CRUSH (15 page)

“Mexican is good. I can get on board with
that.”

“How about your favorite movie?”

He scratched his head while he stared off into
space. “Pass. I have too many I like to pick a favorite.”

“A favorite genre of movie then?”

“Not really. I like lots of action, but there
are some great comedies out there too. I don’t even mind a good chick flick
once in a while . . . as long as it’s with the right chick.” He
glanced over me and gave me a sly grin. “What about you? Do you have a
favorite?”

“Lots of them actually—drama, and
romantic comedies, but I’m a big fan of musicals as well. I absolutely love
Phantom of the Opera, both the play and the movie. Have you seen it?”

He shook his head. “Can’t say that I have, but
if you like it then I’m willing to give it a try.”

I practically squealed in delight. “Really? I
love it! It’s
so
swoony!”

He chuckled. “And I’m guessing swoony is good?”

I brought my hand up to my heart. “Nothing is
better than a good romance, Hunter. Nothing!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He shook his head as
he laughed.

“So what kinds of things get you excited?” I
asked, loving getting to know him better.

He snorted. “Fast cars and loose women,” he
answered without missing a beat.

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say—he’d
caught me totally off guard.

He burst out laughing again. “You’re so easy to
tease—that gets me excited.” His gaze grew more reflective. “Lots of
things about you seem to do that.”

I really wished he would kiss me again. I
thought he wanted to, but he glanced at the clock, and I knew he was thinking
about my parents getting home.

“How would you like to go on a for-real date
with me this weekend?” he asked.

“I thought we had been on real dates.”

“No. We’ve just been making out, not dating.”
He grinned. “Not that I’m complaining at all, but I want to take you out on a
real date . . . show you some things I enjoy doing, and when we
are finished we will go back to my place. We can make dinner together, and
we’ll watch your favorite movie. If my uncle is home you can meet him.”

“That sounds fabulous! I’d love to do that!
What day?”

“Let’s plan for this Saturday, shall we?”

“That sounds perfect,” I replied, unable to
stop my huge grin. I was so excited to learn more about him.

“Then it’s a date,” he said. “Although I wish
we could do something together before then.”

“Well, I have a choir concert on Wednesday if
you want to come to that. I have a solo, but I don’t want to bore you.”

“You were gonna sing and not tell me?” He gave
me a pointed look.

I shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t think it would
be your kind of scene.”

“Anything with you in it is my kind of scene,
Goody. I’d love to come listen to you. What are you singing?”

I couldn’t help my excited smile. “I’m actually
doing a song from Phantom. It’s called
Wishing
You Were Somehow Here Again
.”

“Sounds like it’ll be a perfect precursor to
our date on Saturday. Maybe we can go out and get a milkshake or something
afterward. I’m sure your parents won’t want you out too late on a school
night.”

Almost as if on cue, I heard the front door
open. “Cami, we’re home!” my mom’s voice called.

“We’re in the living room.”

My dad rounded the corner, his eyes narrowing
as he took in the distance between Hunter and myself on the couch before
drifting to our books and over to where the television was still playing
quietly.

“Hey kids. What’re you both up to?” He came and
gave me a kiss on the cheek and Hunter stood to shake his hand.

“English and Government homework,” I replied as
he set his briefcase down by his chair. “You know—the fun stuff.”

He relaxed and chuckled, which eased the
underlying tension in the room.

“How’s that going?” Mom asked, glancing between
us with a smile as she came from the kitchen with a glass of water in each
hand, giving one to Dad.

“Honestly, it’s tedious. We’ve been planning
future dates, actually. Hunter is going to come to my choir concert on
Wednesday.”

 
“Really?
You’re a music buff then?” Dad directed the comment to Hunter.

“Only in the fact that I like music. I don’t
know the first thing about it, otherwise.”

“Well, music has been Cami’s life since she was
little. We used to joke that she came out of the womb singing. Has she told you
she wants to go away to college? She’s hoping to be accepted into the music
theater program at the University of Arizona in Tucson.”

“She has, and I think that would be an amazing
experience for her. Plus, Tucson is wonderful. That’s where I’m from. I’m
planning on moving back there after high school.”

I had to try not to laugh as I watched my dad’s
plan fail. He was subtly trying to tell Hunter to back off because I was going
to college. He looked less than thrilled to find we’d be living in the same
town.

“Won’t that be fun?” Mom exclaimed, not getting
Dad’s ‘stay-away-from-my-daughter’ memo apparently. “If things work out for you
two, you can still keep dating.” She smiled—her bubbly, incurable
romantic
self coming
straight to the surface.

Dad pasted a fake smile of joy on his face with
a slight eye roll before he chased it down with a swallow of water. I was
betting he wished he had some liquor in that glass right now.

“Honestly, I’d like nothing better than that,”
Hunter replied, sending a glance in my direction. “I like Cami a lot.”

I wanted to kiss him so badly. I didn’t care
that my parents were sitting right there. They needed to get used to the idea.
I flipped open my notebook to where I’d put his sticky note from weeks ago. I
took my red pen and checked the ‘yes’ box before leaning over to put it on his
binder. “You win,” I said instead. “I like you.”

Hunter grinned widely and grasped my hand,
squeezing it, and we all pretended to miss the groan from my dad.

Chapter
Sixteen

Hunter-

I was mesmerized. To be totally honest,
listening to her sing made me excited to watch the movie—something I
hadn’t been sure about before. I couldn’t stop staring as she wrapped me up in
the sound of her voice and the story she was telling. She was completely in
character, and I totally believed she was a young girl pining at the grave of
her father.

She
isn’t good—she’s gifted
. I was
pretty sure it wasn’t just me who thought so, either. A passing glance around
the theater showed everyone watching intently, some even had tears in their
eyes—it was incredible. I stood up and clapped when the performance was
over, not caring if it was the right thing to do. She was awesome and getting a
standing ovation from me. Thankfully, a few other people did too, so I didn’t
look like a complete idiot.

Her gorgeous blush stole across her face, and
she gave a quick bow before returning to stand with the rest of the choir for
their remaining numbers. I settled back into my chair and watched her every
move for the rest of the concert. She was a star in the making; someone who
came alive on stage and it was as if I was seeing her for the first time.
Suddenly I felt inadequate to be around her.

Who are
you to try and lay claim to this girl?
I
thought.
To sweep in and turn her life
upside down—what gives you that right?
My conscience nagged.

She had dreams and goals, things that didn’t
include me. I’d taken one look and barged right in, without giving a second
thought about what was going on with her prior to my arrival. I’d allowed
myself to be totally ruled by my attraction for her.

Was it wrong for me to want her so badly?
Really? She was almost eighteen, in exactly three weeks to be precise. I
actually had the day marked on my calendar because it meant one guilt trip I
could finally be free of. I hated all the secrecy I was involved in. I wanted to
be open and honest with her, to tell her who I really was. I wanted her to fall
for me—the real me, not some fake imposed person she thought she knew.
When things were all said and done, I hoped she felt there was enough truth in
our relationship to keep seeing me.

I sighed, sinking farther down into my chair.
I’d certainly made a mess of things. But there was nothing I could do now,
except try and make the best of the situation and hopefully ride it out to the
finish.

I glanced around at the people in attendance.
There were enough to fill the auditorium about halfway. I’d chosen my customary
seat in the back of the crowd, so I could carefully observe everyone, but I’d
been too caught up in Cami to notice anything.

They were starting the last number when I
noticed Clay sitting across the room. It was obvious he was staring at Cami. I
shifted uncomfortably in my seat, not liking him here. Cami still hadn’t spoken
to him. He’d quit calling, but he continued texting, begging her to talk to
him. She wanted to handle it her way, so I stepped back, not offering any more
advice. She knew my opinion on the matter.

He turned suddenly, looking straight at me. I
didn’t look away as he stared me down. I could plainly see he was angry, and I
knew he was trying to intimidate me. He had no idea who he was dealing with if
he thought he could make me cower. I was totally down for winning a juvenile
contest against this hotheaded. We were both legal adults, let him show me how
‘man’ he thought he was.

Neither of us looked away until the applause
after the final number. The choir and instructor bowed, and the students began
making their way into the audience to greet friends and family.

I waited while Cami paused to hug her parents,
and I saw Clay making his way in their direction. She didn’t see him though and
turned to hurry up the steps to where I was sitting. Clay stopped, glaring at
me before walking away.

I stood and she threw her arms around me, a
giant grin plastered on her face. “Well? What did you think?”

“You were amazing!” I said hugging her back.

“Really? You liked it?”

I leaned away so I could look at her. “Like
doesn’t begin to encompass what I felt. People told me you were good, but I
really had no idea. You were phenomenal. I felt like I should be standing there
with a sign that said “that’s my girlfriend,” or something.”

She laughed and slapped my shoulder. “Now
you’re just messing with me.”

I chuckled and pulled her closer. “I’m not. It
was fantastic. I could totally see you doing this for a living someday.”

She blushed and ran her finger in a lazy circle
over my leather jacket. “Really?” Her eyes moistened up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.

“Yeah. It means a lot to hear you say something
like that, though. I know this isn’t really your thing.”

I nuzzled my face into her hair.
“Cami . . . you’re my thing. Period.”

We sat in the farthest corner booth in
Francesca’s, where the lighting was softer and we could look out the giant
window and
watch the traffic go
by. I was thoroughly
enjoying observing her as she sipped her thick shake from the straw,
then
licked her lips with tiny repetitive darts of her
tongue. It was driving me crazy . . . in a good way.

“Your dad doesn’t like me,” I stated out of the
blue.

She sighed, shaking her head. “I think you’re
right. You haven’t given him a reason to chase you off yet, though.”

“Oh, I’ve given him plenty of reasons, he just
hasn’t witnessed any of them. I’m pretty sure some of the places I’ve put my
hands on you were not on his list of acceptable locations.”

She snorted. “There’s no list of approved
locations when it comes to where you can touch me. Hand holding is crossing the
line in his opinion.”

“Then I’m definitely screwed.” I grinned and
winked, taking a drink of my shake.

“I like it when you touch me.”

I choked a little. “Me too,” I finally managed,
looking over her gorgeous body.

She bit her lip shyly as if she were waiting
for me to do something.

“What?” I asked.

“Why are you sitting way over there?”

I chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Would you
like me to sit on your lap? I don’t think we can get much closer than we are.”

She bumped her shoulder into mine. “No. You’re
just . . . all to yourself.” She gave a frustrated sigh. “You
know what I mean.”

“Are you saying you’d like me to put my arm
around you?” I did it as I spoke, hugging her.

“Yes, that’s much better.” She snuggle her head
against my shoulder. “I like cuddling with you. It feels nice.”

“Can’t argue with you there.” I placed a quick
kiss near her hairline.