Part 9 (1/2)

The door swings open and Bethany and Heather are both standing there with open mouths. ”Please, can I have your life? For one freaking day!” Heather squeals, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the room.

She is bouncing up and down in her pajama shorts and tank top. ”If you don't want the Australian I will certainly take him.”

Bethany pushes Heather's arm and widens her eyes. ”Just show me how he kisses, I swear I won't tell anyone!”

”Sorry, Beth. I don't want to throw up in your mouth. That plan isn't until later.”

”Really? You'll throw up in Aiden's mouth?”

I slap my forehead. ”h.e.l.l, no. It's a joke, which is what I hope you two are doing. f.u.c.king weirdoes.”

Heather drags me to the bed, looking down on me when I lay back. ”Aiden is starting to get a little touchy...not to mention dreamy. He doesn't seem too bad to me.”

Bethany scoffs, sitting down on the other side of me. ”He doesn't normally act like this. He really likes you.”

Slipping out of my shoes, I tug on my pajama shorts. ”About that...I was thinking maybe we should pull out before it gets too serious. I mean-I'm hurting him way more than he hurts those girls. They don't really care about him...they think they do. They're attracted to his looks, not his heart.”

Bethany jumps up from her seat and tosses her hands in the air. ”We can't pull out now. Us girls gave him something special. We slept with him.”

”Is it that special if you sleep with him after one night? I mean, it can't be that special, can it?”

Bethany is livid. She is tapping her foot and has her hands on her hips. ”Regardless, if you pull out now I'm going to tell Aiden the truth.”

I look down to see if there is blood on my s.h.i.+rt, because it feels like a knife has been stabbed into my chest. ”Are you serious?” I glance at Heather, but she just looks down at her toes. ”I'm helping you out. I don't want to date Aiden. I have enough bulls.h.i.+t going on in my life right now.”

Bethany's cheeks are red, like a ripe tomato. ”We can't stop now! We've already started. Laney-please listen-you promised. You have to do this for me. He is starting to fall for you, I can see it. Because it was the look I always wished Aiden had when he looked at me.”

I give her a blank look.

She grinds her teeth together. ”If you don't keep going with the plan I'm going to tell Todd that you coached Heather on how to get him.” What? My heart stops in my chest. Todd is not the kind of guy that would understand this. He would accuse Heather of lying to him and blame me for being conniving. Which isn't too far from the truth, actually.

Heather gasps. ”b.i.t.c.h.”

Oh, no. d.a.m.n it. I bite my lip and give Heather a sideways glance. Her lips are pressed into a hard line but I can see the worry in her eyes. I can't let that happen to her. I'm no Bethany. I can't ruin her relations.h.i.+p for my own selfish reasons.

Closing my eyes, I rub my forehead, hard. ”Bethany-d.a.m.n you-I'll do this but you've got to promise to never tell Aiden or Todd. It's one thing to break someone's heart but another to deliberately do it.”

Bethany smiles and opens her arms wide. ”I promise. Come on, give me a hug.” I hug her back, even though I feel like yanking her hair from her head. ”Well, I'm heading to bed. I've got a test tomorrow. I'll stop by in the p.m. for more strategy building. What do you have in mind?”

”Well, now that we have him semi-hooked, we b.u.mp up the game a little bit. What's the most frightening thing to a man?”

”No s.e.x,” Bethany says.

I frown. ”Yes, but no. He isn't getting that from me anyway. For Aiden, it's being undesirable. He is always wanted, he'll never have a problem getting a woman. So,” I pick up a brush off of Heather's bed, ”we make him undesirable.”

Bethany points toward the brush and laughs. ”We shave his head!”

”No, but we give him a small haircut.” Heather scoffs. ”What? It'll grow back.” I shrug.

Bethany is laughing hysterically when she reaches the door. ”I'm outie guys, you two are too much. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll get this s.h.i.+t straightened out. Thank you.”

I glance at Heather once Bethany has left. She shrugs. ”That backstabbing b.i.t.c.h. I can't believe I talked you into helping her. Now, she's going to blackmail us.”

Changing out of my s.h.i.+rt, I slide onto my bed. ”What a friend. I swear I know why I had no girlfriends during high school. You guys are the best actresses in the d.a.m.n world.”

Heather sighs and opens her laptop. ”You aren't going to do it with him, are you?”

”Gag. No.”

Heather types away on her keys for a bit. ”Have you ever done it?”

Sitting up, I glance over at her. She is looking at me under long lashes, a bit of a smile on her face. ”Does it look like I'm a virgin?”

She nods. ”Sorry, but you've got that look. The nerdy, beautiful girl. You know, like in She's All That? Hey!” She starts laughing. ”Her name is Laney, too!”

I can't help but laugh. ”Well, no, I'm not. In high school I-I did it.”

More clacking against the keys. ”With Lachlan, huh?”

d.a.m.n tears. I turn onto my side, pressing my face into the pillow. The smell of my fabric softener is heavy in my nose. It was him. Only him. My body had craved him like a drug. He was the only guy I had ever let touch me. There, at least. He was so soft, gentle, willing to go slow.

”Come with me,” he had said. His voice like warm honey running over my chilly skin. I was standing in my nightgown. It barely hit mid-thigh.

I blew a gasp of air through the open window, and it sent a blurry of fog in front of me. Lachlan's large hands wrapped around the window frame, his face peering up at me from under long lashes, the green in his eyes bright from the moonbeams.

”It's cold. Why don't you come inside?”

A grin spread up his face and he reached inside, sliding his fingers against the outside of my arm. ”I have a surprise. Don't worry, luv. I'll keep you warm.”

Chills ran through me, all the way down my spine. ”Okay, let me put on some pants.” I ran toward my dresser, pulling out a pair of yoga pants. My heart was thumping hard, causing me to drop things and stumble over my shoes.

Lachlan had his brow lifted and an amused grin on his face. We both knew what was going to happen. We had been talking about it for two months. Scared, as always, I had backed out a few times. Lachlan finally said it would happen when it did. Now, I felt ready. A surge in my body was rocking against my insides, making my nervous.

I grabbed my phone and slid into a pair of TOMS. ”Ready?” Lachlan asked.

I nodded and swung one of my legs out of the window. It wasn't a huge drop to the ground, but Lachlan wrapped his arms around my waist and helped me. Breathless from sneaking out, I glanced up at Lachlan and he pressed his lips to mine swiftly. His fingers lingering on my bottom lip before he pulled away.

”Let's go. I took my dad's old pick-up truck.” Lachlan began to push me toward the truck. It was sitting in the distance under one of the large oaks in my family's backyard. We lived out in the middle of nowhere, down a road where there isn't anything but woods and fields.

The wind was whipping at my hair as we picked up speed. Excitement and nervousness swarmed me, making me smile. ”Where are we going in the truck?”

Lachlan glanced down at me, opening the driver's door so I could scoot in. He waited until I was settled in the middle before he jumped in and started the truck. It roared to life, loudly. I prayed the 'rents didn't hear us. But I secretly didn't care if they did. I was so high off of my escape that my entire body was shaking with antic.i.p.ation.

Lachlan dimmed his lights, then pulled out onto the road. I sat Indian style, fingers fidgeting with the radio. ”Where are we going?”

Lachlan shook his head then placed his arm on the back of the seat. ”It's a surprise, luv. We're almost there.”

He took a back road leading us by the river. I had been there with my dad when I was little, but I vaguely remembered it. We had spent the day fis.h.i.+ng. The cool air swept through the open windows and slapped my hair back again. When we finally slowed to a stop, it was dark, darker than I was comfortable with.