Free Cali Boys by Kelli London

later.” The line disconnected.
    What was up with Brent? floated through her mind a kazillion times in two seconds, and she could’ve kicked herself for never remembering his agent’s name; and, like most people nowadays, he didn’t have a landline at home, just a dedicated fax that was never turned off. She was angry at herself for losing contact with Brent. Then she reminded herself that it wasn’t her fault. No one did home numbers anymore, she hadn’t expected her boyfriend to come up missing, and it’d only been a few days since the move, so how was she supposed to think that far ahead? She was a model, not a psychic.
    Romero had zoomed to the front of the house, killed the engine on his moped, hopped off, and was headed Kassidy’s way before she reached the bottom step. His smile was as big as hers when he walked up to her with outstretched arms. “Gimme some love,” he said, as if they were a couple.
    Kassidy looked over her shoulder and saw Yummy peeking out the blinds, as she knew she would. Squaring her shoulders, she turned up the sway in her walk, sashaying her way to Romero. She’d promised her mother no bad-mouthing, but she hadn’t said a thing about messing with Yummy’s self-confidence. It was showtime, and if she didn’t know how to do anything else, she could put on an act and make all kinds of artificial emotions register on her face as if they were real. As a model, she’d perfected the art of showing emotion, or the lack thereof, for photo shoots. Today, her look said happy, loving, wanting, and I’m yours . “And love you’ll get. I missed you,” she replied, laying it on thick and walking into his embrace. Then she shocked them all—Romero, Yummy, and herself—by giving Romero a big kiss on the lips. It was only a long peck, but it was still more than she’d planned.
    For seconds she’d gotten lost in his embrace, and had momentarily forgotten that she was acting. His breath was minty and inviting from the gum he’d been chewing, she noted while her lips were pressed against his. The kiss was almost too good to pull away from, and she almost opened her lips and made it a real kiss. But she stopped herself. She couldn’t fall for the first boy she met because that wouldn’t leave room for her to go out and explore her other possibilities. Plus she prided herself on never getting attached or kissing someone with an open mouth, except Brent. She flirted, but didn’t cheat—not completely. Lip-locking was just lip-locking, not too different from giving her grandmother a peck. Besides, to her, there was no single guy worthy of having her all to himself. None in the Cali area, anyway.
    â€œWow, I didn’t expect that,” Romero said, licking his lips and smiling.
    â€œMe either,” Kassidy mumbled, still perplexed by the feelings running through her. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to go so hard—”
    â€œHard?” Romero laughed, cutting her off. “Kassidy, you can go as hard as you like with me. A little tongue would’ve been okay, too. I don’t just go around hanging out with girls all night for nothing. You may not be able to tell, but I’m not exactly easy for a girl to get. I have standards.” He laughed again.
    Kassidy turned and saw heartache in Yummy’s eyes, and knew without hesitation that Romero was the most important person on Yummy’s list of prom choices. She didn’t care how many names were on it; Romero was the one Yummy really liked.
    â€œExcuse me?” a deep male voice asked from behind them.
    â€œOh my God,” Yummy muttered loud enough for all to hear. She walked down the porch steps dragging her jaw on the ground.
    Romero gave Yummy a strange look, and Kassidy made a mental note of it, then turned and forgot how to speak or blink or breathe or remember. In fact, every guy she’d