Chapter 155

"No, Shana, you're the first person I've told." James shook his head at my question, his eyes filling with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "We want to keep it under wraps for now. I don't even know if Victoria told Emily."

Emily was Victoria's best friend who had also been at the beach house with us.

Still, James's revelation left me feeling overly excited, and naturally, a whirlwind of questions filled my mind.

I couldn't help but ask, my analytical nature got the better of me as I pressed James for details.

"So," I said. "Spill the beans. I want to know everything. How did it happen?"

"What?" James frowned. "The kiss?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "The kiss. I want to know every single detail. When did it happen? How was it? Did it happen more than once? Did—"

"Shana... slow down." James put a hand on either side of my shoulders, steadying me.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited for you! This is big news."

"I know, and I'm so glad you're being a good supportive friend, but you're asking too many questions. One at a time."

I thought about the best question I could ask him that would give me the most answers. "How did it come about? From start to end, please."

James sighed and began to recount the story, which all seemed to unfold after the Dragons championship game two weeks ago.

He explained that Victoria had texted him to congratulate him on his victory. "She was watching the game with Emily, and said that I was phenomenal," he smirked as he said the word.

Their text conversation had Victoria inviting James over to her parents' house since they were going to be out of down for the evening.

"Ugh," I shuddered after James told me that. "Ew, are things about to get graphic and dirty?"

I couldn't help but react with a teasing repulsed face, imagining all sorts of possibilities on what they got up to.

"No, Shana, nothing graphic or dirty." James rolled his eyes, dismissing my comments with a knowing smirk. "We ordered pizza and watched a movie."

With the ease James was starting to speak, I felt like he was getting more comfortable with me in telling me about his night with Victoria. I leaned in, eager to hear the full scoop of their connection and unexpected "date" night.

"So, what happened during your little movie night?" I asked, prodding for more details.

I couldn't hide my excitement and apparently, neither could James. Perhaps he had been waiting to talk to this with someone.

I knew exactly what it felt like to keep things bottled up for too long. Sometimes, you just needed to confide in someone.

James grinned, his face lighting up as he recounted the evening. "She invited me over, and I thought, why not?"

"Sounds like a good start," I said with a nod. "What did you guys do after that?"

"I got there and she asked me if I was hungry. I told her that I was."

"You're always hungry," I interjected. "Doesn't she know that?"

"She said the same thing." James chuckled, clearly reliving the memory. "We ordered a few pizzas. You know how we both like a lot of different toppings, so there were like three different kinds. Honestly, now that I'm thinking about it, it wasn't enough pizza."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Geez. I can only imagine how much you ate, and the arguments you two probably had over which pizza is the best."

"Exactly," James replied, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Weird that you bring that up because we actually spent a good fifteen minutes debating that."

I smirked, finding it weird but cute that the two of them liked to argue in such a playful way. It made me wonder if all their arguing was ever actually serious, or if it was all fun for them.

I felt like it was the latter.

"What movie did you watch?" I asked, wanting to know how the rest of the night went. There was so much more that I didn't know, and I needed James to paint the scene for me.

James leaned back against the lockers again, his smile never wavering. "Victoria wanted to watch this romantic comedy she'd seen before, and she thought it was amazing. I, on the other hand, thought it was terrible. I don't do cheesy movies. I like action, drama, something that will make me want to jump out of my seat."

"Let me guess..." I said, already knowing where he was going with this.

"Yeah," James nodded with a smile. "We went back and forth, arguing about what movie to watch. At one point she actually stole the remote from me and I had to chase her around the house."

We both chuckled at their usual penchant for random disagreements. "Of course, you had to argue about the movie. It wouldn't make sense if you didn’t."

"Exactly. It wouldn't be us if we didn't," James said with a grin. "But whatever. She let me watch an action movie since I won the game. And as the credits rolled, she just leaned in..."

"She waited until the end of the movie to kiss you? Wait, she kissed you?"

James nodded. "I didn't know what to expect. She kissed me, Shana. Right there in her living room."

I couldn't help but smile at the adorable picture he painted. He sounded really giddy as he talked, and it made my heart swoon for him.

"It sounds like a really sweet moment, James. Very romantic."

"It was," James agreed. "But it's complicated, you know. We kissed and now I don't know what it means. It put us in a bit of a situationship."

"Well, she clearly likes you," I reasoned. "Otherwise, she wouldn't have kissed you."

"I guess you're right, but Victoria's parents are traditional and I'm not sure how they'd react to us officially dating."

I nodded, understanding exactly what he was talking about.

Even though James was an alpha, he didn't come from such a wealthy family like Victoria or Lucas. He had a high status in society, but I didn't know if it would be enough for her parents.

But they seemed to like James from what I could remember. I mean, he was the one who had saved Victoria that day of the earthquake... That had to count for something.

"Well, whatever you decide," I said. "I hope it works out for both of you."

"Thanks, Shana," James smiled. "And thanks for listening. Man, it felt good to let that out."

"No problem and you can trust me to keep this little secret," I said. "I won't tell a single soul."

"Good, you better not. Well, at least not until I figure out what I'm going to do."

As we continued chatting, I couldn't help but wonder how this new development would affect our small circle of friends, especially given Lucas's history with Victoria.

Would he be upset with James? I couldn't imagine why, but he was engaged to her at one point. I knew it wasn't a romantic relationship like that, but Lucas and Victoria had a different kind of... friendship.

I'm sure finding out that James was romantically interested in Victoria would at least make Lucas curious.

How couldn't he be? Even I was curious about it.

I was curious in the best possible way because I had somewhat seen this coming. It was inevitable.

But I had a feeling that when Lucas would find out about Victoria and James, he would give me the same knowing look we have been giving each other for weeks, and he’d say, “I called it.”