“That was so much fun!” I said, bouncing around her like Duke does when he’s been stuck in his crate all day.
Brook scowled at me, but my exuberance was infectious, and soon she had a big smile on her face. When she stood up, I picked her up and swung her around.
“Thank you! I’ll go on a playdate with you anytime,” I announced.
“Put me down, you goof!”
I set her down, and she shook her head. Then she slapped my arm.
“You’re it,” Brook said as she took off.
It took me a moment to figure out what she’d just done. I could have easily caught her, but I enjoyed the chase too much. When I finally tackled her, I pulled her down but rolled so she landed on me. Brook’s face was flushed, and she was breathing hard. The next thing I knew she had me in a major lip-lock. I let her grab my wrists and hold them over my head as she had her way with me. If we hadn’t had company, I would have started ripping our clothes off. We heard Ben and Jenna clear their throats, which slowed us down.
“You need to turn in your gear before it gets damaged,” Ben said.
We got up, and Brook grabbed my hand and led us into the building. The spell had been broken, for now, but Brook and I would have adventures in the future. I hoped we might follow through on the promise that the kiss had uncovered.
◊◊◊
Chapter 12 – Searching for Something More Wednesday September 16
“David Allen Dawson!” Mom yelled over the intercom.
“I think we’ve been summoned,” I shared with Duke.
“Coming,” I said into the intercom.
I’d uploaded my GoCam video into my Dropbox account for storage last night. The plan was to edit it into a short video. I woke up to find Lily must have been bored last night because it was posted this morning. I discovered this on my run when my smart watch blew up with social media and text messages. It was now time to face the music.
I knew better than to drag this out, so I hurried up and ran down the stairs and into the house. On my run earlier, I got a chance to see what Lily had posted. There were two videos: the first was of the jump, and it was awesome, if you asked me. The second had been tagged #TheKiss. I’d forgotten to turn off the GoCam when we landed.
When Brook pinned my hands over my head, the GoCam on my wrist was pointed right at us. I couldn’t have had a better view of our lip-lock if I’d planned it. The video showed we were both flushed, and the hard breathing looked a lot like passion. Brook’s face showed her obvious lust. I had a foreboding feeling that this might get out of hand. It had already started to be retweeted, which meant that someone forwarded your tweet to all of their followers. All it would take was for someone like Adrienne, or even worse, Halle’s mom, Rita James, to retweet it. That was when something like this would go viral, and you’d find yourself on Hollywood Central by the end of the day.
I had a feeling that wasn’t what my mom was worried about. I walked into the kitchen and saw both my parents looked unhappy. Since they had come back from Las Vegas, my dad was no longer an innocent bystander. For some reason, he took my mom’s side on everything. I prayed his penance would end soon because guys needed to stick together.
“I’m sorry,” I offered.
I don’t know why I even tried. That approach never worked.
“What were you thinking?” Mom asked.
“I understand. I obviously wasn’t.”
“Don’t get smart with me, mister,” Mom said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You could have gotten killed doing a stunt like that,” Dad said to join the party.
It was never a good idea to respond to an accusation that involved the possibility of getting killed. Nothing you had to say would appease your parents. It was much better to try the hound-dog look and bow your head. I’d had acting lessons, after all, and would have given myself an Academy Award for my performance. My only problem was I faced my mom, who had the uncanny knack of being able to read me. Dad bought it completely. Mom covered her mouth, and I heard a snort. Crud!
“Bullshit!” Mom barked at me.
Dad looked at both of us and just shook his head. He wouldn’t venture back into the deep end, now that Mom and I had locked horns.
“You saw the video. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” I protested.
“I saw that. Next time you get an idea like that, think again,” Mom ordered. “Who was that girl you kissed?”
“Brook. It was all her idea,” I said.
I figured Mom wouldn’t be too hard on her. I didn’t even feel guilty about blaming her. I needed to get my mom off my ass, or I’d get grounded once again.
“I bet I can guess how she convinced him,” Dad mumbled.
He got ‘the look’ from Mom. I would have to thank him later. He didn’t have to distract Mom. The only reason that didn’t make me feel sorry for him was I suspected he would get make-up sex at some point. I know, I shudder to think about it, but for some reason, Dad liked that. Why else would he do it?
“I want to meet Brook,” Mom said, and that scared me again.
“Yes, ma’am,” was my automatic response.
What had I just done?
◊◊◊
When I got to school, Brook was waiting for me in the parking lot.
“Why did you post us kissing?” she asked.
“I didn’t. I uploaded the video and planned to edit it today. Lily must have found it and posted it. I forgot to turn off the video camera after we landed,” I explained.
Brook looked at me like she could read my soul, then spun around and marched off. I was smart enough not to chase her. She needed to cool off, or I’d be in trouble. My cell phone rang, and it was Kendal. I braced myself and answered it.
“What did you do? My phone started ringing at seven this morning. Apparently, Michael Reese and Tyler think that everyone should be out of bed at eight o’clock eastern time,” Kendal whined.
Michael was the vice president in charge of marketing for Jade, and Tyler was Adrienne’s life and business partner. They both followed my social media accounts.
“It’s no big deal. I kissed a girl,” I said.
“Is that all? Because they both want you to come to New York and model full-time. Tyler quoted me a ridiculous number and explained that you needed to make money now while you’re a hot commodity.”
“We heard the same stuff from Ford. I wouldn’t do anything like that until after graduation. It would have to be life-changing money to convince my parents that I wasn’t going to college. They wouldn’t agree to me dropping out of high school.”
Kendal knew all this, but it must have been an impressive offer if she called me. We talked some more, and I told her if she was able to convince my mom and dad, we would talk. I really just wanted to play ball and enjoy high school. How could one kiss change things so much?
◊◊◊
At lunch, Lisa Felton got me sent to the Principal’s office. I had been minding my own business in the lunch line to get a salad to go with my sack lunch when she walked up and kissed me. Before I quite realized what was happening, Mr. Happy had taken control of the body. I pinned Lisa to the wall by the cashier. Coach Hope separated us, and we looked up to see the whole lunchroom staring at us. Lisa found Brook and winked at her. I felt like a pawn in their little battle of who was the sexiest girl at Lincoln High.
I was lucky to end up only getting detention for the rest of the week. I shudder to think what would have happened if my mom had been called.
◊◊◊
In art class, I usually sat between Brook and Halle. Today Brook sat on the other side of the room.