Page 55 of The Second Kiss
“Yeah. Gage is a lot of fun. My friends love him. He’s always coming up with crazy things to do. Kind of like what you used to do when we were kids.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Your friends go out with you guys?”
I wonder if he thought Gage and I were together. “Yeah. Jasmine and Taryn, sometimes a couple of other girls, or guys from school.”
“What about that guy you were with tonight?”
“Brad? What about Brad?”
He rubs the bandage on his finger. “Does Brad hang out with you guys?”
“No." I say firmly.
“What about New Years?”
I don’t like the suspicious tone in his voice, like he doesn’t trust me. “He invited me and Jaz to a party on New Years. No big deal.”
He flips a ratchet back and forth in his good hand. “Are you going?”
“Unless I get a better offer.” I look at him, hoping for… I don’t know what. It’s not like he’s going to ask me out for New Years.
It’s starting to rain. He ducks back under the hood. “This won’t take long. Get in my car with Gage. Turn the car on so you don’t freeze.”
I want to protest, but I am freezing.
“Thanks,” I say weakly. Jacob waves me away.
I get in the car next to Gage. He picks out a lemon filled donut, and offers it to me.
“No thanks,” I say.
“More for me.” He bites into it. The filling squirts out of the bottom and spills down his shirt.
“Nice,” I say.
“Oh yeah,” he squeezes the rest of the filling into his hand.
“No you don’t.” I scoot away from him and try to open the door. He catches me, pins one of my arms to my side, and smears lemon filling across my face. I manage to slip away and catch his hand, reaching for another donut with my other one. I get a handful of powdered sugar mixed with raspberry filling and smear it across Gage's face before he grabs my hand again and pins me down.
We both stop to catch our breath. “Yuck.” I look at the sticky mess that covers my hand. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Gage grabs my hand and licks my fingers.
“Gross!” I push him away. He leans in and licks another bit off the side of my mouth. “Knock it off Gage.” I hit him hard.
“You taste salty, Jess.” He smacks his lips. “Well, that and lemony.” He smacks again. “With a hint of raspberry.”
“What are you two doing?” I look up and see Jacob standing over us, the car door open.
“Nothing,” Gage lets go of my hands. “You want a donut?”
“Look at this mess,” Jacob says. The seat of Jake’s car is littered with crumbs and globs of filling. The sweatshirt he loaned me has a big raspberry stain across the front.
I step out sheepishly. “I’m so sorry, Jake, I’ll clean it up. I have a towel in the back of my car, or we could go to the car wash and—”
“Forget it. I need Gage to come try your car.”
Gage follows him, grinning unapologetically. I run to my trunk and get the towel and a water bottle, doing my best to clean everything up before Jacob gets back. His seats are leather, so the stain didn't sink in, it's still a disaster.
