Save Me
Page 12
Cole squirmed in his seat.
“I bet he threw up every bite first chance he got,” I sniggered. I should stay quiet. I knew I should. I just couldn’t seem to help myself.
Brianna gasped. “Did you?”
“Seriously, Jo-”
“Don’t talk to her! Tell me.” Brianna was good and mad at this point and I was downright glad we were pulling down our street. Although, I was a little concerned about how I was going to get out of the car since one of them would have to let me out. I was betting Brianna would be the first to make a move.
“Yeah, Cole. Tell her.” I don’t know why I was enjoying his discomfort so much, but I was downright entertained. Maybe it was because I was smashed into the leather seat where I knew they spent time making out.
Cole made eye contact in the mirror again.
I stuck out my tongue.
The muscles in his jaw twitched.
He pursed his lips. He was holding back a laugh!
Cole swung into his driveway and threw his car into park. Brianna didn’t waste any time jumping from her seat and pulling it forward, so I could get out.
“Thanks for the ride, Cole,” I snickered as I scooted across the seat.
“Anytime. Thanks for getting me in trouble with my girlfriend.” He slid his hands through his hair.
“Anytime,” I repeated and lifted myself out of the backseat.
Brianna stood, glaring, her arms folded across her chest.
I gave her my cheekiest smile and wiggled my fingers in her direction.
“I’ll get you in the morning, Jo,” Cole shouted from inside the car.
“Thanks,” I called back, entertained by the storm brewing in Brianna’s eyes.
It was silly, I knew that, I thought as I made my way across the street to my house. Brianna was Cole’s girlfriend. I had no business wanting to sabotage their relationship, let alone doing it. Suddenly, I felt remorse. Not really for anything I’d said in the car, that had all been true, and teasing Cole was funny. But I did feel bad for the result of riling Brianna up and leaving Cole to deal with it. That hadn’t been nice of me. Cole had done me a favor by giving me a ride home.
Beyond all that, I knew I wanted to make Brianna mad because I had more history with Cole and still felt some kind of claim on him. But that was silly. I had relinquished whatever claim I had on Cole, as a friend or anything else, a long time ago. Getting all frustrated because he’d moved on was ridiculous and small.
I made my way to the front door without the usual trepidation, my mind still on Cole and Brianna and my feelings about all of it. I wish I’d been paying more attention.
Chapter 17
Cole
I had to hand it to her. Joie sure knew how to make an exit. You’d never guess it, but she certainly has a flair for drama. Wishing with all my heart I didn’t have to, I got out of my car and faced the music. And by music, I mean Brianna. One thing I kind of liked about Brianna was her predictability. With Joie one never knew what one was going to get. Moody. Sweet. Contemplative. Playful. Sad. Hyper. Unresponsive. There was no end to the different Joie’s all smashed into her tiny little body.
Brianna, on the other hand, wasn’t such a mixed bag. Brianna was driven by getting the most bang for her buck. Take me for instance. For whatever reason, I’m at the top of the high school hierarchy. In this particular microcosm, I somehow floated to the top. Am I better looking than all the other guys in my school? Maybe. Am I a better athlete than everyone else? Sometimes. Am I the best student? Meh. Am I the nicest? The smartest? The hardest worker? The biggest whatever? No. I’m not. But I am probably just a little bit of all those things, plus I have a great family supporting me and have had a charmed life for the most part.
And so there I was, sitting on top of the world. And more than anything else Brianna wanted to be on top of the world, with me if she had to, but without would be okay, too. If I had to guess, Brianna saw me as her ticket. Next year I would go play football at Notre Dame. And if all my hard work pays off, I will enter the NFL Draft at the end of my four years. And Brianna thinks she sees her future playing out right by my side.
I had no delusions about our relationship. If my buddy, Brent, or any of those guys were at the top, Brianna would be dating one of them. It’s fine. I knew this going in. My emotions were not engaged. I cared about Brianna. And she was gorgeous. And honestly, if my life pans out the way it could, she would be lovely arm candy for a long, long time.
When I hit puberty, my dad sat down with me and had The Talk. You know the one, I don’t need to go into any details. He walked me through the changes and the feelings and impressed upon me the virtues of cold showers and long runs. The summer before high school, my dad sat me down again. This time his talk had nothing to do with my body and changes but had everything to do with girls.
According to my dad, I had a responsibility. My responsibility was protection. And not the kind you’re thinking about. Although, he talked to me about that, too. His advice was that I shouldn’t ever need it if I was taking the other part of my responsibility seriously. Dad told me about girls and their insecurities. He told me about looking outside of myself and my wants and desires, to be aware of what a girl needs and wants. He told me about respect and trust and love. And being the smart aleck, I was, I told him I already knew all this stuff. I’d been watching him all my life, hadn’t I?
So, that summer when I was so hell bent on making Joie my girlfriend, I thought about all the things my dad had taught me. I was respectful. Loyal. I worked to be as worthy as I could be. I loved her.
And it was perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
My heart was broken, and I vowed to never give another girl that kind of power over me. So, Brianna was perfect. She didn’t expect more from me than a fast-track ticket to the top. She got her popularity and I got some pretty sweet make out sessions and we were good. We never fought or argued. She loved it that I was the star of the team, so she never gave me a hard time about practice. She and her friends loved to shop and do their girl stuff, so I had time to hang out with the guys.
Perfect.
Getting out of my car, it occurred to me the only thing we hadn’t really had to deal with in our relationship- jealousy. While my heart may not have been engaged, my behavior was all in. In eight months, I had never given Brianna any reason to doubt my complete and utter devotion to her. And in one short car ride from the high school to my house, Joie had ripped it all to shreds.
I couldn’t even feel sorry about it, except I didn’t want to face the firing squad.
“Since when are you buddy-buddy with Joie Warner?” Brianna’s posture warned me she was gearing up for a fight. Hands on hips. Lips in a firm line. Eyebrow cocked angrily.
“Are you coming in,” I asked on a long sigh. Without waiting for her to answer, I trudged up the walk to the front steps. Inside, the house glowed warmly. I wished I could just take Brianna home and curl up on my bed with SportsCenter and my Calculus homework.
Brianna’s heels clicked loud on the icy drive and I figured I should have let her hold onto me, so she didn’t fall. Angry breaths accompanied her steps and any compulsion I felt to be a gentleman waned.
Holding open the front door, I allowed her to storm passed me.
“Cole, is that you,” my mom called from the kitchen.
“Yeah, Bri and I are gonna do homework in the basement.” Brianna wasn’t allowed in my room. Mom caught us kissing one time and that was the end. So, whenever she came over we had to hang out in the basement. It was fine. The basement was comfortable, and no one came down there that much anyway. Although, I was certain my mom regularly sent Macy down to spy on us.
“Hi Brianna,” mom said peeking around the corner from the kitchen. “Cole, I saved you a plate when you’re hungry.”
“Thanks, mom.” I grabbed Brianna’s hand and pulled her down the stairs.
“Cole, stop it!” Brianna tugged her hand, but I held on.
“Cole-” she pulled her lips from mine and I leaned forward connecting again while my fingers played with her skin at her waist. One thing about Brianna, she was never afraid to show some skin.
I didn’t let up until I felt some of the tension leave her shoulders and she began to kiss me back. I told myself I wasn’t a coward. That I just wanted to reassure her about her place in my life. After another moment (for good measure), I lifted my mouth from hers and buried my face in her hair as I held her.
Her arms came around my waist almost reluctantly. “Cole.” My name came breathy and resigned from her lips.
I kissed that soft spot under her ear and I swear she purred. Much better. I liked the contented cat much better than the feisty one.
“Mmm-hmm,” I asked, my teeth toying with her ear.
“Oh, forget it,” she murmured, letting her head fall back, giving me easier access to her neck.
That’s what I’m talking about.
Chapter 18
Joie
The house was quiet, but I’d seen mom’s car in the garage. So, either she’d gotten a ride, or she was home. I wasn’t really interested in finding out either way, I grabbed a soda from the fridge and made my way toward my room.
“Hey, Joie.”
I screamed.
Clutching my heart, I tried to calm my breathing. “What are you doing here?”
Tattoo Man leaned casually against the wall in the dark hallway outside my room. A shiver of true fear raced down my spine.
“Jeanetta let me use her car. I brought it back.”
My mind was going a million miles an hour. Was mom here? Tattoo Man was Davis? Wasn’t Davis the name of business professionals? The first-time mom had mentioned her friend Davis, the image that came to mind was a middle-aged man with loafers and a tweed blazer. ‘Davis’ did not bring to mind thirty-something men with tattoos and piercings.
“Are you Davis?” I had to know if this was the man my mom had been letting borrow her car. If she was allowing him into our house on a regular basis.
Tattoo Man nodded.
My heart sank. For all his casual appearance, Davis’s eyes were alert, calculating. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I was reminded of encounters with my father. But Davis posed a different kind of threat. My father might have hit me and yelled at me, he’d even beaten me with his belt one time, but he’d never touched me. I didn’t think Davis would be like my dad.
“Davis!”
Relief flooded my body at the sound of my mom’s voice coming from the front door. Davis rose from the wall, his eyes never leaving me as he called out to my mom.
“Right here, Jen.”
My mom stumbled into the hall. She wore a cocktail dress with three-inch stilettos. Her blonde hair was curled into an elaborate twist. She was tipsy. Not knock-down drunk, but definitely buzzed.
“Oh, Joie. Have you met Davis?” Mom slipped an arm around Davis’s waist and leaned in to kiss him on the lips.
Davis met her kiss, but his gaze never left mine. My stomach churned.
“We’ve run into each other a couple of times.” I was certain my mom didn’t even remember the morning Davis stopped me as I was escaping her out my bedroom window. The day I thought was the last I’d ever see him.
“Darling, I thought you were going to meet us.” Mom draped herself against Davis, her fair coloring a stark contrast to the darkness of the ink decorating his skin.
His smile was indulgent. “I was running late. I just got here.”
This wasn’t true. Not that I was going to tell my mother, what good would it do at this point, but Davis had been in the house for a while. He’d been waiting in the dark. For me.
Anxiety burned through my nerves. “Well, I better be getting to bed.”
“Night, baby,” my mom said, her voice slurred by alcohol and the proximity of her lips to Davis’s skin.
“Night, baby,” Davis repeated, his eyes dancing, making him look younger than he was. Or maybe his tattoos and gaunt body make him look older than he should. I wasn’t sure.
Not responding to either of them, I stood outside my door with my hand on the knob. I didn’t want to unlock the door in front of Davis. For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t let him see my keys and where I kept them. Thankfully, mom was ready to go, and she wasn’t ready to let him stay. Moments later they were both on the other side of the house, their muffled conversation blessedly unintelligible.
After digging my keys from my backpack, I quickly unlocked my door and slipped into my room. I locked the deadbolt behind me. Leaning against the door, I took a deep breath to try to calm my racing heart and rapid breathing. But I didn’t rest for long.
Flicking on the light, I searched every nook and cranny of my room and closet. I knew it was silly. The threat was down the hall doing who knew what with my mom. I couldn’t help it, though. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I was assured I was alone. After thoroughly checking my room, I changed into my pajamas and crawled under the covers. It was early. Too early to sleep, so I pulled out my phone and headphones and logged into Netflix, wondering all the while how I was going to survive the next month and a half until graduation.
Cole
Joie was on edge. I wanted to ask her about it- desperately but figured that wasn’t a good idea. Brianna had let me off the hook the other night, but she was watching, paying attention. She’d even gone so far as to start hanging around at rehearsals. Not that I cared, I didn’t have anything to hide. I just wished I had a spare moment to myself to talk to Joie and make sure things were okay. Not that she was likely to tell me.
The play was coming along just fine. Joie had written an inspired script. I loved everything about it and had to admit I was having way more fun than I thought I would when she first asked me to do it. If football didn’t pan out, maybe I could pursue a career in acting. It came easily, even memorizing lines. In fact, I not only knew my lines but all the lines in my scenes, which came in handy when my co-stars forgot them.
I was impressed with the team Joie had assembled for all the other stuff, too. We’d been adding in music and lighting recently since the play was in about four weeks. Sets and props were beginning to feel comfortable and we were blocking out whole scenes at a time. No way this play wasn’t going to be a success.
Joie was a brilliant director. She knew just what to say to get the right emotion or reaction out of actors. It was beyond exciting to watch her in action. Knowing her the way I did, I couldn’t help but feel proud. Joie was going to make it. I sometimes wondered if she felt the same about me when I succeeded in sports. Or if she even noticed.
I kept my interactions with Joie detached and professional, even during the few times I’d given her a ride home. She’d made it perfectly clear she didn’t want anything else from me other than my ability to perform in her play. Well, then, that’s all she would get. But that didn’t mean I stopped caring. Or stopped worrying.
And today, something was off. Joie looked like she hadn’t slept in a week and she’d been pounding back the Dr. Pepper like it was her life-blood. She’d been crawling up Trina’s, my co-star playing the role of the princess, butt all through rehearsal. We were going through a scene where the two would-be star-crossed lovers meet by happenstance. Calvin, my character, was supposed to be bold and confident. Trina’s character, Elle, was to be coy and playful, careful to not reveal her identity as the princess of the land. Trina was surprisingly good, but she was also a sophomore and more than a little intimidated by my celebrity status, as Joie was wont to put it.
“Trina, no. You’ve got to loosen up. Cole is no
t going bite you, I promise,” Joie sought to reassure the younger girl. There were only a few scenes with both Trina and I together and we’d been practicing them all this week. It’s been the same thing every time. I tried to be my most approachable self, but she was still skittish.
Trina glanced at me skeptically and I had to restrain myself from waggling my eyebrows at her. Joie tromped up on stage from her home base in the center of the auditorium seats. Joie reached for me and pulled me in close.
“Look, he’s just a guy. Flesh and bone like everybody else.” To prove her point, Joie smacked my body in several places. “See shoulders and chest and face.” She smacked my cheeks with a grin.
“Funny,” I said, catching her hands before she could hit me anymore.
“Yeah, but-” Trina paused and leaned closer to Joie before saying, “he’s Cole Parker.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at the hero worship in her voice. Joie did.
“Good grief, Trina. He’s not Superman.” Joie paused to glare at me. “As much as he might like us to all think. He still has to shower so he doesn’t stink, and his mom still dresses him.”
“Hey!” I protested. Leaning close to Trina, I whispered, “I promise I dress myself. Don’t listen to her.”
Trina giggled, and I winked at Joie, who rolled her eyes again.
“Don’t listen to him. I was at his house not a month ago and watched Mrs. Parker cut up his meat. He’s just a big baby. Don’t let him get to you.” Joie smacked my shoulder again.
“Oh, really,” I sputtered. Did she really think she could get away with insulting me like that? “How about you show her how it’s done then, Miss Smarty-Pants.” I folded my arms across my chest and waited.
“That’s a great idea, Joie. I’m sure I could do it once I’ve seen how you want it to go.” Trina glanced hopefully between Joie and me.
Joie glared. This scene required a lot of interaction, both verbal and physical. I gave her my most innocent smile. The one I gave my mom right before asking her to cut up my meat.