Page 31 of Kiss Collector
“I knew he was the bad one,” Kenzie says, giving me a grin.
I peek over now and see that the guys are passing the drink around. Ponytail Boy shakes his head.
“Aw, my deep thinker is a good boy.” Monica sighs. “That’s sweet. I hope he’s not too good to kiss a stranger, though.”
“Well, there’s six of them,” Lin points out. “Two extra dudes, just in case.”
“Okay, now we really sound like guys.” I laugh.
A new band comes onstage, and they start with one of the songs we learned and loved in the car. We all holler and raise our hands, dancing and belting out the words again. Everyone on the stage looks like mini action figures from here, but that’s okay. The music is amplified and shakes the earth beneath our feet.
“I need to pee!” Kenz says. “I drank my Coke too fast.”
“I’ll go with you,” I tell her. Girl code. Nobody goes alone. It’s not the bathroom we worry about—it’s the trip to and from.
We leave Monica and Lin, and as we pass the six sexy country boys, I swear they all nod in unison, and it’s so adorably polite we can’t help but laugh a little as we nod in return.
The bathroom line is long and takes forever. I start to get antsy. Kenzie and other women sing in their stalls when a new song comes on that raises a huge cheer from the crowd. I haven’t heard it before. It’s a slow ballad.
When Kenz is finally done, we rush back through the crowd. It’s even darker now, and I’m lost for a second. I’m looking for our line of guys, but I can’t see them. My heart sinks. Did they leave already? All that flirting for nothing?
“There’s Monica!” Kenzie says, and when she points she gasps and I see why. Our friends are surrounded by the six guys, and they are chatting away.
They struck when our group was halved. Very smart. Less intimidating and easier than approaching all of us at once. Kenzie gives my hand a squeeze and we move forward.
“Be cool,” I whisper. Kenz nods and tries not to smile.
As we join them, I can’t help but see villainous possibilitiesin each of these guys—the way they size up my friends, just as we sized them up—probably thinking of how they can use us and be done with us. Think again, boys.
Black Hat Boy turns his head and lifts his chin when he sees us coming, making my stomach flip. Up close, he’s shorter than I expected, but his face is even hotter. One of those guys with dark-brown eyes and flawless skin that you can’t help but stare at.
I look away and focus on Monica and Lin instead.
“Y’all made some friends?”
“Yeah,” Lin says. “This is...” She starts naming names and I nod at each guy, but the names fall straight through my memory. Until she gets to Black Hat Boy. Mike. I’d been expecting him to be an Austin, Tucker, or Hunter, but nope. Just Mike. I give him a nod like the others and look away, pretending to be interested in the flashing, colorful lights from the show down below.
The main act is starting onstage, so the lights around us dim, and the volume gets even louder as the crowd cheers. Kenzie cups her hands around her mouth and lets out awooo!as Brown Hat Boy next to her claps his hands. Above us, the stars are twinkling in a cloudless sky, and it couldn’t get more perfect.
Mike sidles up next to me, and I continue watching the show. Everyone around us is on their feet, dancing, swaying, singing. I sway, too, then flash him a smile and focus on the band again.
“Enjoying the concert?” Oh, my. He’s got a country lilt.
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s my first one.”
“Ever?”
“My firstcountryconcert,” I clarify.
He nods. His eyes are hooded under the black brim of his cowboy hat.
“Where you from?” I ask.
“Culpeper.” Ah, lots of farmland. “You?”
“Dumfries.”
I wait for him to give me anewlook or reaction, but he just nods. We do some basic chatting while keeping our eyes on the band, and I find out he’s a senior headed to Longwood University this summer. All these guys are graduating in less than two months, and they’ve got the carefree attitudes to show it.
