Raw Deal (Beauty for Ashes: Book One) (10 page)

She took another sip. “But Hayden is hot. I don’t know what to do.”

I thought I understood Monica’s dilemma. If she dumped Liam, she’d probably only date Hayden for a couple months, and then it’d be over. But Liam was someone she’d dated for two years.

“Part of me thinks that Liam and I will split up anyway because we’re going to different colleges, so what’s the big deal? But another part of me is saying to stay with him. He’s a great guy, and he’s really nice to me. Hayden is just a player.”

Jace came over and asked for a drink. He looked over at us. “Hey, girls.”

“Hey,” Monica returned.

He was served his drink, then he came over to stand with us. “Sorry to interrupt.” We both looked at him expectantly, and he looked back at us.

“What?” Monica asked.

“Nothing. Can’t I just stand with you guys? Do I need a special ticket or something?”

“Michelle’s coming,” Monica said in a warning tone. “Don’t look, but she’s behind you, making her way over from your left.”

Jace grimaced. “She’s driving me crazy.” He walked off toward the right side of the hall. A group of guys were standing there in a big circle, arguing and laughing. Jace joined them, and Michelle followed him and pulled his arm around her shoulders.

“C’mon, let’s dance,” Monica offered.

I followed her to the dance floor, and soon more girls joined us. The DJ started playing songs by sassy female artists for us. We danced till we were exhausted, and the next time I looked at my watch it was eleven. I told Monica that I was leaving then looked around for Carl, but he was nowhere to be found. I left the hall, and bumped into Jace in the hallway. “What are you doing out here?” I asked.

“I was just about to call a cab. I’m going home.”

“Already?”

“Yeah, Tanya’s singing at some church event in Sacramento tomorrow morning, and I’m driving her down. We have to leave pretty early.”

“Well, do you want a ride home?”

Jace gave me a dubious look. “Are you just trying to get me alone in the parking lot so that you can feel me up again?”

“Whatever Jace. Do you want a ride or not?”

“I wouldn’t say no. Thanks.” He steered me toward the door.

“The only thing is I’m low on gas, so if the car stops you’ll be pushing it to the nearest gas station.” I looked him over, “We’ll put those muscles to good use.”

Just then Carl and a couple other guys came out of the hall. “Are you leaving?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you.”

“She’s giving me a ride home,” Jace announced.

Carl didn’t look pleased. He looked at me. “Talk to you later, Lexi.”

“Okay.”

As soon as we got outside, Jace put his arm around me. “I appreciate you taking me home, Lexi.”

I shrugged his arm off. “Don’t get used to it.”

We got into my car, and Jace directed me to the freeway. “We didn’t go this way last time.”

“This way is quicker.”

“Okay.” I turned on the heaters in the car. It was freezing. “I heard about your fight.” Jace didn’t say anything. “How did you find out who did it?”

“Lewis used to go to Los High. He spoke to some people and found out.”

“Rumor has it you were in hospital, and you got arrested?”

“Cool. Not true though. Take the next exit.” He directed me until we got to his house. “Can I have your number?”

“Sure.” I entered it into his cell phone for him, and then he gave me his number.

“Thanks for the ride, Lexi,” he said getting out. “See you on Monday.”

I started up my car. “See ya. Have fun tomorrow.”

Chapter 10

I was lost! I’d dropped Jace off thirty minutes ago, and I still wasn’t home. I was still in his stupid neighborhood, and I couldn’t find my way out. It didn’t help that it was raining, and I was running out of gas. My engine started knocking, so I pulled over and took out my cell phone to call my mom.

I was scrolling down my address book when the phone started ringing. It was Jace. “Hello?”

“Hi, Lexi, did you get home okay?”

“Actually, no. I’m kinda lost actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you?”

Didn’t he just hear me say I was lost? “I don’t know!”

Jace chuckled. “Can you see any street signs?”

I peered through my window. “Waterfield?”

Jace roared with laughter. “You’re just round the corner from me. I’m on my way.”

Now, that just ticked me off. So I’d just been circling his house all this time. Next time he needed a ride, he could call a cab.

A sleek black car pulled up like two minutes later. It was Jace. He stopped next to me, and I rolled my window down. “Where do you live?” he asked.

“Near school.”

“Okay, I’ll lead you somewhere you’ll recognize so that you can find your way.”

“Thanks.” I tried to start up my car, and it didn’t start. I tried again. It choked and spluttered, then died. I looked at Jace. “Um, I don’t know what’s wrong.”

Jace parked in front of me, then came to have a look. He was wearing a tank top, and his jeans hung so low I could see his DKNY boxers. “You’re out of gas,” he said.

“I know, but usually I can still drive it even when I’m out of gas.”

“Well, this time, you’re really out of gas.”

I shut my eyes momentarily. How annoying was this? I opened my eyes, and Jace was looking at me. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’ll take you home. You can pick up your car tomorrow. For now, I’ll put my muscles to use and push it out of the way.”

I walked over to Jace’s car and slid into the passenger seat dolefully. I watched him push my car closer to the sidewalk. He returned to his car, looking pleased with himself.

“I’m really sorry about this.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He was obviously enjoying his ‘knight in shining armor’ role. I just felt silly.

“Now, I know what to get you for Christmas,” he said as he stepped on the gas and sped through the night.

I wished he would slow down. “What?”

“GPS.”

“Thanks for rubbing it in.” I was sure I had GPS on my phone. I’d have to check it out when I got home.

“Well, you’re going to need it, especially if you’ll be coming to my place more often.”

“Why would I be coming to your place more often?”

“To see me?”

“Oh, right. So is this your new car?”

“Yes. But I don’t think I’ll take it to school for a while.”

“Your old car was nice, but this is really nice.”

“You like it?”

“Yes.”

Jace slowed to a stop at a red light. I looked at him. He was looking straight ahead at the road, his face tinted red from the light of the traffic light. He had strong chiseled features, and his profile view was striking. He was plain gorgeous!

“What?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Huh?”

“Why are you looking at me?”

I turned away and looked out of my window. He chuckled softly.

When we got to my house, Jace insisted on seeing me to the door. It was still raining, and his tank top wasn’t offering him much in the way of protection, while his jeans hung precariously at the lowest point of his waist. “Don’t blame me when you catch the man flu again,” I warned, as I removed my keys from my purse. I opened my front door. “Thanks, Jace. I really, really appreciate this.”

“I can pick you up tomorrow evening to get your car if you want.”

“No, my mom’ll help me out. Just text me the address of the road we left it on.”

“Okay.” Jace smiled at me. “You know that punch at the dance?”

“You mean the disgusting sweet red stuff?”

“Yeah, was it alcoholic?”

“I doubt it. They wouldn’t give us alcohol at school, would they?”

“No, I guess not.” Jace turned to leave.

“Why?” I asked.

“I was about to do something, and I was hoping I could blame it on the punch later.”

“What were you going to do?” I had visions of Jace charging across town to the homes of the Los High dudes that had smashed up his car and pouncing on them in their sleep. “Stay out of trouble, Jace.”

“Yeah, I will.”

“What were you going to do?”

He grinned mischievously. “Kiss you.”

“Huh?”

He walked back to his car laughing. “See you on Monday,” he called over his shoulder.

Chapter 11

It was lunchtime Monday morning, and I could see that Monica was again sitting with Michelle and Sandy. I needed to talk to her. I just didn’t understand Jace at all, and she needed to tell me what game he was playing, because he’d totally ignored me in first period economics.

I didn’t get it. Why was he so nice to me to the extent that I thought he was flirting, and then next minute he wouldn’t even talk to me? Was flirting just the way people communicated here?

“Here’s our supermodel,” Monica announced as I approached. I glared at her as I sat down. I still considered her friendship with Michelle and Sandy treason.

“Your dress on Saturday was hot,” Sandy said with a toss of her red head. Her beautiful fiery hair went flying over her shoulder. “And I can’t believe what Monica’s telling us. Are you really a model?”

I looked at Monica. “You’re not supposed to be telling everyone. How many people have you told?”

“Only Michelle and Sandy. They won’t tell anyone.”

“Can we come to your fashion show on Wednesday too?” Sandy asked.

“Sure. That reminds me, I brought your ticket Monica.” I removed my mom’s ticket from my purse. Monica snatched it out of my hand.

“How can we get tickets?” Sandy asked.

“You can probably get them at the door.”

Up till now, Michelle had just eyed me from across the table. Now she tapped her nails against her can of diet soda. “About this open call on Thursday, do we have to book places, or do we just show up?”

“Just show up. Take some pictures, and a list of your statistics, and hope for the best.”

After school, the three of them came to my place to have their photos taken. Michelle was surprisingly conscious of being photographed in a swimsuit. Monica whispered to me that it was because her mom would probably freak about it if she found out.

They left my place around six, and I settled down in front of the TV with a cup of noodles. After I finished eating it I realized that I was still hungry. My stomach was like a black hole these days. Any food I ate just seemed to disappear into nothing.

Around eight I started wondering where my mom was. She was usually home by six on Mondays. I gave her another half an hour, then decided to call her. She was at my grandmother’s. “You could have told me,” I huffed out loud after I hung up.

I got up and changed into my pajamas. I took a Fiona Carlson novel from my shelf and rolled into bed. Her plots were usually pretty fast-paced and stimulating. I lost myself in her ingenious web of conspiracy and unrequited love until my mom got home.

She breezed into my room a few hours later, all bright and cheery, like it wasn’t eleven o’clock and like she hadn’t abandoned her only child for a whole evening! “Lexi, sweetheart, have you had anything to eat?”

I didn’t look up from my book. “I had a cup of noodles.”

“I bought pizza,” she sang.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

The doorbell chimed, and my mom crossed my room to look out of the window.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“I can’t see. There’s a car I don’t recognize.”

I joined her at the window and peered out. I didn’t recognize the car either. I grabbed my flip-flops and ran down the stairs to check who it was.

“Come back, Lexi,” my mom called after me in alarm. “It could be a mass murderer for all we know.”

I opened the door. It was Monica and Tanya. “Hey, girls.”

“Hi, Lexi,” Tanya replied.

My mom came down the stairs. “Who is it?”

“Monica and Tanya.”

My mom looked like she was about to say ‘at this time of the night!’ but she didn’t. “Everything okay, girls?”

Monica didn’t say anything. She kept her head down. Tanya was holding her hand. “Hi, Mrs. Dixon. I’m Tanya. Can we come in?”

“Oh, sorry.” I stepped aside to let them in. Monica was crying. “Are you okay?” I asked. She brushed past me and went upstairs. I heard a door slam and guessed it was my bedroom door. “Did Liam ditch her or something?” I asked Tanya.

“No.” Tanya lifted her wet braids from her neck and tied them up on top of her head with a band. She didn’t look anything like Jace, but their family definitely had the good looks gene. “I’m sorry to disturb you so late. She made me bring her here. I hope you don’t mind. I think she’s going to have to stay the night. Her mom is in the hospital.”