Bad Boys & True Love

“Pookie…” someone whispered dangerously close to my ear. “I made waffles, Pookie…”

I groaned and swiped at them blindly, missing. Go the fuck away, I said mentally. I meant to vocalize it, but my body felt paralyzed with lethargy. And as delicious as waffles were, I preferred sleep.

“Pookie,” the voice said, sounding more impatient than before. I stirred just enough to flick them off.

My dream was becoming vaguer and vaguer in my mind until I was grasping for just a thread of it. Goddammit, now I’m awake.

I opened my eyes to see Christina standing on my bed, legs bent like she was about to jump. I glowered at her and she returned it with a cheeky grin. Damn her. “What time is it?”

“Ten o’clock on a Saturday morning,” she chirped. “Get up so we can explore the world!”

“Fuck you,” I grumbled and covered my head with a pillow.

The jumping began, making my body bounce up and down on the mattress. I tried to ignore it as best as possible, but then she started yelling, “Pookie Pookie Pookie!” I sat up faster than a crack of lightning and she squealed in surprise.

“Who let you in my house?” I said in my most threatening voice. Well, it might have been scary if I didn’t look like a mouse.

“Your mommy,” she sang. “’Cause she loooves me!”

“Yeah, well she’s the only one,” I replied grumpily. Christina gasped dramatically and then grabbed by pillow and slapped me with it. I was not amused.

“God,” she said in reply to my ice-cold glare, “you are definitely not a morning person.”

“Thanks for noticing.”

Christina pretended not to hear me. “I know what’ll make you happier! We should eat some of the waffles—that I made!—and then go hang out with Mike! Oooh, doesn’t that sound like fun?”

I looked at her to see if she was being joking, but there wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in her bright brown eyes. I scoffed. “No, it doesn’t.”

She jutted out her bottom lip, attempting to sell me the puppy-dog look. I invented that look—and as inventor, I was pretty much granted total immunity. I rolled my eyes at her. Her pleading expression was replaced with a scowl. “Or I could yell out your bedroom window about your crush on Sean…”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “I don’t have a crush on Sean,” I lied.

Christina rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and all strippers have hearts made of gold.”

“Hey, that statement was potentially offensive. And you never know,” I said defensively. Wait, why was I defending strippers? Whatever.

“Oh, fine. I take it back.” She rolled her eyes again. There seems to be a lot of that going around this morning. “But please, Stella, I’m begging you. You’ll love Mike, I swear. He reminds me of you!”

“How? Is he easily annoyed by you too?” I snapped.

“If you come with me, we can go to the movies and I’ll pay for everything!”

I opened by mouth to shout more protests—but she kind of had me there. I quirked an eyebrow and flashed a wicked grin. “What movie?”

“Any movie,” she said passionately.

I pretended to contemplate the offer, but she had me. I was a sucker for the cinema. Curse her for knowing me so well. “Fine. But we’re getting a giant tub of popcorn and drowning it in butter.” I eyed her, because I knew how much she hated popcorn with butter on it.

She was too ecstatic to care. “Yay! Okay, okay, I’m going to call Mike!”

“And I’m going to eat waffles!” I yelled jubilantly. Now that I was fully awake, my stomach was eating itself. When I swung out of bed, I realized I was still wearing my clothes from last night. “And then I’ll take a shower,” I amended.

I skipped downstairs with her and saw Mom and Dad sitting at the table, stuffing their faces.

Mom smiled at me. “Christina made waffles,” she informed me. I nodded. So I’ve heard.

“And I made bacon,” Dad boasted. I wrinkled my nose at him. He returned the look and I giggled.

I ate quickly and then ran back upstairs and jumped in the shower. I was secretly excited that I’d finally get to hang out with Mike and Christina. I just hope I won’t become an awkward third-wheel.

I lathered my hair in my strawberry-scented shampoo and conditioner, making sure to rinse it all out, before hoping out of the shower. I heard before that it was bad for your hair to brush it when it was wet, but I hated my hair anyway—and besides, it got all kinky when I didn’t. So I ran it through with a brush and wrapped a towel around my body.

My bathroom was across the hall from my bedroom, so I made the jump quickly. I had no clue where Christina was, but I knew from experience how impatient she could get. I walked over towards my closet and started looking through my clothes.

I was trying to decide whether I should wear one of my cute and casual dresses or just some torn up jeans, when something hit my window and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I’m ashamed to say that I also shrieked a little.

I looked to the window to see someone guy looking back at me from Sean’s window, flashing me a thumbs up. I screamed again and jumped out of view.

Fucking Hell!

My door was thrown open a second later and Christina stood in the doorway, looking panicked. “What’s wrong?!” she yelled.

I jumped up and down and pointed at the window, holding my towel tighter against my body. “Some dude was watching me!”

She marched over to the window and narrowed her eyes. I guess the guy was still in there. God, who knew Sean’s friends were perverts? And since when did I forget the window-rule! Idiotidiotidiot!

I watched in horror as Christina threw open the window. “You! Yeah, you!”

“Um…what?” a guy’s slow, deep voice replied.

“What’s your fucking problem?!” She stuck her head at the window so as to bite his off easier.

“Problem? Nothing! I was just about to enjoy a strip tease!” he retorted. I buried my face in my hands, mortified.

“Dude, don’t,” I heard Sean mumble. “Leave it alone.”

“Put your friend on a leash,” Christina snarled. She slammed shut my window and then ripped the curtains back into their rightful place. When she turned to me however, I saw that her anger had vanished and she was now trying not to laugh.

I shook my head at her in silent warning. I would never live this down. “You totally tore him a new one,” I told her.

Christina doubled over in laughter. I giggled and pushed her out of the way so I could put on some clothes. I decided on my jean shorts and just a white V-neck. It was just Mike after all; I had no one to impress.

I walked over to my vanity and opened the drawer where I kept all my jewelry. “Hey, have you seen my swing-set necklace?” I asked Christina over my shoulder.

“Um…no, I don’t think so,” she replied in a bored voice.

“Ahah!” I said a second later when I spotted it under a pair of peacock-feather earrings. I grabbed it and hooked it around my neck easily. “Okay, let’s go get laid.”