“Photo magic, huh?” I said.
“Just call me David Blaine,” he teased.
I laughed and paid for it with a flash in my face. “So I get mocked for referencing Columbo, but you can get away with a David Blaine joke?”
He shrugged. “I don’t make the mockery rules. And besides…” He moved closer so quickly I backed up into the table behind me, and he arched his brows as he froze. “Why are you being weird? I was going to let you in on a little-known secret.”
I frowned but stayed still as he moved even closer until his lips were next to my ear. “There are no rules for mockery.”
I choked on a laugh.
“I’m serious,” he said, and his tone was deathly serious. So serious it made me smother another laugh.
“Don’t. Tell. Anyone,” he continued. “But for those of us in the know, the unofficial rule is...there are no rules. But we don’t talk about it. That’s the first rule. We don’t talk about it.”
My nose wrinkled in confusion at his ridiculous statements, but I found myself grinning at his antics all the same. “Like Fight Club?” I asked.
“Exactly like Fight Club,” he said. After a beat, he added, “And by that I mean...it’s nothing at all like Fight Club.”
I laughed and...Snap!
I blinked in surprise. “You keep doing that,” I complained.
“That’s why I’m here, remember?”
“Oh. Right.” I gave my head a little shake. I’d forgotten what we were doing for a second there. In fact…
I looked around and noticed that the crowd around us had shifted. Justin and his friends were…
Not even here.
I took a deep breath and craned my neck to see where they’d gone. When I turned back, I found Will watching me with an odd expression that I couldn’t read. It was way more intense than I was used to, and it made my breath hitch for a second.
Then he gave me a lopsided smile that showed off a dimple on the right side, and booped me on the nose. “Play it cool, Hazey May.”
I stared at him. “My middle name isn’t May. And no one ever calls me Hazey...or Haze, for that matter.”
His grin was unapologetic. “Why not? Those nicknames are cute, just like you.”
I frowned, and he took another picture, his expression absurdly delighted. By what? I had no idea.
Like I’d said, the guy was weird.
“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing me by my hand like it was the most normal thing in the world.He led me out toward the backyard.“Where are we going?”
“I need better light.”
I wasn’t about to complain since my ears needed a break as well. The host’s house had a firepit, and people were crowded around it. A few walked away as we approached, and Will steered me toward the fire.
We stared at each other in silence for a moment as the crowd around us chattered away, music from the house a quiet backdrop to it all. For a guy who was so popular, he sure was spending a lot of undivided attention on me tonight. I mean, I knew he had a mission to accomplish, but I would have thought he would be socializing more. Or at least flirting it up with some of the pretty girls here. I couldn’t make sense of it.
He tilted his head to the side, and his eyes looked darker than night. A reflection from the flickering fire lit them, and for a second, I was convinced he was the devil.
His wicked grin confirmed it.
“That’s it.”
I arched my brows slightly, but he was too busy doing something on his camera. And then, he was in my face. The camera was, anyway. He was just being annoying. “Smile, Hazey May, or I’ll be forced to tickle you.”
I could feel the people around us shifting to watch and dipped my head in embarrassment.
He slid a finger beneath my chin and gently lifted it up to face him. For a second I forgot to breathe.
Don’t ask me what happened, but the touch stunned me into stupidity. I gaped up at him wide-eyed and watched that flicker of flames in his eyes before he hid behind the camera. “Don’t look away,” he said.
“This is silly,” I said, giving my head a little shake. “The guy I like is here, and he’s seen what’s going on. He knows I’m not having the time of my life, just posing for a bunch of photos.”
He kept clicking away as I talked, and I planted my hands on my hips.
He lowered the camera slowly, and his expression was indecipherable. Maybe even mysterious. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to fool people with an image.”
And then he was back to snapping away.
“I really wish you’d smile, Haze.”
I pursed my lips in annoyance at the nickname and caught his grin behind the camera.
“Come on,” he coaxed as the people around us drifted back to the house. “Just one smile.”
I tried, and he lowered the camera with a look of disbelief. “I didn’t say a grimace, I said a smile.”
“Well, excuse me if I can’t smile on command like a monkey.”
“Do monkeys smile on command?”
I threw my hands out. He was missing the point. On purpose. “I told you I wasn’t model material. I told all of you.”
And yet somehow I’d let them talk me into this idiotic scheme because… Well, because maybe I was more desperate than I’d thought.
Not to have a guy. At least, not just any guy. The guy. One who understood me and liked me and...yeah, maybe one who wanted to go to homecoming with me. Was that too much to ask?
“Let’s not focus on smiling then,” he said from behind the camera. “Talk to me about something that excites you.”
“Something that excites me?”
“Yeah, you know. Like….Columbo.”
I choked on a laugh, and he snapped away with a grin. “Gorgeous.”
I could feel heat in my cheeks and dropped my head. “I’m not gorgeous.”
He didn’t respond at first, too intent on his camera, but when he looked up, his eyes met mine evenly. “Trust me when I say you are.” He held up his camera. “The camera never lies.”
I widened my eyes in surprise—at the words, but also the sincerity behind them. I wasn’t sure I’d ever said anything with such earnestness.
“If Columbo doesn’t get you all hot and bothered, how about Matlock?”
And the moment of earnest sincerity was over.
I shook my head with an exasperated sigh. “What are you talking about?”
“You like those murder mystery shows, right? The old ones.”
“It’s not a crime,” I said.
“Nope, I used to watch them, too…” He grinned. “With my grandma.”
I rolled my eyes, but I was laughing.
“That’s it. Work it,” he said. “I knew it was the sexy Matlock talk that would loosen you up.”
I shook my head with a laugh. “You’re insane.”
“And you are cuckoo for crime shows. It’s all good. Whatever makes you smile, Hazey May.”
“Ugh. Stop calling me that.”
“Not until you tell me all about Murder She Wrote,” he shot back. “Come on. I know you’ve just been dying to share your love of J.B. Fletcher with someone. Now is your chance.” He dropped the camera long enough to waggle his eyebrows. “Show me that passion, Haze. Let your freak flag fly.”