"WHAT are you doing?!"
Elizabeth shrieked. "Don't you knock?"
"Uh…" Conner stammered. He knew he should leave. Technically, the
second Elizabeth had shrieked, he should have left. That was what normal
people in this situation did. But with Elizabeth staring at him in pure
fury, and her chest heaving against the towel, Conner found that he was
practically glued to the spot. Then Conner smirked. This was just
another girl that was no different from the rest. He could play cool; all he
had to do was let his sweating body in on it.
"You can't pin this all on me, you know. What kind of person takes a
shower with the door unlocked? You're just asking for someone to barge
in. Or maybe you wanted me to come in," he said raising an eyebrow and
motioning to the shower stall.
Elizabeth was now turning an interesting shade of purple. Conner
smiled. God, it had been a long time since he had really smiled.
"My parents don't use this bathroom and I don't care if Jessica sees
me. Anyone else would have had the courtesy to knock. And you are by far
the most arrogant, rude person I have ever met!" Elizabeth said
crossing her arms over her chest.
Conner stared at her, unsure of what to say. Where were all his snide
comments that usually reduced any female to a puddle? Conner was used to
being in control, not being taunted by a half nude girl whose twin
sister he was seeing. Conner moved his eyes away from her face but that was
a mistake because Elizabeth's legs were hardly covered by the short
towel. "Uh, I'll knock next time if you lock the door." How pitiful was
that? Conner never gave in, but the small smile playing on Elizabeth's
lips was worth it. Almost.
"Okay," she said calmly. "Sounds fair." She gave him a pointed look.
"Now don't go bragging to all your friends that you caught me in a
towel."
Conner's smile grew larger and he stepped closer to her. He was pleased
to note her uncertainty. "I most certainly will. There is no way that
I'm keeping this quiet."
Elizabeth stepped closer still so that she was practically pressed up
against him. Conner drew in a breath and found himself struggling to
breathe. Was she going to kiss him?
"You tell that little story," Elizabeth whispered into his ear, her
breath tickling him causing him to loose total speech control. This girl
could ask Conner to be his love slave and he would probably give
in. "And I'll just let it slip that seeing Elizabeth Wakefield in a
towel caused the king of cool to be reduced to a stammering idiot." She
smiled and sauntered out.
Conner let out a huge breath and sunk against the door. What the heck
had just happened? Had Elizabeth actually gotten the better of him?
Conner covered his face with his hands. It had to have been the combination
of the stress, the steam, and the towel. Because there was no way on
earth that he was actually attracted to Elizabeth Wakefield.
"That was great everybody!" Jessica called out. "The results will be
posted on Monday. Good luck!" Jessica smiled brightly at all the
cheerleaders. She strolled over to Melissa Fox and her friends. The red haired
and black haired girls gave her a wary look and then glanced over at
Melissa.
"What's up?" Melissa said, smoothing down her shorts.
"I wanted to talk to you," Jessica said shifting. "Alone."
The other two girls scowled and walked off towards the locker room.
"Your lackeys?" Jessica asked, bemused.
"Something like that," Melissa said with a slight smile but her eyes
remained cautious.
"Listen, I know you're probably upset about not being captain this
year. If that had happened to me, I would be seriously ticked off. But I
was talking with Coach Laufeld and we looked over the tapes of old El
Carro games and we both decided that you're an awesome cheerleader. Way
better than anyone here today."
"So?" Melissa said bitingly. "You just wanted to rub it in my face that
you're going to be bossing me around?"
"Normally, yes," Jessica said laughing. "But I need your help. There's
going to be a bunch of new girls on the squad that I know nothing
about. I was thinking we could be co-captains. It would make blending
two different squads way easier."
Melissa was silent for a minute. "Are you kidding?" Jessica shook her
head. "Thanks," Melissa said quietly. "That's great."
Jessica turned to walk away.
"Jessica," Melissa said suddenly. "How would you like to hang out with
my friends at the Riot on Saturday night?"
Jessica hesitated. "After Conner's gig," Melissa said grinning.
"Okay," Jessica said. "Thanks." It wouldn't hurt to get close to El
Carro's most popular students. After all the blending of the two groups
was inevitable. And Melissa seemed cool.
Jessica headed towards the parking lot. She'd take a shower at home;
she really wanted to see Conner.
"Hey, Jess!" a voice called out.
"Hey, Tia," Jessica said smiling. "Awesome stuff today."
Tia shrugged. "So how's stoic boy? Is he adjusting okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Jessica, said. "A little cranky."
"That's normal," Tia said grinning. "How are things between you two?"
she said giggling.
"Great! We have a date on Friday. But there's one thing. He's so short
tempered sometimes and distant…am I doing something wrong?"
Tia hesitated a minute. "I love Conner, he's been my best friend
forever and he's a great friend…but he's kind of an idiot when it comes to
relationships. He's had a lot of girlfriends; he'll date a girl then
dump
her before it gets to serious. He can be pretty cruel sometimes. But
everyone is still all gaga over him."
"Oh," Jessica said.
"But I'm sure he can change," Tia said quickly, noting the crestfallen
look on Jessica's face. "I've always believed that there is one special
girl out there that will make Conner break all his stupid rules."
"Actually, you just described me in a way. I've dated a lot of guys,
casually, but I wasn't cruel…"
Tia placed a hand on Jessica's arm. "Listen, you're really great and I
know Conner thinks so too. I hope you're it, but I thought you should
know the game."
"Thanks."
"Oh, about the sarcasm and temper…he's like that with everyone!" Tia
said laughing.
Jessica grinned and started the jeep. She was going to knock Conner's
socks off!
"That was fun," Jessica said a few nights later. Her and Conner were
standing on the front step.
"Yeah," Conner said.
"You wanna come in?" Jessica said teasingly. "My parents aren't some
and neither is Liz…" Jessica trailed a finger along his chest.
Conner sighed. The date had been okay. Not horrible, but nothing
special. Basically they had spent the whole night talking about cheerleading,
acting, and Jessica's friends.
If Conner had wanted a gossip report he could have hung out with Tia
and saved himself forty dollars.
But Jessica was a lot of fun and she radiated energy and charm. And she was
breathtakingly beautiful. Suddenly another blond face popped into his
head but he quickly shoved it out. He wasn't ready to let go of Jessica
yet. "Where's Liz?" he blurted out and he mentally kicked himself.
"I don't know," Jessica said irritably. She unlocked the door and led
Conner to the den. She flipped on the TV and motioned Conner to sit down
next to her on the couch.
Conner obliged. He leaned over and took in her delicate features. He
kissed her lightly on the lips. When they pulled apart, Jessica rested
her hands on his shoulders. "Did you have fun tonight?" she asked him.
"Yeah," Conner said. Especially now.
Jessica smiled and leaned in. The kisses became harder, more insistent.
Conner pushed Jessica up against the pillows and tangled his hands in
her hair. "Oh, Liz," he moaned between kisses.
Jessica moaned back.
Conner felt mortified. Thankfully his moan had sounded garbled because
Jessica said been chewing at his lip. He was making out with the
sexiest girl on the planet and he'd moaned her sister's name? Her twin
sister? Conner rationalized it was because he was still seeing Elizabeth in
that damn towel. Just a fantasy. Conner moved his hands down Jessica
back but suddenly pulled away.
"Jessica," he whispered. "I thought I heard something. Like a door."
"It was just the TV," Jessica said impatiently.
They started kissing again and he closed his eyes. He pictured Jessica
smiling…Elizabeth in a towel…Elizabeth's lips on his chest…
Conner's eyes flew open. Elizabeth standing there in horror. Conner's
eyes widened. It must have been Elizabeth at the door. Conner stared
back at her in shock.
"Oh, Conner, don't stop," Jessica moaned. Conner had been massaging her
back.
He was still staring at Elizabeth and he could see the hurt in her
eyes. That sad look wrenched his heart. Elizabeth turned and fled the room.
Conner just felt like a dog.
