by Shealy James
“It is going to be worse if she finds out another way, and she needs to know that she didn’t get anything from him. She is totally freaked out…like never wants to kiss another guy freaked out.”
“I don’t know Sarah. You can tell her that she didn’t get anything from kissing him without telling her we hacked into his account. I think it is going to be bad if she knows that we did anything.” I said.
Sarah’s voice started to raise, “Look, if we explain to her why we hacked his page and posted that, she may actually be grateful. We didn’t let Parker kill him after all.”
Max mumbled, “You must not know Maggie very well.”
“Why?”
“I have known Maggie her whole life. She always believed ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ and shit like that. She was adamant that we let karma handle the people who were mean to her. She is not going to let this go and say thank you. She’s going to be really upset.”
Suddenly we heard someone clearing her throat from the doorway. We all swung around to see Maggie standing there. I felt my stomach drop. She had obviously heard that we were talking about her, but there is no telling how much she heard.
Sarah immediately jumped up, “Maggie? What are you doing out of bed?”
“I was thirsty. I came down to get a drink, but instead I had the privilege of listening to all of you talk about me behind my back.” She was obviously angry, but she was speaking so evenly that you would have thought she was talking about the state of affairs in the European Union.
Her eyes narrowed and cheeks slightly reddened, but her tone changed slightly into a low, menacing sound. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell me exactly what it is that you don’t want to tell me because I’ll be upset then I’m going to go back to bed and pretend this whole day didn’t happen. You aren’t going to come and check on me, and you’re all going to leave me alone until I decide that I want to talk to you. Is that clear?”
Sarah started, “Maggie, we-“
Maggie put her hand up stopping Sarah, “I’m not in the mood to be coddled. Just tell me what you did.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and then told her everything, from running out to go hunt the bastard down to hacking the account to Becca explaining what she thought about the girls at the health center. I didn’t leave out a single detail because I knew she would never get past if things kept popping up in the future. Everyone else sat there in silence staring at her to see what she would do.
When I finished telling her our story, she leaned up from the doorway and walked back up to her room. She didn’t yell or get mad; she didn’t say or do anything. She didn’t even get the drink she originally came down for. We all sat there for a few minutes in silence wondering what to do. We knew better than to go talk to her. Eventually, we all went to bed. There was nothing we could do at this point.
The next morning, I woke up early because I finally decided I couldn’t lie there anymore. I didn’t sleep at all because I was couldn’t stop thinking about Maggie. I was sitting at the kitchen table waiting when she came down in her gym clothes. I stood up to go run with her, but she walked past me and left. I walked out to the porch to see if she was going running, but she got in her car and drove away. I guess she was going to the gym alone this morning.
I grabbed my iPod and ran outside by myself. The entire run, I thought about Maggie. I had to find a way to make this right. I didn’t really understand why she was so upset, but I didn’t need to. All I needed to know was that we hurt her; we let her down.
Maggie had a game that evening. We all went like always, and her parents were there. She was playing dirty, really aggressive unlike her normal style. She had trouble getting control of the ball. About fifteen minutes into the first half, the ref gave Maggie a warning. She walked away from him. Maggie typically would have apologized but not today. Just before half time, Maggie took another player down by pulling the girl down by her jersey. The ref called Maggie back over and gave her a yellow card. Maggie stoically walked away again. After half time, she didn’t come back in the game. She was dressed in her warm-ups and sitting on the bench with her head between her hands and her ear buds in her ears.
I knew all of this was because of what we did. She told her parents that she didn’t want to go to dinner, so they headed home. Her dad spoke privately with Max, but they didn’t say anything about her game to her in front of us. He mother didn’t speak to her at all, which was unusual, but Maggie didn’t seem to care. She hugged her dad and waved good-bye barely giving her mother a second glance.
Thanksgiving break was the next week and Maggie left as soon as her class let out. Usually her and Max rode together, but she didn’t even give him the option. Max said his mom was curious as to why Maggie had come home so early without him, but he told her he had class. Apparently she began to get more suspicious when Maggie never came over to Max’s house. She started asking more and more questions. He finally had to give in and tell her what we did. She was pretty upset and gave him a really hard time, as if we didn’t already feel bad enough.
Maggie hardly spoke to us at all the last couple of weeks of school and through finals. She didn’t review with me or eat dinner with us. Max and Sarah both tried to talk to her, but she walked away. I didn’t even try. She had told us to wait until she was ready, but it had been over three weeks. Of course, Max had told us that she once ignored her mother for an entire summer for announcing to some of her friends at the club that Maggie had finally gotten her period.
She still showed up with her team to every single one of my games. I was surprised to see her there every time. We went to all of her games and planned to go to dinner with her and her parents like usual, but she always made up some excuse about why we couldn’t come. That was our hint that we were not invited. No one pushed her.
Everyone went home for winter break after finals. I stayed in the house, so I didn’t have to stay at Pop’s. I texted her to tell her Merry Christmas, but she didn’t respond. I didn’t really expect her to write back, but I was hoping that being home would help her get over her anger faster. So far, no such luck.
Chapter 14
Maggie
It was New Year’s Eve, and I had been home for two weeks. We were getting dressed up and going to the club like we do every year. I was hoping Max was going to be at Becca’s parent’s house, so it wouldn’t be as obvious that he and I weren’t really speaking. I was still so mad and disappointed that they took my problem into their own hands. They had to stop doing stuff like that. The worst part was that they were all in on it; Max, Parker, Sarah, and Becca had all plotted behind my back.
My mother, sisters, and I went and got our hair and nails done for the evening. My mother picked out all of the colors, hairstyles, and dresses. I didn’t care. I actually liked my dress, so I really didn’t mind the rest of the charade this time. Daddy, Mother, Catherine and her boyfriend Tom, Carolyn, and I all went to the club and had dinner at our own table. Max’s family always sat with us, so I had to get through the night sitting with Max and Becca, who had come down for the party. At least I could count on dancing with the old men and maybe even Wallace. Who would have ever thought I would be happy to see him?
I actually ended up spending the evening dancing with Daddy or hanging out at the bar with Carolyn. Wallace Mitchell asked me to dance a few times like he always did, so I spent part of the evening with him. We walked around on the porch of the club for a while talking. He was really full of himself, but at least he was treating me like an adult, which was nice.
“Mags? Can I talk to you?” Max had walked up behind Wallace and me on the wraparound porch.
“Um...”
“It’s all right, Maggie. I’m going to go check on my parents. Hopefully my mom stopped at three glasses of wine this time. I’ll see you inside.” Damn it Wallace! You were supposed to help me avoid my supposed best friend.
I turned all the way around and leaned against the railing bef
ore folding my arms across my body. “What do you want Max?”
“I want to talk to you. You’ve never stayed mad at me for more than a couple of hours, so five weeks is enough Maggie. I know we screwed up, and it was all my idea. You have to understand that we couldn’t stand the idea of that guy hurting you. We thought it would be a way for him to stay away from girls for a while. We weren’t trying to hurt you, but I knew you would be upset from the start, and I should have thought about that more than I did. We are all really sorry.”
“Max. You don’t even understand. I’m not just mad; I’m disappointed. You have been doing this my whole life. Every time someone was mean to me, you and Daddy would come up with some elaborate plot to get revenge. It isn’t necessary. I don’t know if you noticed, but every time someone hurts me, I get over it. Sometimes it takes longer than others, but I get over it because the people who hurt me usually aren’t worth my time. That isn’t true this time, is it?
“This time it was my best friend and roommates who hurt me, people I have invested a lot of time in chose to do this. That means that the four people outside of my family who I feel the closest to do not respect me enough to let me handle things my way. It isn’t your job to rescue me or get revenge on people or teach people who are mean to me a lesson. It is your job to support me and make sure that I’m ok, just like I would do for you.”
Max looked ashamed now. He quietly spoke, “I know, Maggie. You know we do things like this because we love you and cannot stand to see you hurt, right?”
“Yes. I know. I never questioned your motives, but you have to stop doing stuff like this. It’s a waste of your time to try and hurt all the people who do bad things. We all make mistakes, and sometimes we learn the lessons that we need to learn without people shoving our mistakes back in our face.”
“You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” I said sarcastically.
“You forgive us?”
“I’m working on it.”
“You wanna go back inside?”
“Yeah. It’s cold out here.”
We went inside just in time to find our families for the countdown to midnight. Wallace found me and took my hand. When the countdown was complete, Wallace bent down to kiss me chastely on the lips and smiled.
“I figured we didn’t want to head into the New Year without some good luck.”
I smiled sincerely up at him, “No. We wouldn’t want that.”
I didn’t have feelings for Wallace, but I was thankful he had been there tonight.
--
Max and I followed each other back to school, and when we were all back in the house, everything eventually fell back into our normal routine. I had conversations with Sarah and Parker the day we came back, and they apologized. Sarah hugged me over and over, and I finally had to tell her to stop touching me. That night we had dinner together at the Tavern and I listened to my friends talk about their breaks.
“Is that guy from New Year’s going to call you, Maggie?” Becca asked.
I looked at her confused, and Max added with a smirk, “Wallace.”
“Oh. No. It isn’t like that. He’s just a family friend.”
“But he kissed you at midnight?” Becca added.
“Yes, but we’re still just old friends,” I said as nonchalantly as I could. I was embarrassed by Becca’s interest in my relationship, or lack thereof, with Wallace Mitchell.
“Who kissed you at midnight?” Sarah asked excited.
“Just friends.” I said again.
Parker changed the subject quickly, for which I was grateful. We started talking about our schedules and plans. It was so normal, and I was glad. It was how it was supposed to be.
Parker and I had the same schedules now that we were only taking classes for our major. Our soccer schedule went back to three practices a week right away, but we stayed pretty busy. We started going out almost every weekend again for a break from the stress of the week. We went to The Ale House a lot, and Parker played with the band. We went to the club some, but The Ale House felt more like our place.
I noticed that Alexis and Brandi were still flirting with Parker, but he seemed less interested in flirting back. Eventually Brandi gave up on him and moved on to Grady, but he didn’t seem that interested in her either. When Parker wasn’t playing with the band, he would sometimes drag me out on the dance floor. He was a really good dancer, which wasn’t the least bit surprising since he was obnoxiously good at everything he did.
On Valentine’s Day, he played with the band because the guitarist, Nick, whose name I just now finally started remembering, wanted to propose to his girlfriend that night. Sarah and I went to the bar to hear Parker and had a blast dancing to all of the anti-love songs, which were really songs about sex. We all drank too much and ended up having to take a cab home.
Sarah passed out as soon as we got home, but I changed into pajamas and stayed downstairs with Parker and drank water and ate scrambled eggs and toast. We stayed up late talking. After we were silent for a second, I felt a shift in the room. “You still planning on law school after we graduate?” I asked him determined to keep the conversation going.
“That’s the plan.”
“Yeah? Me too. What about marriage and kids and all that?”
“Maybe one day. I still feel like I need to get myself together.”
“I think you’re more together than you give yourself credit for.”
“I’m not in my head though. I still can’t play, you know.”
“Yeah I know, but you have so many other things going for you. Any girl would be lucky to end up with a guy like you.”
“Was that a compliment?” He said nudging me.
“It was the truth.”
“Well, it only takes the right girl. I don’t want just any girl as my wife. I want the girl. You know the one that makes everything make sense.”
“Ah, the legendary soul-mate. Is that what you’re looking for?”
“You, Miss Romance Novel, do not believe in soul mates?”
“I don’t know. It seems kind of unattainable, the one person in the whole world who you connect with on some deep, unidentifiable level. I think it sets us up for disappointment. I think we should find companionship, someone you love and can live with for the rest of your life. Don’t expect everything from one person kind of thing.”
“Aren’t you the secret pessimist? Who would have thought I’m more romantic than you? What about your parents? You don’t think they are soul mates?”
“I think they probably love each other, and they work well together as a couple, but I don’t know about soul mates. Sometimes I catch my mom watching my dad, and you can tell she is so in love with him. My dad is the same way with her. When they think no one is looking, he will grab her ass or kiss her passionately, dipping her like in the movies. It is sweet, but it is private. They barely touch when they are in public. I don’t get it.”
“Appearances are important to your parents, especially your mom. I would think showing how much you love your spouse in public would be a good thing.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. Max once said he wanted fireworks when he kissed a girl for the first time. I want that feeling, where you feel another person’s touch resonate through your whole body. When they walk in a room, you feel it without even looking. I want that connection. It seems sad that only one person could give you that feeling. What if you never find that person?”
“Ah, you’re a romantic. Fireworks and ass grabbing, I can see it in your future.” I slapped his chest, and he held my hand in the spot where it landed. “I think you had it the wrong way around. I think any guy would be lucky to steal your heart.”
“So far I’m not having much luck. I’ll probably attend all of y’alls weddings alone before I meet someone who can stand to put up with me for more than a few dates.”
“I’ll make you a deal. I won’t get married until you have found the one. That way you’re guaranteed to have a date at my wed
ding.”
“Sounds good. When you sober up, don’t forget you made this deal. You can’t weasel out of it if you meet you soul mate tomorrow.”
“What if I already know her?”
“If you did, wouldn’t you be with her?”
“Yeah. I guess.” He said and then paused like he was deep in thought.
“Alright Romeo, time for bed.” I patted his arm again. He stood up first, and I lay down on the couch where he was seated. “I’m going to sleep here.”
“No pretty girl, you’re going to bed. Come on.” He held out his hand to help me off the couch.
“No, it’s late, and I’m too tired.”
“Alright, you asked for it.” He bent down and lifted my torso before throwing me over his shoulder.
I squealed. “Parker, put me down.”
“I will. In your bed.” He said as he carried me up the stairs and into my room.
Promises, promises, I thought with a private little grin.
He laid me down gently on my bed after pulling the covers back. His face was close to mine as he tucked me in. “Do you need a bedtime story? I think you need a story,” he said as he walked over to my bookshelf.
I only had one children’s book on my shelf, and it was my favorite book as a child, The Giving Tree. He moved the paisley chair I had in my room closer to my bed, and he read me the story. I almost fell asleep, but I didn’t want to miss one moment of this. I didn’t care that he was babying me right then. This was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me.
When he was finished, my eyes were closed, but I felt when he leaned down and said, “Goodnight Juliette,” and kissed my forehead. He left my room after turning my lamp off and gently closed the door. That was the best Valentine’s Day I ever had, and after that I had a whole new reason to love that book…and Parker.
Parker
Valentine’s Day night ended up being a pretty great night. After we went to the bar where I played with the band and the girls danced, Maggie and I stayed up late talking. It was one of our good talks, like the ones we had after I told her about my mom. We talked about our futures, and it made me really think about soul mates…soul mates and Maggie.