Abi and the Boy Who Lied

by Kelsie Stelting

I couldn’t get the giddy smile off my face as I pulled it over my head. “Ready?”

  Everyone nodded or said variations of yes.

  “Here’s the plan,” Evan said. “Andrew thinks his chili’s going to win, and when it does, he’s going to call us up to the stage—”

  Andrew’s voice came over the microphone. “Can my friends come to the stage?”

  Evan’s eyes glinted. “That’s us. Let’s get out there.”

  Jon slipped his fingers through mine. We held hands all the way to the stage, which was good, because mine were shaking.

  I searched the crowd for Skye and easily found her right up front. She took in our shirts, and her eyes widened. Her lips formed Andrew’s name in a question.

  Andrew got off the stage and went to her. The crowd backed up and formed a halo around them. Silence filled the room.

  “Skye,” he said, “you are definitely the woman of my dreams and the most amazing person I could ever hope to spend the rest of my life with. And if you’ll let me, I would love to make it official, because I already know I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life with you—whether you like it or not.” The crowd chuckled softly. “Please, make me the luckiest man alive and marry me.”

  Tears shined in her eyes as she dropped into his arms and cried, “Yes!”

  That evening, all of us went to Denison Cemetery. But this time, we didn’t streak. Freckles got some quilts from his trunk, and we spread them out. We lounged under the setting summer sun, drinking wine coolers, eating leftover cupcakes, and talking about forever like we weren’t about to say goodbye.

  But we were. Roberto was going away to basic training next week. Evan would spend the summer working for his aunt and uncle in Illinois. Andrew and Skye would spend as much of their summer together as they could before going to college on the east coast. Macy and Leanne had enrolled in a summer drama program at their college. Jon and I would leave for the track and field training camp in a couple of weeks. Stormy and Frankie were the only ones staying in town, working full-time.

  I lay back on Jon’s stomach with his arm draped over my shoulder and his hand resting on top of mine. I played with his fingers, calloused from weight training. I liked the way the little marks formed along the top of his palm and contrasted with the rest of his skin. Something about him had to be imperfect.

  “I’m going to miss this,” Stormy said. “Promise we’ll do this again over Christmas break?”

  “It might be a little cold,” Andrew teased.

  She threw a balled-up cupcake wrapper at him. “I mean us, hanging out together.” Her eyes searched our group, a hint of desperation there. “You won’t just leave us behind, will you?”

  Frank squeezed her hand while Evan said, “We wouldn’t dream of it.”

  A smile touched my lips. A world without my friends wouldn’t be worth living in.

  Chapter Six

  Feeling like we had a countdown clock over our heads wasn’t fun. Part of me looked forward to college, but another part of me wanted to stay here forever. Moving was scary. I shuddered, remembering the drive to Woodman in a caseworker’s car, everything I owned shoved into a black garbage bag. I didn’t know it then, but now I had everything I needed in Woodman. There was my grandma, who loved me, the Scollers, who were like a second family, my best friends, and a great part-time job.

  Still, there was a calendar hanging on my wall with daily workouts planned until we left for college. It stared back at me, an unplanned countdown to when my life would be uprooted yet again. We left in two weeks for a mandatory team training camp. With Jon and me being distance runners, we’d mostly be doing a lot of conditioning. Like we were now.

  I’d marked other dates on the calendar, though. My period, a dentist appointment, the day we’d drop Roberto off at the Austin airport for basic training, and the day Jon and I would pack up our stuff and leave Woodman behind.

  A knock sounded on my door, and Jon poked his head in. “Ready to go?”

  I cleared my expression and nodded. “Yeah. Let me grab my bag.”

  He walked out and called to my grandma, “Okay, I have time for a cookie!”

  I rolled my eyes at his back but couldn’t help smiling. Grandma always kept a junk food stockpile for Jon.

  After picking up my purse, I stopped in front of the mirror and checked my reflection one more time. What did one wear on a date at a trampoline park? I’d opted for the leggings and shirt Jon’s family had given me for Christmas. When I first tried them on, they’d been skintight, but now there was even a little gap between my midsection and the shirt.

  My lips turned up at the image. This new training plan wasn’t just getting me ready to be a collegiate athlete—it was transforming my body even more. I kept an old picture of myself on the mirror next to a recent one, just to remember what I used to look like. To see how far I’d come. I couldn’t imagine ever going back.

  Only forward. And now I was moving forward with Jon.

  I left my room and found him sitting in the living room, eating a chocolate chip cookie the size of his head.

  “Give me a piece,” I said.

  He broke off a little bit and handed it to me. I savored it as he stood up and thanked my grandma.

  She smiled at the two of us. “Have I ever said ‘I told you so’?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “Countless times.”

  She laughed. “Well, I’ll say it again. Told you that you two would be going steady.”

  Jon took my head under his arm and rubbed it with his knuckles. “I’m not letting this one get away.”

  I shoved him off. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “You’re cute.”

  Grandma’s lips went from a smile to a full-blown grin. “Okay, go on, go on. Have fun.”

  We walked down the sidewalk together, holding hands even though the Texas heat blazed down on us. My hand was already sweating. When we reached the car and I walked to my side, I tried to be surreptitious about wiping my palm on my pants. Sweaty hands—not sexy.

  The trampoline park was in Austin, an hour away. I settled in for a longer drive, which meant I took hold of Jon’s hand again and leaned back in my seat. I loved road trips now. It meant we had uninterrupted time to talk and just be...us. Our relationship was still so new, but it seemed right too.

  Jon drove out of our neighborhood, telling me about the latest grueling workout on his list.

  I definitely related. “It’ll be a miracle if my legs don’t fall off before we even get to Upton.”

  “Have you tried an ice bath?”

  “You’re kidding. I said I wanted to be out of pain, not subjected to more of it.”

  He laughed. “Really, it helps your muscles heal faster. It’s good for you.”

  “Yeah right.”

  He lifted an eyebrow and gave me the smolder as he came to a stoplight. “What if we did it together?”

  My stomach clenched. I knew he meant taking a bath, but... “Do it?”

  Jon tossed his head back and laughed. “Only if you want to.” He gave me a cheesy wink.

  Okay, he was laughing, which meant it was a joke, but I was completely unprepared for that response. So I took a swig from my water bottle, nearly choked on the drink, and then ended up in a coughing fit, entirely derailing the conversation.

  Smooth, Abi. Real smooth.

  But even as my focus shifted away from my inability to swallow without risking asphyxiation, Jon’s words still played in my mind. Only if you want to.

  Chapter Seven

  As I looked around the trampoline area full of children, I felt one thing: big.

  They were all so tiny, and even though I’d lost weight, 5’10’ was still tall. Especially for a girl. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and turned to Jon. “Are you sure about this?”

  He easily took my hand and stepped onto a trampoline. “Come on; it’s fun.”

  My arm bounced up and down with him, making it impossible not to giggle and jump on wit
h him. Okay, maybe he was right. This was fun.

  “Know any tricks?” I asked.

  He scoffed. “‘Know any tricks?’ I invented tricks.”

  I laughed and raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh really?”

  He nodded as well as a person could while bouncing on a springy surface. His jumps got higher and higher until he’d done a backflip and then a front flip. This kid from a couple trampolines over yelled, “Mom! Did you see that?”

  “Show off,” I laughed at Jon.

  He slowed until he was just standing and then wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “I’ve gotta impress this girl I know.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, brushing my nose against his. “Who’s that?”

  “I could tell you, but it’d be easier if...” Slowly, he pressed his lips to mine, sending shockwaves through my entire body.

  I lost myself to the kiss, until that same kid from earlier was screaming, “EWWWW!”

  Jon laughed against my lips, and I swore it didn’t get any better than this. How had I gone from the girl who barely fit on the seat next to him on the bus to the one who’d been dating him for two months? Who was kissing him now?

  I didn’t know. I just wanted it to last.

  He wound his fingers through mine. “Come on,” he breathed.

  I would have followed him anywhere, even bouncing over the trampolines to the back of the building where hardly any children played. Going to the trampoline park on a weekday had been a good idea. We came to a huge mat that rose at least ten feet over a pit of foam blocks.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Before I could think about it, I jumped. For a second, I felt weightless, free, terrified, but finally terrified of something other than not being good enough, of the strange note I’d gotten. I landed amongst the blocks and bounced once before sinking down, surrounded by softness.

  Jon landed a couple feet away and started crawling toward me. We were buried low enough in the pit that the only way someone could see us would be from up above. This had been his idea all along.

  Once he got closer, I picked up a cube and tossed it at him. It bounced off his head, and I let out a laugh. “Gotcha!”

  “Oh really?” His smile turned mischievous, and he pounced on me, tickling me until I was gasping for air between breaths.

  “Mercy!” I finally cried.

  Laughing, he dropped back and propped himself up beside me—as much as he could on such a soft surface. “Now that I’ve got you alone...” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “There are too many children here for...” I waggled my eyebrows back.

  “Well, fine.” He pretended to dramatically fall back on the foam, dropping his hand across his forehead.

  I lay beside him, laughing. “Can we just stay here forever?”

  “I wish.”

  I was torn between wanting to stay in this moment and looking forward to our future. Even though college scared me, we would have our own spaces, our own rules, countless possibilities—both good and bad. What would it be like to visit Jon in his dorm room for the first time?

  A new fear shot through my gut. What if he didn’t want to visit me anymore, now that there would be countless girls to choose from, infinitely more gorgeous than me? Ones that carried less baggage?

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked.

  “Nothing.” I bit my lip.

  He reached over and brushed his thumb against my chin, freeing my lip, sending a trail of fire to blend with the uncertainty in my stomach. “What is it?”

  I closed my eyes. I had to be honest, vulnerable. Something I wasn’t good at in the slightest. So I kept my eyes closed as I said, “I’m worried about us.”

  I peeked one eye open to see his reaction.

  A hurt expression laced his features. “You’re not sure about us?”

  That falling feeling was back in my core. The guilty one that knew I should be excited for this opportunity. For him and me. “I am. It’s just… College will be different.” I turned my eyes away from him. “What if you get to there and realize I’m not what you want?”

  “Abi.” His voice was firm but his touch soft as he cupped my cheek and turned my face to him. “I made the mistake of keeping my distance once. That’s never going to happen again. I will be there for you, whether we’re here or at Upton. Okay?”

  The emotion in his eyes said he was telling the truth, but I still needed to ask, “Promise?”

  “I promise,” he said. And then he sealed it with a kiss.

  Chapter Eight

  We stayed in Austin after the trampoline park outing and spent our time walking around the mall, holding hands, trying to avoid the cookie dough shop. When we got home to Woodman, he stopped in front of Grandma’s house to drop me off.

  Even though the car was in park, neither of us moved. There, sitting so close to him, I never wanted to leave. I could have spent every day, every hour, having those green eyes and that smile all to myself.

  “I love you,” I said, unable to keep it all in.

  “I love you more.”

  “I love you most.”

  He smiled a squinty-eyed smile at me. “I don’t know about that.”

  “Tie?” I suggested.

  “I don’t know.” He leaned across the console and kissed me. “When I’m with you, I always feel like I’ve won.”

  My cheeks heated, along with the rest of my body, regardless of how cheesy that comment was. If Old Abi could see me melting like this, she’d flick my ear and roll her eyes.

  New Abi grinned at Jon and said, “See you after work tomorrow?”

  “Of course.”

  I gave him a last smile as I got out of the car. Before going inside, I went to the mailbox to check the mail. By the time I closed the lid, he was already parked in his driveway.

  He got out and yelled at me, “It’s hard to say goodbye when you’re this close!”

  I laughed. “It’s harder when you’re far away.”

  “Good thing we’re moving to the same town!”

  I agreed. “Goodnight, Jon.”

  “Goodnight, beautiful,” he called, loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, and I fell into another bout of disbelief. He hadn’t shouted his love for me from the rooftops, but close enough. How had I gotten so lucky?

  I smiled as he went inside, and began sifting through the letters from our mailbox. There were several bills for Grandma, a few college brochures—they were way behind the curve. Although, maybe I was too. I only signed at Upton University on a track scholarship a week before graduation. Hadn’t applied anywhere else.

  My heart and hand stalled on a letter addressed to me in the same block lettering as the graduation card. There was no return address, but the post office processing stamp read Austin, TX.

  It was like all the warmth from Jon’s words had been sucked from the air and replaced with a vacuum that stole my breath. My legs shook as I walked inside.

  Grandma grinned at me from her chair and muted the news. Looked like a seal had escaped the zoo in Dallas. How, I had no clue.

  “How was the date?” she asked.

  “Good.”

  Her lips turned down. “You sure? You look like he fed you anchovies.”

  The thought was just weird enough to make me laugh. “No, it was fine.” I reached out and handed her the mail, keeping mine to myself.

  “I think I know what this is about,” she said, eyeing the mail in my hand.

  “Yeah, I—”

  “I know it’s hard to make a decision and feel like it’s so final, but you should take the pressure off yourself,” she continued. “A degree is a degree, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from. Just what you do with it. And I know you’re going to do great things.”

  I gave her a weak smile. “Thanks, Gram.”

  I couldn’t ruin this moment, not right now. Especially since I didn’t even know what the letter said. For all I knew, it could be the person admitting to the prank
. I would be sure to tell them how hilarious it was. Ha. Ha.

  The TV screen went black, and I saw Grandma setting the remote on her side table.

  “I’m going to get some shut-eye, sweetie,” she said and came to give me a hug. “I love you, and I am so proud of you.”

  I hugged her back, reminded of yet another thing I would miss when it came time to leave. “I love you, Grandma.”

  We said goodnight and went to our rooms. An ache settled in my chest as I sat on my bed and opened the plain white envelope. My mouth fell open at the line written inside.

  Chapter Nine

  Have a nice time in Austin?

  I read the line in block lettering over and over again, my stomach churning.

  I thought about calling Jon, but I couldn’t bring myself to pick up my phone and talk to him about it. That would make it too real. Give it to much credibility. Plus, something in me still held on to the hope that Grandma was right. That it was all a prank.

  But we hadn’t told any of our friends about the trampoline park date. At least I hadn’t. Had Jon? But they would’ve had to sent the letter before we even went, or at least, the morning of. That didn’t make any sense.

  If I texted my friends and confronted them about it, it would just lead to more questions. Questions I didn’t want to answer. At least, not right now. Not with my heart racing like something bad was about to happen. I made sure my windows were locked with the curtains completely drawn and lay down in bed with the laptop I’d bought for college, thanks to the money I earned from my job with Mr. Scoller.

  No amount of TV or books or blog posts or stupid cat videos on YouTube could get that line from the letter out of my mind. I just kept picturing the newspaper heading: The Letter Killer. A B C You Later.

  Okay, it was a bad heading, but I couldn’t come up with anything better when I was exhausted and it was 2 a.m.

  Finally, I gave in and texted Jon.

  Abi: Are you up?

  Jon: No.