Just Friends

by Melody Summers

  I curled up under the warm pile of quilts on my air mattress and texted my friends, while from outside the room I could hear the faint murmurs and laughter from the adults as they filled and hung up the stockings. Gusts of wind sent sleet rattling against the windows, and I shivered despite the coziness of my bed. It just sounded cold, and the noise made it hard to sleep. When I did finally drop off it was with my phone in my hand, halfway through a text to Molly.

  The kids woke everyone up at the crack of dawn when they ran squealing into the dining room to see what Santa had left for them. It wasn’t long before the whole house was up and my grandmother had breakfast started. I found a cup of coffee and was actually smiling a little as I joined the others around the tree where my grandfather was passing out gifts. Once they’d all been handed out, we began tearing into the wrapping paper. I was only halfway paying attention, my mind wandering back again and again to Ashton and wondering how his morning was going. Had his parents un-grounded him for Christmas?

  The doorbell rang, almost drowned out by all the noise in the dining room. A few seconds later one of my aunts poked her head into the room.

  “Dani, it’s for you.”

  I stared at her, uncomprehending. Everyone I knew in Lubbock was already gathered around me. Curious, I went to the front door and froze at the sight of Ashton standing in the entryway. His hair was mussed and he was rocking the whole sexy stubble thing after not shaving for a couple of days. My heart skipped a beat then began to pound.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He gave me a slow, sexy grin. “I couldn’t let Christmas go by without seeing you.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “I drove. Left around midnight and drove all night.”

  My jaw dropped. “You idiot. You could have gotten yourself killed. The roads are all solid ice.”

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “And your parents just let you come?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t give them any choice. We had a big fight about you last night. So I told them I was coming to see you and to deal with it.”

  “What?”

  He stepped close and wrapped his arms around me. “Dani, I chose you. I told them that I wanted to be with you and they were just going to have to live with that.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. They’re my parents and they can tell me what to do about anything else, but they’re not going to tell me I can’t date you. Not ever again.”

  “And then you drove here all night on those roads.”

  “Yep.”

  I squeezed him and buried my face against his shoulder. “You idiot. You wonderful idiot.”

  “But I’m your idiot.”

  We kissed right there in the entry, not caring who saw us, and didn’t come up for air until my mom cleared her throat behind us.

  “I’m glad you could join us, Ashton.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. I wanted to spend Christmas with Dani this year.”

  “I don’t even want to know how you got here on those roads, but there’s another air mattress around here somewhere. I’ll get someone to set it up for you in the room with the other boys. Come join us when you’re ready.”

  She gave me a wink before returning to the dining room. I stared after her in shock, unable to believe how nonchalant she was being about this.

  “That was nice of her,” Ashton remarked.

  “Yeah. So. Did you open your present from me?”

  He nodded. “That’s what started the fight. I put it up in my room and Mom saw it. She went ballistic and took Dad with her. They tried to make me take it down and I wouldn’t do it.”

  I could believe that. It was a drawing of us holding each other, with our lips almost touching as though we’d either just kissed or were about to. I’d poured every bit of my feelings for Ashton into it, and it was raw with emotion.

  “You liked it?”

  “I love it, Dani. It’s beautiful. I’ll keep it forever.”

  “Thanks.” I glanced up. “You know we’re standing under mistletoe, right?”

  He grinned again and heat flared in his eyes.

  “I know. Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”

  Then his lips found mine once more, and the world and all of our problems faded away in a blissful haze.

  Who says Christmas miracles aren’t real?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Spring Break was always a majorly hectic time of year for my family since it drew tourists who made up the bulk of the clients at my dad’s store. When I wasn’t helping Mom make stuff to sell there I was working one of the registers to help Dad out. I had just come off my shift that afternoon when the bells over the door jangled, and I looked up with a smile at Ashton.

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Yep.” I snatched up my purse and headed for the door. “Bye, Dad!”

  The beach outside was still packed, but the day was starting to cool down as the sun sank lower. It gave me a little pang of regret that I was stuck working.

  “I’m still sorry we couldn’t hang out with everyone else in Port A,” I said as we got into his car.

  Ashton smiled and shook his head. “I’ve spent plenty of time hanging out with all those guys. What I haven’t done is spend enough alone time with you.”

  I leaned over and snuggled up against him. “Same.”

  “We just need to stop and pick up the Chinese I ordered.”

  “General Tso’s and extra egg rolls?”

  His eyes twinkled. “As if I’d forget.”

  It was a quick stop, and only a short drive from the restaurant to his house on the beach. I was tired after a long day, but I felt good and we were laughing together as we climbed the stairs. The afternoon was too gorgeous to waste.

  “Can we eat on the deck?” I asked.

  “Sure. Be right back.”

  While he set the bags on a glass-topped table and disappeared inside, I dropped into a chair and closed my eyes, lifting my face to the sun and letting the breeze ruffle my hair. Laughter rose from the groups of people down on the beach, and the wind carried the sharp cries of seagulls. It really was a perfect beach day.

  My stomach was growling when Ashton emerged from the house with plates, utensils, and paper towels.

  “Dig in.”

  I didn’t waste any time, and for a while we were content to eat in silence while enjoying the day.

  “That’s amazing,” I sighed as I polished off a second egg roll.

  Ashton grinned. “The food? The setting? The company?”

  “All of the above.”

  The glass door behind us slid open, and I turned to see Ashton’s mother in the doorway. She smiled at me, and if it was still a little strained it was still a huge improvement over where we’d started from at New Year’s.

  “We’re heading out for the evening,” she said. “Need anything before we go?”

  “We’re fine,” Ashton replied.

  “All right. Have a good time.”

  “We will.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Clarke,” I said, putting every bit of sincerity I could muster into my voice.

  It must have come through, because for the first time her smile reached her eyes. “See you two later.”

  As she closed the door, Ashton shook his head. “Whoever would have thought?”

  “Not me. I really thought we were doomed.”

  “Just goes to show you. There’s always another option if you look hard enough.”

  I reached over and took his hand. “I’m glad you found it.”

  “Well, I had some pretty powerful incentive.”

  “Maybe I can give you some more incentive once you’ve cleaned up the dinner mess.”

  He pretended shock. “Me clean it up? That better be some major incentive.”

  I grinned back at him. “I was thinking maybe we could see if kissing under the stairs is still as much fun as it was that first time.”

&n
bsp; “I’ll just get this stuff cleaned up.”

  I sat in a happy glow as he gathered the remains of our meal and carried it inside. Life was pretty much perfect, far better than I’d expected a few short months ago. I got to work on projects that I loved, and I had a great family and great friends. Best of all there was Ashton, and I didn’t have to settle for being just friends anymore.

  Now I just had to get to work on fixing up Allison...

  The End

  Thank you for reading Just Friends. If you enjoyed it (I hope you did!) would you consider leaving a review? Reviews help out a lot to convince other readers that a book is worth reading, so I’d really appreciate it. Also, if you want to get an email when my next book comes out, sign up for my low calorie 100% spam-free newsletter.

  Continue reading for an excerpt from Bayview High #4 – The Perfect Match.

  Bayview High

  Excerpt: The Perfect Match

  “Heads up!”

  I turned just in time to see a couple of boys I didn’t know charge around the corner towards me. One of them lurched to the side and staggered past me into the dining room, but the other collided with me before he realized I was in his way. A wave of lukewarm beer sloshed out of the plastic cup clutched in his hand and splattered across my sweater. The boy stumbled back a step, blinking in confusion until his eyes focused on me and then lit up with drunken speculation.

  I glared back at him while I bit my tongue to hold back several choice words Mom still threatened to wash my mouth out with soap for using. My barely leashed anger must have penetrated the alcoholic fog soaking his brain, because instead of hitting on me he mumbled a hasty apology and took off after his companion.

  With a groan I surveyed the damage to my sweater. While it was dark enough that the spill didn’t show much, I reeked of cheap beer. Yuck! That sure wasn’t going to earn me any points with my parents when I got home.

  It would have been nice if at least one of my friends had been there with me to help fend off guys like that. Dannika was out of town, though, and Delaney and Molly were out with their boyfriends doing couple stuff. They’d invited me to go, but I hadn’t been out with anyone since Jason had stopped texting me after Winter Dance and I was sick of being the odd girl out. So I’d come by myself, which had been a dumb move. I didn’t belong at the party anyway. There were too many kids drinking, too many people making out wherever they could find enough space to lean against a wall. It wasn’t my scene at all, and I didn’t even know the girl throwing the party. But it was the first real party since school had let out for winter break and I’d heard that Seth was going to be there, so I went.

  Seth. I’d been gaga about him for well over a year now, since the first time he’d delivered a pizza to my house. After that I’d saved every penny to order pizza as often as I could, although I never actually talked to him. He'd been a junior then and totally gorgeous, and never gave me a second glance. Which didn’t stop me from looking and then sighing over him after he left.

  A fresh wave of partiers swarmed into the kitchen and I wriggled my way past them to the living room. Why didn’t I just leave? I hadn’t seen Seth, and I didn’t really know anyone at the party at all except Dylan, the guy my best friend Dani had dated before she left him to get back together with her ex. Poor guy. He hadn’t deserved that, but tonight he had some cute little redhead with him so I guessed he hadn't been too shattered by it. Hopefully this girl would work out for him.

  Once I had a little free space I stripped off my wet sweater and tied the sleeves around my waist. The shirt I wore under it would dry faster that way, and it was getting hot with all the people crammed into every room. So why was I staying? It was uncomfortable, and my carefully crafted appearance was now in shambles. Of course that was how I just had to look when I finally ran into Seth about ten seconds later when I slipped back into the kitchen to look for something cool to drink and almost had an instant replay of the beer-spilling incident. Luckily for me Seth wasn’t drunk and managed to stop short before he plowed into me. Not that I would have minded. That boy could spill beer on me anytime.

  “Excuse me,” he said, and then he looked down and his beautiful green eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh, hey, Allison.”

  My face got hot because he’d remembered my name. Of course after delivering all those pizzas he sure ought to. I’d always been too tongue-tied around him to say more than Hi or Thanks to him before, which was weird because I wasn’t shy like that with any other guys. But I’d made up my mind that this time it was going to be different. I was going to talk to him. I screwed up my courage and opened my mouth to recite one of the dozen opening lines I’d practiced in front of my mirror for hours earlier, but I never got out a single syllable.

  “There you are, Seth! For a second I thought you’d run out on me.”

  A tall, willowy blonde appeared as if by magic and plastered herself onto Seth. I couldn’t remember her name, but she was a senior and next to her I looked like something the cat dragged in. Seth slid his free arm around her and bent his mouth to her pouty lips. A rusty knife twisted in my gut as I watched him kiss her. That was supposed to be me! Then her eyes fell on me, giving me a quick look up and down before dismissing me as irrelevant. Somehow that hurt even worse.

  “Come on, baby,” she said, tugging on his arm. “There’s a game of Three Man starting in the pool room.”

  As she pulled him away, Seth spared me a brief, absent glance and smile. I was already forgotten before he got through the door. With a dejected sigh I slumped against the door frame. That was it. That was what I’d come to this party for. I’d been banged into and had beer spilled on me for that. Why had I bothered? I wanted to kick myself for being so stupid. I should have known Seth would end up with some gorgeous girl like that. And not only did he have a fabulous new girlfriend, but she’d snubbed me like I’d crawled out of a gutter or something.

  It shouldn’t have hurt so much. It wasn’t like I really even knew Seth or anything. I saw him at school and he delivered our pizzas sometimes. But my heart didn’t care. It felt like it had been run over by a truck and was all squished and bleeding in the street so that my whole chest ached from it.

  I knew I should have gone home then, but I really didn’t want to be there, either, so I wandered through the house looking for some secluded spot where I could bleed in private. I pushed my way upstairs and past the game room where a crowd had gathered around four people playing party games on Nintendo and found myself in a hallway lined with closed doors. No doubt those were the bedrooms, and while I probably could have hidden out there for a while that would have been rude. Instead I leaned against the wall outside the bathroom and pretended to wait while I nursed my mangled heart.

  The sound of giggling and whispering behind me roused me out of my pity party. When I turned around I saw the redhead who had been with Dylan earlier snuggling up with another guy. Their hands were all over each other, and the boy pushed her against the wall and gave her a long, heated kiss before they fumbled their way into the nearest bedroom and shut the door behind them.

  I shook my head in disbelief. The girl had Dylan, one of the most smoking hot guys in school, and she was messing around with some loser like that? Stupid. I’d been kind of jealous of Dani when she was going out with Dylan. It wasn’t just that he was cute, but he was so sweet and into her that it made you want to go Awwww every time you saw them together. And now this girl was just throwing a guy like that away.

  Poor Dylan. He deserved better. But he was super hot, and there were lots more girls out there. He’d find one who’d treat him right. With a helpless shrug I turned away and went back to feeling sorry for myself.

  But not for long, because a couple of minutes later Dylan showed up.

  “Allison? Hi. Have you seen a redhead, about so high, curly hair?”

  My eyes flickered to the bedroom door before I could help myself. His eyes followed mine and his face hardened, blue eyes turning to ice. Slowly he tur
ned and put his hand on the knob.

  “I really don’t think you want to go in there,” I warned him.

  He just squared his shoulders, gave the knob a vicious twist, and stepped inside. I winced and waited for the fireworks to start.

  “Hey! Occupied, dude!”

  I expected yelling and cursing. Instead there was only silence. After a moment Dylan came out and closed the door behind him. Without a word he left the way he’d come, but his shoulders were slumped and I’d caught the stricken look on his face. Pity for him welled up inside me, even stronger than what I’d been feeling for myself.

  What an awful night. It was time to get out before things got any worse, so I bailed and went to Caroline’s, a twenty-four hour diner by the truck stop. The late night party crowd hadn’t started to show up yet, so the place was almost deserted. It was old and tired, but they had good food and didn’t care if you just sat and drank coffee. I got a booth by a window and ordered coffee and a cinnamon roll.

  Those things were heaven on a plate—the best cinnamon rolls in all of Texas, and just the smell was enough to make me feel a little better. This was more like it. With a contented sigh I sipped on my coffee and played on my phone while nibbling on gooey, sweet goodness.

  I’d been there maybe fifteen minutes when Dylan came in. A waitress seated him at a booth across the room, and he slouched down like half his bones had turned to mush. He didn’t notice me, too wrapped up in his own dark cloud to have room for anything else. I couldn’t really blame him. When I tried to imagine if it had been me walking in on Seth and his girlfriend like that, my mind shied away. He just sat there staring out the window and taking an occasional gulp of coffee, radiating pain so intensely that it twisted my heart to look at him.

  “More coffee?”

  I smiled up at the waitress. “Please. And could you bring me another cinnamon roll?”

  A couple of minutes later she set a fresh roll down in front of me. Taking a deep breath for courage, I scooped it up along with my coffee and marched over to Dylan’s booth.