Page 46 of The Change Up
“I didn’t take you for a hard seltzer kind of guy, Larsen.” I quirk my eyebrow at him.
“Touché.” Hudson reaches up into the cabinet and grabs a stack of paper plates while Niko sits on a barstool. I sidle up beside him and watch as Ty grabs ingredients for a salad out of the fridge.
“Let me help.” I start to rise out of my chair as Ty’s eyes lock on mine.
“Not a chance, Chlo. You cook for us all the time.” Over the last couple of years, Brynn, Macy, and I would host “family dinners” for our group of friends on Sunday nights. It was our way of having a home-cooked meal and seeing our friends. With baseball season taking up so much of our time, we haven’t had a chance to host a dinner this season. Popping the top off a few containers, I watch as Ty dumps the contents of the first container into a larger bowl. “Besides, most of the vegetables are already cut up.”
“You guys are so domesticated.”
Niko lets out a snort laugh from beside me, and my head whips in his direction. “Fuckers are showing off because you’re here.”
“Is that so?”
Hudson and Ty both look at me with boyish grins on their faces. Rolling my eyes, I lean back in my seat and bring my seltzer to my lips. Taking a long pull, I bring the can away and shake the liquid to gauge how much is left.
The guys all share some kind of look like they’re in on something, and I immediately wonder if there’s something on my face.
“Have you started the reading yet?” Ty asks as he chops up some fresh tomatoes. Only the lettuce, peppers, and carrots were cut up for the salad.
I shake my head as I watch his lack of knife skills which has me sitting on my hands in order to keep them busy before I jump up and take over. Ty says he has it handled, and I really hope so because I don’t want to deal with a severed finger tonight.
“Do you mind grabbing my baseball bag for me? It’s the one sitting by the front door.”
I slide off my barstool and make my way over to the front door where I spot a black and white baseball backpack. Picking up the heavy bag, I carry it back into the kitchen and set it down on the barstool I was just occupying.
“Inside is my textbook where I’ve worked on highlighting a few items that I think will help us with the study guide. Do you mind taking a second look while I finish here?”
“Okay, random,” I chuckle as the room around me falls silent as I unzip the large part of the bag. Even Ty’s chopping has stopped.
Sliding the zipper open, I open the large compartment and my breath catches in my throat as a small gasp escapes my lips.
Hands trembling, I bring a hand up to my mouth while I reach inside the bag with the other. Letting my fingers trail the lilac ribbon that’s secured with a safety pin.
As shocked as I am to see the ribbon secured to the bag, I’m even more shocked to see the paper that it’s clipped to. If I were to open it up all the way, I’d see a receipt from Marnie’s Diner for a cup of coffee, a southwest omelet, wheat toast, a side of fruit, a side of bacon, and a cinnamon roll.
“What the hell is this?” My tear-brimmed eyes snap up as I find all three guys watching me. “H-how did you get this, Ty?”
“Dude, that’s not your bag, it’s Cody’s.” I bring my attention to Hudson as he watches me with a small smirk on his face. He knew this was Cody’s bag. My eyes go from guy to guy and realize this was part of their plan. These meddling jackasses.
I can’t keep the tremble out of my hands as I go back to tracing the ribbon.
The summer we spent together, Cody loved to tug out my ribbons. He would run them through his fingers and play with the ends before tugging them out.
Clearly, he kept one.
And clearly, he never forgot about that summer.
As I try to wrap my mind around my latest discovery, I hear Cody come into the kitchen. He starts to say something, but his words trail off. Turning toward him, I watch his eyes move down to the bag that’s sitting in front of me. He sets the food on the table and puts his hands up like one would defend against a wild animal.
“Wildflower, I can explain.”
I don’t give him the chance.
In three strides, I’m erasing the space between us, not stopping until I’m standing in front of him. My hands fly around his neck as I bring his head closer to me while pressing up on my tip toes.
My smooth lips find his soft ones. He doesn’t react right away, and I instantly feel rejected. Before I have a chance to stepaway, his arms wrap around my back in a tight grip as he presses his lips harder into mine.
A small gasp escapes my lips, and he takes that as an invitation to slip his tongue inside my mouth. The boys cheer in the background, and as our tongues brush each other, a small moan escapes my lips as reality comes crashing down.
