“You can change,” Nick grunted. Everyone protested, but there was no changing his mind, and they had to give in.
“Fine. Since you didn’t want to go along the first time, your dare is going to be a little more complicated,” Anna said. I could tell she was enjoying making me suffer. I had the urge to get up and smack her in the head with the bottle. Triumphantly, she continued, “So you’ve got to go into that closet and make out with Sam.”
What the hell? No way I was getting in some dark closet. This night was going from bad to worse.
“Great!” Sam said.
“I’ll do it,” I said, “but here. I’m not getting in any closet.”
“Why?” Anna asked.
“She’s afraid of the dark,” Nicholas said. I couldn’t believe he’d just blurted that out without any consideration for me. Everyone cracked up.
“What are you, like, four years old?” Sophie said.
I could feel myself blushing. That subject was off-limits. Only a few people knew the truth about that fear. I hadn’t even told my stepbrother the reason behind it.
“Same difference as far as I’m concerned. I’m going to need that kiss, though,” Sam said, edging over to me with no sense of shame. Whatever, it was just a kiss. Why should I care? I stood up, ignoring everyone around me.
Sam was blond with brown eyes. Jenna had told me he went to our school. When he reached me, he put a hand around my waist. Everyone else was jeering. I’m sure they could tell I was embarrassed, but my only thought was getting it over with.
I’d meant to just give him a quick peck, but he was too quick for me, and he forced my lips open and slipped his tongue inside. I froze, and a second later, I shoved him away.
“That’ll do,” I said and sat back down. I was angry, even if I didn’t exactly know why.
“You kiss like an angel, Noah,” Sam said, returning to his place.
Nick got up. He seemed worried, as if he had something on his mind, and both his hands were clenched into fists.
“It’s late,” he said, looking at me. “We need to go. This game’s stupid anyway.”
I got up, and the rest followed suit. Everyone was tired—the party had dragged on too long. Nick threw on his T-shirt, and Sophie observed him with what seemed like sadness.
We said goodbye and walked to our cars. Thank God Anna had come in her convertible and we didn’t have to take her home. Jenna promised to call me the next day so we could plan what we were packing together. I was a bit distant—that trip seemed like the least appropriate idea ever.
Nick said goodbye to Anna, and we hopped in the car and took off. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened, so I turned on the radio. As soon as we were on the road, though, he reached out and turned it off.
“I didn’t like you kissing Sam one fucking bit,” he said, drumming his fingers nervously on the wheel.
“It was just a dumb game. What was I supposed to do?” I said, remembering Anna’s confession. I didn’t care to hear that, either.
“You should have said no.”
“I already said no once. I don’t ask you to explain what you’re doing or not doing with Anna or the hundreds of chicks you rub up on right in front of my face,” I said, raising my voice.
“I haven’t done that,” he said, and I raised my eyes. “Hundreds of girls is too many, even for me, Freckles.”
“What about Anna, though?”
“My thing with Anna… It’s different, but if it makes you feel better, it’s been weeks since we’ve done anything,” he responded. I could tell he was trying to keep calm.
“Well, I don’t believe you, but even if it is true, you don’t owe me any explanation. I’m not jealous.” I crossed my arms and looked outside into the darkness. Of course I was, but I would never admit that aloud.
“I am,” he said, turning to look at me. “I’m jealous, I’m super-jealous, and I don’t even know why. I’ve never been jealous of anyone in my life, Noah, and certainly not of some jerkoff like Sam.”
I was confused.
“You shouldn’t feel that way over a dumb game—”
“You think I don’t know that?” he interrupted me.
Just then, we arrived home. Nick opened the car door in silence. Before I could get out, he grabbed my wrist, and I looked over at him.
“I’m sorry what happened in the woods wasn’t what you expected. I didn’t want to scare you or make you uncomfortable.”
I felt the wall I’d built up around myself start to crumble.
“You gave me the option to stop you, Nick, and I didn’t,” I replied. And I felt his hand stroke my wrist.
“I’d do it all with you, Noah, you know that…but I won’t do anything until the fear disappears from your eyes.”
Dammit.
He got out. It took a long time before my heart felt normal again.
* * *
The next day, Jenna picked me up at three in the afternoon to go shopping. According to her, this trip to the Bahamas was the perfect excuse to spruce up our wardrobes. My mother, overjoyed that Nicholas had invited me along, gave me her credit card and begged me to buy something. It was weird to see my mother so happy just because her stepson and I were getting along, especially since from her point of view the whole farce was just him trying to treat me as his sister. I couldn’t even imagine the look on her and Will’s faces if they found out what we’d been doing the past few weeks.
Still wavering about whether I should even go on the trip, I waited for Jenna as she walked in and out of the dressing room with a thousand different designer outfits. She was so thin, so svelte… I was envious. Her dark skin looked beautiful in every single thing she tried on. I still hadn’t picked anything, and I wasn’t even particularly into the idea. I already had way too many clothes I hadn’t even worn.
My phone rang, and I grabbed it out of my back pocket.
“Hello?” I said. No answer. I looked at the screen. Unknown number. “Hello?” I said again, louder. I could hear someone breathing on the other line, and my whole body shivered. I hung up just as Jenna walked out of the dressing room again.
“Who was it?” she asked as I slipped my phone back in my pocket.
“Dunno. Unknown number,” I said, picking up my bag and heading for the door.
“Weird! I got this call from an unknown number once, and it turned out to be this weirdo who was obsessed with me. He called me, like, a million times. I had to change my number and everything. Lion was losing his mind.”
Honestly, though, who was going to stalk me? But then I remembered Nick telling me about Ronnie’s threats and how I needed to take them more seriously. I wasn’t going to let a stupid phone call freak me out, though. I pushed my worries aside and walked with Jenna to the register.
Ten minutes later, we were sitting at a table outside a Starbucks, where I picked apart a blueberry muffin while she drank a strawberry Frappuccino.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked.
I nodded, putting a piece of muffin into my mouth.
“Do you have feelings for Nick?”
I almost choked. I didn’t see that coming. Was it so obvious? I tried to swallow and stop coughing, taking a sip of my OJ and asking myself how the hell I was going to respond.
“Why do you ask?”
“Yesterday at the birthday party… I don’t know… I thought I saw something. Like Nick… He’s never been so happy to see someone, but when you showed up, he was like a completely different guy. I could be imagining things, but your reaction when Anna talked and then his when you kissed Sam, they were almost exactly the same.”
Hmm. Nothing got past her. It was true we’d let ourselves go that night, not stopping to think that people around us might pick up on what was happening between us. But then what was happening between us?
“Jenna, he’s my stepbrother,” I said, trying to change the subject.
She rolled her eyes.