Liars and Losers Like Us(30)

She appears in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. “Hey, you forgot to close the garage, hon. Good thing I’m not some serial killer looking for teenagers to—”

“Okay Mom, sorry.” I say. “This is Sean.”

Sean rises from the couch and walks over to her, extending his hand.

“Sean. Nice to meet you Mrs. Hughes.”

“Nice to meet you, too. I remember you. The singing guy from Azumi. I’m in-between last names right now, you can call me Brenda. You guys watching a movie?”

“Stand By Me,” I answer, with a slight nod, making urgent eye contact with her. “Unfortunately you’ve already seen it, sooooo?”

“You bet. I’ll be upstairs if you need anything. Just right upstairs,” she points upward as she walks up the stairway.

Sean stifles a laugh. “Your mom’s pretty cool. She’s funny, like you.”

“Thanks. Cool, funny, and yet, so embarrassing.” The assertiveness I had just before my mom got home fades into a light shade of shy, which freezes me on the chair I’d jumped into.

Out of the corner of my eye, Sean shuffles around on the couch, moving his leg, tapping the armrest, but he doesn’t say anything. I talk myself into getting out of my seat and going back to the couch about twelve more times, but my body never actually moves.

The movie eventually fades to the main character in a scene as an adult, hanging out with his kids, and then the credits roll.

Sean stands and leans against the armrest. “That was a good movie. I’m officially appointing you to be in charge of picking out movies for us from now on.”

From now on. Pretty sure my heart just skipped and swooned heavily to the right.

“Too bad you hung out on that chair the rest of the movie. It was kind of cold over here.”

“Sorry,” I say. “I just got kind of thrown off by my mom walking in when I was trying to kiss you.”

“Whoa, hey. I was trying to kiss you.”

I smile. “No, I’m pretty sure that was all me. I was about to kiss you.”

“Well, I guess it’s not how you start but how you finish. Something like that.”

I smile and imagine jumping on him, pushing him back onto the couch, and finishing the kiss. Instead, I make my way over to the bottom of the staircase.

“Hey Mom,” I call up. “I’m going to drive Sean home, okay? Be home in a little bit.”

“Drive safe!” she calls from her room.

After I put my car into park in Sean’s driveway, he lays his hand on mine. “I had fun tonight. Sorry about all your drama.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I say. “I had fun too. Sorry my mom came home so early.”

“Soooo,” Sean says, “About that. I think I owe you.”

“Yes,” I say. “My prize. You do owe me. That lucky rubber band was stolen by Molly’s stinky hair.”

“That’s on you, Bree.” The way he says my name pulls me, kills me, grips my heart something crazy. “You better get that back.” He grins. Then he does a sideways lean into me from the passenger seat. He slides his hand down my hair, then beneath my ponytail at the nape of my neck. His lips press against my bottom lip and my body sighs. My lips melt into his. It’s like tiny sparklers are shooting around inside my body. I try to keep my breathing steady although my heart races as his hand moves down my back, probably leaving fire-prints beneath my shirt. His lips are smooth and light across mine. He inhales deeply as he slowly pulls away.

Exhaling, he says, “I guess I better go. Before my mom comes out here asking if we want a snack or something.”

“See you in school Monday?”

“Yep. Maybe I’ll give you a call tomorrow too, if that’s okay?”

“Yes. Have a good night,” I say to his back as he exits the car.

He turns and winks, “You too, Breezy.”

He waves one last time before going into his house. My lips stretch into a smile that lasts me all the way home and into Sunday morning. Best. Night. Best. Weekend. Ever.





TWELVE


Still inhaling the glow left over from my time with Sean, this morning has me refreshed and ready to conquer my phone call with Kallie.

“Finally, you call me back,” Kallie says without even saying hello first.

“Well hi to you, too.”

“Hi. What’s up?” Kallie asks.

“Kal. You called last night and didn’t leave a message. You go first.”

“Okay, but only because it’s been a while since I’ve said it first.” She half whispers, “Sorry.”

“Who said that? Do you have a tiny little mouse over there? I barely heard the guy. What’d he say?”

“Omigod Bree,” she laughs. “I’ll kill you. You heard me.”

“I know, I’m kidding. I’m sorry too. Really.”

I think we both sigh into our phones at the same time.

“So,” I say, not wanting to get into anything good or off topic until I spit it out. “I have to tell you something.”

“Ugh. I already know. Todd told me.”

“Really? About Jane?”

“You mean Molly. Yep. He said you guys were at Monroe’s Friday and she was all over him and you probably saw. Todd said you guys were all pretty wasted so he hoped you didn’t get the wrong idea. It was all Molly. It might’ve looked bad but Todd swears he didn’t touch her. I believe him. I should believe him, right?”