by A. R. Perry
“What did you do, spit in it?”
He chuckled and cocked his head. “Why would I do that?”
“Why would you buy me coffee at all,” I countered.
“Can’t a boyfriend buy his girlfriend coffee?”
My stomach churned, and I had the overwhelming urge to do what Madison did the previous night. All over his nice white shoes.
Of course he would make a spectacle. It was asking too much to go even a day, one day, without him being a jerk. There was no doubt in my mind that he already had a good laugh about this with his jock friends. He probably made bets on how far he could go with me.
“I can get my own coffee.”
“Lil, just take the damn coffee and say thank you.” He pressed the carrier into my stomach giving me no choice but to grab it or risk it spilling all over me.
“What are you doing up so early?” I asked in an attempt to break the sudden tension between us.
He leaned against my car, running a hand through his damp hair. “My dad has a strict off-season schedule for my swimming. He doesn’t want me to get lazy during the summer. You should see my diet plan.” He mock shuddered, adding a gag in for extra effect.
When did Mr. Hayes get so strict about his swimming? Sure, he encouraged Parker, but most of the time he was busy at work and missed the meets. Mrs. Hayes was always there though. And me. Right by her side with giant glitter signs to embarrass him. This was of course back when we liked each other.
“Anyway, I have the rest of the afternoon to myself. Do you have any plans?” Parker asked with a somewhat hopeful expression on his face.
No, I didn’t. But I couldn’t let him know that. He had something terrible planned. I could feel it.
“Yeah, I’m helping my mom at some work event.”
“The kids in science thing? Since when do you help her with that?”
“Since none of your business.”
My mom decided that exact moment was the perfect time to come out onto the porch for the paper that had been sitting there all week. Yeah, something smelled fishy. She was even up earlier than normal.
“Hey, Ms. Holladay.” Parker waved and gave her a bright smile. Full teeth and all.
Kiss ass.
“I told you last night, call me Jan.” The expression on my mom’s face could only be described as jubilant.
“I brought you some coffee.” He motioned to the carrier I held and for some reason I tried to turn my body to conceal it as if it was some kind of contraband.
“Oh, how sweet! I’m about to make pancakes. Would you like to join us?”
“Since when do you cook breakfast?” I asked before Parker could answer.
“Since one of the girls gave me a great blueberry recipe last night at book club.”
Book club. I snorted. In reality, it was just an excuse to get together and drink a bunch of wine. I hadn’t seen my mom read a book since she was reading me Dr. Suess.
“Pancakes sound amazing,” Parker called from behind me.
I couldn’t mask the rage on my face as I turned around to glare at him. Since when did they get so buddy-buddy? He talked to her for maybe five minutes the previous night.
“Parker can’t have pancakes. He’s on a strict diet for swimming,” I answered for him.
Parker gave me a dirty look to which I smirked. He was the idiot that let that information slip. Now I had something to use against him and, if push came to shove, tell his dad. If it meant keeping Parker away from me, I wasn’t above cheap shots.
“Good thing these are low carb,” my mom called and stepped back into the house.
Now it was Parker’s turn to smirk. “Really, Lil? Going for the cheap shot? Why don’t you want me to have breakfast with you? Scared your mom will love me? I can’t wait to tell her we’re dating.”
My mouth popped open. “You wouldn’t.”
He shrugged and skirted around me headed for the door. I couldn’t let this happen. Dating Parker was a dream come true for my mom. I had no idea why she loved him so much. She would literally jump for joy.
I caught Parker’s forearm as he reached for the doorknob. “Please don’t tell her we’re dating.”
“So little Ms. 4.0 lies to her mom, huh?”
“It would be a lie to tell her we’re dating.”
“But we are.”
“No, we’re not!” I closed my eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath, trying to rein in my irritation. “It’s a stupid dare, that’s it. Why would you tell her something like that?”
“Because, if your mom thinks we’re dating then you won’t try to back out.” His cocky grin turned mischievous much like it would when we were kids and about to do something that would end with a trip to the ER.
Okay, so he had a point. If my mom was harping on me and doing everything she could to get us together to go out, it would make it harder to avoid him.
“Why do you care so much about a stupid dare, huh? Is torturing me that fun?”
Something flashed in his eyes, an emotion I swear I had never seen there before. Regret maybe? Whatever it was, disappeared the second he blinked.
“I’m just holding up my side of the dare. Hunter will never let me live it down if I back out. Unfortunately, that requires you to go along with it.” His large hand came down on my shoulder. “Live a little, Holladay. Spend the summer with me and I’ll teach you how to have fun again.”
“I know how to have fun.” I shook his hand off and he laughed.
“Sure, Lil. Keep telling yourself that.” With that he entered my house, leaving me staring after his retreating back until the front door closed.
We all sat around the suddenly clean kitchen table—one normally used to store mail and clothes that needed repairing—eating Mom’s weird healthy pancakes. They didn’t taste that bad. I’m more of a smother-carbs-in-as-much-sugar-as-you-can girl, but if she never told me they were nutritious, I might have been fooled.
Madison passed on the pancakes, sipping on her tea instead. The tea I meant to get her, but Parker showed up with in a total best-friend-stealing-thunder moment.
I still had no clue how he knew my favorite coffee place let alone my favorite coffee. Or why he went out of his way to do it. At first I thought he felt bad for the whole agreeing-to-date-me-against-my-will thing and had come to apologize. Two servings of pancakes later, I realized that was never going to happen.
“Aren’t you going to be late for work?” I asked my mom, interrupting some story about Parker and me when we were kids. I’m sure it was just super adorable, but I needed the madness to end and for Parker to get the hell out of my house. Preferably before he told her about the dare.
My mom sighed. “I guess you’re right. We should have you and your dad over for dinner sometime this week. It’s been so long since we’ve had a proper conversation with how busy we both are.”
“That would be—”
“He can’t,” I blurted out, cutting off Parker midsentence.
My mom shot me a wide-eyed look that was mom code for what the hell is your problem you’re being so rude.
“Lil is right. I just remembered that we’re going up to the lake in a couple of days.”
“Your dad still owns that? Gosh, so many great memories up there.”
Parker nodded and grinned in my direction. “The lake house was always a great time. And I just had a crazy idea. What if we take Lily up with us?”
My mom awed and clapped her hands together and Madison nearly spit out her tea.
I swear my stomach almost pole-vaulted out of my body. Going to the lake house with Parker? Nuh-uh. No way.
“I can’t.”
“Why not, sweetie? It’s not like you have any big plans. You’re not even working this summer.”
I glanced over at Madison, pleading with my eyes. She shrugged and took a drink of her tea. At this rate she would be lucky if she still donned the best friend title by the end of the summer with the amount of times she had thrown me under t
he bus.
“I just…can’t.” A lame response, but it was the only thing I could think of. I couldn’t come out and admit that spending a week secluded with Parker would make me either kill him or kiss him.
Most likely kill him and throw him in the lake.
“Come on, Lil.” Parker bumped me with his shoulder. “It will be fun. Jet Skis. Boating. You might even get some color.”
“That sounds like a fun way to spend your summer,” my mom said as she stood and picked up everyone’s plates. “How long will you be up there for?”
“Just a week. It’s all my dad could get off.”
“Well, if your father is okay with it, I’m okay with it.”
Parker grinned triumphantly. “So, Holladay, you in?”
“She’s in,” Madison answered for me.
What was with everyone deciding my life was theirs to meddle in?
“Great.” Parker stood and made his way to the door presumably before I could come up with a reason to say no. “I’ll let my dad know. We planned on leaving late Tuesday, but we can drive up together earlier. Get an extra day.”
“Sounds good,” my mom answered.
My mouth dropped open, and I glanced around the room confused as to what was going on. Had I up and disappeared? Because that was the only explanation as to why not a single person heard or responded to the fact that I had no interest in going to the lake with Parker.
The second the door clicked shut I turned to my mom. “Seriously?”
“What?” she asked as she scraped the scraps of food into the trash.
“I don’t want to go to the lake with Parker and his dad.”
“Why not?”
“Yeah, why not?” Madison chimed in. “If I didn’t have to work I’d be all over that.”
“Most kids would kill to spend the week at a lake house having fun on the water.”
“I’m not most kids!” I slammed my palm onto the table making both Madison and my mom jump.
“What has gotten into you, Lily Evelynn Holladay?”
Not the full name.
My body heated from anger, and I turned away. I had never gotten around to telling my mom how much I hated Parker and how much he loved making my life a living hell. She had been so close with his mom before she died, I kind of felt bad tarnishing her perfect little Parker picture.
Now I wished I had told her everything.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“Don’t sound too happy about it.”
I finished my coffee then tossed it in the trash. He had even buttered her up with coffee. The boy was good. Now I looked like an ungrateful brat. “I have to take Madison home.”
“I’ll be home by four. If you want, we can go shopping for a new bathing suit. I can’t recall the last time you got a new one.”
“Sure,” I mumbled as I headed for the door.
My summer hadn’t even begun and already I couldn’t wait for school to start back up.
I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling with a book sprawled on my stomach, willing myself to do something, anything. I hadn’t spoken to Madison the entire drive to her house. It didn’t stop her from trying to talk to me though. Either I wasn’t putting out strong enough vibes that I was pissed at her, or she didn’t care.
All she talked about was how much she wished she could come with me and that if I wanted, she would go with me to pick out a smoking hot bikini that would make Parker drool. Her words, not mine.
If she had been feeling one hundred percent, I would have let her have it. But judging from the pale coloring to her face, the alcohol was still wreaking havoc on her body.
One could only hope she learned her lesson though I highly doubted it.
After I dropped her off, I came straight home with the intent on figuring a way to get out of the lake trip. I wasn’t above faking the flu. Summer flus weren’t unheard of. I looked it up.
When I ran into Mr. Hayes and he told me how delighted he was to have me come along, any plan I had blew up. After seeing how animated he was, I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. What was with our parents? It was as if Parker and I hanging out together was the best present they could have received.
If they knew how much of an ass Parker was, they might have felt differently.
I rolled onto my side and let out a sigh. I couldn’t even concentrate on reading and reading was normally my favorite escape. It started when my parents were still together and they would fight late at night when they thought I was asleep. The noise made it impossible to sleep—to think—so I put on some music and read. I didn’t have to focus on how crappy my life was when I could fall into another world and lose myself in it.
Parker had managed to ruin even my favorite pastime.
Figured.
I tossed my book onto my pillow and reached for my phone just as a dinged with a notification.
I expected it to be from Madison. Maybe she came to her senses and sent me an apology text. When I clicked my phone on I was greeted with a text from a number I didn’t recognize.
Unknown: I’m bored
I cocked my head and reread the phone number. It was local. Anyone worth talking to at school was already saved in my phone. With the assumption it was a wrong number I replied.
Me: Who is this?
The reply was almost instant.
Unknown: Wow. R u dating so many guys that u can’t keep us straight?
My stomach sank and I sat up scowling at the phone. Could Parker not leave me alone for more than a few minutes? It was bordering on stalkerish behavior.
Before replying, I saved him to my contacts so that I would know to avoid him in the future.
Me: No, but any guy worth talking to would have already been saved in my phone.
Parker: Ouch. U really know how to cut down a guys ego.
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t reply. I figured he would get the hint and leave me the hell alone, but a few minutes later my phone chimed. It chimed again three minutes after that.
Morbid curiosity got the best of me and I reached for my phone.
Parker: Wanna go to the movies? There’s nothing good but we can eat junk food and make fun of it.
Parker: I know ur home. Ur car is in the driveway.
And there lay the problem with living right next door to a boy that drove you insane. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t home. He would know. Again, very stalkerish.
Truth be told, I was bored, and that did sound kind of fun. If he wasn’t the bane of my existence and I hadn’t imagined three different ways to kill him—in one day—I might have agreed.
Instead, I put my phone on silent and decided that a midafternoon nap was in order. After that I would need to figure out how to avoid him for the next couple of days.
Lily never responded to my text the other night and for the past couple of days had managed to evade me every time I was home. According to her Instagram, she decided to stay the night at Madison’s house and volunteer at the animal shelter during the day.
My gut reaction was to volunteer as well, but decided against it. Doing something I had never done before would tip her off. I would have her to myself for the next week and planned on using that time to win her over. I didn’t want to start that with her more irritated than she already was.
My dad had talked to her mom on Sunday and together they agreed that I could drive Lily up and my dad would meet us later that night.
So at twelve on the dot I walked up her front steps and knocked on the front door. I half expected her not to be home or to feign some sickness, but to my surprise she opened the door wearing the shortest pair of shorts I had ever seen on her. Sure, she matched it with an oversize Batman shirt, but still, I was taken aback. Lily chose that moment to toss her bag at me.
I almost didn’t catch it and once I did I wished I hadn’t. It wasn’t big, maybe the size of a gym bag, but she must have had it loaded down with bowling balls. I let out a grunt as it connected with my stomach. I stumbled back, as it al
most sent me down the front steps.
Lily didn’t even try to hide her amusement as she locked up the door and strode past me. I trailed after her, swinging her bag up onto my shoulder.
“It’s about a two and a half drive. I got us a bunch of snacks.”
“Cool.” She rounded my car, never once glancing in my direction.
So she planned on icing me out the entire drive. Awesome. I tossed her bag into the open trunk then slammed it shut with a little too much force. The car dipped under the weight and Lily shot me an amused look as she slipped into the passenger seat.
She had her earbuds in by the time I climbed behind the wheel. Her gaze darted to the side, effectively cutting me off.
I sighed and started the car. She really was going to make this difficult, wasn’t she?
Forty-five minutes into the drive, four radio stations, and enough junk food to cause a stomachache had me going out of my mind. I had never made the trip to the lake house alone and with Lily in her sensory deprivation chamber that’s what I was doing.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song blaring from the speakers and concentrated on the road. I hadn’t been to the lake since my mother died. My dad went up every year, but I always came up with some excuse. He was floored when I told him that not only was I going, but Lily was coming too. It used to be a big thing with both of our families spending a week up there every summer and a couple of Christmases here and there.
But the same year that Lily’s dad left, my mom had a sudden heart attack and passed away. The lake house lost all of its light and I avoided it like the plague from then on.
No clue what got into me when I blurted that out at the breakfast table. But the way her mom’s eyes lit up as if she was reliving all the good memories solidified my plan and I had a hard time backpedaling.
The moment I got in the car however, I felt all those memories punch me in the gut. Sure, they were happy, but they were also a reminder of things I would never get back. Like my mother or Lily’s friendship. This whole forcing her to date me suddenly seemed like the worst idea.