So Hot For You (6 page)

“What
the …?
”

Mom comes into the bathroom carrying
more
ice. When she sees I’m awake, she drops the pack and runs to me, throwing her arms around my neck.

“You’re awake,” she cries. “Oh,
Lexi
, I was so worried. I was so afraid! The ambulance that was dispatched for you had an accident.”

“Ambulance?” I ask with chattering teeth.

“Yes, Dakota called an ambulance. Then he called me.”

Dakota’s beside me now, looking relived that I’m not in a coma again. “It was Jeremy,” he says, taking my hand. “He called me. He said you had a high fever due to internal injuries from the car accident. He said you were dying—almost dead. He said I needed to bring your fever down with ice.”

Wait, what? Jeremy
saved
me?

Ragan is in the bathroom now too. She throws her bucket of ice on me, even though I’m awake and my fever is gone. “Where
is
Jeremy?” she asks.

Dakota shakes his head, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know. He said he had to go.” Dakota looks at me, then hands me my
iPhone
. “He left you a message, though. I read it, sorry.” He stares into my eyes. “But what he said, it’s true.”

I look at my
iPhone
and cringe. But Dakota urges me to take it, to read Jeremy’s message, so finally I do. I read it,
then
squeeze my eyes shut, and read it again. “I want you to be with me
Lexi
, but Dakota does too. He loves you. But know this
Lexi
, I love you too … enough to let you break your promise. Goodbye, 4now.”

I was working at Posh, this upscale store in the mall. The moment it happened, I was bent over a rack of sweaters, straightening a wall display. That’s when
he
first spoke, catching me off guard.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Could you help me?”

He kind of laughed as he said the last part—the request part. Probably because his “excuse me” part made me jump a mile in the air. And let out a scream. Not a huge scream, more like a yelp-scream, but it was embarrassing, and only happened because I’m really focused and, you know, I was really into my work. I mean, I’d thought I was alone with the sweaters.

Anyway, once I recovered from my near heart attack, I turned to see who’d given it to me, but then oh! I almost had another one because I found myself face to face with Justin North. Justin North! He’s sort of adorable. And hunky.
And mysterious, in a hunky, adorable kind of way.

For a moment or five, I stared into his gorgeous green eyes, hypnotized. Then, I sort of got a grip, almost. I mean, enough to notice stuff, like he was still smiling at me, amused like—which was sort of nice, only there was this gleam in his eyes that made me tug at the hem of my dress, suddenly self-conscious.
‘Cause the skirt was short.
Wild short. How much had I shown him while I was bending over that display? The way he was staring at me made me pretty sure I didn’t want to know.

Justin wet his lips, eyeing me like I was a piece of candy and he was really, really hungry.

“You look different at school,” he said.

I acted as though I’d never seen him before. Why? I’m not sure exactly. Sometimes I just like messing with people’s minds. “You go to my school?”

He blinked, and set his jaw, looking surprised, and sort of frustrated, like he couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed him.

“Yeah,” he finally said, with maybe a little air knocked out of his sails. “We’ve never actually been introduced though. I’m Justin North.”

Which, of course, I already knew.
Totally knew. I knew all about him. I knew he was new to our school and yet he’d dated almost every girl in it. I knew he was a total player, and I should run away from him. But as I mentioned, he was adorable and gorgeous and all that kind of stuff. And he had this trance-thing going. It was hard to move, let alone run away from him. I couldn’t even
look
away from him.

“I’m Kali,” I said, gesturing at the nameplate on my chest. His eyes followed the gesture.
Weird, embarrassing mistake—on my part.
I mean
,
it was like I’d given him permission to stare there. And he did.

Okay, to be fair though, I do have to admit: he was right. I do look different at work than at school. For one thing, I dress up for work, try to look sophisticated. That day, I was wearing a killer black dress and I’d fluffed my hair and used hairspray and everything.

“Yeah, I know you’re Kali,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “I’ve known that for a while now.”

Prrr
!

Unfortunately, the way he said that,
all I’m into you big time
like, got me sort of breathless and weak in the knees. (I’m such a sap!) Still, I was careful not to show any excitement over it. After all, he may have noticed me, but he’d never done anything about it. Never talked to me, or called me, or anything. Besides, I already knew he noticed me.
Lots of times I felt his eyes on me at school.
But, that’s all he ever did—watch me—usually with a girl on his arm. Which sort of made him a dog. Albeit, a gorgeous dog. But still a dog.

“Can you take a break?” he asked, drawing in close to me, close enough that I could smell his woodsy, pinecones and trees scent. Unusual smells for a guy—but
Mmmm
. He moved in closer still, making me want to jump on him. “I’ll buy you a coke or something.”

No. Bad. Kali, resist!

I started straightening a rack of blouses I’d already straightened. “Can’t,” I said. “Working.”

But still, he didn’t leave. He stood by, watching my every move. I started to re-think my dress. It got me attention all right, but attention—apparently—was weird. Attention made me sweat.

“Well then, maybe, we could go out sometime,” he said, sounding frustrated. “Have dinner. Go to a movie.”

A date? He was seriously asking me on a date?! This dress had magic powers or something.

I stared up at him. Well, pretended to. Really I looked at his shirt, not into his eyes, because they were too hypnotic and made me think of …things.
Romantic things, too, of course.
Like kissing and yanking off his shirt. But odd things too. Meadows … trees … forests. Outdoorsy stuff. Weird, I know, but it seemed I could actually hear birds singing. Birds. Singing. What the …?

Whoa, Kali. Get a grip
.

To help with reality—and ditch the birds—I asked Justin a question I already knew the answer to, “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

He shook his head, slightly. “Not that I know of.”

Guys are dogs. Seriously. They never seem to remember their girlfriends while they’re asking another girl out. My last boyfriend, Nick, messed me up big time. He was a dog too.
A total player.
Only I hadn’t known it at the time. I’d been gullible, clueless. Now it’s been months since we broke up, but I still cry about him practically every night.

So, I asked Justin about the blonde he was always with at school lately, Ava Bower.

That made him grin. “I thought you didn’t know I went to your school.”

I gave an uncommitted shrug. “Maybe I’ve seen you,” was all I was willing to admit. But I guess we both knew I’d been caught ’cause there was a trace of a grin still on his face as he gave the pat answer, “She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”

“Does she know that?” I asked.

He smiled, looking amused. But he didn’t answer. Instead he changed the subject. “You look really nice.”

Ug
, my stupid heart.
Stupid, stupid,
stupid!
It was suddenly doing gymnastics and stuff. But my brain knew it was dumb. Somewhere, deep-
down
, it knew. But it was so far and deep down that I was having trouble finding it, listening to it. ‘Cause his compliment. It was so unexpected. And sweet. And it was more than just the words he said. It was the way he said them. And the way he
looked
when he said them. He’d seemed so … sincere.

Sincerity, very sneaky
.

I took a step away from him.

“What did you need help finding?” I asked, trying to regain my sales-associate, business-like composure.

Justin smiled. “I forget.”

“Something for Ava?”

His smile broadened with amusement. “No. I remember now. Something for my sister.”

“Sister, right. How about jewelry? I work on commission.”

Justin shook his head, eyeing me. He wet his lips. “How about a dress—like yours?”

“For your sister?”

He nodded, an impish smile playing on his shiny lips.

I led him over to the evening section and showed him my dress—the exact one.
The same size and everything.
Then, smiling doubtfully, I showed him the price tag. But, he didn’t turn it down right on the spot. He actually seemed to be considering it. I chewed on my lip, watching him think it over.

“It’s expensive, but worth it,” I said, automatically working my sale. Hey, if he had the bucks to fork out for such an expensive gift, I was more than willing to take his money. I didn’t care
who
the dress was for—his sister, girlfriend, Labrador retriever. It was all the same to me.

“It’s super versatile,” I went on. “Accessorizing’s the key.”

Justin just smiled, seeming to find my all-out sales pitch amusing. I shrugged. “Look, I told you—I work on commission.”

“Yeah.” He still looked amused. “You mentioned that.”

I dangled the dress in front of him. “So, what’s it going to be, Sport? You want the dress?”

He sucked in his breath. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll take it. But in red.”

Of course.

I rang the dress up for him, careful not to look into his hot green eyes. Knowing if I looked, I was doomed. I’d melt like butter into a puddle on the floor. It would be a mess. The janitor would have to come and mop me up. Then there I’d sit for time and all eternity in a pail of dirty water. Doomed. Just like the rest of his semi-sort-of-girlfriends.

He’s a player, just like Nick!
I kept telling myself.
A player, a player, a player!

But the way he stared at
me.…

No. I had to be strong. I wasn’t up for more heartbreak. I so, so wasn’t. And that’s all Justin North was, a heartbreak waiting to happen.

“Thank you. Have a nice evening,” I said crisply, when I’d finished ringing up the dress. I was careful to sound business-like. Nothing more. Not a hint of friendliness.

Still, Justin lingered at the counter. “Are you
sure
you can’t take a break with me?”

I raised an eyebrow—something I’m pretty good at. “Maybe I’ll give Ava a call and see how she feels about it.”

Justin grinned at this, but looked resigned. “Ava and I—we’re not a couple or anything. It’s not like that.”

I began shuffling through paperwork, trying to appear indifferent. “Well, maybe it’s not like that to you, but I’ll bet it is to Ava.” Still studying my paperwork I added, “I bet it was to Sharon
Andress
, too.”

Justin wet his lips again, studying me. “Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“So direct.” He put his hands over my paperwork, forcing me to look up at him. “Because I like it.”

What he said—the way he said it—he had me ready to close my eyes and take a leap of faith. Trust him.

Don’t be stupid
, my brain pleaded. This is Justin North. Justin North! He’s not going to hold hands with you and stroll through the school halls. He’s going to ram his tongue down your throat, then rip out your heart. He’s a player. A dog. You don’t need him. You don’t
want
him.

Only I kind of did.
Sort of.

But it was dumb. I tried to focus on reality instead of his gaze.
Just breathe
, I told myself. Only I was having trouble remembering how to do that. Justin had that effect on me, even at school, from a long distance. His stare was electrifying.

I needed him to leave. Go away and never come back. So, finally I just told him, “I need you to leave.” But I didn’t add the never-come-back part. Instead I said, “I have other customers.”

“Yeah. Okay,” he said, taking a step back. “I’m going. But obviously I didn’t just notice you at school. You know about Sharon and Ava, and probably every other girl I’ve dated.” He grinned. “You noticed me too.”

Busted.

Only I walked away, acting as though I didn’t hear him, or didn’t care. Still, even then I could feel his eyes linger on me, but I listened to my brain. I kept going. I didn’t turn around.

***

When I got home from work it was late, and dark. I almost tripped over a box on our front doorstep. I had to switch on the porch light to see what it was: a box wrapped in fancy red foil. A gift. Probably for my sister, Summer. The thought that it might be for me didn’t even cross my mind, until I saw the card.
Kali
was scrawled across the front.