supposed to be my best friend.”
“Yeah, sure. But I don’t know how to do this stuff.”
“The makeup was your idea.”
“All I said was that they used stage makeup when I was in the all-school play last year, and that it covered Tommy’s black eye. I didn’t say I knew how to apply it.”
I suppose we looked ridiculous. I’ll give my mom credit—she didn’t bat an eye when she found me and the Hawaiian in her bedroom using her vanity table. I think she was just glad I had a friend finally. She worried.
Tyler set the jar down. “I need to watch ESPN or something. I’m feeling all weird.”
“I promise you won’t turn into a girl by holding a makeup sponge for too long.”
Ty didn’t answer and instead he sat on my parents’ bed behind me. “Are you sure it was just a door, Layney?”
Our eyes met in the mirror. “I promise it was just a door.”
“You know if anyone ever tries to hurt you, I’m your guy, right?”
A smile stretched across my face and my heart swelled with genuine love for my BFF. “I know.”
And I did know. Okay, so he wasn’t so good at shopping or date preparation. And yeah, he actually thought a French manicure had something to do with tongue. But he was mine. I trusted Tyler the instant I met him. We were meant to be friends.
So it sort of slipped out, “I made out with Logan after he beamed me with the door in the girls’ bathroom today.”
“You’re joking, right?”
I shook my head.
“What happened to ‘Jimmy Foster is the spawn of Satan’?”
I shrugged. “I think it’s a hex. Someone in our school has been practicing the dark arts or something.”
Tyler scratched his head. He was either wondering what was wrong with me or how he ended up with the dubious position of riding shotgun in my life. “What did Jimmy say?”
“About what?”
“About making out.”
“He didn’t say anything. So this makeup is making me look kind of orange. Kind of like a bruised orange, actually.”
“Am I hearing this right? You guys kissed in the girls’ bathroom for the first time since middle school and neither of you said anything?”
I spun the stool slowly to face him, shooting him really big, really fake smile. “It was sort of the second time since middle school. We might have kissed for a minute the other day before the karaoke date.”
“Oh you might have, huh?”
“It happened very fast, but that was the impression that I got.”
“Layney, I love you, kiddo. But you are one messed-up little girl.”
“I know. I don’t even like him.”
“So you kissed him because…”
“I was hoping you would be smarter about this kind of stuff and maybe you could tell me.”
“I am smarter than you, that’s true. And the reason you kissed him is because you still have feelings for him.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
Tyler tossed one of my mother’s pillows at me. “You look like you spend every day fake-n-baking at the tanning salon. Who is your date tonight?”
“I don’t know yet. I don’t have feelings for Foster, either. Other than feelings of revulsion and repulsion.”
“What about Micah?”
“What about Micah?” I turned back to the mirror and used Mom’s cold cream to get the dayglow off my face.
“Do you like them both?”
“I don’t like either of them that way.”
“Right.”
“Can we not do this now? I look like a poster for domestic violence awareness.”
And I felt battered on the inside too. Did I like them both? Did that make me a bad person? One of them was bad for me, and I didn’t trust him. The other was probably perfect for me—I really didn’t trust him either.
An hour later, Tyler dropped me off at Hootenanny’s, our small town answer to T.G.I.Fridays. On the way, we had picked up a pair of those ridiculously large sunglasses that Paris Hilton wears. They did the trick, but Hootenanny’s wasn’t brightly lit by any means. I bumped into the hostess podium and a table on the way to meet my date.
He
“Yeah, sure. But I don’t know how to do this stuff.”
“The makeup was your idea.”
“All I said was that they used stage makeup when I was in the all-school play last year, and that it covered Tommy’s black eye. I didn’t say I knew how to apply it.”
I suppose we looked ridiculous. I’ll give my mom credit—she didn’t bat an eye when she found me and the Hawaiian in her bedroom using her vanity table. I think she was just glad I had a friend finally. She worried.
Tyler set the jar down. “I need to watch ESPN or something. I’m feeling all weird.”
“I promise you won’t turn into a girl by holding a makeup sponge for too long.”
Ty didn’t answer and instead he sat on my parents’ bed behind me. “Are you sure it was just a door, Layney?”
Our eyes met in the mirror. “I promise it was just a door.”
“You know if anyone ever tries to hurt you, I’m your guy, right?”
A smile stretched across my face and my heart swelled with genuine love for my BFF. “I know.”
And I did know. Okay, so he wasn’t so good at shopping or date preparation. And yeah, he actually thought a French manicure had something to do with tongue. But he was mine. I trusted Tyler the instant I met him. We were meant to be friends.
So it sort of slipped out, “I made out with Logan after he beamed me with the door in the girls’ bathroom today.”
“You’re joking, right?”
I shook my head.
“What happened to ‘Jimmy Foster is the spawn of Satan’?”
I shrugged. “I think it’s a hex. Someone in our school has been practicing the dark arts or something.”
Tyler scratched his head. He was either wondering what was wrong with me or how he ended up with the dubious position of riding shotgun in my life. “What did Jimmy say?”
“About what?”
“About making out.”
“He didn’t say anything. So this makeup is making me look kind of orange. Kind of like a bruised orange, actually.”
“Am I hearing this right? You guys kissed in the girls’ bathroom for the first time since middle school and neither of you said anything?”
I spun the stool slowly to face him, shooting him really big, really fake smile. “It was sort of the second time since middle school. We might have kissed for a minute the other day before the karaoke date.”
“Oh you might have, huh?”
“It happened very fast, but that was the impression that I got.”
“Layney, I love you, kiddo. But you are one messed-up little girl.”
“I know. I don’t even like him.”
“So you kissed him because…”
“I was hoping you would be smarter about this kind of stuff and maybe you could tell me.”
“I am smarter than you, that’s true. And the reason you kissed him is because you still have feelings for him.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
Tyler tossed one of my mother’s pillows at me. “You look like you spend every day fake-n-baking at the tanning salon. Who is your date tonight?”
“I don’t know yet. I don’t have feelings for Foster, either. Other than feelings of revulsion and repulsion.”
“What about Micah?”
“What about Micah?” I turned back to the mirror and used Mom’s cold cream to get the dayglow off my face.
“Do you like them both?”
“I don’t like either of them that way.”
“Right.”
“Can we not do this now? I look like a poster for domestic violence awareness.”
And I felt battered on the inside too. Did I like them both? Did that make me a bad person? One of them was bad for me, and I didn’t trust him. The other was probably perfect for me—I really didn’t trust him either.
An hour later, Tyler dropped me off at Hootenanny’s, our small town answer to T.G.I.Fridays. On the way, we had picked up a pair of those ridiculously large sunglasses that Paris Hilton wears. They did the trick, but Hootenanny’s wasn’t brightly lit by any means. I bumped into the hostess podium and a table on the way to meet my date.
He
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