by Amity Hope
Mr. Jessen shot back into the room at that moment. He stopped so abruptly that the thick black soles of his old man shoes squealed across the tile. He looked around, which caused Reece to look around. The whole class was staring at him and Cleo like they’d just had a front row seat to their favorite reality show.
Adam’s eyes were huge and he gave Reece a look that let him know he’d done something moronic of epic proportions. Emma was leaning forward, practically hanging off of her desk with a look of horror painted on her face. Like she’d been trying to get their attention. Natalie looked as pissed off as a wet cat. Reece didn’t doubt that she had already texted Mia about this. Everyone else just looked entertained.
He slumped down in his seat, trying to convince himself that this wasn’t humiliating at all.
Without looking her way, he could see that Cleo had slumped in her seat too. Her hands were over her face.
“Alright then!” Mr. Jessen said. He clapped his hands like they were a bunch of unruly little kids. “I’ve changed my mind. The noise level is getting a little high in here,” he said as he glanced their way. Reece was pretty sure there was a good possibility no one had been talking but him and Cleo. “So, let’s take it outside as long as the weather is still permitting. Let’s get the desks back where they belong and take advantage of this lovely morning!”
Everyone got to their feet, haphazardly shoving the desks around. There was a stampede to the door. Cleo was the first one out. Reece stepped back and let everyone through.
When Adam reached him he smacked him across the back of the head hard enough it stung a little. “What the hell was that?!” he demanded.
Reece didn’t answer because he wasn’t sure he even really knew.
“Too bad Mr. Jessen came back when he did because I thought for sure you were going to get down on one knee in front of your ex.” Reece couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not as they filed out. He kept a good distance between them and the rest of the class.
“It wasn’t—”
Adam cut him off with a snorting sound. “Oh, dude, it so was. Mia’s going to want your balls on a silver platter over this.” He looked at Reece and cringed. “This might be the only time I’ll ever say I can’t really blame her.” He made a face at Reece again. To drive home that he was an idiot and he said, “For the record, Cleo may not be able to tell you how you should feel,” he mocked, “but believe me, I think we all know. You didn’t leave a lot of room to wonder.”
“Whatever,” Reece mumbled. Now that the heat of the moment had passed the absolute humiliation of the situation was becoming more and more apparent to him. He knew he was never going to live this down.
They trudged down the hall in silence for a while. They lagged behind as much as they could. The last thing he wanted to do was talk with Cleo for the rest of the hour. Even if it was only about their assignment.
Adam finally started in again. “You know I like Cleo. I do. But man, that was painful. What were you thinking?”
“Obviously, I wasn’t.”
Adam didn’t say anything to this.
Finally Reece said, “I just wanted answers. That’s all.”
“Did you get them?” he scoffed because Reece obviously had.
“Yeah,” he said, “I got them.”
It was just that the truth was worse than he’d thought. He and Cleo had been over long before he’d had any idea. And he wasn’t so sure he believed that there wasn’t anything going on with Ethan. If she kept how she had started to feel about him, about their relationship, a secret, how was he to know that she didn’t keep how she felt about Ethan a secret, too? The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that Cleo and Ethan started way before he and Cleo ended. Why else would’ve Ethan just rushed in like he did? Like he belonged there and Cleo hadn’t flinched. Hadn’t hesitated when she left with him.
By the time they got outside, Cleo had found a place on the lawn. Emma had parked herself a little off to the right and Natalie had tugged Eli to a spot not too far to the left. Natalie was glaring at him but he ignored her. She didn’t have to worry.
There was no chance he and Cleo would be discussing anything more than the assignment for the rest of the hour. In fact, he was pretty sure they might not be discussing anything else ever again.
By the time class was over Mia had gotten a full report, via Natalie. He was treated to a royal screaming fit by her majesty right before second hour.
After that she threw the silent treatment at him.
And he knew he deserved it.
But all he could think as she stormed away was that if she left him alone for the rest of the day, at least something had gone right during this day from hell.
Chapter 6
Reece let out an aggravated sigh as he stood in line at the bank. A few of the people in front of him turned to give him a disapproving look. He faked an apologetic smile. He wasn’t aggravated with the line. More like, aggravated with himself.
He’d been thinking about Mia because he refused to let himself think about Cleo. At first, Mia had been nice and she’d seemed sincere. But now, he realized that was probably all just for show. She was driving him crazy and not in a good way. He wasn’t so sure she actually liked him. He was pretty much convinced she’d spent junior year thinking she wanted him just because he was so obviously unavailable. She’d been pretty horrible to Cleo a lot of the time.
Now, he was sure she realized he just wasn’t all that into her. This only had her working twice as hard to win him over just to prove she could.
Because Mia was one of those girls.
She’d pounced the same day Cleo tipped his world upside down. He and Cleo had been together over a year as far as anyone else knew. Fourteen months if he was going to admit he was counting—longer than anyone else in their class.
What most people didn’t get was that the first four or five of those months they were firmly in some kind of gray area. An area between dating and just friends where everyone thought they were together. But really, they were comfortably somewhere in the middle. What they had included a whole lot of talking and getting to know one another. Along with occasional hand holding and completely innocent kisses on the forehead.
Cleo had enough to deal with in her life at the time. So they took things slow.
Apparently their break up had been big news and Mia had been all over it. She’d swooped in like some vulture ready to feed off of the remnants of Reece’s battered, bruised, ripped out heart.
And he’d let her.
Cleo hadn’t made their break-up all that private. Sure, she’d pulled him off to the side but they were at school. It was the last day of school, junior year. They’d spent part of the night before together. Making plans for summer vacation. Then she’d gotten a call from Paul telling her that she needed to come home to watch Luci. Nothing new there.
But Reece had known something was up right away the next morning. Cleo had been acting cold and distant. Cleo had never acted cold and distant to anyone. Least of all him. By afternoon she wasn’t talking to him at all. By the end of the day, after the bell rang, when everyone else was running off, celebrating three months of impending freedom, she’d pulled him over to the row of junipers. As if they offered any real privacy. She’d told him that she was breaking up with him because they were too young to be so serious. She thought they should see other people.
At first he had thought she was joking. He even laughed. But the look on her face had made it clear she wasn’t. Then she continued to tell him that she, for example, wanted to ‘explore a relationship’ with Ethan Donovan. Her best friend’s brother.
Explore a relationship? Who says that?! And what does that even mean?! he wondered to himself. His feet shuffled forward a few steps in the shortening line.
He had tried to argue but there were so many people around he didn’t want to make a scene. He was fairly sure she’d planned that. He had demanded that they go somewhere else. He had taken
her by the hand and tried to pull her toward his truck. He was begging her to go somewhere so they could talk things out. She wouldn’t budge. And then Ethan was there, stepping between them. He had plucked her hand out of Reece’s and told him to back off. He’d told Reece that it was over. And that he needed to deal with it. Ethan then slid his arm around her waist and just led her away.
And Reece had just let her go. He still wasn’t sure why. Shock, probably, he decided. He had just stood there, stunned, staring after them. He’d been so blinded by hurt and jealousy and yeah, he was pissed.
He had wanted Cleo to know that she wasn’t the only one who could move on at a moments’ notice. So when Mia offered to cheer him up, he went with it. Not one of his proudest accomplishments, but there it was.
Of course, he knew the difference was that Cleo really had moved on.
He hadn’t.
He had spent his summer working full-time bussing tables at the country club. He had the duty of cleaning up after a bunch of rich snobs—his dad being the worst of them. He had spent a lot of time working just to keep busy. It wasn’t like he actually needed the money. His dad had been pissed about that, too. That Reece had gotten a job on his own when he could’ve come to work for him. He could’ve started learning the ropes. Or, as far as his mom was concerned, he didn’t need to work yet at all.
If Reece’s dad’s purpose in life was to make money, he knew his mom’s was to spend it. If shopping for herself was her favorite activity, buying things for Reece and his sisters and nieces came in at a close second.
He was spoiled. But at least he knew enough to admit it. And after seeing how Cleo worked her butt off for everything she had, he knew enough to appreciate it.
After they had gotten outside this afternoon, and started their assignment, she’d barely looked at him. Her bottom lip had been quivering. Her eyes had been glassy and her hand had looked shaky when she’d written down his answers. When it was his turn to question her, she’d answered without looking at him. Instead, she’d fidgeted with the notebook in her lap. Which made him feel like an ass, even though he kept trying to convince himself he shouldn’t.
If she’d just given him answers in the first place, they wouldn’t have needed to have that conversation. But he could tell himself that all he wanted. After everything she had been through, he knew it took a lot to make her upset. But there was no doubt he had upset her. Badly. He just didn’t get why. She should be past caring.
By the end of class, he was feeling so guilty he had tried to apologize. She’d given him a weak smile, told him he didn’t have anything to be sorry about. Then she waved him away and disappeared into the crowd.
His attention was snapped back to the present when the person behind him gave him a nudge. He had more or less managed to keep Cleo out of his head most of the day. Until now. And now his frustration with her was fueled all over again. Thanks to his most recent mind ramblings.
“Next?” the bank teller said. She was using a tone that made him sure it was not the first time she’d said it.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he moved to the counter. He slid his paycheck and deposit slip forward. “I’d just like thirty in cash, please. The rest in savings.”
“Are tens okay?” the tired looking woman asked. She glanced at the clock. The bank would be closing any minute.
“Sure,” he agreed. He waited for her to click away at her keyboard. She deposited the majority of it before counting out his cash.
“Thanks,” he told her.
She motioned for him to hurry along as the next person stepped forward.
As he walked toward the door of the now nearly-empty bank he was thinking how stupid it was that he had worked just so he could deposit the majority of each paycheck. He’d deposited them because he didn’t actually need the money. And while he realized that was hardly a problem, it annoyed him anyway because that was the kind of mood he was in.
His phone rang just as he was reaching the wall of glass doors. They led out of the bank and onto the sidewalk.
It was Mia, of course.
“Hey, where are you?” she asked in what he thought was supposed to be a seductive voice. The problem was it was the same voice she’d used to ask the guy at the Corner Creamery if she could have extra cherries on her sundae. Since then, it’d pretty much not had any effect on him.
“I’m just pulling into my driveway,” he lied.
“You’re lying,” she purred, or cooed, or whatever it was she was trying to do. She said this just as he reached the glass doors. He caught a glimpse of her white convertible parked behind his vehicle across the street.
“Hey,” he said trying to play it off like he was joking. “You ask a ridiculous question, you get a ridiculous answer.”
She glanced up and saw him. So she disconnected and slid out of the car.
Any sane guy would be all over her, he thought to himself. Mia was a mini blond bombshell. She was tiny but curvy. Her hair was never out of place. He had never seen her without a full coating of make-up. Her body…well, yeah, he realized again, any sane guy would be all over her.
Apparently, he decided, I’m not sane. I’m out of my mind with missing Cleo.
Of course, the problem with Mia was that she knew this about herself. And not only did she know it, she expected everyone else to not only know it, but to appreciate it.
He waited for a passing car to go by so he could cross the street. Mia smiled and waved as she leaned against her car. She looked truly happy to see him.
He was suddenly drenched in a feeling of guilt. He decided then and there he needed to put more effort in putting the past behind him. Maybe he just needed to be more open to giving Mia a chance. Adam hated her, no doubt about that. So did Lauren. She was one of the most self-absorbed people he’d ever met. But what he realized right then, was so was he. He’d been so wrapped up in himself that he’d never really been fair to her.
“I don’t want to fight any more,” Mia told him. “But you never should’ve been talking with Cleo.”
“I know.” She was right. And he didn’t want to argue either. “I’m sorry,” he said. Again.
“Any chance you’re free right now?” she asked as she wrapped herself around him.
He tried to shove a smile onto his face. “Sure. What do you want to do?”
“My parents are working late. They’ll be gone for a few more hours,” she said. The inflection of her tone made it obvious where she was going with that.
Her parents owned the largest real estate agency in town. They put in a fair amount of late nights as they catered to their clients. Seemed lots of people didn’t want to take time off work to look for houses. So Mia’s parents worked late to accommodate them.
“Perfect,” he told her.
When she leaned in for a kiss, he didn’t stop her. Even though they were standing in the middle of a downtown street.
“Follow me,” she said.
As he got into his vehicle, letting Mia pull out onto the street first, he told himself that he was going to stop being such an ass. He was going to start giving Mia his full attention. Maybe if he tried harder to make her happy, maybe she would be. Maybe she’d be less difficult.
His resolve lasted less than five minutes and he found himself thinking about Cleo again.
“I am so screwed,” he announced to his empty truck.
Spring, sophomore year…
He had his braces on longer than anyone else he knew. By the end of sophomore year he was still doing follow up check-ups to make sure his retainer was doing its job at night. He would grumble to his mom about it all of the time but later, he decided maybe it was fate.
He was coming back from an orthodontist appointment that morning. He had been running down the sidewalk because they were getting a pretty heavy spring shower. When he hit the wide steps that led into the school someone came flying out of the door. She would’ve barreled right into him as she bounded down the short staircase. He managed to dodge
out of the way so that she only sideswiped him. Still, the momentum from the crash nearly threw her to her knees. By some miracle he managed to get his arms around her before she tumbled to the ground.
His voice got clogged in his throat the minute he got her back on her feet and realized it was Cleo Bennet.
And that she was sobbing.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly regretting it. Her eyes were miserable and her face was doused with tears. He shook his head at his stupidity. “Sorry, stupid question.”
“S-sorry,” she managed to squeeze out. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her middle, like she was hoping maybe that would hold her sobs inside.
How she had managed to come back to school after only a week, how she sat in class looking so stoic, he couldn’t imagine. But she wasn’t stoic now.
Stoic. What an inappropriate word for a sixteen year old girl. But it was fitting. He knew, because he had a few classes with her. He was embarrassed to admit that he was one of the curious people that openly gawked at her after she had come back. He’d watched her, her pale face with big, dark crescents under her eyes looking completely empty and numb. Until that moment, when she burst from the doors looking like it had all crashed down on her again.
He had never, before or since, seen someone as pitiful and vulnerable as she was in that moment. She stole his heart then and there. The moment she uttered an apology she took off running again.
He didn’t have to think about it. He simply ran after her, easily catching her.
“Cleo, stop!” he said as he grabbed a hold of her elbow, trying to slow her down. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know,” she choked out around tears she was trying to stop.
He didn’t even know her then. Not really.
“You shouldn’t drive like this, you’re too upset,” he told her. He hadn’t realized at the time that she didn’t have a car. She wasn’t headed anywhere in particular, just trying to get away.
She shook her head and then she burst into tears again.
He hesitantly put his arms around her, wondering if it was the right thing to do. She grabbed hold of him and her whole body shook with sobs. Looking back, he thought she just needed someone. Anyone really, and he just happened to be there.