Snakebite Hearts & Bubblegum Smiles

The next morning, Jack and I were in the kitchen, desperately searching for something to eat. As he looked through the pantry, I sat at the island, hiding my smile behind my hand as I listened to him hum softly to himself. I didn’t think I’d ever felt so whole, so happy. It had been two days since I told Jack I liked him and he’d said he liked me back. I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next—aside from the increased cuddling and dirty jokes—because I’d never actually gotten to this point with a boy until now. I tried not to worry about it though. If this was being stuck in limbo, I could handle it for a little while.

“Oh shit!” Jack gasped and my head shot up, worried. I was confused by the manic smile on his face.

“What?”

“Look!” He pulled out a box of pancake mix, that crazy gleam still in his eyes. I laughed; he acted like such a little kid sometimes. “Come on, help me,” he said and ripped the top open. I got up and took it from him, turning it over to the instructions on the back. I usually was never the person to give out orders, but when it came to the kitchen, I liked to take charge. It was something I got from my dad. He wasn’t a chef or baker by profession, but if you’d ever eaten anything he’d prepared, you would have though he was. Pancakes were his favorite breakfast meal and I used to make them with him, from scratch, every Mother’s Day and every birthday.

I’d tried to make pancakes for my mom once, after he’d passed away, but they hadn’t come out quite right. The batter had still been a little gooey in the center. He would have told me to be more patient, leave them on the pan for another minute or two. We’d made them a million times before without any mishaps. It just wasn’t the same without him, so I never tried to do it again.

“Go get the flour,” I told Jack. It was time to create new memories.

“Fucker!” I shrieked after Jack “accidentally” flicked some batter on my face. He was doubled over laughing. “You think that’s funny?” I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to look tough, when really I was trying not to laugh with him.

“You’ve done it now,” Brooke said from the island, watching with amusement. She had come down a little while ago. I dipped my finger in the batter and smeared in across Jack’s face, ducking instinctively as he reached for the bowl again.

“It. Is. On!” he shouted, flinging a glob of the stuff at me. Soon after, Brooke joined in and the entire kitchen was transformed into a mini warzone. Pancake batter flew in all directions, a couple eggs were knocked over the counter and broken on the floor, making me slip and get yolk stuck in my hair. At one point, I grabbed a can of Reddi-wip from the fridge and went after Jack with it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he cried as I chased him across the room. He rounded the island and ducked, taking cover behind Brooke.

“Get off me!” she shouted as I charged them both. She got out of the way and I jumped on Jack’s back, shooting the whipped cream all over his face. We both laughed so hard, still struggling against each other, that we toppled onto the floor.

“Victory!” I threw my arms in the air, the can of Reddi-wip still in hand. Before I could block him, Jack lunged at me and pinned me down.

“I win! Admit defeat!” he said. I continued to kick and twist underneath him, laughing violently as he began to tickle me. Brooke came to my rescue and pulled him off me.

“Oh my God…”

We all froze and stared up at Rian, who had just come downstairs and stepped into this whole mess. His face was a slight shade of red and his eyes were bulging out of his head, darting around the room as if they couldn’t decide which spot was the worst to focus on. Kara and Zack, sharing equally shocked expressions, appeared behind him.

“Morning…” Brooke was the first to say something. Rian didn’t seem to even register her voice. We all got up and tried to brush ourselves off, but it didn’t help at all. We were still covered, from head to toe, in batter and melted whipped cream.

“Rian?” I said, a little afraid of him at the moment. He’s definitely going to kick me out, I thought. He still hadn’t said a thing.

“What…what happened in here?” he finally said, shifting his gaze to Jack, Brooke, and me.

“Well, we started off making pancakes,” I started, slicking back the whipped cream covered hairs that had clung to my face. “It kind of just ended up like this.”

“So I guess we know not to trust any of you to do any cooking now,” Zack joked and Brooke shot him a nasty glare.

“I am a fantastic cook!” she argued. “Ask Jack. He eats everything I feed him!”

“That’s not really much of a case. Jack’s like a vacuum, he’ll suck up anything,” Zack countered, a small grin on his face. Brooke rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

“So…did you actually make any pancakes?” Kara stepped in, a hopeful tone in her voice. The three of us looked at each other, trying not to laugh—or cry a little. I still wasn’t sure how pissed Rian was.

“We never actually made it that far…” I said, immediately looking down.

“Cereal it is then!” Zack said and went straight for the pantry, even though the floor was still coated in batter. After we told Rian we’d clean up everything, he cooled off and went off to the living room with Kara. Zack watched us mop up and wipe down everything, looking thoroughly entertained, as he scooped Cocoa Puffs into his mouth. I noticed he spent a lot of time staring at Brooke.


After the whole pancake fiasco, everyone settled in for the day. Brooke and Kara were playing a video game in the living room, while Lisa and Alex watched a movie on Alex’s laptop. It was a bum day for all of us, since we were still recovering from the boardwalk, our muscles aching from being thrashed around on all those rides. The weather was pretty nice though, so I sat out on the deck with the rest of the guys, bored out of my mind.

“Anyone want to walk on the beach with me?” I asked to no one in particular, casually glancing at Jack. No one answered. “Are we really just going to do nothing today?” I asked.

“Sorry, Jane,” Rian replied. “I’m just so tired. Maybe one of the girls will want to go with you.”

I cast another hopeful look at Jack, but he was pretty much passed out in his lounge chair. All right then. I got up without another word and went up to my room to change into my bathing suit. When I came back down, I asked Brooke and Kara if they wanted to go to the beach with me and in their creepy zombie-like manner, they shook their heads. I didn’t bother asking Lisa or Alex and just went by myself, figuring I could take a nice walk along the shore until I got bored of that too.

I’d managed to walk a good distance from the house after about ten minutes and figured it was time to turn back.

“What the fuck!” I shrieked as soon as I felt the ice-cold water spray me in the back. I whirled around, pushing my sunglasses up, over my head.

“I am so sorry,” the guy said. He looked around my age, tall—not as tall as Jack—and burly. “The water gun got out of control. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” I told him, bristling at the way he was looking at me. I still wasn’t used to being stared at like a dessert, although to be honest, it would have been more uncomfortable if he hadn’t been so undeniably good-looking.

“I’m Chase,” he said. “You from around here?”

“Jane. Um, no, um, not really,” I stammered. I thought I’d gotten better at talking to guys from Jack and all the rest of them, but I guess I still needed some work.
Chase smiled; our eyes locked for a few seconds and I noticed his were a pretty shade of green.

“I figured. I’m pretty sure I would have remember you.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I felt like I’d been dropped into another universe. Is he hitting on me? I thought. Should I flirt back? That was…polite, right? I decided not to say anything and just stood there awkwardly. “So are you here for spring break or something?” Chase asked, ignoring his friends who were calling for him now.

“The game’s not over, Chase!” one of them shouted. He waved them off, his eyes still on me.

“Yeah. I’m staying at my friend’s beach house,” I said. “You?” I tossed the conversation back to him pathetically.

“Nah, I live around here. Actually, I’m having a party over at my place tonight. It’s that one right there.” He pointed it out among the row of houses that were sitting on the line where the beach broke off into people’s backyards. “You should come.”

I should? I wanted to say, but instead asked, “Can I bring my friends?”

“Yeah, sure. Just come by around 9,” he said with that smile again.

I nodded. “Okay.”

“See you later,” Chase said and then hurried back over to his friends.


“Way to go, Jane!” Alex clapped me on the back after I told everyone about Chase’s party. Jack was the only one who didn’t seem all that thrilled by the invite. He’d been quiet ever since I finished explaining how I’d run into Chase during my walk. I didn’t get to ask him what was wrong though, because Brooke and the rest of the girls practically dragged me upstairs to start picking out what to wear for later.

“So,” Brooke came over, modeling a tight red halter-top for herself in the mirror of our room. Kara was curling Lisa’s hair in the bathroom down the hall. “Picking up hotties at the beach now?”

My face flushed. “I told you, I was just trying to walk back to the house.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod that let me know she believed me. “Just be careful. This Chase guy might have certain expectations…”

I’d left the part about Chase hitting on me out of the story earlier. Brooke was the only one who knew. “But it’s not like I was dropping any hints that I wanted to hook up with him,” I said.

“Are you sure?” She pulled off the halter-top and went back to the dresser for another shirt.

“Believe me. I’m sure.”

“Okay, then I guess you have nothing to worry about,” she said, this time stepping in front of the mirror in a simple black spaghetti-strapped tank top.

“Hold on.” I jumped up from my bed and went over to our dresser, pulling out my favorite denim vest from the top drawer. “Put this on,” I said, tossing it at her. She caught it and slipped her arms through the holes, making me almost regret letting her borrow it. Somehow she made it look edgier than I ever did.