by Stacia Leigh
Suzy looked up, and her heart stuttered at his long, dark lashes and warm gaze. It was the last class of the day, and for all the dread she packed with her through the halls, not one single person looked at her funny or made J.J.-saw-your-tatas jokes. She heard no snickers or whisperings of Blue’s hooters, headlamps, or blinkers, so maybe she would get through this unscathed. J.J. didn’t seem like such a bad guy after all. Maybe she could trust him.
“Driving…is that my hot date?”
“Yeah…” He grinned and pushed off the locker. “…and don’t forget the rules, ten and two on the wheel and no pawing.” Suzy’s face burned as he glanced past her, searching for Gemma, no doubt, who must be close. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be wasting his time. “But if you want, we could always renegotiate the terms. I’d be willing to make an exception for you, buttercup.”
“I like the rules just the way they are, sweety pie.”
“Hmm. I love it when you talk mushy to me.” He laced his fingers with hers, and of course, Gemma walked by, her dark-lined eyes searching his from under her hood of blonde bangs.
J.J. made a show of raising Suzy’s hand to his lips, and what should have been a simple peck turned into a teeth-grazing, knuckle sucking affair, one lasting all of four seconds. Still, she almost swallowed her tongue. It was fun and games and all for show, but the pretending sure felt nice. It felt like a peppermint, freezing hot and burning cold. That was some knuckle-suckle.
J.J. dropped Suzy’s hand and lifted his to rest on her lower back as he propelled her down the hall with a satisfied smirk. They followed Gemma’s stiff backside to Mrs. Norton’s class.
He leaned down. “Are you okay, or do you need to go see the nurse?” His warm breath zinged Suzy’s ear.
She almost giggled like an idiot.
“I can walk on my own, you know. I don’t need to be herded around.” She crossed her arms over her ocean-blue tee as they entered Mrs. Norton’s class to keep from fanning her warm face. She slid past Will’s empty seat to her own next to the windows.
“You want to drive my truck again?” J.J. turned his narrow gaze on her from his front-row seat.
What was he peeved about? Gemma saw what he wanted her to see. Score one for J.J.
Suzy dug in her backpack for a tube of Mocha Cocoa lip balm and sat back to study her main squeeze. J.J. was all grins and charm and slaps on the back. We’re auto-magically friends! Everyone liked him, including her. Who wouldn’t? He was fun and caring and gorgeous. Even though he teased her mercilessly, he wasn’t mean-spirited or a big mouth. She tried to resist the “what ifs” as best she could but found herself wondering, what if this wasn’t pretend? What if J.J. actually developed a heart and grew feelings for her, and what if she let herself like-like him?
She popped the cap on her balm and slowly smeared it across her lips. What if J.J. kissed her mouth like he kissed her knuckle? She sighed loudly before J.J.’s half-lidded, sexy green eyes came into focus, and she blinked. Oh, God. She’d been staring at him, gaping like a lunatic. She jerked her eyes down to her desk and snapped the cap back on.
“Uh…” Suzy looked up and cleared her throat. “Have…have you talked with, uh…Gemma today?” Suzy stuttered to cover her gawkiness as pink heat crept up her neck.
“She texted me,” he said, watching her. “Wants to talk after school.”
“Class!” Mrs. Norton raised her hands up in the air as Will sauntered into the room. “To your seats and quiet down, please!”
The class quieted, giving Mrs. Norton their full attention. Her floral skirt swished and her hand fluttered in front of the tattered poster taped to the wall. “Temporal lobe,” she said, clicking the end of her pen. The rest of her lecture was lost on Suzy as her mind detoured off the cranial map.
Why did she like J.J. again? Oh, yeah. Because he was smart and confident. No. Because he looked like an oven-fresh, chocolate-chip cookie next to a plate of celery? Nope. Because he was a late-night, beer-swigging bad boy? Bingo. J.J. messed with her prefrontal cortex and was nothing but trouble. She needed to stop asking those “what if” questions and keep things light and simple. He wasn’t her type. He was Gemma’s, and they’d probably end up together because, ultimately, that was the plan.
Forget the knuckle-suckle and get a grip, Suz. What was it her dad always said when she was about to do something stupid? Make good choices, which meant stop drizzling warm, gooey feelings over J.J’s shaggy head, his expansive shoulders, down the length of his slender back to his—
Just stop it.
Chapter 10: Kiss Off
What was happening to his life? Only ten minutes left to class, and the day suddenly took a downward turn, straight to hell. J.J. rolled his eyes and puffed out an exasperated sigh. Things were going so well until the class was given time to discuss their group projects. Way to go, Mrs. Norton. Now, he had Will up in his business.
“What,” Will said and slowly raised his brows, “am I missing? You two…?” He pointed a dull pencil back and forth between J.J. and Suzy and squinted. “Since when?”
“Oh, don’t worry, Will.” Suzy batted her eyelashes at J.J. “We’re a temporary thing, right sweaty pie?”
“It’s pronounced swee-ty pie,” J.J. said drily.
“We’ll break up, and J.J. here, can go back to feeding his fragile ego, and I’ll…” Suzy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’ll find myself a rock star.”
“Ha.” J.J. snorted. “Sorry to vaporize your daydream, but deep-talker doesn’t have a tattoo, just so you know.”
“There you go again,” Suzy murmured. “Sounding all jealous.”
“Dude, breaking up? Jealous…what? You got something to tell me, Rad-boner?” Will tilted his head, and his long bangs feathered to the side, showing off his clenched jaw. “I don’t believe it. I suppose you went ahead and asked Blue to prom, too?”
“Uh…sorta.” J.J. shifted uneasily in his chair. “We, uh…we have an agreement. We’ll go together unless Gemma ditches Ron, then—”
“Then, you’ll go back to Gemma, of course. And you say this right in front of Blue, who you sort of asked to prom? What kind of dick-move are you pulling, dude?”
“Awkward,” Suzy said under her breath.
“And you have an agreement…one that involves you two going out?” Will pulled back like he took in a stiff whiff of rotten eggs. He jabbed his finger in J.J.’s direction. “You knew I wanted to ask her.”
“C’mon, man. Seriously?” J.J. lifted his palms. “It’s not like that. Blue and I have a deal. You’re helping me out, right?” He glanced at her, and she raised her brows in silence.
“Interesting.” Will grunted and tapped the pencil on his desk. “Wonder why you didn’t mention it earlier? I know. Because you’re a sneaky birddog.”
When the bell rang, Will laid tracks out of class without so much as a “later, dude.”
The next day, J.J. high-fived his way through the cafeteria, a big grin in place like all was cool. He even wore his I’m kind of a big deal t-shirt. But deep down, he felt like a reject. The people he considered his best friends were shred-texting him, and his big bro squeezed him like a minion for free labor.
GEMMA: I happen to know you saw my text yesterday…
GEMMA: So you’re ignoring me now?
GEMMA: What’s going on with you and Suzy? ☹
GEMMA: YOU SUCK!
WILL: I killed ur warlock 20x last night, still pissed.
WILL: U= birddog.
MONTY: Busy this weekend? I need help staining my deck.
His favorite message was the one he got back from Blue. For their hot date, he took her to the gutted furniture store behind D&D Auto and taught her the K-turn, pull-in parking, and how to control a turn and burn.
JJ: Had fun last night.
SUZY: Whipping donuts in a parking lot, who knew?
Who knew? Indeed. Watching her shriek with laughter as his truck peeled out in circles was a sensational experience. His whol
e body thrummed with electricity and nearly crashed his system. It was a wave, man, and he’d come close—too close—to kissing her. He’d thought about it; he’d most definitely thought about it. The whole reason for this pretend business was Gemma. Right? He wanted things back to the way they used to be. But Suzy Blue drove him a little crazy. When she laughed, he laughed right along with her, and he didn’t even know why…or care. It seemed kind of mental.
His lips turned up into a real smile as he pushed through the doors to the hallway, but it quickly faltered as Holly snagged his arm and guided him around the corner. He tensed at being “herded” as Blue would say and especially by The Mouth, who was always up to something.
Holly crossed her arms over her denim jacket and studied him. “Everyone’s talking,” she said, tucking a straight lock behind her ear.
J.J. eased back against the concrete wall, aiming for casual. “Everyone, huh?”
Wrong. He hadn’t heard a peep out of his buddy all day. Will was putting the chill on him. But c’mon, back in the meadow, Will had been hammered as usual, so when he’d slobbered about taking Suzy to prom, J.J. didn’t think too much of it. Had Will been serious? It was hard to imagine him and Suzy holding hands, sharing an ice-cream sandwich, locking lips.
Nah. Besides, Suzy wasn’t interested, and now they had a deal.
“They’re saying poor Suzy doesn’t even know what’s going on, that you’re taking advantage of her, all to make Gemma jealous. They say…”
“They,” J.J. said calmly. “They” meant Gemma and Holly. What was The Mouth, the biggest gossip in town, possibly even the county, angling for? They obviously didn’t know “Poor Suzy” very well since she was a cranky force to contend with, not some whimpering soft skull.
“Everyone likes you, J.J. They trust you, or at least they used to. Now, I’m worried they see someone different, that you’ve changed.” She lifted her dark brows into a picture of concern.
“So…” J.J. rolled his hand in a wave to keep her talking. He didn’t have all day. Who knew what rumors she’d spread? He hadn’t heard anything in the halls yet, but it seemed like The Mouth was brewing some trouble. Why couldn’t she stay out of it? If there were a score card in the sky, Gemma would get another red minus. One for breaking up with him, two for playing with Ron, and now three for her choice in friends. Things weren’t looking so good.
“So my point is…you don’t want to be known as Overdale’s biggest jackass. Do you? Trying to compensate for a little…you know.” She held up her pinky finger and flexed it.
“Say what?” He frowned.
“A little pecker, J.J.” She rolled her eyes. “I like you, so I want to help you.”
A little…did she say pecker? C’mon now. What a stretch. Ha ha. Seriously, the word desperate didn’t even begin to cover it. No one would believe her crap. The only person to confirm or deny such a ludicrous notion would be Gemma, and why would she want to go there? They’d gone out for ten whole months. All of ‘em good. Oh, yeah.
But what if the rumor did hit the mills and stuck? What then? The ladies would be whispering about his junk in the hallways—not necessarily a bad thing, unless they were laughing about it. The guys wouldn’t care.
But what about the strange few who might consider snapping pictures in gym class to upload, post, and leave comments?
Not cool.
Holly mistook his preoccupation as encouragement and lowered her voice to eagerly collude with him. “Okay, here’s what we do…set up Suzy with Will. He’s the one who wanted to take her to prom in the first place, if I remember correctly. And Gemma with Ron…” She waved the names aside quickly to make room for her big idea. “That leaves me and you.” Her mouth stayed in a perfect circle as if she were blowing smoke rings into his face.
Her cow-like lashes fluttered above intense brown eyes, and it put the deep freeze on his innards. He pressed his shoulders against the cool wall, and his thoughts churned for something perfect to say, all four-letter words. She was angling for a prom invite, but he would never, never go out with her—ever—even as she dangled his reputation above the butcher block. A power move.
J.J. rubbed a hand over his jaw. She had him right where she wanted him—in a corner and by the balls. Not a fun position. Not with her anyway.
He had to find Gemma. Talk to her. Make things right. This whole thing was exploding in his face, with Holly breathing down his neck and threatening him with little penis jokes.
But a vision of Blue popped into his head, her whipping donuts with abandon—hair falling back, teeth reflecting the light, and those damned freckles. He frowned. Why was he thinking about Blue? This was about Gemma.
Oh, God, and there was her voice again, You’re making a huge mistake, J.J.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. There was no way out of this. It was goodbye good reputation.
“Holly.” J.J. sighed and dropped his hand. “I’ve already asked Blue.”
“Not a problem,” Holly said.
“It kinda is because I don’t want to be Overdale’s biggest jackass by not keeping my word, if you know what I mean.”
“Listen.” Holly leaned forward and rubbed her hands together. “If this is about Gemma, it’s time to let her go. She deserves to be happy, and Ron told me…well, let’s just say he’s that person. You should think about moving on. Gemma has. In fact, I just saw her at her locker, and she was okay with me asking you to prom. Think about that.”
Oh, he was thinking about it all right, and it stung like he’d swallowed a live hornet. He was an idiot if he thought there was only one layer to this game.
Where did Holly fit into all this? Was she blowing hot air in his face, or did Gemma really move on? It was hard to believe since last Thursday they’d talked about getting back together. All he’d wanted to do was put the heat on Gemma. Get rid of Ron. End of story. Why was it so hard?
“My advice to you? Stop messing around with Suzy.” Holly flicked her hair out from behind her ear. “Let her down easy, then call me, so we can make plans.” She turned, and he watched the back of her denim jacket meld with the lunch crowd.
“Never gonna happen,” J.J. muttered and glared into the wake of people.
Holly was a little too interested in this game, like she was the puppet master or something. Ron told me…you should think about moving on…Gemma has.
The lunch bell clamored loudly, jarring J.J. into action. He spun on his boot heels and headed for junior hall. He had to face Gemma, hear what she had to say. There was still a spark of magic between them to stoke easily with a little time and a lot of attention. It was only pretend with Blue, wasn’t it? If Gemma wanted to get back together, done. She hadn’t moved on.
Holly was wrong. Right?
J.J. strode ahead of the crowd toward Gemma’s locker at the opposite end of the hall from where he needed to be. He headed away from his own books, his backpack, away from his next class, trigonometry, away from what was known and constant. Instead, he headed closer to answers, Gemma, and most assuredly, a tardy slip.
He slowed from a lope to a walk, then took a step and froze.
Ron “The Schemer” Uccello—the gonad, the real birddog—leaned down to Gemma and fastened his dirty, filthy mouth onto her pink lips right in front of him and everyone.
Holly was right. Of course, she was right.
Had J.J. been such a gullible tool, misreading Gemma’s finger tips touching his arm? Five days ago, she’d said she loved him. Now, her dark eyes were all over somebody else.
She lifted her hand, but instead of giving Ron the smack down, she gently touched his chest and smiled at him…after a solid lip-lock.
J.J. stepped back as Gemma raised a single, blonde brow in his direction. After ten months together, he knew what her look meant. Look at me. Two can play your game.
Chapter 11: Two-Bit Flick
J.J. slumped on the couch with his history book propped up while Little Oops pulled the pants off her Ken doll. Appar
ently, Barbie planned to cross-dress, which meant Ken would go naked and ignored, as usual. Poor plastic man. Little Oops was always giving him the cold shoulder.
J.J. could sympathize with Ken since Will had flung emotional ice chips at him all day. The silent treatment was the worst. Punch him in the face already, and get it over with. They could be playing Goblin Strike right now if it weren’t for this Suzy Blue debacle.
Seeing Gemma kiss Ron after lunch hadn’t put J.J. in the right mood to break through Will’s igloo. So when it came to Mrs. Norton’s class, J.J. hadn’t said much. It would have fallen on deaf ears anyway because Will crossed his legs and stared straight ahead as if he were completely alone, just him and the teacher.
Suzy had tinkered around with her pens and notebook and with every movement, he could smell marzipan and cocoa. God, all he’d wanted were two dull pencils to shove up his nose, and if they pierced his brain, all the better. He shouldn’t have made a deal with her.
Gemma had also been quiet. She hid behind her curtain of hair, gnawing the pink off her bottom lip. Guilty, guilty, guilty.
Man, it was an excruciating fifty minutes of ice, marzipan and cocoa, and guilt. When the bell rang, J.J. couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Now, thankfully, all he could smell were pork chops and garlic. His stomach roiled with hunger as sizzling sounds emanated from the kitchen where Mom whacked a blade against the wood block. Veggie heads were gonna roll. Was that cumin with a hint of lime? He closed his eyes and sighed—
His phone vibrated.
Finally! He slapped his pocket. It had to be Chill Will, ready to discuss the whole Suzy thing. J.J. dropped his textbook on the coffee table and dug his phone out. It was a number he didn’t recognize.