Page 100 of Sinful as They Come
“What, are you fuckin’ new here? She’s not the girl I kiss. She’s the girl I… I…”
“Fantasize about kissing?”
“I have neverfantasizedabout kissing Holly,” I lied through my teeth. “Not even once.”
“If you say so,” Brodie said with a casual shrug before leaning up against his seat. “So, how did it happen?”
“I dunno. I was painting and then she had to come in and see if I needed anything. And then… And then I showed her how to paint and—"
“You showed her how to paint?” He snorted. “What, you plan that one or something?”
“I didn’t plan shit. Trust me. I didn’t go to the library today with the intention of kissing her.”
“Alright, aright. Then what happened?”
“I was standing there. Behind her. And I was… I was holding her hand and showing her how to paint properly, and then she looked back up at me with those fucking Bambi eyes, and then…” I rubbed at my face, trying so hard to forget about how good she felt. “Fuck, then I kissed her.”
“Aha. You kissed her.”
“Yeah, yeah, I fuckin’ kissed Holly Sutton.”
“How romantic.”
“Shut up.” I kicked his leg under the table. “What the hell am I gonna do?”
“Ask her out,” Brodie said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I shook my head. “Ask her out? Why would I do that?”
“Because you clearly like the girl.” Brodie threw both his hands up. “Like I’ve been saying since I got here.”
“You’ve been saying that because you’re an idiot.”
“I mean, maybe. But look how much has changed over the last couple months. Her and Carter broke up. You’ve been sticking up for her a lot. You two have been spending time together at the library. And now… you’ve kissed her.” Brodie ended his statement by shoving yet another French fry into his mouth.
I wasn’t supposed to like Holly. She was meant to be everything I hated.At least… Ithoughtshe had been until I had seen all those vulnerable sides of her. And how nice she was with Brodie. And me. She was the only reason I sold my painting the other month. I had made some serious cash on that thing – despite it being stolen. Plus there was that other day I opened up to her about my mom. She didn’t judge me for that. She let me talk to her, let me vent, let me show her the side of me that I hid from everyone else.
And now… Now I was painting for the library, which was probably going to be the biggest and best opportunity of my life. She had been helpful. Kind. And God I still couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss and how good she felt all close to me.
All I could do was massage my forehead.
“Dude, just admit that you like her,” sighed Brodie. “There’s no point in fighting it. Go talk to her.”
“And do what exactly?”
“Tell her how you feel.”
“I don’t even know how I feel yet, Brodie.”
“Well, think about it. Or talk to me about it. You got a thing for her or what?”
I didn’t want to admit it. But Brodie was staring at me like he already knew the answer, and at that point, I had a feeling it would be a relief just to talk about it. Staring out the window, I hoped something out there would give me the solution I wanted.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, still not looking at Brodie. “It’s just… I’ve been spending so much time with her lately. And she’s… done things for me. Like the groceries the other day. She’s helping me with my art. I’m making some serious cash on this library thing. Ya know, she’s nicer than I thought she was. There’s this whole selfless side to her that I didn’t know existed. She’s got such a good heart. Fuck, why didn’t I see all of that before?”
“So?” prompted Brodie.
“So… I don’t know, fuck. I just… When I see her, I feel this weird, protective side of me come out. She’s been so upset about all this Carter bullshit, and for some reason it makes me wanna help her. It makes me wannakillhimfor doing what he did to her too. I mean, how dumb canyou fucking be? How stupid do you have to be to cheat on a girl like that? He had, like, the prettiest girl in the world. He hit the fuckin’ jackpot and he still treated her like that?” I finally looked back at Brodie, hoping he would at least understand my frustration, but he was staring at me with a goofy grin on his face. “What?”
