Page 67 of The Second Kiss
“Sounds like your Dad’s home. We'd better get back in the house.” He stands and reaches for my hand to help me up.
I intertwine my fingers through his and let him pull me through the little door in the grain bin. I don't let go as we climb down the stairs.
“Look, Jess.” Jacob leads me to the window. Delicate little flakes dance in the barn's light and brush against the panes of glass.
“It’s snowing!” I exclaim. “It’s so beautiful.”
Jacob traces his finger over the back of my hand. “It is.”
I turn to face him and look in his eyes, waiting, knowing that the moment has finally come.
“Gorgeous.” The voice is cold and flat. “Except that it canceled our flight.”
I whirl around, letting go of Jacob's hand, my stomach dropping. “Nate.”
“Guess we all get to spend Christmas together after all.”
thirty-two
Kissing Rugby
“Ifigured it out.” Jasmine says as soon as I pick up the phone. The rest of her family is staying in Mexico, but she wanted to be here for New Year’s Eve so she came home early. “Taryn has a thing for Nate. That’s why she was so mad at you on Christmas Eve. I don’t know why we didn’t see it before.”
“Taryn barely knows Nate.” A big part of me wants to believe her, but another nagging part of me thinks she’s wrong.
“Remember the day we were all over moving things around in your rental house? They were carrying that couch together and they were totally flirting with each other.”
“No,” I answer honestly.
“Well as much as either of those two flirt. Anyway, it’s perfect. The perfect solution for both of you. We just have to get them together on New Year's Eve and get them to kiss. Then they’ll see how perfect they are for each other.”
“I don’t know.” Whenever Jasmine’s plans include a recurrent use of the word ‘perfect’ they usually end badly.
“Trust me.” Another dangerous phrase from Jaz. “I have it all planned out. All you have to do is keep from kissing anybody on New Years.”
“No problem.” I may never kiss anyone ever again. Kissing always seems to get me into trouble.
“It’s called Kissing Rugby,” Gage says as everyone gathers around him at the party. Instead of going to the party Brad invited us to, Jasmine and I went for a tamer party at Taryn's long-time crush, Ryder’s house. Maybe too tame. Ryder has acted nervous since the party got started. His parents are somewhere upstairs. He looked practically panic-stricken when Gage offered to liven things up.
“Damn,” Jasmine says under her breath.
“What?” I move closer to her.
“He bet me he could kiss every girl at this party before I kissed every guy. I should have known he’d have an angle.”
“You two have the weirdest relationship ever,” Taryn says, but she doesn’t look mad. Somehow she’s okay with Jasmine kissing all the guys she wants, but when it comes to me...I glance over at Nathan. Maybe she does have a thing for him. That might make things easier. Or more complicated. I’ve kind of lost track.
Nate, Jacob, and I should all win Academy Awards for our performances on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I don’t think anyone suspects anything has changed between us, but for the last week more than just the weather has been chilly when the three of us are together. I’m surprised Nate agreed to come to the party with us.
“How do you play?” Ryder looks up at the ceiling skeptically. His parents have left us alone in their rec room for the party, but I can tell he’s worried about them coming to check on us.
“Easy,” Gage begins, “The girls all have a letter and the guys have a number—”
“We’re a few guys short,” someone points out.
Gage waves his arm as if he’s making a grand gesture. “I will take on two numbers—to even things up.” Jasmine gives him a dark look, which he ignores. “One person sits in the middle and calls out a number and a letter. If it’s a girl in the middle, the number of the boy she called comes out and tries to kiss her. At the same time, the girl whose letter was called tries to catch that boy and kiss him before he catches the first girl, the one in the middle, and kisses her. The person who doesn’t get kissed has to stay in the middle for the next round. No getting up and running around though, the whole thing has to be on your knees or on your hands and knees. Is that clear?”
Most of the room is full of blank stares. Only one or two people nod.
