NorthangerAlibiInterior (11 page)

It’s nice to be missed… So what are you talking about? What do you mean touch my lips again? —princessC

Did he tell her?
I quickly scanned his reply.

u no what. the kiss. its all ive bn thnkn about.

Really?
I bit my bottom lip to stop the smile that was spreading across my face, then quickly read the next message from Cassidy, worried she’d freaked out. Thankfully, she was cool about it.

Good grief. Boys. *rolls eyes* —princessC

lol. so what ya doin now?

Reading. You? —princessC

really? me im playin a game w my lil bro.

No way! He has a little brother?

Cool. How old is he? —princessC

hes 10 and kickn my butt. what book u readin?

I chuckled as I read Cassidy’s reply.

Lol. You probably need your butt kicked. I’m reading Twilight. —princessC

ug! twilight? my sis wood luv u. its all she reads. Lame

Huh? Whatever, dork! I know he did not just say that!

Seriously. You think it’s lame? —princessC

come on. u have 2 admit it. don’t say u like it 2

She better have said I liked it.

You’re treading on thin ice. I suggest you change the subject. You don’t want to deal with the wrath of Claire. Trust me, it’s not pretty. —princessC

Lol. Fine. I give, you win. So what r u doin 2morrow? Wanna hang?

Oh my gosh! He asked me out?

Sure. Gotta see if you deserve another kiss or not. —princessC

Kiss? Kiss?
She
would
have to say that.
I glared up at her then quickly read his reply.

great. c u at 6 then. whats ur addy? ill pick u up tomorrow.

Are you kidding me?
“No!” I turned to Cassidy. “I have a date with Tony tomorrow night. He’s taking me to his youth club for a game he’s coaching. Dang it, Cass. Why’d you tell Jaden I’d see him?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the couch. “Will you knock it off already? If you’d think about it, I totally did you a favor.”

“How? You can’t set me up with someone else. Seriously, that’s not fair.”

“Just tell Tony you can’t make it and you’ll go to his next game. I’m sure there are tons. Besides, J’s already got the tickets. You can’t back out on him.”

“Got the tickets for what?” I scrolled down to the next text.

k ur never gonna blieve this. i jst pict up tkts 4 mariners game! U like bsbll rite?

Ugh. Only when it’s vampire baseball.
How much did those tickets cost?

Wow! Cool. Baseball rocks. It sounds like fun! —princessC

awesome! c u later.

J

This is not happening to me. This is not happening to me!
When I looked up again, my sister had left.
Man, why didn’t I bring my stupid phone with me?
I really didn’t want to cancel on Tony, but it looked like I had to.

In frustration, I scrolled through my phonebook for the number he’d just given me. It took two tries before I realized I had saved his number to my sister’s phone. “Cassidy!” I called, bolting up the stairs. “I need your phone!”

By the time I had Tony’s number safely stored on my phone and erased from Cassidy’s, I noticed it was almost nine o’clock. Completely nervous, I selected his number and pressed “send.”

“Hello?”

“Hi, Tony? This is Claire.”

“Oh, hey, Claire. I just told my dad about you coming tomorrow.”

“You did?”
Good grief. How much harder does this have to get?

“Yeah, he thinks it’s cool. What’s up?”

“Oh, well, I—uh, I can’t go with you tomorrow. I got home, and Cassidy had already planned stuff for me that I didn’t know about. I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, hey, no worries. I hear you on the family involvement issues.”

“You do?”

“Yep. Mine is always planning stuff without asking first. Drives me nuts.”

“I really wanted to go, though. Can we do it another day?”

“Sure. The next game is Saturday. What are you doing then? Can you make it?”

“Um, nothing that I know of. Hang on.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece, then walked down the hallway and knocked softly on the Hadleys’ bedroom door.

“Yes, dear?” came the reply.

“Sorry. It’s Claire. Are you guys awake?”

“Yep. Come on in.”

Hesitantly, I pushed the door opened and poked my head in the room.

Roger and Darlene were both wide awake and watching a crime show on TV. Their room was even bigger than ours and had its own little cozy sitting room off to the side.

“What did you need?” Darlene asked. “Did you have a good time today with Nora?”

“Yes. And actually, I’m talking to Tony right now.” I held up the phone so she could see. “He was wondering if I could go with him to the youth center on Saturday. We’re not doing anything, are we?”

“Not that I know of.” She turned to her husband. “Do you know of anything going on Saturday, dear?”

“I have a luncheon meeting, but that’s it.”

“See, perfect,” Darlene said. “Tell Tony you can go with him.”

“Okay, thanks! Good night.”

“Night,” she called out as I shut the door.

“Okay, Tony, I can go.”

“Great! You’re going to love it. The game’s at eleven on Saturday, okay? So I’ll be there around ten.”

“Sounds great. I’ll bring my umbrella, just in case.”

“Yeah, soccer in Washington can get wet. Very wet.” He chuckled. “Did you have fun today?”

“Of course! It’s been one of the craziest, most fun days I’ve had since coming here. I had a blast.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. You got kissed today, too, didn’t you?”

I decided not to answer that.

“I’m going to have to meet that guy someday.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t quite picture Jaden and Tony in the same room together. It sort of terrified me, actually.

“What’s he look like?”

“Who, Jaden?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, I don’t really remember.”

Tony burst into laughter. “You’re kidding me. You don’t remember what the guy looked like? Not much of a kiss then, was it?”

All at once, Jaden’s kiss came back to me full force. I remembered every bit of it. And it was a pretty darn good one, thank you very much. “He has brown hair and dark brown eyes, and he’s a bit taller than you. There. That’s all I remember.”
And he’s totally hot.
Not that Tony wasn’t hot, because he was. It’s just that Jaden was a different sort of hot—a more shocking, outrageous, brave sort of hot. Tony was definitely the more cautious of the two.

“Well, I guess I better let you go,” he nearly choked into the phone.

Oh my gosh! I wonder if he heard my thoughts? Dang
.
“Okay. I’ll see you later. Sorry again. I’m looking forward to Saturday.”

“Good night,” Tony answered right before I heard the phone click.

“See?” Cassidy smiled from her bed as I walked into the bedroom. She must’ve heard everything I’d said. “That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”

I sneered at her and tossed my phone on the bed. “No thanks to you.”

“You’ll thank me after you’ve gone out with Jaden tomorrow, I promise. You’re gonna let me meet him, aren’t you?”

***

My date with Jaden was different from anything I had ever experienced. Not that I’d been on many dates. Okay, so this was the very first. But I was certain this wasn’t what a dating experience was meant to be!

“Um, are you sure we should be going seventy-five in a thirty-mile-an-hour zone?” I asked timidly as I held on for dear life. We were speeding through a neighborhood, and I knew that at any minute, we were going to hit something.

Jaden laughed. “What are you worried about? I’m the best driver in the whole world.” He dodged a skittish cat, and the car swerved wildly to the right.

I freaked. “You almost killed that cat!”

“No way. The cat stopped.”

“But what if it hadn’t?”

“It did, so stop worrying about it.” Jaden turned the radio up louder. Rap music filled his older model sports car. The pounding bass only added to my confusion. “So, what do you think of my car?” he hollered over the music, looking smug.

Apparently I was supposed to say it was the best car in the world. “Um—” Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer as we swerved to avoid a trash can that’d been knocked over.

Jaden swore loud enough to be heard over the music, then called to me, “What is that? Why can’t people pick up their crap, anyway?”

“Maybe you should slow down.”
Please slow down.

“No way! This car loves to fly! She goes a lot faster, too. Wanna see?”

When I yelled, “No!” he revved up the engine and laughed. And drove faster.

I checked my seat belt for the tenth time since getting in the car. It was fastened. Nervously, I clutched my phone, ready to dial 9-1-1 at any moment.

“Besides, this is a shortcut. You’ll see. We’ll get there much faster this way.”

“Yeah, but funny thing is, I’d rather get there alive!” I was beginning to lose my cool. What is it with guys and risking lives to show off, anyway?

Just then, a little kid rode his bike into the street right in front of us.

“Holy—!” Jaden jerked the steering wheel. The car missed the boy by mere inches, then whipped wildly back and forth.

I lost it. “Jaden! Stop the car now. I’m getting out.”

“What? Why?”

I turned off the radio. “Because, you idiot. I don’t want to be a part of an involuntary manslaughter case! When you go to court, it’ll be your butt that ends up in the slammer, not mine.” He didn’t pull over, but he did slow down. I didn’t care. I was mad. “Stop this car!” When he ignored me, I flipped my phone open and began to dial.

“What are you doing?” he bellowed. The car screeched to a halt. My seatbelt jerked against my shoulders, and I came within an inch of hitting the dashboard.

In two seconds flat, I was out of my seatbelt and scrambling out of the car. By the time I had slammed my door shut, he had gotten out of the car too and was standing there with his door wide open.

I glared at him over the top of the roof.

“What is your problem?” The look he gave me could’ve soured milk. “Who were you calling, anyway?”

I held up the phone. “The cops.”

He swore a whole slew of profanity and thumped his hand down on the roof. “Are you kidding me? For what?”

“For what? For
what?
Are you for real?” I stepped forward and banged my hand down on the roof too. “For abduction and dangerous driving, that’s what!”

“For abduc—are you kidding me?” He looked away and yanked his hand through his hair. “You know, I thought you were really cool. I guess I was wrong. Excuse me, but I didn’t realize I had a little lawyer in my car.”

“A little lawyer?” That did it. I hitched my purse up on my shoulder and started walking back the way we’d come.
There is no way I’m getting into the car with that loser again. I can’t believe I actually gave up my date with Tony for this. Jaden is an egotistical moron!

Thank goodness I had my tennis shoes on. I had a long walk ahead of me.

The Great Escape

“Claire.”

Jaden’s voice sounded repentant, but I didn’t care. I walked faster.

“Claire, come on!”

I ignored him.

“For crying out loud, you’re blowing this way out of proportion. Now come back.”

Come back? As if I’m some dog he can call and I’ll come running? Maybe they do that here, but girls from Farmington don’t take that kind of—

“Claire!” I could hear him jogging to catch up. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?”

I kept walking.

He swore again.

You know, you catch a lot more flies with honey than you do with swear words.

He caught up. “What do you want from me?” His stride had to shorten to keep pace with mine.