It wasn’t a scared scream. It was more like an angry scream.
And it was coming from Lindsey.
Danielle sighed, quickly rinsing the shampoo out of her hair and getting out of the shower. She dried herself off with a towel and then wrapped one around her head, turban style, before slipping her feet into her pink fuzzy slippers and tossing on her white terry cloth robe.
Lindsey screamed again and Danielle hurried out of the bathroom and raced downstairs in the direction of the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she stepped through the kitchen’s swinging door.
“Yeah,” Ava said with a yawn, walking in right after Danielle and rubbing her still sleepy eyes. “What’s with all the screaming?”
“Mr. Munch Mouth strikes again!” a furious Lindsey exclaimed, shaking an empty box of cereal in the air and pointing to the messy counter and open cabinets. “He’s inhaled everything! The fruit! The cookies! The granola bars! There’s nothing for us to eat!”
“I’ll make another donut run after I get dressed,” Ava said.
“I don’t want donuts for breakfast!” Lindsey shouted. “I want my Fruity Pebbles with sliced strawberries! And I want an English muffin with cream cheese and grape jelly. But I can’t have any of those things because our next-door neighbor ate it all!”
Danielle yawned. “Maybe we should get a lock for the refrigerator.”
“Or maybe we should ask Sharla to stop letting him help himself to our stuff,” Ava suggested.
“That won’t help,” Lindsey grumbled. “He’s got Sharla wrapped around his little finger. All he has to do is bat those baby blue eyes and she says yes to whatever he wants.”
“How do you know he has baby blue eyes?” Danielle asked.
“He kept staring at me last night at the Sing Along when we were sitting with him and his cousins. His eyes were glued to me!”
“I didn’t notice,” Danielle said.
“Neither did I,” Ava added.
“How could you not notice?” Lindsey asked.
“Really?” Danielle murmured. “I’ll have to take a closer look next time I see him.”
“Well, this is the last straw,” Lindsey said as she threw the empty cereal box into the garbage and started cleaning the counter. “The last straw!”
“What are you going to do?” Danielle asked.
Lindsey gave an evil Bart Simpson chuckle. “Tomorrow morning I plan on leaving a little surprise for our next-door neighbor.”
“Uh-oh,” Ava said. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“When I’m through with Howie, he’ll think twice before setting foot in this kitchen again!” Lindsey vowed.
An hour later, Danielle, Ava, and Lindsey were munching on jelly donuts when Jade and Crystal came in through the back door.
“Look at what we’ve got!” Jade announced, waving a bunch of blue tickets in the air.
“What are those?” Danielle asked.
“We’re all going to an amusement park! Steve has a friend who gave him free passes! Come on! Go get your stuff,” Jade urged as she left the kitchen. “We leave in fifteen minutes!”
“If Steve gave you the passes, does that mean he and the rest of the guys next door are going, too?” Ava asked.
“Of course!” Crystal exclaimed as she followed after Jade. “We’re going to hang out together.”
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Lindsey exclaimed, cutting Ava off before she could say anything. “You’re not staying home. You’re coming with us. Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on.”
Ava took another bite of her jelly donut. “What’s going on?”
“You’re trying to avoid Cooper!”
Ava laughed. “Avoid Cooper? Why would I do that?”
“Because something happened yesterday afternoon,” Lindsey said. “Something you’re not telling us.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Something happened,” Lindsey repeated. “I can always tell when you’re holding back.” Lindsey turned to Danielle. “Isn’t she holding back?”
“Linds,” Danielle warned. “We already discussed this. If Ava has anything to tell us, she’ll do it when she’s ready.”
“She’s never going to be ready!” Lindsey exclaimed. “Ava, we’re your friends. We want to help you. That’s what we’re here for.”
Ava took the last bite of her jelly donut and wiped her lips on a napkin. “If I tell you what happened yesterday afternoon, you have to promise you’re not going to overreact,” she said to Lindsey. “Promise?”
“Promise!”
“Cooper kissed me.”
Lindsey squealed with excitement, happily clapping her hands. “Yes! I knew that’s what happened. I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!” Lindsey pulled her chair closer to Ava. “So, what was it like? Is he a good kisser? Did you kiss more than once?”
“Linds!!!” Ava wailed.
“What?” Lindsey protested. “I’m not overreacting. I’m just so excited for you!”
“Did you like the kiss?” Danielle asked. “Is that the problem?”
“The kiss was nice,” Ava admitted. “And it only happened once.”
“But you want it to happen again!” Lindsey exclaimed. “Admit it!”
“I don’t know what I want,” Ava moaned, putting her head down on the table. “I’m so confused. That’s why I think maybe it’s better if I stay home.”
“By yourself? No way! You need to be out having a good time. You need to distract yourself.”
“Isn’t that going to be a little hard to do with Cooper along?” Ava asked, lifting her head up.
“We don’t have to hang out with him,” Lindsey said. “We can go off on our own.”
“But won’t he think I’m avoiding him?”
“How did you leave things with him yesterday?” Danielle asked.
“We pretended like the kiss never happened.”
“So you keep pretending,” Danielle said.
“Keep pretending?” Lindsey made a face at Danielle. “I disagree!” She turned back to Ava. “Obviously there’s an attraction; otherwise Cooper wouldn’t have kissed you and you wouldn’t be so torn up about it. I say go with the flow! Just hang out with him and have a good time. If another kiss is meant to happen, then it’ll happen. And that will mean that there’s something growing between the two of you!”
Danielle sighed. “I hate to admit it, Ava, but Lindsey is right. I say follow her advice. All we’re doing is going to an amusement park, and we’ll be on rides most of the time. It’s not like you two are going to be alone. You’re going to be surrounded by tons of people.”
Ava thought about Danielle’s words. “I guess you’re right,” she slowly agreed.
“So you’ll come?” Lindsey asked.
“I’ll come,” Ava said. “After all, it’s an amusement park. We’ll be on rides. Nothing romantic can possibly happen there.”
“How about we take a ride in the Tunnel of Love?” Cooper suggested.
Ava stared at Cooper in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”
Once they’d arrived at the amusement park, everyone had broken into groups. Ethan and Danielle had gone off together, while Steve, Howie, Crystal, and Jade made up their own little quartet. Damian had invited Mindy, Wanda, Vivienne, and Lacey, so he was with them. Ava had been hoping to explore the park with Lindsey, but she had mysteriously disappeared, leaving her alone with Cooper.
Ava was going to kill Danielle and Lindsey the next time she saw them!
“You told me you don’t like crazy rides,” Cooper said. “The Tunnel of Love is one of the safest, quietest, most boring rides in the amusement park.”
“It’s also the most romantic,” she shot back.
“Only if you make it romantic. Otherwise you’re just sitting in a boat in the dark.”
“How do I know you don’t have an ulterior motive?”
“What could that motive be?”
“Maybe you want to kiss m
e again.”
Cooper thought about it. “Maybe I do. I’m not going to lie. Would that be so bad?”
Ava thought of yesterday’s kiss. It hadn’t been bad. It had been nice. But she didn’t want to fall in love again! Falling in love hurt too much. She was through with guys! At least for now.
“I told you, I’m not ready to date again.”
“Then I won’t kiss you. I promise.”
Ava hesitated.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?” Cooper leaned close and whispered in Ava’s ear. “Or is it that you don’t trust yourself?” Ava could feel the heat of Cooper’s body and smell the clean scent of his soap. Josh used to smell the same way, and the scent brought back old memories. Memories of being held. And kissed. Maybe she wasn’t through with guys. Suddenly, she wanted to wrap her arms around Cooper’s neck and snuggle against him. “Maybe I’m the one who needs to be worried about being kissed?” he asked. “Is that what you’re afraid of? That once we’re alone in the dark, you won’t be able to control yourself?”
“Me? Afraid?” Ava snapped. “I’ll show you who’s afraid.” She stepped up to the ticket window and slapped her money down on the counter. “Two for the Tunnel of Love!”
“What kind of rides do you like to go on?” Ethan asked Danielle.
Whenever Danielle went to an amusement park, she usually stuck to the safe rides. Like the carousel, the bumper cars, the water float. She never went on roller coasters or rides that spun you around or shook you upside down.
But that was the old Danielle.
This week she was Daring Dani and that meant shaking things up!
“I’ll go on anything,” she said.
Ethan’s eyes lit up. “Great! This park has some really wild roller coasters. One’s a runaway train, another is a roller coaster in the dark, and there’s another one that goes backward! And there’s this one ride called the Big Drop. It’s like you’re in an elevator that’s plunging to the ground after the cables have been cut.”
Danielle gulped, hoping all the blood hadn’t drained from her face. “Sounds awesome!”
Ethan took Danielle by the hand and pulled her in the direction of the first roller coaster. “Let’s go!”
Danielle screamed her lungs out as they went from roller coaster to roller coaster, clutching on to Ethan’s arm and squeezing her eyes shut during every ride.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ethan always asked. “You’re not just going on these rides for me, are you? You seem really scared.”
“Being scared is part of the fun!”
And it was true. Before each roller coaster took its first big plunge, she got a rush of adrenaline as she felt herself falling, the car she was in twisting and turning, before finally coming to a safe stop.
“What’s next?” she asked as they got off the runaway train.
“Want to try the Big Drop?”
“Sure.”
“It’s all the way on the other side of the park. We could take a cable car or we could walk.”
“Let’s walk,” Danielle said. “That way we can grab a bite along the way.”
“I wonder what’s going on here,” Ethan said as they passed a booth that had a long line in front of it.
“Let’s check it out,” Danielle suggested.
As they got closer to the front of the line, which consisted only of guys, Danielle could see it was a kissing booth. But there was no one standing behind the counter.
“Hey!” a familiar voice called out. “Are you opening up for business?”
Standing at the front of the line was Rory.
“Me?” a shocked Danielle laughed, pointing a finger at herself. “No!”
“Why not?”
“Who’d pay to kiss me?”
Rory reached into his plaid shorts and pulled out a bunch of dollar bills, putting them down on the counter. Then he slid his mirrored sunglasses down the front of his nose and stared at Danielle over the lenses. “I would.” He turned to the guys standing behind him. “And I bet they would, too! Wouldn’t you, guys?”
All the guys reached into their pockets, pulling out dollars and waving them in the air as they whistled at Danielle.
“Your fans have spoken!” Rory exclaimed. “Besides, it’s for charity!”
“It is?”
“For orphans,” Rory added. “You can’t say no to the orphans!”
Danielle stared at the line of guys. There were so many of them! Would she really be able to kiss all of them? Well, it wasn’t like she was going to be kissing them the way a girl kissed her boyfriend. All she’d have to do was give them a quick peck on the lips. That was all. She could handle that.
Danielle turned to Ethan. “How can I say no when it’s for a good cause?”
Rory turned to face the line of guys. “Pucker up, guys!” he called out. “She’s going to do it!”
Ethan couldn’t believe Danielle was going to do it.
Yes, it was for a good cause, but the idea of some other guy kissing Danielle was driving him crazy!
Not to mention that Rory would also be kissing her!
Rory!!!
No way was he going to let that happen!
But what could he do to stop it? Danielle was walking into the kissing booth, and Rory was already waiting at the counter.
Unless…
Ethan reached into his wallet and slapped five dollars down on the counter.
“Five dollars gives me five kisses!” he proclaimed, shoving Rory to one side and leaning over the counter to take Danielle into his arms.
Ethan then kissed Danielle with everything he had.
If she was going to be kissing other guys, he wanted to give her a kiss that she would compare all those other kisses to.
No matter who kissed her, he wanted his kiss to be a kiss that she wouldn’t forget.
Danielle’s head was swooning. She had never been kissed like this before! Never!
A second ago, she had been expecting to kiss Rory, and the next thing she knew, Ethan was pulling her into his arms.
His kiss was incredible.
Indescribable.
She couldn’t put it any other way.
And she didn’t want to stop kissing him!
“That’s one,” Ethan said, breaking the kiss.
“Now for two,” Danielle said as she pulled him back into her arms for a second kiss. Would it be just as wonderful as the first?
It was!
At that moment, the girl who was supposed to be staffing the kissing booth showed up. She was a brunette who was over six feet tall and looked like a Brazilian supermodel. Danielle had no doubt she’d be doing a brisk business.
“I’ll take over now,” she said. “Thanks for covering for me.” She faced Ethan. “How many kisses did you want to buy?”
“Sorry, but the only kisses I’m interested in are hers,” Ethan said.
“And I owe him three more,” Danielle said. “So until he gets his money’s worth, I suggest you wait outside.”
Danielle then leaned across the counter to give Ethan his third kiss. As she did, she whispered, “You know, once we’re finished here, if you want some more kisses, I’ll give them to you for free!”
Chapter Eighteen
Even though Ava had agreed to a ride through the Tunnel of Love, Cooper could see she wasn’t happy about it.
“This seat is tight,” Ava complained as they were strapped in. She was trying to sit as far away from him as she could, but it was impossible. They were pressed right against each other.
“And that’s my fault?” Cooper asked, trying not to sound frustrated. “I didn’t know the seat was going to be so small.”
“I didn’t say it was your fault.”
“You didn’t have to say it with words. Your tone says it all.”
“Are you two sure you’re on the right ride?” the attendant who was strapping them in asked. She was the same age as Cooper and Ava, wearing a red T-shirt and white shorts. Her l
ong brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and she had a pair of sunglasses perched on top of her head. A name tag on her chest said VANESSA. “You’re both sitting so stiffly. Loosen up! Put your arms around each other. Snuggle! This is the Tunnel of Love, not the Tunnel of Death!”
“She thinks I’m going to try to kiss her,” Cooper explained.
“I didn’t say that!” Ava protested.
“And she doesn’t want me to,” he continued.
“Are you nuts?” Vanessa asked Ava. “He’s adorable! If I was taking a ride in the dark with him, I’d want him kissing me!” Vanessa gave Cooper a smile. “I get off work at six.”
“I’ll remember that,” Cooper said, wondering if he could play the jealousy card with Ava.
“She gets off at six,” Ava repeated as the car they were sitting in started to head toward the opening of the Tunnel of Love. “You should go out with her.”
Cooper sighed. Forget about the jealousy card. “I don’t want to go out with her.”
“Why not? She’s pretty. And you heard her. She’d want you to kiss her.”
“Yes, she’s pretty. But there’s more to a girl than just the way she looks. There’s what’s inside, too. I don’t know anything about her.”
“That’s why you go on a date. To get to know the person.”
“And I don’t want to kiss her!” Cooper already knew the person he wanted to kiss, but he had promised Ava he wouldn’t kiss her again.
“Why are you making this so hard?” he asked as their boat slipped into the darkness of the tunnel and started to go around a curve decorated with strands of twinkling white lights. “Why can’t you forget about Josh? At least for this week?”
“Everyone thinks it’s so easy to forget about Josh, but it isn’t!” Ava snapped. “We went out for a year! I had feelings for him. Just because you break up with someone, it doesn’t mean those feelings end. They’re still there. Eventually, they start to fade, but it doesn’t happen overnight. As much as I hate to admit it, I still have feelings for Josh and I don’t know when they’re going to go away.”
“But I don’t think you’re even trying to get over him! If you were, you would be having a good time this week instead of constantly thinking about him.”
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