by Dawn Doyle
Lara seemed just a little too eager to go to one of the busiest places on campus. Hopefully, we could beat the rush as it was a little before noon, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some students had been there since breakfast.
While Lara slipped on her matching white flats, I checked my email account on my phone, and saw I had one from my mom, telling me she had a lot of work going on, but she would try to get through it before break next month.
Next month?
I politely told her it was in two weeks—the third time I had to remind her.
We headed out, locking our door and making our way through two sets of fire doors on our corridor. We weren’t far from the main building, and the food hall was right next door from it. My still-aching legs were relieved at the short distance.
“I think I’ll have a croissant and coffee,” Lara said as she tapped on her phone screen again.
“I’ll have pizza. I want lunch, not a snack.”
Lara made a face as though in thought. “Yeah, I think I’ll join you. I’ve got so much stuff to sort out that I’ll be non-stop all day.”
“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” I asked. I’d offered more than a few times, but Lara dismissed me every time.
“I have plenty of hands already, honey, so don’t worry about set-up. I’m grateful of the offer, though.” She smiled, then we said no more about it.
After walking past a small gathering of students sitting on the grassy areas, we reached the double doors. I opened one, and we were immediately assaulted by the sounds of a rowdy hall.
“Or we could sit outside?” I asked, noticing the occupied tables with random vacant seats. “It’s nice today, so we could, Lara. There aren’t enough seats together.” I didn’t particularly want to be sandwiched between people.
“That might be best, actually. Elise and Tammy aren’t here yet, and our usual table is full,” Lara said, making her way to the long line while scanning the room.
My stomach plummeted at the thought of eating lunch with Elise. She knew just how to push my buttons, and she seemed to revel in smashing every one repeatedly. It brought out a part of me that I didn’t like, but it wasn’t for the embarrassment. It was because she brought out the person my parents had driven into me from a young age, and I hated it.
Luckily, the queue moved quickly and we got our orders together. We turned away, ready to head out, needing to take an alternate route due to the queueing system. It was pretty much like a supermarket. One way to the cashier, and one way out.
The exit took us past the largest table in the room—the one the jocks and their friends occupied. Three tables together to fit twelve people, but only six were there. The guys were rarely together all at once, but they still took up the spaces.
It was the place many students wanted to be invited to. It meant some sort of recognition to be seen there. Personally, it was as though they were holding onto their high-school days, desperate to be liked by the popular kids.
A chair was pushed out in front of Lara, almost tripping her up. “Watch it!” she snapped, her blue eyes narrowing on the person who’d done it.
“Hey, I was only gonna ask if you wanted a seat, Lara,” Will said. He was on the football team and thought it gave him the right to parade around like he owned the place. “It’s busy in here and we have the room.” He stared at her, his dark eyes full of mischief, his lips quirking in the corners.
Lara looked to me and shrugged a shoulder, one brow lifting to match the movement as if to say, ‘why not?’
Oh, please no!
“We could…”
Another chair was pushed out opposite the one intended for Lara.
“Hey, Shay.”
My eyes snapped to the voice. It was Max Jones, again, smiling at me with a humorous glint in his light-blue eyes.
“Hey,” I replied, then spoke to Lara. “I’ll see you later.”
She opened her mouth, but Max spoke again. “We’d like you to join us too,” he said, gesturing to the seat.
I glanced at the person sitting next to it and shook my head. “No thanks. I’m going outside.” I couldn’t sit there next to him—I couldn’t sit at that table.
“East, move your shit,” Max said.
Eastyn looked up at me as though he hadn’t noticed me standing there. His eyes fixed on me for barely a second before he grabbed his bag that was on the chair, but it was long enough for my stomach to churn.
“No, it’s fine,” I said before he could move it. “I’m not sitting here.”
“Shay,” Lara whispered between her teeth. “Just this once?”
I closed my eyes for a second and blew out a breath.
“Make up your mind,” Eastyn snapped, still clutching the top of his bag.
This time he looked up and continued to stare at me. I heated under his gaze, the trickles of warmth seeping into my cheeks. I broke eye contact and looked at Lara who beamed and sat next to Will.
“Looks like I’m sitting,” I sighed, and Eastyn shoved his bag under his seat as though it was a hardship. I was fully aware of him next to me, the right side of my body on fire in the close proximity. I inhaled deeply to calm myself, inhaling something wonderful. Somebody at the table smelled delicious, and I thoughtlessly licked my lips.
“Shay in the house. Whoop whoop!” Max pumped his hands up in the air, then lifted a palm. “Don’t leave me hanging, Shay. My hands are clean.” I held my hand up and he high-fived me, then grinned. “Actually, I can’t remember if I washed after I jerked off.”
“What?” My mouth dropped and I recoiled, yanking my hand back and reaching into my purse for sanitizer and squirting it into my hands before scrubbing it over my skin. Eastyn snorted beside me, and I had the urge to elbow him in the face.
Max laughed hard. “Kidding. I just wanted to see your face.”
“That wasn’t funny,” I snipped and my eyes shot to Lara when a giggle escaped her glossed lips.
“Oh come on, Shay, it was a little.”
I looked down at my cheese pizza, then shakily opened the packet for the knife and fork, choosing to eat rather than fire back in front of an audience.
Conversations picked up after I received strange looks for not using my hands. I wasn’t included, but I didn’t mind. My thoughts were elsewhere, drifting to the first few lines of the story I’d been dreaming up. It had taken hold and I couldn’t ignore it, the words wanting to come out of my fingertips faster than I could type.
I jumped at the sound of Eastyn’s laugh next to me, my heart rate soaring. It sounded a little off, as though he wasn’t as amused as he tried to convey.
“That’s fucked up,” he said in response to something Will had said.
“Yeah, but think about it.” Will pointed a fry at Eastyn. “It raises money for a good cause. Fuck knows the college do shit about it.”
“And!” Max cut in. “We get to make out with a bunch of girls with no expectations afterward. It’s a win-win.”
Lara stared at me while grinning. “What do you say, Shay? Wanna sign up?”
“What for?” I asked, looking around the table at the male faces trained on me, then people around us. Lara and I were the only two girls at the table, and others in the room were looking at us like we were encroaching on their space.
“The booths,” Lara replied, gesturing with her hand as though I should know. “Did you not hear me?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” I apologized, heat rising to my face so fast I could feel myself growing redder by the second.
Eastyn shifted in his seat as he curled the edges of the paper plate in his hands, causing his knee to brush mine. I shifted a little, away from the direct heat. It was already too warm in there.
“Lara had the idea of a kissing booth,” Casey said, pumping his eyebrows. “Great way to raise cash for the football and baseball teams.”
I shook my head quickly, waving my hands in front. “Oh. No, I’m not signing up.”
“Come on
,” Will goaded. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Did Will have no idea? Of course not, because he thought everything was a game. A typical twenty-two-year-old man acting like a child with no idea what was going on around him.
“It’ll be fun.” Casey licked his lips and wiggled his brows again. “It’s a two-to-five-second kiss.”
Max puckered up and kissed the air. “I’m putting my name down, so’s East, right?” he asked, turning his attention to Eastyn.
Eastyn shrugged. “Whatever, I don’t care.”
The thought of his lips pressing against mine for even one second was enough to send shockwaves coursing down my legs. I had a serious problem and I needed to get over it already.
Will laughed. “Sure you do. You know the queues will be around the block. Better get your lip balms at the ready, cos it’ll be a long day.”
Justin massaged his cheek. “Ten minutes each for three turns. I can already feel the lock-jaw.”
Lara took out her small notepad and clicked her pen. “So, Will, Max, Casey, Linc, Justin, and Eastyn. Then, me, Kyra, Elise, Tammy, Chloe and Shay.”
My eyes bugged. “No! I said no, Lara.” She gave me an exaggerated sad look, but her puppy eyes didn’t work on me that time, not when it meant putting myself in that position.
“Why not?” she whined.
I picked up my food carton, my water, and stood. “I’m not discussing it here,” I replied, looking pointedly at her. I reached down to retrieve my purse from the back of the chair when the delicious scent hit me again. God, it was coming from Eastyn. Why did it have to be him?
Lara exhaled loudly. “Shay, wait.”
I continued walking until we were outside, then rounded on her. “You embarrassed me!” I whisper-shouted.
“Come on, it’s for the teams. What’s wrong with that?”
I held out my fingers. “One, it’s been done to death. So much so that it’s become cliché. Fundraiser at college? Kissing booth. What next, a half-naked car wash?” Lara’s eyes widened with intrigue. “That wasn’t an idea!”
She brushed back her strawberry-blonde hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “Look, I had the idea this morning. I remembered an old movie where they were on the stage with just one person for the whole thing. That turned out great. Also, I’ve read tons of books with kissing booths in, and in this environment, they would make a lot of money. I spoke to the girls first and they love the idea, that’s why I was late to the gym.”
My stomach rolled. “You set me up?” I’d seen the movie years before, and read a lot of the books she was referring to, so I knew exactly what she was thinking about.
Lara’s shoulders dropped with guilt. “I just thought, you know, if I got you with the guys, you would agree.”
I squeezed my lids shut and took a deep breath.
Don’t make a scene. Don’t make a scene.
“So, that’s why Max said hi to me in the gym?” When Lara said nothing, I snorted. “Find someone else to be your sixth, Lara,” I snapped. “I’m sure you can find a replacement in two-to-five seconds.”
“But you were chosen!”
“By whom?”
She licked her bottom lip into her mouth, holding back that information. “Look, we just thought that if you participated, then we’d get an even better turnout.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “How’d you figure that one out?”
She waved her hand toward me. “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
“I don’t believe this,” I breathed out, rubbing my forehead. “You could’ve asked me any other time, but it had to be in front of them?”
“Would you have said yes if I had?”
“No!”
“Exactly.”
“You put me on the spot, Lara. Pressuring me into doing something you know I wouldn’t want to do, isn’t right.” She knew how I felt about that.
“But you don’t have to make out. A kiss on your cheek, a kiss on their cheek… Two seconds.”
“To five,” I bit out. A thought entered my mind. “Anyway, I was going to cover the event. I can’t do both, even if I wanted to.”
She gasped. “Since when?”
Since right now.
“Since you started organizing it. And, with the discussion we had this morning about the gym being subsidized, it makes more sense to continue the story regarding the lack of help from the administration.”
“Fine,” she seethed. “I’ll find somebody else, but when I mentioned your name, a lot of guys were interested.”
I shrugged. “Sorry, but I’m not.” I already had an idea of what else I could write about.
Herpes breaks out on campus. When charity gives back.
“Why are you smiling? This isn’t a good thing, Shay. My plans for that event are messed up now.”
“Nothing.” I began walking away. “You should go back inside, Lara. You got your seat at the table. You should sit in it with pride.”
Eastyn
What the hell had I agreed to? The more I thought about it, though, the less ridiculous it was. It was pretty fucking genius, if you ask me. My friends and I were liked by a shit ton of girls—guys too—and offering a chance to lock lips for a few seconds, then yeah… The cha-ching sounds would be ringing non-stop. It wasn’t a personal choice of mine, but whatever, it helped my friends, so I was on board.
I didn’t blame Shay for not wanting to. She was too quiet and reserved for shit like that. It would probably traumatize her if she went through with it. The way Lara tried to convince her, though, was pretty shitty. If I’d learned anything in psych class, you don’t pressure a person like Shay into doing something she does not want to do. That wouldn’t work out well for anybody involved.
I barely knew her, but what I did, there was no way she would let random guys on her lips. Fuck, I didn’t want random guys on her lips.
When she sat next to me a few moments ago, I had to force myself not to lean toward her. There was something about the way she smelled that fucked me up. Shit, I couldn’t spend more than a few minutes near her, yet there she’d been, right next to me and for longer than it was comfortable.
“No tongue,” Justin said, shaking his head and crossing his hands over the other, a hell-to-the-no sign making it clear where his boundaries were. “A peck on the lips is all I’m prepared to give.”
Will snaked his tongue out toward Justin. “Maximum five seconds, dude. Did you think we’d have enough time to make-out?”
“Sorry, Will, but you’re not my type,” Justin replied, and Will pushed him, making him laugh.
“You know damn well what he meant, ass.” Casey flipped Justin the bird. “Do you want some girl’s tongue in your mouth when you don’t know if she’s just been sucking some guy off beforehand?”
“That’s fucking gross,” Linc said, scrunching his face in disgust. “I don’t want another guy’s dick juices anywhere near my mouth.”
“Okay, so we’re clear on that point,” Max said, writing it down on a napkin. “No tongue, no open mouth, just a simple peck.” He looked around at us. “Agreed?”
“Agreed,” we chorused.
I looked up as Lara came back in, heading toward us. She paused when a beaming Elise approached her and they began talking, then the pair continued on their way toward us.
Elise’s fixed smile was gone, and she kinda looked pissed, like someone had just told her she couldn’t have a pony, or whatever the fuck spoiled princesses asked for.
“Hey, Lara,” Max said, holding up the droopy napkin. “We’ve got some ground rules for Sunday. I got them here.” He glanced to Elise and shifted in his seat.
Lara took her seat again, and Elise parked her ass next to me. “I’ll take a look.”
“Hey, East,” Elise said, smiling at me, her over-glossed mouth looking slimy as fuck. “Looking good.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I look the same as I did yesterday,” I replied, returning my attention to the empty paper
plate in front of me. I’d been folding the edges inward, needing something to do with my hands while Shay sat next to me.
“Then you looked good yesterday, too,” she countered, then swiped her long hair back.
I didn’t say anything else. I just stared at her for a second, letting her know I didn’t give a shit about what she thought of me. She rolled her eyes and turned back to whatever Lara was talking about and folded her arms over her chest.
So defensive.
I held back my laugh. Elise was the kind of girl who demanded attention, and if she didn’t get what she wanted, she made sure you knew about it. Girls like that irritated the fuck out of me and, at twenty-two, she was a little old to be playing those games with people.
Well, if they continue to let her get away with it, she’s not gonna stop.
“What do you think, East?”
I looked up when Casey spoke, his eyes narrowed on me. “About?”
“Working on some stalls between booth duty. We’re gonna be there, so we might as well make ourselves useful.”
I nodded. “Sure.” I didn’t need a lot of words to explain I was willing to help out. I never felt the need to spout more crap when a simple answer would do. Yeah, no, okay… The answer is right there. My friends usually got more out of me, but only just.
Lara sat up straight and clapped her hands. “Yay, thanks guys. There’s still a few things to do, and I have to get another person for the booths or we’re going to have odd numbers.”
Elise snorted loudly, and I bet it was to make everybody take notice. “I told you asking Shay would be a waste of time,” she snipped. “She wouldn’t know fun if it smacked her in the mouth, let alone kissed it.” She smoothed her hair again and sat straighter, more than necessary, throwing her chest forward in her tight, pale-green top. “I’ll ask around. I’m not promising anything—almost everyone else I know wants to be on the other side of the booth.”
“That’s fine.” Lara nodded. “They can take a turn when they’ve finished their slot, as long as they’ve got the cash.”
Elise’s smile widened and I cringed, knowing where this was probably going. “Well, in that case, I might part with some of my cash on you guys,” she purred, pointing a finger and sweeping it around to each of us.
