Senseless Attraction (6 page)

      “Man, that keeps getting worse every year.” Javis laughed.

      “Poor Jessie will be comatose.” We waited near the exit for their carriage to come out, and when it did, Javis and I doubled over laughing. I swear, if Jessie wasn't wearing her Goth make-up, she'd be just as white as the powder on her face. Her eyes were wide with fright; she had her arms securely wrapped around Mitch's arm, and if she could, she’d be sitting in his lap. Which wouldn’t bother Mitch one bit.

Mitch held out his hand to help her out of the carriage. She quickly got up and out, and even though she walked our way with her head held high, I knew she was still feeling put out by the ride because she still hadn't let go of Mitch's hand.

      “You all right, chicky?” Javis asked while trying to keep a straight face.

      “Yeah, fine.” She nodded.

      “Uh-huh,” I added, smiling at her.

      “Oh, shut up, you two,” she growled, which made us laugh again.

      “You were fine.” Mitch comforted her by swinging his arm around her shoulders, only this time, she didn't playfully push him away.

      “Anyway, I'm starved,” Javis said, rubbing at his stomach.

      “When aren't you?” Jessie glared.

      “Who wants? My shout,” he called over his shoulder, walking off to the food area.

      “Oh, in that case, I'll have a soda and a hot dog,” I said. Mitch and Jessie declined. We watched Javis stop to stand in the long waiting line.

      “Hey,” I heard from behind me. I turned to find Kane standing there.

      “Hi, what are you doing back?”  I asked, the surprise showing in my voice.

      “I'm meeting up with some of the guys, but I spotted you first. Hi, Jessie, Mitch,” he added. They looked over from their own conversation and replied a greeting.

      “So are you saying I stand out like this?”

      “No—I. No, I'm not saying that.” He actually blushed.

      I bumped his shoulder with mine. “I'm teasing, Kane. I know I do.”

      As if to prove my point, someone called out my name. I looked over Kane's shoulder to find Josh Hill standing a few feet away.

      “Josh!” I squeaked. He came over and pulled me into a big, warm hug.

      “God, how long has it been?” he asked, pulling back from the embrace. “You look the same, well, besides the—” He gestured to the make-up.

      “Yeah, it's a phase I'm going through.” I blushed.

      “Looks good on you.”

      “Thanks. So what are you doing back?”

      I hadn't realized Kane had moved away until I heard him behind me, asking Jessie or Mitch, “Who’s that guy?”

      “A boyfriend Sky had when she was fifteen, but he moved away.”

      Not just any boyfriend. Josh was the one I thought I was in love with and would have given my virginity to. That was until his parents decided to move to another state and my heart broke. He still looked the same, still tall, slim, but well formed, with short, dark brown hair and eyes, chiselled cheek bones, and nice pouty lips.

     
Nearly as good as Kane
.

      Wait, where had that thought come from? It was true though; Kane was a very good-looking fella. He was the same height as me, well built, not skinny, but not overly huge. He was a darker blond than his sister, which he wore in that popular messy look, having it fall in his deep sea blue eyes.

      “I'm back here to live.” Josh smiled. My heart raced.

      “Oh, uh, that’s good. Um, do you remember Jessie?” I asked, turning around to face the others.

      “How could I forget Jessie? You two were glued to each other’s side.” He smiled. But there was something else there, only I couldn't put my finger on it.

      “Yeah, we still are.” Jessie gave a forced smile.

      “Uh, this is Mitch.” He was still standing next to Jessie with his arm slung over her shoulder. “And this is Kane.”

      Josh raised his eyebrows and asked, “Boyfriend?”

      “No, no, never. Just a…friend.”

      “Cool, nice to meet you,” Josh said, holding his hand out to Kane. Kane went to take it until someone behind Josh called out his name. A girl-someone, who was very beautiful.

      “I better go; that's…a cousin. Nice seeing you, Skylar.”

      “She prefers Sky,” Kane supplied. I glared at him. Mitch and Jessie started laughing.

      “Right, that’s right. Anyway, I guess I'll see you around; seems I'll be starting back at school on Monday.”

      “Okay. I'll see you there.”

      He gave me one last hug, which lingered a little longer than before, and left.

      I turned back to the others, not able to control my smile. Josh Hill was back in town. Would we take off where things had been between us? A girl could hope.

      “Wow, that was Josh,” I smartly said.

      “Never liked the guy,” Jessie said.

      “I don't think I will either,” Kane added.     

      “What the hell, you guys? First, Jessie, you have never said anything to me about it before, and second, Kane, you’re just worried he'll take over the spot as ‘most popular guy at school’, because he likes football...and he’s so good looking.”

      Kane glared at me. “Yeah, that’s it, Sky. But I know he won't stand a chance.”

      “Oh, go and cry to your Barbie,” I retorted, and felt bad right after saying it. He started to walk off. “Kane, Kane, wait. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that.” I grabbed his arm to stop him.

      He turned, grabbed my shoulders, and kissed me. It was only a short kiss, but God almighty, I felt it right down to my toes. Imagine if he had used tongue...

      “And I shouldn't have done
that
,” he said, and continued to walk off.

      I was in too much shock to stop him.

      “Oh. My. God,” Jessie screamed.

      No, I couldn't think about that. I wouldn't.
Why did he do that? He has a girlfriend. Was it to prove some point that I will never get? How dare he! He has no right to get me all confused, worried, and mixed up. He doesn’t know me. I don’t know him. Why did he do that? HE has a girlfriend.
The thoughts circled again. The frigging ass-pig who had nice sweet-soft lips.

      “I think she's gone into shock,” Mitch said.

      I hadn't seen them walk over to me, but Mitch was waving a hand in front of my face.

      “Sky, honey? Sky, come back to us now,” Jessie said while she shook me.

      “That stupid, self-righteous prick! How dare he do that to me? He can't do that; he has a plastic girlfriend! I am going to beat the hell out of him for doing that, for confusing me, making me think...”

      “That you want him to do it again?” Jessie offered.

      “Damn it, yes. That asshole. Still, it will never happen again. Josh is back; things can go back to how they were. Kane and I will finish this assignment, and then he can go back to his perfect little plastic life. Then…yeah, then I'll live happily ever after with Josh.”

      “God, I hope not,” Jessie mumbled.

      “What did you say?” I asked, knowing perfectly well what it was. What did she have against Josh. And what did she think of what Kane had just done? I wanted to ask her, but then again, I didn't want to talk about it.

      “Nothing. Nope, nothing at all,” Jessie said.

      Javis came up beside us. “Okay, what have I missed?” he asked.

      “Kane turned back up. Josh—Sky's old boyfriend—came and got her thinking that there may be something between them still. Then Josh left, Kane cracked it over something, and Sky was rude to him. Nothing new from our girl there. Then he was walking off, Sky apologised, and Kane kissed her. And now she doesn't know where she's at,” Mitch explained.

      “Crap, now I definitely don't have a chance,” Javis said.

      Eyes wide, I looked over to him as he shrugged and bit into his hot dog. Yeah, and he really looked broken up about it…
not
. I rolled my eyes, grabbed my soda and hot dog, and hoped that food would take away any thoughts of what just happened.

      Notice how I said
hoped
.

W
alking into History on Monday was harder than I thought it would be. I was a bundle of nerves. I tried to keep my heart and stomach from fluttering, or from thinking about Kane's lips upon mine. All I wanted to do was take back what had happened. I hated the way I was feeling.

      And it was
his
entire fault.

      I glared down at Kane and then sat quietly next to him; he didn't meet my gaze, not that I expected him to. The teacher came in and told us to start working, so I leaned over and grabbed my books out of my bag. When I straightened up, there was a piece of paper on my side of the desk. I knew it was from him—
eye roll
—who else would it be from? I also knew that it would be a note saying sorry, that he shouldn't have done it. Well, true, he shouldn't have, especially when he had a girlfriend who was sitting in the back of the room.

      Though, I didn't want an apology. I hated the thought that he would be sorry for kissing me. So I screwed up the note and left it on his side of the table. I then proceeded to look through a book I’d placed on my desk while saying, “All right, what we have so far is all about the Roosevelt’s younger years, so I went to the library yesterday,”
to keep myself busy
, “and found some other information that I think we should add in. Then we can move on to their years at school and so forth.”

      He didn't say anything, and I’d finished flicking through the book, so I had to turn to look at him.

      Letting out a loud sigh, he nodded.

      The rest of the period, we worked. We stayed focused on what we had to get done and that helped. By the end, when the bell rang, we’d managed to get a lot done. I started packing up the books just as he was doing the same.

      “Sky, I—”

      “Come on, babe, let’s get out of here; I'm starving.” Donna had come up beside our desk, placing her hand on Kane's shoulder.

      “Sure.” Kane smiled up at her and stood. “See you later,” he directed to me. I waved him off.

      I waited for the coast to clear before heading out into the hallway. Mitch jumped out of nowhere, making me scream. I had forgotten he was even in the same class.

      “Mitch, you do that again and I will kill you.”

      He laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders. “So, how did that go?”

I knew what he meant, my spending time with Kane after, well, that tiny, meaningless kiss.

      “Fine, we're all about the assignment.”

      “You okay, P.P.?” He really sounded concerned.

      “Yeah, don't stress about me. What you need to worry about is Jessie’s new history partner.” I rang her on Sunday to find out who it was after totally forgetting about it.

      Mitch laughed. “Who? Avery Mack? No, I don't think I have to be worried there.”

      “Why? He's a great looking guy.”

      “Yeah, but I informed Jess that he bats for the other team.”

      I shook my head. “Mitch, don't you think after knowing Jessie for some time now that she may bring that fact up in front of him.”

      “Crap, I didn't think of that.” He shrugged. “I guess I'll worry about it when it happens. Come on; let’s go make ourselves sick on food.”

      “You read my mind.”

      We walked into the cafeteria and went straight up to the food counter. I grabbed chips and a hamburger, not forgetting a soda to wash it all down. I turned and started for the table, only to do a double take because sitting at our table, was Josh. My heart skipped a beat. I was actually happy to see him. He was the distraction I needed.

      “Hey, guys.” I smiled, sitting down next to Josh, who was sitting next to Javis. Jessie and Massie were on the other side, and Mitch quickly sat down next to—no brainer there—Jessie, who wasn't looking very happy today. I wondered what was wrong with her.

      “Hi.” Josh smiled back.

      “How’s the first day back?” Mitch asked.