Maybe not, but I did know one thing; if the argument he and Dixie had last night wasn’t about me, today’s sure as hell was and there was something truly satisfying about that.
Chapter 8
The kids that didn’t belong to Dana hadn’t been around in a few days. The quiet was nice at first, but now I was bored.
Russ worked out in the yard while Bit, Shelby, and I cleaned the house.
“I bet you don’t have to clean at your house,” Shelby whined to me.
“I clean at home.”
“But you have a maid, don’t you?” her tone slightly accusatory.
We had two maids, and a cook, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “Yeah, but not the kind that makes my bed for me and stuff,” I defended. I had friends in Malibu who had never made their own beds. Ever.
My dad once told me that teaching me to be self-sufficient would be the greatest gift he could ever give me. I didn’t know about that, but I could certainly take care of myself if it came down to it.
“I do my own laundry, and all that, too,” I said.
Shelby shrugged, “If I had a maid, I wouldn’t wash a damn thing.”
Bit laughed, “You hardly wash anything now.”
“I only like to do fun things, and this cleaning bullshit is not fun,” Shelby frowned, sitting cross-legged on the floor, waist-deep in the laundry she was sorting.
“Still has to be done,” Bit said.
“Still has to be done,” Shelby mimicked.
Bit looked at me and smirked, “You’d think I was the older sister.”
“Whatever, Bitty! We all know it has to be done. I’m just sayin’ that if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be doin’ this shit.”
“Neither would I,” Bit defended.
“As soon as we’re done, and I do mean the instant; I’m hittin’ the pool,” Shelby stated.
“Could I come, too?” I asked without thinking. Shelby and Bit exchanged a quick look and then Shelby smiled sort of mischievously and said, “Definitely. You should definitely come.” I normally wouldn’t have invited myself, but I was ready to get out of the house.
“So, what’s goin’ on with you and Mason?” Shelby asked, eyebrows lifted.
“Nothing.”
“Um, excuse me, but spendin’ the night in your room together ain’t nothin’,” she gasped.
“He slept in the chair. It truly was nothing,” I said, a tad regretful.
“Still got way under Dixie’s skin though,” Bit piped in.
Good, I thought. I’d meant for it to.
“But you like him, right?” Shelby asked.
“Doesn’t matter. He has a girlfriend.”
“Who—Dixie?” Shelby laughed. “No way. They broke up a while ago.”
“Yeah, a few weeks before you got here,” Bit added. That was surprising in light of Dixie’s acute possessiveness of him.
“But they’re still together all the time,” I said.
“That’s because we’re all friends,” Bit said. “They hang out, out of habit.”
“Habit’s ass,” Shelby smirked. “Dixie wants him back. It’s why she’s such a bitch to you. He likes you, I can tell. And if I can tell, so can she.”
The buzzer on the dryer went off and broke up our conversation, changing the subject to who was going to fold the load of towels.
“Let’s flip for it,” Shelby said to me.
“I’ll do it; I don’t mind,” I said.
“She’s got a two-headed coin anyway,” Bitty said. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised.
Once the cleaning was done, we got into our bathing suits, grabbed some towels, and went out the back door.
“Russ!” Shelby called. “We’re goin’ swimmin’. I’m takin’ dad’s truck.” He waved, and we climbed in an older model red and white Chevy pickup and drove to a neighborhood about twenty minutes away. Shelby parked in front of a two-story white brick house at the end of a cul-de-sac. We got out of the truck, and I followed her and Bit down the steep asphalt driveway to the backyard.
Logan, Cody, and Mason were at the far end of the pool playing basketball. My gut dropped when I saw Mason. Then it hit me; this was Mason’s house. That explained the look Bit and Shelby had exchanged earlier. The two of them walked over to talk to the boys. I didn’t.
The pool was a nice in-ground surrounded by a few wicker lounge chairs. I spread my towel across one and lay down, enjoying the sting of the sun soaking into my skin. I was so relaxed that I was close to dozing off when I felt shade on my face. I opened my eyes. Mason bent down beside my chair and smiled when I didn’t say anything.
“Are you giving me the silent treatment?” he asked.
“No, I just didn’t want to make everything all about me.”
He laughed, “So, that bothered you, huh?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Isn’t that why you said it?”
“Cali girl, you’ve got to get tougher skin.”
“Why do you call me that? Why can’t you call me Kat like everybody else?”
“What’s wrong with Cali girl? You’re a girl from California,” he stated, matter-of-fact.
“Would you like it if I called you Bayou boy?”
Mason chuckled, “Bayou Boy? It is catchy though, sorta like Spiderman, or The Green Lantern.” I rolled my eyes. It was nothing like either of those.
“Alright, alright, Kat it is,” Mason conceded, hands in the air, a beautiful smile on his lips. I smiled back at him. It was hard not to. Suddenly, a wave of water so cold it took my breath splashed across my face and chest.
“You two looked like you needed some coolin’ off.” Dixie stood beside us twirling an empty bucket with a satisfied look on her face.
“Dixie, I swear!” Mason threatened. He’d gotten soaked, too.
“You swear what, Mason?” Dixie glared, still twirling the empty bucket as if daring him to make good on his threat. “You’re at my house hitting on another girl!” Her house. I never would have come if Bit and Shelby had told me they were going to Dixie’s.
“Crazy shit like this is why we broke up. And if you keep it up, it’ll be why we’re not friends anymore, too.”
“I don’t want to be your friend, Mason—you know that!”
“We’re done, Dix. We. Are. Not. Getting. Back. Together. Period!”
“Because of that bitch!” Dixie screeched, pointing at me.
Mason held his hand out for me. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” he said in a softer tone than he’d used with Dixie.
I got up without a word and wrapped my towel around me, using the end to dab water from my face as I followed Mason to the driveway. Bit and Shelby were right behind us.
“You’re leaving with her! Really, Mason! Super classy, asshole,” Dixie shouted. “Fine, whatever! Have fun with your California slut!” she called and slung the empty bucket, missing us by a mile.
“Are you okay?” Bit gasped. Physically, I was fine, but fuming mad.
“That was pretty messed up,” Shelby added. “She’s crazier than I thought.”
“I’ll drive Kat back to your house,” Mason told them. “I know it was a bitch thing for her to do, but y’all know Dixie—” “We’ll stay with her,” Shelby cut in.
“Are you okay with that?” Bit asked me. I shrugged, expressing that I didn’t care. I was going to be pissed off either way.
“We’ll see you later then,” Bit said, and she and Shelby went back to Dixie, who was still ranting about me.
Since she’d attacked me, Mason’s claim that he and Dixie weren’t fighting about me that night at the Broussard’s didn’t hold much water anymore, literally.
Furious, I asked, “So, are you sticking with your story that you and Dixie weren’t arguing about me the other night?”
“C’mon, let’s go before she starts round two,” Mason said, ignoring my question, picking up the pace.
“I’m not a slut,” I spit.
“I know,” he said, without stopping. “She’s jus
t ventin’. She said it to hurt you.”
I frowned. “Why are you letting her get away with being such a jackass?”
“Why did you tell her you and I slept together?” He cut his eyes at me.
“I did not tell her that!”
“But you insinuated it.”
I decided not to argue with him because it was true. I had insinuated that we’d slept together, and I’d done it for the same reason Dixie had called me a slut.
“She deserved it!” I barked. “She’s been giving me shit from the start, and I haven’t done anything to her.”
Mason stopped walking and looked at me; he released a loud breath, and then took my hand in his. I imagined he’d done it to distract me, to shut me up. And it had, for the three-point-five seconds before I spotted his truck in a neighboring driveway. I didn’t even get a chance to feel him holding my hand.
“You live next door,” I gasped.
“Not exactly next door,” he said. Technically, there was one house separating theirs.
“Could this get any better?” I complained.
“It’s not a big deal. I see Dixie more at the Broussard’s than anywhere else.”
“Fantastic,” I mumbled. My mortal enemy’s headquarters was in the place where I slept.
Mason let go of my hand then climbed inside his truck. He pulled down the visor on the driver’s side and pushed a button to open the garage door.
The garage was eerily organized. Everything was clean and in its place. There was a motorcycle and two four-wheelers parked on one side and some kind of car hidden beneath a blue tarp on the other.
“I have to get my keys,” Mason said. “You can come in if you want.” I sure as hell wasn’t waiting outside alone with a wild animal on the loose.
Mason took a gray sleeveless shirt from the cab of the truck before shutting the door.
“So, are you going to ignore all of my questions?” I asked.
“No,” he answered simply, pulling the shirt over his head and then walking inside the garage. I stood in place, watching him. He turned around and looked at me for a moment, and then leaned against a piece of empty wall.
“The truth about Dixie is I should never have gotten involved with her,” Mason said. “We were friends—have been since we were kids—all of us have. And then one night she and I became more than friends, and once you cross that line…”
“You can’t uncross it,” I muttered, finishing his sentence.
“It’s my fault Dixie’s bein’ a dick. I knew how serious she was about me. I could feel it, and instead of ending things with her, I let it go on. I never felt for her what she feels for me and realizin’ somebody you love doesn’t love you back hurts like hell.”
“You can’t help how you feel—or how you don’t,” I breathed.
“I know; I still hate that I hurt my friend, and I hate what it’s doin’ to everyone else. We’ve always been a group, and now the two of us can’t be in the same place without a blow-up. It’s gotten worse since you got here. It’s hard for her to see me with you.”
I gazed at Mason until his eyes met mine. “The other night, when Dixie and I fought, she said she’d seen the way I looked at you when we met, and she knew…”
I didn’t know how it happened, but Mason’s hand was in my hair. My scalp tingled itself numb beneath his fingers. “She doesn’t want me to get involved with you,” he breathed, pulling me slightly closer to him. “But I can’t let her dictate the rest of my life,” he whispered.
The way he looked at me made my knees weak, my skin flush. I felt like such a girl. I’d dated, had boyfriends and all that, but I’d never felt this strongly attracted to any of them. I’d never been so drawn to a boy before, as if a part of me needed him somehow.
Staring at Mason’s mouth, I became hypnotized, imagining what a good kisser he must have been. Without thinking, I leaned in closer. He tilted his chin down and rested his forehead against mine, his hand moved from my hair to my cheek. “Not yet, okay,” he murmured.
Mortified, my face instantly reddened; the heat burned my cheeks, creating an image of one of those old stove eyes on high in my head—coiled up and beaming red. But in my defense, Mason had made the first move by putting his hand in my hair.
I opened my mouth to say something—anything, but no words came. Mason smiled at me, and it only made me want to kiss him more. Until I heard Bit’s voice in my head, he leads her on. I wondered if this was the kind of leading on Bit had talked about. No wonder Dixie was going nuts. My head was spinning; my heart pounded in my ears.
Mason opened the door to the house and held it open for me. “I think I’ll wait out here,” I said, irritated. He shut the door and stared at me, an amused grin on his lips.
“What?” I grumbled.
“Are you mad?” he chuckled. “You’re mad,” he declared, not letting me answer.
“No, I’m not,” I huffed.
“Well, then what the hell’s happenin’ here?”
“Something I heard the other night just clicked in my head, and now I feel a little dumb; that’s all.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Oh,” Mason nodded. “So, spit it out—what’d you hear?”
“That you like to play games.”
“Seems you’re playin’ one right now.”
“How am I playing a game?” I shrieked.
“By bringin’ up he said—she said bullshit. If you wanna know somethin’ about me, I’m an open book, Cali girl, just ask.”
I regretted saying anything. It seemed doing so was about to bite me in the ass and possibly squash my relationship with Mason before it even began.
“Fine!” I snapped, but fumbled over the words in my head. I couldn’t figure out how to ask him why he hadn’t kissed me without feeling like a complete loser, so instead I opted to apologize for making a big deal out of something I should never have brought up in the first place.
Mason’s expression softened; he leaned in close. The scent on his shirt was woodsy and slightly flowery and possibly held the power to incapacitate me. “I want to kiss you,” he breathed; his eyes focused deeply on mine. “And I will,” he finished.
Mason took my hand, this time intertwining our fingers. I liked how it felt, exciting and comforting at the same time. “Now, come inside with me, please,” he said. And I did.
Chapter 9
Mason’s house was quiet and slightly smelled of mulberry potpourri. The only sound came from a simple mantle clock in the living room. It ticked faintly as the minute hand circled the antique brass face.
I glimpsed an old family photo on the wall. Mason looked about thirteen. He had braces, and a spiked haircut gelled neatly into place. He favored both of his parents, but looked mostly like his father. “Hey, no lookin’ at embarrassing pictures. Keep it movin’,” he said, pulling me to the kitchen.
The renovated kitchen wasn’t nearly as dreary as the living room. It had black cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and beautiful taupe-gray granite countertops and was open to a small family room with brown suede furniture—two recliners, and a sofa. A large entertainment center in the same finish as the kitchen cabinets sat against the back wall.
“That picture was cute,” I protested.
Mason smirked.
“I am surprised you got all that gel out of your hair though.”
“Oh, she’s got jokes,” he gasped.
I laughed at his tone.
Mason opened the refrigerator and pulled out a plastic pitcher of sweet tea with lemon wedges floating inside. He removed the lid and put it to his mouth, gulping down several large swallows. When he finished, he was almost out of breath.
“Want some?” he asked, holding the pitcher out for me.
I shook my head no.
“Oh, I see,” he grinned. “You can’t drink after me, but you’d be fine if I kissed you right now. Which is funny, because it’s sorta the same thing if you think about it.” I willed myself not to turn red. “How is
that?”
“Either way, you’d end up with my spit in your mouth.”
I smirked. “Give it,” I said, snatching the pitcher from his hands and turning it up.
He applauded. “Cali girl has got some moxie! I like it.”
I handed the pitcher back to Mason and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“I thought we decided you were going to call me Kat,” I said.
“We did,” he grinned. “What we didn’t decide is that I would stop callin’ you Cali girl.” Of course.
Mason returned the pitcher of tea to his mouth and drank some more. I slid myself onto the island countertop and watched him.
“Are you an only child?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess. I had a brother who died before I was born. He was a baby; my parents still aren’t totally over it.”
“They probably won’t ever be totally over it,” I blurted.
“Yeah, but…” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “They mourn him twice a year—the day he was born, and the day he died—like it just happened. It was twenty-one years ago. I mean, I have no idea what it’s like to make a human being and have it die, but the way they handle it makes it hard for me. It’s why I don’t stay home much—a couple more months, and I’ll be out of here altogether.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, slightly panicked.
“College, Cali gi—Kat,” he corrected.
“Are you going to LSU?”
“Did the hat give it away?” he teased.
“Maybe,” I smiled.
“What’ll you be doin’ this fall?” he asked.
I felt sick for a moment because I had no idea where I would be living in the fall, much less what I would be doing, and I guess it showed in my expression.
“Hey, you okay?” Mason asked.
“Yeah, fine. I’m still thinking it over. UCLA, maybe.”
“Maybe? I didn’t take you for the procrastinatin’ type, Cali girl. Fall’ll be here before you know it.”
“Yeah, I know.” I exhaled until my lungs were empty then sucked in another breath. Mason watched me. I wondered how much he knew about me. No one had asked me why I was in Slidell, or how long I was staying or anything else for that matter. I was sure Marion told Dana; I just wasn’t sure Dana told anyone.
Two Thousand Miles Page 4