We’re going to be a couple!! The wild thought had me seeing stars for the rest of the day at school.
But the whole thing—us dating—it was such a huge leap of faith. Handing my heart over to Mason. Scary, scary, scary. Especially now that I knew about Miss Boots, with her short sexy skirt, and come-and-get-me smile, and her confident, Mason-can’t-keep-away-from-me attitude. Ugh! With that hanging over us we seemed doomed before we even had a chance to get started.
But he had done all of this stuff—the hockey gear, and the sweet book, and his offer for a date—(did I ever mention Mason doesn’t date?)—plus he was cooking me dinner. Cooking. Me. Dinner.
His actions were speaking way louder than words—way, way louder. Saying he wants me. I’m his life. (Well, he actually said that.)
How could I not give us a chance?
I couldn’t.
But like I said (many, many times), it was scary.
If Mason broke my heart. If we broke up. I would lose him. Forever. I couldn’t breathe without Mason in my life. So, the whole idea of putting our friendship on the line like this … yeah, it was scary. Terrifying in fact. Had me holding my breath.
***
When I gushed to Zoey about my “big date” tonight she insisted I wear her heart-stomper boots for the occasion. Insisted. She said she’d seen Mason drooling at school that day he saw me in them. “His heart was stomped big time,” she said.
She and Riley gave me a ride to Mason’s house for “the date” since I still didn’t have a car. Of course.
When Riley saw me in the boots he smiled and shook his head. “Poor Mason,” he muttered with a grin. “The guy’s heart doesn’t stand a chance.”
He kissed Zoey as he said it, probably fantasizing her in the boots. He put his hand over his heart, making a thumping gesture at her. Then he did this little howl (sort of) and attacked her with more kisses. They were obnoxiously in love. It was … inspiring.
And oh my gosh! Suddenly, I caught myself fantasizing about Mason and me double dating with them. Eeek!! It made my heart speed up, but it also made me sweaty and unsure. I mean, I didn’t know if I should dare let myself do that—dream about a real future with us as a couple. Still, the thought made my stomach tickle … Mason and me double dating with people. Doing all of that couple-y stuff. Pure gold!!
Only, of course I couldn’t let myself forget about Blondie at Mason’s locker this morning, looking all smug and sure Mason would come back to her. “He always comes back to me,” she had said so confidently.
The thought made me shudder. It brought me down big time. I never wanted Mason to have to choose between me or her, ever, because she was totally, totally his type: older, wild and gorgeous.
So … did I dare let myself truly hope Mason and I stood a chance?
***
When I showed up at Mason’s front door, he eyed me up and down, making this low, throaty moan.
“Thanks for the boots,” he murmured huskily with his new, shy smile. (I LOVED it—so much—Mason being shy. Swoon!!)
Mason took my hand and led me into his house. The pure gesture itself made my pulse thump. Mason’s holding my hand! It was so sweet and romantic I felt dizzy.
I cleared my throat, trying to remind myself I’d been on dates before. Lots of them. Tons, in fact.
But none had been like this. Ever. Because this was Mason. And he didn’t do dates. So, all of this—this whole experience … it was magic. And warmed my heart.
He whispered huskily in my ear, “You look appetizing.”
His warm breath heated my skin and sent goose bumps skimming down my body.
My heart kicked up to overdrive. I cleared my throat again. Oh man, am I going to pass out?
“Everyone’s gone?” I asked, trying to be conversational and not—you know, hyperventilate just because he was holding my hand. But truly, I was seeing stars.
“Yep. My aunt found a place,” he murmured, sounding pleased. “And Dad’s gone … wherever he goes.”
He didn’t seem too concerned about it. In fact, not concerned at all.
“You’re my family,” he whispered softly, kissing the back of my hand, then all of my fingers—each and every one—sending sparks of electricity through my entire body.
The way he was acting—all eager and attentive—I was in heaven. Truly. I was hearing angels and everything. Holy Smokes!! This was the “couple Mason?” Me likey!!
He led me into his cozy, small kitchen.
His eyes watching mine, I sucked in my breath drinking in the romantic, candlelit dinner he had waiting for me. My heart pounded as I took it all in—the scrumptious looking dinner, and breathtaking scene. It was all so beautiful and thoughtful. So heartwarming I could have burst into tears. I’m not even kidding.
My eyes welled up as I realized all the work he must have gone to. The great care he had taken. It made my heart melt like butter.
I breathed deeply through my parted lips. So proud and impressed and … touched beyond words. At all of this—all of his beautiful, thoughtful, heart-stopping work.
My eyes growing wide with excitement, I whispered in astonishment, “You made chicken crapes. That’s … it’s my favorite!”
He breathed out a tiny little laugh. “I know. That’s why I made it.”
“Mason,” I gushed in wonder, “it’s all so romantic.”
His lips quirked. “I’m trying.”
He made this glorious move, pulling out my chair for me. But then he stopped.
“Wait, I forgot something,” he said.
He ran upstairs, but the instant he was gone, there was a sharp knocking at his front door. I figured he couldn’t hear it, so I hurried to answer it—planning to get rid of whoever it was. Fast. So I could get back to enjoying my most romantic, wonderful date ever. Alone. Gobbling up all of Mason’s delicious attention, which was even yummier than his tasty looking dinner.
However, when I opened Mason’s front door, my heart fell. Like a brick. Crash!
There stood Miss Boots—all ten feet of legs. Practically.
She scowled when she saw me. I mean, truly didn’t look pleased. At all. She narrowed her eyes, I guess remembering me from Mason’s locker today. “You’re who?”
“Summer,” I stammered, wanting to slam the door in her face. Make her disappear. From my date. And Mason’s life.
She narrowed her eyes at me even further, until they were hateful tiny slits. “Oh.” She scowled again. “He’s talked about you.” She shook her head in disgust. “When he’s won a game he talks about you a lot.”
She seemed to be shooting me daggers with her eyes, going on disgustedly, “You know why he kept dating me? He said I smell like you—that’s why he likes me better than all of his other blonds.”
Now her eyes were shooting me death-rays. ’Cause it seemed she remembered something else—something even more bitter. If that was possible. It made her lips twist into a hateful snarl. “Once when he was kissing me wild, I whispered his name. And then he whispered your name.”
I choked on my soda. “My name? Really, he said my name?”
She growled at my happiness.
Just then, Mason came down the stairs. He saw the girl at his door and went pale.
“Amber …?” He stared at her and blinked. Like he was shocked that she was here—at his house. In his life. Seriously, he looked completely baffled and confused.
He tilted his head, frowning. Then his brow rose, “Girls fighting over me?”
I huffed. “Isn’t that normal?”
His voice went soft and husky, “You fighting over me, Summer? No. That’s not normal.”
He dragged his gaze away from me and narrowed Amber another confused look. “What are you doing here, Amber?”
She gritted her teeth, then let out a long breath.
When she finally spoke, she sounded incredulous, like the thought was too impossible to believe. “I’m making sure you really know what you’re doing. You’re really ch
oosing this—this high school girl over me?”
Mason nodded, like there should be no question. “Yeah, I really am.”
I blinked.
A river of tingles raced through my body. I wanted to fling my arms around Mason and scream, “Yes!!”
But I was too stunned. And amazed. Amber had seemed so confident at school.
She narrowed her eyes now, glaring at Mason. Then she opened her mouth, like she was going to spout out angry scathing words. But no words came out, just an incredulous sound to her intake of breath. Then she snapped her mouth shut and stomped away, spouting swear words as she bailed down the porch stairs.
My breath was caught in my throat as I gazed back at Mason. “You chose me?”
He tilted his head, like I should know this. “Summer, it’s always been you.”
My heart slammed against my chest.
I had no idea what the future held for Mason and me—this new “we” or “us.” But I fell into his arms just the same, so ready to give us a chance.
Mason held me tight. Whispering, “Finally.”
Then he closed the door and carried me to his waiting table—and to our very first date, where he fed me chicken crapes … and promised me he’d do it forever.
Be my date forever.
My boyfriend forever.
My soul mate forever.
I guess what he was getting at was … he was my forever.
THE STRANGER INSIDE
by
Melanie Marks
Synopsis:
After her father’s mysterious death, seventeen-year-old Jodi Logan is forced to move back in with her mother and stepfamily. This in itself tears at Jodi. Her mother kicked her out two years earlier after discovering Jodi was romantically involved with her stepbrother, Jeremy. To make matters worse, there’s Jeremy himself. No matter how hard Jodi fights it, she’s still drawn to him.
Adding to the suck-fest that is now her home life, lately Jodi has time lapses she can’t account for, waking places she doesn’t remember going. When she comes to one day and finds herself making out with a boy she’s never met, Sawyer, Jodi learns she’s been living a double life as a girl named Kenzie. But who is Kenzie? Jodi fears she’s going crazy—maybe developing a split personality. But when she discovers the truth, it’s even worse. Jodi is possessed by a ghost—a stranger inside her that refuses to leave.
When a girl from school is murdered Jodi doesn’t know who she can trust: her new friends? Sawyer? Jeremy? Or the stranger inside?
An excerpt from
THE STRANGER INSIDE:
Sawyer handed me his toothbrush with the paste already on it. He must have prepared it for Kenzie. The thought made my stomach turn.
I shuddered and asked it again, “Sawyer, what did I do?”
He breathed out a soft laugh—sympathetic, yeah, but still slightly amused. “You were really … entertaining.” His lips quirked at the corners. “You danced while our band played. I had no idea you could dance like that—I mean, it wasn’t ballet.” He laughed again. “So not ballet. And you sang with Jeremy.” He closed his eyes, leaning his head back with a paled wince—not looking so amused anymore. “You and Jeremy—you had a lot of fun.”
I clutched my stomach feeling sick. “Why didn’t you stop me?”
Sawyer’s jaw muscles ticked. “I couldn’t. I mean it. I had absolutely no control over Kenzie. She broke up with me, by the way. She and Jeremy are a couple.”
I glared down at the ground. Shoot me. Shoot me now. “I didn’t kiss him, did I?”
Sawyer’s eyebrows went up. “Jodi, you were all over him—he had to like, fight you off.”
I groaned. “Next time don’t let me go near Jeremy—take me away.”
Sawyer shook his head. He ran a hand over his face. “Jodi, you don’t get it. I don’t have any control over Kenzie. None. She does what she wants. She doesn’t listen to me.”
Another excerpt from
THE STRANGER INSIDE:
Jeremy leaned his head back against the wall, looking tired. Exhausted. Yet he’d stayed up with Kenzie, took care of her with gentle attention.
I watched him close his eyes, then I got brave enough to ask, “You like Kenzie a lot, huh?”
“Well,” he kept his eyes shut, but a lazy smile crept across his lips, “She’s really good looking.”
I blushed, happy at his answer. Too happy. Using the sink for support, I rose to my feet. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me what we did tonight,” I said as I looked at my frightful image in the mirror.
Jeremy stayed leaning against the bathroom wall, making no move to get off the floor. Or answer me.
I shivered.
“Could you do me a favor?” Really, I had a bunch of favors I wanted to ask him—the main being, could he stay away from Kenzie. But I couldn’t bring myself to actually ask it aloud. Instead I said, “Could you not let Kenzie drink? I mean, this is my body.”
Jeremy gave a small smile at that. “I’ll try.”
I got out Sawyer’s toothbrush, and brushed, and re-brushed my teeth, trying to get the awful taste out of my mouth. Jeremy sat on the floor watching me, and I wondered if he remembered that he brushed my teeth for me before. In eighth grade, I’d broken my arm when I accidently rode my bike into a ditch. The next morning, I was sore all over and couldn’t use my right arm. So Jeremy got me ready for school that day.
He’d washed my hair, brushed my teeth, and helped me get dressed. He even chose the clothes for me to wear. The memory made me laugh, and then cry. Still, he just sat on the floor, watching me. I think he knew all the strange, mixed up feelings he stirred in me. I think maybe I stirred the same confused feelings in him.
The Stranger Inside is available now
BOOKS By Melanie Marks:
The Dating Deal
The Stranger Inside
I Remember You
Always Hers
His Kiss
High School Boys
(High School Boys contains book #2 of His Kiss)
Fall For Me
Fall Forever (Fall For Me #2)
Finn’s Fall (Fall For Me #3)
My Mushy Middle School Heart
#Wars
Fake Boyfriend Wars
(Actually, there’s more)
http://www.byMelanieMarks.com
THE DATING DEAL
“Come with me to the dance. Caitlin and I just broke up. I need a date, you need a date. Let’s just … date. This isn’t a noble gesture or anything. I don’t do stuff like that. It’s a deal. We’re making a deal.”—Trent Ryan.
Megan Turner thought her hard-drive was cleared before she sold her computer in a local online auction, but it wasn’t. Her journal was recoverable, and now it is in the hands of someone she really doesn’t want to read it—the boy she’s had a crush on for years.
Author Bio:
Melanie Marks was born and raised in California. She is married to a naval nuclear submarine officer and blessed with three amazingly terrific kids.
Melanie has had over sixty stories published in magazines such as Highlights and Teen Magazine as well as in various anthologies, many being Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She’s had nine children’s books published and eleven teen novels, THE DATING DEAL; I REMEMBER YOU; HIGH SCHOOL BOYS; THE STRANGER INSIDE; WHEN KYLE CAME BACK; HIS KISS; FALL FOR ME; FALL FOREVER; FINN’S FALL; LOUDER THAN WORDS; and A DEMON’S KISS. More teen novels are forthcoming this fall, 2013.
Melanie enjoys reading in the bathtub, writing in bed, and living in a house longer than two years. Visit her website at http://www.byMelanieMarks.com or email her: [email protected]
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