A Ticket Out of Life

Chapter Forty

It was the day of the Holiday Dance and Katie, Carrie and I were up at the school’s gym decorating along with all the other girls’ from our class. The dance was later that evening and I was excited to get to wear the dress we had picked out when we went on our shopping expedition. I leaned against the wall with my hands behind my back as I watched as they started to hang sparkly items up on the ceiling. I wasn’t allowed to do much of the decorating, much less get up on the ladder. Carrie had said with my natural clumsiness, I’d end up falling and I couldn’t help but to agree with her. I wasn’t the most graceful. The decorating took about another hour before it was completed and we were content with how it looked. It would be much better when the lights were off so we could show off all of the lights we put up. I walked out of the gym and spotted Lance’s car in the parking lot. I said goodbye to Carrie and headed over to it. I peeked in and noticed his eyes were closed. Poor kid, I had to wake him up early so he could take me, I thought as I quietly opened the door. I raised my eyebrow at him as I got in. You sleep with the doors unlocked? That’s not very safe. An idea came to my mind as my smile turned devious. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a marker that I accidently took from decorating and I popped open the cap. I slowly moved over to him and I was about to put the marker to his face to draw a silly moustache when his hand shot up and caught mine, making me scream and jump. Lance opened his eyes as the smile spread across his lips and he started to laugh.

“Back-fired on you didn’t it?” he asked as he sat up and I gave him a pouting expression.

“Little faker,” I grumbled as I tried to pull my hand away and he just gave me an expression that basically said ‘You’re an idiot if you think I’m letting go’.

“When you see an opportunity like that, just know that it’s probably a set up for another opportunity.”

“You planned it didn’t you?” I said as I gave him a blank look. His smile turned cocky.

“Why yes I did,” he said. “And you fell for it like I thought you would.” He pulled my hand towards him and my body followed. Our lips met and his grip on my hand loosened and he finally released me. I pulled away and looked grumpily over at him. His cocky smile didn’t leave his face as he started the car and headed off.

“This isn’t fair,” I mumbled as I crossed my arms. I couldn’t think of a single plan to get Lance back for his little stunt on my birthday and I wasn’t very creative either. Everything I tried back-fired and Lance ended up winning.

“Stop making everything so obvious then,” Lance said with a smirk and I couldn’t help but to smile at him. He glanced over at me from the corner of his eyes and I looked over at him. They had that dangerous glint to them and I couldn’t help my heart from jumping from that gaze. Good Lord what is he planning now?

“What’s that look for?”

“What look?” he asked innocently.

“The one on your face,” I said as I cocked my head to the side. His smile widened.

“It’s not a look. It’s just my face.”

“Uh-huh, yeah sure. Like I’m going to believe that,” I said rolling my eyes exaggeratedly. He chuckled at that.

“Someone has an attitude. Do I need to fix that for you?”

“No thank you,” I said turning my head away. A smile touched my face as I thought of something. “You couldn’t fix it anyway.” Ashley, you’re digging yourself deeper, I thought as I glanced over and saw Lance’s expression.

“You’re trying to tempt me.”

“Who me?” I asked as I pulled off an innocent look. “Nonsense.” Lance was silent for a bit before a huge smirk crossed his face.