“Oh. That sounds cool.” I fought a laugh.
“What’s funny?” he asked, tilting his head to try and catch my eyes.
I focused on running my thumbnail over my cuticle instead of looking at him. “I don’t know. It’s stupid.”
“I’m sure it’s not.”
“I don’t know,” I paused. “I always used to think I wanted to be a model. My best friend, Frankie, always tells me that I’m tall enough and pretty enough to be one. I guess it takes confidence to do that kind of modeling though. Like being half naked in front of so many cameras and stuff?”
Cane blinked quickly and cleared his throat, making a choking noise right after. “Kandy, you are too damn blunt for your own good, you know that?”
I shrugged. “Mom tells me to always express myself however I want. She doesn’t think it’s a bad thing, being this blunt.”
“That blunt mouth of yours could get you into some serious trouble one day.” He finished off his drink and then sighed. “Say the wrong thing to the wrong person and they may take it as something else.”
“Well then I’ll clarify myself for them so they understand.” He focused on my face for a few seconds, slightly shaking his head with that same smile. “What?” I threw my hands up, trying hard not to smile with him.
“You,” he murmured. “You’re just too much sometimes, Kandy Cane.”
Those words. His voice. I probably shouldn’t have taken it as much, but they made me feel untouchable. On top of the world. Was I too much for him? Did he like that I was too much? Was he tempted to test my limits, my boundaries?
“Do you know why you’re really here tonight?” he asked.
“No. Why?”
“I wanted to congratulate you on your softball scholarship. It’s not easy getting an athletic scholarship at the college level. You have to be extremely good at your sport to get one.”
“Yeah. People kept saying I was the best pitcher in our district. It’s only a one-year athletic scholarship, though. The coach probably wants to see how I play before putting me on a full ride.”
“Doesn’t matter. You got one, which is more than a lot of people your age can say. I felt bad I couldn’t take off for your signing day, hence the reason I brought you double the notebooks and the gel pens you like.”
“Thanks for that,” I laughed, my gaze dropping to the smile that had taken over his face. As much as I enjoyed our conversation, it felt wrong to keep thinking about how beautiful his smile was or how great he smelled. He was close enough for me to kiss him, hold his hand, even. My hand itched, dying to caress him, but I stayed in control. “I have a question for you.”
“What’s that?” he inquired.
“You always take my dad or me with you to little outings like this. Why don’t you ever take your family?”
His lips smashed together, and if I weren’t mistaken, his nostrils even flared up a bit. He looked away for a moment, and then released a heavy sigh. “They’re busy people,” he answered. “Plus, hanging with you and D is much more fun.” With that, he flashed his charming white smile, but I could tell it was forced. I’d struck a nerve, and felt bad for even asking the question. Cane never talked about his family. There was hardly any mention of them when you researched Tempt or Quinton Cane. It’s like he had no real family, just his good friends, the Jennings.
“I’m proud of you for getting that scholarship though, Kandy. I really am.” He was creating a diversion, escaping our conversation. It was cool. I didn’t mind. I didn’t want things being weird, especially after how the lunch ended with us not even two weeks ago, when he had to drop me off to go to Kelly. He didn’t see it that way—would never see it that way—but I did. Cane was mine, whether he knew it or not. He was always going to be mine. I just wished I could tell him.
“Kind of sucks you’ll be so far away though, huh?” His voice pulled me out of my cloudy thoughts, and I sat up a little higher with a nod.
“Yeah. It will suck. I’ll miss getting chocolates and notebooks and being invited to baseball games in VIP boxes.”
He laughed at that. “Well, I’m not sure if you’ll want to go to baseball games while you’re in school, but I can always have notebooks and chocolates shipped to you. As a matter of fact, now that we’re talking about this, what do you want as your going-away gift? I want to give you something better than chocolate and pens.”
“Um…” I chewed on my bottom lip, giving it some thought. I wasn’t really sure. Mom had a list of everything she was going to get, and I had added to that list. She said she would get all of it, despite Dad’s griping about the things that were desires instead of necessities. “I’m not sure, but I have all summer to think about it. I’m sure there’ll be something that comes up that I want.”