“Would you rather kiss Jason Mercado or Derek,” Alex asked with a giggle.
Alex wouldn’t be caught dead giggling normally, but she got a little punchy late at night.
“Duh, Jason. Derek is not all that hot.”
“Really? Last week he was.” She paused for a minute before torturing me. “So now Leo’s at the top of the list, and Derek is, what, mud?”
With a roll of my eyes, I said. “Derek was always mud. He was just nice to look at. And I already answered your question, so it’s my turn.”
Alex snorted.
“Would you rather kiss Jason or my brother?”
“Sean?”
“Quit stalling, bimbo. You know I mean Ian.”
“I’d rather kiss Jason, but I wouldn’t want to date him. The paparazzi would be way too annoying.”
“So you’d rather date Ian?”
“I already answered your question,” she said, mimicking me.
“Do you really want to date my brother, Alex?” I rolled over to look at her ignoring the ball of horror in the pit of my stomach. “If you do, I guess you should.”
“It would be cool wouldn’t it,” Alex said. “You, me, and Ian, together all the time. Just the three of us hanging out.”
My left eye started twitching. “Okay, stop. You’re making me nauseous.”
“But you said it was cool.”
“If you really like him, then date him. But you’ll have to split your life into Jen-time and gross disgusting boyfriend time. Plus, it would so be a waste to lose your virginity to a moron like my brother.”
“I wouldn’t sleep with him, Jen. With Ian, second base at best.” She shrugged. “Maybe third if I’ve been drinking.”
“You don’t drink.”
“True. But wait until basketball season is over next year and I’m not in training anymore. I’m going hog wild.”
I had a feeling she really would. A year from now when she had less to lose.
“To tell you the truth. I’m not that into him. If you’re getting over Derek, I may want to play with him a little bit.”
“You are welcome to him.” Anybody was better than my brother. I considered telling her about his video game but stopped myself.
“So seriously did Leo kiss you, or not?”
“No!”
“Does he make you all breathless and dizzy?”
I smiled. “Yeah. Of course, maybe it was the hybrid he was driving. I do love the environment.”
“He drives a hybrid?”
“His dad does, actually. Leo usually rides a Harley.”
Her jaw dropped. “Oh my God, Jen. That is so not fair. I’m the one who likes the older bad boy type. Not you.” She tossed a throw pillow at me.
“He’s not older.”
“Pulease. He’s at least nineteen. He just doesn’t want to say he’s been held back a couple of times.”
I didn’t have anything to say. I couldn’t reveal anything so I didn’t comment. “I know I usually don’t go for his type.”
“But...”
“Leo’s smokin’ hot.”
Alex laughed.
When I finally got to sleep, I dreamed I was obsessed with a giant tampon. I chased it through the mall until I finally woke up. Why did my dreams always have to be so weird?
Chapter Eight
Mom and Dad had strict rules about Sunday dinner. We ate at one o’clock and everybody had to show.
I ran through the door at ten ‘til and dashed upstairs to dump my bag and purse in my room.
Sean passed me in the hall carrying a book.
Ha! “Oh, cool. Whatcha reading?” I hadn’t had much time to enjoy his punishment.
“Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz,” Sean said with a smirk. “It’s really cool. It’s about this fourteen-year-old boy who’s a spy.”
“A boy? No way.” He was spoiled rotten. “Mom and Dad said they had to be girl books.”
He sneered at me. “I already read two girl books, so they let me read this one before starting back. They’re afraid I’ll hate reading altogether.”
“How could you have read two books already?”
“One of them was a Junie B. Jones.”
“Those don’t count. That’s only like a second-grade reading level.”
He shrugged. “Mom and Dad said it was fine.”
“No way.”
Sean gave me an exaggerated frown. “It was the toughest thirty minutes of my life.”
He could read a book like that in thirty minutes. “It does not count.”
“Go ask Mom.”
“I will!” That little creep was just lucky my RokrGirlz loop understood. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t let the punishments end with Mom and Dad.
Leaving Sean behind me in the hall, I raced down to the kitchen. “Mom! Did you really let Sean—”
Mom held up her hand. “We let him count one Junie B. Jones, and we’ve made it clear that the other books must be on grade level. As for the boy book break, I don’t think it’s such a bad idea. He’ll get through his ten required books in no time. The child has a month with no TV.”
“But—”
“End of discussion,” Mom said. “Now tell me about Alex’s. Did you have fun?”
I took a deep breath to control my irritation. “Yes. Her mother’s on another diet. We had Subway for dinner.”
“Another diet,” Mom said with a shake of her head.
“Soups on!” Dad yelled from the kitchen.
Uggh. Dad’s chili stunk. There wasn’t anything worse.
“Get your game face on,” Mom said. “I’ll cover for you after.”
Mom and I had a long-standing deal. I pretend to like Dad’s chili and Mom aids and abets my secret runs to Wendy’s afterwards.
“Yum, Dad,” I said as I went into the kitchen. “Smells great.”
Dad turned to smile at me. His favorite apron, from a Chili cook off in the 90’s, was smeared with tomato sauce. He took fifth out of five entries.
Dad’s chili hadn’t been so God awful when he first started cooking Sunday dinner. Sean and Ian had taunted hi
m into making the Chili hotter and hotter. A full bowl of the stuff would probably eat a hole right through my stomach.
Not to mention the other thing. The disgusting boy thing that went along with eating beans. My brothers spent the rest of the day trying to out-stink each other. Sometimes my mother sent them to their rooms. Most of the time, she and I just hid out. Sunday afternoons were the only time Mom willingly listened to me practice my drums. Dad joined us too when the stench escalated past his tolerance levels.
“I was in a fraternity,” Dad usually said. “I can take pretty much anything.”
For some reason, frat boys had never been a real turn on for me. Hmmm.
Before I could escape, I had to brave the chili.
“Sean! Ian!” My dad was rubbing his hands together like some maniacal villain.
“Must be really hot this time,” I whispered to my mother.
“Good thing I restocked the antacids,” she whispered back.
Sean came running in with Ian on his heels.
“Hope you brought you’re A-game, Dad,” Ian taunted.
Dad puffed up with male pride. “Don’t you worry, boy.”
Dad scooped us each a big bowl and passed around a basket of cornbread.
I managed to snag two giant squares like usual. Sean was already eating his chili, slurping it down like it didn’t have jalapeño peppers in it.
“Good, dad,” he grunted.
Ian dipped his bread into his chili and took a bite. “Mmgd.”
I took a bite and chased it with some soda. Then I started on the challenging task of pushing the chili around so it looked like I was eating it.
“Good, Dad,” I said after tearing off a piece of the buttery bread and sticking it in my mouth.
“Dude,” Ian said, then gulped his soda.
I couldn’t believe Alex actually thought Ian was the teensiest bit attractive. I’d known her forever. She used to have more sense than that.
Mom chewed her way through bite after bite with solid determination. “It’s a little too spicy, dear,” she said. Just like every week.
Sean laughed. “It’s not spicy at all,” he said. Then he took a big sip of his drink.
My dad’s face was red and he was sweating. I was pretty sure it was from the spices and not from standing over the hot stove since I hadn’t noticed anything strange about him when I came in. Plus, he had his Sunday uniform on, shorts and a ratty t-shirt. He couldn’t possibly be overheated from anything but the chili.