“I told him I wasn’t actually dating anyone new yet since our first date isn’t until Friday.”
Shit! Did she think we were dating? “Who exactly are you going on a date with?”
“Seth.”
“Who the hell is Seth?” I practically yelled at her, making her flinch.
“Seth Nichols. You’ve met him, right? He sits at the same table at lunch as you do. Just at the other end by where Josh and I usually sit.”
I finally realized who she was talking about and had to admit myself it was jealousy I was feeling. “What about your plans to have sex with Jared?”
Her expression turned guarded. “Oh, Jared is Saturday night. Seth is Friday night.”
“Will you be fucking Seth also?” I asked through clenched teeth.
She pinched my stomach hard. “Don’t be an ass, Caleb, of course not. I mean, at least not yet. But you never know what will happen in the future. I figure, once I lose my virginity and get that out of the way, everything will change.” The sly look in her beautiful blue eyes worried me.
“What do you mean?” I asked her, not knowing if I wanted the answer.
“Well, look how miserable I’ve been in the past and look how happy you are with the way you live your life. I want to be a player like you. From now on, I don’t even want to hear the word boyfriend because it’s a new bad word in my dictionary, the B-word. Just think of me as your protégé!” She seemed delighted at the prospect.
Jesus Christ, what had I done? I’d turned an innocent girl into a female player! There had to be a way to prevent this all from happening. But who was I to scold her about it? She was just following my example.
GIANNA
Oh my god! This was hilarious. I could totally tell Caleb was freaking out in his head. His eyes weren’t even focused anymore. I couldn’t believe he was buying it! Like I was just going to go whoring around for the fun of it! When I finally had sex for the first time, I wanted it to mean something. Maybe his way of thinking about sex was so ingrained that he could easily imagine someone else adopting the same attitude.
Without a word, he buckled me back in and drove us home. The house was quiet with my mom and Scott at work and Chance at school. Fortunately, we wouldn’t have to answer any awkward questions about what we were doing home in the middle of the school day.
Caleb finally spoke again when we entered the house. “You know, this is number ten on the list, ditch school. This isn’t really your first time ditching is it?” The way he said it, he made me sound lame.
“It’s the first time without my mom’s permission,” I informed him. “But, I’ll probably have her excuse this one. I’ll tell her I wasn’t feeling good.”
“It doesn’t count if you do that. Plus, to ditch school and only go home is lame. Some other time we’re going to do it right.”
“Should we go back to school then?” I asked, not keen on the idea.
“No, we’ll stay here and watch a movie or something.”
“Sure, but I get to pick it,” I announced and headed over to the DVD collection in the living room. I took out 28 Days Later and put it on.
After I pushed play on the remote, Caleb asked, “You like zombie movies?”
“I love zombie movies, but this isn’t a zombie movie. The people in this movie have The Rage virus.”
“Whatever,” he replied indifferently.
I glared at him. “You don’t have to sound so excited.”
“Okay, I won’t.” He grinned at me in a way I was starting to like. “What if I get scared, Gianna? Are you going to hold me?”
My first thought was to call him a wimp, but then I thought better of it. I was supposed to be playing the part of player protégé. Instead, I scanned his body and finally settled my eyes on his crotch. “Where exactly would you like me to hold you?”
His mouth dropped open in shock. He was about to say something but closed it. Caleb’s gaze took in my own body. “Princess, you’re asking for trouble.”
I blanked out my face. “Would it be like a lesson of some sort?”
His eyes clouded over for a moment as if he was going through some sort of internal debate. “I don’t think that’s a lesson you need to learn yet.”
I shrugged carelessly. “Whatever, I guess I’ll learn it soon enough.”
Going into the kitchen, I searched for something for us to eat and drink. When I returned to the living room, Caleb was laying down on the couch, so I sat in front of him on the floor, with my back against the couch.
Soon after the movie started, Caleb began playing with my hair. I couldn’t help remarking, “I wonder what my mom would do if I dyed it black.”