Chapter 11
lilah
“Okay,” Poppy said, slamming a packet of Sour Patch Kids into the basket, “who has the official movie night candy list?”
I dug in the pockets of my coat but came up short.
The “official list,” as Poppy liked to call it, was actually just some smudged writing on the back of a coffee shop receipt that regularly got lost. We wrote it a couple of weeks ago when we went to the movie theatre without smuggling in any candy, adding to the list every time one of us got a new craving.
We could have bought all of this when we were here yesterday for our girls’ night snacks except we hadn’t had the official list then.
Saylor dug through her pockets as well, running through all the coat pockets first and then her jeans until she finally triumphantly pulled the crumpled receipt from the back pocket along with her phone.
“I knew I put it somewhere safe,” she said. She smoothed it out and cleared her throat. “Popcorn?”
“We’ll get it once we’re there because it’s always yummier,” Poppy said.
Saylor nodded. “Twizzlers?”
“Check.”
“Sour Blasters.”
“Check.”
“Kit Kats.”
“Next aisle over,” Poppy said. She linked her arm through mine and led us over to the boxes of chocolate. While she debated the choices between buying just Kit Kats or the assorted box of chocolates, the door opened, letting in a blast of cold outside air and I shivered.
“Should have worn a warmer jacket,” a voice whispered in my ear. I just about jumped out of my skin and instinctively slammed my elbow back to hit whoever was right behind me. Whoever it was groaned loudly and I spun around, ready to tell them to get lost.
Until I realized it was Tino—who was now hunched over, clutching his stomach like I’d shot him.
“Oh!” I put a hand to my mouth. “I-I’m so sorry, are you okay? I thought you were a kidnapper or something!”
He looked at me with pained eyes. “A kidnapper who decided to break into Hartwell’s tuck shop?”
I shrugged helplessly. “You scared me.”
The door opened again and this time I realized Tino wasn’t here alone.
Bear, Crossy, and Mako were walking in, all with wet hair and dressed in hoodies, which meant they must have just been coming back from the gym.
They came in our direction the moment they spotted us while Tino slowly righted himself.
“What are you doing here?” Bear asked as he came up, but the question was clearly directed at Poppy as he headed straight for her. She kissed him before responding.
“Snack run,” Poppy chirped, instantly brightening as she beamed at him. “We were starving.”
“You could’ve texted me,” Bear said. “I would’ve brought you whatever for the movie.”
“You look like you’ve got a good haul there,” Mako said, peering into Poppy’s basket.
He pulled out the box of Kit Kats she’d just dropped in there and waved them in Bear’s face.
“Look, she even got your favorite. Now you guys can spend the whole movie staring lovingly into each other’s eyes and feeding each other Kit Kats. ”
Bear smacked the box out of Mako’s hand and scowled at him.
I laughed softly, then regretted it instantly as Mako turned his attention to me, then to how close Tino was standing next to me.
I think Mako, like me until this week, enjoyed being a spectator of everyone else’s drama.
I would commend him for it if I wasn’t one of the ones he was now watching.
He gave a low whistle. “Well, if it isn’t the power couple themselves.”
I groaned. “Don’t start.”
“Oh, I’m starting,” Mako said, grabbing a pack of gum from the rack. “The way everyone at school’s been talking, you two are basically the poster for young love.”
I rolled my eyes and started for the counter. “Hey, we should probably get going, right? We don’t want to be late for the movie.”
“It doesn’t start for another two hours,” Poppy said.
“It never hurts to get there early.”
“Hey, you know what?” Poppy asked, completely ignoring my words. She waggled her finger between Tino and me. “You two should practice!”
I blinked then looked at Tino, who seemed equally confused. “Practice what?”
“Your chemistry. You’re…” She glanced around then held up air quotes as she said, “‘dating’ now, remember? Shouldn’t you, like, act like it?”
Saylor gasped dramatically. “Yes! This is a chance to test your chemistry!”
“Our what?” Tino asked, sounding mildly alarmed.
“You heard us,” Poppy said, grinning like a mad scientist. “We have to make sure you can sell the illusion.”
I hadn’t told Poppy and Saylor about the kiss outside the classroom this morning and now I was wondering whether they would be acting a little more sane if they knew our first kiss had already happened, or whether they would have been pushing for this no matter what.
I was debating whether telling them now would yield good results when Saylor tilted her head and said, “Plus now you’ve got an audience. ”
I glanced at the front of the store to see what she was talking about. On the sidewalk just outside the tuck shop was a group of girls, clearly peering in at us. One of them nudged the other and whispered something while looking straight at us.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I groaned. Tino followed my gaze and an unreadable expression crossed his face.
“What do we do?” He asked. His eyes drifted back to my face, down to my lips, and back up again. “Should we kiss?”
“What?” I said, choking on air. “No!”
Tino rubbed the back of his neck, half-smiling but clearly trying to play it cool. “If people already think we’re dating, we might as well act the part.”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Maybe,” he said, his voice low. I glared at him, but my friends’ laughter and the feeling of the stares of the girls outside were making it hard for me to think I had any chance of winning this argument.
“Fine,” I said finally. “Let’s get this over with.”
I was definitely not looking forward to seeing what a second kiss with Tino would be like. No way.
“No big deal, right?” Tino said softly as he took a step toward me.
My heartbeat went up a notch. The kiss in the hallway didn’t have this level of anticipation with it.
He’d leaned in and kissed me so quickly that I’d barely had the time to react before it was happening.
I certainly hadn’t had time to think about our audience.
“No big deal,” I repeated, mostly to myself.
We stepped a little closer, the group suddenly going quiet in that way that made it even more awkward.
My heart was pounding in my ears. The air between us felt heavier than it should.
His hands hovered awkwardly for a second, like he wasn’t sure if he should touch me or not.
I gave a tiny nod, and he placed one hand lightly at my waist—warm, careful.
And then he leaned in.
He moved slower than he had this morning, slow enough that I felt every inch of distance disappear between us. His breath touched my cheek before his lips did, warm against the chill of the evening air. My pulse stuttered.
When his lips finally met mine, it wasn’t a quick, nervous brush. It was still gentle, still hesitant, but deeper now—his lips moving against mine like he wasn’t sure how long he’d get to stay there.
I forgot about the cold. Forgot about our audience. Forgot that this was supposed to be fake.
All I could think about was how soft it was. How steady. How his hand at my waist tightened just slightly, like he couldn’t quite help it, and how I didn’t want to move away, because it was all so much better than it had any right to be.
When he pulled back, his eyes met mine, searching. For what, I didn’t know.
“See?” he said softly, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Totally painless.”
“Yeah,” I said, though my voice came out quieter than I meant. “Totally.”
Mako wolf-whistled. Crossy whooped. Poppy squealed.
“Okay, okay, show’s over,” I said quickly, trying to sound normal again even though my heart was still thudding.
I stole the basket from Poppy’s hands and took it to the counter, keeping my head down as I felt my cheeks flame red.
The student working the cash was a senior boy who looked between Tino and me curiously, but he thankfully didn’t say anything.
I almost ran out of there the moment I could, remembering too late about the girls who had been watching us outside and who were staring at me with wide eyes.
I forced a smile that must have looked incredibly pained and immediately turned the other way, even though it was the longer route to the dorms.
“Should I be insulted?” Tino asked as he caught up to me. I was walking fast, my boots thudding loudly against the pavement with every step, but he kept up with me easily. I didn’t look at him.
“Insulted?”
“That you ran away so quickly after our kiss,” he said. “I mean, I have to assume it had something to do with my skill level because—”
“Your skill level is just fine,” I said, then squeezed my eyes shut as I realized how he was going to take that. Sure enough, when I looked at him, he had a cocky grin on his face.
“Oh, so that’s why you look so dazed.”
“I do not look dazed,” I huffed.
“Hey, it’s okay to admit it,” he said jovially. “You did just say I’m a good kisser so—”
“I said you were fine!” I snapped. “Not good, fine.”
“Trouble in paradise already?” Crossy called from behind us. When I glanced back, he and Saylor were walking together with his arm around her. I hoped Tino didn’t get too many ideas.
“Not at all!” Tino called back. “In fact, Lilah was just telling me how great of a kisser I am and how she wishes we’d gotten together sooner.”
I stepped on his foot. He yelped, hopping on one foot, and I pretended not to smile.
Crossy and Saylor’s laughter echoed down the walkway, and Tino grinned at me as if he’d won something by causing it. I rolled my eyes, but bumped my shoulder into his as we walked.
“C’mon,” Tino said suddenly. He stepped and crouched slightly. “Hop on.”
“What?” I asked incredulously.
“Piggyback ride. You look like you’re about to collapse.”
“I am not—”
“And you wanted one earlier anyway,” he added. It took me a second to realize he was talking about when I said it would be a faster way to get us to class. I opened my mouth to tell him that it was a joke but he cut me off. “Come on, Lilah. Don’t ruin my reputation for being the fun boyfriend.”
Our friends walked past as Tino waited for me to jump on, all of them whooping and hollering at us as if we were doing something totally scandalous.
I sighed dramatically but stepped forward, climbing onto his back.
His hands caught my legs automatically, warm and sure, and the laughter from our friends echoed ahead of us.
Someone—Mako, I think—started singing off-key, and the rest of us quickly joined in, me yelling in Tino’s ear because I didn’t have any sort of singing voice. To his credit, he grinned and bore it instead of dropping me on the frost-covered grass like I would have if he’d done the same to me.
And that was when I realized something very dangerous: I could see myself getting used to this.