Obviously she doesn�t want to talk. Why am I not giving up on this?
�Kara� I really wasn�t watch��
�Alright, here you go guys.�
Food. Food is good. Food will keep me from jumping across the table and wrapping her into my arms, begging her to let me help whatever was making her feel bad.
�And here is your disgusting raspberry soda, extra syrup. Ick.�
The corners of my lips tugged up into a smile. Raspberries, huh?
Matt walked away, leaving us to our meal and each other again.
�You have a thing for raspberries, don�t you?�
Turning her eyes up to me from where she was sipping a pinkish liquid through her straw, I saw relief. So maybe I�ll leave her be for a little while longer�
*
�Why do you ask?�
I know damn well why he asked. I just can�t believe he remembered that.
Popping a french fry into his mouth, he smirked at me.
�Hmm� first there was the fact that the moment you walked into the room, you smelled like raspberries. You were trying to kill me through slow torture involving a raspberry sucker��
I giggled at his recount of portions of our previous day together. Slow torture, huh?
Staring at his plate, I watched the tips of his ears grow red.
�And that�s what you tasted like when I kissed you.�
And I had just gotten the entire breathing thing under control again�
*
I can�t believe I just said that. I can�t believe I even brought that up. She hadn�t mentioned it, alluded to it, anything. Will she realize that I can�t stop thinking about it?
Hesitantly, I looked up to see her a shade of red that matched my own, a slight smile on her face as she looked somewhere to my left.
�I go a little overboard with it, don�t I?�
�No.�
Her eyes slid slowly across the room back to me.
�My shampoo. It�s where the smell comes from. The lollipops� Trevor brings those to me. Keeps me in stock because it�s my favorite flavor. The taste��
Her eyes diverted again, this time down to the tabletop. Her cheeks began to flame a color similar to her hair.
��would be from the lollipop and my lip gloss. Raspberry as well. Guess I just like it.�
I watched her play with her fork, twirling it between her fingers, anything to keep from looking at me.
I can�t stand it.
Reaching across the table, I cupped her face in my hand, forcing her to look at me. Gently running my thumb across her check, I stared into her eyes, wide open almost in fear.
Looking at me all innocent again.
Damn her.
�I like it.�
I swear she stopped breathing.
*
If I open my mouth right now, nothing comprehensible is going to come out. If I don�t say anything right now, I have a very good feeling Nick is going to reach over and kiss me.
And why do I have a bad feeling about that?
Instead of doing anything, I watched his forehead scrunch in his obvious confusion as he slowly pulled his hand away from me. Something is going through his head again. He�s thinking too hard.
�Can I ask you something?�
No. Don�t ask me anything. You�re not allowed to.
�Of course.�
Directing my line of sight at my food, picking at the salad with my fork, I listened as he inhaled deeply.
�Why�d you run from me earlier?�
My head shot up, a grin tugging at the corner of my lips that refused to hide behind my stony mask.
�Because I�m stupid.�
�No� you�re not. Why do people keep saying that?�
So he was paying attention to my and Ryan�s little argument.
�Term of endearment, I guess.�
Nick�s eyes displayed his confusion well. For someone who had spent most of his life in the public eye, he hadn�t master the act of controlling his facial expressions to fool people.
�But why? Did you not realize it was me?�
My smile grew a little bigger. How could I have not known it was him? Between the bodyguard, the vocal diatribe that carried his voice down the street, and the split second look into his blue eyes, there was no way I couldn�t know who he was. I just didn�t expect that by avoiding a glance at him, he�d knock me over unaware.
Must have been a good argument.
Two
PART