Covert Kissing

By Laura Pauling

Prom is over, graduation is nearing, and Cassidy decides her summer will be all about Zeke. Even with her new truth telling vow firmly in place, that doesn’t stop the heap of trouble heading her way as Jasper and Michael compete for her affections.

Right when she has dealt with that problem though, others arise. Zeke’s past comes back to haunt him, and Jasper’s cold indifference puts a chill on summer loving. When all of this threatens her blossoming relationship with Zeke, Cassidy picks up the figurative sword once again and fights back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Pauling
• Release date: Nov 24, 2014

Laura Pauling

Laura Pauling writes about savvy spies, murder and mystery. She lives the cover of suburban mom/author perfectly, from the minivan to the home-baked snickerdoodles, while hiding her secret missions and covert operations. But shh. Don't tell anyone.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Plink. Plink. Plink.

Pebbles bounced against my window.

Oh, great. This happened too often. My window is right next to Carter’s, so girls think mine is his, and then they’re horrified when my face appears.

I pulled one of twenty photocopies (for just this occasion) out of my nightstand drawer and made a paper plane out of it—not a very good one this early in the morning. I pulled back the duct tape that covered the large hole in my screen and shot the plane through. This saved the girl the humiliation of talking to me.

Plink. Plink. Plink.

All right. I stayed awake all night, dreaming about future kisses with Zeke, giddy from the one he already gave me, and I probably had circles under my eyes like I was death or something. I couldn’t look like a disaster come Monday.

I shoved my face against the screen. Read the note. It says next window! I flopped back on my bed. I could sleep for a week!

Plink. Plink. Plink.

Cassidy!

My heart went thump thump. Someone was throwing pebbles at my window? Not Carter’s? That took a couple moments to sink in then I gave a little squeal. This was cause for celebration. Zeke couldn’t stand to be away from me any longer and stood outside ready to profess his love, or at least his strong like.

This is where the girl plays it cool—like she knows what she’s doing and gets woken by a boy throwing rocks at her window all the time. I stepped back, fanned my face, and took several deep breaths. Then I pressed my face to the screen again.

It was Michael. The boy I’d wasted a year pining over. Didn’t he realize I was done with all that?

The first niggling of doubt appeared. Shouldn’t Zeke be the one knocking down my door, wanting to talk or take me out for breakfast?

Why, Michael! What a surprise. What brings you around this time of day? As in way too early.

I know it’s early but… He shook his head and started over. I just saw you a few hours ago but…

He tried a few more times to get his thoughts out. He was nervous? Michael? I’d spent the entire last year with shaky knees and a rapid heartbeat every time I knocked on his window to chat. Maybe I should’ve made a scene at school dances a long time ago.

He finally spit it out. I have a surprise for you, but if it’s not the right time then I can come back later. Actually, later might be too late. My surprise is on your back porch and, well—

I’ll be right down.

How cute! A boy was rambling because of me. I wanted to text Zeke and let him know someone was stealing his moment.

Or what should’ve been his moment.

Yeah, then I glanced in the mirror at my complete bed head—the kind where it looks like I wandered about outside during an electrical storm—my raccoon eyes, pajama bottoms with penguins on them and…I covered my mouth with my hand and breathed out. Yup. Total morning breath.

First things first. I rushed into the hall and barged into Carter’s room. He was dead to the world, sleeping in his Mickey Mouse boxers. I could so totally get a picture and blackmail him, but instead I whooped and gyrated my hips as I danced in a circle.

He grunted and threw his pillow at me.

I kept whooping.

Get out, he mumbled.

I danced over and whispered in ear. Just wanted to let you know that for the first time someone threw pebbles at my window instead of yours.

He peered out through eyes like slits. Might want to do something about your breath. Then he rolled over.

Dancing back into my room, I threw on yoga pants and a cute T-shirt. I ran a brush through my hair, which didn’t really help, so I put on a pink baseball cap. I brushed my teeth and rinsed—twice!

I ran downstairs and then slowed my walk to the back porch. At that point, I wondered what I was so darn excited about. So what if he tossed some rocks at my window. I didn’t even like Michael in that way. Not anymore.

The door opened with a squeak, and I waltzed outside. A tiny bit nervous. Hey, Michael. Nice day, huh?

Definitely. He pulled out a lounge chair for me.

I expected my heart to flutter, but I didn’t feel even a whisper of butterfly wings. I yawned. Why, thank you, kind sir.

Sir! I get it. Last night? He laughed, kind of like a snort. I’d never noticed that before.

From behind his chair, he pulled out a tray covered with a dishtowel. With a flourish, he whipped it off the top and presented me with a breakfast fit for a queen. Except now I realized how crucial it’d been to get downstairs right away, because the scrambled eggs had lost their steam, the bananas in the fruit salad were mushy and brown, and the hot cocoa was now cold.

Wow. What a…feast.

He chatted on while I forced the cold food down. With each moment that passed, more of my initial excitement fizzled out. I wanted the guy sitting across from me to be someone else.

Somehow talk of the prom led to the latest video game Michael was developing. That’s when he lost me. I used to think his computer programming babble was cute? That it somehow signified his devotion to things or people he liked? His attention was on me, but at the same time it wasn’t. Who thinks a girl wants to be caught off guard the morning after prom with mushy bananas?

Michael? I’ll be right back. I pointed to the mug. I’m just going to pop this into the microwave.

I stumbled inside. In the kitchen, I slammed the mug against the bottom of the microwave tray. Cocoa went everywhere—including my shirt.

Mom rushed over. Cassidy, what are you doing?

Just trying to warm this up. It all caught up to me. The lack of sleep. The mushy bananas. What I couldn’t speak about was my disappointment. Shouldn’t there be a rule book for guys on what to do the morning after they kiss a girl?

Mom pulled me into her arms and squeezed. Go up and change. I’ll clean this up and warm up what’s left.

Okay, I whispered.

Ten minutes later, I walked back on the porch with two mugs of fresh hot cocoa, the steam still floating off the top. Michael’s eyes widened. Wow. Thanks.

We sat and sipped and didn’t say a word.

All I could think about was that I’d been so wrong about the whole soul mate thing. I’d clocked a lot of time planning how to snag Michael’s attention. If God could’ve written me a letter explaining that I was focused on the wrong guy it would’ve been a big help.

So, thanks for the breakfast.

Sorry it was, uh, on the cold side. He blushed and ran his finger over the rim of his mug.

I gripped my mug and settled it on my lap. There was so much I wanted to ask him, like why did he go to all this trouble? What had changed his feelings toward me? Or was this more of a guilt thing for the way he treated me this past year? That had to be it.

Listen, Michael. I get that you probably feel bad for the way you treated me last year, especially when I wasn’t the only involved in the great smoke-out as you now probably know or you wouldn’t be here. But really, I’m a pretty easy person. Well, easy but complicated at the same time. You know, like most girls. I added in a trill of nervous laughter. But I’m okay with how this year went. It’s the way it’s supposed to be and now you have Elena. You guys went to prom—

Elena and I decided to be just friends.

What? Now I was pissed. Beyond mushy-bananas mad.

Chapter 2

I slammed my mug on the glass top of the patio table. You mean I gave up my prom date and went by myself, and you two aren’t even together?

He fiddled with a napkin. Everything changed after I saw you with that sword. You were a master just like Luke Skywalker, except he didn’t have a sword, but you understand. He gazed at me with twinkly little stars in his eyes, and I realized I had no current feelings for this guy. None.

Yeah, sure. I took a deep breath. Michael, we need to talk. I stood and my chair scraped back on the cement.

Before I could move or put my arms out, he leapt to his feet and awkwardly wrapped his arms around me. You don’t need to say anything, my love.

I coughed. My love? And I swear he had a hint of a British accent.

I saw the love shining in your eyes when you met me this morning—

Yeah, about that—

He drew me close and kissed me. All I could feel was his wet tongue flopping about inside my mouth. He pulled away, his lips glistening with spit. His cheeks flushed a bright red.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

He packed up the breakfast things. This was just a taste, my dear Cassidy. I know I screwed up this past year, but I’ll show you I’m the better man.

What? I couldn’t even find a single word.

He winked then tried to plaster another wet one on me. I ducked. Then he headed back into the woods with a little skip to his step.

Back upstairs I brushed and rinsed again. Michael’s floppy-tongued kiss was not what I’d been fantasizing about for the past couple years. In my dreams it was a slow tantalizing dance with lots of goosebumps and tingles and oohs and aahs to dream about for hours. Like what happened with Zeke.

Yeah, I didn’t think that would be happening with Michael.

Cassidy!

I groaned. Mom called like she wanted something, like a parental sit-down was about to happen. I threw on a sweatshirt then poked my head in Carter’s room.

Hey! I shouted. He pulled out his earbuds. You know what this is about?

He shook his head and stuck the buds back in his ear. So much for a brother who will tell you what he knows. I shut his door and trounced downstairs in desperate need of coffee, the stronger the better. I stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed one of my dad’s mugs.

Good morning again! Mom chirped.

Dad gave a silent nod of greeting while stifling the start of a smile by eating half his apple in one bite. News apparently traveled fast about cold cocoa and mushy bananas.

Right back at you. I poured the coffee, steam rising in the air, then I sat at the counter. Okay, spit it out. I can see that slight frown between your eyes and the not-so-subtle look you keep flashing at Dad. So whose turn is it to launch the Cassidy lecture?

Mom shifted on her stool, trying to mask her discomfort. What did the neighbor boy want?

He has a name. Michael?

Dad sipped from his coffee. You mean the boy who stood you up last night?

Well, he didn’t really stand me up. I more let him go. This might be something parents just couldn’t understand. But they didn’t understand the logic behind most of my actions so I didn’t expect them to start now.

What did he want? Mom repeated.

I suppressed the shudder at the whole floppy tongue memory. What did he want? Had he actually asked me anything other than jabbering on about programming? Well, I think it was a sorry-I-ditched-you, are-we-still-friends, I-might-kind-of-like-to-take-you-out-on-a-date thing. Phew. That was a mouthful.

Hmm. Mom brought her mug closer to her face, probably to hide her expression of doubt. Anyway, you might not want to start dating seriously at this point.

She said this so casually with such a carefree tone of voice, I knew right away this was the starting point of whatever she really wanted to talk about. I was willing to play her game. Have a little fun with her.

You know some girls my age get engaged. Eighteen is not that far away. I’m almost an adult.

Mom almost spit out her coffee. She spoke in a strangled voice. I think that might be rushing it a little, don’t you think? Her body jerked as she kicked my dad under the table.

Dad drummed his fingers against his mug and expressed his doubt with a cliché question-mark eyebrow lift. I usually can’t pull one over on him.

Fine. I raised my arms in defeat. I’m kidding about that, but don’t you think warning me off dating right now is a little extreme? This is the perfect time to date.

Mom used my words as the diving board. College is coming up in a few short months, and dear…even though you’re attending a local college, you haven’t chosen a major. At some point, you should start figuring out not only what you enjoy but what kind of career has job opportunities right now. The economy isn’t the best, and you don’t want to rack up college loans and then end up waitressing at a breakfast diner for your career.

She kept talking, but I zoned her out. I texted Jules under the table to come rescue me from a parental lecture.

How had my life gone from worrying about a prom date to worrying about paying off college loans I didn’t even have yet? Never mind what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I had a hard time choosing a cute outfit for the day instead of looking like I bought my clothes at a thrift store.

Are you listening, Cassidy?

Did you give this speech to Carter yet? Okay, I was more than a little grumpy that she’d cast this ominous shadow over my day and possibly my summer. The pressure!

She smiled all sugary and sweet. Of course, she was about to say something about Carter, the wonder boy. Yes and he’s going to be an Internet marketing major. He’s applying for internships for the summer.

Oh. I slumped over a little bit. All of a sudden the floppy-tongued kiss wasn’t the worst part of my day, and I hadn’t even eaten a real breakfast yet.

Jules beeped outside. Thank God!

I straightened up, my stomach doing somersaults. Thanks for the pep-talk, guys. I mean, of course, you’re right. Prom is over, graduation is in a couple weeks, and I’m not being sent away to day camp this summer. Time to get serious. I grabbed an apple and slipped into my flip-flops by the door. Jules and I heading out to breakfast.

Um, okay. She glanced at my father as if he could conjure up a bunch of chores for me, but he seemed a little slow on the uptake as he blinked with a blank expression.

Okay, then, see you later. And I breezed out the door.

I had really wanted to take a shower before heading out except if I’d stayed any longer my dad might’ve had time to come up with those chores.

We set off for my second breakfast at a diner in the next town where hopefully we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew. Let’s face it. No one looks their best after the night of their senior prom. Except maybe Jules. Her shimmery hair cascaded over her shoulders in a warm