Free His Kiss by Melanie Marks

away from my cousin.” She literally pulled me towards the door. “Ally’s not your type.”
    I don’t know what Griffin said to that—if he said anything at all. Kendra was finally doing what I had asked, keeping me away from Griffin. Only it was too late. Too late for me to set my heart on Milo or any nice boy. It was totally set on The Griff .
     
    ***
     
    On the ride home Kendra wouldn’t shut up about “sparks.” She said she saw them flying between The Griff and me. It made me groan and slump down in my seat because I already knew there were sparks—major sparks. At least on my end. Probably not on Griffin’s though since he was just messing around and had skanky girls fighting over him. But that didn’t help me. It didn’t make my sparks any less sparky just because he didn’t feel them back. It just made them pathetic.
    “I don’t want to like Griffin,” I whined for the hundredth time. “I want to like … Milo.”
    “Milo?” Kendra smirked. “Geez, Ally, he’s practically Aiden. Try a new flavor.”
    I blinked, having no idea what she was talking about. “What?”
    She sighed like I lived in a vacuum and it distressed her deeply, then she went into this big analogy about guys being like ice cream and there’s all these different flavors.
    “Branch out,” she said. “Try something besides vanilla.”
    I sulked. I liked vanilla. I was comfortable with vanilla. Sure new, exciting flavors were tempting—alluring beyond belief—but I was pretty sure they’d give me nothing but a bellyache. And a toothache. And most definitely a heartache . ‘Cause that’s what The Griff was—a heartache waiting to happen. He didn’t have “girlfriends” he didn’t even have “dates.” He just stirred up a girl’s heart with his seductive eyes and sultry lips, and his hot, sexy singing voice. Then he did to her heart the same thing he did on the hockey rink—Tore. It. Up.
    I didn’t want a guy like that. I wanted to stay clear of guys like that. I liked sensitive, caring guys—like Aiden. Guys I could hold hands with, write songs with. I missed that so much—writing with Aiden.
    I sighed, feeling sad anew. Kendra had said Aiden and Milo were the same, but they weren’t. Milo could sing, yeah—he had a nice voice—but he had no interest in writing songs and he kind of made me feel like a freak when I told him how much I liked to write them.
    I sighed again because those things had nothing to do with why Kendra was looking at me the way she was. She wanted to know why I didn’t embrace sparks.
    “Griffin and I don’t have anything in common,” I grumbled. “I have a lot in common with vanilla.”
    “Like what?” Kendra sort of sneered—but not in a mean way exactly, more in a Get Real way. “Besides Aiden being a girl and you being a girl, what else did you have in common?”
    Ugh! She was only messing around about Aiden being a girl, I knew that, but I hated people making fun of Aiden—his being emotional and sensitive and everything. Even now that he had broken my heart I was tempted to stick up for him. But I didn’t. I bit my lips together, resisting the urge. Aiden wasn’t mine anymore. He was going to have to fight his own battles. I needed to release him.
    Instead of defending him, finally I said, “Aiden and I used to write songs together. I loved that.” I slunk down in my seat feeling like I might cry. “I miss that.”
    I really did. I missed that more than anything—having that connection with a guy, a devoted interest in something we both loved and could work on together, be partners with.
    Kendra didn’t say anything else. I think she felt sorry for me.
     
    ***
     
    Only a week after backing Mom’s car into the 7-Eleven dumpster I missed the after school late bus. I don’t know how it happened, exactly. I’d had to stay after school to take a make-up test for French because I had missed class due to a dentist appointment, but when I finished the make-up test I