Simone stared with her mouth partially open like she was in shock. “You’re enjoying this.”
She somehow made it sound like an accusation.
I rolled my eyes. “And you’re ruining all my fun. Come on, tell me what she said. She’s into me, right?”
“I was going to tell you—” She stopped midsentence, clamping her mouth shut with a huff. “You know what? Never mind. I can’t even deal with you right now.”
I sighed. “I don’t get why you’re so upset. Rose isn’t even your friend.”
“But she could be.”
I stared at her for a long moment as I tried to follow her logic. “Sure, she could be if you were into befriending vapid, manipulative, spoiled brats.”
Simone stared at me, her brows drawn together like this was the first time she’d ever seen me. “No,” she said slowly. “Apparently I only like to befriend entitled, egotistical jerks.”
“Simone—”
But she was already out of the car, storming up the walkway to her house.
I groaned as she slammed the door shut behind her. Fine. So my stick-in-the-mud, goody-two-shoes best friend wasn’t on board with this plan.
But what did that matter? I’d thought this through and really…it was foolproof. I’d get money, we’d have some laughs, and yeah…maybe I’d get a little revenge for the way she’d ended things so abruptly two years ago, without any warning and with zero consideration to anyone else’s feelings.
Was that so wrong?
Luckily Simone seemed to be over it by the next day. Not entirely, obviously, but she told me on the ride to school that she didn’t want to hear me mention Rose’s name ever again. That seemed to be a truce, of sorts.
I’d take it. I didn’t need Simone’s help and this charade wouldn’t last long enough to be a big issue between us. Simone and I had been friends since forever—we could survive a few weeks with an elephant in the room between us.
She and I were hanging out outside after lunch, enjoying the last of the late summer-slash-early fall weather and waiting for the bell to ring. If there was any question that my plan was already starting to work, it ended the moment I spotted Rose.
Or rather, Rose spotted me.
Her whole face lit up with excitement as her gaze locked with mine. She leaned over and whispered to her friend Hannah and the two of them veered toward us, not stopping until they reached us.
“Hey, ladies,” I said.
Rose gave me the coy smile I knew so well and hadn’t seen in so long. It was flirty as heck and made it nearly impossible to think. When she tipped her head down and looked up at me through her long lashes as she toyed with a lock of her crazy purple hair…
Yeah, I forgot how to breathe.
She was mine.
I’d gotten her back.
And this time I’m not letting go.
I shook off the stupid thought. It was the insanity that came with Rose’s flirting. I knew this. I’d lived it. I was now immune to it.
Right?
“I was hoping I’d run into you today,” Rose said.
“Oh yeah?” I felt a cocky grin starting to form. This was too easy. Almost…too easy.
And then, as if on cue, her gaze left mine and she was smiling normally at Simone. “Do you think you might be up for painting the booths for the fair?”
The loss of her gaze was like the sun passing behind a cloud. Just like that it was two years ago and I remembered. I had this visceral, overwhelming memory. The way she could make you feel when you were the center of her world—and how it was when she took that away.
Not again, though. Not this time.
“Yeah, of course,” Simone said. “Happy to.”
Happy to. I repeated in my head in a childish sing-song tone. I would absolutely make fun of her for kissing up to the queen drama bee as soon as we were alone. What was with her and Rose, anyway?
Did Rose have the same effect on girls? Did she make her friends swoon just like she did with guys?
Was Rose some sort of evil sociopathic genius?
Her gaze returned to mine and she was all sweetness and light as she nibbled on her lower lip.
Okay, probably not an evil genius. Still, she was too charismatic for her own good.
“I was hoping to get your help, too.” She shifted from foot to foot. “I could really use you.”
I straightened, my chest puffing out a bit because—me necessary. Ugh, even my inner voice turned into a caveman when she looked at me like that. “Whatever you need, babe.”
I caught Simone’s sidelong look at my use of the endearment, but Rose didn’t so much as blink.
“Great,” she gushed. “I have big plans for this fair. We’re going to have all kinds of food, and games, and a band—”
“Say no more,” I cut in. “My band would love to perform.”
Her eyes widened. “You have a band?”
Simone let out a squeaking noise as she muffled a laugh and I tried not to let my smile falter. Rose…didn’t know I had a band?
I mean, not to brag but…everyone knew about my band. We were kind of a big deal. For a high school band, at least. We played at the local club and we’d had a demo made and—
“That’s so cool!” She gave my shoulder a playful little smack. “If you want to play at the fair, that’s totally fine by me.”
I blinked because…what just happened? I was the one offering to do her a favor, how come it suddenly sounded like….
Like she was taking pity on me.
“Okay great,” I found myself saying.
“But actually…” She took a step forward. “I was hoping to enlist you and your friends for something else.”
She was doing that thing. I knew she was doing that thing, but that didn’t stop me from playing right into it. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
She bit her lip like she was shy. Ha! As if Rose could ever be shy.
And yet, even knowing that, I found myself moving toward her as if to help her. Save her from having to say whatever it was she was embarrassed to say. “Whatever it is, we’ll do it.”
Man, this chick was good. Too good.
But I was better, I reminded myself. I knew her games and I was one step ahead of her.
She smiled. “Great. So you and your friends will be in the kissing booth then?” She clapped her hands together like a little kid before I could respond. “That’s awesome. The other girls will be so happy to hear it.”
“Wait, what—”
She leaned forward and kissed my cheek so suddenly, the words died in my throat. The heat of her breath on my cheek, the feel of her soft lips…
I’d have pink lipstick on my cheek, and I didn’t even care because the world stopped turning for the second it took for her to kiss me.
On the cheek, but even so…
She’d kissed me.
And I…
I forgot what we were talking about.
I forgot that this was all part of the game.
I forgot my freakin’ name.
“Thank you so much, you really are a sweetheart.” She patted my cheek and suddenly I was twelve years old.
“Um…” I said, trying to figure out how I could regain the upper hand which I’d somehow lost in spectacular fashion.
“I’ll see you after school?” she said to Simone.
Simone nodded. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was smiling. Simone was loving this.
The traitor.
I almost didn’t recover in time, but I moved forward just as Rose was about to walk away from me looking like a lovestruck fool. “Wait up,” I said as I snagged her hand.
She froze but she didn’t try to pull her hand away. She looked down at it though, like she was confused by what was happening. When she glanced up, her eyes were impossible to read. She was totally blank.
Vapid. Just like I’d said.
“Yes?” she said.
“There’s a party this weekend,” I said. “At Tim�
�s grandparents’ lake house.”
She blinked. “And?”
Right. Of course she knew that. Tim was one of her conquests who was still stupidly pining away for a round two, no doubt. Of course he’d invited her. “Are you going?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t decided.”
Crap. I didn’t let go of her hand when she tried to turn and walk away. “Let me rephrase that.”
She tilted her head to the side, but her gaze said she was about as curious and eager as a lamp post to hear what I had to say. Two seconds ago she’d been all over me, kissing me and thanking me, and now?
She was like a marionette who’d been set to the side.
Beautiful but lifeless.
“Uh…” I almost lost my swagger in the face of her apathy. I gave my head a little shake. This chick was messing with my head—and we hadn’t even started dating yet.
The girl was dangerous. Clearly.
But nothing I couldn’t handle, right? After our last hookup, I knew what I was getting into. Diva with a capital D. A girl who only cared about looks and what she could get from a guy.
And me?
I had a lot to give.
“We should go together,” I said, sliding beside her so her tomboy friend was cut out of the conversation and we were talking privately.
“We should?” Rose sounded…confused. “Why?”
I spit out the first rational explanation I could think of. “Because Ryan will be there, and I’m guessing he’ll be there with a girl.”
She stared at me. “So?”
I arched my brows in surprise. Not even a flicker of jealousy there. Of course there wasn’t.
Jealousy would require feelings.
I gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation as I lowered my voice and leaned in toward her. “Okay, then go with me for my sake…”
She arched her brow like she was still clueless. More like, she just wanted me to stroke her huge ego.
Fine. If that was what it took, that’s what I’d do.
“I want to be seen with the most beautiful girl in our school.”
Her eyes glinted with laughter—a look I hadn’t seen in ages—then she stuck her bottom lip out with a pout. “Only the most beautiful girl in school?”
I choked on a laugh because…I’d almost forgotten how much she liked to tease. “The most beautiful girl in the world. On the planet.” I leaned in farther and lowered my voice to a growl. “The most beautiful girl in the universe.”
Her laugh was a low husky sound and the air between us seemed to grow a million times hotter as she turned her head to face me, our lips less than an inch apart.
“Is that better?” I teased.
She nodded. “That’ll do.”
She walked away and this time I didn’t try to stop her. “Pick you up at eight?”
She spun around—an amazing feat in and of itself since she was wearing sharp, pointed heels. “I’ll meet you there.”
Her grin was huge, her eyes dancing with laughter and warmth and…
Crap.
She’d done it again.
She’d gotten the last word and left me gaping like an idiot.
I turned to find Simone watching me with a little grimace of distaste.
“What?” I said. “Spit it out.”
She shook her head with a sigh, already turning to head back inside. “I’m not saying a word.”
I trailed after her. “I got a date,” I felt the need to point out.
She gave a snort of amusement as she shook her head and muttered under her breath. “You got something, all right.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She ignored me.
I kept following her down the hallway, even though my next class was in the opposite direction. “I totally had her eating out of the palm of my hand.”
Simone stopped so quickly I almost ran into her. “Let’s recap, shall we?” She lifted a hand and ticked items off on her fingers. “You just signed up to be in a kissing booth to help her raise money for the theater department. You offered up your band to play—your band which she’s never heard of.” She made that a separate finger. “And she did it all without even having to say please.” Simone cocked her head to the side. “From where I’m standing it looks like she’s got you wrapped around her little finger.” She arched her brows meaningfully. “Again.”
I flinched because her words hit home, probably because…crap, she was sort of right.
Had I really agreed to be in a kissing booth?
I scrubbed a hand over my face and tried again. “You’re missing the point here.”
“And what point was that?”
I jabbed a finger toward the exit where we’d left Rose.
Or rather…where she’d walked away from me.
“I scored a date.”
Simone winced in feigned regret. “Did you? Because from what I saw, Rose agreed to go to a party that she was already planning on going to.”
“We’re going together,” I said, my voice annoyingly sharp, because…crap. Was Simone right?
“You’re meeting her there,” Simone said, her tone irritatingly bland. Like she knew she was right.
Crap! I was meeting here there. “But she still agreed to go…”
“Mmhmm,” Simone started to smirk as she took a few steps backwards. “Just after she got you to admit that she was the most beautiful girl…what was it?” She snapped her fingers. “That’s right. In the universe.”
She shook her head with a laugh as she turned and walked away from me. Making her officially the second girl to walk away from me in so many minutes. The third if you counted Hannah, too.
I stared at Simone’s back as she got swallowed up by the crowd, her words registering like a blow with each passing second.
Well, crap.
What on earth had just happened back there?
9
Rose
Hannah and I both had study hall after lunch and she’d nicely offered to help me with my fundraiser, since it was becoming very clear that I might have bitten off more than I could chew.
“What was that back there?” Hannah asked when we were alone in the auditorium.
It was also becoming very clear that Hannah was less interested in helping me than in getting the scoop on me and Jax.
Not that there was a scoop to be had. There wasn’t. Not even a little one.
“That,” I said as I snapped open my binder filled with to-do lists, “was nothing.”
Her brows arched as she sank back into one of the auditorium seats. Amusement glinted in her eyes as she tossed her long brown ponytail over her shoulder. “It didn’t seem like nothing. Why’d you pretend that you didn’t know he had a band? We listened to their demo months ago and you loved it.”
My jaw clenched as I stared down at the papers in front of me unseeingly. I hadn’t told Hannah about the bet. I’d stewed over it the whole way home in the car, but I hadn’t been able to bring myself to talk about it.
It was humiliating.
“Rose?” Hannah’s voice softened and I looked up to see her watching me with gentle eyes.
Shoot. Hannah being nice was my Achilles’ heel and she knew it. I felt tears sting the back of my eyes and cursed under my breath.
This was the other reason I hadn’t told her. I didn’t want my best friend feeling sorry for me because I was pathetic.
And I was pathetic.
But not telling Hannah wasn’t going to make me any less pathetic. I told her the whole story quickly and when I was done she was glaring so fiercely I almost feared for Jax’s life.
“What a jerk!”
I nodded. I’d never thought of Jax as a jerk before. Conceited, yes. Hot, of course. Funny, sometimes. Charming—my heart did a funny little flip at the memory of his lips brushing against my ear as he told me I was the prettiest girl in the universe.
Yeah, the guy definitely had game. He knew how to flirt and he knew just how irresistible he
was to the opposite sex.
To me.
I swallowed hard.
Of all the guys in this school, it hurt that it was Jax who’d made this bet. The worst part was, I couldn’t even say why.
Maybe because I had really nice memories of my time with him. I’d hung out with plenty of guys over the last two years but my time with Jax was different. Even after all this time, my memory of those two weeks was still clear as day. I thought about it more than I cared to admit, and maybe a little part of me even…treasured it.
I always figured that when I went off to college, he’d be the one I referred to as the one who got away. He’d be the one I told my new college friends about. The first crush, the first date…
My first kiss.
And he’d gone and ruined all those memories by making a bet about me.
“Are you okay?” Hannah asked.
“Me? I’m fine.” I managed a scoff that probably fooled no one.
She studied me in silence for a second. “So what’s your plan? How do you want to play this?”
I smiled, and this time it felt somewhat natural. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to play his game…only better.”
“You’re gonna make him fall for you and then ditch him before payday,” she said.
My smile grew with grim satisfaction. “That’s the plan.”
I waited for Hannah to laugh. To roll her eyes. I didn’t see the sad sigh coming, nor the hug that nearly tackled me off my high heels. “Oh, Rose, I’m so sorry.”
I patted her back awkwardly because her embrace had pinned my arms to my sides. “It’s not that big a deal.”
“Yes. It is.” She pulled back. “You put on a good front, but you’re not who they think you are, Rose. You’re not what he thinks you are.”
I nodded, hating the tears that were stinging. She was right. But she was the only one who knew that. Ever since I’d transferred here in the eighth grade, I’d been playing a part. I’d come in here with a loud bang and demanded their attention as I dazzled them with the new star in their midst.
I’d never once regretted it.
Until now.
Now I was so freakin’ tired of playing the role of flirty, fun, no-cares-in-the-world Rose. I was even tired of being the school’s star. Sure, I wanted the lead role in whatever play we ended up doing this fall, and I wanted to find the perfect monologue for the scholarship.
Kissing the Player (The Dangers of Dating a Diva Book 1) Page 8