Page 120 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Seven

She huffs again and pushes her glasses up her nose. “Michael has a date with Abby Hobbersmith next week and he’s had a crush on her for like, forever, and he’s never kissed a girl and he was sort of freaking out about it and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I told him I could give him some pointers if he wanted them, because I went out with Jordan last year for like, two months, and I got some decent kissing experience from that. But the pointers turned into actual kissing, which surprisingly wasn’t terrible. I mean, it’s clear he’s new at the whole concept, but he’s a quick learner and he dialed back onthe slobbery tongue real quick.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “You don’t need those details.”

“It’s fine. You’re fifteen. Making out with boys isn’t unexpected.”

“Anyway, everything was fine, and he was catching on, but his younger sister came downstairs and saw us and then she went and told Michael’s mom. She lectured us about not having sex before marriage because she clearly still believes that it’s 1950 and now she thinks we’re dating!” Violet throws her hands in the air. “And I like Michael, but I don’t like, like him. Like, I don’t want to be his girlfriend. He’s not even remotely my type. I just closed my eyes and pretended he was Tom Welling fromSmallville. Michael’s obsessed withStar Warsand he’s on my Mathlete team and I can never go to his house again ever. What if he tells the rest of the guys that he kissed me? What the hell am I going to do?”

The Golden Arches appear, and I pull into the drive-thru. There are three cars ahead of us.

“I’m taking it you haven’t discussed this with Michael.”

“Nope. His sister caught us, ran upstairs, and tattled, and then we got a twenty-minute lecture on inappropriate behavior and then she wanted us to pray for our sins. We kissed! It wasn’t like we were humping each other on her rec room furniture! I mean, then maybe we’d deserve the lecture. But our hands were all in PG places and you could have fit an entire extra human between our bodies. The only parts of us that were touching were our lips. And tongues.”

Violet stops freaking out while I order her a small vanilla shake and a medium fry. Even with the lactose pills, she’ll probably regret this tomorrow, but she’s had a hell of a night.

“It was just supposed to be pointers, not a freaking live tutorial. What’s wrong with me?”

I pat her hand and wait until I’ve paid for her snack before I respond. “There’s nothing wrong with you, honey. You’re a teenage girl and you’ve been hanging out with these guys for the past two years. That this is the first time you’ve kissed one of them is pretty amazing, if I’m honest. Every single one of those boys has a crush on you.”

“They do not!”

I arch a brow and pull up to the next window.

“If he tells the rest of them, I’ll kill him. Oh, shit.” She pulls her hood up, and sinks down in her seat.

The window slides open and a gangly teen boy who looks beyond bored asks, “Small vanilla milkshake and a medium fry?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you want any ketchup packets with that?”

“Violet?” I ask.

“Nope, no ketchup, but thanks,” Violet replies, her voice all pitchy.

The boy’s head lifts and his eyes light up. “Violet? Hall?”

She drops her hood and adopts a stiff smile. “Hey Jordan, how’s it going?”

“Good. I got a part in the play this semester. Are you working on costume design again?”

“Uh, not this time. Mathletes is keeping me on my toes this semester.”

“That’s too bad. It’s nice to see you.” He passes over the shake and the bag with the fries. “I threw in some ketchup, anyway. Just in case.”

“Thanks. See you around.”

“Yeah, have a good night.”

I wait until we drive away before I ask. “Would that be the Jordan you got all the practice kissing time in with?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s cute.”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t I ever meet him?”

“Because we only hung out when we were working on the play and he had a kiss scene because he was the lead role. I’m sure you can see where this is going.” She pushes her straw into her shake and tries to hide a smirk by taking a hearty slurp. Two seconds later, she’s holding the side of her head. “Ahhh, damn, you brain freeze.”

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