Forbidden Desire

I was about to give him the usual brush off until I saw Tyler making a beeline for our table. “So, beautiful, what are you doing this weekend?”

“Why?”

“I’m having a party at my place; the parents are going out of town, so it’s going to be lit.” He twirled his eyebrows and gave me that cheesy grin of his that I can’t believe anyone falls for.

Usually, I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near him or his other questionable friends, but a little imp jumped up on my shoulder just then at about the same time Tyler reached the table. “Sounds like fun I’ll be there.” I gave Steve a thousand-watt smile and watched his eyes bug out of his head.

Tyler overheard me, I’m sure, because he looked fit to kill, but before he could say anything, I made my excuses just as the bell rang. The smile left my face as soon as I crossed the door. I hate playing these games, but I was a walking ball of hurt.

After crying my heart out the night before, I’d woken up this morning with a chip the size of Manhattan on my shoulder. I was even more upset in the light of day at the things that Sherry had said to me and decided that two could play at that game.

I’m not sure if she was telling the truth or if any of it was real or just wishful thinking on her part, but it no longer mattered. Tyler had made it clear that he wasn’t interested in being anything more than my stepbrother so, there was nothing stopping me from moving on at least outwardly.

I’d felt bad two seconds after I called Paul to pick me up, knowing that I was using him. Turns out, he’s not half the douche he pretends to be. I hadn’t been in his car five minutes before he was asking me what Tyler had done to piss me off, he’d seen right through me.

That only made it easier for me to carry on though, because I don’t think I could’ve gone through with the idea I’d come up with in my fit of anger to use him to make Tyler jealous. Turns out Paul, the slut believes in true love. He’d told me about his girlfriend Rea, who’d died over breakfast and I felt even more disgusted with myself, and what I’d planned to do.

He’s a good sport though, and even though I’d done my best to hide the truth from him, he’d seen right through me. I didn’t come right out and tell him about my true feelings, but he seemed to know without having to be told, though he told me that I should tell Tyler how I felt before offering to help me bring Ty around.

So, in the end, it was his idea to make Tyler jealous. That was before Ty looked like he wanted to kill him. Steve is a whole other story, though. He has no idea what’s going on, and I told myself as I made my way to my next class that I’d have to be careful. I’m not the sort who knows how to string a guy along; it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially now that the heat of my anger had cooled.

I did feel good about the fact that Tyler hadn’t even hung around long enough to talk to Sherry, so there was that, and that kiss. He can say what he wants, but I know what I felt when he kissed me the night before.

Now, if Paul is right, I just have to push him until he comes to his senses and realize his feelings for me. I’m banking on that kiss and the fact that as his friend Paul knows him. I shook my head as I sat behind my desk while the room filled up with the others as they trickled in one by one.

I’m so bad at this that the guy I’d started out trying to use ended up offering to help me. No wonder Tyler can brush me off so easily, I have no skills when it comes to luring the opposite sex. But I know what my next move is going to be. I smiled as my diabolical plans took shape in my head. Tyler’s not going to know what hit him.

Tyler

I’m going to wring her fucking neck. I stood across the room in the darkest corner, feeling like shit. Her laugh rang out again, and I wanted to punch a hole in the wall. For the past two days, she’s been avoiding me, something I found enterprising on her part since we live together, but somehow she’s been able to pull it off.

I got Paul to refuse to drive her to and from school, and she talked one of her girls into doing it, but then her focus had switched to Steve at school while she made a point of ignoring me.