sat quietly on the floor for another half minute. I think we were both suddenly, awkwardly, and disturbingly aware that we were alone together.
Adam looked sideways at me and grinned. “That was fun,” he said.
“Do you really want to get in my pants?”
He laughed. “That was just a diversionary tactic, you know, hiding in plain sight. Maybe it’ll give her a new way of thinking about us before we spring the news on her.”
“So you don’t want to get in my pants?”
“Hell yes, I want to get in your pants.”
“Do you want to get in them right now?”
He narrowed his eyes playfully. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I haven’t even kissed you yet.”
“Yeah, about that. Why haven’t you kissed me?”
“Why haven’t you kissed me?” he came back.
“I’m playing hard to get. My grandma says guys like that.”
“She does? Well, you were hard enough to get already.”
I was? “So why haven’t you kissed me?”
“I was waiting until your face was splattered with chocolate so I could lick it off because that would make you mine forever.”
I swallowed hard.
“There’re raw eggs in there,” I said stupidly.
He raised a brow.
“You can get E. coli from raw eggs.”
He grinned. “I’ll take my chances.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
He leaned in close, his lips almost touching but not touching. “You are so asking for it.”
You have no idea, I thought.
His lips brushed lightly against mine. I held perfectly still, my lips slightly parted, breathing in the smell of him and chocolate, all mixed up together. I wondered if I’d always associate the smell of chocolate with him and this moment.
“Hey, you guys think you could ...”
We sprang apart like magnets that had suddenly been flipped like-pole to like-pole.
She looked from me to Adam, needing only a split second to take it all in. The color drained from her face. It was a moment before she could even speak. “Wow, uh, I’m sorry, this is kind of awkward.” She closed her eyes. “Uh, I’m, uh ...”
I got to my feet. “Jules.”
She waved me away. “Don’t.”
“We need to talk.”
She laughed a little and started to say something, but then turned and fled the kitchen.
Adam banged his head against the cabinets.
“I’ll talk to her,” I said.
“What are you gonna tell her?”
I stared off at the door she had slammed shut behind her. “Hell if I know.”
“The truth is always a good place to start.”
I found Juliet out by the pool. She was sitting on the side with her feet dangling in the water, but when I approached, she got up to leave.
I grabbed her arm. “Wait, Jules. Don’t go.”
She yanked her arm away, but I grabbed it back. “I don’t want to talk to you, Nate.” She sniffed and wiped her nose on the collar of her shirt.
“You have to talk to me.”
“The way you talked to me? Huh? Huh? How long has this been going on between you two?”
“I don’t know. A couple of weeks maybe.” Eighteen days to be exact, more if you included how long I’d been thinking about it.
“You’ve been letting me make a fool of myself and the whole time you wanted my best friend. And YOU—” She was yelling now so Adam could hear her inside. “YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND! WERE!”
“It’s not you, Jules.”
She snorted. “You think I’m upset because you prefer Adam over me. You’re a fucking idiot. YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT TOO, ADAM! I’m not mad about that. Okay, maybe I am a little bit. But mostly I’m fucking pissed as hell that neither one of you trusted me enough to tell me.”
She yanked on her arm, but I didn’t let go. “No wonder you wouldn’t ever kiss me back. I just thought you were scared. And I made you touch my boobs. Shit. That must have really freaked you out.”
She looked back at me, and I shrugged. “Not too much.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks a lot.”
This time when she yanked her arm away I let her go. She climbed to the top of the rock ledge on the far side of the pool and stuck her feet in the waterfall. I stared after her, caught somewhere between needing to make things right between us and wanting desperately to get back in that kitchen and create some suction between my mouth and Adam’s. We’d been so close. I glanced back at the door, then followed Juliet.
I rolled up my jeans and dropped my feet in. We sat side by side and stared at the water for a time, neither of us speaking.
“Why didn’t you tell me you dig guys? I would have totally understood.” She wiped a smear of chocolate from my cheek, then dropped her hand. “You didn’t even give me a chance. God, I feel so stupid.” She looked away.
“I don’t dig guys,” I mumbled.
Her head snapped back, her eyebrows practically in her hairline. “I think that train has already left the station, baby.”
That stung, but I deserved it. Old habits die hard.
“You still don’t trust me.” She laughed a little again and shook her head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like the clues haven’t been right in front of my eyes.”
I frowned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen the looks between you two. Your eyes get all melty whenever you look at him. They don’t melt when you look at me. I wish they did, but ...” She shrugged. “And Adam talks about you a lot, more than I do even.” She bit her lip and shook her head from side to side, then laughed lightly. “I never really believed you were coming to rehearsals to see me, you know. You’re not that good a liar.”
He
