I grabbed my pillow and hugged it to my chest. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t know what to say to me, either.” He settled on his back again, drumming his chest. “But I was tested right before I moved here. I’m clean.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I keep thinking about my mom. She was obsessed with being healthy—ate right, exercised, didn’t smoke. She wouldn’t even touch alcohol. How’s that for messed up?” He shook his head. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“You made some mistakes, but you’re a good person. That’s what matters.”
He covered his eyes with his arm, a smile crossing his lips. “Don’t make me go over there and kiss you. Tell me how lame my T-shirt is or something.”
“I like De/Vision. They’re one of my favorite bands, actually.”
“Who was I kidding? You’re Drea. You can’t help but drive me crazy.” He dropped his arm and gazed up at me.
I hurled the pillow at his face, but it missed him entirely and hit my green acoustic instead.
He chuckled. “Nice aim. I’m about—what?—two or three feet from you.”
“Shut up.”
Justin sat up, shaking his head. “Let me show you how it’s done, okay?”
He snatched the pillow off the floor and did a pitching motion with it. I covered my head, preparing for a blow. It didn’t come.
“Oh, give me a break. You’ve got another pillow next to you. Use it,” he said.
I grabbed it and jumped off the bed. He crept toward me, tossing the pillow in the air and catching it again. I charged at him and our pillow–sword fight began. Unfortunately, his height gave him the ability to bop me on top of the head. But I did have a lower center of gravity and better access to a more sensitive region. After he got me in the face, I ducked and flung my pillow at him like a Frisbee. Right where it counted.
He hunched over and winced. “Okay, that was a low blow. You don’t play fair.”
“How can I play fair when we didn’t make any rules?”
“You need to have a reason to go for the balls, okay? Like what you did with Scott. That rocked. This didn’t.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think it would hurt that much. The pillow being soft and everything.”
He walked toward me, shaking his head. “Smart-ass.”
I backed into the wall.
He picked up my pillow and smiled. “You might want to hold on to your weapon next time.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as he raised the pillows, expecting to be hit from both sides. Instead, I heard the soft whisper of them hitting the floor when his lips touched mine. The kiss was gentle and a little salty. His hands ran down my back, and heat bled through the gauzy material of my black dress. I kissed him back the only way I knew how. My way.
I slipped my fingers underneath his T-shirt, enjoying the silky feeling of his skin. It gave him goose bumps, which made me smile because I had them too. He tilted his head to the side and moved closer to me, and I ended up licking his chin. We both laughed.
“Sorry,” I said.
He cupped my face. “It happens.”
His hands skimmed the curve of my hips. Stubble beneath his lower lip made my chin feel raw, but I didn’t care. Every inch of me seemed to buzz, yet my mind probably couldn’t string two words together. I buried my face in his neck, inhaling his scent. A mix of rain, salt, and trees—or bath soap and sweat, if I wanted to get technical.
His mouth hovered near my ear. “We shouldn’t leave Naomi up there any longer. They could be clawing each other’s eyes out by now.”
“They’ll be okay,” I said, pulling him closer.
He studied my face and traced the edge of my nose. “You think so?”
We leaned toward each other again, but the basement door swung open.
“Are you guys decent?” Naomi called, half laughing.
“Yes,” Justin said before moving back and sitting on the bed.
I followed and sat against the headboard again, my lips still tingling.
“You guys have been down here a really long time. I was worried we’d have to call the fire department.” She appeared at the foot of the stairs.
“Har, har,” Justin said, rolling his eyes.
She stuck her tongue out at him and plopped in my computer chair. “Teaching an old person how to use eBay is like trying to teach a newborn how to read Moby-Dick.”
Justin snickered. “I could’ve told you that.”
“I’m not following,” I said.
She spun the chair around in fast circles. “I just spent the last twenty minutes trying to convince your grandma to sell her crap online. She kind of lost it when she saw that people sell cars and houses on there. And the term FAQ is foreign to her. Anyway, you’re off the hook. I just helped her put everything away. Only catch is she wants you to sell the stuff on eBay for her.”
“That’s what I wanted to do in the first place. She said no.”
“What can I say, I have the magic grandma touch.” She stopped spinning and looked at me. “So, are you still pissed at me?”
“No.”
“I’m going to run around the corner to Subway. You guys want something?” Justin asked.
After we gave him our sandwich orders, he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. “See you in a bit,” he whispered.
I bit my lip and nodded, trying to hold back a smile. It was weird being mushy in front of Naomi.
She waited for him to leave before throwing herself on my bed. “Is he a good kisser?”
“I think so.”
Naomi stretched her legs over the side and gazed at the ceiling. “I bet he is. The sensitive types usually are.”
“I need to tell you something.” I clutched the comforter between my hands.
She exhaled sharply. “Look, I’m sorry. It was just so cute how excited you looked. I haven’t been that giddy over a kiss in a long time.”
“That isn’t it. I—”
Naomi sat up and crawled over to me. “Wait, don’t tell me.” She put a hand on each shoulder. “You and Justin are getting hitched in Vegas.”
“No! Can you be serious for a minute?”
She let go of my shoulders and collapsed back on the bed. “I got you out of garage sale hell. It’s Saturday. Your hot boyfriend is bringing us lunch. And you’re still finding reason to be a downer.”
“He’s not my—”
“He’s not your boyfriend, I know. You guys just smooch and hang out almost every day. And he talks about you like you’re a goddess.”
“He does?”
She looked up at me. “Uh-huh. He got that look in his eyes when he talked about you last night. Do you know what I mean?”
“Not really.”
“And he talked about how smart and awesome you are. It was kind of sickening. I don’t think a guy has ever called me smart. I usually get ‘Hey, baby, yer hot.’”
I lay down next to her. “Because you date jerks.”
“Guys like Justin aren’t interested in girls like me. I’ve never been smart or arty enough. I’m not an endless source of music trivia, and I don’t hate everything on the radio. Oh, well. Bad boys are more exciting anyway.”
“Even when they call you a psycho bitch and hit you?”
“I said something really messed up about his family. Something I knew would hurt him.”
“He hit you, Naomi.”
“Can we talk about something else?”
I propped myself on my elbow and stared down at her. “Don’t go back to him. You promised.”
She sat up. “I’m not, okay? Just shut up about him already.”
“Why are you acting like this?”
“Because you won’t drop it!” She ran her hands through her messy hair. “You’re just sitting there and judging me. It’s so easy for you. You don’t even know—”
Justin opened the door upstairs. “Food’s here. Come up when you guys are ready.”
Naomi hopped up and ran for the stairs. “Good, I’m starving!”
“Wait,” I called after her. “We need to finish talking.”