Irresistible by Liz Bankes Read Free Book Online Page A

when Jamie was kissing that waitress in the window and she would have felt the weight of his body pressed against her.
    Dan’s kiss would be soft and smooth, I decide, and he’d start kissing my neck. I feel stubble grazing my skin. Suddenly, the brown hair I’m running my fingers through turns blond, and the chest pushed up against me is wearing an expensive shirt. He pulls his head back and fixes me with those dark eyes. For a second we stare at each other, and then he kisses the base of my neck, and lower, and lower, and his hands are on my legs, pushing up my skirt.

Chapter 11
    There’s a loud clang as my arm goes back, knocking a saucepan off the counter, and I cry out. The kitchen door swings open and I panic that it’s Jamie, that he was watching me and he knows what I was thinking. Did I say anything out loud? He’s even creeping up on me in my own head.
    “Drink time!” It’s Cleo. “What’s your name again?”
    “Mia,” I say, willing my heart to stop thumping in my chest and my breathing to return to normal. My face is burning. I must look crazy.
    “Do you want some clothes?” says Cleo.
    She’s looking at my skirt and I smooth it down, trying to banish images of Jamie’s hands from my brain. “I’ve got what I came here in.”
    “Sorry, I mean do you want some less shitty clothes?”
    I briefly consider taking the rudeness and letting Cleo dress me up in expensive clothes, but to be honest, I’m a littlepissed off at people ordering me around when I’m not even working.
    “Um, no, thanks. I’m all right.” There’s a miniature Gabi in my head facepalming herself. Gabi has significant debt due to an obsession with expensive clothes.
    Cleo spins on her heel and heads to the bar, and I tell her I’m going to put on my (shitty) clothes. Back in the changing room and in my skater dress, I text Jeff to tell him I’m staying later and ask if he can get me at twelve thirty. I get a grumpy reply yes. There’s a text on there from Dan too, suggesting a picnic for tomorrow.
    A picnic. Dan’s so thoughtful and nice and normal. He wouldn’t have sex with politicians’ wives or take pictures of girls and send them to their boyfriends. I forward the text to Gabi because we made this rule when we were younger that we would share important boy-related texts, and we still do it when there’s a new boy on the scene. Once she was officially with Max, I told her she could stop sharing hers. Mostly because they were gross.
    I realize there’s a text lurking on my phone that I haven’t shared.
    Gabi replies to my Dan text with a smiley face.
    I suddenly wonder why I’m even going for this drink with a girl I hardly know. I didn’t have to say yes. Am I thinking that Cleo and Jamie will take me to hang out with their elite gang? It would be the first time in a while I’ve hung out in a group. I’ve been avoiding social occasions recently. Even though all the girls totally froze out Kieran, we were still friends with guys from his school, and there was always the chance of bumping into him, and I couldn’t face that.
    I missed all the end-of-finals stuff and even the YearEleven prom; I had a dress and everything. Mom took me out shopping to cheer me up because I’d broken up with Kieran. She thought I was just sad because I loved him so much. She didn’t know I was constantly panicking that people were talking about me. But the shopping trip really worked for a while. We tried on stupid clothes and Mom got stuck in some skinny jeans and I couldn’t even help her because I was laughing so much watching her struggle. But then I saw some of Kieran’s friends in town and I was sure they were looking at me and whispering to each other.
    I sat in my room on the day of the prom in my pajamas just looking at my dress hanging there. My phone kept buzzing with texts from Gabi, starting with, You ready babe? X and ending with, ARE YOU DEAD? before I finally replied I’m sorry, I’m not going x .
    Gabi