I made a show of thinking it over just to draw it out and kill him with anticipation. However, I also really needed the thinking time because I still had no clue about what we were going to do for the date. No matter how much I racked my brain for fun things we could do, they all seemed lame. With only two days to go, I was in serious panic mode.
But not on the outside. I wasn’t going to let him know that. “Hmmm, preparation. Maybe you should do some sit ups, or run a few miles. That should just about do it.”
“So we’re doing something physical then?” The dimple appeared on his cheek as he smiled. I didn’t need to be able to read his mind to know what he was thinking.
“Maybe.”
He leaned even closer and ran his nose along my neck, nuzzling me. “I like physical.”
“Really? So you’re cool playing basketball with me then?” I teased. He was such an easy target. “Excellent, I’ve already booked the court.”
He kissed the dip in my collarbone, making a shiver run down my spine. Damn it, he was good at doing that. “I don’t want to play basketball with you.”
“Football then? I can change the booking.”
“Not football either.” He kissed my neck. I needed to get out of his grip before I melted. He would have to pick me up off the floor before too long.
“Then I guess it will have to remain a surprise for a little bit longer,” I said cheekily. He finally kissed my lips, warmth spreading throughout my body. I seriously needed to work out the details for our date, there was no way I could let him down.
When Lochie released me, I placed my hands on his chest to keep him at a distance. “We should get back to the party.”
“I like it here.”
“You can’t just agree with me, can you?”
That laugh again, I could listen to it forever. “Nope.” But he did take a step back so I could take his hand and lead him back to the party.
We danced until way past my bedtime. The clock struck one a.m. when my feet decided they weren’t going to hold me up for much longer. About half the party had already left and those still lingering had drunk way too much to still be in public.
Lochie agreed to leave so we only had to find Garrick before I could drive them both home. I hadn’t seen him for a long time. Fearing he might have slipped away without telling me, I checked my phone but there were no messages from him. We did have a deal to make sure we kept each other informed of our whereabouts.
“Have you seen Garrick anywhere?” I asked Lochie. He shrugged, not really caring. “I have to find him to take him home.”
“He’s a big boy, he can find his own way.”
I ignored that. “Go find him. I’ll check out the kitchen and back patio.” He followed the direction without actually agreeing that he would.
Garrick wasn’t in the kitchen, hallway, dining room, or patio. Just when I was about to give up, I spotted a guy with the same shirt as he did. I took my chances that it was him and headed down into the darker backyard area.
“Garrick?” I called out as I approached. The guy turned around and revealed himself as my elusive alien. Except he wasn’t alone, he was locked in a slow dance with none other than… Ella.
“Amery!” He said, somehow managing to slur the word. “I was looking for you.” Ella giggled uncontrollably in his arms.
“Good, I was looking for you too. The sober car is about to leave and I need to get you home.”
He looked from me to Ella and cupped her cheeks in his hands. And not the cheeks on her face. “You’re fun. I should stay.” Garrick drunk, that was a new first. It was weird, like seeing your teacher in the supermarket. Some things shouldn’t be seen.
“You can’t stay, Garrick. You need to come home,” I tried to convince him. I had spoken to enough drunks in my life to know their reasoning wasn’t exactly perfect, but I had no idea how to coax Garrick into the car.
“But it’s fun here.”
“And you’ve had a good night. But now it’s time to go home. You can dance with Ella again another night.” Ella continued her giggles, she was obviously more than a few beers over her safe limit too.
“I don’t think so. I’m staying.” All his words slurred together so they sounded like one big one. I had to concentrate just to understand him. It was a good thing I wasn’t drunk too. Or perhaps that would have helped translate?
“You’re going, come on. Lochie is waiting for us.”
“That loser? He can go home. But not to your home, to his home. I don’t like him.”
“I know you don’t. But come on, I’m not messing around.” I was about two seconds away from grabbing his arm, shaking off Ella, and dragging him to the car. Did I mention how tired I was?
Garrick, in his haze, must have come to that same conclusion. He let go of Ella and they both stumbled with the movement. “It’s time to go home,” he agreed. Finally.
We said goodnight to Ella and I made sure she was safely inside and sitting down as I corralled Garrick and Lochie to the car. I felt like I was looking after unruly children.
I dropped Lochie off first, waiting until he dragged himself inside his house before leaving him. Next was my home, and I prayed all my parents would be tucked up in bed asleep. They set our special curfew at one so we were only a little late. Hopefully they would never know about it.
But it wasn’t to be. A light was on in the living room, a lonely figure sitting on the sofa. I quietly helped Garrick inside, crossing my fingers that I could smuggle him upstairs before anyone saw what state he was in. I doubted any of my parents would approve of his drinking.
“You’re late.” The two words, spoken by my adoptive father, stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned to half-face him, keeping Garrick behind me.
“I’m sorry, I lost track of time. I had to make sure Lochie got home safely and that Ella was okay before we left. I didn’t mean to break curfew.” Garrick was swaying, I elbowed him in the ribs. I earned a groan for my troubles.
“Did everything go okay?” Dad asked. I really wasn’t ready for an interrogation. Especially when I was about to drop Garrick because my arm was getting tired from trying to keep him upright. Thank goodness he was being quiet, at least.
“It was fun. We did a lot of dancing.”
He stared at me for the longest time, probably waiting for me to crack and confess everything that had happened. I knew his trick, I wasn’t going to fall for that. Again.
Finally, he nodded. “You look tired. Go to bed and we’ll talk about your curfew breaking tomorrow.”
“Thanks. Good night.” I pushed Garrick to get him moving again. The stairs posed somewhat of a threat as we took them slowly. He was nothing more than a heavy puppet by that stage.
We finally made it to the top and I steered him around the corner. The entire time, he was mumbling to himself. The words were too muffled to understand what he was saying but he seemed to be amusing himself. Good for him.
“Walk in a straight line,” I groaned. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, making our walking even more awkward.
“You’re a good friend, Amery,” he slurred out. “I’m lucky to have you.”
“Good to know. For what it’s worth, I’m lucky to have you too.”
“I wish I knew you before.”
“Before what?” It was probably wrong to pump a drunk friend for information, but that didn’t seem to stop me. Garrick didn’t really talk to me when he was sober, so why not?
“You know… before.”
“No, I really don’t.” We reached his temporary room and I guided him to his temporary bed where he slumped down on his back to face the ceiling.
While I took his shoes off, he sighed. “Before you met him. Things could have been a lot different. You could have been dancing with me.”
“I’ll dance with you, Garrick. Anytime you want. Now sleep.” His eyes were closed before I made it to the door and hit the light switch.
I took myself to my own
bed, finally able to rest my aching feet. I don’t remember even lying down before I was fast asleep. If I dreamed, they were forgotten before morning.
My alarm beeped far too soon and reminded me it was morning and time to get up. Considering it was the summer holidays, I had a serious urge just to rollover and go back to sleep. Surely there couldn’t be anything that required my immediate attention so early?
Someone tapped on the door, making my decision for me. I didn’t get a chance to invite them in before the door opened. Garrick entered my room and closed the door behind him, leaning against it for support. “My head hurts.”
“I’m not surprised,” I replied.
He opened one eye to squint at me. “It’s really bright in here.”
“Then leave.” Apparently the lack of sleep was making me grumpy. At least that was the excuse I was going with. It wasn’t like Garrick was a ball of sunshine.
“I can’t, all the parents are downstairs. They’re going to know I’ve got a hangover.” He staggered over to the end of my bed and perched on the edge. He cradled his head in his hands. “I don’t want them to know I was drinking.”
“Why did you get so wasted, anyway?” I asked, pulling myself up to somewhat of a sitting position. That sleeping in option was still looking mighty attractive.
“I only had two beers.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Really, I only had two,” Garrick insisted. He met my skeptical gaze so I would know he was telling the truth. I did believe him. If I had had two beers, I would have been exactly the same.
“Alcohol must affect us differently,” I said, putting two and two together. “I only have to have a tiny drink and I’m all rainbows and unicorns.”
“Rainbows and unicorns?”
“Happy.”
He nodded his head, understanding. “I thought I was always just a cheap drunk. Good to know it’s not my fault. Never let me do that again.”
“I’m not your babysitter,” I pointed out, teasing.
He tried to grab my feet under the bed covers to retaliate but I was too quick for him and pulled them up out of his reach. He tried to lean for them but groaned and grabbed his side mid-stretch. “Oww.”
“Serves you right for fighting.”
“Mack is a loser.” Garrick pulled his shirt up to reveal a horrible purple bruise on his ribs. It was fist sized and swollen. It matched his black eye.
“How are you going to explain those to the parentals?” I couldn’t wait to hear that.
“Maybe I won’t have to. Do you think your makeup will be able to cover it?”
I laughed, thinking he was joking. He didn’t laugh, apparently it wasn’t a joke.
“Garrick, your eye is bright red. No amount of makeup is going to cover that.”
“Contacts?”
“You’re dreaming.”
He rolled his shirt back down. I wondered how many other similar bruises he had over his body. Judging from his stiff movements, I would hazard a guess at heaps. Good, maybe he might learn a lesson about not fighting.
“What do you think I should tell them?” He asked seriously.
“The truth,” I stated simply. He didn’t seem to believe me. “Tell them the guy was hassling me about being an alien and you fought for my honor. And that you’ve learned your lesson and will not do it again.”
“Fighting for your honor?”
“Wasn’t that what you were doing?”
“And I won’t do it again?” He arched an eyebrow with the question. Somehow, I suspected that if he said that, it would probably be a lie.
“No, you won’t do it again. I can fight my own battles.”
“I only did what your boyfriend should have done,” Garrick said pointedly. I got the implication nice and clear.
“Lochie knows I would kill him if he got into any more fights with Mack. He was doing what I asked him to do.”
“Right.” Garrick then coughed into his hand, “Coward.”
I rolled my eyes. A change of subject was in order, I didn’t want to waste my breath arguing. Garrick and Lochie were just as stubborn as each other. “So you and Ella were pretty cozy last night.”
“Ella? The girl who gave me an icepack for my eye?” He seemed genuinely surprised that I would bring up her name.
“Yeah, the same Ella you were dancing with for the rest of the night. The same Ella I had to tear you away from to get you to come home. That Ella.”
Confusion crossed his face. “Are you joking?”
“No. You don’t remember?”
He shook his head. “It’s all a bit fuzzy after the first beer. I remember being in the bathroom while that chick cleaned me up. Then she offered me a drink. Then it’s kind of just flashes and bright lights.”
“You’d better hope she doesn’t remember either then.” The thought of nice, sweet Ella being hurt by Garrick was heartbreaking. I prayed she was as drunk as he was.
“Did we…?”
“I don’t know what you two got up to. You’ll have to talk to her, not me.”
His head dropped down to rest in his hands again. Suddenly his hangover was the least of his problems. “I’m never drinking again.”
CHAPTER 10
Mansfield Beach was bittersweet for me now. While I loved the ocean, the sand, and the sun, it still made my heart palpitate. The memory of the meeting I had there with the Originals in the middle of the night still played on my nerves. I had been willing to exchange my life for Lola’s then, and I would do it again now if I had to make the same decision.
“We should do this all summer,” Lola commented as she slathered sunscreen all over her. “Let’s forget all about boys and their troubles, and just relax and do nothing.”
“That sounds tempting,” I agreed. I finished with my own sunscreen and laid down on my towel. With my feet letting the sand run between my toes, the thought was more than tempting.
“Why do we bother with them? Seriously.”
“Because they smell good,” I sighed.
“And they kiss good,” Lola agreed. “Damn it. Why do we do it to ourselves? We were doing just fine before they came into our lives. Remember how we used to dance around like idiots and not have a care in the world?”
“It seems like ages since we’ve done that.”
“Too long.”
I sensed there was more to her wishes than she let on. “Is everything alright with you and Asher?” I knew what my problems were with Lochie and Garrick, but I thought all was rosy in the Lolasher camp.
“He’s okay.” Her tone of voice screamed that he wasn’t okay. Not by a long shot.
“Anything you want to talk about?” I prodded a bit more. Lola had listened to my problems enough lately, it was the least I could do to return the favor.
She lay back on her towel and slipped on her sunglasses. “We’re, uh, going through a rough patch.”
“What kind of a rough patch? What did he do?” I would hunt him down and skin him alive if he hurt Lola. It wouldn’t matter how much he had helped Garrick and I, I would always be Team Lola to the end.
“He didn’t really do anything. It’s just… we’ve been together for a while now and I thought he should be more serious about us,” Lola explained. There was so much doubt in her words, I didn’t normally see her so unsure about something. Lola was normally a little rock, now it was my turn.
“He doesn’t agree?”
“He thinks we should keep things… light.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I genuinely had no idea what Asher meant. If Lochie had said that to me, I would have felt like punching him. But, then again, that thought occurred to me quite often when Lochie spoke. Sometimes he didn’t even need to speak.
Lola shrugged and my heart went out to her. She was obviously just as confused as I was. “I think he wants to keep his options open so we don’t get too close.”
“He’s worried about having a serious relationship with you?”
“H
e thinks we’re too young for anything serious.” Her mouth turned down in a grimace. The poor thing. I had thought the world of Asher, I didn’t think he was capable of hurting Lola like that. What was with guys?
“Maybe he’s just scared,” I countered, trying to grapple for something to help explain his behavior. “From what movies have taught me, guys are afraid of any kind of commitment.”
“Lochie seems fine with it.”
“You can’t use him as a good example. You and I both know how weird he is.” I was hoping for some laughter or at least a smile but Lola wasn’t in the mood for it. “Plus, he’s probably leaving me to do summer school so I wouldn’t say that is being fine with commitment.”
“He hasn’t said he’s staying yet?”
“Nope. He hasn’t said anything about it. Which probably means he’s decided to go and doesn’t know how to tell me.”
She patted me on the arm in comfort. “Is it kind of awkward when you’re together now?”
“I haven’t seen him since Ella’s party. I figure if I don’t see him, then he can’t break the bad news to me.” My logic may have been flawed, but I knew Lochie would not tell me news like that via text message. He was way more of a gentleman than that.
“That’s crazy. You know that, right?”
I nodded. Love made you do crazy things, Lochie made me do crazy things. “I’m supposed to be seeing him tomorrow for our big perfect date but I haven’t planned anything. It’s going to be a disaster.”
“You’ve still got nothing?” Lola asked, seemingly surprised by my revelation. She shouldn’t be, it wasn’t like I planned perfect dates all the time. This was my first one and I was failing miserably.
“I’m open to ideas,” I replied feebly. I had hassled everyone I knew for date ideas and nobody had been of any use. My adoptive mom said we should go to the movies. My birth mom said I should dump him and focus on my education. Birth Dad agreed. Adoptive Dad said we should go roller skating and then grab a milkshake – apparently we were dating in the 1950s.
Project Integrate Series Boxed Set Page 75