Never Say Never (17 page)

As she leans in closer, our lips almost touching, I’m thinking about the cinnamon that she usually tastes like and looking forward to it. What does she do? She grabs my chin, turns my face away from hers and kisses me on the cheek.

“You call that a kiss?”

She intertwines her arm with mine. “It’s the only kiss you’ll get today, if you don’t behave,” she laughs.

I don’t respond. I just laugh with her. She stops in front of her class. “See you in World History,” she says twiddling her fingers in the air before she disappears.

I peek in the classroom, watching her walk to her seat.

I yell out,“You bet you will.”

***

I enter History class, she’s sitting already. I walk over taking the seat behind her. I lean over, pushing her hair to one side of her neck, revealing her sexy tattoo. I kiss it, before I whisper, “You have no idea what you do to me.”

She turns grinning from ear to ear, “Trust me. I know exactly what I do to you.”

I swear if there weren’t thirty kids piled into this room right now, I’d pull her back and show her exactly what she does to me.

Lunch is as usual as always, except that I sit with Kat and Gabby. I can see Max sitting two tables away, shaking his head at me. It’s really starting to get annoying.

It’s hard to concentrate on the food sitting in front of me. Kat’s hand is sitting pretty high up on my right thigh.

She leans in, whispering into my ear, “Barbie’s coming this way.”

As she finishes telling me, she pulls her hand back onto her lap.

I don’t look in her direction, but feel a subtle tap on my shoulder.

“Cameron, I need to talk to you. Now.”

I throw the French fry back down onto my plate, “I already told you...I have nothing to say.”

“Do you really want me to say it out loud...in front of her?” Her eyes look directly at Kat.

Kat nudges me, “Go see what she wants.”

I look at Kat, “I don’t want to.”

She rolls her eyes. “Just do it,” she tells me shoving me harder.

I stand up, pulling Stephanie by the arm, leading her to the corner of the cafeteria. I notice the entire student body in here, is watching us.

“What?”

“Where’s the video you took?”

“I deleted it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I did. Right after I forwarded it to Kat.”

“What the hell did you do that for?”

“I know you were behind the flyers. I swear to God, Steph, don’t fuck with her. She’s the one with the leverage now.”

“You’re such an asshole. Y’know that?”

“Only to you sweetheart,” I say sarcastically with a wink.

I start to walk away, when she grabs me, “I wasn’t the only one involved in the flyers. Why don’t you ask Matt and Max what they know?” She says, tossing her hair, flipping it back over her shoulder. I can’t help but watch her walk back to her table, because I’m speechless.

Rewind. Matt and Max, what the hell was she talking about? I glance over to Max, his head is down, completely avoiding me. The only reason I suspect this all to be true, is because everyone else is still staring at me, but him.

I’m mad as hell at this point to even think my best friend has a part in this. I can feel my face turning red. I start to make my way over, when Kat is standing beside me, grabbing my arm.

“Hey, come sit down.”

I look down at her. “I gotta go talk to Max.”

“Let it go. It’s over, I’m fine.”

“It’s not the point. He knows how I feel about you. I would never do this to him.”

She grabs my chin, forcing me to look in her eyes, “That’s because you’re amazing. Now sit down and eat lunch with me,” she insists.

I stare Max down as I walk back with Kat. I’ll take care of him later. And Matt, piece of cake. He isn’t on the top of my list of friends, anyway.

KAT

I’m standing outside, waiting by his car. The last bell rang fifteen minutes ago, and still no sign of him. I wait ten more minutes...nothing. After grabbing my bag off the hood of his car, I start to make my way home. The entire time wondering where the hell he could be. I went over the conversation from this morning in my head over and over. I was sure he told me he was going to give me a ride home.

The hours of homework are sitting in my bag, but I flick the television on. After an hour of crappy shows, I hear the back door opening. I quickly glance out the front window, seeing his car parked in the driveway.

“Hey,” he says as he strolls into my living room.

I stand when he enters, “Gee, feel free to walk right in.”

He grins, “What? I checked first. Your Dad’s not home.”

I sit back down. “What happened to my ride?”

“Sorry. I had something I needed to take care of,” he says kneeling down on the floor, our eyes clinging to one another.

He says, “I think you owe me a real kiss.”

I look down, thinking of my next move, when I notice his hand is red and swollen.

“What happened to your hand?” I ask, holding it up.

“It’s nothing.”

“Cameron, where were you?”

“Just talking to Max,” he says like it’s no big deal.

“Was your fist involved in this conversation?”

“Just once, but it’s fine. We made up and everything,” he says in a teasing voice.

I pull it up to my mouth, kissing it, “Don’t ever get into a fight with Max over me. Okay?” I shake my head, “I’ll never understand guys.”

“You just need to understand one guy...me.”

He leans in, tilting his head slightly to the side. His lips start to press against mine, “Well?” I ask.

“What?”

“Did he have something to do with it?”

He doesn’t move his lips, they’re grazing mine as he answers, “It was more like the three of them bullshitting with each other. Steph took them up on their idea.”

“It was his idea?”

“More Matt and Stephanie’s master plan, I think.”

“So why did you punch Max?”

“Because he knew I needed to...y’know to get past it all. We’re cool now.”

Neither one of us speaks as I’m trying to take everything in. We’re both studying each other.

“Can I kiss you yet, or are there more questions?”

I bite down softly of my bottom lip, “If you don’t, I will,” I reply because I can’t resist him when his face is this close to mine. I breathe in inhaling his scent.

He gives me his “for Kat’s eyes only smile” then pulls me down onto the floor with him. I kiss him again and again, before his lips move down my jawline and then they start to explore my neck. His mouth moves up, his lips find mine once more. I run my hands over his chest and shoulders feeling every muscle that’s wrapped around me. He buries his fingers in my hair, sending shivers through my entire body. I feel him tugging on my jeans, trying to unbutton them. I stop him, even though I don’t want to.

“We can’t do this right now,” I say my breath ragged.

“Why not?” He asks, kissing my collarbone.

“It’s almost five, my Dad might walk in any minute.”

“You said he didn’t come home till way past dark, and last I checked it’s still light out.”

I pull myself up and off of him, “That was before he found you half-naked on our couch.”

He’s still lying on the floor, running his hands through his hair. He has a look of frustration settling in.

“You’re not mad are you?”

“Are you crazy? No, you just get me so worked up. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. Don’t think for a minute you’re the only one that gets worked up,” I tell him, trying to reassure him that I want him as much as he wants me.

He jumps to his feet in one leap. He eyes glance down to his watch, “I should probably get going anyway. My mom instructed me to be home for dinner.”

He pulls me up from the floor, our lips meet again before he says, “I’m crazy about you.”

I smile. “Me too.”

He swipes my hair to the side, his lips linger on my heart tattoo, then he says,“see you tomorrow, beautiful.”

CAMERON

It’s April Twenty-Fifth, when I ask her two questions. We’re sitting in the park, under her favorite tree. The first one, I know she’ll say yes. The second one is a stretch, and I’m not sure if she’ll be able to come with me.

“So, prom’s only a few weeks away.”

“And?”

“You want to go?”

She shrivels up her nose at my question, “Do you want to go?”

“I’m asking aren’t I?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go with you, it’s just...well prom,” she says, which completely throws me off.

“I know you can dance, so what’s the problem?”

“That’s the problem. I haven’t danced since that night at Matt’s.”

I should have guessed.

“Trust me. Nothing’s gonna happen, it’ll be fun. Besides I have something special planned.”

She stares off into space for a minute before she answers, “Only if you tell me the special plans.”

“Well, the prom’s in Oak Brook and I thought we could get a room out there for the night.” I watch as her eyebrows go way up, knowing exactly what I mean.

“It’s nothing. We don’t have to. Besides, I have something more important to ask you.”

“You do?”

“Before you say no, my Dad thinks it’s a great idea.” I stop talking briefly, taking her facial expression in.

“I have to go to Colorado to see him. It’s for Memorial Day weekend and I want you to come with me.”

“Are you serious?”

“Couldn’t be more serious,” I say, pulling her closer.

“I would love to, but there’s no way my Dad will let me go.”

“He can call my Dad. Besides there will be plenty of parental supervision the entire weekend.” He winks, “Trust me.”

I watch as she’s thinking about the invitation, she doesn’t respond.

I hand her a piece of paper with my father’s number written on it, “Just think about it. I want you to go with me.”

She takes it, “How would we get there?”

“My Dad will take care of everything...plane tickets and whatever else.”

“And, he’s fine with that?”

“Yeah. I told him all about you. In fact, he’s the one that suggested it. I didn’t think it would hurt to show you Colorado’s campus...you never know. You can always come with me and go to school there next year.”

She looks off again, “We’ll see about the trip, but as far as school...I’m a flip flop girl, not a snow boot girl.”

I shake my head, “Ask your Dad soon. Plane tickets aren’t cheap, and the trip is in a month. Okay?”

I watch her waiting for anything as she sips her latte. I can smell the cinnamon as she does, which completely arouses me. I think of cinnamon way too much since I met her. She always tastes like it when we kiss and I love that.

I take the cup, placing it down on the ground before I go in for those adorable pouty lips of hers.

She pulls back after our lips touch briefly. “I guess I have to go buy a dress.”

I tease her, “Be careful what you buy,” I tell her.

“Why?”

“Didn’t you see the letter? With all those rules, half the girls in school won’t be able to go. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing you a skimpy dress.”

“I don’t do skimpy.”

I laugh, twisting her hair in my hand. “And no black.”

“It’s my signature color. You better get used to it, because that’s what I’m buying.”

“You win. Now if you don’t let me kiss you right now, I could possibly die of inhuman torture.”

She smiles, pushing me back on the grass. I’m completely getting into her, in broad daylight...in the park. I roll her over, so I am the one on top, pressing our bodies together. I moan as I feel her mouth on mine. Her hands reach up and wrap around my neck, pulling me in even closer. We stay there kissing for what seems like forever, when I hear the sound of skateboards coming closer on the path.

I look up, Max is standing right over us.

“Damn guys, might want to get a room for what you were about to do.”

I pull myself from Kat. “Hey, man,” I say, as I see Kat sit up, smoothing out her hair.

Max says, “We have practice in a few hours. You didn’t forget, did you?” I see his eyes flash to Kat’s.

She has her knees up, with her arms wrapped around them. She looks super innocent, but super sexy at the same time. I keep my eyes focused on her, “No problem. I’ll be over at three.”

Max slaps me on the shoulder before riding off. “Have fun you two.”