Free Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer Page B

takes a sip, winces, coughs, and laughs.
    Tali rolls her eyes. “Can we
try
to play it cool? You may recall I’m on a mission to seduce someone.” She didn’t mean to sound so bitchy, but Zoe shakes her head, like she’s not surprised.
    â€œWhatever,” Zoe says, pouring out the rest of her drink. “I need to practice fencing anyway. I don’t need to be parading around with you on a quest to get some ass.” She starts to march off.
    â€œZo—” Tali calls out, but it’s too late. Zoe has disappeared into the crowd.
    â€œI’ll check in on her later,” Joy says, shifting her weight. “Come on, let’s go find your boy.” She loops an arm through Tali’s, and Tali feels a tad better.
    As they approach Blake’s side of the bonfire, they almost run straight into Jeremy Farber, biggest contender for the Douchiest Counselor of the Year Award. Luce gasps, backing up, and Joy giggles, hiding her Dixie cup behind her back.
    Fortunately, he doesn’t see them, since he’s lost in conversation with the head of Bunk Otter, Suzanne Simonson. Tali boldly takes a sip from one of the cups she’s holding. The vodka stings her lips and burns a trail from her throat to her stomach, then settles, warming her from the inside.
    They dodge through the cluster of fourteen-year-old boys currently pegging one another with balled-up bits of tinfoil, andall of a sudden, Tali’s heart is in her throat and she feels like she can’t swallow. Blake is only three feet away. She’s way past the Safety Point . . . stunned by how hot he is up close. It has been two full years since she has seen him in person.
    He and a couple of his friends, including Jacob, are sing-shouting something indiscernible in a half huddle. They erupt in laughter. That’s when Blake’s blue eyes catch hers. Time seems to slow as recognition registers, and then the unthinkable happens. He winks at her. She offers a tiny smile in response, moving toward him and causing Joy’s arm to unwind from hers. Then she lowers her shoulder just enough so that her bra strap slips down.
    â€œHey!” he says, throwing an arm around her as they approach, causing her to lose a little more vodka from both her cups. “It’s the hot gymnast!” He says it sort of to her and sort of to his friends, as though making an announcement. Heat rushes through Tali’s ears and down her body.
    Joy and Luce exchange quick looks of skepticism, which Tali tries to ignore. A moment ago, she was relieved to have her old friends beside her. Now, she kind of wishes she’d come alone, instead of having them stand so close to her, like petite bodyguards.
    Still, she laughs, giving a friendly nod to Jacob, Soffi, Sam, and the other people she doesn’t remember as well. “I’m not a gymnast
anymore
,” she qualifies, “but I can still do splits.”
    â€œHear, hear!” Jacob says, holding up a cup to toast with. “To the splits.”
    Tali lifts one of her cups, too, and that’s when she sees it: thatsignature, fried-blond bob, weaving its way toward them. The girl is wearing an all-pink outfit—
all pink
. How could Tali have forgotten?
    Rebecca Ross. Bunk Wolf. Tennis prodigy, just like Blake. Adorable, aggressive, annoying . . . and Tali’s biggest roadblock for Blake’s affection.
    As far as Tali knows, Blake has never been
that
interested in Rebecca. They were never actually together, at least not officially. But she was always
hanging around. Tali is flooded with memories: Rebecca swishing over to him in her tiny tennis skirt, Rebecca taking Blake’s arm and begging him to dance with her at the Midsummer Formal, Rebecca in her tiny bikini, trying to capsize Blake’s boat during sailing lessons.
    Tali takes a deep breath. Things will be different this time around.
She
will be different.
    Rebecca stops on her