They continued walking the fair, stopping to ride the carousel and Ferris wheel and browsing the baked goods. It was easy to spot the drama club’s table selling pies. The football team obviously manned the football toss game, and there was a loud ruckus from that direction.
Mina had yet to see anyone from the water polo team’s booth or Brody. Until they bumped into a long line of girls.
“What’s this?” Nan stood on tiptoes to try and read the banner and mumbled, “Uh-oh.”
“What?” Mina asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She copied Nan and got up on her tiptoes to see that the white and blue banner read Kissing Booth.
“That’s kind of disgusting.” Ever made a face.
“And not sanitary,” Nan said, “but look at that line. I swear we came by here earlier, and it wasn’t that long.”
A feeling of dread crept back into her stomach, so Mina excused herself to walk around the line and check out the front of the booth. Her fears were confirmed. None other than the water polo team hosted the booth. The boys were lined up across the back of the booth, and each girl got to pick who they wanted to kiss. It seemed like two lines had formed since almost every other girl wanted to get their five seconds with Brody Carmichael.
He even had a stool to sit on. It seemed a lot of people were upset since he hadn’t been there the day before, and they had come to get their picture and kiss today. He was the town’s celebrity, not to mention extremely rich. Of course everyone wanted their picture with him.
Mina had shown up just in time to watch an excited sophomore bat her eyes and lean over to give him a kiss on the lips. The chaste kiss only lasted a few seconds, so there wasn’t really anything terribly wrong. Not that Mina had any official right to be jealous.
“Maybe you should get in line? Nan suggested. “Since he is sort of your boyfriend.”
“I don’t know,” Mina answered. “It’s not really my thing to make a show in public.”
“As far as people at school are concerned, he’s your boyfriend. Show them all that you’re not intimidated by this. Besides, I don’t think this was his idea for the kind of booth it would be. The rest of the team outvoted him.”
“Okay, you’re right.” Mina answered. “I should do this.”
Nan and Ever took Charlie off to the zipper, so Mina could have some privacy.
The feeling of dread eased, and she was able to ignore the line of girls.
Until Mina noticed the group in front of her. It was the cheer squad. Next in line for the kiss was a petite girl with a white-blonde ponytail. Brody’s ex-girlfriend, Savannah White.
Come on, Brody. Turn her away. Mina tried to send him her mental message, but it didn’t really work. Savannah put her money into the donation box and pointed for Brody to step forward. She leaned forward expectantly.
Mina watched him sigh and then lean in to give her a peck, except it wasn’t just a peck. Savannah’s arms snaked around his neck and held on as she deepened the kiss.
Pull away. Pull away. Mina internally screamed, but his friends started to hoot and holler and egg them on.
“Go. Go. Go!” The guys chanted.
Savannah swung her legs over the table and got on her knees, kissing him intently. Her hands were running through his hair, and Mina still couldn’t believe that Brody was letting it happen.
When he finally pulled away, his hair was tousled, and he had a confused look in his eyes. Savannah made a show of wiping the sides of her mouth and holding her hand up in the air. The cheerleading squad clapped and cheered.
“Still got it, girls,” Savannah said as she stood up and jumped off the table. “Something for you to remember me by, Brody,” she taunted. “Come find me later.” She waved and sauntered off.
Priscilla Rose bumped her hip in congratulations.
Brody sat on his stool, a look of shock on his face.
T.J. slapped his back and said, “Man, why did you ever let her go when she could kiss like that?”
Brody chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as he scanned the crowd of girls next in line. He froze when his gaze met Mina’s.
Since the squad had come to watch Savannah, that made Mina the next person in line. The five dollar bill in her hand trembled with her nerves, and she looked up at Brody. His face was flushed, and he hurriedly wiped at his mouth.
Mina took a deep breath and tried to calm her temper. It should have bothered her a lot more to see them kiss, but, frankly, it didn’t. What hurt her was that he didn’t pull away.
There was no way she would kiss him after Savannah. She didn’t want sloppy seconds. A small part of her wanted to go away and ignore all this, but he’d just—thirty minutes ago—offered her his ring again. Who did that and then kissed their ex like that? She stepped forward, shoved her five dollars into the acrylic donation box and looked along the group of guys. There were quite a few she knew by name, but there were also some she didn’t know. One was standing off to the side watching her intently. He had sandy brown hair, green eyes, and a hard mouth—and looked slightly out of place among the other guys. Something about the way he looked at her made up her mind.
Her hand pointed at him, and his eyes went wide. He stepped forward, and she could see confusion among the water polo team members as they all watched Brody.
“What’s your name?” she whispered as the green-eyed guy came over.
He wore a gray jersey shirt and generic blue denim jeans. He smiled at her. “Whatever you want it to be,” he said in a low voice.
“That’s not funny,” Mina chastised. Her hands went sweaty.
“It’s not meant to be.” He leaned on his elbows across the booth and waited expectantly.
Mina leaned forward and was about to kiss him, when her eyes glanced over at Brody. He had stood up and was being held back by T.J. He looked angry, his fist clenched. But he also seemed hurt and confused by this stranger in the booth.
As much as she wanted to try and get even, she realized that wasn’t the kind of girl she wanted to be. Mina shook her head and leaned back. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this. I made a mistake.” A look of anger flashed in the stranger’s green eyes at her change of heart.
“No, you didn’t,” he growled. Fast, he leaned across the table and pressed his lips to hers.
It shocked her. Literally, there was a shock as his warm mouth pressed to hers, and she froze, unable to move. There was something about that tone—that voice—she knew very well. Her heart sped up, and her hands shook. His strong hands gripped her shoulders as he kissed her. Angrily.
First she was filled with fear, then curiosity. She could feel his anger drain away during the kiss. Then it stopped being angry and turned gentle. He pulled away and tenderly nuzzled her lips with his own. If he wasn’t holding her by the shoulders, she probably would have slid to the ground.
Mina couldn’t open her eyes, but the strange boy didn’t let go of her. Finally, when she opened them, she saw, not the green eyes of the stranger she’d picked out of a crowd, but the dark blue eyes that haunted her dreams. How in the world, out of the fifteen guys to choose from, had she picked her enemy in disguise?
He stared into her eyes, daring her to say something. He wasn’t hiding who he was from her anymore, and she wondered if everyone could see what she saw. He smiled in triumph.