True Love and Magic Tricks (12 page)

I crawl into bed, throw the comforter
off—too damn hot—and pull my sheet around my waist.

Me: Closing my
eyes.

I tuck my arm under my pillow, and
rest my phone next to me on the mattress.

Kaylee: Me too.

I close my eyes, Kaylee’s beautiful
face coming to life in my mind, and drift off into
sleep.

***

“Are you ready?” Kaylee asks from just
outside my bedroom.

I’d been ready from the minute she
walked in the house and told me she found the perfect costume for
the magic show. I tried ripping the bag out of her hand and getting
a glimpse, but she kept a tight hold on it, wanting to give me the
full effect.

She disappeared into the bathroom, and
I’ve been pacing my room ever since.

“
Yes!” I say with a little
too much enthusiasm.

Kaylee’s bare leg kicks out in front
of the door. Her hands grab her ankle and run up the length of her
calf over her knee and up her thigh.

I’m loving the show, but if she
doesn’t get in this room like now, my body is going to
spontaneously combust.

Her leg comes down and the rest of her
appears in the doorway.

And… um…Wow.

“
So what do you think?” she
asks, but I can’t gather my thoughts to form a response.

I nod over and over again like an out
of control bobble head.

“
Is that a good thing?” she
asks, wrapping her arms around the red sequins of her shirt and
gripping the waistband of her black mini—very
mini—skirt.

Still unable to get my brain to
communicate with my mouth, I step closer to her. I reach out taking
her hands in mine. She has no reason to hide. No reason to be
embarrassed. She looks amazing. Beautiful and perfect.

Her big green eyes glance up at me.
Unable to speak, needing to show her everything that’s going on in
my mind, I wrap my hand around her neck and press my mouth to hers.
The littlest of whimpers rises from her throat. She thrusts her
fingers into my hair and pins me up against the wall.

Everything about Kaylee is sweet, but
nothing about this kiss is sweet. It’s intense and desperate and so
unbelievably hot. I pull back slightly and rest my head on her
forehead. “You’re going to be very distracting.”

“
Good,” she breathes
against my lips then presses her mouth to mine.

Kaylee’s hand slides under
my shirt and across my stomach. Her nails trace the band of my
pants. I still can’t believe this amazing girl is here with me. And
not just here with me, but
with
me. My girlfriend. Damn. How’d I get so
lucky?

My parents are at work for another two
hours, and I don’t plan on wasting a single second of that time. I
wrap my hand around Kaylee’s waist and flip her around, leaning her
against the wall. The cutest giggle falls from her lips, and I cut
it off with my mouth.

She pushes against me, and
I stumble back smacking into my laptop, but I don’t care. It could
fall to the floor and the screen could shatter, and I
still
wouldn’t care. All
I care about is Kaylee, and how soft her skin is beneath my
fingers. How she tastes of strawberries and cream.

She lifts her arms above her head
and…Oh. My. God. She wants me to take her shirt off! With shaking
hands, I reach down and with too much enthusiasm pull her top up.
Her arms get stuck and her face disappears.

“
Where’d you go?” I ask,
trying to help her get untangled. One braid is hanging over the
bottom of her shirt and the other is stuck in the
sleeve.

“
I don’t know! Help
me?”

My computer makes a noise and oh
crap!

“
Hey bro…Well what do we
have here?” Nick asks, and I jump up to block Kaylee from his
view.

“
That was an accident,” I
blurt.

Nick laughs and nods toward Kaylee. I
block the camera with my hand, glance over my shoulder, and see
Kaylee still struggling to get situated.

“
Nate? Where are you?” she
asks around her laughter, but I don’t speak, don’t move.

All those times I caught Nick on Skype
with a girl in the background, I never thought that’d be me. A part
of me is puffing out my chest saying, “Me man, hear me roar,” but
the other part is praying to all that is holy that he doesn’t see a
single strip of Kaylee’s bare skin.

“
I’ll call you back,” I say
and go to shut my laptop when Nick holds his hand up.

“
Not so fast. I’ve been
meaning to check on how my advice went. I see it was a success. Of
course.”

Bang!

I whip around to find Kaylee ass first
in my garbage, her hands and legs straight up in the air, the shirt
still over her face.

She’s laughing,
thank god
. So she’s not
hurt. I can’t believe I’m debating helping her. I pretend Nick
isn’t on the screen and run over to Kaylee. Laughs pour out of her,
and I can’t help it, I laugh, too.

I fiddle with her shirt again, pulling
it down instead of up, her green eyes peek out, but I can’t get the
shirt past just under her bra because she’s folded up so tightly in
my garbage. Lucky for her I emptied it this morning, or she’d have
some pretty questionable stuff stuck to her ass.

“
I see you met your match,”
Nick says, and I wave my hand at him as if my magic was more Harry
Potter than illusion.

“
I’m going to pull you
out,” I tell Kaylee.

“
How?”

Good question. “Give me your hands.” I
take her hands in mine and try to lift her, but damn she’s wedged
in there.

“
How did you manage
this?”

“
I don’t know, you left me
blind and alone, and I tripped on something and this broke my
fall.” She wiggles her butt and falls in a little
deeper.

“
Dude, stand her up and
pull it off that way,” Nick says and I really wish I would’ve shut
the damn screen.

“
Who is that?” Kaylee
asks.

I sigh and turn to the computer, Nick
is sitting back, hands crossed behind his head. I glance back at my
girlfriend. “Kaylee, meet my brother, Nick. Nick, this is
Kaylee.”

Nick waves, and Kaylee scoffs. “So
you’re the guy that gave Nate all that awful advice.”

Nick doesn’t skip a beat. “Says the
girl stuck in a trash can.”

Kaylee sticks her tongue out at Nick,
and I can’t deny how happy her show of distaste makes
me.

“
Okay we’re going to try
what Nick said. Hold onto me and stand up.”

Kaylee’s hands slide around my
forearms, and she tilts forward until her feet are on the ground.
She’s hunched over, ass up in the air, the black basket sitting at
attention.

I go behind her, put my hands on
either side of the garbage can and pull as hard as I can. Kaylee
moves forward at the exact same time. She tumbles out, smashing
into the ground, and I fly back, my legs smacking my bed and
sending me feet over head into the wall.

All I hear is Nick clapping and
laughing.

I push forward and fall to Kaylee’s
side. “Are you okay?” I ask, resting my hand on her cheek, and
rubbing a line with my thumb.

She answers me with a
laugh.

After a second she jumps up from the
floor. “Now that I’m not stuck in a trash can. Nice to meet you
Nick.” She waves to my brother, and he gives her an egotistical
wink.

“
Can you do one thing for
me?” she asks him. I go up behind her, curious.

“
Whatever you want,
sweetheart.”

“
Okay two things. One.
Don’t ever call me sweetheart. And two. Never give Nate advice
again.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
He wore a nipple shirt!”
Kaylee exclaims and heat shoots through my cheeks. Seriously. Am I
ever going to live that shirt down?

“
No! He didn’t?” Nick
guffaws and my attention snaps to the screen.

“
What is that supposed to
mean?” I ask.

“
I was joking about the
shirt. I really didn’t think you’d actually do it. Classic. Please
tell me you have pictures.”

He was
joking
? I’m going to kill
him.

“
I might have one or two,”
Kaylee says, and my head spins to her.

The shirt’s a goner, but if there’s
pictures…Oh no.

“
You have to send them to
me.”

“
Okay this has been great
and all, but we got to go,” I say before Kaylee can get Nick’s
number or email.

“
It was nice meeting you,”
Kaylee says.

“
You too.” Nick nods, and
I’m a little shocked at how human he’s acting. Then he starts
cracking up again. “I can’t believe you wore the shirt.”

I shake my head. “Bye, Nick.” I shut
the laptop and rest against my desk. I lift my fedora and run a
hand through my hair.

“
You don’t have pictures,
do you?”

“
Maybe I do. Maybe I
don’t,” she teases.

“
It’s going to be like
that,” I say and wrap my arms around her, tugging her to me. “I
rescued you from a garbage can, you know.”

“
My hero,” she says,
pressing her lips to mine, and all thoughts of there being evidence
of the nipple shirt flees my mind, and I lose myself in her
strawberry taste.

Chapter 13

The brick wall outside school is so
not comfortable. But I couldn’t give a living hoot when Nate’s
tongue is in my mouth.

“
Ugh, you guys, seriously,”
Lexie says behind us, Ryan pulling up the rear as they head back to
the locker rooms. Did the bell ring?

Nate pulls back, but I keep close,
wrapping my leg around his hip. Then I give his butt a nice
grab.

Both Lexie and Ryan cringe while Nate
and I get a kick out of our PDA, and Lexie smacks Ryan in the
chest.

“
This is your
fault.”

“
Me
? What did I do?”

Lexie sets a manicured hand on her
hip. She drops her voice to sound Ryan-like. “Duuuude, just ask her
to help ya already.” Then she pretends to shove Ryan toward me,
smacking him on the butt. Both Nate’s and Ryan’s ears
redden.

“
Is that really how it
went?” I ask, unwinding myself from my boyfriend. Lexie nods and
Ryan and Nate shrug. Jittery bubbles fill my toes, making me bounce
into Ryan’s arms. He stumbles back, but eventually pats my back a
few times.

“
Thank you!” I shout over
his shoulder.

Coach blows his whistle again, telling
us to move our butts to the locker room. I hop off Ryan, give Nate
a kiss on the cheek, then loop arms with Lexie. None of them look
annoyed at me at all, and that makes me smile. I finally feel like
I belong in a group.

Lexie plops on the bench, tugging off
her sneakers. Sweat has collected at the base of her neck, and I’m
wondering what they did during class today while Nate and I hid,
busy getting our heart rates up in a more effective way.

I pull my locker door open and eye the
blue note I got earlier—held up by a magnet so I’d remember to ask
Lexie about it. I used to squeal at them, but now I’m not sure if I
should. Nate’s been with me nearly every second at school since
he’s been banned from my house. And the way they’re written makes
it seem more and more unlikely that they’re from him.

Did you know the thinnest
skin you have is your lips? That’s why they’re pinker than the rest
of your body. You can see the blood running underneath
them.

I’ve heard that’s why
they’re more sensitive too—why kissing is such a big
deal.

And each person has their
own unique taste.

Kind of
interesting.

I’ve often wondered if the
pinker the lips, the more sensitive they are.