Crush: A YA Romance Collection

by Lavinia Leigh

  Damien looked shocked for a moment before he smiled and tilted his head to look at me. “You remembered? Thanks,” he replied, accepting the pizza box as his own.

  From the corner of my eye I could see Austin roll his eyes at Damien’s words. The night out hadn’t made him like Damien any more than when he had first gotten into the car with us earlier that day. It was funny how Damien had just met us all, and even if Austin disagreed, he fit in perfectly.

  “Wanna go next, Austin?” Brooke spoke up. From the look on her face I could tell she had gotten something good. Her blue eyes were bright with mischief. It was almost as if she was buzzing in anticipation. She was having everyone go first so that she could save the best for last. Austin reached one hand into his pocket, pulling out a pack of Tropical Twist Trident gum. He tossed the gum to me and I caught it smoothly.

  “This is all you got?” I questioned, examining the gum packet.

  “Open it,” Austin smirked, watching me.

  Brooke leaned forward to get a better look as I slowly opened up the packet of gum. As soon as it was open, a strong smell hit my nose.

  Brooke’s eyes widened instantly.

  Damien chuckled, a casual smirk slipping onto his face. I bet he wished he had come inside now.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Brooke asked, earning a nod from Austin. “Why did his parents have that in their room?”

  Damien gave her a dumbfounded look. “Maybe because they smoke it?” he offered, speaking slowly.

  Austin chuckled. “Dumb blonde moment.”

  I closed the gum packet up and placed it with the other stuff in front of us. “Anything else?”

  Austin nodded, reaching into the bag that sat next to him. After a moment, he pulled out a pair of red high heels. “For you, my darling little sister,” he joked as he handed the shoes to Brooke. “You know, since you were so mad about me not getting you a birthday present last year and his mom always hated you anyway.”

  Brooke graciously accepted the shoes. She placed them next to her and then leaned forward, throwing her arms around Austin and placing a sloppy kiss on the side of his head as he grimaced and then pulled away. He wiped away the kiss with the back of his hand. “A simple thank you would have been more than enough.”

  Brooke kicked off her black Vans and slipped on the heels. “I didn’t know Jake’s mom wore the same size as I do. I guess that woman is good for something.” She stood up, the heels making her five inches taller, and defining her shapely calves. Stretching her long leg out in front of me she asked, “How do they look?”

  “Sexy,” I answered. “How’d I get so lucky to have such a hot lesbian lover?”

  Damien smiled in response to my words. “I don’t know, but you two are definitely the hottest couple I’ve ever seen.” His eyes traveled up Brooke’s legs for a moment, then transferred over to me.

  Brooke bounced on the heels before sitting down again and taking them off. “You guys are perverts.”

  “You love it,” I countered, earning a sly smile from her.

  She held her pointer finger and her thumb a few centimeters apart from each other. “Just a little.”

  Austin shook his head at his sister’s words. “So, since I’m assuming you wanted all of us to go first so you could save the best for last, what did you get?”

  Damien leaned his side into the bean chair I was sitting on, causing our arms to touch. The warmth from his body sent little sparks through me as I remembered the feel of his hands on my body. The kiss entered my mind. I stopped breathing momentarily, only reminded that I needed air when Damien broke my thoughts.

  “This was definitely the best.” Damien held up the pizza box, smiling at me.

  “Yeah, and those,” I agreed pointing at the beers.

  Brooke shook her head. “Wait until you see what I got.” She grabbed a bag from next to her that had our school’s name written across it in big red letters. “First, this bag is Jake’s.”

  I exchanged a look with Austin and Damien, obviously unimpressed with the first item she had gotten. But Brooke wasn’t done. Leaning over the stuff that had accumulated in the middle, Brooke dumped the bag out, sprinkling all of the contents over everything. Then she began to sing as the last few things fell from the bag. “It’s raining condoms! Hallelujah, it’s raining condoms! Amen!”

  My eyes widened as I took in all of the protection that was piled up in the middle of the floor. “What is this? A year’s worth of condoms?”

  Brooke gave me a confused expression. “A year’s worth? I was thinking like a month, tops.” Austin’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets and Damien’s laughter filled the air.

  “Your sister is a sex fiend, man!” Damien said through his laughter, causing me to join in.

  Shrugging her shoulders, Brooke responded with, “A girl has needs.”

  I shook my head at her. Even I wasn’t that bad. “That’s what you were leading up too? A condom parade?”

  She shook her head. “I was thinking more along the lines of a condom waterfall.”

  Damien’s laughter faded away as he leaned forward, reaching his hand into the pile and grabbing a handful of the condoms. “For when you realize just how much you want me,” he said smoothly in my direction before stuffing them into his pocket.

  Austin’s eyes met mine as he leaned forward and grabbed some as well. Our slight eye contact went unnoticed due to Damien grabbing more protection and Brooke examining the thin package of one.

  “This one’s strawberry flavored!” she yelled. Leaning forward, I plucked it from her hands and placed it into my back pocket. “Hey!”

  “What? You don’t even like strawberries.” Realizing the truthfulness of my words, Brooke just stuck her tongue out at me.

  “Real mature,” I joked.

  “But is that seriously it, Brooke? If so then we definitely did better than you,” Austin stated pointing to the beer and the new shoes that Brooke now had thanks to him.

  “Well, also I got you an early birthday present. I know you love Nike shoes so I picked these up for you.” Brooke picked up a pair of black and red Nike’s from behind her back and handed them to Austin.

  His eyes widened as he scanned the shoes over. “Do you know what these are, Brooke?” he questioned with shock and disbelief lining his words.

  “Those are a pair of discontinued shoes, so they are really rare and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don’t care about. I only took them because you guys are the same size, and he will be heartbroken that they’re gone,” Brooke said quickly as she dug through another pocket of Jake’s bag to find what was hopefully her actual prize. “I also have this,” she stated as she pulled out a full bottle of Patron tequila and placed it on the table. “I win.” She smiled confidently as we stared at her in disbelief.

  “All hail the freshmen revenge queen! Now pour me a drink,” Damien suggested without moving his arm from mine. I was silently hoping he wouldn’t, the sparks it set off gave me a better high than any drug could or any trouble-causing trip Brooke and I had ever been on.

  “Not right now,” I yawned as I laid back in the beanbag chair. “I’m about to pass out from exhaustion.”

  “The high wearing off, hot stuff?” Damien asked with a devious smile as his eyes sparkled with excitement. Something told me he was thinking of the kiss we had shared, easily the most intense kiss of my life, and I was ready to relive it.

  “Yeah, it’s like I’m crashing after a sugar high,” I stated slowly as I felt his fingers lazily slip in between mine as we held each other’s attention.

  “Well you should rest up and get ready for another high that lasts a lot longer.” He lifted his eyebrows suggestively in order to tell me what he was really hoping for. I lightly licked my lips, ready to kiss him, until Austin cleared his throat and snapped us out of our moment.

  “If we are going to sleep then we need to head upstairs,” Austin growled as he got up from the sofa and came to help me up.

&nbs
p; “I’m just going to sleep here. Brooke has apparently been sharing her bed with too many other people and I don’t want to get diseases.” I smirked as I rolled onto my side to face Damien, as if I was going to sleep.

  “I’m going to stay with her,” Damien stated with a shrug as he laid back to put our intertwined fingers on display for everyone in the room.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Austin stated. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was hurt that Damien and I were touching and close together. I could hear the pain in his voice, and as a friend I felt bad, but I wasn’t ever going to be with him and he needed to get over it.

  “Austin, it’s not your say. Go to bed,” I grumbled as I turned over in the beanbag to go to sleep.

  I heard him mutter under his breath as he walked up the stairs, closely followed by Brooke as she went upstairs to catch up on sleep. I tried to get comfortable in the seat, but just when I found the perfect spot I felt Damien slip into the chair with me. I was going to ask what was up until he wrapped his arm lightly around my body, and I relaxed into him. His body was muscular and well sculpted from what I could feel and his hand on my back reminded me of how intense our kiss had been. That was the last thing I thought about until Amanda was rudely shaking me awake what felt like a few minutes later.

  “Get up, Jade. Your dad is here and he’s looking for you and Damien. I don’t think you want him to come downstairs and see you two sleeping together,” Amanda scolded as she shook me. “Especially not with a mountain of condoms on the floor. Geez, what the hell happened down here?”

  “My dad is here?” I repeated groggily, ignoring her question and feeling Damien stir beneath me. We had wound up entangled during our sleep, his leg over mine, my body over his, and our lips inches apart. That would have made waking up more enjoyable, to kiss him and see if the passion was the same from last night.

  “Yeah, and he’s pissed. I would hate to be in your shoes right now, but if it meant waking up with him,” she gestured toward Damien’s body underneath mine, her blue eyes twinkling. “Then I wouldn’t mind as much.”

  “Thanks, Amanda,” I said as I lightly shook Damien awake and told him the news. He rolled his eyes as the words left my mouth and called my father his mother’s new errand boy, but he got up without another word. We tried to straighten our clothes before following Amanda up the stairs. My dad had never been here before since my mom had always been the one who dropped me off and picked me up. Frankly, I was shocked he even knew where she lived, but he could have had his future wife look it up on the Internet since he had trouble with technology. Knowing her, she probably had people who did menial things like that for her.

  “Hey, Dad.” I yawned as Damien and I emerged from the downstairs doorway.

  “Do you have any idea how worried we were about you two?”

  “Not that much. My mom doesn’t care if I’m gone for a week. The only reason she cares now is because it’s an election year,” Damien retorted smoothly, scoffing as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

  “Get in the car, we will deal with this when we get home,” my father growled. I knew he wouldn’t start a fight in front of Amanda, especially when it wasn’t his house. I groaned as I followed my father outside and into the car. Damien and I both slid into the back seat, not wanting to sit up front with my dad and get yelled at.

  My dad sped to my house. The car ride only seemed to fuel his anger. Damien and I glanced at each other periodically, and he slipped his hand into mine again to gain my attention. He winked at first before glancing toward my father as we got out and walked into my house. He lifted his eyebrows, curious about what it was like to have my dad angry. I shrugged my shoulders to say it wasn’t a big deal then repeated Damien’s gesture to figure out about his mom. He simply rolled his eyes which told me he was used to it, and it wasn’t eventful. We followed my dad into his office where the senator was waiting for us. She was speaking into her cellphone as she gestured for us to sit down in the chairs while we waited, but my dad didn’t want to wait.

  “We were worried sick about where you were last night. You took off from the restaurant and we never heard from you. What were you two thinking?” My father yelled just as the senator hung up the phone.

  “Yes, what were you thinking? I just got a call from my publicist. He found a picture of you two kissing. I knew I had to have him tag Damien’s name in the papers, but now I have to have you tagged too, Jade. Do you know what that picture could do for my reputation?” the Senator yelled as my father’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the news.

  “You were kissing him? Jade, what are you thinking? He’s going to be your stepbrother, and he’s certainly not the kind of boy you should be dating! You need to control yourself. Your actions affect other people besides yourself. If you don’t straighten up I’m sending you to your grandmother’s house in Ohio,” my father threatened, clearly upset, but I wasn’t sure if it was over Damien and me kissing or because the senator said my behavior was causing her issues.

  “You can’t do that! My friends are here and my life is here!” I responded as I stood up to come face to face with him. We stared each other down, neither of us backing out. He took a breath but didn’t seem the slightest fazed by my statement.

  “I can, and I will. You still live under my house and that means you follow my rules. Straighten up. Seriously, would it kill you to act more like Alyssa?” he asked as he gestured to said wide-eyed brunette, who I hadn’t even noticed was in the room until this moment. She was sitting in the corner, as if waiting to talk to her mother. When my father pointed her out, Damien and I both glanced at her. She squirmed uncomfortably under our gazes, obviously longing to be anywhere but here.

  “If it did, you wouldn’t care either way!” I yelled as I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room. I heard Damien’s laugh erupt from the room as I walked out, but it was cut short by his mother speaking.

  I didn’t stop when she called me back, I flipped her off, and continued walking. If they were going to threaten me then they had another thing coming. I didn’t roll over for anyone, and I wasn’t going to for them either. There was no way I was going to live with my overly religious grandmother in the middle of nowhere, away from my friends and my life, but I also wasn’t going to stop being myself. I just needed a plan where everyone got what they wanted.

  Chapter 9

  I was woken up from my daily nap in photography class by Mrs. Bruce slamming a pass from the office down onto my desk. She was always angry about something, but she couldn’t complain about me sleeping in her class since I maintained an A the entire semester. Frankly, she just overreacted to everything when someone decided to think outside of the little box she had set up for us.

  “The office wants you, Jade. Maybe the walk will wake you up when you come back,” she said with a sneer before walking away.

  I glanced at the pass and immediately recognized the handwriting. It wasn’t the office that wanted me, but Brooke, which meant that I was not going to be returning to this class, or any class probably. I placed everything roughly into my backpack before I slung the strap over my shoulder and walked out of the room. Mrs. Bruce glared at me as I walked past and I gave her an over exaggerated smile and waved goodbye.

  Once I walked into the hallway, Brooke raced up to me with a smile. “My forged passes are getting better and better. Mrs. Bruce didn’t even realize that it was a fake.”

  “I’m sure she suspects, but doesn’t have any proof to back it up so she can’t say anything and report us,” I stated with a smile as Brooke and I walked toward the gym.

  We had a habit of cutting classes and hanging out in the wrestling room because no one used it during the day. It was empty until after school and no one ever came around to look in it so it was the perfect place to escape from school—and life—if only for a few moments.

  “So is your dad serious about sending you to Ohio?” Brooke asked curiously as we passed Austi
n’s math class. We glanced in to see him taking a test, but he must have felt someone watching him because he glanced up to see us. His expression was suddenly serious; either he wasn’t pleased that we were skipping class again, or because if his teacher, Mr. Kaynes, caught us we would be in deep shit for the foraged pass.

  “Yeah, he is, but I’m not changing. I’ll just be more careful,” I answered as I continued walking, leaving Austin to finish his test.

  “How did they get the picture of you and Damien kissing?” Brooke asked. She hadn’t been shocked that Damien and I had offered to stay downstairs together. She swore that she saw sparks from the kiss that we had shared outside of Jake’s house.

  “I guess they just follow me now since my dad is marrying the senator. I’m just glad they stopped the photo. I didn’t need to be in the paper again. People will get the wrong idea that I want multiple partners,” I joked as I pushed open the door to the wrestling room.

  “Yeah, I’m the only one for you...” Brooke’s sentence came to an awkward stop, which caused me to look at her for an explanation of what was wrong.

  I was confused to see her face contorted into shock as she looked toward the corner of the wrestling room. I followed her gaze to see two guys that were in the middle of a hot and steamy make out session. Once the wrestling room door slammed shut behind us, the boys broke apart, and looked at us in fear and guilt. Something about these boys tickled the back of my mind as I tried to figure out where I could know them from.

  “Please, you can’t tell anyone what you saw,” one of the boys pleaded. He was muscular with brown hair that swept upwards in the front. His voice even sounded familiar to me as I tried to rack my brain for who he was.

  “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to, I promise,” Brooke said easily. “There’s no reason to worry.” She didn’t care if this guy was gay, we didn’t even know him. Personally, I couldn’t think of anyone that I knew who would care about the fact that he was gay, but that’s not my problem.