Page 20 of Spark

KENDRICK

“ G uys, hold up!”

It’s Titus, shouting down the length of the hallway after Ruby and I barreled out of the party.

Ruby’s riding on my back. She immediately hopped aboard, like she always does, when moving from one drinking location to the next.

It was a tad demoralizing—confirmation that nothing’s changed between us, despite that amazing kiss. For her, anyway.

As I come to a stop with Ruby on my back, Titus shouts, “Seriously, guys, don’t do this.” When I turn around, he adds, “You’re both shitfaced and might regret it in the morning.”

Ruby scoffs, and her breath flutters against my ear.

“Are you serious? T, we kissed for Rex’s camera.

He’s obviously going to send that video to Cooper, and I knew kissing Kendrick would give him the biggest possible ‘fuck you.’ Thankfully, Kendrick knew to play along.

” When Titus looks skeptical, Ruby adds, “It’s like Dad always says: ‘If they’re running you out of town, get out front and make it look like a parade. ’ So, that’s what I did. ”

Titus narrows his eyes. “That kiss looked awfully real, Ruby.”

“What would have been the point, otherwise?” She pokes my shoulder. “Tell him, KC.”

“Yup. All for show,” I choke out, barely able to command my tongue.

I feel deflated, confused, and embarrassed.

My brain understood the situation, I think, when Ruby first planted her lips on mine.

I saw the camera. I knew Cooper’s song was blaring.

I mean, I didn’t fully get her logic, but I knew something was up.

Something she’d explain later. But then, somewhere along the line, my body convinced my brain Ruby was kissing me for real—that she was feeling every kilowatt of electricity in that moment that I felt. I was such an idiot.

Titus says something I don’t catch, because my mind has been racing and spiraling. But Ruby’s reply to her brother draws me back.

“You honestly think if I was truly kissing my best friend, for real, for the first time, I’d do it in front of you and the rest of the band? Not to mention, in front of everyone at the party, and possibly the whole world, if I’m right and Rex is going to post that video?”

Well, there it is.

Drunk or not, I was most definitely a fool.

“Come back to the party,” Titus says, motioning toward the door behind him.

“We can’t,” Ruby says. “We made it seem like we were running off to hook up. If we come back now, everyone will think Kendrick jizzed in his pants before we ever got to his room.” Ruby snickers at the idea, but the scenario doesn’t seem that far-fetched to me.

It’s never happened to me, thank God, but after twelve years of pining over and fantasizing about this girl, I wouldn’t call it out of the question if Ruby ever kissed me for real and gave me the green light for more .

“Kendrick, come on. We haven’t even played Birthday Truth or Dare yet.”

“We played the other night at the emergency band meeting.”

Titus scoffs. “That one question didn’t count. And we never play with Truth as an option, anyway.”

Why is Titus pushing so hard for us to come back into the party? Is he, like Savage and Laila, convinced I’m the ‘like a brother’ guy in Cooper’s song? If so, my kiss with Ruby surely added fuel to that fire.

“Right, KC?” Ruby asks, jerking me from my thoughts.

Clearly, I missed something when I zoned out. “Huh?”

“You’ve been out of good ideas for birthday dares for a while now.”

“Oh. Yeah. Definitely.” I rap the side of my head with my knuckles. “Can you hear that echo? There’s nothing inside there.”

Ruby squeals with laughter and squeezes my neck. After kissing the side of my head, she says to her brother, “Are you done interrogating us now? Because I want to go to Kendrick’s room, have a nightcap from the minibar, and help him fall asleep.”

“Help him what?”

Ruby explains the whole insomnia thing to him, as well as her theory. “I told him we’d test it out days ago, but then Cooper’s song came out, and I got distracted and fell down on the job.”

Titus doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he looks downright cynical.

“Now, go back to the party,” Ruby says to her brother with a shooing motion of her hand.

“And tell our bandmates the deal about that kiss, okay?” She giggles.

“Man, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Cooper sees it. He’s going to lose his mind to find out I’ve moved on from him so fast—and with his nemesis, of all people. ”

Nemesis ? The word feels like a record scratch to my brain. I’m Cooper’s nemesis ? That seems like a pretty strong characterization, even if he secretly dislikes me.

Titus exhales. “She’s shitfaced, KC. You realize that, right, brother?”

“I am, too.”

“I’m saying don’t do anything she might regret. Not when she’s shitfaced. Okay?”

“What the fuck is your deal?” Ruby yells. “We’ve both been shitfaced together a million-billion times, and you didn’t feel the need to give us this speech any of those times.”

“Yeah, well, if you’d kissed right before taking off together any of those times, I certainly would have.”

Ruby flaps her lips together. “It was a fake kiss, dude. Are you not listening to me at all?” With that, she bats my shoulder. “Come on, horsey. Giddyup! Let’s ditch this wet blanket and keep the party rolling!”

Titus sighs. “Goodnight, guys. Happy birthday, KC.”

“You, too. I mean, thanks. Sorry if we confused you.”

“The only thing that’s confusing to me is this conversation.” With that, Titus swings open the door to the party and disappears.

“Weirdo,” Ruby mutters.

“What did he mean by that?”

“By what?”

“That our conversation was confusing to him.”

“Who knows and who cares?” Ruby says with a wave of her hand. “Now, giddyup! I’m thirsty!”

I adjust her on my back and grip her thighs firmly, the same way I always do at times like this.

Except, if I’m being honest, the touch of her bare thighs against my palms feels different now.

More loaded. Thanks to that kiss. Just this fast, I already know it was The Kiss That Changed Everything, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back.

“My room or yours?” I manage to choke out.

“Yours. Mine’s a mess. Plus, when we get to the sleep therapy portion of the birthday party, I want you feeling as comfy as possible.”

“What’s my room number?”

Giggling, Ruby tells it to me, and off we trot down the carpeted hallway, with her singing “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” at the top of her lungs.

“Why did you say I’m Cooper’s nemesis?” I ask midway through her song.

“I already told you: Cooper’s always been crazy-jealous of you.”

“Yeah, but nemesis seems like a more intense word than someone you’re merely jealous of . ”

Ruby snorts. “Okay, well, Cooper was jealous of you, even before I started dating him. But once we started dating, his jealousy became more like an obsession. He was convinced I wanted to break up with him and get with you.”

My breathing hitches. Lyrics flood me. Why do you want to fuck your brother? Why is he starring in your sex dreams? You said his name twice.

“W-why would Cooper think that?” Fuck it. I can still taste Ruby on my lips and tongue. Like a drug, the sensation is making me reckless, apparently.

“Because he’s a simpleton who can’t fathom a woman being close friends with a hot guy.” She exhales. “Come on, birthday boy. Open the door. I need another drink.”

“But I mean, do you know of any objective reason, other than Cooper’s own insecurities, why he’d think that way?”

Ruby grunts. “Who knows what goes on inside the mind of an insecure, jealous ex-boyfriend? Your guess is as good as mine.”

My mind hurtles back to Ruby’s comment about Cooper airing their dirty laundry a couple days ago. Is there something she’s holding back?

“Open the door already,” Ruby says with a pinch to my neck.

I let Ruby slide off my back, fish my key out of my pocket, and unlock the door; and the minute Ruby enters my room, she takes a running, flying leap onto my bed, like she’s belly flopping into a summer lake.

I laugh at her silliness. At first. But all it takes is one glimpse of her inner thigh as her skirt rides up, as she lands and bounces, and I’m dangerously close to popping a boner. What’s wrong with me? One kiss, and I’m suddenly incapable of being around her?

I stride to the minibar, telling myself to get ahold of myself.

“It’s an embarrassment of riches in here,” I report, after opening the fridge.

At Ruby’s request, I list off every beverage option in front of me, expecting her to cut me off at some point with her selection.

But she doesn’t make a peep. Did she pass out while I was droning on?

I turn around to face her and discover Ruby’s slowly flipping the pages of my lyrics notebook, which is laid out before her on the bed.

For a split second, the sight doesn’t concern me. During countless writing sessions, Ruby’s perused the pages of my journal, and vice versa. But, suddenly, just as she stops on a page and her eyes go wide, a thought pings my brain.

Spark.

Shit.

Did I tear those two pages out in New York like I was intending to do? Or did I get distracted? In a flash, I hurl myself across the small room and snatch the journal off the bed, causing Ruby to yelp in surprise.

“Hey!” she shouts. “Give it back. I just started reading something juicy.” When I shake my head, Ruby waggles her eyebrows and says, “Come on. I just saw a two-pager called ‘Spank,’ you naughty boy, and I’m dying to know what that’s all about.”