Pull

Chapter Twenty-five
Alyssa
Two days. It had been two days since I’d seen Demetri. He’d
stopped by the store once. And sadly, I’d watched him through the
window when he sang his jingle. He looked like hell.
I wanted to hug him, to touch him; was he upset with me or
something? He’d texted me a few times, but we hadn’t really hung
out and it sucked. It made me realize a few things about myself.
First, I was pathetic. And second, I really liked him. I more than
liked him. I couldn’t even sleep anymore because memories of him
with me in bed kept flooding into my consciousness, making me
toss and turn like crazy.
It was time. I needed to be bold; otherwise, I was going to
lose him. At least I knew I couldn’t stand to lose him. I felt like I
was making progress, and it was all because of Demetri that I was!
I even put away the yearbooks scattered in my room. I didn’t have
the heart to throw away Brady’s sweatshirt, so I hid it in my closet.
But at least I wasn’t wearing it. See? Progress!
I smiled to myself and wiped down the counters. I only had
another hour and then I was going to hunt that boy down and kiss
him. I shivered just thinking about it.
“Someone’s happy today,” a familiar voice announced. I
hadn’t even heard the bell jingle above the door. Sam walked in,
hands in his jean pockets. Handsome just like his brother, only this
time when I thought of it, it made me smile instead of cry.
“Need a taffy fix?” I grinned. He didn’t smile back. “Sam,
what’s up? You need sugar that bad?”
“No.” He shuffled his feet and refused to look at me directly
in the eyes. Geez, what was his deal?
“So, you’re here to stare at the ground? You know you can
do that outside, right?”
This time his lips tilted upward into a smile. “You make
things hard on a guy, Alyssa.”
I didn’t like the tone of his voice. “Well, I have been told I’m
difficult.”
“More than difficult.” He pulled out a neatly folded piece of
paper from his pocket and fidgeted with it. “I, um, I have
something for you.”
“Aw, a poem, you shouldn’t have,” I teased.
“Alyssa.” He groaned and stuffed the note back into his
pocket. “Never mind. This isn’t right. I’ll… I’ll see you later.” And
just like that he bolted.
“Weird,” I said aloud. If I didn’t know better I’d think he
was just about to pass me a note that said, Do you like me? If you do,
circle yes. If you don’t, circle no. The guy was super nervous-looking.
Oh well. I didn’t have time to think about his reaction much,
considering four customers walked in when he walked out.
An hour later I was walking along the beach. I had texted
Demetri and told him to meet me there. I don’t know why I was
nervous. I mean, we’d kissed before. Actually, we’d kissed more
than a few times, and every time we did I could have sworn I heard
music.
I smiled. I was smiling a lot more now. Maybe there was
more to all that regret stuff.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Demetri’s familiar voice made my head
snap to attention. He was standing right next to me. Fitted jeans
hugged his hips. He had on chucks and a tight black t-shirt that
said Shaken not stirred.
“Nice shirt.” I pointed.
He laughed. “Yeah, it was a birthday gift from Nat. Alec
made me swear I would wear it at least once and take a picture for
her. Apparently, she thought it was funny.”
“Why?”
“Long story, movie quote thing with Alec that led to me
telling him I was like James Bond. You know what? It’s not even
funny. Never mind.” He pulled me into a side hug and kissed my
head. “So how are you?”
“Hmm.” I slowly stepped back.
His eyebrows darted up. “Is that your answer? Hmm?”
“No.” I grinned. “This is.” I grabbed his head and kissed
him on the mouth before I could chicken out. I trailed my tongue
across his lower lip; he opened his mouth and then wrapped his
arms around me in response. Chills ran down my arms as his
tongue danced with mine. Heat spread throughout my body when
his hands began to slowly run down my back.
Someone whistled. I jerked away. I only meant to give him
one tiny kiss, not maul him in public.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure feel better.” He
grinned and kissed me one more time before grabbing my hand
and walking with me down the boardwalk. “Now what’s on your
mind?”
“You,” I answered honestly. “Are you okay?”
He stopped walking. Crap, why did his face look like I just
confessed to stealing his puppy?
“Um, sure.” He scratched his head and looked away. “I just,
I had some stuff going on with our agent. They still want to do the
show even though Alec and I are avidly against it. They want to
launch the show this fall and push our spring back, so we can
record while we shoot. Something about hitting the teen market, to
up ticket sales. I don’t know though.”
“You should do it.” I shrugged. “I mean, how bad could it
be? People already follow you and take pictures. Plus, don’t reality
shows only run for a few weeks?”
“How do you even know a reality show schedule?” He
laughed.
“I know you think I live under a rock.” I pushed him in the
side. “But, I’m not totally disconnected from the world.”
He cursed. “Six weeks. It would be six weeks of filming.”
“And you’d film here?”
“Yeah.” His eyes darted from my lips to my eyes then back
again. Had we stopped walking again? “But you’d be in the show
too, Alyssa. I mean, anyone I talk to, anyone I’m involved with
would be in the show. That’s a big decision not just for you, but for
me. I would hate to ruin someone’s life.” He paled instantly and
released my hand.
“Well, I mean. I…” Crap, how did I say what was on my
mind? “I, um… I—”
“Cat got your tongue?” Demetri chuckled.
More like Demetri Daniels has possession of every ounce of
common sense when I’m in his presence. “I like you,” I blurted.
“Hmm.” Demetri walked away from me and sat on the
concrete edge on the boardwalk. “When you say like, do you mean
as in, how I like ice cream?”
I rolled my eyes and moved to sit next to him. “Maybe.”
“Like as in… how much I like the way you taste?” he
whispered into my ear. I shivered and tried to scoot away, but he
held me trapped with his other arm. “Like as in how much I like
the way your hair smells like coconut?”
I reached up to touch my hair. Demetri played with a piece
of my hair and lifted it to his face, inhaling slowly. Oh my gosh, it
was so hot. I squirmed, but he still wouldn’t let me go.
“Like, as in, how much I like the way your hips sway when
you walk? Or the way your voice sounds on the phone? Or how
about…” He paused, oh gosh I couldn’t take much more of this. He
was killing me with his closeness. Why did he have to be so sexy?
“…how much I like the way my name sounds on your lips.
The way your name sounds on mine, or the way our hands fit
perfectly together. How about the way you drink your hot
chocolate? Damn, I could watch you drink hot chocolate all day.”
And I was going to pass out.
“Alyssa.” His eyes opened, and he held my chin with his
hand and murmured across my lips. “I really like you too.”
And insert mind-altering sensations here. Without even
realizing it, my hands had gripped his face and I pressed my lips
against his. I needed him to be real. I wanted so badly for us to be
feeling the same thing.
“I want him gone.” Demetri ended the kiss and looked out at
the crashing waves. “I’m not going to ask you to choose, because
I’m afraid it would be him. I’m afraid you would choose someone
who can’t give you this.” He grabbed my hand and placed it
against his chest. The thump of his heart slammed against my
hand. “I want to be your first and your last. I want to be your
everything. But I’m willing to wait until you’re ready for this. For
this feeling. I want you to memorize it. Memorize life, Alyssa.
Because that’s what I want for us. I want for us to live.”
How did he always know the right thing to say? I threw my
arms around his neck and held him. Tears burned at the back of my
eyes. I hated that he knew me well enough to know what he was
basically asking me to give up. I loved that he was willing to wait
for me. And I hated myself even more that I was forcing him to,
when I knew my heart was already his for the taking.