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Finding Me, Finding You (Finding #1)

Page 14

by Shealy James


  “Well, when Wade? You’re “too busy” to come over. You’ve been distant since you came back, and on the phone last week you were telling me how much you love me and couldn’t wait to see me. What changed?” I couldn’t hear what he said in response because he was speaking quietly as they made their way through the house.

  I turned to Max and Becca, “I guess it is time to clean up.” We refused to let drunken Parker help, so he continued sitting outside. I brought him his guitar, and we sat outside with him afterwards talking and giving Wade and Sarah privacy, but soon Wade was saying good-bye. I noticed he had a bright red mark on his cheek when he turned toward the light. Sarah must have slapped him. Yikes!

  Once he was gone, we heard a crash upstairs, so we all jumped up and ran up the stairs. I tentatively opened the door to Sarah’s room, and saw that the crash we heard was a picture frame shattering after slamming against the door.

  “Sarah?”

  “Go away.” I saw her crumpled up on the floor in a ball crying.

  “Sarah? What happened?” The boys backed up and closed the door.

  “The asshole cheated on me!” She wailed.

  “What!?”

  She told me what happened through her sobs. “He said he never wanted a relationship and that this was supposed to be fun. He didn’t know when things changed, but last week he started dreading coming back to school because he didn’t like being tied down.”

  I handed her some tissues from her bathroom. “Was he different over the phone last week?”

  “I don’t know. We talked less because he was packing and hanging out with his friends one last time. I didn’t realize that one of them was his high school girlfriend that he still occasionally fucks!”

  “I’m so sorry. What can I do?”

  “Nothing. I need to get some sleep.” She got off the floor.

  “Ok. I’m just going to clean up this glass, ok?”

  “Ok. Thank you.” She went in her bathroom and changed and crawled into bed. I opened the door to go get a broom, but I saw one was sitting by the door with a dustpan and a small trashcan. One of the boys must have brought it up. I cleaned up her room and brought her a glass of water. She was still sobbing into her pillow intermittently.

  “Maggie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Will you stay with me tonight?”

  “Of course. Let me go throw the glass out and change. I’ll be right back.”

  When I got back, she was out of her bed taking down more pictures of him. She ripped up all of the prints and piled the frames on her desk. At least there wasn’t any more glass to clean up.

  “Maggie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you enjoy your kiss with Parker?” She sounded almost happy now if you could get past the red eyes and runny nose.

  “Let’s not talk about it.”

  “Yes, let’s talk about it. I did it for you. I know he wanted to kiss you, and I thought it would help. Someone should be having a good night.”

  “It was a very good kiss Sarah. Thank you,” I said trying to make her feel better since her night ended so badly for her.

  “You’re welcome. Too bad Wade sucks.”

  “Yes. It is too bad, but now you can go and find someone wonderful.”

  “We’ll see.” She said as she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes.

  Sarah stopped being fun and spunky Sarah for weeks after that. She was moody and quiet. On more than one occasion she snapped at Parker for playing his guitar like he always did when we were all home. She didn’t want to talk about it though, and she refused to go out for a long while, which wasn’t like her. Eventually things started to improve. She started wanting to go out dancing again, but she only wanted to go with the girls, which was fine with me. I felt awkward around Parker after the kiss, so I spent a lot of time avoiding time alone with him. Sarah was around a lot, so that helped too.

  One night Sarah and I went to a different bar near Georgia Tech. She was fun and flirty Sarah again, and I was so glad. She started chatting and flirting with a couple of guys at the bar, and I sat with her quietly sipping my beer.

  “I take it tonight was her idea?” I turned to see a tall, thin blond-haired frat boy standing next to me. He had the combed hair and the all American boy smile. He was cute, not Parker hot, but frat boy handsome.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that you’re pretty quiet.”

  “Yeah. She’s the outgoing one for sure.” I tilted my head towards Sarah.

  “Well, I’m Colton. These are my brothers, Mark and Rich.”

  “You’re brothers?”

  “Fraternity brothers.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  Colton and I talked for a little while about his fraternity and our different schools, and when Sarah was ready to leave, he asked for my phone number. I was excited. He was attractive and seemed nice.

  When we were in the car to go home, Sarah smiled at my coyly. “So, how’d it go?”

  “He asked for my number.” I smiled. “Don’t tell Max and Parker.”

  “My lips are sealed.”

  It was Wednesday when Colton called to ask me out for Friday. I agreed to the date and then made Sarah go shopping with me. This was the first guy to ask me out on a date since Garrett, and this time he wasn’t on Parker’s soccer team, so he had no reason to get involved.

  At lunch on Friday, Parker asked, “What are we doing tonight?”

  “I have plans.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “She has a date.” Sarah said with a devious grin on her face.

  “Sarah!” I warned her knowing what she was doing. She still swore up and down that Parker had feelings for me but wasn’t ready for a real relationship. I thought it was a load of bull.

  “You what?” Max and Parker both said.

  “I have a date with a guy I met last weekend. He goes to Tech.”

  “That isn’t safe. How do you know he isn’t going to murder you and leave you in a dumpster?” Parker said.

  “Well Dad, Sarah has seen him, so she can i.d. him in the murder investigation,” I said sarcastically.

  “What did he have planned for your date?” Sarah asked taking my attention away from Parker, who sat back in his seat and glared at me while I ignored him.

  “Dinner. That is all I’m saying for fear of my three dads showing up. I’m sure Daddy, Max, and Parker would think it was hilarious to ruin my date.”

  “Hey! I didn’t say anything this time. I hope you have fun, but you do need to be careful, of course.” Max said with his mouth full of sandwich. I rolled my eyes.

  That night I got ready with Sarah’s help. When I went downstairs to wait, Parker was in the kitchen making sandwiches. He stopped and stared wide-eyed when I walked in. I immediately looked around for something out of place or wrong. Did I get something on my clothes?

  “You look…ahem. You look great Mags,” he stammered.

  “Thanks.” I went to go look in the bathroom mirror once more just in case.

  Just then the doorbell rang. Colton was standing at the door with his hands in his front pockets of his dark jeans. He looked relaxed, which was the complete opposite of how I felt. He led me to his car, and opened the passenger door for me. Dinner took place at a restaurant closer to his school. A hostess led us to a booth on the far side of the restaurant. I sat down in the booth expecting Colton to sit across from me. When he sat next to me on the same side of the booth, I looked at him like he was crazy.

  He saw my reaction and asked, “Is this ok? Would you rather I sat on the other side?”

  “Umm…yes, if you don’t mind.”

  “Well, I would rather be as close you as possible, but if you prefer it…” He switched to the other side of the table. The whole thing was strange.

  Thankfully, the date improved. Colton was really smart, and we ended up having a lot to talk about. We didn’t stay out late, and he kissed me on the cheek goodnight at my
door. He was a perfect gentleman. There were no sparks or fireworks. There was no rush like I felt with Parker, but the date was nice.

  Parker

  Maggie looked hot when she went on her date. It pissed me off that she looked like that for some jackass from Tech. If he lays one hand on her or hurts her, I’ll kill him. She deserves a good guy that will take care of her. When I really thought about it, it was making me sick to think of Maggie with any other guy. I threw my sandwich in the trash and headed to The Ale House.

  In an effort forget all about Maggie and that douchebag, I played with the band and drank more than I intended to. Since I wasn’t going to risk my car, I drunk dialed Maggie to come get me. Just when she answered, I remembered her date. Whoops!

  “Hello? Parker?”

  “Oh…uhh…hey Mags. I forgot about your date when I called to see if you could give me a ride. Don’t worry about it. I’ll call Max.”

  “Where are you Parker?”

  “At the bar. It’s ok. I’ll call Max.”

  “Parker it is fine. He dropped me off a little while ago. I’ll come get you.”

  She showed up a few minutes later, and I was waiting out front talking to Tripp, the doorman/bouncer. I told him bye and hopped in her car. She was in sweat pants and her fleece jacket with her glasses on. She must have already gotten ready for bed. I loved seeing that side of her, the uninhibited side of her that didn’t care what others thought. Only a few of us had the pleasure of seeing Maggie like that, so I felt lucky to be one of the few. It meant I knew who she really was; it meant that she trusted me.

  I looked at the clock on her dash, and it was only midnight. I guess the asshole didn’t keep her out late. Interesting…

  “Thanks Mags. Sorry about your date.”

  “It’s fine, Parker. I told you we were going to dinner,” she said as she turned her blinker on and pulled up to a red light.

  “Did you have fun?” I asked. I scrolled through her iPod that was hooked up to the radio trying to appear nonchalant in my inebriated state.

  “Yeah. He was nice.”

  “Good for you, Mags.” I was hoping that she couldn’t read my tone because I really had no idea what I was feeling right then.

  Maggie looked over at me with worry lines creasing her forehead. She really is beautiful. “You ok, Parker?”

  “Yeah. I drank too much while playing with the band.” I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the seat. The world was almost spinning when I closed my eyes, so I opened them back up. “I know you ate dinner, but by any chance are you hungry? I’m starving and could really go for a waffle.”

  “I could eat. We went to a nice restaurant for dinner where the food is more for looks than eating. It wasn’t the kind of food that I like, but it was nice. My mother would have been impressed.” That one statement told me everything I needed to know. This guy wasn’t for Maggie.

  We went to a Waffle House, and sat in a booth by the window. It was like old times for a little while. We talked openly like we did after I had told her about my mom. I may have been drunk, but even I could tell this was the best conversation that we’d had in months. I decided to tell her just that.

  “Mags. This is the best conversation we have had in a while.”

  “Parker, you’re drunk.”

  “Not so much anymore, but either way, what changed?”

  “Nothing has changed, Parker.” She said, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes when she said it. She kept looking at her hands that were folding her napkin on the table, so I knew she wasn’t telling me the truth.

  “Well, at any rate. I really missed this.”

  She didn’t look up. She smiled shyly. Then she softly said, “Me too.”

  “You ready to go home?”

  “Yeah. I’m super tired. I had to go pick up some drunk guy at a bar tonight.”

  “What a douchebag. You shouldn’t be friends with people like that.” I laughed and put my arm around her shoulder. This time she melted into my side like she used to do. This was how it was supposed to be.

  The next week it seemed that things had really gone back to the way they should be. Maggie and I spent a lot of our week together, but at lunch on Thursday, the asshole called and ruined everything.

  “Hey,” she answered like she already knew who it was. She paused and listened then said, “Oh yeah? No, I’m free.” She was now smiling as she listened. “Ok great. See you Saturday…bye.” She hung up and put her phone back on the table still smiling.

  “Who was that?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

  “Colton. He wants to take me to some food festival on Saturday. It could be fun.”

  I was really hoping he wouldn’t call again. “Yeah I guess. Are we going to do a long run on Saturday?”

  “Of course. I need to get up earlier to make sure I have time to get ready.”

  “We’ll see. You may be running alone then. Getting up at nine on a Saturday is early enough for me.” Even I could hear my sharp tone.

  “Ok. No worries.” She said completely unfazed by my anger.

  We went to class after that then practice. I played terrible at practice. Coach was all over my case. I couldn’t seem to get my head in the game. After practice, I went home showered, and met up with the band. I figured a jam session would get my mind off of things. No such luck. I couldn’t even play a whole song without messing up. I decided, as a last resort, to see what Alexis was doing for the night. Maybe she could take my mind off of things.

  Garrett had people over at his house, so I brought her back to our house instead. When we walked in the front door, Max, Becca, Maggie, and Sarah were scattered between the kitchen table and the couch all with books open and some music playing. They all looked up when we walked in the door.

  “Hey.” I said and nodded my head.

  Everyone looked surprised that Alexis was with me. Maggie looked at me for a brief moment and then quickly looked back down at her book. Sarah was the only one who spoke. “Hey. Hey Alexis, how are you?” She sounded friendly, but whenever she pulled out charm like this, I knew she was faking it.

  “Great. Y’all studying?” When they nodded or made sarcastic faces in response, she said, “That sucks. I’m so glad I didn’t go to college.”

  “Yeah. College is a terrible idea especially when you’re tryin’ to get a job later on,” Sarah said and rolled her eyes.

  I tugged on Alexis’ hand. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”

  I took her to my room, closed the door, and turned on some music. No one needed to hear what Alexis and I were doing. It was none of their business. She can get really loud and really wild, so I turned up the Nine Inch Nails play list louder than normal. She dropped to the floor taking my pants with her. Her mouth immediately took my mind off of my bad day and Maggie. We spent the next couple of hours forgetting everything, but when the afterglow wore off, I felt worse than I did before. Now I wasn’t thinking about how Maggie had a date; I was thinking about how I just fucked Alexis with Maggie in the room below us. Even if she didn’t hear, she knew we weren’t up there studying. I didn’t know why I cared about what Maggie thought since I knew I could never be with her, but damn if she didn’t have me tied up in knots over her.

  When Alexis was dressed, I walked her out. She had a sly grin on her face as we headed downstairs like she was proud of the performance she just gave. When we made it to the main room where everyone had been seated, the books were still there, but everyone was gone. Maybe they didn’t hear… Yeah right. Great job Parker! You’re officially an asshole.

  Chapter 11

  Maggie

  “Oh my God. Is she going to come again?” Sarah said. “Damn! He must be good.”

  “Can we get out of here?” Max said.

  “Yes!” We all said in unison.

  Parker had taken Alexis upstairs only a few minutes ago. Music had started then moaning followed shortly afterwards. The screaming came after another few minutes and then again a few minutes lat
er. Instead of counting her orgasms, we decided to go to the diner down the street to get some dessert.

  Sarah kept looking over at me while we were sitting there, and I finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What?”

  “Nothing. You seem out of it.”

  I sighed, “I really need to be studying, but I can’t study with that going on right above my head.”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t cool. I’m going to say something to Parker about that,” Max said.

  “Did he ever do that in the dorm?” Becca asked.

  “No. He would stay out late a lot with the band, but he was always there when I woke up in the morning.”

  “They’ve been hooking up for a while,” I told them thinking that maybe they will have a shred of respect for him if they know she is a steady thing.

  Sarah gasped, “What? How do you know?”

  “He told me. He usually does it at her house, I guess.”

  “Gross. That girl is a slutty, slutty skank bag,” Sarah said as she pointed her spoon in the direction of the house.

  Becca and I nodded in agreement. Max jokingly added, “I don’t know. She sounded pretty exciting.” Becca slapped him for that. He laughed and hugged her close.

  When we got back to the house, it was quiet and Parker’s car was gone. We cleaned up our notes and books then I headed to bed. It wasn’t long before Sarah knocked on my door and let herself in. “Hey Maggie, you ok?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Look, I know for whatever reason you’re pretending you don’t, but I know you and Parker have feelings for each other. You two have become close, which is no surprise with all you have in common. What he did tonight was just rude… and gross. I wanted to make sure you’re ok. You can talk to me about him if you ever want to, you know.”

  I let out a deep breath. I wonder if anyone else noticed that I like Parker as more than a friend. “I know and I appreciate it. I’m fine though. Remember, I have a date with Colton on Saturday.”

  “Oh yeah? How did the first date go? I have been waiting for you to bring him up, so I could ask about it.”

  “It was good. We went to dinner, and then he brought me back here. We talked, and he was a gentleman.”

 

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