"They like that too. But I just happen to prefer smart, confident girls."
"Bull. You liked Taylor, and she's not like that."
He groaned and stuck his arm out the window. "Do you have to bring that up again?"
"I'm just saying. She wasn't that smart and confident."
"Maybe not, but she definitely knew what she was doing," he said, before exploding into laughter.
I hit him on the arm, hard. "You're so gross," I said. "And you're also a liar. I know for a fact that you guys didn't even get to second."
He stopped laughing. "Okay, fine. We didn't. But she was a good kisser. She tasted like Skittles."
Taylor loved Skittles. She was always popping them into her mouth, like vitamins, like they were good for her. I wondered how I'd stacked up against Taylor, if he thought I'd been a good kisser too.
I sneaked a peek at him, and he must have seen it on my face, because he laughed and said, "But you, you were the best, Bells."
I punched him on the arm, and even then he didn't stop laughing. He just laughed harder. "Don't take your foot off the clutch," he said, gasping with laughter.
I was kind of surprised he even remembered. I mean, it had been memorable for me, but it had been my first kiss and it had been Jeremiah. But the fact that he remembered, that sort of made his laughing okay.
"You were my first kiss," I said. I felt like I could say anything to him at that moment. It felt like how it used to be with us before we grew up and things got complicated. It felt easy and friendly and normal.
He looked away, embarrassed. "Yeah, I know."
"How did you know?" I demanded. Had I been that awful at kissing that he'd suspected? How humiliating.
"Um, Taylor told me. Afterward."
"What! I can't believe she did that. That Judas!" I almost stopped the car. Actually, I could believe it. But it still felt like a betrayal.
"It's no big deal." But his cheeks were patchy and pink. "I mean, the first time I kissed a girl was a joke. She kept telling me I was doing it wrong."
"Who? Who was your first kiss?"
"You don't know her. It doesn't matter."
"Come on," I wheedled. "Tell me."
We stalled out then, and Jeremiah said, "Just put your foot on the clutch and put it in neutral."
"Not until you tell me."
"Fine. It was Christi Turnduck," he said, ducking his head.
"You kissed Turducken?" Now I was laughing. I did so know Christi Turnduck. She used to be a Cousins Beach regular just like us, only she lived there year round.
"She had a big crush on me," Jeremiah said, shrugging his shoulders. .
"Did you tell Con and Steven?"
"Hell, no, I didn't tell them I kissed Turducken!" he said. "And you better not either! Pinky promise."
I offered him my pinky, and we shook on it.
"Christi Turnduck. She did kiss nice. She taught me everything I know. I wonder what ever happened to her."
I wondered if Turducken had been a better kisser than me too. She must have been, if she had taught Jeremiah.
We stalled out again. "This sucks. I quit."
"There's no quitting in driving," Jeremiah ordered. Come on.
I sighed and started the car up again. Two hours later, I had it. Sort of. I still stalled out, but I was getting somewhere. I was driving. Jeremiah said I was a natural.
By the time we got back to the house, it was after four and Steven had left. I guessed he'd gotten tired of waiting and had gone to the driving range by himself. My mother and Susannah were watching old movies in Susannah's room. It was dark, and they had the curtains drawn.
I stood outside their door a minute, listening to them laugh. I felt left out. I envied their relationship. They were exactly like copilots, in perfect balance. I didn't have that kind of friendship, the forever kind of friendship that will last your whole life through, no matter what.
I walked into the room, and Susannah said, "Belly! Come watch movies with us."
I crawled into bed in between the two of them. Lying on the bed in the semi-dark, it felt cozy, like we were in a cave. "Jeremiah's been teaching me how to drive," I told them.
"Darling boy," Susannah said, smiling faintly.
"Brave, too," my mother said. She tweaked my nose.
I snuggled under the comforter. He was pretty great. It had been nice of him to take me out driving when no one else would. Just because I'd banged up the car a few times, it didn't mean that I wasn't going to end up being an excellent driver like everyone else. Thanks to him, I could drive stick now. I was going to be one of those confident girls, the kind who knows what she's doing. When I got my license, I would drive up to Susannah's house and take Jeremiah for a drive, to thank him.
Chapter eighteen
AGE 14
After Taylor got out of the shower, she started rummaging through her duffel bag and I lay on my bed and watched her. She pulled out three different sundresses--one white eyelet, one Hawaiian print, and one black linen. "Which one should I wear tonight?" she asked me. She asked the question like it was a test.
I was tired of her tests and having to prove myself all the time. I said, "We're just eating dinner, Taylor. We're not going anywhere special."
She shook her head at me, and the towel on her head bounced back and forth. "We're going to the boardwalk tonight, though, remember? We have to look cute for that. There'll be boys there. Let me pick out your outfit, okay?"