Jay gives me a mirror and tells me to make sure the placement is right. I nod in approval and he moves about getting everything ready. I feel Craig slide his hand into mine and I don’t think about it being intimate. I just squeeze tightly in response. I’m so nervous, I can feel myself shaking. I close my eyes shut and prepare myself for the pain.
“It’s alright, princess,” I hear Craig whisper close to my ear. “It’ll be over in a minute.”
I feel the needle press down and it surprises me that it doesn’t hurt that bad. Then, I feel it scrape through my skin and I take my first thought back. It hurts like hell. It hurts so much that I’m afraid I’m going to move my leg and really mess him up. If I do that I’ll have to live with the consequences for the rest of my life, so I try my hardest to pull it together. I concentrate on Craig’s hand in mine and keeping my leg firmly in place, while I try to block out the fact that a needle is scraping its way through my skin.
“Talk to me,” I order Craig, squeezing his hand even tighter.
He hesitates for a moment and then starts, “My sister, Lexie, is sixteen years old.”
I open my eyes to look at him and he continues, “But you’d never be able to tell. She acts twelve, at best. She’s on the spectrum. Autism. She’s fully functioning, just very… I don’t know, immature I guess you could say, for her age. She’s great though. She’s a really sweet kid.”
“I forgot you had a sister.”
When we were in high school and Hailey and Drew first started dating, we ended up spending the night at Craig’s house after one of his infamous parties. I remember Craig telling Hailey and Drew that they could sleep in his sister’s room. But that was it. There was never any other mention of his sister in all the time I’ve known him. Then again, it’s not like I’ve ever tried to get to know him as more than Drew’s irritating friend.
“You don’t talk about her… like ever,” I marvel at him.
“I know. It’s not that I’m embarrassed or anything. It’s just that the type of people I’ve always hung out with would make fun of her in a heartbeat. And she’s special to me. I wouldn’t take it very well, and then I’d up a loner.” He smirks, trying to make a joke of it.
“So none of your friends ever knew?”
“Nope.”
I think about how sad that is. That he didn’t have one friend who ever knew him well enough to know that he has a sister with special needs.
“That explains your major,” I state, realizing the connection.
“All done,” Jay declares.
I look down at my ankle, amazed. “Seriously? That was fast!” I twist and turn it so I can see the falcon better. “I love it!” I smile from ear to ear, thrilled that I actually went through with it.
“It looks awesome, princess.” He returns my smile, looking genuinely happy just to see me happy.
“Hailey is gonna freak! I can’t believe I actually have a tattoo!”
“I can’t believe you actually got one, either. I’m proud of you,” he beams.
And for some reason, his statement fills me with pride.
Chapter 10
Craig stops at a hotdog truck parked on the outskirts of a lake on the way back. I insist on buying our hotdogs, chips and sodas since he paid for my tattoo. He gets mad about it, but ultimately lets me. We sit on the grass, right by the lake. I wrap my sweater tightly around me before taking a bite out of my hotdog. It’s a chilly November day, but it’s not freezing like it usually is this time of year. In New England, you never know what kind of weather you’ll get. I’ve seen snow storms as late as April and as early as October. We’ve had frost coating the ground in the same week as air conditioners become a necessity. They say New England is bipolar and I wouldn’t disagree. Today feels more like mid-September than mid-November, but I’m not complaining one bit. I love the crisp autumn air with the sun still shining brightly down on us.
“What are you thinking?” I ask when I realize how quiet he’s become.
“That’s a loaded question, princess. You sure you wanna know the answer?” he smirks.
I roll my eyes back at him. “Yes, I wanna know.”
“Okay. Just remember, you asked for it,” he warns.
I give him a pointed look in return.
“I was thinking about you.”
“No you weren’t. C’mon, I’m serious.”
“I’m serious too.”
“Fine then. What about me?”
“You’re different than I thought you’d be,” he remarks.
“Because you thought I was a prissy brat when you first met me?”
“Well, yeah. But you’re still that,” he teases, laughing as I feign shock. “But seriously, you’re just so… intriguing.”
“Intriguing? What could possibly be intriguing about me? I’m completely ordinary,” I reply, not because I’m fishing for a compliment, but because it’s true.
“Let me ask you something, princess. But before we have this conversation, can you just convince yourself, for only these next few moments, that I’m gay?”
“What?” My mouth hangs open.
“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea and think that I’m trying to hit on you right now. So for these next few moments, and these next few moments only, consider me gay.”
I don’t respond because I’m laughing out loud. I can’t help it. Never in a million years did I think that statement would come out of Craig Morgan’s mouth.
“Okay, stop,” he orders. “I seriously want to ask you something.”
It takes effort to stop laughing at his absurdity, but after a few seconds, I manage.
“Do you think Tyler loves you?” he asks, all joking gone.
My face drops. “That’s ridiculous. We haven’t even been together for that long. And why on Earth would you ask that?”
“Okay, then do you think that he could love you, you know, someday?”
“Craig, you’re being absolutely ridiculous right now.”
“Just hear me out, okay? You should be with someone who makes you feel anything other than ordinary,” he starts. I roll my eyes in response, but he ignores it and continues anyway. “You should be with someone who makes you feel like you are the most important person in his world. Someone who will study every bit of you. He’ll know exactly how you take your coffee, what your favorite color is. He’ll know your biggest pet peeves and try his hardest not to do any of them. But he’ll push you past your comfort zone, too. He’ll fall in love with your laugh and he’ll know your sense of humor. He’ll see your flaws and know your quirks, and he’ll accept them all. He may even adore them. My point is, he’ll know you. Really know you. And therefore, he’ll know how extraordinary you are. And he’ll never pass up an opportunity to remind you of it.”
“Like you are right now?” I whisper.
“Nope.” He smirks. All seriousness once again replaced with humor. “I’m gay, remember?”
I can’t help but smile in return.
“Going back to your original question, what were you thinking of?”
“The weather,” I respond dully.
He raises his eyebrows. “The weather?” he questions, not believing me.
“I told you. Ordinary.”
When we get back to my dorm, it’s after four in the afternoon. He doesn’t just drop me off, he walks right in with me and then sprawls out on the couch in the common room like he owns the place.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting. You have an hour. One hour, that’s it.”
“To do what?”
“Get ready,” he answers, like it’s obvious.
“I am ready,” I respond, looking down at my outfit and smoothing out my hair.
“Not according to these girls,” he says, right on cue, as Ashley, Julie, and Hailey come out of mine and Hailey’s room.
“You’ll never guess where we’re going tonight!” Ashley gushes.
“Hey,” Craig says sternly, narrowing his eyes at her
. “Anyone tells her and they’re out.”
“Okay,” Ashley says rolling her eyes. “I won’t.” Then she turns back to me. “But you’re gonna be so psyched!” She jumps up and down, unable to contain her own excitement.
They drag me into my dorm and rummage through my closet for an outfit. I think what I’m wearing would be good for most occasions, but evidently they disagree.
“Oh, this is a cute skirt!” Ashley says, holding up my light brown miniskirt with the chunky brown belt attached.
“It’s November,” I respond.
“It’s super cute,” she counters.
“Okay,” I agree, laughing. “Besides, it’ll give me a chance to show off my new tattoo.
“What?” Hailey screams.
By the time my allotted hour is up, I look completely re-done. Julie gives me a ‘smokey-eye’ look, Hailey does my hair, pushing a lot of it to the right side and adding a small cascading braid in the front of the left side. And of course, Ashley picks out my brown skirt and I pair it with a plain white long-sleeved shirt. Despite wanting to show off my tattoo, the girls convince me to wear my dark brown cowboy boots. I only own one pair, from a night Hailey and I went to a country dancing class. We were on a big kick of wanting to learn the dances, but ended up only going to one lesson. I grab a long necklace off of my dresser to complete the look. The girls look equally dolled up, Hailey in a knee-length dress, also wearing her cowboy boots, and Ashley and Julie in jeans with dressier than usual tops. We’re just about ready to go, so I text Tyler while the girls get their things together.
“I’ve tried to convince Hailey to tell me, but Craig is threatening her. Where are we going?! Pleeeeaaseee?”
“I’m outside your door. I could tell you… but I’m pretty sure Craig won’t let me go if I do.”
Instead of texting back, I just head out to the common room to see him. When I open the door I’m surprised to see so many people waiting. My eyes find Tyler’s and I head right over to him and wrap my arms around him in an embracing hug, although I feel guilty after spending the day with Craig. I know I should be with Tyler, but sometimes I see this other side of Craig and it makes me question everything. It makes me question if I really want to be with Tyler… if Craig is as bad as he seems… if maybe I could be the one girl he’d take seriously and stay faithfully committed to… if I could somehow turn him into a relationship guy. But then there’s times when I’m sure of my decision. Like the morning after our camping trip when he admittedly had a three-some after saying things to make me believe he was serious about liking me. And like now… after spending the day with him and having him tell me that I’m anything other than ordinary and that I deserve to be with a guy who will tell me so every day, yet here he is with a playboy bunny clone on his arm. Why would he say those things to me and then bring this girl tonight?
“Princess, come here,” Craig beckons, nodding his head for me to move in his direction.
I walk over to him since he did orchestrate whatever it is we’re all doing. When I reach him, he bends down and lifts my foot right off the ground. I bend my leg and he takes off my cowboy boot.
“What are you doing?” I ask him in surprise.
“You don’t have your tattoo covered up,” he explains. “You either need to put something on it or lose the cowboy boots.”
“Why?”
“Because the boots will irritate it all night and it could get infected. Put some A&D on it and then wrap it in a bandage. Then you can wear your boots. But after that, no shoes that go past your ankle. You’ll want to keep it open to let it heal.”
“Where’s Tiffany?” I ask him, looking over at the girl he’s obviously here with.
“I told you, we weren’t serious. Out with the old, in with the new.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.
I make a disgusted face at him but before I can respond, Tyler approaches us.
“You got a tattoo?” he asks.
“Um, yeah,” I admit.
“The school mascot?” he asks, looking confused.
“Yepp. I just liked it,” I lie, not wanting to give him the same explanation I gave Craig. It’s not that I don’t care to, it’s just that I’d feel silly admitting the whole spreading my wings metaphor to Tyler.
“Cool,” he decides, checking it out. “Did it hurt?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“Alright,” Craig shouts, “Julie, Dave, Ashley, and this kid, whose name I don’t know…”
“Mike,” the guy tells him. I think he’s Ashley’s date.
“…are in Dave’s car. The rest of us are in the van,” Craig finishes.
“What van?” I ask.
“Drew’s mom’s. She’s letting us use it tonight,” Craig explains.
When we make our way out into the parking lot and over to the van, Drew takes the driver’s seat, so Hailey inevitably takes the passenger’s seat. Tyler motions for me to jump in next, so I do. He follows in the seat next to me and then Craig and his date file in, sitting in the seat behind us.
“Anyone wanna tell me where we’re going now?”
Hailey answers. “We’ve all been threatened not to or else we won’t be allowed to go ourselves.”
I roll my eyes, and then ask her to turn up the music.
We arrive at the Mavis Center, a big arena where sports events and concerts take place, forty-five minutes later. Drew doesn’t pull into the main parking area though. Instead, he goes all the way to the back, talks to a guard in a booth who presses a button that lifts a gate, and then proceeds to drive past the sign that says employee entrance. Julie’s boyfriend follows straight behind us.
“What’s going on?” I ask. But no one answers.
Drew parks the van and we all file out.
“This feels sketchy. Seriously, someone tell me what’s going on.”
No one answers but everyone starts to follow Craig as he opens an unmarked side door, so I follow as well. He walks down a hallway, turns and walks down another hallway. Finally, he comes to a red door and knocks. A security guard opens the door and smiles at him.
“These must be your friends,” he assumes. “Hello everyone, I’m Craig’s dad, Rick.”
I’m shocked. All I know about Craig’s parents is that they’re not around much. In high school, he was the bad boy, having parties at his house and always getting into trouble. I assumed he didn’t have a lot of good influences growing up. I think I always assumed his parents were drug addicts or something to that effect. But his dad looks completely normal. I would guess he’s in his fifties because although his face looks young, he has salt and pepper hair. He offers a friendly smile as he takes us all in.
“Are you guys excited to see this concert?” he asks us.
“It’s Valerie’s favorite band,” Craig says, looking at me instead of his dad.
“It’s not…” I respond, trailing off, thinking it couldn’t possibly be Lady Antebellum, one of my all-time favorites.
“Yepp,” he replies, with a smug grin.
“Seriously?” I run over to him and throw my arms around his neck, not caring what anyone else thinks. He picks me up off the floor and spins me around. When I let go, I’m too embarrassed to look at Tyler or Craig’s date, so I just focus on Hailey.
“Can you believe we’re gonna see Lady A?” I shriek.
She laughs. “You don’t know how hard it was for me not to tell you!”
Rick leads us out into the arena and shows us the spot where we’ll be staying for the show. It’s not a spot where anyone could buy tickets for. It’s roped off and looks like it’s supposed to be used for equipment, but we don’t care because we’re close enough to the stage that we can actually touch it.
None of us know the opening band, but we can tell right away that they’re pretty good. We’re all having a great time together, except for Craig and his date who seem to only wanna grope each other and make out the whole time. I don’t let it get to me though. I’m too excited and giddy, I doubt anythin
g could bring me down right now. When Hillary and the guys take the stage, forming Lady Antebellum, the whole arena goes wild. They start off with “Need You Now” and I lose myself in the music. Hailey, Julie, Ashley and I dance and yell the lyrics to every song they perform, while the guys take a more laid-back attitude. But I can tell they’re having a blast too. By the time the last song plays, I can feel my voice fading. I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun. The crowd cheers for them to play one more song, and they come back out and start “Friday Night” – my favorite. When they’re done, Craig takes my hand and leads me away from the group.
“Where are we going?” I look back at our friends, wondering why he’s only taking me.
“Back to my dad.”
“Oh, good. I don’t even think I thanked him. This was so awesome, Craig. I can’t believe you set this up. I’m glad you hijacked my birthday.” I smile up at him.
We stop in a hallway where we see Craig’s dad walking toward us with… Lady Antebellum.
Hillary Scott looks at me, “So this must be the birthday girl,” she says, smiling.
And of course, I can’t talk. I mean, I physically am unable to make a noise, so I just shake my head up and down like an idiot.
Craig chuckles, “This is Val. She’s a huge fan.”
“Can we sign something for you?” Dave asks.
“I… I don’t have anything with me…” I manage to croak out.
To my surprise, Craig hands them a CD I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying.
The band passes it around to one another and hands it back to me.
“Thank you so much!” I tell them.
“Not a problem. I’m glad you had a good birthday. We have to run, but it was nice meeting you Val,” Hillary says.
Craig’s dad ushers them down the rest of the hallway and out a back door.
The Story of Us Page 9