Present Perfect (7 page)

She sneered at me. “Ha-ha. I’ll be crawling all over Noah before the semester is up. I guarantee it. Unless you have dibs on him, Beth. I won’t go after a boy if a friend of mine has dibs on him.”

“I don’t have dibs on him.” Beth glanced over at me, annoyance written all over her face.

“Good.”

“What about me?” I asked.

“What about you?” TI narrowed her eyes at me. A smug smile plastered across her face.

“Maybe I have dibs on him.”

“You just said you didn’t think of him that way. It wouldn’t matter even if you did.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. She and Beth exchanged a knowing glance.

“Noah’s pretty much out of your league, don’t you think?”

“Brittani, don’t,” Beth begged.

“She asked.” TI turned her attention back on me. “I don’t know you at all, but it’s pretty obvious there’s nothing much to you. You’re not ugly, but you’re not very attractive either. You really should try to fix yourself up.”

“Brittani, stop it.” I could tell Beth was getting mad.

“I’m doing her a favor. I mean, look at her- brown
blah
hair, pale skin, and her eyes are weird. They’re kind of freaking me out. Dull and boring. Maybe if she got some highlights and some sun that might help, but it’s only going to help her so much. It’s not a miracle worker.”

She was talking about me like I wasn’t there.

“On the hotness scale, Noah is a solid ten. He needs to hook up with at least an eight or nine, if not another ten. If I’m being honest, which I always am, you are barely a two, and that’s being generous.”

“Alright, that’s enough. Come one Amanda, we need to get to English.”

I watched as Beth and TI got up and grabbed their things. I just sat there, frozen. I knew I wasn’t anything special and not good enough for Noah. What shocked me was that a girl, who only met me ten minutes ago, knew it too. My eyes started to water
.

I would not cry in the middle of the cafeteria.

I jumped up, quickly grabbed my things, and hurriedly walked out. I headed straight to the bathroom, getting there right before the tears started.

When my mother gets an idea or thought in her head it’s there for life. It’s cemented in place, never to be removed. I’ve recently realized that I am one step closer to turning into my mother, because I couldn’t get the thoughts of dreamy light blue eyes, soft dark brown hair, and amazing muscular arms out of my head.

Noah and I were at his house, hanging out in his room, listening to music. After the conversation with Beth and Brittani earlier today, it’s been hard to look directly at him without thinking about, and looking at his perfect ass. Thank god he was sitting at his desk right now, concealing that perfect ass. It was completely out of my field of vision. For added protection I opted to lie on my back on the bed. My feet rested on the headboard. My eyes aimed straight up at the ceiling.

I heard the wheels of Noah’s chair roll in my direction across the hardwood floor. The noise stopped and the music got low. Shutting my eyes tight, I swallowed hard. My body heat shot up at the same time I felt tremors ripple through my stomach. My head began to spin.

I continued tapping my foot in the air to the rhythm of the music, pretending that, that was my focus. Did he want to talk? Am I going to have to look into his dreamy light blue eyes and look at his perfect ass?

Damn Beth and Brittani. I have
got
to get these thoughts out of my head. Focus, Amanda.

Aunt Agnes in a bathing suit. Aunt Agnes in a bathing suit. Aunt Agnes in a bathing suit. Noah in a bathing suit that hung low on his hips, right
above his perfect ass. Shit.

I heard him clear his throat. “Tweet,” he said, the sound of his voice causing my pulse to rev up.

“Yep.”

“You know that girl who sat at lunch with us today, Brittani Monroe?”

“Yep.”

“What do you think about her?”

“She’s a slut with a stripper name.”

The sound of him chuckling made me smile. “Tell me how you really feel. Don’t hold back.”

Lowering my legs, I swung them over the side of the bed, and faced him, trying hard not to make any eye contact. I leaned back on my arms, propping myself up. My gaze staying focused downward.

Trying to sound very nonchalant, I said, “Why are you asking me about her?”

“She asked me out.”

I shot straight up. “On a date?!” I couldn’t hide the shock in my voice.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s crazy talk!” My expression was pinched. Jealousy oozed out of every pore of my skin.

“What’s so crazy about it?” He asked.

Glancing up, I saw a little smile appear across his face. I wasn’t positive, but it seemed as if Noah was enjoying my reaction. The bastard.

“Um…well, number one, we’re only fourteen and not allowed to date until we’re sixteen. Number two...”

“I can date now.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re kidding?”

“My parents said it was okay.”

I was desperately trying to think of other reasons for him not to go out with the slut/stripper, the slipper. My list of pet names for her was growing by leaps and bounds.

“How are you going to get to the date? You don’t even have your driver’s permit yet. I’m pretty sure your handlebars aren’t wide enough for her to sit on. I mean, have you seen the ass on that girl?”

“I’ve noticed her ass,” he said, smirking at me.

I did not like his choice of words.
Seeing
her ass and
noticing
her ass were completely different.

“She asked if I wanted to go bowling. Her dad’s going to drop us off.”

“So you’re going to go through with this?”

“I guess. Why not? She seems nice enough, and she’s kind of pretty.”

Pretty? Pfft! Had he been smoking crack? She had big tits, a big ass, and was willing to let any guy crawl all over them.

Looking down, I began picking at an imaginary piece of lint on my jeans, “Well, do what you want. It’s your life to ruin.”

“It’s just bowling, Tweet,” he said, the smile evident in his voice. He was having fun.

Tilting my head back and towards one shoulder, my eyes focused on the ceiling, I said, “Yeah. Well, first it’s bowling, then it’s a movie, and then you’ll get married, buy a house, and have little slutty stripper kids. But, if that’s what makes you happy, who am I to stand in your way.”

Several seconds passed before Noah said anything. “Can I ask you something else?”

“Shoot,” I said.

He hesitated for a moment. “Have you ever kissed a guy?”

“I’ve kissed my dad and my granddad.”

He shook his head. “I don’t mean relatives. I mean a guy. Have you ever had a
real
kiss from a guy?”

“You know the answer to that is no.” My voice was weak. I tucked my chin to my chest, looked down at the floor, and nervously shuffled my feet back and forth.

“We’ll, I’ve heard from a reliable source that Brittani has kissed a guy, a few of them, in fact.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” We sat in silence for another moment, and then a thought crossed my mind. “OH MY GOD!!! Are you going out with her so you can
get some
?”

Noah bolted up in his chair. “What?! Get some what?!”

“Brittani, lovin’.” I glared at him. The muscles in my neck and shoulders stiffened.

“No! I’m going because…I don’t know…She asked me. Besides, you know how much I love the fries at the bowling alley. If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go. Just say so.”

This was it. I needed to make a decision. I could hold on to him for a little while longer, and hope that eventually my feelings would change, or I could let him go. Maybe if I saw him with another girl, it would help knock some sense into me, even if it was with the
slipper
.

I looked away from him when I said, “Go.” I paused. “It’s just…I don’t think she’s the right girl for you.”

“Oh, I’m positive
she’s
not the right girl for me.”

My eyes immediately shot to his. I had butterflies in my stomach. He looked incredibly sweet sitting there in his worn jeans, t-shirt, and Red Sox baseball cap. He was wearing it backwards and a little bit of his hair was sticking out through the opening, just above the adjustable strap. He really was ‘all kinds of yummy’, I wanted to jump up and wrap my arms around him.

Noah ran his hand over the back of his neck. “The thing is… is…um…You know I haven’t kissed a girl yet. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but what if she kisses me, and I don’t do it right? Word would get out and I might as well go be a priest, because no girl would want to go out with me.”

I took a big gulp of air thinking what it would be like to have Noah kiss me. I must have zoned out because the next thing I heard was him saying, “Earth to Tweet.”

“Sorry. Um…Don’t worry about it. You’ll do fine.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, which brought him closer to me.

“You know what would help me?”

“What?”

“If I could practice,” he said, anxiously.

He held my gaze for several seconds until it dawned on me what he was thinking. “With me?”

“Yeah.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s a great idea. We’ll practice on each other, so we won’t embarrass ourselves in front of anybody.” His eyes sparkled with excitement over this ridiculously stupid idea.

“I don’t have anyone who wants to kiss me in the near future,” I admitted, you could hear the embarrassment in my voice.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

I glanced up at him and watched as his grin grew wider. He slipped out of his chair and down on one knee, begging, “Think of it as preparing for your future. Please, Tweet. I need you.”

I sat there for what felt like a lifetime. Did I really want to do this? I didn’t want Noah to go out with Brittani in the first place. I sure as hell didn’t want him to kiss
her
, but I sure as hell wanted him to kiss
me
, and I wanted to kiss
him
. He was my best friend and he needed me. I would be doing this for him. Plus, maybe all I needed to do was kiss him one time, get it out of my system, and everything would go back to normal.

I looked into his beautiful eyes and said, “Okay.”

“Seriously?” He asked.

“Yes.”

Noah lunged forward tackling me on to the bed. He started tickling me, mercilessly. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Tweet, you’re the bestest best friend a guy could have. You’re awesome, incredible, fantastic…”

I continued to laugh and gasp for air as the tickling intensified. “Stop tickling me! I told you I’d help. I won’t let you look the fool.”

He kept up the torture.

“Promise?”

Laughing with tears in my eyes, I said, “Yes.”

“Say it!”

The tickling eased up and when my vision cleared, I looked up at Noah hovering over me. With each heavy breath, our chests pushed against one another’s. He was holding himself up with his hands, which were on either side of my head. Our legs were tangled together. We laid there for several seconds just staring at each other before I realized I hadn’t answered him.

“Promise,” I whispered.

“This is becoming a habit.”

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. “What is?”

“You and me on top of each other.” He had a devilish twinkle in his eye as the edges of his mouth began to curl up.

His lips were so close. I wondered what they tasted like. I bet they tasted like cherries. Noah looked like he would taste like cherries. His lips started to move toward my neck. Shiver after shiver ran through my body. Was he going to kiss my neck? I swallowed hard and froze when I felt the tip of his nose graze just below my ear.

“Wow. You smell really good,” he whispered. His warm breath flowing over my cheek and neck caused me to shudder.

“I had a sour apple Blow Pop before I came over.” I heard him chuckle.

My breaths were coming out in short spurts and my eyes hadn’t blinked in the past five minutes. I was completely mesmerized.