I gulped down some milk right from the carton, then went to the sink and washed away the cow-ish taste in my mouth with a glass of water.
“…it will take a ton of insulin until he’s back at his normal sugar level! Why can’t you be reasonable for once in your…”
My mom’s angry shouts drifting from the dining room were drowned out by Grandpa’s deep rumble behind me. “Have a glass for an old man, too?”
With a smile that I didn’t have to force as much as expected, I turned around and found him sitting at the small, square table in the middle of the yellow room, his wrinkled hands folded in front of a huge piece of cake. I filled a glass for him, then another, as my great aunt Muriel joined us with a confused expression on her face.
“Are they always like that?” she asked, pointing a finger over her shoulder.
A sigh escaped me. “Most of the time.”
Muriel pulled out a metal folding chair next to my granddad and sat down. Her hair wasn’t as white as his yet, but otherwise they couldn’t deny being siblings. Same big nose, the thin lips, and a healthy rosy color to their cheeks. I must have gotten my green eyes from my mother’s bloodline, too. Fetching three forks, I joined them, and we ate the cake to the background music of my parents having their second go at each other this week—and it was only Monday.
*
Mom and Dad were decent enough to stop fighting for a moment when Gramps and Muriel said good night and thanked them for the invitation to dinner. My grandfather’s house was next to ours. When my folks’ fights escalated at night, I used to walk over and knock on his door—no matter what time—dressed in my PJs and armed with my alarm clock. Gramps always let me sleep on the couch. Tonight, however, due to Muriel’s visit, I had to suffer through an argument that found its climax at twenty minutes past midnight with banging doors and my mother shouting, “What is wrong with you? Do you want to wake Susan?”
Thanks, Mom. Only took them four hours of nonstop shouting at each other to remember they actually had a daughter. I pressed the pillow harder over my ears and tried counting sheep to escape the mad reality downstairs. It didn’t work, and soon the sheep turned into soccer balls being kicked over a fence by Ethan. I watched him do that for some time and concentrated on the warm feeling that spread in my stomach. It was the thought of seeing him again that had my insides in a funky twist.
Oh boy, I was so going to put on nail polish tomorrow. Simone did it all the time, and she was the most beautiful girl I knew. I wanted to look pretty for Ethan. Remembering how he’d smirked and called me a liar today released a shot of adrenaline inside me. Getting really excited, I flashed a smile in the dark. Three p.m. couldn’t come fast enough.
Sleep must have claimed me, because when the alarm went off next to my face, I jerked upright to bright morning light in my room. Rushing to the bathroom, I showered, put on some tropical-smelling body lotion, combed and tied my wavy, light brown hair in a high ponytail, and fished for the untouched set of ten little bottles of nail polish in the cabinet beneath the sink. It was a giveaway prize from one of my favorite authors some time ago. Each color of the spectrum was in that box, from yellow to deep purple. I tried the soft pink one to match the pink shirt I’d put on after the shower.
Except, when I was done, the result looked nothing like Simone’s ever pretty nails. Maybe because hers were always perfectly manicured and hyper long, and mine were as short as could be from biting them in French class. No way was I going to leave the house looking like I’d been finger-painting. The only problem: the gift set came without nail polish remover.
Mom was my last resort. She always did her nails, so she would have some remover, too. Grabbing my schoolbag and also the CD for Ethan, I rushed downstairs to find my life-saver but stopped dead in the doorway to the kitchen when I saw her sitting at the small table where Gramps, Muriel, and I had held our own little celebration last night. She was wrapped in her dressing gown, a cup of steaming coffee in front of her, and the pretty auburn hair I always envied tied in a messy knot at the back of her head. When she looked up at me, dark rings dug deep into her skin underneath her green eyes. Obviously, the fighting hadn’t been over with the door-banging.
Mom smiled at me. A smile that drew forgiveness from everyone so easily. Including my dad. He came in at that moment and kissed her on the top of her head before he left for work. But first he came toward me and planted a kiss on my forehead, too. “I’m late,” he said. “See you sweeties tonight.”
“Bye, Dad,” I called after him. When he was gone, I sat down across from my mom. “You look tired.”
“I’m all right.” She reached across the table to squeeze my hands. “I’m so sorry for yesterday, honey. We didn’t mean to ruin the evening for you and Gramps.”
“It’s okay.” That was a lie, but she looked sorry enough; I didn’t want to add to that. “We ate the cake in here while you and Dad wrestled it out in the living room. And guess what?” I gave her a teasing smile. “Gramps didn’t die of a sugar rush.”
That made her laugh and eased the tension a little. “I know it was a silly reason for an argument. Dad and I will try to be better, I promise.”
I nodded, giving her the encouragement she needed. The problem was, all their fights started with silly reasons and I’d given up hope for a change a long time ago.
When she dragged my hand toward her and planted a kiss on my knuckles, she noticed my failed experiment and her forehead creased to a frown.
“Yeah,” I whined. “That was an accident. Can you help me fix it before I have to go?”
Mom brought out her first aid kit, which was actually a whole damn bag full of nail polish and stuff, and started rubbing drenched cotton pads over my nails until they were as clean as ever. “I’ve never seen you put nail polish on before,” she said, concentrating on the task at hand. “Why today?”
Grinning, I waited until she looked up and caught me pausing for a dramatic moment to announce my news. “I have a date today.”
“You don’t say!” All of a sudden, her face lit up like a light bulb. “Who is he? Do I know him? Is it Nick?”
“Frederickson?” I grimaced. “God no!” He was just a good friend. Even though there was this one moment when I’d thought I was falling for him. We’d just won a soccer match and Nick wrapped me in a bear hug, twirling me around. My stomach had filled with that butterfly feeling you always hear about, but it turned out to be just a burp from the soda I drank after the first half—which I suppressed of course. The moral of that story: Don’t let somebody shake you after you drink something bubbly.
“His name is Ethan,” I told my mom. “After school, we’re going to meet in town. He’s playing soccer in my place for a while. You know, because of my knee. We talked all of yesterday afternoon and he invited me to have a drink with him today.”
Mom stopped rubbing the nail of my pinky. Her face fell. “Did you say after school?”
“Yes. Three o’clock.”
“Honey, we have to pick up the car from the shop this afternoon. Did you forget?”
Hell, yes, I had forgotten. Dammit. The car had been in the shop for over two weeks, and Mom needed me to drive her out to Nipomo in my dad’s car, so she could bring hers home. I blamed Ethan for the recent black hole in my memory, since I normally had no trouble remembering anything like that…or my granddad’s birthday, for that matter.
“Can’t we pick it up tomorrow?” A whiny sigh escaped me. “I really want to go on that date. It’s my first, Mom.”
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry, but I need the car tonight.”
“What about Grandpa? Can’t he drive you?”
“He’s going to take Muriel back to Pasadena. She has an appointment she can’t miss.”
“Noooo.” With a loud thud, my forehead knocked against the table.
“We’ll be back around four. Maybe you can ask Ethan to meet up later?”
“Fine,” I muttered, fogging up the metal tabletop with my breath.
What other choice did I have, anyway?
After Mom was done cleaning up the mess on my nails, I snagged a donut from the kitchen counter and left for school, eating on the way. The trouble with the nails had cost me too much time to sit through my usual breakfast of toast, eggs, and OJ this morning.
Licking my fingers after the last bite, I walked through the doors of Grover Beach High and headed to my first class—science. Pushing through the crammed corridors always proved a little hard in the morning. I shouldered my way through to my locker and got my science book out. As I banged the door shut and spun the lock, I caught a familiar figure in the corner of my eye. My heart started breakdancing. Crazy, I’d never had that feeling before, and it really felt as exhilarating as it was so often described in the many romance books I’d read. I stood there nailed to the floor for a moment, savoring that new experience down to the core. Eventually, I inhaled deeply a couple of times and walked up to Ethan.
He was surrounded by a group of people, three guys and two girls exactly. They all looked like seniors, a class above me, and I knew none of them. Ethan didn’t see me approaching. He was talking to one of the girls, a Thai supermodel lookalike—all long legs, delicate features, and yards of black hair.
The first thing I noticed about Ethan was his clothes. The white shirt and battered jeans fit him a lot better than the Charlie Brown outfit of yesterday. His short blond hair was styled to a casual Mohawk, his lips curving into a flirtatious smile directed at the girl.
A small sting in my chest made me aware of how much I disliked the sight of the two of them together, but I refused to read too much into this display and stopped next to him.
“Hey,” I said to catch his attention and gripped the CD I’d brought for him a little harder.
When Ethan turned his head to me, his smile wavered. He looked as if he was unsure whether I’d just spoken to him or to someone else. It didn’t escape me that he didn’t say hi. That caused my throat to dry out a little.
“Um, I brought you the CD,” I continued, my voice going from steady to hesitant within a couple of heartbeats as I held out the Volbeat album to him.
Now that he couldn’t deny I was speaking to him any longer, he turned to me fully, one hand in his pocket, the other wrapped around the strap of his backpack he carried on one shoulder. He still said nothing, and he didn’t take the damn CD, either. Instead, his gaze wandered from my head to my toes in a skeptical once-over. Heck, what was wrong with him today? And the worst thing about this was that all his friends were staring at me like I was some kind of alien.
I hated how a feeling of insecurity crept into me at Ethan’s considering look. Where was the chatty, fun guy from yesterday? Could he really forget me so easily, or was he just playing stupid? Well, there was one way to find out. Clearing my throat, I straightened my spine. “Listen, I can’t meet you at three today, something’s come up. So maybe we can postpone the date until a little later? Would five work for you?”
Ethan’s eyes widened. Folding his arms over his chest, he actually had the nerve to laugh. “Sweetness, what made you think you and I would be going out together?”
The air froze in my lungs. As a round of chuckles erupted from his friends, I wanted to vaporize like a vampire in the sun. He was nothing but an ass who’d been nice to me yesterday because he needed my Yes to join the soccer team. Nothing else. My hand with the CD dropped to my side. I swallowed hard, shock freezing my body, but I refused to let him have the last say. He could dump his crap on someone else.
“Obviously I got it wrong. Sorry, my bad,” I snapped, flipping him off as I whirled about and strode away.
From behind, a humored female voice drifted to me—the pretty Thai girl, I supposed. “What was that?” There was also the sound of a soft smack on someone’s shoulder, arm, or wherever it was that she hit him. “Are you dating that girl?”
“Ow, you’re breaking my heart, Lauren!” Ethan half whined and half laughed. “You’re the only one I’m dating tonight. I don’t even know who she is.” That was the last I heard before I let the voices of the other students around me drown him out.
And to think I’d even tried to paint my nails for him today… Agh.
But deep down it still stung.
Walking straight to science, I found my seat close to the window and slumped down with my arms crossed and chin dipped low. It took all of ten seconds until Sam and Nick made a beeline toward me. Sam sank into the vacant chair at my side, while Frederickson parked himself on the corner of my desk. “Wow, Susan, you’re wearing the face of a badger. What has you so wound up?”
“Ethan!” I spat.
“What about him?”
“He’s a complete and utter blockhead.”
Nick exchanged a wary glance with Sam before he replied, “Are you serious? From what I heard this morning, you and Ethan seemed to have quite a nice time after practice. Hunter mentioned that Ethan said you’d told him he could play.”
“Did he lie?” Sam demanded.
“No... I did say that.” Sort of. “But when you see Hunter again you can tell him I changed my mind. If he cares about my feelings even a little, he won’t let Ethan play my position.”
Nick sucked air in through his teeth, scrunching up his face. “Ooh.” He lifted his hands, rising from my desk like a fire had broken out. “I’ll leave you girls alone, so you can talk this out.”
The moment we were to ourselves, Sam lifted her eyebrows, prompting me to clarify. I would have done so, if the bell hadn’t cut our plans short. Sam, who sat next to Nick in science, vacated the chair beside me for Trudy Anderson. But as soon as the teacher had come in and started the lesson, I got a text from Sam asking for the full story.
Hiding my cell beneath the desk, I typed in the most important deets about my recent encounter with Ethan and sent the message off. Her reply was a sad smiley face, but another text followed soon. She suggested we skip lunch with the guys in the cafeteria today, get the girls together instead, and go into a huddle out on the campus grounds. This sounded exactly like what I needed. I looked up from my phone and over to her, pressed my lips together, and nodded. In a final text, I asked her not to tell Nick what had happened. The guys didn’t need to know everything, though they might find out soon enough. Once they met Ethan, he’d certainly spill the amusing story of how he embarrassed Susan Miller.
With Sam, Lisa, and Simone in most of my classes, the morning went by quickly enough. They were all taken aback as much as I was when they heard what had happened. When lunch break came and we found a place outside in the sun where we ate the sandwiches that Sam had picked up at the cafeteria, I could finally rant in a volume fit for a situation like this. It felt so good to just let it all out and not whisper behind cupped hands anymore.
“He’s such a moron! You should have heard him, oh my God! ‘What made you think you and I would be going out together?’” I reiterated in a dull imitation of his voice, then dropped my forehead to my folded arms on my knees and moaned. “He just used me. Pretended to like me so I’d say he could play.”
“Cheer up,” Simone said, placing her hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get even and make you feel better.”
I lifted my head. “How?”
“Simple. First, Lisa will tell Hunter to kick Ethan off the team. And then we go shopping.”
“Shopping?” Lisa laughed. “Is that your answer to everything?”
“That’s my answer to boy trouble. It’ll help Susan get in a better”—she leaned forward in a conspiratorial way—“mood.”
And it was the best answer she could have come up with. Buying new books always did to my soul what conditioner did to frizzy hair. There was only one problem. “I can’t. I have to drive out to Nipomo with my mom after school to pick up her car.”
“Fine, we’ll meet you in town when you get back,” Simone stated. “It can’t take you all day to drive those thirty miles.”
“No. We should be home around four. I’ll call you.”
And already, my old smile was back in place.
Chapter 3
THE GOOD THING was that Mom and I made it out to Nipomo and back in record time and I was free to go book shopping, or whatever it was that Simone had in mind, by three forty. The bad thing was that just before I left the house, my father called and said he’d be late this evening. That was going to end in another argument. Mom worked as a nurse at the French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo. She was on duty tonight, so it was Dad’s turn to cook dinner for us and make sure that Gramps took all his pills and the insulin injection.
At seventeen, I was old enough to cook dinner for myself, and Gramps wasn’t a helpless, senile old man, either. He could look after himself very well. But since my gran had died of a heart attack two years ago, Mom had become hyper-careful and overly protective of him. Nobody said it out loud, but I believed she blamed my father for my grandmother’s death.
That particular day, Dad had begged on his knees for Mom to go with him to a very boring, very late charity banquet his boss had invited him to. She thought if she’d stayed home that day, she might have been able to save her mother.
Honestly, I didn’t see how. Grams was sitting at her sewing machine when it happened. She just slumped forward and was dead. It was over within seconds, the doctor had told us. She didn’t suffer or even cry out for help. No way would Mom have heard anything, given that we lived next door. Still, that was the time when the fights had begun. And they had never stopped.
Whatever the cause, Mom and Dad would argue again as soon as they were together, but at least it wouldn’t happen until tomorrow morning. I’d learned to treasure those rare occasions when only one of them was home. Reading in a silent house was the best thing I could think of. And I planned to do that right after shopping with the girls today.
At ten to four, I met my friends in front of Charlie’s Café. We’d agreed on starting the shopping trip with a hazelnut latte deluxe, which Charlie, the middle-aged owner, had recently added to the menu.
Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5) Page 3