Georgetown Academy, Season One

by Schwartz, Alyssa Embree

  She knocked, then pushed the door open to see him sitting on the edge of the bed while a thirty-ish doctor with a gleaming bald head bandaged up his hand. Hunter looked up at her with a slight nod before his eyes returned to the bandage. Her nerves escalated at the less than welcoming reaction, but maybe he was distracted.

  “Are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

  Hunter shook his head, his voice neutral and his eyes still looking down. “Just bruised from when I cracked Weston’s jaw.”

  “Don’t forget about his rib,” the exhausted sounding doctor grumbled. “Although I think that may have been courtesy of your friend, Mr. Mills.”

  Evan grimaced. Weston must be in pretty bad shape. She didn’t experience an iota of guilt for feeling happy about that considering this was the only punishment he was going to get.

  “Stay here. The nurse will be back with some paperwork,” the doctor said in the same annoyed tone, then left.

  Hunter finally looked up and they stared at each other in silence, which only intensified Evan’s anxiety. She uncertainly sat down on the bed next to him. He didn’t move away, which was at least a good sign, but his eyes were fixed on her, clearly waiting for her to say something first. How many awkward conversations could she have in one night?

  “I’m really sorry I lied to you about Luke,” she started. He nodded, but still didn’t say anything, so she was forced to continue. “He’s my best friend and when he asked me to go along with it, I couldn’t say no. If anyone finds out he’s gay, it’ll ruin his dad’s career.”

  Hunter shifted his weight on the bed, and for a second, Evan thought he might get up and leave. But he stayed, running his fingers along the ends of the bandage around his hand with a concentrated expression like he was collecting his thoughts.

  “I wish you’d been honest with me,” he finally replied evenly. “Especially after everything we talked about yesterday.”

  Her stomach dropped like someone tossed it off a fifty-story building. “I know and it was wrong. And I should’ve never said I didn’t want tell anyone about us out of respect for Luke because the truth is I wanted to talk to Ellie first, but I just did and she’s fine with it so—”

  “Evan?”

  She bit her lip. “Yeah?”

  His demeanor softened and he moved closer to her on the bed. She was glad she was sitting down because her knees probably would have buckled otherwise.

  “I wish you’d told me, but I understand why you didn’t. And I was mad at first, but I’ve been thinking about it all day and I know you were just being a good friend and trying to do the right thing.”

  She nervously pulled a strand of hair behind her ear, hoping she was hearing what she thought she was hearing. “So we’re good?”

  He reached out his arm and pulled her into him. “We’re good,” he whispered to her, his lips right against her ear. She closed her eyes for a split second, letting the relief reach all the way down to her toes. When she opened them, she noticed a small cut next to his eyebrow that made him look even sexier. If that was humanly possible.

  “Are you okay?” she asked quietly, frankly surprised her voice was still working.

  “Yeah, are you?”

  “Me? I’m fine. I didn’t do anything. I was like one of those pathetic girls in a horror movie who stands there helplessly while her boyfriend fights the guy in a hockey mask.”

  Oh god. She just referred to Hunter as her boyfriend. Why did she insist on peppering conversations with analogies? She vowed to never use one again.

  Her cheeks were burning. Maybe if she kept talking, he would forget she made such an idiotic statement. “Except, you know, in the movies usually the hockey mask guy wins so, um… Anyway…” He was smiling at her, but not saying a word so she kept on trudging through. “I’m just saying, it was really admirable of you to help break up the fight.”

  “Well, I wasn’t doing it for Weston and Gabe.” She looked up at him. “I saw the girl I like standing two inches away from a fist fight. What was I supposed to do?”

  When he kissed her this time, Evan realized she had once again been wrong about the pinnacle of her freak out meter.

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  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Saturday, 8:41 p.m.

  Brinley strode down the hallway, shuddering at the puke-colored walls on either side of her. When she got up from that pathetic excuse for a chair in the waiting room, the thrift store cushion bleeding out stuffing she was still extricating from her pant leg, she hoped Shane would take the hint and follow her. She wasn’t sure why he was still hanging around, but she didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea that he was there for her. Actually, it was probably the right idea, but still. She had barely escaped that Guantanamo-style interrogation from Portia earlier and she wasn’t going to push her luck. If anything, it only confirmed she was in no way ready to admit to anyone she had hooked up with a townie.

  Unfortunately, Shane’s hot quotient had gone up exponentially an hour ago when he heroically jumped over the front desk and within seconds, broke up the insane fight between the guys. She hadn’t seen a brawl like that since ninth grade when Thatcher Wellington punched Graham over a lunch table disagreement about whether or not General Electric was a socially responsible company.

  Even though Shane had been nice enough to pile them all in the Lodge van and drive them here, she hadn’t spoken a word to him during the entire ride for fear Portia had wiretapped the van with her iPhone. That girl had less respect for privacy than the Patriot Act. Luckily, it was easy to pretend like she was preoccupied with taking care of Ellie. She had flashed him enough surreptitious looks to cover the fact that she was blatantly ignoring him.

  Luckily, when they arrived at the hospital, he remained at the end of the hallway, chatting up that receptionist with the Pepto-Bismol-colored acrylic nails, inadvertently keeping their fling a secret from Ellie. And he was also far enough away that he couldn’t hear the conversation about Weston. As much as she instinctively trusted Shane, the fewer people who knew the truth, the better.

  She stepped into the prison cell-like dungeon at the end of the hallway that housed the vending machines and stared at them in utter disgust. Who on earth would eat an egg salad sandwich from one of these behemoth artery-clogging dispensers? She cringed at the image of someone actually consuming the limp salmonella-filled white bread, then put two dollars in the soda machine next to it and settled on a Diet Coke instead.

  “I had a much more fun meal in mind than that for tonight,” Shane said, coming up behind her.

  He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck. As much as she wanted to give into it, she wouldn’t let herself. It was better to end this vacation fling right away while everyone was mercifully still in the dark about it. She abruptly pulled herself away from him. He stepped back and gave her a strange look.

  “What’s up?”

  “What are you still doing here?” she asked brusquely.

  “I figured I’d give you a ride back. And I ended up running into a friend from high school.”

  That explained Pepto-Bismol nails. “You should probably go.” She met his gaze and tried to convince herself he wasn’t that hot. Or sweet. Or…Whatever. She needed to get on with this. “The chaperones will probably be here soon and things could get ugly.”

  “I was actually thinking that it’s still pretty early if you want to hang out. No need for your whole night to suck.”

  He was not letting her off the hook so easily. For a brief m
oment, she considered the alternative. They could go somewhere private and enjoy the last night of the retreat together. But that would be delaying the inevitable and she was never one to procrastinate.

  “Look, Shane. We had one fun date. Let’s just leave it at that,” she said harshly, an edge to her voice that could have ripped off a Shellac manicure.

  He watched her carefully, searching her eyes for something in them to contradict her words, but she held strong.

  “So that’s it?”

  “Were you expecting something else?”

  He shrugged. “I guess not. I mean, I knew you were leaving tomorrow. I just figured we could hang out one more night.”

  It was distressing that a part of her wanted him to say he was hoping they would keep in touch after the retreat. But it was good he wasn’t fighting for it. What was the point? The guy probably didn’t even own a computer so they could video chat. And the last thing she needed was another dirty little secret after she had finally kicked Adderall to the curb.

  “I’m just not one for prolonged good-byes,” she replied steadily.

  “Okay. Whatever you say, Brinley.”

  He gave her one last look, then walked out of the tiny room, making it feel even more claustrophobic. Her stomach lurched, but hopefully that was because she’d caught sight of a slab of beef jerky in the vending machine.

  Her legs suddenly felt wobbly underneath her so she perched at the end of yet another uncomfortable chair. Where did they find these things? A bus stop? Too bad Purell didn’t come in a bubble bath formula.

  Just then, the last person she expected to see in this dump casually strolled into the room.

  “Brooks! What are you doing here?”

  He didn’t seem surprised to see her, which meant he must have bumped into Ellie already. He was sporting a mildly amused expression as he took in the vending machine room, and with his posh ski clothes, he looked as out of place in this cesspool as Brinley did.

  “Not getting quality medical treatment. I can tell you that much.”

  She wrinkled her nose in agreement. “No kidding. This place would be jealous of a Doctors Without Borders tent in Rwanda. What happened, though? Are you okay?”

  He looked down at the chair next to her, but the thought of tarnishing his five hundred dollar ski pants must have been too much to bear because he remained standing.

  “I found Taryn on the mountain with a sprained ankle so I rode with her here in the Dodge Caravan masquerading as an ambulance.”

  She should have known Taryn was involved in this somehow. There were traces of purple glitter scattered across his forehead.

  “You should’ve left her there,” she mumbled.

  “Watch it, little sister. Envy is not your best feature.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Brooks had once shown her in the mirror that when she was jealous of someone, she looked cross-eyed. But that was beside the point. Why was he always insistent on defending Taryn? And she was hardly envious of someone more nouveau than the entire population of Silicon Valley. She slumped back in the chair, her depression momentarily overshadowing the fact that no amount of dry cleaning would wash away whatever filth was now going to cling to her leather pants.

  “So why the long face? Are you upset because you had to bid adieu to your townie boyfriend?”

  She shot her eyes up at him in shock. “Excuse me, what?”

  “I just passed him. He didn’t look happy.”

  Unbelievable. She huffed out a sigh, conceding it was pointless to deny it. Brooks had a knack for seeing right through her. “How did you know?”

  “Please, Maddie. I know everything.”

  “No one else does, though, right?”

  “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe. Though I take it you won’t be registering for china patterns at Target anytime soon?”

  “Shut up. I seem to recall you slumming it last year with that girl who went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase.”

  “It’s hardly the same thing. Not only is BCC one of the top public schools in the country, but she was the valedictorian and let’s not forget she scored me my dream golf invitation after only a week of dating.”

  He had a point. That girl used to babysit the RNC chair’s toddlers and had gotten Brooks into a golf game with three out of the five Romney sons. If Brinley didn’t have such an aversion to plaid shorts, she would’ve planted herself on the fairway right next to Tagg.

  “Ugh, Ellie was right. This was the worst ski retreat in history.”

  “Come on. It couldn’t have been that bad. Didn’t your boyfriend at least teach you something useful? Like how to milk a cow with one hand or use a toothpick after a meal?”

  She rolled her eyes with the hint of smile. But it quickly faded when she thought about how much fun she’d had on her ice skating date with Shane. It seemed like she hadn’t been that far off with her Bachelor comparisons. Their relationship had lasted about as long as one of those pathetic publicity stunt engagements.

  If there was a bright side, though, at least she didn’t have to return anything sparkly to Neil Lane.

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  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Saturday, 8:41 p.m.

  Taryn sat in the back of the ambulance as it glided easily through the empty streets, no siren necessary. Brooks was perched beside her, wearing the same worried expression he’d had since he’d found her an hour ago. The paramedics had shown up quickly and while they bandaged her throbbing ankle, she had to wipe away tears from the pain. Brooks had immediately gone off about their clear “lack of experience in dealing with the most elementary medical issue” and they finally shut him up by giving her a painkiller. Now they were on the way to the hospital so a doctor could see if there was more damage than just a sprain.

  She looked over at him and smiled. It was pretty amazing he had been randomly skiing the same trail and had rescued her from who knows what outcome. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t found me,” she said.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Have you seen that movie, The Grey?”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of hypothermia over a wolf attack, but thanks for putting the image in my head,” she replied in a painkiller-induced drawl.

  “You’re sure you’re okay? That medic must have watched a YouTube video on his Samsung to learn how to bandage an ankle.”

  Taryn grinned, happy he was able to easily distract her from the panic she had felt on the mountain. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, if this was some attempt to get out of racing me one more time before we leave tomorrow, I’m impressed with the effort.”

  “Please, I could probably still beat you.”

  He smirked, looking down at her swollen ankle. “I don’t think so, Gimpy. But knowing you, I wouldn’t put it past you to try.”

  “Why were you even up on that trail so late?” she asked.

  He cocked his head and without hesitation said, “Because I saw you go up alone and I figured you were arrogant enough to think you could out-board the horrible weather.”

  “Well, I could have if I hadn’t hit that stupid rock.”

  “You should consider yourself lucky you were easy for me to spot with those ridiculous braids whipping around behind you. God knows Gabe wasn’t going to come looking for you.”

  She swallowed. Her anger with Gabe was the reason she fell in the first place. As much as she didn’t want him to be, Brooks was probably right.

  The ambulance stopped in front of the small Stowe Mountain Hospital and the paramedic
s flung open the double doors of the van to reveal an overweight, tired-looking nurse waiting with a wheelchair.

  “Another one from the Lodge?” she asked the medics wearily. “This is the fourth one in an hour.”

  Taryn and Brooks exchanged a look. Neither of them had seen or heard about any other skiing injuries on the mountain. The nurse reached for Taryn and Brooks lifted her into the wheelchair, then took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.

  “I’ve got it,” he said to the nurse and started wheeling Taryn in. The nurse seemed thrilled not to have to do it.

  The second the sliding glass doors opened, Taryn’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it. Gabe and Ellie were standing next to the check-in desk.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Brooks said under his breath.

  She was an idiot for thinking Gabe didn’t care about her. Somehow he must have found out she’d gotten hurt and rushed to the hospital as fast as he could. Why had she been so quick to conclude otherwise?

  Only when they got a few feet closer, did she see the stitches under his right eye. Her heart sank. That was why he was here. Not because of her. And what did Ellie have to do with it? Had their insanely weird relationship been reduced to her hitting him in the face?

  “What happened?” Taryn asked, wide-eyed.

  Gabe shook his head. “Nothing. It’s not a big deal. What happened to you?”

  Brooks cut in before she could answer. “I’m sure you’re tremendously distressed about Taryn’s well-being, but I need to make sure a doctor tends to her ankle before it gets any worse.” His general annoyance of Gabe seemed to have reached new levels.

  He wheeled her by him toward one of the hospital rooms, not interested in hearing his response.