Page 46 of Before Eve

West and I are definitely not like me and Anne.

“My family’s great. My dad will be there and my sister. Gramma and my cousin. You’ll see. You’ll fit in perfectly.”

“Will your mom be there too?”

Sadness flicks, like the last time I mentioned his mom, and just as quickly it's gone. He shakes his head. “No.”

That sadness is the reason why I find myself saying, “Okay.”

He brightens. “Really?”

“Really.”

Grabbing the front of my hoodie, West tugs me toward him and plants a quick kiss on my lips at the exact second Annepeeks her head over the soundboard. “West and Eve sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” She makes a couple of annoying smooching noises, and I turn about a million shades of pink and red and probably purple.

West grins as he gets to his feet and then helps me up. He gives Anne a playful shove. “You’re infuriating. Go away.”

The guys begin to filter on stage, and West goes to join them. I tuck my ball cap back on and straighten my clothes as Anne gets right in my personal space. “Tongue and all?”

I flush and look away.

“Oh, no you don’t.” She gets right in my space again. “Tongue and all?”

I nod, my skin getting even hotter.

She hoots. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Shh,” I hush her, giving in and letting an enormous smile split my cheeks.

I just kissed West Wolf. Tongue and all.

CHAPTER 23

In the musicroom at school, I sit beside Brynn, her guitar on my lap, strumming a new song. Brynn takes piano and guitar lessons and hates them both. I’d give anything to take music lessons. Luckily, she leaves her guitar at school so I can play it whenever we have free time.

Brynn blows a bubble, catching it and twisting it around her finger. “Remember what I did yesterday?”

“You mean the boy-girl party?”

“Yeah, well, guess what?”

“What?”

“I kissed a boy.”

I stop playing her guitar. “How…how was it?”

“He tried to tongue me.” She giggles.

My face blazes red. “Did you tongue him back?”

“No!” She scrunches up her nose. “It all kind of grosses me out.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Speaking of…” She blows another bubble. “Sex education is next. I’ve never been so excited to come to school as I am today. Maybe we’ll get to put condoms on bananas.”

I smile a little at her joke, knowing I won’t be in Sex Education.Grayson refused to sign the permission slip, saying, “The moment you know about sex, the moment you become a whore—just like your mother.”