Page 49 of The Forever After Bet

“Did you really think she wasn’t going to kiss you and then come back and brag about it?”

Ford grinds his teeth together and squeezes his eyes shut. “She only kissed my cheek. I realized what she was doing and turned my head at the last second.”

“Seriously? She failed to mention that tidbit. In her mind, it was a quick but passionate locking of the lips.”

Ford narrows his eyes at me, but he’s smiling. “Really, Clark?”

I raise my hands in surrender. “Okay, I’ll stop.”

Ford glances around the room. Everyone’s busy getting their lab set up. He leans in, giving me a quick, tender kiss that makes my toes curl. I trace a finger over my lips and give him a bashful smile. I can feel my cheeks heating with a blush.

“Thank you,” I whisper. He shouldn’t have done that. Someone could’ve seen it, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

He pulls me close and leans down so his lips are next to my ear. “That was a swift, passionate kiss, and you’re the only one I’ll ever give one to.”

I look up at him. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to be a puddle on the floor, and you’ll be stuck doing this lab all by yourself.”

“Fine, for the next fifty-two minutes, I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”

“I have a feeling that’s the best offer I’m going to get, so I’ll take it.” I laugh.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry about Bree. In my mind, it was a non-event. Thirty seconds after that happened, I found your note.”

I smile to myself. “Oh, yeah, my good luck kiss note. Did you like it?”

“I loved it. I made sure I unpinned it and put it in a safe place so I could wear it again at tonight’s game. I loved how you signed it. It made me smile every time I thought about it for the rest of the night.” Ford smiles at me.

“I love your happy smile,” I whisper. “It makes your eyes crinkle.”

Ford puts his hand to his heart. “I’m the one who’s going to end up a puddle on the floor.”

“Okay, I’ll stop. Let’s do our lab.”

We add all our ingredients and put them over the Bunsen burner. Now, we have twenty minutes to wait for our solution to simmer.

“I am curious about one thing,” I say, leaning my hip against the table.

“What’s that?”

“Well, Bree must have heard about how I used to say, ‘Make this moment matter’ when I kissed your hand before football games because she bragged about how the two of you had a special saying she said to you before you kissed.” Ford’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline. “Yeah, that’s how everyone felt. Leah pretended to puke, and the meeting was basically over after that.”

Ford tips his head back, laughing. “A special saying? Wow, that girl is a special kind of delusional.” He pulls his phone out, unlocking it. “So, her text message wanted to know what time the basketball busses were leaving the school, along with this.” He hands me his phone so I can read the text. I have a good luck charm for your game tonight. I want to give it to you before you get on the bus. You’ve been such a good friend to me, and I want to show you how much I appreciate it.

“Wow, just wow. What did she say to you that was so inspirational that you looked like you wanted to weep?”

“No. Please tell me she didn’t say that?”

“I can tell you that, but then I’d be a liar,” I whisper the last part.

“She said you’ve got this.”

I bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. “That’s some serious inspiration. I’m sure that’s why you had your best game ever and broke the school’s three-point record.”

Ford’s mouth drops open. “Did I tell you? He steps up to me but then stops, balling his hands into fists. “This is harder than I expected.”

“I agree,” I whisper, wishing I could touch and kiss Ford. “And no, I saw the stats after the game.”

“Thank you.”

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