Epic Lies (Epic Fail Book 2)

by Trudy Stiles

  “Hi, boys,” my mother says as we walk into the kitchen. The smell of garlic fills the air, and my stomach immediately growls. Dinner is almost ready. “Dad will be home soon, but I didn’t want this to get cold, so help yourselves.” She places covered dishes onto the hot plates in the center of the table and removes the lids to reveal my favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs. “Garlic bread is in the oven and will be ready in a few minutes,” she adds.

  Alex and I fill our plates and start devouring our food. I ate lunch today, right? I can’t believe how hungry I am.

  My mother starts cutting the garlic bread and says, “Oh, Dax. Lara called about an hour ago. She says you can call her after dinner.”

  Alex snorts, and I shuffle my feet under the table.

  “Shut up,” I say to him and lightly kick his shin.

  “Ow, you ass!” he says with a mouthful of food.

  “Boys,” my mother says, semi-sternly. She slides into the seat at the end of the table and fills up her own plate. “I like Lara. I wish she would come by more.” She smiles at me, and my ears get hot. How embarrassing. Why did she have to call the house phone? She knows she can call me on my cell.

  “Yeah, I wish your girlfriend would come by more often, too,” Alex chimes in, and I just want to crawl under the table. Ever since last week, when kids in school declared us the new ‘it’ couple, Alex has been relentless. He thinks it’s funny that I have a ‘girlfriend.’ She’s a sophomore and I’m a junior and somehow this is also a huge topic discussed in the halls of our school. I really don’t see the big deal, but her friends are obsessed with the fact that she’ll attend the Junior Formal with me at the end of the school year.

  “Her mother works in the hospital, and I see her now and then when I have to be there. Such a lovely woman.” My mother is a social worker and is at the hospital several times a week.

  I nod and shovel more spaghetti into my mouth. I don’t want to talk about Lara, especially with my mother.

  The garage door opens, and my father comes in. “Looks like I made it just in time,” he says, dropping his briefcase in the hallway and kissing my mother on her forehead before sitting across from her. Alex keeps his eyes lowered while he finishes the food on his plate. My parents have always been affectionate, and I can’t help but notice Alex’s discomfort every time he witnesses it. He still hasn’t grown used to seeing how a ‘normal’ family treats each other after what he went through with his own father. His life totally sucked for too long.

  “I think we found a new lead guitarist,” I blurt out, trying to make Alex feel more comfortable.

  “Oh?” my father asks, and my mother smiles.

  “Yeah, some dude came looking for the guy across the street. He’s about our age. He played a few songs with us, and man, he’s amazing.” Alex looks up and nods in agreement.

  “Why would he be looking for John Horton?” my father asks, concerned.

  “Who knows,” I shrug. “He probably had the wrong house anyway.”

  My parents exchange looks with each other, and I wonder what they know about that crazy dude from across the street. “I know I’ve told you boys in the past, but please stay away from Mr. Horton’s house. I’ve seen all sorts of people in and out of there, and I just don’t like it.” My mother’s lips tighten, and she tenses up.

  I nod, “Yeah, we never see him. Don’t worry about us.”

  “I think he’s gone. I haven’t seen him or any sign of his visitors in months,” my father chimes in.

  “Maybe he’s gone for good,” my mother says, with finality in her voice.

  “I hope so,” my father responds.

  Without missing a beat, my mother says in her sing-song voice again, “Lara called for Dax today.”

  “Oh? That’s nice. I like her.” My father grins, and I avoid eye contact. Why does everyone have to talk about this?

  I push my plate away from me and swipe my napkin to clean my mouth. “I’m finished. Can I be excused?” I’m annoyed that they keep bringing her up. Alex does the same and stands up. “Dinner was really good, Mrs. Anderson.”

  “Alex, you know you can call me Lila,” my mother reminds him as she does every time he calls her Mrs. Anderson.

  He nods, and I follow him upstairs. He goes straight to his room and says, “Later,” as he shuts the door.

  After I close the door to my own room, I pick up the phone and immediately dial Lara’s number. “Daxton,” she answers, calling me by my full name. She’s literally the only person on the planet that calls me Daxton, not even my parents refer to me by the name on my birth certificate. I kind of like it.

  Her voice is a little hoarse, and she sounds tired.

  “Hey, Lara. You called?” I say, trying to sound as cool as possible, ignoring the wildly pounding heart in my chest.

  “I did. I talked to your mom, she’s so nice. How was band practice?” She’s our biggest fan. Really, our only fan. She’s not allowed to come over to any of our houses by herself, but I give her every recording we make so she can listen.

  “It was okay,” I say, twirling my drumsticks in the air with my free hand. I’ve been practicing this a lot. She thinks it’s totally cool.

  “My mom is taking me to the mall tomorrow after school so I can get a new pair of shoes. You should meet us there for dinner. She says it would be okay.” Her voice is shaking slightly, and I think she’s nervous. I smile as I realize she just asked me out on a date.

  “What time?” I ask.

  “Around six?”

  “I should be able to.” I need to make sure my mother can drop me off. I feel bad leaving Alex behind, but it would be awkward if I brought him along. “I’ll get a ride there.”

  She exhales deeply, almost with relief. “Oh, good,” she says. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She seems reluctant to hang up, but says, “Goodbye?”

  “See ya,” I say and hang up the phone, dropping my drumsticks at the same time. Lara and I have known each other since grade school. She was in fifth grade when I was in sixth. She’s always been quiet and reserved. She still wears her hair in long, blonde braids, like she did the first time I saw her. I remember some of the idiot boys pulling her braids every once in a while, just to tease her. Nothing fazed her though; she just shook it off and laughed along with them, never accepting being the butt of any joke. They quickly stopped pulling her hair and started treating her with more respect. Now that we’re in high school, she blends in and doesn’t draw attention to herself. But she’s always stood out to me. She’s just different. Special. I think about her all of the time, especially when I–

  My door flies open, and Alex comes running in. “Dude, check this out.” He’s hyper. Excited. He shoves his sketchpad under my nose. It’s filled with all of his drawings that he rarely shows anyone, including me. “This is going to be my first tattoo.” The vision of Lara in my head is quickly replaced by Alex’s sketch. He’s been obsessed with getting ink for as long as I can remember. He’s too young, but that doesn’t stop him from designing the art that will someday be on his arms and God knows where else. He’s drawn two closed fists with the words EPIC FAIL spanning across all of his knuckles. I have to admit–it does look cool. “We should all get this. All of us in the band,” he says. It’s good to see him so excited and animated.

  “That’s rad,” I say, nodding in agreement. I know for a fact that my parents will never go for this.

  “My sister will take me to get this, so don’t worry about your parents.” His older sister, Reagan, was initially named legal guardian of Alex after his father died, but she was barely out of high school, and there was no way she could take care of the both of them. Thank God for my mom. She knew a few people in family court and worked it out so Alex could stay with us. She and my dad have legal guardianship now. “I think my parents will have something to say about this, Alex. I don’t want to bring you down, but they’re responsible for you. I don’t think they’ll let you get a tattoo.”

&nb
sp; “Whatever, I’ll figure it out. We all need this one.”

  “Cool,” I say, picking up my drumsticks and twirling them again.

  “So, Daxton, what’s up with Lara?” Alex chuckles.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is she really your girlfriend? Everyone in school thinks she is.”

  “I guess,” I say and suddenly feel very possessive of her. I grab the sticks and sit up straight. “I’m going out to dinner with her tomorrow night,” I state, proud of my official first date. With Lara and her mom. Fuck.

  “Right on,” Alex says and leaves the room.

  After he shuts the door, I lie back on my bed and smile, and my heart jumps.

  I have a girlfriend.

  Dax

  Present

  “DUDE, NICE BIKE!” Heath says as I cut the ignition to my new motorcycle. “Are you sure you know how to ride that thing?”

  I shove the keys into my pocket and walk toward Garrett’s house. “Yes, asshole.”

  “Not like you needed another ride, but hey, whatever floats your boat.” He smirks and opens the door. Since I moved out to the suburbs, I’ve bought a few vehicles. The SUV and cars were a necessity, but the bike was an impulse purchase. I went with Tristan to the Harley Davidson dealership this morning so he could bring his in for routine maintenance and wound up driving this beauty home. I’ll admit that I’m a bit nervous riding it, but I’ll get used to it. It’s fucking fast. I’ll definitely get used to it.

  I follow Heath into Garrett’s foyer, and Kai runs toward us laughing and screeching. “Hey, buddy!” I say as I bend down to give him a high five. He instinctively reaches into my jacket to find my drumsticks in the inside pocket and swipes them out, giggling.

  Sam, Garrett’s wife, walks into the foyer smiling. “Ever since you gave him that drum set, it’s all he wants to do.” She gives me a quick hug and chases after her son. “Make yourselves at home. You know where Garrett is.” As active as Kai is, Sam never seems flustered. I follow Heath toward the basement stairs and down to Garrett’s studio. Kai’s giggles are coming from the family room as he begins to bang on his drums with my sticks. That kid is too much.

  “Gentlemen! So good of you both to be on time,” Garrett says sarcastically. Tristan is already here, lounging on the leather sectional couch.

  “Dax rode here on a new motorcycle, so he was probably crawling along like an old fart in traffic!” Heath laughs and slaps my back.

  “What’s your excuse?” Tristan asks.

  “None of your business,” Heath responds and sits on the opposite side of the couch from Tristan.

  “We have some work to do, boys.” Garrett shakes his head as he walks toward the studio. We have to finish mixing our album and get it to the label in three days. I see our producer, Chuck, already at the boards with headphones on. He’s adjusting levels on the board while chewing the end of a pen cap. He nods a silent greeting and goes back to doing his thing.

  “Alex isn’t here?” I ask.

  “He was here all day, like the rest of you turds were supposed to be.” Garrett slides into his seat next to Chuck and unfolds a sheet of paper. I see the list of ten tracks for our album with notes scribbled all over with Alex’s handwriting.

  Alex wrote most of the lyrics for our latest album and plays rhythm guitar on three of the studio tracks. Although he stepped away from touring with the band, he’s still a huge part of our music.

  “We’re here now,” I huff and walk to my chair in the corner.

  Hours pass. I don’t know how many, but when I see Peggy, Garrett’s housekeeper, place a stack of pizza boxes on the table in the outer room, I realize that I’m starving.

  “Pizza Thursday!” Heath exclaims, and tosses his headphones onto the console.

  We all grab a few slices and sit around the sectional. “I’m not sure how much more I can do tonight, guys,” Tristan says with a mouth full of pizza. “I have to be somewhere early tomorrow morning.”

  Garrett looks up from his food. “Seriously? We need to get this finished. Can you make time for us tomorrow afternoon?” he asks, annoyed.

  “Anytime after eleven,” he responds. Tristan has been pretty elusive lately. I know it’s not any of our business, but I hope everything’s okay.

  “I’m good anytime,” I say, trying to make up for my tardiness today.

  “Let’s meet here at three so Tristan can get his beauty rest. But, plan to be here all night until we’re done,” Garrett adds, and we finish inhaling the pizzas that are in front of us.

  Heath jumps up and tosses his paper plate into the garbage. “If we’re done here, I’m out.” He takes the steps two at a time and disappears. Garrett shakes his head.

  “Lighten up, man. We’ll get it done,” I say, trying to diffuse the anger that’s about to spew from him. Lately, he’s been putting so much pressure on himself to finish this album, and I hate it when he gets like this. “We always make it happen, right?” I add, and he nods.

  Tristan is next to stand up. He stretches and sighs. “I’m not trying to make things difficult, G. But things have been challenging lately, and I’m trying to make it right.” He’s vague, once again, but I don’t pry.

  Garrett looks down and shakes his head, “Sorry, man. I know what you’re going through and let me know if there’s anything you need.”

  Wait. Now I feel out of the loop. “Everything okay?” I ask.

  Tristan walks to the stairs. “It will be. Don’t worry, I’m fine.” And with that, he’s gone.

  Garrett and I stare at the demolished pile of pizza boxes in front of us, and I laugh. “I hope Sam and Kai had something to eat upstairs because there’s nothing left for them here.”

  “Peggy always makes sure they get fed before we do.” He chuckles as he tosses the boxes into a large garbage bin in the corner.

  “Kai is getting so big, dude. And he looks just like you.” Garrett has done some really shitty things in his life, but raising Kai is not one of them. Kai and Sam are the best things that have ever happened to Garrett, and it really shows, despite his pissy mood earlier.

  “Yeah, he’s my little man,” Garrett muses. “I don’t know what I’d be doing if he weren’t here.”

  “Let’s not think about that.”

  “Anyway, yeah, Sam had to buy him all new shoes and socks the other day because his feet grew like two sizes in the past month. His doctor can’t believe how fast he’s growing. I guess he’s had some catching up to do.” Kai’s first few months were miserable, and he barely ate. Sam helped nurse him back to health, got Garrett on track, and now they’re a happy family. It’s funny how things work out.

  “I’m really happy for you, seriously. You’ve changed for the better since that little dude and Sam walked into your life.”

  “Stop talking to me like a chick!” He punches my shoulder, and I follow him up the stairs. “But, thank you.” We leave Chuck downstairs so he can finish working.

  “Daddy!” Kai screams from his seat at the kitchen table. His face is covered in sauce, and the slice of pizza he’s holding looks demolished. “Pool?” he asks his father with a mouth full of food. He points to the pool house nestled at the back of Garrett’s property and smiles.

  “Finish eating, and then you need to digest your food,” Garrett responds. “Then, maybe, we’ll go swimming tonight.”

  Sam looks at him disapprovingly. “It’s already late. Why don’t we plan on it tomorrow?” Kai’s face drops, and Garrett jumps in.

  “Ten minutes of swimming tonight and as soon as the album is finished tomorrow, we can swim as long as you want. Deal?”

  Sam nods, and Kai smiles. “Yay!”

  He turns to me. “You fuckers better have your shit together tomorrow, or Kai is going to make your lives miserable.”

  “Language,” Sam chides, and Kai is back to eating his pizza.

  Garrett smiles. “He doesn’t know that fuck is a bad word. It’s said enough around this house by both of us to b
e considered normal.”

  Sam wraps her arm around his waist and he kisses her forehead.

  “Alex and Tabby are coming with the kids. We can spend the day out at the pool while you guys finish up things downstairs. He’ll be plenty water logged by the time you’re done, so you won’t have to worry about disappointing anyone.” She kisses him back and swipes a bag of wipes from the counter. Soon, Kai’s hands and face are clean, and he runs toward us, arms outstretched. “Pool?” he asks again.

  “Okay, little dude, let’s go.” Kai high-fives me, and his smile warms my heart.

  As Garrett and his son head toward the back door, he turns to me one last time. “Seriously, don’t be late. Come with your ideas, and let’s get it done.”

  I nod and smile, “Of course. I’ve got no other place I’d rather be.”

  I have no intention of letting him or the guys down tomorrow.

  “I’ll be here, I promise.”

  Giselle

  Present

  “DON’T WORRY, DAD, I’m being careful.” I grip the steering wheel tightly with both hands and tap the brakes. The highway lines blur. The rain is coming down so hard it pelts against my windshield, rendering the wipers useless. Cars in front of me aren’t moving, and I slow down to a complete stop. Red taillights are stacked ahead of me for miles, and I let out a huff.

  “It’s not supposed to let up any time soon. They’re calling for hail and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning.” My father is the source of all things weather and traffic related, which is why I’m talking to him right now. He called to tell me that the interstate is closed about three miles ahead of me, and I may be stuck on the highway for a while. “Do you have enough gas?” he asks.

  “Yes, Dad.” I roll my eyes. Who needs OnStar when I have my very own BobStar.

  “The traffic reporter said that the overturned tractor trailer contained hazardous materials. I wonder if they’re going to divert you elsewhere. Where are you?”