Rules and Roses: Untouchable Book One

by Long, Heather

  Clapping his hands together, he looked up at me like he was praying. “Call me Ian from now on?”

  “I thought you didn’t like that name.”

  “I never cared. I was just always Bubba to everyone else, but you—I like how Ian sounds on your lips.”

  Mouth dry, I took a sip of coke before I answered. “I can call you Ian… though the guys are probably going to make fun of us.”

  He smirked. “Let them. I’ll know when the first time you called me Ian was, and I’m going to think about that kiss every single time you say my name. What they say? I don’t care.”

  “Well, when you put it like that…”

  “Come swim with me Frankie? Come play?” He curled his fingers.

  “We still have homework and stuff to do.” Not that I was in any rush, except I did enjoy listening to him play and sing.

  “It’ll be there.”

  He wasn’t wrong. I set the coke down and ran over to jump in the pool before my courage fled. I landed in the deep end and I went down almost to the bottom before I pushed off and surfaced. As the water cleared my eyes, Ian wrapped his arms around me.

  I half-thought he was going to kiss me again, but he said, “Whatever happens with you and me? This right here? This—the friendship? The fact you will play with me even when you’re scared? I don’t want to lose this part, okay, Frankie?”

  I didn’t want to lose that either. I didn’t want to lose it with any of them.

  “I missed you,” I confessed. “That’s why I came to your birthday party. I missed all of you.”

  “Then you saw us with other girls…” He made a face. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize.” They really didn’t. It wasn’t like we’d been dating then. We hadn’t even really dated yet, but… “But if you want to make it up to me, I’d love to go for another ride…” Okay, maybe I was a little mean because I paused there until his eyebrows rose. “On your motorcycle,” I added.

  Ian laughed, and then he lifted me up. I squealed as he tossed me. I landed farther in the water and then came up laughing. He launched toward me, and I streaked away.

  He played football, but I was no slouch in the pool.

  I also didn’t mind when he caught me and tossed me again.

  I really didn’t mind when he caught me and kissed me. Nowhere near as intense as the first, our second kiss was playful, nipping and brief. Then he kissed the tip of my nose.

  “You’re going to get a sunburn.”

  “I know,” I told him. “I don’t care.”

  The third kiss—I really don’t know who started it, but when it ended, Ian had to do more laps, and I headed up to shower and get back in my clothes before I did something really crazy.

  When we were both showered and dressed, we ate and went over calculus homework and then his essays. Doing homework, just like we always did—except I sat in his lap for half of it and he kissed me every time I gave him a compliment.

  Later, sprawled on his bed, I soaked up the sound of him playing his guitar. It was… kind of a perfect day. Every song he tried was the perfect song.

  “You’re just saying that…”

  “Nope,” I told him. “Hand to God, I love every single one of them.”

  His eyes twinkled, and he leaned forward, the guitar between us and dropped a kiss on my mouth. My lips were swollen and tingling. Could you get bruised from kissing? I kind of wanted to find out. “You’re the best, Frankie.”

  The words thrilled me in a way they never had before. “Right back atcha, Ian.”

  The Rules Part Deux

  Bubba: Leave the French guy alone.

  Jake: Sleeping Beauty is awake.

  Bubba: Just leave the French dude alone.

  Archie: Why?

  Coop: Rule #5, Bubba, scroll up.

  Jake: Yeah, Frenchy has to go.

  Archie: Like I said I have it covered.

  Bubba: You’re idiots. Leave the French guy alone.

  Jake: Why? Oh, and Arch, grab me a quad shot espresso?

  Archie: Got it. No, Bubs. No can do.

  I’ll put up with you idiots, at least until

  she chooses. Not the French guy.

  Coop: What he said… wait. You are competing?

  Archie: Not specifically.

  Jake: Until she chooses it’s competition.

  Archie: It’s not official.

  Coop: …

  Jake: …

  Bubba: …

  Archie: You think we all date her

  for the rest of senior year?

  Then what?

  Coop: Then college.

  Jake: We’re all getting a place together.

  Archie: I love you guys, but you’re nuts.

  Bubba: Asshats, focus. Leave French guy

  alone. You’re going to piss her off.

  Archie: …

  Jake: …

  Coop: …

  Bubba: Fine, Rule #6 Don’t hurt Frankie.

  .

  Archie: Duh. That doesn’t need to be a rule.

  Jake: Then it doesn’t matter if it is one.

  Coop: Heads up. Her mom’s car isn’t there.

  Archie: …

  Coop: Just saying. Gone more than here.

  Jake: Fuck.

  Archie: In line at Starbucks, anyone else?

  Coop: Yeah, my usual and Frankie’s.

  Jake: No shit, we’re only getting coffee

  cause he’s stopping for Frankie.

  Archie: Agreed.

  Bubba: If Rule #6 passes

  then leave Mat alone.

  Archie: Who is Mat?

  Coop: French dude.

  Jake: Frenchy.

  Archie: I don’t care about him.

  Coop: Bubba… why do you want us

  to leave him alone?

  Bubba: Cause it’ll hurt Frankie.

  Archie: temporary situation.

  Sat. Party. He’s gone.

  We take care of Frankie.

  Jake: Agreed. She wants to date.

  We date.

  Bubba: Count me out on Mat.

  Not hurting Frankie.

  Archie: Whatever. She’ll be fine.

  Jake: It’s for the best.

  Bubba: Keep telling yourself that.

  Later

  Archie: Why is she calling you Ian?

  Coop: What happened last night?

  Jake: Dude—wtf?

  Bubba: Rule #7, mind your own business.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Just a Minute

  Wednesday turned out to be both weird and wonderful. Weird and wonderful Wednesdays. Maybe I should get a t-shirt made with that on the front. The weird came in a few places. When I got up that morning, there was a note from Mom on the fridge along with a couple of twenties.

  She had to take a quick trip out of town, her flight was super early that morning, she probably wouldn’t be back until early on Friday morning, and then she’d likely go straight to work.

  Definitely weird.

  But not the weirdest.

  Coop showed up as I fed the cats, and he’d brought donuts. There was a little place around the corner, and he’d gone to grab them. In addition to the chocolate covered donuts, donut holes, and even a few with sprinkles, he’d even brought me apple fritters. They were fresh, too. Sweet and sticky and perfect. I wanted to devour both right there, but we had to get to school.

  The scent of them taunted me the whole way there.

  Ian—I had a hard time even thinking of him as Bubba anymore, because Bubba was my friend, but Ian was the guy I made out with—leaned against his bike waiting for us when I pulled in. He snagged my backpack out of the back for me and helped me get it on. He definitely qualified as one of the wonderful parts. I half-worried he was going to kiss me right there then I stressed a little when he didn’t.

  Dating, however, was not an excuse to have a nutty. He did sling an arm around my shoulders, and I wrapped mine around his waist as we headed insi
de with Coop and his stacks of donuts.

  Archie had the coffee, and Jake waited for us. He patted the seat next to him and caught my backpack for me as I slid it off. Ian grabbed the chair on my other side. It was laid back and nice, the guys were teasing, and I was hyper aware every time Ian brushed his leg against mine. Just before the bell when Archie and I had to leave to head to government, I bumped my hip to Ian’s as we stood and then called him Ian.

  Amateur mistake. One none of the others missed.

  Thus added the weird wrinkle of Archie poking me for an answer all the way through government. Since when was Bubba Ian? For his part, Ian said he didn’t mind. But he also wouldn’t tell me if the guys were giving him a hard time. He just told me he could handle it.

  He walked me most of the way to French and blew me a quiet, almost subtle kiss before heading on. Five minutes into French and I realized I had a problem. I liked Mat. He was—a sweet guy. Fun and funny. I owed him for helping me with that project. I was so glad we’d had that time together.

  But I didn’t want to date him. I wanted… I wanted Ian. I wanted Jake. Archie. Coop. I wanted to date them and four was more than enough. Maybe he’d been onto something when he kept calling them my boyfriends. I’d already asked him to the party on Saturday, but afterward—I’d break up.

  Though, was it breaking up if you’d only gone out a couple of times? Maybe just let him know I only wanted to be friends. That sounded far more reasonable.

  Had a first date and decided I didn’t want to date the same guy in one week. So weird.

  Coop was annoying as hell for about five minutes on the Ian thing, then he stopped. Like I said, he went along to get along. Arguably, I had a great time playing dumb. Then the guys all decided on lunch off campus. The Wing Store it was. My mom texted about halfway through lunch to make sure I got the note and to let me know she might extend her trip through the weekend.

  I sent her an acknowledgement. Other than seeing she read the message I got no other acknowledgement. Archie leaned over to see what had me staring at my phone. When he frowned, I locked the phone and changed the subject.

  Thankfully, the weird didn’t extend into the rest of my afternoon. Jake and I spent study hall holding hands and adding videos to our watch later on YouTube. I had figured we would just stick to the History Buff channel, but he’d found a few other fun ones like Honest Trailers, which he swore was hilarious, and then Everything Wrong With and Everything Great About got added.

  Hours of videos—we would be at it all night and neither of us could do that. Jake had just grinned. “So we just keep working our way through the list. Did your mom say tonight was okay?”

  “I didn’t ask,” I admitted. “When I got up this morning, she’d left me a note that said she was going to be out of town for work. Some last-minute thing and she left in the middle of the night for an early flight.”

  He wore a dubious expression, but when I moved on, so did he. Mr. G raided our time in AP European History with a practice quiz. Considering how much work we hadn’t been getting done in study hall this week, I don’t think either of us did bad. The quiz was a sample of the multiple choice from an old AP exam. I got about seventy percent correct and Jake slid in just ahead of me at seventy-one percent.

  Oh. It is on. Mr. G waved us out of the room about five minutes before the bell. The head start would be nice, even if I had to give Coop a ride home. “I’m going to walk you to your car,” Jake said, catching my hand.

  “That’s nowhere near the stadium. Don’t you have practice?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t mind. Practice doesn’t officially start for another twenty-five minutes.” Squeezing my hand light, he winked. “Plenty of time to walk you to the car.”

  “You’re a dork,” I said, but I couldn’t help smiling. Jake could be hotheaded and impulsive, but he was also sweet and thoughtful.

  “Well, since this dork is bringing you pizza, any special requests?”

  “Pineapple?”

  He laughed. “You always want pineapple.”

  “And you always ask.”

  “Fair.”

  Even with the head start, we didn’t hurry. Some time between lunch and now, posters announcing Homecoming Tickets would be going on sale Friday for Seniors only. Other classes would be allowed to purchase tickets beginning the following week.

  “Fire and Ice.”

  “Yep,” Jake said. “Still going with Bubba?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “He asked first.”

  “Technically, he hasn’t asked yet. You could get a second ask.”

  I frowned, but before I could say anything, the bell rang and the hallways flooded. Jake kept me close as we headed out. As we got away from one of the thicker groupings, I said. “Don’t do that, please?”

  “Don’t do what?” Jake glanced at me.

  “Don’t ask me when you know Ian is going to.”

  The corner of his eye twitched when I said Ian. “Okay,” he said easily enough. “But, I reserve the right to ask you to dance at Homecoming.”

  “That’s fair.” Relieved, I wasn’t prepared for the three roses sitting propped on the hood of my car. Orange ones this time and they were gorgeous.

  Ian stared at them, but the note tied to them didn’t look like it had been opened.

  As we descended the steps, Ian glanced at me and grinned. “Hey, Frankie, looks like your secret admirer is back.”

  “I see that.” Okay, the first two sets of roses had been awesome, but… I didn’t get it. Jake had been with me for all of the last period. Sure, he could have dropped them off during 6th but, as with the last two days, the vase was cool to the touch. Coop slammed out the door behind us, panting.

  “Sorry! Had to swing by my locker.”

  Letting go of Jake’s hand, I rescued the roses after I unlocked my car. Jake didn’t drift away. In fact, he shoulder-checked Ian to catch my backpack for me.

  “You guys are going to be late,” I told them.

  “We’re fine,” they said almost in unison as Coop snorted.

  “They will be once we’re on the way home. What do those say?”

  “One sec,” I opened the car and got it started so the hot air would get out of the interior the a/c could start working.

  Ian offered to hold them for me so I could free the note. Jake pressed right up to my shoulder as I opened it.

  With their blazing energy, orange roses are the wild child of the rose family. Sometimes we have to make a break from expectations and do something completely different. Be fearless. Do something wild and unexpected…

  “Who is this dude?” Jake asked, and he didn’t sound happy about it.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted, but I was curious. At the same time… “Whoever he is, he’s sweet.” The flowers were nice. No one did that for me and, I kind of like the idea someone left the roses just for me. “Hopefully, he’s leaving them for the right person, because if he’s working up for his ask… I wouldn’t want to spoil it for him.”

  More than a little curious, I glanced at Ian, but he shook his head. “Not me, though if this is guy is thinking of asking you to Homecoming, I hope he doesn’t mind disappointment.” Instead of looking at me, he glanced over at Coop. My best friend just shrugged.

  “We good then? We got the flowers. You two football players have practice to get to, and Frankie needs to get to work.”

  “He’s not wrong,” I admitted. Their disgruntled expressions were cute. “Coop, do you mind holding these for me?”

  “Nope,” he said, stretching an arm across the top of the car. I passed them over after I pocketed the note.

  When I turned, Ian was right behind me.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said. “If I don’t stop by Mason’s tonight.” Then he dipped his head and brushed his lips against mine. It was barely there before it was gone again, yet it sent a thrill right through me. I didn’t have to imagine what he tasted like, all I had to do was lick my lips. “Have a good ni
ght, Frankie.”

  “You, too.” I’d thought it was hot before, but then I caught Jake’s quiet stare and raised eyebrows. The heat flushing through me seemed to hit boiling point.

  “I’ll see you after work.” Jake said thoughtfully. “Text me when you’re done?”

  “I will.” Was my face burning? I wasn’t really sure what the etiquette was here. Ian knew about Jake and Jake knew about Ian. Maybe Ian told everyone we made out, but then again, maybe he hadn’t. I hadn’t said anything. “And on that note, I gotta go.”

  So, I wasn’t too proud to admit I hopped into the semi-cool car and buckled in. Thankfully, Coop was right there. He studied me as I pulled out of my spot, violently aware of Jake and Ian standing there talking. I both did and didn’t want to know what they were saying.

  Coop didn’t ask.

  Not a word.

  At least not until I parked. “Jake’s coming over after work tonight?”

  “Yep,” I told him as we exited the car, I grabbed my backpack and then my roses. “We made plans.”

  “Plans.” Coop squinted at me.

  “Yes,” I paused to meet his stare. “Plans.”