A Starlit Summer by Kate Frost (best manga ereader txt) 📕

I didn’t see him for the rest of the day and then we sort of haven’t spoken about it since.’

‘So it’s weird?’

Jenna shrugged. ‘Kind of. It was spur of the moment and amazing.’

‘You have got to talk to him.’ Amanda swung her legs over the bench and grabbed her drink. ‘Come on.’

‘Amanda, no,’ Jenna hissed.

But Amanda was off across the daisy-speckled grass making a beeline for Finn.

Lily picked up her glass. ‘Do you really want to let her talk to him on her own?’

‘Not really, no.’

Jenna grabbed her bottle and followed Lily. She reached their table and met Finn’s eyes just as Amanda was introducing herself.

‘Hey,’ he said.

‘Can we join you?’ Amanda asked.

‘Of course.’ Finn shuffled along the bench to make room and Jenna found herself sitting down next to him.

Amanda sat opposite, Lily squeezing on the end of the bench next to her. ‘This is Lily, and you obviously already know Jenna.’ She gave Finn the biggest grin and Jenna felt the blood rush to her cheeks again.

‘This is Tom.’ Finn motioned to the brown-haired guy next to him and then across the table. ‘And that’s Jake and his girlfriend Stef.’

‘So you’re all actresses?’ Tom asked.

Amanda nodded. ‘For our sins, yes.’

‘And you’re working on the film that’s been shot around here?’ Tom continued.

‘That’s the one,’ Jenna said.

‘Isn’t that the one with Milo Blake in it?’

Jake nudged his girlfriend. ‘Stef’s got a thing for Milo Blake.’

Stef ignored him. ‘Do you three know him?’

‘As much as you can really “know” an actor as famous as him,’ Lily said. ‘But yes, we’re all working with him although Jenna has more scenes with him, don’t you?’

And so the conversation turned to Milo Blake. Jenna felt increasingly uncomfortable as she was forced to talk about him, while sensing the tension ebbing off Finn.

~

It was nearly midnight before Lily and Amanda decided to call it a night. The conversation had eventually moved on from Milo, films and acting, to surfing, Cornwall and the jobs Finn and his friends did.

Amanda moved around the table and perched on the end of the bench next to Jenna. ‘We’re going to walk back to the hotel before we get too wasted.’ Her usually bright eyes were nearly half-closed.

‘I can drive you back, if you like.’

Amanda placed her hand on Jenna’s arm. ‘It won’t take long to walk and it’ll sober me up. Don’t rush your drink.’ She did a comical one eyebrow raise, while Lily grinned from across the table. Amanda kissed Jenna on the cheek and with a wave she linked arms with Lily and they walked away across the beer garden.

‘They’re not subtle, are they?’ Finn said.

Jenna laughed. ‘No, they’re not. They’re actors, bloody drama queens, what do you expect.’

‘You didn’t want to go back with them?’

‘Nah, I fancied staying a bit longer.’ They were sitting together at one end of the picnic table, Jake and Stef were whispering together at the other end, and Tom had wandered off to talk to another friend.

A prickle of excitement crept across the back of Jenna’s neck at the thought of being alone again with Finn. His hands were clasped around his pint. It was the first time she’d noticed the small tattoo on his middle finger. Tattoos crawled down his arm, poking out beneath the right-hand sleeve of his T-shirt. He was watching her intently, his usually blue eyes dark in the dusky light of the pub garden.

‘We talked about this the other day, while sweltering in your garden, wishing we were having a pint in a pub somewhere.’

‘Did you make it to the pub that night?’

‘Yeah, I was going to see if you wanted to join me but you weren’t around when I left.’

‘Yeah sorry, I, um...’

‘It was nice what happened in the garden... I didn’t mean to come on to you like that – if I’d known you were with someone... I know what it’s like to be the one cheated on; I’d never intentionally do that to someone else.’

‘Honestly, Milo’s not my boyfriend. He’s a total flirt. He’s a movie star, so bloody confident about himself. He stayed over in the spare room, that’s all. So did a couple of the others. I mean, who walks around someone else’s house naked?’

‘He’s got confidence; I’ll give him that.’

‘I also hadn’t warned him about you being over early in the morning or given you the head’s up that there’d be someone in the cottage.’

‘Well, I’m sorry, for assuming too much and not believing you when you said you weren’t together. I like you, that’s all.’ His hand found hers beneath the table. Jenna had a momentary flashback to them sitting in the garden at Bramble Cottage, that unexpected kiss that had surprised her and then left her wanting more, whereas being alone with Milo had left her stressed and worried that she’d say yes to him when really she meant no.

‘Where have you gone?’ Finn leaned closer, waggling a hand in front of her face.

‘Sorry, I was thinking.’

‘About what?’

‘That I like you too.’ It hardly took anything for Jenna to close the gap and kiss him. He didn’t pull away like the first time as if it had been the wrong thing to do. And this time it felt so right. They shuffled closer on the picnic bench, Jenna not caring if anyone was watching. Their hands slid around each other’s waists. She’d admired him plenty of times when he was topless in the garden and his chest was pleasingly firm beneath his T-shirt. His kiss was tender, un-rushed, and Jenna savoured it until the chatter and clatter of glasses flooded back and the people around them came back into focus.

Finn was grinning at her. ‘I don’t think we have the excuse this time of the sun having gone to our heads.’

‘I can’t even claim it’s because I’ve had too much to drink.’

His hand was warm where he held hers in his lap. ‘Maybe we don’t need an excuse.’

‘Maybe you’re right.’ She ran her fingers up his chest,