Page 75 of Sugar and Spice
I glare at her, but she glares right back.
“Fine,” I finally say, but only because I know she’ll badger me all afternoon if I don’t.
Thankfully, now appeased, she happily chirps about her last phone call with Linus, and I continue to brood about the dark-haired singer I’ll never see again.
Brandon plopsinto the hard-plastic seat next to me, offering me a drink of the soda he just bought from the questionable concession counter.
I shake my head and study the scoreboard. Brandon and I are tied for the lead.
Lauren picks up her ball—a pink, lightweight kid’s ball—and walks straight to the line. She stands there, concentrating much too hard considering she’s hit the gutter every time but once—and that one time, the ball hopped out right at the end of the lane.
“Lauren,” Harrison calls, laughing. “You need to start at one of the dots like I showed you. Build up momentum andthenthrow.”
As she has every time, Lauren ignores her boyfriend, awkwardly swings the ball back, and lets it go. It drops like a rock and skitters several times before it inevitably ends up in the gutter.
“I cannot believe your sister suggested bowling,” I say to Brandon, cringing as I laugh with the rest of them.
“Hey, pizza’s up.” Brandon tugs me from my seat. “Help me carry it back.”
“Are you sure the health department has approved this place?” I ask as I eye the old, peeling laminate counter.
“Food snob,” he teases.
I set my hands on the counter and lean forward, trying to spot our order. “I don’t think it’s ready yet.”
“Weird,” he says smoothly, sitting at one of the deserted stools. “Must have been someone else’s order. It should be here soon. Sit.”
A popular entertainment show plays soundlessly behind the counter, and I watch it for several moments, already feeling my mind go numb. Who cares what celebrity is dating whom?
Brandon nudges my hand with his thumb, and I look back at him.
“How long have we been friends, Harper?” he asks.
I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t know. Since Riley met Lauren and our families hit it off.”
“Why haven’t we ever dated?”
His words are blunt, and they make me blink. “Because you were the jerky kind of guy who always had a different girl on your arm every week? Because you’re a chicken and never asked me out? BecauseSadie?”
He grins. “Let’s give it a shot.”
I stare at him. “Brandon?—”
“I know that was the least romantic way I could possibly ask you, but I mean it, Harper. It’s time we try.”
Two teenage girls shuffle up and ding the bell a few stools down. I watch them for a minute before I look back at Brandon.
Should we?
Every fiber of my being screamsno.But those fibers still want Mason, and heaven knows that boat has sailed.
I should have never walked away. I should have stayed with him, braved the limelight, accepted the ridiculous offer to become his personal pastry chef.
“You’re such a good guy, Brand?—”
He groans, cutting me off. Then he laughs. “You see?Thisis why I never asked you. I knew you’d turn me down.”
“The irony is that any other time, it would have been an automatic yes.”
