Take On Me: Plantain Series Book Three Read online

  “Oh, no nothing for me,” I say, raising a hand.

  He pauses and looks at me in confusion for a moment.

  “She’s a downer,” Nancy comments.

  It’s not that I don’t want to drink, but for one, I know only one person in a house of at least seventy-five. And two, I can’t risk getting drunk and not getting back home on time, and my parents would know I was drunk. I don’t even want to think about the repercussions that would come from that.

  “Okay, sure…you can’t play, but you can be my mascot,” he winks at me.

  I literally feel my knees weaken…from a freaking wink.

  He pours some of the amber liquid in his cup then reaches to my other side for the bottle of soda, filling it the rest of the way. Then, he takes my hand and guides us through the kitchen. Just like when we shook hands, this too gives me a strange reaction, strange, but good. We walk to the table, the game still going and Joey leans down to one of the girls there and says something to her before she stands and makes the seat available. Joey looks at Nancy and points to the chair which she gladly takes, a wide smile spread across her lips. I only see one open seat, the one he’d been sitting in before, and I prepare myself to stand behind him since I’m not playing. But when he sits, he pulls me down to sit on his lap. I look around confused, but no one’s looking at us, and I adjust myself to sit sideways on one of his legs so I can still see his face.

  A blond guy who has a set of killer blue eyes leans over and looks in Joey’s cup. “You mix that shit?” he asks and then looks at Joey with furrowed brows.

  Joey leans over and tells him something I can’t hear before blue eyes flicker up to mine. He gives me a chin tip then smiles. “Hey, I’m Dornan.”

  “I’m Maven.”

  My eyes scoot over to the voice beside him and I see a beautiful dark haired girl with the most intense shade of hazel eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s smiling at me and I smile back.

  “Katie, this is Dornan and Maven…guys, this is my future wife, Katie,” Joey says and my brows pinch together as my jaw drops open slightly, looking over at him.

  “Wh-” I begin.

  “Oh look my turn,” he says quickly, cutting me off.

  The game is something with cards and then drinking, I don’t really get it. I’m still stuck on pause with what Joey said. Joking or not, the words replay over and over. I have no idea what he told Dornan secretly, but I have the feeling Joey’s trying to get with me, which I cannot let happen. Excuses come into my mind of things I can say to get off his lap because I need to get out of here.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” I say and Joey’s hand tightens at my hip.

  “Hold on, I’ll come with you,” he says into my ear, his face only a hair’s breath away from the side of my face.

  I sigh in defeat and watch as Maven takes her turn, then downs a shot. I watch Dornan staring at her and it’s the kind of look they write about in books. She’s smiling and laughing at something going on across the table, but he’s staring at her with a small smile on his lips.

  “Are they together?” I ask Joey and I don’t know why, it doesn’t really matter since I’ll never see them again.

  He looks over at them, then turns to me, licking his lips before leaning closer and this time when he whispers in my ear, his lips touch my skin.

  “No, but he wishes they were.”

  My body shivers from the contact and the warmth that exudes with his words. He leans back and looks down my body, his fingers running back and forth along the hem of my shirt at my hip. I’m lost in this moment, I lick my lips and his eyes dart to the action, then his index finger slips underneath my shirt and I spring up, knocking my knee on the table.

  “Sorry,” I say, but no one’s paying attention to me.

  “You okay?’ Joey asks with concern, standing up beside me.

  “Yeah, I just really need to use the bathroom.”

  His eyes still look at me with a little trace of worry, before he nods behind me. “This way.”

  As I walk past Nancy, she seems oblivious to me as she talks to the guy beside her and I make my way into the living room. A hand stops me and I look down to see Joey’s take mine in his once again.

  “Come on,” he says and starts for the staircase beside us.

  I follow behind as we walk up the steps, and I swallow nervousness because why are we going up here?

  “I don’t know what you’re expecting from me,” I tell him as we reach the top and he stops to face me. “But, I don’t have any intentions of going into a bedroom with you, we just met and I’m not like that,” I say.

  His eyes twinkle, before a small smile curls on his lips. He reaches inside the doorway to my left with his free hand, flicking on the light. “Bathroom.”

  “Oh,” I state, feeling embarrassed as shit and look down, “excuse me then.”

  I step into the bathroom and shut the door, closing my eyes and smacking my palm against my forehead.

  “Stupid,” I mumble to myself and look up into the mirror.

  My hand goes to where his finger had been, and checking if he could’ve possibly felt anything on my back, sighing with relief when I think he probably didn’t. I do my business and wash my hands, telling myself I need to just leave the party and get home. When I exit the bathroom, my eyes meet his across the hall as he leans against the wall and I turn the light off. He’s in a black T-shirt, faded jeans, and a pair of black combat boots. I can tell that he works out and wonder if he plays football or something. I haven’t seen many guys my age with a body like that unless they play football, well, at least at my school.

  “You didn’t have to wait for me,” I tell him.

  He lifts a shoulder and looks down, and I wonder if I’ve just embarrassed him.

  “But thank you,” I add and step closer.

  His eyes lift and he gives me that warm smile again. “I didn’t mean to offend you by bringing you up here,” he says.

  “No, I’m sorry, that was rude of me, it was stupid of me to think you’d be bringing me up here for that,” I say with an awkward laugh.

  His eyes narrow slightly. “What does that mean?”

  I don’t really feel like getting into a conversation about self-esteem, because I think I just said it all with that last statement.

  “Anyway, I’m gonna head home, so you can go back to your game.”

  “Home?” he asks, his back pushing off the wall as he steps closer. “No, no, please, let’s just go outside or something…I want to hang out.”

  Hang out? Is that code for something?

  “Talk, I just want to talk…what kind of guy do you think I am? I don’t kiss on the first date, okay?” he says.

  I can’t help it, I laugh, followed by a low chuckle from him. He reaches out his hand for mine and I slip it inside his. We walk back down the steps and through the crowd out to the front door. The air is cool as we exit, but where our hands connect is still warm.

  “Did you drive here?” he asks.

  “No, I don’t drive,” I reply as we walk down the darkened sidewalk.

  “How old are you?”

  “Sixteen, you?”

  “Yup, sixteen too, birthday?”

  “October.”

  “Mine’s February,” he says.

  “Oh, so recent,” I nod and look down as we walk. “Do you drive?”

  “I have a motorcycle, but I’m working on a classic black Cadillac right now with my dad,” he says looking me over. “Do you have your license?”

  I shake my head. “But if my grades are good the rest of the year, my dad said he’d take me out to learn this summer,” I shrug.

  He’s been telling me this for months now, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

  “Cool,” Joey says. “So what do you like to do?”

  “Uh, I like school, I study a lot,” I tell him.

  He gives me a look and a grin. “Come on.”

  “No, really,” I laugh. “My parents are pretty stric
t. Actually this is the first time I’ve ever lied about where I am.”

  “No way,” his smile widening.

  “They think I’m at the library,” I confess.

  He lets a laugh out, tilting his head back and I start to giggle at the contagious sound of him.

  “This is better than the library, huh?”

  I smile and look down, nodding.

  “I don’t even know where the library is in Plantain.”

  Now I’m the one laughing hard and cover my mouth with my free hand.

  “I’m serious,” he chuckles.

  “You don’t care about school?” I ask, looking at him.

  He shakes his head a little. “When I graduate I’m joining the Army.”

  I look over at him. “Really?” I ask.

  “Mmhmm, I’ve always wanted to be in the military, my dad’s a veteran. It’s the only thing I can ever remember wanting to do since I was a kid.”

  “Wow,” I breathe out as we turn the corner and continue walking.

  “What?” he asks, giving me a curious look.

  “That’s really amazing that you know what you want to do with your life,” I state.

  “I don’t know if I’d call that amazing,” he says with a little laugh.

  “I do. I have no idea what to do with mine…I think that’s really great.”

  He shakes his head and I can tell he’s down playing this, but then I think maybe he’s embarrassed.

  “So what do you like to do, on the weekends?” I ask.

  “Usually hang out with Dornan and Maven, sometimes we drive into the desert and camp and stuff, sometimes we go to house parties,” he says, looking at me, giving my hand a small squeeze. “And you?”

  I inhale and wonder if I should lie, but something about him makes me want to be honest. I don’t know why, maybe because he won’t ever see me again.

  “Nothing,” I state.

  “Come on.”

  “No, really…I’m not allowed to do much if it doesn’t involve school, actually I’m not allowed to do anything that doesn’t involve school.”

  “Why?”

  “I have two older siblings, my oldest brother Bradley died in a car accident a few years ago-”

  “Damn,” Joey mumbles.

  “Yeah, but he’d been drinking and was out with his friends,” I shake my head a little, “it was his own fault.”

  “That’s terrible, I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you…it’s just crazy because my parents warn me about drinking, but since my brother died they’ve developed some serious drinking problems themselves.”

  I can’t believe I just said that, but there’s something about Joey, or again that I won’t ever see him after this, that allows me to talk freely.

  “And your other sibling?”

  “My older sister, Ashley, she’s nearly eight years older than me, she got pregnant at sixteen and my parents disowned her, I haven’t seen her since.”

  “Damn,” he repeats again, but this time less sympathetic and more about the harshness of my parents.

  “So, I think they think that if they keep me on a tight leash, I won’t mess up like them,” I shrug.

  “Hmmm,” he says low in response.

  “But it’s okay, I’ve dealt with it for sixteen years and I can handle two more…once I go to college, I can do whatever I want.”

  “You want to go to college?”

  We both look both ways as we cross the street, and I see the library coming up soon.

  “That’s the plan,” I sigh. “But my parents don’t know that, I just want to get a scholarship, leave, and never look back.”

  “What do you want to study?”

  “Not sure, not everyone knows what they want to do for a career,” I say with a smile looking over at him.

  He gives me a small smile. My feet stop beside the library, causing him to turn and stop in front of me. He takes my other hand so he’s holding them both in front of us. My eyes focus on the ground, because I don’t know what to do now. And for the first time in my life, I want to be kissed. We’ve just taken a stroll getting to know one another, and a kiss where he drops me off would be a fairytale. But again, I know we shouldn’t kiss. For once, I want the magic of it. He’s perfect, so what’s wrong with having a memory I can hold onto for a little while.

  “I’d like to see you again,” he says.

  I look up at him.“I don’t think-”

  “I know you said your parents are strict and school’s a priority, but…shit, I don’t know how to say this.” He stops and looks down, taking a deep breath before looking back at me. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, when I saw you in the kitchen earlier it was like you had a spotlight on you, I can’t explain it. I feel drawn to you, like we were meant to meet tonight or something.”

  We stand in silence, before I start laughing and I cover my mouth. His mouth falls open as his brows furrow.

  “Come on, do you say that to every girl?” I state.

  A look of mortification slowly takes over his expression, and I stop laughing.

  “No, really?”

  “What the hell? I just put it all out there and you laugh at me?”

  My cheeks redden and heat engulfs me.

  “I didn’t…I mean…” I swallow the dryness in my mouth and put my hands over my face, wanting to just run away. “There’s no way you want me for anything other than sex. I’m a virgin, I don’t date, I’ve never been kissed, I don’t wear makeup or dress like those girls at the party…I want to see you again, you’re the hottest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, but nothing can happen between us because of my parents-”

  My verbal diarrhea’s cut off as my hands are yanked down from my face, just before he cups my cheeks in his huge hands and his lips press to mine. I gasp and my hands grasp onto his biceps, feeling them flex as he inches closer. His lips just remain on mine, until I gasp again and my lips part and so do his. With tender lips his mouth opens and closes, sucking my lower lip before I follow and begin doing the same. My shirt feels too tight over my breasts, between my legs grows wet and hot, and I find my hips pushing into his. My nails dig into his T-shirt and I realize I’m practically trying to climb him, little moans vibrating in my throat.

  He’s moaning too, grunting softly as his hands move to cup the back of my head so he can kiss me deeper. Suddenly, I feel something firm against my back, and the rough bark of a tree scrapes some of the fresher wounds on my back, but it barely registers. I’m so lost in this kiss, lost in him and his body surrounding me. My arms wrap around his shoulders and I lean up on my tip toes, just to get closer, and I feel something hard pressing against my belly. His hand moves down my body to my hip, before he’s curling his fingers around the back of my thigh and hitching my leg up to his hip.

  He thrusts his pelvis into me, grinding his hardness against me over and over. Between my legs feels like it’s consumed with my heartbeat, and I don’t know what that means, but I like it. His other hand lowers to my neck, then the top of my shirt, to finally land on my breast, pushing the underneath up with his palm and into his fingers. I moan and my mouth falls open, his tongue slipping in and my head jerks back in surprise, knocking the back of my head into the tree.

  “Shit,” he gasps, our lips leaving as I cover the back of my head. “You okay?” he whispers.

  My eyes water for a moment, and I blink to clear the shock of pain. I haven’t felt pain in so long it takes a minute to register. I look up at him and he leans in to kiss my forehead, my leg dropping and his hands press to the back of my head too. We’re both panting and cooling off, but I want the heat back. We look at each other, and I don’t know what to say after that.

  “I’m a virgin, I’ve been on one date, you’re now the third girl I’ve ever kissed, and I don’t like the way the girls from the party look…I want to see you again.”

  Just then the alarm on my watch beeps, and I have to go.

  “Please, say you’ll see
me?”

  I start to panic because I have to leave, and I can’t give him my phone number. In my head I know I can’t allow this, that I can’t be anything to him. But there’s an urge inside me, something in my heart that’s chanting for him, needing him.

  “Give me your number,” I tell him.

  He smiles wide and fishes in his pockets. “I don’t have anything-”

  “Hold on,” I say, turning and finding my backpack in the bushes and retrieving it.

  I open it as I walk back to him, taking out my notepad and handing it to him. Searching deeper for a pen and I hear some things fall out onto the ground. He bends down to retrieve them as I find the pen and pull it out, standing he looks at me oddly before handing me a Lady Bic razor and my calculator. I snatch them from him and hand him the pen, not even wanting to discuss the razor. He quickly jots down his number before handing both back to me, and I tuck it back into the bag.

  “Let me walk you home.”

  “No,” I rush out. “No, I don’t live far,” I say as I begin to walk off.

  “But-”

  “I’ll call you,” I shout as I get further away and turn the corner to the front of the building.

  I can’t wipe the smile off my face as I put both the straps of my backpack on my shoulders. “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves fills my head, and I hum it the entire walk home. The feeling inside me is indescribable, it’s excitement and happiness like I’ve never experienced. I think about the words he said, that I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. The part of me that thought that was a pick up line, melted away as we kissed. He easily, easily could’ve tried to get into my pants then, I was so hypnotized, I probably would’ve done anything. His hands, his lips, his everything. God, he was like a dream.

  But all of my daydreaming, all my happiness fades as I gaze at my house. I make sure my shirt’s right and fix my hair, which had become loosened from being kissed. Fortunately, when I enter the front door, my dad’s asleep on the Lazy Boy, the television static at this late hour. Quietly closing the door behind me, I tiptoe to my room and know once I’m past the kitchen, I don’t need to be so quiet since my mom’s probably blacked out in her room.