Half an hour later, I threw the empty bottle into a neighbor’s recycling bin. Red wine wasn’t my first choice—I was a Jack Daniels kinda guy—but in a pinch, it did the trick. The first two months after I found about my parents’ divorce - all I did was drink. Seeing my mom so upset, brought all that shit to the surface again. Drunk and searching for something more, I stumbled down the street.
I heard her rich voice resonating a block away. I quickened my pace, feeling a pull in my chest. Being buzzed gave me courage. I no longer worried what Carly would think when she saw me walk through the garage door.
I stood in Ed’s driveway waiting until the song ended. I didn’t want to interrupt. I closed my eyes and absorbed the music. As I listened, images flashed through my mind. More scenes to add to my new drawings, which were currently unattended, sitting on my bed where I should’ve been. It was strange how her voice inspired me. Quietly I pushed open the door.
The first thing I noticed was Nate staring into Carly’s eyes. “Great set,” he said, nudging her playfully with his elbow. She was a little flushed, but as sexy as ever. I shut the door with more force than necessary.
“What’s up, bro … thought you were kickin’ it at the crib, drawing tonight,” he said with a coy little laugh. “Regardless, dude, glad you changed your mind.” He stepped down from the makeshift stage to give me a high five. I exchanged a quick what-up with the rest of the fellas—slipping in an apology to Connor. I kept my eyes glued to Carly, waiting for her reaction to my presence. She didn’t seem surprised or angry. She lifted her hand and waved. It didn’t look like her and Connor had become a happy couple after all.
“Me too,” I said, snapping back to reality and responding to Nate. “Hey, did you start the party without us?” Nate said.
I shrugged, not wanting to confirm or deny. But you know what they say when you drink? It seeps through your pores like bad cologne. And I forgot to grab a pack of gum.
Nate knew me too well and could tell by my mannerisms that I was a quarter in the bag. “Hey, when we’re done here, we’re all going down to the lake to party. You coming?” I looked at Carly again, wondering what her plans were. As if reading my mind, Nate said, “Carly and Becca are going. You can ride with us.” He paused to pull Becca against him and roughly kiss her neck. She squealed. When he finally pried himself away, Nate continued. “Carly’s driving. She’s the DD.”
Nate turned his attention to Carly. “You don’t mind if my brother goes too, do you?” He gave her a pleading look, and I swore she blushed. My stomach clenched.
“I don’t mind,” she said, glancing at Becca who nodded in approval. I never understood why girls couldn’t make a decision without first checking with their best friend. Guys weren’t like that. We did what we wanted regardless of what our friends thought. But I was happy Becca seemed to approve of me, at least for now.
Ed banged on the drums, getting everyone’s attention. “Okay, now that we’ve all jerked off Gavin, can we take it from the top one more time? The sooner we get though this, the sooner we can call it a night. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve got a cooler full of beer waiting in the trunk with my name on it.” I found it odd that even the girls laughed at Ed, considering his sexual innuendo. And just like, the members of Karma scrambled to their positions like ants. Apparently, Ed wasn’t the only one anxious to get the night started.
“We’re ready to knock this out,” said Connor, looking around. “Give us the beat.”
Finding a seat on the couch next to Becca, I sat down and listened to the rest of the rehearsal. It was amazing how they had fine-tuned their new sound in just a week. Personally, I possessed zero musical talent, but I knew good music when I heard it. And Karma was good. The music was fresh and exciting. Carly’s and Nathan’s voices blended perfectly together. I just kept wishing I were the one up there singing with her.
By the time we arrived at the lake, the party was well underway. Ed pulled his truck next to ours and handed beers to everyone except the two DDs—his girlfriend Peyton, and Carly. I quickly downed mine and crushed the can, tossing it into a nearby garbage can as we made our way down to the rocky beach by the dock. Carly shot me a nervous look and chewed her bottom lip. I noticed she had this tendency, especially when we studied together. It was a telltale sign that she was anxious.
I was about to ask her what was bothering her when she whispered, “I probably won’t know anyone here, except for whom we came with. What about you?”
I let out a sigh, realizing that I wasn’t the cause of her sudden uneasiness after all. “Honestly, I’ll probably know almost everyone here. A lot of kids from my old school like to come here, hang by the lake, and drink. I used to live for these parties, but that feels like a lifetime ago. I haven’t been around much since I switched schools. I’m not really into socializing.”
“Really? Could’ve fooled me,” she teased.
“Very funny,” I laughed. “But since you won’t know anyone and I’m not much of a talker, why don’t we hang out?” I bumped her shoulder, the alcohol making me brave.
“Sure. I’d like that.”
We joined the rest of our friends and I helped myself to another beer, popping open the top. I loved drinking other people’s beer. After a while, when the conversations turned to who had the best ass in school and who’d slept with who, Carly and I separated ourselves from the group and moved farther down the beach. This allowed for a little more privacy to talk. Nate and Becca had also separated themselves, but it didn’t look like they were doing much talking. Carly and I glanced over at them and shared a laugh.
“I’m happy you came out tonight,” Carly said.
“You are?” My voice sounded surprised. Carly and I were friends, but I always sensed that she simply tolerated me and my mood swings. She had a well-established reputation for being nice to everyone. I never once thought she was interested in me romantically, or that she’d actually be happy to see me.
“I am,” she said smiling, proving at least in my eyes that she meant it. She is beautiful when she smiles. Especially in the moonlight with the lake reflected in her eyes. If I were interested in a girlfriend, which I’m not, I’d want her to be Carly.
“Why?”
“I didn’t really want to come,” she admitted. “I don’t know anyone and I hate being the third wheel.”
“Why are you here, then?”
“Becca and I promised we’d always have each other’s back, which includes sometimes doing things I’d rather not.” Her voice sounded strained.
I nodded. If anyone understood not wanting to talk about something, it was me. “That’s cool. You’re lucky to have each other.”
“What about you? Who’s got your back?”
I knew it. Here come the in-depth, personal questions. Why can’t I just enjoy a beer with a beautiful girl without revealing too much about myself? At this juncture, no one really had my back anymore. I didn’t know how to answer so I simply shrugged.
“What about Nathan?” She gestured to where Nate and Becca had stopped making out and were talking with Connor and Brady.
“We used to hang out together all the time. When I was a sophomore and Nate was a senior we came to these parties every weekend. But then things changed. Nate went to college and I transferred schools. We grew apart.” Of course, this was only part of the truth; I didn’t want to talk about the rest.
“You’re here with him tonight,” she said. She found him with her eyes standing several feet away with his arm draped across Becca’s shoulder. “Well, sort of.”
“Yeah, we’ve been doing more shit together lately.” I also didn’t add that me being here had more to do with her than me trying to patch things up with Nate. “It’s not the same as it is with you and Drew. It’s easy to see that you guys are close and enjoy hanging out.” I’d seen the way they interacted, witnessed the way they ribbed each other and joked around. At school, they even sat at the same lunch table and had some of the same fri
ends, like Becca and Lucas. For a brother and sister to be that close, in high school, was un-fucking-heard of.
“It’s true. Drew and I get along great. He’s the best little brother anyone could ever ask for.”
I laughed, as did Carly. Her laugh was soft and reminded me of wind chimes. Drew might’ve been the younger twin, but he certainly wasn’t little. He was at least six inches taller than Carly and outweighed her by at least fifty pounds.
“I’ve always wondered which one of you was older.” Feeling brave, I leaned in slightly and whispered in her ear, “My money was on you.” I swore if anyone saw the move I’d just made, they’d think I was reenacting the dock scene from American Pie.
When I pulled away from her ear, she looked flustered. Had I just hit her with an unexpected shock-and-awe moment? To my relief, she said, “Why?” Thank God I didn’t whisper something else in her ear.
I took my time and chose my words carefully—or at least I thought I did. “You’re good at giving directions.” What the hell kinda response was that, you dumb-ass?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her forehead creased.
“It means you’re good at telling me which supplies we needed from the lab cupboards, so that I could get them.” Jesus, bro, you pulled out the chem class card. Have another drink, douche bag.
She slapped my arm and a warm sensation traveled up my body, startling me. “You think I’m bossy.” It was more a statement than a question.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t.” Maybe my stupid statements weren’t so bad after all. I mean, all of this playful banter was turning me on and Carly seemed to be enjoying our time together. However, I had to tread carefully because of the promise I’d made to myself. To not get involved with any girl, Carly included.
“Fine. You implied it, then.”
“It was a compliment.” I was being completely serious.
“Was I that bad?”
“No.” I shook my head. Carly had no idea that all last year, the only class I looked forward to was the chem lab we had together. Forget the fact that I wanted to grow up and become a doctor and feel important when I put on my very own white lab coat.
In order to keep the conversation flowing, I said, “I thought we made a good team. I didn’t mind gathering the supplies while you read through the lab and set everything up. We aced every lab we turned in. The lowest grade I got was an A-.”
She nudged me. “You’re right. We did make a good team.”
We fell silent, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It never was with Carly. She was the only girl I knew who didn’t feel the need to fill every pause with chatter. Perhaps it was because Carly understood that conversations weren’t that different from the songs she sang or played. Sometimes you were required to wait through several measures of rest before beginning again.
I sipped my beer and watched her twirl her hair. Carly wasn’t the typical sexy girl who walked by in the hall every day at school—she was a special kind of beautiful, the type of beautiful that took your breath away. And at that very moment, I was in desperate need of an oxygen tank. Carly didn’t seem to realize how beautiful she was, which was another turn-on. I am in serious trouble of breaking my own promise.
She cleared her throat, jolting me out of my trance. “Gavin, there’s another reason why I’m glad you showed up tonight.”
“There is?” I wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but I patiently waited for her to continue.
“I’ve wanted to apologize.”
“For what?” I quickly racked by brain, but couldn’t think of anything she’d ever done to warrant an apology.
“For the way I acted on our date the other night. I was rude,” she winced. She looked cute when she thought she’d done something wrong. I ran my finger across the top of her nose.
“Girly, don’t be sorry. I should’ve been supportive.” This was the first time she hadn’t yelled at me for calling her that. Taking it as a positive sign, I rambled on, “I was a total dickhead, and if anything, I owe you another date.” The perfect lead-in. “Carly, will you go on a real date with me? And not a double date, because I don’t want to share you with anyone.” Okay, I did it. I broke down and asked her out when I’m not looking for anything. And anything with Carly would be something. She’s not the type of girl who is known for one-night stands.
She smiled, and I thought for sure her answer was going to be yes, but before she could respond, Nathan and Becca joined us. What a cockblock.
“You two having fun?” asked Becca, nudging Carly with her shoulder.
“Yeah,” Carly blushed. “And I won’t even ask if you and Nathan are having fun, because we could see from here that you were.”
Becca giggled.
“I can’t believe how many people showed up tonight,” Nate said.
“Yeah, but I’m surprised you even noticed because you’ve been busy ever since we got here,” I joked, rousing a giggle from the girls. It felt good to make Carly laugh.
Nate threw his hands in the air. “Guilty as charged. I can’t help it if my girl here,” he pulled Becca close to him, causing her to shriek, “finds me irresistible.”
Becca wrapped her arms around his midsection. “I think the feeling’s mutual.”
“Okay, enough already. You’re making me sick.” I pretended to gag.
The four of us continued to talk and joke around, refreshing considering I had no recollection of the last time I’d had “fun.” At one point I had to wipe tears off my face from laughing so hard. It reminded me of the good ol’ days when Nate and I would go down to the lake and shoot the shit with our girlfriends.
Only Carly wasn’t my girlfriend. I hadn’t claimed her or given her the title of “my girl.” Although hanging out with her tonight made me realize I wanted her to be. I hoped she didn’t forget about my proposed date.
“Hey, before you two start laughing your heads off again, I want to introduce you to some friends who just arrived,” Nate said. He slowly moved between the two girls and draped one arm around Becca’s shoulder and the other around Carly’s. “You coming?” He nodded in my direction. “I’m sure the guys would be interested to know that you’re still alive.”
“Nah, I’m going to grab another cold one.” I raised my empty beer can. “I’ll be right here when you get back.” The guys Nate referred to were more his friends than mine, so I decided to sit this one out.
“Suit yourself.”
“You sure?” asked Carly.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay,” she responded, not trying to get me to change my mind. That was another thing I liked about her. She wasn’t pushy like some girls. She accepted me for who I was. I watched as she trailed along with Nate and Becca. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at me. I looked down at my chest in surprise. At that very moment, like looking up at the scoreboard as the buzzer sounded and realizing you had just scored the winning basket, I felt something. Something for Carly.
The night was going better than I could’ve imagined, and it was all because of Carly. There was so much more to her than just a beautiful face and a killer voice. She made me feel things I’d never felt before. When she bumped into me while we were talking, my body reacted as if I’d been shocked, a jolt of electricity that started at my toes and traveled to my head, leaving me breathless. I wasn’t sure if Carly felt the same way, but I planned to find out as soon as she got back.
Standing alone, I realized I was getting pretty shit-faced, and I really needed to take a piss. With Carly off meeting Nate’s old buddies, she’d likely be gone awhile, so I wandered away from the beach over to the trees bordering the parking lot, stumbling and almost losing my balance more than once on the rocks. I found a tree far enough away from the partiers and took a leak. I’d just zipped my pants when someone touched me on the shoulder and released a breath of hot air on the back of my neck.
“Hey, strange
r,” she cooed. “I was hoping one of these nights you’d be here.”
I recognized the voice. It belonged to Harper, my ex. I hadn’t seen her since the end of sophomore year, over a year ago. I slowly turned to face her, uncertain as all hell how this encounter would play out. Running into her could spell trouble for me. She licked her lips and ran her hand across my chest. In our time apart, I had honestly forgotten how beautiful she was with her long blond hair, pretty face, and big green eyes. Her scent brought waves of emotions flooding back.
I stuttered, “You … you were?”
“I’ve missed you. School functions and parties haven’t been the same without you. I look for you every time we get together with the boys from St. Paul’s and I keep hoping you’re going to be with them, and finally tonight, you’re here.” She grabbed my hands in hers. “Remember how I used to come to all of your basketball games? I was your biggest fan, both on and off the court. You said I was your good-luck charm. And don’t get me started on the after-game festivities. Remember how much fun we had, especially when we would …” Before she could finish her thought, I stopped her, but she was very persistent. “My favorite times were when you’d surprise me and show up at my house after practice and we would hang out in my room.” She laughed softly. “My parents actually thought we were working on homework.”
Her words took me back. I was happy then. Playing ball and hanging with Harper. Things were simple. Her perfume filled my head, but the scent wasn’t quite right anymore. I was just beginning to get my life back on track and I didn’t want to do anything that would mess things up.
“I’ve forgiven you, you know, for breaking my heart.” She let go of one of my hands to touch the middle of her own chest. My eyes followed her movements.
“Sorry about that,” I frowned. Where was Jack Daniels when you needed him? “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just had a lot of shit going on.” I broke up with Harper when I found out my dad was cheating on my mom. My trust in everyone had been shattered. And I didn’t see the point in relationships when they always seemed to end.
Summer Love (Senior Year (Vol. 1)) Page 6