by A. L. Martin
Hunter got out of the car, and had the door open for me by the time I had made my way around the back of the car. “You look great today, Londyn,” he said, smiling down at me as I in the car.
I tried not to stare but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He had on a denim blue, button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He closed the door for me, and I watched the way he walked around the car, his blue jeans hugging his lean muscular legs. I turned to face the front of the car, and found Jayde looking at me with a huge smile spread across her face. “What?”
“Um…Nothing.” She smiled, turning back around in her seat.
I knew what she was smiling about, but there was no reason for it. I was with Lucas and had no plans of breaking up with him. She never did like Lucas, and this was another attempt at breaking us up. She could never give me a good enough reason for trying to break us up from time to time.
“Your house is amazing,” Hunter said, getting in the car behind Jayde.
“Thanks.”
“So, where should we go?” Skyler asked, driving down the driveway.
“I don’t know about Londyn, but I could use some iced coffee,” Jayde said, peeking at me over her shoulder. She glanced over at Skyler, staring at him for a few minutes, her eyes shining with happiness. I had never seen her look at a guy like that before, which almost scared me in a way. Jayde had a tendency of getting bored with a guy and dumping him for no reason.
Skyler seemed like a nice guy, and I didn’t want to see him get his heart broken.
“Iced coffee sounds great to me,” I smiled.
“Yeah, iced coffee does sound good,” Hunter smiled back.
I smiled and turned my head to look out the window for a minute and started repeating to myself under my breath, “I’m with Lucas. I’m with Lucas…”
We arrived at a cute, local coffee shop in downtown Columbia about fifteen minutes later. Hunter got out, walking around the car to open the door for me. He was making it really hard not to fall for him. I was with Lucas, and most importantly, I knew my dad wouldn’t approve of him at all. In fact, he would do everything in his power to keep us apart.
“Thank you. I’m glad you came with them to pick me up.”
“Me too, Londyn.”
Hunter and Skyler opened the doors to the coffee shop for us, then walked on either side of us as we made our way to the counter to see what we wanted to order. Jayde and Skyler ordered first, then went to find us a table while we ordered our drinks.
“So, Londyn. What does your Dad do for a living? He must have a pretty important job judging by the house you live in.”
“He’s vice president of an advertising company in Baltimore. He’s not home a lot of the time. Valerie, our housekeeper, is the one this with us a majority of the time. She makes the best muffins in the world.”
“What are you talking about?” Jayde asked, looking over at me when I went to sit down beside her.
“Hunter asked why my dad did for a living, and then I got to talking about Valerie and her amazing muffins.”
“OMG! Her muffins are the absolute best! She should open up her own bakery. She would make a killing with her muffins,” Jayde said, nodding her head.
“She sounds like a great person,” Hunter smiled.
“She is truly the best. I don’t know what Jules and I would do without her.”
“Jules?”
“She’s my little sister.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but you talked about a lot of family. I couldn’t help but notice you didn’t say anything about your mom.”
“I don’t talk about her much because I get to missing her. She and my dad are divorced, and we see her every other week. She got a nice divorce package, but she had to give Dad pretty much full custody with the exception she still got us every other week. We get to stay with her next week.” I took a drink of my iced latte.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosey.” He lowered his head down.
“Oh, don’t be sorry. Really, it’s okay,” I reached over, touching the back of his hand. His eyes fixated on our hands before he moved his eyes to meet mine. We sat there looking into each other’s eyes for a few minutes. I knew I had to stop this before anything happened, but there was something about him that drew me in. He seemed confident, but at the same time reckless, not having a care in the world.
We sat there talking while we finished our drinks. I didn’t want this time to end, but I knew I had to get back and save Jules from Dad’s treatment from being mad at me. Skyler and Hunter took our glasses up to the counter. I found myself staring at Hunter on his way to the counter.
“Londyn, you are lying to yourself about not liking Hunter,” Jayde said, putting her phone back in her purse.
“I don’t like him. I am with Lucas.”
“Okay. You keep telling yourself that.” She smiled.
“What about you and Skyler?” I asked, forcing myself to turn away from watching Hunter.
“I don’t know yet. His dad owns his own business, so he come from money.”
“Money? Is that all you care about, if the guy you like has money or not?”
“People without money don’t have anything in common with us, who come from extremely wealthy families. You need to realize that, Londyn. I know you like Hunter, but you need to find out more about him.” She raised her eyebrow.
I sat there looking at her, more confused than ever. She didn’t want me with Lucas, and now it sounded like she didn’t want me with Hunter. I was in love with Lucas. He would explain tomorrow why he wasn’t able to come pick me up today.
“Are you ready to go?” Skyler asked, holding his hand out for Jayde.
Skyler seemed like a nice guy, too nice to be hurt by Jayde. I really hoped that she wouldn’t hurt him like she had numerous guys in the past.
Chapter 3
Monday morning came fast, but I didn’t care because I was going to see Lucas. I flipped my comforter back and the minute my feet sank into my plush area rug, Hunter popped up in my mind. I hurried up and started picking out my clothes to distract myself from thinking about him. Besides, I probably wouldn’t be seeing him at all after a couple more weeks. I assumed that would be about the time Jayde would get tired of Skyler and break his heart.
“Hey, Londyn, are you up yet?” Jules asked through my door.
“Yeah, I’m about to get a quick shower. Is Valerie here yet?”
Jules stepped into my room so Dad wouldn’t be able to hear us talking. “Dad was pretty mad yesterday when you left. He kept trying to ask me who the guys were with you and Jayde. I told him I had never seen them before, but he kept on asking me for about an hour.” She rolled her eyes as she flopped down on my bed. “Who were they, Londyn?”
I walked into my bathroom and turned on the water for my shower. “We met them at the club the other night. Jayde likes Skyler, and the other one is Skyler’s best friend. Jules, I’m with Lucas. I don’t know why everyone is all bent out of the shape about me talking to another guy. It’s not like I’m going to dump Lucas for him.” I said, peeking my head out of the bathroom. “I have to get a quick shower, or we are going to be late for school.”
“I just wanted to let you know he was really mad. I’m going to go finish getting ready. Let me know when you are ready to leave for school,” she said, walking over to the door.
I put on a pair of leggings, a light peach sweater and white canvas shoes. I sat down at my vanity and put my hair up into a bun, leaving a few strands of hair down around my face.
I grabbed my book bag and headed downstairs to the kitchen to warm me up a muffin and pour myself some juice.
“Good morning, Londyn.” Valerie said, dishing fruit into a bowl.
“Morning, Valerie.” I set my book bag down on the floor, then got me a glass of juice.
Valerie slid the bowl of fruit over to me, then turned around and pulled muffins out of the oven. “I thought you’d like to have a muffin and frui
t for breakfast this morning.” She smiled.
“Thanks!” I hopped up onto the stool.
I spotted Gavin’s sports car in his usual spot when I pulled into the school parking lot. I hurried up, parked my car, grabbed my book bag and rushed Jules to get her stuff so I could lock my car.
Once I got inside the school, I took off toward my locker in hopes Gavin would be there waiting to tell me about the cruise. I pushed and nudged my way through groups of three or more students standing and talking to one another in the middle of the hallways. I dared them to even try and say anything to me for nudging them out of my way or accidentally hitting them with my book bag as I walked by. They knew not to mess with me, or Lucas would say something to them. As I made it around the last left corner, I could see Gavin leaned up against my locker, looking down at his phone.
“Hey, good looking!” I said, walking up to my locker.
“Hey! I was wondering if you were ever going to make it to your locker before class starts. Did you miss me?” he grabbed me up in his arms.
“Yes! I’m so glad you are back. I have to say I expected you to come back looking like a lobster. Your strawberry blonde hair is even lighter” I laughed, opening my locker.
“Sorry for the disappointment. Honestly, I’m surprised myself,” he said, looking down at his tanned arms. “The guys on the cruise were so hot!”
“Did you talk to any of them?” I looked at him smiling. “Or did you just stare at them from a distance?”
“I talked to one guy, and he’s going to college in Baltimore in the fall. So who knows what will happen? What did you do while I was away, getting tanned and enjoying the hot view around me on the cruise?”
“I went to The Loft with Sam and Jayde, while Lucas hung out with Blake and his other friends. He ditched me yesterday, so I need to find him and figure out why he did that.”
Gavin’s eyes widened and his mouth opened as if he was about to say something when the first bell rang. His lips pressed together, and his eyebrows furrowed. “I want more details later at lunch. I better get to class before I get marked late. Love ya, Londyn.” He gave me a quick hug.
“Love ya too, Gavin. I will see you at lunch,” I said, closing my locker.
****
My morning classes flew by, and maybe now I would be able to get some answers from Lucas as to why he ditched my ass yesterday. I stopped off at my locker to switch out books before heading to lunch so I wouldn’t have to rush around later. I turned away from my locker, bumping into Gavin. “Sorry, Gavin. I didn’t hear you walk up.”
“It’s okay. I wanted to hear more about The Loft on our way to lunch. Tell me everything now, because I know you won’t be able to talk much once we get to the lunchroom.” He wrapped his arm around mine as we started walking down the hall.
“What do you want to know? You should go with us next weekend. We are going back while I’m at my Mom’s house. Dad would have a fit if he knew. Then again, I don’t know why he cares. It’s not like he’s home that much himself.
“Well then, let’s go this Saturday night. You and I can just go, or we can go with Sam and Jayde too. And if that doesn’t work, we can take “Mr. Wonderful” too,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Lucas would probably want to go with us. The Loft is great. Sam and Jayde danced a lot with these two guys. Jayde danced with a guy named Skyler, and I don’t remember the guy’s name Sam danced with. Jayde actually spent some time with Skyler yesterday. I feel bad for the guy because I know she’s going to end up breaking his heart.”
“Yeah, she has a natural talent for doing that. What about you? I know you danced with someone. You can’t lie to me, Londyn Grace Carter. You can tell me now before we get to the cafeteria, or you tell me when Lucas is around.”
“Okay…I danced with a guy name Hunter.” I looked down at the floor.
“Hunter must be hot as hell by the smile on your face,” he smiled, raising his eyebrow
“I wasn’t smiling!”
“Yeah, right.”
“I wasn’t!”
“Sure, and I’m straight.”
“You aren’t straight.”
“Just like you weren’t smiling, either. Want to try again?”
“Fine! He’s hot. He’s got the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen on a guy, Gavin. But, I’m with Lucas. Besides, Hunter has a girlfriend too. He showed up at my house yesterday with his best friend Skyler and Jayde. We are friends. Nothing else.” I glanced over at Gavin as he looked straight ahead, smiling.
“What are you smiling at? I am in love with Lucas.”
“I didn’t say anything. Does Lucas know about Hunter, by the way?”
“No. There is nothing to tell. I danced with a guy that has a girlfriend. Besides, I know anything about him. I don’t even know what kind of background he comes from.”
“Background? Please tell me you haven’t been listening to Jayde and Sam about how you need to steer clear of him because he may not have money. Oh. My. God. What have I told you about them and their stuck-up attitudes? I know we are all best friends, but they think people aren’t worth their time if they don’t come from money.”
“Well, they have a valid point, in all honesty. I mean what would we have in common with anyone that doesn’t come from the same lifestyle as us? Things would never work. Lucas and I have been together for a couple years now, and we both come from families with money.”
“Wow…”
“What?”
“Nothing. Let’s get going before Sam and Jayde come looking for us,” he said, letting go of my arm as we went around the last corner to the cafeteria.
I knew he wasn’t happy with me for listening to Jayde and Sam. He never did agree with what they thought of people that lived outside our five mile radius. I could agree with them on some of it, but then again, I saw Gavin’s side too.
Jayde and Sam ran up to Gavin, taking turns hugging him at the entrance to the cafeteria. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders as he led them over to our regular table at the far side of the cafeteria. I trailed a few steps behind them, looking around the room for Lucas. I could hear the three of them talking about Gavin’s cruise and the hot guys he saw.
“Hey, Londyn. I’m sorry about yesterday. I hope you aren’t mad at me,” Lucas said, walking up beside me. “You smell so good.” He said, leaning in close to me, his breath warm on my neck.
“I’m not mad. I was disappointed, though because you promised we were going to spend the day together yesterday,” I said, walking to put my stuff down beside the table.
“I had something come up. I’m sorry. Can I make it up to you this weekend?”
“Well, Gavin mentioned something about all of us going to The Loft this weekend. I’m going to be at Mom’s this weekend, so I told him we would go.” I turned around to find Lucas standing there glaring at me, his lips pressed together.
“Why did you tell him we would go?” he snapped.
“I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Why are you getting so mad? I thought you would like to go out dancing with me.”
“I just wished you had asked me first.”
“Then, I will tell Gavin we can’t go with him, Jayde, and Sam. We can hang out at Mom’s house or do something else around here.” I groaned.
“No. We will go with them. You just caught me off guard by saying we were going with them. I heard The Loft is great. Blake and the guys were there a couple weeks ago. They’ve been wanting me to go with them. I will let Blake know we are going this Saturday and they can meet us there. It will be fun. This is going to be great. We can take my SUV since there is going to be five of us going.
“Londyn, you okay?” Gavin said, walking up beside me.
“Huh?” I looked over at him still trying to place together everything. “Yeah, I guess Lucas and his buddies are coming with us Saturday. First, he was mad about me telling you we would go, then out of nowhere he was happy about it.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Blake and the rest of them are meeting us there Saturday night. We are going in Lucas’s SUV.”
“Cool. Let’s go get something to eat. The salad bar looked amazing as I passed by it a few minutes ago.”
“Go ahead. I’m not that hungry right now,” I gave him a weak smile.
I walked around the side of the table and sat down, not taking my eyes off Lucas and his buddies talking and carrying on from their table. As I watched them for a few more minutes, Hunter kept popping up in my mind, and fear set in. “All the “what if’s” came flooding in at once. What if we ran into Hunter, and what would I say? Would I be able to avoid him, and if I couldn’t, how would I explain to Lucas how I know him? Maybe going Saturday was a bad idea after all.
I knew Gavin wouldn’t let me back out of going, because he wouldn’t want to be with Sam and Jayde all night long. I sat there looking around the lunchroom at kids I have pretty much known most of my life, while others I’ve gotten to know since being in high school. They were all sprawled throughout the lunchroom at tables, talking and laughing. Some girls were even yelling at others from a few tables away. They were probably wanting them to stay away from their boyfriends or mocking them about how their clothes weren’t authentic designer originals. Stupid shit like that. Sam and Jayde were on their phones, as usual. Gavin was over at the salad bar, filling his plate up with veggies and fruit. Even though I was like everyone else in here, sometimes I felt as though I didn’t belong.
****
“Valerie, are you here?” I asked, placing my book bag on the floor next to the hall table.
“Yes. Are you hungry? Want me to make you something to snack on before I start dinner?” she said, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
“No. I’m not that hungry. Thank you, though.” I walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed me a bottle of water. I went back out in the hall to grab my book bag and headed up to my room. I flopped my bag down in the chair beside my window, glancing at the pictures of Lucas and I on the dresser. It was taken at our junior year prom. I wore a two- piece, off-the-shoulder dress with pale pink and baby blue embroidered lace and sequins. The pink lace was at the top of the long skirt and faded into the baby blue at the bottom. We looked so in love in the picture. A year ago, I was so sure Lucas and I would get married some day after college.