The Trouble with Kissing Connor

Chapter 6 (Connor)

"You kissed someone in the dark and you have no idea who it is?" Brett looked at me for a quiet moment and then shook his head.

"Yup."

"When the lights when out?" he asked.

"Yup!"

"Damn, why doesn't that kind of shit ever happen to me?"

"Cos you're a douche." I offered teasingly, even though Brett was the furthest thing from one.

"Nah. It's not that, I just don't have your pretty boy looks." Brett's always mocked me about the way I looked. Last week he suggested that I learn to sing and dance and start a boyband.

"What can I say, I won the genetic lottery," I joked.

"And so humble too!" He mock-punched me on the arm, and recoiled like he hurt his knuckles. Brett is smartest, but probably most unsporty guy you'll ever meet, he's constantly making up excuses to get out of gym, he even faked a limp and walked on crutches for a whole semester once. He's also getting a bit round around the middle which is something he keeps pointing out, as if it were a joke. Only, I'm not sure it's not. As my psychologists parents said, "he's deflecting with humour." But all standards he's the kind of guy that someone like me should never be friends with under normal school circumstances. But I am. Sadie was the one who introduced us, mainly because we live so close to each other. My supposed other friend group don't understand how I can hang out with them, not that I care. 

But sometimes I do feel like I straddle two very different worlds and I'm not entirely sure where I actually belong. Sadie hates it when I hang out with my 'other friends, she always throws some dramatic air quotes around when she says that. She says I turn into a total douche bag- her words, not mine. My focused was suddenly pulled away when I heard Chase and Tyler approaching. Out the corner of my eye I saw Brett shoot me a displeased look.

"That's my cue to leave." He turned and started walking off. I don't blame him. He and them are like oil and water.

"Dude. Where did you go? You left the party just as it was just getting good," Chase said.

"I kissed like everyone and then pushed Emmy into the pool and when she climbed out...wet t-shirt contest!" Chase said and then proceeded to high-five Tyler.

"You could see everything," Tyler said nodding.

"Massive tits," Chase added quickly.

I nodded at them, but truthfully, hated it when they talked like that. Not that I ever said anything about it, perhaps that makes me a coward. If Sadie had heard them talking like this she would have told them where the hell to get off, and then crapped on me for allowing it to happen. She would definitely give me a lecture about how disgusting they were and had no respect for women- and she'd be right. Sometimes I wished I could be as outspoken as her.

"You coming?" Tyler asked.

I shook my head. "Gonna wait for Sadie."

"Wait for McKenzie more like it," Tyler said with a fat smile across his face. "I can't believe you haven't hooked up with her yet."

They threw a few more 'dude punches' my way before they walked off. Sadie was right, total douche bags. In fact, I was seriously starting to wonder why I was even friends with them.

I put my bag on the ground and sat down on the top step waiting for Sadie to arrive. She would probably be traumatized when she arrived, it was McKenzie's turn to drive. I used to carpool to school with them, but since McKenzie started driving, I don't feel like putting my life in danger every morning. My suspicions were immediately confirmed when their car skidded into the only available parking space, knocking over a bicycle in the process.

Sadie climbed out of the backseat, her eyes were wider than usual and her lips looked white, as if all the colour had been drained out of her. She doesn't pretend about anything , I like that about her. She doesn't say 'nothing's wrong' when secretly she's mad at you. She doesn't say 'she's fine' when she actually wants to slap you. Sadie's a true friend, like one of the guys, that's what I like most about her.

Mckenzie waved at me from the car. "Hey, Connor." She flashed me a massive, glossy smile and flipped her hair. She and Sadie are meant to be identical twins, but they looked nothing alike. Especially since the day I'd helped Sadie cut all her hair off. Her mother had caught us and freaked out. It was so funny. She'd run around picking up the bits of hair and then suggested trying to have them made into a wig. But shorter hair suits her better, and the top goes spikey when it's wet and she runs her hands through it.

Sadie walked up to me and rolled her eyes, there was no need to talk. We communicate telepathically sometimes. I rolled mine back in acknowledgement of her pain and suffering at Mckenzies hands and we walked of together.

"So you ready?" I asked, barely able to contain my excitement.

"For what?"

"To figure out who's chewing that gum?"

She stopped walking and looked at me. "You're being serious about this. You actually want me to go snooping around until I figure out who chews that brand of gum. Seriously? Not a joke. For real?"

"Yeah."

She sighed, and it seemed a little more loaded than her usual cynical sigh.

"Dude. Please, I need you. I would look like a freak if I started staring at all the girls mouths, waiting for one to pull out some gum."

"So you want me to stare at their mouth? Like a spy?" she asked.

"Totally. A spy!"

"Looking for gum?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know how lame that sounds?"

I shrugged. What else could I do? It was the only clue I had to go on.

"Why don't you just send a memo out. A mass email, or text message to everyone, stick an announcement on the board asking the girl who kissed you to come forward."

I shook my head. I'd already thought about that. "No. If she wanted me to know who she was right away, she wouldn't have left. I think she wants me to find her. It could be a test."

"A test?" she asked.

"Yeah. Maybe she left the gum on purpose."

"What kind of strange person leaves their gum in someone else's mouth on purpose?"

"Hey! Stop calling my girlfriend strange." I joked, but immediately stopped when that same strange new look washed over her face. I'd seen this look a couple of times recently, and for the first time in my life, I actually couldn't read it. For the first time in our friendship, I couldn't tell what she was thinking.