Want To Hate You ... Too Bad I Love You

by Melanie Marks

  Note: There is no swearing in any of the books.

  ***

  Note about Melanie Marks’ book Finn’s Fall:

  It is book #3 in the Fall For Me series.

  You don’t need to read High School Boys before reading Finn’s Fall … however, it is the novel that follows High School Boys (which is the novel starring Matt and Nicole).

  (Note: you don’t need to read either book before reading the other.)

  ***

  Melanie Marks’ newest book is: “The Player (plus: Ally Has Amnesia)”

  That’s one book with two novels: “The Player,” plus as a bonus, the story: “Ally has Amnesia.”

  Summary of

  Melanie Marks’ newest book

  The Player (plus: Ally Has Amnesia)

  His name is Dane McGraw, but he’s known as “The Player.” He was called that even before I became his very first girlfriend—back in MIDDLE school. But that was years ago. He’s forgotten all about me … right? Well, that’s what I thought when I started spreading my lies about us—on the Internet. He moved away and he’s all famous now, so I thought he would never know that I made him my new fake boyfriend. And said he adores me and brings me flowers.… Until he shows up at my door—with flowers (!!) …Um?

  The explanation:

  When my boyfriend dumped me for my total archenemy (Nina), to save face I posted on my blog that I didn’t care because I had a date to our school dance with The Player. I only did that because I knew my archenemy (Nina) wanted him, and my ex-boyfriend (Back-stabber) was jealous of him. Two birds—one stone. However, for some reason no one believed my crazy lies about The Player. Probably because, you know, they were crazy lies—about The Player. But whoa! Here he is, at my door for the dance—The Player. With that same ol’ player grin that has always played with my adoring heart. Yikes! I need a player’s manual … and an ambulance. ‘Cause I’m swooning for the boy that broke my heart. AGAIN!! (Help!)

  http://www.amazon.com/Player-PLUS-Ally-Has-Amnesia-ebook/dp/B019YZT8OU/ref

  Ex-Boyfriend

  Note: There is a theme to this book—“Want to Hate You … Too Bad I Love You.” So we thought it would be fun to have a similar scene in all the stories, but make them different to pertain to each story. Hope you like it.

  Summary of the following novel: Ex-boyfriend—

  Mandy suffers a lot of heartache and embarrassing moments as she is caught time and again stalking her ex-boyfriend—though she’s trying to let go. Really! However, there is a smokin’ hot guy just waiting for her to let go, and he’s more than willing to help yank the cord to get things moving along. But is Mandy ready to let go … and is her ex REALLY ready for her to do it?

  Ex-Boyfriend

  CHAPTER 1

  My boyfriend slips me a ticket stub after we’re on the bus headed home from our school’s ski trip. I stare at the ticket, then up into his watching eyes.

  “Um, thanks. But …?”

  “It always makes me happy when I scoop my hands in my pocket and feel that ticket. I want you to feel happy.” He leans his forehead against mine. “Because you look sad.”

  “Oh,” I blink, trying to hold back welling tears—just from that, him saying I look sad. I quickly change the subject, so I don’t do something alarming to him … like actually cry.

  “This ticket makes you happy?” I ask, quickly staring at the ticket again.

  “Yeah, I kept it from our first date. Every time I stick my hands in my pocket—there it is, my memory of our first date.” He presses his forehead against mine again. “That was a good date.”

  It had been a good date. It was over two years ago. We’ve been “a couple” ever since.

  “The ticket always makes me happy,” he murmurs again.

  I swallow, kind of wanting to give the ticket back to him—since he said it reminds him of us. I desperately want him to keep remembering.

  See, there’s a reason I look “sad.” I hope it’s silly and unfounded … but I’m getting the sinking feeling it’s not.

  Today when Grady’s friends had pestered him to go on the more advanced ski slopes with them, he had put his arms tightly around me saying his usual, “Nah, I’m sticking with my girl—on the more romantic runs.”

  They had chortled, “You mean, the wimpy runs.”

  They made their usual whipping noises. (You know, indicating I had Grady “whipped.”)

  I had sighed, “You can go with your friends, Grady.”

  I didn’t think he really would, though. He never does. He always stays with me, even when his friends pester him to death. He always smiles and says he likes my company even more than the ski slopes (and the boy loves to ski) so that says something, right? It makes me feel happy and loved every time. So does the fact he’s always soo sweet and tender with me when we go skiing. He always patiently tries teaching me his mad skier skills—though all I really want to do is snuggle with him by the fire in the lodge while we sip hot chocolate and get cozy. I adore that!

  Still, I always stress he can go off with his friends.

  But he always nuzzles my neck and murmurs, “No way. I’m sticking with you.”

  … only that’s not what he said today when I told him he could go off with his friends.

  Instead, he gave me a curious look. “Are you sure?”

  Ouch!

  My heart sank, since he’s never left me before on our school ski trips. Ever.

  Still, I shrugged, trying my hardest not to be hurt. After all, he’s a skier. He’s not like me. I only come on the trips to be near him, and snuggle with him by the fire. But him? Well, he likes to, you know—ski.

  “Sure.” I attempted to keep the hurt and disappointment out of my voice. “Go have fun. I’ll meet you on the bus afterwards.”

  Pain sliced through me as he said, “Okay.” He gave me a quick, appreciative kiss. “Have fun with the girls,” he told me, meaning my friends (who would all be shocked that romantic Grady left me).

  “Yeah, you have fun with the guys,” I told him as he ran off to catch up with them.

  Only, once he caught up with them, I noticed it wasn’t the “guys” that bounced along beside him, all happy and chatty. Nope, not the “guys.” It was the new girl at our school, Becca.

  She looked mighty glad they got to ski together—her and Grady.

  But what sunk my heart was: Grady looked glad too.

  Really glad.

  CHAPTER 2

  My anxieties were not eased when Grady’s group was the very last to get to the bus. They were quite late. It made a tense feeling knot in the pit of my stomach. Knot and knot as I waited and waited. I hate to admit it, but it was mostly because Becca was in the group with him.

  The whole time I waited, I kept remembering what my friends had all been telling me lately: that Grady talks with ‘that new girl—Becca’ a lot during their history class. I wouldn’t have even noticed Becca really if they hadn’t pointed that out. I mean, Grady is friendly. He talks to everyone—girls, dogs, lampposts. He’s friendly. But my friends seemed … worried. That made me a little worried. Well, I mean after I saw Becca light up when Grady came trotting up beside her as they headed to the ski slopes together. It made this aching knot twist in my stomach. Especially because it looked like Grady had lit up too.

  When Grady finally climbed on the bus and slid into the seat next to me, he gave me a long, lingering kiss. “I missed making out with you on the ski lifts,” he told me between breathless kisses.

  “Me too,” I murmured, glad to be back in his warm comfy arms.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’d had fun with my friends today. I did. They are super fun, and crack me up. Normally I would have a blast with them. Only, today I kept having this niggling, aching feeling in the pit of my stomach, since I couldn’t get that image out of my head: Grady happily walking away from me—with Becca bouncing along beside him. They’d both looked so—happy. Excited. It had made my heart shrivel. And made it hard for me to enjoy m
y friends, and what would have otherwise been an awesome day.

  I guess really what it just was though, I had missed snuggling with Grady by the fire, and having him hold me tight, tight, tight while we were in line for the slopes, with a grin informing me it was to “keep me warm.” As though he needed an excuse to hold me so tight!

  Grady takes my hand. “Something wrong?” he asks after we’ve ridden a while in silence, me being silly and getting all tangled up in my disturbing thoughts.

  I squeeze his fingers, loving the warmth of his rough, dry hand. We’ve been together so long, yet I haven’t lost my butterflies for the guy. At all. They still flutter big time whenever he’s near or looks at me the way he does, like I’m the most spectacular person on the planet. It fills me with dizzying happiness. I love being loved by Grady.

  “I just missed you,” I tell him.

  He grins faintly. “You must have missed me a lot—you were frowning just now.” He presses his forehead gently to mine. “You never frown. Seeing it makes my heart ache.”

  Hearing him tenderly murmur that makes my heart ache. Especially because I’m being stupid, fretting about him skiing with a girl. The dude just likes to ski. With anyone. Besides, it’s not his fault she was in the group of his friends.

  … or that she’s extremely pretty.

  I’m being dumb.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” I tell him, quickly hopping up. It’s not entirely just an excuse, I really do need to use it, but more than that, I feel the urgent need to splash cold water on my face … and get a grip.

  I mean, hello! He went skiing … on a ski-trip.

  Major crime, right?

  I hold the rail at the top of the aisle as I make my way to the bathroom at the back of the bus. (It’s a fancy, chartered bus by the way. It even has a snack bar—which only contains bottled water, bananas, and yogurt, but still. It beats a school bus by a long shot.)

  In the bathroom—blah, blah, blah. I’m not going to go into great detail about what happened in there. I mean, it’s a bathroom, on a bus.

  Okay, okay, we’d hit a huge bump while I was peeing, and to tell you the truth, I was having trouble keeping steady and a direct targeted stream before that anyway, since I was “squatting” over the germy thing rather than ‘sitting’ directly on the health-hazard otherwise known as a “toilet.” Anyway, after the gigantic bump, pee got all over the seat, and my underwear. And I was like—GEEZ!!!

  My luck today was going down the toilet way more efficiently than what I was trying to get down it.

  Then, when I FINALLY had my mess cleaned up, as I was leaving the bathroom we hit another gigantic bump and I went flying out the bathroom door … and straight into Smith Cross’s arms. Smith Cross’s arms! Of all the people to smoosh into—yeah, sure, of course I’d ram into his masterful arms. Cuz that’s just my luck today. The guy that almost seemed to think he needed to get a restraining order against me back in middle school is of course the guy I’d pounce on with full force.

  Luckily the dreamy guy is a gigantic wall of masculine maleness. So my toppling into him doesn’t knock him down. Or faze him. Not even slightly. He just steadies me with a grin and slight chuckle, like of course I’d come flying out of a bathroom at him. It’s only to be expected.

  Still holding on to my shoulders, his eyes twinkle as he holds me tighter as we hit yet another bump, then he informs me teasingly, “You were in there a long time.”

  I grimace, realizing he might have been standing out here waiting to use the room—this whole time. Yikes! (How embarrassing!) “Yeah, I had a little accident.”

  He grins, lifting an eyebrow, “An accident?”

  He says it entertained-like. Like I’m five and insinuating I peed my pants. He’s only teasing, but his grin always makes my stomach swoop and my brain disappear.

  He knows this, so he casually goes on with his teasing, enjoying my discomposure, “You really were in there a long time, Mandy,” he says. “Should I let it air out?” He raises his eyebrows with mock concern, “—is it going to smell an hour’s worth of bad in there?”

  “Well, it’s a bathroom,” I inform him. “It’s not going to smell good.”

  His lips twitch a grin. “I don’t know. Just yesterday my girlfriend told me I was looking at you like you shoot rainbows and lollipops out your butt.”

  Um … really?? I bet his girlfriend (Majesty Chloe) would be beyond pissed if she knew he was telling me this. But boys are dumb.

  He adds acting completely serious though his adorable grin refuses to cooperate with his deadpan information, “She also said that another time too—only then it was hearts and roses.”

  I blink.

  After a short pause I say dryly, “That’s … disturbing.”

  His grin quirks and he leans closer to me, confidential-like, “I’m kind of excited to smell what rainbows and hearts actually smell like.”

  He whispers it in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck. I do my best not to melt into a puddle at his feet, since he’s only teasing … and I have the world’s most perfect boyfriend.

  I scurry away from him, but tell him over my shoulder, “Well today I was out of rainbows. It was all lollipops. Eat up.”

  He lifts an eyebrow and grins, making me feel like I’m hilarious. But I think he only does that—makes me feel like I do shoot hearts and rainbows out my innards, because I crack him up. (We have an embarrassing, awkward past.)

  Back in middle school, my embarrassing moment with him made him start avoiding me like I was the flippin’ plague, but my embarrassing moment that happened with him just a few weeks ago has made him start teasing me again—and smiling at me, huge—not in a flirting way (he has a gorgeous girlfriend) but in a teasing, playful way that says: yes, I remember what you did, Mandy, and I’m never, ever going to forget it—not ever.

  So, you know, shoot me.

  CHAPTER 3

  After scurrying away from the embarrassing bathroom incident with Smith, as I approach my seat I hear Grady’s friends snicker, “Here comes your girlfriend, Grady.”

  They’re laughing things to him like “Busted” and “You’re in for it now!”

  Oh-kay. What’s that about?

  It makes me a little nervous, but nothing major … until I get a glimpse of what they are razzing him about. Then everything inside me dies.

  Becca is in Grady’s lap!

  The sight makes my heart shrivel, even though his friends are laughing.

  So is Grady. And his face is red.

  “It was an accident,” Becca tells me with a giggle as she hops up from Grady’s lap. She gives me a guilty grin as she explains, “The line was taking forever for the bathroom, and as I gave up and was coming back to my seat, we hit a bump and I fell into his lap.”

  Barely able to breathe, I call her out. “And then you decided to stay?” I ask curtly.

  She giggles again. “Well, it was a very comfortable place to fall.”

  She eyes Grady as she says this, and he smiles with a little laugh, his face turning even redder (and Grady never blushes. Ever.) I feel sick.

  However, unfortunately I have to agree with her—she’d obviously gotten really comfortable in Grady’s lap. And he had sure looked comfortable too.

  “It was an accident,” Grady explains to me again when Becca finally moves on to her own seat. Finally.

  “Right, an accident,” I mutter through clenched teeth.

  He kisses me. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

  “Then I should look frickin’ adorable.”

  “You do,” he murmurs against my mouth.

  I am jealous. He looked awfully “comfortable” with her in his lap. It has me bleeding all over the floor.

  “You should have pushed her off,” I grumble, though slightly soothed by his warm kisses.

  “That wouldn’t have been very nice,” he murmurs as he kisses me more passionately.

  From the corner of my eye, I notice Becca watching us wi
th a slight longing, yet slight annoyed look on her face. But she quickly glances out the window when she sees me blatantly looking at her.

  My stomach knots, feeling like I’m in trouble—no, I know I am. I keep remembering my friend Nicole’s worried words lately: “In history class Grady talks with that new girl, Becca, a lot.”

  She had sounded concerned.

  But at the time I hadn’t been worried. At all. Grady is really friendly. Like a puppy dog. He’s friendly to everyone. He’s always smiling and—well, friendly. To everyone.

  So, until I saw him walking away from me today, smiling and all happy to be with her—Becca—I hadn’t given Nicole’s concern much thought. Well, any thought.

  But now that I witnessed Becca’s ‘accidental’ scheming, and her ability to make Grady blush—yeah, I’m worried.

  Big time.

  CHAPTER 4

  I rest my forehead against the bus’s window, peering out without actually seeing anything.

  Grady gently takes my hand, slipping me … something. A note? I peek at it, then stare up at him curiously, confused slightly. ‘Cause it’s a ticket. To a ski place.

  (Okay, I know, I know, I already told you this part, but now you’re up to speed, so let me explain it again—now that you know my pain.)

  As I stare at the ticket Grady explains softly, “I snatched it the first time we went skiing together.”

  He grins faintly, “It’s always right here in my ski jacket pocket. When I feel it—it always reminds me of us and our first date and makes me happy.” He gently presses his forehead against mine. “You look sad again, Mandy. I hate it when you look sad. So here, have my ticket—be happy.”

  The gesture is so sweet. So are his romantic words and soft smile.

  The thing is though, he used to always have this romantic special memento to remind him of us. Now he doesn’t have it.