Like You Mean It

  “I think we’re making this too complicated,” Chelsea said. “Let’s just write ‘Vote for Amber for homecoming queen.’”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Danni agreed.

  “Great, then let’s get started or we’ll be at this all night,” Chelsea pointed out.

  Danni didn’t care if they had to spend all night working on those posters. She would do whatever it took to keep Whitney from winning.

  * * *

  On Tuesday morning, Danni loaded all the posters and a roll of packing tape into the trunk of her car. Despite working for several hours, the girls had only been able to make twelve posters. If they hadn’t worked so hard on them, Danni wouldn’t have bothered showing up to school so early to hang them up. The only good thing was that she got her pick of the parking spots. Danni chose one on the end, instead of having to park in the thick of things. That way she would be able to get out of her stall without having to wait forever when it was time to go home.

  Just as Danni leaned into her trunk to retrieve the signs, Marcy’s mom pulled up alongside.

  “Bye, Mom. Thanks,” Marcy called as she and Chelsea hopped out of the car.

  “Hey.” Chelsea gave Danni a huge smile. “I had the best idea last night.”

  Danni drew her eyebrows together. “For what?”

  Chelsea pulled open her backpack and reached inside. Danni’s frown deepened when she withdrew a thick stack of bright pink papers and held them up. Realizing they were a huge stack of flyers, and cute too, Danni’s frown morphed to a smile. The words ‘Vote for Amber Hicks, A Gem of a Homecoming Queen’ bordered a crown centered on the paper.

  “I love it,” Danni gushed.

  “My mom came up with the saying,” Chelsea said. “These were way easier to do than the poster boards.”

  “We better get to work if we’re going to get all of this done in half an hour,” Marcy said.

  “I say we split up,” Chelsea suggested. “We’ll cover more ground that way.”

  “We can’t,” Danni replied. “I only brought one roll of tape.”

  Chelsea heaved an exaggerated sigh as she reached into her backpack again, this time to retrieve two rolls of packing tape. “Do I have to think of everything?”

  With their supplies in hand, the girls split up to blanket the school with their posters and flyers. While Chelsea and Marcy ventured beyond the gates, Danni began at the front of the school and worked her way inside. Every time she saw one of Whitney’s stupid posters, she had to fight the urge to tape one of her own over the top.

  Once she hung all the posters, Danni started on her share of the flyers. By then the school was filling with students, and everyone was buzzing as they watched her work. She swallowed her self-conscious urge to puke and pressed on. When she finally ran out of things to stick up, Danni stood back and surveyed her handiwork. She had to admit the flyers were eye catching.

  If this plan didn’t work, she didn’t know what else would.

  * * *

  At lunch time, the girls gathered on the grassy area in front of the school. Homecoming was the main topic of their conversation, like it probably was for most everyone else.

  “I think the flyers just might do the trick,” Chelsea said. “Some of the girls in my econ class said they’re way better than Whitney’s stupid posters.”

  Danni smiled. “I think so too.”

  “Let’s just hope it’s enough to make everyone vote for Amber,” Marcy added.

  Chelsea nodded. “They better after all the time and money we spent.”

  “It wasn’t that much money,” Danni said.

  Chelsea laughed. “Easy for you to say. You’re rich.”

  Danni shrugged. She wasn’t wealthy. The way her mom put it, they were well off. Whatever that meant, they were doing better than Marcy’s family and way better than Chelsea’s. Not that it mattered to Danni since she didn’t pick her friends based on how much money their parents made.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s kind of nice not having Darren around,” Chelsea said.

  Danni frowned. “Is there a right way to take that?”

  “I just mean you’re spending so much time with Darren that we hardly see you anymore,” Chelsea explained.

  “That’s not true,” Danni argued.

  “It kind of is,” Marcy agreed. “Before you and Darren started dating, we used to hang out at your house after school almost every day and go to the mall a lot and have sleepovers. I can’t even remember the last time we had a sleepover.”

  Danni swallowed against the lump of guilt forming in her throat. They were right. Ever since meeting Darren, she had seen less of her friends and any time she did spend with them always seemed to have something to do with him. Yesterday, they spent the afternoon making posters to make sure Darren’s ex-girlfriend didn’t win the homecoming queen title. Friday night they’d gone to his house to spend time with his family to celebrate his nomination.

  “We could have a sleepover this weekend,” Danni suggested.

  “Homecoming’s this weekend,” Chelsea reminded her.

  “That’s even more perfect,” Danni said. “We could go to the game and then have a sleepover after.”

  When Danni’s cell phone rang, she knew it was Darren. The only other people who ever called her were sitting right in front of her. As much as she wanted to answer the call, she didn’t want her friends to think they weren’t as important as Darren.

  “You can answer that, you know,” Chelsea said. “It’s not like we don’t ever want you talking to Darren.”

  Danni pulled her phone from her purse and hit the answer button just in time to keep the call from going to voice mail. “Hey, D.J. How are you feeling?”

  “That depends,” he answered. “Am I on speaker phone?”

  “No, I’m not in the car so you’re good.”

  “In that case, you have no idea how horny I am right now.”

  Danni giggled. “Is that a side effect of your medication?”

  “It’s a side effect from not being able to kiss you,” he replied.

  “I miss that too, but I don’t want to get strep throat.”

  “You should be good. I’ve been on antibiotics for twenty-four hours.”

  “Is your fever gone?” Danni asked.

  “Yeah, but I still feel shitty,” Darren said. “This sucks. It never took me this long to get over being sick before.”

  “Does that mean you’re not coming back to school tomorrow?” Danni asked.

  “Not if I feel like this.”

  “You want me to get your homework?”

  Darren laughed. “No way! This is one time I’m going to milk the missing arm excuse for all it’s worth.”

  Danni chuckled. She liked it much better when he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself.

  “I guess you’re probably hanging with Chelsea and Marcy right now so we should talk later,” he suggested. “Call me tonight.”

  “So you can tell me more about how horny you are?” Danni asked.

  Though she clapped her hand over her mouth, it was too late. The words were out before she could stop them. Danni’s face flamed while Chelsea and Marcy burst into a fit of giggles.

  Darren groaned. “Tell me you didn’t just say that in front of them.”

  “Um, okay, I won’t tell you,” Danni said.

  “You haven’t told them everything have you?”

  “What’s everything?”

  “You know, like you jerking me off.”

  “That depends. Did you tell J.J.?”

  When Darren didn’t answer right away, Danni’s heart dropped into her stomach. Oh, God, he did tell his brother! Talk about embarrassing! Every time she saw J.J. now she would wonder if he was thinking about it. Even if he wasn’t, the fact that he knew was enough to make her wish she never had to see him again.

  “Okay, look, don’t get mad,” Darren said. “It’s not the same thing.”

  “Excuse me. How is it
not?” Danni asked.

  “I guess it is, but it feels like it’s not.”

  “I have to go.”

  “Just listen for a second,” Darren urged. “Ever since I lost my arm, I’ve been freaking out because I was left handed, and it wasn’t just about not being able to play ball or draw anymore. I was freaked because I couldn’t even get myself off, and not because I’m some pervert who does it every day but because I didn’t think I’d find a girl who’d want to be with me so I’d be stuck doing it myself only I couldn’t because I was left handed. At first it didn’t matter because I was in too much pain to worry about it, but then we met and I started feeling… Christ, I sound so stupid right now.”

  Danni gave in to a smile, though she didn’t laugh out loud.

  “Anyway, I started feeling, you know, horny again, especially after that day you let me touch you,” Darren said softly, and Danni’s cheeks heated up. “I just didn’t know how to do anything about it because it was seriously not working with my right hand and so I was asking for J.J.’s advice, and he said I should have you do it.”

  Danni let out another gasp. If he was trying to make her feel better, it wasn’t working. All she felt was humiliated at the thought of them talking about her like that.

  “I know it sounds bad when I say it like that,” Darren realized. “The thing is we weren’t talking just to talk. I know you probably think I’m a perv, but being able to…”

  “To what?”

  Darren took a deep breath. “Being able to jerk off matters and not being able to do that along with everything else I can’t do sucks because I have all these feelings inside and no way to release them. So when you did it, I meant it when I said it felt so good. I just don’t think you know how or why, and I didn’t tell J.J. just to tell him. I’m not that kind of guy, and I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, and I swear I won’t tell him anything else we do. I mean, if you still want to be with me, you know, like that.”

  “You know I do,” Danni said.

  If her friends hadn’t been sitting across from her, hanging on her every word, Danni would have told him how much she wanted to be with him like that, and how she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since that night.

  Darren exhaled. “You have no idea how much I love you.”

  “I love you too, but I really do have to go now,” Danni answered. “Chelsea and Marcy are waiting for me.”

  “I know, but I can’t wait to see you again.”

  “Me too. I’ll call you tonight.”

  Danni tapped the end call button and dropped her phone back into her purse. Already, her face was on fire in anticipation of the questions her friends would ask.

  “You might as well just tell us since you know we’re going to ask,” Chelsea said.

  “Tell you what?” Danni stalled.

  “Tell us when you gave Darren your V card,” Chelsea said, and Marcy blushed along with Danni.

  Before Danni could answer, the bell rang to announce the end of the lunch period. The girls rose from their places on the grass and began gathering their things.

  “Don’t think just because lunch is over this conversation is over,” Chelsea warned with a sly smile.

  It was over as far as Danni was concerned. If she expected Darren not to say anything to J.J. then she wasn’t going to tell her best friends. Not that she wanted to. Even though she knew she could trust Chelsea and Marcy not to spread any rumors, this was a part of her and Darren she wanted to keep between the two of them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Are you sure Darren’s okay?” Chelsea asked. “He’s been sick all week.”

  “He sounded a lot better last night,” Danni replied. “Hopefully, he’ll come tomorrow.”

  “Does he know about tomorrow’s lunch rally for the homecoming game?” Marcy asked.

  “I don’t know,” Danni said.

  The honk of a car horn behind them made her jump. When she turned around to see who it was, Darren was already out of the car and walking toward them. His mom was waving from the driver’s seat. Danni and her friends smiled and waved back as Ann pulled away from the curb.

  “Sorry about her,” Darren told the girls.

  Danni smiled at him. “It’s all right.”

  “Yeah, your mom’s really nice,” Marcy said. “Actually, so is your dad.”

  “Thanks,” Darren replied.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Danni told him.

  “No offense, but I’m not. I hate this place,” Darren said.

  “Yeah, about that, we need to talk.” Danni turned to her friends. “We’ll see you guys at lunch.”

  Danni seized Darren’s hand and began to pull him in the opposite direction.

  “Fine, have your secrets!” Chelsea called after them.

  “What’s up?” Darren asked.

  “There’s a rally at lunchtime tomorrow and all of the candidates have to be there,” Danni said.

  Darren shook his head. “No way! I’m not putting myself on display for the whole fucking school.”

  “Even if you don’t go to the rally, you’ll still have to stand up in front of everyone at the game tomorrow night,” Danni reminded him.

  Darren heaved a sigh. “Fine, I’ll go to the stupid rally if you stand up there with me.”

  “I don’t know if that’s allowed.”

  “I don’t give a shit. I’m not doing it unless I have you by my side.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but maybe you should do it on your own; you know, like practice for the game.”

  Darren snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “Please, Danni, I can’t do this without you.”

  When he put it like that, there was no way she could say no.

  * * *

  When the four of them met up for lunch, Darren didn’t say much. No doubt his mind was on the fact that they would all be at the rally by this time tomorrow. Even though Danni wanted to help him, she was just as afraid of being on display. With the exception of her friends, everyone was going to wonder what Darren saw in her and why he insisted on dragging her everywhere he went.

  “So, Darren, how are you feeling?” Chelsea asked.

  Darren shrugged. “I’m all right.”

  “You sure you’re not horny?” Chelsea cracked up.

  Darren’s face flushed. “I’m cool, but if you’re horny, I could always ask my brother to help you out.”

  Chelsea’s expression changed to horror. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I might if you bring that shit up again,” Darren answered.

  “What’s the plan for the game tomorrow?” Marcy interjected. “Like are we all gonna ride over together or what?”

  “I can drive us,” Danni offered.

  “Actually, my mom said she would,” Darren said.

  “Would she drive us home too?” Danni asked. “We’re having a sleepover at my house.”

  Darren grinned at her. “We are?”

  Danni giggled. “Not you and I, the girls and I. Anyway, would your mom drive us back to my house?”

  “Probably,” Darren said.

  “Will we all fit?” Marcy asked. “If your parents and your brother are there, and we’re all there, that’s seven people in one car.”

  “We’d fit in my dad’s crossover,” Darren said.

  “And you’re sure your mom won’t mind?” Danni asked.

  “Nah, she loves that kind of stuff,” he said.

  The familiar engine roar of Justin’s Camaro sounded behind them. Darren got to his feet and held his hand out for Danni. She smiled up at him as she slid her fingers in his and allowed him to pull her up.

  “I’ll be right back,” Danni told her friends.

  “Okay,” Marcy replied.

  Justin was already out of the car, and Danni smiled. Chelsea couldn’t be mad about the way his form fitting T-shirt outlined every muscle of his stomach, and those jeans didn’t look too bad on him either. If there was anythin
g that would improve a girl’s mood, it was hotter-than-hot Justin Jacobs and his red Camaro.

  “Hey, lovebirds,” Justin said, grinning.

  “Shut up, J.J.,” Darren ordered.

  Justin’s smile vanished. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine, just lay off that kind of stuff, okay?”

  Justin glanced over at Danni. “Sorry about that.”

  Danni wanted to sink through the sidewalk. “It’s okay,” she said, and then looked at Darren. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Darren raised his eyebrows. “You don’t want to come over tonight?”

  “Only if you want me to,” she replied.

  “You know I do.”

  Danni smiled. “Is six okay?”

  “It’s cool.” Darren leaned down to give her a kiss. “Love you, baby.”

  “Love you too,” Danni echoed.

  “Later, Danni,” Justin said before waving at Marcy and Chelsea. “Later, girls.”

  Danni waited until Darren was in the car before she turned her back on him. As she trudged toward her friends, she steeled herself for what was coming next.

  “I forgot how much of a prick he is sometimes,” Chelsea said.

  “It’s not really his fault,” Marcy said before Danni could come to his defense. “You probably embarrassed him.”

  Chelsea glared at them. “And that makes it okay for him to act like a dick?”

  “No, but how would you feel if he said something like that about you in front of his friends?” Danni asked. “And I don’t mean us. I mean his old friends like Spencer and Lee.”

  All of the fight left Chelsea’s face. “Okay, you’re right. I’m the dick.”

  Danni exhaled. That was easier than she expected. She just hoped Darren would get over it as fast.

  * * *

  After doing her homework and eating dinner alone, Danni drove over to Darren’s house. Although it was a few minutes before six, she didn’t think he’d mind if she was early. Ringing the doorbell, she waited for him to answer. Instead, it was Gerald who pulled the door open.

  “Danni, it’s good to see you.” Gerald stepped aside. “Come on in.”

  “Hi, Mr. Jacobs,” she replied.

  “As much as I appreciate your manners, you don’t have to call me Mr. Jacobs and make me feel older than I already do.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Jacobs,” Danni said and Gerald laughed. “It’s just that I don’t know what to call you.”