Crush: A YA Romance Collection

by Lavinia Leigh

“Everyone has problems with their parents.”

  “Not like this. Have you ever gotten into a fist fight with your mom or dad?” He paused and frowned. “Because that happened, with my dad. He knocked me out after I punched him.”

  She touched his shoulder. “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry, Blake.” She couldn’t find any other words, although he’d made her day trusting her enough to tell her what had happened. For some reason, she didn’t think Blake was one of those guys who opened up to people easily.

  He glanced out the window again. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. But…it just sucks. I’ve fought so hard to get along with my dad, to have a relationship with him, but everything I do makes him mad, or disappointed. It doesn’t matter what grades I get or what sports I play, it’s never enough.”

  Arielle placed her hand on Blake’s shoulder again. “I’m so sorry.” She’d already said that, so she dug deeper, searching for something better. “I don’t know what it’s like or what you’re going through, but I’m here anytime you need to talk about it. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  His eyes met hers with fire inside them and he tapped his chin. “Hmm…there might be.” He leaned closer until she could feel his hot breath on her cheek.

  Her gaze went everywhere but on him as she swallowed the lump in her throat. After her gulp, she took a deep breath, facing him. “What?”

  He plopped his elbow on the center console, staring straight at her for way too long. A quiver shot through her stomach as she risked a glance at Blake, then her gaze darted away, folding her warm palms in her lap.

  He chuckled, but so quiet she could hardly hear him. “Can you sing for me again?”

  She met his eyes, her own widening. “Sing for you?”

  He nodded. “It cheered me up, what can I say?” Then he laughed. “Plus, I’ve never heard someone sing so off key in my life.” Reaching down, he popped a CD in, turning it to track four. “Faithfully” by Journey.

  Even though it was one of Arielle’s all-time favorite songs, she couldn’t sing it. The sappy songs were too hard for her, so she shook her head. “I can’t sing this one.”

  “It’s okay.” With sad eyes, he looked down at his lap.

  Every part of his face drooped, like the leaves of a wilted plant. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let the words soar from her mouth. This time, her high-pitched, off-key voice should have broken all the glass in the car, but when Blake laughed and his eyes glittered, it made the embarrassment worth it. Maybe.

  After the song ended, Blake shifted back to his own seat. Arielle’s stomach dropped, knowing the moment had passed. The first kiss she hadn’t been ready for, that she kind of wanted but didn’t know if she could handle…well, it wouldn’t be happening now.

  He turned the key, starting the engine back up. “I think I’d better get you home.”

  She shook her head. “You can’t take me home. I told my parents I was staying the night at Jess’s house.”

  She hadn’t thought about Jess in a while, but as she did, she bit her lip, the guilt making her chest tighten. How could she have forgotten her friend? She pinned her arms to her stomach, which ached with a gut-wrenching guilt.

  Blake turned the radio down. “Okay, where’d you go just now?”

  Arielle shrugged. “It’s Jess. I haven’t even thought about her since we pulled into this parking lot.”

  Blake ran a finger down the side of her face, cupping her chin. She leaned into the touch. “How about I take you back to Jess’s house and we make sure she’s okay.”

  Arielle widened her eyes. “You wouldn’t mind?”

  He shook his head. “Not one bit.”

  ***

  When they arrived back at Jess’ house, almost all the cars were gone from the driveway. Except one, which Arielle didn’t recognize.

  Which meant it was probably Damien’s.

  As she hopped out of the car, she turned before she closed her door. “Thanks, by the way. For tonight. I had fun.”

  Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Good. Maybe we can do it again sometime?”

  Arielle couldn’t stop the grin from spreading all the way across her face. “I would like that.”

  “Guess I will see you tomorrow at school.”

  Arielle nodded and shut the door. Then she went inside the house. Jess and Damien were on the couch, no lights on in the room. The kissing sounds told Arielle all she needed to know.

  She should just go home, but she wanted to stay with Jess. “Hey. I’m back.”

  Jess broke away from Damien and turned the lamp beside the couch on. “Ari? Is that you?”

  “In the flesh.” Arielle walked over to them. “Remember, I’m supposed to stay the night?”

  Jess blushed, then put a hand on Damien. “Sorry, babe. I forgot Ari was staying the night. Rain check?”

  Damien nodded, then stood up, but leaned down and kissed Jess on the nose. “Sure. See you tomorrow.”

  Maybe he wasn’t as bad as Arielle thought.

  “So, guess you two are okay,” Arielle said after the front door closed.

  “Better than. We are fantastic.” Jess smiled. “I need to stop freaking out all the time.”

  “We are women, Jess. We are allowed to freak out. It’s probably a law somewhere or something.”

  Jess nodded. “Probably.”

  Arielle yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. “You think we can head to bed? I’m pretty beat.”

  Jess widened her eyes. “No way. You have to spill about Mr. Dreamy first. I saw you leave with him.”

  Arielle shrugged. “He’s amazing. I don’t know him well, but I know he moved up here to live with his grandparents for the year, so he’s new. He stands up for me against Karla Lust, which is a plus. And I think I really like him.”

  “You’ll have a boyfriend sooner than you think.”

  Her first boyfriend. Jess had been through guy after guy, but she always seemed to go back to Damien. Arielle hadn’t had a single boyfriend, nor had she had her first kiss. Hopefully, it would happen this year. She needed some experience before she graduated.

  “I just might.” Arielle chuckled. “Now can we sleep?”

  Jess nodded, then Arielle followed her upstairs to her room. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. Thinking. Damien wasn’t Arielle’s first choice for Jess, but her friend liked him so maybe she should let them be. It would either work out or it wouldn’t. She couldn’t try to protect her from everything.

  Her eyes closed with all those thoughts still floating through her mind, but luckily, she didn’t dream.

  Chapter 4

  The Meeting

  The weekend went by way too fast and soon Monday reared its ugly head, bringing with it another boring day of school. Jess picked Arielle up bright and early. The ride to school took forever. Neither Jess nor Arielle were morning people, so they didn’t talk much along the way, but the radio blared some punk rock crap Arielle couldn’t stand.

  Soon, the big brick school building loomed in front of Arielle. She walked in with Jess, ducking a bunch of jocks hovering in the doorway. Those guys blocked the entrance almost every single morning. Who did they think they were? Sure, they were popular and perfect, but they didn’t rule the school.

  Her brother, Reed, stood amongst them, of course, and as Arielle passed through them, he narrowed his eyes at her, flinching toward her like he might attack. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. Like he scared her. Seriously.

  When she reached her locker, she turned the combination to open the lock, but it took her four tries. She kicked the base as she yanked the door open, needing her English and algebra books for her first couple periods, but of course they were at the bottom of the pile. She took one book out at a time, setting them on the floor beside her as she knelt on the ground, her bare knees tingling from touching the cold tile. Of course she’d picked today to wear a jean skirt.

  The last book that stood in her way of get
ting to the ones she needed got stuck as she tried to pull it out. She angled it a couple different ways before she ripped it out, falling right into a pair of legs that had been standing behind her.

  This was way worse than the first day of school. Almost in slow motion, she tilted her head up, still lying on whoever’s legs stood behind her, until her eyes landed on Blake’s blue ones.

  Her cheeks flamed. “Um, hi?” she said with a questioning tone.

  He picked her books up off the floor, holding them as if they weighed nothing, grinning from ear to ear. “Hi. Having some issues?”

  She grabbed the books from the bottom of the locker as Blake handed her the others. She almost dropped them, but shoved them inside, even the one that should have never been a text book anyway since it wouldn’t even fit in a locker. When she tilted it sideways, it fit fine…she should have known that. She did…but she had forgotten and now looked like an idiot. She sighed and met Blake’s eyes. “Thanks for the help. I’m having a rough morning.”

  He nodded. “We all have those.” She slammed her locker and started walking, almost jogging, toward her class. Blake kept pace beside her. “Where you heading?”

  Arielle pointed down the hallway. “Down that way. You?”

  Blake pointed the opposite way. “Geometry.”

  Since Blake was a senior, they didn’t have any of the same classes. Most of his classes were in the downstairs hallway, something about seniors having the easier route. She would think they would give it to the freshmen, but who was she to tell them that? Hers were upstairs, until science, where she had to haul ass and get to the basement before the bell rang. So much fun.

  “Guess I’ll see you later?” Arielle waved and started to walk away.

  “Ari, wait,” Blake said, jogging to her side.

  “What’s up?” Arielle asked.

  Right then, Karla Lust walked by, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at both Blake and Arielle, but she didn’t taunt or tease Arielle. It was kind of nice.

  Blake chuckled. “That girl doesn’t like to be told off, does she?”

  Arielle shook her head. “Not one bit. She’s horrible.”

  Blake bit his bottom lip as he met her eyes. “So, would you want to ride home from school with me?”

  Arielle pulled her books closer to her chest. “Sure. You could meet my dad, then. If you want to…”

  Blake smiled at her. He had nice, white teeth. “I’d love to. Since we are going to be hanging out a lot, it would be best if he knows who I am.”

  Arielle’s cheeks got hot. “Okay. I’ll meet you out front after school?”

  Blake nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”

  With a fluttery feeling in her chest, she walked toward her classroom, a wide smile plastered on her face. If a bug flew by, it would go right in her mouth. Not that she would care.

  As she slid through the doorway of her English class, the bell rang. She’d had a great time with Blake Friday night, and although he’d called her his date, she didn’t know if she could classify it as one or not. It hadn’t been planned, after all. Weren’t dates usually planned? Either way, she wanted it to be because it had been the best one she could have asked for. After he met her dad, maybe they could drive around again.

  ***

  At the end of the day, Arielle rushed out the main entrance before the jock boys had a chance to block it. Homework consisted of a worksheet for algebra, so she’d gotten it done during last period after she’d finished her assignment for Spanish, which meant her whole night was free. If Blake didn’t want to go anywhere, and if her dad liked him, maybe she’d invite him to stay for dinner.

  When Arielle squeezed through the double doors, someone grabbed her around the waist. She started fighting her way out of the person’s grasp, but their hands tightened on her.

  Warm breath touched her ear. “Hey, Ari. I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Blake. Hearing his voice made her relax into him. Resting her back against him felt nice, but it also scared her how perfectly they fit, like pieces of a puzzle. At sixteen, fitting together with someone shouldn’t be at the front of her mind, but it had been the first thing that popped in her head, so she had to deal with it. Later that night, when she wrote in her journal, she would. For now, she shoved it to the back of her mind.

  Writing in her journal had become one of the most important things in her life. Sometimes she would get angry or nervous without any inclination as to why, but when she wrote her feelings out, it helped take away the anxiety building inside her every day, all day long.

  Blake started walking, tucking his arm into hers.

  She laughed. “So, I thought the girl was supposed to put their arm in the guy’s…”

  “What can I say? I’m unconventional.” He opened the passenger door for her. “Okay. Let’s get this whole meet and greet thing over with.”

  Arielle sat down, sticking her arm out as he tried to close the door. “Are you nervous or something?”

  He shook his head. “Of course not. Parents love me. Don’t you worry.”

  “I’m not worried for me,” she mumbled.

  He crouched down at her side, his chin hitting his chest as he raised both his eyebrows. “What was that?”

  She looked at the steering wheel. “Nothing.”

  “I don’t think I believe you.” He leaned over her, hovering, as he tucked his fingertips into her armpits.

  Arielle stiffened. “Don’t you da—”

  She burst into a fit of giggles as his fingers wiggled at her sides. She tried crawling into the driver seat, but he tightened his grip even more so she couldn’t move and continued his attack. Arielle laughed so hard tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes. “Okay. Okay.” She giggled as he kept going. “Stop. Stop.” Maybe if she said each word twice, he would listen.

  She hated being tickled because most of the time it made her almost pee her pants and she couldn’t stand that feeling. As he pulled his hands back, she fell back into her own seat, away from the center console digging into her stomach. She couldn’t catch her breath, but even though tickling irritated her, she couldn’t stop smiling.

  He extended his hand toward her. “Truce?” A humorous glint glowed in his eyes.

  She smacked his hand away, laughing. “You can’t call truce when you started it. Plus, I haven’t gotten you back, so no way am I accepting a truce.”

  He crossed his fingers over his chest. “I cross my heart I won’t try anything else until after I meet your parents.”

  “You’re meeting my dad, not my mom. She’ll be at work. She works all the time, so I don’t get to see her much.”

  Blake bit his lower lip. “That stinks. I’m sorry.”

  Arielle shrugged. “No biggie. I make it a point to spend as much time with her as I can when she isn’t working.”

  “Okay, well, until after I meet your dad, then. Do we have a deal?”

  She shook his hand. “Deal, but after, you’re fair game, unless Dad hates you so much he throws you out.”

  “You need to chill. Quit worrying so much. Trust me.” He jogged to the driver side and hopped in the car, then stared at her for a minute with his hand on the ignition. “Fair game sounds like it could be fun though.” Then he wiggled his eyebrows.

  She slapped his arm. “Head out of the gutter.”

  He chuckled and started the car, heading out of the parking lot, which took longer than expected because there were a ton of teens who drove to school. Arielle couldn’t wait until she had her own car so she wouldn’t have to depend on everyone else to drive her around.

  When Blake pulled out of the school, it grew quiet, a thick, awkward silence Arielle couldn’t stand, so she broke it. “So, how do you like it up here?”

  “Great. I’m making some new friends.”

  Arielle snorted, a very unladylike sound. “Of course you are. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with the cute new guy?” Her cheeks flamed. She didn’t know what was wrong w
ith her because most of the time she never spoke up, but with Blake, she had a case of word vomit.

  “Cute, huh?”

  “Uh, yeah. About that. I didn’t mean to say it.”

  “What did you mean?”

  “Well, I meant it. You’re cute…but I didn’t mean to say it out loud. So how about we forget it?”

  He chuckled. “I can, but on one condition. You have to go out with me tonight.”

  Her eyebrows raised. “Where?”

  “I have to go decorate this house with my family for some Christmas thing. It might be lame, but if you were there, it would be way more fun.”

  “Um. Not to be an idiot, but isn’t Christmas, like, four months away?”

  “Christmas is four months away, but they like to get a head start. They go all out. Every room gets decorated, furniture moved around. They open their house up to whoever wants to see it.” Blake paused. “Oh, and the outside gets done too. Can’t forget the outside. It’s called the Christmas Trail, but if you think it might be lame, you don’t have to come.”

  Arielle shrugged, trying to act cool, but inside, her heart screamed with excitement. “I would love to come, if Dad will let me. I don’t have anything else to do.”

  He smiled at her, but his eyes never quite left the road. “Sure thing. We’re here anyway.” As he pulled into the driveway and shut his car off, he glanced at Arielle, running his finger along her cheek. “By the way, I think you’re cute too.”

  Before she could respond, he hopped out. She didn’t have a choice but to follow.

  Nobody had ever called her cute before. She guessed there was a first time for everything. Not that she looked terrible, because she didn’t, but she’d never been super thin like most of the other girls in school. When people used to bully her, call her “fat,” she used to argue with them. She had big bones, which didn’t make her fat. They’d only continue to laugh and point and tease. Eventually, she gave up arguing. Let them think what they wanted. But she realized she cared too much. The thoughts were constantly floating through her mind and she couldn’t stop them from attacking.