“What?” I ask.
“Nothing. I’m not saying a word. You’ll just end up punching me.”
“I would …” I almost finish with ‘not’ but that’s a lie. If he said I was being absolutely nuts, I’d definitely slug him in his arm.
Our history teacher Mr. Olsen enters the room. He picks up his pointer and starts tapping the side of his desk. This is his way of getting our attention and quieting down the class. The whispers die down to complete silence.
“I wanted to make an important announcement about your upcoming exam. Every year I give the classroom a choice. You may either have a partly open book exam for all the test except the end of the year exam, or you may have a completely open book exam for the end of the year exam only. Choose wisely.” He hands out stacks of papers to the entire front rows in the room.
Once the sheet lands on my desk I groan. I hate choices like this. We have to mark down our decision. I don’t like this because I know what I would prefer. But I’m sure most of my class will not choose this. I glance over at Chase. He already has his paper flipped over which means he already marked an answer.
Another reason I dislike these type of choices, sometimes it comes down to the wire of one vote being the deciding factor. Then half the class is either mad or glad. At least he gave us a paper system. Some teachers single you out for an answer so then everyone can either have hateful eyes on you or joyous ones.
I squeeze my eyes and move my pencil up and down. “Inny. Menny. Minny. Moe.” Yes, I’ve come to this as my decision maker. Too bad this doesn’t work with boys to like and not.
I refuse to be around or glance in Jared’s direction for the rest of the day. It’s the only way to keep myself in check and save myself from heartache. My thoughts, however, seem to stray in an opposite way. One minute I’m at practice focusing on the drill at hand the next I’m thinking about someone’s gently kissing my cheek.
Sadie drives an elbow into my side and steals the ball from me for a second time today. Coach Harper blows his whistle. “Valentine! Are you with us today? I know you saw her coming, yet you charged forward instead of weaving or passing. Get it together!”
Exactly Juliet, get it together!
The next couple plays I execute better. The rest of practice goes by quick enough. Once it’s over I leave without showering to make sure that I don’t see Kimber showering her affections on Jared.
I coast through the halls and slam into the doors leading to the parking lot. As soon as I slip into my Jeep, I head home.
I step into my house that is usually my sanctuary, today it will not be. My mom and our neighbor Miss Swartz are in our living room. Miss Swartz is bawling. “I just don’t understand. We should have been perfect together. I mean we talked about what happened with our exes. He said mine sounded like a jerk breaking up with someone over text.”
“Oh, Cynthia, he’s right, but you also can’t bring up all this on a first date. Reminiscing or mentioning what went wrong in your last relationship is not good conversations pieces anyway let alone on a date.”
Miss Swartz sniffles and wipes at her eyes. “Do you think that’s why he isn’t calling me now?”
I’m not all that experienced in the dating scene but even I can tell you that’s definitely why that guy isn’t calling her back. He probably thinks she still wants her ex. I try slinking away undetected.
Miss Swartz choking sobs reaches me before I can retreat up the stairs. “Oh, my, your daughters have gotten so big, Angela. I want to have that someday.”
“I know. Juliet, please start dinner for me.” my mom says. It’s not that I don’t mind cooking but what if I had a date? She just always assumes I have no life and again, okay, as of right this instant I don’t. Still, the assumption annoys me.
I simply roll my eyes and stalk off to the kitchen. I have no right to be angry with my mom but her job blows. Yes, it provides all the essential things we need. But her clients are time sucking leeches. My mom is not a therapist, but lord do a lot of people treat her like one.
Take Miss Swartz in our living room. She’s dated a lot. She will probably never be married. My mom tries to find her perfect matches but even I can tell that woman has no perfect match. She destroys dates right from the jump, and then sobs to my mom for hours about how she thought, “He was her soulmate”. Meanwhile, she’s slapped this title on half of the population from here to three towns over.
Yet my mom consistently tries and tries because she firmly believes Miss. Swartz’s, Mister Right is out there somewhere. I just want to be real with my mom and tell her, yeah, he is, but he’s not on Earth.
I grab the pots and pans out from the cupboard while muttering my disgusting opinions about Miss Swartz incessant babbling. “He doesn’t like you because you’re ridiculous. Everyone knows that,” I mumble.
“Please tell me you aren’t talking to yourself in here,” my sister says startling me from my task.
I turn and of course, she isn’t alone. Tyler is chuckling. My cheeks flame with embarrassment. He takes a step toward the fridge. My sister observes me with a raised brow.
“I am not talking to myself,” I say.
“Sounded like you were,” Tyler replies. “What are we cooking today?”
“Um …”
My sister pleads. “Let him help. He’s been begging to make dinner all week.”
Tyler shrugs. “I like cooking. My parents like to eat out. I tend to make way more than I can eat.”
“All right. I hope Miss Swartz isn’t staying,” I answer.
“Oh, no. Is she here?” Layla asks.
I nod.
“I take it you two aren’t a fan,” Tyler states.
“No. She’s always up in our business. She constantly begs my mom to find her dates. And don’t get me started on that stupid cat of hers who craps in our driveway all the time,” Layla grumbles.
“Would you like me to kitty proof your driveway, babe,” Tyler asks in a syrupy sweet voice to my sister.
“Deal. If you can stop that cat from using our driveway as a litter box you can totally help cook dinner,” I answer for her. I’m sick of stepping around cat poop.
Tyler shakes his head. “I didn’t know you were my babe, Juliet. But hey, I hear twins are double the trouble.” He winks at me.
Layla throws an elbow in his side. “Do not even think about it.”
“I’m kidding,” he says as he pecks my sister on the lips. “So, sis, what are we making?”
I wrinkle my nose at him. “Ugh. Don’t call me that.” I throw some shrimp, cabbage, carrots, green beans, and peppers on the countertop. “Stir fry?” I say.
“Hmmm … I’ve got a better idea. Ever have drunken noodles before?” Tyler questions.
“Uh, no. We don’t have alcohol anyway,” I say.
He chuckles again. “Oh Juliet, you really are a hoot. It’s not named that because you’ll physically get drunk eating it. It’s just called it. There’s not alcohol in it.”
Layla smiles. “Sounds delish. I am going to go work on my newest routine for basketball. You two play nice in here.” She kisses Tyler and then races out of the kitchen leaving just Tyler and me.
He points to the veggies and tells me we’re going to wash and dice. While we are doing that, he asks, “You doing okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“It’s me. I know you think just because I’m friends with an idiot whose name will remain unsaid, but I won’t say anything to them. If you want to talk about them go ahead.”
I glower at him. “There is nothing to really say. Jared and I started out working together in a few classes as partners. Sure, it had a rocky start, but I thought we were … I don’t know becoming a good team. Then out of nowhere, he tells me he’s going to request new partners. Suddenly he alienated me from his life and now he’s dating Kimber. There’s nothing more to say.” I roll my eyes. “Actually, there is. I hope he’s happy. Even if it’s with a ditzy girl. He clearly could do way bett
er.”
Tyler is about to say something, but I cut him off. “Then there is your friend Mark who I regret dating. Every time someone mentions our relationship, I think how ridiculous I was. I was like every other girl in that school fawning over him. He’s a moron.”
He nods. “Yeah, he is. Jared however, I still don’t make sense of that one. Sorry kid.”
I blink back some silly tears that suddenly form. “It doesn’t matter.”
He turns me toward him. “Listen to me, Jared will get his head out of his ass.”
I shrug out of his grip. “It doesn’t matter because I don’t want him anyway.”
Chapter Thirty
Jared
“That movie was like so great, wasn’t it?” Kimber asks me for what seems like the billionth time. I’ve also answered her a billion times.
“Yeah, it was great.” It’s a complete lie. I dozed off a few times and the parts I did see bored me.
To make matters worse, I don’t even know how I ended up here. One minute I’m dropping my brother off at the mall and the next here comes Kimber all giggles. The friends she was with left her, so I offered to take her home. Somehow, she roped me into seeing a movie with her.
“Want to go see Being with Mary next weekend? It looks super good.”
I’d rather stab my eyes out with a fork. I can’t do this again. “Erm … Kimber, this has been fun but … I don’t think we should …” She presses her lips to mine.
“Let’s not talk,” she says then kisses me again.
Even as Kimber’s lips touch mine I can’t help but think about Juliet. My mind and heart don’t seem to want to let her go. She avoided me most of the week. In class, she’d disappear as soon as the bell rang like she had a secret trap door or something in every room. She hadn’t been in lunch either. I should be happy, and this should be good for me. It should make it easier to move on from Juliet and focus on Kimber. Someone who truly wants to be with me. Even if all she talks about are how big my arm muscles are, and how she thinks I’m going to be in the pros one day. And everything she says kind of makes me want to scream at her that this is not me. None of these things that she may or may not like are really the things that make me, me.
Maybe that’s why I can’t and probably will never get over Juliet. She could have conversations with me. She asked me reasons why I wouldn’t want to play football. Kimber though just laughs it off and says, of course, I’ll be playing in the pros. She thinks I’m saying this for fear of not making it. Whereas Juliet picked up on my tone and asked me if I liked it anymore.
As soon as Kimber breaks away from my face again she smiles. “I’ll call you tomorrow, love,” she says then she gets out of my truck and runs up to her porch.
Now, what am I going to do? She calls me love. Basically, she’s saying she feels way more for me than I do for her. I tried telling her this shit isn’t happening again and she mauled my face with her lips. All I want is out. I’m not the kind of jerk to call it quits on the phone. I do my shit in person because everyone is owed that kind of respect.
I pull out of her driveway then head to Tyler’s.
“Let me get this straight. You kind of ended up going on a date with Kimber. Then you tried telling her it wasn’t happening ever again, and she decided you two were going to make out instead. And you went along with that?” Tyler asks as he shakes his head.
I unpaused the game we’re currently playing. “Yes, because it surprised me. I couldn’t shove her off me and tell her to get the hell out of my truck.”
“You could have.” I glance over at him and he simply shrugs. I return to the scene playing out on the screen. Tyler continues talking. “I’m just saying you could have been a total asshole and did that. But you didn’t. That’s good too because people like to spread things around. It would only be a matter of time before you’d be labeled a total douchewad for kicking a girl to the curb after she tried to kiss you.”
I pause the game again. “Go on say it. I know you want to.”
“You’re a dipshit, man.”
“Figured that.”
“You know what you gotta do man. Grow a pair. Tell Kimber it’s over. Quit being lazy about it.”
Tyler might say some goofy crap, but he always makes valid points. He also doesn’t rub shit in my face. Unlike Austin, he would space out for about half of the conversation then he would say something stupid like, “Bro if you ain’t tapping it then you need to move on.” Because that’s Austin’s advice for about ninety percent of anything you ask him.
“You should also talk to Juliet,” Tyler says before he continues with our video game.
“How can I do that when she pulls a Houdini act at school?”
“Come with me tomorrow. I’m picking up Layla and we’re supposed to go ice skating. Talk to Juliet and get her to come hang out with us. Down?”
“I don’t know man. You think she’ll even want to hang out with me?”
He nods. “Your chances are pretty high.”
I have no clue why he would say something like this. “Yeah. Sure.” I refrain from rolling my eyes.
Why the hell did I let Tyler talk me into this? He rings the doorbell and I swear time slows as the front door opens.
Juliet smiles at Tyler but as soon she spots me her expression changes. “What are you doing here?” she asks.
“We’re going ice skating. Want to be Jared’s partner? He might be awesome on the football field, but my boy here will eat ice all day long. He’ll need someone to hold his hand.” Tyler smirks.
Wow. Way to make me look like a total freaking chump in front of her why don’t you bro. Juliet peers around him and says, “All right. But you gotta do something for me afterward.”
“What do I have to do?” I ask as I try to control my sudden burst of happiness.
She looks at me with a coy smile. “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Tyler clears his throat. “Awesome. Where is your lovely sister?”
“She’s up in her room,” Juliet answers.
Tyler disappears into the house. Juliet stares at me for a moment then she says, “Come on in.”
I step inside and I’m greeted with the faint smell of cookies. She laughs. “I was baking. Before you and Ty rang the doorbell.”
“Mmmm. It smells delicious. What were you baking?” I ask as I follow her into the kitchen.
“Black and White cookies.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
She leads me to a rack of cookies that are frosted half white, half black. Juliet picks up two and hands them over to me. “Before my dad passed we went to New York and that’s the first time I had one of these cookies. After his death, I wanted to figure out how to make them. What do you think?” she asks as I am chewing my first bite.
I swallow. “It’s amazing.”
She beams at me. “Really?”
I nod. “Oh yeah. I might need more than two.” I wink.
She picks one up and sinks her teeth into it. “Yep. These or oll mone,” she says with her mouth full of cookie. Her terrible manners should be slightly grossing me out, but it’s not. I laugh.
“I didn’t catch that. You got a little icing,” I swipe my thumb on the corner of her lip and draw it to my own mouth. Her cheeks blush a deep cherry red and she drops her gaze.
“All mine?” she says as I take a step closer to her.
Footsteps entering the kitchen breaks our moment permanently. Tyler has his arm around Layla’s shoulder. He smirks at me. “Ready to—Cookies!” Tyler shouts as he unleashes himself from Layla and barrels toward Juliet.
Juliet titters, “No, Tyler!” While she makes a barricade in front of the rack.
“Aw come on, Juliet. You can’t tease a poor growing boy with those mouthwatering cookies and think we’re supposed to stay away. Cough up one. Please,” Tyler begs.
“Those are her black and white cookies, good luck having her share any. Seriously you have better luck meeting the Q
ueen of England than her letting you have one,” Layla says in a serious tone.
Wait. She doesn’t share these types of cookies? Not with anyone? But she gave me two. I smile. Score!
“I’ll make a batch of stuff you can eat after we come back from skating,” Juliet says as she avoids making eye contact with me. Juliet shoves past me. “I gotta change. I’ll be right back.”
“It’s cool we’ve got time,” Layla says to her sister.
Once Juliet leaves Tyler sneaks over to Juliet’s cookies. “Don’t,” I warn.
He narrows his eyes at me. “Dude. I was going to give you one.”
“She’ll make more when we come back. They’ll be warm and gooey,” I say in a persuasive voice.
“Babe, do you mind if I take one now?” He asks Layla.
She shrugs. “Do it quick. She’s a fast changer.”
“See. No harm. No, what the hell man,” he scolds me as I knock the cookie right from his hand and it smashes to the floor.
Juliet enters the kitchen in a different outfit and her face is rid of flour splotches.
“Are we … who did it?”
I point to Tyler. He points to me. Layla shakes her head not saying a word. Juliet scowls. “Tyler, for that you aren’t getting any.”
“W-what? Why do you think it was me?”
“Because he already had two. Let’s go.”
I smile at Juliet then turn my beaming face to Tyler. His mouth hangs open then he mumbles, “See. She wants you.” Then he gives me a thumbs-up.
I stop smiling. Does this mean she wants me?
Chapter Thirty-One
Juliet
I broke my rule. I never give out my black and white cookies to anyone. Not even my own sister had them. When my father took us to a bakery in NYC I had two black and white cookies. Layla had two turtle chip cookies. Whenever I’m in my I’m missing my father mood I make black and white cookies for me. Then I make turtle chip cookies for Layla. It’s our secret thing.
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