“V!”
“Kat!”
“Sam!”
“Em!”
“Jazz!”
“Evey!”
“Em!”
Em heaved a mock-annoyed sigh. “Fine,” she said dramatically. “I guess I’ll go. Worthless chickens…” she hissed playfully, smiling nervously at her best friends.
“Okay, Em,” Vanessa started her pep-talk, rubbing Em’s tense shoulders.
Vanessa was her very best friend. They had known each other since Kindergarten and had been friends ever since. Although many fights had begun over how one was jealous of the other’s looks, no one could blame them. Vanessa was a dark-skinned beauty – exotic even – with long, black hair and deep brown eyes to accent. Her voice triggered something in your heart and made you love her whether you wanted to or not. She had a large attitude, one to match her body and smooth movements that had boys pleading for their chance with her. How could someone not be jealous of that?
“You got this.” She continued, encouraging her friend to go out into the unknown alone. “You’ve been his math tutor all year and you totally know him – though that could be a bad thing…though that’s not the point – and you’re totally gonna be fine. Besides, you’re way braver than us. And he is so into you-“
“He is not,” Em objected, rolling her emerald eyes.
“YES HE IS! Don’t interrupt; I’m working here.” Vanessa growled in reply. “Now, where was I? Oh, right – and I know you got this, Em. You got this.”
“Yeah, no prob,” the other girls agreed, though no one saw them about to do what Em was embarking to do….
“Stop talking before I think too much about it,” she smiled, turning anxiously to walk away from her beloved Tahoe and just as wonderful friends.
I can do this, she thought confidently. I can do this. That’s why I’m the one doing this. Breathe, breathe.
As she got closer to her destination, Em’s heart started pounding. Oh, God, I can’t do this!
But she was already standing there, mouth agape, in front of Jessie.
Jessie, the golden haired, sapphire eyed, absolutely gorgeous QB of Saclain High. Jessie, the senior Em had tutored for Pre-Calculus all year. Jessie, the most caring, aware guy in the whole school. Jessie Tarr, with those totally kissable lips, that amazing crooked smile that made every girl’s knees go weak, whose lean, athletic body made anyone drool – whether in jealously or desire has yet to be determined – and that incredibly sensual voice that should be illegal for what it could do to people.
Jessie.
Regaining her wits, Em smiled and casually said, “Hey, Jessie,”
Jessie’s lips twisted upward slightly into that famous crooked, half-smile of his that made Em’s stomach knot, knowing he’d never smile like that for her as a girl. He smiled like that plenty of times at her as his tutor, but never would he smile like that for Emerald - the girl who had a gigantic crush on him, just like every other girl in a state-wide radius.
“Hey, Em, what’s up?” he replied, just as casually, his perfect body leaning against his silver BMW E46.
“Oh,” Em said, waving it off. “Nothing. How about you? What’ve you been up to?”
Jessie smiled - a real smile now, not his seductive, knee-weakening grin. “This and that.”
Em just knew, she knew, her friends were gaping in minor surprise behind her. Seriously, this was Jessie Tarr with his BMW E46 in all their blinding gorgeousness! Talking casually – no math related subjects – to Em. His year-younger minor. His math tutor. She could just imagine V hyping herself up behind the cover of her Tahoe - could feel it even.
Em nodded and smiled her own heart-breaking smile; the smile that had enticed so many guys - the number was unbearable - the smile that had Jessie falling for her since day one…though she didn’t even know her smile – her innocent little smile – could do that to anyone, let alone Jessie.
“So, what’re doing?”
Em shrugged, her hands shaking, though her smile stayed flawlessly in place. “This and that,” she quoted.
Jessie chuckled, his broad, muscular shoulders quivering. Oh how he loved her musical voice, her sparkling, enchanting eyes. How he could barely stand to be around her for how much it hurt him to know she wasn’t his, how she could never love someone as stereotypical dim-witted as he.
He raked his eyes quickly over her own perfect body, savoring the beauty such a brilliant creature could produce. He took in her gold-tinted brown hair – hair that always smelled faintly of lavender – and her slim but curved body, her delicate hands that were always cool, yet felt so electrically charged whenever he chanced to touch them. Her dazzling smile framed by wonderfully full, soft lips and her smooth, tan skin which he so longed to feel. Emerald Jade Greason, his love’s affection.
“Actually,” she started, dropping her eyes to his car behind him, rather than even look at him. “I need to do something.”
His interest spiked, Jessie played the bait. “Oh, yeah? And what would that be?” He would do anything for her, anything.
Em blushed, crimson coloring her golden cheeks, and Jessie felt his own stomach knot knowing he would never be able to bring on such a beautiful reaction from her. “It’s really something I actually need you to do.”
She’d said it; there would be no backing out now. She’d committed to it, and she’d stick with it, no matter the cost. It’s not like she’d ever see him again anyway, so why not take a chance for once?
“Anything,” he said, all too eagerly. Oops, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. And not that enthusiastically. It was like he was begging to do something for her.
Her thoughts whirling, Em dropped her concerns, her fears, her worries. She stepped closer to Jessie, leaving only a few inches between their finely shaped bodies. Entranced, Jessie leaned forward slightly, off his car, so his body was even closer; nearly touching.
Without thinking, Em reached her hands up to gently caress his chiseled face, and brought his lips to hers, standing on tip-toe to be all the closer. Jessie, shocked, wrapped his well-toned arms firmly around Em’s dainty waist, hugging her body to his, bending hers back to form to his own. Responding to his touch, Em wrapped her arms tightly around his neck for fear of him pulling back too soon.
Not a thought invaded the intimacy of their moment, yet when Jessie began to press his sought-after tongue to her lips, she herself pulled back from the embrace, her heart thumping and her breath ragged.
Unwilling to let her escape him, Jessie kept his arms wound around her waist, keeping her close for fear of her leaving him – he had gone too long fantasizing of this moment to let it end so quickly.
“Is that,” Jessie started, his own breathing uneven and quick, his body throbbing. “Is that what you needed?” he smiled, his eyes gleaming with his excitement, dancing with pleasure.
“Yes,” she whispered, trying to breathe deeply and calm her racing thoughts.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked quickly, animatedly, as if he really wanted something like that from her, his math tutor. Her, the smartest girl in the school. Her, Emerald Jade Greason.
Em grinned, her pulse creating irregular throbbing within her, but said, “No. That was it.” She glanced over her shoulder toward her vehicle, unwound his firm grip around her middle and said, “I have to go.”
She turned to leave, but Jessie grabbed her arm, just above her unclothed elbow, loath to release her for fear of her never coming back. “Why? I mean, what’s the rush?”
Em started back in shock. He wanted her to stay? After what she had did? She had basically assaulted him! “My friends…” her silky voice trailed away under his intense gaze, a gaze focused entirely on her. Her. As a girl.
“I’m sure they’d understand.” He tried to convince her, not ready to let her part.
Em was torn: on one hand, she had to go back to her friends; they’d have burning questions - just as her body burned now for him; a burn that refused to let her leave.
“I don’t-“
“You can talk to them later,” he soothed, holding her hand to his chest tightly.
“Well-“
“It’s not like you won’t see them later.”
“But-“
“I’ll help you out of any trouble,”
“It’s not-“
This time, he didn’t need to speak to cut off her weak argument; his look did it for him. The look that seemed to bore into her very soul, and it liked what it saw. What it saw in her. Not in his ex-girlfriend, not in that girl by a new, shiny Porsche - her, and only her. And looking into his eyes, she found her words again, as if he had given them to her through the electricity that seemed to charge between them.
“No, I’m sorry. I really do have to go.” She said it firmly, though her heart ached at the very thought of leaving the god-like wonder before her.
“I don’t want you to,” he said quietly, like the thought of her leaving pained him as well.
Her breathing quickened again. After a few attempts to reduce her struggle for air, she gave up, gasping, “I don’t want to either.”
She could feel their incredulous gawks on her back – her friends, wondering what could possibly take her so long; all she had to do was mack with the most popular senior in school. And the last day of school had just let out maybe twenty minutes ago. It was summer and she was wasting it away…though being in Jessie Tarr’s arms couldn’t really be called wasting anything….
“What’s she doing?” Jazz wondered, throwing her curly auburn hair over her slight shoulders. Her sky blue eyes searched the scene, trying to see if something had gone wrong, or if it had gone terribly, horribly right. Her tight, compact little body went rigid, her eyes cold, as all the possibilities came to her.
“I don’t know,” V replied, placing her finely manicured hands on her well-defined hips. “I wish I did.”
Evey, a copper blonde, hazel eyed dreamer, snorted. “Hell, I wish I was her. Who wouldn’t?” she was shorter than V’s intimidating height of five feet eleven inches, but her voice far surpassed the volume of many other people’s. She wasn’t as curvy, but her body was rounded, and she was sought after, if not as desperately as V, let alone those girls the school tried to pass off as cheerleaders.
“Huh,” Sam grunted. “He’s really not that great, you guys.”
Her brown eyes met with four pairs of astonished stares. “Oh, come on. You all know he’s not my type.” She said, flipping her own golden blonde braid over her shoulder to let it hang straight down her back.
“You’re wack, you know that?” Kat replied, in all seriousness. Though she didn’t have the attitude V radiated, she told it like she saw it, and people knew not to take offense. She swiped her gray eyed gaze over the parking lot, looking for the other boy, though none of her friends knew she had the hots for him. He wasn’t there. Of course he wasn’t; he had no reason to stick around! Annoyed, she tugged at her cherry red hair, wishing they could leave and get on with their lives. Sure Jessie was damn fine, but really. It’s not like any of them actually had a chance with him. And why did Em and V get all the guys? She was nearly as tall as them, and just as slender. Sure she didn’t have such distinct curves, but she did have them.
“Uh-huh. Just because I don’t ogle a guy and put him on a pedestal, thou art unworthy! I’m the ‘wack’ one?” Kat glared in reply to Sam’s sarcastic, yet legitimate, points. “God, you gotta sort out your priorities, woman.” Sam sighed.
Kat grunted and returned her attention to Em and Jessie, the two most gorgeous people in their pitiful high school.
“Hush!” Jazz cried, late, for them to quit their bickering. “They’re headed this way!” she sounded surprised, to put it mildly. “She’d better not be bringing him over here…and she damn well better not have told him that we dared her….”
“Come on, cut her some slack, Jazz,” V intervened. “We did dare her; I guess we do deserve payback.” She liked to look at things from all angles, and when it came to Em, she almost always sided with her.
“As if! It was her choice.” Jazz hissed back, all the while watching the breathtakingly beautiful pair make their way toward their vantage point.
“Like we would have stopped ribbing her,” Evey snarled sarcastically.
Jazz shrugged. “Woulda stopped eventually.”
“Of course you would have,” Sam argued breathily, clearly bored.
She growled her disagreement, but went silent when Em and Jessie were only mere parking spots away.
“Start up a conversation!” Kat urged hurriedly. She didn’t need to tell them how awkward it would be for Jessie to find out they were spying the whole time.
“So!” Evey started loudly – or normal volume for her. “Did you see that new movie with Patrick Dempsey in it? He’s so cute.”
Just then, Em came around the front of her truck, towing Jessie by his hand.
“Oh, yeah, totally,” Kat smiled. “He’s adorable…I mean, for a forty year old.”
“Hey, guys,” Em grinned breathlessly, her cheeks flushed an intense shade of pink and her hand still gripping Jessie’s. “I think you know Jessie,”
The five girls nodded, smiling and murmuring, “Hi, Jessie.”
“I’ve some good news – no, not good,” she corrected herself. “Great news.”