Page 18 of One Little Kiss
But it does. And rather than scream, or just, you know…talk about it like a normal human being, I found myself…taunting him. Teasing him.
I want to say I didn’t know what I was doing. I would love to say that.
But that would be a lie.
I saw the way Elijah’s eyes darkened when I drew in close. I saw the way his gaze fell to my lips. I’d felt my heart pound with anticipation and I felt this heady sensation of heat and…
And something I hated.
It was a surge of power. I felt the control I had in that moment, and it was intoxicating.
And that was wrong. It was so, so wrong.
I don’t play games with guys…and I never, ever use my body as a weapon like my mom does. Not with the college guys I’ve dated and not with the well-connected guys my parents try to hook me up with, and absolutely not with my best friend.
I’ve never done that before…until today.
I look away as he starts talking about the football game and the dance. I can’t pay attention because my gaze catches on Sadie in the distance. She’s by herself on one side of the skate park and she’s freakin’ amazing on that skateboard, making the guys on the other side look like chumps as she whips up one side of the ramp and then flips to go back down.
She’s kind of an enigma with these cool skater girl vibes that attract attention… but then she took a book to a pep rally. If that doesn’t screamdon’t talk to me, I don’t know what does. So… does she want to attract attention or push people away? Or is being the ‘mysterious girl’ her thing?
I watch her pull off another sweet move on the ramp, the guys watching with a mixture of envy and awe. A couple of them watching with a little more than that too. Yeah, she’s attractive in thisoff limitskind of way.
I’m not a petty, catty girl. I pride myself on not being mean. I could’ve been. Back in junior high when I ‘came into my own’ as my dad put it, Pamela and her crew wanted me to be part of their clique.
But I saw how they gossiped and turned on each other, and I wanted nothing to do with it. And luckily I found Mara, Celia, and Addie. And of course I’ve always had Elijah.
But today…
Today it took everything in me not to show my claws when Celia mentioned setting Sadie up with Elijah, and when he mentioned she was hot, and…
I charge to my feet so quickly, Elijah stops talking. “Uh…you okay?”
I nod but I can’t look at Elijah. My head is spinning and I am clearly not in my right mind today. I scrub a hand over my eyes, wishing for the first time ever that I wasn’t with my best friend. “I think I need to get home.” I cast him a quick look and catch the way his eyes widen with surprise.
“Oh, yeah, no problem.” He’s up and walking with me back to the car as if everything’s fine and I haven’t just gone full-blown weirdo on him.
“So, back to my place?” he asks as we’re buckling in.
“Um…”Yes. That’s what I should say and what I almost do say. But I don’t trust myself right now. “I think I just need to go home. To my home.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure.”
He acts cool as he puts the car in drive and turns in the direction of my house. But I know I’m acting weird, and so I try to cover it up. “Sorry,” I say. “I’m just…I’m not feeling like myself today.”
He casts me a sidelong look, and he shocks the heck out of me when his hand reaches over and covers mine. “You okay?”
I nod, but my throat feels too tight as I stare down at his large hand covering mine. “Yeah, just…I don’t know.”
That much is true. I have no idea what’s going on with me. But being around Elijah isn’t helping my confusion.
He squeezes my hand and then pulls his back to put it on the steering wheel. I exhale a little too harshly.
“I blame the victory dance.” The blandness of his tone cracks me up, just like I know he meant it to.
He gives me that crooked smile.
“Me too,” I say. “What is the student council thinking?”
