I walked her to the edge of the crowd and spun her under my arm, then took her right hand in mine and snaked my other arm around her waist. It was smooth and effortless, and Jayden looked up at me in surprise. “What?” I asked. “Being a dumb jock automatically makes me a bad dancer?”
“I didn’t say that.” She pressed her lips together, hiding her smile. “I just don’t think I’ve ever danced with a guy who actually knew what he was doing.”
I chuckled. I was self-conscious about fast dancing, but I could hold my own on a slow dance. My mom took dance lessons before her last wedding. She didn’t want me staying home alone, so she dragged me along. There was always some lady without a partner, and as the lone male on the wall, I’d get pulled in. Whether I wanted to or not. I was only ten, and it was a long time ago, but dancing is kind of like riding a bike. Once you learn how, it sticks with you. Even if you go a while without using it.
“So what do you think about real dancing?” I asked in a husky voice. Jayden had rested her head on my shoulder, and I leaned close to speak softly in her ear. Goose bumps rose down her arms, and without thinking, I slid my hand up her back, pressing her tightly to me. Now that I finally had her in my arms, I never wanted to let go.
My nerves were on fire, and all my senses were on overload when she looked at me through her lashes and replied, “Like all other dances will never compare to this one.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything but the girl in front of me. The gym grew dark and fuzzy. The song faded into the background. The beat of the bass was no longer keeping time with the music but thrumming steadily with my heart.
This was it. I’d waited for a perfect moment, and it was being handed to me, clear as day, wrapped in perfect red packaging. “You’re so beautiful,” I whispered, looking deep into her eyes. Our swaying had all but stopped, and I gently placed a hand on each side of her face. Her eyes fluttered closed, and I leaned in until our noses were touching.
“Jayden,” I murmured, our lips a hair’s breadth apart.
“Hmm?” Her response was barely audible.
My mouth grazed hers ever so slightly as I replied, “Voy a besarte ahora.”
I’m going to kiss you now.
JAYDEN
I had no clue what Mike said, but I hoped it meant he was finally going to kiss me.
His lips skimmed mine, and my hands automatically found his. The tension between us crackled and sparked. My knees grew weak with anticipation, my heart beat wildly, and I vowed that if he didn’t close the distance between us soon, then I would. He pressed his mouth to mine with the confidence of a guy who knew what he wanted. My lips parted in response, and the tingling feeling in my chest exploded throughout my body.
My arms found his neck and wrapped themselves around it. His hands dropped to my waist, then encircled me like a cocoon. Our kiss increased with the intensity of two people who’d been holding themselves back for far too long. I couldn’t get enough of his mouth, his tongue, his hands exploring my back. I’d stay like this forever, if someone didn’t pull us apart.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and was pulled from the dream land I’d entered. Bianca was staring at me. She cleared her throat and moved her eyes to the side, but I was too dazed to figure out what she was trying to say. “You have an audience,” she said with a smirk, jerking her chin toward the wall.
Instantly, I remembered where I was and who I was with. I’d been sharing the most incredible kiss I’d ever had, ever would have…with my best friend’s homecoming date. A string of profanities raced through my brain as Logan stormed off angrily.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered. “What did I do?” I briefly shut my eyes, consumed by guilt. When I opened them, I couldn’t look at Becca and wouldn’t look at Mike. Instead, I hurried from the gym to chase after my furious date, leaving Mike to deal with the fallout from my best friend.
I wandered the halls for a good ten minutes before I thought to look outside, where I found Logan sitting on the curb. He was halfheartedly throwing rocks at the statue of our mascot. “Can I sit?” I asked, approaching him from the side.
“Can I stop you?” he snipped sarcastically without looking up.
I lowered myself next to him, keeping a bit of distance between us. “I’m sorry,” I offered.
He scoffed. “You’re sorry? I leave for five minutes and come back to find you kissing another dude, and all you can say is you’re sorry? That was super douchey of you.”
“It was douchey of me. It was the douchiest thing a douche like me could ever do,” I agreed. I glanced up to see the corner of his mouth twitch from my voluntary and excessive use of a word I openly hated.
Logan threw one last rock at the mascot and turned to face me. “The thing is, I knew you liked him. It was obvious the day you guys were going back and forth with all those stupid emoji texts. I should have cut you loose then. But I hoped you’d come to your senses and realize that the guy’s a loser.”
I wanted to defend Mike, but decided that might not go over very well. Instead, I asked, “But why?”
“What do you mean why?” He looked at me like there was a clear answer and I was a moron for not knowing it.
“I mean, why did you want me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. We had fun together.” Then, he smirked at the ground. “You’re a good kisser.”
I snorted a laugh. “And that’s not douchey?”
“Maybe a little. But it’s still not as douchey as you,” he grumbled.
I threw my hands up in a placating gesture. “I get it. I’ve won the award for douche bag of the year. First female recipient ever.” I dropped my hands to my lap and continued. “But there has to be more than great kissing for two people to work. You and I…we have nothing in common. Our personalities are different, we like different things. Physical attraction aside, there was no real reason for us to be together.”
“I know.” He sighed. “But I’ll really miss kissing you.”
“I’ll bet you ten bucks there’s a girl inside that gym who’d love to spend all her free time kissing you.”
“Do you have a name and number?” he asked. I swatted him on the arm, and he chuckled. “What now? I can’t go back in there. Half the school probably thinks I’m pathetic.” Logan frowned.
“Stop being dramatic. Do you know how many people were playing tonsil hockey out on the dance floor? Enough that nobody noticed my one little kiss.” I tried to reassure him.
Logan huffed. “You call that little? That’s funny, because to me, it looked like your clothes might melt off.”
I felt flushed thinking about it and grew embarrassed by the idea of multiple strangers witnessing something so special. “All I was trying to say is that everyone’s probably over it by now. Once they start announcing the homecoming court, we’ll be completely forgotten.” Except I knew that wasn’t true. There was at least one person who’d still remember. “Let’s tell everyone we switched dates,” I suggested as a joke.
“That’s a good idea. Except then I’d have to go back inside and French the hell out of Becca to make things even.”
“Ha!” I blurted. “Normally, I’d say you should give it a try, but I have no idea how angry she is with me. I can’t face her until I have something better to say than I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry was good enough for me, but not Becca? I see how it is.”
I gave Logan a famous Jayden glare and ignored his comment, then asked, “What do you want to do? Option one: we go back in and pretend it didn’t happen. Option two: we go back in and you plant one on Becca, hoping we can sell the date swap story. Or option three: we leave without telling anyone and go for ice cream.”
Logan hit me with a serious look. “Is there an option where we make out one last time?” My only response was to laugh. Really, it was more of a maniacal cackle. He sighed, resigned to defeat. “That’s what I figured, so guess I choose option number three. But you’re buying.”
“Fair enough. Think we can sneak in t
o get our stuff unseen?”
“I can,” he assured me. “Wait here.” Logan zipped in and out in a flash. “You were right; they were doing the king and queen crap, so nobody looked twice at me. We do have one small problem, though. Lucas has the car key in his pocket. It’s a long walk.” He glanced down at my shoes. “I don’t think you’ll make it very far in those. And I’m not carrying your cheating ass.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then I guess I’m paying for ice cream and the bus fare.”
Two hours, one waffle cone, and one industrial-size ice cream sundae later, we arrived at my house. Logan’s phone had been blowing up with texts from his brothers, asking if he was okay and where he was and if they needed to come get him. I’d only received two messages. One from Becca saying call me and one from Mike saying, you guessed it…call me. At least he added a please.
“Thanks for being a horrible date,” Logan said as he walked me to the door.
“For you? Anytime.” I had a feeling it’d take a long while for me to live this down.
He started to walk away, but I stopped him and gave him a big hug. “I still expect friendship out of you,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I plan to milk this whole situation for as long as I can. Didn’t you know? Revenge is my middle name.”
“Why wouldn’t that surprise me?” I laughed. “Goodnight, Logan.”
“Night, Jayden,” he replied, then strolled up the street to Gran and Pop’s. I wanted to go inside and fall into my bed, but Becca’s car pulled up as Logan walked away. I sighed and got comfortable on the porch. I might be here a while.
Becca cut the engine and got out of the car, but to my surprise Mike was with her. He also got out but took a seat on the hood. Becca stopped to say something to him, and he nodded before she made her way up to me. “Why didn’t you call me?” she asked. I couldn’t get a read on her level of anger. She didn’t sound mad, but she was in the stance she usually took when I was about to get lectured.
“Because I wasn’t ready for you to hate me yet,” I answered hesitantly.
“You should have thought about that before you kissed my homecoming date in front of the entire school.” Becca’s expression was serious. I racked my brain for the right apology. Did Hallmark make a card that said sorry I’m a tramp, can we still be friends? Because I was coming up short, and I could really use one.
I gave her the most penitent look I could muster. “Becca…” I started, but she cut me off.
“Oh my gosh, girl, that was way too easy,” she said, then busted up laughing. What was going on here? I was so confused.
“Huh?” I answered. “Aren’t you here to serve me with friend divorce papers?”
“Why would I do that?” She grinned. “I mean, it was pretty crappy of you to kiss my date.”
“Douchey,” I interjected. She quirked an eyebrow at me in question. “It was douchey of me to kiss your date. Logan and I have covered that one at length.”
She smirked. “Okay, then, it was pretty douchey of you, but I can’t be mad when it’s my fault he kissed you.”
“Your fault?”
Becca looked at me as if I were too simpleminded to keep up. “Were you honestly worried that I liked Mike? Jayden, I knew you liked him before you knew you liked him. I made him fess up about liking you yesterday, and then I almost marched him over to the shoe store so he could tell you. But he wanted to wait until after tonight, so nobody’s feelings would get hurt. Way to mess that one up, by the way.”
“So, you aren’t the least bit mad about what happened?”
“I’m kind of upset that you ran off like a chicken without telling anyone. You missed all the good stuff. Mike and I were the only people in our group who didn’t get voted onto the homecoming court. The spotlight kept shining on us as they called everyone up to the stage, and when we were the only ones left, we just stood there and waved at the crowd like idiots.”
I tried not to laugh. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was lying.” She sighed with the admission. “If you’d come back when we texted you, everything would have been sorted out and you wouldn’t have missed the show.”
“I don’t know if Logan would have stayed. He wasn’t very happy with me.”
“Logan-schmogan. We could have made a date swap. One kiss from me, and he’d have been like, Jayden who?”
“The similarities are uncanny,” I murmured to myself, shaking my head. One day, in the not-so-distant-future, they’d be smooching on a porch just like this. I was calling it.
“Now that everyone knows nobody’s mad, except Logan—and justifiably so—I brought your boyfriend to see you. It’s your job to make sure he gets home.” Becca gave me multiple long, slow winks in a row.
I chuckled. “Okay, okay, I’ve taken the hint. Now get out of here.”
Becca skipped down the sidewalk to her car and spoke to Mike, this time loud enough for me to hear. “She’s all yours, lover boy. But keep it PG. Rico and Julie might be watching.”
Mike peeled himself from Becca’s car, and she sped away. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey, back.”
Mike joined me on the porch, jacket and tie slung over his shoulder. He was almost too hot for me to focus. “I hadn’t planned to kiss you tonight,” he started, then stopped and grinned mischievously, “well, I had, just not at the dance. I don’t like the guy, but I should have considered how he’d feel. I know you guys are friends, and I’m sorry if I got you in trouble.”
“I’m not,” I replied, stepping closer to him. “Becca said she brought my boyfriend to see me. What’s that all about?” I glanced side to side, as if I was looking for someone. “The only boy I see is you.”
“So that’s how you’re going to play it? Get over here,” he demanded, reaching out and pulling me in by my hand. He laced our fingers together, then pulled me close with his other arm. He brought our clasped hands to his lips and softly kissed my fingers as he said, “I assumed sucking your face off in public was a confirmation of our relationship status.”
“Call me old-fashioned,” I replied, my voice breathy, because his lips brushing against my hand was driving me insane.
“In that case…” Mike slid his hand from my waist and up into my hair, then whispered against my lips, “Jayden Valdez, will you be my girlfriend?”
I nudged his nose gently with mine and smiled. “Only if you’ll stop talking and kiss me.”
And kiss me he did. Again. And again. And again. The PG version, of course, because Becca was right; my father had eyes everywhere. At some point I pulled away, a random thought crossing my mind. “If I’m Joy’s sister, and Jackson’s sister, does that make me your sister, too? Because if I am, what we’re doing right now…”
“Stop!” Mike laughed through the kisses. “Just don’t. That’s not even funny.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
Mike looked at me, eyes dancing. “Because you get to come over tomorrow morning and give her the bad news. You’re officially leaving the family.”
“No way! I’m not telling her that. She’ll hate me forever.”
“Yes, way! I will not have her telling the whole world you’re her sister. Because I plan to kiss you whenever I want.”
“Good. Because I plan to let you.”
MIKE
Jayden’s heart-to-heart with Joy went better than expected. And that’s saying a lot, since she was plenty upset. At first, she pouted, then she cried, then she bargained with every ounce of conviction she had. After she finally gave up, Jayden was able to explain why they had to break things off as sisters. If people thought Joy and Jayden were sisters, then they’d think Jayden and I were brother and sister. But you can’t be boyfriends and girlfriends with your brothers and sisters. That’s yucky.
Joy had reluctantly agreed and told us that she was going to her room, because she needed time to be sad and alone. That lasted for all of ten minutes, when she came sprinting back out telling
us that everything would be okay. Why the sudden change of heart, you ask?
Joy proceeded to explain that Jayden would be her sister again, once she and I got married. And then it wouldn’t be yucky, because Jayden would only be her and Jackson’s sister, not mine. So, I would still be allowed to kiss her. What do you say to that? Nothing, that’s what. You just nod your head and smile. I have no idea how she pieced all that together, but my mom was watching us from the hall, looking awfully guilty. Joy spent the rest of the day playing dress-up in her princess clothes and suggesting wedding dress choices.
When lunch rolled around Monday afternoon, I entered the cafeteria just in time to find Jayden and Becca heading toward their usual table. “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.
“Um, to eat?” Jayden replied cautiously.
I looked at her, and as seriously as I could, I asked, “Are we, or are we not, getting married?”
Becca had been drinking from a water bottle, and she started choking violently. After lots of coughing and back slapping, she managed an astonished, “Excuse me? Moving a little fast, aren’t you?”
Jayden gave Becca an incredulous scowl. “You’re one to talk.”
“Am I missing something?” I asked, because clearly, I was.
“No. Only the tiny little insignificant fact that Becca left my house last night and stopped by Logan’s grandparents’ place. He answered the door and she demanded a good-night kiss, since they’d both been cheated out of one.”
“You’re full of crap,” I told Jayden, but Becca shut me down by owning it.
“There’s nothing wrong with being an independent and assertive woman. If you know what you want, then go get it. Why should everyone get their man except for me?”
“They shouldn’t,” I agreed. “How’d it work out for you?”
“I blew his freaking mind,” she replied with confidence.
“She’s not exaggerating, either,” Jayden said. “He showed up at her house Sunday morning and followed her around like a lovesick fool.”
“Did you kiss him again?” I asked.
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