Boy Swap by Kristina Springer

a sandwich in hand.
    “Not today, Mrs. Thomas. But thanks,” Chris says. My mom totally eats it up. She thinks Chris is so perfect . “Ready?” he says to me.
    I nod and we walk out to his car. “So what do you want to do tonight?”
    “How about we go hang out at my house?” he asks.
    Which can only mean one thing—his parents aren’t home.
    “Oh,” I say, stalling, trying to come up with a better plan. “Um…are you sure you don’t want that sandwich? I can still run in and get it. I think my mom just bought lunch meat today.” That was totally lame. But I didn’t have time to think of something better.
    Chris looks at me curiously. “No sandwiches. I promise I’ll buy you one later if you really want one,” he teases. “Come on, let’s go.”
    Shoot. It’s not that I don’t value the alone time with Chris, because I really do. I’m just not in the mood for another “Why can’t we have sex?” fight.
    We get to Chris’s house and he leads me straight to the couch in his basement. The basement is a sort of one-room apartment for Chris. His bed is in here, a desk, a dresser, a ping-pong table, a couch, a TV, a book shelf, and a mini-fridge. He flips on the TV and grabs a DVD off the shelf. He doesn’t even look at the cover but I can see he’s holding You’ve Got Mail —one of my favorites. He pops it in and heads back to the couch.
    The movie starts and I say, “Oooh, I love You’ve Got Mail ,” hoping to slow him down just a bit.
    “Really?” he says, sounding a bit surprised as he puts an arm around me and leans in to kiss me. We kiss for a moment and then I pull back.
    “What? Don’t you like it? It’s in your collection.”
    “Oh. It’s my mom’s I think. Or my sister’s. I just grabbed the first thing.” He leans back in and starts kissing my neck and unfastening my bra at the same time. Why is it that he can unfasten my bra so much faster than I can? We start making out and I get caught up in it for a while. Chris is an excellent kisser. Soon my heart is beating and the heat is making it hard to breathe in. When I feel the top button of my jeans open, I push him off of me.
    “Chris, wait,” I say.
    “What?” he mumbles and tries to kiss my neck again.
    “I’m serious. Hold on,” I say louder.
    “Jesus, Brooke!” he says. “What the hell is your problem?” His face is flushed and his eyes are way angry.
    I don’t say anything. I can’t believe he just swore at me.
    “You know what the problem is,” I finally say in a low voice, trying to put my bra back on.
    “I don’t get your deal,” he says, obviously pissed.
    And I’m starting to get pissed too. “Well, I don’t get your deal.”
    “Why are you being so cold lately?” he says in an accusatory voice.
    “Me? I’m not being cold. I told you over and over that I’m not ready to have sex with you yet. Why do you keep pushing so hard?”
    “What’s the big freaking deal? I mean seriously. I thought you loved me.”
    “I’m sorry, when did this turn from a date to a Lifetime movie? Next are you going to say, ‘If I loved you I’d have sex with you?’”
    “Yeah. Real funny, Brooke.” He stands and stomps up the stairs.
    What was that? Is he leaving me down here? Where did he go? A moment later I hear the shower turn on upstairs. Okay, that was totally rude. The more Chris acts like this crazed sexaholic, the less I want to have sex with him. I’m really, really mad right now. And hurt. He never used to act like this before. Sure, he would occasionally try to get me to have sex but he was always understanding when I said not yet. He only turned into a jerk…when? Hmm. Since about the time I joined Boy Swap.
    Since Cassie.
    Could Chris actually be hooking up with Cassie behind my back? Or be on the verge of it?
    I glance up the stairs and still hear the shower running. Chris should be up there for a few more minutes. I slowly walk by his computer screen, hoping he left his e-mail open so I could