Every day was a test of his nerves waiting to see what Caroline would throw at him next. The girl’s moods were more unpredictable than the frosty Boston weather. One minute she was hitting on him, the next she was telling him to break up with Beth because he wasn’t good enough for her. Jared found himself promising Caroline all kinds of ridiculous things to keep her from blowing up his situation with Beth.
He’d agreed to accompany Caroline when she wanted to go to seedy underground clubs in Boston. He’d hung out at college parties with her after school. He’d taken care of her when she drank too much. He was pretty much at her beck and call. And he had to keep all of it a secret from Beth.
But Jared was getting tired of living a double life. It’d been six months of torment for one tiny mistake. He was exhausted and beginning to weigh the cost of just telling Beth the truth. It had to be better than constantly looking over his shoulder. Plus, Parker watched Jared like a hawk. It was almost like Parker somehow knew what Jared had done. It didn’t matter how much he regretted it now. Jared had made two terrible mistakes; cheating with Caroline and falling for Beth. And now he spent every day terrified that someone would tell Beth the truth and take her away from him.
So as Jared drove Beth home from Sullivan’s party that night, he tried and failed to ignore the guilt that stabbed his heart while Beth chattered excitedly about spring break.
“So I’m all packed. I even got some new bikinis and lingerie.”
“Oh yeah?” Jared replied half-heartedly.
“Yes!” Beth said kissing his cheek as he pulled into his driveway. “You’ve been so patient with me. I’m going to make this totally worth your while.”
Jared tried to smile back at Beth, but what had started out as a game was suddenly starting to feel a little too real. It would only get more serious once he slept with Beth. Jared had never been anyone’s first before, but he knew what a big deal it was. He still remembered his first, and how badly she’d broken his heart. If he was honest, that relationship was the reason Jared had never let himself get serious with anyone else. That and the fact that his father’s failed relationships gave him little faith successful ones exist.
“Wait until you see the lingerie,” Beth continued, breaking into Jared’s worries. “Caroline helped me pick it out if that tells you anything.”
“What? When did you go shopping with Caroline?”
“We didn’t. We just picked stuff out online and shipped it to her house so my parents wouldn’t see.”
Jared felt sick. He must’ve made a face because Beth looked concerned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just think it’s weird. Caroline shouldn’t be picking stuff out like that. I don’t bring the guys with me when I buy things for you.”
Beth giggled. “Jared, that’s just what girls do. It’s not weird. And besides, when do you buy me things?”
“I got you that necklace,” he said defensively.
“And I love it,” Beth replied sweetly, brushing her fingers over the gold number twenty-five that hung from the thin gold chain around her neck.
Jared had broken one of his rules in doing so—Don’t get attached. Don’t buy gifts. Don’t fall in love. But when he’d seen the damn necklace at the store, he’d immediately thought of how good it would look resting on Beth’s perky chest. And then how pissed off it would make Parker to see Beth wearing his lacrosse number around her neck. It’d been an impulse buy. But now, it felt like a leash tethering him to a commitment he wasn’t ready to make.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Beth reached into the back seat. “I got you enchiladas from Zuma today. I know how much you love them and thought you’d probably be hungry after the game. I know you already had pizza, but you’re always hungry, right?”
“Right.” Jared’s heart plummeted.
Enchiladas! That’s what was going to do him in. He couldn’t keep this secret anymore. He felt like such a prick. He didn’t deserve Beth. Not after what he’d let happen with Caroline. He should’ve put a stop to it when he had the chance, but now it’d been too long and Caroline was toying with him. Jared didn’t know what her end game was but he didn’t like the way she was using their secret like a weapon. He never would’ve done anything with her if he’d known she and Beth were friends. He wasn’t a total asshole. It’d been a stupid mistake, and he needed to come clean before things got any worse.
Jared took a deep breath, but when he started to speak, Beth put her lips to his and it was impossible not to kiss her. Especially when she climbed onto his lap and made those noises he loved.
He leaned into her kisses, resolved to table his guilt for a while longer. He would tell her soon. They had all of spring break together. That’s when he’d come clean.
Parker
Parker had been waiting up for Beth. He needed to tell her about his conversation with Caroline. At first, he thought he wouldn’t because it was too embarrassing. There was no way to tell Beth about what Caroline had suggested without admitting that he was in love with Beth. But if he didn’t tell her, what kind of friend did that make him?
He’d run six miles while mulling over the different scenarios for breaking the news to Beth and still hadn’t come up with anything good. He only hoped it would come to him when he saw Beth. They’d always been able to talk about the important things. It was part of the reason he knew they were so perfect for each other.
Parker turned on the strand of white star-shaped lights that hung in his bedroom window. Beth had a matching set, and it was their symbol when they needed to talk. The lights were a bit childish, but his mother had put them up and Parker didn’t have the heart to take them down. With one last look at Beth’s dark window, Parker hopped in the shower and prayed for the strength to put his friendship with her above his love for her.
It was after ten when Parker saw Jared drive up with Beth in his car. They parked in Jared’s driveway. That was fifteen minutes ago. And they still hadn’t gotten out. There was only one reason they’d be in the car that long and Parker didn’t want to think about it. He begrudgingly yanked the plug from the wall, bathing his bedroom in darkness as the star lights winked out.
8
Beth
Beth blushed as she felt her swollen lips. Thankfully, she skittered across her front porch undetected. She was out after curfew, which was ten on school nights. Eleven on the weekends. Beth was the only high school senior she knew with a curfew, but as she recalled the desperate way Jared had kissed her just now, she knew she’d break curfew a million times over to do that again.
Jared had a way of leaving her feeling breathless and lighter than air all at once—like she could actually float away if she didn’t cling to him while they kissed. Beth knew she was being a total girl, but she couldn’t help it. She’d always been a hopeless romantic. Her life long dream was to be an actress, so how could she not be starry-eyed when it came to her boyfriend? Jared was basically her white knight. Sure, he rolled in on a moving truck instead of a horse, but everything else felt like a fairytale.
Sometimes Beth still had to pinch herself when she looked at him. Jared was by far the most gorgeous boy she’d ever met in real life. He was like a teenaged Brad Pitt with sandy brown hair and lacrosse gear. And when Jared smiled at her, Beth literally felt dizzy. She couldn’t help it, the boy was swoon-worthy.
The only bad thing about dating Jared was Beth didn’t feel like she had anyone she could talk to about him. She had Caroline, but she wasn’t the gushy romantic type. And boys were the one subject Beth couldn’t talk to Parker about. For once, she wished one of her annoying sisters were around to confide in, because Beth was pretty sure she was falling for Jared. She’d never felt this way before—it was terrifying.
Beth snuck up to her room and quickly washed up for bed. She glanced out her bedroom window to Parker’s house. All the lights were off. Huh . . . She could’ve sworn she’d seen his star lights on when she and Jared pulled up. Perhaps it was wishful thinking? E
ither way, first love wasn’t something Beth could talk to Parker about. Deep down, she’d always thought he would be her first love and now it felt like a betrayal to tell him her heart was connecting with someone else.
She stared out the window for a moment longer, wondering not for the first time, why she and Parker had never become more than just friends. It’s not that they hadn’t had opportunities. There’d been plenty. But Parker never made his move. And maybe Beth was old-fashioned but she was never going to act first. There was too much at risk.
Beth let her thoughts muddle around her head a bit longer, annoyed that they kept coming back to Parker’s comment from last summer. ‘There’s only one girl for me.’
Why couldn’t Beth get that out of her head? She’d wasted too much time wondering who that mystery girl was. And what did it mean that she was still having thoughts like this about Parker while falling for Jared? Could she possibly love them both?
Frustrated, Beth climbed in bed. She was too wound up to sleep so she scrolled through her phone, wondering which of her sisters would be the best to call. Her oldest sisters Bianca and Britton were sweet but they were ten and seven years older than Beth. They probably didn’t even remember what it felt like the first time they fell in love. And then there was Brianne, who was always Beth’s favorite sister, but she lived in Scotland and the time difference made it impossible to ever get in touch. Beatrice might be a good one to call. She was probably the most like Beth—conservative and sensible. She was only three years older and visited often. Plus, she’d actually met Jared at Christmas and could weigh in with her impression of him.
Beth glanced at the phone and sighed. It was way too late to call Beatrice. She had four kids under the age of three. If Beth woke them up she knew Beatrice would kill her. Beatrice lived in Boston and visited a lot after she had the twins. Two kids she could handle, but the unexpected twins seemed to overwhelm her. Beth couldn’t blame her. Beatrice was definitely outnumbered by her mini army of diaper-clad towheads. Luckily, Beth and her mother loved babysitting whenever they could.
With all of Beth’s other sisters not being viable options, that only left Brenna. Beth shuddered. There was no way she could talk to Brenna about this. Especially after the way Brenna behaved when she found out Beth had a crush on Parker.
Brenna was only a year older than Beth and the two of them fought over everything growing up. One day Brenna caught Beth writing about Parker in her diary. Brenna snatched it and threatened to tell Parker what she wrote. Beth had run crying hysterically to her mother about the diary stunt and Brenna got grounded. But that didn’t stop her from marching right up to Parker the next day and kissing him right on the lips!
No, Brenna could definitely not be trusted when it came to boys. Her parents would agree. Brenna was the worst of all the Bennett girls when it came to boys. Or when it came to anything really. She’d single-handedly given their father gray hair when she came home with her own hair dyed red and a piercing through her eyebrow on her fourteenth birthday.
Brenna had been the only Bennett sister born with strawberry blonde hair. The rest of them were all blonde and that led to lots to teasing by the older sisters, saying that Brenna was the milk man’s daughter and got her fiery temper from her hair color. Brenna, being Brenna, decided to embrace the taunt and dyed her hair fire engine red. She also got lots of tattoos and piercings and a few years later, ran off with some motorcycle artist before graduating high school. Then, to top it off, she got pregnant, the motorcycle guy left her and she now lived in Georgia, single-parenting a toddler while her parents foot the bill. Long story short, Brenna was the reason Beth had to live under such harsh rules.
If it weren’t for crazy Brenna, maybe Beth wouldn’t have been in this awkward situation. She could’ve dated like a normal high school girl and gone to proms and gained the experience she needed to deal with all these confusing boyfriend feelings. Beth couldn’t help thinking if she’d dated more than one boy in her life she’d know the difference between love and attraction. But as it was, Beth was just impressed that someone as popular as Jared wanted to be her boyfriend after finding out she was so inexperienced.
Beth actually thought their fling would end when summer did. But Jared had been surprisingly eager to introduce Beth to everyone as his girlfriend the first day of school. It was true that he didn’t have as much time for her these days now that lacrosse was in full swing. He hadn’t gone to any of her theater performances and he didn’t share her love of black and white movies or Broadway music . . . but couples didn’t have to do everything together, did they?
That’s what friends were for. And Beth had the best friend in the world. Parker went to all her plays, he never missed a Sunday Night Classic at the Vestige, and he listened to her Broadway soundtracks without complaint.
Beth sighed, realizing how bad it sounded when she thought of it that way. But just because she and Jared were into different things didn’t mean they wouldn’t work out, or that their feelings weren’t real. Variety was the spice of life, and opposites attract. Maybe it was good that they had different interests?
Beth wished she had the answers, because her questions felt really important. She always imagined the first time she had sex it would be because she was madly in love and she wouldn’t be able to stop her desire to share every bit of herself with that person. But with Jared she just wasn’t sure. Everything was so new and exciting with him. But was that love?
Beth looked longingly at Parker’s window one last time. The lights were still out. Sometimes she felt like they had a sixth sense for each other and that if she stared at his window long enough the light would come on. She knew it was a childish thought, but still, she stared at his window for a moment longer before flopping onto her side and trying to sleep.
9
Beth
Beth’s sleepless night turned into a nightmare of a day. She walked downstairs to grab a bagel on her way out the door, but stopped when she noticed her mother merrily addressing a stack of purple envelopes at the breakfast bar. When Beth realized what she was doing her heart sank. Purple envelopes only meant one thing in the Bennett house—a wedding.
“Mom?” Beth asked, timidly stepping into the kitchen. “Whose are those?”
“Oh, good morning, sweetheart. I thought you’d left for school already.”
Beth had walked close enough to read the names printed in elegant script across the lavender paper. And when she read it, she wished she’d just stayed in bed.
Brenna Bennett & Eric Mason
request the honor of your presence at their marriage,
“Who the hell is Eric Mason?” Beth asked swiping an invitation from the bar.
“Apparently, Brenna’s fiancé.”
“Since when?”
“You know your sister. She’s always been a bit impulsive.”
Beth was about to respond with a snide comment when she noticed the date of the wedding. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “Is this a joke?” Beth hissed. “The wedding is two weeks away.”
“Oh it’s no joke. I spoke to Brenna last night. Eric’s in the military and they have to work around his strict schedule. This was the only time he has leave.”
“But it’s in the middle of my spring break!” Beth yelled.
“Yes, I’m sorry about that, sweetheart. But I know I can count on you to understand that family comes first.”
“But this is so unfair, Mom! I’ve been planning my trip for years and Brenna just met this guy. It’s not my fault she probably got herself knocked up and now has to rush a wedding.”
Her mother put down the envelope she’d been stuffing and arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at Beth, quickly shutting her down. Beth knew better than to argue when her mother gave that look. To make matters worse, her mother spoke in a soft calm voice. “I’m going to excuse that childish outburst, Beth. But understand me when I say I will not tolerate my daughters speaking about each other that way. You will be at your s
ister’s wedding and you will celebrate graciously. After the wedding if you’d still like to go to Aspen with your friends, you may. But I don’t want to hear another word about it. Am I understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good, now go to school. We can discuss the rest of the wedding details tonight.”
Beth took a deep breath at her lunch table waiting for the storm she’d known was coming the moment she’d seen Brenna’s wedding invitations. All day Beth was dreading breaking the news. By the time lunch rolled around she knew she couldn’t keep it in a moment longer.
Beth blurted out her bad news. “I can’t go to Aspen.”
Silence followed her declaration and Beth carefully surveyed the expressions on her friends’ shocked faces.
Caroline was the first to speak. “What do you mean you’re not coming?” she growled. “We’ve been planning this forever, Beth!”
“I know the concept of decency is foreign to you, Car, but Beth can’t skip her sister’s wedding to party with you in Aspen,” Parker replied.
“Which sister is this?” Jared asked.
“Brenna,” Parker replied in his ‘try to keep up’ tone.
Beth said nothing. She continued to stare at the lavender invitation that sat unassumingly on their lunch table. It was like a pretty paper bomb, slowly counting down to an explosion that would dismantle the course of their futures.
Beth massaged her temples. She couldn’t believe this was happening. It still felt like a bad dream. But she knew from the moment she’d seen Brenna’s name on the ominous purple invitation that her sister was going to blow a bridezilla-sized hole in all of Beth’s perfect plans.
The Stand-In Boyfriend Page 5