Unlovely Things (Love By Design Book 2)

by M. C. Cerny

  “Man, I haven’t heard this band play live in years.” We listened to them play an original song called Lost and Found followed by another called Serendipity. For a band that specialized in covers they had something special with their original tracks. What I wanted was staring me right back in the face, but I held back from going after it because there was still the sting of all the years in between. Kristen blew hot and cold like bipolar weather. What we had right now was safe, but it wasn’t what I wanted in the least.

  Hunter took a flying leap going for Taylor and they were happier than pigs in shit. Kristen changed her mind about as often as she did her panties. There was no way she’d go all in on something with me. She barely trusted me for something that happened when we were twelve and she’d been making me pay for it all these years. I tried to explain what she thought she heard and saw, but it fell on deaf ears and I couldn’t keep defending myself for something I wasn’t guilty of doing. Sure we hooked up secretly over the years and it was good for a while until one of us inevitably screwed it up. Okay, until I screwed it up, but still.

  “Time to dance!” The girls must have gotten bored and finally pulled us out onto the dance floor. Taylor and Hunter paired off and suddenly I was left staring at a breathless Kristen.

  “What? No cop tonight to haul my ass off for looking at you?” I husked. She nodded no as her skin glistened under the dim bar lights and time slowed down. If a camera panned around us they would have seen me clenching my fists afraid to touch her. Kristen was my unicorn. Elusive as hell and yet she magically pulled me in like a magnet. What she didn’t realize was that I would have done anything for her. Buy tampons, save the last bit of hot water from the hose for her, anything.

  “Come on plumber, show me some crack.” Her eyebrow arched challenging me. The gauntlet had been thrown long before tonight and I was picking it up.

  “Aw,” I chuckled sipping the last of my beer planting it on a bar top table near us. “Is that a compliment about my ass, Pebbles?”

  “You wish, Demon.” She glared at me, but you couldn’t miss the twinkle in her eye that seemed much more than any alcohol she consumed before my arrival with Hunter.

  “I don’t know, Pebbles,” I stood taller crossing my arms over my chest looking down on her, “Cause that sounded a whole lot like a compliment to my ears.”

  She snorted rolling her eyes and spoke, “Well, you ought to clean them out. Come on let’s dance.” She shocked me with her next word that slayed me as she dragged me out to the floor next to my cousin and her best friend. “Please.”

  “Alright.” I teased her, but I let my hands find her hips and danced in time with the beat while I pulled her back against my chest and rested one hand against her flat stomach that curved in when I touched her. I felt her shiver and waited for the push back, but this time none came and I rolled with it. We were all caught up in our own little worlds and I left caution to the wind against my better judgment and hoped this was it.

  “Didn’t realize you could dance so well.” Her body moved in rhythm and I kept pace happy to have this moment for what it was.

  “Did you forget prom already? We danced all night.” It was amazing the parts of our shared past she chose to remember and the ones she selectively forgot.

  “Pfft, that was so you’d keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Right…. So you want to come over later and watch Ghost Hunters with me?”

  “If that’s code for fuck, then no, not tonight. I’m busy washing my hair.”

  What I wanted to say was more like, ‘I want to wrap your hair around my fist and fuck you for hours into tomorrow,’ but it ended up coming out lame instead.

  “Uh huh, well I should warn you Pebbles, I’m not that easy.” She rolled her eyes egging me on. The band went back to covers and a male voice belted out a well-known song by Beyoncé. “You better not introduce me to your parents unless you plan on putting a ring on it.”

  “You’re crazy Demon.”

  “No, I’m realistic, babe because once I meet them, they’re going to love me and ask about me for the rest of your life.” I tapped her nose watching it wrinkle with irritation. “You’re going to get sick of having to talk about me all the time with them and what could have been.” I lamented.

  “Yeah, well, newsflash Neanderthal, we’ve been neighbors for over twenty years, I think they already know you playing football on dad’s team, and not once have they encouraged a relationship between us.”

  “Pity. You’re all missing out.” I clenched my stomach anticipating the blow she’s going to sucker punch me with and I’m rewarded instantly.

  “Do you think we can get through tonight without you getting drunk and trying to show me your penis for once?” She said grinning.

  I held her in my arms swaying and maybe grinding my semi-hard-self into her hips chortling. “Seems highly unlikely, Pebbles.”

  She leans back into me and looked up into my eyes, “Are there any episodes of Ghost Hunters left?”

  “You wanna Netflix and chill?” I said wondering why she never asked me straight out what she wanted.

  She snorted, “I was thinking we could hash out those bachelor party plans back at your place.” I had a feeling both Hunter and Taylor would be less than thrilled with us collectively but I was more than happy to give my cousin a sendoff into marital bliss.

  “Sure.” I shrugged. I would take anything she was willing to give me. “Why are you still eyeballing my face?”

  “No reason, except you have pink glitter right here.” She used her fingernail to brush off the offending sparkle.

  “Yeah, can we talk about my mail too?” I thought about getting a post office box, but I was afraid I would actually miss out on her surprises if I did, however, something had to give if we weren’t going to be together and neither of us moved on.

  16

  Kristen

  Twelve Years Ago

  “Mom! I’m going next door!” There was no answer from her office besides the usual grunt and wave as I gathered up my history book and headed for Damien’s house. My mother was too busy working on a case to care where I went, and Taylor had piano practice. Our history teacher Mr. Latham had assigned us a group project for our American History class. Damien and I had been paired up with the new French foreign exchange student Lacey.

  I couldn’t get a good read on Lacey but that might have been because her English wasn’t the best. She was already pretty popular because she was the new girl and French. You’d think the boys in my school had never seen a girl before and they treated her like a pretty peacock with rare beautiful feathers to admire. I always thought peacocks were nasty, annoying birds that hid behind their tails but whatever. Boys could be really stupid.

  I thought about the kiss Damien and I shared a week ago. We had been caught in the rain running back home from the bus stop after his junior high football practice and my cheerleading. I knew my parents weren’t home yet when he pulled me over to his house to hang out. His mom left us cookies and juice to snack on while Damien gave me a towel to wipe the rain off with. He asked me if I wanted to go up to the tree house since it had a roof to watch the storm roll through. He didn’t give me a chance to answer before tugging me outside and helping me up the rope ladder. We got inside and watched the clouds roll past over the ridge. Skytop Tower was in the distance, a lone beacon in the storm.

  “Isn’t it pretty?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, really pretty.” He replied, except when I turned to look at him he wasn’t looking at Skytop. Instead his eyes were on mine and it sort of happened as we were kneeling there on the floor of the tree house. I could feel the hardwood under my legs and the steam between us in the enclosed space. Wind whipped outside but the tree house protected us within its shelter.

  “Damien?” He inched closer and his eyes dropped from mine and I knew, just knew he was staring at my lips. I was wearing peach lip gloss I borrowed from Taylor at the end of gym today. I knew my lips tasted
sweet and when Damien leaned down, I leaned closer until our lips met in a soft touch. I’d never kissed before and I still thought it was kind of germy and gross based on what my other friend Becky had said kissing a boy in the ninth grade after a football game.

  “Shhh.” He shushed me and tentatively touched my cheek pulling me closer until our chests met and he cupped my face. Damien reminded me of a bull in a china shop, but this time with me, the two of us, time slowed as we explored each other’s lips.

  “You taste like fruit,” he told me between nips. I felt a stirring in my body I didn’t have words for and giggled my reply.

  “It’s peach lip gloss.”

  “No, it’s my favorite cereal.” He kissed me again. “Fruity Pebbles.” I was going to have to get my brother to ask mom to buy it for us instead of the expensive fake stuff from organic grocery store she dragged us too. Fruity Pebbles would be my new favorite if Damien liked it so much.

  We kissed for a little while, only touching with our lips until Damien stuck his tongue out and licked me pulling me in closer.

  “Open your mouth.” I shivered when he demanded more and did as he asked. Damien was one of my best friends so I trusted him to be my first kiss. It was weird feeling his tongue move in my mouth but again, not as gross as Becky said it would be and so I moved mine slowly with him.

  “Have you done this before?” I wondered how many girls Damien was sticking his tongue in.

  “Nope, just you Pebbles.” We laughed together and kissed until my mother called me home for dinner and Damien went inside to help his dad work in the garage. My heart felt warm and squishy and I wondered how tomorrow at school go.

  This last week of school seemed better because we saw each other. I hadn’t told Taylor about our kiss because I wasn’t ready and Damien didn’t talk about it either. It was like we pretended it didn’t happen between the hours of 7am and 5pm when our mutual after school activities ended. That was okay because we managed to sneak away each day this week to kiss in the tree house, our special place.

  I saw a plate of box made brownies in the kitchen and packaged them up to take over to Damien’s house. I was pretty sure mom made them out of guilt for working long hours and box brownies were the best she could do since her cooking sucked. Chase and my dad didn’t care and I figured Damien would like food while we worked.

  We had decided to study up in the awesome tree house his dad had built to get most of the project planning done. Taylor would be awhile so it would just be Damien, Lacey and me for the first half. I trudged across the street and into their backyard. I had been over to Damien’s house so many times there was no need for me to knock on the front door. I probably knew his parents better than my own.

  I was about to call out to Damien as I balanced the brownies and my books to get up the ladder when I heard them.

  “Oh Damien, you are exceptional.” That foreign voice that made the word sound extra special, smooth with elongated syllables x-cep-si-on-all. My stomach burned with acid and I pressed further to see something better left unseen.

  “Lacey, I don’t think that…” My head peered over the side to see something horrific. Lacey and Damien were kissing. Or she was kissing him? But he was leaning half over her? My mind couldn’t wrap itself over the hurt at seeing my best friend lip-locked with another girl in our special place.

  Had he lied to me?

  Was he kissing other girls?

  I thought that… I don’t know what I thought, but the image was a kick in the stomach. A burn on my soul leaving scars. I slipped down the ladder unseen dropping the brownies in the bag and hugged my history book hard like it was my only lifeline. I felt crushed and glad I hadn’t gotten the courage up to tell Taylor. Damien Hart was a jerk a real demon as far as I was concerned. I sniffed back tears that stung my eyes and stomped home. I wasn’t watching were I was going when I tripped in the driveway and landed face first. My left arm went out to brace my fall but I twisted and felt a sharp snap coming down hard. The pain was a shock and excruciating.

  “Holy shit balls! Owww!” I rolled over on my back holding my arm to my chest.

  “Kristen! What happened?” My brother Chase kneeled down on the ground next to me and tried to get me to loosen my grip on my arm.

  “It hurts real bad–Chase.” The pain left me gasping. I bet Damien was busy welcoming what’s her name to America with his tongue and finger committee right now in our old tree house. Jerk face.

  “I know it does–let me look.” Gently, Chase makes me let go and he touches the skin of my arm pressing around looking it over, a serious expression mars his face. It hurts worse. “I can feel a bump, we need to get you inside and get ice.”

  “Please don’t call mom. She’ll be mad I fell.” Whispering I choke the words out.

  “Kristen, it’s bad. I think you need to go to the hospital.”

  “Mom has her case.”

  “I don’t care. Don’t make me call an ambulance.” I knew my brother was right but our mom was going for a judge appointment or something important. She was going to be pissed.

  “What if I can’t cheer in the game?”

  “Kristen, I think your arm is broken, let’s not worry about the game right now.” Chase helped pick me up and put me down on the couch calling mom. My arm wrenched at a weird painful angle. I could hear him arguing but not what he said. Our dad had a coaches meeting at the high school. I was lucky Chase was even home from practice right now.

  “What did mom say?”

  “I’m calling Mrs. Bryant to come over.”

  “Taylor’s mom?”

  “Yeah, mom can’t leave the office.”

  “Oh.” My heart deflated. I kind of wanted my mom to be there but work kept her busy. It always kept her from being home when I needed her. Crying wouldn’t fix this and I began to feel numb.

  “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m here and Mrs. Bryant is coming right over, maybe with Taylor. I promise you’re going to be okay.” Chase hugged me and kissed my forehead. We hadn’t shared that in a long time because, well, boys had cooties, and it wasn’t very grown up to do, but I had the best big brother ever. When Chase made a promise, he followed through.

  A knock on the door interrupted us, “Hello? Chase? Kristen, honey, I’m here.” Taylor’s mom was the best. The moment she stepped inside and took charge nursing my hurts I felt whole again. I also felt this incredible guilt because I wanted to feel that with my own mother, a woman who was emotionally divorced from her own family.

  We drove to the hospital emergency room and they brought me in for x-rays. The entire time Mrs. Bryant is patting my leg or holding my hand when Chase and Taylor aren’t. They gave me medicine for the pain which made me loopy. I was scared, but Mrs. Bryant held my hand, Taylor played with my hair to distract me, and Chase prowled the hallway like a grumpy bear. By the time my dad got the call and my mom got there I was waiting for the doctor to review my x-rays and decide what to do.

  My arm needed surgery for two pins and a cast. I wasn’t going to school this week and I wasn’t cheering any time soon. As they were putting me under for surgery to set the bones I thought about how much my feelings for Damien had changed. If he was going to kiss other girls, I was going to kiss as many boys as I wanted, maybe more than he was kissing French hussies.

  Waking up they told me that I broke the bone badly in two places. The pins in my arm would scar the surrounding skin and I would need rehab if I was going to do school sports. My mother clucked and went back to work in her home office as soon as we got home leaving a bag of pain killers on the kitchen counter. Dad left for the gym and Chase offered to sit with me. My family wasn’t horrible but breaking my arm was a monkey wrench in their carefully laid out plans. My cheerleading scholarship was probably on the line if I couldn’t cheer. The marks reminded me how this was Damien’s fault. I would never forgive him as long as I lived. In my pain medication induced dreams all I could see were his lips touching hers and he turned into a demon for real
. I ditched the meds and went with feeling the pain instead because it gave me something concrete to focus on.

  17

  Damien

  “Okay, mission kidnap the Cunt-Hunter is commencing. Over and out.” I clicked the radio off listening to static for a few seconds when it beeped back to life with a response. I tugged my hat down lower on my head getting into the game. This entire planned hinged on a few things–namely my accomplices not screwing up.

  “Damien this is the single handedly worse thing you’ve ever done.” Whit clicked the radio off and I’m annoyed buzzing him back over the com radio. What was he doing communicating outside the plan?

  “Dude, you fucking code.” I had been over this numerous times and Whit was not following the plan. I swore if he ruined this I would kick his ass.

  “D-man, Hunter is never going to go for this. Remind me again, why, am I crouched down outside his window.” Said Whit as the radio clicked and buzzed again.

  “Because I have the bum knee and I’m apparently only good for driving the getaway van and funding this operation.” Chase growled sounding peevish. I couldn’t help the ex-football star and his career ending injury but he was right, someone needed to drive the van.