Just Maybe (Naomi and Eli #1)
This is the novel I'm working on for NaNoWriMo this year. It's YA, and it's awesome (I hope!). I'll post the summary and a excerpt for you.
Summary
Naomi Bloor and Eli Jury have been best friends since 2nd grade. They've shared the same weird hobbies, such as talking to homeless people, driving on the beach in the rain, and collecting funky clothes from thrift shops.
Now at sixteen, they are both unsure where their friendship leads. Naomi is fine admitting her crush on Eli to herself, but actually telling him is something else. Eli has always been childish and carefree while she is uptight and pessimistic. This is something she has admired him for, especially since his life at home isn't that great.
Eli lives with his mom, who has been an alcoholic ever since the abandonment of his dad. But that doesn't stop him from keeping a positive outlook on life. Eli has always told Naomi that other people have it much worse. He doesn't like talking about it so she doesn't pry.
But lately Eli hasn't been acting like himself. Maybe Naomi is just exaggerating. Kissing Rose Taylor isn't that bad. But getting drunk at parties, lying to your friends and hanging out with a suspicious crowd is something else entirely.
Naomi doesn't want to want to invade his privacy, but she does want to help him. Doing the right thing is hard, especially when it comes to your best friend.
Excerpt
Rated PG 13 (mild language, questionable content.) (It IS a YA novel.)
Chapter Four
"Where are you going?" I spin around. Emily is standing behind me with her hands on her hips.
"For a little sister you sure are bossy." I comment as I take my coat off the coat rack. "I'm going out."
"You're not going to a dumb ass party are you?" She asks. I sigh.
"You really shouldn't curse."
"Don't tell me what to do. Well?"
"Maybe. But I told mom I was going to the beach with Eli."
"You're a liar then. But anyway you should just go to the beach. It'd be better than going to a retarded party with a bunch of stupid drug selling and using teens."
I give her a look.
"And what would you know about drugs?"
Emily shrugs. "Let's just say that TV is informative."
"You're so - ugh. Get a hobby."
"I have one. It's just not frenching the boy down the street."
"You have a dirty mouth." I hiss, and she snorts.
"I can say whatever I want."
"Want me to tell mom?"
"I'll just tell her I don't know what they mean - and that YOU taught them to me."
"Here's a word for you - " I mouth a horrible bad word and Emily rolls her eyes.
"I've heard it before. On the TV. But I don't know what it means. I'll look up in urban dictionary later."
"You shouldn't use that dictionary."
"Don't tell me what to do. Anyway, come back. Don't get drunk. And don't get yourself pregnant."
"What would YOU know about pregnancy?"
"I told you, TV is informative." Emily then leaves down the hall. I sigh. Eli calls her precocious and I call her idiotic. My mother lets her do and watch whatever she wants. 'She's only eight, let her grow up.' My mother would say. Eight year olds should not know certain things.
I take the keys out of my jacket pocket.
"Going out mom!" I shout down the hallway and I hear a faint,
"Have fun at the beach!"
"Okay." I say and walk out the front door. I get in my car and drive down the block. Eli's house. It's a bright blue dingy house. Eli used to joke with me about the last time it was painted.
I honk the horn twice and Eli comes out of the front door.
"Hey." He says getting in the passengers seat.
"What in God's name are you wearing?" I see that he's wearing a bow tie. It's purple with blue and yellow polka dots. "What the heck is that?"
"It's my bow tie. Isn't it neat?" He turns towards me. "How do I look?"
"You want my honest opinion?"
"Yep."
I reach out and pluck to bow tie off if his shirt. Then I ruffle his hair.
"Better now." I say. He frowns.
"I thought the bow tie was a nice touch."
"Yeah, in a party filled with blind people." I laugh at my own joke, and Eli sighs. I glance at him again. I reach out and begin to unbutton the top of his dress shirt. His face turns pink.
"Could I maybe ask what - "
"Oh shut up. Like I've never seen your chest before." I say.
"This is so sexist. If I said the same thing to you I'd get slapped."
"For one because it isn't true and for two because - you know why. YOU don't have breasts, Eli." I roll my eyes at him. He turns pink again at the word but tries to hide it.
"Well gee, after sixteen years of living in my body don't you think I've realized this by now?"
I smirk. "Some people are late bloomers."
"You know what? That was so sick I don't know how to say it in words."
"Anyway," I say as I lean back over in my seat. "Now you look like a playboy."
"No, Naomi, I look like a sleaze." Eli begins to button up his shirt again.
"Hey, you do not." I swat his hands away and lean back over my seat again. Now our hands are fighting for the buttons.
"If this was opposite situation, it'd be sexual harassment." Eli informed me.
"What did we just talk about, Eli? Besides, it's not like you'd have the nerve to do it, anyway."
"I have nerve!" Eli protested.
"Please, you'd never have the nerve to do anything similar to this if I was the guy in this situation."
"Well excuse me for having been taught not to unbutton people's shirts."
I finally let my hands fall and laugh, leaning onto his shoulder.
"You're hilarious." I say as he begins to button up his shirt again. I turn back to the steering wheel and begin to drive.
Chapter Five
Marie's house is three or four blocks away from away from ours, in a slightly nicer sect of the neighborhood. The houses are lined up neatly in a row with bigger backyards. The houses are bigger too, and the streets are cleaner. You might find a wrapper or two on our street, but on Marie's it was clean. A few cars are parked out front so I have to park on the other side of the street.
Eli and I get out of the car, and I lock it behind me. We walk up to the front door and ring the doorbell. Marie answers it.
"Hi! I'm so glad you came. Come in you two." Marie smiles. "My guests and I were playing a game in my room. Come on."
I sigh. Eli and I follow Marie upstairs. I count ten people lounging around in her room.
"What's this game?" I ask. I pray it isn't the choking game. Or the weed game. Or the drinking game. But the answer is worse than anything I thought.
"Twenty minutes in heaven." Marie grins.
"I thought it was seven." Eli inquires.
"Everyone thought seven minutes was too short of time. So we're playing twenty minutes instead. We figured it was a nice even number." Marie explains.
A person I recognize to be Hannah from my social studies class speaks up.
"We have everyone write two people on a small slip of paper. Then we put them in this shoe box and shake it up. Whichever couple is picked out goes in the closet."
"Cool idea isn't it?" Bryant says, and I give the slowest nod. Marie gives out slips of paper to everyone.
A pen is passed around and people write down names. Finally the pen is passed to me.
"Hurry up." The person standing next to me says. I don't bother to tell him that I've just got it, and that he needs to shut his trap and wait.
The pen touches the paper as my heart starts beating faster. Who would I want to be in a closet with? It'd suck if I got put in with a guy who just started kissing me and wouldn't stop until the twenty minutes was up. If I complained to Marie about the weirdo she'd say,
'Well it is a game about kissing, Naomi. Don't be a crybaby.'
I know she'd say that. But I barely know any of the guys in this room. Except...
Eli.
My breathing ceases and I realize that he is the only safe choice. I mean, I have to do it. There isn't anyone else. But would he want to be in a closet with me after what happened in the car?
"Hurry up." The person next to me practically whines again.
But I don't have time to think about that. So I write in small curvy handwriting,
'Naomi and Eli'
I scratch it out. What if people knew it was me because I wrote my name first? So I wrote on the back in similar curvy style,
'Eli and Naomi'
I'm satisfied. I fold the paper up real small and toss it in the shoe box. I look at Eli from across the room. He's biting his nails again. I catch his eye and and he stops.
As soon as everyone's done, Marie shakes up the box. Left right, up, down, diagonal. Then she opens it and takes one out.
It reads Lana and Kris. Two people smiling and giggling enter the closet. I'm bored out of my mind for twenty minutes until they come out looking awkward and distressed. I sit in a corner and doze off after the third slip with people on it I don't know is read aloud.
Chapter Six
I'm shaken awake. My vision blurs and I blink. Marie is grinning over me.
"I thought you might be interested in who's next."
"Who is it?" I ask. "Mickey Mouse and Daisy Duck?"
"No, Eli."
I jump up a little. Eli and me? How lucky. I stand up. But Eli isn't in the room.
"Where is he?" I ask. Marie shakes her head at me.
"Where do you think? Don't be a ditz. He's in the closet with Rose."
I practically fell back down.
"What?!"
"You heard me. He went in already. It's been five minutes and I decided to wake you. Keith Evans put his ear to the door, the pervert. He said he heard loud sounds. Everyone thinks he's lying, but no one wants to check."
I tune her out although I know it is mean. Heat rushes to my face and thoughts of anger fill my mind.
Eli was in that closet kissing another girl? Right there? A girl that wasn't me?
I get yourself together. You don't own him Naomi.
So? That doesn't mean he can just throw himself at other girls!
Wait - what? You're calling him a man-prostitute just because he's kissing ONE other girl?
Maybe. That jerk. How dare he! Besides, how many other girls you think he's been with behind my back?! Damn him!
Maybe if you wouldn't have tried to touch him in the car he wouldn't run to other girls for safety.
That's not true. Besides, you don't think he wanted my hands there?
He didn't. That's why he told you to buzz off.
He didn't tell me that. He was just nervous is all. Besides, he's my man! I can do whatever I want with him!
What the hell! You are so insane. And controlling. It's sad that you're part of the human race you pathetic creature.
Shut up!
No.
I breath in, trying to cure my own insanity. I was so glad no one could read my thoughts. Especially Eli. If he knew what I was thinking he'd probably run away and never come back. Ever.
I stare at the closet hard, praying it opens prematurely. I don't want Eli kissing another girl. As much as I am mad at myself for it, I don't. At all. I don't want any other girl's lips touching him. And I feel bad for it, but it's the truth.
It seems like forever, hours, before Marie gives a sharp knock on the door, telling them that the time is up. They don't immediately bust out, which makes me upset. I count the seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
The closet door swings open. Three extra seconds.
What the hell were they doing that made them take an extra three seconds?!
I resist the urge to slap myself. Rose looks giddy and I suddenly notice her rat shaped face. Eli and I catch each others glance for a brief moment. He gives me a lopsided smile that I don't return. I stand up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Marie asks.
"I'm really really thirsty. Do the next drawing without me." I mumble quietly,trying to keep from sounding hurt. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Okay. If we draw your name and you're not back we'll go without you." Marie says as I leave.
I walk downstairs and into the kitchen, sulky. I breath in and begin to count.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Strangely the counting doesn't help. The counting makes me angrier. I reach into the cabinet and pull out a glass. My hand is shaking as I yank up the handle of the faucet and water flows out. I put the glass under the sink and let it fill up to the top.
I turn off the faucet and and sit my glass on the counter. I lean over the sink, and try to remember when I became such a psychopath. Don't I have the right to be angry? After all, I've never really kissed another guy before. In fact, I don't have any other guy friends. Is this why I've been so possessive?
I'm interrupted in my chain of thought when I feel hands on my shoulders.
"Don't do that." I snap, and the hands immediately drop.
"Sorry."
I turn around. Eli is standing there. I sigh.
"No, I'm sorry."
"You looked upset when you left."
"I am. I mean I was. But it's not important."
Eli makes a small smile.
"Sure it is. Tell me."
"No." I say.
"Go on, you can tell me." He raises his hands in a pose that I only know to well.
I try to dodge but it's too late. His movements are too swift and before I know it -
I'm behind tickled.
I shriek with laughter, trying to blub my response as best as I can, over both of our laughing. Eli had one thing going for him - it's hard to be mad when you're laughing.
"It's not important!" I try to say between giggles, but it comes out more as 'Iht knoyt ihm powr thantahahah.' Which isn't very easy to understand.
Eli then stops tickling me, leaving both of us with the giggles. I don't really like the giggles at all, and they are more of a nuisance to me than anything. Finally, I stop giggling and look Eli in the eyes. Brown. A lighter brown. Farther from hazel.
And then he kisses me. And I kiss him back. I'm not quite sure how long we kiss. It doesn't feel like hours like they say it does in the books. It feels very short of a time before we break apart. I stare back at him, and my stomach flips over.
"I'm sorry." He says. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean you shouldn't have done that?" I demand.
"It just seemed like the right thing to say."
"The right thing to say?"
"Well yeah, I guess. I mean, I like you and all but I didn't think you wanted me to kiss you then."
"What an observation, seeing as how I kissed you back." I say to him.
He blinks and me and looks away. "Sorry."
"For what now?"
"I don't know." He says.
"Did that mean anything?" I ask.
"Did what mean anything?"
"The kiss. You know, from 15 seconds ago?"
"Yes. I just don't know what it meant." Eli admits.
"Did it mean more than your kiss with Rose?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know. Well that's just effing great."
"Why'd you have to say it like that? You're always cursing."
I glare at him. "Big deal. 'Effing' isn't even a real curse. It's a censor. It's crap like that - "
"Don't say that."
I turn to Eli. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP."
"Jesus, Naomi. Only stupid people curse all the time."
"Well maybe you should stop kissing me - you might absorb my stupidity."
"Maybe so."
Fury overtakes me and I slap him across the face. He whirls a little and holds his cheek. He looks at me angrily as well. I storm out of the kitchen and don't look behind me.
Chapter Four
"Where are you going?" I spin around. Emily is standing behind me with her hands on her hips.
"For a little sister you sure are bossy." I comment as I take my coat off the coat rack. "I'm going out."
"You're not going to a dumb ass party are you?" She asks. I sigh.
"You really shouldn't curse."
"Don't tell me what to do. Well?"
"Maybe. But I told mom I was going to the beach with Eli."
"You're a liar then. But anyway you should just go to the beach. It'd be better than going to a retarded party with a bunch of stupid drug selling and using teens."
I give her a look.
"And what would you know about drugs?"
Emily shrugs. "Let's just say that TV is informative."
"You're so - ugh. Get a hobby."
"I have one. It's just not frenching the boy down the street."
"You have a dirty mouth." I hiss, and she snorts.
"I can say whatever I want."
"Want me to tell mom?"
"I'll just tell her I don't know what they mean - and that YOU taught them to me."
"Here's a word for you - " I mouth a horrible bad word and Emily rolls her eyes.
"I've heard it before. On the TV. But I don't know what it means. I'll look up in urban dictionary later."
"You shouldn't use that dictionary."
"Don't tell me what to do. Anyway, come back. Don't get drunk. And don't get yourself pregnant."
"What would YOU know about pregnancy?"
"I told you, TV is informative." Emily then leaves down the hall. I sigh. Eli calls her precocious and I call her idiotic. My mother lets her do and watch whatever she wants. 'She's only eight, let her grow up.' My mother would say. Eight year olds should not know certain things.
I take the keys out of my jacket pocket.
"Going out mom!" I shout down the hallway and I hear a faint,
"Have fun at the beach!"
"Okay." I say and walk out the front door. I get in my car and drive down the block. Eli's house. It's a bright blue dingy house. Eli used to joke with me about the last time it was painted.
I honk the horn twice and Eli comes out of the front door.
"Hey." He says getting in the passengers seat.
"What in God's name are you wearing?" I see that he's wearing a bow tie. It's purple with blue and yellow polka dots. "What the heck is that?"
"It's my bow tie. Isn't it neat?" He turns towards me. "How do I look?"
"You want my honest opinion?"
"Yep."
I reach out and pluck to bow tie off if his shirt. Then I ruffle his hair.
"Better now." I say. He frowns.
"I thought the bow tie was a nice touch."
"Yeah, in a party filled with blind people." I laugh at my own joke, and Eli sighs. I glance at him again. I reach out and begin to unbutton the top of his dress shirt. His face turns pink.
"Could I maybe ask what - "
"Oh shut up. Like I've never seen your chest before." I say.
"This is so sexist. If I said the same thing to you I'd get slapped."
"For one because it isn't true and for two because - you know why. YOU don't have breasts, Eli." I roll my eyes at him. He turns pink again at the word but tries to hide it.
"Well gee, after sixteen years of living in my body don't you think I've realized this by now?"
I smirk. "Some people are late bloomers."
"You know what? That was so sick I don't know how to say it in words."
"Anyway," I say as I lean back over in my seat. "Now you look like a playboy."
"No, Naomi, I look like a sleaze." Eli begins to button up his shirt again.
"Hey, you do not." I swat his hands away and lean back over my seat again. Now our hands are fighting for the buttons.
"If this was opposite situation, it'd be sexual harassment." Eli informed me.
"What did we just talk about, Eli? Besides, it's not like you'd have the nerve to do it, anyway."
"I have nerve!" Eli protested.
"Please, you'd never have the nerve to do anything similar to this if I was the guy in this situation."
"Well excuse me for having been taught not to unbutton people's shirts."
I finally let my hands fall and laugh, leaning onto his shoulder.
"You're hilarious." I say as he begins to button up his shirt again. I turn back to the steering wheel and begin to drive.
Chapter Five
Marie's house is three or four blocks away from away from ours, in a slightly nicer sect of the neighborhood. The houses are lined up neatly in a row with bigger backyards. The houses are bigger too, and the streets are cleaner. You might find a wrapper or two on our street, but on Marie's it was clean. A few cars are parked out front so I have to park on the other side of the street.
Eli and I get out of the car, and I lock it behind me. We walk up to the front door and ring the doorbell. Marie answers it.
"Hi! I'm so glad you came. Come in you two." Marie smiles. "My guests and I were playing a game in my room. Come on."
I sigh. Eli and I follow Marie upstairs. I count ten people lounging around in her room.
"What's this game?" I ask. I pray it isn't the choking game. Or the weed game. Or the drinking game. But the answer is worse than anything I thought.
"Twenty minutes in heaven." Marie grins.
"I thought it was seven." Eli inquires.
"Everyone thought seven minutes was too short of time. So we're playing twenty minutes instead. We figured it was a nice even number." Marie explains.
A person I recognize to be Hannah from my social studies class speaks up.
"We have everyone write two people on a small slip of paper. Then we put them in this shoe box and shake it up. Whichever couple is picked out goes in the closet."
"Cool idea isn't it?" Bryant says, and I give the slowest nod. Marie gives out slips of paper to everyone.
A pen is passed around and people write down names. Finally the pen is passed to me.
"Hurry up." The person standing next to me says. I don't bother to tell him that I've just got it, and that he needs to shut his trap and wait.
The pen touches the paper as my heart starts beating faster. Who would I want to be in a closet with? It'd suck if I got put in with a guy who just started kissing me and wouldn't stop until the twenty minutes was up. If I complained to Marie about the weirdo she'd say,
'Well it is a game about kissing, Naomi. Don't be a crybaby.'
I know she'd say that. But I barely know any of the guys in this room. Except...
Eli.
My breathing ceases and I realize that he is the only safe choice. I mean, I have to do it. There isn't anyone else. But would he want to be in a closet with me after what happened in the car?
"Hurry up." The person next to me practically whines again.
But I don't have time to think about that. So I write in small curvy handwriting,
'Naomi and Eli'
I scratch it out. What if people knew it was me because I wrote my name first? So I wrote on the back in similar curvy style,
'Eli and Naomi'
I'm satisfied. I fold the paper up real small and toss it in the shoe box. I look at Eli from across the room. He's biting his nails again. I catch his eye and and he stops.
As soon as everyone's done, Marie shakes up the box. Left right, up, down, diagonal. Then she opens it and takes one out.
It reads Lana and Kris. Two people smiling and giggling enter the closet. I'm bored out of my mind for twenty minutes until they come out looking awkward and distressed. I sit in a corner and doze off after the third slip with people on it I don't know is read aloud.
Chapter Six
I'm shaken awake. My vision blurs and I blink. Marie is grinning over me.
"I thought you might be interested in who's next."
"Who is it?" I ask. "Mickey Mouse and Daisy Duck?"
"No, Eli."
I jump up a little. Eli and me? How lucky. I stand up. But Eli isn't in the room.
"Where is he?" I ask. Marie shakes her head at me.
"Where do you think? Don't be a ditz. He's in the closet with Rose."
I practically fell back down.
"What?!"
"You heard me. He went in already. It's been five minutes and I decided to wake you. Keith Evans put his ear to the door, the pervert. He said he heard loud sounds. Everyone thinks he's lying, but no one wants to check."
I tune her out although I know it is mean. Heat rushes to my face and thoughts of anger fill my mind.
Eli was in that closet kissing another girl? Right there? A girl that wasn't me?
I get yourself together. You don't own him Naomi.
So? That doesn't mean he can just throw himself at other girls!
Wait - what? You're calling him a man-prostitute just because he's kissing ONE other girl?
Maybe. That jerk. How dare he! Besides, how many other girls you think he's been with behind my back?! Damn him!
Maybe if you wouldn't have tried to touch him in the car he wouldn't run to other girls for safety.
That's not true. Besides, you don't think he wanted my hands there?
He didn't. That's why he told you to buzz off.
He didn't tell me that. He was just nervous is all. Besides, he's my man! I can do whatever I want with him!
What the hell! You are so insane. And controlling. It's sad that you're part of the human race you pathetic creature.
Shut up!
No.
I breath in, trying to cure my own insanity. I was so glad no one could read my thoughts. Especially Eli. If he knew what I was thinking he'd probably run away and never come back. Ever.
I stare at the closet hard, praying it opens prematurely. I don't want Eli kissing another girl. As much as I am mad at myself for it, I don't. At all. I don't want any other girl's lips touching him. And I feel bad for it, but it's the truth.
It seems like forever, hours, before Marie gives a sharp knock on the door, telling them that the time is up. They don't immediately bust out, which makes me upset. I count the seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
The closet door swings open. Three extra seconds.
What the hell were they doing that made them take an extra three seconds?!
I resist the urge to slap myself. Rose looks giddy and I suddenly notice her rat shaped face. Eli and I catch each others glance for a brief moment. He gives me a lopsided smile that I don't return. I stand up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Marie asks.
"I'm really really thirsty. Do the next drawing without me." I mumble quietly,trying to keep from sounding hurt. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Okay. If we draw your name and you're not back we'll go without you." Marie says as I leave.
I walk downstairs and into the kitchen, sulky. I breath in and begin to count.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Strangely the counting doesn't help. The counting makes me angrier. I reach into the cabinet and pull out a glass. My hand is shaking as I yank up the handle of the faucet and water flows out. I put the glass under the sink and let it fill up to the top.
I turn off the faucet and and sit my glass on the counter. I lean over the sink, and try to remember when I became such a psychopath. Don't I have the right to be angry? After all, I've never really kissed another guy before. In fact, I don't have any other guy friends. Is this why I've been so possessive?
I'm interrupted in my chain of thought when I feel hands on my shoulders.
"Don't do that." I snap, and the hands immediately drop.
"Sorry."
I turn around. Eli is standing there. I sigh.
"No, I'm sorry."
"You looked upset when you left."
"I am. I mean I was. But it's not important."
Eli makes a small smile.
"Sure it is. Tell me."
"No." I say.
"Go on, you can tell me." He raises his hands in a pose that I only know to well.
I try to dodge but it's too late. His movements are too swift and before I know it -
I'm behind tickled.
I shriek with laughter, trying to blub my response as best as I can, over both of our laughing. Eli had one thing going for him - it's hard to be mad when you're laughing.
"It's not important!" I try to say between giggles, but it comes out more as 'Iht knoyt ihm powr thantahahah.' Which isn't very easy to understand.
Eli then stops tickling me, leaving both of us with the giggles. I don't really like the giggles at all, and they are more of a nuisance to me than anything. Finally, I stop giggling and look Eli in the eyes. Brown. A lighter brown. Farther from hazel.
And then he kisses me. And I kiss him back. I'm not quite sure how long we kiss. It doesn't feel like hours like they say it does in the books. It feels very short of a time before we break apart. I stare back at him, and my stomach flips over.
"I'm sorry." He says. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean you shouldn't have done that?" I demand.
"It just seemed like the right thing to say."
"The right thing to say?"
"Well yeah, I guess. I mean, I like you and all but I didn't think you wanted me to kiss you then."
"What an observation, seeing as how I kissed you back." I say to him.
He blinks and me and looks away. "Sorry."
"For what now?"
"I don't know." He says.
"Did that mean anything?" I ask.
"Did what mean anything?"
"The kiss. You know, from 15 seconds ago?"
"Yes. I just don't know what it meant." Eli admits.
"Did it mean more than your kiss with Rose?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know. Well that's just effing great."
"Why'd you have to say it like that? You're always cursing."
I glare at him. "Big deal. 'Effing' isn't even a real curse. It's a censor. It's crap like that - "
"Don't say that."
I turn to Eli. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP."
"Jesus, Naomi. Only stupid people curse all the time."
"Well maybe you should stop kissing me - you might absorb my stupidity."
"Maybe so."
Fury overtakes me and I slap him across the face. He whirls a little and holds his cheek. He looks at me angrily as well. I storm out of the kitchen and don't look behind me.
