Fuck. I close my eyes. Just what I needed. What was I thinking? Kissing her like that? I wasn’t, that’s the problem.
“I’ll take care of it,” I mutter, more to myself than for his benefit, and continue down toward the field.
Cheerleaders usually have practice at the same time as the football team. So she should be here once it’s over. Maybe by then I’ll know what to do about the mess I put myself, and Jessica, in.
I’m dragging my sweaty ass back to my car after a two-hour-long practice when I see a glimpse of the brown ponytail with those damn ribbons. Seriously, no seventeen-year-old girl should look that hot with ribbons in her hair. But somehow Jessica does.
She starts to enter her car so I call out to her, breaking into a jog since I’m not sure that she’ll actually stop to give me the time of day. And I’m right. I can see her clearly weighing her options. I hurry up my pace so she can’t dash before I get to her.
Sighing in defeat, she leans against the hood of her car, that damn top snug against her chest drawing my attention. “Now I’m sure you’re stalking me.”
My brows quirk up. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
She huffs and rolls her eyes. “You jocks are all the same. You’d give anything for just a little bit more attention.”
I narrow my eyes at her. The idea that she sees me as some attention whore is getting to me for a reason I can’t seem to explain.
Concentrate, Russell. You’re here for a reason.
“I don’t give a crap about attention. But you might.”
Jessica frowns, her lips pressing in a tight line. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“That means I have a proposition for you.”
“This ought to be good.” She crosses her arms over her chest. The stance should be defiant, but the only thing it does is push her tits higher.
Stop thinking about her tits and get down to business.
“You’re pissy because everybody is still talking about how your ex cheated on you, and they think you want to get back with him.”
“What the hell…”
I lift my hands to stop her from speaking. “I just call it as I see it. Doesn’t mean I think the same, or care one bit if you want to get back with him or not.”
“Well, I don’t. Jack and I are over.”
“Good.” I nod. Hearing her say it does things to me I don’t want to examine too closely. “But that doesn’t mean shit because we both know that people don’t care about the truth. They want drama. So, let’s give it to them. God knows we already started.”
“Oh, not we, you.” Jessica pushes off the hood and moves closer, stabbing her finger in my chest, and then once again for good measure. “You started it by kissing me. It wasn’t even that good of a kiss.”
I wrap my fingers around hers to stop her from poking me further. If this is going to work, we’ll definitely have to work on that.
“Wasn’t a good kiss?” I almost choke on the words. “What the hell do you know about good kissing? You dated a hockey player for half of last year.”
She huffs. “I don’t get what your feud is with hockey players, but Jack was an excellent kisser.”
My jaw clenches at her words. The last thing I want is to be compared to Jack-fucking-Morgan, a king douchebag.
“Then did you stop to think that maybe it’s you who’s the problem?” The words come out of my mouth before I can think better of them.
Jessica flinches like I slapped her, her face turning pale. Instantly, I regret my outburst. She might drive me insane, but that was a low blow. A really low blow.
“Jess…”
She doesn’t let me finish. Tugging her hand out of my grip, she pulls back without saying a word. Sliding into her car, she closes the door behind her and drives away.
And I let her.
Fuck.
Chapter Five
JESSICA
“Who does he think he is?” I ask in lieu of hello as soon as Evie opens her front door. Not waiting for her answer, I walk past her and up the stairs to her room.
“Umm… I guess that depends on who he is.”
“Fucking Noah Russell, that’s who! Seriously, how could you date that guy? He’s infuriating.”
Great, and now I can’t stop thinking about Noah kissing Evie. And kissing me.
Then did you stop to think that maybe it’s you who’s the problem?
Is he right? Am I really the problem here? Is there something wrong with me? Something that caused Jack to cheat?
“Noah?” Evie’s question stops me from falling further down the rabbit hole. There is interest in her voice that wasn’t there only seconds ago.
“Yes, Noah. Don’t act like you don’t know it.”
As soon as I’m in her room, I throw myself face first onto her bed, my body bouncing off the mattress as I groan loudly.
“Wanna tell me what happened?”
The mattress dips down when she sits next to me.
I turn my head to the side to face her. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you earlier, Eves.”
Evie waves me off, a runaway strand of her blonde hair falling in her face. She blows it away, but it only moves a tiny bit to the side, while the rest of her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun. “It’s already forgiven. So…” She pokes me in the side. “What happened with Noah?”
I roll to my back and my shirt skims up, revealing a stripe of my belly, but I don’t bother pulling it down. It’ll get cold soon enough, and I plan to use every warm day left to dress in skirts and dresses.
“That’s what I’d like to know too! You guys left, and I went to drop off my books, and then these girls were talking shit a few lockers down. The next thing I know, bam, he’s walking toward me and kissing me in the middle of the school hallway! Seriously, what is wrong with these guys? Isn’t there anybody normal left in this godforsaken town?” I huff, not one to hide my exasperation.
“Was it any good?” Evie asks suddenly, her amber eyes shining brightly behind her glasses.
“What?” I frown at her, completely thrown off by her question.
“The kiss. Was it any good?”
“Didn’t you hear a word of what I just said?” I sit upright and cross my arms over my chest, glaring at her.
She waves me off once again. “I heard all the important things. Now tell me.”
“What, you wanna compare notes now?” I lift my brow in question. The question sounds teasing, but there is no escaping the pang of hurt I feel. Am I ever going to be enough?
“God, no!” Her astonishment is almost palpable, eyes growing wide in surprise. “Why would you say that?”
“Because you dated him before dating Liam?”
“We both know Noah was…” She pushes her glasses up her nose, trying to come up with the right words. “Well, never right for me. Kissing him was like kissing a brother.”
Evie shudders at the words.
There was nothing brotherly about the way he kissed me.
The thought comes out of nowhere, surprising the hell out of me. Shaking my head, I push it back.