FIRST KISS (High School Romance - FYI - In need of redrafting/rewrites)

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Did you sleep with him?"

Ali's hand clamped down on my arm, pulling me closer to her.

"Ow, Ali. Let go."

"Did you?" she asked, squeezing tighter.

"No, I didn't. But it wouldn't be any of your business if I had done," I said, shaking myself free of her grip.

"Well whatever that was, it was a massive fuck up, Mel. Is he still with Taylor?"

I nodded.

Ali ran her fingers through her hair and tugged on it in exasperation. "Jeez, Mel."

"What? It's not my fault he turned up here."

"You should have thrown him out!"

I pushed past her and made my way downstairs, just hoping Bryce hadn't been listening at my bedroom door.

Jimbo was in the kitchen, and mom was trying to offer him all sorts of food; apparently the protestation that we were going out for breakfast had had no impact.

He jumped up when I came in, and I swear I saw his cheeks flush red.

Great, this is all I need right now.

"Let's go," I said, not even giving mom a chance to speak to me at all. I knew it was rude, but I couldn't be bothered. All I could think about was the fact that Bryce was upstairs; I had to get out before the knowledge that he was in the same building and I couldn't stay with him became unbearable.

Needless to say, I replayed the events of the past few hours over and over in my head. Jimbo chatted away, but I barely heard him. I wasn't even interested in what he was saying, until:

"Taylor called me last night."

"Oh yeh?"

"Yup." He wiped some grease off his lips with the back of his hand. "Left a voicemail in the middle of the night. Couldn't really make it out, but I am pretty sure she was crying."

"Oh."

"I called her today."

"And?"

"And she wants me to go see her for lunch."

"She does?"

"Yeh. Wants 'to talk'." He curled his fingers into inverted commas in the air.

I stirred some sugar into my coffee, pondering whether or not I should tell Jimbo about Bryce turning up in the middle of the night.

"About what?"

"I have no idea. Probably realises she would rather have me than your friend." He grinned at me; it was a cute grin, endearing even, but as I looked at his face, they way his features fitted together, I found myself wondering how anyone could want him over Bryce.

Bryce.

Just thinking his name raised my temperature. It was madness.

And then it hit me.

I was totally in love with Bryce. This wasn't just some kind of game any more. I wasn't just a spoilt kid who had to have exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it.

It was why I had been so hurt that he had gone out with Taylor; it was why I had just let him walk all over me; ignoring me and treating me so badly.

It was why I hadn't thrown him out when he had started throwing pebbles at my window early that morning.

And then I realised something with a painful clarity.

There was no way I could let him sleep with Taylor. That could not be allowed to happen.