Chasing Ivy (Oak Hill, #1)

by S. J. Sylvis

  I let out a breath. “I just think we should start over. I don’t want to be mad at you anymore…” I looked away for a second, then brought my attention back to her hopeful-looking doe eyes, “Actually, I can’t really justify my being angry at you anymore. Not after what you told me. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to where we were before, as best friends, but I think we should probably try to let go of some of this anger and hurt feelings from six years ago. That’s stupid.”

  Ivy nodded her head up and down and looked relieved. Did she really think I could still be upset with her after what she’d told me? It was just this giant misunderstanding. So giant that it had caused a lot of pain, but it really was a misunderstanding. I probably wouldn’t have looked at it like that six years ago, but I liked to think I was a little more mature now. Even if I was acting like a dweeb with taped-up glasses talking to the most popular girl in school.

  “That sounds nice.”

  Ivy’s voice was a little wobbly, so I studied her face, and found my eyes getting lost in all the beautiful small curves, lingering on her lips for far longer than a second, and then landing back onto her big, green eyes.

  “So, do you want to talk about these, then?”

  “Um,” she started, looking back to the front door and then back to me.

  A nervous pit filled my stomach. “What is going on, Ivy?”

  She timidly said, “Well…”

  I’d had enough. She was hiding something inside and I wasn’t waiting for her to beat around the bush. I took one more glance at her face before jostling around her and stalked to the door.

  I sent a silent prayer up to God that she wasn’t lying when she’d told me there wasn’t a guy in there. It’d been awhile. The Ivy I once knew was long gone. Hell, for all I knew, she could be fostering a thousand puppies inside, or running a meth lab. I truly had no idea what I was dealing with.

  I opened the door with her hot on my heels, preparing myself for the worst, and then my eyes took in the fucking warzone.

  “What. Did. You. Do.”

  Ivy stuttered again. “Well, you see…”

  I stepped in further and bit the knuckles on my hand. The scene in her house was fucking hysterical. It would have been even funnier if I weren’t the one who was going to have to deal with the mess.

  “Ivy,” I stopped myself and her nonstop stuttering. I honestly had no words.

  She took down a fucking wall.

  No, let me rephrase that… she took down only parts of a wall. There were some random chunks of drywall hanging off the top part of the wall in between her living room and dining room, and broken wooden boards split down the middle. A sledgehammer was lying face up on the middle of the floor, right beside her open laptop.

  I walked in some more, careful not to trip over huge masses of the white drywall and glanced down to the screen, reading the title of the YouTube video.

  “How to Take Down a Wall in Less Than 10 Minutes”

  I couldn’t control myself. I lost it. I threw my head back, laughing so hard my eyes watered.

  “Stop laughing!” she hissed, which only intensified the hilarity. I bent down, placing my hands on my knees, and continued to laugh my ass off.

  “Seriously, Dawson! It’s not that funny. I can fix it.”

  My eyes almost fell out of my skull as I whipped my torso up. “Are you kidding!? I’m never letting you touch a tool, ever again. You are a hazard! Literally. Look at this place!”

  Ivy bit the inside of her cheek, causing a little dimple to pop out. She looked out-of-this-world adorable with a pink hue dotting her cheeks and that pouty mouth, with white dust covering her forehead. Her lips instantly formed into a scowl as my laughter continued and she sent daggers at me with her eyes. I found it even cuter. She probably couldn’t even scare a mouse.

  “Are you finally done?” she asked, as I calmed myself down long enough to really take in the mess she’d made.

  I sighed, “Yes, I’m back. Sorry, but this is fucking hilarious, Ivy.”

  I glanced at her, and she was finally grinning.

  “Can I ask why you tried to take down a wall by yourself?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, the grin on her face disappearing.

  “Well… I didn’t think you were going to work with me after our last conversation, and I can’t afford to hire someone out of town, so I figured I would just do it myself.”

  “A little self-sufficient, are we?” I questioned.

  Her eyes no longer held amusement and just like that, a flip switched inside of me.

  “I’ve been on my own for six years, Dawson. I would say I’m very self-sufficient.”

  Abort mission, Dawson. Fucking change the subject so you don’t allow her pain to become yours.

  “It’s fine, I can fix it. And, since we’re friends now… I’ll even do it for free.”

  “No way! You do not have to do that, it’s fine. Just add it onto the final price.”

  I brushed off her reluctance to let me help. “No.”

  She crossed her arms, ready to spew some type of argument but I stopped her. “Go order something from Frankie’s. We have a lot to discuss and I’m certain we’ll still be here when dinner rolls around.” I waved the blueprints at her and turned on my heel, walking very carefully over all the debris, and into the kitchen.

  I waited, listening to see if she’d followed my request and accepted what I was offering her, and when I heard her sing-song voice asking for a large pizza with extra pineapple on top (our favorite), I grinned.

  She remembered.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ivy

  “Hello, my dearest sister,” I said into the phone, slipping on my black pencil skirt.

  Mia grumbled. “Why are you calling me so flippin’ early?”

  I laughed, shimmying the pencil skirt up and over my hips. “It’s 8. Don’t you have class soon?”

  A loud, muffling sound hit my ear and I pulled the phone away from my face. Mia groaned and then I laughed again.

  “I give myself exactly ten minutes to throw clothes on and rush to class in the morning. I should still be sleeping for another fifteen minutes. Don’t you know anything about being a college student?”

  Not really.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll let you go back to sleep, sleeping beauty.”

  I walked over to the mirror and ran my hand through my curled hair. Today was my first day at the bank, and I was more than ready. It wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but it was a really good job until I could score enough private businesses as clients.

  I loved being an accountant. I loved working with numbers, which most people find extremely odd, but numbers never change. They’re a constant thing and I found that very comforting for some reason. But really, what I truly wanted to do, was be an accountant for small businesses. I didn’t necessarily enjoy working for bigger financial groups but right now, it was a steady income, and I needed that.

  “No, no! I’m up now. I want to talk.”

  I smiled. “Okay, so how was the first week of school?”

  I heard Mia sigh. “Boring and tiring. How many pies have you gotten?”

  “What? None.”

  “Liar.”

  A smirk crept onto my face. “Fine. Four.”

  “YES!” I laughed out loud at my sister’s sudden burst of excitement. “I freaking knew I would win the bet.”

  My sister bet me that I would get at least three pies when people got word that I’d moved back to town. I told her I’d get one, maybe two if I was lucky, but she only rolled her eyes. In a small town like Oak Hill, it wouldn’t be long before people learned the Collins girls had moved back home; I just wasn’t sure what they would say. Did they care? My parents hadn’t had a plethora of friends or anything, but my father had run one of the biggest car dealerships in town, so our name was known…as was our history.

  “You were right, whatever,” I mumbled, slipping on my heels.

  “So, hav
e you been down… you know.” A frog lodged its way into my throat as soon as the words left Mia’s mouth. I knew exactly what she was getting at.

  She was wondering if I’d gone past our old house (or lack thereof). I wanted to. I wanted to put on a brave face and walk over there and see my childhood street, but I just wasn’t ready yet. I knew someone had bought the lot that my parents had also purchased, long before Mia and I were even born. It was where they had built their dream house, their house for life. Which was why I hadn’t gone to look yet. I knew that as soon as I rounded the wide, green bushes on the corner, I would be flooded with a lot of awful memories and I just wasn’t really ready for that.

  It had been six years since our parents had died and although it still stung, I had grieved and moved on. I no longer thought about what could have been, but more like, what was. I only reflected back on the happier memories of my parents now and that was much healthier than avoiding any thought of them whatsoever.

  But, still, I was well aware that when I saw where our house used to be, what my life used to be, it would rip off the band-aid.

  “I’ll go soon,” I answered, beelining to the kitchen to grab some coffee before I headed into the bank. Thankfully Dawson had cleared up some of the wreckage from my failed DYI wall knock-down until the crew could come over and start working on all the things that needed fixed.

  “I saw Dawson,” I said into the phone, while inhaling the aroma of warm coffee.

  “SCREEEECHHHHH.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and yelped.

  “Mia! I am now deaf. What the hell was that?”

  She laughed. “That was me putting the brakes on. Why didn’t you say something earlier? What happened? He was fine, right? I knew he wouldn’t be upset with you after leaving.”

  I forced out a laugh. “Ha, yeah. He wasn’t upset…”

  “See! It’s fine. I bet you two will be best friends again in no time. But before I get off here, is he hot?”

  My breath hitched. “Um…” Saying Dawson is hot would be the biggest understatement of the year. Dawson Lanning was strikingly handsome, and rough around all the right edges.

  “I freaking knew it; he’s sexy, isn’t he? Emmett is so hot with those tattoos splayed all over his chest. My God, have you seen his pictures on Facebook? I always wondered if Dawson had them, too. Does he?”

  I started to stutter. “No, I don’t think so… I didn’t see any.”

  Heat filled my lower section at the mere thought of Dawson having hidden tattoos on his body somewhere. I wonder what he’s hiding underneath his clothes?

  I shook my head, blowing out the trapped air in my chest. “Look, I gotta go.”

  “Me too, have a good first day of work. I’m coming home this weekend, okay?”

  “You are? Yay! I love living this close to you.”

  I could tell she was smiling as she said, “Me too! Oh, and I told Uncle Timothy we would video chat him!”

  I laughed. “Okay, sounds good. Love you.”

  “Love you, too!” Then the phone went dead.

  I knew, after hearing the joy in Mia’s voice, that I’d made the right decision moving back here to this sleepy ol’ town. Eric was wrong… I could be happy here. Even if it was without him.

  Working at the main branch, right in the center of town, taking over Judy’s job, was literally perfect. She was so excited to see me this morning that she took me along, her wrinkly hand clasped in mine, and introduced me to every single person who was now considered my new co-worker.

  She was showing me off like I was her daughter who had just announced she was pregnant or something. She’d say, “This is her, the brilliant Ivy!” I laughed the first couple of times, feeling embarrassed, but then I just grew to adore the fact that everyone already knew who I was.

  She must have been gushing about me for quite some time now, as everyone (including the big boss) was waving and smiling at me like we were all long-lost best friends.

  Which only reminded me of Dawson.

  He’d texted me while I was working at the bank and told me he was coming over after I got off work to take some measurements. My finger hovered over the “send” button after I’d typed up a text explaining that there was a spare key underneath the floormat that he could use, if he wanted to head over now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to push my finger down on my screen.

  I didn’t hit send because the thought of seeing him after work made me as excited as a child going to the zoo for the first time. I was semi-embarrassed that I was already looking forward to seeing him since we could barely even be considered acquaintances at this point.

  Sure, we shared a large pizza the other night and I felt like I was fifteen again, throwing pineapples at his head when he wasn’t looking, causing us to crack up, but that didn’t mean we were best friends again.

  I couldn’t consider us best friends again after sharing one pizza and falling into easy conversation. Aside from going over the blueprints of the house, we’d filled each other in on the last six years, skimming over what we had been up to: his business college experiences and what it was like living with my uncle and Mia. We didn’t touch any of the awkward “Are you seeing anyone” kinds of questions or the “How are you since your parents died” segment but nonetheless, I couldn’t deny that things felt right. I felt like… the old Ivy, for the first time in six years.

  Not even Eric could get me to feel like my old self the way Dawson had the other night. I thought Eric had lessened the hard shell I had formed around myself since losing my parents, but I was wrong.

  And what did I expect? Eric and I seemed so real and like the perfect couple on paper, but he never made me feel the way I should have felt. And I obviously didn’t make him feel those things, either, considering he dumped me over one fight about moving back here.

  Eric didn’t fight for me, but I couldn’t really blame him. I wasn’t sure I would have fought for him, either.

  As soon as I got out of my car, I rushed around the front bumper so fast that I actually scraped my calf. I ran up the porch steps, eager to get inside to at least wipe off the layer of grease my face had probably obtained from being stuck in an office all morning, but a voice caused me to shriek and fall backwards.

  “Oh my God!” Becca laughed as she tried to pick me up off my wooden porch. “I’m so sorry!”

  I quickly got back to my feet and threw my arms around Becca’s neck. “What the hell are you doing home!?”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re still happy to see me after I just made you fall.”

  I pulled back. “It’s not that hard to make me fall, Bec.”

  “True,” she agreed, thoughtfully. “I came home a little early to set up my classroom and wanted to surprise you! I still can’t believe you moved back home. It’s like… my childhood dream coming true.”

  “I can’t either,” I said as a matter-of-fact.

  “How was work? Do you like it?”

  Becca started to follow me inside as I answered her. “I do. Judy is staying an extra week just to train me before she retires fully, but—”

  Becca gasped, interrupting me. “What the hell happened to your house, Ivy?! It did not look like this when you sent me pictures! Oh my God!”

  I chuckled. “Well, you see…”

  My door opened just slightly and I saw Dawson’s head peek through. “Hey, Ivy? Can I come in?”

  Becca’s jaw fell to the floor and her eyes blazed into mine.

  “What is he doing here?” she mouthed, her lips pulled into a straight line. I laughed out loud.

  “Yeah, come on in,” I yelled back to Dawson.

  Becca looked as if she wanted to kill me. She spun around and crossed her arms over her chest, just waiting to give Dawson a dirty look.

  I should have told her that Dawson and I had kind of made a truce. I briefly texted her about the fight we’d had but I didn’t follow up with what happened afterward (aka Dawson and I eating pizza in my kitchen with me feeling ligh
t as a freaking feather all night).

  “Oh. I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Dawson murmured as he made his way through my door. I stared at his scruffy jaw and messy hair for a moment too long. I found myself licking my lips and falling into a dream-like state.

  He was really hot. Like, gives you instant butterflies hot.

  There was no way around it. The Dawson that I used to visualize in my head on those rare, unstoppable moments, was a teenage boy with wild hair and a cheesy grin. But Dawson was no longer a teenager and I no longer had the hormones of a fifteen-year-old girl. I now had the hormones of a woman who was currently looking at her ex-best friend like he was dessert. A naked dessert. A naked dessert with a cherry on top.

  My legs tingled as the thought slipped through the barriers of my brain. If I didn’t get my mind out of the gutter regarding Dawson, our friendship would never work out.

  And I so desperately wanted it to.

  Becca snarled. “So he does know how to speak to me. Hmph.”

  I had forgotten all about Dawson’s little no-talking-to-Becca rule until right now. I almost laughed, but I didn’t because Becca was becoming awfully good at sending death glares my way.

  “I’m learning to let go of grudges,” he said, only eyeing her for half a second.

  “Are ya now? Not mad at me anymore for keeping a secret she made me keep?” Becca pointed back to me and I dropped my head.

  Can we just move past this whole thing already?

  “Okay, you two. This is neutral ground,” I said.

  “Whatever,” Becca groaned, rolling her hazel eyes in my direction. She glanced at Dawson, who was standing awkwardly by the door and gave him an eye-roll, too. Dawson and I made eye contact and a small smile traced his lips. I smiled, too, and then ruined everything when I raked my eyes down his torso and all but salivated at the mouth.

  Bad Ivy!

  Becca turned around to face me, uncrossing her arms. “I’m going home. You’re going out with me Friday and don’t even try to argue with me.”

  I held my tongue and gave her a tight smile. She narrowed her eyes at me before walking right past Dawson, who had sidestepped out of her way. I knew that she would no-doubt be calling me in a few hours to scold me for not filling her in on whatever happened with Dawson and I. But that was something future Ivy could worry about.