Hidden Gem
Page 13
“I’ll take the far back,” Lucas said as he climbed into the car then jumped over the backseat, plopping himself down in the trunk. The girls laughed as they climbed into the remaining seats.
“We’re going to go to Agata’s,” Madison announced. “It’s Lucas’s favorite and since he’s sitting in the trunk, I think it’s the least we can do for him.”
“I can’t eat carbs!” Leah cried.
“So hold the pizza to your face and scrape the cheese off with your teeth,” Jillian said. “It’s not like we haven’t seen you do that before.” Gemma snorted and looked in the rearview mirror to see Leah’s reaction. Instead, she caught Lucas looking at her. He quickly lowered his eyes.
“Oh that’s such a good idea,” Kate said. “Do you think I can have them just give me a bowl of melted cheese?”
“Please don’t embarrass me,” Madison wrinkled her nose. Kate and Leah sighed in disgust.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Leah said.
“Yeah,” Kate chimed in. “Miss Perfect and Boobs McGee.”
“Oh stop,” Madison said, a small smile on her face. “I’m far from perfect. My dance instructor keeps telling me I need to lose weight.”
“This isn’t ballet world,” Leah rolled her eyes.
“If it was, I’d just go ahead and off myself. Dancers have the best bodies,” Kate sighed. “I wish I didn’t quit ballet when I was ten. I want to dance like Queen Bee.”
“She was amazing,” Jillian breathed, leaning towards Madison in the driver’s seat. “They say she didn’t even have formal training. Is that possible?”
“It’s possible,” Madison shrugged. “But trained dancers can probably see she’s not very good. Like in Black Swan, I couldn’t believe people thought Natalie Portman was actually doing the dancing.”
Leah shrugged. “Who cares? Queen Bee was hot.”
“So hot Tyler Chase fell in love without seeing her face. I can’t believe what happened in L.A!” Kate groaned. “I wish we were at that concert.”
At the pizzeria, Leah and Kate stayed true to their carb-free life and peeled the cheese off, discarding the crusts. Madison opted for a gluten-free, vegan slice while Jillian, Gemma and Luke decided to share a pepperoni pie.
“So,” Madison said as she nibbled on a piece of green pepper, leaning into Lucas. “We need to get Leah and Kate prom dates so we can all go to senior prom together. Can you help us, honey?”
“I can definitely try,” Lucas said. “How about Gemma?” he asked as he took a bite into his pizza. Madison raised her eyebrows.
“What do you mean?” Madison asked, eyes on Gemma. Gemma shifted uncomfortably.
“Since you didn’t ask me to find Gemma one. Do you already have a date?” Lucas looked at Gemma too. The entire table looked at her.
“No,” Gemma said. “I’m not sure who’d ask me.”
“I just assumed you’d be going with Damian,” Kate said with concern. “Did something happen between you guys?”
Gemma suddenly realized that she hadn’t heard from Damian since the fight in the locker room. Her phone was constantly dying on tour, so while she didn’t receive any texts from him, she reasoned that he could very well have called while her phone was out of battery. “It’s just that he didn’t officially ask me and I don’t just want to assume that he’d take me when he could take someone who’s not just a friend,” Gemma explained. The table went quiet. Gemma’s eyes darted around. “What?”
“Weren’t you guys going out this whole time?” Lucas asked. Madison shot Lucas a look while Gemma’s lips quivered, trying to formulate an answer. Thankfully, Kate spotted her discomfort.
“They were whatever they were, right Gemma?” she winked. “Or are? They could still be something, who knows? Gemma’s always been the mysterious one.”
“Seriously,” Lucas let out a small laugh and looked down at his plate with a vague smile. “There’s no figuring you out.” Madison smiled, but not before Gemma caught the microsecond of a scowl.
“Gem, honey, don’t worry. We’ll find you a date. I’m sure Matt would’ve been interested, but I couldn’t do that to you after everything that’s happened,” Madison said with an exaggerated cringe. “I’m sure someone is willing to go with you though.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t need our help,” Lucas said before taking a big bite of his slice. Madison turned to him.
“Why do you say that, Lucas? You don’t want to help our friend?” she asked icily.
“No, I mean I’m sure she’ll do fine on her own,” Lucas said, sensing Madison’s displeasure. The answer still didn’t seem to satisfy her. “Or you could ask Gavin, you know? Not to be your date, obviously, but to help you find someone. That’s what I meant.”
“Don’t help us too much though, Lucas,” Leah said, polishing off some stringy cheese and wiping her mouth to reapply lip-gloss. “I want Gavin to come to his senses and ask me out on his own, now that he knows Kylie’s a complete bitch-slut-whore.”
“And that you’re such a lady,” Jillian said.
The group laughed and Gemma sighed in relief as the attention on her faded away. With a heavy heart, she watched as Lucas’s attention left her as well. Once again, he was focused on Madison’s elegant ballerina arms, reaching around his broad shoulders. He leaned in to kiss Madison, clearly forgetting that anyone else was around.
~
“I missed you!” Gemma squealed, throwing her arms around Damian as he lifted her off the ground and pulled her into his house. He laughed and set her down on his couch, sidling up beside her. His father had put the autographed basketball Gemma had given him into a glass case next to the couch. She laughed. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring you anything back from London.”
“Are you kidding? I’m set. Those tickets you gave me were amazing,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “Knicks won and we were so close to the court. Pretty sure I got sweat flung on me at some point, no big deal.”
Gemma laughed, hooking her arm through Damian’s and leaning onto his shoulder. He got quiet and tensed up.
“Anything to catch me up on?” Gemma asked.
“Not really,” he sighed. “Everything’s same as always. The rumors died down and people stopped talking about the fight if that’s what you’re asking. Matt got suspended like he does every marking period and well, no one thought to suspend a good kid like me.”
“I wasn’t really asking that. But I’m glad to hear it. Did you miss me while I was gone?”
“Of course.”
“I sort of thought, maybe you were mad at me after everything,” Gemma said, softly. Damian put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, kissing her on the top of the head.
“No. I just had a lot to think about after the fight. People started rumors that I was mad because Matt told me you were cheating on me with Lucas. Which is crazy of course, because we weren’t actually dating,” Damian sighed. Gemma felt guilt ride heavily on her heart. She sat up and looked at him.
“Why aren’t we dating?” she asked. Damian squinted at her.
“What do you mean?”
“Why aren’t we actually dating?”
“Because…” Damian searched his head for the millions of reasons he knew there were for why they weren’t a couple. Gemma smiled as she watched him think. At the moment, she could barely understand why they weren’t dating either. Damian was truly the best friend she ever had. She hadn’t been able to see it early on, but as time passed, it was becoming more and more obvious. “Well I can’t think of anything right now, but I’m pretty sure we had a reason.” Damian laughed.
“So if we can’t remember what it was, what’s stopping us now?” Gemma asked. It was as if a light had switched in her head and she could suddenly see. Damian was sexy, sweet, interesting, and so faithful that it made her tear up a little. She couldn’t imagine another boy being there for her the way he was.
She watched with amusement as his face went from surprised to puzzled, then finally,
happy. Seemingly the happiest she had seen him. He shrugged and pulled her in on top of his broad and muscular chest until they were both lying across the couch. Gemma smiled coquettishly. She liked seeing Damian’s confidence waver as he shyly watched her, wondering what she would do next. She leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Damian easily wrapped his arms around her small waist as they rolled off the couch and onto the carpeted floor, giggling between their kisses.
POOR, HEARTBROKEN, SEXY TYLER CHASE