Savage Me

Chapter 40: Warm With You

God, I was nervous.

Looking around, it felt like the whole town showed up. Scout squeezed my hand and flashed me a reassuring smile.

"You ready?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. A boyish grin appeared on his face, before he dragged me further into the crowded street.

See, it was the Founder's Day Festival in our beloved town of Mount Valley. That meant that school was out, shops were closed, and everyone was at the heart of town.

Basically, it was one big fucking potluck.

Back then, the crew and I would drop by for lunch then find some place to chill and get drunk before we crashed mailboxes. Good times.

But today, I wasn't here for any of that. Well, maybe just lunch.

The thing was, Scout and I were on our way to The Hamptons to meet our friends for spring break – courtesy of the Sullivan family's summer house (thanks, Mads). Brody's family got a house there as well, so he and Jamaica were going to shack up together. They managed to sort things out around the time Scout and I did.

I was sure as fucking hell Jamaica would finally lose her virginity by the end of spring break – if she hadn't already.

Before heading there, Scout had this awesome (according to him) idea to stop by in town to say hi to everyone – as a couple. I didn't want to.

I mean, why do they care if we're dating? It's not like I'm dating them.

But Scout made a point that his mom still didn't know about us. He wanted to introduce me to her properly. And I couldn't say no to that.

"We're not going to greet everybody, are we?" I asked him, reminded of all the times I saw him waving at whoever smiled at him. "Because we always joked about you acting like a mayor who's running a campaign whenever you're out in town."

He laughed and raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

"Don't prove us right."

"'Us' as in..."

"Oz... and me." Mostly.

He had a lopsided grin, as understanding crossed his features. "Oh, now I get it. So that's what you guys were always snickering about."

"Among other things," I murmured, shrugging innocently.

I didn't want to tell him that we also made fun of the way people watched him walk away, like he was their favorite celebrity child or something and he was about to do great things. He already hated how they treated him special to his face.

"I'll take you straight to my mom," Scout promised.

"You better," I muttered.

"We were supposed to do this months ago. Don't get cold feet now, Anderson."

I snorted as I let him drag me, with his hand firmly holding mine. His touch was the only thing that calmed my crazy beating heart. Soon, his mom would know about us. The idea freaked me out. I hoped she would still like me.

The town closed down its oldest street and transformed it into this community gathering, with tons of food booths provided by the middle-aged and elderly residents while the games were manned by teenagers.

Everybody seemed to be having fun. I mean, that was the point.

It didn't take long before people started to take notice of Scout. Of course, they couldn't help but stop and say hi to him. And right after they did, their curious gazes traveled to me then to our hands. I thought I even heard a gasp.