Worth the Fall

Chapter 16

I woke up with a smile on my face and immediately hated myself for it.

Not because smiling was bad.

But because I knew exactly why I was smiling.

Landon Baxter.

More specifically, Landon Baxter under the city lights with his hand on my face and his lips on mine like he had been wanting to kiss

me for far longer than either of us had the courage to admit.

I buried my face in my pillow and let out a muffled groan.

This was not good.

This was not part of the plan.

I had worked too hard, focused too long, sacrificed too much of my teenage life to suddenly become the kind of girl who giggled into her pillow over a boy.

And yet—

There I was.

Giggling.

Pathetic.

My phone buzzed on my nightstand.

I reached for it too quickly, nearly knocking over the lamp in the process.

Which was embarrassing, considering I had no reason to assume it would be him.

Except I absolutely did.

And of course, it was.

Landon

You awake?

I stared at the message for a full five seconds before throwing my phone onto the bed like it had personally attacked me.

Then I lunged for it again.

Because obviously.

Me

Unfortunately.

His response came almost instantly.

Landon

Good.

Need to know if last night actually happened or if I made the whole thing up.

I rolled onto my back and groaned at the ceiling.

He was insufferable.

Me

Pretty sure you hallucinated it.

Wouldn’t be your first delusion.

Three dots appeared immediately.

Landon

So you didn’t kiss me back?

I bit my lip.

Me

No comment.

Landon

Interesting.

Because I specifically remember you kissing me like your life depended on it.

I covered my face with one hand.

He was not allowed to be this smug before ten in the morning.

Me

Delete this conversation.

Landon

Never.

Also I miss you.

My breath caught so fast it was actually offensive.

I stared at those three words like they had personally broken into my room and rearranged my organs.

Because there was teasing.

And then there was that.

And Landon, annoyingly, seemed to know exactly when to stop playing and say something real enough to leave me reeling.

I typed a response.

Deleted it.

Typed again.

Deleted that too.

Then finally:

Me

It’s been less than twelve hours, drama queen.

Landon

And yet my statement stands.

That smile came back before I could stop it.

I hated him for that.

No, worse—

I liked him for that.

And that was far more dangerous.

By the time I made it downstairs, my mother took one look at my face and smirked into her coffee.

Which was incredibly rude.

“What?” I asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

“Nothing,” she said, in the exact tone people use when they absolutely mean something.

Nathan, unfortunately, chose that exact moment to walk into the kitchen and immediately ruin my morning.

“Oh no,” he said, taking one look at me. “She’s got that look.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“What look?”

He grinned like a demon.

“The one girls get when some guy kisses them and now they think the moon is following them.”

I nearly dropped my toast.

“Can everyone in this house die quietly?”

My twin sisters burst into laughter from the kitchen island.

My father looked up from the newspaper, took in the scene, and wisely chose not to get involved.

Coward.

My mother stirred cream into her coffee and asked far too casually, “So are we going to pretend that nothing happened with that very attractive boy last night?”

I shut my eyes.

There it was.

The family interrogation.

I should’ve known it was coming.

“No one is pretending anything,” I muttered.

Nathan snorted.

“That’s worse.”

I pointed at him.

“You are one misogynistic comment away from me keying your car.”

“It’s not my car,” he said.

“Then I’ll key your future.”

That earned me a laugh from my dad.

Traitor.

Mom leaned against the counter and gave me that look only mothers know how to give.

The one that says I know more than you think I do.

“So,” she said. “Are you going to see him again?”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

And then my phone buzzed.

All five of them looked down at it at once.

Absolutely barbaric behavior.

Nathan lunged for it and I snatched it first, glaring at him hard enough to make him recoil.

“Boundaries,” I snapped.

Then I looked at the screen.

And immediately regretted having a pulse.

Landon

Can I steal you for a few hours today?

My stomach dropped in the most humiliating way possible.

My mother saw my face and smiled into her mug.

“Oh, definitely him.”

“I hate this family.”

“No,” Nathan corrected. “You hate that your little scholarship life just got a lot more interesting.”

I looked down at the text again.

Then typed before I could overthink it.

Me

Depends.

Are you going to be annoying?

His response came instantly.

Landon

Absolutely.

But I’ll also buy you food.

I smiled despite myself.

Me

That is manipulative.

Landon

And yet effective.

God.

He was going to ruin me.

By noon, I was standing in front of my mirror changing my shirt for the third time.

Which was ridiculous.

I was ridiculous.

This was ridiculous.

I had never in my life cared this much about what I looked like for a boy.

Not because I wanted to impress him.

Okay, maybe a little because I wanted to impress him.

But mostly because Landon had this unnerving way of looking at me like I was something worth noticing.

And when someone looks at you like that, you start wanting to feel like they’re right.

That was dangerous.

Very dangerous.

After nearly twenty minutes of fighting for my dignity, I settled on jeans, white sneakers, and a fitted forest green top that made my eyes look brighter than usual.

Simple.

Cute.

Casual enough to suggest I had not just suffered a full identity crisis in my bedroom.

The doorbell rang exactly three minutes later.

Of course it did.

Because apparently Landon Baxter also believed in dramatic timing.

I made my way downstairs trying and failing to look normal.

Which was hard when my sisters were practically pressed against the front window like tiny suburban surveillance agents.

“He’s here,” Stacy whisper-yelled.

“No kidding,” I muttered.

Sierra turned to me with a hand over her heart.

“He looks like a vampire.”

I paused.

Then sighed.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Nathan nearly choked laughing.

I opened the front door and there he was.

Looking like he had stepped out of some expensive teenage fantasy and personally decided to become my problem.

Black ripped jeans.

Faded band tee.

Silver chain.

Messy dark hair.

Blue eyes that immediately softened when they landed on me.

And just like that, every coherent thought left my body.

His gaze moved slowly over me, not in a gross way, not in a way that made me feel exposed—

Just enough to make me feel seen.

And then his mouth tilted.

“Green.”

I blinked.

“What?”

He nodded toward my shirt.

“Your eyes.”

My heart stopped.

Restarted.

Then sprinted.

Because that was not a normal thing to say to a person at one in the afternoon on a Saturday.

That was a line designed in a laboratory to make girls lose all sense of reason.

And worse—

It worked.

I crossed my arms, mostly to hold myself together.

“You’re very confident for someone standing on my porch.”

His grin widened.

“You gonna make me work for this, James?”

Every time he called me James, something in me folded.

I hated it.

I loved it.

I wanted to die.

Behind me, Nathan coughed the word “boyfriend” loud enough to be heard in neighboring states.

I shut the door halfway and looked back over my shoulder.

“If any of you embarrass me while I’m gone, I’ll poison the milk.”

My mother gasped.

My father lowered the paper and said, “Have fun, sweetheart.”

No one was on my side.

Not one soul.

I stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind me.

Landon looked entirely too amused.

“Your family likes me.”

“No,” I said flatly. “They like the drama.”

He laughed softly and opened the passenger door for me.

“Lucky for them, I’m full of it.”

(Chapter Theme Song: Teenage Dream by Taylor Swift)