Chapter 11 #2
Jay dries himself off, and now we’re both silently standing in a small bathroom.
It suddenly feels weird to not speak to him, especially after what he said, so I force myself to make conversation like everything is normal and I wasn’t being magnetically drawn to him and thinking about how good his arms would feel wrapped around me.
“So you’re okay with all these Oakwoods students being at a precious Northbrook party?”
Jay shrugs. “From what I can tell, no Preston Whitmore wannabes are here, and I guess everyone is pretty cool so far.”
“Even that kid who threw pie in my face?”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Was he from Oakwoods?”
I shake my head. “I may not know everyone who goes to my school, but I feel like I’d recognize a kid with a mohawk.”
“He wasn’t from my school either.”
I use the towel to squeeze the water from my hair. “I can’t believe he pied me in the face and just walked away.”
Jay tilts his head at me. “I can see if there’s any pie left untouched and bash him right in the face with it?” He might be joking, but the visual of Jay marching through the backyard with a plate full of pie hell-bent on getting revenge for me makes me swoon. I push the confusing feelings away.
“No, it’s all right. But thank you for being willing to defend my honor.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure I saw him puking his guts up in Ralph’s potted plants on our way inside.”
I consider it. He did throw a pie in my face like a classic prank show and potentially humiliate me in front of kids from Oakwoods, Northbrook, and whoever else is here, but then again, I did have a really great time.
“Would you think I was weird if I said I’m not actually mad about it?”
Jay’s eyebrows draw together. “Do you want me to hit you in the face with more pie?”
“No!” I laugh. “But I had a good time. It was kind of horrible, and I was pretty mortified, yet I still ended up having a lot of fun.”
Jay’s smile is slow and devastating, the kind that makes it hard to breathe. “Because of me.”
Jay is supposed to be the worst, but he’s actually pretty cool.
Up is down and left is right. Everything I thought I knew is being flipped on its head, and I don’t know how to feel about it.
I’m not supposed to like Jay. My face heats as I sputter, “There’s also that—it’s just—not not because of you . . .”
He raises his voice to a comically high pitch in what is supposed to be an imitation of me.
“Thank you, Jay, for being so awesome and handsome and being the only reason I had any fun tonight. And did I mention how handsome you are?” He switches to his regular voice.
“You’re welcome, Princess. And yes, I am very handsome.
I don’t blame you for daydreaming about me as much as you do. ”
I laugh. “You are ridiculous and completely full of yourself. Do you really think girls go around daydreaming about how handsome you are all day?”
He nods. “And about how funny I am. And how charming I am. And how smart I am. And how great at backflipping off the cliff and into the water I am. And how ta—”
“All right, all right, I get it.” I cut him off with an amused laugh. “You’re so great and incredible in so many ways.”
He ignores my clear sarcasm. “I really am. It’s about time you recognized that, Princess.”
I roll my eyes, but there’s no real heat in it, and he knows it.
I turn to the mirror to try to salvage my makeup, but there’s no point.
It’s completely ruined—I look like someone took a hose to a birthday party clown.
My black mascara is smudged around my eyes, and my hair hangs in soaked clumps.
Honestly, I have no idea how Jay’s managed to talk to me with a straight face.
Some sparkles from my eyeshadow have migrated to my cheeks, so as I wipe them off, I say, “I still owe you for helping me escape the date with Arthur and his mom, but you don’t even like ice cream.
” I still don’t know how. Everyone likes ice cream.
“What’s your favorite dessert?” If we don’t have it at the bakery, I can get Dad to give me a recipe so I can make it for Jay.
His lips pull up, his signature smirk back in place. “I don’t know. I’m feeling pretty fond of coconut cream pie today.”
“You are such a jerk,” I say with a laugh, giving him a shove.
“I thought I was a big softie?”
“You can be two things at once.”
“Do you think I’m a jerk and a softie?”
I nod. “You did threaten to throw me off a cliff. But for what it’s worth, it was really cool of you to step in to coach your sister’s soccer team so she could stay with her friends. I wish I had a brother who would do that for me.”
Something changes in the way Jay’s looking at me again, and like before in the hall, the air turns thick with something heart-pounding and electric between us.
He throws his towel in a hamper in the corner of the bathroom without even looking at it and grabs the ends of the towel that’s wrapped around my shoulders, using them to gently guide me toward him.
I go willingly, focused only on his eyes and the way he’s gazing down at me hungrily.
“Carina, are you—oh, there you are!” Emmett’s voice comes from behind me. Jay drops the towel, and I jump away from him like I’ve been caught doing something wrong.
Emmett steps into the bathroom, and if he noticed anything weird going on between me and Jay, he doesn’t show it.
“We’ve been looking all over for you. We’ve got to go.
The babysitter needs to go home early, so Kalani needs to go back for Maleah.
And Jay, your friend Caleb has been looking for you. ”
I clear my throat and toss my towel into the hamper.
“Yeah, thanks, Emmett. We’re coming.” Thankfully, my face is already all messed up from the melted makeup and pool water, so no one can tell how red it’s turning.
Was I really about to kiss Jay? What is in the air of this house?
Is there a plug-in spraying weird hormones everywhere that’s twisting up my thoughts and emotions?
I scurry out of the bathroom without looking back at Jay or Emmett, though I hear both boys following behind me. This time, I squeeze through all the partygoers like it’s my personal mission, suddenly feeling too stuffy in the crowded house. I just need to get outside to clear my head.
Outside, I run straight into Jasmine and Maddie, the girls I was dancing with before. “There you are,” Maddie says, pouting. “Emi told us you’re leaving. We wanted to say goodbye.”
She pulls me in for a hug, not caring that I’m still wet. Jasmine does the same. “If you want to talk about, you know, art and OCAD and stuff, message me.”
I doubt I’ll talk about OCAD stuff, but I’m happy to keep in touch. By the time we trade Instagram information, my friends have joined us, and now everyone is hugging everyone goodbye. Emi is covered in food and smiling from ear to ear. Daphne’s less covered but just as bright-eyed.
I come to Jay and stand awkwardly in front of him.
Do I hug him goodbye, like I have everyone else?
That seems weird and unnecessary, but he did save my butt back there, even I can admit that.
And I didn’t actually hate talking to him tonight.
In fact, I spent pretty much the whole night with him, and I actually enjoyed it.
He solves my dilemma for me by shoving his hands in his pockets and nodding once. “See you around, Princess.”
It feels like an anticlimactic way to end the night, considering everything we just went through together, but anything else feels silly.
As I’ve told myself plenty of times throughout the night, this is Jay and he’s a jerk, and nothing has changed just because he was kind of, sort of fun tonight and I wanted to keep talking to him.
I nod, taking a few steps backward before breaking eye contact.
I turn to join my friends, following them through the party and to the front of the house, trying to ignore the blaze of Jay’s eyes on my back.
“So, that was crazy, huh?” Emmett says, falling in line beside me as we walk down the sidewalk toward his car. He pauses with me while I slip off my shoes, my wet feet sliding around in them making them too unstable. He says, “I’m sorry I froze on you like that.”
Emmett always has the answers, always knows the right thing to do.
“I froze too,” I say. “It happens to the best of us.” Except Jay. Weirdly, Jay knew what to do, even if his solution was to start a food war.
“Yeah, but . . .” Emmett shakes his head, lost in his own thoughts. Kalani joins us on my other side as we start walking again, my heels in my hand.
“Well, that was exciting,” she says, smoothing her hands over her hair. She seems to have escaped the party unscathed. Emmett too, for the most part. “Let’s not tell my parents what happened tonight. This is an expensive dress.”
I look down at my own ruined dress. There’s a pink stain on my chest and stomach, but it’ll probably come out.
My heels will be okay after a good cleaning too.
Overall, it could’ve been worse, and throwing food at Jay and the others was fun.
Emi is basically bouncing on her heels behind us, replaying her conquest play by play to Daphne.
“Where did you disappear to tonight?” Kalani asks me.
“I was worried after I went to find Emi that you ran home because you were embarrassed, but Ralph told me you were inside, and you seemed okay when you got out of the pool. If you wanted to leave, you should’ve told me.
We could’ve gotten you out of there right away. ”
“No, I was okay,” I promise her. “I was drying off inside with Jay.”
Kalani raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Jay?”
“Yeah, he was kind of, um . . . not an asshole.” I don’t know why it’s so weird to admit that I didn’t actually hate my time with Jay today.
Maybe because I made such a big deal after our first failed date that I would feel like a hypocrite if I suddenly told her I had a good time tonight.
Because no matter what happened today, our first date was terrible, and no amount of spontaneous food fights or warm towels will change that.
“Did you have fun tonight?” I ask to change the subject.
“It was good to get out of the house, at least until Maleah’s sitter said something came up and she needed to leave early.
” She sighs, likely thinking about returning home, before she perks up.
“But I managed to get in some time with the girls in the STEM club and almost all the seniors on student council. I’ve definitely got their vote for prom queen.
I’m going to need to find some time to talk to the athletes.
They’re probably all planning to vote for Yasmina since she’s dating the captain of the basketball team, but I’m sure I can convince them to vote for me. You talked to all the art kids, right?”
I nod, confirming what I’ve told her three other times this week. “They’ve all said they’ll vote for you.”
Her smile is wide. “Good. Oh, and I’ve got some great news. I got you another date!”
I’m so taken aback I miss the pothole in the ground and stub my toe, making me stumble. Kalani catches me by the arm and rights me.
“What?” I ask, reeling, searching my mind for who she could’ve possibly set me up with between the car ride here and now. “What are you talking about?”
She smiles at me. “Remember, I said I’d set you up with someone better for next week?
I found someone! He’s hot, and he graduated last year so he doesn’t go to Oakwoods.
I spent a while talking to him tonight, so you guys will get along.
Definitely doesn’t give me clingy vibes like how you described Arthur or jerk vibes like Jay. He’s a perfect in between.”
She seems proud of herself as she opens the front door of Emmett’s car and gets in. I rack my brain as I slide into the leather back seat with Emi and Daphne, thinking about who Kalani was talking with tonight.
I gasp. “Sunglasses at night guy?” She can’t be serious. I don’t want to go on a date with a guy who thinks it’s normal to wear dark sunglasses as an accessory to a party at night.
“Wait, what?” Emi asks. “What happened to Wyatt? Why can’t we set Carina up with him?”
“On the car ride over we agreed no one else from Oakwoods,” Kalani answers. “Weren’t you listening?”
Emi grumbles about being on the phone as she shuts the car door.
Kalani waves her hand like it doesn’t matter one way or the other. “His name is Chad, and he’s cool, I promise. He has my number, and he said he’ll text me when he makes reservations. Figured you wouldn’t want me giving out your number.”
She should’ve figured that I wouldn’t want to go out with a random boy she just met who doesn’t know how to appropriately dress himself, but then again, I don’t really want to go out with anyone, so I guess it’s an irrelevant point anyway.
“It’s on Friday night. You’ll have fun on this one, I promise.
” Kalani turns the volume up on the radio as Emmett starts the car.
“I feel like I’m getting better at this.
Maybe I should start a matchmaking service!
MeetCute by Kalani. Or maybe Cupid Kalani.
” She gasps like a thought just occurred to her.
“Or Kalani’s Connections. I could spell Connections with a K too, but that may make discoverability on Google a bit harder. ”
She’s really excited about this, and she seems really proud of this next date. I can’t crush her by saying I don’t want to go out with this new guy, especially not after agreeing to another date only a few hours ago on the drive here.
“Seat belts?” Emmett checks from the front like he does every time. Then, probably trying to be supportive, he exclaims, “Don’t worry, Carina. Third time’s the charm!”
I put my seat belt on and sulk to myself as Emmett pulls away from the curb.
At this point, if Sunglasses Guy—Chad—shows up on time, doesn’t insult me, and doesn’t bring his mom, I’ll consider it a win.
If I have to go out with him to convince everyone I’m not secretly in love with Emmett, like they probably suspect, then I’ll make the best damn effort I can with Chad.
It just seems like an extra shame, after tonight, that I’m going to go on a date with someone else, but I won’t let myself think too deeply about the reason why.
“Great,” I say when I realize everyone’s looking at me. “So excited.”