The Importance of Getting Revenge

by Amanda Abram

  “Oh,” I said, clearing my throat. “I'll have a double cheeseburger with extra cheese and no onions, a medium fry, a large Coke, and I'll also take two of those apple pie thingys. ”

  My order was followed up by silence. Both Kylie and Jase were glancing at me as though I had just sprouted a third eye. I guess they were expecting me to order just a water or something.

  Kylie rang up our order and Jase paid for it, then he and I stepped aside as we waited for our food. In the meantime, Kylie kept sneaking glances over at us and blushing every time Jase smiled over at her, and I kept desperately trying to keep bile from rising up into my throat.

  As soon as we got our food, we headed for the nearest booth and sat down. Amazingly enough, Jase didn't choose a booth that still provided us with a glimpse of Kylie. Instead, he chose one that was located at the very back of the restaurant, away from everyone else.

  The first thing I did upon sitting down was reach into my pocket to get my wallet. I took out a handful of ones, about nine bucks, and plopped them onto Jase's tray.

  “What's that?” he asked.

  “That's the money for my food,” I replied.

  Jase shook his head as he gathered up the bills and tossed them back at me. “It's my treat.”

  “You don't have to pay for me.” I pushed the bills back toward him. This time, he stopped me halfway by placing his hand over mine.

  Instantly, my hand jerked away, leaving the money remaining right where it was. He gave me a strange look before pushing the money back to me. “I'm your boyfriend. Boyfriends pay for stuff like this.”

  I arched a brow as I glanced down at the table. “They do?”

  At first, Jase said nothing. But then I glanced up and saw him staring over at me with an incredulous look on his face. “Please tell me Jeffrey used to pay for your dates.”

  “Um...” I tried racking my brain real quick, trying to think of at least one instance where Jeffrey paid in full for any of our dates, without me chipping in. And oh my God, I couldn't think of one. “Usually we'd split everything evenly.”

  “Wow,” Jase breathed. He shook his head solemnly as he began to unwrap his burger. He stopped halfway through and seemed to lose interest as he said to me, “I feel sorry for you.”

  I wasn't expecting that. “Why would you feel sorry for me?”

  “Because.” There was no longer any trace of humor anywhere on his face. “That loser is the only boyfriend you've ever had and he's given you this false idea of what a real boyfriend is.”

  “Real boyfriend?” I echoed.

  “Yeah, a real boyfriend. A real boyfriend pays for dates. A real boyfriend doesn't ignore you at school and hang out with his friends instead. A real boyfriend gives you compliments and tells you that you're beautiful. A real boyfriend doesn't dump you for some girl he doesn't even know, after you've given him three years of your life. You let that guy get away with too much, and he never once thought it would be a good idea to show you how grateful he was to have you. And that's why I feel sorry for you.”

  Wow. That was almost as good as a slap across the face. I always knew Jeffrey wasn't model boyfriend material, but I had no idea other people were aware of it. And it was a bit unnerving that Jase had made some of those observations about our relationship, especially since I hadn't necessarily made them myself. Or if I had, I had chosen to ignore them.

  “Huh.” I stared blankly down at my food. I was speechless.

  “Lex,” Jase began, his voice sounding apologetic, “I didn't mean to—”

  “No,” I said, glancing back up at him. “It's okay. I mean, you're right. Jeffrey was a lousy boyfriend, and I don't know what it's like to have a real one.”

  Slowly, I began to unwrap my own burger. For a few minutes we ate in complete silence, until finally Jase spoke up.

  “I guess there's something else you'll be getting out of all of this.”

  I glanced over at him, confused. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”

  A slow smirk began to form on his face. A devious smirk. “For the remainder of our relationship, I'm going to show you what it's like to have a real boyfriend.”

  I thought about it for a second. “Wait, so my fake boyfriend is going to show me what it's like to have a real boyfriend?”

  Nodding his head, he said in a serious voice, “Yes I am. I'm going to show you what you've been missing out on for the past three years. Starting with the party tonight.”

  My chuckling subsided as a funny feeling entered the pit of my stomach. Something about what he had just said made me think I should be afraid.

  Very afraid.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You should wear something sexier,” said my soon-to-be-disowned best friend, who was getting on my last nerve.

  We'd been up in her room for over an hour getting ready for the party and during that hour, I had endured suggestions from her such as, “You should wear more makeup,” and “You should wear your hair like this instead”, and “Oh...you're wearing green? Pink is so much more your color.” By seven o'clock I was about ready to either scream, or slap Trish across the face. Or both.

  But I did neither. It took me exactly ten minutes to get ready, and the other fifty minutes were spent reading an issue of Seventeen magazine while Trish tried on about thirteen different outfits—since for some reason she had decided not to wear what she had bought earlier at the mall.

  “You don't even want to go to this party.” I flipped to the last page of the magazine and then tossed it onto her pillow. “So why are you trying so hard to look good for it?”

  Trish popped her head out of her closet. “Because all of the cool kids are going to be at this party. Plus, I hear Zach has friends in college. College, Lexi! And most likely, some of them will be there!”

  With a groan, I shook my head back and forth in disappointment. Trish did not like high school boys, and said she would never date another one. She somehow got it in her head that college boys were so much more mature than high school ones, even though they were only one or two years older than we were. In my opinion, college guys were even worse.

  And I was about to tell her that, but a sudden knock on her bedroom door interrupted me.

  “Are you guys almost ready?” came Jase's annoyed voice from the other side.

  I heard an exasperated sigh coming from the closet and, poking her head out again, Trish said, “Will you please go keep your fake boyfriend company while I finish getting ready so he'll leave me alone?”

  “Gladly,” I muttered under my breath. I jumped off the bed and headed for the door. “But honestly, Trish, you look fine already.”

  “Fine?” she squealed. “I cannot just look 'fine', I have to look fine! As in, 'look-at-that-hot-chick-she-is-so-fine' fine!”

  “Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. I threw open the door to find Jase leaning up against the wall next to the bedroom. He straightened up when he saw me emerge and looked somewhat relieved until he saw me shut the door without Trish right behind me.

  “She still isn't ready?”

  “Nope.”

  With a groan, he proceeded to bang the back of his head up against the wall. “What is it with women taking half a day to get ready to go out?”

  “Um, excuse me?” I placed my hands on my hips. “I do not take 'half a day' to get ready.”

  He nodded. “I know. Obviously I was excluding you. You're an anomaly.” He reached over and grabbed a strand of my hair and gently tugged on it in a very older-brotherly kind of way.

  I quickly brushed his hand away and glared at him. “Don't touch my hair. It took me two minutes to get it to look this way.”

  Jase chuckled and shook his head. “You're something else. I mean, Trish has essentially been getting ready for this party since this afternoon, and you just throw on a shirt and a pair of jeans, run a brush through your hair and call it good. And this will actually work to my advantage tonight, because it will show Kylie that I don't just date girls for their
looks.”

  Talk about a backhanded compliment. Although, I wasn't even sure there had been an actual compliment involved with that. I think it might have simply been backhanded.

  He must have realized what he said and how it had sounded because his eyes instantly widened as he attempted to save himself. “Wait, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was—”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I interrupted with a dismissive wave of my hand. “I know what you meant to say.” Although his comment hurt a little, it reeked of absolute truth. I mean, Jase was good-looking and popular. He could have whatever girl he wanted. And let's face it. While I certainly was not hit with the ugly stick, I also wasn't the type of girl popular gorgeous guys usually fell for.

  “So what's our plan for tonight, anyway?” I asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

  He still looked apologetic as he shrugged. “I thought I would leave that up to you.”

  “Me? But it was your idea to go to this stupid party, so you're supposed to be the one with the plan.”

  With an agitated sigh, Jase glanced over at me and said, “The general plan is for us to act like a couple at a high school party, which would include such activities as talking, dancing, flirting and kissing. But as to how much we do of each, I'm leaving that all up to you. I don't want us to do anything that's going to make you uncomfortable.”

  “Aw, that's sweet,” I said mockingly, moving so I was standing directly in front of him. “But you should know it's not all that easy to make me feel uncomfortable. I'm not as sweet and innocent as you may think.” Reaching out my hand, I lightly traced a fingernail down the length of his arm with a devious grin on my face.

  I was more than pleased when one of Jase's eyebrows shot up in what looked to be surprise. However, that surprise was short-lived as his own hands reached out and grabbed my arms and before I knew it, he was spinning me around and pressing me up against the wall with his body.

  I gulped as I felt the wall hit my back and Jase's chest hit my front. Clasping each of my hands with his own, he pinned them to the wall on either side of my head and leaned his face in close to mine.

  “Is that so?” he asked in a challenging voice. His breath was tickling my cheek, and the tickling of my cheek was sending chills down my spine. Perhaps I had spoken way too soon, because this was certainly anything but comfortable.

  “So you mean to tell me this doesn't make you uncomfortable?”

  Since I was pretty much incapable of speaking at the moment, I just shook my head in response. I was such a liar, and he probably knew that. His chest was firmly pressed up against mine, so I was sure he could feel just how quickly my heart was beating. After all, it was practically leaping out of my chest.

  “Good.” He released my hands from his grip. He pulled back just enough so our bodies were no longer touching, but so that he was still occupying a good ninety percent of my personal space. “Because what just transpired here is exactly what needs to happen in front of Kylie and Jeffrey tonight, and I would hate for it to be obvious that it's all fake because you look awkward and uncomfortable.”

  “Nah, I'll be fine.” My voice came out as a squeak, revealing just how much of a liar I was.

  Jase grinned as the door to Trish’s bedroom opened up.

  “Eww, we aren't even at the party yet.” She scrunched up her face in disgust. “Jase, step away from my BFF, please.”

  He took a step back, removing himself from me completely. “You'd better get used to this, Trish, because your 'BFF' and I are madly in love, and people who are madly in love tend to engage in public displays of affection. Even if one of their siblings is standing nearby. So get over it.”

  I couldn't help but snicker at that. Trish just shook her head in annoyance and turned to me. “Are you ready to go?”

  As soon as I nodded in response, Jase took off for the stairs. But when Trish proceeded to ask me, “Are you sure you don't want to change into something cuter?” he turned back around and practically growled at her.

  “Lex looks perfectly fine, sister dear. Now can we please get going? Some of us actually want to go to this party before it's over.”

  Trish flipped him off. “If you're in such a hurry then go start the car. We'll be right out.”

  Jase muttered something under his breath that neither of us could hear before descending the stairs. A couple of seconds later we heard the front door open and then slam shut.

  “Ugh, I'm so sorry you're stuck having to pretend to like that moron,” she mumbled as we started down the stairs ourselves.

  “Actually, he's not all that bad.”

  Trish stopped dead in her tracks at my statement and stared over at me.

  “What?”

  “Lexi,” she said in a stern voice, “don't you dare even think about falling for my brother!”

  I studied her for a moment, trying to determine whether or not she was being serious. When I found no trace of humor anywhere in her somewhat distraught expression, I figured she was being serious, but I burst out laughing anyway.

  “Trish, chill out. Me falling for Jase is about as likely as me giving up fried food for the rest of my life. In other words, it's never going to happen.”

  “Sure, you say that now, but I know my brother. He's a charmer and he has unintentionally made girls fall for him before with only a simple smile. And once you start making comments like 'he's not all that bad', it indicates you're losing sight of what this really is, which is strictly a plan to get revenge on your ex-boyfriend and nothing more.”

  “I know exactly what this is. I'm not going to forget that, and I'm not going to fall for your brother. Sheesh, get a grip.”

  “I know, I'm sorry,” Trish said with a sigh. “I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all. Jase has had the hots for Kylie for quite a while now, and the last thing I want to happen is for you to fall for someone who won't return your feelings, because you don't deserve that.”

  I had the sudden urge to hug Trish, so that's exactly what I did. “Don't worry. After this whole thing with Jeffrey, I don't think I'll be falling for anyone for a long time.”

  “Good.” She pulled away and gave me a huge grin. “Now let's go to that party and piss him off.”

  I returned her grin with one of my own as she laced her arm through one of mine and led me out the front door.

  Trish was a hoot. Thinking I could possibly fall for Jase? Hilarious. If she ever decided to become a stand-up comedienne, I would totally suggest to her that she start her act every night with that joke.

  ***

  The party was already in full swing by the time the three of us arrived, much to Jase's annoyance. Even though the party had probably only started less than a half an hour prior to our arrival, he was acting as though he'd almost missed the whole thing. Meanwhile, Trish seemed annoyed as well, but probably only because she was somewhere she really didn't want to be.

  As for me, I was surprisingly in a good mood. This was my first-ever official high school party, and I had to admit it was pretty cool. Everywhere I looked there was a popular kid either dancing, drinking beer, or making out with another popular kid—and we hadn’t even made it inside yet.

  “Oh look, there's Lucy!” Trish exclaimed, pointing to a petite brunette girl talking to some other kids near the front porch. Lucy was some girl Trish knew from Drama class. “I'm gonna go say hi and leave you two alone.” She rushed off before either Jase or I could even say goodbye to her.

  “That's the last we'll see of her tonight,” Jase mumbled. Turning to me, he added, “But that's probably a good thing. I don't think she'd be able to handle our inevitable displays of affection toward one another.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed as we began to wade through the crowd of people in the foyer. “So what's first, lover boy?”

  “First we should find Kylie.”

  “Or Jeffrey,” I added.

  “Right,” he said with a short nod. “Or Jeffrey. And then from there, we should just let things
naturally progress. We shouldn't plan anything specific, or else it might seemed too forced. Know what I mean?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied with a nod.

  It took us only ten seconds from that moment to find Kylie—or, more accurately, for Kylie to find us. And when she zeroed in on our location, she bounced over to us with impressive speed.

  “Hey guys!” she yelled. She had to yell, or else we wouldn't have heard her.

  “Hey!” Jase yelled back. That lovesick look of his that he always got when he was around Kylie immediately surfaced and I silently cursed him for being so obvious.

  But apparently, he was only obvious to me, because Kylie gave no indication she'd noticed him visibly pining for her. “I was starting to think you two weren't going to make it.”

  “Yeah, well, you know me,” Jase said, flashing her a wicked grin. “I always have to be fashionably late. Otherwise I risk appearing too eager.”

  Kylie giggled. “You're just in time for a game of Spin the Bottle, if you want to join.”

  My eyes narrowed at the mention of Spin the Bottle. Who in their mid-to-late teens still played that? It was so juvenile, and I was sure Jase would think so too. Although why I thought that was beyond me, because obviously Kylie was going to play it, which meant Jase was going to play it too.

  “Yeah, that sounds great,” Jase said, causing me to groan inwardly. “Lex and I will both join.”

  “Uh, I'm not joining anything.”

  “Oh, come on, sweetie.” Jase casually draped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “If we're lucky, maybe our spins will land on each other!”

  Kylie giggled again and I almost gagged. There was no way in hell I was going to play that stupid game at a Zach O'Connor party. It was highly possible the rules to the game were different there, and instead of kissing whomever your bottle landed on, you'd have to have sex with them in a closet or something. There was nobody at that party I would be willing to do that with.

  “No thanks.” I tried pushing him away, but to no avail. The boy was strong. He was into sports, after all. But I knew fighting would be futile, so with a heavy sigh, I gave in.