Not If I Date You First

Chapter 41

LIAM

I'm tossing a frisbee back and forth with Wes on the beach when I hear a car pull up in front of the house.

"Dude." Wes catches the disc with one hand and jerks his chin toward a spot behind my shoulder.

"What?" I ask, turning around.

Ada is standing next to the Range Rover in the driveway. She's wearing white shorts and a peach-colored top that shows a hint of suntanned skin around her stomach. In the light from the setting sun, she's glowing like a goddamn angel. I'm suddenly very conscious of my heart beating in my chest.

Letting out a whoop, I jog toward her. She laughs and runs to me, jumping in my arms. She wraps herself around me, and I crush our mouths together.

Stumbling in the uneven sand, I lose my balance, and we topple to the ground. She lands on top of me, straddling my hips. Laughing, she leans forward, kissing me again. Her lips are silky against mine. I can hear her small inhale of breath as I run my hand across the sliver of bare skin at her lower back. This is so much better than any of the perfectly-plotted kisses on the show. This is the kind of kiss poems are written about. That songs are sung about. This is the kind of kiss that can shift the axis of the entire world.

I'm vaguely aware of my friends cat-calling behind us, but I don't care. I would spend the rest of forever kissing this girl if I could.

"Get a room!" Wesley shouts.

"No, seriously," calls Ariani. "You two should totally get a room." She wolf-whistles, which embarrasses Ada enough to make her pull back. Her cheeks are flushed, and her teeth dig into her lip, driving me almost out of my goddam mind.

"Hi." She smiles down at me.

"Hi." I trail my hand through the long, soft strands of hair that have fallen forward over her shoulder.

Shooting me a smile as bright as the stars, she stands up, brushing grains of sand from her legs. She reaches out a hand to me, and I twine our fingers together, pushing myself off the ground.

I hug her against me, muttering against her hair. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Back at you, Superstar." She grins, tugging my hand and pulling me toward the old logs that surround the fire pit where Faye, Ariani, and Wesley are sitting.

"Can you boys go grab some firewood?" Faye sets a couple of bags down on the folding table she's set up. "I want to get dinner started."

"Great," Ada says. "I'm starving."

"Don't get too excited. By dinner, she means s'mores." Wes hops up, sweeping bits of bark off his shorts.

"Um, s'mores sound like the best dinner ever," Ada says.

"I knew I liked this girl." Faye gives her a high five.

I plant a kiss on Ada's cheek before jogging over to help Wes carry wood from the shed and grinning like a fool the whole way. I feel my phone vibrate and assume it's Ruby texting with details about my trip to L.A. But when I snag it from my pocket and look at the screen, it isn't Ruby. It's Mia. Tension floods my system.

Mia: I know you don't want to talk to me right now. But you should know your girlfriend is planning on selling stories about you to the press.

I freeze, blinking down at the message. My stomach does a complete one-eighty. The idea of having someone I care about sell me out to the media again—it's my worst nightmare. But no. There's no fucking way.

I look over at Ada. She's chatting with Faye. They're opening up boxes of graham crackers and sticking marshmallows on skewers. Ada says something, and Faye throws her head back and laughs.

I've witnessed Ada's abysmal acting skills. She isn't faking this. She hasn't been for a while now. I'd know. This is Mia trying to stir up shit like she always does.

"Everything alright?" Wesley's arms are loaded with firewood. Concern tugs at the corners of his eyes.

"It's fine. Just Mia being Mia."

"That girl is drama."

"Tell me about it," I mutter, shoving my phone back in my pocket and grabbing some logs from the pile. Following Wes across the beach, I try to shake off the message.

We dump the wood into the pit. I pour some fluid on the kindling, and light a match, flicking it on top. It ignites with a whoosh.

"Do you all mind if I take some photos?" Ada holds up her camera.

Irritation sparks at the thought of having our photographs taken here—the one place we've never had to put on a show for the cameras. But I stomp it out. I'm just rattled by Mia's text. Ada's a photographer. Taking pictures of us is literally her job, and I need to be supportive. God knows she's helped my career. It's the least I can do.

"Go ahead." I force myself to smile at her.

"Of course." Faye carefully fills a red Solo cup.

"As long as you promise to only sell the ones I look fabulous in." Ariani makes a production of flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"As if there would be any that you didn't look amazing in." Faye blows her a kiss.

Wes strikes a pose. "Make sure you get me from my good side."

"You don't have a good side." Ariani tosses a marshmallow at the side of his head.

"Oh, I'll show you my good side." Wesley charges, tackling her, which results in a wrestling match where Ariani ends up shoveling handfuls of sand down the back of Wes's pants. I shake my head, glancing at Ada. She's taking photos of them, laughing.

"Would you two stop acting like five-year-olds for two seconds and get over here? And grab your drinks, 'cause we're toasting." Faye passes me a bottle of water and hands everyone else a plastic cup. The smell coming off them is biting and fruity and reminds me of my dad.

"To what?" I ask, forcing myself to stay in the moment. I'm not going to let him or Mia ruin this night.

"To you, of course. And your huge new movie deal. That's Cherry Coke with vanilla rum, by the way," she says to the others. "And it's delicious, so I don't want to hear any complaints."

She holds her drink over the admittedly pathetic fire. "To Liam!"

"To Liam!" they all echo. We click our cups together, and Wes hoots as everyone drinks.

"To you." Ada turns to me and taps her cup against mine a second time. "Congratulations, Superstar."

The way she smiles at me, the way her eyes sparkle when she looks at me, it's all so damn genuine it almost knocks me over.

"C' mere, Ace." I wrap her in a hug, burying my face in the waves of her hair.

I trust this girl.