CHAPTER TWELVE
“Beauty in distress is much the most affecting beauty.”
-Edmund Burke
CALEB
When Gianna ignored me, I repeated, “Tell me why you were crying.”
“It was nothing,” she stalled.
“If it was nothing, then why do you need to go home?” I continued to interrogate her ruthlessly.
“I just had a fight with Josh,” she finally admitted, leaning her head against the window dejectedly.
I’d met plenty of guys like Josh before. I knew the type and I wanted a full explanation. “Tell me, Gianna, or I’m just going to turn this car right around, pull him out of whatever class he has right now and beat the shit out of him.”
She looked alarmed by my threat. “You can’t do that!”
“I can and I will, if you don’t tell me.” I made sure to look her straight in the eyes so she could tell how serious I was.
She sighed in resignation. “Fine, I was walking to third period when he pulled me outside and demanded to know if I was seeing someone new.”
Her eyes avoiding mine gave her away. “Gianna, what are you leaving out?”
She glanced down at her hands and said softly, “Um, he yelled at me and kissed me a couple times and slammed me against the wall a of couple times.” She lifted her head with new tears in her eyes and her bottom lip trembling.
I screeched over to the side of the road and she jumped in her seat in alarm. Unbuckling her seatbelt, I pulled her in for a hug. She rested her head against my shoulder and I reached up to feel a bump on the back of her head. He was going to pay for this.
“It’s okay now. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
She drew back to look into my face. “What are you going to do?”
“Beat his ass next time I see him.”
“What if he wins? I don’t want you to get beat up.” She was so cute.
“Don’t worry, I won’t. What did you tell him when he asked if you were seeing someone new?” Brushing the hair back from her forehead, I kissed her red nose.
“I told him I wasn’t actually dating anyone new yet since our first date isn’t until Friday.”
Shit! Did she think we were dating? “Who exactly are you going on a date with?”
“Seth.”
“Who the hell is Seth?” I practically yelled at her, making her flinch.
“Seth Nichols. You’ve met him, right? He sits at the same table at lunch as you do. Just at the other end by where Josh and I usually sit.”
I finally realized who she was talking about and had to admit myself it was jealousy I was feeling. “What about your plans to have sex with Jared?”
Her expression turned guarded. “Oh, Jared is Saturday night. Seth is Friday night.”
“Will you be fucking Seth also?” I asked through clenched teeth.
She pinched my stomach hard. “Don’t be an ass, Caleb, of course not. I mean, at least not yet. But you never know what will happen in the future. I figure, once I lose my virginity and get that out of the way, everything will change.” The sly look in her beautiful blue eyes worried me.
“What do you mean?” I asked her, not knowing if I wanted the answer.
“Well, look how miserable I’ve been in the past and look how happy you are with the way you live your life. I want to be a player like you. From now on, I don’t even want to hear the word boyfriend because it’s a new bad word in my dictionary, the B-word. Just think of me as your protégé!” She seemed delighted at the prospect.
Jesus Christ, what had I done? I’d turned an innocent girl into a female player! There had to be a way to prevent this all from happening. But who was I to scold her about it? She was just following my example.
GIANNA
Oh my god! This was hilarious. I could totally tell Caleb was freaking out in his head. His eyes weren’t even focused anymore. I couldn’t believe he was buying it! Like I was just going to go whoring around for the fun of it! When I finally had sex for the first time, I wanted it to mean something. Maybe his way of thinking about sex was so ingrained that he could easily imagine someone else adopting the same attitude.
Without a word, he buckled me back in and drove us home. The house was quiet with my mom and Scott at work and Chance at school. Fortunately, we wouldn’t have to answer any awkward questions about what we were doing home in the middle of the school day.
Caleb finally spoke again when we entered the house. “You know, this is number ten on the list, ditch school. This isn’t really your first time ditching is it?” The way he said it, he made me sound lame.
“It’s the first time without my mom’s permission,” I informed him. “But, I’ll probably have her excuse this one. I’ll tell her I wasn’t feeling good.”
“It doesn’t count if you do that. Plus, to ditch school and only go home is lame. Some other time we’re going to do it right.”
“Should we go back to school then?” I asked, not keen on the idea.
“No, we’ll stay here and watch a movie or something.”
“Sure, but I get to pick it,” I announced and headed over to the DVD collection in the living room. I took out 28 Days Later and put it on.
After I pushed play on the remote, Caleb asked, “You like zombie movies?”
“I love zombie movies, but this isn’t a zombie movie. The people in this movie have The Rage virus.”
“Whatever,” he replied indifferently.
I glared at him. “You don’t have to sound so excited.”
“Okay, I won’t.” He grinned at me in a way I was starting to like. “What if I get scared, Gianna? Are you going to hold me?”
My first thought was to call him a wimp, but then I thought better of it. I was supposed to be playing the part of player protégé. Instead, I scanned his body and finally settled my eyes on his crotch. “Where exactly would you like me to hold you?”
His mouth dropped open in shock. He was about to say something but closed it. Caleb’s gaze took in my own body. “Princess, you’re asking for trouble.”
I blanked out my face. “Would it be like a lesson of some sort?”
His eyes clouded over for a moment as if he was going through some sort of internal debate. “I don’t think that’s a lesson you need to learn yet.”
I shrugged carelessly. “Whatever, I guess I’ll learn it soon enough.”
Going into the kitchen, I searched for something for us to eat and drink. When I returned to the living room, Caleb was laying down on the couch, so I sat in front of him on the floor, with my back against the couch.
Soon after the movie started, Caleb began playing with my hair. I couldn’t help remarking, “I wonder what my mom would do if I dyed it black.”
“Probably dye it back to dark blonde while you’re sleeping. Don’t dye it, though, I like it this color.” The compliment made me all happy inside, which was stupid.
I turned around to ask him why he liked the color and he leaned forward to capture my lips with his. As usual, I kissed him back, prompting him to pull me up onto the couch with him. Sucking his bottom lip into my mouth, I luxuriated in his taste. He groaned, pushing his hips up against mine. His own lust fueled mine. I was kissing his neck when I got to where I gave him a hickey yesterday. A giggle slipped through my lips.
“What’s so funny?” he asked playfully.
I sat up, looking down at him. “I guess the hickey didn’t work. It didn’t stop that slutty girl this morning from throwing herself at you.”
“No it didn’t. Actually, I have a date Friday night, too.”
“What?” I shouted while jumping off of him. I was incredibly pissed now. Maybe I didn’t have a reason to be mad, since I had a date also, but he started it! He was flirting with that girl before I agreed to the date with Seth. If he hadn’t been, I may have turned Seth down.
“What’s wrong? Jealous?” he taunted.
“No, I would never be jealous of a guy like you. Who was that girl anyways?
What’s her name?”
His eyebrows drew together in concentration. “You know, I actually can’t remember her name. She did put her number in my phone, so I guess it’s in there.”
“You know you’re horrible, right?” I was in twisted awe of him. It was incredible what a player he was. I’d think the guy deserved a medal if it didn’t irritate me so much.
“Hey, I thought you wanted to be just like me?”
Dammit, I’d forgotten about that. “You know what? You’re right. Jeez, I suck at this player thing.” An idea came to me. “I have a great idea! How about we all go out on a double date Friday?”
“A double date?” he repeated skeptically.
“Yes, a double date. How better for me to learn from the master?”
“A double date?” He appeared to be having trouble with the concept.
“Just say yes,” I ordered him.
“Um . . . yes?” His gorgeous face showed evident pain at the idea.
Good, I thought to myself. I was going to ruin his stupid date. He thought he could keep kissing me and still mess around with other girls. I didn’t think so. I mean, what the hell? He kissed me and then was like, oh by the way, I already have plans to be kissing some other girl on Friday and I don’t even know her name.
Screw that!
Beware of Bad Boy Page 16