Too Complicated (The Lewis Cousins 2)

A breath escaped my lips and I grinned wildly.

“Really?” Laurel asked.

“Really,” I replied, fanning myself to let them know just how hot that moment had been.

“Well, all right,” Jasmine said, raising her hand for Laurel to give her a high five. When her friend did just that, she turned back to me with a look of wonder. “I didn’t know Ass had it in him. Good for him.”

“I knew,” Laurel said, her voice coming out like a squeak.

“What?” Jasmine asked, shocked.

Laurel nodded.

“It was in seventh grade,” she said, causing me to smile as she tapped her lips. “We were playing Truth or Dare and Gabe dared me to kiss him.”

“Where was I?” Jasmine asked, obviously offended that something so significant had happened without her knowledge.

“I think you and Dillon had been dared to swim across the river.”

“I remember that … Dillon won,” she replied, then brought her eyes back to Laurel, accusingly. “I can’t believe you never told me.”

Laurel shrugged and said, “I didn’t want you to be mad, or worse, razz us about it for the rest of our lives. It was just a quick peck. We never talked about it again. His lips were soft.” This she said to me, and I had to agree, they definitely were.

My phone pinged, indicating a text, so I said “excuse me” and checked it, just in case it was Chris.

I know you’re busy with wedding bus, so how about Monday for that drink?

I bit my lip, wondering what I should do. I had made a bet, after all, and it wasn’t like Shane liked me or anything. He’d said we’d be getting together as friends, as allies in this small town.

Coffee at the diner?

“Who is it?” Jasmine asked, unabashedly nosey.

Noon?

“Shane,” I replied, wanting to be honest and make sure they didn’t get the wrong idea, because not only had I just been talking about kissing Reardon, but I remembered what Rena had said about Jazzy and Shane at the fitting. “He won the Jenga game, and we’d agreed to meet for coffee … as friends.”

I watched Jasmine for a reaction, but she gave me nothing.

“Cool, he’s a good guy.”

My phone pinged again and I said, “Sorry.”

This time it was my sister.

Gabe said YES to Comic Con. Tell Rear!

“Crap!” I exclaimed. Not about Comic Con, I knew that would be cool, but I’d kind of been avoiding Reardon since the kiss.

“What is it?” Laurel asked, her voice full of concern.

“Oh, nothing like that,” I assured her. “It’s just that Zoey wants us to go with her and Gabe to Comic Con, and I’d told her that I wanted to tell Reardon.”

“What’s crap about that?” Jasmine asked. “He’s going to be crazy excited.”

“I know, and that’s why I told her I’d tell him, it’s just, I haven’t seen him, since … you know.”

“Since you played tonsil hockey?” Jasmine asked with a grin.