Oh, Mara.
What was I going to do with her?
I should have thought about that sooner because, being an idiot teenage boy, I said the first thing that came to mind when I spotted her tear-streaked face.
“Oh, my gosh, Mara. It was one detention, get over it.” Which was exactly the wrong thing to say.
Mara flew at me like a crazed bat, arms and claws flying, almost knocking me off my knees. “This is your fault! You great big jerk!” She punctuated each word, pounding her fists on my—everything. It didn’t really hurt, but it made it hard to talk to her.
“Mara, stop.” Of course, she didn’t.
“Why should I? Are you going to kiss me again?” I knew she didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Apparently, she considered kissing me a punishment, and I supposed that was my fault since I’d kissed her, and the result had been detention. Brilliant planning on my part. But how could I have anticipated I’d enjoy kissing her so much?
“I might if you weren’t acting like a crazy person,” I grunted as I batted her hands away.
“What? Is that some kind of threat?” She stopped hitting me, but she held my t-shirt fisted in her hands.
“No. It was supposed to be a compliment. But you’re too busy being uptight to realize it.” Also, the exact wrong thing to say. Her eyes, which had momentarily turned curious, ignited with rage.
“Don’t. Call. Me. That!” She screamed the last word, scrambling to her knees and pulling me by my t-shirt until our noses were mere millimeters apart.
Only moving my eyes, I glanced out the small window of the little house. How had no one inside the house heard her? She was making an awful lot of racket.
“Okay. Okay. Calm down.” When would I learn?
My goody-two-shoes neighbor had turned feral right before my eyes. There were only two options at this point, and only one of them appealed to me.
Temporarily using my superior strength, I pinned Mara’s arms to her side, and toppled us to the ground, pinning her gently beneath me.
She was angry. Spitting, cursing, cut-my-body-up-piece-by-piece ticked off!
She kneed me, barely missing the tender parts of me that wouldn’t appreciate her efforts.
“Mara,” I said her name softly, tenderly. She stared up at me with glassy green eyes. “I’m sorry.” I should have started with that.
She pushed at my chest. I immediately let her go.
“For what? Kissing me out of the blue?” Her eyes shot daggers as she moved to the far side of the house. “Or for making sure I got a detention for it?”
I held my hands between us as a sign of surrender. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry.” She couldn’t know how much I enjoyed kissing her, but I’d never do it again without her permission. Permission she was unlikely to give.
“Yeah, right,” she snorted.
“No, I mean it. It was a dumb idea. I shouldn’t have done it. I just—” Crap. There was really no excuse for what I’d done. I’d only meant it as a prank, but that didn’t let me off the hook.
“You just wanted to get me in trouble.” She snorted again. “Well, good job. It worked.”
I shoved my hand through my hair. “I really am sorry. Don’t be mad.”
Her eyes widened. I’d said the wrong thing again. I was an idiot.
“Don’t be mad?” She rose to her knees, the tallest she could get in the small confines of the little house. “Don’t be mad! Uptight Mara should just get over it? Well, I’m not over it. Do you know I’ve never had a detention before?”
Um. “Well, yeah, I was kind of counting on it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You slimy little skeaze ball!” She pushed my shoulder, knocking me onto my butt.
“I can see why you would say that. But I promise I’m not. I had a serious lapse in judgment that made me act completely out of character—” mostly, “—but it wasn’t that bad, was it? I mean, you did kiss me back.” I ignored the way her eyes darkened dangerously. “And detention isn’t that horrible, either. Mr. Gentry gives his big speech, but I’ve never actually seen him get mad at anyone for screwing around in there.”
Mara pointed her finger in my face. “How would you feel if I did that to you? Just ran up and kissed you to get you in trouble?”
Um. “I can’t think of a single scenario where I’d get mad at you for kissing me. Not. One.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She stared at me silently.
“I still shouldn’t have done it to you. I’ll say it as many times as you need me to. I’m sorry.”
Her lips thinned. “I’m not uptight.”
Not what we’d been discussing, exactly, but blessedly, I somehow kept myself from responding to that out of pure instinct.
Mara’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not!”
I threw my hands up again. “Okay. Fine. You’re not uptight.” We both knew she was.
“You think I am.” A statement, not a question.
At this point, I would have gladly gone back to her being upset with me for kissing her and getting her detention. Mara was strung so tight I wondered how she didn’t break. It couldn’t be easy existing under all that pressure.
And why?
Was it because of her parents? Did they have super high expectations? Or was it something she did to herself?
Again—why?
I was already in deep with this girl, so I decided to be honest. “Mara, seriously, you know you are.”
“I am not!” she protested.
I lifted one brow without saying a word.
“I don’t have to be. I can stop. I had detention today, didn’t I?”
I snorted. “That was my fault, remember? Could you have gotten one on your own without having a heart attack?” What a ridiculous conversation.
“Of course, I could.”
“Prove it.” The words were out before I could stop them. For some idiotic reason, I felt the urge to challenge her.
Mara sat back on her heels, eyeing me warily. “What do you mean?”
I leaned forward, bracing my hands on my knees. “I mean, prove it. If you want me to think you don’t have a stick up your butt, then prove you don’t.”
“Are you daring me?” she asked, exasperated.
Was I? “Maybe.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, yes. I’m daring you.” The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Mara needed to loosen up. And also, I kind of needed to kiss her again. We’d have to spend some time together if that was going to happen, and this provided the perfect opportunity.
“To do what?” She looked at me like I was crazy.
Probably true.
I shrugged. “You had detention today, and it didn’t ruin your life. What else are you avoiding because you’re so worried about everything? There’s a great big world out there, Mara, and you’re missing it.”
She blinked.
I’d meant what I said to tease, but I could see it hit something deep within her.
Her lips trembled, and her eyes filled.
Crap. Was she going to cry?
Should I go to her? Hug her? I’d already manhandled her twice that day. Dare I do it again? In the name of comfort this time? Before I could decide, Mara’s back stiffened, and she sniffled.