“That’s right,” he says in a proud tone.
“Oh. I just play for fun. It’s not something serious,” Juliet says.
Juliet picks up a shrimp wrap from the tray and places it on her plate. I can feel my dad’s eyes on me, so I stop looking at Juliet and concentrate on my food. As I pop a forkful of mixed veggies in my mouth, my brother asks, “Are you dating my brother?”
Juliet almost chokes on her wrap. She looks at me with wide eyes. “No.” She glances at my parents and shakes her head. “No. I’m not.”
I swear I’m going to strangle him. “Shut up,” I grit out.
My dad studies us. “Jared knows my rules. He’s not allowed to date.”
Juliet looks over at me. I lower my head.
“Really?” she whispers.
I say nothing. Instead I eat.
“Juliet, your mother owns that matchmaking business, doesn’t she?” my mom asks.
“Yes,” she says.
Justin giggles. “People actually pay her to hook them up with someone else?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Juliet stiffen. “I guess that’s one way to say it.”
“How did she get into something like that?” my mom asks. “It must be fascinating.”
“When my dad died, she needed to get a job. She landed this job at a company that does this for wealthy online daters. She was bringing in more business than anyone else there, so she decided to branch out on her own. She’s really good at it.”
I can feel Juliet getting uncomfortable despite the way she compliments her mother. “Can we take our plates to my room?” I ask.
“Why can’t you eat here at the table?” my dad says.
“We have a lot of work still left to do and we don’t want to spend all night doing it,” I answer.
My dad grumbles. “Fine,” he says to me. He doesn’t bother looking at Juliet.
I gently tug Juliet away from the table, and gather our plates and utensils while she gets our drinks. We enter my room, and there is nothing but silence between us. I set her plate down beside her notebook. She hands over my cup, still saying nothing.
“I’m sorry. I felt like I had to rescue you from all their questions,” I say.
She takes a seat on my bed and sighs. “I didn’t realize how hard it must be for you. You really aren’t allowed to date?
I don’t really want to talk about this but I’m glad she’s speaking to me. “He has an agenda for me and my brother. Usually, my days consist of school, drills, homework, and sleep.”
“Wow. I thought I was the boring one in the room,” she jokes.
I smile. “Definitely not.”
She takes a bite out of her wrap. “Does your mom know you don’t want to play in college?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Only you and Tyler know.”
“I know a secret about Jared Black,” she giggles.
“You have to share something in return. It’s only fair.”
She pushes my shoulder. “Yeah, right.”
“Valentine, that’s the rules.”
“Well, I’m breaking them.”
I smirk. “You never break rules.”
She rolls her eyes and writes down another answer but from my angle it’s wrong.
I point my fork at it. “I think that should be five.”
“No, it’s … Oh, crap. You’re right,” she says.
Our eyes lock. Man, I want to kiss her. I could too. All I’d have to do is lean in and press my lips to hers. The thought of being slapped hard keeps my ass firmly in check. When I do kiss her, not only will she be surprised but she’ll want to be kissed by me.
Chapter Nineteen
Juliet
Two hours. That’s how long I’ve been home and thinking about Jared Black. What the heck is wrong with me? I can not like or think about Jared Black in this way.
I’ll admit, there were a few times in his room I caught myself gawking at his mouth. Why was I so interested in that boy’s lips? To make this worse at one point, I actually imagined what it would be like to brush my own against his.
I pace my room again. I tried gaming to forget but ended up getting my person killed. And my group was yelling at me through my headset telling me how much I totally sucked today. Can I blame them? Nope. There is something seriously wrong with me.
I swore I would not fall for someone like him ever again. He’s all wrong for me and yet, strangely enough, I feel like I could totally see something happening between us. Why though? I mean it’s not like we’ve ever really spent that much time together. It must be just a phase. Once the trig project is over, we won’t hang out and my infatuation with his mouth will vanish.
I plop down on the edge of my bed then throw myself flat against the mattress. I chew on my lower lip and try to think of anything else. All I keep seeing is flashes of his smile. His piercing blue eyes. That dark hair that flops in his eyes, and then that kissable mouth. Agh!
My door jostles open, and I turn my head in that direction. “Juliet, I was wondering if you could … oh hey, what’s wrong?” my sister asks.
“I think I like someone. But I can’t like them. It’s ridiculous.”
“Ohhhkay … who’s the guy?” She is all smiles as she takes a seat on my bed.
I sit up on my elbows. “Jared.”
“Really? Well, that’s great.”
Why is she missing the problem here? This is not great at all. It’s Jared Black. He’s a football player. He’s friends with Mark my ex. All of this is terrible and she’s gushing about how it’s great. I squint. “No, it isn’t.”
“Why not? You guys have tons in common. He’s cute. He’s really nice.”
“He also irritates me with his-know-it-all-bs. Ugh and tries to play it all off with that adorable boyish smile. I swear most of the time I want to knock him out.”
She smirks. “It sounds like you like him a lot.” She pokes me in the side. I smack her hand.
“How out of all of that, did you come up with, I like him a lot? You sound like Mom.”
Layla rolls her eyes. “I do not. All right, maybe a little. But you did admit to liking him I’m just saying you like him way more than you’re admitting to.”
“Why do you look so happy about this?”
“Maybe it just makes me happy that you could be happy,” she says with a shrug.
I push off my bed and begin to pace again. “Rachel is in love with him. Wouldn’t you rather she gets him?”
“No. Rachel is not a relationship type of girl. From what Ty says about Jared he wants a relationship. I’m not telling you to pick him because my boyfriend is best friends with the guy and would be kind of cool if we could double every once in a while. But he’s a good person, and so loyal. And I think you might be surprised if you decided to give him a chance.”
“Whoa. Slow your roll sis! He hasn’t asked me out. I’m not going to ask him out, and be laughed at. I’m just saying that I might see him as more than a football player. That’s a big might too.”
She nods. “Right. Look, I’d love to argue with you about this, but I kind of came in here for some help. Can you look this over and tell me if I did this correctly?” she hands me over her math homework.
I sigh and take a seat on my bed. “Sure.”
I review her homework and I can’t help but smile at her. She got all the problems correct. My sister is dyslexic in fact that’s kind of how she ended up with Tyler as her boyfriend. She wound up texting Tyler instead of her ex-boyfriend Adam’s new love interest who was apparently dating Adam at the same time as my sister. The funny thing is, Lay and Tyler couldn’t stand each other before the whole texting mix-up.
“How is it?” she asks with a nervousness threading her tone.
“You did awesome. It’s all right.”
“Really? Oh my gosh, yes. Ty found some techniques to try to help with my dyslexia and it’s been getting better.”
“That’s great. Who knew he could be good for yo
u?”
She elbows me. “Just like Jared could be good for you.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t start.”
“Fine. My lips are sealed.”
“His house is really creepy. Like you know how mom has all that love gushy crap leading to her office and that stack of pamphlets filled with total bullcrap?”
Layla nods. “Sure. What exactly did Jared’s house have in it that made it so weird? His dad doesn’t have their old jock straps in a frame, does he?”
For my sister to even think of something way more repulsive then what I’m about to tell her amazes me. It’s like the inner workings of Rachel has corrupted her brain. “Ewww! No. That’s completely disgusting.” I wrinkle my nose. “When you enter the house, the walls are like a total shrine of the past and working its way to the future. It’s not normal embarrassing baby photos, and gradually getting into family portraits and all the school year pics. Layla, it’s all football teams.” She shrugs. “No, it gets worse. Huge slogans are pasted on the walls, like all you see is football, trophies, and winners this … losers that phrases everywhere. I thought I was going to have to kiss a Super Bowl ring or something just to enter certain areas of the house.”
Layla makes a face. “Are you over exaggerating? That sounds awful. To be in that kind of environment every day.”
“I most definitely am not. Those phrases are on all the exits of the house. That’s all you see.”
She shakes her head. “That can’t be healthy.”
I shrug. “His room is strangely normal though. I mean not in the typical boy sense normal because he literally had no pictures of girls in their bikinis on his walls or anything. But, he also didn’t have any of those slogans slapped on them either. Or a single picture of him and his friends. It’s almost like it’s not his room.”
Layla gets up from my bed and smiles. “If Mom did that to our house would you want to stay in your room either?”
“No.”
“Exactly. I think his walls being empty of models and crap phrases is a good thing.”
I shrug. “Yeah. You’re right.”
She flips her hair from her shoulder. “Of course, I’m right. So, you know the dance is in a few weeks, are you going?”
Way to kill my delighted mood. I glower. “No. I have no intention of going either so do not try to find me a pity date.”
Layla frowns. “It won’t be like the last dance. You had lots of fun until you know. That thing with Mark went down.”
“You mean the part where he was lip-locked with Selena in front of most of the school. It’s kind of hard not to be bummed out after your boyfriend is caught kissing another girl.”
“Yes, I know. But I promise it won’t be like that.”
“It kind of will though. They’re together. They’re probably going to the dance. He’ll probably be making out with her during the slow songs or whatever. Seeing that at school makes me sick enough. I don’t want to witness it at the Valentine’s Day dance.”
“I get it,” she says. She grabs her homework from me and smiles. “Thanks for looking this over. You’re the best you know that, right?”
“Yep. You are too.”
She takes some steps toward the door. “Goodnight, Juliet.”
I smile at her. “Night, sis.”
Once she leaves my mind floods with thoughts of Jared all over again. This is going to be a long weekend.
Chapter Twenty
Jared
Juliet isn’t at school on Monday. At least she misses the first three classes we have. I’m rounding the corner and bump right into her twin Layla. “Hey, where’s Juliet?” I ask.
Layla smirks at me as if she knows a secret or something. “My, my, aren’t we curious?”
“I might be. Where is she?”
“She had an appointment this morning.”
“What kind?”
She quirks a brow. “You’ll have to ask her when you see her. But don’t be surprised if she doesn’t tell you.”
“Oh?”
“Jared, you seem to want to know an awful lot about my sister. In one of your drunken moments at Tyler’s, you admitted to being in love with her.”
I pale at that. Shit. “Relax,” Layla says. “She doesn’t know. But if you really want to win her over, you have to do it through things she loves. Books, chivalry, video games, and she loves new trails to drive her Wrangler on.” She slaps my chest then smiles. “So, get to it. But for the love of all things holy, stop sending her love-grams. It’s definitely not her style.”
“Wait. You knew it was from me?”
“Yeah. Rachel saw you getting some and she hinted she wanted one but got some from some other people. Juliet has been getting a lot of them from someone named SA. She magically assumed they were from Mark, hence why he got nailed in the head with them. Then there were the little mementos on her locker. I knew it was from you. No one would be able to get into school that early enough to do that.”
I drop my gaze. “She freaking hated it.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. Just because our last name is Valentine doesn’t mean we automatically love all Valentine’s Day things. That especially applies to my sister. It’s not her thing. Even before Mark, she loathed the holiday. Mine, yes. Juliet is more low-key laid back. Anonymous notes freak her out.”
I didn’t think it was possible to feel even more like shit than I do but damn I was wrong. I’m swimming at the bottom of the barrel. “Shit. Okay. So how do I fix it? Obviously, I can’t send that crap. I also can’t leave her notes in her locker. That apparently freaks her out.”
“Just bring it up in conversation. You sit beside her in a few classes. Just casually mention hey have you been on this trail before?”
I nod. “I can do that. Any other tips?”
“I’ll think of some more and let you know. Better hurry, the bell is about to ring. We don’t want people talking and spreading stupid rumors if they catch us in the halls together.”
It’s true. People here are like the future paparazzi in the making. Not that Tyler would believe a word of whatever shit they’d try to spin. Still, I don’t need the wrong piece of information landing at my dad’s office.
“Good call. Thanks,” I say.
She nods. “I’m only doing this because I think you would be good for her.”
“I am good for her.”
We part ways. The bell rings just as I reenter English and I snatch up my bag then head to my next class.
Juliet is sitting in her assigned seat in history. I slide into mine which is right next to hers. “I missed you in Chem today,” I note. Also in advanced Computers and English, but I’m not going to say that.
“I’m sure you managed fine without me.”
I don’t respond to that. “Where have you been most of the day?” I am starting to sound like an overly-jealous whiney boyfriend. I might be a little jealous of whoever got to spend all that time with her. I’m not whiney though, or her boyfriend. Not yet, anyway.
“What are you, my keeper now?” I flinch at her words, and she blushes. “I’m sorry. I just … this is not my best morning.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry I asked.” I shift my attention to the whiteboard but hear Juliet’s deep sigh. I won’t say anything more to her this morning. She’s obviously in a grumpy mood. I don’t even want to think about why.
“I wasn’t allowed to ditch school like I do every year for the past three years.” I must have a confused look on my face when I return my attention back to her because she squishes her eyes close then mutters, “Today is my dad’s birthday. I know it’s ridiculous I just can’t believe he’s gone. In March, it will be four years. Usually, my mom lets Layla and me take the day off but this year she said we could only take part of the morning off and we better have our butts in school the rest of the day.”
I glance at her. “That’s not ridiculous. It’s your dad and you miss him. Why did your mom decide not to let you ditch today?”
&nb
sp; “I don’t know. Probably because she started dating Evan over the holidays. Lay had a test in her third-period class so she returned before I did.”
I nod. “That sucks. I remember he used to help make the sock puppets for the spooky Halloween party in Mrs. Needlemen’s class.”
Juliet laughs. “Yeah. Those things were so not spooky either. I think they just made kids laugh.”
No one really talks about Juliet and Layla’s dad passing away. I think he had a rare heart condition, but his death came as a shock. The man seemed super healthy, people here swear he never drank, smoke, and he always ran five miles every day. One day on his run he just collapsed. I guess by the time he got to the hospital though it was too late.
“I thought they were pretty cool,” I say which earns me a smile.
“Me too.”
I want to say something more, but our teacher Mr. Olsen taps the edge of his desk with his pointer. This draws everyone’s attention. “Class, I need everyone to quiet down, sit in your seats, we’re about to discuss some exciting facts about the Revolutionary War,” he says.
The whole class myself included groans. “Now, now, there is no need for all that. This is our history people.”
“It’s also kind of useless unless you’re on Jeopardy or plan on teaching it,” I mumbled to Juliet.
She snickers. “It’s not so bad.”
“Dude! Are you finally going to ask her out?” Tyler says to me as I approach the lunch table.
I sit down. “Not yet.”
“Who are you asking out?” Austin chimes as he sets his lunch tray down beside me.
“Your mom,” I answer.
Austin scowls. “Shut up, jackass! That’s not even funny.”
“Don’t frown, Austin. Jared here already nailed her twice while you were at practice,” Tyler jokes.
Austin rises from the table. “Again, not freaking playing around. Shut the hell up!”
Right Kiss Wrong Guy (Offsides #2) Page 9