by A. L. Martin
“Londyn?” Jules opened my bedroom door.
“Yeah.” I peeked my head out my bathroom.
“Oh, you look pretty.” She smiled.
“Thanks. So, do you.” I smiled, then headed back into the bathroom.
“Don’t mean to rush you, but I’m ready to leave for Mom’s.”
“I’m almost done. Give me another fifteen minutes. Is Dad still downstairs?”
“No. He left to go to the office. Is it me, or has he been gone more than usual this past week? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It’s just out of the norm for him. Usually, he thrives on being around here to lecture at you 24/7. Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. It’s true. He does thrive on lecturing at me for a few things each and every day. The sad thing is, well, you know…It’s usually the same thing over and over again.”
I hurried up and finished the rest of my hair, turned off my curling iron, and put it back in the cooling rack off to the side of my sink. I could do my makeup at Mom’s later, and probably re-curl pieces of my hair that will fall. I sprayed some hairspray on the curls to help hold them in place better. I told Jules to go make sure she had everything she wanted to take with her, because I wasn’t going to come back until next week. I looked in my bags again to make sure I didn’t want to swap out shirts for different ones. I sent Mom a quick text to let her know we were leaving soon and should be there in about twenty to twenty-five minutes, depending on Saturday morning traffic. I took one last look around to make sure I had grabbed everything, including my book bag for school.
Jules was walking out of her room when I stepped out into the hall.
“Do you have everything?” I asked, closing my door behind me.
“Yes,” she said, looking down at her bags.
“What about your book bag?”
“Oh shit.” She dropped her bags and went back in her room.
We both hurried down the stairs and out to the car. We knew Dad wasn’t going to be home by the time we left, but we didn’t want to take any chances. We threw everything in the trunk of my car. I asked her one last time if she had everything she wanted to take with her. She told me she had her phone and charger, books, clothes, and purse. I checked all my stuff to make sure I had everything. I forgot my phone charger, so I ran back in the house and was back out within five minutes.
I let out a huge sigh of relief when Mom’s house came into view the minute I turned onto her road. A week of no lectures or having to defend who I talk to. It got tiresome after a while, always having to explain why I talk to this person or that person. I could see if I was way younger, but I’m an adult. Most people would say, “You live under his roof and need to follow his rules.” It’s easy for them to say that, because they aren’t the ones that have to deal with his judgmental attitude. Mom walked out of the house a few minutes after she heard u close the car doors. She had on skinny jeans and an off-the-shoulder top with flowers. Her hair was pulled up and her makeup was flawless.
“Breakfast is almost done.” She smiled, grabbing some bags from the trunk of my car.
“I’m starving,” Jules said, scrambling to get up the steps to the door.
Mom went in before us, putting our bags down right inside the door, then headed to the kitchen to get the French toast started. I followed her into the kitchen, where I saw the bacon was done, along with the scrambled eggs. She put three pieces of Texas toast in the batter, stabbing them quickly with a fork and setting them down on the sizzling griddle. I asked her if she needed any help, and of course she told me no. I went to go put my bags up in my room. I laid everything down on the floor next to my closet. I looked around my bedroom. I was quite a bit smaller and had no bathroom, but I would take this room over my other room in a heartbeat. I would give up my own bathroom to be able to live here with Mom all the time.
By the time I stepped down off the bottom stair, Mom came out of the kitchen, hollering that breakfast was ready. Jules came flying out of her room and down the stairs. I stepped off to the side before she knocked me over, trying to get to the kitchen. I let Mom go in front of me, so she could make sure Jules didn’t take more than her share of food. Jules was one of those people that could eat 24/7 and never gain any weight. I hated her for it sometimes. I just looked at food and gained ten pounds.
We sat at the table eating breakfast and having a great time just talking. No lectures, or anything like that, but actual talking something that we rarely got to enjoy at Dad’s. We did enjoy our talks with Valerie when Dad wasn’t around. Mom asked Jules how her and Asher were doing, and I was hoping that conversation would last the rest of breakfast. It didn’t, and before I had a chance to excuse myself from the table, Mom glanced over at me, asking me about Hunter. I let out a little sigh and told her how Dad chased him off last weekend, and I hadn’t talked to him since then. The crease between her eyes became deeper once I was done telling her what had happened. She didn’t say anything while she finished her breakfast and cleared the table. Jules and I helped her clean up the kitchen. She turned around and leaned up against the sink, drying her hands with the daisy kitchen towel.
“He hasn’t tried to get in touch with you this whole week?”
“No.”
“Well, everyone has been telling her to forget about Hunter and be with Wyatt,” Jules said, adding more dishes to the sink.
“What? Who’s Wyatt?” Mom asked, looking back and forth between the both of us.
“He’s just a friend at school, Mom,” I said, grabbing another towel from the drawer to dry the glasses.
“He likes her A LOT,” Jules said, walking around the counter.
“A lot, huh?” Mom smiled.
“A friend.” I rolled my eyes.
“He’s coming over here later with Gavin and Sam,” Jules said on her way out of the kitchen.
“JULES!” I screamed.
“So, I take it this friend is going out of eat with us later.” She smiled.
“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you earlier. Sam invited him. Her and Gavin think I should give up on Hunter and be with Wyatt.”
She looked over at me, smiling, not saying a word to me. I knew she probably agreed with them, but I wasn’t going to give up on Hunter. I had a feeling I was going to see him this weekend. I just hoped Wyatt wasn’t around when he did decide to show up. Then again, what if everyone was right and he didn’t want to be with me? My gut feeling kept telling me something different.
“Mom, I’m telling you right now, he’s just a friend. Nothing more.” I went back to drying the glasses.
“Okay. He’s just a friend. For now.” She giggled.
I hurried up and finished drying the rest of the dishes, so I could escape my mother, “the matchmaker,” and her awful subtle hints. I went upstairs to relax in my room for a little bit before putting my makeup on and touching up my hair. I didn’t have to close my door all the way here because Mom respected our privacy. She always knocked on the door before coming in. Another one of the many reasons I loved being at Mom’s more.
I grabbed my phone, flopping down on my bed to send Gavin a text, asking him when he was going to be here later with everyone. He texted me back five minutes later, saying he would be here around three this afternoon. It was almost eleven-thirty now, which meant Hunter had a little over three hours to come over and tell what an idiot he’d been for not talking to me this week. I decided to get up and put away the extra clothes I brought with me this week. I opened my closet and found a couple of new shirts and jeans that Mom had bought during this past week while we were at Dad’s house. I’m sure Jules had a couple of new clothes too. I had a pretty new off-the-shoulder black top, and a long-sleeved, baby blue knit shirt. I did love the new black silky top, but I didn’t want to mess up my hair changing tops.
“Londyn, are you busy?” Jules asked, sticking her head in my room.
“No. You can come in. I’m just putting my clothes away in the drawers and closet. What’s up?”
>
“Mom get you new clothes too? Next time, I’m not going to bring so many clothes with me. What time is Gavin and everyone going to be here? Asher texted, asking what time he should come over.”
“Tell him to be here around three. I’m sure we’ll leave as soon as they get here to go get something to eat. In fact, tell him to be here a littler earlier, so he won’t be late.” I smiled.
Chapter 17
Asher arrived right on time at two-thirty. I went back upstairs to get my makeup on and see if my hair needed some of the curls redone. My hair still looked good, so I sat down at my vanity and started applying my makeup. I didn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea, so I kept my makeup natural. The doorbell rang the minute I finished my makeup and spraying my hair again.
“Londyn, your friends are here!” Mom yelled up the stairs.
I took a deep breath and stood up, grabbing my purse and phone before going downstairs to join everyone.
Gavin and Sam were talking to Mom as Jules and Asher were walking out of the living room. I got to the bottom stair and looked around to see if maybe I had missed Wyatt.
“Wyatt said he would meet us later at the restaurant,” Gavin said, giving me a big hug.
“Jules, where do you and Asher want to eat at today?” I asked, raising my left eyebrow. I wasn’t in the mood to hear it didn’t matter to her or to have me choose. She always passed the decision off on me, and then half the time, Gavin would help me choose.
She turned to look at Asher. “Where would you want to go?”
He looked at her, then slowly turned to look at all of us standing in front of them, waiting for someone to decide on where to eat. “Um…How about Alfonso’s?”
Mom looked at everyone, checking for any signs of disapproval over Asher’s choice.
“Looks like we are going to Alfonso’s for dinner.” She smiled.
“Great. Let me text Wyatt where we are going so he can meet up with us there.” Gavin smiled, his fingers gliding over his phone. I’m glad someone was happy he was coming. I, for one, wasn’t happy, but at the same time, I wasn’t unhappy about it either. We decided both Mom and I would drive to the restaurant. Mom took Jules and Asher, while Gavin and Sam went with me. Gavin let Sam have shotgun and sat behind her in the back. Gavin was on his phone most of the time during the drive to Alfonso’s. Sam was talking about some cute guy in her class, and whether she should talk to him or not. I felt I wasn’t the greatest person to be asking for advice on guys. I mean, the one I wanted to be with had up and stopped talking to me, and the other one couldn’t make up his mind. One he wanted to be with me, but couldn’t answer a simple question when I asked him about Lucas and the table.
Asher opened the door for all of us, while Jules stayed back with him and walked in after everyone else. The hostess station off to the left was without a hostess. Mom turned around to say something to me, when I saw a girl with her hair up in a bun, wearing black slacks and a purple blouse, walk out from the back.
“I’m so sorry for your wait,” she smiled, walking up to the hostess station. “We are in between rushes. How many?”
“Six,” Mom said. “Oh, wait. There is one meeting us here. So, seven.”
She led us through the aisles between booths, taking us around the corner to rows of tables. She placed the menus down on a table, while she put three wooden tables together to give us enough room so we weren’t sitting on top of one another. “I hope this is okay?” she smiled.
“Yes. Thank you,” Mom said, sitting down. Gavin sat next to her, then Sam. Asher and Jules sat directly across from Mom on the other side. I decided to sit next to Jules, so I would be able to talk to Gavin and Sam easier. I looked around the restaurant. There were couples place sporadically throughout the place. I happened to notice from where we were sitting, I could see up front over the stone divider with plants spaced out on it that separated the areas. It must be getting close to the time for dinner rush to start, because a lot of people wearing the same color clothes were coming in. They all had black pants, and white shirts with red vests.
Our server walked up to our table a few minutes later. “Hi, my name is Tyler, and I will be your server this afternoon. What can I get everyone to drink?” He smiled down at Sam.
Everyone got sweet tea, except for Mom; she got a strawberry daiquiri. She told him we had one more joining us. He smiled again at Sam before walking away to get our drinks.
Mom excused herself and headed off in the direction of the restrooms, giving me a few minutes to talk to Gavin about Wyatt to find out if he’s coming for sure, or if he decided at last minute to not show up at all. I wasn’t opposed to him not showing up. I knew I shouldn’t be that way, but it would save me a lot of grief in the future.
“He said he’s about to pull into the parking lot,” Gavin said, looking down at his phone.
“Great.” Sarcasm came out in full force.
“You okay, Londyn?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.” I looked up toward the entrance, and knew Wyatt was about to walk through the doors from the way the hostess was smoothing out her shirt and fixing loose hairs hanging around her face. Sure enough he walked in through the entrance a few seconds later, looking incredible. He had on jeans and a long-sleeved, maroon knit shirt. His sleeves were pushed halfway up his forearm. He walked up to the hostess, when he happened to see us sitting off in the distance. He headed over in our direction, turning to look at the hostess. She smiled back and stared at him as he walked over to us. Her gaze didn’t move off him as he sat down next to me at the table.
“I think you have an admirer,” I joked, motioning over at the hostess.
“She’s cute. Not my type though.”
Tyler came back with our drinks, and asked Wyatt what he’d like to drink. We got talking, not realizing Mom was on her way back from the restroom.
She sat down and took a drink of her daiquiri before she said a word to the rest of us. She looked down the table toward us wide-eyed, almost spilling her drink all over Jules and Asher.
“Did anything get on you both?” She looked over at them.
“Mom, we’re okay. Are you all right?” Jules asked.
“Huh? Yeah,” she said, not taking her eyes off Wyatt. Her flawless makeup couldn’t hide the fact she was looking pale. She grabbed her drink again, this time easing it up to her mouth downing most of it.
“Mom? Something wrong?” I sat there with my mouth twisted, looking at this woman who was supposed to be my mother.
She managed to sit the glass down without almost spilling it on the table. She glanced down at us with a tight-lipped smile. “So, you must be Wyatt?”
Wyatt looked back at her, smiling with a slight raise of his eyebrow. “Nice to meet you.”
“I didn’t get your last name, Wyatt.”
“Butler.”
“Butler?”
“Yes. Wyatt Butler.”
She didn’t say anything else, but sat there, staring down the table at him. Now, I had Mom trying to intimidate Wyatt on top of everything else I was dealing with already. I was so confused as to what just happened between Mom and Wyatt, and knew I had to make a mental note to ask her later tonight at home. She stopped glancing down every few minutes and started talking to Gavin.
When Mom wasn’t paying attention, Jules leaned over and whispered, “What the hell was that all about?”
I shrugged my shoulders real quick before Mom had a chance to see us and ask what we were talking about. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to notice Mom’s bizarre behavior toward Wyatt.
Tyler apologized for not coming back sooner; he got tied up with another table. He took our orders, then brought out two baskets of cheese break on the house since we had to wait a while for him to take our orders.
I looked over at Gavin, trying to get his attention without Mom noticing while she at some cheese bread and talked to Asher and Jules. Of course, Gavin was too busy listening to them, not looking over toward me. I couldn’t take it a
nymore and excused myself from the table. I figured I could shoot Gavin a quick text on my way to the bathroom that I needed to talk to him later. I just wanted Hunter to show up, telling me he was an idiot for not talking to me this whole week, but deep down I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
I went to sit down in my chair, when I happened to notice Wyatt’s chair was closer to mine than it was when I got up earlier. I could’ve been a bitch and moved my chair closer to Jules. Instead, I sat down like I hadn’t noticed anything. It wasn’t awful being that close to him. In fact, it was rather amazing. He was good looking, charming when he wanted to be, and the cologne he wore was like a drug. I had to breathe him in whenever I was close enough and he wasn’t paying attention.
We all walked out of the restaurant to our cars. Jules and Asher went with Mom again, while Gavin and Sam went with me. I wasn’t sure about inviting Wyatt over to Mom’s because of the way she acted toward him earlier. Before I was able to say anything, Gavin had already invited him to the house. Again, I wasn’t entirely happy over the invitation, but I wasn’t against it. I needed to face the fact that Hunter probably did decide to stay away from me after what Dad had done. He could’ve told me that he didn’t want to see me anymore instead of taking the coward way out.
“What was up with your Mom earlier when Wyatt got there? It was almost as if she hated him,” Gavin asked, leaning forward between the front seats.
“It was weird how she acted toward him. I don’t know why she acted that way. You know she would deny it if I asked her what all that was about.”
“I was thinking the same thing too, but I didn’t want to say anything at the table,” Sam said, glancing at the both of us.
“I hope your Mom isn’t mad that I got carried away and invited him over to the house,” Gavin said, looking sorrowful.
“I have to admit she acted better toward the end of dinner. Maybe we are just blowing things out of proportion. Maybe she was caught off guard that he did indeed show up with everything that has happened this week with Hunter?”