by Shana Norris
“I bet I can guess who you were with,” Paisley teased, shooting me a mischievous look.
“I’m sure I can, too,” Ashton said, nodding. “Rory Garrison.”
Pop looked up from his newspaper, his eyebrows high on his forehead. “And who is that?” he asked.
“Just a friend,” I said quickly, pushing back the thought of Rory’s lips on mine.
“A friend who makes you blush?” Pop asked.
“She’s spending an awful lot of time with him lately, isn’t she.” It was a question, but Paisley stated it like a fact. She was grinning like she knew about the kiss. My cheeks burned.
“I can hang out with whoever I want,” I snapped. “It’s not anyone else’s business.”
Andrea blew on her fingernails as she finished painting them. “Someone’s a bit touchy about the subject, isn’t she, girls?”
The memory of Rory’s kiss sizzled on my lips. I clenched my teeth together to try to keep my expression neutral. “Nothing is going on,” I said slowly.
Paisley flipped a page in her magazine, smirking. “Fine, Kate. Geez, we’re just having a little fun with you. No need to bite our heads off.”
“This boy better be behaving himself around you,” Pop told me, coughing a bit as he spoke. “Or he’ll have to answer to me.”
“He’s just a friend,” I said too casually as I spun around, marching toward the kitchen.
The house was already stifling and I hadn’t even been inside five minutes. I headed out the back door and spotted Mimi in the garden, pulling up weeds from around her tomatoes.
“Hey, Katie,” she greeted me. “Want something to eat?”
“No, thanks.” I knelt down nearby and snatched up some weeds. Dirt flew everywhere.
Mimi studied me for a moment, and then sat back on her heels, facing me. “Something wrong?” she asked. “Or did those weeds offend you in some way while I wasn’t looking?”
I ran my palms over my face, letting out a long sigh. “Nothing.”
Mimi raised her eyebrows, but she was silent as she bent back over her work. “Katie, you haven’t been yourself lately. What’s bothering you?”
I bit my lip, trying to find the right way to voice all of the frustration inside me without sounding like a whiny brat. A bee buzzed from one yellow tomato blossom to another. “I just don’t get what Andrea’s obsession with Paisley is.”
Mimi reached over, putting her small gloved hand over mine. “I don’t know either, honey. I wish I could give you an answer. But maybe this is Andrea’s way of realizing what she’s missed out on all this time.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. She still feels as far away from me as she always has.”
Ashton bounced outside then, followed by Paisley and Andrea. Paisley’s hair was twisted into an amazing work of art on top of her head.
“What do you think, Mimi?” Paisley asked, turning around so we could see the back of her head.
“It’s beautiful,” Mimi said. She patted Ashton’s arm. “You are a true artist, Ashton.”
“Thanks, Mimi,” Ashton said, bending over to give her a hug. She turned to me, her hands on her hips. “So are you still planning to help me down at the gallery today or are you going to sit here and be grumpy?”
I knew Mimi would chew me out if I gave a smart remark back, so I held back the comment on the tip of my tongue and instead forced myself to smile. “I’m still going,” I told her. “I’m ready whenever you are. Like right now, before all of you try to pry more information out of me.”
We rode over to the gallery together in Ashton’s old gray Honda. She started humming, which meant she was about to ask me something she knew I wasn’t going to like.
“So, you saw Ro—”
“I bought you something,” I interrupted, reaching into my messenger bag to pull out the small object I’d found at the junk shop.
Ashton’s eyes lit up when she glanced over at me. “Oh Kate, you definitely know how to distract me. What is it?”
I unwrapped the paper and gently placed the dusty Buddha statue on the dashboard. White specks dotted the dark green figure and some cracks ran through it, plus the bottom base was broken so it didn’t sit right. But I knew Ashton could do something amazing with it.
“Oh!” she squealed. She bounced in the driver’s seat, and for a second, I worried that I might need to grab the steering wheel. “Thanks! Where’d you get that?”
“That little shop in town, Homegrown Treasures,” I said. I cleared my throat. “Rory and I went there today.”
Ashton’s smile faltered a bit. I looked out the window at the ink-green outline of the mountaintops. Did she not like Rory? Maybe, but it shouldn’t have been such a mood-killer.
“Thank you for thinking of me,” she said, careening into the parking lot so hard that the Buddha statue fell into her lap. She parked and took it into her hands, examining it for a moment before tucking the Buddha into an old T-shirt in her backseat. “I know exactly what I can do with this.”
We grabbed some boxes from her trunk and went inside the cool air-conditioned building.
Inside, Ashton introduced me to the owner of the gallery, a middle-aged man named Terry, who seemed full of energy. “Nice to meet you, Kate!” he called to me as he strode past us to another part of the gallery, his long beaded necklaces tinkling as he moved. “Thanks for helping with Ashton’s show!”
“He’s always like that,” Ashton told me, laughing as she set her box down next to the area she was working in. “Never stays still very long.”
I set my box down next to Ashton’s with a loud thunk. The small gallery smelled of new paint. Only a few lonely photographs of Asheville hung on the walls.
“This is really awesome, Ash,” I told her, spinning around in the empty space. “This place is basically all yours. I’m so proud of you.”
Ashton’s neck reddened. She wrenched open one of the boxes. “Well, we still have to wait and see what everyone else thinks of my work. They could all decide it stinks.” She paused and then looked up at me, a grin curling the corners of her lips. “But I have to admit, this is pretty awesome. Lydia says she’s going to bring all of her friends to come see it once it’s set up. Which I’m trying not to think about so I don’t freak myself out.”
“Just take deep breaths,” I advised her as I began tearing open the other box. “It’ll be awesome and you’ll have people beating down your door wanting an Ashton McNeil original.”
Ashton rolled her eyes as she pulled a long, strange metal object out of the box in front of her. “If that ever happens, I’ll die of shock,” she said. “You’ll have to take care of Carter.”
We worked on setting up Ashton’s display for a while, wondering out loud how awful our future roommates would be. It was hard to accept that I soon wouldn’t have these moments with my best friend any time I wanted. I didn’t know how I’d get through the next four years without her.
“I thought about inviting Paisley to come out with us today,” Ashton said suddenly as she worked on attaching a few wooden dowels to her growing display. “But I wasn’t sure how you’d like that.”
Even her name agitated me. I shrugged, flipping my blonde ponytail over my shoulder and trying to look like I didn’t care.
“Whatever,” I said. “If you want to be friends with her, you don’t need my permission.”
Ashton blew her purple hair out of her eyes and looked at me. “Kate,” she said. She had a sheen of sweat on her brown skin that made her glow. “It just seems that you’re really annoyed with her, so I didn’t want to do anything that would upset you even more.”
“This is my last summer at home before I leave for college,” I said. “I had planned to enjoy these last few weeks with Mimi and Pop and you on my own, but now Paisley is getting in the way. And not to mention Andrea being there all the time.”
“Hmm,” Ashton said.
“Hmm what?”
Ashton shrugged, pulling up the strap
of her glittery tank top. “Are you sure your problem is really with Paisley?”
“What does that mean?”
“It seems to me that your biggest issue might be with Andrea. And this could be your chance to change that.”
“And how would I do that exactly?” I asked. I crushed pieces of newspaper in my fists and stuffed them into a trash bag.
She sighed. “I dunno, Kate. I’m just saying that maybe then the two of you can build the relationship you’ve always wanted.”
I pushed the newspaper into the trash bag so hard, the bag ripped open.
“Rory kissed me today,” I blurted.
Ashton dropped the piece she was holding, which hit the floor with a loud clatter. “He kissed you?” she shrieked, her voice echoing around the empty room.
“Shh!” My gaze darted toward the doors, hoping that no one else heard. But we were alone. “The whole world doesn’t have to know. But yes, he kissed me.” I bit my lip, unable to hide my smile.
“How was it?” Ashton asked, grinning wickedly. “And was that all he did?”
Heat crept up my neck. “Yes, that was all he did. We were in public, at that junk shop. What kind of girl do you think I am?” I raised my chin up, trying to look as haughty and dignified as I could.
Ashton’s brown eyes sparkled. “So … how was it?”
“It was amazing. Magical.”
Ashton considered me for a few seconds, then dropped her head and tsked.
“What does that mean?” I shrieked.
“Kate Watts, you are the worst at having flings. You really like this boy,” Ashton said.
“I—” I stared down at the copper tube in my hand, rolling it back and forth between my palms. Rory had been so unpredictable, and touchy. And jealous. And maybe flirting with Paisley, but also maybe not. I still hadn’t figured him out entirely, but that didn’t stop the excited fluttering in my stomach when I thought of him. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I’ve never felt anything like it before, not with any of the other guys I’ve kissed.”
Another thought filled my head then. “But … I’m leaving for Greensboro in just a few weeks and I have no idea where Rory will end up. Maybe he plans to go back to Atlanta, or I don’t know, the other side of the country or the world.” Concern shone in Ashton’s eyes. She scooted closer to me and wrapped her strong, warm arm around me. I leaned into her, surprised that tears were welling in my eyes.
I did like Rory Garrison. A lot.
“Miguel and I broke up just because he was leaving,” I continued. “I can’t even think about starting something with Rory when we might end up hundreds of miles apart, can I?”
Ashton’s smile had become totally forced. I knew my best friend well enough to know that something was bothering her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. My voice was quick with panic. Ashton was always my cheerleader—always looking for a silver lining.
Ashton moved away from me, back to the structure she was assembling. She picked up a small wrench and tightened a bolt to attach two pieces of a metal arm together. She worked silently for a moment, her lips pressed into a thin tight line. Her eyes were angry.
“Ashton?” I asked. “Tell me.”
Finally, she let out a long breath and stepped back, examining her work. Then she turned toward me, her head tilted to the side.
“It may be something entirely different than what it looked like,” she started, turning the wrench over in her hands, “but Carter and I saw Rory last night.”
My stomach twisted at the sound of her voice. “Yeah?” I said, trying to sound as if I wasn’t the least bit concerned about what she was about to say next.
“He was at Lacy’s Place,” Ashton said. “We saw him standing outside the door with a bunch of really sketchy-looking guys. Older guys.”
Lacy’s Place was well known as a rough bar around town. There were always fights or worse things happening there. Being eighteen, Rory could get into the bar, but he couldn’t legally drink, of course. The guys I’d seen him with at the pool hadn’t looked sketchy, so who were those others guys he might have been hanging out with at Lacy’s?
“It may be no big deal,” Ashton said quickly. “Maybe he was just passing by and those guys were trying to start something with him. But …” she paused. “Then someone else picked him up. I think it was Paisley. And they left together.”
My stomach lurched.
“I wanted you to know. I didn’t want you to think Rory is one kind of person and then he turns out to be someone else and you get hurt.”
I stared into the box of metal pieces and old coffee cups and wind chimes that were spread on the floor before me. Rory was sweet and open with me today. He was honest.
Maybe Paisley showing up was just a coincidence. A ride home.
I swallowed back tears.
“Oh, Kate—” Ashton knelt down next to me again.
“Hey, guys,” said a voice behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Carter walking across the gallery floor toward us. He leaned down to give Ashton a kiss and then admired her art piece. “Babe, that looks great.”
Ashton glanced at me, like she wanted to say something else, but I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about this in front of Carter. He had probably already decided Rory was a total jerk, so I didn’t need to hear his opinion of the situation.
“You don’t even know what it is, do you?” Ashton teased.
Carter’s cheeks reddened. “It’s, um, it’s … Okay, I don’t know what it is. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still like it!”
Ashton laughed as she wrapped her arms around Carter’s neck and kissed him.
Why couldn’t I have a relationship as easy as that?
My throat burned. I swallowed hard and pushed myself up off the cold hard floor. Wrapping the strap of my canvas bag around my fingers, I dodged Ashton and Carter, straight to the door.
Air. I needed air.
“Kate?” Ashton’s voice at my back.
I called out a weak “see you later,” but the door had already slammed behind me.
I started to walk home. Shoes slapping against the sidewalk, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. There were a few texts from Rory, from before I left the gallery.
Hope your afternoon is going better than mine. Brother is driving me crazy.
Thinking about you makes my day brighter though.
This Rory didn’t seem like a guy who lied to me or who was looking to get into trouble. Or who was secretly meeting up with my cousin. I didn’t know what to think, so I tried to stall.
Helped Ashton set up her art piece. She liked the statue I got her. Thanks for helping me pick it out.
You’re welcome. He typed back. I’d go junk shopping with you any time.
I slowed to a stop, looking around at the mountains like I was going to find an answer. Ashton messed up sometimes. Once, she even thought Harry Styles was in Mountain Dairy, and nothing could convince her otherwise. Not even when we asked him if he was Harry Styles and he said “no.”
“That’s exactly what Harry Styles would say,” she had insisted.
My fingers itched to type out the question, but before I could, a new text popped up.
If you need to get away from it all, let me know and I’ll come rescue you.
My face burst into a smile. He’d said there was nothing going on with Paisley. Ashton must have made a mistake. I began to type.
Come down to the Summit Gallery parking lot then. I don’t need rescuing, I could use a ride.
I looked down at my phone. Nothing, not even the three dots that told me he was struggling to think of something to say. My heart pounded. I breathed deeply, taking in the smell of everything green. I sat down on the bench and put my phone next to me, pretending like I wasn’t staring at it.
What if Ashton was right this time? I thought.
Before I could think too long, Rory Garrison screeched into the parking lot.
Then he got out of the car and kissed me
again.
Chapter 16
Rory was never far from my mind over the next couple of days. Even as I tried to focus on my work at Mountain Dairy or the playlists I was making for upcoming DJ gigs, I’d get distracted by remembering his lips on mine.
The fact that he hadn’t decided what he would be doing in the fall was never far from my mind either—especially my idea about Rory talking with my uncle about going to school at UNC-G. There were plenty of community colleges in the area where he could take some classes for the next year until he figured out what he wanted to do.
Now all I had to do was give him a place to start.
I never asked my dad for any favors. I’d seen him just a few times in my entire life and I had his number stored in my phone, though I never called it. We exchanged holiday cards and sometimes, even presents, but that was it. Taking a deep breath, I typed out a quick text before I could change my mind.
Hi. It’s Kate. I’ll be in Charlotte and hoped you might like to grab lunch? I didn’t need to explain that the only reason I was going to Charlotte was to talk to him.
My phone buzzed only a few minutes later, which surprised me. I had half-expected not to hear anything from him at all.
It would be great to see you. How about we meet at Cesar Grove on South Tryon Street at noon? My treat. I can’t wait to hear about how you’ve been.
The two-hour drive to Charlotte, lunch with my dad, and then the two-hour drive back would take up half my day. But I needed to do this.
Tearing down the highway—at the speed limit, of course—I turned the volume of my stereo on full blast and rolled my windows down, letting the hot summer air whip my hair around my head. The green mountains melted into sloping green hills and wide open fields before revealing the skyline on the horizon of North Carolina’s biggest city a couple hours later.
Driving through Charlotte was like driving through a completely different world. Instead of rolling green mountains around me, buildings stretched toward the sky on either side of the street. It was so big and crowded, so busy and rushed, completely alien from the life I was used to.