Page 26 of Fast Lane

Twenty-Three

Kosi

When I get home Baylor is already sound asleep, but I barge into her room. When her door hits the wall behind it she jumps up from where she was in her bed. Her hair in every direction. “What?” she hollers. Her hands formed into fists, ready to fight. Her sequined dress barely hanging on.

“I kissed Roscoe,” I announce, rather dramatically I might add. After admitting that, I rush into the kitchen and rummage through the freezer until I find the caramel ripple frozen yogurt I love so much. The light comes to life above me and Baylor is standing there, looking a little rough but wide awake.

“What the hell did you just say?” she asks as she steps in front of me and starts to look for her ice cream.

I grab us both a spoon and I hop up onto the counter then hand her a spoon while she hops up onto the island, facing me. “I kissed Roscoe. Or well, he kissed me.”

“Which is it?” she asks.

My mind is jumbled and at the moment it’s racing. I’m not sure how everything went down now. “Does it really matter?”

Baylor gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Yes! Yes, it matters… a lot! If he kissed you then that’s a whole new ball game.”

“Are we playing ball?”

“Ugh!” Baylor drops her head back in dramatic fashion. “How can you be so smart and so clueless at the same time?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I’ve only ever been with Colby. He asked me out freshman year of high school. He kissed me after the movies and we were together from then on. It wasn’t complicated. I knew he liked me.” My voice trails off because he did like me. He loved me but I made him not love me and that hurts on a level I never expected. We were supposed to be each other’s forever but now he’s got a new forever.

“Sorry,” Baylor says. “I didn’t mean to bring up that lame ass.”

“He wasn’t lame,” I tell her, shaking my head.

For a moment we’re silent. “He is lame but we are talking about Roscoe, not Colby. So, did he kiss you?” My mind replays the event and yes it was an event. An event of monumental proportions. I must be taking too long because Baylor groans. “What is taking so long?”

“I wasn’t expecting it. I was tired and probably gross from work.” Baylor starts to say something when I whine out, “Barbecue.”

She raises her eyebrows. “What?”

I sit my yogurt aside and place my face into my hands but they're cold so I jerk away quickly and slam my head into the cabinet behind me. “Ow!” Baylor is off the kitchen island and to me in five seconds. She pulls me off the counter.

“Off to the couch we go,” she says. Our frozen treats are long forgotten. Once we’re seated she turns to me. “What about barbecue?”

“I probably smelled like it,” I tell her as I bury my face into one of the throw pillows.

“Kosi,” Baylor says soothingly.

I don’t know when I became such a girl but I kind of hate it. “He kissed me and I smelled like barbecue.”

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t care about that.”

Sighing, I lay back on the couch. My eyes close, feeling heavy with sleep. “Maybe, he was drunk,” I mumble.

Baylor laughs lightly. “I doubt that.”

I don’t remember falling asleep but the next thing I know I’m waking up to the sun sneaking in through the vertical blinds in the living room. Baylor must have covered me with the throw blanket she leaves lying across the back of the couch because it’s draped over me now. My body aches from falling asleep and staying in such an odd position. I scrub my hands over my face, but as I do there is a familiar scent that isn’t mine lingering on my skin. Last night comes flooding back to me. Roscoe and I kissing. Heat fills my cheeks. That had to be some kind of hallucination, right? I mean Roscoe and I didn’t kiss.

Even as I tell myself that I know it’s a lie. We totally kissed which is awkward since we now have to work with one another while I do the facelift at Free Fall. I told him I’d be there today. However, that was pre-kiss and now we’re post-kiss and I’m not sure what the rules of this should be. I catch the time on the clock and realize I really need to get to Free Fall and start on this project.

After showering and shaving every last part of my body, I dash to my room and spend way too long applying lotion, makeup, doing my hair and picking out my outfit. By the time I’m finished and I open my bedroom door, Baylor is sitting on the couch expectantly. She looks me over and frowns. “That’s got to be some kind of record for you.” My brows knit together in confusion. “Taking that long to get ready. You never take that long.”

“I needed a super long shower after last night,” I tell her. It’s the excuse I’ve decided to go with but really it’s just a lie.

“Where are you headed to looking so fancy?” she asks. Baylor is like a lie detector. Even the best liar couldn’t make it through her. I sigh and sag against the door frame. Baylor stands and makes her way over to me. “Are you going to Free Fall?” I nod my head. “You can’t go looking like that.”

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