It was between classes on Monday when Dominic decided to try to talk to me.
“Hi, Jessica,” he said.
I kept walking, but his longer legs meant he could keep pace with me in the hallway at school.
“Leave me alone,” I said.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “I can’t believe you’re mad at me because I was sick.”
“Sick? You are sick. A pathological liar, in fact.”
“I had the flu,” he said. “I couldn’t even get out of bed. The whole weekend was a blur.” He raised his voice, which attracted the attention of half of Nightshade High.
“You looked pretty healthy when I saw you hand in hand with Selena,” I said.
I marched away, ignoring the stares.
Raven came up to me before class. “What was that all about with my brother?” she asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said. I couldn’t tell her the truth. That her brother, the great Dominic Gray, was nothing but a liar.
I was home baby-sitting Grace and Katie after school when the doorbell rang. I peered through the peephole and saw Dominic standing on our front porch.
“Oh, now you show up?” I said to him through the door. “Go away.”
“Jessica, open up,” he pleaded. “I want to talk to you for a minute. To explain.”
I opened the door but didn’t invite him inside. “You have two minutes.”
“I don’t remember,” he said.
I raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You don’t remember what? Asking me out?”
“I remember that,” he said. “But this weekend was all a blur. I’ve been feverish, achy. I thought you saw Selena at the festival with someone who just looked like me. Until . . .”
“Go on,” I said.
“Until my own sister told me she saw me there. With Selena. I’m so sorry.”
“Do you like her?”
He stared at his feet. Was he embarrassed or lying?
“I don’t know.” He finally met my eyes. “When I’m not with her, I feel like she’s just another girl. Not special. Not you.”
Although his last words gave me a thrill, I knew it wasn’t enough. “But when you are with her?”
“When I’m with Selena, I can’t think of anything or anyone else. It’s like magic.”
Magic? Something about that word sent up a warning flare in my brain, but I ignored it. Dominic looked so miserable.
I sighed. “Do you want to come in and hang out for a while?” I couldn’t believe I was making a move on the guy right after I finally convinced him that I didn’t have designs on his hot rock-star body.
He grinned. “Sure.”
“My little sisters are home,” I warned. “And it’ll probably be boring.”
“Hey, don’t oversell it,” he said.
We both laughed.
We found Gracie and Katie in the family room. Gracie didn’t even look up from the book she was reading.
“Jessica,” Katie said, and launched herself at me. “I’m hungry. Will you play Monopoly with me? Who is that?” The questions came fast and furiously.
“Katie, this is Dominic.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Katie was my favorite little sister or I would have killed her. Instead, I blushed.
“No,” I said, so forcefully that Dominic faked a stab to the heart.
“Ha-ha,” I said to him, and then turned to Katie. “C’mon, we’ll make a snack.”
“Monopoly first,” she demanded.
“No, snack first,” I said firmly.
She skipped ahead of us and climbed onto the barstool in front of the counter that separated the family room from the kitchen.
“Gracie, snack time,” I said.
She finally looked up from her book. “Oh, hi, Jessica,” she said. “When did you get home?”
I laughed. “It’s nice to see you, too, Gracie. Now kitchen. You can read more after your snack. Or maybe you want to play Monopoly with us?”
“No, thank you,” she said. Her gaze sharpened. “Who is that?”
I repeated the introduction and she handed me her book before heading for the kitchen.
“I hope you like Monopoly,” I said.
“Love it,” Dominic said.
“I want banana buddies,” Katie demanded. She already had the peanut butter and bread out on the countertop.
“What’s that?” Dominic asked.
“Peanut butter on toast with a banana mouth and raisin eyes,” I told him.
“My dad used to make us those,” he said.
“I can make something else,” I said, remembering what Flo had told me about his dad’s death.
“No, we can’t deprive Katie of her favorite snack. Besides, I like being reminded of him,” he said. “I’ll make the toast.”
Once the toast was made, Katie and Dominic amused each other by decorating the peanut butter with silly faces.
We ate our snack at the kitchen counter. My knee bumped Dominic’s under the counter and I jumped.
“Where is everyone else?” I asked Katie. The house was unusually quiet. Not that I was complaining. I could only imagine the grilling I’d get if Sarah and Sydney were home.
“I dunno,” she said.
“Katie,” I said in a warning voice.
She sighed. “Sarah and Sydney said they were at the library studying, but they’re probably just giggling about boys. Fiona’s at karate and Kellie’s at dance class.”
Katie went to set up the game and Gracie returned to her book.
“All those girls she mentioned are your sisters?” Dominic asked.
“Every single one,” I said. “Are you scared?”
Dominic reached over and slowly rubbed the corner of my mouth with his thumb.
I looked up and met his eyes and a deliciously warm feeling spread through my body. He leaned in and I thought he was going to kiss me.
“You had peanut butter on the corner of your mouth,” he said, pulling away.
“Oh,” I said. What was I thinking? He could have any girl he wanted. He wasn’t interested in me.
Katie’s voice shattered the moment. “Jessica, hurry up!” she shouted from the other room.
I gave him a little smile. “This is your chance to make your escape.”
“No way,” he said. “I love Monopoly.”
“Then we’d better get in there,” I said. “Katie takes Monopoly very seriously.”
“I like you better than that other boy,” Katie said to Dominic as she rolled the dice.
He gave me a mischievious glance. “What other boy, Katie?”
“Evan,” she said placidly. “He never played Monopoly with me.”
“A grave strategic error,” Dominic commented.
She nodded. “Exactly.”
Dominic didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by the thought of competition. If anything, he was amused by it. It felt like he wasn’t taking me seriously.
“Are we going to play or what?” I asked.
“It’s your turn,” Katie pointed out.
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly, and then rolled the dice.
I watched him laughing and joking with my sister. Was this the real Dominic? I had thought I was a pretty good judge of character, but it was almost as if there were two of him, Selena’s Dominic—the guy who hung on her every word and ignored everyone else around him—and this guy.