Page 47 of The Change Up
I’m kissing Cody Jacobs.
And it’s even better than I remember.
Chloe Mariano is kissing me.
Holy shit. Chloe is kissing me.
After everything that has happened, I never would have imagined that I would get the chance to kiss her again. To feel her soft, pillow-like lips.
I smile into our kiss and slowly start to break apart our connection. As much as I never want to stop kissing her, I’m reminded that we aren’t alone as I hear the guys start to cheer.
Chloe pulls away as I take in her flushed cheeks and swollen lips. Her hands come to her face, and she starts to hide from us.
Reaching up, I gently encircle her wrists and tug her hands away. “Don’t hide, Wildflower.”
At the mention of the nickname I gave her, her eyes pop to mine. “You’ve been giving me hints all this time, and I’ve never wanted to believe it. I thought you just threw that name in to rile me.”
“I mean a small part of me wanted a reaction,” I say with a shrug, still holding onto her wrists that have now settled in between us. “But not in the way you were thinking.”
She shakes her head at my words before I continue. “I’ve been playing your game. It’s my job to read signs, and I’ve been reading you, Wildflower. You might not have wanted anyone to know about us, but I never forgot about us.”
Her face flushes as her lips find mine again.
Clearing his throat, I glance up to glare at Hudson for the interruption. “Not that we aren’t all happy you two decided to make out in front of us, but food’s getting cold.”
Shaking my head, I reluctantly release Chloe’s wrists while reaching for a chair. Pulling it out, I gesture for her to sit as the guys make their way over to the table. Niko waltzes over with three yellow, an orange, and a blue bottle of sports drink. Ty carries the wooden salad bowl to the table while Hudson brings over a pile of paper plates and a handful of forks. We’re nothing if not classy.
Hands fly as pizza boxes are flung open. Everyone is starving after today’s game, which was a massacre in our favor. We needed this win after yesterday’s shit show that I caused. Seriously, what the hell was I thinking? Going out the night before and getting completely shit-faced? I know better, and I opened myself up to my dad’s awful text messages.
After every bad pitch I gave up, I had a new text waiting from him. Luckily I had the bright idea to delete the entire text thread instead of reading each text; otherwise, I would’ve ended up chucking my phone against the wall. I might not have been able to throw a fastball yesterday, but after I read the first text from my dad, I had no doubt I’d be able to land a fastball against the wall.
Chloe is the first to reach for the salad bowl. I watch her pile a mountain of the green leaf mixture on her plate before she’sreaching for the pizza. She grabs the biggest triangle of pizza in the box. I watch as she brings the slice to her mouth before taking a large bite. I smile at how she’s not shy about eating in front of us. You’d be surprised how many girls have an issue with consuming food in the presence of guys. And that’s exactly why I like Chloe—a lot actually—because she’s not afraid to be herself.
Once she’s happy with her plate, I watch as she lolls her head to the side, staring daggers at Ty.
“So, Billings,” she starts as an icy tone laces her words. Ty’s shocked expression finds hers. “Did you orchestrate this whole night, or did you really want to work on that study guide together?”
Niko chuckles, and I bounce my eyes between all the guys as I take a large bite of pepperoni and pineapple pizza.
Ty reaches up and strokes his face, eyes bouncing from Niko to Hudson. “Well, I mean I definitely wanted to work on our study guide together since midterms are next week, but then the opportunity kind of presented itself.”
“And I came up with the idea,” Hud adds. “I kind of screwed things up between you two. I’m sorry, by the way, for how I treated you and handled the situation that summer. I feel guilty” He winces at his confession.
Chloe nods her head at his admission and turns back to her plate. Silence falls over the table.
Hesitantly, I reach over and place my hand on her forearm. She startles from the contact, and I’m about to pull away when she looks over at me from under long black lashes and smiles. I rub my thumb across her smooth skin.
Damn, that smile of hers.
I could just get lost in it. She exudes sunshine even though she constantly wants to shy away from the attention. If only she saw herself the way I see her. But now that we are moving forward with fixing our past and righting all my wrongs, I’mgoing to make sure that Chloe Mariano sees herself the way I do. She’s going to be walking around campus with her head held high.
And everyone is going to know she’s mine.
Pushing my plate away, I stand and gather my trash as Chloe finishes her food. “Not to rain on your parade, Billings, but I’ve got my girl back, and I’m not about to share her with you tonight.”
Chloe turns, brow quirked as she stares me down. “Your girl back?”
“Yeah, Wildflower. It’s long overdue.” I give her a wink back and watch her cheeks turn pink. Goddamn, I love making her blush.
