Blue Eyes and Other Teenage Hazards (16 page)

“That’s the usual sort? Why don’t I have girls swarming me?”

“He’s also tall, dark, and handsome,” I added, “Plus he’s got these gorgeous eyes—all deep blue and mystical.” I looked away from him then. I couldn’t keep looking at the eyes I’d just described.

Josh leaned a little closer to me. “A rich guy with a sports car?”

“Not really.”

“A gentleman?”

“Mostly, although I don’t think he’s ever opened a door for me.”

Josh nodded, his gaze still intense. “Would I approve of you with this guy?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Would you?” I let my gaze slide to his then, just long enough to see him smile. I wasn’t going to say more. I wasn’t about to admit to everything when he hadn’t admitted to anything yet.

“I think I might approve of this guy.” Josh kept smiling. His voice was soft now, as lulling as the heater. “You said Bob didn’t kiss you. Have you ever been kissed?”

“Sure, if you count the time in the fourth grade when Jonny Miller cornered me in the coat closet.”

“No, I’m talking about a real kiss.” Josh moved even closer to me. “You’ll always remember your first real kiss.” I thought about asking him if he remembered his first real kiss, but on second thought, I didn’t want to hear about any of his past kisses. “You’re probably right,” I said.

“If I was to kiss you now, I’d go down in your personal hall of fame. The opportunity is irresistible.” And then he kissed me, and it was a real kiss. He put his hands around my waist to pull me closer. His lips were soft against mine, a question

—one that I wanted to answer. In essay form. I was happy, and yet at the same time I had a nagging suspicion that maybe he was kissing me because he wanted to be the first, and it was all a joke to him.

I pulled away. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me out before you do that?”

“Okay,” he said, still close to me. “Do you want dinner?”

“Right now?”

Josh looked upward considering. “We’d probably never hear the end of it if we left Elise here. How about this Friday?”

“It’s a date.”

Josh leaned towards me again. He obviously had no qualms about waiting until after our date to give me my second real kiss.

I don’t know how long we were like that. Longer than my mother would have liked. All of a sudden I heard a rapping on the window and then the back door opened and Elise climbed in.

“I can’t believe you two are making out in broad daylight. I’m shocked.” She didn’t sound shocked though. She sounded happy.

Josh shot me a glance. I suppose to see how mortified I was. I just shrugged and smiled. After all, Elise had known about us before there even had really been an us.

He put the car in gear and pulled out onto the street. “So did you have enough ants?”

“No. I ran out, so the invitation says, ‘Will you go to Tolo, Elise’ but he should get the basic idea.” She leaned forward. “And now that you two are back together again, we can double.”

Josh grunted and looked over at me. “I don’t know. Are you up for a double date with Elise and Bob?”

“Sure,” I said. “It will be one of those carpe diem things.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Josh said.

But he was only saying that because he didn’t understand. It would be fun, all of us together. I leaned toward him. “If they start talking about spider venom, we’ll ditch them.”

“Or if Elise gets too annoying,” Josh added.

“hello,” Elise said. “I can hear you.”

“Good,” Josh said. “Consider yourself warned.”

He dropped off Elise at their house first, then drove me home. He opened my car door for me, pointedly drawing attention to this fact. “I am officially a gentleman,” he said.

Instead of letting him get back into the car, I took his hand and led him into my house. Mom said hello to Josh in a surprised sort of way, but she left us alone. We sat in the kitchen eating and talking, and even though none of this was planned, it all seemed natural. Comfortable. Not logical, maybe, but really good anyway.

The End

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If you liked this book, you’ll want to read All’s Fair in Love, War, and High School and see what the characters do their junior year.

Janette Rall ison (who is also sometimes CJ Hill when the mood strikes her) writes books because writing is much more fun than cleaning bathrooms. Her avoidance of housework has led her to writing 12 young adult novels, which have sold over 1,000,000 copies and have been on the IRA Young Adults’ Choices lists, Popular Picks, and many state reading lists. She would name them all but knows your eyes would gloss over if she did, so you will just have to trust her that she has lots of books and they are all awesome! Most of her books are romantic comedies because hey, there is enough angst in real life, but there’s a drastic shortage on both humor and romance. She lives in Arizona with her husband, five kids, and enough cats to classify her as eccentric.

Contact me on-line at my website,

JanetteRal ison.com (email: jral [email protected])

Or CJHil books.com