Chapter 13
Belle stopped at the door to the kitchen and turned to Shawn. "Do you think they'll know what we were doing?" After the two danced, they kissed in the sand for about half-an-hour before the night air grew too chilly for the both of them.
Shawn looked at Belle's messy hair that had wet sand clinging to many of the strands. She had sand stuck all over her back, arms and legs and Shawn doubted he was sand-less. It was pretty obvious they weren't exactly playing Scrabble. "Hopefully, they're all sleeping by now."
"Hopefully? Well, don't you want them to know we're a couple now?"
Shawn grinned goofily at the word couple. "Of course I do. But I doubt you want them to know we've been making out for thirty minutes. I'm sure Brady--" Shawn stopped talking when Brady's name escaped his mouth.
"You're sure Brady what?"
"Will beat me senseless."
"What are you talking about?" Belle said, smiling. "He'll be happy for us."
"Um...Belle, remember his rule?"
"What rule? Shawn, did you hit your head or something?"
"Well, Brady told me he refused to let you have a serious boyfriend before you turned eighteen." Belle's jaw dropped in shock. "Oh, and, um, something about my head being up my ass if I ever touched you."
"I can't believe him," Belle shouted. "He's so--let me, huh? Well, you know what? I'm telling him, anyway," she said calming down. "If I just explain I'm in love and I'm happy, he won't get mad. Besides, he's not my master, I can do what I want. Right?"
"Wrong."
"What? Why?"
"Well, I don't want to die at an early age, for one thing."
"So what are we supposed to do? Just sneak around behind Brady's back?" A devilish grin grew on Shawn's face and Belle shook her head rapidly. "Oh, no, Shawn. We're not going to have this big secret relationship. We're not Monica and Chandler here."
"Come on, Belle."
"You know I hate lying...especially to Brady."
"We can just sneak around just for a little bit," Shawn said, his mind racing. "Doesn't it sound just a little bit exciting to you?"
"No! Not at all. It sounds stupid and...retarded and...dumb."
"Good with the adjectives there, Belle. Must've been a pro at Mad Libs."
Belle hit Shawn on the shoulder. "Shawn! I'm serious. There is no way I'm going to lie to my brother."
"Hey, you two." Brady said. Shawn and Belle had sneaked upstairs, not even seeing Jason kiss Mimi, and both had their turn at taking a shower. A few minutes later, Brady had walked in their bedroom as Shawn was watching television and Belle was finishing unpacking.
"We got lost," Shawn immediately said, thrown off-guard by Brady's appearance.
Brady crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Thanks for sparing me of having to ask my question, Shawn. So, lost, huh? Yeah, that straight line of an empty beach sure is confusing. What really happened, kids?"
Belle stepped in front of her brother and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Brady," Shawn closed his eyes in fear. Just get it over with and tell him, Belle, he thought. "What Shawn meant to say is that we lost track of time."
Shawn's eyes popped open and Brady glanced over in his direction. "Lost track of time?"
Belle nodded. "Yeah, neither of us had a watch on us, so when we got back from talking on the beach, we didn't even realize how late it was."
"Is that true, Shawn?"
"You know Belle...couldn't lie to save her life."
Brady nodded and smiled. "All right...I'll see you guys in the morning, then. No sharing the same bed." He kissed Belle on the cheek and headed off to his room.
Belle closed the door behind him and locked it. She turned around and smiled at Shawn. "Got lost, huh? You'd think all those years of being a rebel would teach you how to tell a good lie."
"Oh, yeah, and how did you learn?"
"I didn't. It just...came to me, I guess," she shrugged nonchalantly, even though inside Belle couldn't help feeling proud that Brady bought her story. She lied down on the bed next to Shawn and curled up next to him, placing her arm across his chest as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I thought you were going to tell him the truth."
"Well, I decided Spring Break is time to lighten and liven up. Who knows, maybe this will be exciting. Besides, I want to find out how things are going to be between us before our friends start gushing how cute we are or asking about our every moment together," Belle said, smiling.
"What do you mean, how things are going to be between us?"
"Shawn, we've only been a couple for a few hours. Everything is perfect now, but I just want to see how we work in a relationship, without any interference." Belle kissed Shawn lightly after looking into his concerned eyes. "Shawn, don't worry, I don't mean I want to see if being your girlfriend will be good or bad. I just want to be with you without having to worry about everyone pushing me one way or the other."
"And we can't do that with Mimi and Chloe blabbing about how great it is that we finally woke up, or with Brady giving us his 10 Commandments of Dating."
"Exactly. But we're only playing this 'sneaking around' game this week. I want to be able to be with you and kiss you when we get back to Salem without worrying about being 'found out'. So once this trip is over, we tell everyone. Deal?"
"Deal," Shawn said, sealing it with a kiss.
Chapter 14
*Thanks to Christina for the help!*
Brady flopped down on his bead and sighed loudly. Jason and Mimi were still downstairs...Belle and Shawn were in their bedrooms...and Philip and Chloe were God knows where. And here he was, all by his lonesome. He turned on his side and wondered why Chloe was running away from Philip. All of a sudden, Brady sat up on his bed. "No, she couldn't have!" he shouted to himself.
Philip ran out the front door and saw Chloe sitting in the rent-a-car in the driveway. Philip knew Shawn had the keys, so she wasn't planning on going anywhere. Philip collected his breath and marched over to the car. He opened up the passenger side door as a light rain began to fall down.
"Philip..." Chloe whispered. She had tear stains all over her face and her make-up was all rubbed off.
Philip leaned down to get into the car, but his towel got loose on his way and dropped to the street beneath him.
There was a silence like time had frozen. Philip stood still in an awkward daze as Chloe dropped her jaw and widened her eyes. Finally, she broke the spell.
"Philip, what are you doing!?," she shouted as her hands flew up to her eyes. Philip quickly bent down and rewrapped himself with his towel as his face grew red. He climbed into the car and shut the door.
"Watch the penis."
"What?!"
"Glasses! Watch the glasses! My glasses...I think I put them on the passenger seat..." Chloe fumbled through her words, still with her hands over her eyes.
"Oh...no, they're up here on the dashboard. And Chloe, you can open your eyes now."
"Are you...decent?"
"Yes, Chloe. I'm 100% naked-free."
Chloe slowly lowered her hands and looked over at Philip's towel. "I wouldn't say 100%."
"Chloe...I'm sorry I screamed at you before."
Chloe wrung her hands together. "No, I'm sorry...I...I wasn't being fair."
"Chloe, I just want--"
"No, Philip, let me speak. If I don't do this now, I'm scared I won't ever be able to. I know that I...well, I was just so scared...I don't know what to...I don't want you to be mad...Philip you have to understa--"
"Um...Chloe? Can you, like, pick a sentence?"
Chloe looked up at Philip and sighed. "Philip, you deserve better than what I have to offer," she said all in one breath.
"What are you talking about? There's no one better than you."
"Philip, please stop! I can't take you saying all those things to me anymore!"
"Chloe...I don't understand..."
"I betrayed you Philip! You should hate me!"
"Betray...?"
Chloe took a shaky breath. "I've been acting this way because I feel so guilty. Sometimes I feel like I can forget what happened...but I just can't. I can't believe I'm about to tell you this."
Philip felt nauseous and took in his own shaky breath. "Tell me."
Chloe finally meet Philip's eyes. "Remember the surprise birthday party Shawn threw for Belle a few weeks ago?"
Philip nodded. "Yeah, it was at the pub."
Chloe closed her eyes...the memory played out in her mind as she recounted her tale for Philip.
**Chloe and Philip had just finished slow-dancing. Everything was so perfect with them, everything felt so right. Philip decided to go ask Belle if she opened his present and Chloe went outside to get some air.
"Well, well, Chloe Lane. Seems you and Loverboy are getting pretty close."
Chloe spun around at the sound of the voice. "Brady. Why aren't you inside?"
"I can't stand the incessant giggling of my sister for more than an hour."
Chloe nodded and turned back to go inside. She didn't really feel like talking to Brady when she could be with Philip.
"So, are you in love?" Brady called after her.
Chloe stopped short in her tracks and shortly turned around. "That's none of your business, Brady."**
"What does this have to do with me, Chloe? It's just another story Brady being Brady. I don't see the betrayal yet," Philip interrupted, impatient.
Chloe sighed in exasperation. "Philip, please, I'm trying, ok?"
**"Come on, Chloe. It's pretty obvious that you think you are."
Chloe turned back for the door again but stopped when she digested Brady's words. "Think?"
"Yeah. Think. You can't really know what love is. Your, what, sixteen? Not to mention this is your first boyfriend."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, how could you know if your in love with him if you have nothing else to compare it to?"
"I'm not going to listen to this, Brady."
"So leave."
For some reason, she didn't want Brady to think she was only involved in some crush. She didn't want anyone to think that. Chloe wanted everyone to know that she was in love.**
"Aw, Chloe. You're so sweet," Philip interrupted again, grinning.
"Philip!"
"Sorry."
**"I don't need anything else to compare my love for Philip to," Chloe retorted back to Brady.
"I mean," Brady continued, ignoring Chloe's comment. "Philip's the first guy you've ever even kissed. How do you know you're in love with him when you've never kissed anyone else?" He got up in Chloe's face and tried to read her expression.
Chloe thought about his words. It was true...Philip was her first boyfriend...how did she know it was love if she never had even mere feelings for anyone else? What if Philip only was a crush? How could she tell her feelings for Philip were for real? How could she tell that Philip's kisses were special and not superficial?
Chloe's lips reached for Brady's before she even knew what she was doing. Their lips pressed together and Brady pushed himself closer to her. It felt like it wasn't even her doing it...it felt like the real Chloe was watching herself. She pulled herself off of Brady once she realized what was happening.
"See?" Brady whispered in his ear. "You only think you are. Would you have kissed me if you were in love with Philip?"
"You asshole!" Chloe screamed.**
"You kissed him?!" Philip yelled.
"Philip--I...I didn't even know what I was doing--"
"What, did aliens have control over your body? No, Chloe, you knew what you were doing!"
"What I mean is--I was so confused...he put all these ideas in my mind and I had..."
"Are you trying to justify this?!" Philip shouted. "I remember, at the party, you came back ten minutes later and acted like regular old Chloe. And you had all these weeks to tell me this. Did you feel even a little regret?"
"All I feel is regret, Philip! I regret that moment every second of my life! That's why I've been acting so strange...I felt--I feel so guilty. I never wanted to hurt you, Philip. But...Brady made me realize how scared I was. Scared that what we have isn't love at all. I had to see that what we had was real."
"By kissing him? That is the stupidest thing I ever heard, Chloe!"
"But I realized that I am in love! With Brady, I felt nothing! But with you--"
"You couldn't have found another way? You couldn't just have trusted me?"
"Philip, you know how hard it is for me to trust people ever since Nancy gave me up for adoption."
"Goddammit, Chloe, all you care about is someone breaking your trust! Don't you even see that you broke mine?"
"Philip, I am so sorry..." she sobbed, reaching out for his hand.
"Don't you dare touch me," Philip muttered as he swung open the car door to reveal the light rain had began to pour out of the sky.
"Philip! Please!" Chloe screamed through her sobs, but Philip slammed the door on her words. The rain pounded on the car and the driveway, but the only sound Chloe heard was her heart breaking in two.
Chapter 15
Jason pressed himself harder against Mimi and she grabbed his face to pull him closer. He felt so...good to her. It was her first real kiss and it was nothing like she imagined. God, Mimi thought This is passionate, this is sweet, this is gentle, this is...wait a minute, this is Jason!
Mimi pushed Jason off of her so hard that he landed on his butt with a thump.
"God, Jason, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Mimi screamed, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand.
"Me? Damn, Mimi, you're the one trying out for the WWF or something..." Jason said, struggling to get up.
"What--how--why?" Mimi muttered, trying to make sense of what just happened.
"Well, 'what' is what we normal folk call a kiiisss," Jason said, drawing out the word slowly as if Mimi never heard it before. "'How' is that I press my lips against yours and you do the same to me. 'Why'...well, you got me there. Do you want the 'who', 'where' and 'when' to round out your five W's?"
"Oh, ha, ha, Jason. You're just so freaking funny. Watch me laugh! Ha, ha, HA!" Mimi shouted.
"God, girl, chill. Did you forget your medication this morning or what?"
"Screw you, Jason," Mimi murmured, running her hands through her hair. "Why did you do that?"
"What?"
"Oh, you know very well what...why did you kiss me?"
"Oh...I don't know. Maybe I temporarily went insane. Maybe my mind went blank and thought you were Jennifer Lopez for a minute there. Maybe I knew you'd kiss back," Jason said, smirking. He enjoyed watching Mimi squirm. Honestly, Jason didn't know why he did it or why she responded. There was just so much tension in the room and it was the first way he thought of to get rid of it. Jason did know that it felt good. It was almost addictive...he wanted more.
"I just kissed back--because--because--you know, Jason, I hate you! You think just because you're this big stupid jock every girl is going to want you to screw them. But not me! No, I--"
Jason lost her as soon as she opened her mouth. All he could think was: Mimi talking. Could be kissing.
Jason grabbed her face again and kissed her, more gently than the first time. Mimi let out a whimper and kissed back hungrily. She wanted this--she wanted a guy to want her. Jason's hands pushed her hair back behind her ears, grabbed her shoulders, trailed down her back and eventually innocently grabbed her butt.
Mimi pushed Jason off of her with a yell of disgust as he landed on his ass again.
"Would you stop doing that?!" They shouted at each other the same time.
"My ass is not a handrest, you know!" Mimi yelled, crossing her arms.
Jason ignored her comment as he got up. "You know, Meems, you could have fooled me...from that kiss, I wouldn't say that you hate me at all..."
"Oh, I do. I really do, trust me. It's just...just..."
"What, Mimi?"
"You caught me off-guard, that's all! I just kissed back because...I didn't know what else to do! Yeah. And why do you keep kissing me?!"
"Come on, Meems. You didn't feel it? Because I sure did."
"Yeah, the only thing you felt was my butt."
"OK, well, that was nice, yeah," Jason said, grinning devilishly. "But what I meant was didn't you feel how good it was?"
"I--" Mimi bit her lip. "No. It sucked. Good night," Mimi said, turning to go upstairs. Jason grabbed the crook of her arm and pulled her towards him. Caught off balance, Mimi flew back right into Jason's chest. His strong...muscular...chest... Mimi didn't even notice that her fingers were trailing up and down Jason's shirt. She looked up to see Jason gazing down at her. His deep...beautiful...eyes... This gorgeous guy...wanting her. Wanting to be with her...out of all people. Mimi couldn't think straight anymore...all she could think about was those eyes...that body...she wondered what other beautiful secrets Jason had as her fingers found their way to his belt. She fumbled with it until jumping back as though she received an electric shock. What was she doing?!
"Hey, I was fine with that you know," Jason said, giving the same mischievous grin.
"Well, I wasn't!" Mimi said, blushing so much she looked like a tomato. "I--I mean, come on, Jason, it's you," she said in disgust.
"Wow. Thanks, Meems, you're such a sweetheart."
"You've been an asshole to me all these years--"
"Get over it, Mimi!"
"No! You're a creep! A jackass! A--a--"
"A damn good kisser."
"Yes," she breathed. "I mean, no! No!" Mimi yelled, grabbing her head in confusion.
Jason smiled as an idea popped into his head. "You know, Mimi, you might hate me, you might not. But all I know is that you're not very experienced--"
"Hey!"
"Well, you're not. But who cares? Because you are damn good at kissing. And so am I." Mimi rolled her eyes. "So why don't I help you?"
"Help me?"
"Yeah...I mean, yeah, you're really good, but I mean, you know what they say."
"What? The girls at our school? Yeah, I know. Jason Welles is an egotistical jackass player."
"No," Jason said impatiently. "What I meant is the universal 'they'. They say practice makes perfect. So what I propose is that I help you. I help you practice your, uh, technique and by the time you find the guy you really love, you'll blow him--"
"What?!"
"Blow him away, Mimi."
"Oh."
"Anyway," Jason said, clapping his hands together, proud of his little plan. Hey, he gets to keep making out with a cute girl for a week who knows what she's doing despite her inexperience, and there's no emotional attachment...she's obviously not going to fall for him if she hates him. What else was he going to with his time this week? What could go wrong? "So, what do you think? You wanna make out?"
"God, Jason, you really think I'm going to fall for that?!" Mimi yelled. He looked up at her...those eyes...that body...
"Yeah, okay," she said, planting a kiss on him roughly.
Belle stopped at the door to the kitchen and turned to Shawn. "Do you think they'll know what we were doing?" After the two danced, they kissed in the sand for about half-an-hour before the night air grew too chilly for the both of them.
Shawn looked at Belle's messy hair that had wet sand clinging to many of the strands. She had sand stuck all over her back, arms and legs and Shawn doubted he was sand-less. It was pretty obvious they weren't exactly playing Scrabble. "Hopefully, they're all sleeping by now."
"Hopefully? Well, don't you want them to know we're a couple now?"
Shawn grinned goofily at the word couple. "Of course I do. But I doubt you want them to know we've been making out for thirty minutes. I'm sure Brady--" Shawn stopped talking when Brady's name escaped his mouth.
"You're sure Brady what?"
"Will beat me senseless."
"What are you talking about?" Belle said, smiling. "He'll be happy for us."
"Um...Belle, remember his rule?"
"What rule? Shawn, did you hit your head or something?"
"Well, Brady told me he refused to let you have a serious boyfriend before you turned eighteen." Belle's jaw dropped in shock. "Oh, and, um, something about my head being up my ass if I ever touched you."
"I can't believe him," Belle shouted. "He's so--let me, huh? Well, you know what? I'm telling him, anyway," she said calming down. "If I just explain I'm in love and I'm happy, he won't get mad. Besides, he's not my master, I can do what I want. Right?"
"Wrong."
"What? Why?"
"Well, I don't want to die at an early age, for one thing."
"So what are we supposed to do? Just sneak around behind Brady's back?" A devilish grin grew on Shawn's face and Belle shook her head rapidly. "Oh, no, Shawn. We're not going to have this big secret relationship. We're not Monica and Chandler here."
"Come on, Belle."
"You know I hate lying...especially to Brady."
"We can just sneak around just for a little bit," Shawn said, his mind racing. "Doesn't it sound just a little bit exciting to you?"
"No! Not at all. It sounds stupid and...retarded and...dumb."
"Good with the adjectives there, Belle. Must've been a pro at Mad Libs."
Belle hit Shawn on the shoulder. "Shawn! I'm serious. There is no way I'm going to lie to my brother."
"Hey, you two." Brady said. Shawn and Belle had sneaked upstairs, not even seeing Jason kiss Mimi, and both had their turn at taking a shower. A few minutes later, Brady had walked in their bedroom as Shawn was watching television and Belle was finishing unpacking.
"We got lost," Shawn immediately said, thrown off-guard by Brady's appearance.
Brady crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Thanks for sparing me of having to ask my question, Shawn. So, lost, huh? Yeah, that straight line of an empty beach sure is confusing. What really happened, kids?"
Belle stepped in front of her brother and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Brady," Shawn closed his eyes in fear. Just get it over with and tell him, Belle, he thought. "What Shawn meant to say is that we lost track of time."
Shawn's eyes popped open and Brady glanced over in his direction. "Lost track of time?"
Belle nodded. "Yeah, neither of us had a watch on us, so when we got back from talking on the beach, we didn't even realize how late it was."
"Is that true, Shawn?"
"You know Belle...couldn't lie to save her life."
Brady nodded and smiled. "All right...I'll see you guys in the morning, then. No sharing the same bed." He kissed Belle on the cheek and headed off to his room.
Belle closed the door behind him and locked it. She turned around and smiled at Shawn. "Got lost, huh? You'd think all those years of being a rebel would teach you how to tell a good lie."
"Oh, yeah, and how did you learn?"
"I didn't. It just...came to me, I guess," she shrugged nonchalantly, even though inside Belle couldn't help feeling proud that Brady bought her story. She lied down on the bed next to Shawn and curled up next to him, placing her arm across his chest as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I thought you were going to tell him the truth."
"Well, I decided Spring Break is time to lighten and liven up. Who knows, maybe this will be exciting. Besides, I want to find out how things are going to be between us before our friends start gushing how cute we are or asking about our every moment together," Belle said, smiling.
"What do you mean, how things are going to be between us?"
"Shawn, we've only been a couple for a few hours. Everything is perfect now, but I just want to see how we work in a relationship, without any interference." Belle kissed Shawn lightly after looking into his concerned eyes. "Shawn, don't worry, I don't mean I want to see if being your girlfriend will be good or bad. I just want to be with you without having to worry about everyone pushing me one way or the other."
"And we can't do that with Mimi and Chloe blabbing about how great it is that we finally woke up, or with Brady giving us his 10 Commandments of Dating."
"Exactly. But we're only playing this 'sneaking around' game this week. I want to be able to be with you and kiss you when we get back to Salem without worrying about being 'found out'. So once this trip is over, we tell everyone. Deal?"
"Deal," Shawn said, sealing it with a kiss.
Chapter 14
*Thanks to Christina for the help!*
Brady flopped down on his bead and sighed loudly. Jason and Mimi were still downstairs...Belle and Shawn were in their bedrooms...and Philip and Chloe were God knows where. And here he was, all by his lonesome. He turned on his side and wondered why Chloe was running away from Philip. All of a sudden, Brady sat up on his bed. "No, she couldn't have!" he shouted to himself.
Philip ran out the front door and saw Chloe sitting in the rent-a-car in the driveway. Philip knew Shawn had the keys, so she wasn't planning on going anywhere. Philip collected his breath and marched over to the car. He opened up the passenger side door as a light rain began to fall down.
"Philip..." Chloe whispered. She had tear stains all over her face and her make-up was all rubbed off.
Philip leaned down to get into the car, but his towel got loose on his way and dropped to the street beneath him.
There was a silence like time had frozen. Philip stood still in an awkward daze as Chloe dropped her jaw and widened her eyes. Finally, she broke the spell.
"Philip, what are you doing!?," she shouted as her hands flew up to her eyes. Philip quickly bent down and rewrapped himself with his towel as his face grew red. He climbed into the car and shut the door.
"Watch the penis."
"What?!"
"Glasses! Watch the glasses! My glasses...I think I put them on the passenger seat..." Chloe fumbled through her words, still with her hands over her eyes.
"Oh...no, they're up here on the dashboard. And Chloe, you can open your eyes now."
"Are you...decent?"
"Yes, Chloe. I'm 100% naked-free."
Chloe slowly lowered her hands and looked over at Philip's towel. "I wouldn't say 100%."
"Chloe...I'm sorry I screamed at you before."
Chloe wrung her hands together. "No, I'm sorry...I...I wasn't being fair."
"Chloe, I just want--"
"No, Philip, let me speak. If I don't do this now, I'm scared I won't ever be able to. I know that I...well, I was just so scared...I don't know what to...I don't want you to be mad...Philip you have to understa--"
"Um...Chloe? Can you, like, pick a sentence?"
Chloe looked up at Philip and sighed. "Philip, you deserve better than what I have to offer," she said all in one breath.
"What are you talking about? There's no one better than you."
"Philip, please stop! I can't take you saying all those things to me anymore!"
"Chloe...I don't understand..."
"I betrayed you Philip! You should hate me!"
"Betray...?"
Chloe took a shaky breath. "I've been acting this way because I feel so guilty. Sometimes I feel like I can forget what happened...but I just can't. I can't believe I'm about to tell you this."
Philip felt nauseous and took in his own shaky breath. "Tell me."
Chloe finally meet Philip's eyes. "Remember the surprise birthday party Shawn threw for Belle a few weeks ago?"
Philip nodded. "Yeah, it was at the pub."
Chloe closed her eyes...the memory played out in her mind as she recounted her tale for Philip.
**Chloe and Philip had just finished slow-dancing. Everything was so perfect with them, everything felt so right. Philip decided to go ask Belle if she opened his present and Chloe went outside to get some air.
"Well, well, Chloe Lane. Seems you and Loverboy are getting pretty close."
Chloe spun around at the sound of the voice. "Brady. Why aren't you inside?"
"I can't stand the incessant giggling of my sister for more than an hour."
Chloe nodded and turned back to go inside. She didn't really feel like talking to Brady when she could be with Philip.
"So, are you in love?" Brady called after her.
Chloe stopped short in her tracks and shortly turned around. "That's none of your business, Brady."**
"What does this have to do with me, Chloe? It's just another story Brady being Brady. I don't see the betrayal yet," Philip interrupted, impatient.
Chloe sighed in exasperation. "Philip, please, I'm trying, ok?"
**"Come on, Chloe. It's pretty obvious that you think you are."
Chloe turned back for the door again but stopped when she digested Brady's words. "Think?"
"Yeah. Think. You can't really know what love is. Your, what, sixteen? Not to mention this is your first boyfriend."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, how could you know if your in love with him if you have nothing else to compare it to?"
"I'm not going to listen to this, Brady."
"So leave."
For some reason, she didn't want Brady to think she was only involved in some crush. She didn't want anyone to think that. Chloe wanted everyone to know that she was in love.**
"Aw, Chloe. You're so sweet," Philip interrupted again, grinning.
"Philip!"
"Sorry."
**"I don't need anything else to compare my love for Philip to," Chloe retorted back to Brady.
"I mean," Brady continued, ignoring Chloe's comment. "Philip's the first guy you've ever even kissed. How do you know you're in love with him when you've never kissed anyone else?" He got up in Chloe's face and tried to read her expression.
Chloe thought about his words. It was true...Philip was her first boyfriend...how did she know it was love if she never had even mere feelings for anyone else? What if Philip only was a crush? How could she tell her feelings for Philip were for real? How could she tell that Philip's kisses were special and not superficial?
Chloe's lips reached for Brady's before she even knew what she was doing. Their lips pressed together and Brady pushed himself closer to her. It felt like it wasn't even her doing it...it felt like the real Chloe was watching herself. She pulled herself off of Brady once she realized what was happening.
"See?" Brady whispered in his ear. "You only think you are. Would you have kissed me if you were in love with Philip?"
"You asshole!" Chloe screamed.**
"You kissed him?!" Philip yelled.
"Philip--I...I didn't even know what I was doing--"
"What, did aliens have control over your body? No, Chloe, you knew what you were doing!"
"What I mean is--I was so confused...he put all these ideas in my mind and I had..."
"Are you trying to justify this?!" Philip shouted. "I remember, at the party, you came back ten minutes later and acted like regular old Chloe. And you had all these weeks to tell me this. Did you feel even a little regret?"
"All I feel is regret, Philip! I regret that moment every second of my life! That's why I've been acting so strange...I felt--I feel so guilty. I never wanted to hurt you, Philip. But...Brady made me realize how scared I was. Scared that what we have isn't love at all. I had to see that what we had was real."
"By kissing him? That is the stupidest thing I ever heard, Chloe!"
"But I realized that I am in love! With Brady, I felt nothing! But with you--"
"You couldn't have found another way? You couldn't just have trusted me?"
"Philip, you know how hard it is for me to trust people ever since Nancy gave me up for adoption."
"Goddammit, Chloe, all you care about is someone breaking your trust! Don't you even see that you broke mine?"
"Philip, I am so sorry..." she sobbed, reaching out for his hand.
"Don't you dare touch me," Philip muttered as he swung open the car door to reveal the light rain had began to pour out of the sky.
"Philip! Please!" Chloe screamed through her sobs, but Philip slammed the door on her words. The rain pounded on the car and the driveway, but the only sound Chloe heard was her heart breaking in two.
Chapter 15
Jason pressed himself harder against Mimi and she grabbed his face to pull him closer. He felt so...good to her. It was her first real kiss and it was nothing like she imagined. God, Mimi thought This is passionate, this is sweet, this is gentle, this is...wait a minute, this is Jason!
Mimi pushed Jason off of her so hard that he landed on his butt with a thump.
"God, Jason, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Mimi screamed, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand.
"Me? Damn, Mimi, you're the one trying out for the WWF or something..." Jason said, struggling to get up.
"What--how--why?" Mimi muttered, trying to make sense of what just happened.
"Well, 'what' is what we normal folk call a kiiisss," Jason said, drawing out the word slowly as if Mimi never heard it before. "'How' is that I press my lips against yours and you do the same to me. 'Why'...well, you got me there. Do you want the 'who', 'where' and 'when' to round out your five W's?"
"Oh, ha, ha, Jason. You're just so freaking funny. Watch me laugh! Ha, ha, HA!" Mimi shouted.
"God, girl, chill. Did you forget your medication this morning or what?"
"Screw you, Jason," Mimi murmured, running her hands through her hair. "Why did you do that?"
"What?"
"Oh, you know very well what...why did you kiss me?"
"Oh...I don't know. Maybe I temporarily went insane. Maybe my mind went blank and thought you were Jennifer Lopez for a minute there. Maybe I knew you'd kiss back," Jason said, smirking. He enjoyed watching Mimi squirm. Honestly, Jason didn't know why he did it or why she responded. There was just so much tension in the room and it was the first way he thought of to get rid of it. Jason did know that it felt good. It was almost addictive...he wanted more.
"I just kissed back--because--because--you know, Jason, I hate you! You think just because you're this big stupid jock every girl is going to want you to screw them. But not me! No, I--"
Jason lost her as soon as she opened her mouth. All he could think was: Mimi talking. Could be kissing.
Jason grabbed her face again and kissed her, more gently than the first time. Mimi let out a whimper and kissed back hungrily. She wanted this--she wanted a guy to want her. Jason's hands pushed her hair back behind her ears, grabbed her shoulders, trailed down her back and eventually innocently grabbed her butt.
Mimi pushed Jason off of her with a yell of disgust as he landed on his ass again.
"Would you stop doing that?!" They shouted at each other the same time.
"My ass is not a handrest, you know!" Mimi yelled, crossing her arms.
Jason ignored her comment as he got up. "You know, Meems, you could have fooled me...from that kiss, I wouldn't say that you hate me at all..."
"Oh, I do. I really do, trust me. It's just...just..."
"What, Mimi?"
"You caught me off-guard, that's all! I just kissed back because...I didn't know what else to do! Yeah. And why do you keep kissing me?!"
"Come on, Meems. You didn't feel it? Because I sure did."
"Yeah, the only thing you felt was my butt."
"OK, well, that was nice, yeah," Jason said, grinning devilishly. "But what I meant was didn't you feel how good it was?"
"I--" Mimi bit her lip. "No. It sucked. Good night," Mimi said, turning to go upstairs. Jason grabbed the crook of her arm and pulled her towards him. Caught off balance, Mimi flew back right into Jason's chest. His strong...muscular...chest... Mimi didn't even notice that her fingers were trailing up and down Jason's shirt. She looked up to see Jason gazing down at her. His deep...beautiful...eyes... This gorgeous guy...wanting her. Wanting to be with her...out of all people. Mimi couldn't think straight anymore...all she could think about was those eyes...that body...she wondered what other beautiful secrets Jason had as her fingers found their way to his belt. She fumbled with it until jumping back as though she received an electric shock. What was she doing?!
"Hey, I was fine with that you know," Jason said, giving the same mischievous grin.
"Well, I wasn't!" Mimi said, blushing so much she looked like a tomato. "I--I mean, come on, Jason, it's you," she said in disgust.
"Wow. Thanks, Meems, you're such a sweetheart."
"You've been an asshole to me all these years--"
"Get over it, Mimi!"
"No! You're a creep! A jackass! A--a--"
"A damn good kisser."
"Yes," she breathed. "I mean, no! No!" Mimi yelled, grabbing her head in confusion.
Jason smiled as an idea popped into his head. "You know, Mimi, you might hate me, you might not. But all I know is that you're not very experienced--"
"Hey!"
"Well, you're not. But who cares? Because you are damn good at kissing. And so am I." Mimi rolled her eyes. "So why don't I help you?"
"Help me?"
"Yeah...I mean, yeah, you're really good, but I mean, you know what they say."
"What? The girls at our school? Yeah, I know. Jason Welles is an egotistical jackass player."
"No," Jason said impatiently. "What I meant is the universal 'they'. They say practice makes perfect. So what I propose is that I help you. I help you practice your, uh, technique and by the time you find the guy you really love, you'll blow him--"
"What?!"
"Blow him away, Mimi."
"Oh."
"Anyway," Jason said, clapping his hands together, proud of his little plan. Hey, he gets to keep making out with a cute girl for a week who knows what she's doing despite her inexperience, and there's no emotional attachment...she's obviously not going to fall for him if she hates him. What else was he going to with his time this week? What could go wrong? "So, what do you think? You wanna make out?"
"God, Jason, you really think I'm going to fall for that?!" Mimi yelled. He looked up at her...those eyes...that body...
"Yeah, okay," she said, planting a kiss on him roughly.