At First Hate (Coastal Chronicles)

I held my hand out, and he took it.

His mouth popped open. “Ohhh.”

I tilted my head. “What?”

“I’ve heard about you.”

My cheeks heated. “I don’t even want to know what Derek said. I’m sure it’s not true.”

He laughed. “I’m Kenny, by the way. And I bet some of it’s true. He’s never mentioned the same girl this much in exasperation. Whatever you’re doing to keep him on his toes, keep it up.” He headed toward the kitchen. “Beer?”

“Nah, I have to drive back.”

He guffawed. “Not anytime soon. Everyone will be out on Franklin, drowning their sorrows over the loss. You aren’t leaving until after midnight.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Then sure. Whatever you have is fine.”

“My kind of girl,” he said, reaching into the fridge and pulling out two beers.

He passed me one, and we sank into the couch to watch postseason coverage of the game. It was another hour before Derek finally showed up. Kenny and I had gone through a few beers each and started a game of Egyptian Ratscrew to pass the time. I currently had eighty percent of the deck of cards in my hands. Kenny was holding on to the game by a jack and queen.

He threw down the jack, confident that he’d win something valuable at least. Another jack came up out of my hand, and I dashed out, slapping the cards faster than he could even get his hand out.

“Noooo,” he cried dramatically. “Fuck, Mars. How are you so good at this game?”

“I have a twin brother,” I told him, taking his last hope of winning.

Derek glanced between us in confusion. His hair was still wet from the shower. His postgame UNC attire was all Nike gear. “Sorry that took longer than I thought.”

“I got blocked in,” I told him.

“Saw that.” He scratched his head. “What’s going on?”

“Egyptian Ratscrew, man,” Kenny said with a shake of his head. “I thought it was a game of chance. She has proven me wrong. She’s kicking my ass.”

“That sounds right.” Derek dropped his backpack at the door and went for his own beer.

“Grab me one of those while you’re at it,” Kenny said. Derek handed him one and took a long slug of his. “Also, you didn’t tell me your girl was a genius.”

Derek sputtered around the beer, “What?”

My cheeks heated again. “We’re not—”

“Right. Right,” Kenny said. “Mars was telling me all about this BA/MA program she’s in. She said she’d help me survive Organic Chemistry.”

“That’s nice of you. Mars?” Derek tripped over the name.

“My friends call me Mars.”

“I’ve only ever heard him call you Minivan as a nickname,” Kenny said with a laugh. “I don’t get it.”

“I drove a minivan in high school. Derek likes to make fun of me.”

“Derek, you’re such a dick,” Kenny said. He forfeited the rest of the deck. “I give up. Checkmate or whatever.” He glanced between us and then stood. “I’m going to see if Kristy’s gotten back to me.”

Then, he made himself scarce. I shuffled the deck the way Gramps had taught me. They waterfalled beautifully into place. I did it a few more times so that I didn’t have to look back up into Derek’s face. The way he’d been looking at me since he’d walked back inside his surprisingly large two-story home was unnerving. The last time he’d looked at me like that, he’d stuck his tongue down my throat in high school.

“Kenny’s nice,” I said.

“Yeah. He’s a cool guy.” He ran a hand back through his hair and then dropped into Kenny’s abandoned seat. “Best two out of three?”

“What?”

“The bet. Best two out of three?”

“We only have one more game against each other.”

“Regular season game. We’ll probably play each other in the postseason.”

My gaze drifted up to his eyes, which were almost blue against the Carolina blue of his jacket. Something hiccupped in my stomach at the sight. We were sitting close together. All I had to do was shift, and something could happen.

Derek must have realized the same thing. His eyes drifted down to my lips and back up. His hand came to rest on the card deck… over my hand. My pulse jumped in my throat, and time slowed. We could close the distance. We could give in to this, like we had that one time all those years ago.

But no. That wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to be another girl who fell at his feet. Kenny had just said that I was the only girl who kept him on his toes. He’d said it as a compliment. If I was going to have anything with Derek, it seemed safer to be the one he argued with rather than the one he threw away, like all the others.

So, I pulled my hand back and the cards with me. “I guess I can give you another chance,” I said with a smirk. “You’re going to have to step up your game, Ballentine.”