Page 8 of Second Chance Ex
After a few moments, I glanced sideways at Joey, finding him already watching me with a slightly shocked look on his face. And I have no idea why, but the words were out of my mouth before I could even stop them. “I’ve never kissed a boy before…”
I was mortified and wanted nothing more than to die at my own admission as it hung awkwardly in the air between us. I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting to hear his laughter. But it never came. I felt movement beside me and Iwas sure he was getting up to leave, to run away from me as fast as he possibly could. But when I opened my eyes, I saw him slowly roll onto his side to face me.
Tentatively, I rolled over, too, and we were just lying there looking at one another, barely more than a few inches apart. His hand came to my cheek again, the pad of his thumb gently trailing the curve of my kiss-swollen bottom lip, and I closed my eyes, reveling in his touch. And right there, in that moment, I fell a little bit in love with Joey Tanner. And we spent the rest of the weekend together, kissing. And it was bliss. But I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
As I walkthrough the school hallway, I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I can feel eyes on me, my classmates doing not-so-subtle double-takes of my new look. Gone is the messy bun I’ve worn my mousey blonde hair in for the last few years; today, it’s poker straight, hanging long and silky down my back. And when I got dressed this morning, I swapped my trademark jeans and t-shirt combo for a short jean skirt and a pretty blouse. I’m even wearing mascara. I’m a slightly different girl on the outside, and a lot different on the inside, and my change does not appear to be going unnoticed. I feel my cheeks flush as I stop by my locker to offload my history textbook.
“Prue!”
With a start, I turn to see Madison hurrying up behind me, her smile beaming. She hugs me, and I allow it which only makes her pull away and eye me dubiously.
“A hug?” She quirks a brow, looking down at me. “That’s not like you…” Her gaze is thorough as it trails over me. “The hair, the skirt.” She leans in and gasps. “Wait… is that- is thatmakeup?”
I roll my eyes, biting back my own smile.
“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my best friend Prue Watson?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I hide my pink cheeks, turning back to my locker. All the while I can feel my best friend watching me curiously over my shoulder.
Unlike Madison, who called me first thing Saturday morning to apologize profusely for ditching me, and then to tell me every single detail of what happened between her and Ryan at the party, I didn’t tell her about what happened between Joey and me. And I don’t even know why. It’s not that I’m scared, or embarrassed. I didn’t do anything I regret, nothing that I’m ashamed of, at least. It was more than that.
Joey and I hung out in his bedroom on Friday night. We went to the movies on Saturday night. And on Sunday, we got into his big shiny truck and he drove us up into the mountains, to this lookout where he said he likes to go to think, and we just sat there, in the bed of his truck, kissing and talking and just being together beneath the fading light of the setting sun. It was a perfect weekend. But I’m scared if I tell Madison, then it will ruin the magic somehow.
“Hey, Joey!” Someone says over the noisy Monday morning school hallway din.
I freeze, feeling the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. He’s here. Oh, God. He’s actually here. I mean, I knew he would be here, he goes to this school,it really shouldn’t be a surprise. But now I don’t quite know how to act.
Behind me, I hear Madison say, “Morning, Joey.”
Panic suddenly consumes me. I spent all last night mentally preparing myself for how I might act in this very moment. It’s absurd how everything can change after one weekend, but somehow, Joey Tanner has gone from someone I used to secretly admire from afar, to someone I’ve just spent the best part of the last seventy-two hours sucking face with. And now I’m at a complete and total loss. Mind-blank central.
“Hey Maddy,” Joey’s deep voice sounds so close I can almost feel him right there. And seriously, the things his voice is capable of doing to me, I can’t even begin to comprehend let alone explain.
Madison starts talking to Joey about his party on Friday night, but I’m not even listening. I can’t hear over the incessant whooshing of my heartbeat thundering in my ears. This is it. Joey’s here, literally right behind me. I can almost feel the heat radiating from him, and I am nothing more than a tangle of haphazard emotions. The weekend was one thing, but this is school; this is the real world.
I kind of wish I’d talked to Joey about how we might act together at school, but I was too scared to bring it up at the risk of sounding like an absolute psycho. What do I do? Am I supposed to make the first move? Do I hug him? Are we going to hold hands? Is he going to kiss me, cement our relationship status right here, right now, in front of everyone? This really is too much for eight-fifteen in the morning.Act casual. Act casual. Act casual. I choose to busy myself with the contents of my makeupbag, unzipping it and zipping it back up a few times, anything to avoid actually turning around.
“Hey, Prue.”
I jump, spinning around so fast I unexpectedly take my makeup bag with me, flinging it off into the distance. It narrowly avoids a guy’s head, landing across the hall, its contents skittering all over, a wayward tampon even rolling across the floor. A few students look at me, obviously taken aback.
Joey’s eyes go wide.
Maddison giggles, hurrying to collect my things from the floor. She hands them to me with a snort. “Nice one, P.”
I hate myself right now. Gone is the confident girl who walked in through the school doors less than five minutes ago; now I’m a bumbling fool and I officially want to die.
With a tight smile, I make quick work of shoving everything back into my locker, fully aware of the awkward air that lingers between Joey and me. It isn’t obvious, or uncomfortable, it’s just there. I glance at him but he seems to do everything in his power to avoid meeting my eyes, instead staring at Madison as she begins to talk animatedly about her weekend, how she and Ryan hung out in her basement on Saturday night and smoked a blunt she swiped from her big brother’s stash.
Joey is totally closed off from me, ignoring me like a seasoned pro, turned away as if he’s trying to prove a point that it’s notmehe’s here for, that he’s only here for Madison. There’s no hug, no hand holding, definitely no kissing. Gone is the boy I shamelessly fell in lovewith this weekend; nothing but a confusing air of indifference at my actual existence seems to remain.
It’s as if the weekend was something conjured up in my overactive imagination, and suddenly that pesky voice in the back of my mind, the one I’ve been trying to ignore since Friday night, is back with a vendetta.He’s using you. He doesn’t like you. You’re not his type. Stop being so stupid. He’s going to break your heart.I swallow hard, gripping my binder so tight. But then when Madison says something and Joey laughs like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard, my emotion gets the better of me.
“Idiot,” I mutter under my breath, pushing past Joey and Maddy, and hurrying off as fast as I can.
“P?” I hear Madison call after me, confusion obvious in her tone, but I don’t stop.
Once I make it around the corner, I release a trembling breath. Continuing, head down, I shoulder my way through the sea of students, desperate to get away. But before I can get to wherever it is I think I’m going, I’m stopped by a big hand wrapping around my arm.
