by Amity Hope
“Oh, he’ll love you for these,” Alyssa said with a smile. “Would you mind if I brought them downstairs right now?”
“Take them,” I said as I handed them over. I pulled some plates out of the cupboard and grabbed a roll of paper towels. Dad had the refrigerator in the bar area downstairs stocked with cans of soda. I was making my way out of the kitchen when the doorbell rang.
I balanced the plates on one arm and opened the door to the most apologetic face I had ever seen.
“Mason invited them,” Gabby said. Her face was crumpled into a miserable expression. Her voice was a little too high. She was clearly not pleased. She held five extra-large pizza boxes in her hands.
“Invited who?” Alyssa said as she appeared by my side. She reached for the pizzas as Gabby stepped inside.
“Us!” Caitlin said cheerily as she appeared in the doorway.
“We hope you don’t mind,” Tricia said as she pushed her way in.
“We thought it was only fair, since you came to my party,” Caitlin explained.
I blinked helplessly at Gabby, who looked dejected, before turning back to Caitlin. “But this isn’t a party.”
“It is now!” Mason said as he appeared in the doorway. He had the handles of a cooler firmly in his grip.
“I’m so sorry!” Gabby whispered.
I shook my head and whispered back, “It’s fine.” It wasn’t but I was sure that she was even less enthused about this than I was. Especially if Mason had been the one to invite them.
“Well this is going to be so much fun,” Alyssa muttered. Her tone was a little too bright to be genuine.
I glanced at her and she made a face and rolled her eyes. I had come to realize this was her silent answer to all uncomfortable situations.
By the time I turned around, Mason and his cooler had disappeared down the staircase. I could only assume that Caitlin and Tricia had led the way. I let out a little growl of frustration. I immediately felt bad when I saw the look on Gabby’s face.
“We ran into them at Angelo’s,” she explained. “I went up to the counter to pay for the pizzas. They must’ve walked in behind us because when I turned around to ask Mason if he could help me carry them, he was gone. A few minutes later he came back and the two of them were with him.” She pointed to the pizza boxes that were blocking most of Alyssa’s upper body. “He added two pizzas to the order. We should have enough for everyone. Yay,” she glumly tacked on.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said even as she shook her head. “It’s just…why did we have to run into them? Of all the people in this town for him to invite, it had to be her?”
Alyssa bumped her hip against Gabby’s. “Maybe it’s him you should be questioning,” she carefully said.
Gabby blew out a sigh and grabbed the top two boxes from Alyssa. “I know. I do. It’s just…I like him. I can’t help it. Sometimes I don’t even know why. I just do. Even though I’m starting to see that it doesn’t even really make sense.”
“I still think you should’ve said yes to Hunter.”
“Who’s Hunter?” I asked as I shifted my plates.
“Hunter Pierce,” Alyssa said.
The name sounded familiar. “Oh, wait! Is he the kid that tripped over his feet?” Alyssa was already nodding. “And knocked himself out while we were playing dodge ball?”
“Yes, in like sixth grade,” Gabby said. I smiled because her tone sounded surprisingly defensive.
I made a teasing face at her. “Is he cute?”
She gave me an exaggerated, noncommittal shrug. “He’s not bad.”
I wanted to ask if he had a better personality than Mason. But I didn’t want to push my luck. Besides, I was pretty sure I already knew the answer to that.
“He is cute. In a bookish, boy-that-likes-to-read, sort of way. He’s also the kind of guy that would not invite some other girl to a party,” Alyssa said firmly.
“It’s not a party,” I reminded her.
“Oh, sweetie,” Gabby said with a smile, “I think it is now.”
As she said it, shouts slammed up the staircase.
“They must’ve settled on a game to watch,” Alyssa noted.
“I suppose I should get down there,” I said.
When I got to the bottom of the steps I realized Cait and Tricia had taken over Dad’s recliner. Logan and Mason were on the couch. Seth was on the floor, his back against the wall. He gave me a questioning look and I shrugged.
We arranged the food on the coffee table and Mason and Logan began reaching for pizza before we even got all of the boxes open. Alyssa and Gabby squeezed onto the couch with their boyfriends. I filled up a plate with enough pizza for Seth and me before dropping down on the floor beside him.
We ate our pizza and watched the game and the conversation seemed decent for the first few hours. When the game ended, my friends and I cleaned up the mess and brought the dirty dishes up to the kitchen.
I thought maybe the evening wasn’t turning out so bad after all. Until Gabby, Alyssa and I went back downstairs. Both Mason and Logan had bottles of beer in hand. They were already close to empty. This was not how I’d planned for the night to go. Seth had a bottle in his hand too. The cap was still on. He looked at me, as if asking for permission. I shrugged.
“No one’s leaving if they’re drinking,” I announced, hands on hips, stern look on my face.
Caitlin smiled at me. “Of course not,” she said before taking a large sip.
My stomach plummeted. I had thought my proclamation would send them on their way. I hadn’t expected her to agree. When I’d asked Dad if I could have friends over, this was not what I’d meant.
“Don’t be a pouter,” Tricia said as she stuck a beer in my hands.
“This is going to be fun,” Caitlin assured me. Only, I didn’t believe her for a second.
I walked back to Seth who was still sitting on the floor because all of the other seats were taken. He patted the floor between his drawn up knees. I settled down between them. My back against his chest. He looped his free arm around my waist. Despite being unhappy with how things were turning out, it felt nice to melt into him.
“We should play a game,” Caitlin said.
“Never Have I Ever,” Tricia decided as she looked at me. “I’ll start us off. If I say I’ve never done something and you have, you have to drink.”
I shot an annoyed look back at her. “I know how to play.”
She grinned at me as she said, “Never have I ever kissed Seth Ryerson.”
Caitlin’s bottle immediately went to her mouth. I kept my face neutral as I took a drink, because…really? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alyssa slowly raise her bottle. I felt my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Both Caitlin and Tricia burst into laughter. Gabby just shook her head.
“You just had to, didn’t you?” Alyssa grumbled as she glared at Tricia. She took a sip, managing to look plenty pissed off while doing it. She didn’t look my way and Logan was up next.
For a moment, I wished I wasn’t facing away from Seth. I really would’ve liked to have seen his face right then. I couldn’t do that without obviously twisting around. I wondered what all I’d missed out on the years I’d been gone.
Probably a whole lot. For the millionth time, I wished that my mom had not dragged me away from here.
“Never have I ever been suspended,” Logan said. His eyes widened a bit as he looked at Seth. “Oh. Dude. Sorry.”
“Whatever,” he muttered and took a drink.
“Never have I ever lied to my girlfriend,” Caitlin said sweetly as she obviously tried to set up the guys to drink.
“Well, dammit,” Mason muttered as he took a gulp.
“It’s not a lie if it’s just maybe, I don’t know, exaggerating something a little bit, is it?” Logan asked.
Gabby made a face at him. “You should probably drink.”
So he did.
“You know what?” Alyssa said. “You c
an count me out. I hate beer. And I don’t like this game.”
I stared at the beer in my hand for a second, wondering what I was doing. I didn’t usually drink. I was breaking way too many of Dad’s rules. And why? Because of Caitlin and Tricia? I completely agreed with Alyssa.
“This isn’t going to work,” I said as I got to my feet. I plucked the beer from Seth’s hand. He looked at me with raised eyebrows but he didn’t protest. I grabbed for Mason’s next.
“Hey,” he said as he swung the bottle out of my reach. “I’m not done with that.”
“Well, you can’t drink them here. No one can. This is my house. And that’s my rule.”
“I thought your rule was that everyone had to stay?” Tricia hotly replied.
“Well, I just made a new rule,” I said.
“It’s a good rule,” Alyssa agreed as she bounced up. She swiped Logan’s drink out of his hand too.
Caitlin and Tricia were both staring at me like I’d lost my mind. Really, I felt more like I’d just found it. I didn’t owe anything to either of them. I wasn’t going to risk disappointing my dad over something I didn’t even want to do.
“You’re taking our drinks away? You can’t be serious,” Tricia finally said.
“I’m not saying you can’t drink. I’m just saying you can’t do it here.”
They both smirked as they lifted their bottles to their mouths. I had a feeling that it would turn ugly if I tried to take them away.
“Fine, finish those but then you either need to stop, or you need to leave.”
Caitlin shrugged. “We’ll just move everyone to my house.”
“We’re not going,” Gabby said as she glanced at Mason.
“Yeah, we are,” Mason argued.
Gabby looked at him but didn’t say another word. I could read a dozen different things by the expression on her face. Mason, however, seemed clueless.
“I’ll drive everyone,” Alyssa said.
“Ohhh, Alyssa, I don’t know,” Tricia sarcastically said. “You’ve been drinking.”
“I had one sip. And I faked it,” she said unapologetically. “I don’t like beer.”
Despite everyone grumbling, it seemed to take them forever to finally go. Gabby hadn’t had anything to drink either so between her and Alyssa, I trusted them to get the boys as well as Caitlin and Tricia home. Or wherever it was that they were headed.
“Well, tonight was not what I expected,” I said as I swung the door shut behind Mason, the last to walk out.
“I’m kind of glad they’re gone,” Seth said. “I really wasn’t in the mood for this tonight.”
“So,” I said, keeping my tone light but my curiosity was eating me up. “You and Alyssa?”
I could see that. Alyssa was a sweet girl. And Seth was…Seth. Actually, I thought he and Alyssa made way more sense than he and Caitlin.
He shook his head at me but he had a subtle smile on his face. “I wondered how long it was going to take for you to bring that up.” He made a show of looking at the clock. “They’ve been gone for, oh, at least thirty seconds now.”
I playfully swatted at him but he caught my hand and pulled me into him. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, I can almost guarantee it’s not it.”
“I’m not thinking anything,” I lied. “So before I do start thinking things, you should tell me.”
“We were at a party at Caitlin’s. I’m pretty sure it was the first party Alyssa ever went to. Caitlin gave her a few shots and she was like, done. I mean she was wasted. I told her I was giving her a ride home. She told me what a nice guy I was. Then she threw her arms around my neck and laid one on me.” He said this with a shrug. “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have even remembered it. But she did it in front of like, all these people. I kind of felt bad about it because they teased her for days.”
No wonder Alyssa hadn’t bothered to tell me about it. It really didn’t sound like a big deal, even though Tricia apparently wanted me to think it was.
“You’re not going to leave now too, are you?”
When our friends had come over, it seemed as if whatever had been bothering him had been forgotten. Now, he looked exhausted.
I slid my arms around his waist and rested my head against his chest. He squeezed me into the hug but didn’t say a word. He didn’t let go of me either. I wasn’t sure how long we stood like that, neither of us saying anything. At the same time, it seemed like plenty was being said in the silence.
“Do you think I could stay here tonight? Just downstairs, on the couch? I’ll be gone in the morning before your dad gets home.”
I nodded, finally lifting my head. “Yeah, that’s fine. You don’t have to sleep on the couch. But first, are you going to tell me how everything went last night, after I went home?”
He hesitated a moment before saying, “I told my dad that you know. He played stupid, like he had no idea what I was talking about. Then I told him what you saw three years ago. I thought he was going to lose it. I didn’t sleep at all last night. I just kept waiting for him to come into my room. He was furious and for once, he didn’t dare do anything about it.”
“So now what?” I asked. I didn’t suspect that he was going to leave Seth alone. Just like that. Just because of me.
He shook his head. He didn’t look relieved that they’d had that conversation. If anything, he looked troubled. “I don’t know. I really don’t want to go home to find out either.”
“Well, you don’t have to. Not tonight anyway. Let’s go get some sleep, okay?” He looked beyond exhausted and I didn’t want him to think I had any selfish ulterior motives. I just wanted to be with him, to have him close to me.
CHAPTER 18
I truly hated trigonometry with a passion that boarded on unreasonable. Every evening, it was the homework I saved for last. I did realize that if I tackled it first, I might not be so tired and irritable by the time I plowed my way through it. This realization did nothing for me since my habit never changed. On occasion, Brent had been tutoring me. He wasn’t exactly a mathematical genius, but he definitely grasped the concepts far better than I ever would.
I glanced up at my clock. It was getting late. I was already in my pajamas. I flipped my textbook closed. We had a test tomorrow and I’d studied for as long as I could stand it. I slid off my bed, taking my textbook and my note-filled notebook with me. My backpack rested on my desk. I opened it up and stuffed all of the nights’ homework inside.
“Harper?” Dad said as he knocked on the door.
He always waited for a response before opening it, which I appreciated. I crossed my bedroom and pulled the door open. “Yes?”
“Come on downstairs, Seth’s here,” Dad said.
“This late?” I asked. Hockey season had just ended. Logan’s parents had thrown a pizza party at their house for the team. I had expected a text or maybe even a phone call from Seth, but I certainly hadn’t expected him to stop by this late. I glanced down, checking out my gray, white and pink flannel pajamas, wondering if I should change.
Dad motioned for me with his hand. “Come on. I think he’s in kind of a hurry.”
“Is he okay?” I demanded. I followed Dad down the hallway, now worried. Not only was Seth here at an unusually late hour but Dad was hurrying me out of my room, in my pajamas.
“He’s fine,” Dad said.
As we traipsed down the stairs, the foyer came into view. I immediately spotted Seth squatted down, the top half of his body in our closet.
What the heck?
“Here sweetie, do you want to take this with you?” Paula asked him. She had just come up from downstairs. She held a thick quilt.
Seth popped out of the closet, my boots in his hands, and stood up. “Awesome. Thank you.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Harper!” he said with a smile. He placed my boots at my feet and took the quilt from Paula. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“Now?” I asked as my eyebrows sh
ot up. “I’m in my pajamas.”
He nodded, his eyes sparkling in excitement. “Has to be now and you’re fine.”
“You should probably hurry,” Dad said as he prodded me along.
I pulled my boots on; my thick, ugly, completely utilitarian winter boots. Paula pulled my parka from the closet and held it out for me. I slipped my arms inside. I turned to Seth as I pulled the zipper up. He was obviously anxious about something.
I didn’t bother pointing out how peculiar this entire interaction seemed. Seth was eager about something and I didn’t want to ruin it. Especially since this was so out of character for him.
“Ready, I think,” I told him as I eyed him up cautiously.
He grabbed my hand with the one not holding the quilt. As he tugged me toward the door, he glanced back at my dad. “I’ll try not to have her out too long. I know it’s a school night. Thanks for letting me borrow her.”
Dad chuckled and clapped him on the back. “Don’t worry about it.”
So strange.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I was almost laughing at the oddity of it all.
“You’ll see.”
I followed along, just a step behind as he pulled me off of the porch into the pitch black night. I had assumed we’d be heading to his truck. Instead, he towed me past the garage, around the corner to the backyard. He kept going, traipsing through the snow. His feet crunched through the icy layer on top with every deliberate step. I watched for the indentations he made, trying to match his footprints as we made our way through the deep drifts that covered the backyard.
“Did you have a good time at Logan’s?” I asked his backside.
“Yeah, it was fun. Weird though. I mean, his parents have had a party for us at the end of every season for as long as I can remember. It’s hard to believe that tonight was the last one. I think it finally hit me that I’ll never play with those guys again,” he said, sounding more surprised than sad.
I had already half-decided we must be checking out something in the tree house. Perhaps he had something in his pocket to show me? I was so busy concentrating on walking in his footprints that I didn’t glance up. Not until Seth came to a stop.