Dare You to Kiss the Quarterback (Rock Valley High 1)

“Right.” He frowned and unfolded the paper, his brown eyes scanning over the lyrics and chords I’d written last night in sparkly purple gel ink. Occasionally, he’d make a disapproving grunt or his lips would twitch with a frown.

I wished I could reach inside his head and

know what he was thinking. Boys needed to come standard with a marquee scrolling their thoughts for all to see. Maybe for once, they’d actually make some sense to us women.

Finally, when he got to the end, he folded it back up and flicked his gaze back to my face. “That’s not going to work for me.”

My jaw dropped and I stuttered. “Wh-what?”

“It’s just not me.” He shrugged, leaning back on the rock. “Plus, there’s no real hook. And not every line in a song has to rhyme, you know?”

The skin all the way from my chest up to my ears began to feel splotchy and itchy. I kept a tight hold on the guitar, willing myself not to scratch at the spots.

“Is that all?” I asked through gritted teeth.

He was obviously new at this. I could give him the benefit of the doubt and hold in my frustrated screams until later. That’s what working with a partner was all about, right?

“Yeah, one more thing,” he said, his brow wrinkling in thought. “I thought this was supposed to be a love story. This doesn’t seem like a love song to me.”

I stared at him for a long moment, internally trying to douse the flame of frustration that had combusted in my gut. It didn’t seem to be working. The longer I kept silent, the more I could feel the heat shooting from my eyes. I’d spent hours last night on this song and in two seconds he’d ripped it apart? It wasn’t right.

Collin took the toothpick from his mouth and finally met my flame-throwing gaze, his eyebrows raising in amusement. “What? Was it something I said?”

“Seriously?” He was really going to play it that way.

“What is it, Audrey?” The left side of his mouth twitched, as if he were trying to hold back a grin. “Do you have something you want to say?”

If I were a stronger woman, I would’ve let him have it right there on that rock. He thought he was so much better than everyone. Just because he had most of the school worshiping the cleats he walked in didn’t mean he could just start throwing out critiques about my song. If he wanted me to respect his opinions, he needed to lay down his own skills. But so far, it seemed like he was nothing but another jock pumped up on his own ego.

I should’ve said that to him. It would’ve wiped that grin right off his ridiculously handsome face — but I didn’t. Instead, I harrumphed and slid off the rock formation to put my guitar back in its case.

“Where are you going?” He followed, standing tall over me as I latched the case closed.

“Home.”

I strode purposely toward the sidewalk. The bus would be by any minute. In about a half hour, I could be back in my room, writing a new song inspired by my sudden loathing for motorcycles and the men who drove them.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Collin cut off my path and held up his hands. “You’re not seriously leaving? Why?”

“You showed up late. Tore apart my song before you’ve even heard it. And it’s dinner time, so I’m starving. Three perfectly good reasons for a girl like me to go home.”

I went to step around him, but he cut me off again.

“Listen, it’s not my fault I’m late. Coach kept us after. We play Silver Lake on Friday. He showed us some reels of their best plays.”

Pursing my lips, I tilted my head to one side and gave him a passive stare. “Fine. You get a pass for that one.”

“And I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, Audrey.” An apologetic smile curled his lips and his dark eyes sparkled. “I’ll behave better from now on, I swear.”

Before I could stop him, he’d grabbed my free hand and lifted it toward him. For a mad second, I thought he was going to kiss it like Leo did to Kate in Titanic. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. It was only one of my top ten favorite romance scenes of all time. For Collin to reenact that, in Kenwood Park of all places, was both thrilling and scary. I felt my eyes grow wide with panic as he held tight to my trembling hand.

“Are we okay?” he asked, his gaze boring into mine.

My arm was tingling as if the blood supply had been cut off at the shoulder. I nodded my head like a Bobble Head doll on a dashboard and quickly pulled my hand out of his grip. I didn’t like the effect he was having on me. If he could get me to forgive him this easily, he could get nearly anything out of me. He was probably used to that. Girls fell at his feet.

“It’s fine,” I said, cutting my gaze to the yellow platform sandals I’d worn today. They were a good distraction from the chocolate brown eyes currently gazing at my face. “And it is a love song, but maybe it could use a little more romance. I just wasn’t sure how to make it better.”

Never in this life or the next was I going to admit to Collin that he could be right. However, I wasn’t above compromise. If he thought our love song needed more romance, then I could give a little. I only hoped that Mrs. Banks could somehow sense how much I was trying to make this partnership thing work. She’d better give me extra credit. I deserved an A+ in all of my music classes this year.