Free Over It (The Kiss Off #2) by Sarah Billington Page A

holding them between us.
    "Hi," he said, ignoring the mass of people in the lobby with us who were curious about the commotion. I followed his lead and ignored them too.
    "Hi," I said back.
    "So, what's up?"
    I shrugged. "Eh, you?"
    "Same old."
    We both grinned, he put an arm around my shoulder and said hello to Nikki, Mads and Hamish. I felt so good in his embrace. It didn't matter who else was there, we were together, finally. Something had been missing these last six weeks but now my body was relaxing; it was whole again.
    He looked great. His hair was a little longer, curling up at the ends at the nape of his neck, and he wore a black V neck tee over black skinny jeans with a silver wallet chain looping from his belt to his back pocket.
    “Well aren’t you looking summery,” I said.
    He smiled. “Don’t I though?” He tugged gently at my hand, leading us further into the hotel. "Come and see the guys."
    "Quite the circus you've got here, huh?" Hamish said, looking around.
    "Necessary evil," Ty said, leading us past the reception desk and over to a wall of elevators. "So. Many. Interviews." He smiled wryly down at me as the bell dinged and one of the doors opened, revealing a thankfully empty elevator. We all stepped in and he punched the button for 17. "Too bad you didn't get here earlier; interviews are wrapped now. I bet the afternoon slots would have killed for this scoop." He booped me on the nose and gestured grandly in the air.
    " 'Academy's Ty and YouTube sensation Poppy Douglas adorable in Bay Fest PDA' ," he said.
    "Yeah," I said, "or 'Sealed with a kiss: Ty and Poppy's secret Burlington Grand Hotel wedding. "
    "Yeah, probably," Ty laughed. "I missed you, you know?"
    "Urgh." Mads rolled her eyes. "Hurl."
    "Shut up, you," Ty said, playfully kicking his leg out at her, which she dodged.
    "I know I don’t know you or anything,” Hamish said, “but seriously, bro, your corn is showing."
    Ty stood a little taller as the elevator doors opened, and he squeezed me just that little bit tighter. "You know what? I don’t even care," he said as we stepped out onto a soft, champagne–colored rug. "I'm stoked to see my girl and I don't care who knows it."
    At the same time as making me swell up with gooey love inside, I got the distinctly uncomfortable impression that he had forgotten what we talked about a couple of months ago, the night of the Block Party. About keeping our private stuff private from now on.
    "So what's the goss?" Mads asked. "What's going on with you guys? I hear you're big in Japan.”
    “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “ The Kiss Off is still number one there.”
    I grinned.
    “So is a world tour in the works?" Mads asked.
    "Actually, yeah. Maybe," Ty said with a grin.
    What?
    "No way, really?" Nikki said.
    Mads's whole face lit up. "That’s amazing."
    Ty grinned, rubbing the back of his neck in a bashful, overwhelmed way. "Insane, right?"
    "Congratulations, Ty."
    "That's sick, dude," Hamish said.
    I didn't say anything, watching my fingers as I ran them lightly along the buttercream damask wallpaper as we walked.
    A world tour. Wow. Yes it was great, it was all kinds of great, but then he'd not only be states away, but countries away. And for how long this time? Forever? Why did everything have to move so fast?
    "There's even talks about a reality show."
    I snapped my head around to face him. " What ?"
    "Yeah," Ty continued, "chronicling our 'meteoric rise to fame' and stuff." He noticed my horrified expression. "We put the brakes on that one, don't worry," Ty said. "Can you imagine? It's bad enough as it is, but at least right now we can all lock the cameras outside. It's cool that they want to do that, though. There's even been talk of a fragrance. We've only got one record out, we’re on our second single and they think people want to smell like us? Come on."
    "You'd be surprised," Nikki said.
    "I wouldn't want it," I said.
    Ty raised his eyebrows.
    "Seriously,” I said, “think