Chapter Nineteen
Juliet
Two hours. That’s how long I’ve been home and thinking about Jared Black. What the heck is wrong with me? I can not like or think about Jared Black in this way.
I’ll admit, there were a few times in his room I caught myself gawking at his mouth. Why was I so interested in that boy’s lips? To make this worse at one point, I actually imagined what it would be like to brush my own against his.
I pace my room again. I tried gaming to forget but ended up getting my person killed. And my group was yelling at me through my headset telling me how much I totally sucked today. Can I blame them? Nope. There is something seriously wrong with me.
I swore I would not fall for someone like him ever again. He’s all wrong for me and yet, strangely enough, I feel like I could totally see something happening between us. Why though? I mean it’s not like we’ve ever really spent that much time together. It must be just a phase. Once the trig project is over, we won’t hang out and my infatuation with his mouth will vanish.
I plop down on the edge of my bed then throw myself flat against the mattress. I chew on my lower lip and try to think of anything else. All I keep seeing is flashes of his smile. His piercing blue eyes. That dark hair that flops in his eyes, and then that kissable mouth. Agh!
My door jostles open, and I turn my head in that direction. “Juliet, I was wondering if you could … oh hey, what’s wrong?” my sister asks.
“I think I like someone. But I can’t like them. It’s ridiculous.”
“Ohhhkay … who’s the guy?” She is all smiles as she takes a seat on my bed.
I sit up on my elbows. “Jared.”
“Really? Well, that’s great.”
Why is she missing the problem here? This is not great at all. It’s Jared Black. He’s a football player. He’s friends with Mark my ex. All of this is terrible and she’s gushing about how it’s great. I squint. “No, it isn’t.”
“Why not? You guys have tons in common. He’s cute. He’s really nice.”
“He also irritates me with his-know-it-all-bs. Ugh and tries to play it all off with that adorable boyish smile. I swear most of the time I want to knock him out.”
She smirks. “It sounds like you like him a lot.” She pokes me in the side. I smack her hand.
“How out of all of that, did you come up with, I like him a lot? You sound like Mom.”
Layla rolls her eyes. “I do not. All right, maybe a little. But you did admit to liking him I’m just saying you like him way more than you’re admitting to.”
“Why do you look so happy about this?”
“Maybe it just makes me happy that you could be happy,” she says with a shrug.
I push off my bed and begin to pace again. “Rachel is in love with him. Wouldn’t you rather she gets him?”
“No. Rachel is not a relationship type of girl. From what Ty says about Jared he wants a relationship. I’m not telling you to pick him because my boyfriend is best friends with the guy and would be kind of cool if we could double every once in a while. But he’s a good person, and so loyal. And I think you might be surprised if you decided to give him a chance.”
“Whoa. Slow your roll sis! He hasn’t asked me out. I’m not going to ask him out, and be laughed at. I’m just saying that I might see him as more than a football player. That’s a big might too.”
She nods. “Right. Look, I’d love to argue with you about this, but I kind of came in here for some help. Can you look this over and tell me if I did this correctly?” she hands me over her math homework.
I sigh and take a seat on my bed. “Sure.”
I review her homework and I can’t help but smile at her. She got all the problems correct. My sister is dyslexic in fact that’s kind of how she ended up with Tyler as her boyfriend. She wound up texting Tyler instead of her ex-boyfriend Adam’s new love interest who was apparently dating Adam at the same time as my sister. The funny thing is, Lay and Tyler couldn’t stand each other before the whole texting mix-up.
“How is it?” she asks with a nervousness threading her tone.
“You did awesome. It’s all right.”
“Really? Oh my gosh, yes. Ty found some techniques to try to help with my dyslexia and it’s been getting better.”
“That’s great. Who knew he could be good for you?”
She elbows me. “Just like Jared could be good for you.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t start.”
“Fine. My lips are sealed.”
“His house is really creepy. Like you know how mom has all that love gushy crap leading to her office and that stack of pamphlets filled with total bullcrap?”
Layla nods. “Sure. What exactly did Jared’s house have in it that made it so weird? His dad doesn’t have their old jock straps in a frame, does he?”
For my sister to even think of something way more repulsive then what I’m about to tell her amazes me. It’s like the inner workings of Rachel has corrupted her brain. “Ewww! No. That’s completely disgusting.” I wrinkle my nose. “When you enter the house, the walls are like a total shrine of the past and working its way to the future. It’s not normal embarrassing baby photos, and gradually getting into family portraits and all the school year pics. Layla, it’s all football teams.” She shrugs. “No, it gets worse. Huge slogans are pasted on the walls, like all you see is football, trophies, and winners this … losers that phrases everywhere. I thought I was going to have to kiss a Super Bowl ring or something just to enter certain areas of the house.”
Layla makes a face. “Are you over exaggerating? That sounds awful. To be in that kind of environment every day.”
“I most definitely am not. Those phrases are on all the exits of the house. That’s all you see.”
She shakes her head. “That can’t be healthy.”
I shrug. “His room is strangely normal though. I mean not in the typical boy sense normal because he literally had no pictures of girls in their bikinis on his walls or anything. But, he also didn’t have any of those slogans slapped on them either. Or a single picture of him and his friends. It’s almost like it’s not his room.”
Layla gets up from my bed and smiles. “If Mom did that to our house would you want to stay in your room either?”
“No.”
“Exactly. I think his walls being empty of models and crap phrases is a good thing.”
I shrug. “Yeah. You’re right.”
She flips her hair from her shoulder. “Of course, I’m right. So, you know the dance is in a few weeks, are you going?”
Way to kill my delighted mood. I glower. “No. I have no intention of going either so do not try to find me a pity date.”
Layla frowns. “It won’t be like the last dance. You had lots of fun until you know. That thing with Mark went down.”
“You mean the part where he was lip-locked with Selena in front of most of the school. It’s kind of hard not to be bummed out after your boyfriend is caught kissing another girl.”
“Yes, I know. But I promise it won’t be like that.”
“It kind of will though. They’re together. They’re probably going to the dance. He’ll probably be making out with her during the slow songs or whatever. Seeing that at school makes me sick enough. I don’t want to witness it at the Valentine’s Day dance.”
“I get it,” she says. She grabs her homework from me and smiles. “Thanks for looking this over. You’re the best you know that, right?”
“Yep. You are too.”
She takes some steps toward the door. “Goodnight, Juliet.”
I smile at her. “Night, sis.”
Once she leaves my mind floods with thoughts of Jared all over again. This is going to be a long weekend.