at my place.” Emily walks in.
“What’s up, Bailey?” Xavier asks, nodding.
I roll my eyes because I hate Xavier. The fact he calls me by my last name as if it’s an insult annoys me.
“Colton’s already downstairs,” I tell them.
“Xavier, go on down,” Emily says. “I have to talk to Juno for a second.”
Xavier walks down the hallway to my basement stairs, and Emily tugs me by my sweatshirt sleeve into the kitchen.
“What?” I say, pulling my arm back.
“Xavier kissed me,” she says. “We were on my back porch, chilling and listening to music, and then he just kissed me.”
My mouth drops open. “Tongue?”
“A little.”
“A little?” My body shivers because I would never want Xavier’s tongue in my mouth.
“The tip.” I stare at her and she laughs. “It sounds worse than it is.” She twirls her blonde hair around her finger.
“What did you do?”
She laughs. “I kissed him back.”
“But how?”
A lot of kids at school are kissing. Or at least they’re saying they’re kissing. There’re all kinds of games people are playing, like Spin the Bottle and Seven Minutes in Heaven. This is a monumental moment for Emily—her first kiss is all she’s been talking about—but the fact that it’s with Xavier—whose name is always mentioned in the kissing stories—makes me think it might not be as special to him as it is to Emily. Then again, I’m not sure she cared who she kissed as long as she can say she did.
She jumps off the counter and grabs an empty olive oil bottle from the counter that’s there to be recycled. “And now it’s your turn. We’re playing Spin the Bottle.”
“I’m not kissing Xavier.” I snatch the bottle and put it back where she found it.
“Of course you’re not. You’re kissing Colton.”
My eyes widen. “Ew. I think that kiss starved your brain of oxygen.”
“Come on.” She hits me with her shoulder and grabs the bottle back.
I reach for it, but she holds it up higher than I can reach. “I’m not kissing Colton.”
“Why?” She juts out her hip.
“Because he’s my best friend.”
Her eyes narrow. “I thought I was your best friend.”
“You’re both my best friends. Now give me the bottle.”
“Okay, but I am your best friend. Everyone knows once you reach a certain age, guys and girls can’t just be friends.” She raises the bottle in the air. Damn me being height-challenged. “At least you can trust Colton not to make fun of you if you kiss bad.”
“Who says I’ll be bad?” She doesn’t know. I’ve practiced on my hand before, and with so many older siblings, I’ve seen way more R-rated movies than her.
“No one, but remember Olivia Reeder last year? How that jerk, Ian, told everyone she was like kissing a bottle and had no idea what she was doing?”
I fall back down to my heels. She’s right. Olivia missed a week of school until her parents forced her to go back. Ian and his friends still pick on her when they finish their Snapple bottles, sticking their tongues inside and pretending to make out with them.
“Colton’s the safe bet,” Emily says.
“What if it changes things?”
She tugs the arm of my sweatshirt. “It’s Colton. Please. A kiss can be just a kiss. You overthink everything.”
She practically pulls me down the stairs, and when we reach the bottom, Colton looks up as he positions his shot on the table. Xavier eyes the bottle in Emily’s hand.
“Guess what we’re going to play now?” She holds up the bottle.
Xavier ditches his pool cue on the table. Colton stands up straight and looks at me.
“Spin the Bottle.” Xavier meets Emily, who’s already sitting on the floor in front of the couches.
“Why?” Colton asks.
“What kind of guy are you? Get your butt over here.” Emily pats the spot next to her.
But Colton continues to look at me, questions filling his eyes. He’s not like Xavier and the other boys. He’s never been rumored to have kissed anyone, but then again, he’s usually with me on the weekends.
I shrug and sit down. This is the best thing for both of us, even if he doesn’t know it yet. How great would it be if both of our first kisses are with each other? If one of us messes up, we’d never tell anyone else.
“We need music.” Xavier stands and fiddles with our stereo until the Black Eyed Peas play, which means Brooklyn was listening to it last. He sits back down between Emily and me.
Colton fiddles with the shoelaces of his Converse, looking at