Which sucked. My mom might be one of those girls who always thought she needed a man, but I knew she loved me. I wasn’t sure Jaden could say the same thing when it came to his asshole parents.

Now, all I had to do was secure the time off, which I realized wasn’t going to be so easy since I was not only new, but Aspen was taking the time off, too. “I’ll make it up, DJ. Anytime you need me. Its Pris’s birthday and we’ve had this planned for months. I can’t believe I spaced telling you about it when you hired me.”

DJ sighed and my stomach sank a little bit. I was really looking forward to spending the weekend out town with my friends. I figured it would be the best way for me to get back to normal… to hang out like we always did and then the weirdness would be gone. Oh and let’s not forget beaches and bikinis, what guy wouldn’t look forward to that?

“When is this happening again?”

“Next weekend. I can pick up extra shifts this week if you want me to. I’ll be your go-to guy for the rest of the summer.”

DJ kicked his feet up on his desk. “You have a knack for getting what you want, don’t you?”

“Yep. I can show you how. Girls, favors, days off of work from cool ass bosses.”

DJ laughed. “I’m married so no girls, and believe me, I’m not that cool.”

I almost asked him why he tied himself down so young. He couldn’t be any older than his mid- twenties, but I figured that wasn’t the best way to get what I wanted. “Please?”

“Fine. Fill out the form and you’re good to go.”

Hell yeah. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it. You need any other shifts covered and I’m your guy.”

“I’m holding you to that!” he called to me as I left the office.

The rest of my shift flew by. Mattie kept his mouth shut so I hadn’t spent my whole shift annoyed. How could I be annoyed anyway since I would be getting a beach house for the weekend?

“Later guys!” I called out as I left.

On the way out, Matt stopped me. “Hey, there’s a party tomorrow night.”

“Where?” I asked even though I was pretty sure I wasn’t going. I liked to party, but didn’t know about being all buddy-buddy with this guy.

“This girl I met at the mall. She said it’s going to be a big one. Figured I’d let you know. She’s pretty hot and hot girls usually travel in packs.”

I started to laugh, but then I remembered the guy annoyed me, so I didn’t. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll talk to my friends and see what’s up.” About that time Aspen, Pris and Jaden pulled in the parking lot to pick me up. Instead of Pris or Aspen’s car, they were in the beatermobile. Weird.

Jaden rolled down the window. There was something sticking out of his lip.

“Dude! I told you I wanted to go with you. I want to get my lip done, too.” Jerk. I couldn’t believe he went without me. We’d done our eyebrows together and our lips were supposed to be next.

He smirked. “You couldn’t handle it, Cinderella. Get in the car before your ride turns into a pumpkin.”

“Catch ya later,” I said to Matt as I walked off. Unfortunately he was following me. Well, not me, I guess, because he was walking to the back door where Aspen sat with her window open.

“You’re still going tomorrow night, right?” he asked her. My footsteps stilled. Looked like me and Mattie here needed to have a talk. Wasn’t he just talking about girls at the party and now he’d invited Aspen, too? That so wasn’t going to fly.

“Yep,” she replied to him, running a hand through her honeyed hair. My hand started to twitch. When she leaned toward the front and started talking to Pris, I let the air out of my lungs. She was hardly giving him the time of day, like she didn’t really care that he was there, which was cool. It would be a lot easier to break it to her that I thought the guy was a chump.

I slipped around him and leaned toward the window. “Hey, Woodstock.” I picked a piece of paper out of her hair and man, I wanted to do it again. It was just as soft as it looked. The urge hit me to turn around and tell him, “See, I can touch her whenever I want to,” but then I realized that was a little bit creepy. Like I wanted her or something and really, I just wanted to keep her away from guys like him and… well, me.

“Um, hey, Bastian.”

I opened the door. Aspen scooted over and I slid in beside her. “Count me and Jaden in tomorrow night too, could you, Mattie?” As if Jaden could read my mind, he laughed, then peeled out of the parking lot.

***

PA,

Time to step up your game. It’s time for Operation Flirt. Now, I know I don’t know you, but just from your emails, you don’t seem like a real flirty type. Unlike what some girls think, flirting is an art form. It’s not something everyone can do. I think you can handle it though and it goes a long way when it comes to getting the guy.

There’s a fine line between being flirty and looking easy. You don’t want to look easy because, despite what we try and make girls think, we really don’t want an easy girl, just like I’m sure girls don’t want an easy guy. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hook-up Doctor

***

Hook-up Doctor,

Okay, I feel like an idiot that I’m asking your advice on how to flirt, but I since I already look desperate enough by doing this, I figured what the heck. Helps that you don’t know who I am, too, but we’ll just pretend it’s because I really don’t care what people think. LOL.

This is the thing, I’ve flirted a bit. I mean, what girl hasn’t, but it’s hard to know what guys really want. It’s not like we can ask and since I’m paying you, I guess I should fully take advantage of the situation, right?

There are those girls who walk around half-naked, plastering themselves to guys and for some strange reason, guys seem to go for that. Isn’t that an easy girl? You said guys don’t want easy, then what do they want? I have to be honest with you, the whole half naked thing is not me and though I really want this guy, I’m not comfortable turning into someone I’m not for him. Is that what you’re asking for? Be honest, is that really what guys want in a girl? I have a party coming up and I’m thinking it will be a good opportunity to put my flirting into action.

Thanks,

PA

***

PA,

While the half-naked thing is good on the eyes, it’s really not what we want (shh, don’t tell though). We want confident, but not bitchy. You want to be sexy and fun, but still in control, know what I mean? You don’t have to try and control us, but if we’re turned on, it will happen regardless. Control is everything. It not only makes you more desirable (strong women are hot), but it’s also better for you. You know, safety and all, especially if there’s a party. Don’t give up that control, PA. You can do this. Let me know how it goes.

Hook-up Doctor

***

Jaden stood in front of the mirror in my room, ruffling his hair so it looked extra messy. He cracked me up. Sometimes he was worse than a girl with his primping. “How ya doin’ over there, Goldilocks? Do you need me to give you a perm before we go? Oh, and I think your roots are showing. Might be time to pull out the peroxide again.”

He looked at me in the reflection. “It takes time to look this hot. Maybe I should give you some lessons.”

“I don’t need to try. I’m always hot.”

Jaden shook his head at me. Ha. No comeback for that one.

“So, what’s up with this party tonight?” he asked.

I pulled on my black button up shirt, leaving it open so you could see my Beastie Boys t-shirt under it. I didn’t care how old school they were. People either gave me shit about them or looked at me confused because they didn’t know who they were. Not my fault they didn’t know good music. Plus, it was my lucky shirt. Tonight, I needed some luck.

After buckling my belt so that my shorts didn’t fall off, but still sat low like I liked them, I walked to the other mirror to put in the new barbell my mom got me for my eyebrow. “Who knows? Figured it would be better than chillin’ at home. According to Mattie, there’s supposed to be no shortage of hot girls there.”

Once he had his hair effectively messed up, Jaden sat in my computer chair and pulled on his shoes. “Nice. Hopefully, there will be some fresh meat.”

Which was exactly what I needed. My head had been all screwed up lately. I wasn’t sure what was going on. “That’s what he said. Idiot.”

Jaden laughed. “You don’t like him?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t trust him. He was asking about the girls.” Only a slight lie. He’d asked about one of the girls, but Jaden didn’t need to know that. He’d only take it to mean the wrong thing and I didn’t feel like getting into it tonight.

Jaden played with his new piercing before he said, “Speaking of, Pris has been acting weird lately. I’m wondering if all her parents’ money is making her crazy. It’s like she’s had split personalities or something. One minute she’s fine and then she seems extra pissed at me for some reason.”

Feeling my pockets, I made sure I had my cell and wallet and then headed out the door. Jaden was right behind me. “She’s a girl. They’re always weird. And no offense, bro, but she’s always a little pissy with you.”

“True. What’s up with that?”

I shrugged because really, I had no clue. All I wanted to focus on tonight was having a good time. I felt pumped, my pulse break dancing beneath the surface of my skin. I needed a night out to get my head straight. It was strange—the way I felt so off my game lately. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I planned on rectifying it tonight. “You sure we shouldn’t take the beatermobile? You know, just in case. That way we don’t have to depend on the girls?” I asked Jaden, halfway hoping he’d say yes while the other half wanted him to say no.

His eyes diverted away from mine. “It’s not really runnin’ too well. Might be smarter just to ride with them.”

I didn’t know why Jaden was embarrassed about his car. I gave him crap about it, but he was right, at least he had one. “K. We’ll look at it on my next day off. See if we can figure out what’s up.” I would too. Even though I didn’t do the whole car-work thing, I would help Jaden if push came to shove. I tried to pull the door open, but he stopped me.

“Yeah, right. We all know you don’t like to get dirty.” He laughed, but then turned serious. “Can I stay here tonight though? My dad’s being a prick.”

I had a feeling there was a lot more going on at Jaden’s than he let on, but I didn’t dare ask him. It was some kind of guy code or something. He knew I was there for him and if he wanted to talk to me, he would, just like if I ever felt like spilling my guts about my mom, I knew Jaden would listen. It wasn’t something we did and I knew it would only embarrass him if I brought it up. “Yeah. Anytime. Stay as long as you want. I was going to ask, but I forgot.” It would make him feel better if he thought it was my idea. I threw my arm over his shoulder. “Come on, man. We’re going to make sure this night is epic.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Then we were out the door to Aspen’s house. No matter what it took, I was going to make sure this was a night we didn’t forget.

Chapter Seven

The living room was crowded with bodies almost as tightly as the sea of people at the Green Day concert I went to the year before. I pushed my way through the crowd, Aspen holding on to my shirt from behind, Pris holding her and Jaden bringing up the rear. My stomach was a little uneasy for some reason, so I wanted to find a quiet place for our little pow-wow. The kitchen was much less crowded than the living room, but still not quite what I was looking for, so I slipped out the back door and waited for them to join me.