Taking The Reins - Book 1 of The Rosewoods (teen romance)

Success

We managed to collect fifteen pairs of underwear (Emmie took two from Phillip, “just because he was such a douche to Kaylee”) and get back down to the first floor completely undetected. We slipped into the women’s bathroom, the same one Kaylee and I had chatted in the night before, and Emmie texted Dave to come meet us in the hall.

Within moments, there was a soft knock at the door. “Em?”

We left the restroom and I was surprised to see Dave wasn’t alone: Jared was with him. And he was smiling down at me. His long hair was down around his shoulders and he wore a ‘Property of Westwood Athletics’ t-shirt that even had the size on the front: XXL. It was tight across his chest, but totally in a good way. He wore jeans, too; his outfit a stark contrast to the suit he’d been wearing the night before.

Thinking about what we’d just done, I looked away, terrified we’d be found out just by my guilty face. And then I suddenly wondered where my underwear was. I hadn’t thought to look for it in his room, but it obviously wasn’t out in the open. Maybe they were in one of his pockets…

Dave leaned down and wrapped his arms around Emmie, gathering her into a full frontal hug, “Hey,” he said softly before he gave her a kiss. I turned toward Jared to not gawk and give them some privacy.

“So, hi,” I said in as breezy a tone as I could muster, you know, as though I didn’t have his underwear in my backpack.

“What are you girls doing here?” Jared asked casually.

“Emmie’s showing me around since I’m taking over the school liaison thing next week.”

“Why didn’t you let me know,” Dave said from behind me. “I would have given you the grand tour.”

Emmie jumped in, “It was a last minute thing. We came over with the dean and just finished up meeting with her and Dean Peterson. Why don’t we show Brooklyn where the student council office is?”

But as I looked over at my roommate and took in the way she and Dave were looking at each other, I had a feeling maybe they wanted a few minutes alone. Or maybe I wanted to not be around them while they really started making out in the hallway: an event I felt was imminent.

“Hey,” I said to Jared. “Why don’t you show me?”

Jared glanced over at Dave and shrugged. “Sure. Come on.”

“Meet us at the front office in fifteen, Brooklyn,” Emmie said authoritatively, but her eyes said a quick thank you. I hoped she wasn’t going to spill the beans on what we’d just done, but just before I turned away, she gave me the tiniest of head shakes. Don’t let on, it said. I nodded back my understanding.

As I walked down the hall next to him, I thought about Jared and what Emmie had said about him hating his childhood and how he was now writing his memoir. I wondered if it was some sort of therapy for him. I also wondered how bad his childhood really was—there were plenty of horror stories about the lives of child actors out there, though I couldn’t remember hearing much specifically about him. Not that I was going to ask, but still…

“So,” he said. “That dance was sure fun, huh?”

I looked up at him. “Yeah.”

He exhaled and then pushed his fingers through his long hair. “Sorry.”

“What?”

“That was lame. Can we start again?”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I nodded.

“Hi, Brooklyn,” he said, smiling. “It’s nice to see you again. I had a good time dancing with you last night.”

I was about to thank him and tell him I’d enjoyed dancing with him, too, just as polite conversation would dictate, when the new Brooklyn decided to take a different tack.

“It’s nice to see you, too. And I enjoyed dancing with you as well. Right up until I got back to my dorm and realized you’d stolen my underwear.”

“Oh, right. That.” 

I laughed. “That’s all you have to say? Oh, right?”

He gave me a sheepish smile. “It was a good ice-breaker, though.”

“So is, ‘hi, my name is Jared or Abe or whatever, would you like to dance?’”

“True enough; point taken,” he said, laughing.

“You even could have led with that child actor thing; I’m sure that works on girls every time,” I blurted out. And was instantly sorry when his smile dissolved. Nice going, Brooklyn, I berated myself. You know he’s sensitive about his childhood and there you go, throwing it in his face.

“Sorry,” I said, my eyes on the floor as we walked down the quiet hallway. “I didn’t mean to…”

“No, it’s okay. You’re right anyway. It does work.” But his voice had an edge to it and I knew it wasn’t okay.

We stopped in the hallway and I realized we were outside our destination, the Student Council Boardroom. Before we went in, I looked up at him, right into his eyes. “Listen, I’m really sorry. That was stupid. I’d like a do-over. You got one, so I think it’s only fair.”

He clenched his jaw and then nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Make it good.”

“Please. ‘It was nice to see you and I enjoyed dancing with you’ is your definition of good?”

He didn’t say anything but gave me a challenging nod.

“Fine,” I said, looking up at the ceiling as I thought about something that would really ease the tension. Then it came to me and before I could reconsider, I pasted a pouty, doe-eyed look on my face and said. “How’s this: ‘I had a great time with you last night, too, Jared. Except that when I got back to my dorm, I realized my favorite panties were gone. So today, I just couldn’t bring myself to wear any at all.”

His eyes didn’t move from mine, but he swallowed audibly.

I didn’t even care that my face had to be the color of a tomato, nor that it was an outright lie. None of that mattered.

His eyes slowly left mine and moved down my body toward my skirt. He swallowed again.

“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat as he reached for the doorknob. “That works.”

~♥~

We only had about ten minutes, so Jared gave me what he called the ten cent tour before leading me back to the administrative offices at the front of the building. The tour was secondary to spending time with my guide; he really was fun to be with and I absolutely got why he’d been such a star. He was charming and witty and I bet even off-screen he’d been a really funny and precocious kid.

We made no further mention of the underwear, but it was sort of an unspoken thing between us since there was supposed to be some sort of reunion later that night. Of course, he didn’t know the half of it.

Emmie and Dave showed up a few minutes later and then without much more said, the boys left and we went into the office to see if the dean was ready to head back.

“You didn’t say anything, did you?” Emmie asked as we watched them walk away.

“No. I mean, he knows that I know he stole my underwear, obviously. But why we’re here? No.”

“Good. Dave doesn’t have a clue, either. This is going to be awesome.”

I knew she was talking mostly about her plot, but if she was also referring to seeing the boys again later that night, I had to agree.