Kissing in Cars (Kiss and Make Up #1)(4)

Chapter Three





MOLLY


"Don't flatter yourself buddy! I wasn't looking at you,

I was checking out your truck." - Jenna



"A few of us are going to the lake, you wanna come?" asks Jenna. We're standing at my locker where I'm both collecting my homework and shoving books into the tiny cramped space. I hold back some papers from falling out with my palm and quickly slam it shut.

"Well... I hadn't really planned on it, no. My parents aren't home so I kind of wanted the house to myself for a few hours. You know how it is...." I shrug and stand there shifting my weight, wanting to hit the road. I mean seriously, is there anything better than having your parents out of the house? My mom, who has been a stay-at-home-mom since my brother was born, is usually home most afternoons. If she isn't home when I walk in the door, she's usually home shortly after.

Tonight, as luck would have it, my parents are attending a fundraiser for a new girl's school that has just been renovated. My dad works in finance, but is also on the school board for our district, so they attend these sorts of things every so often.

"Yeah I get it, Molly, but can't you do your homework at the beach? Just bring a blanket. Run home and grab your suit and meet us there. Cool?" Jenna stares at me with her big blue eyes and pushes out her bottom lip, which I consider her trademark move to manipulate me.

And...it works.

"Fine," I relent, begrudgingly. "I'll run home quick and grab my suit."

Ugh, I'm such a pushover.

What I really wanted to do is go home, watch Pretty Little Liars on Demand while eating Cheetos on the couch. For the record, Cheetos are a big 'no no' at my house ever since the time my idiot older brother got caught wiping his orange fingers on the arms of the Lazy-Boy .

Food hasn't been allowed in the living room since.

I call it the "Incident of 2010 that ruined it for everybody."

Now my mom watches us like a hawk.

"Wear that new suit you bought at Macy's last week," she said wiggling her eyebrows at me in a suggestive manner. "Just in case! You never knooww..." she singsongs this last part. "I want to make sure you have a hot date for Fall Formal so you can double with me and Alex again this year."

Classic Jenna, always with a dance on the brain.

Before school even starts each year, she starts shopping for Formal dresses - in like, June. I'm every bit of a girly-girl as she is, but come on - June?

I am able to make it home, change, and get back on the freeway in less than a half hour. Headed south to Random Lake's public shoreline with the top down on the Jeep, my hair is flying in a million different directions. I have sunglasses on so that I can see, because hair is getting in my eyes.

I'd decided to scrap the idea of getting homework done on the beach, knowing that realistically no one is going to let me actually study. Instead they'll chatter non-stop, probably harass me to play sand volleyball (which I suck at) - stuff like that. According to Jenna, I was the only Senior she'd actually seen read a textbook this year and I needed to "give it a rest already...god...."

I'm clipping down the highway at a good pace, loving the way the wind makes me feel.

Free.

Alive.

Young.

I've got on my jean skirt, a plain aqua ribbed tank top from American Eagle over my suit, and flip flops. Nothing fancy. Driving with the top down on the Jeep feels amazing. If you've never been in a convertible, it's like standing on the top of a hill on a gorgeous day and letting the wind dance itself around you.

Pushing my sunglasses to the bridge of my nose, I adjust the adapter on my iPod and crank up the radio. I find my favorite tune - "Gone, Gone, Gone" by Phillip Phillips - and start belting out the lyrics to the high tempo love song.

"And I would do it for youuuu, for youu oohhh - Baby I'm not moving on, I'll love you long after you're gone....."

Is that my voice? Gosh I sound incredible...

I'm tapping the steering wheel with both palms, and can see a red pickup truck in my rear-view mirror approaching to pass. Whoever it is, he's hell bent on a mission to get somewhere, and is past me within seconds.

The windows on the red truck are tinted but I see the shadow of a large figure in the passenger seat crane around once it's past. On the back bumper, there's a sticker that reads "Puck Off," so I can only presume it's guys from school and that they're on the hockey team.

Confession: I think you and I both know that when you pass a Jeep on the road, it's almost impossible to resist checking out the driver. Have you ever passed a Jeep and not looked? In fact, have you ever seen a Jeep coming down the road and gotten all excited, and then when it drives by you, you're all bummed out because the driver was Ewww? Or taken one look at the driver and thought "Damn that dude is ugly! They have no business owning that sweet ride!" and been completely disappointed? I'd even go as far as to say: it should be a law that all Jeep drivers be pleasant to look at. I mean it, seriously.

The current laws of attraction state that an attractive girl driving a Jeep is even more irresistible to the opposite sex than any other vehicle - especially one with their hair down.

It's a scientific fact, er... somewhere.

It's coded in guy DNA.