Missed Me, Missed Me, Now You Gotta Kiss Me

There's a Fire Starting in My Heart

  I stared at her. “Why not? What the hell’s the point in dating him if Liam never knows?”

  “Just trust me on this one, okay? Now’s not the right time. It’ll just turn into a huge pissing contest, and your parents don’t deserve that.”

  I sighed. “You’re right……”

  “I know.”

  A few minutes passed in silence. Then I randomly said, “I let your brother kiss me Saturday night.”

  Lulu bolted upright, staring at me. “You did?”

  I nodded.

  “Eww!”

  “It wasn’t ‘ew’ the first time,” I felt the need to defend. Until the last part, Kyle was actually, dare I say, enjoyable Saturday.

  “The first time?”

  I winced, making a face. “He did it again as I was leaving. Then it was just kinda awkward and slutty.”

  “Ewww! God, Piper! Total TMI! Keep these awful things to yourself! He didn’t slip you the tongue, did he?”

  I started laughing.

  “Well, I’m just saying! I’d die!”

  “Yes, Lulu. He slipped me the tongue and made me moan with internal desire!”

  Lulu closed her eyes. “Gross! I know you’re kidding, but, damn, you’re so freaking convincing sometimes, you know?!”

  “I know,” I laughed.

  It was cool to just kick back at a friend’s house after school. And being that Lulu was basically my only friend, it was that much cooler. I was so thankful for her friendship, and sometimes I didn’t think I expressed that enough. I mean…she was letting me use her brother to get even with Liam…..

  God, even thinking his name made my heart constrict painfully. How could he have that much of a hold on me? Especially when I obviously didn’t love him! I mean, if I did, wouldn’t I have known right when he kissed me and told me he loved me? It was so stupid; an eighteen year old guy saying he was in love! Teen love wasn’t even real. Liam didn’t know what he felt. It certainly wasn’t love. He would have fought harder if he really loved me.

  Am I saying that I wanted him to fight for me? To try to convince me that I did, in fact, return his feelings?

  How odd……

   Throughout the entire week, I’d been looking for crafty ways to get out of this dinner. Nothing worked, though. My mother was dead set determined to make things right between Liam and me.

  To say I was a nervous wreck would be a serious understatement. I must have changed clothes a thousand and one times. I was sure Lulu was sick of me. I mean, I had called her several times periodically through the day. I basically lost sleep the entire week. What would I even say to him? If Tanya wasn’t coming, I think I could handle it. But she was and I just had to deal with that. Somehow. God, I was gonna kill my parents! Who are they fooling anyway? This would never work! If anything, this would make it worse. I had been doing just fine pretending Liam didn’t exist.

  Oh, Piper, who’re you kidding?

  “Piper! They’re here!” my mom called up the stairs.

  I immediately froze up. Oh, God. I was shaking. My palms were sweaty….I was clamming up! Maybe I was coming down with something….Oh, God, my deorderant was failing! What was I gonna do?