Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys)(14)

“So what did you say?”

“Just that I’d only be going if we played.” I shrug. “You don’t have to hear all this stuff if you don’t want to.”

When we started divulging all of this stuff to each other, I never thought I would end up making out with frigging Garrick Bell, after all. MUCH LESS LIKING IT.

“No, tell me,” Reid says.

“Well… thenwesortofmessedaround,” I say, even though I’ve never said messed around before in my life, and if all you do is kiss with your front halves kind of smushed together and maybe an “accidental” boob touch or four, does that count as messing around?

“Whoa,” Reid says.

“And here’s the superweird thing,” I say as if nothing I’ve said yet has been superweird. “Garrick is a really good kisser.”

“No, I can see that.”

I almost miss the table as I set down my glass of water. “WHAT?”

Reid nearly knocks his own water over. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

I swat my menu at his head. “Why are you analyzing Garrick Bell’s kissing skills?”

“Ow, Riley, stop it.” He unsuccessfully blocks my every blow. “No, just because of Sydney.”

“Sydney who?”

“You don’t know?” Reid laughs, stops, then gets swept away by more laughter.

“I DON’T KNOW. TELL ME.”

“Sydney Jacobs,” he says, “went out with Garrick last year. Before he transferred to Edendale. I thought people knew that.”

It’s not that Sydney Jacobs is that famous. Okay, actually, yes, she’s famous, maybe more than a little, especially if you are under twelve, which until this year Ashley was. So I am well aware that Sydney Jacobs plays the lazy but aggressive best friend on eJenni, which I’m pretty sure never stops playing on Nickelodeon. So, no, she is not a rock star and she’s not even a movie star, but she’s something, and Garrick has dated that something. Probably messed around with that something.

Ohmygodwhatifhetotallydidit with that something.

“It’s weird you didn’t know that,” Reid says, like he’s an expert on everything.

“Crap,” I manage to say.

“Yeahhhh,” Reid says.

“So what about you?” I ask Reid. I’m sick of imagining how adorable and spunky Sydney must have looked all the time. I messed around with Garrick while wearing faded jeans and an even more faded Sleater-Kinney T-shirt. Not that clothes matter, but Garrick clearly could do and has done a lot better than me.

Reid smirks. “I’m glad you asked.”





CHAPTER NINETEEN



The Sad Animal Project, Continued, by Reid


When I got in my car after practice I had a voice mail. It was Jane, seeing if I’d talked to my mom about the dog yet. I called Paws for People right away, and she answered, and just like last time we start talking right away, but this time she can’t talk for long since she’s on the work phone and she can’t tie it up.

I just decide to do it, so I ask if I should just stop by so I can finish our conversation and see the dog.

She says yes.

Luckily this time the dad-type guy isn’t working, since I guess Saturday nights are pretty slow. So it’s just us, and we talk about everything, her family, my family, dogs, music, school, seriously, anything you can imagine we probably talked about it. She has to walk all the dogs before the overnight guy shows up, so I help out, and once she’s off I suggest we get coffee at the Brite Spot and she says yes to that, too.

We drive separately which is kinda disappointing but once we get there we’re back to talking nonstop. She is seriously amazing, so the whole time I’m working up how I’m going to kiss her once we leave, but I can’t because we have to sort of naturally split up to get to our cars. Next time I will figure out how to kiss her.





CHAPTER TWENTY


When I get home on Sunday afternoon, I ignore Mom and Dad, who are making a big production out of making homemade salsa in the kitchen, and head straight for my room. Googling “Sydney Jacobs” doesn’t make her less adorable or well dressed or famous. I try “Sydney Jacobs + Garrick Bell” and results spew out like molten lava from a volcano.

It turns out I am far from the first to notice Garrick’s shaggy hair because tween girls have been raving about it, on top of his “kissable lips” (well…!), “sweet smile” (not inaccurate), and “awesome sense of style” (not taking your side on that one, tweens, not like I’m one to talk) ever since Garrick was Sydney’s date to the Kids’ Choice Awards earlier this year. There are MULTIPLE IMAGES of the two of them on the silly orange-not-red carpet being all coupley and happy.

In lieu of documenting this, I print out three of the pictures to paste into the Passenger Manifest once I get it back from Reid. Then I go downstairs and turn on the TV to see if I can catch Sydney in action. Of course eJenni is on. The studio audience or laugh track goes nuts for her, and she looks great in an awesome jacket and nicer jeans than the United Front think jeans need to be. I feel like a goober in comparison.

Ashley walks into the room and stares at the TV screen. “Why are you watching this?”

I try to think of a reasonable explanation that does not involve any Garrick-kissing. I change the channel to MSNBC and shrug.