“You’re welcome.” He nuzzled her neck as best he could. “If I knew you’d react this way, I would have done it sooner.”
She shoved him away, but she laughed as she did it.
“Want to go do something? I don’t have practice.”
Trudy looked torn, but she shook her head. “I’ve got to get my homework done. I’m way behind, which I think is your fault.”
“Sorry, not sorry.” He kissed her once more then stepped back. “But if you really need to get work done, I’ll understand. I’ve got work to do too.”
She climbed into his car and he took her home. As he watched her walk into her house, he thought about what her sister had said, about them being right for each other. He agreed. Trudy was amazing. And he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
He pulled up in front of his house and noticed his parents’ cars were both there. This wasn’t good. He steeled himself for an argument as he walked up the sidewalk to his door. But he didn’t hear any shouting, so he went in.
His father was sitting on the couch in the living room, and he stood when he saw Lane. “Come here for a minute, son. We need to talk to you.”
Then he noticed his mother sitting in the overstuffed chair. A sinking feeling started in his gut. “What’s this about?”
“It’s a family matter,” his mother said. Her eyes looked puffy and she ducked her head down.
Lane knew what this was about. His mother had finally confessed her affair, and they were getting a divorce. He swallowed hard and sat down on the couch beside his father.
The seconds ticked by, and he grew more impatient. Why didn’t one of them just say it? He already knew what was going on. Just spill it already. He anxiously rubbed his hands together.
His mother exhaled. “Lane, your father and I have been talking.”
He stood up, unable to stand it anymore. “You mean about your affair?” he blurted.
His mother’s eyebrows drew together. “My affair? What are you talking about? I didn’t have an affair.”
She was going to sit there and deny it? Anger surged in him and he pointed at her. “I saw you with another man at the Asian Buffet last week.”
Her face grew pale, and a hand flew to her mouth. “That wasn’t…You misunderstood.”
“Who was it, Cheryl?” his dad asked.
She blinked and lowered her gaze. “That was Henry Gallagher. My attorney.”
His father patted the seat beside him. “Sit down, Lane. Let us explain everything.”
Lane knew where this would end up. If his mother was with an attorney, they were getting a divorce. He sat down beside his father.
“Your mother wasn’t the one who had an affair.” His father lowered his head. “I was.”
“What?” Lane stood again, too upset to be able to sit there, next to him. He paced the room. “You cheated on Mom?”
“It was a while ago, and it’s over now, but it was festering our relationship.”
His mother sniffed but didn’t say anything.
Lane rounded on him. “So, this divorce is your fault.”
“We’re not getting a divorce,” his mother said quietly.
“Wait, what?” Lane stared at her. Hadn’t she said she’d been talking with an attorney? What was going on?
“I was talking to a divorce attorney. Even got the papers drawn up. But in the end, I couldn’t do it.” She blinked back tears. “I don’t want to divorce your father.”
His dad stood up. “We’re going to start family counseling. All of us. Together.”
Lane’s gaze bounced between his parents. Counseling? Not a divorce? Relief poured through him like cold water. “You’re not splitting up?”
“No.” His father walked to his mother and took her hand. “We have issues we need to work on. But we’d like to work on them together. I know you’re just an innocent in all of this, but we’d like you to come with us to our first counseling session. It will be Monday, after school. Do you think you could talk to the coach to see if he’d let you out of football practice?”
Lane shifted his feet. He knew he should tell his parents about being cut from the team, but his dad didn’t take the news about his suspension very well. If he told him now, it would ruin the moment. Good things were happening, finally. Telling them now would erase it all.
“Yeah, I’ll ask,” he said, looking down at the brown carpet. “Can I go to my room now?”
His mother nodded. “Sure.”
Lane sprinted down the hallway to his bedroom and shut the door. His father was going to kill him when he found out, but he just couldn’t say it. Not after learning his parents were finally going to work on things. Counseling. Wow. He never thought his parents would agree to do that. He was shocked.
He changed out of his jersey into a comfortable T-shirt, his mind still reeling over what his parents told him. He pulled out his books and sat at his desk to catch up on his schoolwork, but he was too hyper to concentrate. Finally, he couldn’t stand not talking about it anymore and messaged Trudy.
Guess what. My mom isn’t having an affair.
Her response came back quickly. Are you serious? That’s great news!
Sorry for bothering you while you’re trying to study.
Three dots appeared, telling him she was typing. I haven’t been super successful.
Why?
I’m distracted.
Lane smiled as he responded. Thinking about my lips? When she didn’t answer, he chuckled. You are, aren’t you? You’re thinking about them right now, I can tell.
Shut up.
He pressed his camera app and pursed his lips, taking a close up. He sent her the photo.
You’re such a child.
Lane laughed then texted back. But now you want me. Admit it.
He waited for her to text back, but instead, his phone rang. He answered it with a swipe. “Hey.”
“Don’t you have homework to do too?” He might have been afraid she was annoyed with him, but he could hear the smile in her voice.
“Yes. But I’m bored with it.”
She made a scoffing noise. “Bored? You just dropped me off like forty-five minutes ago. You can’t be bored already.”
“You’re underestimating the power of my boredom.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to suck it up, because you already promised we’d go to New Haven tomorrow.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I’m looking forward to meeting Izzy.”
“You’ll like her. She’s excited we’re coming. She wants to take you to Zippy Burger.”
He laughed. “Sounds gross.”
“I know, but they’re so good. You have to try the peanut butter one.”
“No way. I’m not taking any more food advice from you after those mussels.”
Trudy’s giggle carried through the line. He liked her laugh. He liked entirely too much about her. “Trust me on this,” she said. “You won’t regret it.”
“Do you want to come over?” He ran his hand over his hair, cringing. He hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But he wanted to be with her. He was such a sap.
She sighed heavily into the phone. “I can’t, Lane. I have to keep my grades up.”
“We could study together.”
She was silent for a few moments, and he wondered if he’d lost her, but then she said, “I really shouldn’t.”
“But you know you want to.” What was he doing? Was he mental? Why was he so into this girl? He closed his eyes and shook his head.
She blew out another breath. “All right.”
“All right?” Why was he back to begging her to spend time with him, and she was back to sounding like she’d rather go get braces? He thought they’d moved past that stage.
“Let me finish this paper, then I can come over. But we’re going to study.” She stretched the word out. “Nothing else.”
“Okay, but sometimes you get a bit handsy. I might have to fight you off.”
Trudy didn’
t say anything, but he felt her eye-roll through the phone. “I’ll text you when I’m ready to come over.”
“Sounds good.” He hung up with Trudy, suddenly anxious to get as much of his homework done as possible, so he didn’t look lame when she arrived. Then he shook his head. Doing homework? To impress a girl? He must be falling hard.
Chapter 20
Trudy leaned closer to Lane as he tapped the end of his pencil on his textbook. “What are you doing?”
“Studying.”
“You’ve been studying this same page for the last half-hour.” She grabbed his pencil so he would stop making the annoying noise. “What’s wrong?”
He shut his biology book and tossed it onto the ottoman. “Nothing. I just can’t concentrate.”
She scowled at him. “See? It wasn’t a good idea for me to come over. Now you’re distracted by me.”
A devilish gleam came into his eyes and he brushed his knuckles across her neck, sending a shiver over her skin. “Babe, you don’t have to be anywhere near me to distract me.”
She shoved him away. “Geesh. Get back to work.”
He huffed, but she could tell he was trying not to smile. “Meanie.”
He picked his book back up and turned to the same page. After ten more minutes of him just staring at the same page, she set her paper down and grabbed his book from him. “Why are you stuck on this page?”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I just can’t understand it. The words don’t make sense. What does ecology have to do with conversation?”
She tried not to laugh. “It’s conservation. You know, like conserving water?”
His cheeks reddened and he shook his head. “Oh. I’m stupid.”
“Wait.” She stared down at the book. “Do you misread words often?”
“Some of us aren’t bound for some fancy college,” he said flatly, grabbing the book back from her.
“No, I didn’t mean…” She stopped when she saw the look of frustration on his face. “If you have trouble reading words, you might have dyslexia.”
He scowled at her and she touched his arm. “Izzy has dyslexia. It’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s a learning disorder, something you can’t help.”
He stared at her, and she wasn’t sure if he was upset or not. She leaned closer. “It doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It means you’re working harder than everyone else to understand the same things.”
The clock ticked as she waited for him to respond. Finally, he said, “Izzy has it?”
“Yes. It totally doesn’t mean you’re stupid.”
“Dyslexia,” he said softly, as if trying out the word on his tongue. “How do I know if I have it?”
“There are tests you can take. I think Izzy’s doctor gave them to her and her parents. It asks you how long it took you to learn to read when you were a kid, stuff like that.”
“Took me forever to learn to read. The kids used to tease me about it. I just thought I was dumb.”
The way he said it made Trudy’s heart ache for him. “You should talk to your parents about this. They could get you an appointment with the doctor. It’s not something you can take a pill for, but there might be some allowances the school can give you to make it easier on you.”
His eyes widened. “Do you think they might believe me then about not cheating off your paper?”
Trudy had almost allowed herself to forget about Lane cheating off her test. She had pushed that to the back of her mind because she didn’t want to deal with the fact that he was a lying, manipulating jerk. And now, here he was, trying to get out of the consequences.
Lane looked so hopeful, she felt kind of bad having to douse him with reality. “I don’t think so. The video clearly showed you looking at my paper.”
His shoulders slumped. “You know I wasn’t cheating, right?”
She wasn’t going to let him manipulate her into feeling sorry for him. “Did you look at my paper?”
“Well, yes, but only to figure out the question. Not the answer.”
She stared at him. “I don’t understand.”
He grunted and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t explain it. The questions didn’t make sense to me. But I swear I didn’t look at how you answered them. I looked at how you started them. Then I was able to figure out the rest.”
Trudy’s throat swelled shut. Was this true? Was Lane trying to figure out the question instead of copying her answer? Her fingers trembled as she tried to think what this could mean. If he wasn’t meaning to cheat, then maybe he wasn’t the kind of person she’d thought. Was it possible she’d misjudged him?
She needed to watch the film again. It should be obvious if he was telling her the truth or lying. “I’ll talk to Mr. Brown on Monday.”
Lane’s eyebrows shot up. “You will?”
“I don’t know if it will help, but I’ll talk to him and tell him what we suspect. Maybe he will reconsider.”
Lane pulled her close and she allowed herself to snuggle into his chest. Man, he had a nice chest. “Thanks,” he said, his voice husky.
Trudy didn’t know if he was telling her the truth, but if he did have dyslexia, it was quite possible he wasn’t trying to cheat like he’d said. The thought made her heart light.
Maybe Lane really was a nice guy. She breathed in the light scent of his T-shirt and closed her eyes, allowing herself to believe the possibility that things between them could be real.
She felt his heartbeat through the fabric of his shirt. She pressed her hand against it and looked up into his blue eyes. Jessica was right. His eyes were to die for. A force beyond herself pulled her to him. She was powerless to stop it.
Her lips touched his in a soft caress. He kissed her back, slow and gentle. If this was real, she was the luckiest girl in the world because Lane was the perfect boyfriend. He was always thinking of her. And going out of his way to do nice things for her. And kissing him was amazing.
After she explored his lips thoroughly, she pulled back and looked into his eyes. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I can’t wait until Homecoming. You’re going to be beautiful.”
Emotions surged in her. Was Lane the handsome, genuine guy she’d come to know? Or was he just playing with her, trying to win a bet? She stared at him, trying to unlock the secret. His blue eyes revealed nothing, and she sighed.
“Yeah, I can’t wait for it either.”
Chapter 21
Trudy woke the next day to the sound of a million texts coming through on her phone.
Today is the day!
You’re still coming, right?
You and Lane?
You haven’t told me anything about him yet!
Girl, answer your phone.
Is he your boyfriend?
Trudy-Patootie! ANSWER YOUR PHONE!
Trudy smiled at the stupid name Izzy gave her in third grade and texted her back. Sorry, I was ASLEEP. Sheesh.
Well, tell me. Lane. Boyfriend?
Trudy bit her lip. She didn’t want to tell Izzy about the bet. That would be embarrassing. Plus, she wasn’t sure what was going on. She wanted to believe the kisses between them were real. They sure felt real. But uncertainty kept creeping in.
Izzy didn’t have to know all that, though, so she quickly answered.
Yes. Boyfriend.
Three dots appeared, letting her know Izzy was typing.
Holy cow, girl! I can’t believe you’re dating. You totally deserve it. I can’t wait to meet him.
The word ‘dating’ jumped out at her. It really did feel like they were dating. If she were being honest with herself, she wanted it to be true so badly, she could taste it. Trudy didn’t want to ponder over it anymore, though. She texted back.
See you soon.
She set her phone down on the nightstand and crawled out of bed. Lane would pick her up in an hour. She needed to get in the shower.
Trudy let the water run on her a little longer than normal. The heat felt good on her back.
But thoughts of Lane and his devastatingly gorgeous eyes kept plaguing her. Why did he have to be so good-looking? Her body reacted to him. She couldn’t help it. And now that there was a possibility he wasn’t a horrible person, she just didn’t know what to think.
It was messing with her head.
She turned off the water and grabbed her towel. Maybe she should just ignore the nagging feeling that he was only in this for the bet and go with whatever happened. Today could be just a day with her boyfriend, visiting her best friend. That’s it.
She dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, her favorite jacket finishing the outfit. She grabbed a scarf that matched her shirt. Izzy always looked amazing, and she didn’t want to be the frumpy one.
The doorbell chimed and her pulse jumped. A zillion butterflies clamored to get out of her stomach. When she opened the door and Lane stood there in a white T-shirt and leather jacket, a serious James Dean look going on, she about melted into a gooey mess right there on the hardwood floor. “Hi,” she managed to squeak out.
“Wow, you look great.”
His words sent a surge of pleasure through her, and she smiled. “Thanks.”
He glanced around. “Any sign of Jasper yet?”
Sadness enveloped her as she shook her head, biting her lip so she wouldn’t start crying. “No.”
Lane’s smile dropped. “Oh. I’m sorry. I was hoping…”
“No, he hasn’t come home.”
“Well, I’m sure he’s okay,” Lane said quickly.
“I hope so.”
Trudy got into his car. They spent the trip to New Haven listening to the radio and talking about school. When Lane pulled up in front of Izzy’s house, he gasped. “Is this it? Are you freakin’ kidding me? She lives in a mansion?”
“Her dad’s some bigshot software designer.” It was just Izzy’s house to her. “Come on, let’s go.” She couldn’t wait to see her best friend.
Before she was able to get out of the car, Izzy came running out of her house. She’d gotten a pixie haircut since the last time they’d video chatted, and she’d dyed the ends bright pink. Izzy screamed and hugged Trudy so tight, she thought she would pass out. “You’re here!”
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