“My dad is.” Emma turned on the TV and her console. “In fact, we should get a dozen. He won’t say anything about it. If he even notices.”
“He’s okay with that?” My parents would ream me if I did something like that. They’d made Carter and me get jobs as soon as we could drive. Apparently it taught us about money and “built character.” They loved character.
“He’d have to talk to me to not be okay with it,” Emma murmured. She flipped past the war games rapidly. “Anyway, he should have spent the money on me tonight at dinner.” She turned, grinning hard. I must have been frowning, because her smile immediately curdled. Whoops.
“We don’t have to.” She tossed the controller on the couch. “I just thought you’d like it.” Emma burrowed backward, pulling her knees to her chin and looking away from me.
Jeez. Ten minutes: longer than I can go without doing something completely idiotic.
“Do you want me to go, or . . .”
“No, please stay,” she said, so quiet I almost couldn’t hear. We sat in silence for a minute. Suddenly, she lunged toward my phone. “I know, let’s see how many freshmen are into you.” She smiled, eyes wide and mischievous. “You’ll be, like, the new picture in their lockers tomorrow, right? I better not have to fight one for you.”
“Not likely. But sure, okay.” I made myself smile back. Something about the idea made me uncomfortable, but at least Emma wasn’t legit mad. Plus, it was kind of awesome. I should call Carter to tell him about this. He’d never believe it.
Emma leaned into me, handing me the phone to enter the pass code. She was wearing a plain long-sleeved T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. I could feel the heat of her skin through the thin fabric. I held my breath, focusing on the warmth of her body. And on not letting it make me forget my own pass code.
Emma grabbed the phone back and buried her head in my neck. Her curls tickled my cheek, but I didn’t reach over to scratch it. It was nice having her there. Trying as hard I could not to move her, I freed my arm from between us and draped it across her shoulders.
“Holy wow, Kyle.” I opened my eyes. I’d been busy inhaling the faint cherry scent of her hair.
“What?”
“Let’s just say this has definitely moved beyond the freshman class.”
I took the phone. At first I couldn’t figure out what Emma had seen.
Oh. The number under my name had jumped a lot.
Followers: 152K
I blinked. I hadn’t wrapped my head around a K showing up in my followers count. Now, an hour later, it was in the hundreds of thousands? My heart beat faster.
I started scrolling through the notifications, really paying attention for the first time. People hadn’t just followed me, they’d flitted about how hot I was, how they wanted to hang out, how if I followed back they would . . . whoa, that was not rated PG.
Emma squeezed my arm a little. “Have you already found my replacement?”
“Just one sec.” I squinted. Should I respond to these girls? I should flit something, right? I still wasn’t sure why they were following me. I wasn’t the one who took the picture. What did they expect me to say? It made it impossible to say anything.
I tapped my thumb against the screen, thinking. What do you say to a million girls telling you they’re “totally in love”? Carter would know. Carter: actually the cool guy, not just someone understudying his older brother.
“Kyle? Hello?” Emma waved a hand in front of my eyes. When I didn’t respond, she started tracing a finger along my arm. It tickled. “Do you need help coming up with a flit? I bet we can think of something funny.”
I scrolled down farther. A girl with the handle DarkAngelina403 had sent a photo of her in a bikini. A really tiny bikini. And it was kinda see-through.
Emma squirmed over me until she was sitting on my lap, facing me. She smiled hard, running a finger along my jaw.
“Kyle . . .”
“Just let me finish this.” Some of these girls were ridiculously hot.
Emma leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, her curls making it impossible to see my phone screen. I leaned to the side, trying to focus, or just get a sight line.
“I thought you came over to hang out with me.” Emma ducked under my arms for a kiss. Instinctively I pulled back. “Can’t you leave that alone? You don’t even know those girls.”
“But I have to say something, right?”
“I’m here. They’re not.”
She leaned in again to press her lips against mine. Her tongue slid into my mouth.
It felt so good I couldn’t focus on anything else. I dropped the phone and wrapped my hands around her hips, pulling her toward me. Emma moaned softly.
Then she started biting my lip. The bites: not sexy, just hard.
“Whoa, settle,” I said, pulling back. “That hurt.”
“All right, I’ll be gentle.” She leaned in to nibble on my ear. “Even though that’s no fun.”