“I called in sick. Jessie was stoked about this new riff he came up with last night at like, two in the morning. He texted the band with a 911 and was like, ‘we seriously have to jam today.’”
I huffed out an exaggerated sigh. There weren’t a whole lot of items on the list I’d made with him. In fact, I had it memorized by heart.
Save money.
Ask for raise and take extra shifts.
Pick college or training and set a start goal.
I could feel myself wadding up the proverbial towel. I wanted to bolt out of the house, run to the nearest cliff, and chuck it into the pit of forgotten hopes and failed dreams. I didn’t want to do this anymore. Yes, I was attracted to TJ and the whole bad-boy thing he had going on. He was so very opposite me, and I think that’s what drew me to him the most.
The trouble was, I wasmoreattracted to the guy hewouldbecome once he was done with this phase. Sure, I wanted a guy with an edge, but I didn’t want him to be a total bum. The debate I had with Jett earlier ran through my mind. He’d insisted I couldn’t change TJ, and I was actually starting to wonder if he was right. Immediately I envisioned the assignment in that red envelope. The chemistry of a kiss.
In our three and a half weeks of dating, TJ and I hadn’t had what I’d call an amazing kiss. He’d started giving me goodbye kisses after our second date—date being a loose term since TJ wasn’t exactly the let’s-go-to-dinner-and-the-movies type of guy. He was more of the let’s-hang-out-and-watch-movies type. Or the hey-wanna-come-watch-us-jam-in-Jessie’s-garage type.
I didn’t mind at first. In fact, it was all part of the excitement of dating a rebel. But already, the novelty was wearing thin.Stop,I told myself. I needed to stop giving myself a way out. It might not be easy, but I needed to stick this out and help TJ become his best self. It’d be worth it.
TJ leaned in and kissed my cheek. A soft, lingering kiss. It felt nice, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it might feel like to have that exact soft kiss on my lips. We’d only shared one long, close-to-make-out type of kiss, and it wasn’t all that great. TJ had come into it with too much…enthusiasm. It was like he’d never watched the movies where characters actually worked up to kisses like that.
I wanted to see what it felt like when he really relaxed and let it happen naturally. Especially now since ideas of kissing Jett had crossed my mind. I needed to replace those evil visions with a mind-blowing kiss from TJ, meaning the lecture about his goals would have to wait until we rekindled a little love.
I grinned, gave him a little encouragement by planting a playful peck to his lips in return, and suddenly TJ moved in with a groan. His lips were desperate and demanding and…and gross. It felt like I was kissing that nasty casserole Mom made.
Instinctively, I moved my hands to his chest and pushed, breaking the seal of our lips. I gasped there for a quiet second while TJ stared at me with his lips still parted.
That was bad. That was really, really bad. How many things would I have to fix in this relationship before we’d be sailing smooth?
“Sorry,” I breathed. I looked over to where Missy had fallen asleep.
“Don’t worry about it,” TJ mumbled.
Oh, TJ thought I’d stopped things because of Missy.
A grin spread over his mouth. “She’s out like a light.” He wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, ready to draw me in for more, when a voice spoke up.
“What’s going on in here?”
Ah, thank heavens. It was Mom.
“Nothing,” I said and scooted myself back onto the other cushion.
“Oh yes there is,” Missy chimed. “They werekissing!I saw them.”
Chapter Three
The sky was a giant sheet of clouds as I trudged down the steps toward Bailey’s car. It matched my mood to a tee. Thank heavens she and Summer had been able to pick me up again; we were down to one car until Mom renewed the registration on her Nissan, which meant she had to take the Jetta to work again.
I pried open the door, climbed into the back seat, and closed the door behind me. “You’re not going to believe what happened last night,” I said while strapping my seatbelt on.
Summer spun in place, her blonde hair flying off her back and settling over the front of her shoulders. “What?”
Bailey caught my eye contact through the rearview. “Do tell.”
“My mom said I’m not allowed to datejustTJ. I have to date someone else in between.”
“No way.”
“You’re kidding!”
