“Sure.”

I set a can in front of her, and when she picks it up, I notice the slight tremble to her hand. “Why are you nervous, Sunny?” My parents are at the club until the game starts. It’s just us.”

“Sorry, I’ve never done this before. Other than Becca’s house, I don’t really go many places.”

I nod my head toward the living room. “Come on, then, I want to show you something in my room.”

“Your room?” she questions. “Am I allowed up there?”

I chuckle, she’s adorable sometimes. “Yes, you’re allowed in my room.”

She follows me up the rest of the stairs, and I lead her to the last door on the left. “This is me.”

With my hand still on the knob, I wait for her to go in first. She shuffles in and stares at my bed in the center of the room. “That’s where you sleep?”

My bed is round and looks more like a giant bird nest than an actual bed. That’s why it’s not shoved up against one of the walls. “Yup.” The only pictures I bothered to hang on the wall are black and white photographs I took myself. There’s a desk in front of the window with a built in bookshelf next to it and that’s about it. It’s minimalistic to say the least.

She looks over her shoulder after she takes it all in. “This is really cool. Did you design it?”

I kick my shoes off and flop down on my bed. Patting the spot next to me, I invite her to sit down next to me. “My mom likes to decorate. She gave me a catalog to look though for the tenth time in a year, insisting I needed to fix up my boring room. I was happy with the way it was, but if she wanted a challenge, I’d give her one. I thought I was pushing my luck when I picked out some expensive, outrageous shit she would never go for. Turns out, she actually liked it. So, now I have this palace. It’s growing on me, but I’m not sure it would have been my first choice. The bed even spins.”

“I would kill to have that kind of design freedom. I could think of a million things to do to every room in the apartment, especially to Carson’s room. He’s a nice guy, but his tastes are so boring.”

I’m not sure I like the fact that she’s been inside Carson’s room to know what his belongings look like. But I squash that fun fact and concentrate of the two of us. “I bet you’re really good at design. I saw how content you were when I took your picture.”

“I love it,” she says.

It’s really quiet, so I grab the remote lying next to my pillow and press a button. To anyone, the picture on the wall looks like a black and white piece of art. But once the button’s pressed, it changes from art to a flat screen TV. Jeopardy lights up the screen, my favorite game show of all time. If only Turd Ferguson was on today.

“You watch Jeopardy?”

I pretend to be offended. “I’m not just a pretty face, Kinsley.”

This time, we’re both laughing. “Okay, sorry,” she says.

“I’m just messing with you, but how about a friendly wager.”

“What kind of wager?”

I come up with a ridiculous game on the fly, but I get the impression my girl needs an ice breaker—something to help her relax while she’s with me. “For each question I get right, I get to kiss you.”

“And what about the ones I get right? Do I have to kiss you?”

“You don’t have to, but I hope you want to.”

She thinks about it for a second, even tilting her head to the side the slightest bit like she’s trying to figure out if there’s a catch. Eventually, she says, “So either way, we’re kissing.”

“Yeah, unless we both get the question wrong—then we suffer. But it’s Teen Jeopardy week, so we should get some right at least. I mean, I’m pretty smart, but you’ll have to try hard to keep up with me,” I joke, playfully.

“Okay, you’re on, Rhett.”

I tug on her arm a little bit. “Come over here.”

She kicks her shoes off and climbs across the mattress until she’s resting in the crook of my arm. She fits next to me like she’s always belonged there, and I realize this game isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was. Now that she’s close, all I want to do is scoop her up and hold her, forgetting about the game entirely.

But as soon as the first question flashes on the screen, it’s game on. “What famous document begins: "When in the course of human events. .?”

I yell out, “The Declaration of Independence!”

“Wrong!” She yells, even though it’s the right answer.

“Why is it wrong?”

“You forgot to say, “what is” before your answer. No kiss for you.”

“Okay, fine, but give me a chance to redeem myself. I’m not a quitter.”

The next question is up. “What Alabama city saw state troopers attack Civil Rights marchers on Edmund Pettis Bridge?”

“What is Selma!” I yell with excitement. I got it right and remembered her rule. “I owe you a kiss, Kinsley West.”

She pushes up on her elbow so she’s looking down at me, and for a minute, I think she’s about to cash in without waiting for me to kiss her first. “Now?”

“Now’s good.” I cup her cheek in my hand, not even caring we’re missing questions. I have what I want already. “You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever kissed, Sunny.” My lips inch closer to hers, but right before I have her, she turns her head, giving me her cheek instead.

“I’m sorry,” she says, hopping off my bed, and reaching for her sneakers. “I should go.”

“What’s wrong? I wasn’t trying to pressure you. You know that, right?”

She concentrates on her shoe laces, not even looking at me when she speaks. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. I just can’t do this.”

Before I know what’s even happening, she’s running out of my bedroom toward the stairs. I’m hot on her heels for the simple fact that she can’t keep running away from me like this. Not until she explains why it keeps happening. “Talk to me, Sunny. What’s going on?”

She runs her fingers through my hair, both frustrated and angry, but I can’t figure out why. What did I do to make her so upset when we were fine a minute before? She doesn’t look like she wants me to touch her, but I do anyway, resting my hands on her shoulders. “Tell me, Sunny. I want to make this better.”

“I don’t want to run away from you, Rhett. I really don’t.”

I rub her back the way I did in class this morning. “Then don’t. Stay with me.”

“Can we sit down on the couch for a minute? I’m sorry.”

“We can go anywhere you want. I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t want you to be upset, either.”

“The couch is fine.”

I lead her over to the sectional, sitting her on my lap. “Start at the beginning and don’t say it’s nothing—because it’s definitely something.”

She nods her head, and I sigh in relief. I’m not sure I could take another rejection from her when I’m trying to show her how much I care about her.

“Yesterday in your car, that was my first time.” She pauses, her voice quivering as she says the words to me. “You were my first kiss, Rhett.”

I lean my head back against the couch, closing my eyes as I whisper to myself. “Shit.” Kinsley shifts on my lap, and I realize I need to say something to her. Something that isn’t a swear word. “You mean you’ve never done anything—like ever?”

My sweet girl shakes her head and I can see the moment she panics, the moment she assumes I’m not going to want a thing to do with her now that I know how inexperienced she is. She stands up, immediately pulling my jersey over her head and handing it back to me. “I’ll call Carson for a ride.”

Is she crazy? “Whoa, wait a minute. You’re not leaving.” I didn’t want Carson near her before, but now that she’s told me she’s as pure as they come, I don’t even want his name to fall from her lips.

She wrings her hands together, nervously. “You don’t want me to leave?”

“No, not at all. Sit down, please.” I hand my jersey back to her. “And put this back on. I still want you to wear it to the game.”

“Really?”

I wait for her to pull her head through the hole, and once it’s back where it belongs, I continue. “I had no idea, Kinsley. I assumed you were experienced. I mean, I was hoping you weren’t, but if I had known last night was your first kiss, it wouldn’t have happened in my truck.”