Page 47 of The Second Kiss
Trina gets out, and Mom rushes over to give her a hug. I follow, feeling everyone's eyes on me. After Trina hugs my mom, she stands back and looks at me. “Jessica, is that you?" She drawls. "Why, you’re just a doll, come over here.” She wraps her arms around me. I’m taller than Trina now. She doesn’t look like she’s aged at all. She’s still tiny and thin with the same blonde hair as Jacob and Nathan.
When I turn, I catch Nathan staring at me in disbelief. “Jessica?” he says. He breaks my gaze and looks down.
“Hi Nate.” I walk over and give him a hug. It feels appropriate, with all the hugging going around, but it’s a quick hug, and stiff.
When I step back, Gage is looking at me closely, almost as if he’s checking me out. He whistles—low and slow. “Wow Jess, what happened to you? When did you turn into a babe?”
Our mothers stand in shocked silence, their mouths hanging open. I laugh. There’s something cool about Gage’s complete lack of formality. “You turned out pretty okay yourself.”
"Yeah." Gage is obviously 100% sure of his own looks. “We gotta hang out while I’m here. I mean, like, a lot.”
“Gage,” Trina sounds tired and her voice is full of warning.
“C’mon, Mom. Aren’t I allowed to have some fun?” Gage grins at her. “Besides, Jess is a good girl. She’ll keep me out of trouble, won’t you, Jess?”
“Sure.” I’m trying to decipher the look on Trina’s face something between worry and relief. I’m not sure I want to spend the rest of the month, maybe even the rest of my senior year, being Gage’s babysitter.
Gage picks me up off my feet in a big hug, longer and definitely friendlier than the one I got from Nate. He sets me down. “So, when can we get started with the hanging out?”
I guess he was serious. “I don’t know. Tomorrow night?”
He leans against Jacob’s car. “Cool, but you’ll have to provide a car and tell me what you want to do, because I don’t know where anything is around here anymore.”
I glance at Trina and then at my mom. They both look concerned. “Okay, Gage. Do I have to pay too?”
“That would be great. I’m a little low on funds right now, thanks to a minor problem with my dad’s car.”
I glance at Jacob over Gage’s shoulder. Our eyes meet and he shakes his head. I'm not sure if he's shaking it at me, or at Gage, or both. He ducks down to get the suitcases out of the trunk of his car. Nathan steps to the back of the car to help him.
"Gage, get over here," Jacob barks.
Gage leans in closer like he has a secret to tell me. "Tomorrow. Promise."
"Sure," I answer.
"Gage!" Jacob yells. "I'm not carrying your crap into the house."
"This month might not be a total bust after all," Gage says as he moves to retrieve his suitcase.
I'm not sure how to take that or how to interpret the dark expression Jacob gives his little brother.
twenty-four
Overshared
Gage crosses the driveway between the two houses. I meet him at the door, and we walk out to my car. He runs his hand over the hood. “Sixty-five Mustang, very cool.”
“It's a sixty-eight and it would still be a lawn ornament if it weren’t for Jacob.” My heart swells with pride for my car and the chance to talk about Jacob.
Gage leaves his hand on my car. “He’s always been a motorhead. Good way to pick up girls though. Offer to fix their car.”
I try not to let it bother me that Jacob has fixed other girls’ cars.
“I'll drive.” Gage holds his hand out for my keys.
I look at him suspiciously. “Didn’t you just wreck a car?”
“That totally wasn’t my fault.”
