Love Songs

Chapter Seventeen

A/N: Short chapter, with mucha Jessica. Lol. This was where I wanted to end this one so that's why it's so short, but eighteen is coming soon. Promise!

Xoxoxoxo,

Railene 

Jessica - Tuesday, 7:50am.

"Jessica," Allie was repeating as I grew increasingly lightheaded. "Who?"

My silence was telling. 

"Oh my God," she panicked. "Jessica, if I find out that Shay--"

"It wasn't Shay!"

"Then who?"

"It was Matthew!" 

I had no idea where that lie came from, but it was sufficiently better than my first. It was met by complete speechlessness, not that I blamed Allie. I'd even shocked myself.

"What?" she whispered after a while.

"That's right," I quavered, attempting to establish some false confidence. "We made out."

More silence. But surprising me, rather than screaming or pinning me against the wall demanding details, she took a different route.

She laughed. Hard.

"What?" I questioned, now a little bit self conscious.

She was struggling for breath and had begun to double over, somehow being stricken with hysteria by my spur-of-the-moment anecdote.

"Matt...Matthew?" she repeated, hardly able to make sounds.

"Shut up," I guarded, for whatever reason defending my fake hook-up.

"What, is he like, your boyfriend now?"

I rolled my eyes. "No," I said. "It was just a one time thing."

She continued laughing. "Jessica, just...why?"

I shrugged. "We were bored. But don't tell anyone. Especially not Shay."

"Well, now I've heard everything," she remarked, picking up her bag to go. "You're taking forever. I'll meet you at dance."

______

As soon as Allie was out of sight, I bolted down the hallway. If I ran fast enough, I could catch Matthew before he'd gone off to his theater classes for the morning. It might have been too late, but I had to try.

I banged frantically on his door until he opened, fully dressed, looking like he was on the way out.

"Matthew," I panted, out of breath both from panic and my sudden sprint throughout the floor. "I need your help."

"Okay," he said, sounding concerned as he came back into the room. I realized his intention was just to leave, but he didn't argue. "What do you need?"

I sat down on his bed, a hand on my forehead. Quietly, sheepishly, I attempted to say, "I need you to pretend, that you and I...that we...kind of...made out..."

He made an extremely frightened face before asking the obvious question. "Why?"

I sighed. "Because Shay gave me a hickey, and Allie saw it, and I freaked out and told her you did it."

Surprising me just like Allie had, he laughed. Maybe the two of them were suited for one another after all.

"You let Shay give you a hickey?"

"Shut up," I said. "That's not the point."

"Fine," he relented. "None of my business. But...why me?"

I shrugged. "You were the first person I thought of. I couldn't have said Darius. That would have been ugly."

"True," he said. "Well, okay. No harm done."

"What?" I asked. "That's it?"

"Yeah," he said, not getting my surprise. "I'll play along."

"You will?" 

He laughed again. "Jess, you asked me to be cool with this...Why are you acting so shocked?"

"I just...kind of expected you to freak out more," I admitted.

"Well, you need the help, so I'm giving it," he said. "It's what friends do. And, okay, I'm being a little selfish."

"Selfish how?"

"Well," he began, "If Allie thinks we hooked up, that makes me seem desirable. Maybe now she'll see me in a different way."

I had to smile. What a dog.

"I get it," I started to piece together. "You want to make her jealous."

He smiled widely. "Guilty."

"Well okay," I said, feeling better about the situation realizing that I could give something back to Matthew and make the deal a little more isotonic. "Then for you, I'll play it up a little bit."

He extended a hand to me. "Deal," he said.

I stood up, already late for dance. "Well, I have to go."

"Me too," he said, looking at his watch and starting out the door with me.

"I'll see you at lunch," I said, before raising an eyebrow to add, "best kisser ever."

 _______

Jessica - Tuesday, 8:10am.

 "Is there a reason we're late, Jessica?" Rihannon said, sounding bored, not even bothering to look at me as I pushed open the door and walked in.

For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to be bothered by her anymore. It had something to do with the fact that now I knew that she knew that I had what she couldn't, and it drove her crazy.

"Nope," I put simply, matching her tone. "No reason at all."

"Punctuality is a virtue," she said, and now it seemed like a contest over who could appear more snarky and apathetic, at the same time.

"Nobody said I was virtuous," I said.

Now, she finally looked at me. "That's for sure," she said.

I sat down next to Allie to stretch. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "Are you trying to get yourself beat up?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I don't care anymore," I said.

"Why are you so late?"

"I was talking to Matthew," I gave as an alibi. It was the first true answer I'd given to any of Allie's questions in a very long time.

"Oh," she said, and got a weird look on her face.

"About last night," I elaborated. "And, you know, just about how it's never going to happen again."

"Was that not obvious last night?" Allie asked for clarification.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, he's a really good kisser."

That made Allie laugh. "Stop it, Jess. You're so mean."

"I'm being serious!"

"Really, stop."

"Allie, I mean it," I pressed. "Matthew is a really good kisser. Like, the best kisser I've ever been with."

The smile was gone from her face now, and it was a look of utter shock and bewilderment.

It was so easy that I had to add, "And I've been with Shay."

Her face fell. "That's not funny."

I shrugged. "I wasn't kidding."

She changed the subject. "There's no way Matthew's a good kisser," she said. "I mean, he's Matthew."

"I don't know, Al," I sang. "I think you'd be surprised."

As the conversation ended, I knew I had her thinking all about it.

Mission complete.