“I’m really happy you came out with me tonight,” Jake said, breaking the silence and running the back of his fingers down the side of my arm.
Goose bumps erupted where his fingers had touched, and I caught my breath as I turned to face him. “Of course. Why would I not have?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged still staring at the flames, “Maybe you’d want to hang out with your friends or have a girls night or something.”
“Well, now I get to see my friends and my cute new boyfriend too.”
“He sounds like a cool guy,” Jake said, now smiling and looking at me.
“Well, he thinks so,” I teased.
I barely got my last sentence out before Jake grabbed my face and gently connected his lips to mine. I don’t know how he did it, but every time he kissed me my body responded in a way I wasn’t used to. Jake must have sensed it because he deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight, sending off about a million different sensations from where his fingertips gripped my back. Both of us were breathing heavy when he broke the kiss.
“I have to stop, Emma,” he growled in a tone that caused my body to betray me and lean back into him before I even realized what I was doing. “I’m sorry I can’t,” he said in a more even tone, stopping me by grabbing both of my shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” I half whined when I spoke next, causing myself to blush. Stupid betraying body. I have got to get myself in check around this guy. I paused for a moment until I could trust myself to speak. “Did I do something wrong?”
Jake looked at me with a look that I couldn’t tell was concern or frustration. “Hell, no. You’re doing everything right. That’s the problem. If I don’t stop now, I would have a really hard time stopping myself from picking you up out of this chair and carrying you back over to my truck.”
“Oh,” was all I could get out, as I felt the heat in my face rise once I realized why he had to stop.
“Emma,” Jake began while grabbing my face and making me look at him, switching to the voice he uses whenever he is serious about something. “I’ll never take things farther than you want me to. And I have a feeling me carrying you back over to my truck isn’t something you’re ready for.”
I just shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. I couldn’t trust what I would say or do around this boy. Heck, I just made out with him in the middle of a party. Even though I don’t think anyone noticed because most people are either too drunk to care or are doing the same thing. Still, it is not something I would normally do.
“That’s what I thought,” he said sweetly, still using his serious tone. “I really do care about you, Emma.”
“I know.”
“Want to go walk around or just get out of this chair?”
“Yes,” I laughed. “Getting out of this chair would be good.”
We attempted to stand up, but somehow our feet got tangled or we tripped over the chair or something because just as soon as I was up, I was going back down and Jake was going with me. I landed with a thud right on my back. When I looked up at Jake he was holding himself up right above me. Our eyes met and we both froze.
“OK, we definitely have to get out of this area.” Jake quickly stood up then helped me up.
“Agreed,” I replied while brushing the dirt off the back of me.
We were walking away from the bonfire when we ran into Gabe and Ryan.
“Hey, have you guys seen Maya? I turned around for like a second to get another beer, and when I looked up her and Evan were gone.” Gabe spoke with disdain looking directly at Jake, slowly enunciating Evan’s name, not bothering to hide his agitation.
“No. Sorry man, we haven’t,” Jake lilted, still clearly amused from our little spill.
“You think this is funny, Reynolds?” Ryan jumped in. “We can’t find our very drunk friend who happened to disappear with one of your friends.”
“Whoa. Everybody chill out.” I stepped in between them with my arms out as if that would somehow diffuse all the rising testosterone. “Nobody thinks this is funny. And before you freak out, you have to think about Maya. It’s not like Evan had to drag her away to a dark corner. This is Maya we are talking about.”
Before I could say anything else, we heard a voice that sounded like Maya…screaming something. We all looked at each other, then took off in the direction of the yelling. At first I was relieved to find Maya standing fully clothed in the entrance of the barn with Evan a few steps behind her. Then I turned to see a not-so-dressed Dylan with some girl I didn’t know covering herself up the best she could.
“What the hell. Is. This?” Maya shouted a second and a third time.
“Don’t act so innocent,” Dylan spat, still scrambling to get dressed. “It’s not like you weren’t coming in here with him to do the exact same thing.”
Evan threw his arms in the air. “Look man, don’t get the wrong idea…”
“You’re right,” Maya shouted angrily with tears building in her eyes. “I was bringing a guy in here who actually knew what he was doing.” Then she kissed a very shocked Evan.
“Figures. Slut,” Dylan shot back as he walked out of the barn.
As soon as Dylan and the little tramp he brought in here were both out of sight, Maya crumbled to the floor and broke into tears. Ryan and Gabe were clearly pissed. Before I could say anything, Gabe was asking Maya what happened – never taking his eyes off of Evan. I hadn’t even realized Jake had grabbed my hand until I felt him tense up, getting ready to help his friend if Ryan and Gabe started something.
Through her sobs Maya told the boys to leave Evan alone. She said that she had started not to feel well and he was kind enough to ask her if she wanted to go somewhere quieter and where she didn’t have to worry about puking in front of everyone. Evan took that time to defend himself.
“Seriously guys. She just wanted to get away from everyone. I was just trying to help,” he said nervously and then looked at Jake, “Tell them man. I would never take advantage of a girl.”
All eyes were on Jake. “I already told them you were a big softy who was all talk.” Jake’s words caused Ryan and Gabe to both relax a little bit.
“Shit, Jake. I said help. Not ruin my reputation.”
The guys were looking back at Maya who was now crying into my shoulder.
“Maya, honey. Can you finish calling off the dogs so they don’t beat Evan’s face in?” I asked.
She pulled it together the best she could, then turned and looked at them with puffy eyes. “Both of you settle the hell down. If either of you hurt a hair on his head you’ll have me to answer to. Now, if you insist on beating the shit out of anyone, why don’t you focus on Dylan who brought me here, ditched me, and then hooked up with some whore. Mmmkay?”
She finished with as much attitude as she could manage before returning to cry on my shoulder. Gabe and Ryan both apologized for almost jumping Evan and then thanked him for looking out for Maya. Evan, now relieved, told them not to worry about it and that he would have done the same thing for one of his friends.
Jake suggested we take Maya back to my house, and I gave him a grateful smile. I know this is not how either of us wanted the night to end, so I made a mental note to make it up to him later.
Once Ryan and Gabe knew we would be taking care of Maya, they both looked at each other and then said they had to go. I knew they were going to find Dylan and, quite frankly, Dylan deserved whatever they dished out.
Jake and I walked Maya out to his truck. Jake helped me set Maya up in the backseat with a bottle of water and a trash bag just in case she got sick. We rode pretty quietly back to my house. When we got out, Maya insisted that she could make it in without the trash bag, and in true Maya fashion suddenly looked as happy and sober as ever. I told Jake I was going to make sure she got in OK then would run back out.
When we walked inside, my dad looked up from the book he was reading in his favorite chair. “Should I be concerned that you two are home fo
rty-five minutes before curfew?” he asked amused.
“Mr. C, is it really so strange that we value our sleep more than our social life?” Maya joked back like everything was totally normal.
My dad chuckled and said from that moving speech he was going to turn in early as well. The two of them high-fived and I just rolled my eyes. We all said goodnight, and my dad headed to my parents’ room while we went upstairs.
As soon as we walked into my room, Maya crumbled again. She really had gotten good at acting like everything was OK in front of people – scary good actually. How she could go from drunken tears to totally fine I will never know. Guess she has her jerk of a father to thank for that. If she ever shows she’s upset in front of him, it just makes it worse.
I got some pajamas out while Maya washed her face. When she walked out of my bathroom, I handed them over to her.
“Hey, will you be OK if I run back out and say goodnight to Jake?”
“You know me. I’ll be fine.”
“I do know you. That’s why I’m asking.”
“Whatever, biatch. Go say goodnight to your man.”
“Love ya, skank. I’ll be right back.”
“Hussy,” she called out as I walked out of my room.
I smiled to myself as I crept down my stairs. The day she looses that “Mayaness” is the day I’ll be really worried about her. Until that happens, I know she’ll always be alright.
I opened my front door as quietly as I could and made my way over to Jake’s truck.
“Maya OK?” He asked.
“She will be.”
“You didn’t run into your parents did you?”
“Yup. She even talked to my dad.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope,” I said popping the P. “It’s amazing how that girl can pull it together in a snap.”
“I would have liked to have seen that,” Jake looked amused.
“Hang around long enough and you’ll definitely get to see Maya’s famous pull it all together act.”
“I’m planning on it.” Jake pulled me closer to him and rested his hands on my waist.
“I was kinda hoping that you would say that.”
“Come to think of it, I’m starting to plan on a lot of things with you,” he said with a handsome smirk.
“Oh yeah? Like what?” I asked while absentmindedly brushing some of his tousled hair out of his eyes. His hands tensed at my touch, and I had to admit that I liked that I got to him too.
He cleared his throat, “Well. I would like to take you to the movies.”
“And?” I playfully demanded, while sweeping my hand through his hair, purposefully trying to get another reaction.
“And?” he questioned as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. I bit my lower lip to fight back a smile as I nodded my head. “And I still need to teach you how to shoot.” His eyes were on my lips as he pulled me closer, gripping the back of my shirt.
“And?”
“And take you to get ice cream again because you’re adorable when you can’t decide what flavor to get,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“And?” I managed in a heavy breath as he connected his lips to mine.
“And this,” he replied against my mouth.
His hands gripped the small of my back. As he deepened the kiss, he ran one hand up and gripped the back of my neck causing a moan to escape my lips.
“Emma,” Jake growled. Just like earlier, he began to pull away. But something about being out here, with only him, under the stars, I wasn’t ready to stop. I leaned back into him and kissed him again. He briefly hesitated before scooting back in his truck and lifting me up with him. He secured one of my legs on either side of him and kissed me like he needed me to breathe.
Chapter Seven
The next morning Maya was already awake when I woke up. She was sitting up eating cereal and watching the weekend installment of the Today Show.
“Morning, Maya,” I said groggily, sitting up.
“Finally, Em! I have been waiting for your ass to wake up. I was about to have to do something drastic to wake you,” she teased.
I glanced over at my alarm clock. “Maya, you do realize it’s only nine thirty.”
“Yeah. Think about how much of the day has already been wasted.”
“Help! My best friend is a freak!” I said loudly.
Not long after my outburst, my sister came flying into my room.
“Glad you’re awake. I have a plan,” McKenzie beamed.
Maya and I just looked at each other.
“Great. You have a plan. Now what are we talking about?” I asked as Maya took another bite of her cereal.
“To get Ryan to realize I’m not just some little kid anymore,” she said like it was obvious.
“Right. And how are you going to do that?”
“This should be good,” Maya uttered as milk dripped down her chin.
“Please don’t get milk, especially after it has been in your mouth, in my bed.”
Maya looked at me and wiped her chin with the corner of her sleeve, then smiled at me with cereal in her teeth.
“You’re disgusting.”
“Hello? Anyone care to hear my plan?” my sister whined.
“Oh yeah. Plan. Ryan. Go.”
“OK, so you know how I’ve been trying like extra hard to get Ryan to notice me lately?”
“Um, yeah,” I said, making it sound more like a question.
“Great. Well my plan is to do exactly the opposite.”
“You’ve lost me, Kenz.”
“OK. So instead of going out of my way to try to get him to notice me, I’m just going to stop.” She carried on like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “I’m not going to look or talk to him anymore than I would anyone else. I’m even going to date someone in my grade. Genius, right?”
“So, how exactly is this going to work?”
“Reverse psychology, silly,” again saying it like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“Great. Well, you can try your theory in a couple hours,” Maya chimed in, cueing both Kenzie and I to look at her. “What? I thought we could use some hang out time with our friends. And that will give you a chance to talk to Gabe sans Jake.”
“What about Dylan?” I asked in a knowing tone.
“What Dylan Andrews decides to do in his free time is his business. He made that perfectly clear last night.”
“Alright. Well, on that note I’m going to go back to my room,” Kenzie let out.
I continued to look at Maya. As soon as my sister had closed my door behind her I began. “Maya, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Yes, it’s fine, I thought we had something. We clearly don’t. So we are friends.”
“Just like that? Are you sure? I mean, last night…”
“Yes, Em. It’s fine,” she said sharply. “I should have known better. This is Dylan. He is who he is.”
“And you are you. The two of you are like a match made in…”
“Don’t, Em. OK? Just don’t,” she pleaded.
I knew she wasn’t really OK with this, but this is what Maya does best: suppress, deny, and act like everything is fine.
“OK,” I said with a smile, squeezing her hand. “Lunch with the boys it is.”
***
I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how lunch was going to go down. Dylan was awkward at first but a few looks from Ryan and Gabe and everything seemed to be fine. It also helped that Maya acted totally fine, being her usual self and interacting with the guys like always. I had to hand it to her. If I would have caught the guy I was head over heals for sleeping with some random girl whenever I thought we were finally going to get together, there is no way I would be fine with hanging out, much less acting chummy, the next day.
My mom was none the wiser. She was just happy she had a reason to cook for everyone. When I told her the guys were coming over for lunch, I didn’t even have to ask her
if she would make something. She quickly asked me if pulled pork sandwiches were OK. Mom had always loved to cook and jumped at any reason that allowed her to.
“Smells awesome, Mrs. C.,” Dylan practically cooed. He walked over and stood next to the pot of shredded pork that my mother was seasoning and took a big whiff.
“Well then, just wait until you taste it!” mom exclaimed, while swatting Dylan’s hand away as he was trying to sneak a bite.
“Can’t wait. You know I love your cooking, Mrs. C.” My mom turned to put the spices back in the cabinet as Dylan reached over and quickly snatched some pulled pork between his fingers and popped it in his mouth. “You were right. So good,” he muttered with his mouth full.
My mom looked at Dylan and shook her head with an amused grin on her face. “Don’t make me call your mother, mister. Or better yet, I’m going to let everyone else make a plate first,” she teased, while shooing him away from the stovetop.
Dylan faked a concerned expression. “Come on, Mrs. C. You wouldn’t punish a man for not being able to resist your cooking now would you?” he finished with big puppy dog eyes.
Yep. Dylan was clearly no longer bothered by last night’s events and was back to acting like his typical suck-up self. This is where I would normally jump in and make some wisecrack remark about him buttering up my mom, but last night had affected me more than I thought. I could not think of a single thing to say that was not laced with something that would let on how pissed I was at him. Plus, I really didn’t want my mom to pick up on something and me have to try to explain what happened last night. I don’t know how Maya does it.
“You’re awfully quiet over there, Em,” Dylan started with that typical smirk. I guess I wasn’t the only one that noticed my missing witty remark.
“I suppose I’m just hungry,” I said with a forced smile. “I didn’t eat breakfast because by the time I woke up, I knew I would be eating pulled pork sandwiches in just a few hours, and I love pulled pork sandwiches. And I knew they. Were worth. Waiting for.”
Sensing my frustration, Gabe walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. He must have shot Dylan a look because Dylan made a “what” face before walking over to sit at the table.
The Exception Page 8
