“Maybe instead of just dinner we can go to a movie, or play miniature golf or something.”
“Ooohh, that sounds good. ‘Cause that way I get to spend more time with you.”
“And who wouldn’t want that?” Landon laughed.
They were swaying slowly back and forth now, in time with the music. Landon leaned down to kiss her briefly again, then Hilton closed her eyes and laid her head against his shoulder. Things were going so wonderfully with him, and she couldn’t believe how he seemed to understand she wasn’t ready to be an official couple yet. He was so perfect.
***
Lorylyn was in a great mood as they sat down to play spin the bottle. The surprise had worked, she was having a great time with Brady, and Hillary wasn’t pregnant. It was the perfect night outside too, warm and clear and slightly breezy.
Brady reached over and ran his hand through her hair, and Lorylyn looked at him with a smile. She loved when he did things like that; it just felt like such a caring gesture, and he did it so naturally. They shared a quick kiss.
Landon was the first to spin. He got Lindy. Lorylyn noticed that Hilton giggled and clapped. Hilton was always so secure. Lorylyn hated when Brady kissed anyone else. Well, she decided, I guess it’d be okay if it was Lindy, ‘cause she has a boyfriend, and she’s so nice.
Lindy spun and the bottle landed on Andy, her boyfriend. They were sitting next to each other, and Andy turned and grabbed her, purposely making a show out of it. They kissed sloppily for a full ten seconds or so, and everyone cheered.
Lorylyn giggled. This wasn’t too bad. It actually hadn’t been the last few times Landon had had a party. Ever since New Year’s Eve, though, she’d been reluctant to play spin the bottle, because so many bad memories were associated with it. But now, after a few funny, fairly non-eventful games this summer, she was starting not to dread playing so much anymore. And of course the Valentine’s Day game had been amazing...when she and Brady had gotten back together...
Andy reached into the circle and spun. The bottle pointed to Brooke. Brooke kissed Matt on the cheek quickly before standing up to meet Andy. Their kiss was only a quick peck on the lips.
Lorylyn looked at Lindy. Lindy smiled happily at Brooke, then turned to kiss Andy again as he sat down. Lorylyn was glad Brooke was with Matt now. She wasn’t sure if they were officially together, but at least Brooke had moved on from Brady. Lorylyn was now Brooke and Matt’s biggest fan; she hoped they stayed together for the rest of high school.
All of a sudden, she felt Brady shift beside her and turned to look. He was standing up. Lorylyn whipped her head around to the middle of the circle, already knowing what she’d see. The bottle was pointing straight at Brady, and Brooke was walking across the circle toward him. Lorylyn suddenly felt like she might throw up.
Brady moved a couple steps forward to meet Brooke, and Brooke walked right up to him. She placed both hands on his face and kissed him hard. It only lasted for a second, but when Brooke pulled away, she flashed Brady a secretive smile that twisted Lorylyn’s stomach in jealousy and hate. She didn’t want any other girl smiling at her boyfriend like that! She glanced at Brady just in time to see a flicker of a smile before he looked down and licked his lips.
Lorylyn was boiling with anger. She couldn’t believe it. He must still be attracted to Brooke! How could he smile back at her like that?! She couldn’t believe this was happening. She didn’t know what to do. She stared into the center of the circle as Brady spun the bottle, not really seeing anything.
Brady’s spin landed on Hilton. Lorylyn looked up as Hilton stood up and walked purposefully toward him. The look on Hilton’s face was cool and hard. She stopped in front of Brady, and as he leaned in to kiss her, she turned her head so he’d get her cheek.
Brady looked at her in surprise, and Lorylyn did too.
“Just ‘cause somebody spins you doesn’t mean you have to accept their kiss,” Hilton said in a low voice. Lorylyn heard, but she wasn’t sure anyone else did. They were too busy cheering for Hilton and making fun of Brady; they all thought Hilton had done it as a joke. Hilton gave Brady an icy stare, then knelt down to spin the bottle.
Lorylyn smiled a little. That had been awesome. Thank you, Hilton! she said silently. Then she looked over at Jill. Jill’s eyebrows were raised, and she was laughing, her eyes on Hilton. There was no way Jill could’ve heard what Hilton said, but she’d seen her turn her cheek, and Lorylyn was glad to see her laughing.
Brady took his seat next to Lorylyn, and she automatically flinched away from him. She hugged her knees to her chest and refused to look his way.
“Hey, are you pissed?” he whispered, touching her arm and trying to look into her eyes.
“Hilton’s right. You didn’t have to kiss her,” Lorylyn snapped quietly.
“Hon, it’s just a game. You know I don’t give a shit about Brooke.”
“Yeah? Well then why’d you smile at her like that?” Just saying it made Lorylyn feel like she was going to cry.
“Like what?”
“You fucking smiled at her! Don’t pretend like you don’t know!” Lorylyn whispered heatedly, turning to glare at him now.
“I didn’t mean to. I don’t even remember doing it.” Brady rubbed her arm and Lorylyn shrugged his hand off.
“Oh, so it was just such a natural reaction you didn’t even realize you did it?” she hissed.
“No! Lor, why are you being like this? I thought we were past this whole Brooke thing.”
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Lorylyn said aloud. She stood up and walked quickly around the circle of spin the bottle players into the house.
Brady was right behind her as she went through the empty kitchen and down the hallway into the living room. “Lorylyn! Stop!”
She whirled to face him. “Why did you kiss her, Brady?”
“It’s a game! You have to kiss whoever spins you!”
“No you don’t! You could’ve said no! Did you wanna kiss her?”
“Of course not! But I thought it’d make a scene to say no, and I didn’t think you’d care. I thought we were over this.”
“Well I was over it ‘cause nothing’s happened! But you think I wanna see you kiss her? Come on, Brady!” Lorylyn suddenly burst into tears; she’d been trying to hold them back but couldn’t anymore. “I still know what happened between you guys!” she sobbed. “And I hate it! I wanted that to be me! It makes me so jealous, Brady!” She looked away and covered her face with her hands.
Brady’s arms went around her, and he pressed her head into his chest. Lorylyn didn’t hug him back, but she didn’t move away either.
“Sssshhh,” Brady whispered. “It’s okay, babe. I’m so sorry. I should’ve thought of that. I was stupid. I’m so sorry.”
He tilted her head up and wiped the tears off her face. “You’re so beautiful, Lorylyn. I love your eyes.” He rubbed his thumb under them. “I love you. I love you so much. You have to trust me, okay? I wish you could be my first too. And I will never, ever kiss her again in spin the bottle, or any other girl if you don’t want me to. We don’t even have to play. I just want you to be happy, okay? And I want us to be okay.”
His tone was soothing, and as Lorylyn looked into his eyes, she felt herself melting. He always knew the right things to say to help reassure her and make her feel better.
“Okay,” she whispered. “All right. I forgive you.” She reached up to hug him, burying her face in his shirt.
He rocked her from side to side and she held on tight, not wanting to let go. Brady kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair again, and Lorylyn smiled into his shirt. He made her feel so loved and safe.
“I love you too, Brady,” she said, looking up and meeting his eyes. “Thank you. And we can still play spin the bottle, it’s okay. I just don’t want you to kiss her.”
Brady leaned down and kissed her softly, drawing it out for several seconds. When he pulled back, she opened her eyes and looked up into his.<
br />
“I don’t even wanna play,” he said. “It’s a waste of time, ‘cause I’d rather just be kissing you the whole time.” He grinned, and his black curl fell in front of his eye.
Lorylyn grinned back. That curl was one of the first things she’d ever noticed about him, and she loved it. “Well, good, ‘cause I’d rather just be kissing you the whole time too.” She tilted her lips up to meet his again, and as his mouth greedily devoured hers, she lost herself immediately and entirely in the kiss.
***
Brooke was delighted. She’d gotten to kiss Brady, and it’d obviously upset Lorylyn. She knew Lorylyn had seen the way she’d smiled at Brady, and she’d been ecstatic when he couldn’t help smiling back at her a little. She knew Lorylyn had seen that too. She was dying to go in the house and see what was going on between Brady and Lorylyn now. They’d been gone for almost twenty minutes, so it must be a huge fight. She couldn’t believe she’d be so lucky as for them to break up tonight, but you never knew. She’d barely been able to concentrate on spin the bottle since they went inside, because her back was to the house and she kept wanting to turn around to see if they were coming back yet.
All of a sudden Matt put his arm around her.
Damn it! she thought. Now it would be impossible to turn around and look back at the house.
“You look so hot tonight,” Matt whispered through her hair.
“Thanks,” Brooke said with a fake smile. She didn’t look at him. Normally she loved it when he complimented her, but right now her mind was somewhere else.
“Okay, enough of this!” Landon called suddenly. “I wanna dance with the birthday girl.” He pulled a grinning Hilton to her feet and led her off toward the patio. Everyone else started to scatter.
“What do you wanna do? Do you wanna dance?” Matt asked, his arm still around Brooke.
“Um...sure.” If they danced, she’d be able to position herself so she could see the door.
She let Matt take her hand and lead her toward the patio. When he put his arms around her to start dancing, she pulled him close so she could look over his shoulder and he wouldn’t notice her wandering eyes.
“Hey, so what’s going on with us now?” Matt asked.
“What?” Brooke was irritated. Why couldn’t he just shut up so she could concentrate on watching for Brady and Lorylyn?
“I mean, like, are we dating, or are we officially boyfriend and girlfriend, or what?”
Brooke rolled her eyes over his shoulder. “Um, dating, I guess.”
“Well, we’ve been going out a lot, and I really like you, and I don’t wanna date anyone else...so would you be my girlfriend?”
Brooke pulled back to look at him with a huge smile. She’d been expecting this sometime soon, and it actually helped her case with Brady, because she was hoping if she and Matt were officially a couple, it’d be more likely to make Brady jealous. As a matter of fact, she wanted it to look as though she and Matt were getting really serious.
“I’d love to be your girlfriend,” she said. “What took you so long to ask?” She gave him a teasing glare.
Matt laughed. “Sorry. I was just nervous. I was afraid you’d say no.”
Brooke flipped her hair over her shoulder haughtily. “Well, I can understand why you’d be worried.” Then she laughed. “But how could I ever say no to you, Matt Allan?” She tightened her grip around his neck and kissed him.
As they went back to dancing, Brooke saw Brady and Lorylyn coming out of the house. They were holding hands, and Lorylyn had a big, stupid-ass smile on her face. Brooke glared. What the fuck?! They were supposed to be fighting! Ugh! The night had been going perfectly...Matt had finally asked her out, and she’d had the unexpected good luck of being able to start a fight between Brady and Lorylyn...but now she’d been set back a step.
Oh well, she thought with a small smile. Brady’s coming over tomorrow, and I’ll be able to give him my great news about having a boyfriend...we’ll see how he likes that one.
chapter 9) last days of summer
Cheerleading practice started on the first Monday in August. It felt weird to be back in the practice mode again and to know school started in three weeks. Jill was both excited for school to start and sad summer was ending. Since Hilton’s birthday party a couple weeks ago, Todd had come over one other time to go swimming, and she and Hilton and Todd had all gone tubing at Landon’s lake one more time too. It had been such a fun summer, but school would be good because she’d get to see Todd more. They hadn’t gotten their class schedules yet, and Jill was nervous about whether or not she’d have any classes with Todd. The one she most wanted to have with him was SRT, because that was probably the class in which she’d have the most chances to talk to him, since it was basically a study hall.
Jill was really excited for cheerleading, because this year she and her friends would be the oldest ones on the JV squad, plus they wouldn’t really be cheering with Brooke anymore, since juniors were on varsity. Hilton spent the night at Jill’s before the first day of practice, and it made Jill feel so cool to see all the freshman girls looking intimidated by her and Hilton as the two of them walked down the track. It was a complete one-eighty from last year, when Jill had come in feeling nervous and inferior and out of place. She thought she looked cute too, in her wife-beater and rolled-down boxer shorts, and she was pleased to see a couple of the freshmen looking dorky in baggy T-shirts and shorts like she had on the first day last year.
“Guess what?” Lorylyn said with a giggle as they stood around one of the benches on the football field waiting for practice to start. “Brady and I went to third base last night. Well, kinda. He did a little bit, and then I made him stop. But it was fun!” She giggled again and grinned, and Hilton, Hillary, and Jill all giggled with her. Talking about something like that made Jill feel older too; last year conversation like that would’ve shocked her.
Jill surveyed the freshmen. Some of them were really cute. She wondered if they’d start coming to Landon’s parties. She kind of wanted them to, because she knew she’d love the feeling of showing them the ropes and being the older, more experienced one, but she also didn’t want any of them butting in on her territory, or more specifically, Todd. She hadn’t felt last year like she’d had any real competition for him, except maybe Blake, but suddenly she felt nervous about it. He’d been lifting all summer, and she’d definitely started to notice a difference. He looked less like a kid just out of junior high and more like a high school athlete.
The first two days of practice, Jill didn’t talk to any of the freshmen much because all the cheerleaders were practicing together in one big squad, just as they had the first two days last year. On Wednesday, when they split up into varsity and JV, Jill found herself always trying to impress the younger girls.
“I hope Landon has another party soon,” she said to Hilton as they got a drink in the middle of practice. She knew some of the freshman girls were around, and she wanted them to hear her talking about parties and boys. She knew it was stupid; Hilton didn’t do it. But then Hilton hadn’t felt insecure last year; she’d already been a part of the older crowd. Jill wanted other girls to look up to her now, like she had to Hilton and Brooke and Lindy last year.
“He said he’s going to either this weekend or next weekend. Just depends when his parents wanna use the cottage.”
“Awesome. Yeah, Todd said Bennett might have a little end-of-summer thing too.” She was hoping if she name-dropped Todd enough, the freshmen would all assume he was her boyfriend and off-limits.
“That’d be fun! I can’t believe summer’s almost over.”
“I know! I can’t wait to be done with driver’s ed though. I hate the driving part.”
“Yeah, well you have scary people in your car.” Hilton giggled. “I’d hate it too!”
Jill had completed three of her six driving sessions with an instructor. She thought she was doing pretty well, but she always got so nervous, and the other two people in her
car were long-haired, punky-looking guys she didn’t know very well, and she was intimidated by them because she was afraid they’d make fun of her if she made a mistake.
As they walked back to the track from the drinking fountain, the football players were jogging onto the field.
“Look, there’s Landon!” Hilton squealed happily, pointing. She rolled her eyes at Jill. “He is so hot. I can’t wait to see him tonight.”
Jill grinned back but felt a little bummed. She so wished Todd were her boyfriend...or that she was at least dating him like Hilton was dating Landon...
***
On Thursday Landon called Hilton and told her his parents were going to the cottage for the weekend, and he wanted her to come and go out on the boat with them on Saturday. She agreed, feeling excited and a tiny bit nervous. She’d never hung out with his parents a lot before; she’d met them several times but didn’t know them well. She liked them though and thought it would be a blast.
“I heard you’re going out on the lake with the Kesslers tomorrow,” Lindy said with a grin the next day at practice. “I was out there wakeboarding last night and he’s so excited. He really wants you to have fun and he’s all nervous you won’t.”
“Aww!” Hilton giggled. “He’s so cute. Of course I’ll have fun.”
“Yeah, his parents are a blast,” Lindy said, giving Hilton a mischievous smile. “You’ll love it.”
***
Hilton felt incredibly at ease from the moment she stepped onto the boat with Landon on Saturday afternoon. His parents were already on board. His mom was applying sunscreen and his dad was sitting at the wheel. She suddenly felt like she’d been here going out on their boat with them a million times before.
“Hi, Hilton!” Mrs. Kessler said brightly. She stood up to hug Hilton, and Hilton hugged her back, surprised.
“Hey, Mrs. Kessler.”
Mrs. Kessler laughed and waved her hand. “What?! Call me Farah. And call him Rick.” She motioned in the general direction of her husband.
“Hey, Hilton,” Landon’s dad said with a warm smile.
“Hi!” Hilton had always thought he looked like an older version of Landon and Corey. He was blond and well-built and tan and didn’t look a day over thirty-five. His mom had short blonde hair and was tan and thin and looked even younger than his dad. They were a really good-looking couple.