Life in the No-Dating Zone

by Patricia B Tighe

  No. You’re a freaking idiot, my body tried one more time. But too late. “Lindsey,” I whispered, “what’s wrong?”

  She tried to drag me back. “Don’t stop.”

  But I held her in place. “You’re crying.”

  “Doeshn’t … smatter,” she said.

  Yup. Completely toasted. “Yes, it does.”

  She looked up at me, the lights in the trees reflecting in her watery eyes, and that was all it took. She crumpled against my chest, sobs shaking her body. I hugged her close, then motioned for Sam and Rose, who’d been trying to pretend they weren’t watching.

  Where was Claire? She’d been here just a minute ago. I could’ve used her help.

  I passed Lindsey off to Rose’s waiting arms. Three or four people watched us from the fire pit, their faces half golden, half shadowed. I ignored them and stepped aside to talk to Sam. “Guess we’d better go.”

  “Yeah. Nothing like a drunken kiss to ruin the party.” He let out a quiet chuckle.

  The fire in my gut flared again. So, not only had I taken advantage of a drunk Lindsey, I’d ruined everyone’s night.

  I tried to look calm, but Sam frowned. “Hey, you know that wasn’t your fault.”

  “I didn’t exactly stop her.”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  “Not soon enough.” My shoe hit something on the grass. Claire’s water bottle. I picked it up. Where had she gone that she would’ve left her water bottle?

  “You’re human,” Sam said. “It happens.”

  “Yeah, well—”

  The girls appeared beside us, Lindsey sagging against Rose. “Let’s go,” Rose said, her voice tight with strain. “Sam, could you help me?”

  “Sure.” He slid an arm around Lindsey’s waist, taking her weight from Rose. They started walking.

  “Wait,” I said. “What about Claire?”

  Rose looked over her shoulder. “She went to the bathroom. When she sees we’re gone, she’ll head for the car.”

  They walked on. I stared at the house with its bright lights and thudding bass. I had an urge to go inside and look for Claire—not sure how much she’d like her friends being gone when she got back—but I didn’t want to do the “getting lost while looking for someone who’d already managed to find everyone else” thing. Oh, well. We’d connect somehow.

  After a three-second jog, I caught up with the others. We plodded and lurched through the backyard and around to the front, where more people had congregated. Sam and Rose had Lindsey steered toward the street when she let out a low moan. The four of us stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Rose asked.

  “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Lindsey said. “Need … bathroom.”

  Sam readjusted his hold on her. “How about behind—”

  “Don’t throw me around,” Lindsey mumbled.

  “—a nice tree?”

  I clenched my teeth to keep a laugh from escaping.

  “Okay,” Rose said, “we’ll go inside.”

  She started turning Lindsey, and Sam couldn’t do anything but follow. He spoke in a loud whisper. “Really, Rose? What if she blows chunks in front of everybody?”

  Lindsey stumbled. “I can hear you … you know.”

  “She won’t,” Rose said, sounding a lot like our third-grade teacher. Which was weird because I wasn’t used to that commanding tone coming from Rose. Claire, yes. Rose, no.

  Sam looked over at me. I couldn’t see his expression in the darkness, but I shrugged anyway. Male bonding and stuff.

  “Okay, ladies,” he said, “but I want it known that if chunks ensue, I will be waiting in the car, not cleaning.”

  “Duly noted,” Rose said.

  We headed for the house but only made it another six feet before a tall figure loomed in front of us. “Shouldn’t y’all be going to a car?”

  Sam stiffened, but Rose didn’t seem bothered. “I’d move if I were you, Austin. She’s about to lose it all over your feet.”

  Lindsey slumped even more. “Not Austin.”

  The guy lifted her under her arms and Sam stepped back. “Yes, dear Piglet, it’s your big brother. I was coming to make sure you were leaving and, if not, to murder you. But it looks like you’re punishing yourself enough already.”

  Lindsey groaned and her brother stepped back to hold her at arm’s length.

  This was getting bad. I figured I’d better help Rose. “I think she really needs—”

  “Either help or get out of the way!” Rose yelled, reaching for Lindsey.

  The guy jumped to the side. “Yes, sir! Rose? Is that you?”

  “Very funny,” Rose said. “We’ll be back in few minutes.” She stumbled forward with Lindsey and people shifted out of their path. At least they made it into the house without chunks. For now.

  “Have fun releasing the Kraken,” Austin called, then eyed us. He didn’t look too pleased. But whatever. I wasn’t running away from someone’s brother. I mean, unless Sam did. Then I was totally out of there. After awkward introductions, Austin frowned. “Hey, where’s Claire? She said she was gonna take Lindsey home.”

  “She went to the restroom and we haven’t seen her since,” Sam said.

  “Huh,” Austin said. “That’s weird.” He looked around at the clumps of people talking. “I’ll walk through the house. See if she’s hiding out somewhere.”

  Hiding? Why would she hide? I was hit by a sudden urge to shove Lindsey’s brother. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the way he talked about Claire—as if he knew her better than I did. But if he was going to look for her, so was I. “I’ll go back the way we came. Maybe she’s in the backyard looking for us.”

  “Okay,” Sam said. “I’ll wait here for the girls. And if they get back before you do, I’m heading out. I want to get Lindsey home before she passes out and I have to carry her.”

  Austin snorted.

  “You can get Claire home, right?” Sam asked me.

  “Sure, no problem.” We split up and I hurried toward the backyard, hoping I found Claire before Austin did.

  Twenty-Seven

  Claire

  Having a stranger’s mouth plastered to one’s own is comparable to a bird flying into a window. For about three seconds, I was too stunned to move. Then I yanked my head away. “Are you high?”

  Sean Hatcher looked like he was trying not to smile. “No, are you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Good. That’s settled. Now maybe—”

  “Why’d you—?”

  “What? Kiss you?”

  Heat flared up my neck. I concentrated on the hem of my shirt. “Yes. We’re not playing chess here.”

  He let his smile free. “We’re not?”

  I tried to sound stern. “Sean.”

  “I like the way you say that. Kinda like you want to say it a lot.”

  I shook my head. I was getting confused. This guy could flirt circles around me. I went back to the kissing thing. “Stop teasing. Why did you … ” I just couldn’t say it again.

  He dropped the smile. “Because you looked worried and a little bit … lost. I wanted to distract you.”

  “Distract me?” I said, hating that my voice squeaked.

  “Yeah.” He traced the edge of my ear and I shivered, but he acted like he didn’t notice. “I wanted to give you one long, slow, completely distracting kiss.”

  This guy was good. He’d probably used these same lines on dozens of girls—and for good reason. They were totally effective. I felt warm and squirmy and on edge waiting for him to say something else. In essence, I felt like an idiot.

  “So, can I finish?” he asked.

  I pretended not to understand. “Finish?”

  He grinned.

  “I’m not a parrot, really I’m not.”

  He slid my glasses off. I didn’t even watch where he put them. All I could do was stare into his warm brown eyes. I tried to shake off the sensation that he was hypnotizing me. It was all so crazy. I didn’t know hi
m. Didn’t need to be sitting here kissing a total stranger. But it wouldn’t be so different from what Gray was doing. He didn’t know Lindsey. Not really. He just knew her public persona. But he was kissing her anyway.

  Sean slid his fingers along my jaw, then froze.

  “What’re you doing?” Oh, yeah, Claire. Really smart question.

  “Waiting.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “For you to say it’s okay.”

  “Um. I … um.”

  He stared at my lips. Moved his head a little closer.

  Yikes. My heart rate picked up. “I’m usually more articulate.”

  His lips quirked. “And?”

  This was weird. And kind of amazing. He wasn’t pressuring me—well, okay, maybe a little—but he wasn’t grabbing me or slobbering all over me. Just waiting. With his hand cupping my cheek. His breath, hinting of tostada chips, filled my nostrils.

  And since I’ve always been a big fan of tostada chips … why not? I mean, the guy I stupidly wished would kiss me was probably still making out with one of my best friends. The image of Gray’s hands tightening on Lindsey’s back reared up and I swallowed a sob. I would not cry. Instead, I studied the nice-looking face in front of mine. “Yeah, okay.”

  Sean Hatcher threaded his fingers through my hair until he was holding the back of my head. “Good,” he whispered, then kissed me.

  It was everything he said it would be. Long. Slow. Distracting. But also warm and sweet. And completely just … okay. My pulse, which moments before had been practically racing, slowed to a relaxing crawl. No need to get all hot and bothered, right? I didn’t have a lot of kissing experience—other than when Mark Miller planted one on me after Saturday morning bowling league when I was twelve—but I figured Sean Hatcher was pretty good at this. He didn’t try to make me swallow his tongue. He didn’t try to grope me. He didn’t even try to drag me closer. He just steadily kissed me, both his hands in my hair, gently holding my head.

  Other than wishing he were someone else, it was the best kiss of my life.

  “Claire?”

  Man. Just thinking about Gray made me imagine I heard his voice. I hoped that wasn’t going to be a regular thing. I refocused on Sean’s insistent lips.

  “Claire!”

  Panic surged through me. I jerked back from Sean. Now that voice I knew was real, and it wasn’t Gray’s. It was overbearing and loud and Austin’s. He stood framed in the entry to the rest of the house, a huge scowl contorting his handsome face.

  He mumbled something—probably cuss words—then turned his glare on Sean. “Get away from her.”

  Somehow Sean managed to hand me my glasses as he unfolded himself from the couch. “Look, bro, she said she wasn’t with you.”

  “She’s not. But she’s like my little sister. Back off.”

  Yay. Austin considered me a sister! Talk about taking my little girl dream and stomping it to bits.

  A stubborn look passed over Sean’s features and he offered me his hand. I knew the feeling. I was tired of Austin telling me what to do. I took Sean’s hand and he winked before helping me up. He leaned in and whispered, “I enjoyed that.”

  I assumed he meant the kiss, but even if he didn’t, I answered as if he did. “Me too,” I whispered, letting go of his hand.

  “Sean.” Austin’s voice came low and hard. “It’s time for Claire to go. Her ride is here.”

  Sean and I turned to where Austin was pointing. Gray stood near the sliding glass door, doing an impression of a statue. His face looked like someone had carved it from tan marble. Only an angry flickering in his blue eyes made it clear he was alive.

  I had an urge to run screaming from the house never to be heard from again. What could be worse than this? My dad, I guess. Yup, just add my father to the mix and you’d have the perfect trifecta of males I didn’t want to catch me kissing someone. I tried to sound casual, but my words came out forced. “Don’t you have somewhere to be, Austin?”

  “Yeah, I do, actually. C’mon, Sean, your brother’s looking for you.”

  Sean gave me a quick grin, then joined Austin. My so-called big brother motioned him into the hall before facing Gray. “Thanks, man,” Austin said.

  “No problem,” Gray said, sounding like he had gravel in his throat.

  Yeah, this was fun. Apparently, I was a problem, a burden to be passed from one guy to another. Jerks.

  “And you,” Austin said to me, “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Where did he get off treating me like this? I wasn’t a baby or his sister. But this wasn’t the best place to fight with Austin, so I swallowed my desire to yell, You’re not the boss of me!

  “Me too,” Sean said from somewhere behind Austin, then peeked around him and winked. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  I laughed, just as Austin said, “No, you won’t. Get going.” They headed off down the hall.

  Time to face the statue. And even though I was dying a little inside because Gray had seen me kissing Sean, it really wasn’t his business. He had other girls to kiss. The only thing I could do was act like it was no big deal.

  “Is everyone else waiting for us?” I asked.

  The statue shoved my water bottle at me and slid the door open. “Lindsey got sick. Sam and Rose are taking her home.”

  “Oh.” And I bet you’re just thrilled to be giving me a ride. I followed him outside. “Thanks for waiting for me.” As soon as the words left my mouth I wanted them back. I might as well have said, Thanks for waiting while I made out with Sean.

  He looked like he was about to make eye contact, but forced himself not to. He didn’t say anything. Just slid the door closed and headed across the backyard. I hurried to keep up. For a split second, I thought about calling my parents for a ride, but I didn’t want them to know exactly where I’d been. They knew it was a party. I just hadn’t said Austin or Hatch when I’d told them where we were going. The set of Gray’s stiff shoulders warned of a fun ride to come. Or maybe just a quiet one.

  But I couldn’t let that happen. The only way to get through this was to pretend everything was okay between us. I had to act like nothing was wrong, like I wasn’t still aching over him kissing Lindsey. Or that he’d just seen me with Sean.

  I needed to bury my feelings and ask Gray how things had gone with Lindsey. That’s what a friend would do, right? A friend who had been trying to set things up between the two of them would want the follow up. She’d want to know if he needed any more help.

  And even though it was the last thing I wanted to hear about, I was going to ask him. Besides, the car ride would be over in about twenty minutes. That was all the time it took to kill a crush, right? My chest ached at the thought.

  Twenty-Eight

  Gray

  I couldn’t believe she was just standing there like nothing was wrong. Like we hadn’t just caught her making out with Sean Freaking Hatcher. Could she have picked a worse guy to hook up with? I closed the glass door, then took off. I was afraid of what I might say or do, because all I really wanted was to give her a good shake.

  And that feeling was weirding me out. Why did I feel so protective of Claire? She obviously wasn’t hurt—Hatcher hadn’t gotten far enough to cause any problems. Or maybe it wouldn’t have bothered her. I didn’t know. But it was a seriously irritating thought.

  Her flip-flops snapped as she tripped along beside me, but I wasn’t slowing down. I couldn’t wait to drop her off, to be alone so I could think.

  “Are we in a hurry?” she asked, sounding a little out of breath.

  I figured the easiest thing to do was lie—it probably wouldn’t be cool to tell her I couldn’t wait to get rid of her. “Kinda. I want to get to my mom’s place by eleven or so. She’s less likely to give me trouble if I get back early.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  We made it to the car in two minutes. When the doors shut us inside, muffling the sounds of the party, I gripped my seat belt like it was a lifeline. This was a huge mistake. I should’ve come
up with an excuse, made Sam wait so he’d have to take Claire home. Because now we were in our own private space, and there was nothing stopping me from yelling my head off at her. Except she might never speak to me again.

  Crap. My hand actually shook on the stick shift. I had to do something. Bring up a topic that had nothing to do with what had happened at the party. I eased the car onto the road. Think, Gray, think.

  Claire twisted toward me like she was about to start talking. I had to stop her—had to be in control of the conversation. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “So you ready for school next week?”

  She let out a surprised laugh—the kind you use when you think the other person is completely clueless. “Really, Gray? Really?”

  I squeezed the steering wheel hard. Maybe it had some conversational ideas. “What?”

  “That’s what you’re gonna go with?”

  I could salvage this. I could. “Um, yeah. You know, school starts next week and—”

  “That sounded like a question my mother would ask me.”

  “Okay, then. What’s your schedule like?” Better, that was better.

  “Fine, I guess. Why?”

  I flipped down the left blinker and stopped at a red light. Don’t make eye contact. She’ll know you’re making this up on the fly. “Just wondering if we’re in any of the same classes.”

  “We’re both juniors. Chances are pretty good.”

  The light changed and I pulled out. “So what’s your schedule?”

  She huffed out an irritated noise. “I don’t have it memorized.”

  I chanced a look over at her. She’d pursed her lips in a perturbed expression as if she thought she really should have it memorized and was mad she hadn’t done it. My grip on the steering wheel relaxed. There was the Claire I had so much fun with.

  “Watch the road!” she said.

  And there was the bossy one. “I am.”

  “Why are we even talking about this?”

  I laughed. “Because you’re a backseat driver.”

  “No. About school. We’ve just been to a party so you could be around Lindsey. I need an update.”