You're What I Want (Y.A Series Book 4)

by Sarah Tork

  “You’re crazy, silly. That was po–eh–tray, at its finest… P… O… E…T… R… E… E… poetry.” He smirked again, sticking his tongue out, which I should have been disgusted by, but no… I found it… ugh… cute.

  Like… a lot cute.

  What.

  Was.

  Wrong.

  With.

  ME!

  Closing my eyes, I smacked my head against the headrest in dismay. “Tom.” I groaned. I took a deep breath. “What are you doing to me?”

  “I can spell, I was just kidding.” He grabbed my hand again. “P… O… E… T… R…. Y… you see, I can spell.”

  “I know,” I whispered. With my arm hanging off the open window frame, rain dripped down my finger like I’d left the faucet on. I looked at Tom as he held my hand over his lap. His forehead creased, making me think he was worried about something.

  “I know you can spell, goofball. You were joking, clearly.” I shook my head, giving him a small smile. “Tom Colleto has many talents, and spelling is one of them.”

  He pulled me forward and cupped my face. “And kissing is another. And no, I don’t care if that sounded cheesy.”

  “Good.” I gulped, eyeing him while he licked his bottom lip. “Because it did.”

  Outside, rain poured quicker, creating the illusion of privacy that hid us from an overcrowded parking lot. He kissed me, holding my face, caressing my jaw. But when his lips grew wilder, hungrier, I made a decision and pulled away.

  My fingers caressed his jaw as we settled our breaths past the heart racing pant. “I feel so much when I kiss you…,” I began.

  “I want more,” he whispered, resting his forehead against mine. “But I understand if you want to wait.”

  “You might be waiting for a long time.” I sighed. “I’m not that kind of girl, Tom.”

  “Ha, no worries. I was just testing you. I’m not that kind of guy either.” Tom smirked.

  I leaned away and grinned huge. “What are you talking about?”

  He leaned back in his seat and palmed his chest in mock outrage. “The nerve, Jenna Sabini. You think Tom Colleto’s gonna give it up that easy? Baby, if you want all this, you’re gonna have to work for it.”

  I laughed and smacked his shoulder playfully. “You goofball!”

  Tom turned the key and the car started. “Girl, I’m telling you, there has to be at least a steak dinner if you want to get into these pants.”

  I laughed louder as he drove us through the rain and out of the parking lot.

  “You need to know a few things about me.” Tom smacked his lips, giving me diva vibes. “Girl, you better hear me. I ain’t a cheap date.”

  “No you ain’t,” I added, giving him equal sass.

  “And don’t even think about inviting me inside your house,” Tom declared. “Especially if your parents aren’t home either. Nope, not happening tonight, young lady.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” I smirked, looking dreamily at him. “I respect you too much.”

  “The feeling is mutual,” he murmured, concentrating on the road ahead, though I wished he’d look at me. Those blue eyes were too pretty, and along with the sound of his voice telling me things in ways that surprised me still… left me feeling nervous. I was falling for this guy, and that scared me.

  How’d all this happen? That suddenly, swimming scholarships and the swim team had taken a backseat. My life included a boyfriend, who was the type of jock I used to make fun of.

  It was mind-boggling.

  Weird beyond the vicinity of weird.

  I could go on and on about how alien all this still was, but Tom had other plans. When his fingers touched mine, every part of me burned. The rest of the way home, our hands were together.

  It was official… I, Jenna Sabini, was a goner.

  CHAPTER 11

  *JENNA*

  Mom: Did you set the alarm?

  Jenna: Yes, I did.

  Mom: Good. So, did you have fun tonight with your friends?

  Jenna: Yes, just got home. I’m going to take a shower and watch a movie.

  Mom: We’ll be home in a few hours. If you’re hungry, we’ll bring home some of your uncle’s “famous” BBQ ribs.

  Jenna: Yeah right, he buys them air sealed from the supermarket. Caught Uncle Frank last August trying to hide the plastic with a sneaky smile.

  Mom: These Sabini men are all horrible actors. LOL, your father’s reading this as I write, you should see the state of him, pouting like a baby not getting his way. I’ll spare you any further detail.

  Jenna: Take a pic, I need evidence of his childlike behavior for future blackmail. Bye, Momma

  Mom: Ah, you really are my daughter. Later, honey.

  I closed Mom’s text and opened my ongoing one with Annabelle. She needed some information, crucial to her well-being and my amusement. I couldn’t help it as I texted her; the smirk poured out of me like lava.

  So ruthless.

  Jenna: My dearest Banana, might I suggest that if your whipping boy wants to fornicate, you remind him that your lady in waiting/advisor/security has passed along a message that he’d be wise to follow, and you too. No glove, no love. Don’t got no plans to be an auntie anytime soon and your boobs are already big, can you imagine them a size bigger filled with milk!

  Annabelle: I’m getting you tested on Monday….

  Jenna: You wouldn’t dare, you love me too much.

  Annabelle: And it’s because I love you that I feel the need to check your mental state with a psychiatrist.

  Jenna: Awwww, I’m touched. Hey, aren’t you on a “date,” why are you conversating with me, biotch?

  Annabelle: I could ask you the same thing! Aren’t you on a “date” with Tom?

  Jenna: It’s 8:30 p.m., the date is over. I’m home now.

  Annabelle: Why so early?

  Jenna: Because that’s just how things went.

  Annabelle: I don’t believe you.

  Jenna: Then don’t.

  Annabelle: You guys could have gone to Wilsons Arcade, gone to Thompsons Park, gone to the movies… why didn’t you?

  Jenna: We went to Yogurty’s, hung out in the parking lot and listened to music while it rained and then he took me home. It was a good night.

  Annabelle: I’m sure it was, but tell me the truth, that’s not all you did, right?

  Jenna: You are a horn dog, get your mind out of the gutter. I’m keeping my honey jar locked for a while.

  Annabelle: Are you implying that I didn’t!

  Jenna: No… maybe LOL

  Annabelle: Whatever, totally disowning you now.

  Jenna: I’m tearing up, no, don’t, stop, stay, please

  Annabelle: Did you kiss him?

  Jenna: Yes.

  Annabelle: Did you like it?

  Jenna: Yes. Ugh, this line of questioning is boring me now, gonna take a shower, say hi to Boy Wonder with a kick from me, k. Love you bye!!!

  Annabelle: Seek help Jenna. Oh and thanks again for covering for me tonight.

  Jenna: No problem, but remember, no babies!

  Annabelle: JENNA!

  Smirking like a job well done, I took my phone to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Steam quickly filled the room and my phone vibrated on the counter as I stripped. Who was Jenna Sabini if not with her phone? My handy device came with me as I took a seat in the tub and draped my arm over to check who needed me at this time of night.

  With a sly grin, I narrowed my eyes at the screen. “Becky Sloaner, where have you been?” I mumbled.

  Becky: Hey.

  Jenna: Hey. U ok?

  Becky: I’m okay.

  Jenna: Why don’t I believe you?

  Becky: I’m a horrible liar that’s why, even in text mode they’re obvy.

  Jenna: No worries.

  Becky: GTG, TTYL

  Jenna: All right, bye.

  Well that was weird.

  Maybe I should have pressed for more details, but I was on the verge of a new
mantra: Me First. Becky was a new friend anyway.

  I placed my phone on the bathroom mat and sunk deep in the tub as the showerhead washed me from above.

  Relaxation mode commenced… for like ten seconds. My phone buzzed again, chiming with a text message.

  “What’s wrong now?” I groaned, rethinking the whole phone in bathroom thing. I needed more than twenty-five seconds of uninterrupted silence. “I need to start charging. Geez, people, give a girl a break.”

  I was ready to put an end to this shower tradition and run bare naked back to my air conditioned room and place this phone where it belonged all this time, on my bedside table. Whoever just texted me would need to wait until I was good and ready. Heck, maybe I wouldn’t respond till tomorrow, depending on my mood.

  “Jenna Sabini, diva mode commenced!” I pulled back the curtain and took a step out, drenching the mat. I grabbed my phone and saw Tom’s name on the screen.

  Everything stopped, except for my heart.

  I stood in the steam-filled bathroom and stared at the screen in awe. I was just with him and now he was texting me?

  The shower tradition was back on. I stepped back inside the shower and sat down, draping my chest over the tub’s edge, feeling my heart hammering against it.

  Tom: Hey, silly.

  Jenna: Hey… what’s up?

  Tom: Why’d our date finish so quickly?

  Jenna: It finished too quickly?

  Tom: Yeah, it did. I want to be with you right now.

  My body warmed for reasons that had nothing to do with the water temperature. I leaned my chin beside my arm over the tub’s edge and felt a weird burn travel down my body. I felt like I was on fire.

  What was happening to me?

  My breathing turned harsh, like I’d just run a marathon.

  My heart hammered faster. The sensation was weird, like nothing I’d experienced before. I wanted it to stop, and then I didn’t. I wanted more, but all this scared me, past control, past safety, past everything that made me who I was, a girl with tunnel vision and no time for feelings of the heart.

  But now that the scholarship to FSU was out the door, maybe I could have time for things like this? But that also didn’t mean other schools weren’t interested in me for a scholarship either. News flash: There were plenty of schools I could apply and get a swimming scholarship to.

  I needed to focus.

  I also strangely needed Tom. I needed the relief, and being with him, talking, hugging, heck even kissing, was turning into a huge stress reliever.

  Tom Colleto was my stress reliever, along with Annabelle, of course. Maybe I could do both? I mean, there had to be a reason I didn’t lock myself in my room when I found out FSU wasn’t interested. I had my happiness divided into different pots besides swimming and family and friends—who were acting flakey as of late. Finally I was the one in someone’s spotlight. Someone was making me their focus. And I liked it. A lot.

  Tom: You still there? I hope I didn’t scare you away.

  Jenna: You didn’t. I’m still here. I’m taking a shower.

  Tom: Jenna… why did you tell me that?

  Jenna: Because that’s what I’m doing right now? Why?

  Tom: Because now I can’t get the image of you showering out of my mind.

  Jenna: Oh… my bad, sorry.

  Tom: Why? I’m not.

  Jenna: What do you see? How do I look?

  Tom: I don’t want to be disrespectful.

  Jenna: All right, rain check then.

  Tom: Deal.

  Jenna: So, now what?

  Tom: Now, we discuss our plans tomorrow.

  Jenna: We have plans tomorrow?

  Tom: Yep, I need a new swimsuit and you are going to help me buy one.

  Jenna: Well then, you’re in good hands. I’m an expert and I know just the place to get the perfect pair… darling.

  *~*~*

  *JENNA*

  Saturday November 10, 2012

  “And where do you think you’re going?” My dad held a plate of pancakes and a bottle of syrup up to me. “Breakfast of champions, champ. Don’t tell me you’re going to miss this to go and train?”

  “I am, I am…” I eyed the spread on the kitchen table from the kitchen doorway. “Going to the mall. But I’ll have a pancake.”

  “The mall?” Dad mouthed as I passed him to the table. I helped myself to one pancake after Dad took a seat next to me.

  “Yeah, the mall.” I drizzled syrup and grabbed some butter. “I’m helping a friend buy a swimsuit.”

  “Oh.” Dad nodded, understanding. “Well, they’re in good hands. Nobody knows more about swimsuits than my warrior.”

  I matched his grin with my own. “You got that right. I know things about swimwear.”

  “The mall’s open now?” Mom entered the kitchen, the sound of a toilet flushing in the distance following her in.

  “How’s your belly, darling?” Dad smiled lovingly at Mom as she took a seat. “I told you not to eat so many of those enchiladas last night. I got scared for a second, hearing rumbles strong enough to shake floors. Any second I thought there’d be war alarms and I’d have to rush out and convince everyone that everything was okay and that my wife just ate too much cheese.”

  The red dragon awoke.

  Mom’s eyes blazed with fire at the goofy grin my dad sported effortlessly and delusionally. Unfortunately, it did not stop with the grin. He decided to share more. “That’s what you get for not listening to your husband. Now I gotta go and buy extra air freshener because I know you used up the last one. God, is there a scent out there strong enough to mask what you just farted out? I’m gonna need a gas mask, ha!”

  While Dad laughed loudly at his own joke, Mom’s nostrils flared. Her chest rose in and out. Fire was on the tip of her tongue. “Jenna,” she murmured, her voice vibrato, like an earthquake on the cusp of completely decimating Earth, aka my goofy and clueless dad. “If you don’t want to see your father cry in pain, and humiliation, you need to look away, now.”

  “What?” Dad squealed, pushing away from the table like a scared child about to get a whooping from his momma.

  My momma was no joke. Testing her on repeat was an error and a recurring theme for my dad. He’s just lucky he didn’t do it in front of actual people. Lucky duck, he’d get a moment of pain, a brief little scare in comparison to what would have happened if, let’s say, this had happened at Uncle Frank’s house. There’d be blood. Literally.

  Mom grabbed three oranges from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table and hurled one at him. My eyes were wide open, and there was a glorious grin. I lived for things like this.

  “You’re in big trouble, Pops,” I stated, pouring orange juice for myself. “Sic him, Ma!”

  Dad scrambled behind the island, ducking orange number two. “Where is the loyalty? When you were a baby I was the one who changed your diapers, not her!”

  “You changed her diapers!” Mom screamed, hurling the last orange with perfect aim at Dad’s back as he ran out of the room.

  “They told me to marry Eliza Jane Rothman, a nice churchgoing girl with morals and values who lived down the block, but noooo, I chose you instead and look at where it’s left me, abused and scarred for life. Jenna, pull out your camera phone, record the monster your crazy mother has turned into! I swear to God, I don’t know this woman anymore!”

  I finished my juice and slammed the cup down. “All right, you guys have fun. I’m off.” I grinned.

  “You traitor. I’m disowning you!” Dad screamed, making a run for it while Mom opened the fridge and then went running after him out of the kitchen with apples. She chased him back into the kitchen.

  “Jenna, take the twenty from my purse.” She blurred past me with a sweet smile. “Have fun, I know I will.”

  My parents laughed in the background as they chased one another. My mom’s purse stood on the granite side table by the front door. Mom had her antique store finds decorated to perfection on it. A flor
al vase with fake flowers styled elegantly, two bronze-colored candle holders with ivory vanilla-and-honey scented candles in them, and a gold-framed mirror hooked on the wall behind them. I opened her purse and found her wallet. There was a twenty-dollar bill inside it with a bank receipt that I wouldn’t dare read. This wasn’t right. I couldn’t take her money. What if that was all she had? What if that bank receipt said there was no money left in her account?