That Boy (18 page)

Believe it or not, this is a spot that Jake, in over a year, has never found.

And I have NEVER told Danny about it.

I giggle out loud and think fleetingly, if he can find that spot so fast, maybe we belong together.

You just can't fight fate. At least that's what Lisa says.

I feel like Meg Ryan in
Top Gun
. I just want to scream aloud,
Danny, you big stud. Take me to bed or lose me forever.

Uh. Like now.

Seriously.

Who cares about making Jake jealous?

But evidently our PDA was all Jake could take.

He grabs my shoulder, jerks me toward him, and says, “JJ, what the hell?”

I can feel Danny right behind me. He's so mellow about this. He just wraps his arms around my waist, pulls my back in tight to his chest, and leans his chin on my shoulder.

Like this is an everyday occurrence.

God, I wish it was.

Of course that is
exactly
what he wants Jake to think.

I can only imagine the look he's giving Jake.

If it were me, I would have my thumbs stuck in my ears, with the rest of my fingers waving at him, going
nana, nana, boo, boo
.

But I doubt Danny is doing that.

Because my ego has been substantially boosted by Danny's attention, I look very blankly at Jake and let out a breathy sigh, “Well Jake, Danny was just kissing a very ticklish spot on my neck. One that you've never managed to find, and well, you're interrupting.”

I raise my eyebrows at him and shrug my shoulders in a
what's a girl to do
look.

So many boys, so little time.

Scratch that.

One boy and not nearly enough time.

Jake studies Danny and me, and then says very calmly, “I didn't realize the two of you had stayed so close.”

Of course this was
exactly
the opening Danny had been waiting for. “Well, I
guess
you could call it that,” Danny chuckles. He looks down at me, kisses the side of my neck and runs the back of his hand down my side, from boob to waist, very slowly and suggestively.

Jake is clearly PISSED. His face looks twisted, but I don't think he dares throw a punch at Danny, especially now that the two
linemen
have come to stand directly behind us.

So Jake, being the loser that he is, goes for the weaker link.

ME.

Jake says very loudly, so
everyone,
anywhere
within earshot of the North 40, can hear. I feel a crowd gathering around us.

“
WELL, HOTSHOT
,” Jake snorts, “
DON'T THINK YOU'RE GONNA GET ANYTHING FROM THAT
,” he says, with a scowl toward me.

Like I am an inanimate object.

“
AS YOU CAN SEE
,” he continues, as Boobs magically appears at his side, “
I HAD TO GO ELSEWHERE.
”

Jake tosses his arm around Boobs, and they both laugh at me like I'm some big inside joke.

Sadly, I probably am.

Of course, I'm HUMILIATED by the fact that my alleged virginity is being discussed in front of half the student population.

Do I have a witty comeback?

What should I say?

Maybe I'll just punch him.

No, bad idea.

But I don't have to say a thing because Danny steps up to the plate.

He pulls me a little closer. I didn't think I could get any closer, but hurray I could!

He runs his hand across my thigh, sending chills up my spine. Then he laughs out loud at Jake and says, “Hey Jake, ya think maybe there's a
REASON
she's never done it with you?”

I can see by the look on Jake's face the thought
never
crossed his mind.

Hey wait a minute, I could be a player too.

Or not.

Danny cocks his head and shrugs at Jake, “Might explain all them trips to Lincoln…..” Then he looks at me in a way that can only be described as hungry, and I give him a kind of slow sexy smile that I didn't even know I was capable of making.

It takes a few seconds for the implications of what Danny said to sink into Jake's little brain. When Mr. Rocket Scientist finally puts two and two (well, one and one) together, his head looks like it's going to explode, or quite possibly implode.

He flies toward Danny. I instinctively duck down, just as someone grabs my arm and pulls me out of the way of the flying fists.

Of course, who else?

It's Phillip.

He holds my arm tightly and practically drags me out of the party.

We get to his car and he orders, “Get in. We're leaving.”

I can tell he is mad at me and I probably shouldn't argue, but I cross my arms in front of my chest and say, “What about Danny?”

I am so not done with that boy yet.

“And ME? And maybe I want to see Jake get the crap beat out of him. And hey, Prince Charming, why aren't you in there helping to defend my honor anyway?”

Okay. I might have gone a little too far with that one. Sometimes my mouth gets away from me. Phillip is very obviously not happy with me.

“
Get. In. The. Car
.
NOW
!”

“OKAY, OKAY, fine,” I say to Mr. Bossy, as I slide into the seat. After he slams my door, walks around and gets into the car, I finish, “but I'm
not
going home yet.”

Phillip drives down the gravel road that will take us back into town. It's deathly quiet in the car. He hasn't said a word to me, and I'm not about to break the silence. I'm mad about the way he treated me at the party. I know he thinks he's helping, but was it really necessary to drag me out of there? I've seen fights at parties before and survived them.

Okay, so I've never been the direct cause of one before, but that's beside the point.

I'm sure it broke up quickly and is already over. The guys are probably back to drinking, telling stories and having fun.

Without me.

It's not fair. I could be kissing Danny right now.

I really, really liked kissing Danny. I was also looking very forward to what might happen next, as in I just might have taken Lisa's advice and attacked him. I NEED to get back to the party, back to Danny.

Phillip pulls his car off to the side of the road, puts it into park, then turns to me and says, “Stop glaring at me.”

“I'm not glaring at you.”

But I may very well be giving you
mad glances
.

“Yes, you are.”

“Well, you're glaring back.”

“Look, I know you didn't want to leave, but, unlike you, I did the
right
thing tonight,” Phillip brags.

What is he talking about? This has nothing to do with right and wrong. Except that he was WRONG to make me leave.

“The right thing?”

“Yes, whereas you never thought once about whether any of the things you were doing were right or wrong.”

He is chastising me.

I have had about enough of jerk boys tonight, thank you very much.

“I didn't do
anything
wrong tonight, Phillip, if
that's
what you're insinuating.”

“Really? Did you
once
stop to think that getting Danny into a fight could possibly get him injured and ruin his football career?”

I stare at him. And uh, no, that thought did not cross my mind, but I will not share that piece of information with him.

“You ought to think about someone besides yourself for a change,” he adds insult to the injury.

“I didn't
make
Danny do anything. He wanted to. In fact, the whole making Jake jealous thing was
his
idea!”

This boy is infuriating!

He says to me, “Whatever. I'm not going to fight with you about this.”

He puts the car in gear and starts driving again.

Not only are we done fighting, evidently, we are done talking too.

“So where do you want to
go
?”

“Back to the party.”

He glares at me, so I say, “I really should let Lisa know where I am. I was supposed to ride home with her and don't want her to worry.” What I don't say is, I wanna see Danny, I wanna kiss Danny, I may even want to, uh, do it, with Danny. I am not ready for this night to end. Why did I let him drag me to the car? What was I thinking?

“I already told Lisa that I would take you home.”

Wait. How did he do that? We never stopped to tell her, and the fight broke out quickly, so that means he planned this.

He's not just a jerk.

He's a
premeditating jerk.

“
Before
the fight started?” I call him on it.

“Yes.”

“So you
planned
this?”

“Well, let's just say that
I
was
smart
enough to figure out exactly what was going to happen tonight. So where?”

I really don't know what to do. I just know I won't give him the satisfaction of taking me straight home. Maybe the fight will break up the party, and everyone will head back into town. “Let's go to the Gas Stop. I'm hungry.”

“Great.” He gives me a smart-ass smile, “I need to get gas anyway.”

“You would have to turn it into something practical,” I mutter under my breath.

Of course, he hears me. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Oh I don't know,
Mr. Spontaneous
.”

I get the glare again. “Well, I was
almost
spontaneous tonight. I
almost
drug you out of the party before the fight started, but I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. Obviously
that
was a mistake.”

We pull up to the gas pump. Phillip jumps out and starts the pump, then gets back into the car. I'm checking out the parking lot between the Gas Stop and the bowling alley and see, sadly, that
no one
is around.

Darn. Now what?

I'm supposed to be hungry. That's why I wanted to come here, but food does not sound the least bit appetizing. Not even Hostess cupcakes.

I must be more distraught than I realized.

Phillip snarls, “I thought you were
hungry
.”

I can tell he knows I was lying.

“What can I say? You made me lose my appetite.”

See? Something is your fault. You're not perfect.

Jerk.

“I see,” he smirks.

The smirk on his face is pretty much the last straw, so I let him have it.

“Phillip, can't you
ever
do something just because it feels good? Why do you have to think through and analyze every situation to death?”

“What? Would you rather I was like you and
never
think anything through? You were in trouble at the party, and you know it.”

“Maybe I
wanted
trouble, Phillip,”

“Well, you know what? That would have been fine, but then you had to drag Danny into the whole fiasco.”

“I drug Danny?” The boy is playing rough.

Fine.

“Yeah, I
drug
Danny, kicking and screaming, straight to my lips and forced him to kiss me.
Many, many times
.”

I don't know why I think this will upset Phillip. I mean I know he doesn't
like
me, but I do know
something
about Danny and me together bugged him.

So there.

“Besides this mess isn't my fault. It's Jake's. He started the whole stupid thing.” I shake my head at him, “And Danny's a big boy. I can't
make
him do anything.”

“Oh, you'd be surprised at what you can
make
Danny do,” Phillip says, like I'm some harlot.

“Phillip,
he
kissed
me
. Not the other way around. Granted, he may have done it because he felt sorry for me, but no one, especially not me, made him.” I stop and look closely at Phillip to gauge his reaction. “And what would be so wrong about Danny and me together anyway?”

Phillip looks exasperated. He shakes his head in disbelief and chuckles, “You'd kill each other, for one, because you'd fight constantly. It'd never work. And you'd completely screw your friendship.”