Courting Carlyn

by Melissa Chambers

  “Cancel the camp? That’s kind of extreme. There’s plenty of girls around here you can ask.” I say, wishing I could learn how to keep my mouth shut. The more I think about this, the more I want it. It will take some convincing for my dad, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.

  His cheeks color a little. Is Vaughn Yarborough blushing? “Well, it’s kind of complicated, why I need you specifically.”

  I lift my eyebrows, waiting on him to clarify.

  He rolls his eyes. “I’ve got an image problem.”

  “What’s wrong with your image?”

  “Well, I’ve sort of…dated a lot…publicly.”

  I inwardly roll my eyes, knowing exactly what he’s talking about. Rebecca and I have spent more than a couple of nights scrolling through pages of images of him with CW celebrities and it girls. I cross my arms over my chest. “So what does that have to do with this camp?”

  “Avery’s a squeaky-clean school, so I sort of need a squeaky-clean girl to do this with.”

  He holds my gaze as I let his words sink in. He thinks I’m squeaky-clean. He thinks I’m a total goody. He’s not completely off base, but still.

  He waves his hand toward me. “Well, you’ve got this background of working with underprivileged kids, and you’re going to Avery on a full-ride academic scholarship, right?”

  I still, a little freaked out that Vaughn Yarborough knows where I’m going to school…and my scholarship status as well. “Yeah.”

  “You’re kind of perfect for this. They love you already over there. Jeffrey knows people in the admissions department.”

  I’m not sure if I should be flattered or feel stalked. I shake my head, trying to make sense of all this. “So, what does Avery have to do with this camp?”

  “I can’t get my scholarship without this camp.”

  I’m a little shocked. “Scholarship? To college?”

  “Yeah, of course. Avery.”

  A little wave rolls through my belly. “You’re going to Avery?”

  “If you agree to work this camp with me, yeah.”

  “You’re not going pro?”

  His gaze averts down to the ground. “No.”

  “Wow,” I say. “I just assumed—”

  “Well, that’s not happening.” His words are rushed and tinted with frustration. He closes his eyes tightly, as if talking himself off a ledge for a second, and then opens them back up and meets my gaze with nothing short of desperation. “So will you help me or not?”

  “Just so I understand, what does this camp have to do with you getting a scholarship to Avery? I would think they’d be pumped about you choosing them. I mean, you pretty much had your pick, didn’t you? You’re the national champion.”

  His face and neck color, and he averts his gaze to the ground. “It’s not that simple. My test scores aren’t good.”

  I wonder how not good, but I know better than to ask. “So this camp is a way around that?”

  He gives a slight grin, his crystal-eyed gaze practically sparkling as a dimple is revealed. I had no idea he had one, but of course he does. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him smile. “There’s always a way around.”

  Oh, for the love of Cole Sprouse.

  Jeffrey walks up with Rebecca. “So, did we get this sorted out yet?” Vaughn gives him a look, and Jeffrey narrows his gaze at me. “You botched that Avery tryout pretty good today, huh?”

  I swallow hard, my neck heating. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

  “What if I work with you?”

  My eyes go so wide I can feel the wind blowing in them.

  “I’ll be there anyway working with Vaughn. It’s no trouble to work with you while I’m there.”

  I glance at Rebecca who’s trying desperately to play it cool, but her smile is exploding through her tight lips.

  “Um, we can’t afford lessons from you.”

  He waves me off. “I won’t charge. Consider it part of your employee benefits package.”

  I motion toward Center Court. “The tryouts are over though.”

  “For scholarships, but there’s a walk-on tournament.”

  My heartbeat picks up speed. “But I’ve been checking for one, in case today didn’t go well. There’s nothing mentioned on their website.”

  “Eh, I’ve got the inside scoop there. It’s happening. Trust me.”

  “When?”

  “August. But to prepare for that, you’re gonna have to work hard this summer…harder than you’ve ever worked before.”

  I nod quickly, adrenaline flowing through my veins. “Of course.”

  “What I saw out there today wasn’t near D1 material, but you’ve got potential. I can get you where you need to be, but you’ve got to show up.”

  I swallow hard. “Mm-hmm.”

  He holds his hand up in a wave at someone across the way. “I’ve got to run. Think about it. Let Vaughn know what you decide.” And he’s off.

  I meet Vaughn’s gaze and he holds out his hand. “Can I have your phone so I can set up my contact?”

  “Oh, yeah.” I pull it out of my bag and hand it to him. Rebecca and I sneak a glance at one another while he types into my phone, the moment seeming surreal. He hands it back to me as his own phone dings, and then thumbs into his phone before pocketing it. “Let me know what you decide.” His gaze hovers on mine for a significant moment, and then he walks away.

  Once he’s safely gone, Rebecca turns to me. “Oh. My. Freaking. Gosh.”

  I grin like an idiot. “I know.”

  “I can’t believe you have his number now.”

  “I guess I’m supposed to text him my answer.”

  Rebecca bites her lip. “What’s that gonna be?”

  We both look in the direction of my dad. “I’ve got to figure out how to present this to him.”

  “He can’t say no. You’re a graduating senior. You’ll be off at college in months.”

  I purse my lips. “I’m not eighteen yet.”

  “You’re close enough.”

  I let out an exhausted sigh. “I know. He’s gonna have to let me, but there’s gonna be guilt on my part.”

  “What’s a little guilt when you’re getting coaching from Jeffrey Lyons?”

  “I know. This is insane.” My heart sinks a little, though, as I remember why they want me. “Oh, so listen to this. The reason they want me is because Vaughn needs to clean up his image and they think I’m totally straitlaced.”

  Rebecca raises her eyebrows, an apologetic look on her face.

  I backhand her. “I’m not.”

  “You do play it pretty safe.”

  “So do you.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I know. But we’re talking about you. Anyway, who cares why they want you. They do. And Jeffrey has offered to coach you for free, Carlyn…free.”

  I blow a hard breath out of my mouth. “This is so crazy.”

  My dad turns back toward me and holds up his hand in a wave as he heads to the parking lot.

  “We need to come up with a plan to get your dad on board,” Rebecca says.

  I let out a defeated sigh. “Yep.”

  She nudges me. “Come on. We’ll do it over our vanilla Cokes.”

  I smile. “Okay.”

  She bites her lip. “If we can pull this off, you may be able to play Avery tennis…just like your mom.”

  A tear forms in my eye. “Just like my mom.”

  Chapter Two

  Vaughn

  “Come do a shot with us, Yarborough,” a guy yells from across the room. All the kids with him start shouting for me to come over. One of the girls even licks her lips, shaking her boobs at me.

  I hold up my red plastic cup of water. “After I finish all this Absolut.”

  Jamison sidles up to me. “You don’t have any vodka in that cup.”

  “They don’t need to know that.”

  He gives me a sideways grin. “Prude.”

  He’s giving me a hard time, of course, but I don’
t even care. I have more important things to focus on now than vodka…and girls. “I’m trying to be.”

  He laughs. “You’re gonna have to try harder to make up for the past couple of years.”

  “I can be…prudish.”

  Jamison considers me. “The internet’s forever, dude. Those hot tub pictures of you with Zoe Rich aren’t going away, and neither is the video of you in that hotel room with those three girls from the show about that dance school.”

  I roll my eyes. “So stupid. We weren’t even doing anything, but the fact that we were in a hotel room with clothes laying around made it look way more scandalous than it was. I didn’t even have sex that night.”

  Jamison lifted his eyebrows. “That night.”

  I let out a heavy breath. I had my fun, and now I’m paying for it. It wasn’t even that much fun to be honest, but playing around helped keep my mind occupied.

  “When do you leave for camp? I can’t believe you’re gonna be gone during our last summer before college.”

  “It’s my only way into Avery, man.”

  “You know there’s like eight hundred schools that would cut off a nut to get you on their team, even with your shitty test scores. And you wouldn’t have to shy away from hot tubs or hotel rooms.”

  “I don’t want any of those schools.” We both take a step back as Roan Fields stumbles in front of us, carrying his girlfriend, who has her legs wrapped around him.

  “I don’t get it, man,” Jamison says. “You’re in prime shape. You’re playing better than you ever have. You’re the national champion and you’re ranked top ten internationally. And you’re going to Avery. Look, I know you’re tired of the travel, but dude, I just want to make sure you’re thinking this through. Have you talked to your dad about it at all?”

  “It’s not his business,” I say, feeling my nose crinkle.

  Jamison nods understanding. I appreciate him trying with me and my dad, but he knows I consider him and his mom and dad way more my family than my own parents. He looks over at me. “Did you talk to Carlyn Sadowski today?”

  “Yeah. She’s thinking about it.”

  “You still irritated with her for throwing that doubles match last summer?”

  “I’m over it,” I say, because anything else would be petty, but it still irks me a little. It wasn’t fair for her to purposefully embarrass me because of something Jeffrey did to her dad, even if that something was pretty shitty.

  “What happened with her? I’ve seen her at school for years and whatever, but then she showed up for the summer kickoff last weekend, and I was like, damn!”

  “Mmm,” I mutter. I noticed, too. She’d changed so much from last summer when we were partnered for the doubles tournament. It was like her body had filled in or something, curves in places that used to go straight up and down. I never thought about her like that because she always seemed so off-limits, especially after Jeffrey stole her dad’s girlfriend a few years ago. Ever since then, her dad has eyed me suspiciously, like he doesn’t trust me. Guilty by association. But even before that, she seemed untouchable. I know her mom died when she was little, and her dad’s always hanging near her at the club, almost like a guard dog.

  “Did you see her in that bikini?” Jamison waggles his eyebrows. “Are you sure she’s the right one to ask to be with you at that camp…alone…all summer long?”

  “I think you’re forgetting the dozens of campers we’ll have around us.”

  “Eh, they’ll go to sleep sometime, and then the two of you can…” He makes a gesture with his hands that I can’t unsee.

  I roll my eyes. “Dude, you know I can’t hook up with her.”

  The room erupts in shouts as a guy beats his chest like a primate… God knows why. We wait out the noise.

  “The couple that runs this camp has a strict no-fraternizing rule. Fred, the guy I’m dealing with has only mentioned it to me a dozen times. He says he’ll shut the camp down if he even gets a whiff of something going on with her and me. And on top of that, Avery’s watching me. They almost didn’t take me because of my rep. I’m going in on unofficial probation, he says. They told Jeffrey they better not find any fresh pictures or videos of my ass or I’m done…at least at their school. They’re not messing around.”

  “So can you not even date anybody?”

  “Who am I gonna date? The camp is for kids, and I’m considered Carlyn’s supervisor. And besides that, she’s seventeen.”

  He shrugs. “Oh, well. It’s weird she wants to go there when she could go to Yale or Vanderbilt.” I chuckle. “No, dude. I’m totally serious,” he says. “I heard she turned down a full ride to Vanderbilt just to go to Avery.”

  “For tennis?” I ask, a little confused.

  “No, for academics. She’s like off-the-charts smart. Smartest kid at my school, at least. Anyway, they won’t cut you. You’re too important to their program.”

  “It’s not the tennis department. They’re all over me. It’s the dean’s office and publicity department that are hardcore. You didn’t see the look in this woman’s eye. I went home and said ten Hail Mary’s, and I’m not even Catholic.”

  He pats some dude’s back as the guy passes by holding up his drink in greeting. Jamison turns back to me. “Dude, dump this school. They’re too problematic. Come to State with me.”

  “Nope. It’s too far away.”

  He just nods, because we’ve already been through this a dozen times. And besides, he knows me better than anyone on earth. “Is your dad coming in to see the camp?”

  “Nope.”

  He frowns. “He still talking about selling the house?”

  “Yeah,” I say, stiffening.

  “Has he given you a time frame?”

  “No.” I glance around, agitated.

  “Hey, man, I want to see the camp. Can I go up with you on that first weekend, help you get settled?”

  This is why our friendship has lasted through all of my travel and weathered our contrasting worlds for the better part of a decade. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  He grins. “You can introduce me to Carlyn, properly.”

  The idea of Jamison hooking up with Carlyn has me mildly annoyed. “She’s not really your type.”

  He chuckles. “Why not?”

  “She’s pretty…wholesome.”

  He waggles his eyebrows. “Maybe she just needs corrupting.”

  “Don’t be a dick,” I say, but I know he’s joking. Jamison’s a good guy. I’ve never known him to be an ass to a girl. He just laughs me off.

  I check my phone and find a message from Carlyn.

  I have a couple questions. Can we talk?

  “I’ll be back,” I say to him, and head out the front door and go stand by my car. I call her.

  “Hey,” she says.

  “I’ve got answers for you.”

  “You don’t even know the questions yet.”

  I lean against my car. “If I don’t have them, I’ll find them.”

  “Can I come home on the weekends?”

  “You can, but the campers will leave around ten on Saturday and Jeffrey will be there early on Sunday morning to work with us, so it’d be pretty tight.”

  “Mmm,” she says, and I try to analyze the sound. Positive or negative? “How do you feel about Jeffrey coaching me? I don’t want to butt into your time with him.”

  “I’ve been with him since I was twelve. I’m fine to share him.”

  “Okay,” she says.

  Some girls walk by my car giggling. “Come find me when you get off your phone, Vaughn,” one of them says.

  “Are you…busy?” Carlyn asks.

  “No.”

  “Was that your girlfriend?”

  “Is this an official camp question, or are you getting personal?” Silence sits between us. “I’m kidding,” I say. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend. Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Is this an official camp question?”

  I can’t help smiling. “I kind of do ne
ed to know. I mean, if you’re going to have some dude visiting you on the weekends, I’ll have to share a cabin with him.”

  “Is that allowed? Me bringing boys to the cabin?”

  “No, it’s not allowed,” I say, making it up as I go along.

  “I was kidding. I wouldn’t do that.”

  I let out a deep breath. “What other questions? Get it all out now.”

  “Is there wifi?”

  “Not in the cabins. The kids are supposed to be unplugged. But I’m pretty sure Fred and Nancy have it in their house, so you can plug in over there when you need to.”

  “So I guess I should bring plenty of books, huh?”

  “Does this mean you’re in?”

  “Yeah, I’m in.”

  I close my eyes, letting out a relieved breath, a little more excited about the camp now that I’ve got her locked down. “You just made this whole thing real.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of pressure.”

  “No pressure. It’s gonna be a good time. I promise.”

  “You seem fairly confident about that.”

  I live my life in a perpetual state of confidence. I have to in order to win. “I am.”

  “My dad’s got like a thousand questions for that couple who you said runs the camp.”

  “I’ll text you the number for Jeffrey’s assistant. She’ll put you and your dad in touch with Fred and Nancy. She’ll also have paperwork to fill out, start date, directions to the camp…I don’t think GPS works out in these sticks.”

  “It’s remote?”

  “Extremely. But it’s a cool place.”

  “You’ve been?”

  I mess with the mirror on the side of my car. “Yep, a couple times.”

  “All right, then. I’ll let you go find that girl.”

  I wince. “I’m not…doing that right now.”

  “Doing what? That girl?”

  “No, I’m not…dating right now. Remember, I’m trying to clean up my image.”

  “Oh, yes. Of course. I’ll try to rub off some of my squeaky-clean onto you.”

  I don’t know her yet, so I can’t tell if she’s pissed or just being sarcastic. “Did I offend you when I said that?”

  “I’m coming to work at the camp, aren’t I?”