I hummed cheerily to myself as I happily arranged chocolate chips in a star design. Jake was huffing with the effort of rolling out cookie dough and Rebecca, my uncle’s housekeeper, was red in the face from standing in front of the oven, pulling out batch after batch of hot cookies and putting the new ones in. Grace had left ten minutes ago to some dinner party of her father’s business associate, and Jay had left with Jeremy even longer ago than that. I don’t know why.
Humming What a Wonderful World, I frowned in concentration, now filling my star with a swirly design of chocolate chips, careful not to displace any of the other adorable little chocolate chunks.
“Done!” I announced triumphantly, beaming in satisfaction at the spread-out chocolate chips on the kitchen island. Rebecca, now spooning cookie dough onto greased sheets, rolled her eyes at me. So far, she had done way more than I had for the bake sale that would raise awareness for the play.
I looked up in time to see Jake bent over the open mouth of the oven, reaching in to take out the finished cookies… without an oven mitt.
“Er — Jake?” I began, but I was too late.
“Ah! It’s hot!” Jake yelped, blowing on his burnt finger.
“It is?” I gasped. “That’s so weird! All I did was put it in the oven…”
Jake scowled at me, now running his finger under cold water.
I jumped off the barstool and walked over to him, grinning. “Aw, poor baby,” I cooed, taking his finger and examining it. “Want me to kiss it better?” I teased.
“Yes,” Jake said immediately, offering his finger.
I blushed and raised an eyebrow. I took his finger and pressed it to my lips, releasing it quickly. “There,” I said, “all better.”
“You call that a kiss?” Jake asked incredulously.
“Yeah,” I snapped, “I do.” I wasn’t sure that I was all too comfortable with the way Jake was now holding me, one of his arms wrapped around my waist and pushing me close to him.
“That’s not a real kiss,” Jake repeated stubbornly, clenching his jaw and looking remarkably like Nate when he was annoyed. Why did the two of them make it so hard to decide between them?
“Well,” I scowled, struggling in vain against Jake’s iron embrace, “how would you even define a kiss?”
Jake grinned wickedly and my eyes widened, regretting the wording of the question so much.
“I’d define it like this,” he said, and leaned down and brought his lips to mine.
It was different than kissing Nate. With Nate, there was more fire and I kind of forgot if people were watching – I didn’t care. All I felt and all I knew was Nate. With Jake, it was a different feeling.
When Jake kissed me it felt really comfortable, and there was a deeper kind of energy below the surface. I was really aware that it was Jake’s arm around me and that it was Jake’s lips on mine. Whereas with Nate, it was more mindless fire.
I gave a tiny sigh and let my body relax; I could feel Jake smile against my lips. As soon as I gave up fighting him, he pulled back and let me go.
“That’s how,” he said smugly, obviously very pleased with himself.
I gave him a scowl because it was expected of me, and turned around so he wouldn’t see my flushed face. Rebecca had left before Jake had kissed me, about some delivery, which meant that…
“THE COOKIES ARE BURNING!” I shrieked, running for the oven. Thrusting my hand in, I yanked out the tray. “HOT!” I yelled, and let go of the tray. It shot out of the oven and skidded across the floor, spraying out cookies everywhere. Jake was in a helpless fit of laughter.
“You’re…so…stupid, Courtney!” he choked out and this time I gave him a real scowl, nursing my finger.
“Ow,” I said in a soft, hurt voice, feeling little tears form in my eyes as I examined my blistered finger.
“Aw, don’t cry!” Jake exclaimed, hurrying to my side. Unfortunately for him, but to my great entertainment, he slipped on a cookie and landed on his muscled derrière. Apparently hot mushy cookies are slippery. “See?” he asked, looking up at me from the ground. “I think I just fell for you.”
I sniggered as Jake picked himself up, half a moist cookie attached to his butt. I pointed this fact out and Jake swiped his hands across his body, brushing off crumbs and smearing chocolate. He grimaced.
“Bite me.”
“Not over there, I won’t,” I said firmly, watching as a grinning Jake slowly peeled the cookie off that part of his anatomy.
Rebecca came in at that moment, holding a package. “Sweet Mary, Mother of God!” she whispered, eyes wide. Jake and I glanced guiltily down at the floor which was tiled with chocolate-chip cookies.
“These won’t go to waste,” Jake tried to reassure her, “see? I don’t mind!” And with that, he promptly scraped a cookie off the floor and shoved the crumbled chocolaty mess into his mouth. “Tathtes goof!” he announced, cheeks bulging.
Rebecca and I exchanged horrified glances before she promptly shooed us out, thrusting the package at me.
“Go on!” she said, flapping her hands at us, “I’ll finish here! Go, and I don’t want to see you in my kitchen until I’m done with the cookies!”
Jake looked ruefully at the ground. As we left, he stooped low and scooped up a handful of mush. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he said, eyes wide as we climbed the stairs. “Want some?” he offered.
“Hmm,” I pretended to debate. “Sure!” I took the bottom of his hand and slapped it into his face, getting the doughy mush into his face. Jake blinked at me for a moment through chocolate-smeared eyes. Then his tongue broke free and he licked his lips appreciatively.
“Still good,” he informed me. I laughed.
We entered my room and Jake immediately plopped himself onto my bed, stretching out.
“You better not get it covered in cookie dough,” I warned him. In response, Jake rolled over and proceeded to wipe his face into my comforter.
“Ahh,” he sighed luxuriously as his faced emerged, slightly browner than usual. His happy sigh turned to a terrified yell as I launched a pair of scissors at him. They landed one inch away from where the sun don’t shine.
“Jeez!” he said weakly, “I nearly lost my manhood!”
“I know,” I agreed, “I missed. Now pass the snip-snips.”
Jake slid them to me across the floor, refusing to come closer. I picked up the scissors and slit open my package, peering down into the box.
“Yay!” I cheered, smiling, “it came!”
“That does tend to happen when you place an order for something,” Jake agreed solemnly from across the room, only to flinch away from me as I picked up the scissors again.
“You’re a twitchy one, aren’t you?” I asked sweetly, putting the scissors into my drawer. He ignored me.
“What’s in the box?” Jake asked curiously.
“Your dignity.”
“Aw, for me? You shouldn’t have,” Jake gushed, reaching for the package.
“Nuh-uh,” I said, standing on my chair as Jake came closer. He’s taller than me on ground, so I thrust the box high above my head.
Unfortunately I forgot that my chair is a rolly one. Jake’s face assumed an evil expression as he came closer.
“Stay away!” I protested uselessly, feeling quite helpless.
“Does Cowtney want to go fow a wide?” Jake asked in a baby voice, leering at me.
“Don’t!” I gasped, clutching my box.
Jake spun me once and I screamed, leaning down and clutching the chair’s back for dear life. Jake chuckled and spun me again. I screamed louder.
“Jacob Howe! Stop!” I begged, abandoning my commanding tone halfway through.
“What do you say?” Jake prompted, giving me another push and I struggled not to vomit.
“Please!” I shrieked, squeezing my eyes tight as the world went blurry.
“We-e-e-ll,” Jake drawled, debating, as he absent-mindedly gave me another turn. I groaned, feeling all the chocolate chips trying to make an escape.
“I swear, I’ll barf on you when this is over,” I whispered weakly through clenched teeth. The speed just got faster.
“That’s not much incentive for me to stop then, is it?” Jake laughed.
“Jake!” I shouted, getting panicked. “Please, stop! I’m not feeling good!”
All of a sudden the chair was yanked to a sudden stop and I lost my balance.
“Oof!”
“You okay?” five separate Jacobs asked me.
“Huh?”
Jacob’s five heads slowly merged back into one and I found myself blinking up at his half-concerned half-amused face from where I lay on the floor.
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“More than one and less than three,” I said, scowling, and Jake laughed, letting the two fingers drop.
“You’re okay.”
“Don’t ever do that again,” I told him in a steely voice, still at the foot of the chair, sprawled on the ground. Jake was suddenly propped up on one elbow beside me on the floor, looking at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said in an unconvincing tone.
I snorted. “No you’re not.”
Jake grinned. “Details.”
We both suddenly became aware of how close we were. Jake got a look in his eyes which I had seen only one other time.
“Jacob—” was all I had time to say before he held himself on top of me and brought his mouth to mine. I sighed, and for the second time felt Jake smile as I gave up fighting.
***
“Courtney?”
“Huh?”
I came to myself to find Nate in front of my locker, peering down at me. My heart did that weird tumble-to-my-toes thing that only Nate could do to me. You would think I’d make up my mind, especially after spending an hour on my bedroom floor yesterday, kissing Jacob.
“Could I talk to you?” Nate said, and I was surprised to see him smile. He usually looked either miserable – in which case Hell-en was around – or he just looked serious.
I inspected Nate a little closer, trying not to get side-tracked by his attractiveness. Ignoring his cheekbones and shaggy hair and the relaxed position of his lean body lounging against my locker door, I detected a hint of nervousness and anxiety about him.
“Okay,” I agreed, my curiosity piqued. “Talk.”
“Um, maybe somewhere other than here?” he asked, looking worriedly at me to see if that was all right.
“That’s fine,” I said, following Nate through the crowd and outside. He led me to the deserted bleachers where we could see several guys and girls running laps around the enormous field.
“There’s a pep rally tonight,” he told me, smiling slightly as we sat down. I tried not to notice how close he sat beside me, our knees touching.
“I’ve never been to one,” I confessed, feeling pretty dumb. Nate’s eyes widened in delighted disbelief.
“What kind of an American teen are you, Courtney?” he asked, laughing.
“A Canadian one,” I replied sourly. “What is a pep rally?”
He shook his head at me. “What is a pep rally? Well you’re going to have to find out tonight,” he told me grinning. I pouted.
“Tell me!”
“Nope.”
“Dummy,” I muttered.
“Poophead,” was the cheerful response. I blushed; I guess Ellen wasn’t the only one who’d heard my lame comeback. Nate laughed appreciatively at my red face.
“So… what about the pep rally?” I asked, to change the topic.
“Nothing. That was just my brilliant ice-breaker.”
I stuck my tongue out at him.
Nate grinned and leaned close to me; I had difficulty swallowing for a few moments.
“I actually have a good line for when you do that, but I’ll save that for when I get to know you better.”
“Good line for what?” I managed to say as he leaned back away from me. The air got cooler.
“For when you stick out your tongue.”
“Tell me!”
“Nope.”
“Dum—” I began, then stopped and scowled.
“Poop—” Nate cut himself off on purpose, winking at me.
“What makes you think you’ll get to know me better?” I asked, in as dignified tone as I could manage.
“Because you’re going to meet me here on Saturday morning,” he informed me, leaning back, satisfied with the way this was going. My face was still red.
“Why?” I demanded.
“Come and you’ll find out.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “At least tell me what this is about,” I said, leaning close and smiling at him. Nate finally tore his eyes away from my gaze and his teasing manner returned.
“No, I don’t think I will. Where’s the fun in that?”
“Fun?” I perked up. “Will it be fun?”
“Oh yeah,” he promised me, chuckling.
“Is this like a date?” I asked suspiciously and Nate stopped laughing.
“Yeah. It is. It will be the first.”
I opened my mouth to demand what he meant by that be he ignored me. “So be here at ten thirty a.m. sharp, Saturday morning,” he commanded, standing up and stretching. His lean muscular body arched gracefully and I blushed. He grinned down at me, his shaggy hair blown back by the wind. His brilliant green eyes smoldered at me as he leaned down and quickly kissed my cheek.
“And there’s more where that came from,” he couldn’t resist adding. He winked at me and ran lithely down the bleachers, laughing at my annoyed expression.
I watched him walk away, heading towards the parking lot, his walk smooth and confident. When he was far away, he suddenly turned and looked towards me where I was still sitting on the bleachers, shocked.
“I’ll be waiting!” he shouted through the wind that carried his words to me. I could see his grin before he turned again and got into his Mustang.
I grinned to myself and even laughed. This new, light-hearted and spontaneous Nate was different. A good different. And I knew that he was wrong; he wouldn’t be waiting for me on Saturday morning – I would be waiting for him.
*Note from ella:
Sooo... please comment! You know you want to! What do you guys think of the two guys now? Who will win Courtney's undecided little heart? Hmm... difficult to say...You'll have to convince me because I'm just as torn as you are. But I know who I'm leaning towards...
But let me know what you think about both Nate's and Jake's behaviors! Thanks for the feedback and votes, love you all! Have a fantastic day! :)