by Caity H.
Shrugging, I pulled open my drawers in search of something to wear. Knowing the Diamond’s, it was a causal party and I didn’t have to worry about dressing up or trying to impress anyone.
Humming, I grabbed a pair of black leggings and a sweetheart neckline dress, with a green and blue floral pattern. A strapless bra and underwear came next, and then I headed down the hall to take a shower and rid myself of the chlorine smell. I didn’t hate smelling like a pool, but my skin felt so dried out after swimming that a shower and lotion were usually mandatory afterwards.
I stripped out of my bathing suit and showered quickly. When I was out, I smelled like a mix of raspberry and vanilla instead of chlorine. I felt refreshed and soft again, instead of tired and restricted.
“Why must my hair hate me so?” I pulled a brush through my hair, cringing at the tangles it caught on. As I worked on brushing it out, I tried to figure out how I was going to style it. Bethany was always better at this kind of thing, so I decided to call her.
“This had better be important. Edward just asked Bella to marry him,” she muttered, a hint of humor to her voice. That was almost always how she answered my phone calls.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Sorry.”
She sighed in mock frustration. “You always interrupt me when I’m getting to the good parts,” she muttered.
“I know. I’m terrible.”
“You are,” she agreed. “What’s up?”
“How should I do my hair?”
It was her turn to laugh this time. “Really?” I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “Do it cute. You have to impress that stupid boyfriend of yours,” she mumbled.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I told her.
“You wish he was,” she shot back. “And I have no idea. A cute pony tail, or a head band, maybe a fancy braid. I spent too much time in the sun today so I’m kind of out of it.”
“Bethany, you’re failing me.” She snorted. “That’s not an attractive sound,” I informed her, looking at my limp hair in the mirror.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone,” she sighed. “And I don’t know how to help you. Just dry it, and put a few little braids in it. I’m sure you’ll look great no matter what.” Her suggestion wasn’t bad, so I would probably end up doing that. “Oh, and wear natural looking makeup, nothing to bold. I read an article online that said guys are into natural beauties.”
I chortled. “Don’t believe everything you read on internet. But I’ll take it into consideration.”
“Sounds good. Anything else?” she asked, yawning through her words.
“Nope. Get back to your nap,” I replied. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay. Bye.” She hung up the phone.
My dress lay on the bed. It occurred to me that I was walking around my room in a bra and leggings, and that my window curtain wasn’t closed, so I hurried to put on the dress. Once I was dressed, I blow dried my hair and twisted some braids into it. I almost looked like a hippie. I applied some mascara and a little blush, defining my cheeks. Feeling almost prepared to go see Lex, I left my room and headed downstairs.
My bag and wet clothes were still on the floor. Sighing, I picked them up, careful not to drip on the carpet too much and deposited them in the laundry room. I’d do laundry when I got home later. Slipping some sandals on, I headed outside and across the street.
Mom was in the backyard, sitting at a table with Mr. and Mrs. Diamond, or Steve and Patty. Steve looked like an older version of Lex, except his hair was darker and he didn’t have an eighteen year old body anymore. Patty’s brown hair and eyes were still youthful, a bright smile always lit up her face. Lex definitely got his good looks from his parents.
“Livie,” Mom said, waving me over. I smiled and walked over, hugging the Diamond’s.
“Hey sweetheart,” Patty cooed, patting my back. “How are you?” The hints of a southern twang lingered in her voice. She lived in Victoria, Texas for a while before she moved to California and met Steve.
“I’m good, how are you?” I replied.
“Wonderful.” She beamed. “You should go get something to eat. Lex said some of his soccer teammates were going to come over later.” I nodded my thanks and moved toward the food table.
As I picked out my food, I glanced around, searching for the familiar blond locks. The Diamond’s back yard was a lovely dark green, with patches of colorful flowers placed around. A fountain of a turtle sat near the back of their yard.
“Looking for someone?” a voice whispered in my ear. His body was so close behind me I could feel his shirt brush against my back.
“Trying to avoid them is more like it.” I grabbed my plate of food and headed back to the table.
Lex grasped my wrist, pulling my body closer to his. “It’s kind of hard to avoid someone when you’re at their house, don’t you think?” Ignoring him, I pulled away and walked to the table. Slipping into the seat next to Mom, I smiled politely and listened to the conversations around me.
Soon after, Lex slid into the spot across from me, shooting his parents and Mom a smile. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes when he didn’t even acknowledge me. I focused on my food. When nothing and no one else wanted to be my friend, food was something I could rely on. I frowned. I sounded so pathetic in my head.
I glanced down just in time to see Lex sneak his hand across the table and steal a few chips. My jaw dropped. “Really?”
“I live here. Technically, all this food belongs to me,” he justified his actions. I rolled my eyes and looked away, sliding my arm in front of my plate so he wouldn’t have such an open range.
I continued eating, shooting glares at Lex occasionally. He smiled, but otherwise ignored me. It stung how easy I was to ignore. Grumbling to myself, I stabbed my fork against the plastic plate.
“Livie.” I looked up at Patty. “Did you hear me?” I raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had asked me something? I needed to spend more time in the real world and less time among my thoughts.
“Obviously not,” Lex chided.
“Sorry, what did you say?” I wondered.
“I was asking if you were done,” she said, glancing down at my plate. A frown took my face captive when I looked down to see it was empty. The hot dog and fruit I had finished, but I’d still had a few more chips to eat. They of course, magically appeared in Lex’s hands.
“I suppose I am.” I sent a glare at Lex before looking back at his mom. “Why?”
“Well, it’s just, we don’t really have a lot planned for tonight, mainly a lot of adults talking, and eating. You and Lex are the only young people here. The rest of the boys won’t be here for a while. Perhaps you two would want to go see a movie, or something like that instead of hanging out with a bunch of old timers,” she drawled.
The idea sent my nerves into frenzy. “No, that’s fine.”
“I knew you hated me,” Lex murmured, almost genuinely sad.
“You’re such a drama queen,” I muttered.
“At least I’m royalty, you’re just a lowly peasant,” he retorted. A wind brushed by, ruffling his hair.
I set my chin in the palm of my hand, giving him a sweet smile. “And you wonder why I hate you.”
“Touché,” he winked, grabbing a soda from the table and taking a drink. When he finished, he stood up from the table. “Alright, we’re leaving.”
“We?” Patty asked. He nodded, and came around to my side of the table. I nearly fell when he jerked the chair out from under me. “Lex!” she scolded.
He’d saved me from the ground, catching me a little too high around my waist. “She’s fine.” He let me go after I pushed his arms away. I nearly stumbled again, but managed to catch myself before I fell.
“Define that word why don’t you,” I muttered, glaring up at him. He shot me a grin.
“Where are you guys going to go?” Mom asked, ever the worry wart. But since I was leaving with Lex, the odds of my demise being in the next few h
ours become considerably higher.
“Wherever the wind takes us,” he breathed wistfully.
“Lex,” Steve bit out. There was an undertone of anger to his voice. I’d heard it often when Steve and Lex talked to each other.
He sighed, shaking his head at his parents. “Probably across the street.” He grabbed my arm and started walking away. I had no choice but to follow helplessly after him.
“Keep my daughter out of trouble.” Mom laughed.
I nearly scoffed at her words. Did she not know the boy she was letting me walk away with? Lex was the very definition of trouble. I seriously needed to have a conversation with her about parenting.
Chapter Four – Kidnapped by Crush,
Send Help
When we had cleared the backyard, and prying eyes, Lex dropped my arm. I didn’t know where we were going, but anywhere with Lex was doomed to be dangerous. I hated that I was so excited to be walking next to him. Stupid female emotions.
His hands slipped into his pockets. “I must say, this afternoon I was impressed.” He glanced sideways. “Well done, Honeybee.”
I wanted to glare at the blush that crept to my cheeks. “I guess after spending enough time with Bethany her snarky attitude rubbed off on me.”
He chuckled, his head lolling back. “I wasn’t talking about what you said.” He kicked a rock, sending it flying across the road toward my mailbox.
“What?”
He let a low whistle escape his lips, his dark eyes darting toward me. “You have become kind of hot since the last time I saw you in your skivvies.”
“Did you seriously use the word skivvies?” I deadpanned. It wasn’t logical to talk about that first rather than the fact he had been totally inappropriate, but the word skivvies wasn’t something someone used every day.
“I did.” He nodded.
“Don’t talk about me that way.” I kept walking toward the house, heading for the front door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Lex questioned, taking hold of my arm again and bringing me toward the backyard.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I snapped, knowing exactly where he was going. Maybe I would be wrong, and he just wanted to chill in the backyard.
“The tree house.”
My hopes plummeted. The last time we had been in the tree house together, he’d kissed me and then walked away. One of my greatest heartaches took place in the tree house, and he expected me to go up there with him willingly?
“Honeybee, come on.”
I grimaced. “I don’t want to, Lex. I haven’t been up there in for a long time.” Lie. “There are probably bugs up there.” Lie. “Maybe even a nest of squirrels.” Lie. I was up there pretty often. Homework or late night slumber parties often led to spending time in the tree house. Any bugs were killed and the tree house was sprayed, especially when it was related to spiders.
“How bad can it be?” he shrugged, resting his hand on one of the rungs of the ladder.
“Pretty bad,” I said, biting my lip and wrinkling my eyebrows in an attempt to convince him I was actually worried about going up there.
“I’ll protect you,” he crooned. “Now get your butt up there.” He slapped the ladder and dropped my arm.
Glaring, I crossed my arms. “So you can look up my dress? I don’t think so, perv. You go first. After all, how can you protect me from behind me?”
“I’m amazing,” he offered, a sly grin on his lips.
“If we’re going to go up in the tree house, you’re going first.” He sighed, dropping his eyes. I smiled triumphantly.
“Fine.” He started up the ladder, looking back at me. “But if you wanted to stare at my butt so much, you could’ve just said so.” I wasn’t even going to dignify that with a response.
When he was far enough up, I went up behind him. As I reached the top, I saw him looking around the tree house. He had to slouch slightly, having grown since the last time he was here.
The small wood house had one window looking out over the street below. The door had a few strings of beads still; most of them had fallen apart over the years. There was a small table near the back wall, two purple bags, and a small bookshelf lined with classic fairy tales. In reality, it was my escape.
“Yeah, this place is crawling with bugs,” he agreed sarcastically. I crossed my arms and looked away. He moved over to the window, leaning down. “Still there.”
I knew he meant our initials. When we were twelve, he'd gotten out his pocketknife and carved our initials into the wood so anyone who saw them would know we would stay best friends forever. It killed me inside to know that we weren’t best friends, we weren’t even friends. We were strangers who knew too much about each other.
“Where else would they be?”
“I thought maybe they liked traveling,” he replied, stepping away from the carving. There was some kind of emotion in his eyes, almost like he remembered the promise we’d made that day six years ago.
“No, they’re good where they’re at.” I moved to the window, leaning against the side of it. He glanced at me, biting his lip before looking away. My body went into overdrive when he leaned next to me. I couldn’t take it anymore. Something was going on with him, and I needed to find out. “Lex, are you dying?” The words fell from my mouth before I could even comprehend saying them.
Way to be tactful, Olivia.
Lex’s eyebrows were raised, and his jaw was slightly open. He stared at me in silence for a few moments before he responded. “What?” I looked away. “Why would you ask me something like that?”
“I don’t know. Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested, hoping he would drop it.
He didn’t. “No, come on. That’s not something people ask me every day. Do you know something I don’t?” he laughed, nudging my shoulder with his. If only he knew how much that little brush did to my mind.
“What? No, of course not,” I mumbled, averting my gaze. My mind started to play scenarios where the two of us hugged, and he whispered into my ear, bringing a blush to my cheeks.
“Honeybee,” he whined. “Just tell me.” When I didn’t reply he poked me in the side, making me jerk away from him. “If you don’t tell me, there will be more where that comes from.” Now he was threatening me? How mature.
“Okay, fine,” I relented. “You’ve been acting weird. I thought maybe you were trying to right your wrongs or something.”
“Did you and Bridges concoct this explanation?” he wondered, a crooked grin giving him a boyish innocence.
“Maybe.”
He leaned closer to me, inches away from my face. I swear his eyes flickered to my lips. My breath hitched when he poked my nose. “That’s really stupid.” He looked around the tree house again. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up here with you,” he mentioned.
I let out the breath I’d held in when his words connected. I quirked an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’ve been up here without me?”
“I think it’s more fun if you don’t know the answer to that,” he winked.
I gaped, slapping his arm. “You’re such a creeper! Bethany was right!”
“What?” He laughed, not bothering to turn and look at me.
“Bethany had her suspicions, but this proves it. You’re stalking me. Admit it,” I challenged.
He turned his head toward me. “You caught me, I’m stalking you. I watch you sleep, eat, and shower.”
I slapped him. “You’re a pig.” Hopefully the glare I had going was intimidating or at least a tad angry looking. He couldn’t make comments like that and expect that I wouldn’t be offended. I wasn’t a feminist, but I wasn’t grateful for those kinds of comments.
“I thought I was a drama queen?” he prodded.
Biting my lip, I just shook my head refusing to talk. Lex Diamond could leave, but I wasn’t going to talk to him until he apologized for his comments. Silence stretched between us. I felt proud of the two minute silence. That was a long time fo
r me to ignore Lex.
He sighed. “Seems like this friendship never works, huh?” he was baiting me, trying to get me to talk to him. He never wanted to talk, but all of a sudden sitting in silence with me wasn’t acceptable? “Our moms have been pushing us to be friendly with each other for a while.”
“Waste of time.” Weakling. I couldn’t even last five minutes.
His eyes lit up when I spoke. How was it possible to be so dark, yet so endearing? “Right? But they can’t be stopped. I think they must’ve had some sort of bet, or maybe a deal. When we moved in and started hanging out as kids, I bet you fifty bucks our moms planned out that you and I would get married.” I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Knowing our moms, he was probably right. His careless attitude only proved that he had no feelings romantically for me whatsoever. Bethany was way off.
“I bet you fifty-two bucks they picked out the venue and first dance song,” I added, feeling a shake in my voice.
“I guess it makes sense though,” he shrugged. “Them wanting their kids to get married one day. I mean, it’s like the plot line to every stupid romance movie.”
My feelings fit a stupid romance movie, great. “Totally.” I bit my lip, willing all my emotions to stay in check.
“They’re probably pushing this fake friendship thing because they’re still holding onto the hope that one day their children will magically fall in love and become that cute couple from the movie.”
“You’re probably right,” I agreed halfheartedly. I wanted us to be that cute couple so bad it hurt.
“Did you tell your mom about that awkward kiss?”
He was joking about my first kiss. Our first kiss. I found it to be so magical and perfect, but of course he found it awkward.
“Maybe.” What fourteen-year old girl didn’t gush about that to their mom? “Did you tell your buddies you got to second base?” I muttered sarcastically.
He smirked, bumping my shoulder. “No. I barely knew what that meant when I was fourteen.” He glanced over at me. “I bet your mom told my mom. So technically it’s your fault that this is still going on. That kiss probably kept their hope alive.”