like youwantto get caught.”

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