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"Ummm,"
Elizabeth moaned in her sleep. She was having a dream where
Conner was doing delicious things to her neck. Her eyes fluttered open,
and she squinted in the morning sunlight. She had forgotten to close her
blinds last night.
Then she realized it wasn't a dream, Conner was behind her doing
delicious
things to her neck. He didn't know she was awake yet, and she lay there
quietly, enjoying the warmth of his strong body. The way they were
positioned, Conner's body was spooning her body. She began to grow
restless; she wanted to see Conner's face so this whole night wouldn't
just have been some wonderful dream. She rolled over, and gave
Conner a small smile.
"Morning," he said with a grin, that even the king of cool couldn't hide.
She ran her nails gently down his bare chest, teasing him.
He groaned, "I should have known you'd be sexy in the morning as well."
"Sexy?" Elizabeth said giggling. "I have bed head."
"Cute bed head," Conner corrected.
"So do you," Elizabeth said touching his hair, which was sticking up in
every direction.
She stretched her body and said, "This is how every morning should
start."
"And how every night should end," Conner added. He stared at her
for a moment. He gently brushed a loose strand of her hair away from
her face. "I meant every thing I said last night," he murmured softly. He
leaned in a kissed her. As the kiss became more insistent, Conner
positioned himself over top of Liz. Elizabeth pulled back breathless,
when she felt Conner's hand slide up the back of her top. "This
probably isn't the best place to do this."
"I should probably be going," Conner said, making no move to get
up. "It's seven and your parents will probably be up soon. Also,
I parked my car in your driveway."
Elizabeth quickly got up, and went into the bathroom.
"Here," she said, throwing his clothes at him. "My parents will be
up any minute, and I'm grounded."
Conner hurriedly got dressed, and they both snuck quietly down
the stairs. Elizabeth stepped out onto the front porch.
"See you at school," he said giving her a quick kiss.
He hurried to his car, and pulled out.
Mrs. Wakefield appeared at the door, as Conner stopped at the
end of the street. "Sweetie, what are you doing out here so early?"
"Oh," Elizabeth said, whipping around, clearly startled. "I just woke
up…and before I got dressed I wanted to see how warm it was
outside."
Mrs. Wakefield nodded. "Why don't you come in and I'll whip up
some pancakes."
Elizabeth nodded, and gave a smile. "That would be nice."
"You look suspiciously happy," Stan commented, that
morning.
Jeremy slammed his locker shut. "Yeah, duh! It's because we
annihilated Bridgewater on Friday night."
"No," Trent cut in. "We won last week and you weren't this happy.
Come one, what gives?" Suddenly Trent burst out laughing.
"Jeremy has a new babe."
"No, I don't," Jeremy, said laughing.
"Maybe it was Amanda," Stand said slyly.
Jeremy gave Stan a light punch on the shoulder. "Fine, I'll spill. I'm
ready to take Jessica back."
"Finally," Trent said rolling his eyes. "A girl that hot, and one you
are so obviously in love with…we were wondering what was
taking you so long."
"Aren't you wondering if she's moved on?" Stan said worried. "I
mean, you've been stringing her along for more than two weeks."
"Hey, on Friday, she looked like she still had the hots for our man,"
Trent said.
"I hope so," Jeremy said. "I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to
do it…"
"Jeremy?" a voice said behind them.
Jeremy, Trent, and Stan all turned around. Stan and Trent broke
into huge smiles.
"Hey, Amanda," Trent said. "You cheerleaders were really hot
this weekend."
"Thanks," Amanda said, giving Trent a flirty smile.
"Kevin sure thought so," Stan added.
Amanda flipped her long black hair. "Whatever."
Jeremy shifted in place uncomfortably. "Hey," he mumbled.
"Hey Jeremy," she said softy. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure, " he said ignoring Trent and Stan's looks.
"In private," she said pointedly.
"Fine," he sighed.
"See you later, Jer," Trent said with a huge grin.
"What is it," he asked her warily.
She didn't answer, and pulled him into the empty sports meeting
room at the end of the hall.
Jeremy stared at her confused. "Listen, there's this party at a girl
from the country club named Lila Fowler this Friday. She throws
awesome parties. I wanted to know if you wanted to go with
me," she said hopefully.
Jeremy opened his mouth to say no, but then he shut it. He knew
Lila was Jessica's best friend, which meant that Jessica would
be there. If he said yes, then he'd have a way of seeing Jessica.
Even if he went with Amanda it didn't mean he had to spend
the whole evening with her. And, truth me told, even though
Amanda was a snob, she wasn't that bad. He had known her
since they were both kids. She had always decorated his
locker before big games, and she was always responsible
for the 'Jeremy cheer' at the games.
"Sure," he finally said.
She looked surprised...and happy. "Wow...that's great!"
She turned to leave. "Why did you want to talk to be in here?"
Jeremy said raising his eyebrows.
"Oh," she blushed. "I was afraid you'd say no. I didn't want
to be embarrassed. You know, you're not very nice to me."
Jeremy opened his mouth to protest. "It's okay," she
assured him. "I enjoy being a bh. I know a lot of people
see me that way. They're just jealous because I'm so rich,
a cheerleader, and I'm hot, too." She added as an after thought.
Jeremy laughed. "You sure are one hell of a woman."
"Damn right," she shot back.
"See you Friday," he said, walking out.
"You better pick me up Jeremy Aames!" she called back.
Elizabeth shoved her history book into her locker. She
had just gone to see Mr. Dobbins, her history teacher, to turn
in her paper that had been due while she had been...absent.
She sighed. She only had a few make up assignments and
tests left. That was the only good thing about being grounded.
It gave her plenty of time to catch up. Other than that, grounding
was a major pain. And she still had a month and a half left.
A month and an half of only seeing Conner at school.
She knew she deserved her punishment...but did it have to be
so long?
She was so deep in thought, that when Conner's hands slid into
her back pockets, she jumped about a foot.
"Conner!" she yelped. "What are you doing?"
"Good morning, Liz," he drawled. She sighed. She could never
stay angry at him long when he looked at her like that.
"Hey," she said smiling. "What are you doing here so early?"
"Making up my last test," he said.
"Lucky," she sighed. "I still have three left."
"That's what you get when you break school rules," Conner
said mockingly.
"Like you've been such a good boy," Liz said smirking.
"I never said I was," Conner said gravelly. He placed his hands
on her hips, and started moving them slowly down her hips.
"Good," Elizabeth choked out, has his hands caressed the top
of her thighs.
"Too bad you can't come over tonight," he whispered in her ear.
"Yeah," she said grabbing his shoulders.
"Cut study hall," Conner whispered.
"What?"
"I have gym sixth period. We're doing...badminton. There's no
way I'm doing that."
Conner smirked. "And the auditorium is empty sixth period..."
he trailed off.
"Ummm," Elizabeth said, placing a hand on his cheek.
"Is that a yes?" Conner asked.
She gave him a deep kiss.
"Yes." Elizabeth paused. "I told my mom this morning that we
got back together, she was worried at first because she
thought I snuck out, but I told her we got back together
yesterday during school. But...she wants you to come to dinner
on Friday."
Conner pulled back. "Why? She's eaten dinner with me before."
"I know, but you weren't my boyfriend back then."
Elizabeth bit her lip. "But It's worse." Conner raised an eyebrow.
"I kind of told her that we...you know."
Elizabeth paused. "You do know, right?"
"What?" Conner shouted. Several people gave them weird looks,
so Conner lowered his voice, and repeated "What the hell were
you thinking, Elizabeth?"
"I didn't mean to," she hissed.
Conner closed his eyes, and sighed. "What did she do to you?"
"Well, she was going to ground me, but she felt bad because
I'm already grounded forever. So, every Saturday for two months
I have to wash all the cars, cut the grass, weed the garden, and
I have to help my dad repaint the shed."
"I can't look at your mom, let alone sit at a meal. I'm the guy who
ruined her daughter." Elizabeth pouted, and stuck out her lip.
Conner sighed. "Fine! But you owe me big time Wakefield."
Elizabeth started nipping at his neck. "No problem."
Conner smirked. "See ya," Elizabeth looked at him questionly. "I
have to get Andy to cover for me," he explained. He turned and
walked down the hall.
Elizabeth's eyes followed him...well, to be honest, they followed
his butt.
"You know he doesn't even have to exercise or anything" a voice
said behind her.
Elizabeth turned around and saw Tia standing there.
"Oh, hey, Tia," Elizabeth said nervously.
Tia shifted uncomfortably. "Listen, there's no easy way to say this,
so I'll just say it. I'm sorry. I didn't really spread those rumors
about you, but I believed them, and I didn't do anything to stop them,
either. I also said some things about you to Conner, and it wasn't really
fair because I don't really know you."
Elizabeth stared at her, apart from Jessica, none of Jess's friends
had apologized to her, and she hadn't expected them to. "Thanks,"
Elizabeth said quietly. "I'm glad you said something, because I
know Conner really admires you."
"Yeah, he likes you too," Tia said grinning coyly. "Actually, the reason
I acted like that was because I was jealous of you."
"Me?" Elizabeth laughed "Why?"
"Because Conner likes you, in a way he can never like me...not that
I want him too," Tia said quickly. "He shares stuff with you that I know
he'll never tell me."
"But you know him better than anyone," Elizabeth argued. "I was
actually jealous of you because you've known him forever, and
know way more about him then I'll ever know."
"Yeah...call it even?" Tia laughed.
"Sure," Elizabeth said smiling.
"I should have listened to Conner in the first place," Tia said
shaking her head. "Melissa's such a bh. But I guess I
just liked being cool and popular."
"Melissa?"
"Yeah, she's mostly the one who instigated the whole thing.
She's always been like that, she picks a target, then suddenly,
she's destroyed the poor girl. Usually she goes after people
who try to make a move on Will. But...this time I thought you
deserved it."
"Maybe I did," Elizabeth said quietly.
"No," Tia assured her. "You seem really nice, and Conner was
always defending you, that's when I knew you were different.
Listen, do you want to go out sometime? There's this really great
place called Rafferty's."
"I'd love to," Elizabeth said, looking at the ground. "But I'm
grounded for a long time."
"Oh," Tia said.
"Why don't you eat lunch with my friends Enid and Maria, and I.
There really nice."
"Sure," Tia said smiling. "I could stand to meet some nice
people!"
"Hey," Evan
said, as Jessica climbed into his vintage Trans Am.
"Hi, Evan!" she said brightly. Evan was really nice (it was hard to
believe he was Conner's friend), but he wasn't the one Jess really
wanted to be going with. She hated to admit it, but she was slightly
embarrassed to bring Evan. Save Cherie, all her friends were going
with their popular jock boyfriends. Evan was cute in a laid back,
grungy kind of way. His black shaggy hair had at least been combed.
He was the kind of guy Maria would date, Jessica concluded.
"So, are you ready?" he asked teasingly.
"What? Oh," she said laughing. She had dashed outside before Evan
could even get out of the car to come to the door. "No, it's just that my
mom and dad invited Conner over for dinner, and Liz is slightly psycho.
Evan's eyes widened, and then he burst into laughter.
"Careful!" Jessica gasped. Evan had almost swerved into the other
lane.
"Are you serious? Man, I wish I could witness that painful and hilarious
event."
"Turn here," Jessica instructed. Evan parked on the street, and they
walked up to the house. Evan's eyes widened. The butler let them in.
"Thanks for coming," Lila said, smiling at Jessica and Evan.
"Wow," Evan said, gazing into the large room where Lila was having the
party. "This place is incredible."
"Thanks," Lila said, taking in the compliment. "The food and the band
will be inside, but since it's so nice out, the party is also on the deck."
"The band?" Jessica said.
"Yeah, the Droids are playing," Lila said with a wave of her hand.
"Cool, I haven't heard them in forever," Jessica exclaimed. "Hey Li,
who's your date?" Jessica said teasingly.
Lila blushed. "Uh, Bruce."
"Bruce Patman?" Jessica said incredulously.
"Yeah," Lila shot back. "He's in town for the weekend."
Jessica shook her head, disappointedly. "Why Lila Fowler. He's
only a collage freshman? What happened to 'a collage sophomore
is the absolute minimum'?" Jessica said wagging a finger at Lila.
"Shut up, have fun at my daddy's expense account."
Jessica and Evan walked on. "Are you two always like this?"
Jessica thought for a minute. "Worse." As they weaved through
the crowd, they said hello to many of their friends. They saw Tia
and Angel dancing. Andy was doing some weird version of the
twist while Cherie danced beside him in awkward embarrassment.
She saw Gina and Todd dancing, Amy and Josh, and Melissa and
Will.
"If it isn't the lovely and vile Jessica Wakefield," a mocking voice
said behind her.
Jessica and Evan turned around to see Bruce Patman standing
there.
"Decided to grace us with your presence? I thought we were too
lame for your big college ego," Jessica said bitingly.
"Temper, Jessica. Your attitude doesn't become you. Admit it,
Wakefield. You missed me."
"Yeah, right. But I admit it is nice to see some of the old blood here."
"Yeah," Bruce said looking around. "I hardly know anyone." Bruce
glanced at Evan as he said this. "Like, where is Ken?"
"After Olivia died, he just hasn't been the same. He doesn't talk to
anyone, he won't play football, and he never comes to parties
anymore," she explained.
Bruce suddenly caught eye of Cherie, or to be honest, Cherie's low-cut
halter dress. He smirked when he saw her dancing with Andy,
and suddenly strolled to Cherie to 'rescue' her. Jessica smirked.
As they made their way to the food table, Jessica saw Emily Mayer
and Dana Larson setting up the band.
"Hey Dana!" Jessica said, giving Dana a hug.
"Hey," she said smiling. Her hair had hot pink streaks in it this week.
"You look great Jess."
"Thanks." Jessica knew she looked great. She was wearing an ice
blue sundress that perfectly set off her eyes. "I haven't heard you
guys in forever, you used to play at everything!"
"Yeah," Dana said, rolling her eyes. "We did, until Mr. I think I'm so
hot with my guitar and tight t-shirt McDermott stole our audience.
Thankfully he thinks he's too cool to make lowly appearances at
parties."
"And he wasn't invited," Jessica supplied causing Dana to laugh.
"Jess, I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want something?"
Evan asked.
"Sure, some ginger ale, thanks," Jessica said smiling.
"He's cute," Dana said, giving him a once over. "He's your
boyfriend?"
"Evan? No, he's just a friend."
"Have your eye on anybody?"
"Dana!" Jessica said, smiling. She glanced around the room, and
suddenly time stopped. Jessica's heart gave a painful lurch. Not more
than ten feet away was Jeremy and the girl he had been hanging out
with the other day dancing. What the hell is he doing here? Jessica
wondered. Jeremy's hands were resting on the girl's thin waist, and
her arms were encircled possessively around his neck. She was
wearing a dress of sparkling silver, that looked stunning with her tan
skin and black hair."
She saw Lila heading towards them. "Li?" Jessica hissed. "Who is that?"
she said pointing. Dana and Lila both stared curiously.
"That's Amanda Kellerman," Lila said, giving Jessica an odd look. "I
know her from the country club. Her dad is vice president of some
big car industry." She gave Jessica a sympathetic look.
Jessica stood unmoving. What was Jeremy doing with that girl? Had
he really gotten over her? Jessica had told herself the past two weeks
that Jeremy was just disappointed in her; he wasn't really angry.
Evan came up and handed Jessica her drink. Since Jessica was too
dazed to say anything or do anything, the glass fell to the floor with a
crash. Jeremy and Amanda both looked up. Jessica stared at them,
horrified. She couldn't say anything, Lila and Dana were staring at
her in shock, Evan looked confused, and Jeremy looked surprised.
Jessica turned and fled out, up the stairs, into Lila's room, and out
onto Lila's balcony. She started to cry. She had lost Jeremy to some
horrible rich bh.
She heard footsteps behind her. Thinking it was Evan or Lila, she
turned around. She was shocked to see Jeremy standing there.
"Hey," he said quietly, joining her on the balcony.
Jessica wrapped her arms tightly around her. The warm air, and the
sweet scent of the flowers on the railing, mixed with the presence
of Jeremy left her overwhelmed.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, reaching out to touch her.
Jessica stepped back. "What are you doing here? And who is
that girl?"
"Amanda," Jeremy said dejectedly. "It's not what you think. I know
that sounds lame. She's not my girlfriend, or a date, or whatever.
She's just a friend. Well, not even a friend really."
"Why are you here with her then?" Jessica asked, tears forming in
her eyes.
"I wanted to see you," Jeremy said simply. "I knew Lila was your
friend and that you would be here. I've missed you like crazy, Jess.
You're all I think about. I've been living in some demented Jessica
fog for the past few weeks. I was stupid to be angry with you. I
wasn't really angry, I thought you were still hung up on that dork
Conner."
Jessica smiled slightly, and fell into his warm arms. "Stupid, why didn't
you just call me?"
Jeremy softly stroked her hair. "Because that would have been too easy.
I had to make the whole ordeal a confusing mess, like some lame teen
romance. Plus, I'm so crazy about you, I can't think straight. It would take
more than two weeks to get over you."
Jessica laughed. "Complications make life more dramatic," she teased.
"I missed you too," she admitted. "We're both idiots. I never really
liked
Conner, at least, not really. He was just really hot," she confessed.
"When
he dumped me it was more a blow to my pride than my heart, all I wanted
was to get revenge. But with you...I really did miss you. It's funny, the last
time I saw you at a party, I was trying so hard to get away from you, you
know you really annoyed me at first," she admitted.
Jeremy chucked lightly. Jessica continued, "I was stupid to believe that
you liked that shallow poser, but she is pretty," Jessica pointed out.
"Yeah, but so are you. But she's not sweet, or kind, or funny like you are.
If it was just looks I was into, I would be making out with her in my dad's
backseat. But I love you Jess. The first time I saw you at the House of
Java, the night of Conner's concert I knew you were special. I mean,
Liz is a great girl, but you're something more. When I saw you and
Conner together, it was killing me, and for the first time in my life, I had
lost control of my feelings over a girl. You're the one, Jess" he said,
lightly touching her cheek.
Jessica smiled up at him. It was the first time he had told her that he
loved her. "I love you too, Jeremy," she said wrapping her arms around
his neck. He gave her a long, lingering kiss that left both of them
slightly dizzy.
"So I guess this means we're back together," Jeremy quipped.
