Chapter 4

LUCY, FIFTEEN, REECE, SIXTEEN

The song ended, and Lucy lifted her head from the pillow and reached out and hit back on her CD player so that the song would repeat.

It wasn’t even a good song. Two days ago, she and her friend Kayley had talked about how much they hated it.

Now, however, she was listening to it with fresh ears. The pop star was no longer singing about generic heartaches, she was singing about Lucy’s heartache.

Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up, then dropped it again when she saw it was a text from Paige. Like Kayley, Paige was dying to know all about what had happened this afternoon at Tyler’s house. Wanted to know if Lucy had finally gotten her first kiss.

Lucy rolled onto her back as the singer launched into her chorus about how the boy she liked liked another girl.

I get you, Amber, Lucy silently told the first-name-only singer. I so get you.

There was a knock at her bedroom door, and Lucy heaved a sigh. “Go away!”

There was a moment of silence, then someone spoke. “You okay?”

Lucy sat bolt upright. She’d assumed it was either Brandi or Craig telling her it was time for dinner, but it wasn’t.

She swung her legs off the bed and brushed her hair back, wishing she were wearing something other than the gym shorts and T-shirt she’d worn to track practice.

“Come in.”

The door opened slowly, and the familiar face of Reece Sullivan appeared in the doorway. His blue eyes flicked briefly over her, then narrowed. “You okay?” he repeated.

She scratched her nose. “Sure.”

His eyes narrowed further, and he entered the room, shutting the door before leaning back against it with his arms crossed. Like Craig, Reece had made varsity football as a sophomore, but unlike Craig, he didn’t wear his letterman jacket everywhere he went. Today he was wearing a white polo and jeans, his forearms tan from working in the vineyards after school.

“Do I need to beat someone up?” he asked, his mouth hitching up in one corner. “Also, what the hell is this song?”

Lucy reached out and hit the pause button. “I’m wallowing.”

“I can see that. Want to talk about it?”

She picked at her cuticle. “Not with you.”

“Hey,” he chided softly. “You’ve always told me what’s bugging you.”

“Yeah, well, this is different.”

And it was different. Reece was one of her best friends, and she knew she was one of his, despite their age difference, despite the fact that she was the pesky kid sister of his actual best friend.

Usually, he was the first person she ran to with what was bugging her. He had a calm way of getting to the heart of every issue and making her see that whatever she was upset about wasn’t the end of the world. She supposed since he’d had a rough go of it with his sister bailing and his mom dying that he had a different perspective from most of her girlfriends, who thought the concept of tragedy only applied to their favorite show being canceled.

This topic though…that was different. Reece was quiet, but well liked, especially by the girls in his class. No way was she about to tell him that she thought she was finally going to get her first kiss from Tyler Vance today, only to learn that he wanted her to fix him up with her friend Paige.

Reece pushed away from the door, coming to sit beside her on the bed, leaning forward so that his hands were clasped between his knees. He looked over and met her eyes. “Guy trouble?”

She bit her lip. “Nobody likes me.”

He blinked in surprise, then let out a little laugh. “Don’t let it go to your head, but you’re one of the most popular girls in the freshman class.”

Lucy shook her head. “No, it’s just that everyone knows me because I participate in every possible extracurricular activity and talk a lot. But the guys…they don’t like me like that.”

“Ah.”

Reece looked away, staring down at his hands.

She scratched her nose again, suddenly embarrassed. Not a feeling she was used to having around Reece. He always made her feel safe. Comfortable. But lately…lately he was making her feel something else too.

“I thought it would be different once I got rid of the braces,” she said, feeling stupid for even saying it. “I thought maybe nobody wanted to kiss a girl with braces, but it’s been four months, and—”

“Hold on. This is about kissing?”

She shrugged, feeling her cheeks heat. “I’m the only one in my group who hasn’t been kissed.”

Reece rubbed his hands over his face. “Not sure I’m the right person to be having this conversation with.”

“Why not? You’ve kissed lots of girls.”

She wanted him to deny it, but he didn’t.

“Look,” he said, pressing his palms together in agitation and then standing. “If it makes you feel any better, first kisses aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.”

She frowned. “They’re not?”

He shook his head. “Definitely not. Nothing to look forward to, really.”

“What about after the first kiss,” she countered. “Those are better, right?”

He looked away and shuffled his feet. Nodded.

“Well then,” she said, crossing her arms smugly. “How can I possibly get to those kisses, until I get the first one out of the way?”

His gaze came back to hers, eyes narrowed with something. “Mighty eager to get to kissing, Luce.”