Page 16 of If It's You

He leaned against the locker and took off his hat to shove a hand through his perfect blond hair. “Dang, girl, you drive a hard bargain.”

Maizie smiled but didn’t waver in her decision.

“Can I at least kiss you goodnight?” He winked.

“I’ll allow it.”

“Good.” He kissed her cheek. “Hopefully, you don’t have any rules against hand-holding, though, because I’m keeping this.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back.

See? Charming.

“I’m going to Jake’s for lunch,” Turner said when Maizie turned back to get her textbooks. “Are you going to be okay without me?”

The bell rang, and she pasted on a fake smile. “I’ll be fine. But thanks for worrying about me.”

He kissed her cheek and took off down the hall.

“Tell me again why you’re still dating him?” Lindsay slid into the spot Turner had just vacated.

Maizie let out a breath. “I don’t know. He’s so sweet sometimes.”

“But then other times you want to strangle him and hoist him to the flag-pole by his boxers because he’s such an idiot?”

Maizie eyed her best friend. “Did something happen with Gavin?”

Lindsay waved the comment away. “We weren’t serious anyway. Just passing the time. Now it’s time for my next victim.” Lindsay tugged at her short skirt and reapplied some lip gloss.

Maizie might not be able to get past the two-month mark when it came to dating, but Lindsay wasn’t much better. They were quite the pair.

The second bell rang, and they headed to their same first-hour class.

“Why don’t we both stay single for the rest of high school?” Lindsay suggested.

Maizie tilted her head to the side. “You think you can make it three weeks?”

“Sure can. Try me.”

“This, I’ve gotta see,” Maizie said, sliding into her seat between Lindsay and Rob.

“You’ve gotta see what?” Rob asked from Maizie’s other side.

Maizie turned to him. “Lindsay thinks she can last three weeks without a boyfriend.”

“I’m pretty sure neither of you can.” Rob said, pushing his glasses higher up his nose.

“Not true.” Maizie retorted. She hadn’t had a boyfriend her first sixteen years of life. She hadn’t even wanted to look at guys until a year after Mack’s death.

“Believe me,” Rob looked right at her, “You’re always unavailable.” His cheeks turned red and he faced the front of the class.

What was that about?

* * *

A pillow hitChristian in the face. “Hey?” He pulled his eyes away from the basketball game Grandpa was watching.

“Come on, we’re going to Uncle Eric’s for dinner,” Jayce said.

Maizie’s house? Again. They spent as much time there as they did here. Granted, he didn’t mind it too much since they actually had Wi-Fi there. The only thing they had here was cable. Spotty cable at that.