It wasn’t like Leila hadn’t been nice to Alice when the three of us went out, but her attitude had been sort of condescending. She’d treated Alice like she was my tagalong little sister who we had to hang out with.
It had been a different story when Brian joined us. She’d been nice to the handsome quarterback. Too nice. Like, there had been moments where I’d had nagging, fleeting bouts of jealousy kind of nice. I might have been jealous if Brian hadn’t been so thoroughly oblivious to her niceness and so crazy head over heels for Alice.
Yet again, I’d thought that jealousy was my fault. She’d been my first girlfriend so I thought maybe I’d just been a jealous sort of boyfriend. Like maybe that was just my nature or something.
“You okay?” Alice asked gently.
It was only then that I realized I’d been scowling off into space for God knows how long.
I blinked at the two blondes before me. They might have both been small and blonde, but they were exact opposites in every way. Yet in that moment, their expressions were remarkably similar.
Concerned.
Ah hell. I was that pathetic guy, wasn’t I? I sat up straighter in the booth. “Yeah. I’m good. You guys want another slice?”
Alice shook her head, already sliding out of the booth beside me with an apologetic look. “Sorry, but I’ve got to bail. If I’m not home soon, the folks will be pissed.”
“Yeah, no worries.” But I stared her down and she refused to make eye contact. Alice and I had been best friends for years now. I knew very well when her curfew was and we were so not there yet. I looked from her to Tina. Did Alice think… She couldn’t really believe…
An image of that kiss on stage seared my brain. Not just the kiss but my body’s reaction. For a second there, I’d thought it was real. If I was fooled, I couldn’t really blame Alice for being fooled as well.
Still, she didn’t have to give us alone time. But she was waving goodbye and halfway out the door before I could figure out a way to tell her that without making this situation infinitely more awkward than it already was.
“Well,” Tina said as the bell over the door announced Alice’s departure. “This is awkward.”
I laughed as I watched her take another tiny bite of her slice. “I think maybe Alice got the wrong idea.”
Tina was smiling as she chewed. “Yeah, I got that.”
I nodded toward the counter. “I really do need another slice though. You want one?”
She shook her head.
By the time I came back to the table, she was still barely halfway through that one slice. “Does it always take you an hour to eat a slice of pizza?”
She didn’t look offended. “Not all of us are so naturally slender, Gumby.”
I frowned. “You’re tiny.”
“That’s because I don’t inhale multiple slices of pizza late at night,” she shot back.
I let it go. Her diet habits were none of my concern. “Fine. If you finish that slice before midnight, I’ll walk you to your car.”
She smirked at me as she chewed. We ate in easy silence for a minute before she interrupted it with a total non sequitur. “I like Alice.”
I grinned. “I like her too. She’s my best friend.”
She nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. “I can see why. She’s real.”
I nodded because that was the simplest yet most accurate description for my friend. She was real. There was nothing forced or false about her—one of many reasons fitting in at school had always been so hard for her, in my humble opinion. I’d never fit in either, but my outcast status had always been by choice. Alice, on the other hand, had struggled with invisibility among the cool kids, the epitome of whom was sitting here delicately eating saucy cheese after having gone out of her way to make Alice feel at ease in the conversations. “You were nice to her.”
I’d just kind of blurted it out and it ended up sounding more like an accusation than I’d intended.
She looked at me for a moment with a funny expression on her face. Half amused, but partly offended. “I said I don’t like when people are labeled as nice,” she explained. “I’m not opposed to being nice.” At my look of obvious disbelief, she mumbled, “Sometimes.”
I still stared with arched brows and she rolled her eyes. “When someone deserves it.”
I shook my head with a laugh of incredulity. This girl was a piece of work. “And Alice deserves your kindness?”
She nodded, totally serious. Then she sighed, sounding far older than her years once again. “High school is no place for her.”
I knew what she meant and I couldn’t have said it better myself, yet her jaded tone made me inexplicably sad. “She’s doing all right.” And she was. Alice had come into her own this year, finally making a place for herself at Briarwood rather than hiding in the shadows.
Tina nodded slowly but she didn’t say anything. “So, that song…”
Her change of topic made my head snap up. I hated discussing my songs with anyone other than Alice. “What about it?”
“It was beautiful.”
I stopped eating, my pizza frozen halfway up to my mouth. “Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you.”
“Was it about Leila?” She took another irritatingly tiny nibble.
“No.” I shook my head quickly. “No, definitely not. I couldn’t bring myself to play any of the songs I wrote while she and I were together.”
“Was that about another ex?” she asked.
I shifted uncomfortably. “No. Leila was my first real girlfriend.”
Tina stared at me for a second. “Tough break.”
I laughed at her bluntness. “Yeah. Wonderful welcome to the world of relationships, huh?”
She arched her brows. “Hey, it’s better than having your first love be the world’s worst flirt.”
I stared at her for a moment. “So, Alex was your first love?”
She stared at her pizza like it had just started talking. “It could have been worse.”
I stared at the top of her head. “How? You could have fallen for a serial killer?”
She glanced up with a quick smile that left me feeling winded. “Yeah, something like that.” She focused on her pizza again. “So, who was the song about then?”
And that’s how I ended up telling Tina, of all people, about my first crush. It was your average story of unrequited love my freshman year at my old school. Nothing exciting, but Tina was an avid audience. Like when she was talking to Alice, I noticed that she gave her full attention to the person who was speaking, giving the illusion of interest, at the very least.
She started in on more questions about my music and we mercifully left the topic of exes behind as we finished our pizzas. I ate two slices in the time it took her to finish that one tiny slice.
But eventually we both finished and then we sat there for a while sipping on sodas and talking about everything under the sun.
It was surprisingly nice. And easy.
It was late when we headed out and though I was parked in the opposite direction, I walked her toward her car which was parked on the same block as the coffee shop. We’d just reached her car when I spotted her.
Leila.
Tina heard my sharp inhale and looked over. Leila was standing out front of the coffee shop with one of her coworkers. He was our age, he was attractive…and she was flirting with him.
“Don’t look,” Tina commanded.
I glanced down at her and she was scowling so fiercely it almost made me smile.
Almost.
Watching my ex flirt was making it hard to breathe let alone smile.
Tina looked up at me and set her chin in a way I’d say was adorable if I didn’t also fear it. She was seriously scary when she got that look on her face.
“Kiss me.”
I blinked at her. “What?”
“Kiss me.” This time it came out in a hiss and she widened her eyes like a crazy person. “She’s looking. Do it now!”
; I didn’t hesitate. Trust me, it’s hard to ignore a command like that from a girl like her.
I tugged her into my arms and kissed her. Hard. I kissed her with more passion than intended, but honestly in that moment every ounce of my focus was on her, on that kiss.
The moment my lips met hers, I forgot about Leila. I forgot that I was supposed to be doing this for show.
For the second time that night, my brain went blank and time seemed to stop. Tina’s response was just as enthusiastic, her lips molding to mine as I kissed the hell out of her.
She parted her lips like it was the most natural thing in the world for my tongue to be slipping into her mouth. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like we’d been doing this forever and would never stop.
She tasted perfect. She felt perfect.
Her arms were around my neck and I clutched her tight, picking her up so I was standing straight and she was lifted off the ground, so thoroughly pressed against me we might as well have been one person.
I didn’t want to stop. Her lips were addictive, her kiss entrancing. I was absolutely certain that I could kiss her all night and be thoroughly satisfied.
Soon we were leaning against her car and her legs were wrapped around my waist. I honestly didn’t know how long it lasted. Long enough for the kiss to turn far too heated for public.
If it wasn’t for the sound of people talking as they walked on the other side of the street, I have no idea how far I would have taken that kiss.
In public, no less.
As it was we broke apart with labored breathing and stared at one another in horrified fascination.
Finally Tina glanced away and I realized with a start that she was looking toward the coffee shop where Leila had been flirting. I looked over too.
She was gone. I had no idea how long ago she’d left. I didn’t know if she’d even spotted us, and in that moment I didn’t care.
Tina pressed her lips together and looked back up at me, loosening her legs and her arms that had been wrapped tightly around me so she could slowly sink down to the ground. “Um…I think she bought it?”
After another awkward silence we both burst out laughing, so hard my eyes were tearing up as I fell against her, pinning her to the car again as she shook with laughter in my arms. When I pulled back I saw tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh my God,” she said through the laughter. “What was that?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“Well,” she said as our laughter died down. “It was fun.”
I nodded. Understatement of the year. “It was definitely fun.”
I hesitated before backing away so we were standing a few feet apart.
I wanted to kiss her again, right then and there, but I knew without a doubt that we wouldn’t be stopping again any time soon. And honestly I didn’t trust myself in public if I got her in my arms again.
But I smiled as I shoved my hands in my pockets and backed away, watching as she ducked her head and opened her car door. Was she…shy?
No, that couldn’t be right.
“I’ll see you at school tomorrow?” I said.
She nodded, still not looking at me.
“Hey.” I stopped walking and waited for her to look up and over at me. I just wanted to be sure she wasn’t regretting the kiss, or coming out to save me in the first place.
And she had saved me. This night would have been miserable without her.
She looked expectant and maybe just a little wary.
“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”
She gave me a little smile. “Anytime, dweeb.”
Chapter Five
Tina
I shouldn’t have done it. I have no idea what I’d been thinking.
Stabbing at my salad I pretended to ignore the stares at my lunch table. My hair was brown, people, it wasn’t like I’d gone bald overnight or something.
“Well, I like it,” Melody said decisively. Apparently we were still talking about my new hair color. The insane last minute decision I’d made at the hair stylist’s last night that had sent my little world into tumult as my friends and Alex tried to process this crazy turn of events.
I held back an aggravated sigh at Melody’s bold statement. It wasn’t her words that made me want to smack her, but the tone. She’d stressed the “I” in that sentence so it had sounded defensive, like no one else liked it but her.
Passive aggressive was Melody’s game. She was the kind of nice that gave nice a bad name.
“I think you look hot, babe.” That came from Alex. So close to my ear I could feel his breath on my cheek and knew without having to look that he was eating tuna salad.
Ugh.
I edged away from him with a shrug meant for every prying eye at the table. “It was time for a change.”
Now is not the time for an adolescent rebellion, dear. My mother’s voice from the night before was as loud as if she were right there at the table with us.
She’d frowned at the sight of my new brunette style—still long, but not straightened so rather than being stick straight, it fell in loose waves. Her sigh had held a world of disappointment. What were you thinking?
I didn’t know. I didn’t have the answer last night and I still had no clue. It had been craziness. An act of rebellion on my tongue’s part when the stylist had smiled at me in the mirror and said, “So, what will it be? The usual?”
Her use of the term “the usual” was what had done it. I’d been going to Vanessa for years. First with my mother and then by myself. “The usual” was the straightened blonde style that made me look like my mom. A shorter, non-botoxed version of my mother.
I’d stopped thinking of it that way, of course. I’d made the look my own. My long blonde hair had become my trademark. No one was more shocked than me to hear my voice say, “Let’s try something different.”
To her credit, Vanessa had merely blinked once before rattling off my choices, ending with the option of matching my natural color.
And now here I was, in my natural state. Tina au naturel.
I hated it. Not the light brown hair, necessarily, but this exposed feeling. Like everyone could see right through me. Like my skin was made of gauze or something and the lightest breeze might blow me away.
It was a stupid thought. This was just hair, not my freakin’ soul. I stabbed at my salad and forced my chin up, my face set in a mask of disdain. “You all act like you’ve never seen a brunette before.” I gave Melody a saccharine sweet smile. “Everyone ought to change up their style now and again, don’t you think?” I popped a cherry tomato in my mouth and let my gaze move over her dark brown bob meaningfully. “Otherwise it just gets…boring.”
Her nostrils flared before she covered it with a little smile and I knew I’d hit my mark.
She shoots, she scores! It wasn’t like I was proud of my ability to beat Melody at her own game, but someone had to keep that smiling little backstabber in check. As her best frenemy, that duty obviously fell to me.
Melody didn’t stay down for long. She widened her eyes with feigned concern. “I just hope your new…style…” She hesitated over the word as if it was a dubious term for my new look, then she waved her fork in my general direction. “I hope the new look goes with your prom dress.”
I glared at her, all pretenses dropped.
Prom.
The dreaded P-word. Her smirk was pure evil as she took another bite of her salad. We were all eating salads these days, all the girls at our table.
Melody knew very well that I didn’t want to talk about prom. It was still a tough topic since I had no idea what the hell I was going to do about my date…or lack thereof. I set my fork down.
This was my fault, really. My lack of a date was like a giant gaping wound, just waiting for someone like Melody to poke at it.
Like a moron I’d left myself vulnerable to attack.
Alex slung an arm around me. “You’ll look great no matter what, babe.”
For all his cheating ways, Alex needed me too, make no doubt about it. He was definitely getting antsy about my lack of an answer to the prom question. He’d been badgering me every day for an answer. No, that wasn’t true. Some days, like today, he took the tactic of just assuming we were going together. Maybe he thought that if he spoke about our prom date with enough confidence I might forget I’d vowed not to go with him.
As if to prove my point, he swung his head in my direction and gave me that smile that I used to love so much. “We’re going to beat the competition hands down no matter what. Right, babe?” His smile was sexy and sweet, and filled with all the love in the world. That smile used to make my heart race and bring a smile to my lips.
Now it left me cold.
I turned instinctively to seek out Julian in the crowded cafeteria. There he was at the table where he always sat, talking to Alice and Brian and laughing at whatever it was they were saying.
He didn’t look in my direction, but I didn’t need him to. His presence in the cafeteria had become a weird touchstone for me at moments like this, his words from weeks ago my go-to mantra. You deserve better.
One week had passed since the kiss. THE KISS. It deserved all caps that’s how epic that kiss was. Epic and singular.
Since that night we’d fallen firmly into a friend zone and I was cool with it. We were so far in the friend zone neither of us ever mentioned it again. It was a moment out of time. A memory I had to remind myself was real and not some super realistic daydream.
But it was a good thing that we were just friends. I mean, the kiss was amazing but I so didn’t need romantic complications, and neither did Julian. What he needed was a breakup partner—someone who understood what he was going through and could coach him through it. And what I needed…well, I needed a rock. A reminder to stay strong. Someone who told me that I deserved better and actually meant it.
The Prom Kiss (Briarwood High Book 5) Page 8