Read Unconditional for Free Online Page B

mean, he’s hardly your type is he? And then there’s the whole jail thing.’
    I lean back, kind of shocked. I thought she would be excited for me, and since when does Dannii care about my ‘type’? She’s always trying to encourage me to go for boys more like the ones she goes for and okay, jail is pretty bad, but at least he’s not a stoner like Dean. I don’t say that to her though. Instead I give her Joe’s version of the events that got him into trouble. Dannii just shrugs.
    ‘He’s not going to admit he’s a complete thug is he? Especially when he’s trying to get into your knickers.’
    I scowl at her crude words and have to bite back theretort that I’m not like her. In all honesty, the thought of Joe getting into said knickers fills me with as much excitement as it does nerves, but I don’t say that to her either. The whole conversation just isn’t going the way I expected it to, and there’s an unspoken barrier between us that I don’t understand.
    ‘Is everything okay?’ I ask, wondering if I’ve been too busy chattering about myself to notice Dannii might have problems of her own.
    ‘Sure, babe.’ She puts her hand on my knee. ‘I’m just looking out for you. I don’t want you to get mixed up in anything bad.’
    I frown, remembering something Joe said as we were walking home.
    ‘I thought you and Dean were trying to set me up with him? Isn’t that why you invited me round the other night?’
    Dannii gives this little laugh.
    ‘Oh, that was Dean’s idea. But I didn’t actually expect the two of you to like each other.’
    ‘Well, apparently we do.’ I try to smile, but something about Dannii’s whole attitude has put a dampener on my fizzing spirits. ‘I’ve never had a date before, I thought you’d be giving me advice on clothes and what not to do on the back seat,’ I joke. Dannii just gives a tight smile.
    ‘Who actually goes on dates anymore anyway?’ she says as if she’s old hat at all this. ‘He’s probably just trying to take advantage, Ash, and knows you’re a bit of a square.’
    That’s it, I’m pissed off. I glare at her, completely at a loss for a comeback, I’m so wrong-footed by her whole attitude, but she goes on relentlessly, as if she hasn’t just totally insulted me. ‘You’re a virgin for God’s sake, Ash. Do you really think he’ll be interested when he realises you’re a no go zone? I bet he’s had loads of girls.’
    That stings. Not least because the thought has crossedmy mind already.
    ‘Not everything is about sex,’ I snap, even though I know the feelings that Joe stirs up in me are a hell of a lot about sex, even if that is a subject I’m less than experienced in. Never before has Dannii thrown anything like this in my face, if anything she’s always seemed quite proud of me. Perhaps she is just looking out for me.
    ‘Maybe it’s time I took the plunge.’ The thought makes my heart race. With Joe? Maybe that is all he wants, isn’t that the case with all teenage boys? But I think of the way he looked at me in the café earlier and don’t want to believe it. If that’s all he was after, why would he bother with a girl like me? As a challenge? The thought of him discussing me with Dean makes me feel sick.
    ‘Well, I said yes to Wednesday,’ I say, less certain of myself now. Dannii’s face lights up in a sudden smile.
    ‘I’ve got it, why don’t we double date? Then I can suss out what he’s up to, and you don’t have to worry about him trying anything.’ She looks pleased with herself.
    ‘I don’t know, I think he meant for it to just be the two of us,’ I try to protest, but Dannii waves a hand airily.
    ‘Don’t be daft, it’ll be much more fun. I’ll text Dean now,’ she whips her phone out of her pocket and I give a resigned sigh. She’s just being a protective best friend after all, and I barely know Joe. He intimidated me at first, so maybe a double date isn’t such a bad idea. Perhaps Dannii is, for