Sixteen Kisses: A novella Read online

  I was incapable of flirting. That left me with Selena’s option of dressing like a girl. The skirt was not happening. But I could do some shorts, and wear sandals that showed off my “cute” toenails as Selena had called them. How a little nail polish on my toes was supposed to make guys want to kiss me, I had no clue, but Selena had been kissed plenty, so she obviously knew what she was talking about.

  The next morning, I threw on my favorite “Pinch me and I’ll punch you in the face” T-shirt that I wore every year on St. Patrick’s Day, and smiled at myself in my mirror. The shirt was my one win today since Selena hated it. But I’d caved on the rest of my outfit by wearing the too-short cut-off jeans shorts she loved, and the sparkly sandals she’d given me for Christmas. I even left my hair down for once, and used the mascara and lip gloss she’d accidentally left in my room and kept forgetting to take home no matter how many times I reminded her. She wasn’t fooling me. I’d never seen her wear pale pink on her lips, ever.

  When I got downstairs, I wasn’t surprised to see my mom slaving away over a hot birthday breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy—my favorite. I was surprised, however, to see Jared enjoying a plate at the kitchen table. (I was not surprised to see he had more table manners than Ben, who was inhaling his biscuits without chewing.) “Am I that late?” I asked, scrambling for a plate. “Crap. Sorry. I’ll eat fast.”

  I must have fussed in front of the mirror longer than I thought.

  “You’re not late,” Jared said when I sat down. “I’m just early. I had a feeling there’d be great food here this morning.”

  Ben and I both snorted, and Jared grinned at my mom. “It’s delicious, Mrs. Caldwell. Thank you very much for including me.”

  Mom matched his smile—he’d always had the woman wrapped around his finger. “You’re welcome here any time, Jared. You know that.”

  “Kiss ass,” Ben muttered under his breath between bites of food.

  Jared winked at me. “Happy Birthday, Little Cass. I got you something.”

  That made me smile. I was sixteen today. That didn’t mean much to anyone else in the world, but to me it was monumental. I loved that Jared acknowledged it. “You got me a present?”

  “I did. But, you have to promise to wear it to school today, or I won’t give it to you.”

  “Wear it?” He’d gotten me a gift I could wear?

  Jared’s eyes sparkled as he handed over a cupcake shaped gift bag, overflowing with white tissue paper. I wasn’t sure what to say. He’d given me little gifts for my birthday before, but, after our conversation yesterday, it seemed different this time, more meaningful somehow. I reached for the bag, and he pulled it back. “You promise?”

  “I promise.” As if I wasn’t going to figure out what was inside that bag?

  When he hesitated, making sure I was serious about my promise, I held out my hands. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

  He surrendered the bag with a laugh.

  Equal parts excitement, curiosity, and nerves fueled me to tear away the tissue paper as if my life depended on it. My enthusiasm died when I saw the St. Patrick’s Day green T-shirt folded in the bottom of the bag. I groaned. He knew I hated stupid St. Patrick’s Day shirts. I’d gotten them as gag birthday gifts my entire life. And for as long as I’ve received them, they’ve been lame. “Seriously?”

  Jared’s grin stretched into something mischievous. “You promised you’d wear it.”

  Dang it. He had me there. I’d promised. “I hate you.”

  His smile widened even further. “Go put it on, birthday girl.”

  He and Ben both burst into laughter as I stomped into the bathroom. It wasn’t until I’d thrown the shirt over my head—which was one of those tight fitting girly kinds—that I realized what the shirt said. It was one of those classic “Kiss me, I’m Irish,” T-shirts that you see everywhere around St. Patrick’s Day. But, Jared had crossed out the words “I’m Irish”, and written, “It’s my birthday” with black magic marker.

  I grinned in spite of myself. It was actually really cute. Of course, I wasn’t about to let Jared know I thought so, considering he was totally making fun of me with this, even if we were the only two people who knew it.

  My scowl was firmly in place before I returned to the table. I even managed an annoyed glare for Jared, which earned me that soul-melting smile of his in return. I didn’t have time to swoon because Ben noticed my shirt and snorted milk out of his nose. The idiot. He jumped up from the table, swiping at the milk all down the front of his shirt; coughing up a storm, and cursing about the sting in his nose, all while laughing hysterically.

  “Oh, I hate you”—cough cough—“It burns”—cough cough—“Wish I’d thought of that”—cough laugh cough—“She’s gonna”—cough—“Kill you”—cough cough hack laugh—“I gotta go change now.”

  He kept at it all the way upstairs to his room.

  “Well?” my mother said, as she wiped up the mess of spilt milk Ben had left behind. The milk that had come spewing out of his mouth and nose. “Are you going to thank him for the gift?”

  I rolled my eyes at Jared. “Thanks so much for this monstrosity. And, especially, thank you for tricking me into promising I’d wear it to school today.”

  “Cassie!” Mom scolded. “That’s not nice. It’s very cute, and it was thoughtful of him.”

  “Very thoughtful,” I agreed, scowling for real this time at the laughter in Jared’s eyes. When my mom went back into the kitchen, I whispered across the table, “This is your idea of how I should let guys know I’m interested in dating?”

  Jared shrugged. “Sometimes, us guys need things spelled out.”

  I glanced down at my shirt again. “Well, it’s certainly all spelled out. Mission accomplished, genius.”

  “We’ll see.”

  The secretive smile I caught as Jared took his empty plate to the sink made me suspicious. I cleared my dishes, thanked my mom for my birthday breakfast, and hurried to follow Jared out the door. “What’s ‘we’ll see’ supposed to mean?”

  Jared had been giving Ben and me a ride to school ever since he turned sixteen. He drove a nice truck, of course. Cowboys and trucks are like peanut butter and jelly—a packaged deal. I started to climb in back seat, but Jared opened the passenger door, and gestured for me to climb up front. “Birthday girl gets shotgun.”

  I was shocked. I’d never been allowed to sit in the front before. Not that Jared had anything against it, but Ben wouldn’t dream of it. He was going to throw a hissy when he got outside. Too bad, so sad for him. “Thanks.” I hopped in and, ever the gentleman, Jared shut my door for me before jogging around to the driver’s seat. “What did you mean by ‘we’ll see’?” I asked, again, once he was in the truck.

  He acted put out by the question, but the corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile. “We’ll see if it really works.” He pointed to my shirt. “My mission won’t be accomplished unless you get your kiss today. That’s what I’m really hoping to give you for your birthday.”

  My jaw fell open. “You’re trying to get me kissed as a birthday gift?”

  Jared wet his lips and bit down on them, trying not to laugh, as he nodded. “That’s what you want. You said you didn’t want it to be me, so…” He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  My face flamed. Unable to look at him, I turned my head out toward my window and mumbled, “I didn’t mean I didn’t want you to kiss me. I was just saying—”

  “I know what you meant. You want a real kiss. You want it to be special. You want it to mean something. I get it, Cass.”

  Oh, my gosh. What I wanted, right then, was to die. This was so a conversation that was okay to have with your best friend, and no one else. Jared Clayton was not my best friend. I blushed so hard, my face hurt from it.

  “Don’t be embarrassed, Cassie.”

  When Jared’s elbow nudged my arm, I yelped, startled. That only made me even more mortified. He locked his eyes on me, and gave me a soft smile t
hat eased some of my humiliation. “You deserve that kiss. So, if that’s what you want for your birthday, then that’s what I’m going to give you. No matter what I have to do to make sure you get it.”

  I was still blushing, but now I wasn’t sure if it was because I was embarrassed or because I was swooning. Seriously, my heart was all over the place. That was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me. And it was from the hottest, nicest guy I knew. Crap! Why had I told him no yesterday? Even if it were a pity kiss, it would have rocked. But he wasn’t going to offer again. Not after I’d turned him down. GAH! I was such a moron!

  “Um…” I had no freaking clue what to say next. “Why does that sound ominous? You’re not going to tell everybody that I—”

  He burst out laughing and, shaking his head, started the car. “Don’t worry, this is between you and me.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Promise?”

  “Cross my heart.”

  The almost tender moment was broken up when Jared glanced up at the house and laid on his horn. “Where is your brother? He’s going to make us late.”

  . . . . .

  Ben began his grumbling about having to give up shotgun to his little sister before we were even out of the driveway.

  “You are such a baby. It’s one day for ten minutes.”

  “That’s not the point. My best friend showed partiality to my little sister over me. That’s breaking guy code. Next thing you know, he’ll be asking you out and giving you shotgun every day because girlfriend trumps best friend in shotgun privileges. And, then, he’ll start ditching me to hang out with you. And then you guys will start making out in front of me. Ugh. I’m nauseous already.”

  He was just giving Jared a hard time—and it was working because Jared’s cheeks were blushing, even though he was trying to act like he wasn’t embarrassed. I had half a mind to let Ben continue this torture since Jared had made me squirm earlier, but it was way more fun to bug Ben than Jared. “And, I’m not grossed out knowing that you and my best friend totally made out on my bed yesterday?”

  It was just a guess—Selena hadn’t said a word about what they’d been doing upstairs for so long yesterday—but it was close enough that I got the truth from my brother. “WHAT?” he shouted. “We were not on your bed! That little blabbermouth gremlin exaggerates everything!”

  “OH MY GOSH!” I squealed. I whirled around in my seat, pointing an accusing finger at Ben. “You did make out! I knew it!”

  Ben’s mouth snapped shut, and his face flamed brighter than I’d ever seen it, as he realized he’d just given himself up.

  “Busted, man.” Jared grinned at him in the rearview mirror, which made him hunch far down in his seat, scowling at his lap.

  I could have let it go at that; the guy was embarrassed enough. A nice sister would have cut him some slack. So, of course, I said, “You and Selena. I can’t believe it. Are you together now? Are you going to take her to senior prom?”

  “Oh my gosh, shut up, Cassie! There is no me and Selena. It was just a kiss. An accident.”

  I snorted. “For twenty minutes?”

  He kicked the back of my seat. “If you tell anyone, I’ll tell the whole school how you were begging Jared to kiss you yesterday, Kissless Cassie.”

  He was goading me. I knew he was. And I totally deserved it. Still. I reacted. I couldn’t stop myself. “I did not!” I reached over the back seat, and punched his leg. He punched me back in the arm. “If you call me that ever again, I will kill you, you jerk!”

  “Guys, come on. Can’t we all just get along?”

  Jared was laughing. Glad he found this amusing because I certainly didn’t. If Ben uttered that stupid nickname even once, to even one person, I’d be Kissless Cassie for the rest of my life. Ben was my big brother, and he loved me, but he was just cruel enough to let it slip if he was mad.

  Ben and I were locked in a stare-down when we pulled into the school parking lot. Seeing the waves of students headed for the building, Ben relented first. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Truce. Sworn to secrecy?”

  As if I had another option? “Truce. We never speak of either event again.”

  As we pinky-swore on it, Jared got out of the truck and came around to open my door for me. Is it stupid that such a thing made me want to sigh, all lovesick-like? Gentlemanly manners are so not overrated. Seriously. “Thank you.” I grinned when he offered me his hand to help me out of the truck.

  Ben snorted, and I stuck my tongue out at him. “You should take notes, Benjamin. If you had half the manners Jared has, maybe you’d actually get a girl to date you despite your hideous looks.”

  Actually, my brother was not bad looking. I’d heard plenty of girls whisper about him over the years. But he was still a disgusting, immature tool.

  “Yeah, and maybe if you write ‘Make out with me, I’m desperate’ on your shirt, you’ll get some poor sucker to kiss you. Oh wait, you’ve already done that.” Smirking, he pulled a pack of breath mints from the small zippy pouch on his backpack and slapped it into my hand with a smug smile. “Happy birthday, baby sis. Good luck today.” Flashing his sly grin to his best friend, he shouldered his backpack. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to have some alone time.”

  Jared rolled his eyes, but made no effort to catch up with Ben when he hurried off. Sighing, I popped a breath mint in my mouth, and offered one to Jared, before slipping them in my backpack. Not that I was hoping for any lip action from him, but the mints were probably the only birthday present I’d get from my brother. Might as well eat them.

  “How can you be friends with him?”

  Jared smirked. “He’s only like that around you. I swear he’s cool otherwise.”

  “If you say so. Thanks for letting me have shotgun this morning. It was fun to bug him.”

  “Yeah, it was.” Jared’s smile slipped from his face. “Your shirt doesn’t scream ‘desperate,’ by the way. It’s fun. Guys will think it’s cool, I promise. Ben was just being a jerk.”

  Jared was worried about my feelings. Swoon. What was with him lately? He’d always been sweet to me, but this seemed different. He was naturally a nice person, but, since yesterday, he’d been sweet to me with more purpose. As if he wasn’t just being his normal nice self, but trying to be sweet to me. Like, noticeably making an effort. It was almost as if, suddenly, I wasn’t just Ben’s little sister, but actually Jared’s friend. Yeah, he’d called us friends, but I’d never felt like his friend before. Not until this moment.

  I had to suppress the spontaneous butterflies in my stomach. “Well, Ben does excel at being a jerk,” I said with a nervous laugh. “It’s okay. I’m not worried about the shirt. It’s kind of cool. And it was a nice thought. Thanks for real this time. I like my gift.”

  “Good. I hoped you would. If you hate it, though, you can change. I won’t get mad.”

  I shook my head. “No, really, it’s fun. Thank you.”

  “Okay. Good.”

  We took a couple steps in awkward silence. This was so strange. We’d never had an awkward silence before. But, we’d also never hung out together as Jared and Cassie before, either. Even yesterday, when we were playing video games, he was there hanging out with Ben, who’d just happened to disappear for twenty minutes. It hadn’t been hanging out like this. Right now, he wasn’t just walking into school with me because he’d given his best friend’s little sister a ride. He was walking with me to class. Walking me to class, actually. I hadn’t noticed before, but we were almost to my first class, and his was the other direction.

  Holy crap! Jared Clayton was walking me to class!

  I tried not to read anything into it, but I was getting more and more nervous with every step. This was insane. I didn’t know what to do, or how to act. It just wasn’t normal. It was weird. But it was a good weird. A very, very good weird.

  “Oh, hey!”

  I’d been lost inside my own head, and snapped out of my daze just in time to see
Jared bend down and pick something up of the ground. He handed me a penny he’d found with a huge grin. His excitement confused me.

  “It’s a penny…” he prompted.

  “Uh…I can see that.”

  He laughed. “It’s good luck.”

  “Huh?”

  “You know, ‘find a penny, pick it up…’”

  Oh! Right. I’m so dense. “All day long you’ll have good luck,” I finished.

  His smile widened, and he thrust the penny my direction again. “For you. A good luck penny on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ll even kiss it for extra luck, you know, so you get the right kind of luck from it.”

  My face turned red again at the joke. Or, I thought it was a joke, but, sure enough, he brought the penny to his lips and kissed it for luck. Which was doubly sweet, considering how dirty a random penny he’d found on the floor was.

  He dropped the penny in my hand. “Happy birthday, Cassie. Good luck, today.”

  I rolled my eyes, and shook my head, trying to pretend I had some dignity, and that he wasn’t wishing me luck that I might get my first kiss today like some kind of kissless loser. “Thanks, Jared.”

  “See you later, Little Cass.” He winked as he walked off.

  Armed with my lucky penny in my pocket, I walked into homeroom with my hair down, my toenails matching my fingernails, wearing sparkly sandals, mascara, lip gloss, short shorts, and a tight shirt that said “Kiss Me, It’s My Birthday” on it. Until now, I hadn’t had time to think about my appearance, or how different I looked today. I’d been too preoccupied with Jared and our budding…whatever it was. I definitely remembered, though, when my friends Dominic and Eli saw me heading toward my desk between theirs and both of them gaped at me. Dominic shook his head once and gave me a long, low whistle. “Damn girl. Sixteen looks good on you.”