Hard to Get (21 page)

I looked around. It was totally black among the trees, though I could just make out the yellow lights of the house through the branches. Adam came around and opened my door.

“You left something out
here
?” I asked, stepping from the car and concentrating on
keeping my heirloom silk hem out from under my heels. I had a feeling Adam's mom might appreciate that.

“Yeah.” He grabbed my hand and started pulling me through the grove. “It's through here.”

“Adam!” I ducked a low-hanging branch. Leaves brushed my face. “What's going—” I stopped suddenly as the trees gave way to an open clearing, filled with flower beds and little grass paths, illuminated by the light of the moon. “It's the Shakespeare garden.” I twisted and looked up at Adam, who was watching me with a huge grin. “What's … ? How did we … ?”

“Remember I told you my dad was the owner's contractor? Well, I asked him if we could come here for a bit. We just came in the front way, instead of through Kelly's property.” He reached behind a gray rock nearby and pulled out a big plastic basket. I squinted at it. “Is that a laundry basket?”

“Yeah.” He pulled out a green wool blanket and laid it out on the grass. “I know when you take a girl on a romantic picnic, you should have a wicker basket or something, but this was all I could find.”

“A romantic picnic,” I breathed as I sank
down on the blanket. I realized I wasn't sounding super-intelligent, but things were moving awfully fast. One minute I'm at home wallowing in sweatpants, the next, I'm in a silk dress, having a romantic picnic with a hot guy.

I leaned back on my elbows and inhaled the heavy scent of roses as Adam laid out some little slices of French bread. “This is amazing. How did you get it all here?”

He arranged brownies on a white plate and added a bowl of fresh red raspberries. “It was easy—I just stopped by and dropped off the basket right before I went to your house. I figured if you turned me down, I'd just come back and eat it all myself.”

I giggled. “So I have to know,” I said after a little pause. “What made you change your mind about, er, us?”

“Do you really want to know?” He pulled out a wedge of Brie.

“Of course.”

“Well, I actually can't take all the credit,” he said. “After that big fight, I just shut down. You know? I tend to do that when I'm upset. Just close myself off. I told myself to forget you, that it wasn't worth it, you'd lied to me—”

“Okay, yeah, I get it.” I rolled my eyes.
“Do I have to relive it right now?”

“Sorry. Anyway, I'm telling you this because it was a really stupid thing for me to do. But the worst part was that it was working. I just threw myself into school and painting, and after a few days, I wasn't obsessing over you as much. But I wasn't happy—I was miserable, actually.”

I put my hand over his and he smiled at me.

“Anyway, I don't even know what would have happened if Becca and Kelly—”

“What!”

“—hadn't called me last night.”

I shook my head. “They actually called you?”

“Yeah. And they put me on speaker and basically told me that you were crazy about me and how sad you'd been ever since our fight.”

I could feel my cheeks growing pink. He grinned a little wickedly.

“It's not that I
wanted
you to be upset—”

“No, of course not,” I teased.

“But it did show me that you cared. So I asked them if they thought you would ever forgive me. And they said they thought you would.” He smiled right into my eyes.
“And last but not least …” He pulled out a bottle of sparkling cider, the sides frosty and beaded with moisture, and twisted the wire cap. I squealed as the cork popped and the cider ran foaming from the top and down the sides. Adam poured some into two flutes, his fingers lingering on mine as he handed me one.

“Thanks,” I said. I knew my voice had gone husky. Suddenly it was hard to look him in the face. Instead, I stared down at my silk-draped lap.

Adam lifted his glass. “Here's … to dumb mistakes.”

I looked up. His icy blue eyes were smiling at me. I raised my own glass. “To dumb mistakes.”

As Adam and I stepped into the dim, twinkling interior of the Belton, I caught my breath. The dance floor was packed with girls in long, elaborate dresses and guys in tuxes. Black Eyed Peas blared from the speakers. Strings of lights were strung everywhere and red silk hung in folds from the ceiling and dripped down the walls, giving the room the feel of a desert tent. The tables scattered around the perimeter of the dance floor were draped in orange tablecloths and set with huge bouquets of yellow and red gerbera daisies.

“Val!”

A blur of violet rushed toward me. Adam and I stopped inside the front doors just as
the blur barreled up to us. It was Becca, wearing a skintight dress that appeared to be made entirely of Lycra. Kelly, clad in a long black sheath, was close behind. They skidded to a halt in front of us, breathless. Brent and Logan followed behind.

“Hi, girls,” I said casually. “
27 Dresses
was boring, so I thought I'd try prom. Good idea, huh?” I took Adam's arm.

My friends looked from Adam's beaming face to my own and back again. Kelly nodded slowly. “Excellent idea. Probably you got that from some very smart people, right?”

I shrugged. “Just some girls I know.” Kelly laughed.

“Val, you look amazing,” Becca said, examining a fold of my dress. “What is this, vintage?”

I glanced at Adam. “I guess you could say that.”

Just then, the music behind me shifted to “Beat It” and people started screaming and jumping up and down. “Oh my God,” Becca squealed, grabbing Kelly and me by the hands. “Come on!”

All six of us crowded onto the dance floor, sweating, bumping against people, everyone
shouting the words. I raised my arms above my head and swayed to the music. I hadn't felt so free since—well, since before spring break. Suddenly, I felt someone grab me around the waist from behind. I shrieked as Adam lifted me high in the air and twirled me so fast my skirt flew out like a giant pinwheel.

“Adam!” I yelled, beating on his back. “Put me down! I'm flashing the whole school!”

“Is that a problem?” he yelled back, still twirling.

“Well, I'm going to barf down your back, how about that?”

He stopped short and set me on my feet. I doubled over, laughing so hard I thought I really might barf.

Suddenly I felt an elbow in my side. “Val, check it out,” Becca said, nodding her head toward the front of the dance floor. There was Taylor, wearing a strapless orange minidress that she was practically falling out of, and dancing with Kevin, if what they were doing could actually be called dancing—it was more like vertical making out. She was either overcome by his presence or drunk because her eyes were half-closed
and she was dragging in his arms. I had the distinct sense that if he were to let her go, she would have fallen in a heap on the floor.

“Where's Dave?” We scanned the room.

“There he is.” Becca pointed to a table in the corner where Dave was slouched, staring fixedly at Taylor and Kevin. Then, as we watched, he slammed his hand on the table and got up.

“Oh, this is going to be good!” Becca squealed, hanging on to my arm. I clutched her back and we giggled as Dave stalked up to the front of the room. The blasting music made it too hard to hear them, but we didn't need to. Dave tapped Taylor on the shoulder and she whirled around, suddenly wide awake. We could see her scream at him, gesturing toward Kevin, who was standing there looking self-satisfied, and then Dave shouted back. This went on for quite a while until she finally grabbed Kevin's hand and the two flounced off toward the doors.

I looked at Becca. She looked at me, and then at the same time, we yelled “Yeah!” and slapped hands.

“Hey, guys.” Kelly panted up to us. “We're going to go hang out on the golf course. Do you want to come?”

“Sure,” Becca said.

Adam and I looked at each other. Then Adam shook his head. “No, I think we'll stay here and dance some more,” he said. Just then, the lights went down and the DJ put on Lady Antebellum's “I Run to You.” The first chords began as Adam took my hand and pulled me toward the dance floor, wrapping his arms around me.

The music filled the vast dark room. The other dancers were only shadows. Silver flashes from the ball overhead flew by as I rested my head on Adam's warm chest and closed my eyes. I sensed him lean down, and as if by instinct, I lifted my face toward his. This time, neither of us turned away. His lips were warm and firm as he kissed me once, lightly. I clasped my hands at the back of his neck. He held me against him and pressed his lips to mine again. After an eternity, I looked up at his sparkling eyes. “Are you going to run away from me now?” he teased.

I shook my head, grinning. “No. You can even make me a coffee if you want.”

He laughed and pulled me closer as we swayed to the music swirling around us.

The sun shone on my shoulders as I got out of the car at Sternwell's the next day. Adam and I just had a few touches left on the mural. When I rounded the corner to our spot, I stopped short and laughed. There, sitting on the grass, was Adam, and next to him steamed a big cup topped with fluffy whipped cream. “Is that for me?” I asked, pointing at the coffee.

“Maybe,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Are you sure you're not going to swell up with hives?”

I grinned. “Well, if I did, you'd be here to take care of me, right?”

“Definitely.” He handed me the coffee.

For the last time, we poured out the paint and, shuffling on our knees, finished the section we had abandoned the day of our big fight. Adam stretched and cracked his back as I painted the final stroke of blue in the corner. With a sigh, I dunked my brush in the water bucket and sank down on the warm grass next to Adam. In front of us, the colors of the mural shone like a gorgeous fan spread over the wall.

“I can't believe it's finished,” Adam said, draping his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him.

“It's not,” I said. He looked at me in surprise.

I smiled and took his hand. “It's only the beginning.”

Emma Carlson Berne lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, Aaron; son, Henry; and misbehaving yet eternally faithful dog, Holly.

LOL at this sneak peek of

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