Читать книгу The Bff Bride - Allison Leigh - Страница 7

Prologue

Nineteen years ago

“Come on, Tabbers.” The boy holding the chains of the swing leaned closer to her and grinned. His weird bluish-purple eyes were full of mischief. And goading.

But that was something Justin Clay had always been good at.

Goading. And a whole lot of it.

Usually, it led to her getting her rear end in trouble with her mom and daddy.

“I told you. I go by Tabitha now,” she said firmly. She’d just turned nine. Tabitha seemed more fitting than Tabby, much less Tabbers.

Justin’s eyebrows skyrocketed, and he hooted with laughter, giving the swing’s chains a shove so that she shot backward then forward again so unevenly that her bare toes dug into the sand beneath the school’s swing set.

“That’s bat-crap crazy. You’re Tabbers,” he said with the annoying superiority he’d developed lately. Catching her chains again, he stopped her forward progress with such a jolt that her chin snapped against her chest. “And you might as well just kiss me. It’s gonna happen, one way or another.”

She glared at him. “You made me bite my tongue.”

If anything, he looked even more devilish. “You going to cry about it?”

She curled her lip. “Not ’cause of you, that’s for sure. And I’m not gonna kiss you just so you can make Sierra Rasmussen jealous!”

His eyebrows drew together. “You’re my best friend,” he complained. “We’re supposed to help each other out.”

Now it was her turn to snort. “Good thing your best friend isn’t a boy, then. And I’m still not kissing you!”

“One day you’re gonna wanna kiss me,” he warned.

Annoyed at the absurdity, she shoved her hand against his chest and pushed him away far enough that she could jump off the swing. Even though his daddy was the tallest person Tabby had ever met, for now, she and Justin were exactly the same height. She looked him straight in the face. “Try it and I’ll punch you in the nose,” she warned. “I’d sooner kiss a toad than you.”

His skinny chest puffed out. “Lotsa toads down at the swimmin’ hole, Tabbers.”

She puffed out her own chest. It was just as skinny as his. And as flat. Which was fine with her, since boys seemed to have more fun than girls did. At least all the ones she knew around Weaver, anyway. Who wanted to be all prissy and perfect when there were baseball games to play and cow chips to throw and worms to be threaded onto fish hooks? Summer was short enough in Weaver without spending half your time playing indoors with dolls and dress-up. And Justin’s granddaddy had the best swimming hole around, out on his Double-C Ranch. She and Justin, along with his cousin Caleb, spent half their summer vacation out there. “I can make you kiss a toad just as easy, Justin Clay, and you know it.” She scuffed her bare toes through the sand. The sun was hot as Hades, and now that he’d brought up the topic of swimming, that’s all she wanted to do. “I dunno why y’all are so gaga over Sierra, anyway,” she groused. The other girl was a year ahead of them in school and the biggest snot around.

“’Cause she’s got boobs,” he said, as if the answer were obvious. “And Joey Rasmussen says his cousin won’t kiss no boy who ain’t already kissed someone.”

“So? Since when’re you interested in kissing girls?”

“Erik’s already kissed three girls!”

She rolled her eyes. “Who cares if your brother’s kissing girls?”

“I do. So now I gotta kiss someone, and I ain’t gonna kiss Caleb!”

She leaned over, pretending to gag. “That’s just gross.”

“That’s just ’cause you don’t got any boobs.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder hard enough to tip him over in the sand.

He laughed, squinting up at her in the sunlight as he stuck out his suntanned hand. “Help me up.”

Sighing mightily, she grabbed his hand and yanked.

He sprang easily to his own bare feet and pecked his thin lips against hers before she had a chance to evade him.

Then he danced around her, cackling like a madman, waving his arms over his head in victory. “Told you!”

She made a face. “You are disgusting.”

He laughed even harder. “You’re just mad ’cause I got my way.”

“And it was disgusting, too. Still don’t know why you gotta keep up with your big brother. I don’t gotta keep up with mine.”

His smile didn’t die, but he stopped his victory dance and dropped his arm over her shoulders, like the best buddies they were. “Come on.” He started walking away from the swings. “Let’s find Caleb and go out to the swimming hole to catch some toads.”

She shrugged. Because she did want to go swimming. “Sure. But first—” She hesitated when they left the sand for the closely shorn green grass covering the rest of the playground.

He hesitated, too, his eyebrows lifting again over his weird bluish-purple eyes. “What?”

She smiled.

Balled her fist.

And punched him in the nose.