I have come to the conclusion that I must have a thing for girls who kiss me out of nowhere. Jade kissed me out of nowhere. Darleen kissed me out of nowhere, and now Mackenzie.
Mackenzie and I aren’t exactly total strangers, in fact just the opposite. 40% of the time I hang out with Jade, Mackenzie is there. I mean for as long as I have known Jade, I’ve known Mackenzie too.
It’s no secret that Mackenzie is jealous of Jade. This is something I have picked up on over the years. She hates having to fight Jade to get her own mothers attention. She hates having to share everything, and most of all she hates how Jade is the star child while she is just, ordinary. Mackenzie plays the violin, but she is just average, not good enough to go to Lincoln high that’s for sure. I know this because she auditioned once and was totally embarrassed when she didn’t get in. Jade teased her about it for a week.
And maybe I’ve known Mackenzie has been checking me out since I turned 15. We are the same age after all. I just wrote it off as me seeing things, but now I know for sure. She definitely likes me. Which I don’t know how, because I never hang out with her one on one, we are always with Jade.
I guess that’s why I never noticed how she felt, I was too busy drooling over Jade.
Right now I sit in my room on my bed next to Mackenzie, aunty wanted to talk to us, alone. So everyone else was made to stay downstairs while we sort out what the heck just happened.
“I thought you liked Jade.” She pointed out.
“I do!” I quickly said.
“And you have a girlfriend.” She added.
“Yes,” I confirm.
“So why did I see you kissing my daughter?” she looked mad.
“I, I, she, we, I didn’t…”
“I kissed her,” Mackenzie spoke up.
Her eyes went wide.
“I’m gay, okay, there I said it. Now you know. And I kissed her. I like Skylar.” She crosses her arms and looks away.
“Mackenzie.” She frowned.
“I know she likes Jade, everyone knows! It’s stupid, just forget it.” She wiped her tears and got up to leave.
“Hey, wait. I’m sorry.” I got up and grabbed her arm to hold her in place.
“Just stop.” She whimpered.
“I didn’t mean to lead you on. I just, I don’t know, you confused me.” I admitted.
“Get your hands off my daughter.” Aunty snapped.
I quickly took my hand away as if I had been burned.
“I love you Skylar, but I won’t let you jerk my daughter around. Not when you have a girlfriend and not when I know how you feel about Jade. If you want to pursue a relationship with her you have to go through me. do you understand?”
I nodded.
“You are not to kiss or touch her inappropriately ever again, am I clear?”
“Mom!” Mackenzie said embarrassed.
“Yes ma’am,” I said.
“You shouldn’t kiss people when you are in a relationship. That’s an awful thing to do. It’s called cheating. I know you know what cheating is. You should feel ashamed of yourself. I thought you were better than that Skylar.” She shook her head.
“I’m sorry.” I feel my eyes water.
“Mom stop it!” Mackenzie shouted.
“Now I know you are still confused and young and experimenting, but you leave my daughter out of it, am I clear?”
“Oh my god!” Mackenzie ran her hands down her face in embarrassment.
“Yes ma’am,” I nod.
“Are you done yet?” Mackenzie turned to her.
“No, you should know better. You know how Skylar feels and you know that she is in a relationship. Pursuing someone who is taken is also bad. It makes you look bad as a person. That is crossing a line of respect and personal boundaries and I know I raised you better than that.”
“I had to tell her, I’ve been holding it in since I was fourteen. I can’t take it anymore!” she shouted.
“Enough. You should know better. Skylar doesn’t like you like that.”
“I hate you!” She screams at her mom then she storms out.
“Mackenzie wait!” I chase after her.
I run down the stairs and chase her out the front door.
“I’m sorry,” I say catching her arm again.
She breaks down crying and crumbles into my arms. I rub her back. I feel awful. But I also feel confused. My heart is racing as I hold her. I can’t help but take in a big deep breath of her scent.
“I’m sorry,” I repeat, burying my face into her hair, her soft silky hair.
She quiets her sobs.
“Don’t hate me,” I say.
“You’re a stupid idiot.” She says.
“I know,” I say.
She holds me tighter.
“Is there even a small chance for us?” she asks quietly.
“I, I, don’t know. I’m confused.”
“I’ll take that over no any day.” She smiles and pulls back.
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
She leans in to kiss me, I freeze up.
“Mackenzie James Wilson!” Aunty shouts from the doorway of the house.
“God I hate her.” She mumbles.
I giggle.
She smiles at me.
I slowly pull away from her, her smile fades. I move to wipe her tears and her smile returns.
“Don’t go.” I grab her hand and drag her back to the house.
“Okay.” She easily gives in.
When we go back inside Jade is giving me the look. The look is what I call the signature Jade face when I do something that she doesn’t like. Her eyes are narrowed on to me and her lips formed into an accusing pout. Her arms are crossed and she is just looking at me with that look. The look is always a warning sign that if I don’t do something quick I will get the silent treatment again.
I gulp.
Aunty is also eyeing us. I quickly let go of Mackenzie’s hand.
Jade marches over to me and snatches my now free hand. She glares at Mackenzie who glares right back at her. Then Jade drags me upstairs to my room and shuts the door behind us. The Countess is in her other hand.
“Jade I—” I try to start but she quickly cuts me off.
“You totally just cheated on Darleen!” She declares.
That’s what she’s mad about. For some reason that makes me mad, okay not for some reason I know the reason. It’s because I wanted her to be jealous, I wanted her to be mad at me because I was kissing Mackenzie and not her.
“Darleen and I aren’t even official yet.” I defend myself.
“Yes, you are! Everyone in the whole school knows. So not cool Skylar. You can’t just cheat on your girlfriend.”
“Well what about yesterday, we kissed, doesn’t that count as cheating which means you cheated too.” I shot back at her.
I could feel my blood pumping my heart racing. I want Jade to acknowledge me. I want her to give me her attention and show me that it’s possible for us to be more than friends.
“That doesn’t count.” She says like I’m stupid or something.
“Well, why not?”
“Because we are best friends and I almost got freaking kidnapped! It wasn’t because we have feelings for each other. It was only because we were both just glad to be alive.” She tries to reason out loud.
I frown at her. Sometimes Jade really makes no sense.
“So are you saying kissing your best friend doesn’t count?” I challenge.
“Well yeah, why would it count? We’re best friends, practically family.” She shrugs.
Ouch even worse, family zoned.
“Whatever. Mackenzie kissed me, not the other way around.”
“But you liked it, I saw your face.”
“So what if I like it when a girl kisses me. Doesn’t make me a cheater.”
“Yeah, it kind of does.”
“Are you saying you are going to tell Darleen on me or something?”
“Hell no.”
“Then why are you making a big deal out of it?”
She averts her gaze. I can tell I am making her mad. I just want her to see she isn’t making sense at all. So some kisses count but others don’t?
“Just forget it.” She turns away from me.
“I think our kiss counts,” I say on a whim. Maybe it’s because I was feeling brave with my blood pumping and all. But as soon as the words left my mouth fear shot through me and I cringed. Sometimes I am really dumb.
She keeps her back turned to me and neither of us says anything. I give in first. I always give in first.
“I think any kiss would count. Unless it’s like from my mom or sister or something.” I add.
Her relaxing shoulders don’t go unnoticed to me. She is glad I cleared it up to make it sound less like a declaration of love and more like a simple fact. Does she know how I feel about her? Could everyone be right about her?
“Jade,” I say when she still hasn’t turned to me.
She takes a deep breath before turning to face me. Her expression is hard to read. Why is she making a big deal out of this?
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I promise.” I say when she still hasn’t said anything to me.
“Okay.” She finally says.
I sigh in relief.
She sets down the kitten before she walks over to me. she is very close. So close my heart is racing. I can smell the remnants of syrup on her skin that’s how close she is. I just stay silent and stare into her dark jade green eyes.
“I don’t think a kiss from your best friend should count.” She says.
Her voice sounds off. It’s low and quiet. Almost as if she is testing the waters. My heart flutters around in my chest and my guts feel so tingly that it makes me nauseous.
“Then that would mean I get to kiss you whenever I wanted,” I whisper.
Our eyes never break contact.
“What would be so bad about that?” She says.
My throat closes up and I can’t think of any way to respond to that. I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. Just kiss me! I want to shout at her. I don’t want to be the one that makes the first move, I don’t want to be the one that gives in first. Not this time.
Her eyes dart down to my lips and I take a half step closer to her. Our bodies are pressed against each other now. Our lips almost touching. She smirks at me as if she has caught me doing something naughty. I instantly take a step back, feeling stupid for believing even for one second that she was being serious.
She was just teasing me.
I avert my eyes from her to hide my pain.
Maybe everyone is right about her…
I keep waiting for her to say, I was just playing Skylar, or your so freaking gullible, or start laughing or something. But she doesn’t. So I look to her again. We are in a silent tug of war, both of us waiting for the other to make the first move.
She takes a step towards me once again pressing our bodies together.
“Stop teasing me.” The words leave my lips in a whimper.
“You make it too easy.” She laughs before stepping back.
Even though I knew it was coming it doesn’t hurt any less. I wonder if she will ever take me seriously.
“Seriously Skylar, anything can get you red in the face. You are so adorable.” She snickers before turning her back to me to pay attention to the kittens.
Sometimes Jade really confuses me. One minute I am on the verge of getting the silent treatment again, the next she acts as if nothing happened. And maybe to her, it was nothing, but to me…
“Not anything.” I decide to keep pushing the limits of our flirty but not so flirty banter.
“Yeah right. You are always red. Like a cute little blushing baby.” She turns and smirks at me.
“Only when I am happy, excited, or embarrassed do I turn red.” I walk over to her.
“So are you saying I make you happy?” She teases.
“I am always happy when you are around.” I meant it to come out as flirty but it came out wrong. Way wrong! It sounded weird like I was admitting to liking her more than a friend.
She tenses up.
“Because you’re my best friend.” I quickly add, cringing at myself. Good thing her back is to me.
Again I see her relax.
“I am always happy when I am around you too.” She turns to me with a smile.
“Always?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Okay mostly.” She rolls her eyes.
We both giggle.
I walk over and sit on my bed, grabbing Cloud and playing with him. He kicks at my hands and chews on my fingers.
“So you and your mom?” I decide to change the subject.
Jade sighs and sits next to me.
I look at her.
“What if she leaves me again? I mean I know that sounds bad but I am already expecting it. What if she is just using me, using my aunt. I don’t trust her.”
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. You should give her a chance to prove herself.” I place a reassuring hand on her thigh.
“I’m just scared. I haven’t seen her in years. The last time I saw her she was yelling at my caseworker telling them to keep me. I don’t even know this woman. Yet I am supposed to just call her mom and welcome her with open arms?”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Take it at your own pace. Don’t rush anything. If she is really ready to be in your life again she’ll stick around and be patient with you.”
She smiled at me. It makes me feel all bubbly inside. I love it when she looks at me like this. I wish she could look at me like this all the time. Look at me, and only me.
“You know you are really good at this whole best friend thing. Too good sometimes. So good I could just kiss you.” She giggles.
My cheeks go red.
She kisses me on the cheek and laughs when my face goes even redder.
I just force a nervous smile and try not to break out into the sweats.
Cloud biting down hard on my hand snaps me out of it.
“Ow!” I complain and set him down.
Jade giggles.
I pout and hold my hand closer to me.
“So tomorrow we need to find a home for three of our babies.” Jade declares.
“And we need to start cleaning out the garage.” I sigh.
“How hard can it be?” she shrugs.
“Have you seen my garage?” I give her an incredulous look.
“No.”
I grab her hand and lead her downstairs to the garage. I force the door open, yes we have to force the door that is how much crap is in here. Then I flick on the lights.
Jade’s eyes go wide.
“Oh hell no!” she says.
Oli snickers behind us.
“I told you,” I say.
“Too late, no take backs,” Oli says.
“I want a refund.” Jade pouts.
“No refund no exchanges,” I say.
“Skylar.” Jade gives me the pouts.
Aka when she wants me to let her off the hook or do something for her. Her eyes get all wide and her lips get pouty. She is so freaking adorable.
“No.” I quickly look away.
“Skylar.” She whines and wraps herself around my arm.
Crud! My heart is racing.
Oli looks at me with a devilish smirk she knows I want to give in.
“No Jade you got to help. You agreed.”
“Skylar.” Jade buries her head into my neck.
Oli is holding in her giggles. I shoot a glare at her, though I am not sure if it’s effective with how red my face is.
“Jade stop.” My voice shakes.
“Please.” She whispers against my neck.
I shudder.
I was about to give in when,
“Are you trying to seduce my daughter to get out of your end of the deal?” mom asks.
“Is it working?” Jade pulls back and looks at me.
I avert my gaze.
Oli snickers.
“Now Jade I know you wouldn’t go back on your word and be a bad best friend now would you?” Mom asks.
“Fine.” Jade pouts.
“That’s what I thought.” Mom smirks.
“Just for the record how close were you to giving in?” Jade asks.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” I lie and pull out of her grasp.
“Sure, sure.” She smirks at me.
I playfully bump her shoulder and she returns the favor. Then we look at each other and run back into the house in a fit of giggles as I chase Jade around to tickle her.
I really love this girl.
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