Page 29 of The Beach House
I searched his face, and I knew he was thinking the exact same thing as me:This is not happening.
I couldn’t kiss him. It was way too—
“There.”
I blinked, and I missed it. I don’t think he even really put his lips on my cheek long enough for it to constitute a kiss.
“No, that doesn’t count!” Damien told us teasingly. “That was barely the kind of kiss you give your grandma. Man up.”
They were all egging us on, drumming their knees and shouting.
Even if we were both totally and completely single, I knew there was no way I could ever kiss Lee.
What if it made things permanently weird between us? What if it wrecked everything?
Also—neither of us was single. I never backed down from dares usually, but this was different. I wasn’t about to kissanybodyelse, especially not for some stupid dare, to shut up people I’d never see again.
And Lee had to be thinking the same, surely.
I heard Lee sigh, and because he was sitting so close to me I felt his breath wash over my face and neck; it sent a shiver down my spine.
“Well,” he mumbled, low enough for only me to hear. “They can never tell us we didn’t try it.”
And I just thought,He’s going to kiss me.
Chapter 13
My first kiss had been with Noah, at the kissing booth. He’d tasted of spearmint and cotton candy, and I’d been totally lost because I’d never kissed a guy before. And, sure, I’d gotten in a lot of practice since then, but Noah was still the only guy I’d ever kissed.
Lee would taste like beer and marshmallows. I could smell it on his breath, he was that close. My eyes were shut tight and I could feel my mouth twisted into a thin line.
I’d been so sure he was going to kiss me…but he didn’t. I peeled my eyes back open and he was still right in front of me, his face scrunched up just like mine. “Nope. Too weird.”
Everyone around us shouted again.Go on, just one kiss! Do it!
“Your face looks strange this close.”
“So does yours. You have a booger, by the way,” I told him.
“You have a pimple under your nose.”
Far from kissing me, he reached up as if to squeeze the pimple for me—I knew he was joking around, but I still shrieked and twisted away—accidentally head-butting him in the process.
“Ow!” he exclaimed, pulling away. “Shelly!”
“That was so your fault!”
He tackled me, pinning me down in the sand. He sat on my legs and pinned my arms over my head.
“Get off! You’re getting sand in my hair!” I thrashed around, trying to break free. “You’re too heavy!”
“Payback!”
“Lee!”
“Elle!” he mimicked in a falsetto voice that sounded nothing like me. I frowned but stopped wriggling, since I was getting nowhere, and Lee bent down so his mouth was right beside my ear.
“Was it just me or would that have been totally weird?”
