Kiss List (Book I of the List Series)

Chapter 33 - Jamal and Gabriel

"Are you kidding me right now?" Payton said. "That's the deal you made? You get to kiss him or he gets to make something up? I mean, come on. Were you thinking at all? You're in big trouble, girl."

"You think I don't know that?" I said. "It doesn't matter anyway. There's no way I can go. I'm not even old enough."

"Oh, you're going," Payton said. "Jamal is swimming around the bait, checking it out. Now is not the time to reel it in. He's about to bite. We don't have time to make you a fake ID but my older sister is in college here in town. I can send her your picture and have her find a friend who looks like you so we can borrow her fake. It'll be fine."

"You do realize I'm the bait in your metaphor, right?" I said. "I don't like the sound of that. And there is no way I am going to try to get into a bar with a fake ID made for another girl. That's all kinds of stupid."

Alyssa snapped her fingers as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. I sighed in relief. Surely Alyssa would stop this nonsense. "I just had an idea," she said. "Payton, you have no problem with asking other guys out, right? It's just Jamal that you're nervous around."

Payton nodded.

"Okay, then I think we should try to kill two birds with one stone," Alyssa said. "Payton, why don't you ask Gabriel out? You two go with Sadie to Double Shot tomorrow night. You can help Sadie win her bet so she can kiss Jamal. Then she can fix you up with Jamal and you can fix her up with Gabriel. You'll have Jamal and Sadie will immediately be able to move on to Gabriel."

"Done," Payton said.

"No, that's a terrible idea," I said. "You expect me to sneak into a bar, get one boy to kiss me, dump him and then hook up with another boy all in the same night? That's insane."

Payton shrugged. "Sounds pretty reasonable to me," she said. "Let's do it. I'll go give my sister a call."

Payton refused to take "no" for an answer and said she would pick me up at my house at 8:30. Resigned to my fate, I went home after school to have dinner and get changed. For some reason my dad was unusually inquisitive at dinner.

"So, where are you going tonight?" he asked.

"Just over to Payton's," I said. I had discovered that, when lying, it was best to keep things as simple as possible.

"What are you doing there?" he asked.

"Uh, just studying," I said.

"What time are you going to be home?" he asked.

"Dad, what's up?" I said. "I'm just going to do some homework at Payton's like usual. Why all the questions?" Could he possibly have figured out what I was up to?

Dad stuffed his mouth full of mashed potatoes. He seemed to think that over for a moment and then swallowed and said. "No reason. I just feel like we haven't spoken in a while. Can we talk when you get back?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. "Whatever."

I finished dinner as fast as possible, leaving before Caroline and dad had finished. I tried on numerous outfits before I heard a car screech into my driveway. My phone immediately started buzzing with a text from Payton telling me that she had arrived.

Less than 30 minutes later I found myself standing in front of Double Shot in my best pair of jeans, an expensive black jacket, and long wool scarf. Payton had advised me to dress as nicely as I could while still looking casual. She had also told me to show off my "assets." I had cringed when she said that but picked a black top with a moderately low neckline. I wasn't going to show off as much skin as Payton wanted but it couldn't hurt to show a little. I figured that black was the most formal color and my tan from spending the summer and fall playing soccer outside had not faded yet so at least I didn't look pasty white.