Always Been You by Tracy Luu Page A

flushed.
    “It’s a little problem I’m having,” she smirked again, trying to hide the laughter in her voice.
    “It’s Devon, isn’t it?” asked Jacob. It was his turn to grin as Nikki’s eyes went wide.
    “How…?” she asked, looking at me for answers.
    “I was just with him talking about you,” said Jacob.
    “W…what did he say?”
    “He’s worried something’s bothering you and is only asking because he likes you.”
    “Um, Jacob, telling someone their crush likes them doesn’t make it any easier,” I said.
    “Why not? If I liked you, I’d be happy to hear it from a friend that you liked me too.”
    “And do you like her?” asked Nikki.
    “Of course,” he replied. “She’s a really great friend.”
    “I see,” said Nikki.
    “So, Nikki, now that you know Devon likes you, why don’t you go and tell him you like him too?” I said, desperately trying to get the conversation off me.
    “I can’t do that,” she complained. “That’s too embarrassing.”
    “Then what else are you planning to do?” asked Jacob.
    “I don’t know,” she sighed heavily. “I never really thought that far.”
    Jacob looked at me for a moment and a grin broke onto his face. “Hey Devon!” he bellowed.
    “What are you doing?” hissed Nikki.
    “Helping you along,” he smirked.
    “No Ja—”
    “What’s up?” asked Devon.
    “Nikki needs to talk to you,” said Jacob.
    “Oh.” Devon’ eyes flicked to Nikki. “I need to talk to you too.”
    Giving Devon an inarticulate sound of an agreement, Nikki then inconspicuously gave Jacob a hard kick in the shin before following Devon out into the hall.
    “You do know that could’ve backfired right?” I asked accusingly.
    “It got them talking didn’t it?” he smirked.
    “And you said you wouldn’t cheat,” I muttered.
    “Jenna, where are you?” my mom yelled from the top of the stairs.
    “Damn, she remembered,” I sighed at Jacob. “Hey, make sure you tell me what I’ve missed between those two while I’m gone.”
    “Sure and good luck with… Daniel ,” he teased.
    “Shut it you,” I said and headed up the stairs.
    Despite their assertions, how could my parents think Daniel Summer could possibly be construed as being eligible, or even be considered single for me to date? True, he smiled politely when we were introduced, except I quickly found out that he was such a pompous jerk. There was no way under any circumstances I could possibly be coerced into dating him, even if he was the last man on earth. Furthermore, I cared even less about how rich his family fortune was, or how it would benefit me if I became his girl. So instead of standing here listening to his pompous remarks, I lamely pretended someone was calling my name and hastily went back down to the basement to join my friends.
    “Hey, what’s going on?” I asked Jacob.
    “I’m not sure,” he replied. “I can’t really see with everyone’s heads in the way.”
    “Why don’t you just stand on the couch?”
    “Gee, I never thought about that,” he mumbled.
    Quickly supporting each other as we climbed onto the couch, we then craned our necks in the direction of the hallway, and a second later, broke out in laughter, wiping the tears from our eyes.
    “Way to go, Dev!” yelled Jacob.
    Nikki and Devon quickly sprang apart from their kiss once they heard Jacob’s bellow and looked astonished to find themselves at the centre of attention. Blushing to the roots of their hair as raucous cheering and yelling reverberated around the room, they then quickly left the hall and wordlessly joined me and Jacob on the couch.
    “I take it you’re happy at the outcome with Devon Johnson then?” I said to Nikki.
    “What do you think?” she said sarcastically.
    “I thought maybe you were trying to teach him CPR,” I grinned.
    “You’re a real laugh riot today, Jenna,” she muttered.
    I let out a loose laugh, but then quickly clamped my mouth shut. Daniel was coming down the