Page 191 of As the Rain Falls
Maybe I’m reallyoverBeckett Evans and the silly little crush I had on him. But it doesn’t mean I’m totally unaffected.He affects me still, just a little. And maybe, just maybe…Some part of me wants to affect him the tiniest bit back.
I really wish I could get him to see me as more than just the girl who also happens to be his neighbor, but it’s never going to happen. I can’t help but try, though.
“Should I change?” I ask, running a hand down my hip. “Use something else?”
Beckett’s throat bobs.
“You always look good to me, Cass,” his voice is quieter now, and his words are spoken in a more delicate ways. “You should know that by now.”
The soft tone in which Beckett speaks when he talks to me makes me want to step closer and reach out to him, grab him, and never let him go. No one is here to stop me—not my father, not my brother, not even Caleb—and so I do.
I quickly move to grab his hand, intertwining our fingers together. Beckett’s thumb brushes against my skin almost compulsively, as if he’s memorizing what it feels like to be touching me.
“It still feels good to be reminded.”
I tilt my head up, squeeze his hand a little tighter. Beckett steps closer. Suddenly, this feels like dancing at the fundraiser all over again.
“Cassandra,” Beckett whispers my name like it’s a warning, and I get momentarily obsessed with the way he speaks. It’s low, half-slurred, as if the action of saying the words out loud is a little boring to him.
“Beckett.” I smile, pretending not to feel the burn of his gaze. “Hi.”
Dating Caleb Monteiro taught me some things, and it turns out boys are almost all the same. I know exactly how to make them pause, look, and want me.
The thing is, Beckett isn’t Caleb. He doesn’t play along. I can give him my doll eyes, the please-flirt-with-me kind of look that I only reserve for Caleb when we’re stealing secret glances at each other in the cafeteria, but Beckett won’t fall for them as easily.
It makes me wonder if Beckett would rather have someone reading his mind instead.
Would he even be comfortable with someone else trying to decipher every bit of him that’s kept hidden under lock?
Would it be easier for us to understand one another?
I smile without showing teeth.
“Are we friends again?”
He rolls his blue eyes at me. “Stop.”
“Okay, I will,” I answer softly. “So… I take it you really like my dress?”
Beckett studies me for a moment, his jaw tight.It reminds me of the look he gave me when he saw me wearing his jacket a few weeks back. I didn’t do that on purpose. In fact, I didn’t even know he’d be there.It was all a huge coincidence, and it felt good back then to watch him be so mad about it.
“I like the dress.”
“Good.”
“Mn.”
I grin happily, and because I can’t quite resist it, I drop the next bomb just to see what he does with it.
“Hopefully, Caleb will like it too.”
“Right.” His body goes rigid, the blue in his eyes darkening to a muted color. “Caleb.”
Beckett scratches his chin and looks away, his nose turning a bright shade of red. I trace his profile with my gaze, following the tension in his broad shoulders.
I kind of want to bite them now.
“You’re still seeing him?” he asks.
