Tori was the life of the party, the one the guys talked about, the girl that people gravitated toward. I was the person who cleaned up messes in the kitchen while Tori was doing keg stands and getting piggyback rides. Tori was the first girl who’d really captured Keane’s attention. When I’d wanted him to look at me, he was looking at her.
Again, my feelings weren’t Tori’s fault. I’d need to put on a brave face, to play it cool.
Pulling the tube of lipstick out of my purse, I flipped the visor down. I never wore bold colors, but for some reason I felt the need to wear this one—to stand out.
As I stared at my lips in the mirror, I wondered if this was even worth it. If I had to wear lipstick to get a guy to notice me when Tori was around, what did that say about me? Or the guy?
Violet was already out of the car and striding toward the cabin, her hands laden with grocery bags; completely oblivious to the turmoil in my head. After seeing her with blonde hair for the last nearly two weeks, it was oddly jarring to see her with a hair color that was more natural, more her. The dark color suited her, but it had been unexpected when I’d picked her up an hour earlier. I was impressed that Keane had managed to find the correct shade of brown in a sea of color at the drugstore. Touched, too, that he’d done that for her.
I watched as Keane introduced her to Tori, watched them share a laugh. Things were so easy when Tori was around, so why couldn’t I get over what bugged me and be carefree and fun, too? Like I had been, before life got really complicated.
I got out of the car and grabbed the remaining bags from the backseat. Taking in deep, calming breaths, I carried the bags toward the cabin.
“Hey, Navy,” Tori said from where she sat on the brand-new decking.
A large shadow filled the doorway and Keane jumped from the door clear down to the grass. “There you are,” he said to me, like he’d been waiting for me for a lifetime. He took long strides toward me before scooping me up in a big, Keane-sized hug. He literally and figuratively took my breath away.
He swung me in a circle, and I lost the bags as I laughed, sending them scattering across the grass. In his arms, I was weightless; free of worry, free of fear. I could easily stay like this forever.
As he lowered me back to the ground, his hold only loosened slightly as he grinned down at me. The corner of his eyes creased, and his smile was so incredibly illuminating—lighting up his whole face.
I realized then that there was very little I wouldn’t do to have him smile at me like that again and again. “Missed you,” he said, his voice deep and warm.
Oh, why hadn’t I reached out to him sooner? I didn’t realize how badly I needed him until I had him again, like the weight of the world was not so heavy just being in his presence. I cradled his jaw, just needing to look up him a moment longer.
Tori whistled from behind Keane, breaking our attention. “Geez. How come I didn’t get a welcome like that?”
“Because you’re not Navy.” He smiled down at me. “Hope there was nothing breakable in those bags,” he said, a little too late.
“I don’t think so. Just some chips, dip. Violet had the good stuff in hers.”
“Good.” He let go of me and moved to pick up the bags, leaving me facing Tori alone.
“Is this deck new?” I asked partly because I was curious and partly because I didn’t even know how to have a normal conversation with Tori. Had she been jealous when she made that remark about Keane’s welcome to me?
“He built it Friday and Saturday. Looks good, right?” Violet asked, exiting the cabin and walking across the planks.
“It looks beautiful.” I ran my hand over a smooth plank, admiring how he’d made such even cuts.
“Asa helped,” Keane said, his arms laden with the bags I’d lost. “One small project done, only a million more to go. Come on in.”
I gave Tori what I hoped translated as a smile as I passed her into the cabin.
“What’s this?” I asked, gesturing toward the mess of chocolate on the counter and the bakery box beside it.
“Cake. Tori brought me it as a housewarming of sorts, I think.”
“No,” Tori said from behind me. “It was a congrats on growing up cake.”
I was suddenly very insecure about the cupcakes I’d brought that stared out sullenly from the plastic container Violet had carried them in with. They were homemade, not nearly as pretty as something from a bakery.
“Navy made lemon ricotta cupcakes,” Violet said, tapping on the top of the cupcake container. “Auntie’s recipe.”
“Ricotta in the batter?” Tori asked. “Isn’t ricotta like cottage cheese?”
“Yes, it’s similar. But you mix the ricotta with the cake ingredients and as it bakes, it becomes like half-cake, half-cheesecake texture.”
“It’s…” Violet did a chef’s kiss in the air, “amazing.”
“I’ll bet.” Tori eyed me from across the table where Keane was unloading bags. Why did it feel like I was a big fish and she was a shark, circling me in the water? “How have ya been, Navy?”
“Good,” I said, busying myself with collecting the plastic bags. “You?”
“Oh, I’m fantastic.” She popped a chocolate cake laden spoon into her mouth as she looked through all the things we’d brought. “What movie are we watching?”
I pulled the three DVDs out of my purse. “I brought three choices. About Time, 10 Things I Hate About You, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
“The only one I haven’t seen of these three is the first one.” Tori tapped it with one long black fingernail. “I love the other two, but I vote this one.”
“You brought only chick flicks?” Keane asked as he stared at the back of each DVD.
“I had to make up for last weekend,” I explained. “You missed out on your rom-com fix.”
“I wouldn’t say I was missing out… but okay.”
“Better than exactly all of your movie choices, Keane,” Tori said, gently hitting him with the DVD case. “Unlike those, none of these will make me wish I had a sedative.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind a break from you running your mouth.”
Tori hit him a bit harder with the DVD case and then he dodged another attempt. “You’re a dick, you know that?”
“I’ve been reminded a time or two.” He straightened from where he’d been bent over, unloading things from the fridge. “I’m grilling dogs on the fire pit now, sound good?”
I nodded and started to grab things he’d set out, but Violet had already grabbed everything and followed him out the door before I could help, leaving me alone with Tori.
The weird thing about Tori was that I never felt this uncomfortable around Keane’s girlfriends. Tori was different because she and I had known Keane since we were kids, and while I’d been the girl Keane had picked first during middle school dodgeball, Tori was the girl he picked first to kiss. It shouldn’t have made me feel inadequate, but it did.
“So,” I said, absentmindedly braiding the ends of my hair.
“Got a boyfriend?” she blurted out.
“Wha—no.” She’d caught me off guard.
“Me neither. Guys are gross at this age. It’s like elementary school all over again, but they’re not as nice. I’m currently talking to this guy I sort of dated years ago, but it didn’t last then so I am not holding my breath this time.”
“Oh?” I curled up the sweater I’d brought and laid it over the back of a chair.
“Yeah. He’s the kind of guy who acts like the gym is a real-life dating app. You know what I mean? Goes there for the purpose of picking up chicks, flexes his pecs in the mirror even though it’s leg day. Chugs his protein in the most obnoxious, caveman-esque way possible so it dribbles down his chin like he’d a toddler figuring out how to eat applesauce for the first time.”
“Uh…” I said, not having experienced that type of guy myself.
“The first time we had sex, he got distracted by his ow
n biceps when he was on top. Starting panting, ‘Yeah’ while flexing them. Fucking weirdo. I mean, I literally put his hands on all the places that really get me hot and he still just mashes his fist against my clit like it’s a pile of pizza dough. Dude has no bedroom skills.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I chose the easiest thing to say. It was better hearing her talk about her life than her prying into mine. “But you’re talking to him again?”
“Yeah. That’s what I do, the back and forth with dudes. But I have a short attention span; I forget why I dropped them like the bag of dicks they are until I’m hooked again. I never learn. Like, ‘oh yeah, Tori, this guy smells his socks after he gets home from the gym—maybe that’s not sexy.’”
“He does that?”
“Yeah. He buys these expensive ass socks, claims that washing them too much can make them fall apart fast. So he does a smell check after his workouts to see if he needs to launder them. Sexy, right?” Tori chugged some water. “After the last time I saw him smother himself with his own socks, I was like, I can never kiss that man again.”
“And yet…”
“Exactly. Like I said, short attention span. I’m gonna have to nip that shit in the bud real fast.” She sat down in one of the chairs and gestured for me to sit in the other. I still wasn’t totally comfortable with her, but it would have been rude to ignore her and follow Violet and Keane out to the fire pit. So, as nonchalantly as possible, I lowered myself to the chair across from her.
“I’m sure you’ll find another guy to sink your teeth into soon enough.” As soon as I said it, I cringed, not intending it to sound that way. “I mean—”
But Tori laughed. “That’s a good analogy. They probably won’t admit it, but some guys like it when you use teeth.” She mimed a blowjob with one fist at the side of her face and her tongue pushing her cheek out on the opposite side. “But just a little bit, you know?”
I was certain that if my skin wasn’t so tan, I’d have blushed. I wasn’t a virgin, but I might have been a bit of a prude—at least in the sense that I didn’t talk about blowjobs with people I didn’t know too well. “Sure.”
“Seriously though,” Tori said, her eyes wide in all seriousness. “Just a little nibble. You can’t treat it like you’re smashed on the fourth of July and drunkenly pounding hot dogs left and right.”
I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up out of my throat at the image. “I don’t think I’ve ever drunkenly pounded hot dogs before.”
“Oh, damn. You are missing out. When you’re super drunk, a hot dog fresh off the grill is like…” Tori moaned. “God, it’s good. Hits the fucking spot. And since the gym bro I’m talking to right now can’t seem to find my spot even with a roadmap, drunken hot dogs are my fucking jam right now.” Tori rose from the table. “Speaking of getting smashed, I’ve brought some champagne. You game?”
I found myself nodding and watching her pop the bottle. Whatever guard I had up had fallen—talking to Tori was surprisingly easy when it was just her and me.
“We’ll have to drink up super-fast to appreciate drunken hot dogs.”
“Champagne and hot dogs,” I said, cheersing her glass with mine.
“Classy motherfuckers, the two of us.” We each sipped and I turned the bottle so I could read the label.
“I’ve never tried this brand.”
“It’s not from here. I went to a bridal shower in Washington a few weeks ago and they served this stuff to everyone and the next thing I knew, I was jumping off a waterfall.” Tori shrugged and drained her glass. “Figured there had to be some really potent shit in it.”
“You jumped off a waterfall at a bridal shower? That sounds like a bachelorette party.”
“Oh god, no.” Tori snorted and refilled our glasses. “The bachelorette party was on a boat. Not one naked dude around. We literally just got drunk on a boat all day and got horribly sunburned.” Tori pulled her t-shirt down her shoulder, revealing a deep tan line. “See?”
“At least it faded into a tan,” I said. “My younger sisters, they got the olive complexion from our mother, but they still burn badly when out in the sun for too long.”
“That sister?” Tori asked, hooking a thumb toward where we could see Keane and Violet building the fire.
“No, she’s like me. Tan only. My other sisters—they’re twins. Sixteen.”
“Oh, shit. Two sixteen-year-olds. I was a hellion when I was sixteen. I think my parents would’ve died if they’d had to deal with two of me.”
“My sisters are… well, they’re pretty typical sixteen-year-olds, I think.”
“You weren’t typical. You were a quiet sixteen-year-old.” Tori swirled the pale gold liquid around her glass. “I bet you were a piece of cake for your parents.”
“I’m sure I was,” I said. “They didn’t even have to raise me.”
Tori narrowed her eyes as she studied my face. “Oh, yeah. That’s right. Your aunt raised you, right?”
I nodded and looked down into my glass. “She’s out of town, so I’m taking care of the twins right now. Sort of.”
“Lucky you.”
I grimaced. I didn’t like gossiping about my sisters. Just because this was a tough period in their lives and mine didn’t make it right to throw them under the bus when they weren’t present, especially with someone I wasn’t particularly close to. “I love my sisters. I don’t mind looking after them. It’s not always easy—”
“Of course it’s not. You’re, what, twenty-three?” At my nod, she continued. “You’re twenty-three and trying to take care of two kids on the verge of adulthood. Shit, when I was their age, I was out knocking down mailboxes with a baseball bat like an idiot.”
I nodded. “I remember. Keane was driving. He got in big trouble.”
“Oh, yeah, he was.” Tori laughed. “Pretty sure his mom wanted to bury me in her backyard.”
“No way, Mrs. C would never. She’s basically an angel.”
“Yeah, you’re right. So that should tell you how pissed off she was at me.”
“Good point.” How had we nearly finished the entire bottle of champagne already? It went down smooth, like sparkling grape juice. This was definitely dangerous stuff. “Thanks for bringing champagne. I didn’t even think about bringing wine.”
“I just wish I’d brought more than two bottles,” Tori said. “We’re not gonna have any left to share with those two outside.” She popped the top off the second bottle.
“Oh,” I started, wondering for a moment if I should tell her about Violet. Realizing she was going to find out one way or another tonight, I just said, “Violet’s not drinking. She’s pregnant.”
“She is?” Tori flipped to look at her. “She doesn’t look pregnant.”
“She’s still pretty early. Ten weeks.”
“Ah.” Tori drank some and looked me over for a minute. “So she’s living here with Keane…”
I ran a finger over the wood grain pattern on the table. “Temporarily. Until we figure other arrangements out.”
“Okay. I’m not going to pry, because I can tell that that’s all you’re really willing to say. She seems to get along well with Keane. That’s good.”
“He’s good to let her stay here. I didn’t have a plan formulated when he offered it up. She’s known him since she was a kid.”
“Like you.”
“Like me.” I felt her eyes burning on me, like she was trying to figure something out.
“How are things with you, Navy?”
“Fine.”
“Really?”
I swallowed more champagne. “I’m good. And so is this.” I raised my glass, deflecting any further questions. “We should probably join them outside.”
Tori stood, heaving the bottle in one hand and her glass in the other. I had a sneaking suspicion she had supplied me booze to get me to talk—but I didn’t know what her motives could have been for that. I tried not to let it bother me, but unfortunately, I knew jus
t how acute Tori’s awareness could be sometimes.
21
KEANE
“See? What’d I tell ya?” Tori asked as she held one hot dog aloft and another in her other hand.
“What?” I asked.
“So, so good,” Navy said in between bites.
“The hot dog?”
“Mmmmmmm,” Tori said, but it came out guttural like she’d growled it. “I could eat six more of these.”
“Wow…” Navy stared down at her naked hot dog in utter awe.
“They’re just beef hot dogs…” I rotated the few that remained on the grill and studied them a bit closer, wondering if they’d been sprinkled with some kind of aphrodisiac. Because Tori looked totally in love as she danced and double fisted hot dogs. There wasn’t even music playing.
“The champagne is so good,” Navy said as she collapsed into an Adirondack chair in front of the fire. “It makes everything else so so so good.”
Then, it clicked. “Did you guys drink both bottles?”
“Yup,” Tori said with a mouthful of hot dog. “Too bad there aren’t any waterfalls around.”
Okay. Maybe it wasn’t clicking. “What are you guys talking about?”
They both ignored me, preferring to make weird humming noises as they ate their hot dogs.
“Why is it so good though?”
“Right? That’s what I’m wondering,” Tori said, collapsing beside her in the Adirondack chairs.
I stared at Violet with an eyebrow raised.
“Beats me,” she replied with a shrug. “Navy didn’t eat lunch today, so she’s probably just a hungry lightweight.”
“I was hungry,” Navy said, and her eyes closed as a smile played on her lips. “But that was divine.”
“You’re not going to eat more?” Tori asked. “I think I could go for four or five more at the very least.”
“Well, you’ll be shit out of luck then. I only brought eight.”
“Ugh, Keane. You big old buzzkill.” Tori flopped one of her legs over the arm of the chair and stared at the horizon as the sun dipped beyond the mountains to the west. “I probably should’ve eaten more before we pounded the bottles.”
One Big Mistake: a friends to lovers rom-com Page 22