“I wonder how Damien feels when he kisses you,” Matt stated curiously as he looked over me with a smile and pushed away from the wall. I tilted my head to the side in confusion as he smiled, winking at me before he walked off.
What the hell did he mean by that? I asked myself as I turned to walk inside my class.
“Wait! Jade!” I heard a high pitched voice squeak from behind me. I whipped back around to see a mousy little girl coming to a quick stop behind me.
Her brown eyes found mine as she said, “How, I repeat, how did you get Matt to date you?” Even with her dark skin tone, you could see a red tinge to her cheeks as she looked up at me. I couldn’t place the girl’s face, but I assumed that she had been in one of my classes before. Her hair was braided up into a bun, and as she stood waiting for me to respond to her question, her mouth hung open a bit, showing off her straight, white teeth.
“Oh, you know, blackmail,” I shrugged, smiling.
The girl laughed, obviously thinking that I was joking. “Lucky you.”
I smiled, nodding. “I know,” I replied, before waving and heading into class.
As I walked in and made my way to my desk, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at the irony of that situation. I had told the truth and she had thought that I was joking. I smirked. At least I didn’t lie. I surely don’t need another thing to add to my list of reasons for why I’m most likely going to hell.
Chapter 15
“How long does it take to walk a few blocks?” I groaned in frustration. My dad was upstairs with the senator and they would be down here at any moment expecting to meet my new and perfect boyfriend, but that would all be screwed up if he was late.
A perfect boyfriend cannot be late.
Alyssa poked me in the side, offering a smile. “Don’t worry, Jade. He’ll be here. From what you tell me he seems like a good guy, and if he’s as perfect as you say he is then he won’t be late either. You’re all stressed out for no reason. He still has a good fifteen minutes to get here,” she said, glancing down at her watch and then back up at me. “No biggie.”
“Thanks,” I spoke, my voice breathy. I had been pacing in front of the door for what felt like hours, but in reality had only been about five minutes. I was all dressed up in one of Alyssa’s dresses that stopped just below my knees, and had so many flowers on it that I felt like I was wearing a garden. It was almost as if I was trying to compensate for the fact that I was a deflowered delinquent. I was hoping that my dad would see me in this dress and think that I was trying to impress Matt, instead of him and Senator Jacobs.
Damien sat across from me on the wide staircase, next to his little sister who was one step under him. I felt nervous under the scrutiny of his dark eyes. He always seemed to be watching me while deep in thought. Almost as if I invoked something inside Damien, and just watching me made his thoughts spin wild.
Once he realized that I was looking at him, he gave me a small smirk. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”
I rolled my eyes at his playful words, remembering when I had said that to him outside of the restaurant when we had first met. “I could say the same to you,” I responded.
He shrugged. “Maybe you could, but I think if we counted the stares I would need to say it more often considering how much I catch you staring.”
Alyssa shook her head, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder. “No, no, no.”
“What?” Damien questioned, speaking for both of us.
“You two cannot flirt tonight. It’ll ruin the whole plan, and I don’t want Jade to leave. I’ve always wanted an older sister.”
I smiled at Alyssa, stopping in place. She really was a sweet person. If I didn’t like the way I was, I wouldn’t mind being more like her. She was smart, pretty, and artistic. It seemed like a good combination to me.
“I’ve always wanted a little sister who would follow in my footsteps someday,” I said, nodding my head at her as she laughed. We both knew that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
“What’s wrong with an older brother?” Damien questioned Alyssa.
“Nothing,” she mumbled. “A sister is just cooler because you can share clothes and talk about boys.” Alyssa waved her hand at me, pointing out the fact that I was wearing her clothes.
“You better not like any boys. You aren’t old enough for that,” Damien replied, tossing a glare at his sister and putting on his protective older brother pants.
“Older brothers are only good for one thing,” I began, “their hot friends.” I stated with a smile directed toward Alyssa. Little sisters were apparently good for their hot older brothers too.
Alyssa nodded, earning a gentle shove from Damien.
“What?” she screeched. “It’s not like you hang out with them anymore anyway!”
Damien rolled his eyes. “Sisters are annoying.”
“Are not,” countered Alyssa.
“Are too,” he retorted.
“Are not.”
“Shut up!” I practically yelled. Both of their heads snapped in my direction, their attention turning from each other to me. “Can we get back to the situation at hand?”
Alyssa nodded.
Damien shrugged.
“Thank you!” I groaned heavily, running my hand through my hair.
Alyssa had wanted to give me a French braid, but Damien had disagreed saying that would overdo it. He had then stepped toward me and ran his hand through my hair, tucking it behind my ear and saying that it looked nice out. Apparently having my hair wild and free was more ‘me'. I couldn’t get myself to stop smiling even after he had pulled away and went to his room, leaving me and Alyssa alone in hers. I felt like a schoolgirl who had just been told that her hot English teacher was in love with her. I began to pace back and forth in front of the door again. It would be any minute now.
“Stop pacing, Jade! You’re making me nervous. Everything is going to be fine,” Alyssa blurted out in frustration of watching me pace around the room.
“You don’t know that,” Damien mumbled, causing me to stop again.
I fixed my glare on him. “What did you say?” I questioned.
He lifted his head. “I said, you don’t know that. As in, there is a chance that this plan won’t work anyway.”
“Damien,” Alyssa growled. “Don’t say that.”
“I’m just being honest,” Damien stated with a slight shrug.
“Well don’t be,” I snapped. He shrugged again as if he didn’t care about this conversation any more.
“Why are you so negative all the time?” Alyssa questioned.
Damien stood up. “I’m not negative, I’m just realistic. You expect Matt, who has trouble even kissing you, to come in here and win over our parents, when you guys haven’t even discussed anything about your relationship.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, noticing how Damien’s eyes flickered to my cleavage for a moment before returning to mine. “What else do we need to discuss about our relationship?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe what the date was when you first started dating, or what you like about each other, or how you met, or even your middle names, considering you know next to nothing about each other except for your sexualities. What are you going to say when they ask you all of those questions?”
“You’re an asshole, Damien! It’s like you want me to leave. If you wanted me to stay you would be doing anything you could to make this work out for us.”
Alyssa and I stared at him as he ran his hand through his dark hair and sighed deeply. He stepped toward me with his mouth opening and then closing repeatedly like he was a fish out of water. It was obvious that he was trying to think of something to say. All he had gotten out was, “Jade, I...” before the ringing grabbed all of our attention.
Alyssa jumped up from her seat on the stairs and ran to the door, peering through the peephole. “He’s here,” she said ominously.
“Dun dun dunnn,” Damien said to add to the ominous effect.
I rolled my eyes. “You guys are crazy,” I stated as I went over to the door and pulled it open to reveal a smiling Matt. He was dressed handsomely in a pair of dark wash jeans and a dress shirt. His hair was tousled in a messy, but neat way that made him look sexy and cute at the same time, and clutched in his hands was a bouquet of white roses.
He handed me the roses and whispered, “I asked Brooke what your favorite flower was.”
“That’s so sweet,” I replied, taking them in my hands. My cheeks flushed red. He really did make the perfect boyfriend. Too bad he wasn’t straight or I’d be all over him by now.
The stairs behind me creaked and I turned around to see my dad and the senator descending from their private conversation upstairs. I ushered Matt inside, closing the door behind him, just as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh how lovely, he brought you flowers,” Senator Jacobs cooed in admiration. “What a gentleman.”
“You must be Matt,” my father stated as he held his hand out for Matt to shake. They shook hands quickly. “You have a strong grip,” my father beamed, as if the firmness of handshake meant something about his character.
“Thank you, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you both, and may I congratulate you on the engagement. I’m sure you two will be very happy together,” Matt stated politely as he effortlessly slipped his hand into mine. He tried to cover it up by laughing and smiling at me, but the senator saw it and motioned for us to follow her to her office.
“Why are you wearing that dress?” Matt whispered as we walked upstairs a few paces behind my father and his soon-to-be wife.
“To go along with the charade.”
“It’s too much, you should have worn jeans and a nice top. It would have been more you, but with a slight change. I suggest a pale purple, it would look great with your skin tone,” Matt stated, letting the gay seep through his words as he gave me fashion advice. What was funny was that Damien had said the same exact thing earlier, which of course I had assumed was his way of saying I didn’t look good in a dress. I had misconstrued his words and gotten mad at him.
I have to apologize to him later for that, I thought as we walked into the senator’s office. Damien and Alyssa had followed in behind us and stood by the door silently. I suddenly felt as if I was going to be interrogated. I turned to look at Damien, who had an “I told you so” look on his face as the senator started to talk.
“I want to hear all about you, Matt. Can you tell me how you are doing in school?” she asked as she sat down next to my father who was sitting in a plush chair behind her wooden work desk.
“I’m doing well in school, straight A’s, and I have a full scholarship to play football for the University of Alabama. I have one of the highest grade point averages in my class, and if I say so myself, I’m a pretty good running back,” Matt stated with a cocky smile. He was obviously proud of his achievements.
“You must be in order to have even been recruited to play for that school. Aren’t they the best school in the nation for football?” my father asked proudly, as if Matt was his son and he was the proud parent.
“It’s one of them, sir,” Matt answered with a soft smile lingering on his lips.
“That’s really impressive! What do you think, Tara?” My father asked, beaming with happiness. I couldn’t believe that he could so quickly flip a switch for how he treated me over one boy. I should have done this years ago.
For a moment my mind flashed to Austin. If I was threatened with being forced to move to Ohio with my grandmother when I still liked him, would he have helped me or would he have broken my heart again? I shook my head lightly to get rid of the thoughts; Austin wouldn’t have done it. He was only interested in me after I started to ignore him; like all guys, he wanted what he couldn’t have.
My eyes widened and my heart dropped into my stomach as Senator Jacobs scoffed. “I think this relationship is a scam, and I don’t like scams. They cause issues in the long run and can ruin a campaign. If this is a fake relationship it will cause more harm than good. I can’t believe that you are buying this. Do you want Jade to change so badly you’re willing to believe this charade?” she questioned bluntly.
“I assure you, Senator Jacobs, this isn’t a scam. I do really like Jade, and I just want to test out the relationship if that’s okay with you,” Matt replied, cleverly dancing around the topic to take focus off of the senator’s campaign.
“Then let’s hear it,” she stated as she got comfortable in her chair and looked at us expectantly.
“Hear what?” I asked curiously, furrowing my brows.
“I want to hear about your relationship. Where’d you meet, how’d you meet, all the typical questions,” she answered with a knowing smile as if she knew that this was fake and I was going to have to make it up on the spot. Could she have heard us while we were talking downstairs?
“Where should we begin?” Matt asked nervously as he glanced between me and the senator. Neither of us had planned for this and we didn’t know what to say.
“Where did you first meet?” she asked with a condescending tone. I took a deep breath to relax myself as I looked at Matt. He was at a total loss for words, and so was I. I couldn’t say that I had met Matt after skinny dipping and had been caught naked, hiding in the bushes in his backyard. I was blank until I heard Damien clear his throat behind us.
“We meet at an Italian Bistro downtown. I was going with Brooke to get food after one of our adventures.” I laughed lightly, but my laughter came out sounding forced and awkward. “Austin had brought Matt after playing some flag-football, and we just happened to meet. Of course, at the time we didn’t know that we liked each other. He got jealous because the waiter, who I knew, seemed to be flirting with me, and then he wouldn’t leave my side.”
Matt played along adding in, “He was flirting with you. You’re just oblivious,” he said, forcing a smile as he squeezed my hand that was still in his. I tossed a quick glance at Damien, only to see the smirk etching onto his face as he started to connect the dots.
Senator Jacobs crossed her arms over her chest and spoke. “I assume Brooke is your nude partner-in-crime, and Austin is another of your friends?” I didn’t miss the rude tone of voice that she spoke in.
I nodded in response to her question and continued. “We went to Austin and Brooke’s house afterward and we all just started to hang out. After a few times, we were playing a game in Brooke’s basement and figured out that we had a lot in common. Ever since then he’s been hanging out with my friends a lot and we just hit it off. From then I was falling for him more and more.” I smiled sweetly at Matt and batted my eyelashes just enough to make the action seem involuntary instead of forced. “He even went on a Brooke and Jade adventure with us, but he didn’t participate. He came just so he could spend time with me and keep us out of trouble,” I finished as I heard Damien scoff.
“That’s the dumbest story I’ve ever heard,” he spoke from behind me, causing me to turn my head to watch as he turned on a heel and walked off.
“Damien, that’s so rude!” Alyssa squealed as she raced after him. I stood up, preparing to go after him, but Matt stopped me and pulled me back down onto the couch that faced my dad and the senator; this time closer to him than before.
“Don’t worry, Jade, he’s just jealous,” Matt whispered just loud enough for my dad and the senator to hear before he leaned down and placed a light kiss on my lips.
Chapter 16
We had been answering question after question for about half an hour after Damien and Alyssa left. I was wishing I could have gone with them now because I was bored out of my mind. Senator Jacobs had gone to the campaign office to fix a problem and now my dad was talking to Matt like a proud parent again. I mostly wanted to get out of this dress and back into sweat pants. The tag was rubbing against my back and irritating me beyond belief.
I was about to excuse myself politely when I was hit with the sudden urge to pee. “I’ll be right back. I gott
a pee,” I blurted out, receiving a disgusted look from both my father and Matt. “What? It’s not like you guys don’t pee!” I scoffed as I opened the door and walked out of the room, pulling it shut behind me.
Senator Jacobs had closed it to give us privacy. It was obvious that she thought Damien would come back and interrupt our conversation. Little did she know, Damien was originally all for the faux beau plan. He must have had a change of heart, because now he just seemed to be negative, almost as if he wanted the plan to fail so that I could leave. I felt my heart sink slightly at that. I thought he liked me and that we got along well, but I guess I was wrong. I felt stupid for trusting Damien so soon after meeting him. I was starting to really let loose with him too. I felt like I could be myself around him.
“I can’t believe this,” I growled just as the door next to me burst open and a pair of hands pulled me inside. I was about to scream when a hand slapped over my mouth and muffled the sound as the door was pulled shut.
“Don’t scream, it’s just me,” the voice stated as the hands slowly moved from my mouth and allowed my breathing to resume.
“Damien, what was that for?” I asked as he clicked on the light in the closet and let me see his dark eyes staring at me with intent. He had something he wanted to say, and I could tell that nothing I did was going to stop him.
“I know that story you told about how you and Matt met was really about us,” he replied with a smirk as he placed his hands on either side of my face. I felt the flutter in my stomach come as he stroked his thumbs lightly across my cheeks and the dark look in his eyes vanished momentarily.
I pushed his hands away and stood with my hands on my hips. “Wow, aren’t you conceited. Not everything is about you, Damien. How do you know that’s not how Matt and I met?”
“Because I was there. Unless that story wasn’t really about us.” He grabbed my waist and pulled my body against his. Our chests collided as he held me close, and from the smile on his face I knew he liked it; unlike Matt.
Crush: A YA Romance Collection Page 11