Chapter 16
It was no use.
He wasn’t going to be able to extricate her from his thoughts. That kiss left him without feeling everywhere except his lips and where they touched. He couldn’t think straight for a full minute. All his senses had been heightened like he’d been bitten by a radioactive spider.
He could’ve sworn he felt her pounding heart.
His ribs had hurt for an hour after their kiss. Was it just a natural physical reaction? Was every kiss this way? Or was it because he was kissing her?
Did it matter?
No, it didn’t.
Pete slammed the bag of trash into the giant dumpster. He picked up the one Keke had given him before sprinting away with some excuse about kids and tossed that in as well.
Keke was, and forever would be, out of his league. She couldn’t even look at him after the kiss. She was probably lying when she said he was good at it. Clearly she didn’t like it. Kissing Bertie’s baby brother? Pete guessed she was still grossed out.
He was supposed to be thinking about Lea.Shewas the one he was doing all this “training” for. It was her lips he was going to kiss. Not Keke’s.
At least, not ever again.
No sense in listing the reasons why they couldn’t be together. Only one mattered. He wasn’t good enough for her. His father drilled his worthlessness in him for years. His saving grace would be his game app, but by the time he sold it, Keke would be out of his life for good.
From the moment he first laid eyes on Keighly Kaye, Peter Headley’s heart beat a little bit faster. He didn’t know what it was at the time—still didn’t know—but the only other time he felt as passionate about something was when he was developing his applications.
And he loved developing apps.
She never looked at him with anything more than playful disdain. And although a part of him marveled at her long legs and graceful movements, he too held a natural dislike for the best friend of his stupid sister, simply because she liked Bertie. She couldn’t possible have a brain if she liked his sister.
Bertie wasn’t at all stupid. At least only until Pete hit puberty and realized Bertie was an actual person and not a demon seed meant to torment him until she went away to college.
College…
Cornell loomed large in his mind. His father said the university’s name every time he saw him, like he was attempting to hypnotize Pete into accepting his fate.
Each mention increased the temperature of Pete’s blood. If he heard Cornell one more time, he’d call the dean personally to tell him he wasn’t coming.
That would set his father on edge.
Probably give him a brain aneurysm.
At this point, Pete didn’t care. He was nineteen. Grown. He had a great app he could sell and about a dozen more designs with a few already in pre-production. He could actually do what he wanted…
If he were given half a chance.
He would even be willing to use the money he earned to keep Headley Campground in business.
Pete finished his rounds and ended back at the office. His father was likely in his bunk by now. Keke’s car wasn’t out front, and he figured she’d gone to see her family.
Family…
Both of them had issues with family. It was one of the reasons Keke and Bertie grew so tight in middle school. Pete was happy for Keke; she made it out of Springfield.
Now it was his turn.
“There you are. I was wondering when you were going to get back.” Bertie walked through the back door, still in her work outfit. She plopped down in a chair behind the desk. She had her serious face on. This would probably take a while. Pete also sat down.
“What’s up?”
