by Adriana Law
Her blue eyes settle on my bad leg. “Why … because of a little scar. It doesn’t matter, Tor. You’re the only one that notices.”
“I’m not wearing heels.” I eye the dress in my hands. “This kind of dress needs to worn with heels.”
“Exactly,” she exclaims with the flourish of her hands. “I’m glad we agree.”
I grit my teeth. Keria knows I only wear flats.
“I’ll try it on, but I’m not making any promises.” I wobble into the bathroom and close the door. No way am I letting anyone see me in this dress until I see myself in the mirror first. I talk through the door as I slide the rubber band from my wrist and pile my brown hair on top of my head. I wiggle the slinky dress past my almost nonexistent hips, up my body and struggle to tie the straps around neck. “Speaking of favors, Keira, promise me you won’t drink too much tonight.”
“Yes mother anything else,” she replies in a mocking tone.
“Don’t roll your eyes. I’m serious,” I return.
“Doors closed, Tor, you can’t see me rolling my eyes.”
“Don’t have to,” I say, momentarily forgetting what I am wearing. I step out into my bedroom.
My gaze narrows on her. “I’m serious. Something bad is going to happen. It happens all the time, girls getting taken advantage of whenever they’re trashed.”
Her eyes go wide and she squeals, her hands flying to her mouth. My mouth gaps as I glance down at the black short dress hugging my body.
“Looks horrible, doesn’t it?” I turn to go take it off and a brush smacks the center of my back.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Wear more dresses like that and you’ll have all the power you want. You’ve got to learn how to use your assets. You have to make Colton want to drop his friends to get you alone.”
I collapsed down onto the bed with a sigh. “I’m not sure I want to manipulate my boyfriend into spending time with me.” I frown, glancing down at the dress. “It feels fake. Shouldn’t he be just as attracted to me when I’m wearing jeans and a T-shirt?”
“You’ve been reading way too many romance novels. Love doesn’t just happen. A girl has to work to get a guy’s attention and keep it. Don’t look so miserable. Wear the dress and you’ll see. All the communication problems between you two will disappear. Trust me.” She takes hold of my hand tugging, hauling me up off the bed. “I’m in the mood for some Rocky Road, how about you?”
“Lead the way,” I say.
Five minutes later we are sitting on my bed with our backs pressed against the headboard, licking spoons full of yummy ice-cream and giggling.
“So which endangered bird is it this month?” Keira says, making me regret ever telling her anything about them. I’ve never actually showed her one of my carvings. Mostly because she gets that same look my mother gets any time she mentions them; like they are pointless and time consuming.
Distractions from real life that’s what my mother calls them.
Keria scoops out a spoon full of ice cream, flips the spoon over and licks the ice cream off. “Okay, don’t answer. Moving on to the next question. How did you ever get Colton to finally ask you out?” She huffs warm breath on the round end of her spoon, watching as the silver fogs up.
My stomach goes all fluttery not liking this question any better than the first.
“I don’t know … We’d been friends for a while and before I had time to really consider what it meant we were more.”
“Do you ever wish you two would have just remained friends?” She glances up from under curled lashes coated with mascara and I see it, the pink tint in her cheeks. I’ve never seen Keira blush.
“Sometimes I wish we’d stayed friends. Then I wouldn’t have to worry so much about us breaking up. It’s too late for that though, I don’t think it’s possible to go back.”
“Oh, I think you could. I think you’d find some way to still be his friend, if anything ever did happen. I can’t see you having hard feelings towards him or anyone, Tor. You’re too nice.” The corners of her eyes crease with a smile as her metal spoon clanks the bottom of her bowl. “I can see him dating someone else and still coming to you for relationship advice, and you’ll help him because that’s just how you are.”
I frown at the bottom of my own bowl, suddenly in the mood for more ice-cream.
We’re all in Colton’s basement; half the guys from the football team surrounding us five girls sitting at a table: Keira, Stacy (the girl known for making out with most of the seniors, guys and girls), Lizzie, Amber, and me. Amber is the only one other than Keira that I really ever hang out with on a regular basis.
Music is playing, but it is hard to hear over all the noise in the basement: conversations blending, laughter, chair legs scraping over the concrete floor, the football players bragging on their contributions to the team.
Colton is showing signs of being drunk. He’s embarrassed me by getting into an all-out shoving match with Keira. At one point he had her trapped from behind, his arms encasing her upper body, one of his legs hooked in front of her legs to keep her from getting away. They wrestled, flirting with each other until it was difficult for me to watch. Everyone at the table was laughing hysterically, except for Amber who shot me a sympathetic look when no one was watching. I know I must have turned every shade of red imaginable. I could see the pity in her eyes and it made me sick to my stomach.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Colton asks, tugging at the hair falling down across my cheek. He sits on the bar stool next to mine. “You’re not pissed because I was teasing Keria, are you?” He doesn’t give me time to answer before he flicks my right hip, what he always does whenever he is going to say something pertaining to my injury. “Because you know I want nothing more than to be able to pick around with you, but I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I won’t break, Colton. I have to go easy on the leg, that’s all.” You’d think after a year of me telling him this he would get it.
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I said.” He twists the cap off a Lager and takes a chug. “Dude, bout time your ass showed up!” And then he is gone no longer interested in our conversation.
The basement is packed with people, most of the crowd concentrated over in our little corner. There are a few guys sitting on an L-shaped couch over by a big screen T.V., the same couch Colton and I used to watch movies on together. I notice these guys because one of them is Jonah Stevens. We have creative writing together. The teacher has a habit of forcing him to stand up and read his stories out loud in class. I suspect it’s because they are good, really good, and he is supposed to be the example for the rest of us.
I’ve heard he plays an acoustic guitar too and writes his own songs. I don’t know if the rumors are true or not, since I’ve never gotten up enough nerve to ask him. Okay, once I said ‘excuse me’ as I slipped past him when he was blocking the doorway of our classroom, and he said, ‘Oh. Sorry.’ in a deep voice, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count as an actual conversation.
Jonah’s blonde hair is buzzed short like a marine. He has a strong jaw, which, when the light hits it just right you can see the blond stubble along it. His eyes are a Carmel color just like the work boots he wears every day, unlaced, thrown on so quickly his jeans are still stuck in the top of the boots. He is tall with broad shoulders and muscles that don’t come from using steroids. He wears Fox racing and DC skateboarding T-shirts.
I’ve watched Jonah way too much in class. I know his stress reliever is rubbing the back of his neck. (I’ve seen him do this many times, leaning over a notebook, pencil in hand, really engrossed in what he is writing about.) His expression turns all serious as he bites down on his bottom lip. It’s cute.
As if he can feel my eyes on him, Jonah turns on the couch and glances over at our table. Crap. I quickly look away feeling the heat rush to my cheeks.
“I have an idea! Why don’t we play truth or dare!” Keira squeals bouncing up and down in her seat, drawing my
gaze away from the sitting area by the TV.
“Isn’t that game something you play in Jr. High?” Colton reaches over and does his best to mess up her hair, which she eludes.
“Please.” She bats her curled eyelashes up at him. “It will be fun. I promise.”
Colton turns a color I’ve never seen before on someone’s face—more purple than red.
One of Colton’s buddies, Duncan, star quarterback, shoves his shoulder. “Come on bone crusher. Everybody knows you can’t say no to Keria.”
I am close to vomiting. The bowl of Dorito’s in the center of the table is not helping.
“Oh goody. Who wants to go first,” Keria exclaims.
At that moment I realize not only is Colton drunk, but Keira is well on her way to being there. She is usually an okay friend. Tonight though, she is giving me evil glares as if she has something horrible in store for me. I try to catch her gaze a couple of times to secretly ask her, what did I do? But she won’t look at me. Not once. I’m so busy replaying the events of the night to see if I can pinpoint the exact moment I made my cousin angry that I don’t notice it’s my turn.
“Tori!” Colton shouts close to my ear, shaking my shoulder until my eyes focus on him.
“Truth or Dare?” He asks slowly as if I have a comprehension problem.
“I’m not playing,” I mutter.
“Oh yes you are,” Keira snarls across the table causing me to flinch on my stool.
Our gazes clash and hold. I swallow hard knowing, whatever it is—it’s coming.
“Truth,” I squeak out.
She settles down a bit in her chair and offers a fake smile. I know it’s fake, because I know her. “Okay, truth Tori, have you ever fantasized about making out with anyone other than Colton?”
What?
“Ohh bone crushers girl is in the hot seat,” surrounds me. Loud. Ridiculously loud. Loud enough that everyone in the basement looks over at our corner, even the guys on the L-shaped couch. Not that I have time to worry about any of them. I’m too busy hyperventilating. It suddenly gets really hot in the basement.
“No,” I reply. “I have never fantasized about making out with anyone other the Colton.”
“Liar. I say since she refuses to tell the truth we give her a dare,” Keira smirks and I shrink on my hot seat. “I dare you to make out for ten minutes with….” Her narrowed gaze slowly searches the room, then suddenly she wiggles fingers as if she’s just spotted the perfect candidate for the group to torture, or for me to torture. My eyes follow the direction her excited fingers are going spastic in.
Oh no. I breathe in a deep breath and hold it.
No way.
NO.
No.
No!
“I dare you to make out with Jonah Stevens for ten minutes!” She says springing up from her chair.
The crowd gathered around us breaks out in long drawn out, “Eww”s and an awful lot of laughing.
“I double dare you,” Stacy adds.
“I triple dare you,” Colton blurts out and everything goes quiet. Or at least I go quiet.
My boyfriend wants me to make out with another guy? Is this us breaking up? While everyone watches? I don’t think I can handle a public break up.
“Don’t look at me like that, Tori. It’s not a big deal.”
Am I the only one finding his reaction odd?
He cocks an eyebrow. “I mean, come on … you would never like that fagot. I know that.”
“But….”
“Lighten up Tori,” Keria taunts. “ It’s just a game. Are you going to do it or what?”
She is not staying at my house tonight. I don’t care if she is my cousin.
She adds, “I’m thinking Tori might have a little crush on Stevens.”
“Ew Tori! That’s gross,” Stacy sneers at me.
“I do not!” I scoff. “I do not like Jonah!”
Keira crosses her arms over her chest. “Prove it. It won’t be a big deal if you’re telling the truth.”
“Tori, don’t do it if you don’t want to,” Amber mutters.
Keria’s eyes narrow. A long sigh comes from my deflated body. “What are the rules?”
“Only one.” She points at the couches where Jonah is sitting, oblivious that we are all watching him. Poor guy. “You two have to stay where we can see you, so there’s no chance of you lying.”
“Can I tell him it’s a dare?”
“Tell him whatever. I don’t care. Tell him whatever will convince him to lock lips with you for ten minutes.”
Singled Out
Jonah
Party’s suck.
Party’s at Colton Bentley’s house suck even more.
Why am I here? Oh, yeah, to escape clean up duty. If I had known this party would be this boring I would have offered to clean the whole damn house. I would have listened to mom preaching. Anything to avoid sitting in a semi-dark basement on a pleather L-shaped couch, inhaling clouds of second-hand smoke as couple’s link fingers and disappear into one of the bedrooms. Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can watch the few guys I know at the party play Wee on the big screen without falling asleep.
Leaning forward, elbows braced on my knees, I run my hands down my face in frustration, and then make the move to get up.
“I’m out. See you guys at school,” I say.
“All right, man.” Lewis—pretty cool guy once he lets you beyond this massive wall he’s carefully constructed to keep people at bay—holds out a fist bumping it to mine, never once removing his gaze from the game he is completely submerged in. I’m telling you … major wall, 6 feet tall, encased with barb wire. His body twitches with excitement as he gives the controller in his hands hell.
Slumped down on the other side of Lewis is Josh, who is staring down all mopey-like at his beer. He voices his own opinion about the party. “Funny how we ended up isolated over here on the couch by ourselves. I’m kind of feeling unloved. And thinking it’s intentional.”
I can’t help smiling. “Imagine that … even out of school we still don’t fit in. But hey, Colton Bentley graciously opened his home to us—three lonely outcasts—without tossing us out and for that we should be ever grateful.”
Bentley can kiss my ass.
He treats his girl like crap. That alone is enough to make me despise the guy. Besides everyone in this basement knows we weren’t invited, they’re just too drunk to care.
I glance over my left shoulder at Victoria Anderson, AKA Colton’s girlfriend. Her dark brown hair falls down over her shoulders. She has hazel eyes and lips that look like she is pouting even when she’s not, nice cheek bones, and an easy slow smile. She always appears to be deep in thought, making you curious what she is thinking. It’s more than looks though. She’s different. Smart. Way too smart for Colton Bentley.
Josh’s face lights up. I forgot what we were talking about.
“You’re right,” he says. “I should thank Colton for allowing me to stay. It would be the polite thing to do.”
“Woah, it was a joke, man. I was being sarcastic. Look around you, we're being tolerated. Have some pride.” Time to exit this party before I get all preachy and start quote bible scripture like my mother. I go to stand up right as laughter erupts in the corner where a crowd is gathered around a table, around Victoria Anderson’s table.
Another eruption of laughter. Okay, I’ll admit I’m a tiny bit curious. I drop back down on the couch.
“I thought you were leaving?” Lewis mumbles robotically.
“Yeah, well, I think this party is about to get interesting.” I answer, throwing a covert glance over my left shoulder. Keria McKinley goes from looking pissed off to looking like she’s about to pee herself. I swear that girl can shift moods like nobody’s business. Her eyes do a sweep of the basement, and then she points … Oh shit! I jerk my gaze back around to the big screen and the game Lewis is playing, my heart seriously pounding.
Did Keria just point me out?
; What the hell is she telling them? What the hell is she telling Tori?
Going After What You Want
Victoria
“Here drink some beer, it will help.” Colton places a plastic cup in my hand and I just stare at it, completely freaked out. No way, my stomach already feels iffy. I sit the cup on the table. Rubbing my sweaty palms over my jeans, thankful I did not let Keria bully me into wearing the dress.
You can do this.
You can do this.
I take slow deep breaths to calm the butterflies battling in my stomach.
Ten minutes. Ten minutes are going to feel like an eternity, if I can even convince Jonah into doing it. Is this really happening? Am I actually going to talk to Jonah Stevens? No. I’m not just going to talk to him. I’m going to ask him to kiss me.
Ugh. Ten minutes. Why not five or two? Why the prolonged torture.
“And the clock doesn’t start ticking until the making out begins,” Keira shouts as I’m walking away.
What is her problem?
She is definitely not staying at my house tonight.
Bah. Who am I fooling? I’ll forgive her in a heartbeat. She’s my cousin, she’s family; you don’t trash family.
First step, second step, keep walking, if you stop now you’ll only chicken out. Behind me all the whistling and prodding fades.
All I can see is the back of Jonah’s head.
I swallow hard glancing over my shoulder to make sure Colton isn’t freaking out. He makes a move-a-little-faster gesture. Him, I will not forgive. This is his fault. He could have said, “My girlfriend isn’t making out with Stevens,” and that would have been the end of it. Instead he’s the damn cheering squad.
My frown deepens as I come around the L-shaped couch. I swallow hard. A few more steps ... Oh crap! Jonah’s brown eyes meet mine and my knees turn to jelly.
“Um… uh…. Can I talk to you for a second?” I choke out.
He gives it some thought and goes to stand up. “Sure.”
Obviously he thinks I mean alone.
“No, don’t get up, stay there,” spills out. Jonah must sense the hysteria in my voice, because his brows pull together in confusion. “I mean, is it okay if we talk here?”