Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) (49 page)

“It’s
nothing,” Jackson said quickly. “Don’t worry about it, Tweety.”

“But
maybe we should pick something else to play,” Clare suggested. “Something all
of us like.”

Chloe
pouted, but she didn’t throw a fit, which I realized probably made her more
mature than Skylar. “Hi Ho Cherry-O?”

“Oh,
yeah!” Jordan looked gleeful at Chloe’s suggestion. His eyes passed over me and
he opened his mouth to say something, but then the table jolted and Jordan
groaned. “Fuck!” he exclaimed, glaring at Jackson. “What the hell?”

“Language!”
Siobhan called from the living room.

“Keep
your crude jokes to yourself,” Jackson spat, glaring right back at his older
brother.

Eric
smirked and shook his head as Clare sighed, clearly exasperated. “Only two to
four people can play that one anyway,” she commented.

Jordan
just couldn’t seem to help himself. “Not the way I play it,” he grinned as he
dodged out of the way of Jackson’s next kick under the table.

We
finally settled on playing The Game of Life. It was a bit too old for Chloe, so
Clare suggested she play on a team with someone. Surprisingly, she wanted me to
be her teammate, but I had no arguments with that.

Midway
through the game, Siobhan came into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.
“Will you stay and eat with us, Silly?” she invited.

I
was eager to accept, but I made sure to call home and check with Mom or Dad
about it first since it was Christmas, after all. “Sure thing, Sil,” Mom said.
I could tell she was smiling. “I take it things are going well?”

“Yes.”
I felt my face grow hot, but thankfully Jackson had given me the handset and
told me I could use the family office to call in private.

We
finished the game just as Siobhan announced dinner was almost ready. I helped
Clare clear the table while Jackson excused himself to the bathroom and Chloe
went to find her father. Eric and Jordan slipped out the door in the kitchen
that led out onto what I could see was the back deck.

Clare
seemed to notice me looking. She glanced around, making sure her mom wasn’t
listening before she murmured, “They probably went to smoke.”

“They
both smoke?” I whispered.

“Eric
more than Jordan, but yeah,” she nodded.

I
wondered how that would affect Jackson’s attempt to quit. Clare seemed to guess
the direction of my thoughts. “Jackson will manage.”

I
hoped so. I doubted it would deter me from kissing him in the future, but I
wasn’t fond of finding out what ashtray mouth tasted like.

Dinner
with the Harts was interesting to say the least. The table seemed to always be
booming with conversation and lots of laughter. It was such a stark contrast
from dinner with my family, but it also reminded me a bit of the Tylers.
Thinking of them made me wonder if Tegan had made it back home yet. I was
anxious to tell her about all of the recent developments in my love life. 

After
dinner Jackson and his dad cleared the table, and Jordan and Clare did the
dishes. I offered to help, but none of them would hear of it.

“You’re
the guest,” Siobhan said, smiling brilliantly. “Sit.”

I
realized there was a hint of an accent to her voice. At first I thought she was
just a very precise speaker, but the more she spoke the more the faint accent
seemed to come through. It was just another curiosity I wanted to ask Jackson
about later.

Jackson
tried to steer me back downstairs while the others cleaned up, but Jordan
insisted we stay. “You two can neck another time.”

“Shut
up,” Jackson hissed. His embarrassment only seemed to please Jordan.

“Lay
off already, Jordy,” Eric sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Sure,
Ari,” Jordan spat back, and I guessed that Jordan liked being called “Jordy”
about as well as Eric liked “Ari.” I noticed Jackson didn’t involve himself in
this little tiff, and I wondered if it was so they wouldn’t call him “Jackie.”

Clare,
on the other hand, just rolled her eyes. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“Oh,
yes, because you’re so wise and mature, Clarissa,” Jordan answered.

I
glanced at Jackson in surprise. I hadn’t realized Clare was a nickname. She
seemed to be the only one in the family who went by one. Probably thinking I
was surprised by the behavior of his siblings, Jackson shrugged as if to say
this was nothing new.

Jackson
steered the conversation into a discussion about what gifts we’d all received
after that, probably hoping to curb the familial antagonism. We then moved onto
music, and by the time the clean up was over, we’d all decided to watch a
movie.

Because
of Chloe, we stuck with a Disney theme, but I found watching a movie with the
Harts was never a quiet affair. Commentary and debate seemed to be mandatory.

“Come
on,” Eric scoffed as we were watching
The Little Mermaid
. “How can Ariel
possibly be in love with some dude she’s only ever interacted with while he’s
unconscious?”

“I
don’t know,” Jordan shrugged. “That’s usually the best part of my
relationships.”

I
wasn’t sure what to think of that, but I suspected anyone dating Jordan was
probably the happiest when he was unconscious as well.

“Shut
up, you guys,” Clare glared. “This is my favorite movie.”

It
was one of my favorites too, but I didn’t have a chance to speak up because
Eric jeered, “Really? This crap?”

“It’s
not crap,” Clare retorted.

I
glanced at Jackson and he raised an eyebrow. “What do you think, Silly?”

Everyone—except
for Chloe, who was ignoring everyone in favor of actually watching the
movie—turned to me, and I immediately felt put on the spot. I considered for a
moment. “Well, I think Eric’s probably right. You can’t fall in love with
someone you don’t really know, and I’d never be willing to give up who I was
for someone else,” I began. “I mean, Disney’s idea of romance should probably
be taken with a grain of salt, but I still like the movies.”

“Very
diplomatic,” Jackson grinned and my heart about beat out of my chest when he
put his arm around me and pulled me closer to his side. Embarrassed by the
watching eyes, I ducked my head as I snuggled up to Jackson.

After
The Little Mermaid
, Chloe insisted we watch
The Lion King
. It was
decidedly less controversial, as far as the romantic aspects were concerned,
and I was actually able to watch the majority of the movie.

After
the movie was over, I realized just how late it was getting to be. I’d still
make curfew, of course, but I still wanted to talk to Tegan if she made it
home, and I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep in the next morning either, so
as much as I didn’t want to leave Jackson, I mentioned that I should probably
be getting home soon.

The
goodbyes were long, and both Siobhan and Chloe hugged me at least twice before
we made it out the front door with Eric, Jordan, Clare and Mr. Hart calling out
goodbyes after us. 

The
ride was quick and quiet as snow fell down around us. From the inside of the
car, I felt like I was traveling in a snow globe. The whole day had been
utterly surreal. The last time I’d had such a good day was probably when I went
to the art museum for my birthday with Tegan’s family.

When
we pulled up in front of my house, Jackson finally broke the silence. “So are
you and your sister still giving each other the silent treatment?”

“Mostly.”
It wasn’t as deliberate on my part, but I hadn’t gone out of my way to speak to
her either.

“You
should probably talk to her, you know,” he said. “I don’t know if you were just
fighting about me or if it was about something more, but staying mad at each
other isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Yeah,
I know.” I breathed out slowly. “She’s hard to talk to sometimes.”

“Family
can be that way sometimes.” I glanced over at Jackson to meet his eyes. I
wasn’t sure what he knew about that since his family seemed to get along so
well despite their antagonistic nature, but I knew he was right.

“I
might try to talk to her tonight,” I finally said. “I don’t know how it’ll go,
but at the very least I should probably break the news to her that you do
actually like me.”

“Do
you want me to tell her?”

I
shook my head. It was sweet of him to offer, but this was something I wanted to
do. My motivation may not have been pure, but I felt like I’d earned it. “I can
do it.” I smirked a little. “Besides, you’d probably let her down too easy.”

“Oh,
I don’t know about that,” Jackson grinned. “She’s the one that got you pissed
off at me in the first place, and that wasn’t a happy place to be.”

“But
I wasn’t really mean to you or anything until we had that fight,” I pointed
out.

“You
were avoiding me,” he countered. “Which was sort of mean.”

“True.”
I scrunched up my nose in distaste. I really had acted like an idiot about the
whole thing. “It was stupid too,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s
okay.” He flashed a smile to prove he meant it. “It all worked out in the end.”

“Yeah,”
I blushed, “it did.”

“So,
I’ll talk to you soon, right?”

“Definitely,”
I nodded. I reached to push the car door open, but Jackson cleared his throat.
Confused, I turned back to him. “Yes?”

He
didn’t speak. Instead, he leaned over and brushed his lips against mine.

“Oops,
I’ll have to work on remembering that part.”

“That’s
something I can definitely help with,” Jackson volunteered.

Grinning,
I rolled my eyes and told him goodbye before I climbed out of the car.

I
hurried through the snow up to the house and turned to wave goodbye to Jackson
before I slipped into the house. Mom popped her head into the hallway, looking
hopeful, as I was taking off my shoes at the door. “Things go well?”

“Better
than,” I grinned, blushing at the admission.

“I’m
glad,” she said before reminding me again what time we’d be leaving in the
morning. I then made my way up the stairs, planning to call Tegan before I went
to bed, but I met Skylar in the hallway.

She
eyed me curiously. “Where’ve you been all day?”

“At
Jackson’s.”

Her
eyebrows shot up. “Hart?”

“Do
I know another Jackson?”

She
crossed her arms over her chest. “How should I know?”

“Oh,
that’s right,” I rolled my eyes. “Nothing I do matters unless it directly
affects you in some way.” Skylar narrowed her eyes, but the heat of her glare
couldn’t touch me. Not after the amazing day I had. “To answer your question,
yes, I was at Jackson Hart’s house.”

I
moved to walk past her. It seemed that now wasn’t the right time to talk to her
as intended, but instead of letting it go, Skylar followed me into my room.

“Listen,
can we just stop fighting?” Her voice was softer and more resigned, as if she
were truly tired.

I
turned to face her. “I don’t know. Can we?”

“I
was wrong about Jackson, okay?” she sighed and some of the annoyance seeped
back into her voice. “I get it now. He doesn’t like me. He clearly likes you.
It was stupid of me say those things to you, okay? I’m sorry.”

I
stared, blankly, at my sister for a long moment. I tried to remember the last
time Skylar apologized to me. Nothing came to mind. At least not anything our
parents hadn’t coerced her into apologizing for, which didn’t count.

When
I still hadn’t answered after another long moment, she prompted, “Silly?”

“I’m
sorry,” I finally managed. “I’m just trying to embed this moment into my memory
for the rest of my life.” It felt like a very Ron Weasley-like thing to say,
but I was sure such references would be lost on Skylar.

Skylar
rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Silly, what do you say?”

“What
changed your mind?” I had to ask. There had to be a reason behind Skylar’s
abrupt turnabout.

“I
don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess maybe I always knew Jackson wasn’t really
into me, so maybe I was just a little bit jealous of you.”

“What?”
I nearly laughed at the strangeness of her confession. “You have guys falling
all over themselves over you all the time. How could you possibly be jealous of
me?”

“Yeah,”
Skylar scoffed, “stupid guys that can’t carry a normal conversation for more
than five minutes before wanting to get into my pants maybe, but not guys who
actually care about anything I have to say.”

I’d
always thought that was the kind of guy she preferred. I didn’t say anything,
though, and let her continue on. “Jackson actually listened when we talked. It
was nice, you know?”

I
did know. That was the same thing I liked most about Jackson too.

“But,”
Skylar sighed, “he probably just thought I was blubbering idiot since you were
the one he was interested in all along.”

“You’re
not a blubbering idiot.” She was a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. Skylar
rolled her eyes. “Stop being nice all the time. I’m a bitch. And I’m a shitty
sister, too. You and all of your goodness can just get to be a bit too much at
times.”

“I’m
sorry?” I had no idea how I was supposed to answer that.

Skylar
waved me off. “So, are we done fighting now?”

“I
am if you are.”

“Deal,”
she nodded. She looked uncertain for a minute. “We’ve never made up after a
fight before. Should we shake hands or something?”

“Well.”
I eyed her for a moment to see if she was being serious. She raised her
eyebrows, obviously looking for an answer. How odd. I considered pointing out
that this was just as new to me as it was to her, but I figured her annoyance
threshold only went so far. “They always hug on
Full House,
” I pointed
out.

“Okay.”
Skylar looked out of her element, but she crossed the room purposefully and
pulled me into a somewhat awkward embrace. It might have been a sentimental and
somewhat monumental moment if Luke hadn’t shown up then. “Um,” he began from
the doorway, “did something really tragic happen?”