“No boys sleep over,” Mrs. Alcaraz said.
“It wasn’t a sleepover. It was an accident. And it was myfault.”
Sweet hell. What was in that omelet? A whole cayenne pepper?I downed half the glass of milk.
“No boys,” Mrs. Alcaraz said.
Kennedy sighed. “Yes, Mama.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kennedy said to me. “You okay?”
I finished the milk and nodded. “Yes,” I croaked.
Kennedy laughed.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.” She couldn’t even hide her smile.
Which made me smile too.
“Here.” She swapped plates with me and devoured the rest ofmy poisoned omelet in record time.
I was very impressed. How was she not crying? I was prettysure I’d cried after one bite. But the omelet her mom had made for her wassignificantly more palatable than mine.
Mrs. Alcaraz sat down at the table with her own omelet. “Losiento,” she said and patted my cheek. “Now off to work. Both of you.”
Kennedy kissed her mom on the cheek before grabbing my handand pulling me toward the door. She laughed as we ran through the hallway. Ihad no idea why we were running. But for some reason we kept going. Like wewere escaping.
“I’m so so sorry, Matt,” she said as we hurried down thestairs. “She has a no boys rule when it comes to sleepovers. And obviouslywe’re just friends so we didn’t break it. But…” her voice got stuck in herthroat when I stopped her on the stairs.
“Just friends?”
She blinked up at me. “Yes?”
“I remember everything about last night.” I took a steptoward her.
She swallowed hard. “You do?”
I leaned forward slowly.
“I’m pretty sure you’re still drunk,” Kennedy said.
“I swear I’m not. A little hungover. And your mom tried topoison me…but I’m not drunk.”
“It was just a little spicy.”
“A little?”
She laughed and put her hand on my chest. “We both know thatyou’ll regret it if you kiss me.”
I drew a fraction of an inch closer. “I won’t.”
She seemed to realize I was serious now. “I’m not a temporaryfix, Matt.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Because I’m not so sure. You said you remember lastnight. Do you remember what you said to me? That you’re not sure if you couldlove anyone else…”
My lips collided with hers.
Her hand was still pressed against my chest. For a second Ithought she was going to shove me away. But instead, her hand crept up my chestto the side of my neck, pulling me closer.
It should have felt wrong. But it didn’t. It felt anythingbut wrong. So didn’t that make it right?
But then she did shove me away.
“God, what am I doing?” She started blinking fast. “I can’tbelieve I just kissed you. I can’t believe you just kissed me. I have to go.” Shestarted running down the steps.
“Kennedy!”
She didn’t stop, so I ran after her. She pushed through thedoors of the apartment building, blasting us with the cool autumn air. Thesmell of fallen leaves always reminded me of Brooklyn. But for the first timein a long time, Brooklyn wasn’t the one on my mind.
I grabbed Kennedy’s hand as she tried to hail a cab. “I don’tknow how to be okay with her gone,” I said. “I’ve spent the last 16 years tryingto be. It’s true, I’m a fucking mess.”
She was blinking away tears. “Matt…”
“But I know you’re not a temporary fix.” I reached out andtouched the side of her face. “What if you’re the cure?”
“I can’t fix you. I’m barely standing after…”
I kissed her again. Because anything I said wasn’t helping. Butshe had to feel this. She had to.
And again she kissed me back.
Her lips tasted salty from her tears. And all I knew was thatthis flavor was way better than anything in that ice cream container. I’d beenright.
The soft moan escaping from her lips nearly drove me insane. Iwanted her. I wanted to fucking rip her clothes off and take her right here inthe middle of the sidewalk. I wanted to know what it would sound like for herto moan my name.
Instead, I just kept kissing her. And kissing her. And kissingher. I wasn’t sure whether it was for a few seconds or a few minutes. But Ikept my hands firmly planted on her hips. I needed her to know that I wasn’t ashmuck like Cupcake. I needed her to know that I meant what I said. That Ithought this was the real deal. That maybe we could both be okay.
Her fingers dug into the back of my neck, begging me formore. Fuck.
She felt it too.
God, I needed her. How long had I been waiting to feel likethis again?
I could tell Kennedy needed this too. She needed me. And ithad been a really long fucking time since I’d felt needed.
I pulled away before I accidentally did try to fuck her inthe middle of a busy sidewalk.
She opened her mouth and then closed it again, tears still onher flushed cheeks.
“Come to my practice today.” I wiped her tears away with mythumbs.
“What?”
“Come to Empire High. I want to show you that you’re notstuck. That we’re allowed to live outside those walls.”
“Matt…”
“Do you trust me?”
She nodded.
“3 o’clock, okay?” I reached out my hand and hailed a taxi.
“That was stupid fast,” she said as a taxi pulled to a stopright away.
I laughed and opened the door for her.
For a second, the silence between us felt awkward. Did sheregret the first kiss? The second? Both? Had I pushed her too far? I neverwanted her to feel the way she had with Cupcake. Fuck. She’d told me itwas a bad idea…
“I might be a little late,” she said. “I have a photo shootat 1:30, and the client always runs over.”
“That’s fine. Practice doesn’t end until 5.”
“Okay.”
I smiled. “Okay then.”
She smiled back before climbing into the taxi.
I wanted to do some kind of victory dance as the taxi spedoff. But my phone buzzed in my pocket. First I had to deal with Tanner.
***
Tanner’s apartment was pitch black again when I walked in. Withall the windows, it should have been impossible. It was like he’d installedblackout curtains just for this occasion. I stumbled into the great room
