Not really an exaggeration.
“C’mon, baby girl,” Jake said with a nudge. “We haven’t gotten to celebrate something with you, and this is too good to pass up. Blow your mom off, hang out with us, and we’ll have fun.”
No lie. That sounded great.
“Okay, but I need to swing home to grab my suit.” Yes, Archie had suits I could ‘borrow,’ but I’d rather wear my own.
“Deal,” Jake said. “I’ll run you there while Arch gets things ready.”
Some of the tension bled off as the guys promised to let Ian know the game plan. Back at school, I spent my study hall time in the library actually getting the next round of homework done. Like missing Ian at lunch, I missed Jake in the library. My TA period just had me in the resource room making stacks of copies, so I had loads of time to brood.
Or I did—until Maria walked in with work of her own. “Hey,” she said with a faint smile.
“Hey.” We might not be besties, but at least she’d been kind of sticking up for me with Sharon.
“You need the other copier?” She motioned to the other behemoth just behind me.
“Nope,” I told her, and moved to give her more room. “Just have to make another thousand of these packets.”
With a grimace, Maria slid her backpack off and held up a sheaf papers. “I just have to make forty of these.”
“Cool.”
Look at that. We were being all polite. Maria was taller than I was. Had that lean build to go with it. She also had shorter, much darker hair and the kind of skin tone that always looked sun-kissed. We joked about it in junior high. She didn’t need to tan, all she had to do was look at the sun twice a day. Whereas I needed sunscreen and had to actively work at it, or I’d burn.
Arms folded, I leaned against my copier, keeping an eye on the collated and stapled packs as they came out. It had to cycle through the pages again and again to make the packets. At least the machine did all the work, it was just dreadfully dull.
We were the only two in the resource room. When Maria got the other copier running, the dueling machine noises created a godawful hum.
“Hey, Frankie?”
Oh. Please let’s not talk anymore. We’d been doing so well.
Twisting a little, I glanced at her. “Yep?”
“I’m sorry about the Instagram thing.”
Of all the things she could have said, that wasn’t what I expected. “Okay.” What else was I supposed to say? I lifted my shoulders. “Not like any of it was a lie, right?” Maybe not that.
Smiling faintly, Maria matched my pose with her arms folded. Neither of us wanted to be vulnerable in this conversation. But she was the one who approached me. “Yes and no. Sharon’s…look, I’m not going to make excuses. When Jake asked me to help out with her, I made him meet me to talk about it. I mean, if it was so important to him, then he should be able to do it face to face, right?”
The ground seemed uneven and a little treacherous, but I already knew about their meeting and the fact Maria hadn’t done anything.
“I was kind of bitchy about it—because it let me stick it to Jake.” Maria winced. “While I think he deserves whatever he gets, you didn’t.”
“Thanks,” I said slowly. “I think.”
With a huff of laughter, Maria dropped her folded arms and raked a hand through her shorter hair. “Yeah, that didn’t sound good either. This is so fucking awkward.”
“Little bit,” I admitted. “Look, Maria…I didn’t try to steal Jake from you.”
“I know you didn’t,” she said. “But I did try to take him from you.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“We all did. We all knew they had crushes on you, and it didn’t stop a single one of us.” That kind of went with what I’d overheard from her and Sharon in the bathroom. “Anyway, I should have tried a little harder. Just—look, be careful of Sharon. She’s not usually vindictive.”
“Wait, we are talking about the same girl who TP’d Mr. Blaisdell’s yard after he gave her a C in Texas History, right?”
That had been seventh grade, but still.
Eyes rounding, Maria laughed. “Oh my god, I forgot about that.”
I lifted my shoulders. “Just saying.”
“True. I want her to back off on you. But Jake’s a dick.”
I frowned. “You’re entitled to your opinion.” I got it. The guys hadn’t always been that great to the girls they dated. Trust me, I was aware, but at the same time... “Just do me a favor? Remember he’s my friend, too.”
Her mouth tightened a little, and she nodded once. Then frowned. “Wait… you consider me a friend?”
I shrugged. “We used to be. I get that we haven’t been, and you’ve got your things and I’ve got mine. But I prefer to not bad mouth others.”
“Sometimes I think you’re too damn nice,” she said flatly. “You should stand up for yourself more.”
“Well, like I said, you’re entitled to your opinion.”
Maria actually smirked at that. “At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite… I have missed you.”
“I’ve missed you guys, too.” It wasn’t hard to admit it. “I’ve missed a lot of things. But we all made choices. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got hurt.”
No, I was not sorry her and Jake didn’t work out. Call me selfish, but I liked having Jake.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’m sorry you did, too.”
Her copier was done, but mine kept humming along. Maybe I should have left it at that. I mean, we’d reached a kind of peaceful accord, yeah? But Sharon’s words to Maria in the bathroom surfaced with a vengeance. If she just told Jake…
“You okay?” I asked as she gathered her copies out. Though her back was to me, her shoulders stiffened. Not a lot, but enough I could tell.
“I’m fine,” she lied in that airy kind of tone you use when you want to change the subject.
Let it go. Let it go.
But I ignored that litany. We had been friends once. “You sure?” I pressed one more time. “I meant it when I said we were friends once. If something’s going on…”
The brief pause worried me, but she straightened her copies and pulled out the originals before she faced me. “Did Jake tell you why we broke up?”
“No.”
“Oh.” That seemed to surprise her. “I thought they told you everything.”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “But that’s kind of personal.”
She laughed a little hollowly. “Yeah, personal. Look, I’m fine, Frankie. Thanks for asking. Take care of you, and seriously, watch your back with Sharon. Hopefully she gets over this, but with Bubba on the Homecoming committee now, she’s probably going to get worse.”
Yay?
I was there for another ten minutes after she left, turning that over in my head. Why did she and Jake break up, besides Jake wanted to break up? Maria hadn’t wanted as much. He said it was over before school started, but the note talked about the last hurrah of summer, which was just days before we were all back together.
When the last copy was done, I stacked it in the boxes and rolled it over to the slot for my teacher. She’d either get it, or I’d be back here tomorrow to grab it.
I fired off a text to Jake.
Me: Had to do copies in resource room. I’ll meet you at G’s.
Jake: I’ll meet you halfway.
A part of me wanted to roll my eyes. I could walk on my own. The guys had been overprotective and great. I had to admit, being valued had a lot of merit. Despite the ‘meet me halfway’ part, Jake caught me as I made it to the end of the resource hall after the bell rang.
“Did you cut class early?”
“Nope,” he said, snagging my backpack and slinging an arm around my shoulders as we flowed through the sea of humanity. “Just said I had to hit the bathroom.” He grinned.
He totally cut class early. I gave him a poke. “Thanks.”
“Happy to help.” He smelled great.
G was waiting for us with a pair of quizzes though, and I wasn’t alone in groaning.
“Remind me again why I wanted to do all these AP classes?” Dramatic? Sure. But a little on the serious side, too.
“Because it’s where all the cool kids are,” G teased us as he put the tests down. “You will have thirty minutes once you open the packets to complete the reading and Q&A sections. That will leave you another twenty-five to do the short essay.”
“That’s cold, Mr. G,” Jake protested.
“It is, isn’t it?” He grinned. “C’mon, let’s see you two show me what you got.”
With shared looks of commiseration, Jake and I dug in. The nice part, G didn’t make us sit away from each other. Even if we were testing—he was right there next to me.
Yeah. Okay. That was sappy.
But it still made me smile while I took the test.
* * *
The last bell was a relief, but I felt pretty good about the test. G promised to have our scores the next day. After a quick stop at my locker to swap out books and so Jake could see there was no note waiting for me, we headed out.
“So, good day? Bad day?” he asked as he pushed open the door for me. Since he already had my backpack, I should’ve been doing that, but he got there first.
“It was all right. Nothing—particularly bad, I guess, except Ian’s stuck doing the Homecoming committee.”
“Thank fuck he talked to you.” Relief seemed to roll off Jake.
“He texted,” I corrected him. “Briefly, we were both in class—do you mind if I ask about your session?” I wasn’t really sure if I should ask. It was definitely personal.
“It was fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. “What do you mean he just texted?”
“We didn’t have time to talk in math class, we had a test. Then you were there, and he just went the other way.” That hurt. Almost more than when he’d left Saturday morning.
Jake scowled.
“He said he would talk to you today.”
“Day’s not over,” I reminded him as we made our way out to the parking lot. Unsurprisingly, Coop was already leaning against the side of Jake’s SUV, Archie idling next to it, and Ian…Ian stood there holding his helmet.
“I can kick his ass if you want,” Jake offered, and even if he said it cheerfully, I rather doubted he was kidding.
“I’d really rather you didn’t.”
He made a face. “Fine.”
“Hey,” Coop called out as we got closer. “Is it weird that I found it weird there was no message or anything on his car when I got here?”
Archie rolled his eyes. “You are the king of weird.”
“Nah, maybe the jackass of it,” Jake tossed back, and Coop flipped him off. The relaxed manner brought a smile to my lips, and I fought to hang onto it as I tracked my gaze to Ian’s. He gave me a hesitant smile as he shifted the helmet in his hand.
Jake clasped my hand abruptly, and I squeezed his fingers. I was all right, we were still all friends, right?
“Hey,” I said to Ian.
“Hey…”
“We’re swinging by Frankie’s and my place for suits, then out to Archie’s right?” Coop said before Ian could continue.
“That’s the plan,” Archie said. “I called Jeremy. No sign of Edward. Jere’s getting food and drinks sorted out for us. He also promised to distract and warn us if Edward shows up. So we’ve got you covered there.”
The sun warmed away some of the chill as I cut a look to Ian. He moved the helmet back and forth between his hands.
“I’ll run you two home for that, and Bubba can follow Archie out, and we’ll meet you two there.”
“Actually,” Ian said. “Do you mind if I give Frankie a ride?” Though he was asking them, he focused on me. “The guys can take your backpack. We’ll get your stuff…maybe talk?”
The offer should have relieved me, but I was suddenly clammy and my stomach knotted with nerves.
“Maybe we wait for the heavy discussions?” Archie suggested. “We’re supposed to be celebrating Frankie’s success, not pissing on her day further.”
I winced at the description.
“I wasn’t asking you, Archie. You may be rich, but you don’t own everything, and you really don’t own her.”
“Never I said I did,” Arch retaliated. “I also didn’t bail.”
“And on that note…” Coop stepped between them, focusing on me. “Frankie, what do you want to do?”
Jake’s hand had tightened on mine. “You don’t have to,” he said.
I sighed, fighting was the last thing I wanted. “I know I don’t have to. I want to…” Relief crawled across Ian’s expression.
Frowning, Archie straightened. “Then you be damn careful with her on that bike.”
“Do you mind keeping my bag to bring to Archie’s?” I asked Jake rather than feed more fuel to the fire. At my question, Jake dragged his gaze off Ian to me, and he nodded.
“Of course I don’t mind,” he said. “We’re going to be right behind you anyway.”
True.
I squeezed his hand and let go. For a second, I thought he wasn’t going to let me go, but then he did.
Ian held out the helmet to me as I crossed to him, and I accepted it. Suddenly aware of three gazes focused on us, I pasted on a smile. “Ready when you are.”
He nodded. “Thanks,” he murmured, and then motioned to his bike. I tried not to glance at the others, even as the sound of slamming car doors echoed as I waited for Ian to climb on the bike first.
Once he put on his helmet, I tugged on my own and tightened the chinstrap before I climbed on behind him. I was a little wary of putting my arms around him, so I settled for putting my hands on his hips and hooking my fingers in his belt loops.
The engine rumbled to life, and I stole a look at Jake’s SUV. He and Coop were arguing in the front seat, and a sigh rolled out of me.
What were they fighting about?
Archie was behind the wheel of his car, and when he caught me looking, he blew a kiss.
“Ready?” Ian said over his shoulder.
“Yes,” I assured him, and tightened my grip as he rolled forward. Even with the long line of cars to get out of the lot, Ian went around most of them and slipped away.
Oh, Jake would be annoyed. Hard to follow us if he was stuck trying to get out behind the other vehicles. The wind brushed against us as we zipped onto the road and then made it before the light changed. Something in me just relaxed as I leaned into him and followed the lean of his body when he took the corners.
It was over all too soon, and we were pulling into the apartment lot. I tightened my grip. Somehow, I’d managed to go from holding his hips to wrapping my arms around him. Even as I spotted my car, I didn’t see any sign of Mom’s.
Ian swung his bike in to park next to me and then waited for me to hop off. Reluctantly, I slid free and tugged the helmet off. After shutting the bike down, he took the helmet from my hands and hung it next to his.
“You want me to wait down here or go up with you?”
“Hard to talk to me if you stay down here.”
He nodded, and then raked a hand through his hair. It had gotten a little longish now that I stared at it. Had it been for a while? Or was it just a change in the last couple of days?
Not that two days was some huge amount of time. God, I was being ridiculous. I didn’t see any of them for weeks at a time this summer.
And you were miserable then… The snide little voice in the back of my head didn’t help.
“You have a point,” he said. “Lead the way?”
Awkward didn’t begin to describe it. I pivoted and dug my hand into my pocket for my keys. My bracelet bounced against my wrist as I headed for the stone steps leading up to the back door. Ian was right behind me as I held my breath and unlocked the door.
Please don’t be home. Please don’t be home.
The sooner I fed the cats and grabbed my stuff, the sooner I c
ould be out of here.
Silence greeted me, followed by a yowling complaint as Tiddles raced into the kitchen. Relief flooded me as I blew out a breath. Ian shot me a look.
“You all right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just didn’t want Mom to be here.”
Understanding kindled in his expression. “You want me to feed the cats while you grab your suit?”
“I can do it.” What I wanted… “What happened on Saturday?” I opened the pantry to grab the canned cat food out while I asked. Maybe I was being a bit of a coward, but… “We were out here, you were making coffee. It seemed fine, and then you went back to my room, and you and Jake were arguing, and then you left.”
I cracked the can open.
“After you said you didn’t…after you said you’d still take me to Homecoming, but we’d be friends nothing else.”
A muscle twitched under my eye. The words came out, but they still lacked cohesion.
“What did I do wrong?”
I dumped the food into the bowls as Tory and Tabby joined Tiddles in their yowling.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said quietly.
Discarding the used can into the recycling, I stole a look at him. His expression was pained and tense. He did not look like he agreed with what he said.
“Okay. So what happened?”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck. “We all the spent the night.”
“I was here,” I told him. “I was really glad all of you were, too. Friday evening… it sucked.” That whole dinner had been a nightmare. “If not for Archie…”
“Yeah, if not for Archie,” Ian muttered.
“What does that mean?”
“It means…” He sucked in a breath. “Frankie, I adore you. You know that, right?”
Folding my arms, I lifted my shoulders. Considering how rigidly he held himself and the tightness in his expression, I wasn’t so sure I did. “I know you said we’re friends, best friends. I know you’ve said how much you missed me this summer, too. You asked me to Homecoming. I thought we were close, but I’m kind of wondering, and maybe that’s not fair to you.”
“No, it’s totally fair. I was kind of a dick.”
Well, on that we agreed.
Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three Page 6