First Kiss (Heavy Influence) (15 page)

             
If she didn’t already have me, she did now. I wanted to know what else she knew about me. She had no idea that her little explanation had such an impact on me.

             
“Yeah, buddy,” Mike said and grabbed his guitar, strumming it as we walked back in joining them. He nodded deviously looking at Aly and Nadine was more than astute with her stare. “We’re gonna get the rhythm started up in here.”

             
Aly yanked me into the kitchen, mortified by Mike’s melodic assertions. “See, I told you, did you see the way she looked at us? She eavesdropped on your convo with Mike.” She whispered loudly. “and what’s up with Mike and his little stupid song?”

             
“Aly, it is what it is, seriously.”

We faced each other from across the counter. I could see the wheels turning in her head. I wanted to take all her angst away. I leaned down onto the counter, holding my palms out to her, wiggling my fingers at her to come closer.

“I told you it would work out.” I said, reassuring her.

The sweetness of her filled me and I couldn’t hold back from kissing her again. Suddenly the moment shattered when abrupt coughing
interrupted us. Aly jumped standing straight and gasped. It was Rachel. I seriously wanted to punch someone. I barely moved. My elbows remained stuck to the counter. I looked at Rachel then back to Aly, rolling my eyes. I really didn’t give a shit if Rachel noticed. I stood slowly, beyond irritated that she was there. She certainly had a knack for showing up unannounced. I could see Aly gulp, frightened by Rachel’s presence.

Rachel spoke first, barely suppressing her disgust at seeing the two of us together.

“Well, um, did I interrupt something important?” Rachel said with forced cheer. I could see the fire in her eyes as she seared Aly up and down with her heat vision. She smiled tightly, lifting her eyebrows waiting for an answer.

An awkward moment passed.

“Yes, as a matter of fact you did, did you ever hear of knocking or better yet,
calling
?” I responded harshly. I looked back at Aly and laughed softly, trying to smooth out the wrinkled mood. Rachel’s mouth fell open and she tried to compose herself. “Na, just kidding. Relax. Aly and I were just talking about…well, it doesn’t really matter what we were talking about now does it.”

I couldn’t give one shit about what Rachel thought. I knew all too well how she treated other girls w
hen she felt they were trespassing on her territory.

“Are you alone,” I asked, changing the subject. I looked past her to see if anyone else was around.

              “No, I’m here with Dump and Sienna,” she said too quickly, peeved. “I see you have a little party going on.” Rachel nodded her head toward Mike and Nadine.

             
I sighed loudly. Again, words escaped me, so I sauntered to the fridge and grabbed a soda. I wasn’t even thirsty, but I didn’t know what else to do. I stood close to Aly, so close our arms grazed each other’s, a statement of solidarity. I’d wanted her to know I meant what I’d said.

             
“Rachel, this is Aly. Aly, Rachel.”

             
“Hi,” Aly waved her hand innocently and squeezed out a weak smile.

             
“The pleasure’s all mine, I’m sure,” Rachel responded dryly. There was a standoff. Sticky silence filled the room and I remained anchored at Aly’s side. I couldn’t take it anymore but I didn’t know what to do.

             
“I wonder how Nadine’s lessons are going,” Aly said, walking past Rachel.

I could practically see the heat of Rachel’s stare searing the side of Aly’s skull as she passed. Aly was a whole head taller than Rachel and physically opposite in every way. I looked at the clock – already 7pm.

Aly would be leaving soon.

15

Alyssa

As I moved into the living room where Nadine and Mike were still playing Wii, I ran my fingers through my hair to shield myself from Rachel’s laser vision. Mike and Nadine appeared to be enjoying each other, especially Nadine, who was wearing a mile-wide smile. She didn’t realize that Rachel had arrived, unannounced.

I looked out of place with my cuffed denim shorts and white
V-neck tee shirt. My unkempt hair looked wild compared to the other girl’s stylish blunt cuts. Sienna wore fishnet stockings under her ripped up jean shorts and laced up boots. Her jet-black hair was so perfect that it looked like a wig. She wore her signature red lipstick and cat-like black eyeliner. I had a full-on girl crush for her.

Nadine threw her hands in the air, fussing about losing to Mike. She proceeded to grab her adult beverage and look around. Finally, to my relief she walked over to me.

              “Looks like the band’s all here,” Nadine said quietly, taking a mouthful of beer. She leaned against the sofa. “Uh oh, blondie’s staring us down. Watch out.”

             
“Give that to me,” I said, grabbing the beer bottle out of her hand, taking a long swig. I pressed the bottle to my lips, rubbing its smooth surface against them my the thoughts swirled uncontrollably. The taste was disgusting. I gagged. “Gross, how can you drink this stuff?”

“Right
on, Aly, smooth everything out,” Nadine whispered encouragingly as her eyes darted around. “Why is Rachel here anyway?”

“I know, right? Maybe we should leave?”

“Hell no!” she hissed, her face animated with defiance. “That’s just what she wants, to vibe us out the door. Sorry, it ain’t happening.”

             
Jake startled me by gently taking the beer out of my hand. His body pressed up against my back. I felt his breath brush my ear. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he whispered. “Just what I need is for my mom to walk in and find you holding this.” I could have melted into a puddle at his feet. He squeezed my hand and walked away. Nadine looked bemused.

I shrugged. Words escaped me as I stood there pretending to be innocent.

              “Rachel just followed Jake into the kitchen. She was watching us.” Nadine sniffed. “What a crazy bitch. You better be careful.”

             
“What are you talking about?” I said, uncomfortable.

             
“Oh, come on Aly – it’s obvious he’s totally into you,” she said, not sounding too put off.

             
It was now or never. I was standing at confession’s ledge and I’d decided to jump.

              “I have to talk to you. Let’s go to my house – better yet let’s go to Nicole’s, so we can fill her in on the drama.” At this point I could no longer play the game. It was exhausting. I just prayed my sister wouldn’t find out about Jake. Nadine said goodbye to Mike and he jumped up from his seat.

             
“You’re leaving, why?” he asked, staring directly at me. Why me? “You’re coming to the party tonight, right?”

             
“Where’s it at, can I text you? We need to take care of something,” Nadine said as if she didn’t notice and took out her phone with its glitter pink case, punching in Mike’s number.

I could hear Jake and Rachel arguing. We passed by the kitchen as we headed towards the front door and Jake called out my name.

              “Aly, wait!” Jake shouted. I could hear Rachel calling to him – “
Jake come on” –
but he was quickly at my side. “Let me get rid of everyone and I’ll text you.”

             
The touch of his hand on my elbow made me stop in my tracks. I was unconvinced he would text anytime soon.

             
“Isn’t there some party tonight?” I reminded him, standoffish.

             
“Yeah, Mike said there was a party and invited us,” Nadine asked, hope filling her eyes.

             
“Uh, yeah, there is. Let me get rid of Rachel and figure things out.”

An outburst of laughter and ruckus came from back inside
the house and Jake hung his head in frustration. My insecurities flared, thinking the laughter was about me.

             
“She’s like a bad rash, you know,” I said, slumping.

“Good luck with that,
” Nadine laughed, sarcastically.

             
“We’ll be around,” I sighed, defeated for the moment.

Stupid Rachel, she’
s going to be a pain in my butt, I thought to myself. Just as that thought rolled into my mind, she strolled into view and if looks could kill, I’d be lying on the floor hemorrhaging.

             
I glanced nervously at Nadine and she returned Rachel’s evil glare. She tugged at my shirt and we turned simultaneously and walked out the front door. Jake followed us out onto the porch and watched us walk down the street.

             
Nadine was too quiet, and it spurred me to say something. “Nadine, I’m sorry.” I hopped in front of her, stopping us abruptly.

             
“For what?” She said, looking confused and moved me out of the way.

             
“You know
what
, Jake being the way he was with me.”

             
“Don’t worry about it,” Nadine said, waving me off. She didn’t sound mad, so I just left it alone. She’d probably let me have it once I told her about what was really going on.

We burst through Nicole’s front door, finding her hunched at the computer. Grant and the guys weren’t
anywhere to be found, thank goodness. We blabbered in unison something unintelligible and she grabbed our hands, dragging us upstairs to her room. Her brother Chris stood in his bedroom doorway watching us, amused.

“What, did
Zac Efron drive by and wave?” he laughed, teasing. “Lookin’ good Nadine. Nice shorts.” He smirked and walked down the stairs.

“OMG, did your brother just notice me?” Nadine could barely contain herself. She blushed with a smile from ear to ear.

              “Ok, we’ll get back to Chris,” I interrupted, holding my hand up in her face, glancing between the two of them. I began to explain myself. “I haven’t been completely honest. Nadine, I kinda knew that Jake liked me because he asked me to hang out and watch movies last night. He was kinda flirty with me.”

             
“You hooker!” she smiled wildly, shoving my shoulder. “You should have just told me!”

             
“Well, it wasn’t like that. I’d gone over there to talk about you, and we got to talking about his music and then he started teaching me to play the guitar and he was just really sweet, and really touchy feely with me…”

             
“Where did he touch you? Did you kiss him?” Nadine asked breathlessly, throwing her arms in the air, spinning around. “You’re effing kidding me! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” She paced around, looking at me with an expression of lively confusion.

             
“Shut up Nadine. Let her finish,” Nicole barked, sitting at the edge of her bed with her hand covering her gaping mouth.

             
I continued in a round about way with the story of last night. I didn’t mention our sleepover. I painfully contemplated whether or not I’d to divulge the more intimate details.

“Ok, ok, let me,” Nadine
interrupted, looking at Nicole with her hands together, as if in prayer. She turned to me. “Let me tell her the rest.”

             
Nadine weaved her web for Nicole exactly how I recalled it. It was as if she was never interested in Jake at all. She also threw in tidbit rumors about Rachel’s mean girl antics and my heart sank deeper into my gut. “Rumor has it she only went out with one guy to make Jake jealous and it didn’t work. I also heard she drugged a girl’s drink at a party.”

Nadine’s eyes were wide. She nodded seriously at us as if we didn’t believe her.

              My eyes bugged, and my stomach flipped. I was nauseated. My anxiety mounted and tunnel vision kicked in, growing dark and narrow. I sucked in a deep breath, closing my eyes.

             
“Aly, dude, are you ok?” Nicole asked, concerned “You look pale.”

             
“Yeah, I’ll be ok, but I’m worried. What if she messes with me?”

             
“Try not to worry about it,” Nicole said, hopeful. “Hopefully Jake doesn’t mean that much to her.”             

             
“Yeah right, you should have seen her face.” Tense laughter escaped Nadine’s lips. “When Jake came up and took that beer out of Aly’s hand and whispered in her ear, and by the way he practically licked her in the process. Rachel shit herself
, you should’ve seen it, it was classic.
”

             
“A beer? So when did you start drinking?” Nicole teased, surprised.

             
“I’m haven’t, it’s gross. I was just freaking out. I needed a distraction. Let’s find Chris, I wanna know more about Rachel.”