What a Boy Needs (19 page)

"
Injured for life? I think so.
"
Yeah
,
I might be playing it up slightly. Of course it hurt
,
but it
'
s also nice to have her worry about me
,
too.
"
You may have just killed my chances at making little
Jadens
.
"

My eyes find
hers
,
ready to lay it on thick again to score some sympathy points
,
but that caring look is off her face. Priscilla shakes her head
,
Spanish flying out of her mouth a million miles an hour. Despite the pain
,
I laugh a little because I should have known I couldn
'
t pull one over on her. No one can.

"
Don
'
t make me laugh. It hurts!
"

This time she pushes me before standing up.

"
Ouch!
Seriously.
I
'
m telling the truth. You maimed me.
"
I
'
m half-smiling
,
half-grimacing.

"
Good!
"
She crosses her arms in that sassy way that is so hot
,
a little smile curving her lips.

"
That
'
s cold
,
Pris.
Seriously.
"

"
Wow
...
and here I thought you were this big
,
strong man. Does poor little Jaden need help up?
"
She
'
s using her fake-sweet voice.

Okay
,
time to re-plan. I definitely don
'
t want to come off as soft.
"
I am a
big
strong man. That
'
s why it hurts so
bad
.”
I wink at her. Sure
,
I
'
m lying on the floor which probably kills the effect
,
but whatever.

Priscilla opens her mouth
,
closes it again
,
and then huffs before she stomps away.

"
Wait
,"
I call
,
scrambling to my feet. Sebastian and Aspen are nowhere in sight. They must have gone upstairs to their room and I don
'
t want
Pris
to go lock herself in hers too.
"
I
'
m kidding. Well
...
not about the big part but—
"
I let my words get cut off by the sharp dagger of her eyes.

"
I
'
m just
sayin
',"
I add.

She totally looks like she
'
s trying not to laugh
,
but she
'
d never give in like that. She won
'
t let me see that she thinks I
'
m funny.

"
I
'
m thinking you owe me a favor. I mean
,
I
'
m seriously injured here
.
That
at least means I deserve a movie.
"
The words jump out of my mouth before I have time to think about them. I
'
m glad. Right now
,
I don
'
t want to think. I just want to react.

By the way she
'
s biting her bottom lip
,
her eyes all wide
,
I can tell she
'
s surprised. Guilt tries to push its way in again. She shouldn
'
t be shocked I want to watch a movie with her.

"
Umm
,
sure.
Yeah
.
That
'
d
be cool.
"
Priscilla wrings her hands together like she
'
s nervous. It
'
s so weird—this change with us. I don
'
t want it to be there.

I want to kiss it away
,
which
is
all kind
s
of dumb.

"
Cool
,"
I tell her
,
not able to think of anything else to say. I
'
m apparently really good with words right now.

"
I
'
m going
to
change.
"

She turns and runs up the stairs
,
like she
'
s going to be late for something. A little confused
,
I head to the kitchen and grab us each a drink
,
before I fall onto the couch in the living room and put my feet on the coffee table.

A few minutes later
,
she comes back down. She
'
s wearing a pair of short sh
orts
and another little tank top thing and man is it hard not to stare at her.
"
I got you a drink.
"
I nod at the table so I have an excuse to look somewhere else.

"
Gracias.
"

Suddenly
,
I
'
m not in the mood for a movie as much anymore.
"
Want to play a game or something first? I
'
m kind of feeling like kicking your butt at something.
"

She picks up one of the couch pillows and smacks me in the head with it.
"
You
'
re worse than Bastian sometimes. I
'
m pretty sure I
'
d beat you
,
and weren
'
t you trying to be a gentleman earlier?
"

I shake off the Sebastian comment.
"
I am a gentleman. They
'
re honest
,
right?
"

This earns me an eye-roll.
"
I think we have cards here
.
That
'
s
probably all.
"

I groan. Yeah
,
I want to play something
,
but cards don
'
t sound that exciting.
"
Eh. I guess.
"

Then
,
Priscilla jumps up
,
as though my words electrocuted her.
"
I have an idea.
"
Her bare feet carry her to the kitchen and I follow behind. Priscilla grabs a stool and reaches high in one of the cabinets. I
'
ve seen this kind of scene in a movie before. Usually it
'
s some woman cooking dinner and she reaches real high and the guy about dies from lust. I used to shake my head and laugh
,
but right now
,
I could totally die from the desires shooting through me.

Her shirt pulls up a little
,
giving me a glimpse of what it
'
s covering. It
'
s all dark brown and cinnamon and I
'
m totally craving something spicy.

Unlike those movie girls
,
Priscilla steps down with a bottle
of
Vodka.

"
What are we playing?
"

She gets down from the stool before she answers.
"
Go Fish.
"

"
What?
"
She
'
s already heading into the living room again and I
'
m right there with her.
"
Sort of ironic
,
don
'
t you think?
"

"
That we
'
re playing a kids
'
game with alcohol?
Absolutely.
"

She sits on the floor at the coffee table and I fall in next to her. She
'
s so freaking down to Earth. That
'
s what I love about her. The girl
could
have anything she wants
,
but she
'
s sitting on the floor with a bottle of Vodka
,
no cups
,
and about to play go fish with a guy with a pierced face who just got a cast removed that he got from punching people.

I wish I could tell her.

"
Should we grab Sebastian and Aspen?
"
I ask her.

"
No
.
I
'
m sure they
'
re enjoying whatever they
'
re doing much more than this.
"

Yeah
.
She
'
s
probably totally right on that one.

"
What are the rules here
,
you card shark?
"
Last time we played
,
she kicked all our butts at poker. I
'
m hoping I have better luck at go fish.

"
You ask for a card and if the other person doesn
'
t have it
,
you draw a card and take a drink.
"
She smiles before she starts to shuffle the deck.

"
I think
I
'
m liking
this game.
"
I rub my hands together.
"
We might not like it when we
'
re in a car all day tomorrow
,
but for now
,
it
'
s
bomb.
"

Once she has the cards dealt I tell her to go first. See? I can be a gentleman.

"
Do you have any sixes?
"
she asks.

I pull my cards down so they
'
re not blocking my face
,
wink at her and say
,
"
Go fish.
"

***

We
'
ve played four games and I
'
m definitely feeling my buzz. Priscilla is smiling into her cards like they
'
re her best friends or something
,
which tells me she
'
s definitely feeling it too.

"
Do you have any Kings?
"
she asks.

"
Hell yeah.
I am a king
.
"
W
e both crack up laughing. There
'
s a small part of my brain that knows I just said the stupidest thing in the world
,
but that
'
s the thing about drinking
,
it sometimes makes the dumb things the funniest.

Priscilla drops her head backward so it
'
s lying on the couch
,
and she lets out a huge belly laugh. She
'
s holding her stomach she
'
s laughing so hard and I suddenly wish for all the stupidest jokes in the world.

When our laughter finally dies down
,
she holds out her hand for the bottle and I pass it to her. Our hands touch. Hers are cold but somehow they feel awesome. There
'
s this little cold zap that passes between us. Or maybe it
'
s just me
,
but then she jerks the bottle back and I
'
m totally thinking she felt it too.