Popping the Cherry (14 page)

‘I know …’ My voice trailed off as I took in my reflection again.

A different girl looked back at me, one with skin that glowed and eyes that sparkled, radiating glamour and confidence.

Gemma stopped what she was doing and studied me. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, really. I take it all back, Gemma, you can attack me any time you like. I don’t think I’ve ever looked this good.’ I turned to face her, willing the prickling sensation in my eyes to do one. ‘Thank you.’

‘Oh, ye of little faith,’ she said, all nonchalant, but the flush of pride and the warmth of her smile reached me all the way over the room.

‘No, don’t,’ I sniffed and darted a glance up to the ceiling, forcing the tears back before they could overflow. ‘You’ll undo all your hard work.’

‘Never fear,’ she said, picking up a tiny purse. ‘I’m always ready for emergencies.’

Jake called up the stairs, talking over the top of Gemma. ‘Five minutes, ladies.’

‘OK, Jake,’ Gemma shouted back, then looked back at me. ‘I’ve packed your lippy, too, you know, to touch up any kissing damage.’

Jake … kissing … Jake …
kissing Jake!

The two merged in my head and morphed into one, short-circuiting my brain and freeing my imagination to run rife, the mental image of my lips meshing with Jake’s too delicious to resist. My body responded instantly: blood whooshed through my ears and the temperature in the room rocketed; the erratic thud in my chest became painful and left me short of breath and my eyes threatened to close so I could give in to the daydream.

‘Lena!’ Gemma shouted.

I jerked and the visions vanished. ‘Huh?’

‘What happened then? I had to call your name, like, three times.’ Gemma had left the dressing table and stepped into her dress without my noticing. She was holding the strapless bodice up in place and staring at me, her head tilted to one side. ‘I said, do you mind doing me up?’

‘Oh, yeah, sure.’ I shook away the last of the images and forced my trembling hands to work. ‘There you go, all done.’

‘Thanks,’ Gemma said, turning to face me. She caught hold of my hands and dragged me with her to the mirror. ‘So what do you think?’

‘You look gorgeous, Gemma, that shade of pink really suits you.’

‘
We
look gorgeous,’ she said, with emphasis on the ‘we’.

There was no stopping the giggle, which worked its way up from my lungs. We spent the last two minutes admiring ourselves. Gemma looked incredible in a blush-coloured strapless dress, and, in contrast to me, she’d chosen to highlight her mouth with plum-coloured, glossy lips and keeping it more neutral around her eyes. Two very different looks, both with a massive wow factor.

‘Come on, let’s see if anyone’s around to take our picture for us. This is definitely one for the scrapbook.’ Gemma linked her arm through mine and led me towards the bedroom door.

A giddy mix of terror and anticipation ran through me, especially when I heard Jake talking into his phone at the bottom of the stairs. I knew for a fact he’d never seen me looking like this before—hell, I’d never seen me looking like this before—and in the few seconds before he realised we were there, I tried to imagine his reaction. Would he even notice me?

The more steps Gemma and I descended, the tighter I gripped the banister. And then Jake heard us. He glanced over his shoulder and his jaw dropped open, his phone forgotten in his hand. Forced to do a double take, he turned to watch us, his gaze lingering on me. He looked me up and down, surprise written all over his face, and something else. Something that made the hairs on the back on my neck stand on end.

Jake grew even taller, never once breaking eye contact. He held out a hand towards me to help me down the last few stairs, yet Gemma was the one teetering in platform heels. Admittedly, my legs had turned to jelly. I couldn’t move, but there was no way he could have known I’d turned to total mush inside. Or maybe he could. He took a step closer and caught hold of my hand instead.

Zap
.

With his eyes locked on mine, Jake guided me to the bottom, bringing me to a halt in front of him. Neither of us spoke. Neither of us let go. Neither of us looked away.

‘Hey, Jake, can you take a quick photo for us before we go, please? Gemma asked.

Pop
.

The weird bubble I’d somehow walked into burst. I tried making sense of it, searching Jake’s eyes for clues, but he looked away to Gemma.

‘Yeah, no probs,’ he said, letting go of my hand to accept Gemma’s phone. ‘Ready? Say “cheese”, then.’ The flash blinded me for a split second and white spots danced in front of my eyes. As soon as my vision cleared, I studied Jake again but the spark—the moment—was gone. Maybe I’d imagined it.

A honk from a car horn told us the taxi had arrived, and Gemma’s folks joined us in the hall.

‘Oh, girls, don’t you both look lovely,’ Gemma’s mum said proudly. ‘Don’t they look lovely, Mum?’ she said, turning to Gemma’s grandma–Nanna—and stepping back so Nanna could see.

I loved Nanna. My jangling nerves settled down the moment I saw her. For an old lady she had a sharp, dry sense of humour that had been passed through the genes to Gemma. More than that, though, Nanna had a kind heart and a sunny disposition that made it impossible to be miserable whenever she was around. She’d appointed herself my honorary Nanna the second time I ever met her.

‘Every girl needs a grandmother’ she’d said, on account of both of mine having died when I little.

Nanna smiled. ‘Aye, they do indeed. Jake scrubs up pretty well, too. Don’t you think, Lena?’ she said, a wicked twinkle in her eye.

Shit
.

‘Umm … yeah sure. He looks great,’ I blurted, too startled to come up with anything but the first thing that popped into my mind. ‘Very handsome.’

Jeez
. I cringed deep inside at my verbal diarrhoea and lack of originality. So much for settling my nerves! Nanna had gone and lit a load of firecrackers under them instead. With the attention back on the birthday boy, I shot a furtive glance at her, but she was waiting for it and hit me with a wink.

What the …?

Was the old woman psychic or was it just her mischievous streak turned up to maximum? Social gatherings always did bring out the best—or maybe that should the worst—in her but surely she couldn’t tell just by looking at me. Could she? I smoothed my clammy hands over my dress, the round edges of the sequins rising and falling like scales beneath my fingertips, grounding me, then sucked in a deep breath. Jake opened the front door and stepped outside, followed by his folks, then Gemma. I started to follow but a cool hand wrapped around my wrist.

‘Be a dear, Lena, and help an old lady down the steps,’ Nanna said, contradicting herself by sprinting to my side. She was moving better than I was, and she had little chunky heels on.

‘Old lady? You? As if …’ I said, but offered my elbow nevertheless. She waited until Gemma was out of the door before speaking again.

‘That was a rather interesting exchange between you and Jake just now,’ she said, keeping her voice low. ‘Is there something I should know about?’

Ah …

‘What? No. Nothing at all, Nanna.’

‘Are you quite sure about that?’

‘Absolutely. We’re just friends. That’s all.’

The light in her eye dimmed and her conspiratorial smile faded. ‘Pity,’ she said with a sigh.

The ‘very handsome’ Jake, in his black silk shirt with the top two buttons undone, suit trousers and smart black shoes, chose that moment to reappear in the doorway.

‘Would either of you lovely ladies like escorting to the car?’ he asked, directing the question to Nanna.

‘Not me, I’m not an old woman yet, you know.’ She let go of my arm and charged out of the front door as if she had a rocket up her arse, leaving me stunned and rooted to the spot.

Great. Like I needed yet another matchmaker when the whole world and his dog were suddenly trying to fix me up with someone.

Jake recovered first. ‘Looks like it’s just you and me, then?’

In a show of old-fashioned chivalry that would make Nanna’s day, he dragged his heels together, puffed up his chest and offered his arm. I took it, trying to ignore the humming in my veins as we walked out together. Jake helped me into the black cab and we claimed the last two seats, together, naturally, as if Nanna would have let it be any other way.

As the cab jostled and bounced, the soft silk of Jake’s shirt brushed over my bare arm and made my skin goose, only to be soothed again by the warmth radiating from his arm. The loud chatter and the drone of the engine drowned out the sound of my gasp when Jake’s leg pressed up close to mine. Jake tensed, as if he too had felt the shudder that ran through me, but he wisely chose to ignore it and relaxed again, so I followed suit and slowly let out the breath I’d been holding. Nanna’s all-seeing eye caught everything, though, and she allowed herself a smug, satisfied smile.

Damn it!

I really had to be more careful when Nanna was around: there was no knowing what creative scheming she could get up to once she got an idea in her head. I’d seen it dozens of times and didn’t want to be on the receiving end. The inside of my cheek was a mess by the time we pulled up at the pub hosting Jake’s party, and I could taste blood in my mouth where I’d been biting down on it.

The instant the taxi stopped, I bolted for the door. ‘Excuse me, sorry,’ I said, tripping over feet and bags until I was free. I dashed to the ladies’ room and closed the door behind me, before shutting the toilet lid and sinking down onto it. My heart still raced at a frightening rate so I took one deep breath after another to try to calm it down.

‘Lena, are you in here?’ Gemma’s voice echoed off the tiled walls.

‘Yeah, I’m here.’

‘Are you OK?’ The door rattled as Gemma leaned against it, her purply-pink shoes visible through the gap.

‘Yeah, just a bit of motion sickness,’ I lied, having never been carsick in my entire life. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute.’
I hope
.

‘Good, ’cause you’ll never guess who told me you were in here.’

Uh-oh
. ‘No, who?’ I said, purely to humour Gemma.

‘Nathan,’ she declared, her tone animated. ‘Which means it must the same one, seeing as he knew you.’ Gemma paused, giving me chance to respond but I couldn’t get a single sound out. ‘Lena?’

‘That’s …’ I swallowed and forced out the words she wanted to hear, grateful for the door between us so she couldn’t see me wince. ‘That’s great.’

‘I know, isn’t it?’ she blathered. ‘And he’s looking damn fine tonight, I tell you. If I wasn’t with Ben, I might be tempted to make a play for Nathan myself.’

Gemma was welcome to him if she wanted him. Nathan always looked ‘damn fine’ but he wasn’t the only one tonight, nor was he the guy I was desperate to impress. Jake was out of bounds, though. The sooner I got that through my thick head the better. Nathan was here, now, and to my knowledge he wasn’t seeing anybody, either. There was only one way to find out for certain.

‘Hey, hands off!’ My voice rang out with enough conviction to sound convincing and I yanked open the cubicle door. ‘He’s mine.’

Gemma shrieked as she toppled backwards, the shocked replaced by a catlike grin in the time it took me to set her back on her feet. ‘Go get him, then, tiger,’

Exactly
.

Enough fantasising about what I couldn’t-stroke-shouldn’t have: the time had come to put on my game face. My cherry wasn’t going to get popped all by itself, and I could do a damn sight worse than the hunky Nathan.

One final inspection in the mirror and I was good to go. I marched out of the ladies’ room and ran into Jake. Literally. He appeared from around the corner, too distracted talking to someone to see me, and I didn’t have time to change direction or veer around him. We crashed, right there in the hall. Of all the people I could’ve run into, it just had to be Jake.

Sod’s law
.

Unless a brick wall really had just leaped out of nowhere and then vanished as fast as it had come.

‘Whoa there,’ Jake said, his hands darting out to grip my waist and stop me from falling flat on my arse.

‘Oh man, I’m sorry,’ I said, flustered by the fire building in my cheeks. It paled compared with the flames spreading from beneath Jake’s touch. ‘I should wear a bell around my neck or something, warn people when I’m in the vicinity so they can run for cover.’

Jake laughed to complete the sensory attack. ‘No, it was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Besides, the bell wouldn’t go with your outfit.’

‘No, it sure as hell wouldn’t,’ said Jake’s companion, in a voice I knew well. ‘And they wouldn’t let you back at work, either. A cowbell will never catch on as the must-have fashion accessory, so don’t even go there.’

Typical. Just …

Argh!

At Gemma’s approach, Jake dropped his hands and put more distance between us. She came alongside just as Nathan stepped forward and drew me into a hug.

‘Hey, Lena,’ he said, squeezing me gently. ‘It’s good to see you.’ Nathan’s touch was … nice. Very nice. It even caused a flutter of butterflies in my tummy. Nowhere near in the same league as when Jake’s arms were around me, but, hey, any reaction was better than none, as I’d got with Sean. ‘I missed you at work today.’

‘Hey, Nathan, it’s good to see you, too,’ I said, more than happy to return his hug. And the guy sure did smell good. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gemma give me the thumbs-up and my stomach lurched. I risked a glance up at Jake and just knew he’d noticed the gesture, too, causing instant and immediate death for the poor butterflies.

‘I didn’t realise you two knew each other,’ he said, addressing me and Nathan together.

Guilt wormed its way through me and made my skin crawl. I broke away from Nathan and stared down at my arms, half expecting to see swarms of ants walking all over me. I was being ridiculous. It was not as if I had anything to feel guilty about. It was impossible to be caught cheating on someone you weren’t even with, unless wishful thinking counted.

‘Small world, isn’t it?’ Gemma piped up. ‘Now, Jake, haven’t you got guests to meet and greet?’