Page 15 of Wish You Were Mine
“What about you?” I asked, giving Bash a sidelong glance. “You gonna try kissing anyone?”
“I don’t know…” Bash shrugged as he studied himself in the mirror. He took his black-rimmed glasses off, then put them back on, as if trying to figure out which look he was going for. “I was kind of thinking about kissing Alessi.”
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “You think it’s a good idea to kiss an ex?”
“Probably not…” Bash chuckled. “But hearing her song everywhere I went this summer had me thinking about the time we dated. And I guess I wondered if she’s been thinking about me, too.”
Before I could say anything, Miles stepped out of the bathroom, saying, “You’re planning to kiss Alessi tonight?” with a protective edge to his voice.
“I’m thinking about it,” Bash said, looking back at Miles with a slight shrug. “Just curious if the spark is still there. You know, wondering if she’s been thinking about me, too.”
“Well, I’ve been trying to figure out my stepsister for years,” Miles said with a sigh. “So, good luck on figuring that out.”
The dynamic between Miles and Alessi had always been a puzzle to me. Their parents had gotten together right around the time Miles graduated from high school, and to be honest, I never really knew what to make of their relationship. Sometimes it felt like they hated each other, and other times they were best friends.
What I did know for sure, though, was that they both worked hard to keep their personal lives out of the spotlight. Miles with his football career, and Alessi with her singing career, which had exploded this past year when she opened for Ky on his European tour.
“You still trying to figure out if that one song is about you?” I asked Bash, recalling the conversation we had last summer at a party where he’d tried to convince us that Alessi’s chart-topping hit was about him.
Bash shrugged. “I just can’t think that it isn’t.”
“What lyrics are you talking about?” Miles asked, frowning.
“Under the firework sky, your eyes meet mine, a secret spark ignites, but we’re out of time,”Bash said, mimicking the cadence Alessi used in her song.
“Because of the weekend you met, right?” Miles’s face softened with recognition. “You think she’s talking about Ian’s infamous Fourth of July yacht party?”
Bash nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Exactly.”
“Well, I guess those lyrics could be about you.” Miles raised an eyebrow. “But who really knows? My stepsister has had quite a few boyfriends through the years…”
“Should we head down to the hot tub and ask Alessi about her secret muse?” I suggested, intrigued, since I had my own theories. “Time to get to the bottom of this.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.” Miles clapped Bash on the shoulder. “I’ve been curious about the meaning behind that song, too.”
“Off to solve the mystery!” Bash raised his hand in the air. “And to kiss our fair maidens.”
“Hear, hear!” Miles cheered.
And now we were just showing that we were all a little drunk.
When we got back down to the kitchen, I spotted Nora and Lucy talking and laughing at something on Nora’s phone together.
“You girls planning on joining us in the hot tub?” Miles called out, flashing his usual grin. “Or are you too worried about making that freezing cold dash back inside?”
“Of course we’re getting in the hot tub,” Lucy replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “We were just waiting to see if you were brave enough to get in.”
“You’re doubting my bravery?” Miles bantered back. “Geez, Lucy. I thought we were buds.”
Lucy rolled her eyes, a playful smirk on her lips. “We’ll seeyou out there in a bit.” And when she glanced briefly at me, something stirred in my chest.
Yeah, I really needed to find out if she was single before the clock struck midnight because a New Year’s kiss with a cute girl like her was exactly what I needed to kick my goal of finding a girlfriend this year into gear.
“So, we were just talking about your new album,” Miles said to his stepsister as we climbed into the end of the hot tub where she was sitting. The air was chilly, sharp enough that we could see our breath. But the moment we sank into the water, the cold outside seemed to fade away, replaced by the soothing heat. “And we came up with a few theories about where you drew inspiration for some of your songs.”
“Oh, you did?” Alessi asked, her green eyes flicking between Miles, Bash, and me.
“Yeah…” Miles leaned forward, his signature smirk making an appearance—the one that usually meant he was about to stir things up. “And I’ve got to admit, the theories are pretty good.”
