Get Lucky: A YA Anthology Read online

  Selena climbed to her feet. Making her way into the kitchen, walking awkwardly on the heels of her feet, careful not to smudge her freshly painted toenails, she scoffed. “Oh, please. That is not how we act.”

  “Is too,” Ben called to her. “Especially you. Every time you come within fifty feet of Eli Larson, you turn into a total spaz.”

  As much as I tried to hold it in, a small snort escaped me. Ben had a point with that one. After shooting a quick pair of eye lasers at me, Selena narrowed that irritated gaze on my brother. “Aw, I’m sorry. Does it make you jealous when I flirt with Eli, Benjamin?”

  Ben choked on the bit of sandwich in his mouth, spitting little bits of food out onto his plate. “You wish,” he said, coughing. “Nasty.”

  Jared and I shared a look. We both knew it was only a matter of time before Ben and Selena realized they were in love with each other, and had been for at least a year. I wasn’t going to point it out, though. The idiots wouldn’t believe me anyway. They were going to have to figure that one out on their own.

  “Oh, sweet.” Selena reached up to the top shelf in the pantry. “Thin Mints.”

  “Don’t even think about it, you little gremlin!” Ben growled. “I hid those up there on purpose!”

  “What, these?” Selena batted her eyelashes innocently, popping one of the small cookies in her mouth. “Mmm, I love Thin Mints.”

  Ben jumped up from his chair, nearly spilling his soda. “That’s it. You’re dead!”

  Selena dashed away with a shriek when Ben charged her. Jared and I listened as they bounded up the stairs, and Selena slammed my bedroom door.

  I tuned the noise out. Ben and Selena would be at that for a while, so I handed Jared the controller again, and grabbed the one Ben had been using. We started a new game, and played in blissful peace for a couple of minutes. Jared was the first to break the silence. “If you really want to be kissed, Cassie, I’ll do it.”

  I laughed because he had to be teasing. He hadn’t even turned his eyes away from the TV screen. It had just been kill monster, kill monster, I’ll kiss you Cassie, jump, stab, kill monster. “Ha ha. Thanks for the sympathy. You shouldn’t tease people about their insecurities. It’s not nice. I might just go cry in my room now.”

  He chuckled at my sarcasm. “You sound so broken up. And I wasn’t teasing. I’ll really kiss you if you want me to.”

  I froze. That sounded a little less like a joke. When my character died, Jared paused the game and sat up. His boot-clad feet hit the ground with a thump, and he flashed me a grin that melted me like Frosty the Snowman. It was an award-winning grin. Literally. He’d been awarded Best Smile in the yearbook last year. “I’ve been told I’m not so bad at it.”

  My mouth went dry. No, I’m sure he wasn’t a bad kisser at all. In fact, I was friends with the last girl he’d dated, and she’d always said quite the opposite.

  Could this really be happening? Was the gorgeous, popular senior really offering to kiss me? Me. Pathetic, unflirty, kissless Little Cass, his best friend’s baby sister?

  He was. I could see it in his golden-green hazel eyes that he was being sincere. He really would kiss me if I wanted him to, just so that I wouldn’t stress about it anymore or feel insecure. He’d probably even teach me how to do it right so that, when I got kissed for real, I wouldn’t make a fool of myself. He was super considerate that way.

  I’d never thought of Jared as dating potential until that moment. As we sat there in awkward silence while he patiently waited for me to make a decision about his offer, I saw him as more than Ben’s best friend. I saw him for the amazing, crush-worthy guy that he was. And, suddenly, though I’d never considered the possibility before, I wanted to kiss Jared. I wanted to badly. But I couldn’t. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.”

  He didn’t frown at my rejection. His smile never faltered. “Too weird?” he asked curiously. “Because of Ben?”

  Sighing, I shook my head. “It’s not that. I don’t want a pity kiss. That wouldn’t count. I don’t want to have to ask someone to kiss me. I want to be kissed because the guy wants to kiss me. Because he likes me and wants to date me.” I groaned. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this. Selena is a dead woman.”

  I glared at the ceiling where the shouting, stomping, and door slamming had quieted.

  Jared’s chuckle made my face turn bright red. “She meant well,” he said. “And, for the record, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think any guy who kissed you would be doing it out of pity.”

  I glanced away, and Jared’s teasing mode finally turned to concern. “I’m serious, Cassie. You just need to give guys a little encouragement. If you let them know you’re interested, you’d be surprised how quickly they’d start lining up.”

  If my face got any hotter, it was bound to catch fire. “Thanks, but I am going to literally die from embarrassment if we don’t stop talking about this right now.”

  Jared’s smile came back, easing the tension in the air, and loosening the knots in my stomach. Laughing, he slumped back against the couch again, and un-paused our video game. “Okay, Little Cass, I’m done. But, speaking of kissing, you think that’s what Ben and Selena are doing right now? It’s awfully quiet up there.”

  I laughed, beyond thankful for the subject change. “That, or they’ve finally killed each other.”

  Chapter 2

  I supposed Jared had a point about me needing to let guys know I was interested. But, how was I supposed to do that? I wasn’t little, cute, curvy, or giggly like Selena. I was average height, average weight, my boobs were average sized, my hair and eyes both an average brown. I had no curves to flaunt, no hips to sway, and I wasn’t about to flip my hair or laugh at something stupid. Guys were already pretty big morons most of the time. They didn’t need encouragement to be worse. But I couldn’t just walk up to someone and be like, “Hey, kiss me, idiot. I’m in to you.” Nope. Couldn’t do that.

  I was incapable of flirting. That left me with Selena’s option of dressing like a girl. The skirt was not happening. But I could do some shorts, and wear sandals that showed off my “cute” toenails as Selena had called them. How a little nail polish on my toes was supposed to make guys want to kiss me, I had no clue, but Selena had been kissed plenty, so she obviously knew what she was talking about.

  The next morning, I threw on my favorite “Pinch me and I’ll punch you in the face” T-shirt that I wore every year on St. Patrick’s Day, and smiled at myself in my mirror. The shirt was my one win today since Selena hated it. But I’d caved on the rest of my outfit by wearing the too-short cut-off jeans shorts she loved, and the sparkly sandals she’d given me for Christmas. I even left my hair down for once, and used the mascara and lip gloss she’d accidentally left in my room and kept forgetting to take home no matter how many times I reminded her. She wasn’t fooling me. I’d never seen her wear pale pink on her lips, ever.

  When I got downstairs, I wasn’t surprised to see my mom slaving away over a hot birthday breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy—my favorite. I was surprised, however, to see Jared enjoying a plate at the kitchen table. (I was not surprised to see he had more table manners than Ben, who was inhaling his biscuits without chewing.) “Am I that late?” I asked, scrambling for a plate. “Crap. Sorry. I’ll eat fast.”

  I must have fussed in front of the mirror longer than I thought.

  “You’re not late,” Jared said when I sat down. “I’m just early. I had a feeling there’d be great food here this morning.”

  Ben and I both snorted, and Jared grinned at my mom. “It’s delicious, Mrs. Caldwell. Thank you very much for including me.”

  Mom matched his smile—he’d always had the woman wrapped around his finger. “You’re welcome here any time, Jared. You know that.”

  “Kiss ass,” Ben muttered under his breath between bites of food.

  Jared winked at me. “Happy Birthday, Little Cass. I got you something.”

  That made me smile
. I was sixteen today. That didn’t mean much to anyone else in the world, but to me it was monumental. I loved that Jared acknowledged it. “You got me a present?”

  “I did. But, you have to promise to wear it to school today, or I won’t give it to you.”

  “Wear it?” He’d gotten me a gift I could wear?

  Jared’s eyes sparkled as he handed over a cupcake shaped gift bag, overflowing with white tissue paper. I wasn’t sure what to say. He’d given me little gifts for my birthday before, but, after our conversation yesterday, it seemed different this time, more meaningful somehow. I reached for the bag, and he pulled it back. “You promise?”

  “I promise.” As if I wasn’t going to figure out what was inside that bag?

  When he hesitated, making sure I was serious about my promise, I held out my hands. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

  He surrendered the bag with a laugh.

  Equal parts excitement, curiosity, and nerves fueled me to tear away the tissue paper as if my life depended on it. My enthusiasm died when I saw the St. Patrick’s Day green T-shirt folded in the bottom of the bag. I groaned. He knew I hated stupid St. Patrick’s Day shirts. I’d gotten them as gag birthday gifts my entire life. And for as long as I’ve received them, they’ve been lame. “Seriously?”

  Jared’s grin stretched into something mischievous. “You promised you’d wear it.”

  Dang it. He had me there. I’d promised. “I hate you.”

  His smile widened even further. “Go put it on, birthday girl.”

  He and Ben both burst into laughter as I stomped into the bathroom. It wasn’t until I’d thrown the shirt over my head—which was one of those tight fitting girly kinds—that I realized what the shirt said. It was one of those classic “Kiss me, I’m Irish,” T-shirts that you see everywhere around St. Patrick’s Day. But, Jared had crossed out the words “I’m Irish”, and written, “It’s my birthday” with black magic marker.

  I grinned in spite of myself. It was actually really cute. Of course, I wasn’t about to let Jared know I thought so, considering he was totally making fun of me with this, even if we were the only two people who knew it.

  My scowl was firmly in place before I returned to the table. I even managed an annoyed glare for Jared, which earned me that soul-melting smile of his in return. I didn’t have time to swoon because Ben noticed my shirt and snorted milk out of his nose. The idiot. He jumped up from the table, swiping at the milk all down the front of his shirt; coughing up a storm, and cursing about the sting in his nose, all while laughing hysterically.

  “Oh, I hate you”—cough cough—“It burns”—cough cough—“Wish I’d thought of that”—cough laugh cough—“She’s gonna”—cough—“Kill you”—cough cough hack laugh—“I gotta go change now.”

  He kept at it all the way upstairs to his room.

  “Well?” my mother said, as she wiped up the mess of spilt milk Ben had left behind. The milk that had come spewing out of his mouth and nose. “Are you going to thank him for the gift?”

  I rolled my eyes at Jared. “Thanks so much for this monstrosity. And, especially, thank you for tricking me into promising I’d wear it to school today.”

  “Cassie!” Mom scolded. “That’s not nice. It’s very cute, and it was thoughtful of him.”

  “Very thoughtful,” I agreed, scowling for real this time at the laughter in Jared’s eyes. When my mom went back into the kitchen, I whispered across the table, “This is your idea of how I should let guys know I’m interested in dating?”

  Jared shrugged. “Sometimes, us guys need things spelled out.”

  I glanced down at my shirt again. “Well, it’s certainly all spelled out. Mission accomplished, genius.”

  “We’ll see.”

  The secretive smile I caught as Jared took his empty plate to the sink made me suspicious. I cleared my dishes, thanked my mom for my birthday breakfast, and hurried to follow Jared out the door. “What’s ‘we’ll see’ supposed to mean?”

  Jared had been giving Ben and me a ride to school ever since he turned sixteen. He drove a nice truck, of course. Cowboys and trucks are like peanut butter and jelly—a packaged deal. I started to climb in back seat, but Jared opened the passenger door, and gestured for me to climb up front. “Birthday girl gets shotgun.”

  I was shocked. I’d never been allowed to sit in the front before. Not that Jared had anything against it, but Ben wouldn’t dream of it. He was going to throw a hissy when he got outside. Too bad, so sad for him. “Thanks.” I hopped in and, ever the gentleman, Jared shut my door for me before jogging around to the driver’s seat. “What did you mean by ‘we’ll see’?” I asked, again, once he was in the truck.

  He acted put out by the question, but the corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile. “We’ll see if it really works.” He pointed to my shirt. “My mission won’t be accomplished unless you get your kiss today. That’s what I’m really hoping to give you for your birthday.”

  My jaw fell open. “You’re trying to get me kissed as a birthday gift?”

  Jared wet his lips and bit down on them, trying not to laugh, as he nodded. “That’s what you want. You said you didn’t want it to be me, so…” He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  My face flamed. Unable to look at him, I turned my head out toward my window and mumbled, “I didn’t mean I didn’t want you to kiss me. I was just saying—”

  “I know what you meant. You want a real kiss. You want it to be special. You want it to mean something. I get it, Cass.”

  Oh, my gosh. What I wanted, right then, was to die. This was so a conversation that was okay to have with your best friend, and no one else. Jared Clayton was not my best friend. I blushed so hard, my face hurt from it.

  “Don’t be embarrassed, Cassie.”

  When Jared’s elbow nudged my arm, I yelped, startled. That only made me even more mortified. He locked his eyes on me, and gave me a soft smile that eased some of my humiliation. “You deserve that kiss. So, if that’s what you want for your birthday, then that’s what I’m going to give you. No matter what I have to do to make sure you get it.”

  I was still blushing, but now I wasn’t sure if it was because I was embarrassed or because I was swooning. Seriously, my heart was all over the place. That was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me. And it was from the hottest, nicest guy I knew. Crap! Why had I told him no yesterday? Even if it were a pity kiss, it would have rocked. But he wasn’t going to offer again. Not after I’d turned him down. GAH! I was such a moron!

  “Um…” I had no freaking clue what to say next. “Why does that sound ominous? You’re not going to tell everybody that I—”

  He burst out laughing and, shaking his head, started the car. “Don’t worry, this is between you and me.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Promise?”

  “Cross my heart.”

  The almost tender moment was broken up when Jared glanced up at the house and laid on his horn. “Where is your brother? He’s going to make us late.”

  …

  Ben began his grumbling about having to give up shotgun to his little sister before we were even out of the driveway.

  “You are such a baby. It’s one day for ten minutes.”

  “That’s not the point. My best friend showed partiality to my little sister over me. That’s breaking guy code. Next thing you know, he’ll be asking you out and giving you shotgun every day because girlfriend trumps best friend in shotgun privileges. And, then, he’ll start ditching me to hang out with you. And then you guys will start making out in front of me. Ugh. I’m nauseous already.”

  He was just giving Jared a hard time—and it was working because Jared’s cheeks were blushing, even though he was trying to act like he wasn’t embarrassed. I had half a mind to let Ben continue this torture since Jared had made me squirm earlier, but it was way more fun to bug Ben than Jared. “And, I’m not grossed out knowing that you and my best f
riend totally made out on my bed yesterday?”

  It was just a guess—Selena hadn’t said a word about what they’d been doing upstairs for so long yesterday—but it was close enough that I got the truth from my brother. “WHAT?” he shouted. “We were not on your bed! That little blabbermouth gremlin exaggerates everything!”

  “OH MY GOSH!” I squealed. I whirled around in my seat, pointing an accusing finger at Ben. “You did make out! I knew it!”

  Ben’s mouth snapped shut, and his face flamed brighter than I’d ever seen it, as he realized he’d just given himself up.

  “Busted, man.” Jared grinned at him in the rearview mirror, which made him hunch far down in his seat, scowling at his lap.

  I could have let it go at that; the guy was embarrassed enough. A nice sister would have cut him some slack. So, of course, I said, “You and Selena. I can’t believe it. Are you together now? Are you going to take her to senior prom?”

  “Oh my gosh, shut up, Cassie! There is no me and Selena. It was just a kiss. An accident.”

  I snorted. “For twenty minutes?”

  He kicked the back of my seat. “If you tell anyone, I’ll tell the whole school how you were begging Jared to kiss you yesterday, Kissless Cassie.”

  He was goading me. I knew he was. And I totally deserved it. Still. I reacted. I couldn’t stop myself. “I did not!” I reached over the back seat, and punched his leg. He punched me back in the arm. “If you call me that ever again, I will kill you, you jerk!”

  “Guys, come on. Can’t we all just get along?”

  Jared was laughing. Glad he found this amusing because I certainly didn’t. If Ben uttered that stupid nickname even once, to even one person, I’d be Kissless Cassie for the rest of my life. Ben was my big brother, and he loved me, but he was just cruel enough to let it slip if he was mad.

  Ben and I were locked in a stare-down when we pulled into the school parking lot. Seeing the waves of students headed for the building, Ben relented first. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Truce. Sworn to secrecy?”