Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2)

by Baker, Janice

  “There will be no taking of my friends, thank you,” she almost screamed out.

  “I didn’t mean that and no, I don’t want any of your friends.” Just you.

  “Why not? What’s wrong with my friends?” she snapped.

  I took a deep breath thinking about how quickly this conversation took a nosedive. “You know what I mean. They’re cute, but I’d never fuck your friends.” Only you and it wouldn’t be fucking. It would be making love slow, deep and so intense. I adjusted myself because of the chub I got just thinking about her. “So, you’ll be home for Thanksgiving, right?”

  She sighed and slowly said, “I was actually thinking of going to Kelli’s instead.”

  I caught the football again and sat up quickly, my heart pounding, or rather screaming ‘NO!’ Or was that my head screaming that? “I…why would you do that?” I stammered, scared that might actually happen.

  “You know why. Mom and I aren’t getting along, it’ll just be the two of us. That’s kind of depressing,” she sighed again.

  Think asshole. “Whu…uhh, isn’t your Dad going to come to town to visit?” I managed to finally stutter out.

  “No, he’ll just probably call me. I think Mom was talking about going on a cruise anyway.”

  “My house,” I blurted out. “Uh, come to my house. You know you’re always welcome there.” I started biting my nails, a horrible habit I have. “Mom loves you and hasn’t seen you in a while,” I said in between gnawing.

  “Stop biting your nails,” she snapped at me as she giggled at the same time. How’d she know? “And she saw me at the end of summer, you goofball.” I could tell she was rolling her eyes at me.

  “Don’t roll your eyes,” I snapped at her the same way, more out of annoyance that she snapped about my nail biting. “And my parents love you. They’d love to have you over.” Not to mention the rest of my annoying family that’ll probably be coming over.

  “I don’t know. That seems kind of pathetic that I go home and none of my family is there, but I go to yours for dinner. I’d just prefer to go to Kelli’s. Then it’s right here, I don’t have to do that whole holiday travel thing and pay for a bus ticket. It’s just easier.” Fuck, I was losing this battle.

  “Well, umm, just don’t make any decisions yet. Just…just think about it.”

  “I will. Thank you for the invite.” She paused and then took a deep breath. I could hear her smile through the phone. I was hoping her next words would be that she would love to come home for Thanksgiving, but that’s not what she said. “Hey…do you…do you remember when Jennie took you for the first time into the closet for ‘seven minutes’?”

  Hell yeah, I remembered. That was the first time I went into the closet after I mastered my kissing technique…with Jordan. I swallowed, unsure of where she was going with this. “Yeah, why?”

  With a sexy, husky voice she said, “You never told me what happened in there.” It gave me chills.

  Slowly, I reminded her, “Well, that’s because we agreed never to talk about what happens with someone else. Part of the Nick Rules, remember?”

  “Mmmm. Yeah. You’re right.” I could hear the wheels turning in her head. I wanted to ask what she was thinking, but I was worried she would start down the path that would make either of us jealous of the other.

  It was our rule, well really Nick’s rule, but we modified it that we would never talk about what happened when we were with someone else. You know, sexually or for that age it was more just kissing back then. Nick’s original rule was that we don’t do that stuff to begin with. He must have forgotten what it was like to be young with a crap load of hormones.

  She sighed deeply, “I think I’m gonna pass out. I’ll talk to you tomorrow or something, okay?”

  “Yeah, call me tomorrow.” I still wasn’t sure where she was going with that question. Maybe I’ll ask her when we’re both sober tomorrow.

  “Okay, good. Well, sweet dreams, my Lancelot.” She put emphasis on ‘Lancelot’ as if she were on Broadway.

  “Good night, my Guinevere.” Her phone clicked off and I stared at my phone for a minute more. One day we’ll be together, but right now, we’ll just enjoy our freedom. I’m hoping she’s not enjoying too much of hers though. I hate the thought of her with someone else. Not talking about it is just easier.

  Of course, I still kept thinking back to our last conversation about “us” before I left for college. I rolled on to my side wondering how things would have turned out different if I had just told her I loved her. If I had just told her I wanted her as my girlfriend instead of telling her we would always just be best friends. It was all because I was too anxious to get to college and have my “fun.”

  ******

  Two Years Earlier

  It was the end of the summer and Jordan had been back for a week from visiting her Dad in Des Moines. We were coming back from a party at our friend’s house. Tyler’s parents were out of town and he and his brothers decided to throw a huge bash. Jordan and I left just in time, considering we passed a couple of cop cars driving up to the house with their sirens blaring. I guess having a curfew wasn’t so bad after all. I pulled my old, dark green ‘77 Bronco into my driveway. My brother and I rebuilt it together and it was my pride and joy.

  Jordan’s mom didn’t give her a curfew, but she always left the parties with me. She said it made it easier since we lived next door to each other and her friends wouldn’t have to go out of their way to drop her off. It also made sense to me, but I always felt bad that she had to leave the parties early.

  She frowned at me tilting her head and whined for the hundredth time, “Who’s going to drive me home from parties from now on?” For a while now she was asking things like that. I was leaving for college next week and anything we did together; she asked the same type of question. Considering we were practically inseparable, I tried to ignore all her whiny comments.

  I gave her a smile, slightly shaking my head, “I’m sure Jennie or Maria will be happy to drive you home. It won’t be so bad. Wait and see; you’ll barely miss me.” I was having my own conflicting feelings. I was going to miss her so much, but at the same time I was anxious to head off to college and have fun. I heard way too many stories about how great college was from Nick. He was just about to graduate and he didn’t really want to leave and go into the ‘real world.’ So he raved about college, telling me all the parties and all the college chicks I’d have fun with. Needless to say, I was more than anxious to get there.

  “But it won’t be the same, you know that,” she whined, slouching back in her seat and tilted her head back looking up at the ceiling of my Bronco. Her amazing green eyes were glossy with tears, which made them look even more gorgeous.

  I looked over at her and softly said, “I know, but you’ll have to make do and so will I.” I tried to sound sympathetic, but probably sounded more annoyed.

  “HA! You’ll be partying all the time! I’m so jealous. I wish I could go with you.” She rolled her eyes, looking down at her hands and chipped at her nail polish.

  “You’ll be going next year. It’s not too far off.” I tried to convince her. “Look, it won’t be so bad. You’ll actually be hanging around more people when I leave. We’ve been stuck together for years. You’ll finally be free of me,” I teased her, hoping that would make her feel a bit better.

  “I know,” She mumbled, looking down again and chipped some more at her nail polish.

  “I better get in before I miss curfew. Come on, we’ll talk about this tomorrow and I’m sure every day until I go away for that matter,” I mumbled the last part as I opened the door to my Bronco and got out. I started walking and realized she was still sitting in my Bronco. I walked over to the passenger side and opened the door; I put my arm on the door frame, leaning in knowing she was going to continue her whining.

  Why couldn’t I have a best friend that was a guy? My other guy friends don’t do this crap. Although she wasn’t my girlfriend, there were times she
acted like one, instead of a best friend. There were times I never wanted a girlfriend if this was the type of crap they do. “Come on. Really, it won’t be that bad,” I insisted. I looked at her green eyes brimming with threatened tears. Please don’t cry again, please don’t cry again. I held my hand out hoping she’d take it instead of that pouting thing she does. It may be cute, but after all the whining she’s done this past week, I was over it. I just wanted to head off to college. Luckily, she took my hand and jumped down. I hugged her tightly and whispered, “We’ll still talk or text every day like we did all summer. It’ll be alright. Promise.”

  She nodded her head into my shoulder, hugging me back. “I’m just going to miss you, that’s all. I’m used to having you at school all the time, not to mention everywhere else we always go.” Then she released me and stepped back. She looked up at me with her beautiful green eyes. They were sparkling even more than usual because of the tears that were brimming her eyes. “Do you ever think that we should have done the relationship thing?”

  I did everything I could not to roll my eyes, considering how many times we discussed this. “Come on. We’re best friends, remember? Nick told us years ago how it would mess everything up between us. We never want to change that. We can talk about everything.” I let out a deep breath. “Who would you have talked to about how much you liked Will? Or that Luke guy?”

  She nodded again, “I know. It just seems like it would be easier. Sometimes this dating thing sucks.”

  I laughed and hugged her, “I’m sure you won’t be saying that when I’m gone. I’m pretty sure a lot more guys will ask you out now that I’m away. I told you how many times I had guys coming up to me asking if we were together.” Of course, I told them we weren’t, but if they touched her, I’d kill them. She had very few dates, which I felt bad about, but I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else touching her.

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes again. “They still never approached me though!”

  “See…now they will! Just…don’t let them go all the way or don’t let me hear about it.”

  We made a pact that we could talk about who we liked, but we couldn’t talk about what we do with them because we didn’t want to get jealous. Even though it was tough and I still couldn’t sort out my feelings for her. I loved to kiss and experiment stuff with her, but at the same time I really liked being with other girls too. I mean, Jordan was my friend, not my girlfriend and I wanted it to stay that way. It was kind of the best of both worlds.

  She sniffled and looked up at me, smiling big, “Okay. You’re right. We can do this. Just make sure you text or call me. Best friends?”

  “Best friends.”

  Biggest Mistake of My Life.

  Have you read Promises, Promises,

  the first book in the Alluring Promises series?

  Find out how Izzy and Z fell in love at Allure.

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  About The Author

  Janice Baker is the author of Promises, Promises. Her novels involve steamy romance, amusing characters and happy endings. When she is not writing, you can find her spending time with her family down at the beach and thinking up more drama for her books.

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