Pieces of Me Read Free Page B

picking you up?”
    “Yeah, he should be here soon.”
    My Father shakes his head. “You make sure that boy doesn’t drink and drive.
    Rolling my eyes, I nod my head. “Yes, Dad.”
     
    Hearing the doorbell, I give my parents a quick kiss and make my way to the front door. Pulling it open my heart stammers as I take in the sight before me. Jake is standing there in a pair of dark jeans, a black, firm fitting Metallica shirt and his brown hair, which is slightly longer on the top, is messy and sexy.
    OMG! Did I just refer to my best friend as sexy?
    Jakes dark eyes sweep over my outfit, lingering on my legs, making me feel a little self-conscious.
    “What’s wrong? Is this outfit okay?”
    He shakes his head slightly before his dark eyes meet mine and he says in a soft, deep voice.
    “It’s perfect, shorty.”
    “I wish you’d stop calling me that.”
    He’s always been a lot taller than my 5’4 frame, hence, the nickname. I tell him that I don’t like it but secretly, I love it.
    “You know you love it, Shorty.” He bumps me with his hip as we walk toward his car.
    Ignoring his comment I ask.
    “Can you drive by Lacie’s place and pick her up? Her parents caved and told her she can come as long as she’s home by midnight.”
    His brows draw together and he kind of looks a little pissed, probably because Lacie’s house is on the other side of town. But being the great friend that he is he doesn’t complain and heads toward Lacie’s neighbourhood.
    Our hometown of Coffs Harbour isn’t huge but it takes a while to get to the other side of town.
     
    We pull into Lacie’s driveway fifteen minutes later and Jake beeps the horn. While we wait for her to make an appearance, we chat about school and the latest gossip; who’s dating who and who’s cheating on whom. It feels a little awkward sitting alone with him, which is kind of upsetting as it’s never been awkward between us. After a minute, Lacie appears in the tightest, shortest, little black dress I have ever seen. She’s wearing six inch black pumps that put my platform Mary Janes to shame. With some effort she climbs up into the backseat and shuts the door.
    Turning in my seat I look her up and down.
    “Lacie, what are you wearing? You look so hot.” Her blonde hair is pulled into a sleek straight ponytail and her makeup is flawless. She is normally a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl like me, so I have never seen her dressed up like this.
    “I thought I’d put a bit of effort into my look tonight. You never know, I might finally attract someone’s attention.”
    Jake is watching her in the rear view mirror and grins as he shakes his head. He knows all about Lacie’s crush on Corey.
    “I’d like to see that actually.”
    He hates Grace just as much as we do and has questioned Corey many times over his relationship with her, but no one can really understand what Corey sees in her. Apart from her blonde hair, big boobs and cheerleader figure.
     
    They’ve been together for over a year and I honestly don’t know how he puts up with her bitchy attitude and fake personality.
    I glance over at Jake to see him smiling at me, his cute dimples appearing. Feeling the goose bumps spread all over my body; I rub my hands up and down the length of my arms.
    “Are you cold, Shorty?” He leans forward and switches the heater on low. There really is no need, the early spring weather is quite warm, but I’m not going to tell him that his gorgeous smile gave me the chills.
     
    We arrive at Grace’s house and Jake pulls up behind a row of cars out the front. We pile out of the car and walk up the driveway toward the garage out the back. Grace’s parents let her have these parties in the room above their garage once a month. The room is huge and has been set up like a games room with a large pool table and huge flat screen TV with various game consoles. They aren’t huge parties, maybe twenty to thirty people tops, but they are always memorable and there