by Amanda Abram
Crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes down at me, he said, “Is that so? And what rules would those be?”
“For starters, you need to stop having friendly one-on-one conversations with the prettiest girl in the school. You're supposed to be my boyfriend. You're supposed to be madly in love with me. People will start to get suspicious as to why you're spending all of your time drooling over her instead of your girlfriend.”
Jase sighed and stared up at the sky. “Relax, Turner. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Look, Jase, I know you're just aching to get into Kylie's pants, but you don't have to make it so obvious to the entire world.”
He returned his gaze to me then and scowled. “If I make my attraction to Kylie less obvious, do you promise to do the same with Jeffrey?”
Placing my hands on my hips, I glared up at him. “We've been over this a hundred times now, Jase. I have no remaining attraction to Jeffrey.”
“Yeah, right.” He paused for a moment. “Okay, fine. I will abide by your new rule, under one condition.”
I really didn't like the sound of that. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”
“The next time we're about to kiss, you can't run away like a scared little girl.”
I gulped. I'd been hoping he'd forgotten all about that. “I didn't run away like a scared little girl.”
“I've never seen somebody jump out of a car so quickly in my life,” he said with a chuckle. “Why are you afraid to kiss me?”
“I'm not afraid to kiss you,” I denied. “I'm just afraid that things are going to be awkward between us afterward.”
“The only way it would be awkward is if one of us had romantic feelings for the other. I don't have romantic feelings for you, obviously. And I'm guessing you don't have romantic feelings for me, seeing as though you're still devoting all those feeling to your ex— ”
He stopped talking when he saw the death glare his words had elicited from me. “Sorry,” he mumbled, not sounding sorry at all. “Like I said, actors kiss all the time in movies, and I'll bet they don't feel awkward afterward. And neither should you. Unless you're afraid that a kiss will make you fall for me...”
I snorted a little more forcefully than I should have. “That's hilarious, Jase. Really. I'm not worried about that either, I just...” I realized I didn't really know why I was so afraid to kiss him. We weren't talking about a make-out session. We weren't even talking about tongue action...at least, I assumed we weren't. Just a simple kiss. His lips touching mine. No big deal.
Sighing in defeat, I finally said, “Okay, I promise I won't run away next time.”
He smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. His moodiness seemed to have disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. “Great. Then it's a deal.”
He held out his hand for us to shake on it. As soon as my hand touched his, he tightened his grip and yanked me forward. Before I even knew what was happening, before I even had a chance to protest, he firmly pressed his lips to mine. It was quick. So quick, I almost wasn't even sure it actually happened; the slight tingle of my lips was the only indication anything had taken place. As soon as he pulled away, he let go of my hand.
The initial shock quickly wore off and I glared over at him. “What the hell?”
He shrugged. “Consider that our practice run. I didn't want our first time to be in front of our intended audience.”
Absentmindedly, I brought a hand up to my lips and rubbed them lightly. Why the heck were they still tingling? Oh my God. Could I have just had a stroke? Or maybe an allergic reaction to my lipgloss? Yeah, that was probably it. I made a mental note to throw it away later.
Jase eyed me as I desperately searched my brain for something to say. When I came up with nothing, he said, “See? That wasn't awkward at all.”
“Not awkward at all,” I agreed, hoping my voice didn't give away the lie. “Well, I should go find Trish.” Which in my language translated into, “I should go find some place nice and private to curl up into a fetal position and try to erase the memory of what just happened.”
Jase, though, apparently didn't speak my language. “Yeah, and I should go find Eric. See you at lunch?”
With any luck, the earth would have swallowed me up by then. “Yup. And Trish will be joining us this afternoon.”
Jase groaned. “Wonderful. Because, you know, I just love watching all of my friends hit on my sister.”
“At least they're not hitting on me,” I pointed out. “Otherwise you'd have to pretend to be jealous.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose.”
And then we stood there in complete silence for what felt like three hours, when it was probably more like only five seconds.
“Well,” I said, finally breaking the ice. “Bye.” And with that, I turned on my heel and headed in the opposite direction as fast as my feet could carry me.
For the first time since I had started devising this plan in my head, I was beginning to think the whole thing was a really bad idea.
***
By lunchtime, I was considering asking Trish to drive me to the nearest emergency room.
I could still feel that weird tingling sensation in my lips, and it was beginning to worry me. So when the lunch bell rang, I immediately ran to the girls' room to check myself out in the mirror. I needed to see if perhaps my lips were swollen, or if they had turned blue. I was relieved to see they still looked perfectly normal, but that did little to ease my mind. Something was definitely wrong.
I was making faces in the mirror when the bathroom door opened, and when I saw Kylie walk in, I promptly stopped and proceeded to blush at her reflection in the mirror.
She glanced at me kinda funny, but smiled. Not a condescending, omigod-you're-so-weird-and-I'm-so-much-better-than-you smile, but a genuinely curious smile. “Hey,” she said, stopping to stand right next to me. She looked at herself in the mirror and flipped her hair around a few times before glancing at my reflection.
“Hello,” I returned her greeting as calmly as possible.
“So...” she said, sounding pretty cool herself. “You and Jase, huh?”
I almost said, “Me and Jase what?” but then I realized she was referring to the fact we were together.
“Yeah.” I plastered a huge, dreamy grin onto my face.
“That's cool. You two look totally cute together.”
I blinked in surprise. Me and Jase? Cute together? Hardly. But I figured she was just trying to be polite, so I said, “Thanks.”
She nodded as she reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of mascara. “I have to admit, though, it seems a little weird to me.”
Uh-oh. She'd caught onto our plan, hadn't she? Or maybe Eric had told her. Oh man, Jase was going to kill Eric if he'd ruined this for him...
“How so?” I asked with total nonchalance.
She shrugged and began applying the mascara to her lashes. “I dunno. I guess you just don't really seem to be the type of girl he normally goes for.”
She was right. I wasn't the type of girl Jase went for. I had never seen him date one brunette girl, one flat-chested girl, or one girl that was anything less than beautiful. It made perfect sense Kylie would be confused by the fact he was dating me when he could have had any girl he wanted.
“Well, you know what they say: tastes change.” It was the only explanation I could come up with in such short notice.
“I suppose. It's just...I mean, I've never really seen you two even talk to each other.”
I glanced down at the sink in front of me. “Well, his sister is my best friend, so Jase and I pretty much grew up together. I've known him practically my whole life.”
“Oh.” Her softly sweet voice now had a hard edge to it. She threw the tube of mascara back into her purse. “Well, that's great. Jase is an awesome guy. You're a lucky girl.”
“I know.” I studied her in the mirror as she fumbled around in her purse. She had a frown on her face now, and I had a feeling it had something
to do with our conversation.
But it vanished by the time she glanced back up at me, and was replaced by a wide smile. “See you later, Lexi!”
I watched with a frown of my own as she left the girls' room. It appeared as though the plan was working for at least one of us. I knew jealousy when I saw it, and I had just seen it on Kylie's face and heard it in her voice.
So. There was a good chance Jase was going to get what he wanted out of our deal. Now, if only I was going to be that lucky.
Chapter Thirteen
So there I was, sitting at a table occupied by six popular jocks. Five of them were simultaneously ogling Trish, and the only one who wasn't (Jase) was busy inconspicuously ogling Kylie at the next table over. Nobody was ogling me, because apparently chopped liver was not pleasing to the eye.
And speaking of Jase, I hadn't yet told him about my encounter with Kylie in the girls' room before lunch, and I was seriously considering never telling him. He was totally going to blow this whole thing for me. What kind of “boyfriend” spends an entire lunch period gawking at another girl? If it was obvious to me, it was probably obvious to anyone who bothered to take notice. When Jase looked at Kylie, the expression on his face clearly read, “Have my babies, please.” Frankly, it was bordering on pathetic.
But the worst part of it all was that our little scheme had already started working on Kylie, whereas I had absolutely no idea what kind of effect it had on Jeffrey. But considering the swapping of spit I had witnessed between him and Amber-Lynne Rose right before entering the cafeteria, I was guessing my sad excuse for a relationship with Jase had little or no effect on him whatsoever.
I sighed deeply as I played with one of the fries on my plate and glanced over at Trish. She'd never been a fan of Jase's friends, and she had acted all put out by having to sit with them when I asked her to. But now that she was sitting at the table, she seemed to be enjoying herself. In fact, she was probably enjoying herself a little too much, engaging in a flirting contest with Cory that they both appeared to be winning. The other boys seemed amused by it, all except for Eric, who looked displeased with the whole exchange. I glanced over at Trish a few times myself and wondered just how dense she could be. It was obvious Eric was in love with her, but she was so oblivious to the fact. It bothered me. Eric was a bit of an annoying goofball, but he was a good guy. Which was a lot more than I could say about Cory, or any other guy at that table besides Jase. Yet Trish just had to flirt with one of the worst ones.
I felt a finger poke me in the ribs and I realized right away that the finger belonged to Jase, who had somehow managed to peel his gaze away from Kylie long enough to glance over at me.
“You okay?” he asked.
I blinked a couple of times before looking over at him. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“For starters,” he said, pointing at my uneaten fries, “there's fried food within your reaching distance and you haven't eaten it yet. So obviously, something is terribly wrong.”
I snickered and pushed the fries away from me. I loved fried food. It was pretty much my only vice. I just had no idea others had caught on.
He shrugged and reached over to grab some of my fries as I sat back in my chair, folding my arms across my chest. “Actually,” I said in a low voice, so the rest of the table could not hear, “I'm a little concerned that my boyfriend is falling for another woman.”
Jase narrowed his eyes at me as he finished chewing. “I've already told you, you have no reason to be jealous.”
“You know, if Kylie ever notices you drooling over her while you're supposedly in love with me, it's not exactly going to help prove to her that you're not the guy she thinks you are.”
Jase sighed and shook his head, slouching back in his chair. “I'm not 'drooling' over Kylie.”
“Maybe not literally, but if I was your real girlfriend, I wouldn't put up with this.” I paused for a moment, then added, “And as your fake one, I shouldn't put up with it, either.”
He sat up and leaned in close to me. Reaching over, he gently ran a hand through my hair and then rested it on the back of my neck. I swallowed hard at the feeling of his hand against my skin. It made me feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because I didn't mind it. At all.
His eyes sparkled as they gazed lovingly into mine. Damn, he was good. He had taken the look he'd just been giving Kylie, multiplied it by about ten, and then turned that look onto me. But then his gaze lowered slightly and lingered on my lips, and I stopped breathing. He wasn't actually considering kissing me, was he? Certainly not in front of a table full of his idiot friends, and certainly not without discussing it with me first...
I'll never know if that had been his intention or not, because before he could even make a move, an empty soda bottle came flying between us, hitting me on the shoulder.
“Hey!” I glowered over at Trish, who apparently had been the pitcher. “Watch it, skank.”
“No, you guys watch it,” she warned. “This school doesn't tolerate public displays of affection.”
“And neither does my gag reflex,” Cory piped up.
Jase smirked over at them and promptly moved away from me. “Sorry guys. I just can't help myself when I'm around her.”
The guys at the table simultaneously swooned, “Awwww!” with thick sarcasm, while Trish stared down at her food with disinterest.
“Trish,” I said, as the boys all went on to talk about something more interesting to them, “what's wrong?”
She glanced over at me and shrugged. “Nothing's wrong.” Her voice, however, indicated otherwise.
I frowned, but I didn't question her further, mainly because I knew better than to do so. Also, the bell rang before I had a chance to speak.
As everyone stood up from the table, Jase reached over and grabbed my hand. “So we're still on for the party tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trish lingering behind, most likely waiting for me, but I waved her away with my hand, mouthing “later” to her. Understanding that I wanted to stay behind to talk with her brother, she gave a short nod before stalking out of the cafeteria with the rest of Jase's friends trailing closely behind.
“Great,” Jase said with a grin. “Do you think we need to practice beforehand?”
Returning my attention to him, I asked, “Practice what?”
He stepped closer to me, so that our bodies were less than a half an inch apart, and leaned over to whisper in my ear, “I think you know.”
Of course I knew. He was referring to us practicing our kissing. But I also knew that he'd only asked to get an embarrassed reaction out of me.
I lightly pushed him away. “I'm not too worried. I know how to kiss.”
“Yeah,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows, “but do you know how to kiss me?”
“How hard could it be? I kissed Jeffrey tons of times, and you're not all that different from him.”
His eyes instantly darkened at the mention of Jeffrey's name, but their bright sparkle returned less than a second later when he said in a suggestive voice, “Oh believe me, Turner, you haven't been kissed until you've been kissed by me.”
I couldn't help but snort at that. “Are you forgetting that little kiss we shared earlier this morning? To be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that impressed with it.”
Jase chuckled. “That wasn't a real kiss. That was merely foreplay.”
Oh my God. I could feel myself begin to blush, and I silently cursed myself for being such a pansy when it came to the subject of sex. Granted, he wasn't referring to sex, just kissing, but still. He was Trish's older brother. The guy who used to treat me like a little sister before he stopped associating with me at all. Hearing him use words like “foreplay” was awkward, at best. And not to mention, it threatened to bring naughty thoughts to my head. Thoughts I really didn't want to have about Jase.
But the worst part about it was the way he was looking at me when he said it. The jerk knew it would fluster me, judging from the sma
ll smile that was beginning to form across his face.
“Well then,” I said confidently, folding my arms across my chest, “I must say, your foreplay is seriously lacking.”
Jase's smile turned into a playful smirk. “Watch it, Turner, or I'll prove you wrong—right here, right now.”
It was an empty threat. I knew it. He knew it. But to be on the safe side, I decided to change the subject.
“So...I had a chat with Kylie earlier,” I said slowly, watching his face as I spoke. I wanted to see the precise moment he lit up at the mention of her name. Seriously, it was like a switch had been flipped. One second, he was looking somewhat cocky. The next, he was looking like a lovesick puppy. I had to admit, it was pretty sweet.
“You did?” he asked eagerly. “Why didn't you mention it before?”
“Does it really matter when I mentioned it? Besides, I was going to tell you during lunch, but you were too busy burning holes through her with your eyes. I felt it would be rude to interrupt.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned forward in anticipation, waiting for me to elaborate. “Yeah? And? What did you talk about?”
“We talked about you, dummy. Why else would I have mentioned it?”
“You're being annoying. What did she say?”
I bit my lip as I recalled my conversation with her. “She said she thinks we make a cute couple. Although, she also said I deserve better, and I'm inclined to agree with her—”
“Lex,” he interjected through clenched teeth, “I swear to God, if you don't just tell me what she really said, I'm going to break up with you right now.”
Another empty threat. But time was running out before we had to get to class, so I decided it was time to be all serious and tell him the truth. “It's not so much what she said, but how she said it.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning she seemed kinda sad that I was your girlfriend.”
His eyebrows shot up at that. “Seriously? Like, on a scale of one to ten, how sad did she seem?”
I groaned and shook my head. “Jase, you're pathetic. You've dated how many girls in this school? I've never seen you so obsessed before. What makes Kylie different from all the rest?”