“Sure. Wait a second, what’s in it for you?”
“Nothing. I get to leave the house and find a gift for my girlfriend. It’s a win-win.”
I hear the snap of her laptop. “What is this? A girlfriend? Oh, let me help.”
“You want to help me pick out a gift for a girl you’ve never met before?”
“Yes.”
“Whatever. Meet me at the mall. Unless you need me to come get you?”
“Pick me up. Derrick took our car into town to run some errands. I think he’s getting last-minute gifts for everyone.”
“Where are you staying at again?”
“The Hunter Inn. I’m in suite thirty-eight.”
I shake my head. “Only you would request a bottom floor suite,” I say. “I’ll text you but I’m not coming in.”
“Whatever.”
At the mall, I huff in frustration. My sister is supposed to be helping me, instead, she’s signing a copy of her book for some strange woman. I’m glad my sister’s a famous author. I really am but I need her more than these people do.
My sister peers over at me then waves to the small crowd that has formed around her as she steps out of the store. “Unbelievable,” I growl.
“I know. It’s not so bad in the city.”
“Does it look like I give one crap about your fanbase? I don’t. I should have just come here by myself.”
“Oh, quit your bitching,” she snaps. “Honestly, you’re just like Derrick. Always complaining about something.”
“You married him.”
“Sometimes, I wish I hadn’t.” She stomps off toward the little-specialized ornament store and steps inside.
I follow her. “Kera, I’m sorry. I’m in uncharted water here. I need your help.”
She lifts an ornament off one of the small plastic trees sitting on a table. I watch her roll her blue eyes then she groans. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Tell me about this girlfriend of yours.”
“Her name is Layla. She is a cheerleader.”
“Of course, she is.” My sister looks like she’s about to gag as she hangs the ornament back onto the tree.
“You’d actually get along with her. She used to hate the hell outta me.” I smirk at the memory of Layla getting all pissed off at anything I did. Although to be fair most of the things I did do to her were mean, like in fourth grade I spilled orange juice under the chair and others thought she peed herself. She clocked me in the nose for that.
Kera smiles and moves to another table. “Well if she put you in your place a few times I say, yeah. What else do you know? Favorite color? Does she collect anything?”
Does she collect anything? I try reimagining her room and I swear everything is blank. You know what, this is flat out stupid. I should just get her a gift card and be done. There simple. Easy.
Kera narrows her eyes. “You don’t know, do you? Wow. Didn’t I teach you anything while I lived at home? You have to ask questions.”
“Oh, who made you an expert? You just write some false bullshit for people to lap up and really it’s bullshit.”
“My bullshit sells but you’re right. I’m not an expert. Hell, my whole life is falling apart. I love Derrick, it just seems lately, neither of us are ever around each other for more than an hour or two. I’m either doing book tours, writing, or editing. It never ends, and people demand so much. Fans want more. The publisher wants more. My agent wants more. More, more-more and honestly, I just want a vacation. Escape somewhere where no one knows me. No one asks me about my next novel.”
This is why I should never have taken my sister with me. This is starting to turn into a drama fest that I don’t need. “Then go somewhere. You have the money,” I say.
“I don’t want to go by myself. I want my husband with me.” She puts back one ornament and lifts another off the display tree. “This is really pretty. Do you think your girlfriend would like this?”
I stare at that delicate glass object. It’s a snowflake that changes each time the light hits it. Blue, purple, green, red. It’s really awesome.
“Yeah. I think it’s really cool.”
She smiles and snatches one more off the tree. “Great. I’m getting one for myself. Oh, look at this snow globe over here. You can put a picture in it.”
She walks over to the shelf with a whole display of snow globes on it. I join her.
A voice cranes through our silence. “The great thing about that particular snow globe is, you can set it out year-round because it’s not traditionally seasonal.”
I turn to see a small woman with large glasses standing behind me.
“Oh, that’s fantastic. May I have three of these?” my sister asks.
“Sure; the rest are in the back. I’ll just be a moment,” says the woman.
“Why do you need three?” I ask when the woman heads to the back of the store.
As soon as she’s out of sight, my sister sighs. “I’m getting one for Mom, my mother-in-law, and your girlfriend. I want her to feel welcomed.”
I wince. “Yeah, well, I don’t want her to feel like crap if she doesn’t get you anything.”
“She does know you have a sister, right?”
“Yes. I went over my entire family tree with her,” I say sarcastically.
Kera smacks my arm. “Don’t be an ass!”
“She knows I have a sister. She just doesn’t know that you’re my sister.”
She shoves my shoulder. “You’re such a jokester.”
“I’m being serious right now, Kera. Do you know how hard it is for people to like you for you and not because of your money or family ties and connections? Do you know a freaking football scout, of all people, asked if I was related to you? Like that would be the only reason he would even look at me as a receiver on his team. Not because of my talent on the field. No. It’s because of my stupid family tree.”
She stares at me for a moment. A voice clears, and we pivot to the woman holding three boxes out to my sister. “Thank you,” Kera says to the lady.
“I’ll take you up at the counter whenever you’re ready.”
Kera smiles and walks up to the counter while I storm out of the store.
I hate my name. I hate the ties I have. Why couldn’t we just be a bunch of normal nobodys?
I step into another store and skid to a stop. Jared and my girlfriend are inside the Pans-And-More store.
Where the hell is Rachel? She told me she was going to be with her. Not … my best friend. I walk up to them. “Hey, there, pretty lady.”
Layla startles by a display, and squeaks. “Tyler. What are you … doing here?”
“Had to get a few things. Where’s Rachel?”
She blushes as she drops a few items into a bin in front of her. “There was a group of guys who caught her interest. I ran into Jared here. He was helping me with something.”
I glare at my best friend. “Yeah, and what would that be?”
“How to get Juliet out of the house. We were spitballing some ideas,” Jared answers quickly, a sure sign of guilt.
“Cool. Anything I can help with?”
“Now that you mention it, you could throw a small party before your big house party,” Jared says.
Maybe he was pulling my leg all along. He doesn’t want Juliet. He wants my girlfriend. I have news for him; he can’t have her.
Layla glares at me. “You’re still having that stupid Winter Break party?”
“Of course. I throw it every year. People expect it.”
She stamps her foot while her hand rests on her hip. “And were you planning on telling me about it before now? Or was this like one of those don’t tell anyone we’re a couple kind of party. The kind you won’t even bother inviting me to?”
I rub the back of my neck. How the hell did this get flipped on me so quickly? She’s the one in here shopping with my best friend and not with the person she said she was going to be with. “People know we’re together. Ask any of my friends. Even this one, well may
be not him since he’s obviously trying to scam on you.”
“Whoa. Dude, no. No offense, Layla, but I’m not into you. At all.” Jared narrows his eyes in my direction. “This is ridiculous. It’s two forty-five, I have to go. Good luck.”
He walks out of the store and I turn my attention back on Layla. She frowns. “I can’t believe you would imply that I was cheating on you with Jared. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Oh, and I suppose it’s okay to think I’ll cheat on you?”
“No. I just …”
“Tyler! A little warning next time you’re going to leave,” my sister says.
Layla glares at the two of us. “Right. I’m the one sneaking around. You know what screw you, Tyler. Have a Merry Christmas.” She shoves past me and plows into my sister’s right shoulder before I can even stop her. Son of a bitch!
I give my sister a dirty look.
“Great. Just freaking great,” I snap.
“What is your problem? Who was that girl?” Kera asks as she rubs her arm.
“That was my girlfriend. I say was because I’m pretty sure she just dumped me.”
Kera winces. “I’m sorry. Want me to go fix it?”
“No. I got this.”
Chapter Ten
Layla
I should have punched that asshat right in the throat! Oh, and that cougar he was hanging around with. Oh my God, he ditched all of this for some ugly thirty-year-old. With fake blond hair. Yeah, her roots were showing big time, I can totally tell she bleached that shit.
I pull out Juliet’s phone and curse. I don’t have Rachel’s number in here. Damn it!
“Layla!” I hear his deep voice, and it melts my soul. I won’t turn around though. I won’t do it.
“Layla!” His skin caresses mine. I know I should just pull away, or turn around and kick him in his balls.
Instead, I blink back tears and face him. “What could you possibly want, Tyler? For me to say the final words? Fine. It’s over. There. Now you don’t have to look like a jackass. Even though you are one.”
“I’m a jackass for assuming you were with my friend, yes, but not for Kera. At least not how you think. That’s my sister, Layla.” His thumb swipes under my eye, and he kisses my forehead. “I have never been so pissed off at one of my friends before that I wanted to physically hurt them. Until just then.”
I let my gaze meet his. “Jared was helping me shop. I swear.”
He nods. “Okay. I’m sorry, then, for jumping to conclusions. I’ve been burned before and it’s not cool.”
I agree it totes sucks but I’m not like that.
Strangers with packages pass us by. When a guy bumps into my shoulder, Tyler growls, “Hey, you forgot to say ‘excuse me’ when you plowed into my girlfriend, asshole!”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. Really.”
“I mean unless you aren’t my girlfriend?”
“I don’t know, Richardson. Are you going to accuse me of hooking up with Austin next?” I question him with a raised brow.
“Uh no. I know you have more sense than that. Austin is cool, but he doesn’t have skills like me.”
“Wow. Cocky much?”
He smirks. “Nope. Not at all.” He rocks on his heels and says, “So, do you want to come with me and officially meet my sister?”
“I guess. She probably thinks I’m cray-cray.”
Tyler laughs. “It’s okay. You and I both looked cray-cray. They’ll probably ban us from that store forever.”
I hope not. I need to get some stuff in there.
His sister is still in the Pans-And-More store.
Maybe I shouldn’t do this. I mean hello, I completely made a huge fool out of myself in front of her. Even though Tyler keeps insisting I have nothing to worry about, I think he’s dead wrong. He doesn’t know how girls can truly be.
Yeah, I don’t have any brothers, but trust me I have friends who do, and they rag or bad mouth about the girlfriend all the time. Unless they really really like the girlfriend, which is rare.
Tyler walks up to the blond and taps on her shoulder. She turns around and smiles at me. “You must be Layla.” Then she wraps her arms around me.
Um … what?
“Yes. You must be …” Oh my God, what the hell did Tyler say her name was? Kerri, Krystal, Karen. Oh my God. I don’t remember.
“Kera,” Tyler whispers so faintly by my ear.
“Kera!” I shout. Why? I don’t know. I’m super nervous. The look she’s giving me is a cross between possibly amused or confused I’m not sure.
“Yep,” she says. Her eyes roam the area we’re in. “Do you bake?”
I shake my head. I’m not about to tell her baking requires reading well and well, I suck at it. Not because I’m a moron, I’m just dyslexic. There’s also the fact I don’t like to talk about my little handicap.
“Neither do I,” Kera says.
“Yeah, if this one is in the kitchen you better run because she’ll either burn the place down, give you food poisoning, or it will be so inedible even a dog wouldn’t eat it,” Tyler pipes in.
I’m not going to laugh because I screwed up baking many things, muffins, cookies, and brownies. Juliet cut me off from helping her bake anything. I’m allowed to ice things like cakes, brownies, or cookies and that’s it.
“Well, we all can’t be perfect,” Kera quips. “I never gave him food poisoning or burnt a kitchen down. I do manage to burn a lot of things though. Pancakes, biscuits, and one-time mac and cheese. But according to this one, I tried to kill him when he came to visit me in New York.”
“That’s because she did. I had to take over in the kitchen. She’s way worse than your mom. In fact, you two should write a cookbook together called ‘All the meals that we can’t cook’.”
Kera gasp. “That’s so freaking rude, Tyler. Talking about her mom like that. What’s wrong with you?” She moves over to the section of oven mitts all on display.
“Oh, no. It’s completely fine. My mom really does suck at cooking. My sister Juliet is amazing.”
Tyler clears his throat, as if to indicate he’s also here and is equally amazing.
“Tyler is pretty awesome too. Have you ever had his roast before?” I ask.
Kera glances back at us. “Can’t say that I have.”
As she marches on, Tyler pulls me aside toward a display of pots. “Hey, uh, I know you said Rachel ditched you. Does that mean you can’t get ahold of her because you have your sister’s phone?”
I wince. “Yeah.”
“That reaction right there basically tells me you’re aware of what you’ve done. I just need to know for one, did you do it on purpose? And the second thing I need to know is, did you tell Juliet what you did?”
“I didn’t mean to. I meant to delete them. Mark seriously blew up her phone with all this crap. I was just trying to help her out and I clicked on the wrong button. She knows though. I sent it to all her contacts, including myself. I didn’t think it would have reached you though. She doesn’t even have your phone number in here. It’s not like … Oh, Crap! I sent those texts and videos to my mom. Juliet is going to murder me.”
Tyler and I move to the aisle with table settings while he says, “Yeah. Juliet called. I thought it was you. She was really upset, but look, I can fix this. You just have to play along.”
“Play along? What do you plan on doing?”
“I’m going to say that Juliet gave you her phone to hold on to. She was sick of hearing it go off every second with inexcusable apologies. While we were hanging out, I said I would help make the problem go away.”
“So … you’re going to tell everyone you sent it out?”
“Yes. People won’t give me any crap about it. I’ll simply say, when I saw Mark breakdown on his teary video, I couldn’t help myself. I felt like everyone needed to see it. So, I shared and sent to everyone I knew. Done deal.”
“But …” I run my hand over a white linen cloth and glance over at him.<
br />
He smiles. “Juliet won’t be labeled as a heartless person with an ax to grind. People already know I will prank people all day long. They also know I love making fun of people. It’s my style.”
I wrap my arms around him and hug him tight. “Thank you!”
“Anything for you, babe.”
He pulls back and kisses my forehead right as a throat clears. “Ty, I was wondering if I can borrow her for a moment or two?” Kera asks.
His expression is unreadable. “It’s up to you.”
Up to me? Wow. Way to really make me look like a jerk if I refuse. I swallow hard. “Sure.” Even though I really don’t want to go with her.
“Great.” She links our arms and pulls me in the opposite direction of Tyler. Her floral perfume all but strangles me. I glance back at Tyler and he’s scrubbing his hand down his face. Is this a sign that I should have said no? He could have told me. Nudged me, something. What the hell? When I look over at his sister, she winks at me. “Tyler’s never brought a girl home. Not one we were all aware he was dating at least. So, call me nosy.”
Does she seriously want me to call her that? Wait, he never introduced any other girls he’s dated to his family? I want to blush and puke at the same time. My skin feels so hot like I’m burning up. What if I really screw this up?
“Girl to girl, you scared the hell out of me a moment ago. I’m surprised you didn’t tear my hair out of my head.” I must look confused or something because she starts elaborating. “Because of the look on your face when you thought he and I were together. It’s nice to know you really care about him and aren’t using him.” She eyes me up as we pause near a selection of magnets. “You aren’t using my brother, are you?”
“Using him? No. What would I use him for?”
“To get to me. Look you’re adorable. But I don’t pick who will cast the characters in the movies.”
What the heck is she talking about? Did his sister escape from the looney bin and if so why the hell did my boyfriend leave me alone with her. “Um … I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I should leave.” I start to untangle myself from her and she laughs. Like literally laughs. What the flip!
Right Gift Wrong Day: A Right Text Wrong Number Novella (Offsides) Page 4