by Caity H.
They were all like Ryan; friendly and fun to be around. I completely forgot about the problem with Mom until we reached my driveway. Bethany put the car in park, and we both stared at the house. The lights were on, and Mom’s car was in the driveway.
“You want to come over to my house instead?” she offered. It was better to get it out of the way now instead of prolong the inevitable. With a sigh, I shook my head and unbuckled. I pulled my bag from the backseat and got out of the car.
“Good luck.”
“Thanks, I’m going to need it.” I swallowed hard.
“Go get em’, tiger,” she encouraged, waving before she drove home.
With a deep breath, I started up toward the front door. I glanced back at Lex’s house, sad to see his car was there and he was likely home, too. The sliver of hope I had that he would be gone and Mom wouldn’t know about Ryan vanished.
As soon as I opened the door I heard her talking. She was in the kitchen, and probably on the phone. A spark of hope ignited inside me. She’s distracted! I made a dash for the stairs, hoping to retire to my room for a while.
“Livie, is that you?” she called out.
My shoulders slumped, and I moped back down the stairs, heading into the kitchen. “Yeah.” I stepped into the kitchen. Mom was leaning against the counter, and there was no phone in sight. That wasn’t a good sign. Who had she been talking to?
“Hey,” Lex’s voice caused me to jump. He sneered at my reaction.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, my heart still rapidly beating against my chest. Of course he was the one she was talking to. Why couldn’t he leave me alone? It was bad enough I had to deal with him at school, and in the outside world. Even my tree house wasn’t safe from his presence. Home was supposed to be my place of rest, not another place he could torment me in.
“I told you I was coming over earlier,” he reminded. I’d hoped he would forget about that.
“Did you eat?” Mom asked.
I nodded slowly, tearing my eyes away from Lex. “We ate on the way home.”
“Ah, yes. You and your new friend Ryan,” she said, giving me a pointed look. I smiled nervously beneath her blue eyes. “Lex, would you give us a minute?”
He nodded, standing to move past me. I saw the look of satisfaction in those dark green orbs as he passed. His heavy footsteps on the stairs worried me. What is he doing upstairs?
“Olivia,” Mom murmured.
I bit my lip. “It got out of hand. Ryan was just being protective of me.”
The words fell from my lips quickly as I told her about what Ryan had said, and what had happened. She knew about my feelings for Lex. After Dad died, she was the only person I could confide in about boys, like the one across the street. She never told me not to like him, which made me think that maybe Lex had a point about Patty and Mom planning our future.
“Okay,” she murmured, nodding her head. “I understand why he did it. Ryan sounds like a nice young man.” She brushed her brown hair from her eyes. “And who knows, maybe there will be something between you two in the future.” Emotion sparked in her eyes.
“Maybe,” I said slowly, not totally sure why she’d said that. I wasn’t going to start dating anyone until I could get over Lex. No one deserved to be second best in their own relationship. “I’m going to go upstairs and kick Lex out.”
“Holler if you need anything,” she said, kissing my cheek as she took a platter with a salad and bowl of soup on it into the living room.
“I will.”
I walked up the stairs, glancing at the pictures that had been on the wall since I was little. Mom and Dad’s wedding picture, my first birthday, a picture from a vacation we took to Disneyland. The Mickey Mouse ears on top of Dad’s head made him look all the more goofy. At the top of the stairs was one of the last pictures we’d taken before Dad’s accident. In the picture he was teaching me how to play baseball. Lex was in the picture too, standing beside me with a black glove instead of the pink one I had. I bit my lip at the sudden swing of emotion and moved past the memories that lingered on the wall.
When I stepped into my room, Lex was sitting at my desk. He was texting on his phone, feet propped up on the top of the desk. I frowned but didn’t say anything. Moving to my bed, I laid down, my face turned away from him. Maybe he didn’t even know I was in there with him. The chair hit the desk, he was probably standing up. I could hear him coming closer to the bed.
“You know, it’s rude to go into someone’s room without knocking,” I mumbled, fully aware that I hadn’t been in my room when he walked in. But that almost made it worse.
“Knocking is for losers,” he said, sitting down on the bed and scooting closer to me. I didn’t move. He reached over and pushed my leg, causing me to jerk. “Honeybee, take your face out of your pillow. It’s hard to talk to someone who isn’t even looking at me.”
“Why should I?” I muttered. It was hard to breathe when a pillow was over my face, but I wasn’t going to give in and look at him just yet.
“Honeybee, I want to talk to you about last weekend,” he sighed. “I feel…” he paused. I raised an eyebrow against my pillow. Was Lex Diamond actually going to admit feeling bad about what he did? “We’ve known each other too long to just stop talking.”
Nope.
“We hardly ever talked as it was.” I turned over in my bed, taking in a breath, and looked up at him. “You can go now.”
“Not until you talk to me.” He was so stubborn.
“I am talking to you.” I grumbled, watching a smile capture his lips. Just thinking about his lips made my mind replay the kiss. How could kissing him feel so right when he didn’t care?
“Yeah, but you're not responding the way I want you to,” he replied.
“The world doesn't revolve around you, Lex,” I retorted.
He smiled, grabbing my foot. “That's what you think, but the rest of the world knows what's what.”
I kicked his hand away. “Shut up.”
“Whoa, you’re getting kind of feisty. I don’t know if your boyfriend will like that,” he cautioned.
I raised my eyebrows. “Do I detect a hint of annoyance in your voice?”
“No, you do not,” he promised.
“I think I do. You're annoyed that I have a boyfriend.” I challenged, letting the lie drag out a little longer. What could it hurt?
He just smiled at me. “You have no idea what you're talking about.” I stuck my tongue out at him and turned my face back down onto my pillow. He got up off of my bed. I smiled, thinking he was leaving.
Yeah right.
He lay down on my bed next to me, pushing me over so he'd have more room.
“Lex!” I groaned, fighting the urge to smother him with a pillow and be done with him forever. Not only was he stronger than me, but I would never hold up in the court of law. They would see right through my lies. I could always plead insanity. What court wouldn’t believe he’d driven me insane?
“It's been a long time since we've done this,” he said, ignoring me.
“Done what?” I asked.
“Slept in the same bed,” he replied.
“We're not sleeping,” I noted dryly.
He slapped my leg gently. “Shut up, you know what I meant.”
“I do. I think it’s because I've known you for far too long,” I mumbled, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. I glanced down at him, his hands rested on his abdomen, lifting with each breath.
“It's been traumatizing to know you this long.” He opened one eye and looked at me.
“You think you were traumatized? You have no idea,” I retorted.
“Oh be quiet. You were plenty traumatizing,” he said with a grin.
“How?” I gasped.
“Like when I walked in on you half naked,” he said. I shuddered inwardly in remembrance. I’d been in shorts and a bra when he’d barged in. I was lucky my shock didn’t keep me frozen for too long and I’d pulled a shirt on prett
y quickly. We didn’t speak for two days after that.
“You were the one who kept staring at me. You could've looked away,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but it was like a deer in the headlights, I couldn't look away.” He turned on his side, propped up on his elbow.
I rolled my eyes. “You kept looking because you're a pervert.”
“I am not,” he replied. “I was curious thirteen year old, there's a difference.”
“Not even.” I sighed. “And I'm mad at you still, so will you please leave?”
“We still haven't talked about the tree house,” he reminded me.
“I don't want to talk about the tree house. Not now, and not ever. Can't we just pretend it never happened? You do that so well,” I hissed.
“If we don't talk about it, you'll be mad at me forever,” he sat up, leaning against the backboard so we were at the same level.
“I have good reason to be mad at you forever.” I glared. “You keep kissing me and then running away. I’m tired of being the person you mess with when you’re bored.”
“I wasn’t messing with you. What’s wrong with a couple of good looking friends making out once in a while?” he asked. I rolled my eyes. He complimented me, but he still came off sounding like a pig.
“Do I really need to explain why?” I asked. “It would be cheating on our significant others.”
“Minor details.”
“Your girlfriend is not a minor detail!” I shoved him off the bed, anger rising in my chest. “Leave.” He stood and dropped his face near mine. He is seconds away from being slapped.
“What's the magic word?”
I pushed a pillow in his face. “You don't respond to the magic word. Now get out before I slap you.”
He sighed and stood up, tossing the pillow back at me. “Fine, I'll leave. But we are talking about this. You live across the street. You’re not going to avoid me that easily.” He smiled. I threw the pillow at him angrily. He caught it, which annoyed me more.
“Bye, Honeybee,” he said exiting the room. I stared at the door for a few seconds, waiting for the annoyance to subside.
Then it struck me.
“He just took my pillow.” I mumbled to myself. I sighed and rolled over onto my stomach, and screamed into my remaining pillows.
I was in love with the devil. The insanity plea would definitely work.
Chapter Eight – Nothing Short of Curious
I got home from school the next day and Mom was in the process of setting up the backyard for the get together. She had informed me earlier the Diamond’s were coming over for dinner and I was supposed to invite my friends over, which was Mom code for: Lex told his mom about Ryan, and she wants to meet him.
Her gaze found me as I stood right outside the door.
“Hey, Mom.” I waved.
"Hey, sweetie." she looked back at the table, setting down the final pieces of pale yellow plastic utensils. "How was school?"
I shrugged, stepping out into the lawn. The lush green grass was soft beneath my bare feet. Mr. Diamond, or occasionally Lex, came over and tended to our lawn every couple weeks. It was a sweet gesture; one Mom seemed to appreciate a lot. "It was fine, as usual. How was your day?"
"Oh you know how it goes.” She laughed, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Forward some emails, answer phones, get signatures on documents. The same old thing I do every day." I could tell by the way she talked she wanted to be somewhere else, doing something else. She never liked the hustle and bustle of the law firm.
"Sounds like fun."
She frowned before looking back at me. "What time are your friends coming over?"
"I told them to come over a little earlier. That way they would just be here and not have to be introduced later. So six thirty," I answered. I knew it was only four, so we still had a few hours to get everything ready.
"Is Ryan going to come?" she questioned, setting up the lawn decorations. She had a few gnomes and a plastic deer that linger in the back corner, opposite the tree house. Whenever I slept in the tree house in the summers, I would wake up sometimes and see the gnomes staring back at me, evil little smiles plastered on their evil little faces. Talk about traumatic. I wasn't sure if there was a phobia for gnomes, but if there was, I probably had it.
"Yeah," I remembered to answer. The conversation with Ryan had been less intimidating than I'd originally thought. He actually felt guilty about starting the rumor that I had a boyfriend, and had immediately agreed to come help me out. I was pretty sure he just wanted to mess with Lex more, but I didn't care. Lex could hold his own. "He's agreed to come. I warned him of who all was coming.”
"Wonderful!" she smiled, clasping her hands together. "I've got to finish making dinner. The back yard is set up. If you could be a dear, clean up the living room and downstairs bathroom. I'm going to assume they won't go upstairs and hope for the best," she said more to herself than me.
"Will do," I promised, saluting her. She laughed and waved me away. I moved back inside the house and started to tidy up the house. Smells of dinner wafted into the living room as I cleaned. Dinner was going to be good.
Once everything had been tidied up, and Mom gave me freedom to do as I wished until my friends came over, I took a shower and started to get ready. I wasn't entirely sure what to wear, but I was hopeful that I would find something cute to impress the young men in attendance. Even though I wasn't interested in a relationship with Ryan, I could still look cute. Cute boys made my day brighter. I could only hope the same thing could be said about guys seeing cute girls.
I pulled on a short teal dress with thick straps and white flowers stitched across the bottom right of the skirt. I fish tailed may hair, putting on minimal makeup and then slipped on my glasses. My favorite shoes were on my feet, the familiar black and tan animal print were a good blend with the bright dress.
The doorbell rang, bringing forth a cringe. No doubt Mom would answer the door before I even made it out of my bedroom. I prayed to God it was Bethany at the door, and not Ryan. Moving from my room, I made my way toward the staircase. My heartbeat sped up when Ryan's dark mop appeared through the doorway.
"It's so nice to meet you," Mom greeted, smiling. "Olivia told me how you pretended to be her boyfriend."
Ryan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, that wasn't my brightest idea."
The moment of distraction gave me enough time to take in his appearance. It seemed he'd dressed up a bit for the get together. Who he was trying to impress, I didn't know. He wore a dark green polo and tan shorts. Casual tennis shoes claimed his feet, and a silver watch sparkled on his wrist. He looked good. Really good.
"Olivia is just getting changed upstairs," she told him, gesturing toward the staircase. Knowing I would be found staring, I started down the steps. Mom looked up. "Oh, there she is now. Hon, your friend is here."
"I can see that." I nodded, getting to the bottom of the steps. "Hey, Ryan." He waved, a smile gracing his lips. The glittering of the overhead light on his lips caught my attention. Almost unconsciously, his tongue prodded the ring on his lower lip. "I like it," I decided.
Ryan's grin widened. "Well, I did get it to impress the girls." Mom raised an eyebrow at the two of us but didn't say anything. "When is everyone else getting here?"
"In about a half an hour," I informed him. "Bethany should be here before then, though. She said she would, at least." He nodded, glancing around the house. "Want a tour?" I bit my lip.
"Absolutely.” He nodded, brushing hair out of his eyes.
Looking closer, I could see the specks of blue in his dark brown eyes. They reminded me of the hazel and gold drops in Lex's eyes. I cursed myself inwardly for thinking of Lex and his eyes. They were practically my kryptonite. "Great."
"Great," he mimicked, chuckling.
"I'll be in the kitchen," Mom said, smiling before excusing herself.
I waved a hand toward the living room, very aware of how close he followed behind me. I bit my
lip again, and walked ahead. "This is the living room. I come in here to gorge on ice cream and watch movies on the weekends. And occasionally the weekdays, too."
"Good to know." He pursed his lips, walking over to the bookshelf. The shelves were lined with lots of Dad's old books, Mom's new books, and pictures of the family. "Is your dad here?" he glanced back at me.
The familiar pang filled my heart. Most of the time, it didn't hurt. But when I explained to people what happened, the pity in their eyes for the girl who grew up without a dad hurt to see. The looks always reminded me that I had lost someone special. "No," I answered.
"Too bad," he sighed, turning back to face me. "I would've liked to have met him."
I forced a smile. "He died when I was twelve, killed in a hit and run accident." His eyes instantly dimmed, his lips parting as he started to apologize. Apologies got so tiring. Was there nothing else to say then ‘I’m sorry’? "Don't," I stopped him. "You didn't know, and you don't have to apologize. It's been a long time."
"I don't really know what to say then," he murmured, his lips curling downward.
My face twisted, wrinkling my nose and lips to one side. "You don't have to say anything," I breathed. "Come on. I’ll show you a few more rooms, and then we can go outside and hangout until Bethany comes." His eyes regained some of their lightheartedness, and he nodded.
We were outside sitting on one of the benches, enjoying the last bit of time we had left. Soon enough, Lex would come, bringing his lovely girlfriend. Admittedly, I was a little excited to see what she did when she saw my ‘boyfriend’.
A little before seven, Bethany showed up. She looked as good as always, wearing a white dress and yellow cardigan. Before I was ready, the doorbell rang again. With a deep breath, I moved to answer it. Ryan and Bethany stood nearby, chatting in the living room. I pulled open the door and smiled brightly at Patty and Steve. Lex and Cassy were behind them, shooting glares at each other.
“Hey,” I greeted.