Snakebite Hearts & Bubblegum Smiles

Ever have one of those moments when you’re on the verge of passing out from sheer exhaustion, but then you close your eyes for two seconds and suddenly, you’re just not tired anymore? After Brooke left for the beach, I slept for maybe ten minutes. When I woke up, the house was empty and I guessed that everyone else had gone outside too. Any normal person would have probably grabbed a towel and gone to join them, but not me. Instead I stayed in the room and pulled out my copy of Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz. I had always been a fan of mystery, but after my dad died, I kind of crossed over into creepy. I wasn’t sure if that was actually related to him passing, but big life changes cause other big life changes and all that, right?

I kept trying to get into the book, but I ended up reading the first page three times and then gave up altogether. With a sigh, I got up and went over to the window, where I got a perfect view of everyone down on the beach. All you have to do is go outside, I told myself. They’re your friends now. They want you here. Still, for some reason, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that, in some way, they all felt bad for me and were just doing Brooke a favor by letting me tag along. I knew that wasn’t true, but a little part of me still held onto that fear.

“Knock, knock!” I shot straight up at the sound of Jack’s voice, but quickly recovered.

“You know you don’t actually have to say knock. You’re supposed to just do it,” I said.

He opened the door. “Just making sure you weren’t in here masturbating or anything. Then again, that is how all good porn starts off.”

As usual, I blushed. “I wasn’t doing anything indecent. And you’re a pervert.”

He laughed and sat down next to me, lying back so that he was looking up at the ceiling. “Why aren’t you outside?” he asked.

“Why aren’t you?”

“Asked you first.”

“Fine. I was taking a nap,” I said.

“Me too.” He was quiet for a moment and I felt awkward. Then he turned over and saw the book in my hand. “What are you reading?” he asked, his eyes examining the cover.

Oh God, he’s going to think I’m such a freak. “Just this book…about magic and murder. All that good stuff.”

“Really? I never pegged you for a dark kind of chick.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.

“Nothing. You just seem kind of…I don’t know, innocent and sweet. I never would have pictured you having a dark side.”

I still wasn’t sure. “Is that good or bad?”

He looked at me for a second and then back at the book. “Definitely not bad.” I wasn’t sure what to say next. I wasn’t used to this whole flirting thing, if that was even what we were doing. I lied back on the mattress and closed my eyes, realizing how tired I still was. I felt the mattress sink beside me. When I opened my eyes, I saw that Jack was on his back again.

“You wanna go outside?” I asked. It had come out as a yawn.

“Not really.” He yawned too. “Jane?” he said. I looked over at him. “This isn’t comfortable.”

My brows furrowed. “Huh?”

He stood up and pulled me to my feet. I waited as he walked around the bed and rolled onto the other side, his head resting on one of my pillows. He patted the space beside him and I climbed on with him. We were touching, but only because of the limited space on the mattress. Still, I felt my heart beating extra hard in my chest.

“Your hair smells nice,” he mumbled and gently tugged on a strand of my hair. I closed my eyes and smiled.


I woke up lying on my side, my back to Jack and his arm draped over my waist. Somehow after we’d fallen asleep, we ended up spooning. Oh my God. Oh my GOD. I tried to contain myself because he was still asleep and I didn’t want him to wake up to me freaking out. I didn’t want to be here when he woke up either. I couldn’t imagine the awkwardness that would follow. Honestly, what would I say? Great spoon sesh? Want to go get some food?

Biting my lip, I dropped my head back down onto the pillow and tried to relax, so I could come up with some kind of elaborate strategy for escape. After a few minutes, I figured I would just get up and try not to wake him during the process. Definitely needed that extra five minutes to come up with that one, Jane. Holding my breath, I reached out to grab Jack’s hand and slowly began lifting his arm off me. I slipped out from under him and put a pillow in my place. I was still holding my breath, my lungs now burning, as I tiptoed out into the hall, closing the door behind me.

With a big exhale, I headed downstairs and immediately was bombarded by Lisa.

“Finally! You’re awake!” she said. “We were beginning to worry about you.” I wondered if she could tell that I’d slept with Jack. Well I didn’t actually sleep with him, but it wasn’t something normal guy/girl friends typically did, and she knew that I liked him so no matter how I spun it, she would assume that I was trying to cover up something.

“Yeah, you completely missed Alex assaulting me with a football,” Brooke said from the kitchen island. Kara and Zack were sitting on either side of her, while Alex and Rian stood by the counter, making peanut butter sandwiches. I stared at her, my eyes on the icepack she was holding to her head.

“I didn’t assault you. Don’t be so dramatic,” Alex said.

“Tell that to my second head!”

“So what have you been up to?” Lisa asked. “Is Jack up yet?”

I felt my throat close up. Why was I getting so nervous? I wasn’t guilty of anything. Spooning was a purely innocent act. I mean, our clothes were on and everything. First real intimate interaction with a boy and you’re nearly having a stroke. Get it together, Jane. “No. I don’t know, I think he’s still sleeping.”

She looked at me kind of funny. “All righty then.” Finally, she walked over to Alex and he offered her a bite of his sandwich.


After the sun went down, we all decided to end our first night at the beach house with a bonfire. Underneath the deck, Rian’s uncle had a fire pit with beach chairs circled all around. It had gotten a little chilly, so we were all wearing hoodies, hoping that Rian and Zack would get the fire going soon. Across the circle, I kept casually glancing at Jack, feeling my stomach do little somersaults every time he laughed at some wisecrack Alex made. I couldn’t stop thinking about him holding me while we were sleeping in my bed.

“Hey.” Brooke poked my arm. I tore my eyes away from Jack and turned to her. “You’re being quiet. Aren’t you having fun?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” I wasn’t sure how to explain it. I glanced back at Jack for a second. “I need to tell you something.”

“What kind of something?”

“Something that happened between Jack and me while you guys were at the beach.” Brooke’s eyes went wide. “I mean, don’t freak out. Nothing bad happened,” I tried to assure her. I was so bad at explaining things.

“Jane. You’re killing me.

What’s up?”

I told her how Jack had come to our room while everyone else was outside and how we ended up sleeping next to each other. When I’d gotten to the part about me waking up in his arms, she looked almost relieved.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Well…yeah.”

She laughed, shaking her head, and patted me on the shoulder. “Oh, Jane. You really scared me for a second there.”

I was a little disappointed by her reaction. “Why?” I asked.

“The look on your face, girl. You totally made me think you two hooked up or something.” Before the series of NOs spilled out of my mouth, I was vigorously shaking my head. She laughed even harder. “Well then calm down! That’s no big deal, Jane, honestly.”

I exhaled and smoothed back my hair, feeling relieved. “Sorry, I just don’t have that much experience with this kind of stuff…”

“No worries. Hang around this crowd long enough and you’ll start to learn more things about guys than you ever wanted to.”

“Wonderful.” I stole another glance at Jack and this time her caught me and made a face. I looked down, embarrassed, but peeked up at him again. He was still looking. We both tried to keep a straight face as our staring contest continued, neither of us wanting to be the first to turn away. After a few moments locked in standstill, Jack broke and covered his face with his hands, moaning in defeat. I bit my lip, still watching him. My entire body felt warm when he looked up again, his mouth spread out in a big goofy grin.

Brooke pretended to gag next to me. “You guys are approaching Kara and Rian status and you aren’t even dating.” I ignored her and turned my attention to the mini-cooler the guys had brought out earlier. It was filled with beer that we’d scored on the road thanks to Alex’s fake ID. I’d only ever had a few sips of beer before. My dad used to give me some of his on holidays when no one was looking. I’d never actually gotten drunk on the stuff and I wondered how I’d feel if I actually had a full bottle.

“You want a drink?” I asked Brooke.

“Oh here we go!” Alex said when he heard me. “Ladies and gents, we are about to enter B-Mode.”

“I don’t go B-Mode on one beer, jackass.” Brooke got up and grabbed us two bottles from the cooler, handing me one as she sat back down.

“If you need someone to hold your hair back later, you know I got you,” Zack chimed in next to her as she took a swig.

She rolled her eyes and said, “I hate you guys.”