Текст книги "The Avery Shaw Experiment "

Автор книги: Келли Орам

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

Avery’s science club friends all freaked me out and cracked me up at the same time. Seriously. I’m not sure how Avery and Aiden turned out seminormal when these are the kids they’ve been hanging out with for years.

“Brandon, your shirt is tucked into your pants. You are a geek,” I pointed out. “It’s cool, though. Everyone has their thing. I’m an athlete. You’re a nerd. The world needs both to maintain balance. And Levi, there is absolutely no way you do not have extensive AV knowledge, am I right?”

Levi frowned but then sighed. “You are correct. I do know my way around video equipment, Mr. Dimwitted-jock-who-gets-tons-of-hot-girls-but-is-failing-high-school-science.”

I laughed. “Touché on the stereotyping.”

“Actually, I have my camera in my bag because Brandon and I are going to film the mixing of our next chemical compound for our experiment. I would be happy to capture on video the punching in the face of Aiden Kennedy if for nothing else than to show my posterity.”

“Levi!” Avery gasped. “How can you say that? Aiden is your friend.”

Brandon responded before Levi could. “He didn’t just abandon you, Avery.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as if it made him look tougher somehow. “He quit on us all. I personally would love to see him get punched.”

See? Science geeks aren’t all bad. I gave my nod of approval and then grinned at Libby. “Well, I know my girl Lib is in.”

I held out a fist in Libby’s direction. She frowned down at it. “My intelligence is evolved far beyond fist bumps. However, as the action would involve getting to touch your godliness for however brief a moment, I will allow it.”

I had no idea how to respond to this, so I just said “sweet” and knocked my knuckles against hers.

When I looked back, Avery was watching us with a smile.

“Well, that just leaves Tara,” I said, turning to the last geek of the group.

Tara was a freshman and somehow impossibly shier than Avery. She didn’t seem to panic the way Avery does, but I guess a good-looking, popular senior such as myself was too much for her to handle.

Sweet girl, as far as I can tell, but she’s never managed to say more than three words to me. The first time I spoke to her directly, she turned scary-red and almost fainted. She’s gotten a little better over the last two weeks, but not much.

“You down to crash a debate club meeting and witness a little science in action?”

Tara couldn’t get any words out this time, but she managed to nod her head, so I turned back to Avery. “The nerd herd has spoken, Aves. We’re all here for you. Time to find your inner Rocky.”

“You guys, no one is going to punch Aiden in the face, okay?” Avery rubbed at her temples like her head was starting to pound. “I’m not mad at Aiden. Hurt, yes; confused, very; but I’m not angry. Just because he hurt me, doesn’t make it okay for me to hurt him back. He had every right to want a little space from me. I can also understand the need to pull away for his girlfriend’s sake. If I was in her position and my new boyfriend had some girl that he’d been best friends with since birth, I’d be more than intimidated by her.”

“Come on, Avery!” Libby groaned. “You are not actually condoning the way he treated you Thursday night, are you?”

“Lib. They wanted to win. If I really was causing contention and distracting their team, then I can understand them wanting me to leave. He was really polite about it, at least. I don’t think he was angry that I showed up. I just feel bad that I messed them up. I heard they lost the debate.”

“They lost the debate because they suck!” Libby said. “And Aiden sucks for having no regard for your feelings whatsoever! He’s a jerk, Avery! How can you not be mad at him?”

“I’m just not, okay? Can we please drop it? I’m done working on the experiment for the day. We’re supposed to be helping Grayson with his physics too, and he’s got a make up quiz tomorrow on Newton’s Laws.”

This seemed to stop everyone. I wasn’t sure why they were suddenly all staring at me until Brandon said, “Did you really fail a quiz on Newton’s Laws?”

Okay. So they were staring at me because they all thought I was a moron. “What?” I asked a little defensively. “Like it’s easy? ‘Don’t steal’ I get. ‘Red means stop’ makes perfect sense. That Newton guy was smoking some serious crack when he made up his laws. When the hell will I ever use that stuff anyway?”

Avery patted my hand, but the rest of the nerds gaped at me and then shot each other a bunch of looks full of hidden meanings.

“This is not good,” Levi said gravely. “Our president is dating a simpleton. Imagine if the guys over at Payson High find this out?”

“We’d lose all our street cred,” Brandon agreed. “It’s going to be bad enough having to take him to the science fair.”

“Geeks have street cred?” I asked, only slightly offended. “And what will be so bad about having me at the science fair?”

“You’re a popular. A beautiful people. A jock. No offense, but that’s very bad for our reputation. Why do you think we were so happy to keep your presence in our club secret?”

I laughed in astonishment. Who knew?

“I happen to appreciate your beauty,” Libby announced. “As well as your willingness to sink to our level of nerdiness for Avery’s sake, even if you won’t own up to it to your friends. Your devotion makes up for your less-fortunate qualities, but I’m sorry, we simply cannot have a member of our science club not understand the basic laws of motion. This is a science club emergency.” Libby looked around the group. “It’s time Grayson gets his first lesson in applied physics.”

I was scared when the geeks dragged me out to the parking lot, but as it turned out “applied physics” was just some nerdy version of bowling. Actually, as far as punishment for failing a class goes, I could have done a lot worse than having to attend science club.

Once we were at the bowling alley, I caught Avery watching me as I laced up my bowling shoes. She did that every now and then during science club as if she still expected to see Aiden’s face instead of mine. It always made me a little sad when I noticed her missing my brother, so I did my best to put a smile on her face every time it happened.

“What? No pool hall?”

Her answering smile was small, but it was real.

Libby snorted. “Not if you want a chance at winning.”

Brandon puffed out his white-dress-shirt-clad chest and threw an arm around Avery’s shoulders. “Avery is a master pool player.”

“So I noticed.”

The knowing look I shot Avery made her blush. It hadn’t been her pool skills I noticed that night so much as the way she looked every time she leaned over the table to take a shot. I’d most likely have the same problem bowling today. Too bad she wasn’t still wearing that dress.

I changed the subject before I started drooling. “So which one of you is the genius nerd bowling prodigy?”

“Actually, none of us are very good bowlers,” Levi said. “It’s just one of the more simplified ways to explain Newton’s Laws of Motion. Athletes tend to be kinesthetic learners, so hands-on demonstrations usually work much better than lectures.”

Kinesthetic learner? Was I supposed to know what that was?

Levi sighed, reading the confusion on my face. “Kinesthetic learners are people who learn by physically carrying out an activity rather than just watching a demonstration or listening to a lecture. Judging by the way you cannot ever sit still for more than five minutes, I am going to assume that you are either a kinesthetic learner or you suffer from ADHD.”

He seemed to want an answer to this. “Uh . . . I’m not ADHD.”

“Good. Then this should work.”

“What should work?” I was starting to get scared again. If it weren’t for the amused look on Avery’s face, I might have bolted from the building.

“Since you are most likely a kinesthetic learner, for this study session we will have you physically put Newton’s laws into motion.”

“Uh . . . okay . . .” Sometimes their geekspeak was too much. Why couldn’t he just say, “I think you’re a moron, so I’m going to dumb it up for you with something I think you can relate too like this dense inanimate object.”

I wanted to be pissed off, but Avery was still sitting across the lane from me with this adorable grin on her face, so I couldn’t find it in me to be offended by her smart friends.

“So, beefcakes,” Libby said, startling me from my Avery staring. “How’s about you pick up your ball, and let’s get this party started. I happen to be a visual learner, so I am quite excited to have some eye candy to enhance my learning experience for a change.”

That finally did it. I smiled. “You frighten me, Libby. You really do.”

“She frightens us all,” Brandon said, and then looked at me. “So, Grayson, my physics-ly challenged friend.” He snorted. “Newton’s first law of motion. What is it?”

I sighed, recognizing the beginnings of actual studying. I had hoped “applied physics” was really just code for “bowling,” but I guess not.

Everyone was waiting for me to answer, so I tried to remember what I knew of Newton’s Laws. “What goes up, must come down?”

When the entire group groaned, Avery took pity on me. “That’s a rough translation of the law of gravity.”

“Well, can we start with that one? Because that’s the one I sort of understand. Gravity I get.”

I got another round of groans for this, and Avery giggled as she explained why that was wrong.

“Gravity isn’t one of the three laws of motion, but those are just as simple. Here . . .” At my look of doubt, she got up and handed me my bowling ball. “Is this ball going to throw itself down the lane?”

Was she messing with me? “Is this a trick question?”

Behind me, Tara giggled. I couldn’t blame her. Even I knew I looked like an idiot now.

Avery gave me a sympathetic smile. “No. It’s not a trick question.”

“Um, okay. Then . . . no? It won’t roll itself down the lane?”

“Exactly.” She stepped aside. “So throw the ball.”

I gave her another confused look but decided to trust her and chucked the ball toward the pins.

“Is the ball going to stop?” she asked.

“Not until it hits the back wall.”

“Right.”

At that moment the ball went crashing into the pins, knocking down all but two of them. It did in fact stop when it slammed into the back of the lane.

“There you go,” Avery said as if that explained everything. “Newton’s first law of motion. You understand it perfectly.”

Everyone laughed at this except me. It was possible that I was more confused than I had been in class.

Avery picked up another bowling ball. “An object at rest . . .” she said and held up the ball,“will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Such as you throwing it. An object in motion . . .” She threw the ball down the lane toward the remaining two pins. “Continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted on by an unbalanced force, such as hitting the back wall or the pins, or the friction of it rolling down the lane. If there were nothing to stop the ball, it wouldn’t stop.”

“You mean like how asteroids in space will just go forever until they crash into something?”

“Exactly!” Tara squeaked.

“So in other words, an object won’t move unless something gives it a push, and it won’t stop unless something makes it.”

The whole group of nerds clapped because I got it, but I felt myself frown. “What, you mean that’s it? That’s the whole law?” It couldn’t be that simple.

“Yes. That’s all there is to it.” Avery laughed. Actually, everyone laughed.

“Well, why didn’t Mr. Walden just say that in the first place?”

They all laughed again. So glad I could entertain them all.

Avery tried to stop laughing for my sake but couldn’t quite manage it. She was so cute that it was worth looking like an idiot. “Come on, Einstein,” she teased. “Pick up your ball. Laws two and three are just as easy. Once you have them down, we’ll see if you’re any better at bowling than you are at pool, and while we’re at it, we can explain a few things like mass, momentum, velocity, force, inertia . . .”

I felt myself cringe. I kind of thought I’d find the smart-girl talk hot, but mostly it just freaked me out when she used words like velocity and inertia.

“Well, the bowling part sounds fun anyway.” I grinned. “You up for a little friendly wager?”

Man, I loved watching her blush.

“No!” she said. “Definitely not. I’ve had my fill of friendly wagers, and certain people cannot be trusted to be gracious losers.”

I laughed. The girl had a point.

Avery

After bowling I offered to help Grayson write a paper on his applied physics lesson at the bowling alley. “As part of science club if you write up a report on what you learned during our activities, you get to exchange it for a missed homework assignment or a failed quiz in Mr. Walden’s class.”

“Seriously? Mr. Walden doesn’t seem that cool.”

I sighed. “Grayson, most teachers are pretty cool when it comes to that stuff. Believe it or not, they actually want to see their students succeed. If they see you really applying yourself, they’re usually pretty flexible.”

“If you say so. But if we’re going to write a paper, let’s go to my house. My mom’s been extra moody since she and Kaitlin got in their fight. Maybe if she sees you, it’ll soften her up.”

Grayson saw the expression on my face and said, “Don’t worry, Aiden and The Leash Holder spend most of their time at her house.”

I had no more excuses, so I called my mom and went to Grayson’s house for the first time since winter break.

The Kennedy house, even though it’s three times the size of the cozy two-bedroom my mom and I rent, has always felt like a second home to me. I even sort of had my own room. Well, technically it was a guest room, but I kept a bunch of my stuff there since I was over so much. It felt nice to be back, but at the same time it felt different.

“Avery! Hi, honey!”

Cheryl was sitting at her desk with a stack of papers piled practically to the ceiling. She was a private tax accountant, so January through April she basically lived in her office. The rest of the year she had a lot more freedom to hang out and do stay-at-home mom things like cook and hover.

I stepped into the office and gave Grayson’s mom a hug. “Hi, Cheryl. I hope you don’t mind that I came over. I know it’s been awkward since New Year’s.”

“You’re always welcome here, you know that. You’re practically family. You’re supposed to get in fights with my boys.”

“I don’t think it’s a fight,” I said sadly.

Cheryl’s eyes softened. “You guys will work it out.” She cast her eyes to Grayson and found her smile again. “But you and Grayson have sure become a lot closer, so all isn’t lost, right?”

“Right.” I wanted to feel happy, but I had to get something off my chest. “Cheryl, I am so sorry for what happened with Aiden. I just want you to know that I don’t blame him.”

Grayson snorted in disgust. I ignored him and continued the speech I’d been rehearsing since Grayson asked me to come over. “Please don’t be mad at my mom anymore. I know she kind of went over the deep end with the protective bit, but that was my fault. I shouldn’t have freaked out so much. I should have understood Aiden better. He didn’t really do anything wrong and—”

“Avery, stop!” Grayson snapped, startling both Mrs. Kennedy and me. “You may not feel angry yet, but I do. I can’t listen to you stand there and defend him. Aiden doesn’t deserve it. He treated you like crap!”

“Grayson, calm down.”

“It’s true, Mom! He bailed on her for the science fair, and even though he said he still wanted to be her friend, he hasn’t spoken to her in weeks. The first day back from school she sat down at their lunch table with all of their friends, and he was going to ask her to not sit with him anymore. He was going to make her leave her own lunch table!”

Cheryl gasped, and I quickly shook my head. “He was probably just going to ask me to switch seats with Libby so that I wasn’t sitting right next to him.”

“Like that’s any better!” Grayson crossed his arms tightly over his chest and glared at me when I started to defend Aiden again. “Tell her what he did on Thursday.”

“He had every right to—”

“No he didn’t, Avery!”

“Grayson! Stop yelling at her.”

“Mom! She went to watch his debate on Thursday to be nice and prove that she was okay with his choices. She wanted to introduce herself to Mindy and let them both know that she could be their friends. Aiden got pissed off that she showed up and made her leave. He acted like her wanting to be there for him made her some kind of psycho stalker!”

I didn’t realize that my eyes were closed or that tears were leaking out of them until Grayson’s arms came around me and he said, “No more tears, Aves. He’s not worth it.”

“Aiden really did all that?” Cheryl asked in a small voice.

I couldn’t answer her, but I felt Grayson nod.

“Aiden is being a world-class jerk, and Kaitlin has every right to be pissed off at him. All of his friends are pissed off at him. I can’t even stand to be around him because I just want to beat him senseless. You need to get over your fight with Kaitlin, and you need to have words with your freaking son. That bitch he’s dating is turning him into an asshole.”

“Grayson, watch your mouth!”

“Well, she is,” Grayson muttered.

“Grayson.” Cheryl sounded tired now. “I know your brother’s girlfriend is . . . difficult, but would you please refrain from using those kinds of words?”

“Difficult?” Grayson scoffed.

“Yes. She’s . . . she’s . . .” Cheryl sighed and then threw her arms around me. “Oh, Avery, why couldn’t it have been you? Grayson’s right, Aiden’s new girlfriend is . . .” She clearly wanted to use the B-word, but she couldn’t let herself do it. “We all miss you so much.”

She hugged me for a minute and then flopped back down in her desk chair. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so swamped that I haven’t been paying enough attention. I’ll talk to Aiden later, and Kaitlin. I promise.”

“Thanks,” I whispered. “But make sure Mom says she’s sorry to you too. She was out of line with some of the stuff she said.”

Cheryl’s eyes sparkled with humor. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll get an apology out of her. In the meantime, it’s good to have you back.” She glanced up at Grayson and smiled even bigger. “It’s odd to see you with Grayson, but it’s good to have you here.”

Grayson tucked me into his side. “Better get used to it. I’ve taken a liking to the shrimp. She’ll be back to her old visiting hours in no time.”

Cheryl’s smile melted into pure affection. She’d never admit it, but I’ve always thought Grayson was her favorite of the two. “What are you guys up to anyway?”

“I’m going to help Grayson write a paper. Science club took him bowling today and gave him his first lesson in applied physics. If he writes a report about it, he’ll get extra credit.”

All of Cheryl’s affection was suddenly directed at me. “You are too good to my boys, Avery. Grayson told me what you did for him, talking Mr. Walden into letting him do the science fair instead of getting taken off the basketball team. That was pretty amazing of you.”

I felt my cheeks get hot. “It wasn’t that amazing. Grayson is still working hard for it, and he’s helped me just as much. I really wouldn’t have been able to do the science fair by myself.”

“Still. Between my two boys, this family owes you.”

I felt Grayson perk up beside me. “Actually, Mom, if you really want to do something nice for Avery, I had an idea about her birthday next weekend.”

“My birthday?”

I was a little shocked. I hadn’t said a word about my birthday to anyone. I was sort of hoping people would forget it this year since that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t know how to celebrate my birthday without Aiden, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to learning.

Grayson squeezed my shoulders. “Aves, I know you’re dreading it because Aiden said he didn’t want to celebrate with you, but I’m not going to let you spend it home alone watching Shark Week reruns.”

My face must have looked annoyed, because Cheryl laughed. The truth was, that was pretty much exactly how I’d been preparing to spend my birthday.

“Mom, would it be cool if we planned an overnight at the condo with just a few friends? Ski on Saturday and stay up all night watching movies? We’d be home Sunday evening. Wouldn’t miss any school. Promise not to make a mess.”

I didn’t have to look at Grayson’s face to know that his I’m-so-irresistible-you-can’t-say-no-to-me smile was plastered there. Cheryl looked at the stacks of paper on her desk and sighed. “Hon, I don’t have time to go up there for the weekend right now.”

“Kaitlin could come.”

I couldn’t help but be touched by Grayson’s persistence. “You’d really do all that for me?”

“Aves, this is your first birthday that will be celebrated the way a birthday should be—all about you. As your first real birthday, it’s got to be epic, but I didn’t think you’d like a big crazy party with a ton of people, so how about just a really fun overnighter with your closest friends?”

“Actually . . .” I started to cry then because that sounded so perfect. I’d been so bummed about my birthday. I’d just accepted that it would suck for the rest of my life. Grayson couldn’t have known how badly I needed this. I needed my birthday to be awesome in order to prove that life really would go on without Aiden.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been so emotional lately.” I took a deep breath and wiped away the tears. “That sounds really nice, Grayson. I don’t have to go up to the condo, though. We could just do something here and that would be good enough for me.”

“Nonsense!” Cheryl said. She was looking at me with pity now, but I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty pitiful right then. “If your mom can go up with you, then you’re welcome to use the condo next weekend.”

The way Grayson jolted next to me, I think he assumed she’d never go for it. “Awesome! You’re the best mom ever!”

“Yes, thank you, Cheryl. I promise we’ll be responsible.”

Grayson jumped forward to give his mom a hug. When he pulled back, she nailed him with a suspicious gaze. “How many close friends are we talking about?”

“Just us, Owen, Pam, Chloe, and the nerd herd.”

“The nerd herd?” Cheryl repeated while I gasped.

“You’d invite the science club? With Owen, Pam, and Chloe there?”

Cheryl finally understood and stared at her son in surprise. “My oldest son mixing social classes?”

“Oh yeah, Mom!” Grayson chirped. “It’ll be an interesting experiment. Didn’t you know? I’m all about social science now.”

Cheryl laughed, but I could still hardly believe it. “You’d really invite Brandon, Levi, Libby, and Tara along with Owen, Pamela, and Chloe?”

All the playfulness left Grayson. The way he looked at me made my knees feel like shaking. Somehow I managed to keep them steady, though.

“Those are your friends, Aves. It’s your birthday. I want you to spend it with all the people you care about, even if half of them are really weird.”

I was too choked up to say anything.

“Well,” Cheryl said. “I think it will be a good experience for all of them. Make sure Kaitlin can go. Boys and girls sleep in separate rooms and absolutely no alcohol. If Kaitlin finds even one drop of it, you will all be murdered.”

“Deal,” Grayson said.

“Then you have my blessing. Now go away so that I can get some work done.”

Grayson dragged us out of there so fast that I thought he was afraid Cheryl would come to her senses and take back the offer. He was so excited about my birthday that it took a while for him to settle down enough that he could focus on writing his paper. It ended up taking longer than we expected.

We were on Grayson’s bed, and when I stretched and lay back on his pillow, he closed his notebook. “I can write the conclusion myself. We can be done now.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said, but as I did, I yawned again.

“It’s getting close to nine. I should get you home anyway.”

“Okay.”

I made no effort to sit up.

Grayson shoved his books on the floor and then lay down next to me. “We didn’t get to work on our experiment at all today. I’m sorry we wasted the whole day on me.”

“That was not a waste, and it’s okay. We don’t really have anything else to work on right now. We haven’t done any kind of test for a while, and we’re still stuck in guilt.”

Grayson chuckled. “Should have let us take on the debate team today. The geek squad was ready. Would have been an awesome field test.”

I sighed. “It goes against my nature to want to hurt him, Grayson. I have no idea how we’re going to reach anger.”

“Well, I don’t understand how you aren’t angry. He was totally wrong, and he hurt you so much. I think you’re afraid of hurting him the way he hurt you, so you’re suppressing your anger. I think it’s there, and if you don’t deal with it eventually, one day you’ll just explode.”

I had no idea what to say. He was probably right. He’d been right about everything so far. “So what do you suggest I do, oh wise, unbiased decision maker of the Avery Shaw Experiment?”

Grayson leaned up on his side, propping himself up on his elbow, and looked down at me with a serious expression. “Honestly?”

“Yes. Be honest. You’re right about guilt being the worst stage so far. I hate feeling so bad all the time. If you have any ideas, I’ll do whatever you think I need.”

“Okay.” Grayson’s eyes locked on mine. “I think you should kiss me.”

My heart stopped. “Um . . .”

You would think that after dancing together and almost kissing him then I would be able to control my blushing and anxiety, but as I lay there on his bed with him gazing intently down at me, my breathing became really shallow. I had to look away from him.

“How will that help?”

“I think you’re too close to the project right now. You’re so attached to the idea of these stages that you’re like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You know you’re in the guilt stage, so you keep feeling it. You’re obsessing over it and making it worse. You also know anger is coming next, but you’re scared of being angry, so subconsciously you’re not allowing yourself to feel the anger.”

“Okay. I suppose I can see that, but . . .” I had to forcibly slow my breathing down. “How will kissing you change that?”

I finally managed to look at Grayson, but it didn’t matter because his eyes were trained on my lips. I bit the bottom one nervously, and the action made him swallow really hard in response.

He wet his lips and forced himself to answer my question. It clearly took him effort to pull his focus back to the conversation. “It’s something unexpected. It’ll take the steps out of order. You’re not supposed to be at a kissing-someone-new stage yet. You’ll feel things your brain doesn’t think you should be feeling. I’m hoping it might throw your mind off enough to sort of hit the reset button, you know? Maybe it will make your heart take point for a while instead of your head. Then you’ll react to things more naturally and get back on track.”

I tried to find a way to argue but couldn’t come up with anything. Maybe I didn’t want to. “Actually, your logic is pretty solid.”

One corner of Grayson’s mouth curved up. “I thought it sounded good.”

We sat there for a heartbeat in silence. His eyes were still focused on my lips, and I could swear he was just a tiny bit closer than he had been before.

“But it would be my first kiss,” I said. My voice wouldn’t work above a whisper anymore.

“Even better. Twice as distracting.”

“Shouldn’t my first kiss be special, with someone I care for instead of as part of a scientific experiment?”

Grayson’s eyes finally snapped back to mine. “Someone you care for? I’m hurt, Aves,” he teased. “Are you saying you don’t care for me?”

I rolled my eyes, grateful for the return of his playfulness. That was a lot easier to deal with than his intensity. “Of course I care about you. You know I do.” I was able to smile and tease him back. “You’re my unofficial gross older brother, remember?”

“You think I’m gross? You consider me a brother, but you still kissed me anyway. That is gross.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t kiss you.”

He came at me fast, but when his lips pressed down on mine, his movements slowed to a near stop, as if he were savoring every second of this moment.

For years I’d imagined what a kiss would feel like. It turns out my imagination is severely lacking. I figured it would feel soft and warm and maybe tingly, but I didn’t really understand what soft, warm, and tingly actually felt like until Grayson Kennedy showed me.

The kiss was short, but so delicate and tender. Not at all the fire and passion and mess of tangled tongues you read about in books. In fact, there was no tongue. It was just two pairs of lips meeting for the first time.

It felt like he was being careful with me, and I really appreciated that. Instead of panicking, as I’d assumed would happen, his touch calmed me, and I was able to simply experience it. My mouth opened instinctively, and he immediately caught my bottom lip in his. He lingered only long enough to give me the chance to react with a small kiss of my own. When I finally did, he smiled against my lips and leaned back.

“Now you’ve kissed me,” he said, his eyes alight with more than just mischief. “Still think I’m gross?”

“I . . . I . . .” I was flustered but also still somewhat up in the clouds—the peace and panic inside me were at war with one another. “I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.”

Grayson grinned. “I think that means it’s working. Maybe we should do it again.”

“Again?”

“We need to make sure we really test this theory as thoroughly as possible.”

“We do?”

“Yes, Avery. I hereby demand as a completely impartial outside observer with absolutely no personal interest in the outcome of this experiment that you need to kiss me again. Right now. For purely scientific purposes, of course.”

“For science?”

“Yes! In the name of science!”

He gave me a questioning look, and I blushed of course, but I surprised us both when I giggled. “I suppose I did give you permission to run this experiment however you deemed necessary.”

Grayson grinned so big his rare dimple was out on full display. “Trust me, Aves, it’s definitely necessary.”

The second kiss was nothing like the first. I thought that one had been amazing—it had been the perfect first kiss—but this second kiss was mind-blowing in an entirely different way. This one was heat and passion, and a certain sense of impatience that suggested he’d waited way too long for it.