Page 59 of Just Friends
“I watched the whole thing from the beginning, Pip. I never missed a single one of your guys’ streams; you know that.”
“Yeah, but how long did you watch for?” I asked nervously.
“I dunno, why? I watched until you fell, and then Jax carried you away. I watched for a little while longer to see if you guys were ever going to come back to say bye, but nothing was happening, so I got bored and left.”
Whew.
“Oh,” I said. “So you didn’t see or hear anything else, then.”
“No …” she trailed off, squinting skeptically. The wheels in her head had started to turn. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘anything else?’ Whatelsewould I see, Pip?”
“Nothing!” I blurted.
“Oh my God! I know that face—you’re lying, youb!” Her bright blue eyes went wide. “Piper, did something happenbetween you two?”
“N-no!”
“Oh, whatever. You know, Pip, you’re such a bad liar. Iknowyou’ve been secretly banging Jax all this time.”
I let out an indignant gasp. “I havenot.I’ve never even kissed him until—” I slapped a hand over my mouth.
“GOTCHA!” Paulina laughed out loud. “Oh man, epic slip up! You really are a terrible liar.”
Waves of heat radiated from my cheeks. I must’ve been lobster red. I didn’t know what to say.
“Well, go on,” Paulina needled. “You were saying you’ve never kissed Jax until …? Untilwhat,Pip?”
“Oh my God.” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “Until today. Okay? You happy?”
She got up on her bed and danced around in a circle, squealing with happiness. “YESSSS! FINALLY! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG!”
“Stop dancing,” I snarled. “You’re getting all worked up over nothing. It doesn’t matter. It was one kiss.”
“And I want to heareverythingabout that one kiss.”
As embarrassed as I was, Paulina and I always told each other everything.
I sighed. “Promise you won’t tell anyone? Not even mom and dad?”
She nodded. “I promise!”
With a reluctant sigh, I began to recount the story: how Jax carried me to the couch and laid with me until the feeling in my legs came back, how he held me tight and told me everything would be okay, and how comforting his strong arms were, andwelp,how one thing led to another, and we shared a little kiss—one that I quickly broke off, for obvious reasons.
“Was it nice?” she asked, still bouncing on her mattress. “Is he a good kisser?”
“Thebestkisser,” I admitted begrudgingly. “But it doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re friends, Paulie. Even if I wanted something more, which I don’t—”
“Liar,” she interjected.
“—even if I did, it doesn’t matter because Jax doesn’t want a relationship. He’s a pro athlete; he sleeps around, okay? In the five years I’ve known him, he’s not had asinglegirlfriend. I’ve seen many, many girls tryto tie him down, and they’ve all failed. The most commitment any girl has ever gotten out of him is some sort of friends-with-benefits situation.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What about you?”
I laughed. “What about me? Jax and I are really good friends. I am notinterested in being hiseff-buddy. No thanks.”
