When Everything Changes (Summer of First Kisses Book 3) Read online

  When Everything Changes

  By Michelle Pennington

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  Copyright © 2019 by Michelle Pennington

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Michelle Pennington

  P.O. Box 54

  Hartford, AR 72764

  www.michelle-pennington.com

  Publisher’s note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locals is completely coincidental.

  If you want more sweet romances, join my newsletter at http://www.michelle-pennington.com and get the latest on all upcoming releases.

  Chapter One

  Boys.

  I’d spent my life surrounded by them, and it was only now, during my eighteenth summer, that I realized how much that had affected my perspective.

  “Hey Liv,” my brother Lucas called from the kitchen. “Listen to this.” He then produced a belch that would have registered on the Richter scale and lasted several seconds.

  With two brothers, a father, and two of my best friends living next door, I had come to be a good judge of belches, farts, and other gross things guys found entertaining. When Dad was around, he kept the boys somewhat in check, but since he was still at work at his law firm, I wasn’t surprised when a burst of laughter immediately followed the belch.

  “Weak,” I called back, not taking my eyes off the Women’s World Cup soccer game I’d been watching since Cooper and I got back from a long day of work at the local water park.

  “Weak?” Lucas asked. “Let’s hear you do better.”

  “She could though,” added Daniel, the younger of my two brothers. He sounded proud of me.“You know she could. It’s like her superpower.”

  At that moment, I hated that Cooper and Zane were around. Which was totally weird. The English twins spent as much time in our house as theirs. I had taken part in many belching contests with them before, so it wasn’t like Daniel was revealing any embarrassing secrets about me. No, it was just that all at once this summer, my lifelong ambition to be accepted as one of the guys had shifted.

  It was all Piper’s fault—her and her plans to help me, Kat and Sadie get kissed for the first time before summer ended. Since then, Kat had been kissed. Many, many times by Piper’s big brother. I wasn’t around for much of it, but seeing them as a couple had…broken open some kind of sinkhole in me. All of a sudden, I felt dissatisfied and restless and…uncomfortable with myself. Because I wanted that too, but I was painfully aware that I was nothing like cute, girly Katriel Pearson. And now there were signs that Sadie had a big crush on our friend Dante…and that he might even like her back. At least, that’s what I was piecing together. But me?

  Who wanted to kiss a girl who could out-burp every boy in town as well as kick their trash in half a dozen sports? No one, that’s who.

  And with every day that passed, I realized Piper’s plan was hopeless. I was going to be the only girl to end the summer with virgin lips.

  “Sounds like a challenge to me,” Zane said.

  He and Cooper were identical twins, but not only could I tell them apart by looking at them, their voices were also distinct. Zane’s was brash and forceful. Cooper’s was modulated and calm. Deeper too, with just a hint of roughness to it.

  “Forget it,” I said, standing up. I was done just sitting here feeling weird about myself. “You’re all so immature.”

  “Immature?” Zane asked and then laughed. “Well, sure, but since when did you care about that?”

  “Zane,” Cooper said in a firm voice, like he was warning him to stop.

  But Zane ignored him and pushed a cold can of Mt. Dew toward me. “Come on, Liv. Chug-a-lug and then let's see what you’ve got.”

  Two parts of my soul—one of them the part I hadn’t known existed until recently—went to war. My competitive side pushed me to grab the can and show them what I could do. To dominate. To crush my opponent. Especially since it was my brother who had challenged me. But I also knew that doing so would further bury all surviving femininity that might lay dormant inside me. Girls might burp, but they didn’t do it competitively in front of two hot guys unrelated to her.

  “I thought we were going to play basketball.”

  “We are,” Lucas said. “But first, try to beat me.”

  I glared at him. “Nope.”

  “Come on, Liv,” Daniel said. “Just do it.”

  “Do it. Do it.” The three of them started chanting. Cooper didn’t for some reason, but his half-smile showed that he was amused by the whole thing.

  They were never going to let me get out of this. If I didn’t do it now, they’d raz me about it forever until I finally gave in.

  I grabbed the soda can. “Look, this is the last time. And then leave me the heck alone.”

  “Sure,” Zane said, his eyes glinting, excited for a good laugh.

  I sighed and popped the tab on the can. The carbonation fizzed, and I raised it to my lips.

  The important part here was to get as much air as possible into my gut while I drank, so I took a big gulp of air and then gulped the soda. Putting the can down, I waited, feeling the gases collect and bubble in my stomach. The pressure started to build, but I needed to wait as long as possible. Finally ready, I dropped my jaw and squeezed my diaphragm.

  The burp was everything the boys had hoped for. It resonated across the room, growing deeper with every second it lasted, and ending with a vibrato-like growl that set them howling like a pack of hyenas. Cooper was laughing too, and as I caught his eye, he raised his own soda in a sort of salute.

  There. Once again, I’d won their respect. It was the first time a victory made me feel hollow inside.

  I headed straight for my room. I needed time alone with no guys around.

  Falling onto my bed, I pulled a pillow over my face and tried to block the world out. But what was bothering me still screamed in my head, so I decided breathing was more important and knocked the pillow away.

  What did guys see when they looked at me? I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the camera, flipping it around to selfie mode. I was not the selfie type, and I didn’t plan to take one now. But trying to find a spark of femininity in myself had become an urgent, consuming need.

  I looked like a girl. A pretty one even, I thought. But just staring up at the screen with angry brown eyes didn’t exactly bring out my feminine qualities. How did girls make themselves look desirable?

  Trying again, I tilted my face at a more attractive angle, smoothed back the hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, and mad
e duck lips at the camera. Nope. That looked as stupid on me as on everyone else. Maybe biting my bottom lip in a sultry way…

  Someone knocked on the door, scaring the crap out of me and making me lose my grip on my phone. It dropped straight on my nose. “Ow!”

  I vaguely heard the door open as I sat up and blinked my watering eyes.

  “Are you okay?”

  Cooper had heard my exclamation of pain. There was no hiding it. “I uh…” Dang it. “You scared me, and I dropped my phone on my face.”

  He muffled his laughter pretty quickly—a good effort on his part. Which was why he was my favorite butthead. “Okay, besides that, are you okay? You seemed upset.”

  I looked up to where he stood in the doorway, watching me carefully. My dad didn’t have many rules, but the few he did have were hard and fast. Boys were not allowed in my room, no matter if they were just friends or not, and Cooper never crossed that line. We’d had many a conversation like this, him leaning against my door jamb with his arms crossed and me holing up in my refuge.

  “Liv?”

  At first, I was going to say I was fine, but he wouldn’t believe it. “Cooper, am I girly?”

  His eyes shifted over me and one of his eyebrows lifted. In a dry, ironic voice, he said. “Yes, Liv. You are girly.”

  Something relaxed inside of me.

  “But also, not.”

  My spine stiffened. “What does that mean?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. You aren’t annoying and emotional all the time. You don’t waste time fixing your hair or messing with your nails.” He must have noticed my glare. “What? Those are good things.”

  “So why don’t guys want to date me?”

  For two seconds, he looked like a stuffed animal…his expression frozen in a painful smile and his eyes wider than natural. “Uh…they do.”

  “Yeah, because I go on so many dates.” Too restless to keep sitting on my bed, I got up and grabbed the little toy basketball off my dresser and shot it at the hoop hanging from my closet door.

  “Would you say yes if they asked you?”

  Why did his voice sound so tense?

  “Depends on who it was, but yes. Probably.” I thought about me on a date. Disaster waiting to happen. “Okay, maybe not. But only because I wouldn’t know what to do on a date.”

  “What’s there to do? You just have fun.”

  “Ha.” I picked up the ball again and walked to the far corner of the room to shoot it again. Swish. “Easy for you to say. All the guy has to do is put on a ton of cologne, pay for things, and open a few doors.”

  He wasn’t laughing, but I saw his lip twitch as if he wanted to snicker. “And what do girls have to do that’s so hard? Bat their eyelashes, pout their lips every time they want something, and talk your ear off.”

  “Yes! And see, I can’t do any of those things.” I went over to the mirror above my dresser and tried to flutter my lashes. They were plenty long enough, but I just looked like I’d gotten something in my eyes.

  “Stop it, Liv. You don’t have to do that. I was joking. Just be yourself, and you’d do great.”

  “Yeah, because every guy wants to go on a date with a girl who can out-belch him.”

  He clicked his tongue. “Yeah, you probably shouldn’t pull out that trick too soon. It would challenge his manhood.”

  “Are you here to make me feel better or not?”

  “Yes. What do I need to do to make you feel better?”

  “Tell me that I won’t die an old, lonely woman with virgin lips.”

  “Ohhh.” He drew the word out like he’d just made a major discovery. “That’s what’s going on. I heard something about that.”

  “Yeah. And Kat’s already been kissed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sadie gets kissed soon as well.”

  Cooper chuckled. “Me either.”

  “Do you know how embarrassing it’s going to be when I’m the only one left and it never happens for me?”

  “Chill, drama queen. What if you don’t get kissed this summer? So what?”

  “See? You don’t think it will happen.”

  He took a step forward. “I didn’t say that.” Then, realizing that he’d crossed Dad’s boundary, he almost jumped back into the doorway. “Liv, you are…” He took a deep breath. “Any guy’s fantasy.”

  “How?” I asked, almost whispering the word.

  “How? Look in the mirror. You’re hot, okay? Tall and toned but still curvy. Like a Brazilian model—”

  “Half-Brazilian.”

  “Yeah, well, the half is more than enough. And you watch sports and play video games and don’t care if a guy eats a whole pizza in front of you.”

  “Mostly because I’m eating a whole pizza too.”

  “What isn’t sexy about that?” He looked so hopeful—like he thought that would fix everything.

  It made me laugh, even though it only made my doubt worse. “Okay, Coop. You’ve done your best. Let’s go play some hoops before you start reciting poetry.”

  Chapter Two

  Cooper and I were the last ones left playing basketball in the driveway when the street lights flickered on. We’d already turned on the lights over the garage, so I was careful not to open my mouth too wide because of all the bugs swarming to them.

  I dribbled the ball with my right hand, keeping my body angled slightly to protect it from Cooper, even though he was keeping his distance at the moment. “One more shot and I win.”

  “Well, come on then.”

  I waited because I knew it would drive him crazy, but also because I needed to decide on a strategy. Cooper was built more for football with too much brawn to be as quick as I was, but he had a massive set of shoulders on him and a long arm span, so getting around his guard was nearly impossible. With quick decision, I darted forward, straight toward him, then at the last second, I faked to the right, crossed the ball between my legs and went left.

  Unfortunately, he read my move and shifted his feet to stay between me and the goal. I pulled back for a jump shot.

  Now, I fully expected him to block my shot. What I did not expect was for him to grab me, lifting me up in the air and spinning me around. The ball flew off who knows where while I tried to get my bearings. For a moment, I felt weightless in his strong arms. The contrast between the softness of my chest against the unyielding firmness of his made me feel shivery inside. I braced my hands on his shoulders and yelled, “Cooper! What the heck! Put me down.”

  He laughed and dropped me back on the pavement. “My ball.”

  “Whatever. You cheated.” I ran over to get the ball, and every step away from him made it easier to breathe. But when I turned around, he was retying the drawstring of his athletic shorts and my eyes shot to his hands, taking in the thoroughly masculine curvature of his abs cutting down into a V at his waistband.

  Turning away sharply, because that was…whoa, dangerous territory, I saw headlights a couple of houses away. “My dad’s home.”

  Cooper looked up and walked off the driveway so Dad could pull into the garage. As Cooper moved away, he picked up his shirt from where he’d dropped it onto the grass and shrugged it on again. He looked slightly uncomfortable, which caught me off guard. What would Dad have done to make Cooper nervous? The twins treated my dad like a favorite uncle.

  Dad opened the garage and waved at me as he drove past. As soon as the car was out of the way, I dribbled back onto the driveway and took a shot. I caught the ball again as it fell through the net. “I win.”

  Cooper grunted but didn’t argue.

  “Hey, Dad! How was work today?”

  He walked out of the garage, leaving his laptop case on the trunk of his car. “Same as usual.” He held his hands out for a pass so I tossed him the ball. He shot and barely missed, the ball bouncing off the rim with a clang and right into Cooper's hands. “It’s just you two playing tonight?”

  “Yeah. Lucas and Daniel had some party to go to, remember? And Zane had a date.”
/>
  With his eyes on Cooper, he nodded. “I see.”

  Cooper shot the ball, but half-heartedly. He made the basket but didn’t act like he cared much either way. “Um, I’m actually going to go in. Night, Liv. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Yep.” I tossed a casual wave his way and watch as he walked across our lawn to his. His head was down, his shoulders bunched.

  “Coming inside?” My dad asked, pulling my attention away from Cooper.

  “Uh-huh.” I dropped my ball next to the basketball post and walked through the garage with him. “What’s for dinner?” I asked, but my thoughts were still on the puzzle of why Cooper was acting so weird.

  “Want to help me make some spaghetti?”

  It was a fast meal to pull together, so it was a staple at our house. Always had been. “I’ll get it going while you go change.”

  “Thanks,” he said, putting his laptop case down on the kitchen table and heading for the stairs as he loosened his tie.

  I pulled out our biggest pot and filled it with water, then put it on the stove to boil. I looked through the fridge and found a package of ground beef and one of Italian sausage. Along with some onions, and a jar of minced garlic, I got the meat cooking and stood chopping it into small pieces. The aroma rising from the skillet made my stomach clench with hunger. As usual after playing basketball—or any sport—I had built up a huge appetite.

  The noodles were cooking and the sauce simmering by the time my dad came down. I didn’t mind that I’d done all the work, so I smiled at him and got a strainer ready in the sink.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I got a phone call. It smells amazing.”

  “I know. Every time I make this, I get memories of Mom standing over the stove, singing and dancing to whatever song was stuck in her head.”

  His smile twisted. “She never could sing. What can I do?”

  “Make a salad?”

  He nodded and headed to the fridge. Because he was so busy with work, we used a grocery delivery service so our fridge and pantry were always stocked with food. Back before Dad had discovered that our local grocery store offered that, we’d been eating way too much takeout and cereal for dinner. Pulling out a salad kit that came with chopped lettuce, toppings, and a package of dressing, he grabbed a serving bowl and soon had it tossed together.