Popping the Cherry (12 page)

‘Um … Dad’s in the kitchen.’

‘Great. Lead the way.’

Grateful to get away, I set off down the hall, and for the second time since I’d come downstairs, I could feel a gaze burning into me from behind. It was totally different knowing it was Jake doing the staring, though. A pep talk was in order before I did something stupid, like exaggerating the swing of my hips and sashaying down the hallway. As we made our way towards the kitchen, I listed all the reasons it was such a bad idea.

For a start, I was still too sore to pull it off; it would actually hurt if I tried it. Second, I was flustered enough to get clumsy, which I just knew would wind up with me flat on my face; that would hurt too, in addition to being the most embarrassing thing ever. And third, this was
Jake
, not some guy I wanted to impress; flirting was utterly out of the question, even if I did fancy him—which I did
not
—and, quite frankly, I’d embarrassed myself enough in front of Jake already for one lifetime.

‘Dad, Jake wants to talk to you about something. Just don’t ask me what because he wouldn’t say anything to me.’ I suspected I was doing the Gemma drama-queen thing again. ‘He insisted on speaking with you first.’ Dad’s raised eyebrows confirmed it. I’d embarrassed myself yet again.
Great. Just great. Here I go again
. ‘Sorry, that was rude of me. Jake, can I get you a drink at all?’

‘No, thank you. I’ve not long had one. Unless you’re having one,’ Jake added as an afterthought.

‘I’m going to have a coffee; you’re welcome to join me?’

‘Sure, thanks. I’d like that.’

My brain screamed at me not to read anything into his words. It was just a coffee. Nothing more. ‘Dad, another cup of tea?’

‘Go on, then, seeing as you’re offering.’ Suitably appeased, Dad finally redirected his gaze from me to Jake. Dismissed, I crossed the room and busied myself with making the drinks. ‘Why don’t you take a seat, Jake, seeing as you’re staying?’

‘Thank you, Mr Bell.’

‘Mr Bell is my father’s name,’ Dad said, making me cringe as he spouted one of his favourite lines. I’d lost count of the number of times he’d used it over the years, complete with what can only be described as a ‘chortle’ before he added his usual, ‘Please, call me Richard, especially after what you did for Tink.’

Jake darted the tiniest of glances towards me at the mention of my ridiculous nickname, so fast that I doubt my dad even noticed. ‘I was only too glad to be able to help.’

Dad nodded. ‘So what did you want to speak to me about, Jake?’

‘I don’t know if you are aware, Mr Bell … Richard,’ Jake corrected, ‘but I turn twenty-one later this week.’ I stood at the sink, keeping my back to them in the hope they forgot I was there as I tried to figure out where Jake was going with this. ‘I’ve been driving for over three and a half years now, and I have a clean driving licence.’ Now he’d really lost me. ‘If it’s OK with you, I’d like to take Lena out for driving practice, assuming she’s insured to drive her car.’

‘Dammit!’ I cursed under my breath. The mug I’d been pulling out from the cupboard slipped from my fingers and crashed to the floor. Shards of purple porcelain scattered across the tiles. I didn’t need to turn around to know that all eyes were on me. Again. Why the hell had I suddenly turned into a walking disaster, especially whenever Jake was around? Correction: I was a
stationary
disaster: with no shoes on, and sharp bits just begging to bury themselves into the soles of my feet, I stood stranded in my own little island.

It crossed my mind to just strip my clothes off right there and then, in front of my dad and Jake to complete my total and utter humiliation. A scraping sound, closely followed by another, told me that Jake and Dad had both stood up. Two sets of footsteps crunched towards me and Dad appeared first, broom in hand. He swept around me, the bristles tickling my toes through my socks as he cleared the area surrounding my feet.

‘May I?’ Jake asked me from directly behind, his breath tickling the hair on the back of my neck.

I nodded, trying to ignore my dad’s reaction and his suddenly jerky sweeping action as he watched Jake reach around me, sliding his hands beneath my armpits in a now all-too-familiar move. It was easily the most male contact my dad had ever witnessed, no matter how innocent it was, and I had to smother a giggle.

Jake plucked me off the floor, lifting me several inches into the air, then carried me over to the waiting chairs. Dad soon joined us at the table, choosing to stand beside Jake. The offer of driving sessions hung in the air and I had to crane my neck to look up at them both. I realised it was the first time I’d seen them standing next to each other in years, and it surprised me to discover that Jake now had the height advantage.

It unnerved Dad too.

He pulled himself up even straighter, exerting his authority and looking Jake in the eye. Jake didn’t budge, staring right back at my dad and exerting authority of his own in his strong but relaxed stance. Watching them butt heads would have been even funnier if Jake was a potential suitor, rather than my best friend’s brother. I didn’t even pretend to understand what went through a guy’s head, or how the whole testosterone thing worked, but, after a drawn out silence, Jake apparently passed the test.

‘Very well,’ Dad said, offering his hand to Jake, who immediately shook it.

I clamped my lips together and sat on my hands to stop myself from squealing and clapping like a giddy child, not wishing to jeopardise my ‘almost an adult’ status with Dad, or make Jake change his mind about taking me driving. Dad then made his excuses and left the kitchen, leaving me alone with Jake.

‘How about it, then, Lena?’ he asked. ‘Do you think you could put up with me in the passenger seat?’

With Dad out of the room, I leaped out of my seat and threw myself at Jake—doing exactly what I said I mustn’t do—and nearly sent him flying, forcing him to step back to brace himself, even as his hands caught hold of my waist to make sure I didn’t fall. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against Jake’s cheek to plant a kiss on his warm skin, inhaling the scent of him in the process.

‘I’ll take that as a yes, then, huh?’ Jake said, a hint of gruffness in his voice.

I laughed and squeezed him even tighter.

‘Thank you,’ I whispered, before pulling far enough back to see his face, revelling in the quirky smile he wore.

‘How about I give you a lift to college so we can discuss it on the way?’

Crap
.

In all my excitement, I’d forgotten about college.

‘That would be great,’ I said, letting go of Jake and smoothing down my clothes. ‘I just need to grab my bag and get my shoes on. I won’t be a minute.’

Even though both items were downstairs, I popped upstairs just so I could brush my teeth again, while Jake waited in the kitchen. Dad appeared on the landing. He’d changed clothes and was now wearing his suit, ready to head into work, I guessed, seeing that I wasn’t going to be at home after all.

‘Are you off, then, Tink?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, Jake’s going to give me a lift to save me getting the bus.’

‘That’s good,’ Dad looked miles away, so I went to move past him to get to the bathroom but he reached for my arm to stop me. ‘Jake’s a nice lad,’ Dad said, picking at a nonexistent speck on his sleeve. ‘So is there … um … something going on between you two now?’

Omigod, no way
.

No wonder there was the whole stand-off thing going on downstairs. Dad thought Jake was my new
boyfriend
. I could feel my eyes bugging out as I stared back at Dad’s anxious face.

‘No!’ I blurted. ‘He’s just a friend, you know, Gemma’s big brother,’ I said, protesting a little too loudly perhaps, but Dad looked too relieved to notice.

‘OK, that’s good to know. Saves me and your mum having to sit you down for “the talk” for a while longer, then,’ he said, making the quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

I started to laugh but managed to cover it with a cough and darted past him into the bathroom. Mum had done the whole ‘talk’ thing with me years ago, pretty much as soon as I got boobs and started having periods. If she hadn’t told Dad, then I wasn’t about to either. Better to let him wallow in his delusions rather than frighten him so much he’d invest in a shotgun.

It was only once Jake and I were on the road that I realised what had happened. Dad had accepted Jake, tantamount to giving us his blessing. What a pity there wasn’t ever going to be a ‘me and Jake’ scenario: it would have made life a lot easier seeing that Jake already had Dad’s approval. A sigh escaped from my chest and drew a curious look from Jake.

‘You OK?’ he asked.

‘Yep,’ I said, avoiding meeting his eye. No way was I about to explain myself. I stopped daydreaming and paid attention to the road instead, with Jake firing questions from the Highway Code at me ready for our first outing the following week. From there, we deviated onto anything and everything, and were still chatting away when he pulled up outside college.

‘I guess I’ll see you next week, then?’ he said.

‘Yeah …’ Disappointment washed over me and refused to be shrugged off. There was just something about Jake that made me feel relaxed, content, but it was probably just the crush talking. ‘Thanks for the ride.’

‘Unless …’

My ears pricked up. ‘Unless …?’

Jake turned to look at me. ‘You probably wouldn’t be interested, but I might as well ask now that I’ve started.’ Since when did Jake resort to rambling? ‘I’m having a party on Saturday, but you probably knew that already. Anyway, you’re welcome to come along if you’ve nothing else planned.’

‘I’d love to,’ I said, sounding far too keen.

‘Great.’ Jake looked back to the front. ‘It will be good for Gemma to have a friend there, just get the details from her.’

‘Gemma. Right. Will do.’

Boy, did I feel silly for reading too much into his invitation. He was only asking me to come along to keep his sister happy. The sensible side of me rejoiced, while the girly-crush side of me threatened to erupt in tears.

‘Cool. I’ll see you there, then?’

‘Sure thing,’ I said, opening the door and swinging my legs out of Jake’s van. Solid ground met my feet, which was exactly what I needed. Not a load of pipe dreams and impossible fantasies about a guy who could never be mine. I took a deep breath and let the air fill my lungs before I turned back to face Jake. ‘Thanks again. Have a good day.’

‘You too, Lena,’ Jake said, his smile returning. ‘And no getting into mischief today: I’ve got too much work to do.’

‘Spoilsport.’ I closed the door and gave him a wave, looking back only for a second to see him driving away. It was hard to believe it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet, when so much had happened already. Friday may have been the worst day of my entire life, but things were looking up for me now. So what if Jake wanted me at his party only for his sister? At least he’d invited me in the first place. And, hey, a party was a party, and that meant I could dress up.

I found a welcoming committee waiting for me at my locker, on the receiving end of sympathetic looks from Flick, Chloe and Piper. ‘I take it you all know what happened, then?’ All three of them nodded. Gemma was efficient, I’ll give her that, but at least she checked it was OK to tell the others rather than gossiping about me. ‘Good, then I don’t need to talk about it, do I?’

Silence hung in the air but it was soon broken, something else you could rely on Gemma to take care of as she popped up behind me. ‘If that’s what you prefer,’ she said, placing a supportive arm around my shoulder. ‘But just remember that we’re all here for you, if you change your mind.’

‘Thanks.’ Considering she was Jake’s sister, her arm wasn’t anywhere near as comforting as her brother’s.

Whoa, where did that come from?

‘Now that we’ve got the deep and meaningful out of the way, did any of you see Jake this morning?’ she asked. I jerked my head up to see if she was accusing me in particular, but it must have been my guilty conscience. ‘I could’ve sworn I saw his van leaving just now.’

‘Oh, yeah, he came by the house this morning and offered to give me a ride,’ I said as casually as I could manage, watching carefully and seeing Gemma’s eyes flash. ‘Which reminds me, he’s asked me come to his party to keep you company. He said to get the details from you.’

‘Really?’ Gemma recovered herself quickly. ‘That’s so cool,’ she said, clapping her hands. ‘I thought I was going to be stuck with the olds all night. Hey, you’ll have to come over to the house so we can get ready together. You might as well stay over, too.’

‘I’d love to,’ I said. ‘Now I just need to figure out what to wear, but at least I’ve got the day off work.’

‘Oh, now you’re talking,’ Gemma said, her clapping giving way to rubbing her hands together as a demented look in her eye told me she had shopping on the brain.

My plan to deflect her attention worked a treat—anything to stop her getting all uppity with me for no reason, or digging for more details. Call it a wild hunch, but I got the impression she wouldn’t be too happy about Jake and me spending time together so the less said, the better.

The bus ride home was an anticlimax. Hayden had gone back to being mysterious, acting like a stranger again. It was as if the past week had never happened. Fine by me. By the end of the week, I barely even noticed him any more.

Unlike Gemma, who had been on at me all week to see the revised shortlist. She’d been ready to disown me until I floated the idea for a girly night, complete with grand unveiling. Gemma suggested having it at her place, with all of us crashing overnight, but I would sooner die than risk Jake find out about Operation: Popping the Cherry. If it wasn’t for Jake’s party the next day, I would have had a right job explaining why I didn’t want to stay at hers, but as it was, she didn’t bat an eyelid when I suggested my place instead.

As I sat on my bed and skimmed over the names for the umpteenth time—not that I needed the actual list any more: I’d read it so many times I knew it off by heart—my stomach lurched and my pulse raced. A gentle knock on my bedroom door made my pulse race for an entirely different reason and I panicked. I shoved the shortlist under my pillow, then snatched up the first thing that came to hand, pretending to be engrossed as the door inched opened.