Food, Cats, and Being Lazy

Chapter Fourteen

Collin’s party was the talk of the school for the remainder of the week. Everyone who was anyone was getting invited. I only got an invitation because I was asked by someone else. That person only got invited because he blackmailed the host. I was pretty sure this party was going to suck balls. Especially since Collin and his beautiful new girlfriend were going to be there and this was the height of their newly discovered romance.

I decided to go anyway. Mostly because Anton sort of didn’t give me a chance to say no, and also because I’d never been invited to anything in my entire life. And if Anton liked me that was cool. I’d never had a boyfriend before. I would probably say yes if he asked me out. Unless asking someone to a party qualifies as asking them out. In that case, was Anton my boyfriend?

I sat down on the curb out front of my house to wait for him to pick me up. I didn’t want to seem too eager for him. But my mom was having a candle selling party where a bunch of other women sat around my house sniffing wax samples as they decided which scents they wanted to spend too much money on. Plus, my dad was on his way home and I didn’t want him to be the one to answer the door when Anton showed up.

To my surprise, Paige was still in her room when I left to go wait for Anton. I figured she was going to do the ‘fashionably late’ thing, but Vincent wasn’t even there yet. Maybe he was on his way too.

When Anton’s car finally pulled up in front of my house, I felt my stomach cringe. Lauren was sitting in the front seat of his car. She was casually looking away as if she hadn’t seen me and this was just a minor detour. I stood up and went to the car, but Anton climbed out before I could get there. Something on his face told me I was about to be humiliated.

“Hey,” he said. I nodded.

“Hi,” I replied.

“Listen, um—there’s been a change of plans.”

“Um—okay.”

“It’s not that I don’t like you or anything. I just don’t really know you. And well—Lauren really wanted to go to this party and Collin said I could only bring one person.”

“Right—so naturally I’m the odd one out.”

“Well—like I said. I don’t really know you and Lauren is my friend.” I nodded and stepped away. I felt my hands tighten over the sweater I clutched in my fists.

“Yeah—she has a lot of friends now. Thanks anyway.”

I turned to head back to my house before I could burst into tears and show him just how much his rejection hurt me. I heard the car door shut behind me and they drove off without a second glance. They got rid of me. I didn’t throw a fit. Why should they care if I was okay or not?

But I didn’t want to go back inside and face my mother’s candle party. Mostly because I was sniffing a lot and I could feel myself reach the brink of tears. I didn’t want to run into Paige and have her rub it in my face. But maybe if my dad got home and found me crying on the front steps he would be angry enough to kick Anton’s ass. But that was unlikely. He would probably go through the garage anyway. And even if he did find me, he would probably just give me a long lecture about how life sends us tests.

So I plopped down onto the front steps and wiped the tears that were welling in my eyes. I was stupid. I should have said I didn’t want to go with him. I didn’t know him. He was right about that. Why did I jump to conclusions and automatically assumed he liked me? Lauren spent nearly two years with me and didn’t even like me. Paige knew me all her life and didn’t like me. Hell, my parents didn’t even like me. The only person who did was my passive aggressive cat.

And one other person.

I heard a car pull into the driveway and shut off. I figured it was my dad coming home. But instead of going through the garage, he appeared at the end of the walkway. It was Vincent and I silently cursed him for finding me in another pathetic position. Why was it always him? Why couldn’t I catch a break? Just like I expected, he sat down beside me.

“You okay?” he asked. I shook my head and sniffed.

“The dirt thing again,” I explained.

“Who was it?” I sniffed again.

“Collin’s cousin Anton invited me to the party tonight. But he took someone else instead of me. They drove all the way over here just to tell me I couldn’t come.”

“That’s not cool.” I shook my head.

“I don’t even like him. I didn’t even want to go to the stupid party. I just said yes because he asked me.” I sniffed again. “And now I’ve been humiliated. Again.”

“Well, why don’t you go to the party with me instead?” I shook my head again.

“No, Paige doesn’t want me there.”

“She said she isn’t going.” What? Paige? Paige WAS the party. “She asked me to come over to hang out instead. But I’ll go to the party with you. It’ll be fun.”

“It’s okay. Thanks though. I don’t want to go. I just don’t want to be humiliated again. I’m destined to be alone forever. I’m sixteen years old and I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve never been kissed. Who would want to kiss me anyway? I’m disgusting. I have a mouth full of metal, too much baby fat, and a hot sister. It’s completely unfair. I have no friends. Who would want to be seen with me, let alone kiss me?”

I was rambling, but he was listening attentively. I wasn’t focused on him. I was watching a snail slither across the path to go munch on my mom’s front garden. But I could see from the corner of my eye that Vincent had his eyes on me and his eyebrows straight in concentration.

“Pip,” he finally said. “What makes you think that no one would want to kiss you?” I had to laugh.

“Look at me, Vinnie. I’m not exactly pretty enough as it is. Then you stick me next to Paige and it’s like Igor next to Cinderella. I become even uglier than normal. I don’t know what it is about my personality that people just dislike. But it’s there. I know I like to be alone most of the time, but it doesn’t mean I WANT to be alone. I hate being alone. So no. I don’t think there’s a single person in the world who would want to kiss me.”

I sniffled and wiped my eye. The snail was still on its slow moving journey, leaving behind a trail of slime on the cement. Vincent was quiet. He turned to watch the snail too. I felt stupid for blurting everything out to him, but I couldn’t help it. My mom said I needed to see a therapist because I tended to rattle off all my problems whenever someone showed me the slightest bit of attention. The truth was just that I needed someone to talk to.

“That’s not true,” he said quietly. I laughed sarcastically.

“Right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Do you trust me?” I turned to look at him, but his hazel eyes were serious.

“I trust that you’re really nice and you always try to make me feel better because I’m your girlfriend’s little sister. But I don’t believe you have any real desire to be my friend.”

“Well—you’re wrong.”

“Right—well—I’m going inside now.” I stood up and reached for the door handle.

“Pip, stop,” he said. I didn’t really want to talk to him anymore. I didn’t like his pity-fueled friendship. I’d spilled my guts out to him and all he could say was, “You’re wrong.” Like that was just supposed to make everything better. But I turned to him anyway, feeling a little bit irritated that he was always trying to be kind to me.

Then he did something unexpected. I didn’t expect it even the slightest bit. In fact, it was so far down on my list of possibilities that even marrying Collin and inviting Ringo Starr to our baby shower seemed more realistic than being kissed by my sister’s boyfriend.

He put his hands on my cheeks and pulled me to him before I had the chance to react. It wasn’t a rough kiss at all. But it caught me completely off guard and I was sure he knew that. Before I realized what was happening Vincent’s lips were on mine and my eyes closed shut. His lips parted and my heart jumped into my throat.

I was being kissed. I, Piper Finnegan, was no longer a member of the never been kissed club. Because someone had his lips on mine. I was super elated by this fact until the next one hit me like a ton of bricks. This was the one person in the world that I shouldn’t be kissing. This was Vincent. This was Paige’s boyfriend and her man. A member of the good looking popular kid’s club. The kind of guy who looked perfect next to a girl like Paige. And there he was kissing her nerdy little sister on the front porch.

The kiss didn’t last long. In my head, it felt like hours, but in truth it only lasted for a few seconds before he pulled away. And he seemed almost as shocked as I was. But I was also kind of—angry. He cheated on my sister. It was probably only because he was trying to make me feel better. It was a pity kiss. It wasn’t nice of him. Not even a little.

“I have to go inside,” he said. Then he slipped into the house before I could say anything.