The Kicker and the New Girl: A Sweet YA Romance (The Ballerina Academy Book 4) by Anne-Marie Meyer & Maggie Dallen

Author:Anne-Marie Meyer & Maggie Dallen [Meyer, Anne-Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

12

Cora

This was probably the dumbest idea I’d ever had. Austin was definitely going to make fun of me for this. But, as we walked in through the back door at the bakery and I flicked on the lights, I also knew it was too late now.

We were here.

“No offense, Cora, but how exactly is coming to your parents’ bakery after hours supposed to help?”

He sounded more tired than snarky, and my heart ached on his behalf. He still hadn’t told me what happened when he’d found Kendall—if he’d found Kendall—but my guess was, it hadn’t gone well.

And how did I know this? I was super intuitive like that. There was a sort of bond holding Austin and I together, and it was as if I knew he was hurting. I could feel it in my soul.

“I think I’d rather just go home and pass out,” he said as he leaned against the nearby steel counter as if standing was too much work. “Pretend this day never happened.”

I flashed him a smile, trying to ignore the little pang of hurt that came with every comment he’d made about how awful this day had been, or what a disaster. By about comment number fifteen during our ride to the bakery, I was starting to take it personally--even though I was sure he didn’t mean it that way.

I knew he was hurting, but I’d had a great day. At the mall and even when we first got to the party. Even when Austin had walked away from me at the party to go find Kendall, I’d been content. For the first time in months I’d actually felt...alive. Like I wasn’t just going through the motions but was actually living. Sure, I’d felt nervous to be alone at a party where I knew no one, but even that emotion had been refreshing. It meant that I could feel something other than sadness.

I mean, I knew Austin had gone to the party to see Kendall. It wasn’t like I was jealous or anything. And being on my own had given me the chance to really soak in what a real high school party looked like.

Which I discovered was nothing like the movies. I’d been standing there, mentally taking notes of how I would have described this place to Ben, as if it was my job to report back to him or something, when Austin’s friend Mike came over.

Despite what Austin had muttered in the car about Mike being a player, he’d been nothing but nice to me. Which made Austin’s reaction to Mike’s presence all the more strange to me. The way he flipped out had me wondering what was really going on.

What had Austin so upset?

He shifted his stance and moved to lean one elbow behind him. His gaze scanned the room until it landed on me. “So, what are we doing here, exactly?” His dark hair fell into his face, and his gaze was inscrutable as he waited for me to speak. Or do anything, really.

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