Double Time (21 page)

“
Good point,” I tell him. He kisses my lips, and I can feel his smile against mine along with his hand in my panties. Oh my. This boy is going to. Drive. Me. Crazy.

Twenty Three

“
I can’t believe New Year’s Day was just yesterday, and now we’re back at school. We should’ve had another week off,” Steph complains as she peels the foil off her chicken sandwich.

“
Enough about that. I’ve been dying all day to hear about your dates. So spill it. Who got lucky? Who did the deed?” Keesh asks, her eyes about to bug out of her head.

I chuckle. “I don’t kiss and tell.” Ha. That’ll kill her.

“
Kiss my ass, Meg. Did the surprise we gave you work its magic?” She rubs her hands together. She’s funny.

I crunch down on some celery. I try hiding my smile, enjoying the look on her face. “Well, they worked some magic all right.” I pause. “But we didn’t do it. We’re not even a couple, so of course we didn’t.”

“
My ass. You may as well be a couple.” Steph rolls her eyes at me.

“
Who’s a couple?” Travis, Josh, and Andi join us.

My chest tightens. But Keesh saves me. “Steph’s just giving me shit about a guy I saw a few times over break.”

“
What about the pact?” Josh asks, hanging air quotes over “the pact.”

“
Exactly,” Keesh says. “No couples here.”

Steph and I nod our heads in agreement.

I make my way into Ms. Gelson’s class, relieved I didn’t have the chance to dish the details of my New Year’s Eve festivities. The girls know about my Pitbull surprise. I texted them that much. But I’ve been going back and forth about how much more I want to share.

Ms. Gelson looks flustered when I take my seat next to her desk.

“
Nope, still haven’t seen him. I’m going to kill him,” she says into the phone. I’m pretty sure she’s speaking to Mrs. Cruz and talking about Mr. Fuller. Those two have it bad for each other, even if they’re not ready to admit it. She slams the phone down and leans back into her chair.

“
Not ready to be back?” I ask. “Me neither.”

“
Tell me about it,” she says. “It’s been a long day.”

Poor thing looks tired. And she looks like she’s been crying. “Just think. Second semester will fly by and summer will be here before you know it,” I say, trying to cheer her up.

“
True.”

“
First semester always feels like it takes years to get through. But when we get back from winter break, it feels like it’s only a few weeks before graduation.”

“
Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. There’s the Backwards Dance, spring break, state testing, then bam…we’re out.”

“
Thank god,” I mutter as the bell rings, and Ms. G’s class waits silently for her to begin.

Getting settled into the routine of school, soccer practice, games, and homework doesn’t take long, although I could do without the
Of Mice and Men
double entry journals and never ending Cornell Notes in history.

“
Are you guys almost done?” Keesh asks us.

“
I have two more. Mrs. Cruz’s strategy totally helped. It’s much easier than going back through all the pages looking for quotes.” Steph flips through the sticky notes hanging out of her book.

“
Or you can do what I did and write the quotes down as you read,” I snicker.

“
Whatever, Meg,” Keesh scoffs.

“
Who cares? As long as it gets done,” Steph tells us.

“
So I was thinking,” Keesh says.

I shake my head. “Scary.”

She throws a pencil at me, and we all chuckle. “So,” she pauses, glancing at Steph and me, “since you both still have your hymen intact and you’re not shackled to your college boyfriends, well, not officially anyway, I think we should try another round of dating.” She looks at the two of us again, trying to read our expressions. “It’s just an idea. If you’re not really single and…”

“
Stop,” I tell her. “I’m single. And I’m game.” My throat tightens thinking about going out with someone else after what I shared with Alex the other night. But she’s right. We’re not a couple, and I’m still trying to have a normal high school experience. If I don’t, then all the time I’ve spent apart from him will be for nothing.

“
Me too,” Steph chimes in.

“
Wait, wait, wait.” Keesh waves her hands in the air. “There’s something else.” Her mischievous smile makes me nervous. “I have an idea.”

“
Like Meggie said, scary.” Steph shudders, drawing a laugh from us.

“
Okay, smart asses. Just listen. I had a little chat with our boy toys. I asked Josh and Travis to set us up with one of their friends.”

“
You did what?” I cry out, practically falling off my bed. “Are you nuts?”

“
No, it was cool. Travis thought it was funny. They both agreed and we all have dates this Saturday.” She hunches over, like she’s shrinking down to hide.

I can’t help but laugh. Steph runs her hands through her hair, shaking her head.

“
Well,” I flop back against my pillows, “this should be interesting.”

“
This is funny,” Keesh says, as she takes a seat on the big massage chair to get a pedicure. “We haven’t been here together since we made the pact.”

“
I haven’t been here at all since then,” Steph says. “Look at my toes.”

“
No wonder you haven’t got lucky,” Keesh teases.

“
So how did it go, Keesh?” I ask. “You planned this nonsense so you get to spill first.”

“
Okay, I’ll go.”

Before she starts, we all get settled, our feet soaking in the hot water with tingly, minty bath salts. The fizzy water tickles my toes. As does the anticipation of hearing about the blind dates my girls went on. I can’t wait to tell my take. My date was a riot. Not funny like the guys, but weirdo funny.

Steph and I both turn to Keesh, who’s soaking in between us, and wait. She glances back and forth at both of us and then begins. “Okay, Travis is an idiot. What would make him think I’d go out with a guy who’s three inches shorter than me? I swear, he looked like a ninth grader, eighth grader even. I wouldn’t be surprised if he still has his baby teeth.”

I crack up, and so does Steph. “He couldn’t have been that bad,” I tell her, knowing damn well he could be. After the dates we’ve been on this year, nothing would surprise me. Forget double time, we need to be working quadruple time to land a decent date.

“
Oh yes, he was,” she yelps. “Well, he was cute. Like baby cute. Like I wanted to pick him up,” she pinches her fingers at the air, “and put him in the palm of my hand to pet him, then put him in my pocket to play with later. He was adorable. I was just looking for a … a…” she searches for the right word. Finally, she grunts out “a
man
.”

“
Well, Joshie hooked a sister up because I got a man all right. My dude was twenty years old and looked like he’d just jumped off the pages of a muscle magazine. I’ve never seen anyone like him outside a movie.” Steph fans herself, her cheeks flushed a dark shade of pink.

“
Oooh,” Keesh squeals. “I told you this was a good idea. Tell us more.”

Leaning forward so I can see her, I listen carefully as Steph gives us the details about her date.

“
He picked me up and took me to this old restaurant. Mexican food. It was delicious. He showed me how to eat oysters out of a shell with some Tabasco sauce and a squirt of lemon. He said it’s supposed to be unladylike for a woman to eat oysters but he didn’t care, said they were an aphrodisiac so why shouldn’t women eat them?”

“
Woo,” I cheer her on. “He was trying to get you horny.” I swivel my hips in my chair and the lady, who’s now working on my toes, tightens her grip. Oops.

Steph nods. “I know. But they tasted good so I kept eating them. I think it’s a scam though. Didn’t make me want to jump in his lap or anything. Actually, seeing his explosive muscles tearing through his shirt was enough to make me want to straddle the guy.”

We all bust up laughing. When I come up for air, I ask for more details. All we know about the guy is his age and he looks like the Hulk.

Steph smiles. “He was about four inches taller than me,” she looks at Keesh and winks, “with dark spiky hair, hazel eyes. He wore a Cowboys tee,” she now looks at me with a smile, “loose fit jeans and some Adidas.” She leans forward in her chair to peek at her toes. “Can I get the deluxe?” she asks the manicurist. “I want the massage.”

Our ladies look up at Keesh and me. We both nod. Sure, we want the leg and foot massage as well, along with the moisturizing rubdown.

“
His name is Sergio, he speaks Spanish, has a little bit of an accent. When we finished dinner, we walked around this little downtown area. There were lots of antique and hobby shops. It was cute. And he held my hand while we walked. That part was nice. I didn’t realize how much I missed something as simple as holding hands.”

“
I know what you mean.” The emotions that surfaced just riding to Los Angeles and back with Alex’s fingers threaded through mine were unexpected and overwhelming.

The girls give me a sympathetic look. I don’t know why. They’re in the same boat I’m in. Single and frustrated.

Keesh looks back toward Steph. “So how did it end? Big goodnight kiss for a big man?” She must have made a face because Steph’s eyes widen.

“
He walked me to the door, holding my hand, told me he’d like to see me again, and then leaned down … oh my gosh, he smelled so good, so clean and crisp and manly.”

Keesh smacks her hand down on her chair, causing our nail ladies to flinch. “Leaned down and what?” she demands.

“
He leaned down … and,” she touches her fingertips to her cheek, “kissed me right here.”

“
And?” we both ask, rather loudly.

“
And what? That was it. He kissed my cheek and left.”

“
You’re lying,” Keesh pokes the air with her index finger. “A kiss on the cheek made your face go all red. I wouldn’t be surprised if you slid off the seat right now, you look all satisfied.”

“
It was a good kiss, what can I say?” Steph shrugs.

“
Good, my ass!” Keesh flops back against the head rest. “There’s something you’re not telling us.”

“
Your turn, Meggie,” Steph says, trying to avoid the accusation. Nice one.

“
My guy was all right. He wasn’t some Latin stud. I guess we all know who the boys like the most out of us three. Keesh and I don’t even rate with them.” Keesh nods while Steph rolls her eyes. “My date was more of a band geek. Good looking but way too weird for me. He listens to music I’ve never heard of. Nothing you can dance to. Listening to his playlist would give me nightmares, for sure. But he was funny.”

“
How so?” Steph mutters, leaning over to check out the flower masterpieces on her big toes.

“
You know what he calls a girl’s hoo-haa?”

Steph raises a brow at me. “Not a hoo-haa, I hope.”

Keesh scrunches her nose. “Please tell me he didn’t use the C-word. It’s so dirty.”

“
Okay, no. He didn’t call it a hoo-haa or the C-word. He called it a vagina. He seriously asked how far I’d gone with a dude and when I looked at him like he was crazy, he said he’d touched a vagina. I laughed so loud, he looked scared. It’s just not what I’d expected. He was so serious too.”

The girls are cracking up. “Well, what did you want him to call it?” Steph asks.

“
I don’t know. But when you’re talking about going to town with a girl, clinical terminology just doesn’t come to mind.”

Keesh whips out her phone and starts tapping away at the screen. “I’m texting the guys. Let’s see what they call it.” She taps one last time, letting out a satisfied grunt.

My phone chimes. It’s Keesh’s message: Heey! Wht do yall call a girls…you know. Not a VAGINA, right?

I snort, unexpectedly, after reading her text. She sent it to all of us, probably so we’ll see the guys’ responses when they reply.

“
Oh my gosh. They’re gonna love this one,” I tell my friends.

All at once, our phones start beeping away. It sounds like a chorus of bells, singing loudly throughout the salon.

First up, Josh:
Box, Muff, Cat

Oh goodness. I text him back:
Cat?

Yup, I luv 2 pet the kitties.