Read Online Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz - Free Book Online Page B

you kissed him.” She proceeds to remind me how in the eighth grade she threw up on Buddy McTeague when he insisted on kissing her, even though she’d warned him she had the stomach flu.
    “No, nothing icky,” I assure her. “The kiss was amazing—at least it started out that way.”
    “Details, please.”
    I close my eyes, my lips still buzzing from his kiss.
    “Were there a bunch of little kisses that led up to one great big giant fat one?” she continues. “Or did he just go in with tongue from the get-go? Was there superfluous slurpage? Distracting sucking sounds? Weird or unpleasant odor? Exchange of food bits or drink? Did your tongues swirl in sync, or just kind of bump into each other?”
    “Whoa,” I say, putting a halt to her list. “Let’s just say it started out well, but ended sort of sucky.”
    “No pun intended.”
    “I’m such an idiot.” I sigh.
    “No, ‘idiot’ would be me,” she says, feeding another Scooby-Doo CD into the player.
    I take a peek at the backseat, where Nate is bouncing up and down in anticipation of Scooby Snack Tracks #1.
    We end up driving around a bit more, until just before seven, when she finally drops me off with a promise to call me later.
    I wave good-bye to her and make my way up the front steps, noticing how the streetlight in front of my house has gone out, leaving the area in near darkness.
    Just a few steps shy of the door, I hear something behind me—a scuffling sound. I turn to look, but I can’t see too much in the dark, and the sound seems to have stopped now. The only thing I can hear is the noise coming out of Davis Miller’s garage-turned-music-studio down the street.
    I turn back around to open the front door when I hear the scuffling again, like footsteps against the pavement.
    Like someone’s coming this way.
    “Kimmie?” I call out. I strain to see, wondering if I left something in her car. But no one answers, and I don’t see her car anywhere. I fish inside my pocket for my key ring and finally find the house key among the collection I’ve got going. I go to stick it in the lock, but the ring falls from my grip, landing on the welcome mat.
    I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm. I kneel to pick up my keys, but can’t keep my hands from shaking. I decide to ring the doorbell, knowing that my parents are probably home. But before I can actually reach up to press it, someone touches my shoulder, making me jump.
    “Ben,” I say, completely startled to see him.
    “I’m sorry I scared you.” He takes a step back.
    “What are you doing here? How do you even know where I live?” I glance over his shoulder, but I don’t see his motorcycle. “I looked you up in the phone book. I hope that’s okay.”
    “So why didn’t you call?”
    “I wanted to talk face to face,” he says, venturing a little closer. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about earlier.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” I snap, moving toward the door again. “No—wait.” He takes another step. “Can we talk?” Part of me wants to tell him no—that this whole scenario is just a little too weird. I glance up at the porch light, wondering why my parents didn’t turn it on. “Please,” he insists. “It’ll only take a couple of minutes.” I hesitate, but then notice his troubled look, as if he really does need to tell me something important. “Okay,” I say, hoping I won’t regret it.
    I sit on the top step. Ben sits beside me and stares up at the moon. “I meant it when I said that I think you’re pretty great,” he says.
    “Well, then, why all the mixed messages?”
    “There is a good reason.”
    “Which is?”
    “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he repeats. “And what I’m going to say . . . I don’t want that to scare you, either.”
    “What are you talking about?” I peek toward the driveway at my parents’ car, relieved to know for sure they’re home.
    “It was me.”
    “What was you?”
    “In the parking lot . . . behind the