by McKayla Box
He's smiling. “I'm here to take you to the dentist.”
I hold up the slip. “You did this?”
“Maybe,” he says. “Come on.”
“What? No. I can't. Wait,” I say, shaking my head. “Are you saying you schedule a dentist appointment so I could leave school?”
He laughs. “No. I called the front office and pretended to be your dad and I told them you had a dentist appointment so they'd send you a blue slip.”
“What the hell?”
“Come on,” he says, reaching for my hand. “We need to talk.”
I pull my hand away. “No. I don't wanna get in trouble.”
“You won't, I swear,” he says. “I've done this a thousand times. Trust me.”
Trust me.
“Look, if there's any problem, I'll take the blame,” he says. “I'll tell your dad or the principal or whoever that I did it and you had no clue. Cool?”
“Where are we going?” I whisper.
He smiles at me and reaches for my hand again. “Just come on.”
The smile weakens me and I let him pull me down the hallway. I'm checking over my shoulder the whole time, convinced someone is going to come running after us and tell me how much trouble I'm in. But we make it out the door and to his truck in the parking lot. I climb up into the passenger seat and he drives us out of the lot at a normal speed, which might be the first time I've ever seen him do the speed limit in the school parking lot.
He heads toward the beach, but pulls into the drive thru of a taco shack on the way there. He orders a couple of breakfast burritos and hands me the bag when he gets them. Steam drifts from the bag and they smell delicious.
The beach is mostly empty and he guides the truck into a spot up against the boardwalk. The sand is smooth and the ocean is like glass, with barely any waves rising out of it.
I hand him the bag when he turns the truck off
“Don't you want one?” he asks. “I got two.”
“I ate breakfast.”
He makes a face and pulls one out. He pulls off the foil and more steam wafts into the cab. Bits of egg and bacon are leaking out of the sides of the fluffy tortilla.
I hesitate, then take it from him.
He laughs. “Thought so.”
We eat in silence for a few minutes, watching the water and enjoying the food. It's weird being here in the middle of the morning, when I know I should be sitting in a desk, trying to memorize equations.
And I'm still not sure why we're here.
When he finishes, he wads up the foil and drops it bag in the bag. I do the same. He folds the top over the bag and sets it on the floor. Then he leans back against his door, looking at me.
“What?” I ask.
“I figured this was the only way I could get you to listen to me without running away,” he says.
“Kidnapping me?”
“Call it what you want,” he says. “But you've been a serious pain in my ass the last couple of days.”
“Me? I've been a pain in the ass?”
He nods slowly. “Yes.”
“If you brought me here just to tell me how much I suck, then I'm happy to walk back to school,” I say.
“I didn't say anything about sucking,” he says, smiling. “Yet.”
“Trevor, I'm serious,” I tell him. “I'm not in the mood to listen to any bullshit.”
“Then listen very carefully to this.” He leans across the cab and I press myself back into the door. “I. Am. Not. Interested. In. Athena.”
There's an intensity in his eyes that's been missing. It makes me want to believe him.
“I shouldn't have lied about going to get food when I should've met you down here at the beach,” he says. “My dad called me home and I went. I should've been upfront and I wasn't. I won't do that again. I swear. But I haven't lied to you about anything else. I haven't called her. I haven't texted her.” He pauses. “And I haven't touched her, Presley. Not once. I'm not interested in her.”
“What am I supposed to think when I show up and she's in your room?” I ask. “Think about if it was reversed. You would've lost your mind.”
He nods. “Yeah, I would've. And you'd have to talk me down the same way I'm talking you down. Look, I can't control who my dad does business with or invites to our house. I just can't. I'll do my best to stay away from her if that's what you want, but I can't sit here and tell you she'll never be in my house again.”
It's a fair answer, but not one that makes me any happier. I know that he doesn't have any control over that stuff, but giving Athena more opportunities to wear him down is enough to make me sick to my stomach. I need to give him more credit than that, though. Just because she wants him doesn't mean he wants her. If our relationship is real in any way, I have to trust that what he tells me is the truth.
But that's hard for me.
I lean back against the door and fold my arms over my chest. “Tell me about her?”
He laughs. “Like, what? Her likes and dislikes or shit like that?”
I frown. “No. I mean, like,...whatever went on with you guys.”
He lays his arms across the back of the seats and runs a hand through his hair, looking out the windshield for a second, before turning back to me. “Okay. We went to elementary school together. And middle school. And you know how you just sort of get paired up with someone?”
“No.”
“Pres, I'm trying here.”
“I'm serious,” I say. “I don't know. I didn't have friends in Virginia and I didn't have some boyfriend all the way back in elementary school. So I don't know.”
He studies me for a second, then nods. “Okay. I think in maybe third grade she passed me a note. Something about liking me. You know, that shit where you check a box, yes or no?” He laughs. “Just something dumb like that. But from then on, we were sort of just looked at as a couple or whatever you call little kids who don't know shit but pretend to like each other.” He pauses. “She was the first girl I kissed. In seventh grade.”
“Gross,” I say.
He laughs. “Hey, you asked for this shit. I can stop any time.”
“Keep going.”
He smiles. “Glutton for punishment.”
“Shut up and keep talking.”
He laughs again. “Okay. So, yeah. Middle school dances and all that shit. It was just like we were supposed to be together and with our parents spending time together, it just sort of seemed like...that's the way it was gonna be. People just start assuming you're going to be a couple or fucking whatever you wanna call it.” He pauses. “I wasn't crazy about that. So I started fucking around.”
“Meaning, what?”
“Messing around with other girls,” he says. “I didn't want to be looked at as, like, the class couple or whatever. I'm so not down with that shit. And people were already talking about us like that's how we were gonna end up.” He shakes his head. “I wasn't cool with that.”
“But you stayed with her,” I say.
He hesitates, then nods, like he doesn't want to admit it. “Yeah, more or less. I mean, we did the on again, off again, drama bullshit at the start of high school. But that doesn't really mean anything. Tenth grade, I guess, we sort of got serious. Or, as serious as you can be in tenth grade.”
“This is still turning my stomach,” I tell him.
“I can stop at any time.”
“Keep going.”
He laughs again. “If you say so. Tenth grade we get serious, eleventh is the same. Some fighting and shit like that, but we're definitely a couple.”
“And you're definitely having sex,” I say.
“That was before junior year.”
“Jesus.”
“Look, you're asking for this and I said I wouldn't lie,” he says. “So you gotta deal with what you're gonna hear.”
“Whatever.”
“You wanna know when we had sex?”
“Fuck no,” I tell him, but there's a morbid curiosity that I can't shak
e. “I don't want those details. But she was your first?”
He nods. “Yeah. And there were others after her before we got serious.”
“I didn't need to fucking know that,” I tell him, my stomach lurching.
He laughs. “I thought you wanted a full rundown. Names, positions--”
“Oh my god shut up,” I say. “No. I'm asking about Bitch Face only.”
He laughs again. “Right. Just trying to make sure I cover everything.”
“You're so full of shit and you're enjoying this way too much,” I say.
He smiles. “Maybe a little.”
“Continue.”
He glances out the windshield at the water. “So, we're together. And then she tells me she's moving. Had no idea it was coming and I wasn't ready for it.” His smile dims a little. “I didn't know how to handle it. I thought she was gonna wanna stay together, so I asked her first. You know, trying to be in charge and all that shit. And I think I had it in my head that a long distance relationship would be, like, cool or something. I don't know.” He pauses, then looks at me. “But she told me no. She didn't wanna do it and we were over.”
All of this is a side I haven't seen from him before. He's pulling back the curtain on a part of his life that feels different from the part I know. I like it. It makes me trust him.
It makes me love him more.
“So she leaves and I just sort of start running through chicks,” he says.
I hold up a hand. “Stop. I don't wanna know.”
He laughs. “Right. Sorry. But I was pissed and I think in my head, I thought that if I did that, it would make me feel better and piss her off. I don't know if it pissed her off. Hell, I don't even know if she knows. But it didn't make me feel better.” He pauses, staring at me. “Until I saw you on the beach.” He reaches out and puts his hand on my cheek. “I saw you on that board, then saw you on the beach, and I just knew.”
“Knew what?” I ask, pressing his hand to my cheek.
“That I had to have you,” he says. “You were all sassy and shit when we came up to you and that was even hotter.” He laughs. “You walked away from us and I told the boys you were gonna be mine. No fucking doubt.”
“Bullshit.”
“Ask them,” he says, lowering his voice. “Ask them what I said.”
I don't say anything because I don't really think he's lying.
“And I hadn't thought about Athena for a second since I've been with you,” he says, those eyes bearing down on me. “Not a single second until she texted and showed up. And I didn't care about seeing her or any of that shit. The only thing I thought was that I didn't want this to fuck things up with you.”
“Well, you're off to bang up start,” I tell him.
He laughs and nods. “I know. But I'm trying. And I'm telling you, Pres. You're the one. Not her. I don't care what she says or does. It's not her.” He leans forward and brushes his lips with mine. “It's you.”
My heart hammers inside my chest for all the right reasons. I put my arms around his neck and pull him into me, kissing him for a long time. He's given me the words I need to hear. I'm still scared that he's going to break my heart, that he's feeding me some line, but I also think he's telling me the truth. And I try to focus on that.
He pulls away for a moment. “If you keep kissing me like that, we aren't getting you back to school.”
I slide down the door, underneath him, and pull him down on top of me. “Dentists take forever. We’ve got time.”
TWENTY ONE
“Get in,” Maddie says.
It's lunchtime and I'm standing next to Bridget's parking spot, but her car is gone. I'm wondering where she is. It's weird for her not to show up.
“Where is she?” I ask.
Gina leans across from the passenger seat. “No clue, but she bailed again. Come on.”
I get in the back of Maddie's car and we head out of the lot.
“I saw her car was gone as soon as we walked out,” Gina says. “And she bailed on coming over to my house last night. Didn't text me until middle of the night.”
“What was her reason?” I ask.
“She didn't give me one,” Gina says. “Just said she was sorry she didn't come over and she'd see me today at school. Which, uh, she has not.”
I leaned back in my seat. “Where would she go?”
“You guys want something other than burgers?” Maddie asks from behind the wheel. “I'm not feeling that scene today at The Hut.”
Gina and I both agree and Maddie drives us to Juanito's, a small taco shack across the road from the beach. We order our food and take a seat at the wooden picnic table next to the shack. It's quiet and I can smell the ocean. It's nice to be out of the fishbowl scene that The Hut normally is.
“So what do we think is going on with her?” Maddie asks, sticking a fork in her taco salad. “Is it this new dude?”
Gina unwraps the wax paper from her burrito. “Has to be. Has to be.” She glances at me. “She said anything to you?”
I shake my head, pulling the paper off my taco. Steam wafts upward and I lean back. “Nothing. I mean, she told me she hooked up with a guy, but not with who. I don't think I know anymore than you do.”
Gina bits off a big chunk of the burrito, then takes a long drink from her soda. “This better not be another Evan situation.”
“Who's Evan?” I ask.
Maddie rolls her eyes. “Seriously. If it is, this is gonna suck.”
“I know,” Gina says.
“Who the hell is Evan?” I ask again.
“Evan was Evan Alrbright,” Gina says. “Tenth grade. Bridget's first real boyfriend. And he put the douche in douchebag.”
“And the bag in bag,” Maddie says, spearing a piece of carne asada with her fork. “Total asshole.”
“And Bridge couldn't even see it,” Gina adds. “Like, it took forever for her to figure it out.”
“Didn't she walk in on him doing Erica Whatsherface?” Maddie asks.
“Erica Braggard,” Gina says. “And yep. And that still almost wasn't enough for her to kick his ass to the curb.”
“Wait,” I say. “Back up. Who was he?”
“I don't even remember how they got together,” Gina says. “I just remember that once they were together, they were together. Or at least she thought they were. I think we both knew something was up.”
“I knew that kid was a dick in sixth grade,” Maddie says, shaking her head. “Little fucking weasel. But he was pretty good looking and he decided he liked her and Bridge never really had a boyfriend before, she sort of went all in.”
Gina bites off another chunk of burrito and take a drink from the soda. “But the fucker was cheating on her almost immediately. We sort of thought that and tried to tell her, but she wasn't having it.” She spreads her arms wide. “She was in love and blind to everything.”
Maddie nods in agreement. “Totally. She didn't see anything expect his baby blues. And his naked ass, apparently.” She looks at me. “They were doing it left and right. He was her first.”
I nod. “Got it.”
“But while he was sleeping with her, he was also dicking around with about three other girls,” Gina says. “It sort of got obvious, but she didn't wanna see it. Maddie and I were losing our minds.”
“And she just wasn't hanging out with us anymore,” Maddie says. “And, like, I got it. She had a guy and she was into him and that's cool. We don't all have to be attached to the hip. But she was totally ghosting the shit out of us. We didn't see her for lunch for weeks and then she'd tell us she'd meet us after school or at The Hump or whatever.”
“And...nada,” Gina says. “She was just out. And she'd apologize and stuff and it was fine. We were probably irritated more than mad, but it was starting to stuck. And that was mainly because we knew Evan was an asshole.”
Maddie nods in agreement.
“So what ended up happening?” I ask in between bites of the taco.
“We
ll, we staged an intervention of sorts,” Maddie says, breaking off a piece of the shell serving as her salad bowl. “We pried her away from that asshat one night and took her to dinner.”
“And I literally said 'hey, he's fucking around on you,'” Gina says. “I literally had to say it out loud.”
“How did she react?” I ask.
“She was pissed,” Maddie answers. “Super pissed. We could barely get her to listen to us. But once we got her calmed down, she started paying attention. And then she called him and asked him.”
Gina laughs. “Right there at the table with us. It was kind of awesome. And of course that peckerhead told her he had no idea what we were talking about, that we were full of shit, blah blah blah. But we'd planted the seed and I think she was on guard.”
“So when she walked in on him taking Erica Whatshername from behind at Pete Yelich's house, she wasn't totally surprised,” Maddie says. “But it stung. Hard.”
I think about how I reacted to the idea of Trevor even being near Athena. I can't imagine walking in on him having sex with her. My stomach turns.
“She finally shook loose of him,” Gina says. “But it took some work. And I think she's been gun-shy ever since. Which I get. And which is why I do 'em and ditch 'em.”
We all laugh.
“But this not showing up for lunch thing?” Maddie says, pointing her fork at me. “This is exactly what started happening. And I don't want to jump to conclusions because may it's a totally different thing.” She shakes her head. “But this is just what it was like before. Or at least it feels like it.”
“Agreed,” Gina says, nodding.
I know their concern is more out of worry than feeling like Bridget has ditched us. If I've learned one thing about these three girls, it's that they don't do the whole back-stabbing, jealous thing with each other. They don't judge, they don't meddle, and they support.
The way girlfriends should.
I ball up the wax paper from the taco. “I guess there's just one thing to do then.”
They both look at me.
I smile. “Figure out who this dude is so we can figure out if he's good enough for Bridge.”
TWENTY TWO
“Motherfucker!” Brett yells.