Living Violet by Jaime Reed

there and seen Mia hugging Garrett Davenport. Though Mia insisted that the hug was friendly, and expressed no romantic interest in the strapping linebacker, that hadn’t stopped Dougie from going completely bat shit. The odds would have been in Dougie’s favor were it not for half the football team voicing their concern for their injured comrade. For some reason, Mia found jealous rage and a head contusion sexy, and she and Dougie were back together.
    â€œLeave my man alone. He was just defending my virtue.” Mia propped her hands on her hips.
    â€œYou might need to upgrade your security,” I shot back. “So are you coming with me, or not?”
    â€œYeah. I gotta stop by the house first and grab my season pass. I’ll meet up with you later.”
    â€œWhere?” I asked.
    â€œIn front of the Hall of Feasts. If I leave now, I should get there at two. Can you hold out for an hour?”
    â€œI think I’ll be fine. I just need some backup, just in case. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to do anything in public. Plus, Mom taught me how to jump out of a moving car.”
    â€œTuck and roll.” Mia smiled.
    â€œThat’s what’s up.” I nodded and walked with her to the door.
    Â 
    Cruising into the Buncha Books parking lot, I found Caleb standing by his Jeep, eating an éclair.
    I pulled into a vacant spot three lanes down then climbed out. Taking my time, I gave him a detailed perusal. He looked pretty good in civilian gear: a plain white shirt, tan cargo shorts, and sneakers. The heat was a likely motive for his much-needed man-scaping. He almost looked like a kid without that Unabomber facial hair, which provided an unobstructed view to his angular jaw and full, bow-shaped mouth.
    Once he spotted me, he pulled the dark shades to the top of his head. His eyes locked on mine for a moment before examining his watch. “Twelve-eighteen.”
    â€œYou didn’t expect me to come right on the dot, did you?”
    Caleb smiled and looked to his feet. “Would you be mad if I said yes?”
    I nodded.
    â€œThen yes. I don’t know, I’m just—”
    â€œUsed to women dropping everything and running to lick your boots,” I interrupted.
    â€œNo. Not my boots.” He sucked the icing off his fingers.
    Tossing him a murderous glare, I asked, “Are you gonna tell me about the girl?”
    â€œYou’re quite curious about her. Are you sure you two don’t have a thing?”
    â€œNo, I just don’t like suspense. Spill it, Cake Boy.”
    He leaned against the back of his Jeep, engaged in a quiet moment of reflection. I didn’t know what was worse: watching him inhale his high-calorie stimulant or that he hadn’t offered me any.
    Taking his sweet time, he said, “I kissed her.”
    I waited for the punch line.
    â€œThat’s it.” He tossed the wrapper in the backseat.
    â€œThat’s it? I waited a whole day for that?”
    With a sly curl to his lips, he placed the shades back over his eyes. “Didn’t know I had you on pins and needles like that. Besides, you wouldn’t have joined me otherwise.”
    I threw my hands in the air. “You’re such—”
    â€œA great kisser?”
    â€œA freak!” I yelled.
    Dangling keys in his hand, Caleb circled his Jeep to open the passenger door for me. “Yet, you’re still here. Come on, I wanna get on Poseidon’s Wave first. I heard it was cool.”
    There had to be more to it than that. Infuriating as he was, I wasn’t immune to his excitement, like a little kid at recess. The boy was plain goofy—probably not a physical threat. I was more concerned with internal injury, the kind that could penetrate through Kevlar and hurt worse than any bullet. In light of all this, he made the thrill of escape contagious, and I wanted the adventure.
    After climbing in, I waited for him to start the ignition