Cruel Summer

by Lisa Cardwell

  “No, we aren’t,” Lorna said, stepping forward. “We’re proud of you.”

  She gave me a tight squeeze around my shoulders.

  Rico nodded his agreement. “I’ve seen some of the shots on the camera already, Chey, and they are amazing.”

  I hung the dress bag back on the rack with the other clothes from the shoot. “Thanks.”

  Lorna nudged Rico, and he stepped forward, pulling the bag back off the rack.

  “Take it.” He put the dress bag back over my arm.

  I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Are you serious?”

  I glanced between them all, not believing it. I had to admit taking the dress off the first time had been a little like Cinderella losing everything at midnight. I’d been afraid that once I put the other clothes on, I’d lose whatever magic I had in the dress.

  He nodded, and so did Lorna. “You never know when you might need something dressy to go out in, and you need something Vanetti to wear for that occasion. Besides, it’s already tailored to you.” He beamed at me. “It’s yours. Consider it a perk for a shoot well done.”

  I smiled sheepishly, looking at the two of them. “Well, then, I thank you.”

  “No problem,” Lorna said. “We’ll give you a call when we get all the photos back in the next day or two. I think they’re going to turn out great.”

  “I hope so.”

  “You sure we can’t take you out for a celebratory dinner?” she asked as we walked towards the front door.

  I brushed my fingers through my hair. “Thanks for the offer, but I just want to go home and relax.”

  Who knew a shoot could be so stressful? Besides, I also had JT to deal with. According to the text message I’d gotten halfway through the shoot, he was coming by tonight whether or not he heard from me.

  17

  “How was the shoot?” Dad asked the moment I let myself in through the front door.

  “Tiring,” I said with an exhausted smile as I set my dress bag over the back of the arm chair before heading off towards the kitchen in search of a much-needed bottle of orange juice.

  Dad followed. “You can recoup tonight.”

  He took a seat at the counter. I noticed the pile of take-out menus in front of him. One thing about Dad, unless it was grilling out back, he rarely seemed to cook. Having a gourmet kitchen like this seemed like a total waste.

  I took a long sip of my cold juice before turning back to him, shutting the fridge door with my hip. “Actually,” I said as I twisted the cap back and forth on the bottle. “I have a date.”

  Dad looked amused. “Already?”

  “Ha. It’s just JT.”

  “Ah, just JT.”

  So I had mentioned him a few times, but not in the ‘I’m interested’ tense. “He asked, and I figured it’s the only way to get rid of him.”

  Besides, once he got over his little infatuation, he’d move on to better; I was sure of it.

  He laughed and went back to his menu. “I guess I don’t need to ask whether you’re in the mood for Chinese, huh?”

  “Sorry.” I kissed his cheek as I went past him. “Though, you could leave me some noodles and rice in the fridge for a midnight snack?”

  “Consider it done.” He noticed me grabbing the dress bag. “More clothes?”

  I blushed again, clutching the dress to my chest. “Rico spoils me. This one’s a dress, in case, you know, I go anywhere dressy.”

  “We’ll have to find a place for you to wear it. What time’s JT coming over?”

  “Eight-ish.” I’d texted him when leaving the shoot, saying I needed more time, and eight worked better than the seven we’d originally planned on. I wanted as much time as I could get. Besides, I still wasn’t over his no-show last night. And just because I’d said eight-ish didn’t mean I wouldn’t suddenly come down with the flu from being on that windy rooftop all day.

  “Can’t wait to meet him.”

  I stopped in the doorway. “Dad, you’re not going to do anything weird, are you?”

  “I won’t do anything weird.” He rolled his eyes at the look of worry that was no doubt on my face. “Fine, I’ll hang out in the garage and work on my car. How’s that?”

  “Great.”

  ***

  As promised, Dad was working on his car in the garage when JT pulled up. I could see from my spot on the front steps Dad was going to pull out one of his father cards and want to meet my ‘date’ from the way he stepped back from the car and watched JT park.

  I scrambled off the steps and hoped Dad wasn’t about to interrogate him or something else equally embarrassing before I could get to them.

  JT was already out of his car by the time I reached it, and even worse, he headed straight for my father, as if he were a magnet.

  “Uh, JT, I’m ready.”

  He totally didn’t seem to hear me.

  “Is that a classic ’69 Mustang?”

  Dad wiped his hands off on the rag he’d had draped over the side of the car and tucked it into his back pocket. “One and only. Bought it at auction in Scottsdale a couple years ago.”

  By now, JT stood inside the garage, leaning over the car on the opposite side and staring under the hood in what could only be awe. “It’s a beaut. I always wanted one.”

  Dad laughed. What was this? Instant male bonding over cars?

  And weirder yet, was I supposed to feel this instantaneously jealous? I mean, JT hadn’t even looked at me, and I knew from my webcam chat with Sorche that I looked pretty darn cute. I’d modeled half the clothes in my closet, and we’d settled on my new copper-colored, Rico-given T-shirt and the jeans I’d bought when we’d gone shopping together. Casual but with enough style I’d fit in anywhere JT planned on going. My garage included, apparently.

  I strolled towards them, swinging my purse back and forth with every step.

  “How does she handle?” JT leaned over even farther.

  I stood next to my father and looked under the hood myself, like I understood what they were talking about. I knew enough to get by, thanks to a ‘girls and cars’ class last semester, but if they went beyond the basics, I’d soon be utterly clueless.

  “Pretty good,” Dad answered. “Hey, Chey,” he said as if he just noticed I was standing there.

  “Hi, Dad.” I smiled brightly.

  “You two ready to go?”

  I lifted my gaze to see JT smiling at me. “Guess so.”

  “I have only one rule,” Dad said, stopping me before I could even move.

  I bit my lip. This was the first he’d mentioned any rule, and I was a little apprehensive, to say the least. Did I suddenly have a nine o’clock curfew? I had to call home every time we left a place? We could only go to public places? JT had to be fingerprinted before we left, and Dad was going to dust my clothes for prints when I came home? All right, so I hoped that last one was just my imagination going into overdrive.

  “Have fun,” Dad said with an easygoing smile.

  JT and I looked at each other. I relaxed and carefully gave Dad a quick side hug, not wanting to get any grease and grime on me.

  “Be careful,” he said into my hair before he pulled back. “Have a good night, guys.”

  “We will.”

  “Oh, hey, wait a sec. JT?”

  I hesitated. We’d almost made it completely out of the garage.

  “Yeah?” JT turned to face him.

  I tilted my head upwards, staring at the rafters in the garage, wondering what he was going to say now.

  “We’re going to a movie premiere on Thursday. Would you like to join us?”

  Movie premiere? That was the first I’d heard of that. But I kept silent and turned, catching Dad’s smile. What was he up to?

  “Yeah, that’d be great. I have something in the afternoon, but I should be free by about six.”

  “Great. I’ll give Chey the details later to text you. You guys have fun.”

  JT nodded, a smile on his face. “Thanks.”

  We h
eaded back to JT’s car, and I gave a quick wave over my shoulder, still trying to figure things out.

  “I heard you had a soft spot for Pink’s.” JT opened my door.

  “Yeah, I’m a big fan of—”

  “The chili cheese fries. I did a little investigating.” He held up a bag he’d had in the back seat. “I thought we'd go stake some beach and have our dinner there. What do you say?”

  “No cameras?”

  “Tired of them already?”

  “I think I've had enough for one day.”

  He laughed. “Well, all I've got is my camera phone, but I could be talked into leaving it in the car.”

  That made me laugh, and I brushed my hair back out of my eyes. “Nah, I think I can make an exception.”

  “Sorry I didn't make the shoot.”

  “That's fine.” And actually, I might have been a little more nervous if he'd been there. A girl could only have so many people watching before it started to give her an even bigger complex.

  Plus, I still wasn’t all that sure about what had happened last night. “So, why didn’t show you up last night?”

  He glanced at me. “I figured you’d ask about that.”

  I nodded. “Well?”

  “I wanted to. Seriously.” He turned the radio off. “But then, I had some family stuff come up with my parents. I thought they were out for the night, but I came down to go and there they were, wanting to make sure I was still…” he paused. “Hanging in there. I guess they found out I had a couple drinks at Adriana’s party, so…”

  “That’s what they said?”

  “That’s what Mom called it. I wanted to call you guys or text, but I couldn’t get out of the damn room, and by the time they were done, it was after midnight, and I figured you were probably at home sound asleep and didn’t want to wake you up before your shoot. I figured you’d probably forgive me even less at that point.”

  I sighed to myself. It sounded like a really good excuse. And I kinda actually believed him. I watched the breeze blow through his hair we sped down the road. “It’s okay. I just wondered where you were, that’s all.”

  “Did you guys have fun? I heard Sor’s boyfriend was in the band or something?”

  “Yeah, he is. They’re good; we’ll have to go see them sometime.” I hesitated, wondering how he was going to take that we. I’d meant it more me and Sorche, not me and JT. But when I stole a look at him, he was smiling, like that sounded good to him.

  “You're quiet.”

  “I'm the quiet type.” I took a fry out of the bag to munch on. “Which beach were you planning on?”

  I almost sounded like I knew the difference.

  “Well, if you can stand the airplane noise...”

  “Really?” I couldn't see us having a great night hanging out on the beach if we had to shout over the sound of incoming planes overhead. Sure, it might be a weirdly Californian thing to do, but I think I'd rather pass.

  He broke out in a big grin at the look on my face. “All right, change of plans. We can head somewhere else. Sorche take you to the pier yet?”

  “To do what? Push me off?” I teased.

  He stole a look at me and reached over, taking a couple fries out of the bag. “I meant the rides and stuff.”

  “Sounds fun,” I commented. “Is that what you had planned, though?”

  “Well, you shot down my beach idea. I just thought I'd take you somewhere you hadn't been yet.”

  “Surprise me.”

  A mischievous grin spread across his face. “Surprise, it is.”

  After ten minutes of driving, I was getting hungry with the smell of the food wafting up towards me. Considering I’d barely eaten before the shoot—I’d been so nervous, and all I’d had since was that bottle of orange juice and a couple of fries—I was hoping he’d stop somewhere soon, or else I’d likely end up eating all my chili fries as he drove. “So, where are we headed?”

  He laughed. “You’ll see.”

  “Cryptic, huh?”

  He glanced over. “You did say surprise you, so trust me. Plus it has one of the best views of the city.”

  The next thing I knew, he’d taken another abrupt turn off and parked. I looked up and saw a beautiful tree-lined path, gravel crunching under the tires as he followed the well-worn drive.

  “Home sweet home.”

  “Wow.”

  His lips lifted up into a sweet smile as we rounded a slight curve. “That’s the reaction I was going for.”

  “So this is what you had in mind, huh?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  He pulled the car off the gravel road onto a patch of grass, near a small stone wall, and parked the car before we stared out over the hills.

  “I didn't know we were practically neighbors.”

  I set the bag I had been holding down between us. We were perched on the far end of what was JT's parents’ property, overlooking the Hollywood Hills and everything below. If I'd thought the view from Dad's was great, this one proved nothing short of breathtaking. I swear I could even see our place way off to the right, but I'd never seen it from this altitude, so who knew, for sure?

  “Lots of stuff you don't know about me, Chey.”

  “So I'm noticing.”

  JT opened the bag and pulled out his hamburger. “How'd the shoot go?”

  “Good. Rico seemed pleased.” I took the burger he'd gotten for me. “Just hope the pictures turn out as good as he thinks they will.”

  “You know Rico wouldn't lie to make you feel better. If he said he was pleased, then he was. He's been raving about you since he saw you at the fashion show.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  I swiveled as much as I could in my seat to look at him. “You know, I always thought it was odd Rico just came up to me out of nowhere. Like he knew me, almost.”

  I caught a flush of red on JT's neck as he grabbed a few of my fries.

  “Really?” His voice sounded muffled by the mix of fries and chili.

  “Yep. You wouldn't have talked me up to him or anything, would you?”

  “Chey...”

  “Did you?”

  He glanced at me and set his half-eaten burger back in its wrap. “I might have mentioned you once or twice after the party that night.”

  I must have looked surprised because he kept talking.

  “Sometimes, I crash in Rico and Lorna's guesthouse out back. It's an arrangement we've had for the last two years. Works out great.”

  “You know, you're not exactly the same guy who was skinny dipping the night I met him.” I grabbed a couple of my chili fries. It didn't matter they were barely lukewarm—they were still one of my absolute favorite things about life in L.A.

  “True. I'm a lot more sober.” He took a large gulp of his drink. “Damn, brain freeze.” He slammed the cardboard cup down so he could rub his temples.

  I couldn't help but laugh before I took a cautious sip of my own soda. I had to admit this was nice. The view was amazing. And the company not too bad, either. I was seeing a side of JT I never ever thought existed.

  “You gotta be careful,” I jokingly warned.

  “Yeah, because cold drinks are so hazardous to your health.” His grin looked teasing.

  “So why did you bring me up here, anyway?”

  “To show you the view...and more importantly, what's yours.”

  “What's mine?”

  “This.”

  I looked up in time to see him gesture to L.A. spread out in front of us.

  “All of Los Angeles is mine?” I couldn't keep the skepticism out of my voice.

  “Look, you're new to all of this.” He stared out at the view. “Me, it's been mine since I blinked open my eyes and wailed ‘I want my mommy’.”

  I laughed, ducking my head so my hair fell alongside my face and hid my expression. Maybe he was more right than I wanted to admit. I kept trying to justify to myself that I belonged, when in fact, I did, whether I wanted to o
r not. All because of my father.

  Sometimes, I wondered how different life would have been had I grown up out here…