I woke up to chirping. Two small birds sat on the railing in front of me having a chat. Once that just-woke-up confusion wore off I remembered where I was. I remembered Stephen.

He wasn't on his balcony anymore. I grabbed my phone and saw that I had a few texts from him.

Stephen:
Did you fall asleep?
You're a terrible reading buddy
It's only been ten minutes

Did I really pass out that quickly? The last thing I remembered was Stephen talking about how weird it was reading kissing scenes written by his mom.

No. That was a lie. The last thing I remembered was imagining how it'd feel to kiss Stephen. Even then the thought made my whole body warm.

I continued going through messages he sent while I was asleep.

Stephen:
As much as I want to stay here and listen to you snore
I have to go have breakfast with my mom
We should do this again
Not you falling asleep on me
But the reading
I still need you to explain how Dion is a good guy
All he does is lie and tries to fight everyone
Okay
I'll stop texting now

It was 9:42 and the last message was from less than thirty minutes ago. I was grinning at my phone on my way to my room when I bumped into Mom heading down the stairs.

"Where have you been?" She asked, stopping on the top step. "I've been all around this house looking for you."

My first instinct was to lie. But I didn't need to, not really.

"I was reading on the balcony and fell asleep."

I hoped that was enough to fool the lie detector she claimed parents had when it came to their kids.

She accepted my answer, heading down the steps. "You need to get ready, we're checking out a venue with Shontell in a half an hour."

"But I thought-" I clamped my mouth shut, almost telling on myself. "Okay."

Back in my room I pulled open the door of the small walk-in closet. It was a mess of clothes I never bothered to put on the hangers, my suitcase splayed open on the floor. As I pondered my options I wondered if Stephen would be there.

Maybe I should wear something nice, I thought to myself as I went through my clothes. My mind went back to the party and the way the girls there dressed. Suddenly my brightly colored clothes with their fun prints looked like I raided a child's closet.

Whatever. I had half an hour to shower, get dressed and wrangle my hair into something presentable.

I grabbed a shirt with sunflowers all over it, some jeans, underwear and hopped in the shower.

Since I fell asleep outside without wrapping up my hair it was a wild mess. I forced it into two buns, my go to style for bad hair days, and ignored how much it aged me down to twelve.

"Waverly, we have to go!"

Stephen was joining us. So was the groom-to-be, Brad. We all climbed into Brad's SUV. Stephen sat in the back, mom and I in the second row, Brad and Shontell up front. Brad drove cautiously, like somebody's grandma.

Shontell was telling Mom about the banquet hall we were going to see in downtown L.A. when my phone buzzed in my hand with a text.

Stephen:
Can I ask you something

I resisted the urge to look back at him and replied.

Me:
Sure?

Stephen:
What's the tattoo on your back?

That time I looked at him, quickly. Hopefully no one noticed. How did he know about that? Most of my tops covered it. The only way mom would agree to letting me get one was if it could be easily covered.

Me:
How did you know about that?

Stephen:
I have my ways ;)

Me:
Do those ways include stalking?

Stephen:
You gonna tell me what it is?

I chewed at my bottom lip. I thought it was cool when I got it, but talking about it to someone like Stephen Davis...I was embarrassed.

Me:
It's stupid
I got it on my sixteenth birthday
My mom has the same one
So does my grandma

Stephen:
Four messages and not one of them telling me what the tattoo is

I stared down at my phone, trying to decide if I should tell him or not. Before I made a decision another text came through.

It was a picture. Stephen, pulling his best puppy dog face, filled my screen. I fought back a smile.

Then the car jerked forward and my phone fell from my hands. Brad had hit the breaks, barely stopping his car from ramming into the one in front of us.

Brad hit the horn, throwing his hands up as the driver of the car that just cut him off gave him the bird. "People need to learn to drive," he mumbled.

Shontell reached over, rested a calming hand on his shoulder, then turned back to us. "Is everyone okay?"

My mouth said yes, but everything else inside me screamed no. My phone slid under the seat, her seat. My screen was probably still lit up with her son's face. I was definitely not okay.

I hoped it didn't slide all the way under where she'd see. Unfortunately, as always when it came to trying to sneak around with Stephen, I wasn't so lucky. She found my phone, handing it back to me, her face unreadable. The screen was dark when she handed it to me, but was it dark when she picked it up?

My phone buzzed, another message from Stephen. I didn't read it and dropped my phone in my bag.

It was stupid of me to give him my number. Stupid of me to break a promise I made to my mom. The entire universe was telling me to stay away from Stephen, I needed to start listening.

• • •

The banquet hall was gorgeous. According to the man who showed us in, a friend Brad's, there was a wedding reception lined up for later that night. The tiled floor was a bright white, the walls were mostly windows covered by flowing curtains. The roof curved inward and had dozens of small circular lights embedded around the top.

It was still being set up, the color scheme was a navy blue with white and a blush pink. The workers were placing the floral centerpieces at the center of the round tables.

Shontell had been iffy with all other reception venue suggestions. The way her eyes lit up made me think we finally had a place. Wedding planning was soul sucking and I hoped that place available just get it over with sooner.

We weren't allowed to go all the way in, but that didn't stop Shontell and my mom from mapping out ideas. Mom had her notebook out, trying to take down all of Shontell's suggestions.

"Will the hall be available for the first week of August?" My mom asked before they dived too far deep into their planning.

"It is," Brad answered, grinning. "There was a cancellation. That's why I asked Rick to show us around."

Brad's friend, Rick, beamed. "If you want to book it, you better book it now before word gets out."

Mom looked to Shontell for approval. Shontell marveled at the room a few more seconds before nodding. "Book it."

"One step closer, baby." Brad smiled, his huge muscled arms engulfing Shontell in a hug, lifting her off her feet as she giggled.

They were adorable.

Stephen looked ready to claw out his own eyes. "Great, can we eat now? I was promised food."

As our mom's and Brad handled the details of booking the banquet hall, Stephen and I went back to the car.

"You're not talking to me anymore?" He asked as we waited for the valet to bring the car around.

"Talking to you isn't safe." I said, eyes forward and arms crossed.

He laughed. "My mom isn't that scary, is she?"

"Maybe not to you, you have nothing to lose." I looked up at him then. "My mom gained four new clients since taking this job. What do you think will happen to them if she was suddenly fired?"

His lips pressed together. "You're right. But," he said, taking a side step closer to me. "What do you think would happen if we stopped talking? We'd have to read our books alone. With no one to talk to."

"I think we'll manage," I said, taking a step away. He followed. I should've been annoyed he wasn't taking it seriously, but he made it impossible to resist him.

"I don't think I can, Waverly." The way he said my name brought an unwelcome shiver down my spine. "I need someone to explain why the nice girl is always attracted to the guy who's nothing but trouble."

I peered up at him. That was something I didn't understand myself. Stephen spent our first few hours together lying to me, he apparently had a problem staying away from girls, and he made it a point to break any rule given to him.

On all accounts he was someone I shouldn't have been attracted to. Yet there was an unexplainable pull towards him.

Holding back a smirk, I said, "I'm trying to figure that out myself."

His eyes widened slightly, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "See, that's why we need to discuss this further. Get to the bottom of it."

"Maybe."

"Maybe." He repeated like a promise.

The valet pulled the car around. Stephen got into the driver's seat. As I got into my seat in the middle row, something caught my eye.

Shontell in her flowy sundress stood just outside the entrance of the banquet hall, her eyes trained on me. How long had she been standing there?

More importantly-Did I just cost my mom her job?

//

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