Teagan
"Forget it happened?" Hope asked in an indignant tone as we walked towards the student parking lot Friday afternoon after school.
Courtesy of the school principal, Mr. Lafferty, my uncle had gotten wind of my absenteeism and had personally driven me to school this morning and had even gone as far as walking me into the building. I thought this was pretty pointless considering we were getting our Christmas holidays from school today, but what the hell did I know… According to my uncle, attendance was essential.
I had hoped to avoid everyone I knew, but that plan had gone bust the moment Hope caught me in the bathroom and demanded answers. I'd spilled my guts, telling her everything about the ring of fire and Noah.
An entire school day had passed and the girl was still like a freaking detective trying to suck information out of me. But to be fair to Hope, she was the bearer of good news this morning when she informed me that Jason and Ellie were both absent – apparently Ellie was out of state with her dad for Christmas and Jason had contracted chickenpox. Reese was in school, but she hadn’t said a word about the events of that fateful night. Instead she just glared evilly at me whenever we'd passed one another in the hallway.
"You can't be serious, Teagan?"
"It really wasn’t a big deal, Hope," I muttered as I popped an earplug in my ear and stared down at the screen of my phone, flicking through songs. "Forget about it – I have."
Ironically, Maroon 5's One More Night blasted through my earplug and I immersed myself in the lyrics.
"…You and I go hard at each other like we're going to war…"
"…But baby there you go again, there you go again, making me love you…"
Hope reached over and grabbed my phone out of my hand, preventing me from dutifully ignoring her. "You and Noah have been tormenting each other for months," she hissed.
Hope looked even more beautiful than usual clad in a red coat, black skinnies and white high heeled pumps. Her black curly hair was pinned in an elaborate half up half down style. I looked like something old and moldy next to her in my workout clothes I'd changed into after last class and a huge padded coat. I had plans to hit the treadmill after school and work off some of the tension burning inside of me…
"You finally get down to business and screw it out – pun intended – and now you're saying you want to forget it ever happened?" Her blue eyes were narrowed in disbelief, proving she knew I hadn’t forgotten a damn thing.
"We didn’t screw it out, Hope. We kissed," I hissed, upping my pace as I stalked towards her car. It still hadn’t snowed and I was feeling seriously let down…
"Yes, you kissed," Hope countered as she pressed a button on her car key and her white Jeep lit up. "And a hell of a lot more – while you were naked. This is huge, Teagan – you can't tell me it's not."
"Whatever." I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I walked over to the passenger side of her jeep and flung the door open. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to block out the memory of Noah kissing me, and just how good it felt, but Noah's words had stung like the lash of a whip.
"You're not worth the fucking hassle…"
Yeah, that still stung like something fierce.
"I'm over it," I muttered, climbing inside. Truth was I was nowhere near over it. I hadn’t seen Noah in weeks. He wasn’t in school today and I forced myself to believe that I was happy about this, ignoring the dull ache in my chest. Maybe he had chickenpox, too… Ugh, it didn’t matter to me because I didn’t care about him.
I wouldn’t.
"Do you like him?" Hope persisted as she climbed into the driver's seat. "Seriously, Teagan, do you have any feelings for him at all?"
"Does hatred count?" I offered sweetly as I rooted through a pile of CDs and placed a disc I wasn’t familiar with into the car stereo. "He's good," I mumbled as a voice I was familiar with blasted through the speakers. "Is this his new one?"
"Yes he is and it is, don't change the subject." Turning down the volume on her stereo, Hope turned to look at me. "Well?"
I exhaled heavily, knowing she wasn’t going to let this go without a full confession. "He sets me on fire," I reluctantly admitted, leaning back in my seat, the memory of Noah touching me was causing my entire body to heat.
I closed my eyes and shivered. "Noah Messina lights me up like a firework and I can't even begin to explain the multitude of emotions he rouses inside of me."
Hope's eyes widened but I carried on now that I was on a roll. "It's terrifying and addictive and wrong and right all at the same time. My brain can't stand him, and my body can't get enough of him." I let out a sigh. "Happy now?"
Nodding, she grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I automatically blushed and Hope's grin widened. "He's so bad for me, Hope," I confessed quietly. "The things he's involved in. He's so…he's…"
"I knew you were hot for him," Hope said smugly. "How far would you have gone with him – if Jason, Reese and Ellie hadn’t interrupted you?"
All the way… "I'm going to pretend you never asked that question," I shot back quickly.
"Dude, you have no idea how lucky you are having Noah live next door to you."
I rolled my eyes. "As opposed to?"
Hope's face was suddenly serious. "The object of my desire lives in a different state, Teegs," she huffed. "And won't touch any part of my body that's covered with clothing." Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she stared down at her hands. "I don’t get why Jordan won't sleep with me."
"Okay," I chuckled, shaking my head. "Talk about a subject changer…"
"I'm serious, Teagan," Hope snapped before letting out a pained groan. "I've loved him my whole life." Hope's shoulders slumped and she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. "And he won't give it up – which makes me feel like a huge virgin slut because who thinks like me?" She exhaled dramatically. "It's supposed to be the man who's desperate to take the next step, but Jordan…" Hope threw her head back and slammed her palms against the wheel in frustration. "He's like a freaking priest."
"Maybe he's trying to respect you?" I offered lamely, not knowing what else to say. "You said he's older than you, right?"
"Twenty-one," Hope replied immediately. "He is twenty-one years old, Teagan." She stared at me like I was missing something crucial. "Name another twenty-one year old man who wants to wait."
"Edward Cullen?" I offered, struggling to keep my face straight.
Hope glared at me. "He was one hundred and nine," she snapped. "And I know we're supposed to be talking about your screwed up tryst with Noah, and I am interested, I swear I am, but Jordan's coming home this weekend for the holidays and I'm done with the waiting. He has to have sex with me." Hope blew a curl off her face. "Please help me make my boyfriend have sex with me, Teagan," she begged.
I stared at her determined face with a horrified look on my own. "Well this is the most uncomfortable conversation we've had in a while," I muttered, shaking my head.
Hope didn’t have a chance to respond because the back doors of her jeep opened and three testosterone fuelled triplets piled in.
"This conversation isn't over," she mumbled before shifting her car into gear and tearing off. "You're still sleeping over tonight, right?"
"Yeah," I mumbled. "I'll swing by after my workout."
"Great," Hope muttered. "We'll hatch a plan then."
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