Not Here to Stay Friends - Softcover

Hill, Kaitlyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593483707 ISBN 13: 9780593483701

Verlag: Random House Children's Books, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

Two childhood best friends reunite in L.A. the summer before senior year—but when one of them ends up starring on a teen reality dating show, their feelings for each other get complicated. Perfect for fans of friends-to-lovers rom-coms and The Bachelor!

Sloane McKinney feels like a background character in her own life. But this summer will be different, because she’s spending it with her childhood best friend, Liam Daniels, in her dream city, Los Angeles. Sure, she’s surprised to find that Liam just happens to have had a Hot Guy glow-up since she last saw him, but so what? A little attraction won’t ruin her plans for their fun—and completely platonic—reunion.

What might, however, is that Liam has been roped into working for his producer dad’s new teen reality dating show, Aspen Woods’s Future Leading Lady. It turns out the show is one contestant short . . . and Sloane is the perfect last-minute addition.

But it’s behind the scenes where the drama really picks up. Because wanting to kiss your best friend? That’s a plot twist neither Sloane nor Liam ever saw coming.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kaitlyn Hill is a writer who lives to tell love stories and make people laugh. While books make up most of her personality, Kaitlyn also enjoys messy reality TV, has never met a tea she didn't like, and thrives on overly ambitious home improvement projects. She resides in Kentucky with her real life romance hero. Kaitlyn is the author of Love from Scratch, Not Here to Stay Friends, and Wild About You.

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CHAPTER ONE


Life is all about beginnings. Every day you get a new one . . . until one day, you don’t.

--THE COVE, SEASON 2, EPISODE 6


Sloane

Pop music legend has it that when fellow Tennessean Miley Cyrus arrived at LAX many years ago, she had naught with her but a dream and a cardigan.

As I, Sloane McKinney, stand in the baggage claim area of the same airport waiting for my luggage to appear, I have only a backpack and a zit on my chin that I swear I could feel getting larger and angrier with each minute spent in recycled plane air. It’s not exactly what I would consider a “Party in the U.S.A.,” but that’s the song my brain has chosen to play on repeat since the pilot announced we were preparing for landing.

If my life was a TV show, this would be the opening scene of the pilot episode. Fade-in: the camera pans over the masses of people rolling suitcases, talking on phones, hugging the person who came to pick them up. Cut to our plucky heroine standing in the middle of it all, watching with naive hope on her zitty face (note--clear up her skin in post?). Music playing softly in the background until now grows louder, slows down for dramatic effect. Camera zooms in on heroine to the sound of It’s definitely not a Nashville party. . . .

Yeah, I should stop.

While I wait for my bags, I scan the room again for a recognizable head of blond hair and, finding none, pull my phone out of my pocket to see if he’s texted an update. Nothing since he left his house.

That’s fine. NBD. My hands are just shaking from fatigue, or low blood sugar after the only food provided on my two flights to get here was pretzels and peanuts. Definitely not because in a matter of minutes I’ll be reunited with my best friend, Liam Daniels, for the first time in over two years. Nor the fact that we’ll spend the whole summer together. Oh, and absolutely not because he lives in my dream city, which I desperately hope I’ll love as much as I think I will, because all my hopes and aspirations are pinned on moving here after high school. In a lot of ways, this really does feel like the pilot episode of The Rest of Sloane’s Life. No pressure.

I cut off my mental sing-along for the twenty-seventh time and slam my tapping foot flat to the ground. The sound draws the attention of a few fellow passengers waiting for their own luggage, and I smile in a way that I hope conveys harmlessness, maybe even charm. No one smiles back.

In my head, Miley taunts, “She’s gotta be from out of town.”

Somebody get this girl a nap.

Anyway, it wouldn’t make sense to be nervous about seeing Liam. For the first twelve years of our lives, we were next-door neighbors in our hometown of Knoxville and hung out every day. Even after his dad’s local TV production company went national and the Daniels family moved to LA, we stayed in touch via texts and video calls better than I keep up with any of the friends I see in person. He used to visit once or twice a year, to see his extended family around the holidays, and it was never weird to be around each other then.

But those visits fizzled out in the wake of his parents’ divorce a couple years back, and something about Liam has been different ever since, too. Not a super-obvious something, as he’s good at keeping his emotions in check, but I get the impression that his life out here isn’t as rosy as he’d like me to believe. I want to have fun together, but I also want to be here for him, in real life rather than through a screen.

Which is only part of the reason I jumped at the chance to (and begged and pleaded for my parents to agree to let me) visit for the summer when Liam extended the invitation. I tuck my phone back into my pocket, thinking of the other reasons.

Even though I haven’t left the airport yet, this city already feels so much bigger, more fast-paced and vibrant than anything I’m used to. It’s like it’s brimming with creative inspiration, with stories to be told.

I hope my story starts here.

My people-watching is interrupted when someone jostles my shoulder, trying to get past me to the baggage carousel.

“Oh, sorry,” I say on instinct, even though I’m not sure what I have to be sorry for. But then I see what the guy is reaching for. “Hey, that’s my suitcase!”

The stranger’s big hands are hoisting up the L.L. Bean carry-on that the airline let me gate-check for free, its lavender color one I chose specifically to stand out at baggage claim and its front embroidered with my initials. It’s unmistakable.

I take a step closer, eyes still trained on my bag like if I let it out of my sight it’ll be gone for good, when the tall, broad-shouldered guy turns around.

And he isn’t a stranger at all.

“Liam!” I squeal, my hand flying up to swat at his chest. A chest that seems like it’s a foot higher than when I saw him last, not to mention wider and surprisingly hard. A girl could break something swatting that chest. I have to tilt my head back to look into his eyes, which twinkle with amusement, his mouth half smiling down at me.

“You were about to miss it. Thought I’d help you out,” he says, his voice a soft rumble. Everything about him, this in-person Liam, seems so much more . . . grown-up than the Liam who lives in my phone. It’s taking a minute for my brain to recalibrate.

When I notice his cheeks start to go a little pink under my attention, I force myself to speak. “It . . . it would’ve come back around. God, Liam! It’s . . . you . . . wow! You’re here!”

Impulsively, I stand on tiptoe and throw my arms around his neck, hugging him close. He smells like pine and clean laundry, all woodsy and cozy, and I feel the urge to press my face deeper into the crook between his neck and shoulder and inhale. An urge I suppress because What the hell, creepy Sloane? Liam bends and wraps his arms around my middle, then lifts me off the ground as he straightens back up, and I laugh through the fluttery feeling in my stomach.

What is my body even doing right now? He might smell like Hot Guy--and, okay, look more like it than I expected, too--but he’s not. Or like, he is, but he’s not--

“I’m always here,” Liam says, cutting into my inner spiraling with a chuckle that vibrates through my chest. Liam’s hugs have always been amazing, but they hit different with the addition of an altitude change. Good different, I think, but also weird different. “You’re the new arrival. Welcome to the best coast, Sloane.”

He sets me down again and I take a step back, watching a lock of his blond hair tumble down over his forehead before he pushes it back. My eyes track over his face again as I scramble for something to say--something other than How long have you looked like this?

“Some welcome. You scared me half to death,” I tease, crossing my arms over my chest as I turn back to the conveyor belt to watch for my other suitcase. “I’d been in the big city for all of five minutes and thought I was gonna have to fight a luggage thief.”

“Excuse me for being helpful.” I think Liam means to lightly elbow my side, but the jab lands in the vicinity of my armpit.

“So, growth spurts, huh?” I say abruptly, because I can’t entirely avoid the fact that the guy standing beside me is giving off strong Simba vibes, post–“Hakuna Matata” montage when...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Random House Children's Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593483707
• ISBN 13: 9780593483701
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland