Chapter 12
CROSSING THE LINE
Our Lions had pretty much annihilated the Pequannock Panthers that afternoon, so everyone was in one helluva good mood at the homecoming dance later that night.
I expected to see Layla with Cooper Benedict, but she wasn’t there with him. In fact, she wasn’t there at all. I didn’t know what to make of that at first, and mentioned it to Rymer.
“Yeah,” he said. “I asked him the same thing. He looked at me like I was nuts.”
“So? What does that mean?”
“It means they’re off, dude.” He shrugged. “Who knew? I’d still steer clear, though. It’s only a matter of time before they’ll be back on again.” He elbowed me to add, “What about Caputo? I hear she likes you.”
Caputo was Margie Caputo, the annoying redhead from Computer class. “Yeah, no thanks.”
He surprised me when he asked, “Mind if I take a crack at her?”
“Be my fucking guest.”
He chuckled. “Nah. You’re right. That girl is a pain in the ass.”
I wasn’t paying much attention to his opinion. I didn’t hear too much of anything after his newsflash about Layla and Benedict being “off” at the moment.
Good.
I debated whether or not to go for it, but it was only about three seconds before I decided screw it. I’ve waited long enough. Wait too long, and those two might end up back “on” again. I was a patient guy and all, but I wasn’t gonna wait forever.
So, that’s why I went straight from the dance to Layla’s house.
Her dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway, so I decided to have a little fun with her. I parked my truck a few houses away and walked the last half-block to her front door. The light was on in her bedroom, and I figured she was up there reading another damned book or something.
I grabbed a handful of pebbles from the landscaping along the walkway and tossed them one at a time against her window. It was an eternity before she threw open the pane and yelled down, “You dick! You just scared the hell out of me!”
Well, good evening to you, too. She was feisty. I had to give her that. “Hey there, Lay-Lay. Whatcha doin’?”
“Ummm... trying not to have a heart attack? What are you doing?”
I ditched the rest of the rocks into the shrubs and swiped my dirty hands off on my pants. “Just dropping by to say hi.”
“Hey psycho,” she laughed out. “Instead of throwing boulders at my house, why didn’t you just knock on the front door like a normal human?”
“There’s no fun in ‘normal,’ Lay. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” She shook her head in exasperation as a wide grin spread across my face. I was just happy to see her. She had her hair all tied up in a knot on the top of her head and no makeup on. She looked beautiful. “So hey. How come you didn’t go to the dance?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t into it. Why? Did I miss anything?”
“I’ll say.”
Even from a floor away, I could see her eyes light up at the prospect of gossip. “Oh my God, what happened? Trip! Spill it!”
She could barely contain her excitement, and it cracked me right the hell up. “Well, for starters, you weren’t there to accept your crown.”
Her brows furrowed together, trying to comprehend what I was telling her. But then, her face turned bored as her head tipped to the side. “You are so full of shit.”
Ha! “Yeah, you’re right. I am. But I am your homecoming king, so you’d better show a little more respect to me from now on.”
“Oh wow! You got king? Really?”
Man, she was just way too easy. “No. Not really. Jesus, Layla, you’re oh-for-two tonight. But hey—on a totally different subject—did you know that the word ‘gullible’ isn’t in the dictionary?”
Her face scrunched up into a wiseassy pout. “You are just soooo funny. So, who really won?”
“Lisa and Pickford.”
“Holy crap! No way!”
I snickered. “Yeah, well, you and me came in a close second. I swear to God about that. I’m not bullshitting you this time.”
“What? Really? That’s weird.”
“What’s so weird about it?” To be honest, when Carolee Simcox announced our names together, I was shocked to hear it, too. I mean, we’d been spending a ton of time together; obviously people noticed. But the fact was, she’d been with Benedict for years prior to my arrival. I would think that they noticed that, too. It gave me an overinflated sense of pride to find out that I’d gotten more votes than he did.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “You and me as finalists for Homecoming? It just seems so... perky!”
That made me chuckle. “Oh, hey. Speaking of perky... Lisa gave a speech.”
Layla’s face twisted into a mask of horror. “Trip, shut up, she did not!”
“She did,” I answered, barely able to contain myself.
“Oh my God. No one actually speaks after being crowned, for godsakes! Oh, I’m so embarrassed for her!”
“No, don’t be,” I chuckled out. “It wasn’t that bad. Just a quick thank you, not much else. It was fine.”
Layla took in the new information before sighing. “Well, in any case, I’m glad she won. I can’t believe I wasn’t there to see it! She must be pretty happy right about now.”
I jammed my hands into my pockets and tapped one of the shrubs with my toe. “But you wouldn’t have been?”
“To win homecoming queen? You’re joking, right?”
I couldn’t hide the look of amazement on my face as I stared at her in awe. This girl never failed to find new ways to kill me. “You know that’s my favorite thing about you, right?”
She swallowed hard before asking, “What is?”
It was hard to meet her eyes while laying my soul bare, but somehow, I managed to do it. “Layla, you are completely different from any other person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
It was the truth. She was—hands down—the coolest chick I’ve ever known.
Layla was speechless, staring down at me as her bottom lip tipped open. I’d meant it as a compliment and I was glad she’d taken it as one, but it didn’t stop her from looking completely blown away. To tell you the truth, I was feeling pretty stunned myself.
Before my brain was able to stop the words tumbling from my mouth, I went for broke. “I missed you tonight. The dance wasn’t as much fun without you there.”
I wanted to tell her how I probably should’ve asked her to be my date. How I’d hung back, assuming she was still with Benedict when in actuality, she’d left me wide open to take the damn shot.
But before I could blurt out all the things running through my mind, Layla found her voice and asked, “Trip... Do you want to come inside?”
Holy shit. It wasn’t a question. It was an invitation. And the way she offered it with those aching brown eyes staring down at me in pure longing? I had to stop myself from doing backflips across her front yard.
Just one little word would change everything, here. All I had to do was say it. My throat had closed up and my lungs were in the process of betraying me, but I managed to meet her gaze with a smile. “Yes.”
This was it. This was our moment.
And I was ready.
“Okay, Lemme just come down and unlock the door.”
In the split second before she turned from the window, a montage of imagery played out behind my eyes. My face buried in her hair. Her hands on my chest. My mouth against the curve of her neck. Her lips on mine.
I had half a boner already just thinking about it...
Which, I guess is what made me dive for the bushes on the side of her house when I saw Mr. Warren’s car coming down the street.
Dammit!
Mr. Warren seemed like a nice enough guy, but I was pretty sure he didn’t trust me. It was like he could see all the ideas I had running around in my head about his daughter. Most of my thoughts were pretty tame. But some of them… Hell, I wouldn’t have trusted me either.