Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Landon steps back and clears his throat. “I better get to class. Enjoy your ice cream.”
And then without even acknowledging Melissa, he walks away.
“What was that all about?” she asks, eyeing me curiously.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” She mocks. “He brought you a McFlurry for breakfast.”
“I had a bad night and he brought it to cheer me up.”
“Since when is Landon Maxwell in charge of cheering you up?” she accuses.
“I don’t know.” I shrug, not wanting to try to explain something I don’t even know myself. “I need to get to class,” I say, taking off before she can ask me any other questions.
The morning flies by, and when it’s time for lunch, instead of sitting with Melissa and everyone, I sit in the same spot I did yesterday. I don’t have any homework or projects to work on, but I like how quiet it is. Just like yesterday, a few minutes into lunch, Landon sits next to me with another sandwich in his hand. We spend the lunch period talking about random stuff. When I mention there’s a movie coming out this weekend I’d like to see, he offers to go with me.
After school, I head home, get my homework done, and when Landon gets done with practice, he texts me so I can go over and hang out at his place until my curfew.
And this becomes our new norm. We hang out before school, during lunch, after school, and on the weekends. We laugh and joke and have a good time whenever we’re together. He makes me forget the clusterfuck that’s going on in my house. Every night, when I go home to my parents fighting, Landon talks to me on the phone until I fall asleep, telling me that soon it will pass.
Four
Harper
“I feel like I never see you anymore,” Melissa whines as we wait for our iced coffees in the coffee shop. It’s been a few weeks since cheerleading ended, and since I’ve been spending most of my time with Landon, I haven’t really seen Melissa in a while. And truth be told, I’m not exactly overcome with sadness over it. Without her around, it’s been quiet and drama-free.
“I’ve been busy.” I take my coffee from the barista and thank her. Melissa takes hers as well and we have a seat at one of the tables.
“Rumor is, you and Landon have been hanging out a lot lately,” she says nonchalantly, but I know her, and I know she’s digging.
“He’s become a good friend,” I tell her, which is the truth. Even though we flirt a lot when we hang out, we’ve yet to cross that thin line from friends to more.
“Friends with benefits?” She waggles her brows up and down.
“No, just friends.”
And speaking of which… The door to the coffee shop opens and in walks Landon, followed by Cohen, Richie, and several of the other baseball players. They’re in uniform, but are clean, which means they’re on their way to a game.
Richie’s eyes meet mine first, and he smiles softly. I smile back, wanting to be cordial. There’s no reason why we can’t get along post-breakup. We still have half a year left of being at the same school.
When Landon sees me, his eyes light up and my belly tightens in response. His brown hair is messy like always and he’s sporting his usual cocky grin. A small bit of his tattoos peek out from under his baseball shirt, and the uniform pants he’s wearing mold his thighs perfectly.
“Friend my ass,” Melissa murmurs just before she yells for them to join us at our table.
After the guys order their drinks, Landon beelines straight over to me. “Move over, woman.”
I look next to me, but there’s no room because Melissa already scooted closer to me to make room for Cohen.
“No room.” I shrug playfully.
“Then I’ll make room.” Before I have time to consider what he means, he’s lifting me off the bench seat and dropping his ass onto it.
“Hey!” I fake pout. “That’s my seat,” I say as he situates me on his lap and his arm slides around my waist. I snuggle into his chest and inhale his scent. It’s fresh and masculine with a hint of citrus. Since we’ve been hanging out, I tend to find different reasons to steal his hoodies. When we’re at the movies and I’m cold. When we’re at school and I forgot my own… I always give them back, though—after all, he has to wear it again to get his scent on it.
“Are you smelling me again?” Landon whispers with a laugh.
“Hush,” I say, wiggling against him. “Pretend like you don’t know that.”
The first time he caught me sniffing the inside of his hoodie, I was mortified. Until he granted me a huge megawatt grin and told me he does it to me all the time. I asked him what I smell like, wondering if he would say something generic, but he shocked me when he said I smell like strawberries and vanilla, which is the shampoo and lotion I use.