Falling For My Nemesis

Falling For My Best Friend

NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author

Victorine E. Lieske

CHAPTER ONE

I inhaled the intoxicating smell of dough and baked pastries as I pushed open the door to The Bread Basket. My favorite place in Sweet Water. At least, my favorite place since Lucas moved to town. Parker came in behind me, his nose in a comic book. He bumped into my back when I didn’t move. “Hey, Hannah, why’d you stop?”

“Oh, sorry,” I said, not quite listening. I scanned the room for Lucas, but disappointment filled me when I didn’t see him. Oh, well. Maybe he’d show up. Maybe he’d notice me. Or even say hello to me. My heart fluttered in anticipation.

Lucas moved to town at the beginning of the school year. I fell for him hard the minute I saw him walking down the school hallway. He had dark brown eyes, a swagger like Chris Hemsworth, and hair so cool you could tell he spent more time on it than most of the girls. He was perfection wrapped up in awesomeness.

I grabbed Parker’s sleeve and tugged him to the counter. That awful red-headed girl Charlotte stood there smiling at me.

She wasn’t actually awful. That was the worst part. She was nice. But she was Lucas’s girlfriend so I had to hate her. “Hi Hannah. What can I get for you?” Charlotte asked, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

“I’ll take a bear claw.” I nudged Parker, who hadn’t looked up from his Green Star obsession. “What do you want, Parker?”

He shoved his comic under his arm and blushed. “I’ll have a cinnamon roll.”

Parker was a total nerd, but he’d been my best friend ever since he sat by me in art class in grade school. He’d helped me finish my collage after I’d been out sick for a week with the flu, and we’d become instant friends. He was the yin to my yang.

“You going to the party tonight?” Charlotte asked as she pulled on a plastic glove.

“No.” The word came out automatically. Parker and I never went to any parties. That wasn’t really our scene. We were more the type to study all weekend so we could keep up our 4.0 GPA’s. But I had heard about the big blowout at Wes’s house. He lived not too far up the street from me, along the beach.

“Oh. Well, if you change your mind, it starts at six. I heard he’s ordering like a dozen pizzas.”

I paid for our treats and took them from Charlotte, giving Parker his roll. “Thanks,” I said, nodding to the girl I hated. It was a shame she was so nice. And to be fair, I didn’t really hate her. I just wanted her man.

Parker slid into a seat by the window and I sat opposite of him. He took a huge bite of his cinnamon roll. And then it happened. I knew it the second the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something about Lucas changed the molecular structure of the room when he entered. The air rushed out of my lungs as he emerged from the back of the bakery.

Angels began singing, or maybe that was the ringing in my ears. I couldn’t be quite sure. I stared as he came around the counter. His gaze connected with mine. His lips lifted into a smile and he headed toward me.

My heart pounded as time slowed. He reached for me, pulling me out of my chair and up into his arms. “Hannah,” he said, his voice husky and low. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

His lips touched mine and I closed my eyes as heaven sang the hallelujah chorus. And then a sharp pain in my shin brought me back to reality. Lucas wasn’t kissing me. He was standing behind Charlotte with his arms around her.

“Ouch!” I rubbed my shin.

Parker scowled at me. “What are you doing? You’re just staring over there like a lunatic.”

I forced myself to look away. “Sorry.”

Parker sighed and set his comic book down on the table. “You like him.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. I hadn’t told anyone about my secret crush on Lucas. Not even Parker. “I do not,” I said quickly, but even I could hear the lie in my voice.

“Oh, my word, Hannah. You’re so transparent. Don’t you think I know why you insist on coming here every Saturday? Don’t you think I see how you look at him? You’re totally fangirling right now.”

I tried not to react to his words, but I couldn’t help it. I leaned in closer to him, my heart doing a crazy samba dance. Was I really going to confess my feelings? Out loud? “Okay, you’re right,” I said, a weight lifting off me.

Parker flinched and for a split second I thought he was going to scold me, but he just picked up his comic book and shook his head.

I slapped his book back down. “Oh, no. You don’t get to make me confess something like that and then not say anything.”

Pity flashed across his eyes. “What do you want me to say?”