The Way to Game the Walk of Shame

by Jenn P. Nguyen

  “You mean, like us getting together?”

  “Just about.” We stood on the edge of the shaded tarp and peered out at the rain. “Maybe we should wait for the rain to die down.”

  In response, a streak of lighting tore across the sky, and the rain pounded down even harder than before.

  She chewed on her lower lip. “We’ll be here forever.”

  “Is that so bad?” Without waiting for her answer, I grabbed Taylor’s hand, and we raced across the grass. Our shoes made wet suction noises with each step. Even though we ran as fast as we could, we were both drenched when we got to the door. Taylor didn’t seem to mind, judging by her laughter, which grew louder when I shook my head. Droplets flew at her.

  “Evan?”

  “Yeah?” My breath got caught in my throat. Her hair glistened with raindrops. Dark strands were plastered to her face. And her cheeks were pale from the cold. I don’t know how I ever thought she was plain. She’d never looked more gorgeous to me.

  Taylor grasped the top of my arms, and I froze. I could only watch wordlessly as she lifted on her toes to gently kiss my lips, even though there wasn’t anyone around to watch. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

  13

  -Evan-

  There was a surprise waiting for me onshore after my morning surf that Saturday. Lauren was lounging on a huge beach blanket with a carton of fresh strawberries and a brand-new jar of Nutella. Her long-sleeved cream dress barely skimmed her thighs and was so sheer that I could see her blue bikini underneath. Small, stringy, and fitting in all the right places. And definitely not leaving much to the imagination. She lay on her stomach with her feet kicked up in the air behind her. “Hey, stranger.”

  “Hey.” Propping my board on its side, I dropped down beside her with a surprised grin. “Why are you here so early, bearing gifts?”

  “I just thought we could hang out and have breakfast.” She bit into a strawberry and licked at the juice that ran down her fingers. “Maybe sweeten you up a bit so you won’t say no.”

  I grabbed a strawberry and used the tip to scoop up a huge chunk of the chocolate spread. “Say no about what?”

  “About going on a date tonight.” She reached out and swiped a little bit of chocolate off my strawberry with a grin. “I have some concert tickets at the new club downtown. I figured we could have a couple of drinks before heading over there. And then, who knows what happens next.”

  It sounded tempting. Really temping. Especially because I knew that Lauren’s idea of “what happens next” would probably have us in bed somewhere. Or in the back of a car.

  I whistled low under my breath and turned away, avoiding her gaze. Her offer was so tempting, and god knows it had been so long since I’d had sex that I had practically forgotten how to do it. But I couldn’t do that to Taylor. Fake relationship or not.

  I had thought that having a steady, routine relationship would be the most boring thing in the world, and I’d rather jump off a cliff than be in one. Regular dates. Hand-holding. Seeing the same person every damn day. Kissing the same lips all the time. God, kill me now.

  But it was … nice. And more fun than I expected it to be. I was even looking forward to the next time I would have dinner with Taylor’s family. It was nice to sit through a family dinner. Mom tried to get Brandon and me to eat together all the time, but just seeing his face gave me indigestion.

  At my hesitation, Lauren pursed her lips together in annoyance. “Let me guess, you’re busy tonight?”

  I took a bite of the strawberry before answering. “Yeah, I actually am. I have a date with Taylor.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Figures. What’s wrong with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re always busy these days.” Her blue eyes narrowed, and she sat up. Her arms crossed across her chest. “Everybody knows about that picnic you two had at school. I thought you had a sacred rule about not doing anything on Valentine’s Day?”

  I popped the rest of the strawberry in my mouth and tried to hide my goofy grin as I thought about our picnic. And the sweet kiss Taylor gave me afterward. No need to get Lauren even more pissed than she already was.

  All my rules were breaking for Taylor these days. Like today. I was supposed to come over and help her babysit Kimmy so she could focus on some Student Council thing. Or a presentation. She was always doing so many things that it was hard for me to keep track of everything. But I didn’t mind. Much. I never would admit it to anyone, but I wanted to hang out with Taylor. Even if it was just to be her minion for the night. Plus, she had a way of taking my mind off missing dads, lying moms, and shit like that.

  “I thought I told you before that Taylor’s not like the other girls?”

  That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Lauren’s face grew even colder. “So you’re saying that she’s different, but I’m just like one of the other girls.”

  “No, ’course not. You’re my friend—” Her right eyebrow rose even higher. Crap, nothing I said would make this better. Man, she was touchy today. Probably best to just retreat while I still could. I hopped to my feet and grabbed my board. “You know, I think I’m going to surf a bit more before heading home.”

  The water was icy cold and the waves were rough, but I’d rather face those crazy conditions than the pissed-off girl onshore. Lying on the board, I paddled my way farther into the ocean. I knew I couldn’t stay out there forever, but I could still try.

  Maybe Aaron’s cowardice was contagious.

  * * *

  My head slumped down into my arms, and I sighed. Again. Which Taylor ignored. Again. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a slave driver? Dude, you’re like a work Nazi. Don’t you ever take a break?”

  “I’ll take a break when the work is done.” Her eyes were still glued to the laptop she balanced on her lap. Without looking up, she shoved a pile of papers on the coffee table toward me with her foot. “Which, by the way, is never going to get done if you keep taking a bathroom break every two seconds. Are you sure you don’t have diabetes or a prostate problem or something?”

  “I don’t have diabetes, and my prostate is perfectly healthy.” I leaned toward her and raised a suggestive eyebrow. “You want to check to make sure?”

  “No, thank you. I have my hands full as it is.”

  Even though Taylor denied it, I knew I was definitely rubbing off on her. A few weeks ago, she had blushed bright red at the mention of her underwear, and now here she was, sitting all prim and proper in the living room, talking about my junk with barely a tint of pink in her cheeks. I’m pretty sure I deserved an award for that. Instead, I was stuck working on the senior-class budget because, according to Taylor, our class treasurer was “a flake.” I had to take her word for it, because I didn’t know who the hell our treasurer was.

  I didn’t even know we had a class budget.

  Still, I kind of thought she was kidding. Rule number one about Taylor: The girl never kids when it comes to schoolwork.

  So here I was at her house babysitting Kimmy while her parents were partying like normal people. Actually, they had gone to an office dinner, so probably not quite the partying I was used to, but they were still out.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’d babysat with girls before, but I usually got some action in return when the kid fell asleep. And I definitely didn’t spend the entire night punching numbers into a calculator.

  I thought about Lauren a couple of times. Kind of hard not to. She kept texting me every ten minutes to see what I was doing and if I had changed my mind about meeting her.

  My phone buzzed again, and Taylor peered over at me with a frown, as if she were a teacher and my phone was interrupting her class. “Lauren again?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Her frown deepened until finally I turned off the phone and tossed it on the coffee table. “So if I didn’t tell you already, your idea of a Saturday night is awesome. Way to be wild.”

  Her gaze stayed on the laptop screen, but a smile tugge
d at her lips. “Thank you. And I do know how to be wild. Just in a responsible way. I’m doing this work now so I can be free to go to a play with Carly and Brian tomorrow.”

  My hands rose up in mock surrender. “Whoa, wild and responsible. Maybe I should call the police.” I waited a minute for her to finish laughing. “So a play, huh? With Carly and Brian?”

  “Yeah, one of Carly’s theater friends is in it, and she was hoping to meet the director. Maybe act in a couple of his other plays this summer. We’re just going to give her some moral support.”

  I nodded. “Thanks for the invite, by the way. I like plays, too, you know.”

  She looked up at me in surprise. Even I had to cringe at the jealousy in my voice. “I figured you’d be busy. You told me you had some epic boys’ night planned with Aaron tomorrow, right?”

  Shit, she was right. I was supposed to be his wingman. I’d been so busy with Taylor these days that Aaron had pulled the best-friend card to get me to help him with some chick he was crushing on. Although epic wasn’t the word to describe what he had planned. The girl Aaron liked only worked at the bowling alley on Family Sunday Funday, so we’d be spending the night with parents and their kids. I didn’t want to go, but he blackmailed me with embarrassing stories about my first time. Let’s just say I was nervous and shaking so much that the girl asked if I was having a seizure.

  Still, the thought of Brian and Taylor together in a dark theater made my stomach clench. Who cares about bro code and stories that could ruin my reputation?

  Taylor was still staring at me, so I flipped through the pages she handed me before changing the subject. “You know, I should just ditch you. You’d never be able to catch me with your short legs. And by the time you walked to my house to yell at me, I could have at least twenty minutes of game time. Even longer, if my mom doesn’t let you in.”

  Taylor’s grin was wide and beaming over the top of the screen. “But you know that she will. She loves me. And don’t even think about locking your bedroom door, either, because I know how to pick locks.”

  “Whatever.”

  “It’s true. Kimmy used to accidentally lock herself in her room all the time when she was small, so I learned how to pick the lock. I could do it with a credit card or a bobby pin. Heck, I could even do it with a fork.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Really? A fork?”

  “Seriously.” She lifted her arms and made a popping motion with her hands. Her lips even smacked together to make the popping noise to emphasize it. “A few seconds, and you’d have nowhere to hide.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “And just when I thought you couldn’t surprise me anymore, I find out about your burgling talent. I guess that’s something you could fall back on if the lawyering thing doesn’t work out.”

  Her lips pursed together, and she shook her head. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. There’s no falling back on anything.”

  Jeez, we couldn’t even joke about her failing. Even though Taylor wasn’t a stuck-up, stick-in-the-mud Ice Queen like everyone said she was—and believe me, this was the nicest thing they said—she never joked about her aspirations to be a lawyer. Her determination was annoying, but admirable at the same time. Like Taylor herself.

  Although some days, she was more annoying than others.

  My toes poked Oreo in his side as he lay beside the coffee table, gnawing on a chew toy. At first he didn’t move, but after a couple of jabs, he growled, grabbed his toy in case I was going to steal it, and scooted back a few feet until he was out of reach.

  Taylor rolled her eyes and laughed. “Yeah, you’re working really hard.”

  “Well, harder than I’ve ever worked on a Saturday.”

  “That’s not saying much.”

  Her sarcastic tone made my mouth jerk into a half grin. “That’s true, but that’s because I’m usually enjoying myself on Saturday.”

  She snuggled deeper in her seat. Her feet were crossed on the table between us. “Yeah, I can imagine exactly how you enjoyed yourself with other girls. But doesn’t that get boring after a while?”

  “Not if you’re doing it right.” Taylor didn’t say anything and went back to typing on her laptop. “And I did plenty of stuff with them.” And on them, I silently added. “Lauren was a pro. Maybe you should ask her for some tips.”

  Her hands froze. Finally, that got a reaction out of her. She sat up straighter and glared at me. “Like what?”

  I wasn’t sure why this irritated her so much, but I couldn’t resist pushing her even more toward the edge. “Anything, really. She really was something else. I mean, you’re great and all, but it’s not like you have me eating out of the palm of your hand.”

  She cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms. “Oh really?”

  Another push. “You could try, but I doubt you could pull it off.”

  And over the edge she went. Her dark eyes flashed and narrowed until they were small slits. Taylor snapped the laptop shut with one hand. “There’s one more thing you need to learn about me.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I don’t like to be challenged.”

  She got up and, in one fluid motion, flopped on the cushion beside me. Intrigued, I folded my arms and sat back, waiting to see what she would do next. Not wanting to scare her off or make her change her mind, I didn’t move. My eyes watched her every movement. Every deep breath that she took. Every inch she slid closer.

  I had lied. Sort of. Taylor did have me in the palm of her hand. She just didn’t realize it. Not like the other girls. They used their bodies to get what they wanted from me. Cheesy as it was, Taylor used her heart. I did whatever she wanted just to make her happy. Hell, that was the reason we were in this relationship to begin with.

  Like I said, Taylor wasn’t like any of the other girls. She was sweet. Fun. And it was easy to be with her. No games. I didn’t feel like I had to impress her like the other girls. With them, I had a reputation to uphold. With Taylor, I thought she’d rather forget I had a reputation at all. Hell, even her inexperience made things fun.

  She wasn’t acting inexperienced now, though. I didn’t know who this girl was and what had come over her, but I couldn’t be happier. This was the first time that she had ever taken charge. God, it was hot.

  And she was taking her sweet time. Every inch that she got closer felt like an hour. I didn’t think it was possible, but the waiting made things even hotter. We weren’t even touching yet, and my nerves were already going haywire.

  Finally, she laid her hand on my shoulder and leaned toward me. Her fingertips played with the sleeve of my T-shirt, sliding beneath it to stroke my arm. My skin. I could smell her breath—feel it—minty and warm on my cheek. My heart started pumping overtime. My hands fell to my side and clenched tightly, fighting the urge to grab her.

  Right before her lips touched mine, they quirked into a smirk, as though she knew exactly how affected I was, even though I tried to hide my eagerness. Another thing I didn’t know about Taylor. She was a tease. A major one.

  Even though I was dying to deepen the kiss, I held back, determined to let her set the pace. It took all my willpower to stick to that when her hand slid even farther and stroked my chest. Her touch was light and brief, but each spot she touched was burning and made me ache for more. Don’t grab her. Don’t push her against the cushions. Don’t—

  Damn it, why didn’t I wear a baggier shirt today?

  With her lips still on mine, she snuggled even closer until she was almost straddling my left leg. And she didn’t do it very gracefully, either. Her knee jabbed my thigh. I grunted and shifted my position so she wouldn’t accidentally hit me in the wrong area and ruin the night. Hell, if she hit me there, it would probably ruin my entire week.

  When the danger was gone and everything was protected, my hand ran through her hair, letting the soft strands wrap around my fingers as I held her as close as I could. The hell with letting her call the shots. This was the closest I’d been to a g
irl in ages, and I was a starving man at a buffet. Taylor in a field of mushrooms.

  Taylor didn’t seem to mind. Her arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me upward until our bodies were plastered to each other. My hands slid down her back, hesitating for a few seconds when I felt the warm, soft skin between the hem of her t-shirt and the top of her shorts. She stiffened and stopped the kiss, but she didn’t push me away. Instead, she rested her forehead against my neck as though she were enjoying my caress. I ran my finger along the edge and wondered if I could get away with reaching in and—

  A small voice spoke up. “Taylor?”

  Taylor jerked upright and jumped off my lap within a blink of an eye, shoving me away from her side. Her cheeks grew blotchy and red as she tried to fix her hair. “Hey, Kimmy. Did you—did you just wake up?”

  Kimmy rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn so wide, I could see a silver filling on the bottom right side. “Yeah, I wasn’t sleepy.”

  “Talk about bad timing,” I muttered, grunting when Taylor smacked my shoulder. “Urgh, I mean, that sucks. Are you sure you’re not sleepy? Maybe some milk or NyQuil to help? It’s yummy.” Taylor smacked me even harder.

  Kimmy didn’t take the hint. Instead, she planted herself on the floor right between us. Her face was propped on the couch cushion and her eyes were wide as she stared at us. The fact that I was still turned on made things more than just a little awkward.

  Taylor let out a sigh. “Fine, you can stay up a little longer, but after that, you have to go straight to bed.” Her eyes flickered to my hopeful face. “When Evan goes home.”

  Damn, she couldn’t get any more blunt than that. Playtime was over, and another cold shower was waiting for me when I got home. I stifled another groan and slumped down on the cushions.

  Kimmy’s eyes lit up, and she crawled up on the couch beside us. “Do you want to play date night with us, Evan?”

  Taylor coughed and frantically waved her hands. “No, no, I don’t think he wants to play.”