I watched as the school slowly disappeared into the trees, closing a chapter on the day. With a heavy sigh, I felt like for the first time today I could finally sit back and breathe a little. I settled into my seat as Austin concentrated on the road, also seeming relaxed.
With Josh far in the distance, I had a chance to clear my mind.
I broke the silence by trying to make small talk. “How was your summer?”
“It was alright I guess, uneventful. Well,” he paused looking over to me, “with the exception of one little incident.” I knew what he meant, the Anderson’s. “I really didn’t do much. Just worked a lot. It seems all I do these days is work.”
“At least you have a job. I spent the entire summer looking for one. There’s not much out there.”
“You need a job? I can get you one.”
“Really?” My eyes went wide with hope.
“Yeah, there’s an opening at the pizza parlor where I work. We just had a guy quit a few days ago. My boss put an ad in the paper yesterday.”
“Where do you work?”
“Have you been to Jim’s Pizza?”
“Um, hello! Don’t you remember? We always went there when we were younger.”
Taking a second to think about it, he responded, “Oh yeah, I remember! You use to tease me about not liking pepperoni and only liking cheese on my pizza. You called me plain Austin.”
“That’s right,” I giggled. “We had fun back then, didn’t we?”
“Yes we did.” There was a sparkle of laughter in his eyes. Looking at each other, it almost seemed like his expression had a hidden meaning. He looked back to the road. “But really, if you want a job I can put in a good word for you.”
“Wow, thank you. You don’t know how much I need a job. Well, maybe you do,” I chuckled softly to myself. “You just saw my car, right? So you can see how badly I need a job.”
“Just come by later, sometime after five, and I’ll get you an application and introduce you to the owner. He’s really a nice guy and a great person to work for. His name is Jim.”
“Great, I will!”
We turned onto my street. I was surprised that Austin still remembered where I lived. It had been years, but he had no trouble finding his way back.
As Austin pulled into the driveway, I turned to him. “Thank you again for the ride home.”
“You’re welcome,” he said tenderly.
“And thank you for putting in a good word for me.”
“No problem. I’m sure you’ll get it. My boss tends to listen to me about who we should hire, so don’t be nervous when you come.”
“Okay, I won’t. See you in a bit.”
Stepping out of the truck, I waited until Austin pulled away before going inside. The next couple of hours were nice and quiet. My dad came home around five every night and my brother had plans to go to Jessie’s house after school. So I had the entire house to myself.
After finishing the homework that a couple of my teachers decided to give us, I took my time getting ready before heading to the job interview. Plus, I had to wait until my father got home so I could borrow his truck.
It was five-fifteen and I was at the computer printing out my resume when Becka IM’d me.
Queen4ever: Bre, are you there?
I waited until the final page passed through the printer before I responded to her.
Bgirl: Yeah. What’s up?
Queen4ever: What’s up? Trouble! That’s what’s up. What are you doing? I need to come over right now.
Bgirl: Trouble? What are you talking about? I’m getting ready for a job interview in a few minutes. What’s going on?
Queen4ever: I need to talk to you in person. When will you be home?
Bgirl: Give me an hour. I’ll call you when I get back.
Queen4ever: Okay.
And she signed off.
Walking out to the front room, I heard the door open. My dad stepped into the house and moaned.
“Hey, Dad.”
He turned and looked at me, his tired eyes blinking a few times.
“Oh, hi honey,” he yawned. He placed his hands on his back, pushing his chest out to stretch his muscles. “How was your first day of school?” He dropped his hands heading for the couch. He was covered in black grease from head to toe. The smell of tires, gas fumes and damp musty clothes filled the room.
“It was a first day of school,” I replied vaguely.
“You look nice. Are you going somewhere?” he sat down and began to untie his boots.
“I’m going to a job interview.”
“Oh, that’s good.” He pulled one boot off and then the other, placing them on the ground next to him and sat back on the couch.
“So…can I borrow your truck?”
“Why, what’s wrong with your car? Is it acting up again?”
“It wouldn’t start at school, so I left it there and got a ride from a friend.”
He sighed, rubbing his eyes. He looked exhausted and it took him a moment to respond. He stood slowly, talking as he went into the kitchen. “Sure. How long will you be gone?”
“Probably an hour. It’s here in town at the pizza place.”
He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. Twisting the cap off, he took a long refreshing drink. “You mean old Jim Daly’s pizza restaurant?”
He sounded pleased with my attempt to stay in town.
“I think that’s what Austin said his name was.”
He started to take another drink when he stopped the bottle from reaching his mouth. “Austin? Austin James? The boy you used to have a little crush on when you were younger?”
“Dad, I never had a crush on him. We were just friends.”
“Whatever you say, dear.” He threw me a look. “I thought the two of you lost touch.”
“We did. But we’re talking again. He’s the one that told me about the job.”
“That’s nice. Good luck. Oh and when you get home, I’ll take you to go get your car with the work truck.”
“Okay.” I grabbed my purse and headed out.
It only took five minutes to get to Jim’s Pizza. No matter where you lived in Rogue River, you could guarantee that your drive time from point A to point B would take no more than one song on the radio. If you had major shopping to do, you had to drive to Grants Pass or Medford. A job opening so close to home was a dream come true.
I sat in front of the restaurant for a moment, trying to settle my nerves. The restaurant was brightly lit and almost every table was filled. A shorter man was talking to a group of people at one of the tables, and I wondered if it was Jim. I watched as they talked for another minute. Before the man walked away, he laughed, tapping one of the guys on the shoulder, and went to the next table. I decided I had waited long enough.
The place was nice and warm and the atmosphere was inviting. Not like your typical pizza shop. A fireplace was at the back end of the restaurant and the walls were made of large log rounds. It felt very homey and reminded me of a log cabin. It was different than I remembered.
Austin was at the cash register, taking someone’s order. When he saw me, he waved. “Hey, I’ll be right there.”
“Well, well, you must be Breanna!” The man in the window walked up to me. “I’m Jim.” He introduced himself, holding his hand out for me to shake.
“Hi. It’s nice to meet you!” I smiled.
He smiled back and led me to an empty table.
Austin was right about Jim. He was a very nice man who took extreme pride in his restaurant. He was only a few inches taller than me, balding with gray hair, black mustache, and round in the middle. I had imagined him perfectly. Not because Austin told me, but because I had pictured a pizza restaurateur who looked like a short Italian with a big heart and a passion for food.
The interview didn’t seem like an interview at all. It was more like sitting down with my grandfather, having a detailed conversation about my accomplishments and what type of person I was. Aust
in came over after finishing up and listened in. I could see why Jim was successful in this tiny little restaurant. He had a way with people. He made everyone who came through the door feel welcome.
At the end, Jim didn’t waste any time asking if I could start work tomorrow. Enthusiastically, I accepted. I heard my dad in my head saying, everything happens for a reason. We just have to be patient in life and the right things will come our way.
Saying a quick thank you to Austin, he stopped me before I was out the door. “Bre, since your car isn’t working right now, want me to pick you up for school tomorrow?”
“That would be great!”
“Good. I’ll see you then.”
I drove home in a state of giddy and delight. Turning the engine off and stepping out of the truck, I was taken off-guard by Becka running up to me.
“Bre! Finally! Do you even know how long an hour seems when you have something important to tell someone?”
I was so excited about my new job that I completely forgot she had something to tell me.
When I saw the look on her face I became wary. “What is it, Beck?”
She grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the house as she spoke rapidly. “This is big, terribly big, huge! Something that again I am so, so, so, very extremely and utterly sorry for.”
I fidgeted. Her worried expression was making me nervous. “Alright, go on.”
“Well…word got out about you and your imaginary baby, and I don’t know who, but someone told Megan Turner.”
“Megan!” I grabbed both sides of Becka’s arms.
“Uh huh…that’s what I needed to tell you at the school. But it gets worse.”
I braced myself, dropping my hands to my sides. “Josh knows about the rumor.”
“Josh knows?” Composing myself, I realized this wasn’t as bad as Beck was making it out to be. I mean, Josh knew we hadn’t had sex. “We haven’t done anything. Maybe he’ll stop it.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” She looked down at the ground.
I bent down a little so she would look into my eyes. “What do you mean, ‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that’?”
“Um…Megan told him about it after school, and when Josh saw you and Austin getting into his car…well…”
“No!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could doing such a good deed like saving someone’s life get so tangled up like this?
“Josh is convinced now that it’s Austin’s baby.”
“WHAT!” I gasped.
“I tried to convince him that it wasn’t true, but Katie was there and told him that I was the one who told her about it. So of course he wasn’t going to believe me. Bre, I’m so sorry,” she pleaded, looking at the ground again and shuffling her feet.
“It’s okay. You didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“How can you be so nice about this? I was the one who started this mess. You should be telling me to go away and never come back!” she stammered.
“I could never do that no matter what you did. You’ll always be my best friend.”
I hugged her in a big bear hug.
“This is too big now. It’s not like we can go back and tell one or two people something else. Too many people know. Maybe you should just tell everyone the truth about the Andersons.”
“I can’t do that. You know I can’t.” I pulled away from her.
“Why not? You’d be a hero.”
As bad as I wanted to squash this terrible rumor, I knew deep down that I couldn’t disclose the truth. I had to keep this to myself.
“No, this can never get out. I guess I’ll have to deal with it, try to fix it, somehow.”
“That’s all good for you, but I think you’re forgetting something,” Becka added.
I knit my brow together. “What am I forgetting?”
“Duh, about the other person involved.” Becka raised her eyebrows, like I should’ve already known this.
Like a flood rushing in, it dawned on me. “Right. Austin.”
That night I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Austin and what he was going to say when I told him about the mess brewing around the two of us. Would this change our renewed friendship? Would he tell his boss not to hire me now? But more importantly, I was afraid for him. What would Josh do to him if he thought we had been messing around?
The howling wind pounding on the side of the house didn’t help my attempts to fall asleep. Every tap of the tree branch outside my window etched another fear of what the next day would bring. I found myself praying for the flu, or a cold, or something to get me out of facing everyone tomorrow. Disappointingly, in the morning, I felt fine. There was no way out of this one.
Even with the little sleep I got and the many disturbing thoughts circling around my head, there was one positive aspect to the long night. Collin. I had another dream about him and tried to remember it when I woke. For the couple hours of sleep I snuck in, I was filled with the comfort of him. The strange yet familiar person that with every encounter felt more real to me. It made me question the possibility of the impossible. His features were becoming more vivid, as if I had seen him thousands of times throughout my life. I knew every part of him, every inch of his strong perfect form. The more I saw him - even only in my dreams - the more exceedingly gorgeous he became to me. Everything about him had been intensified. As crazy as it sounds, I was falling in love with him, this perfect stranger from my dreams. Every time I woke up, I found myself praying he was real, and not just a phantom of my imagination.
His beautiful, ice blue eyes shined out behind his black eye lashes. His dark hair contrasted against his ivory skin, his lips full and inviting. Just thinking about him made my chest tighten, knowing I couldn’t be near him.
I longed to be in his embrace, in his arms for the rest of my life. I clung to my dream-state as long as I could, desperate to stay with Collin in this perfect world, but the buzzing sound of my alarm clock dragged me back to reluctant wakefulness.
The closer the time came for Austin to pick me up for school, the further Collin was pushed back. I had to prepare for the upcoming confrontation.
By the time Austin's truck rumbled up my driveway, my stomach was churning. But it was when the engine cut off that my nerves really flared up. I felt like I was standing at the ocean’s edge, watching a fifty-foot wave about to devour me. I tried to sit still on the couch but couldn’t. I fidgeted with the house keys in my hands and stared at the front door. When I heard him walk up onto the porch, my muscles tightened, and I shot to my feet as a light knock hit the dark wood separating us from seeing each other. It took me a minute to walk over, my body not in sync with my legs. He knocked again. My hand folded over the handle. Here we go, I thought, as I cracked it open. Austin’s bright smile was the first thing I noticed and I had a sinking feeling this was going to be much worse than I thought.
“Morning,” he greeted, taking hold of my backpack from my shoulder.
“Morning.” I couldn’t look at him.
“You alright? You sick or something?”
“No, I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”
I wish I was sick.
“That sucks. The wind was pretty loud last night. I was even having trouble falling asleep.”
“Austin…before we go to school, I have to tell you something,” I sputtered.
He looked concerned, but he didn’t ask questions. I closed the door behind me and led him over to the porch swing and stared at my lap.
“There’s a big rumor going around school, and it involves you and me.”
“Rumors, let me guess, Josh is the one behind it?”
“No, but he’s really upset.” I paused. “It doesn’t look good for you.” I glanced at him.
He placed his hand on my shoulder and I stiffened, not knowing if he would be understanding or furious.
He noticed my tension and softly spoke, “Bre, like I told you before, I’m not afraid of Josh. I can handle him. Now what
’s the rumor?”
“I know you said that, but…” taking a deep breath I exhaled. “Here we go…everyone thinks I’m pregnant…and Josh thinks you’re involved.”
Austin’s smile melted away, taking in what I had just said. He looked down at the ground, his face blank. I’m sure many emotions were running through his mind. I had no choice but to sit and nervously await his response.
He asked quietly, “How did all of this start?”
“It was Becka. When I disappeared the night of the Anderson’s, I told her she couldn’t tell anyone where I was and what I had done. When she was cornered by someone wanting to know what happened, she made up a story. She told one of our friends that I was upset because I thought I might be pregnant. Granted, she admits now that any other story would have been better, but at the time she couldn’t think of anything else. Your name wasn’t even mentioned. But when Josh heard, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was you. You know how rumors are, the whole school knows. I’m so sorry. Somehow I’ll fix this. If you don’t want to take me to school, I’ll understand. I can find another way to get there.”
“Bre, don’t be ridiculous! I know this wasn’t your fault. And who cares what people think.” Pausing, he started to laugh. “Actually, I find this kind of funny!”
Awaken (Awaken Series Book 1) Page 12