“They’ll have something else,” I say with a grin on my face. “You used to always get smoothies when I had the evening shift at Pamela’s.”
“Ah, Pamela’s,” Evan says, parking his car along the curb. “You going to miss that place?”
“A little,” I confess. “Plus Pamela was annoyed I wouldn’t be working out the summer there.”
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” He turns off the ignition and looks serious all of a sudden.
“Of course not.” I push open my door, eager to get some fresh air and for Evan not to realize all I’ve been doing for the last two weeks is having second thoughts.
I take in a deep breath, and the air feels cooler and less humid than in Charlotte, but it’s still going to take some work to acclimate to it. Well’s Creek looks worth the effort, though, with its vibrant main street lined with businesses and trees growing on every block. Flower baskets hang from traditionally styled streetlights, and just across from us is an expansive city park with a playground and a fountain. Young parents push strollers, and teenagers are rolling around on their skateboards. An elderly couple sit on the park bench closest to the road, and the romantic in me imagines they’re reminiscing about their life together. Even the coffee shop we walk toward is noteworthy with its bright red door and shutters.
“After you,” Evan says, lightly touching the small of my back and holding the door open for me.
I get a strawberry lemonade like the one I had earlier tonight, and Evan gets a peach smoothie. We both take long sips, and I only take my lips off the straw because Evan is making strange eyes at me, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Let’s go to the park you dork,” I say.
“Oh, so I’m a dork now?”
I link through his arm again and nod. “Yes, you’re a dork, just like my mom, but that’s not a bad thing.”
Evan smiles at me but doesn’t say anything. He has a spring in his step and I’m glad I talked him into getting out of the car and not just crashing at our respective apartments.
I kind of feel like a local, sipping my lemonade, arm locked with Evan’s, and strolling around town like we don’t have any other cares in the world. There are quite a few people out and about, and a lot of them look to be right around our age. There’s a group playing Frisbee and three or four coupled pairs, one of the pairs being two guys holding hands, which makes me smile. There are singles too, stretched out reading books on the park grass or walking a dog or out for a run. All of the activity, even so late in the evening, makes Well’s Creek seem so alive.
“School’s just over there,” Evan says, pointing just beyond the park. I turn my attention to the next block where stand a collection of stately old brick buildings.
“Really?” They are so traditional and perfect that I imagine Well’s Creek could be just the right setting for a movie.
“Yep. You’re glad you came now, aren’t you?” He must see the wonder in my eyes.
“Come on,” I say, loosening my arm from his and instead grabbing onto his hand and pulling him along, tossing my empty plastic cup into a well-placed garbage can, Evan doing the same with the remainder of his smoothie. I’m anxious to see as much of the college as I can tonight because otherwise I might just lay awake in bed and wonder what I’d missed.
Evan loosens his grip and sprints ahead, turning around, walking backward and laughing at me. “You’re pretty spirited there, Paige,” he says in a silly voice. “You’ve got to be careful you don’t overdo it though. Ladies in the South have been known to die of the vapors.”
“You’re the one who’s going to die,” I say, slowing to a halt.
“Is that right?” He stops and comes closer to me, then scoops me up in his arms and twirls me. “You don’t think you’d miss me?”
“Put me down!” He’s forced me into a fit of giggles, and it’s like we’re kids all over again.
“Not unless you say you’d miss me.” He’s pulling me up, like he’s going to sling me over his shoulder, just like he did one Halloween when he’d dressed up as a pirate and I’d been a witch he said needed capturing.
“I’d miss you, okay?”
When he slides me down, there’s a moment when our eyes lock. I step back, turn toward the campus and quickly say, “This is unbelievable. I think it’s probably better than WSU.” And it is. The traditional architecture, the green lawns and the few students milling about even though classes aren’t in session make me glad I’m here.
“Pretty much,” Evan says. He follows me and takes my hand, loosely holding it as we stroll along the wide, stone pathway.
I know I should slip my hand away from his like I did at the restaurant, but I don’t. It feels nice… comforting. But when his grip grows tighter, I feel like I have to draw the line.
“What’s the football team like here? Because I’m sure Garrett is going to ask.”
At the very mention of Garrett’s name, Evan lets go of my hand. “Not good enough for Garrett,” he says. “Our boy could go pro, but he wouldn’t get noticed much here. It’s not a big football school.”
“I was kind of looking forward to going to games this fall,” I say, hoping Evan’s not mad, or confused, by me again. “It would feel more like old times.”
“Yeah, but we can make new memories here, Paige. We don’t have to do everything like they did in Basin Lake.” Again, there’s an edge of annoyance in his voice, and I can tell that coming here is all about fresh starts for him.
“I know that,” I say, “but I guess I was just thinking it would give me something to talk to Garrett about.”
“You mean you guys don’t have anything more interesting to talk about than football?”
“Stop it, Evan. I really wish you guys would just make up.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault,” Evan says. “He thinks I stole you, but I’d like to inform him that you are an independent woman capable of making your own decisions and that I didn’t need to force you to come here.”
I sigh because I want both Evan and Garrett to be happy, and I’m not so sure how I’m going to do that. “Maybe we just shouldn’t talk about it. You guys will make up eventually.”
“Yeah, not so sure,” Evan says. I half expect him to say he’s tired and that we need to go, but he continues the tour with me, albeit quietly. I try to let go of the tension and focus on the sights before me. There’s a huge library that is three or four times the size of the entire high school back home, an auditorium, food court and a real stadium at the edge of the campus that actually does have a roof covering most of the seats—Lexi would be happy.
My excitement for this beautiful school and the classes I’ll be taking overpower my worries about Garrett and Evan, and I’m already outlining in my head the giant email I’ll be sending home trying to describe Well’s Creek first hand to Mom. I want her to know that this was definitely the right move for me. And perhaps my account will make her want to fly out for a surprise visit with the girls because I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss them something fierce.
“What do you think? Are you going to be happy here?” I want to end the tour on an upbeat note—I don’t want Evan to be sad.
“Sure,” he says with a shrug. “I can be happy anywhere as long as I’ve got someone like you with me.”
I shake my head at him. “You’re a silly, silly boy. I’m nothing special.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong,” he says, looking straight ahead.
We walk a little longer before I decide it’s probably best to call it a night, unsure of where further conversation might lead. “I guess we should get to our apartments, then?”
“Sure,” he says, “but I hope you won’t be mad at me when you see it. Actually, you have to promise you won’t.”
Oh, dear.
EVAN
Paige had allowed me to take the lead in securing her housing. She seemed to think it would be easier because my dad would know more about the “scholarship’s” housing stipend as well a
s the best options for housing in Well’s Creek. I let her believe that because it made things easier for me too. I didn’t have to lie as much as I thought I’d have to, and lying to Paige isn’t something I relish.
I’d tried my best to find her a clean, safe one bedroom or studio, but all that kept coming up on searches were rooms in houses or less than ideal dumps at the edge of town. So, I’d done the only thing that made sense—I leased a two-bedroom apartment in a clean, safe area that Paige and I would share. I’d provided her the address but hadn’t told her I’d be living under the same roof. I was afraid she’d back out and see it as some sort of ploy. And maybe it is.
“I won’t be mad at you,” she says as we head toward the apartment. “How can I complain about free rent?”
“I’ll hold you to it,” I reply.
After getting lost once or twice, I pull into our reserved parking spot in the newish, big apartment complex off campus.
“This is it?” she asks.
“Yep, we’re home,” I say, knowing this place isn’t as charming as the rest of Well’s Creek, but it’s fairly new and clean with landscaped grounds.
This will be Paige’s first apartment—mine too. She’s nervous like I am, but hers seems to be more of the excited variety, not the kind like mine that is filled with worry. She nearly forgets we have luggage but runs back toward me after I pop the trunk and carry most of it.
“Just up here,” I say, double checking the building number and leading her up a flight of stairs.
“This is exciting,” she says. “I’ve never lived alone in my life. If you get a call from me at two in the morning, it’s because I’m probably going to be just a little freaked out.”
I pull the keys the complex had mailed to me out of my pocket. I unlock the door and hold it open for her. “You won’t be alone, Paige,” I say, following her through. I just hope she won’t hate me.
I set our luggage down just inside the furnished apartment. It’s plain, but it’s nice, and the furniture is brand new.
“So, I have roommates?” she says, looking around, likely imagining the place is too big for one person.
I stuff my hands in my pockets, needing to get this over with. “I know you’re going to be pissed, so I might as well just tell you.”
“But I promised I wouldn’t,” she assures me.
I flash her a grin and say, “You and I are going to be living together.”
The smile she’d had just moments before fades, and it’s easy to tell she’s not happy.
“I didn’t know if your mom would agree to it,” I say, wanting her to understand. “And Garrett sure as hell wouldn’t have.”
“So why’d you do it then?” she asks in a quiet voice. “I mean, couldn’t we have gotten studios or something?”
“I tried, Paige.” I plop down on the couch, my brain suddenly exhausted. “But there weren’t any left, and it was either this or share a one-bedroom or get you a room in a house or some crummy dorm that costs twice as much, and I figured you could at least forgive me if you had your own room.”
“I guess so,” she says, but she’s still angry. It’s easy to see it on her face.
“You’re mad, and you’ve got every right to be.” I drag a hand through my hair, afraid to look her in the eyes.
“I’m thankful… okay? I mean, I don’t want to seem ungrateful because you’ve done a lot, but why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me we’d be living together?”
“Well, if you knew, could you have lied to your mom or Garrett?” It’s lame reasoning, but it’s all I can come up with.
She lets out an audible sigh, and, instead of answering, she asks, “Which bedroom is mine?”
“You can pick,” I say. “Take the master.”
“Thanks,” she says, but she’s curt about it. She grabs the handle of her suitcase and pulls. I watch her peek into both bedrooms, and I want her to take the master where she’ll have her own bathroom. When she steps into it, that starts to ease my guilt a bit until she pops right back out, dragging her suitcase across the hall into the smaller bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind her.
I just sit for a while, hoping she might come back out and talk to me or decide she wants the master after all. But she doesn’t, so after waiting a good hour, I finally haul my ass in to my bedroom, pull the door closed and lay on the bed with my eyes wide open, wondering if I’ve just fucked something major up.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PAIGE
Well’s Creek, North Carolina — July
I sleep hard and wake with a start. For a second, I’m not sure where I’m at, and I feel the fear you get when you’re in a dream and try to scream but you can’t. I don’t feel that much better when I look around the room that I barely registered last night. It’s eerily quiet, and the walls are stark white with a few framed pictures, stock photos that the rental company or the complex management must have put up because there isn’t anything personal or homey about them. Boring white blinds hang over the large rectangular window, making me miss the relaxing robin’s egg blue ones that hung over the window in my room back home.
Wiping at my eyes, I sit up and survey the rest of the fully furnished bedroom that feels more like I’m in a soulless hotel. There is a dresser and a desk that match one another and two beige lamps, wall-to-wall light brown carpeting and a comforter I’ve been sleeping under that is pretty much the same shade of puke. It’s clean and the carpet is new, and the walls are probably thick enough not to hear loud music or people having sex, but I still hate it.
I hop out of bed, wanting to be anywhere but inside these four walls, then dig through my suitcase for my running shoes and shorts and then grab a sports bra and white tank top. After I’ve gotten dressed and pulled my hair up into a ponytail, I tiptoe down the hallway and stop in front of the closed master bedroom door. For a moment, I consider knocking softy and seeing if Evan is awake, just to let him know I’m going for a run. But I pull my hand away from the door. I’m not happy with him for lying about our living arrangements, and I just don’t really want to see him.
I head for the kitchen, find a glass and fill it with water from the tap. After I’ve downed the entire thing, I head out the front door and figure I better lock it behind me. I don’t have my own set of keys, but I wouldn’t much like it if Evan left me sleeping in an unfamiliar apartment without locking the door, so I imagine it’s best I do the same and hope he’ll be home upon my return.
I run what I guess is about a mile into town, and once I’m back inside the neat, orderly streets of central Well’s Creek, I zigzag through as many of them as I can. I’m still impressed by how adorable this little town is and how people are already up and about, heading off to work, walking dogs or watering their lawns before it gets too hot. A few people wave at me, and I wave right back—Southern hospitality I guess.
Even if the humidity isn’t as intense up here as it was in Charlotte, it’s still enough to make me sweat bullets. My throat is already parched, even after that glass of water at the apartment, and so I turn into the coffee shop we stopped at last night. I’d thankfully stuck a five-dollar bill in a tiny pocket in my shorts—something Mom had always taught me to do in case of a small emergency—and get a giant iced water with lemon and mint. After I suck a quarter of it down, I ask the guy at the counter if they’re hiring. With a giant smile, he informs me they “most certainly are” and gives me his card with an email address to send my résumé to. The thought of getting a job and making my own money puts me into a better mood, and after I’ve finished off the last bit of water and crunched up the remaining ice, I turn and run back toward the apartment.
By the time I make it back, I’m dripping with sweat again, and I decide I’m either going to have to start running much earlier in the morning or much later at night. I try the door, hoping I won’t have to knock and wake up a sleeping Evan. But, to my relief, the knob turns easily. I steel myself for the continuation of our argument last night but decide
that I won’t say a thing until Evan does. I walk in and gently close the door behind me.
“I was worried about you.” Evan is standing, though it looks like he’d been sitting on the couch just a moment ago. He’s in cargo shorts and nothing else, his hands interlaced behind his head.
“I went for a run,” I say, a bit arrested by the sight of him shirtless. “That coffee shop we went to last night is hiring, so hopefully I can get a job there.”
“Could you at least tell me when you decide to take off?” He drops his hands, sounding like such an adult.
“Sorry,” I say. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“A note? A text? I mean, after last night, I was a little worried you up and left.”
“Without my things?” I throw him a look, as if to say that would have been preposterous.
“I don’t know, Paige. You seemed pretty pissed.”
I make my way past him, into the open kitchen, fill another glassful of water and empty half of it before I respond. “You should have told me,” I say, setting the glass down hard enough that I could have cracked it.
“Yeah, I know.” He follows me into the kitchen and leans up against one of the counters, as if daring me to look at his naked torso and take into consideration how great looking he is before I decide on whether to forgive him or not. “Like I said, Garrett would never have been down with it, and your mom probably would have had something to say about it too.”
I’m quite sure my mother would have been fine with it, but I don’t think she’d be okay with it being sprung on her like this, without having any say at all. But he’s right about Garrett.
“I’ll have to lie to them now,” I say, feeling like it would just cause more trouble to tell them the truth.
Evan sighs. “We can find you… or me… another place, okay? It’s just temporary. I’m sure that since we’re here now, it will be easier to track something down.”
“We aren’t locked into some kind of lease?” Even if I’ve never lived on my own, I still have an idea that you can’t just up and leave most places.
Between the Boys (The Basin Lake Series Book 1) Page 13