I Teased His Kidney, He Kissed Me

Chapter 3

I logged onto the campus forum and scrolled through all the posts about Holden.

Then I came across a video.

It had been filmed by someone in the stands during the basketball game.

The comments underneath were blowing up.

A: [Holden was like a completely different player in the second half compared to the first.]

B: ['Dude got his heart broken, duh!]

Some insider spilled the tea, and those comments got swarmed within minutes.

Within 30 minutes, the clip of me handing water to Evan, with Holden clearly assuming it was for him, was all over the forum too.

Overnight, the three of us became the hot topic everyone was gossiping about.

But gossip spreads fast and dies even faster.

A few days later, people had pretty much moved on.

The next time I saw Holden was in gym class.

The teacher was running fitness assessments, and Holden was the TA.

He was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, his neck long and lean, with a few strands of his dark hair falling messily across his forehead.

"OMG, he's so hot!"

The girl next to me practically squealed.

Holden's sharp gaze swept across the crowd. When his eyes landed on me, I caught a flicker of something in them.

Our eyes met, completely out of the blue. I ducked my head fast.

"He's looking at me! Those eyes are killing me!"

The girl next to me looked like she was about to pass out from excitement.

I edged away from her, slow and subtle.

"Alright, today we're doing the timed run. Boys, 1,000 meters. Girls, 800."

Groans erupted across the whole class.

I started inching my way toward the back, looking for a chance to slip out.

The second my foot crossed the edge of the track, a cool voice stopped me cold.

"Luna, what exactly are you doing standing at the gate?"

Holden was striding toward me, long and easy.

I turned around and got hit with that sun-warmed, clean smell of him.

I opened my mouth, fumbling.

"Uh..."

"What? Disappointed it's me, not Evan?"

He leaned down, his eyes locked on mine.

From this angle, I could see every single one of his long lashes, the way his dark pupils looked all glossy and soft, like a baby deer's.

My heart was hammering out of my chest.

Up against a face like that, my brain just turned to complete mush.