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I didn’t answer her immediately because I couldn’t. Admitting feelings and emotions simply wasn’t my thing.
She searched my face for the answer to her question. “You are, aren’t you?”
I shrugged and played dumb. “What?”
She sounded so astonished when she said, “You don’t have to tell me because I can see it. You’re genuinely falling for Claire. It’s not a game for you.”
I didn’t deny her claim, proving her allegation. I felt myself growing very vulnerable, but in a good way.
Payton was the only person, besides Claire, that could answer the question on my mind and I decided to stop hiding behind the wall of protection I had build around my self. “Am I crazy for thinking I could have a chance with her?”
19 Shut the Front Door
Claire
I didn’t make it completely out of homeroom’s doorway before Payton jerked me up and pulled me to the corner in the hallway. “You little sly slut puppy. I am extraordinarily proud of you.”
“What? Am I missing something here?”
“I knew you could get Jessie Boone to lust after you and I had hoped you could get him to want to date you, but I never dreamed you would get him to fall for you. Congratulations. The power you hold over him is crazy awesome good. I can’t believe how you exceeded my expectations. This is such a tattooable moment. No punt intended.”
I was caught off guard. “He has not fallen for me. Why would you think that?”
“Because I talked to him this morning and got the official status,” she squealed.
I gave her a hard shove and she stumbled backwards. “Shut the front door. Where, when, how, why? I need all the details.”
“I caught him in the parking lot by himself this morning and I told him I needed to talk to him about you. See what being prompt can get you, Claire. Anyway…when I asked him if he was falling for you, he didn’t answer me. I told him I could tell he was and he didn’t deny it. Then, he asked me if he had a chance with you.”
“And your response was?” I anxiously asked.
“Of course, I told him to go for it because you liked him. Claire, this couldn’t be going more perfectly if I orchestrated it myself.”
“You did orchestrate it yourself,” I reminded her, then recalled how I was the one that asked her to formulate the plan in the start.
She cackled and proudly said, “I know.”
Payton and I were both thrilled with Jessie’s feelings toward me for completely different reasons. I knew he liked me and was attracted to me, but knowing he was falling for me made me feel something so different.
I spent first period feeling anxious about seeing Jessie and was saddened when I remembered that we had finished our partner assignments with the creative ingredients. I would miss that special time alone with him as we became better acquainted with one another.
When I entered Humanities, I knew we wouldn’t be partnering up because the desks had been rearranged into a circle instead of groups of two. I took my seat and a minute later, Jessie was at my side in the seat next to me.
“Hey, Princess.”
“Hey, you. The arms’s still good?” I reached out to touch his arm, partly because I needed him to tell me he felt my touch, but also because I couldn’t resist feeling my skin against his.
He smiled and said, “Good as new.”
“I’m so glad. I thought about you all night. I mean… I was worried about your arm.”
“I thought about you all night, but it wasn’t your arm I was thinking about.”
His words sent me into orbit. “Tell me how you were thinking about me.”
“I would think that Payton had already told you. She had a certain ‘run and tell that’ look on her face when she got out of my truck this morning.
I laughed and didn’t confirm or deny what Payton had told me about their conversation and I hoped it drove him crazy with the desire to know.
Mrs. Tanner began class and announced we would spend the next few days in the library doing some research on the meaning of the lyrics behind Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire.’ Since partnering was encouraged, I couldn’t be happier.
We entered the library and both of us walked toward the back and sat at a table with a computer off to it’s itself in an inconvenient location so we could be hidden from the others. “This is secluded. I could take advantage of you and no one would know.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You promise?”
He put his hand on my knee and gently squeezed. “I’m talking about stealing your answers from Billy’s song lyrics, you little dirty girl.”
I loved the game of naughty insinuation that we played. “We do have an assignment, so I guess we should get on it.”
He smiled that mischievous smile that belonged only to him. I loved it. “Yes, we should get it on. I mean…get on it. The assignment, that is.”
I playfully slapped his leg. “You are the dirty one here.”
After we began to search for the meaning of the lyrics, I caught Jessie staring at me like he was mesmerized. I reached up to my face. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
“Yeah, you do.” He reached out and grazed the back of his fingers against my cheek. “You’ve got a little beautiful right there.”
I felt the heat rise in my cheeks because I wasn’t use to hearing things like that. Forbes never said romantic things because he was too busy planning how to get what he wanted from me.
“You want to kiss me, don’t me?” he boldly asked and my face began to pulsate with fire.
He was so daring and I loved it. In an instant, I decided to be bold in return. “You have no idea how much.”
I saw he wouldn’t be the one to back down. As I recalled, he had warned me about that.“I bet I have a pretty good idea since I probably want to kiss you just as much, if not more.”
We were alone, most likely safe from being seen, but not guaranteed and it made it so much more exciting. The thrill of being caught coursed through my veins and I looked into his pale blue eyes, willing him to lean forward and take the kiss I was prepared to give him.
“I’ll do it,” he threatened.
“Then do it. I dare you. In fact, I triple dog dare you,” I provoked.
I saw a look in his eye-one I liked. “Princess, I told you I never back down.”
“That’s what I’m counting on, so prove it,” I invited.
