For the Love of Donuts

16. And Now Things Are Awkward

Skye

I couldn’t stop myself.

I couldn’t stop myself from letting my hands grab his toned arms. I couldn’t stop myself from letting my mouth part against his full lips. I couldn’t stop myself from letting my body invade the rest of his personal space.

And if you can’t tell: I’M FREAKING OUT.

I try to tell myself that kissing Tatum back was to make this look more realistic for the pictures, but in all honesty? I have no idea what’s going on. It’s like some unknown instinct kicked in without any warning and I just went with it.

I couldn’t stop myself, remember?

As we continue to kiss, Tatum’s free hand moves to cup the other side of my face, and the static-like feeling from earlier hits me so hard that common sense finally kicks in, and I yank away from Tatum with a sharp exhale.

I might not know what’s going on, but I do know that we’re best friends.

It was only supposed to be a quick peck.

And I messed up.

Way to go, Skye .

Since I can’t risk looking at Tatum quite yet—because I’m high-key embarrassed for the way I responded in this situation—I turn my attention to my sister. “Dria, you got the pictures, right?”

Only, she’s gone.

What the frick? Where did she go?

“Skye—”

“I’m going inside to see if that’s where Dria is,” I interrupt Tatum, still not looking at him as I make my way toward the house.

I hope she didn’t disappear before taking the stupid pictures, otherwise that means we kissed for no reason. Crap, crap, crapppp. This whole thing was such a bad idea.

My lips are tingling. Why are they tingling?

“Pink Stuff, wait,” Tatum says, catching up with me. “We should probably…talk.”

I wince as I pull open the sliding door. “Talk about what?”

Is acting clueless immature? Yes.

But what other option do I have?

He curses before angling his body in a way that makes it almost impossible for me to avoid his gaze. “Skye, don’t do that. The kiss—”

“I know. I’m sorry. We probably should’ve left the pictures as is.” Don’t look at his mouth. “I-I don’t know what that was. I was just trying to help make it look real, but I made it weird, I’m sorry I made it weird. I wasn’t trying to make it weird. I’m really, really sorry, Tate.”

Maybe apologizing more than once will fix this.

Whatever “this” is.

Ugh. People, take note! There is logic behind why best friends don’t—and SHOULD NOT—kiss. Learn from me before it’s too late. Save yourselves and spread the word. Once you kiss your best friend, there isn’t a reversal spell or some kind of keyboard shortcut to undo it.

Tatum taps his fingers against the sliding door’s latch as his eyes go upward. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We shouldn’t have tried taking pictures of us kissing, even if they were fake.” He looks at me again, his eyes darker than before. “I’m sorry too.”

For whatever reason, though, his apology doesn’t make me feel any better.

If anything, I feel worse now.

I’m losing my mind.

“You’re good,” I verbally wave him off, “let’s just hope we never have a reason to fake-kiss again, right?”

I offer a little laugh, but it sounds horrible and forced.

“Right,” Tatum agrees, giving the door two quick pats, “wouldn’t want that to happen more than once.”

And then he goes inside, without saying anything else.

Dang it. I messed up sooooo bad. That’s obviously why Tatum’s acting like this. I made him upset and now things are awkward.

I grab the box of donuts with a curse and drag myself inside before closing the sliding door.

“There you are,” Dria says, coming over to me. “Sorry about dashing in here, but Trey texted me that Nova had a bad dream while napping and she was asking for me.”

“Is she okay?” I peek around Dria to see if I can spot Nova. Sure, I was worried if Dria had taken the pictures or not, but I’m obviously more worried about my little munchkin.

“She’s good. From what I was able to understand, she dreamt that she couldn’t find me and woke up panicking.”

“Poor baby,” I tsk, wanting to give her a million cuddles ASAP. “Where is she?”

“The playroom. She and Lanie begged Ta-um to read one of the new books Shelby sent them.”

Oh. Normally, I would join them in a heartbeat, but Tatum clearly wants some space from me. And even though that stings, I can’t really blame him. I took things too far. I made him uncomfortable.

“I was able to get some pictures of the kiss though,” Dria says, looking proud of herself, “so no worries there. I didn’t get to examine any of them, but I’m sure they came out fine.”

“Thank you for taking the pictures, Dria,” I tell her with complete sincerity. “Seriously. I know you’re not entirely pro what I’m doing, but—”

“You’re welcome,” she cuts me short, tapping the tip of my nose. “Just don’t forget who’s the best sister ever, m’kay?”

“I could never.”

“We should break into these donuts while Tate still has the girls occupied.” Dria widens her eyes at me. “And I want to hear the latest tea about Anna and Matt.”

“ Dria ,” I whine, following her to the dining room, “you know they’re not together!”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t ship the heck out of them. I think they’d be a freaking cute couple, and I have excellent instincts.”

“Yeah?” I ask as we sit down at the table. “Why don’t you use those instincts for me then?”

She scoffs. “I told you not to go out with that one guy, remember?”

“But you never give me other options,” I grumble, opening the boxes of donuts. “You can’t just say ‘no, not him’ without suggesting someone else!”

“Hmm, noted.” She grabs the “question mark” donut for herself. “But for now, Anna and Matt, what’s new?”

“He’s still not into her,” I deadpan, crossing my arms, “and she’s still obsessed with him. Last week, Asher told Anna that he and Matt were going to see some new superhero movie, and Anna literally went to the theater so she could ‘bump’ into them and tag along. The girl has no shame.”

Dria laughs after finishing her first two bites. “You know what though? Props to her for going after what she wants. Too many people don’t.”

I roll my eyes. “But he doesn’t feel the same way about her.”

“Has he told her that?”

I blink. “No.”

“Has he asked her to leave him alone?”

“No.”

She proceeds to lick some icing off her finger and shrugs. “Is she really doing anything wrong then?”

Ugh, I can’t believe she’s still siding with Anna and her crazy crush.

“So, what else?” Dria asks, taking another bite of her donut. “Has anything happened since the movie theater incident?”

“Besides her usual stalking at his family’s hardware store? No. Well, she lost her mind over some recent picture of him that she saw online. But that’s all the time.”

“Can’t blame her.” She clicks her tongue as she finishes off the donut. “He is pretty attractive.”

“Who’s pretty attractive?” Trey asks, strolling into the dining room.

“ You , Hot Pants,” Dria tells him with a saucy look.

I actually gag at her horrid nickname for him.

Trey kisses her cheek. “Obviously, but I know you weren’t talking about me.”

“We were just talking about Anna and Matt.” She pinches his chin for whatever weird reason. “And I was explaining to Skye that it makes sense for Anna to appreciate pictures of Matt because he’s so good-looking.”

“I can’t even be jealous,” Trey drawls as he sits next to Dria. “Matt is a good-looking dude. Not to mention that he’s the only one I trust to give me advice about which power tools to use in the yard. Which reminds me, I’m probably due for another trip to the hardware store.”

I snort at that. “You sound like Anna.”

“Mmm, babe,” Dria says, linking her arm through Trey’s, “maybe you could try to talk about Anna with Matt? You could be like an undercover agent, getting information. Miles. Trey Miles .”

“Using my love of spy movies for your own personal agenda?” Trey responds with a gasp. “Dria, shame on you.”

“Thank you, Trey!” At least someone is on my side. “Maybe you can convince your wife that Anna isn’t going to become Mrs. Matthew Nishimura?”

“Have you met my wife?” Trey shakes his head with a laugh. “I’m still shocked I was able to convince her to go out on that very first date with me.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Aunt Skye!” a happy shriek joins the conversation, and then Lanie attempts to throw her little arms around me. “You’re hereeeee!”

“I ammmmm!” I exclaim back, kissing the top of her head.

“And you got donuts again?” she gasps, her brown eyes widening at the box. “Why are them letters?”

“ They ,” Dria corrects her, still holding onto Trey’s arm. “And the donuts are shaped like letters, because that’s the way Tatum bought them.”

“There’s no ‘L’,” Lanie observes with a pout. “Or a ‘N’.”

“ But there are two ‘M’ donuts for Miles , ” I say, pointing to the M donuts. “Maybe these two little girls I know should eat them since today is a very special day.”

Another gasp. “Ta-day is when we got Miles!”

I give her hair a gentle tug. “Exactly.”

“Nova!” she yells, dashing out of the room. “Come quick!”

A minute or two later, she’s marching back over to us.

But this time she’s tugging Tatum along by the hand while he’s holding Nova in place on his hip using his free hand.

“Hi, Aunt Skye.” Nova gives me a little wave with her head resting against Tate’s chest.

“Hey, munchkin,” I say, standing up so I can walk over to her. “I heard Tatum was reading you a story?”

She nods, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand. “It was a pwincess story.”

“Ooh, princess stories are fun,” I reply, brushing some of her messy hair from her face. “Did Tatum do a good job reading it?”

“Yeah,” she says, hugging his neck. And then her gaze goes to the dining room table. “Ta-um, can you pease put me down? I want a donut.”

Tatum chuckles, and the sound makes my insides feel all weird…and warm…and…gooey? Just like perfectly baked brownies. Ya know, the kind that are soft and oozing with chocolate? So. Good. I don’t know why I’m having such a specific reaction though. It’s unnerving. “Of course, Princess Nova.”

She giggles—as does Lanie—and once Nova’s feet touch the ground, they both look at Dria and Trey.

“Can we ’ave our donuts nowwww?” they ask in unison.

“Yesssss,” Dria says, already placing the M donuts onto two napkins, “you need to sit down though.”

“ Thank you !” Lanie singsongs, bouncing up and down.

Nova takes over the chair where I had been sitting. “Yeah, thank you !”

“Ta-um!” Lanie huffs, sitting across from Trey and Dria. “Ta-um, pease you sit next to me?”

“Absolutely,” Tatum says, going behind me—and YES, his arm does brush against mine, which I can’t help but notice because goosebumps are now dotting my skin.

I hold back a shiver as he sits down beside Lanie.

Why is this happening? Why am I suddenly so hyper-sensitive to everything that Tatum does?

I need a donut, stat.