by Amanda Abram
“Right now is great,” I replied. I turned to Trish. “I'll call you later.” And then, turning to Jase I said, “And I will see you later.” I included a flirtatious wink at the end for good measure.
Finally, Jase's features softened, as he took a step closer to me. “You bet you will.” He looked over at Trish and warned, “You might want to look away.”
“Why?” she asked, but then realized exactly what he meant when he suddenly pulled me close, leaned over and kissed me.
It caught me by surprise, although in hindsight, I don't know why it would have. It was the perfect opportunity for us. Jeffrey was standing right there watching, and Jase owed me for the night before. And boy, did he pay me back. Even though it lasted no more than five seconds, and wasn't particularly passionate, it was perfect for the situation. Soft. Sweet.
It almost felt sincere.
“Eww,” Trish muttered, before turning on her heel and exiting as quickly as she could.
Jeffrey cleared his throat, an indication that our display of affection had made him uncomfortable.
“I'll talk to you later,” Jase whispered in my ear, then gave me another quick peck on the lips.
As I nodded, I realized I was beaming. The kiss obviously had some sort of effect on Jeffrey. I could tell because when I glanced over at him, he was staring over at the wall next to him with an irritated expression on his face.
“Tell Trish I said goodbye,” I told Jase before both Jeffrey and I turned and headed out the front door.
Once we were outside and alone, making our way down the driveway, I expected Jeffrey to make a comment about the kiss, or at the very least make some snide remark about Jase. But to my chagrin, he said nothing about either one.
“So I tried calling you last night,” he informed me when we reached the end of the driveway. “Your mom said you were out.”
“Yeah,” I said with total nonchalance. “I was at a party.”
He stopped walking instantly and gave me a weird look.
“What?” I asked, feigning confusion.
“You? At a party?”
“Yes, me. At a party.”
“What kind of party?”
“A Zach O'Connor party.”
His eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” I asked as we began to cross the street.
“Because. Zach O'Connor parties aren't exactly your thing.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you never went to parties like that with me.”
“That's because you never asked me to,” I pointed out, rather bitterly.
He narrowed his eyes at me and then a thoughtful look came over his face, as though he was trying to recall at least one instance where he had invited me to any party he'd attended. When he undoubtedly was unable to come up with anything, he changed the subject.
“Anyway, I was calling you to see if you wanted to work on the project with me last night. I felt so bad for standing you up that when your mom said you were out for the evening, I took it upon myself to work on the project without you.”
I glanced over at him skeptically. This was the first time since our breakup that Jeffrey seemed almost apologetic for anything. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I went to the mall, I went to a few fast food joints, and I even stood outside the movie theater for a while, waiting for people to come out. I ended up getting interviews from fifteen people.”
“Fifteen people?” I couldn't help but be impressed. Not only that he had gotten so many interviews, but that he had taken the initiative to work on the project alone on a Saturday night, when he could just as easily have gone to a party himself instead.
“Awesome, huh?” He grinned.
Once again, I had to look away. Jeffrey's smiles made me melt, but his grins practically sent me into cardiac arrest. And the last time he had sent one of those grins my way had been before our breakup. So naturally, it was quite painful to see.
“Yeah,” I agreed, my cheeks suddenly feeling flushed.
“So I was thinking for today, you could help me with editing the interviews. Oh, and I also landed us an interview for after school on Wednesday. A friend of a friend of my parents has been a smoker for nearly thirty years and he was just recently diagnosed with lung cancer. When he found out about our project, he insisted we interview him.”
“Wow.” Now I was seriously impressed. In no more than one minute, Jeffrey had somehow managed to totally make up for his jackassery the day before. “I totally want to hug you right now.” Oops. I hadn't actually meant to say it out loud.
Obviously amused by that, Jeffrey chuckled and opened his arms up wide. “Go ahead.”
“I was joking.”
“Well I wasn't,” he said, and the next thing I knew, he was lunging forward, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and lifting me up off the ground in a bear hug.
“Jeffrey!” I squealed, kicking my feet furiously at the air. “Put me down!”
“Nope,” he said into my ear. I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“I'm serious!” But anyone could tell I wasn't, partially due to the fact I was now laughing while trying to escape from his grasp, which made the process all that much harder.
“Okay,” he said with an overly-dramatic sigh, and then he dropped me.
I stumbled a bit once my feet hit the ground, but for the most part I recovered quickly. “You jerk.” In a moment of complete and total immaturity, I stuck my tongue out at him.
It was then that I truly realized how much I missed him, and the realization instantly put an end to my amusement. Clearing my throat, I said, “We should go get started on that editing.”
Jeffrey, looking unfazed by everything, agreed. “Good idea.” He walked past me, and when he did, a bit of movement across the street caught my eye, drawing my line of vision over toward the Holloway house.
Jase was standing next to his car with the driver's side door wide open, staring over at me with what could only be described as a fierce look of disapproval. It didn't take a genius to figure out he'd just witnessed that little scene between me and Jeffrey, and it also didn't take a genius to know what he was thinking. He was thinking I was a liar. That I really did want Jeffrey back.
I'm sure the expression on my face showed both guilt and shame, which probably did nothing to ease his mind. I wanted to run across the street and explain everything to him, but there wasn't enough time. He just sent a glare in Jeffrey's direction before shaking his head and getting in to the car, slamming the door shut.
“Looks like your boyfriend is jealous,” Jeffrey commented behind me, as Jase's car pulled out of the driveway and took off at an uncomfortable speed down the street.
“Yeah,” I agreed with a frown. Although, I knew better. That wasn't jealousy. It was disappointment. And I had a feeling I'd be hearing about it later.
Chapter Nineteen
My film editing session with Jeffrey went well. Considerably well, to the point where I momentarily forgot about how much I hated him for dumping me. We managed to successfully edit our film until it could almost pass as professional, and I didn't end up leaving the Weston house until after nine o'clock, when Jeffrey drove me home.
All that transpired after he pulled into my driveway was a “see ya tomorrow” farewell. But it was after I got out of the car and he had driven away that it had finally dawned on me just how much I wasn't over him.
And that revelation made me grouchy.
I told this all to Trish during the ride to school the next morning, and she listened to my entire rant without interruption. And when I finally shut up, she tilted her head to the side for a moment and chewed on her lip as we pulled into the parking lot. She remained silent until we were parked and her car was off. And then, turning to me, she said, “This plan of yours isn't working, is it?”
I sighed and glanced out the passenger side window. “No. It's not.”
“You're still not over
him, are you?”
“No,” I admitted glumly. “I'm not.”
“Okay.” She stared straight ahead, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. “I think you need to end this whole thing with Jase.”
“What?” I whipped my head over in her direction. “What are you talking about?”
“Lexi, I love you, and I hate to see you hurting like this. The thing is, you're going to keep hurting until you can get over Jeffrey. And the only way you can get over Jeffrey is by falling in love with someone else. And you can't fall in love with someone else while you're pretending to date my brother. Well, you can, actually, but you won't be able to date anyone else, so break up with Jase. This has gone on long enough. Kylie is practically humping his leg every time she sees him, so it's not like he needs you anymore. You need to move on already.”
My jaw dropped. “Trish, it's only been a couple of weeks since Jeffrey and I broke up. You're making it sound like I've wasted half of my life pining for him.”
“You practically have. You've been in love with that guy since the day he moved in across from me and Jase. He was your first real crush, and as far as I know your only crush.”
I decided not to inform her that my first real crush had actually been on Jase. Although, I never really counted that as a crush. He was my best friend at the time, and it was possible I might have mistaken my admiration for him as being a crush for the simple reason that he was a boy that I got along with really well.
“So what are you saying?”
“I'm saying you're a free woman now! You're seventeen years old, and you've only ever had one boyfriend. It's time you start noticing other boys. It's time you started dating for heaven's sake! You've never dated, and dating is the best part!”
I hated to admit it, but Trish was making total sense. I'd never been on an actual date. Jeffrey and I started going out with each other when we were only fourteen, and when you're fourteen and can't drive anywhere, you don't exactly “date”. You just consider yourselves in a relationship. You start holding hands at school and finding discreet places to make out where your parents won't catch you. Oh, and maybe you once in a while go to a school dance. But that's it. At least, that was it for me and Jeffrey.
“Think about it.” Trish opened up her door and slipped out of the car.
“I will,” I promised. I exited the car myself, deep in thought. Me, dating. Dating for real. I didn't like the thought of that. It sounded complicated. It sounded scary.
“Hmm. I wonder where your loser boyfriend is,” Trish commented, glancing around the parking lot. “He left the house before I did, and I don't see his car in its usual spot.”
“Who knows?” I said with a shrug. “So you really think I should start dating? Who would I even date?”
“Anyone you want to date,” Trish replied, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.
I laughed. “I'm not you, Trish. I can't just point to any guy in the school and have him eagerly agree to date me. In fact, no guy in our entire school has ever shown any interest in me whatsoever.”
“Okay, well first of all, you are too hard on yourself. Any guy in our school would be lucky to be given the opportunity to date you. And second of all, just because you don't think guys have ever shown any interest doesn't mean that they haven't. You are one of the most oblivious people I have ever met in my entire life.”
“Hey, I resent that.”
“It's true, you are.”
“Whatever you say, Trish.” I decided to let it slide, because otherwise our conversation could easily turn into a pointless argument. Besides, I wasn't really in the mood to think about dating at the moment.
Plus, when I caught sight of Jase's car driving by us out of the corner of my eye, suddenly there was a whole new topic to discuss. Like why Kylie was riding next to him in the passenger seat.
“Wait, did you just see what I saw?” Trish asked me.
“Yeah, I did.” I watched in confusion as Jase pulled his car into his usual parking space, and I watched as they appeared to be gathering up their stuff. And then I watched both of them get out of the car, with Jase saying something to Kylie that was making her laugh.
My first instinct was to march over to them and demand to know what was going on. Boyfriends are not supposed to give rides to beautiful girls who aren't their girlfriends, right? But somehow, I managed to stay put next to Trish and wait for them to come to us.
But then they didn't. In a shocking turn of events, Jase and Kylie both started heading for the school instead, despite the fact I knew he saw us when he drove by. And so did Kylie. So why were they pretending like they hadn't?
“Hey!” I found myself yelling to them.
Instantly, they both stopped and turned around in our direction.
“Oh. Hey,” Jase said as they both started making their way over to us. “I didn't see you guys standing there.”
Liar liar, pants on fire!
“Where have you been?” Trish asked him suspiciously. “You left before I did, and I picked up Lexi and we stopped to get coffee and donuts on the way, and we still made it here before you.”
“It's a funny story, actually,” Kylie cheerfully piped up. Gosh, the happier she was, the prettier she looked. “My car broke down on the side of the road, a couple of blocks away from my house. I was about to call my mom to come pick me up, when Jase just happened to drive by and offer me a ride.”
“That's hilarious!” I exclaimed with false enthusiasm. Another funny story was that her “funny story” didn't end up being funny. At all.
Both Kylie and Jase gave me odd looks. Trish must have noticed this, because she quickly jumped in with, “Wow, Jase, I wasn't aware you were such a knight in shining armor. You should be given a special ceremony and awarded with a medal of honor or something.”
Jase shot a glare her way. “Bite me.”
She gasped. “I could never bite a hero! They hang people for that kind of behavior!”
“All the more reason,” Jase muttered.
I smirked over at Trish. I absolutely loved that girl.
I didn't, however, love her brother at the moment. “Well, Kylie, it's a good thing my boyfriend just happened to be driving by at the right time, huh?” I made a point of putting the emphasis on the word 'boyfriend'.
“Uh, yeah,” she said, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
“That was really nice of you, boyfriend,” I said through clenched teeth, turning to Jase.
He gave me a warning glance that clearly read, “tone it down a bit”, but no. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
“That's me, Mr. Nice Guy.” Finally deciding to join me at my side, he reached down and grabbed my hand. Leaning over, he lightly brushed his lips against my cheek and whispered, “Good to see you.”
Not feeling too much in the mood to put on a show for his beloved Kylie at the moment, I yanked my hand away from his and took a step back, folding my arms impatiently over my chest.
“Okay, then,” Kylie said. “I'm going to go find my friends. Jase, thanks for the lift.”
“No problem,” he said with a smile as she took off.
Trish apparently thought Kylie's idea of bolting sounded good because she said, “And I have to go talk to my Drama teacher before homeroom. Lexi, think seriously about our discussion, okay?”
Distracted, I gave her a slight nod and a dismissive wave of the hand. I never took my gaze off of Jase, who looked somewhat frightened by the fact he was going to be left alone with me.
As soon as both girls were out of earshot, I said, “So, sweetie. Did you have a nice ride to school this morning?”
“You put on a great jealous act, but there's no need to keep it up. Kylie's gone.”
“Oh this isn't an act.” I tapped my foot against the ground. “And this isn't jealousy. Every day you are finding new ways to compromise our plan.”
Looking genuinely dumbfounded, Jase said, “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“I'm talking about the fact that ever since our relationship became official, you've acted more like a boyfriend to Kylie than you have to me.”
“What? That's crazy.”
“Oh is it? You never offer me rides to school.”
“You ride in with Trish,” he pointed out defensively. “But if you were stranded on the side of the road, I suppose I could suck it up and offer you a ride. What is your problem?”
“My problem is that you're being too obvious with Kylie,” I said, having a momentary sensation of déjà vu. Probably because it seemed like I was having to have this exact talk with him every day. “If anyone was paying attention, they could easily see that she's the one you want, not me. You are so transparent, it's not even funny.”
“Transparent?” he echoed. He sounded pretty pissed now. “You want to talk about transparency? Take a look at yourself in the mirror. The way you're fawning over Jeffrey like he's some sort of a god or something. You still worship the guy, and you're not exactly subtle about that either. So don't go throwing stones in your glass house, because you're bound to get cut.”
How poetic. And utterly obnoxious. “You are so wrong about my feelings for Jeffrey.” My voice wasn't convincing, though. Not that he would have believe me, even if it had been.
“I witnessed that whole thing in his driveway yesterday. You two were flirting with each other and you were enjoying it.”
“That wasn't flirting. That was just...we were just...”
“Flirting,” he finished for me. “So if anyone should be getting angry here, it should be me. Because no more than two minutes after you promised me you weren't going to fall for him again, I see you doing just that: falling for him.”
“I'm not falling for him again!” I cried. “In fact, Trish and I were just talking about this very thing when you drove in with Kylie. She told me I need to completely rinse Jeffrey out of my system, and I wholeheartedly agreed.”
“Oh yeah? And how do you plan on doing that?”
“Well...” I bit my lip. “Her suggestion was that I break up with you.”