You Said I Was Your Favorite (A Lancaster Prep Novel)

I hurry home and take the quickest shower, washing every bit of Arch that still lingers on my skin away. I’m disappointed that I have to do this, but I can’t have my dad come home and suspect I’ve been up to something because he can smell the scent of sex on me.

That would be embarrassing. And horrible. I want to respect my dad’s wishes, but I want Arch more.

So, I’m defying my father. He might not know it but I do, and while I have some guilt over what I’m doing with Arch, ultimately, I can’t let my father control me.

I’m going after what I want. And what I want—who I want—is Arch Lancaster.

By the time I’m in the kitchen and prepping dinner with my hair still wet from the shower, Dad finally waltzes in, whistling an unfamiliar tune, a broad smile on his face when he enters the kitchen.

“Smells good in here, sweetheart,” he announces, pausing right beside me as he stares at the chicken sauteing in the pan. “I didn’t realize it was your turn to make dinner.”

It wasn’t. I have ulterior motives. “I was starving so I thought I’d get it started.”

“I appreciate it.” He washes his hands, the running water along with the sizzling pan of chicken both so loud he has to yell to be heard. “Just to let you know, tomorrow night I’m going out.”

Huh. I guess I don’t have to come up with an alternate plan after all. “Oh?”

He turns off the faucet and dries his hands on a towel. “I’m going over to Kathy’s house for dinner. As long as you’re okay with it, of course.”

Asking my permission. Something he really doesn’t have to do.

“I don’t mind if you have dinner with her.” I turn over each chicken breast, pleased to see the cooked side is nice and brown.

“Do you want to come with me?” He sounds so hopeful. And that’s the last thing I want to do.

“Sorry, I can’t. I have plans.” I don’t sound sorry at all and I purposely try to sound more cheerful. “I appreciate the offer though.”

“Uh huh.” He sounds distracted. Like he might not even care.

Which is fine. I don’t want him to care.

“I’m going to study in the library with a group from my advanced physics class,” I tell him.

There is a group getting together tomorrow in the library to study and I should be one of them because I need as much help as I can get, but I’m not going.

Hopefully, I’ll be with Arch in his room.

Alone.

“That’s good.” He blinks me back into focus. “Your class load getting to you yet?”

I like how he uses the word yet. Like he was fully prepared for me to hopelessly flail with my intense class schedule.

“It’s intense,” I answer, deciding to be truthful. “But I can handle it.”

I sound more confident than I feel. I have to handle it. There’s no choice.

“Good.” He nods once, pushing away from the counter. “I need to go change real quick. I’ll be right back.”

“Dinner will be ready soon,” I call after him, my phone buzzing where I left it on the counter. I grab it and check my notification, smiling when I see who I have a text from.

Arch: I miss you.

I send him a quick reply.

Me: I miss you too.

Arch: We should do it again tomorrow. Same time, same place.

I press my fingers against my lips to stifle the laughter that wants to spill.

Me: It’s a date.

He sends me a string of flaming heart emojis in response and I can’t help but wonder what I did in a previous life to earn Arch Lancaster’s attention now. He is just…

Perfect.

“Smells like something’s burning in here!” Dad proclaims, striding into the kitchen.

“Oh no!” I drop my phone and go to the stove top, immediately turning off the burner under the pan of chicken. The meat is sizzling and some of the pieces looked faintly charred but it’s nothing I can’t salvage. “It’s not so bad.”

“Good, I’m hungry.” Dad kisses my cheek but I don’t react, too distracted by my almost burning chicken.

By the burning I feel deep in my soul—it’s because of Arch. How he touches me. The way he makes me feel. What we’re going to do tomorrow. Just the mere thought leaves me giddy. Breathless.

If this is what it feels like to fall in love, I never want it to stop.

Ever.

He’s waiting for me at the front of his building the next morning, falling into step beside me on the pathway as we make our way to the main campus. It’s cooler this morning and I’m wearing my uniform jacket with a navy sweater beneath it, as is he and he keeps his hands in his pockets for the entire walk, making conversation about nothing in particular.

It’s weird, how we can get naked with each other and do things to each other that we do with no one else, yet here we are walking together to class like we’re just friends who don’t maul each other behind closed doors. But what are we supposed to do? Wear signs around our necks declaring our sexual ties to each other?

Of course not.

I wonder if he knows how important he is to me. How I’ll never, ever forget him.

Arch is my first in every single thing. Kisses. Touching.

Sex.

I watch him as we walk. The way his mouth moves when he talks. How he keeps pushing his hair away from his eyes because it’s getting long and he probably needs a haircut, though I don’t want him to get one. I like how it’s a little longish and tinged gold by the sun.

I enjoy the sound of his voice. How deep it is. How it seems to reach inside me and grab hold of my heart whenever he speaks, leaving me enraptured with every single thing he says.

It’s a beautiful day. The sky is clear. I can smell fall in the air and there are birds chirping merrily, singing us a song.

But I can’t even focus on the weather or the beauty of the day. All I can see is Arch.

“You’re looking at me funny,” he says as we begin our ascent up the stairs that lead into the main building where our English class is.

“I am?” I know I am. I jerk my gaze away from his profile and stare straight ahead, murmuring a thank you when he holds the door open for me. “Sorry.”

“You got a thing for me, Albright?” He’s teasing. I can see it in his eyes. The tone of his voice.

“Not really,” I say, trying to sound serious, but I can’t help the smile that stretches across my face.

He’s reaching for me, his hand about to snag mine when we hear someone make a gagging noise. Glancing up, I see that it’s Cadence.

Of course, it’s her.

She’s standing in front of a row of lockers, watching us with Mya by her side, who shoots us a sympathetic look before she walks away, abandoning her. Cadence never lets up, keeping her gaze on us. I glance over at Arch to find him glaring at her in return.

“Get a life,” he calls out.

She gives him the finger, mouthing ‘fuck you’ before she flounces off.

A ragged exhale leaves Arch as he glances over at me, the apology gleaming in his gaze. “Sorry about that. She sucks.”

“Yeah, she does.” This time I’m the one who’s reaching for his hand and I take it, interlocking our fingers together. “Sometimes I wonder what you’re doing, spending so much time with me.”

The look on his face, the intensity I see in his gaze, takes my breath away. “If you can’t figure it out by now, then I don’t know what else to tell you. I think it’s kind of obvious, what I’m doing, but maybe I’m wrong.”

Without warning, he leans in and kisses me. Right there in the main hallway, where everyone who’s passing us by can see. Lancaster Prep doesn’t have an overly-strict PDA policy among the students, but they don’t love it when couples blatantly make out in the halls.

And we’re pretty much making out.

“You’re my favorite person,” he whispers against my lips at one point, just before he moves in for another too-quick kiss. “No one gets me like you do, Daze.”

I walk on air for the rest of the morning, my giddiness Arch-induced. Enjoying how he tugs on my hair in English, his fingers brushing across the back of my neck. We flirt throughout second period in the office, Vivian barely tolerating us, Matthews nowhere in sight. In all of the classes we have together, we share secret smiles and quick glances. By the time lunch rolls around, I’m in a constant state of anticipation. Of the next time I get to feel his eyes on me, his hands. If I’m lucky enough, his mouth.

This probably…isn’t good. I’m too far gone over him. I can’t concentrate. I’m not listening to what the teachers are saying and this is the semester where I have to stay on top of everything. If I get even a little bit behind, it could get difficult for me. Difficult enough that I won’t be able to come back from it.

He’s a complete and utter distraction, and the old me would tell him that maybe we need to stop seeing each other so much. Actually, the old me would’ve never paid much attention to Arch in the first place. I avoided him—everyone—at all costs. I didn’t allow myself to get close to someone for exactly these reasons.

Not just the distraction part, but I know, deep in my heart, that this can’t last forever. Nothing ever can. School will end and we’ll graduate and I’ll go away to college and Arch will do whatever it is he’s supposed to do. We won’t be together anymore. He’ll leave me.

Eventually everyone leaves.

And that’s a fact.