The Last Best Kiss by Claire LaZebnik Page A

packing. The taxi to the airport’s coming early in the morning. Dad didn’t want to give up his training session at the gym to drive her. “Not after that huge meal,” he said cheerfully, when he told her to call the cab company.
    “Flirting? Don’t be ridiculous.” Lizzie holds up a pair of shorts. “Are these too long? Do they look like mom shorts to you? I mean, not our mom—she couldn’t squeeze into these if her life depended on it. But you know what I mean.”
    “They’re fine. You can always roll the bottoms up. But didn’t you see how Ginny kept touching his arm? And she kept telling him how brilliant he was. . . . You really didn’t see that?”
    “She was just being friendly. That’s how she is.” She smirks. “You should try it sometime.”
    I ignore that. “I just thought it was weird.”
    “Plus she’s only a couple of years older than me. Dad’s not a cradle robber.”
    “He’s dated younger women before.”
    “Not that young. And even if he did, Ginny’s not his type. I know Dad better than you.” That’s a frequent refrain from her: how close she and Dad are. How similar they are. How Molly and I are more like Mom, which she pretends isn’t an insult but we all know is one. “What about these pants?” She holds up jeans with a floral print. “I thought they were kind of cool at the store, but now I’m thinking they’re stupid. You want them?”
    “Not after you called them stupid.”
    “They’d probably be too tight on you, anyway. They barely fit me .”
    I give up and leave the room, telling her I have to do homework. We forget to say good-bye that night, and she’s gone by the time I get up the next morning.

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    HarperCollins Publishers
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    four
    A few days later, Lucy and I are studying together at the Starbucks near school when Jackson Levy walks in with a guy I don’t know. Lucy bounces up from her chair and calls out to Jackson, who waves before placing his order with the barista.
    Lucy gazes at him as she sits back down. “He’s so perfect,” she says. “Have you ever seen anything so perfect?”
    He is handsome in a beefy all-American sort of way, with a killer body. Even from fifteen feet away, I can see his biceps bulge where his T-shirt sleeves end.
    “I hear he’s gotten three offers from colleges already,” Lucy says dreamily. “They all want him for their lacrosse teams. He told me that Yale is his number one choice. Which is yet another reason we belong together—it’s mine too.”
    “Yeah, but the odds of both of you ending up there—”
    “I can dream, can’t I?” She sneaks another look at him. “I love that he’s so built. I could never date anyone short or skinny.”
    “You have a serious daddy complex,” I say.
    “No, I don’t. I just like the way it feels to get crushed against a big, strong chest.”
    “Yeah, that’s not how a little girl feels with her dad at all .”
    “Shut up.”
    Once Jackson and his friend get their enormous iced triple venti drinks, they come over to our table. “Hey,” Jackson says.
    “Hey,” Lucy says, beaming.
    Jackson introduces the guy he’s with, whose name is Wade Porter. He has gray-blue eyes and wavy black hair and is wearing a crimson Harvard T-shirt. He’s a lot more slender than Jackson, and since I don’t have Lucy’s daddy’s-girl issues, I prefer that. He is, in fact, totally attractive.
    “Anna and Lucy go to school with me,” Jackson tells him.
    “Wait a second,” Wade says. “You go to Sterling Woods?” We both say yes. He looks at me intently. “And your name is Anna? You’re not Anna Eliot, are you?”
    “Yeah. Why? Am I famous?”
    “This is going to sound weird, but you and I are related.”
    “Seriously?” I’ve never heard of him before. “Is this some kind of new pickup line?”
    “Nope.” He grabs a chair from another table and sits on it. Jackson does