Page 77 of The Second Kiss
As if he can hear what she says, Brad catches my eye across the cafeteria and hoists his can of soda, like he’s toasting me. I drop my eyes. Brad hasn’t bugged me for a long time. I was kind of hoping he'd forgotten I exist.
thirty-seven
Jealousy
“We need a girl’s night out,” Jasmine says on the way to her car after school. “Like desperately.”
“I can’t. I have a ton of homework.” It’s not exactly an excuse. I do have a lot of homework, but the main reason I don’t want to hang out with Jasmine is that Jacob is coming over tonight. At least, I think he is. He’s been at our house almost every night for the past two weeks.
“But we haven’t done anything together in forever,” Jasmine whines. She’s been in what (for her) constitutes a long dry spellsince Gage left. Now that Taryn has Ryder, she gets left alone a lot.
I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to sacrifice what might be more time with Jacob. “Sorry, I need to keep my grades up. I need a scholarship or I’ll end up living with my parents and going to community college.”
Jasmine doesn’t understand why I worry about college. In her case, her dad just throws his money into any school she chooses, and she’s in. She stops and puts her hand on her hip. “You’re choosing homework over me? On a Friday night?” She doesn’t sound like she believes me.
Maybe if I explained to Jaz what’s going on with Jacob, then she’d understand, but I’m having a hard enough time explaining it to myself. We always hang out when he’s over, but that’s all it is, hanging out. I can’t figure out if I’m building some kind of relationship, or grasping at something that’s never going to happen. Whatever it is, the last thing I need is for Jasmine to analyze every conversation I have with Jacob. I manage enough of that on my own.
I teach swim lessons and then an aerobics class on Fridays after school, so it’s already late by the time I get home. I’m rubbing my hair with a towel when the phone rings. It’s Jasmine.
“Jess, I need your help.” She's breathless, but Jasmine has a way of making the simplest situation sound desperate. “Remember those guys we met at the track meet?”
I don’t remember, but the answer doesn’t matter to her, anyway. “Yeah, sure.”
“One of them asked me out for tonight,” Jasmine replies. “I need your help.”
“What, you’re not sure what to wear?”
“Please be serious. He wants me to bring a friend for his friend to double with.”
“So call one of your cheer friends.” I’m looking at the clock. It’s almost eight, and Jacob hasn’t shown up or called yet.
“The guys specifically asked for you. And seriously, when was the last time you went out?”
“I don’t do blind dates.”
“It’s not really a blind date. We met them already. Besides, a date tonight might speed up the whole ‘homework’ thing.”
I stop rubbing my hair, wondering what Jasmine knows. “Why? Is this guy some kind of math genius?”
“Don’t play dumb. Taryn filled me in on the hanging out with Jacob thing. And by the way, I’m totally mad at both of you for never telling me anything. So he keeps coming over, but no lip action, right?”
“Right.” I toss the towel over the back of my chair and sink onto my bed. “He’s here all the time, but he hasn’t even tried to hold my hand.” It sounds pathetic when I say it out loud.
“Which is exactly why you need to go out tonight. If Soulja Boy gets the idea you can live without him, he might speed things up a little. Jealousy is a powerful motivator for a guy.”
“Yeah, because that worked out so well with the Nathan thing.”
“Totally different. This one won’t be his brother. C’mon, you know I know guys.”
That I can’t argue with. Maybe she’s right. “Okay,” I say slowly. I’m still not convinced this is anything close to a good idea. “When are the guys coming?”
“Nine-ish. They’re picking us up at your house. I’ll be over in five minutes to help you pick out something to wear. No t-shirts this time, okay?”
Forty-five minutes later, Jaz has coaxed me into a sleeveless blue blouse and a tight pair of jeans. She does whatever magic I can't make work and gets my hair to go straight. For the final touch, she lines my eyes with smokey gray eyeliner and adds a pale pink lipstick. I barely recognize the girl who stares back at me from the mirror.
She sits back and admires her work. “You look perfect, and just in time.”
The distinctive sound of Jacob’s car roars up the driveway. I look out the window and watch him park by our garage just as another car turns into the yard.
