American Honey

by Heidi McLaughlin

  “Well, I need a new tire. If you could tell me where to go, that would be awesome.”

  She taps the side of her coffee cup in deep thought before rattling off the name of a place to me. When I look at her like a deer in the headlights, she offers to come with me. She goes and gets dressed and within the hour we are sitting in my car and on our way.

  It’s hard to concentrate on driving in this city I’m not familiar with, when all I can think about is Beau. I want to see him again. If I don’t see him for the rest of this summer, well that’s just something I don’t want to think about. We pull into a local tire shop and I park the car. I walk inside and tell the man behind the counter what I need. He takes down my info and Sienna and I sit inside the cramped waiting room.

  The news is on the TV, but my mind is too busy racing to pay any attention to it. I look over at Sienna and see that she is intently searching Facebook on her phone. I nearly fall out of my chair when I see she is on Beau Granger’s profile.

  “He doesn’t have a girlfriend, that’s interesting.” She says out loud.

  “Good for him. I don’t live here anymore.” I throw back at her.

  “You totally wanted to jump his bones, I could see it in your eyes last night you little hussy.” She grins. God, I hate her right now.

  “Okay, so yes, I did. I thought about it okay? He’s gorgeous how could I not? I’m only human.”

  “And a bully.” She points out.

  I want to smack the shit out of her in the middle of this waiting room, but I’m trying so hard to contain that urge. When we get in the car though, it is so on.

  “Yes, I was a freaking bully, but you called him that too.” I throw back at her.

  “But he’s since forgiven me. Besides, I’m not the one who started it….bully.”

  My face turns red, but a laugh escapes my throat. She is freaking hilarious and this is why she is still and will always be my best friend.

  The door opens and footsteps approach. “Shayleigh Dougherty, your car is ready.” The man from the counter tells me. “Sign here and go outside, the mechanic has your keys.”

  I look at him a little odd. They usually hand you the keys back. I shrug it off and scribble my name on the invoice. I hand him my credit card and when he gives it back, Sienna and I walk outside.

  My jaw hits the ground when I see Beau Granger leaning against my car. What the hell is going on and why is he everywhere? A grin appears on his face and I can’t help but grin back. Hello, Busty Beau.

  Those blue eyes are sparkling and setting my very world on fire. “I thought I recognized this car. Matter of fact, I’m not so sure I could forget it.”

  I look over at Sienna and glare. She set this shit up. She knew exactly what she was doing when she gave me directions here. She’s so catching an earful when we leave, but right now, all I want to do is stare at that gorgeous face of his. This is the best Saturday of my life.

  “Looks like you keep coming to my rescue. What are you doing here? How can I repay you Beau?” I ask suddenly realizing it sounds like I’m throwing myself at him.

  He licks his lips and puts on the perfect smile. “My family owns this place, I help run it. Well there is one thing you and Sienna could do, if you insist.”

  Sienna raises her eyebrows and just stares at him with her hand on her hip. His icy blue eyes lock with mine and he smiles, “Some buddies of mine are having a party tonight. Sienna, it’s at mine and Rob’s house out in Topsy. You know the place right?”

  Sienna’s face flushes for a minute and I’m thinking it has something to do with this Rob guy. I’ll have to pry that out of her later, but right now, I’m trying to understand why he’s inviting us to this party. Has he not figured out who I am by now, especially since he knows who Sienna is?

  “What do you think Shay? Want to go to this party tonight?” Sienna asks me.

  “Yeah Shay, what do you think?” he mimics her. My eyes go from Sienna back to Beau and I’m pretty much wanting to say hell yeah, but I don’t want to sound too desperate.

  “Yeah, that sounds good to me.” I answer as nonchalantly as I can. His eyes light up like he can’t believe I just said yes. Hell, I can’t believe I just said yes. He hands the keys over to me, our hands touching a second longer just like yesterday. Once again, I don’t mind the grease. I don’t mind it at all.

  “Well, see you tonight Shay.” He winks as he pulls his hand away. He turns and walks back into the garage leaving me absolutely breathless.

  I climb into the car and buckle my seatbelt. When I look over at Sienna, she has that damn smirk on her face again. Doesn’t she ever get tired of doing that? She better be careful or her face with freeze like that. Actually, I hope it does for all the crap she gives me.

  “What?” I ask her.

  “Busty Beau and Shayleigh sitting in a tree,” she begins.

  “Keep singing that and I’ll rearrange your face. And you’ve seen him, that hunk of a man is far from busty. Oh, who is Rob?”

  That shut her up real fast. Her face blushes faintly as she tries to turn from me. “He’s, uh just a friend.”

  “Uh huh, a friend. Gotcha. I’ll analyze that situation tonight. That okay with you?”

  “Whatever. You’ll be so far into Beau’s lusty self you won’t be able to see straight. By the way, have I told you how excited I am that you are here?” she coos at me.

  “Yes, you have and believe me, I’m glad too. Now, what’s for lunch I’m starving?”

  Chapter 5

  Sienna is my tour guide for the rest of the day. She takes me to the mall, where I end up spending way more than I wanted to, but she insists that I look smoking hot for Beau. She practically read my mind. I have no clue what kind of party this is, seeing as how it’s in the middle of nowhere, I don’t see the point in dressing up. I basically just bought a new pair of shorts and a new tank top. It’s low enough that most of my cleavage will pop out, so who is the busty one now? He will love it though, I can’t wait to see the look on his face.

  We leave the mall and pick up lunch before heading back to her house. Carefully, I lay out my outfit for the night and feel myself becoming giddy. That feeling vanishes quickly as I realize he may soon remember who I am and what I did to him.

  I drag my feet back into the kitchen where I sit across my Sienna. She hands me my sandwich and the first bite I take is amazing. “Mmm, this is so good.” I practically moan into the bread.

  “Yeah, they make the best sandwiches ever. A little messy, but totally worth it.” She’s right. I have napkins for days sitting beside me and a few of them have already been used.

  “I swear, I could move back here just for these.”

  “And Beau Granger.” She teases.

  “What if he finds out who I am? I mean it’s not like we’ve been intimate or anything, but I just got here and he’s smoking hot. What if it ruins my summer?”

  “Shay, don’t think too much on it. I wouldn’t say anything about it. Hell, I’d forget about it if I were you. It’s my fault I should have never brought it up. Can you try to forget?”

  “I can try, but the guilt is killing me.”

  She smiles as she finishes her sandwich. “Don’t you let that bother you. That was how long ago? People do forget but me, I never did. That was freaking hilarious. Although some guy did call him that after he lost all his weight and he almost beat the shit out of him.”

  “You’re not helping at all Sienna.” I tell her.

  “I know, sorry. It’ll be okay though. We’re going to have fun. This is your summer and you’re here with me. What could go wrong?”

  “Are you serious?” I deadpan. “Have you not been listening to a single word that I’ve said?”

  “Oh I hear you Shay, loud and clear.” She smirks.

  My phone rings breaking this conversation and my dad’s picture appears on the screen. I stick my tongue out and walk to the spare room.

  “Hey dad.” I answer.

  “Hey k
iddo, I wanted to check on you. Did you get a new tire yet?” He asks concerned. He’s always like that when it comes to me.

  “I went and got one this morning. She’s as good as new.”

  “Good. Are you having a good time so far?”

  “Yeah, I am. I’m glad I came.” Thoughts of Beau from the moment I ran into him on the side of the road to just moments ago, flood my brain and I can’t help the butterflies that assault me. Then, I remember I wanted to tell him about mom. He listens intensively as I tell him everything Sienna told me. He kinda laughs and shrugs it off. I guess I don’t blame him. I pretty much did the same thing.

  We talk for a few more minutes before his lunch break is over. I lie back on the bed and close my eyes for a minute trying to rest. What was supposed to be a minute, turns into almost three hours and the only reason I’m awake is because Sienna plops on the bed beside me.

  “So you came ten hours to sleep? What the hell is up with that? Oh, guess who I just talked to?”

  “Who?” I ask groggily. I just want to rest, doesn’t she see that?

  “Beau,” she beams. “Rob gave me his number, so in turn, I was the best friend I could ever be and gave Beau yours.” I give her a death glare and she hurries and adds, “But only because he asked for it. Your phone should be going off in five, four, three, two—“

  Just like clockwork, my phone buzzes and a number I don’t know pops up. I open the message and I am suddenly wide awake.

  (337)555-5542: Hope you don’t mind Sienna gave me your number. I just wanted to make sure you haven’t changed your mind about tonight.

  He is worried I may back out tonight? Wow, I didn’t realize I’d left that sort of impression on him. I mean, I know how he makes my insides melt and do all kinds of crazy things but I had no clue he remotely felt anything to be worried about me. Just to throw him a curveball, I respond with the corniest thing I can think of after I save his phone number.

  Me: Who is this?

  Not even ten seconds later, another message pops up.

  Beau: You know who this is.

  Me: I do?

  Beau: I guess I’ll have to remind you later beautiful.

  Christ almighty, it’s a good thing I’m sitting down. Beau thinks I’m beautiful? I can’t contain the faint blush that’s now spread across my entire face and Sienna grabs my phone to see what the conversation says.

  “Oh my gosh, yep he has the hots for you. Tell me you don’t hate me.” she says.

  “How could I possibly hate you? God thinks I’m beautiful.” I practically swoon.

  “Did you just call him God?” she doubles over laughing. “Please get drunk and call him that tonight.”

  I grab the pillow and throw it at her head which makes her laugh more. “Kiss my ass Sienna. So tell me before tonight so I’m not blindsided, what is this thing with you and Rob? Seriously, fill me in.”

  Sienna smiles as she sits beside me and her face lights up. “Well we aren’t anything official yet, but we’ve been talking for a few months now. We started out as just friends. Hanging out with Rob is how I got to know Beau a little better. Rob is sweet, he’s hot as hell too. Well, you will see when you meet him. Surprisingly, it doesn’t bother me that we aren’t officially dating, but he knows I don’t talk to any other guys and he doesn’t talk to any other girls. I guess we’re just waiting to make it right, you know? Does that make sense?” she asks.

  “It makes perfect sense. Why rush something that is good for you? That’s the issue with all these stupid guys I’ve been with. They try to rush it and it completely ruins it for me. I am not just looking to give my heart to the first guy to jump up and say they love me, like me or whatever. Maybe I am being too hard or maybe I just haven’t met the one. Who knows?” I think I am way too hard on these guys, but what I haven’t told her is that in the few encounters I’ve had with Beau, I’ve never felt more alive. What the hell is it about him? I don’t know that I’ll ever know, but whatever this attraction is, can’t become too much of anything because at the end of the summer, it’s back to Missouri for me and then I’ll probably never see him again.

  “Well, I can’t wait for you to meet him. I want to know what you think. I fully trust your opinion Shay.” She tells me with the most serious look on her face.

  “I can’t wait to meet him either. If he makes you smile like this, then he must be special.” I say pulling her in for a hug.

  She pulls away and claps her hands together. “I hope this summer lasts forever Shay. This is so awesome and much better than when we were kids. Now, we can actually do things on our own without our parents telling us no!”

  “I know, pretty awesome isn’t it? Oh, did you get that job you were looking at?” I ask her out of curiosity. If she starts working, I’ll need something to do with my time while she is gone.

  “No, I decided it wasn’t what I wanted. You know I’m getting my Accounting degree, and with as much work as it can be, I want to find the perfect place to work. Some of them are okay, but I want to be able to walk in and know I’ll be happy there.” Sienna is a trust fund baby. Her parents set one up for her and she is taken care of. She probably doesn’t ever have to work, but that’s what I love about her, she doesn’t let the money speak for her. She’s strong-willed, motivated and fully believes in working for everything.

  “I was just checking to see if I needed to occupy my day time hours.”

  “Oh, you mean with Beau? And sorry missy, you are stuck with me all summer long. I didn’t ask you to come down here for nothing!” she smiles.

  “Oh shut it and good!” I tell her as I pick up my phone one more time to stare at the message from Beau. I stare at the time and it’s still early. I’m so anxious to see him. I haven’t been this anxious to see a guy in like, ever. Something tells me this is something that just may break me. Do I want to be broken? If it breaks me, then what happens? I’m clearly overthinking this, so I smile at the phone and set it back down. I eyeball my outfit and imagine his eyes roaming up and down my body.

  Chapter 6

  My hair is cascading down my back in the most perfect waves ever. Too bad the humidity is probably going to kill it, but for now, it looks so good. My new pair of shorts really makes my legs look longer than they are and this top, is wow. Beau Granger will be drooling when he sees me. I’m smiling confidently in the mirror when Sienna walks in the room.

  “Check you out Shay. He’s going to eat out of the palm of your hand!”

  “Yeah, we’ll see. Look at you! I love that top, you’re going to have to let me borrow it sometime this summer.”

  Her one-shoulder blouse looks amazing on her and I’m kinda wishing I had bought one too. The sun is beginning to set and Sienna hands me a shot glass. “Here’s to a great night and great summer!”

  We clink our glasses together and tilt the glasses back. The shot burns going down, but tastes so good. She grabs the keys to her car and we begin the drive out to Rob and Beau’s house. We turn down so many back roads, I’m confused as hell. I’m glad Sienna knows where we are. We have to turn down a dirt road to get where we’re going. I’m suddenly so thankful we didn’t take my car here tonight, I would have had a damn heart attack. We end up back on pavement and in a few more turns, we pull into a driveway.

  There are Christmas lights with multi-colored solo cups attached to them strung between trees and they are the coolest thing I have ever seen. The reds and blues are coloring the area around us and in that moment, I catch the eye of God himself. I’m assuming the blonde hair guy beside him is Rob when Sienna blushes and tries to hide it. This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

  A few more cars pull in behind us and someone just started playing music. Beau casually steps closer to me as Rob grabs Sienna by the hand. I haven’t been introduced to him yet, but that is the least of my worries at this point in time.

  “Hey beautiful,” Beau says as he leans in and places a kiss on my cheek.

  “Hey,” I manage to squeak out
without sounding silly. I’m on edge all of a sudden and Sienna left me alone.

  “Want something to drink?”

  “Uh yeah, sure. Thanks.”

  He grabs my hand and my heart begins beating wildly in my chest. Holy shit, this is intense. Beau leads me to an outdoor refrigerator and opens it for me. There’s everything from beer, to whiskey, to wine in there. “Take your pick, you can have whatever you want.”

  I stare at the selection before grabbing a Michelob Ultra. I open the bottle and tilt it slightly back. The first sip is cooling and everything I need it to be. Beau watches me with those sparkling eyes and I feel my face flush. By the time I have the first beer downed, a group of people are setting up a table with cups of beer. Out of curiosity, I walk over to them to see what’s going on.

  “Hey doll, you want in?” some guy asks me.

  “What is it?” I ask still trying to figure it out.

  “Beer pong. It’s easy. You just throw the ball and try to make it into the cups. We’re going to play teams.”

  Beau looks at me and starts laughing. “Is something funny?” I ask him.

  “No, not at all. I was getting ready to play actually. Want to be my partner?”

  “Hell no,” Sienna yells. “She’s my partner. Find your own Beau Granger.” She winks at me and links her arm in mine. What the hell are we getting ourselves into?

  “I see how it is Sienna. Hope you’re ready to have me and Rob demolish you ladies.” Beau leans against the table with a smirk on his face.

  I stick my tongue out at him and get a little braver. “It’s on Casanova. I’m ready, when do we start this shit.” The crowd around us starts laughing and cheering.

  Sienna looks at me and busts out laughing. Funny thing is, I’ve only had one beer, so yet again, I have no excuse. The guys decide to be nice and let us go first. Sienna has the first shot and misses by a mile. Rob blows her a kiss and tells her it’s okay. I grab my ball and stare at the cups before locking eyes with Beau.