If I Break THE COMPLETE SERIES Bundle (149 page)

I nod furiously.

“Aaidan, come heeere,” a drunk girl from my science class slurs.

“Stacy, one minute,” he says, flashing her a wide smile.

“It’s okay, Aidan. Go ahead. I’m cool,” I tell him as the redhead drapes herself across his back.

“You sure?” he asks again.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I say before heading outside.

I sit on the porch steps and let out a loud groan. I fight away the tears building in my eyes.

“This party’s so terrible I want to cry too,” an amused deep voice says.

Too bad I’m not in the mood for jokes.

“I’m not crying, but if I were, it wouldn’t be any of your business.” I angrily wipe away my tears. The last thing I need is some drunk guy trying to flirt with me, thinking I’m vulnerable and he’s going to get laid.

“Well, tell me, why are you
not
crying?”

I channel all my energy into not taking out all of my frustrations on this annoying, nosey stranger—until I look into a warm pair of green eyes. He smiles as if he’s used to making girls speechless. He’s tall, taller than Aidan and Chris. He looks a bit older than us, with brown stubble around his cheeks and brown hair so light it’s on the edge of being blond. His eyes are so light green they look almost blue.

“Are you a friend of Claire and Deanna’s?” I ask, steadying my voice. He looks about twenty at least.

“Sort of,” he says, taking it upon himself to sit next to me.

“Sort of are or sort of are not?” Anyone who is Claire or Deanna’s friend isn’t someone I want to be associated with.

“Claire’s seeing a friend of mine,” he says, resting his arms on his knees.

“Well, if you want to stay in her good graces, I’d say to stay the hell away from me,” I warn him.

“I’m not dating Claire, so I don’t particularly care what she thinks.” He smirks.

“Well, you’d be the first in this town to not care what she thinks,” I mutter.

“If you don’t like Claire, why are you here?”

“I’m best friends with her sister Amanda,” I say as I give him a quick once-over. I notice he’s wearing a Michigan State T-shirt.

“You’re still in high school?”

“Last year,” I tell him as I wipe the remaining tears from my eyes.

“It gets better after this, you know. You’ll see the petty rivalries and things you thought were important just aren’t.”

“Well that’s easy to say from where you’re sitting,” I say, hugging my knees to my chest.

“A few inches away from a beautiful girl?”

I can’t help but smile. “I thought they taught better pickup lines in college.”

“Well, it made you smile, so I don’t think it was too bad,” he counters.

“I guess it wasn’t.”

“So was it good enough for you to tell me your name?”

“Lisa.”

“Nice to meet you, Lisa. I’m Brett,” he says, extending his hand.

After a second of hesitation, I take it. “Brett.” I chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I say, covering up my laugh.

I can’t help remembering a conversation Chris, Aidan, and I had a few weeks ago when we called out the names of douchebags. Brett was one of the first names we’d called out. Brett doesn’t seem like a douchebag. At least not yet.

The rest of the night, Brett Stelson and I sit in our own little world on the front porch. It seems like forever but passes like minutes. We talk for a long time, and he never makes a pass or makes me feel as though I should punch him in the face. Talking to him is easy. He doesn’t make me feel as if I have to entertain him or let him feel me up to keep his attention. He’s smart, a premed major. He grew up in Chicago and is at Michigan State on a track scholarship. He’s an only child, like me, and his favorite food is chocolate chip cookies. I make sure to tease him about that not really being a food but more of a snack, and as a premed major, he should know the difference.

Around twelve thirty, I tell him I have to head toward the car so that my friends won’t leave me at the party.

“Well, Lisa who has a prejudice against chocolate chip cookies, would you like to go out with me sometime?” he asks, and I feel my cheeks heat up. “If only to prove to you that your bias against chocolate chip cookies is totally unfounded.”

I giggle and try to remember the last time I was asked on a date that I felt really excited about. It’s been a while. I like Brett Stelson. He’s older and seems to have the right sophistication that’s so lacking around here, and he made me forget about wanting to bash in Deanna’s head, so maybe he is something special.

“Good to see you haven’t been taken away in handcuffs.”

I turn around to see Aidan and his girl of the night standing behind us.

“Not yet at least,” I retort as Brett and I stand. I see Aidan eying Brett curiously. “Brett, this is my friend Aidan. Aidan, this is Brett.”

In only a second, Aidan’s eyes meet mine, and he snickers. He’s so immature. Brett looks a little confused.

“Don’t worry about him. Aidan’s six,” I tell Brett, and he smirks.

“Me and Kimberly are making a beer run. You okay?” he asks, sidestepping my insult.

“Beer run? They ran out of—” I stop when Brett nudges me, and I realize it’s a ploy to get Kimberly alone. “Ooohh. Well, hopefully your beer run won’t take long since you’re everybody’s ride.”

They both walk past us. That’s the one thing I hate about riding with Aidan. If he decides to go off somewhere and hook up, we’re stuck waiting until he’s finished. I hear a buzzing noise coming from Brett’s pocket. He pulls out a cell phone. Only about ten people in our class have them so far.

“That’s your best friend?” he asks.

I recall telling him I was here with my best friends. “Aidan?” I laugh. “No. Far from it. We’re more friends of convenience.”

“Good, I think I’d be jealous if the girl I had a crush on was best friends with a guy,” he teases, and I feel myself blush.

“Well, I actually do have a guy best friend. Chris, who I haven’t seen the entire night…” I say, just realizing it. Chris and I usually check in on each other a couple of times when we’re out together. “I should probably go find him.”

His phone buzzes again. “It’s Claire and Daniel. They have a flat tire. I have to go save the day.” His expression is regretful when he looks up.

“Well, this is where our night ends then. Not bad.” My eyes lock on his. It’s been a long time since I wanted a boy to kiss me, and today is not the day… not yet. But one day soon, I can see myself wanting Brett Stelson to kiss me.

“Well, Lisa who doesn’t like cookies,” he teases.

“Chocolate chip cookies,” I correct.

“I’ll be seeing you very soon,” he says, heading down the steps.

“I hope so, Brett Stelson.” I give him a little wave before I head back into the house.

I push through the partygoers, nearly all drunk now, while trying to avoid Deanna so I can keep my promise to Aidan of not getting taken away in handcuffs. I ask several classmates if they’ve seen Chris, and finally one girl says she saw him and Amanda upstairs, which isn’t super helpful. Amanda’s house is huge.

When I get to Amanda’s room, her door is closed. I knock but don’t get an answer. They probably can’t hear me over the music anyway. When I open the door, my eyes bulge out of my head. I see my friend Amanda topless and kissing some guy in her bed.

Eww eww eww!

Amanda and I are close, but that is not something I want to see. I quickly close the door and start down the hallway to continue looking for Chris, but I feel someone grab my arm. I’m relieved when I turn and see Chris, but then I notice his clothes are disheveled, his face is flushed, and his usually perfectly disorderly hair is now just messy. My mouth falls open, and my eyes practically bulge out of my head again.

“Oooh my God,” I say in disbelief.

Chris looks down in embarrassment. At first I’m confused. Chris “Goody Two Shoes” Scott wouldn’t be rounding second base with my best friend, whom he’s appeared indifferent toward for the past couple of years. Then I laugh.

“That wasn’t what it looked like,” he says, looking completely embarrassed. Only my best friend would think hooking up with a beautiful girl at a party is something to be embarrassed about.

“I’m sure it’s exactly what it looked like. I just… how? When?” I ask, flabbergasted.

Amanda appears behind him with a wide smile as she takes his arm and clings to it. “Sorry about that, Lisa. You’ve got to learn to knock though.”

Chris looks more than a little uncomfortable at his new appendage, and I feel my stomach sink.

“Lisa was just telling me that she has to get home,” Chris says with a tight smile.

Oh no. From the look on Chris’ face, I hope I’m not about to have an Aidan problem. Gah!

Amanda’s face falls in disappointment. “No, Lisa, just another hour or so. Are you not having fun?”

I don’t give her the details of her sister’s bitch fit, because it hardly seems the time. My eyes dart to Chris, who has a get-me-out-of-here look on his face.

“No, really. Evie is going to throw a bitch fit if I’m not home before one,” I say with exaggerated disappointment.

Amanda frowns. “Evie’s going to throw a fit?”

Yeah, I should have thought of a better lie than that. My mom isn’t exactly the type to dole out curfews. I suck at lying.

“I’m grounded. Because of the fight we had about the car…” I say, trying to think of something that seems semi-believable.

“I drove,” Chris jumps in with his own lie.

“Aww. Okay,” she says, obviously disappointed. She turns Chris toward her. “You had a good time tonight?” Her voice sounds deeper than I’ve ever heard, but her eyes are wide, bright, and desperate.

“Great. I had a great time,” Chris says quickly.

She beams, seeming satisfied with his answer, and turns to me without leaving Chris’s side. I have to stop myself from laughing.

“What about you, hon?” she asks, leaning on Chris. Poor, poor Chris.

“I did, aside from your sister from hell bitching me out,” I reveal.

She frowns. “Which one: Claire or Deanna?”

“Deanna, but it all worked out. I met a guy.”

She lights up, her excitement contagious. “Really! Who?” She finally lets go of Chris and steps toward me.

“His name’s Brett, and he’s in college,” I say, but Chris’s eyes beg me to wrap this up. “But I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. I really have to get home.”

“Yes, you have to!” She turns to Chris, stands on her tippy-toes, and plants a kiss on his lips. It looks completely one-sided, but she doesn’t seem to notice how uncomfortable Chris looks. “Make sure to call me tomorrow, babe.” She might as well be a cartoon with hearts shooting out of her eyes.

“Yeah. Cool,” Chris says, slipping from her embrace.

He follows me down the stairs, and I fight the urge to ask Chris a thousand and one questions about what I just saw. Since his face is still flushed a pink I’ve never seen on him, I decide to wait until we’re away from the loud partygoers to get his story. Though I do quickly conclude he’s not drunk because I don’t notice any signs of inebriation or smell any alcohol on him. The only buzz Amanda appeared to be drunk on was love.

We bump into Devin and Mike, who let us know they’ve found other ways to get home. Now only Chris and I are left on the porch with the partygoers who seem too drunk to leave. And of course Aidan is nowhere to be seen.

“This is why our parents should get us cell phones, right?” Chris says.

Every time I’d looked at Chris inside the house, I smirked to keep from giggling, and I can’t stop myself from laughing now. My best friend is only human.

“Lisa, are you going to keep laughing whenever you look at me?” he asks, exasperated.

“No. I’m sure it’ll pass after tonight and after I’ve grilled every detail out of you.”

He grumbles, “I don’t want to talk about it,” for the fifth time since we’ve gotten out here.

We wait around for Aidan for a half an hour, and I get tired of being dragged around by Chris. He keeps moving us to inconspicuous spots so as not to run into Amanda since she thinks we left a while ago.

“I don’t think Aidan’s coming back,” I finally huff. “Look, Amanda can give us a ride home. Who knows how long it’ll take for Aidan to come back?”

“I’m not riding in the same car with her tonight,” Chris says sternly, and I giggle again.

“Did she force herself on you, Chris?” I say jokingly.

He ignores me.

“Because from the brief glimpse I got—which nearly blinded me, I might add—it didn’t look like she was holding you against your will.”

“This is all your fault,” he snaps, and I really start to laugh.

“I’m sorry, but this is not my fault. I am not taking the blame on this one,” I say, throwing up my hands.

“Yes, it is… I’m going to go call my parents,” he says before trotting into the house to search for a phone.

I can’t believe he’s blaming this on me. Okay, yes, I told him to ask her out and keep her distracted so Aidan wouldn’t get his hands on her. I didn’t tell him to practically sleep with her. I never actually thought Chris would even kiss her, let alone have a heavy make-out session with her. As hot as Chris is, I kind of just think of him as asexual. He’s never really called girls hot without prompting from Aidan, and even then he’d agree or shake his head.