Relying On Ben and Jerry (Waltham #1)

Chapter Fourteen: So Who IS On First?

“What, you mean the binoculars?” I asked coolly, pretending to be confused. “They were bought from Target online, actually. I think it’s meant for bird-watching. And that was Kline with them, not me.”

He looked at me with a mixture of surprise and skepticism. His eyes narrowed. “You’re sure about that?”

“Pretty darn.”

“Would you bet your eternal soul on it?”

Well, the stakes were certainly higher than I anticipated. I hadn’t eaten enough ice cream to make a decision of this magnitude.

I pressed my lips together, considering that before I nodded, calling his bluff. “What you saw was definitely Kline.”

“Funny,” he remarked, “since I very clearly recall seeing Kline standing behind you and trying to catch my attention. She looked like she was directing airplane traffic.”

I growled. “Kline . . .” I muttered to myself menacingly.

Quinton laughed. “Sorry ’bout that, Lena—I do believe I now own your soul. Nice working with you.”

I narrowed my eyes, but I couldn’t mind a boy of his hotness owning my soul. Not a bit. “You tricked me.”

“You’re trying to change the subject,” he accused right back, rolling his eyes at my antics. “I’m not mad. Thoroughly creeped out? Yes. Mad? No.”

“It was Kline’s idea,” I hurriedly threw her directly under the bus, widening my eyes innocently. “She knew where you live and she knew that I had moved in next door so she came over and she had these binoculars and she used her powers of peer pressure to get me to do it and—”

Quinton reached up and clapped his hand over my mouth. All I could think was Holy ham sandwiches, his is totally touching me.

Which is probably the best explanation as to why I had the bright idea to keep talking.

“Mmm mm mmm mm,” I told him apologetically, his hand way too warm and felt way too tingly when it kept brushing my lips, nearly making me shiver, way too distracting for my smallish brain to handle. My words were so muffled that I wasn’t sure what I was even saying anymore, but for some reason I couldn’t keep my mouth from moving. If I could even fathom anything right now other than the feeling of Quinton’s hand on my face trying to muffle me, I still don’t think I would be able to shut myself up.

Quinton took his hand away with an amused bark of laughter, and I probably would have been a little depressed with the loss if I could have kept my mouth shut long enough. But, for some reason, my brain just wanted me to die of embarrassment today.

“—being a neighbor with me is probably the pits and I’m so sorry about that because I don’t think my friends are quite willing to forget it yet and this probably won’t be the last thing I get pressured into things like this thanks to Kline’s binoculars and you being infamous for whatever reason—”