by A. R. Perry
“Ready?” Madison asked with her hand on the doorknob.
I rolled my shoulders with head held high and nodded.
The first thing I saw was Parker leaning against the wall, eyes downcast. When the light from the bedroom hit him, his head snapped up. The second thing I saw was that Tracy wasn’t with him.
Thank God.
“Lily, I need to talk to you. What you saw in there was—”
“You feeling up Malibu Barbie?” Madison finished for him and reached for my hand. “Fulfilling a fantasy of yours to bang a bimbo in your childhood bed?” She yanked me forward, and I followed, trying my best to avert my gaze.
“No, that’s not what happened,” he yelled from behind me and grabbed my arm.
I could have sworn Madison spit fire as she whirled around to slap his hand away.
“Don’t touch her! We’re leaving.”
“I just need to explain, please.”
“Go back to your party, Parker,” I called as we bounded down the front steps. Several people had gathered to watch the show. I noticed Tracy standing next to Hunter, her arms crossed over her chest and a pout on her face.
She looked as happy about being interrupted as I felt about walking in on it. With me gone she could get back to whatever they were doing.
Madison tossed our things into the trunk, shooting Parker a death glare when he came closer.
“Lily, please.”
“It’s fine,” I said as I propped open the passenger side door. “Just another stupid kiss, right?”
His face fell as I climbed inside. It was the last time I allowed myself to look at him. I closed my eyes and immersed myself in “Youngblood” blaring out of Madison’s speakers.
Freaking Parker Hayes. It was the last time I let my heart fall for his tricks.
I punched a nearby tree as Madison’s taillights turned the corner headed for the highway.It was not how the night was supposed to go down. When I found out Hunter had invited Tracy to the party, I figured a little harmless flirting would make Lily realize our kiss wasn’t stupid at all. Tracy was the biggest flirt around. Part of the reason I never hooked up with her. She would already have her sights set on someone new before we even finished.
When my dad asked me to grab folding chairs, Tracy offered to help. I didn’t think anything of it until she shut the lights off and closed the door.
Before I could stop her, she pushed me onto the bed and mounted me like I was some kind of prized stallion. I guess in her eyes I was. She’d been through most of the star athletes in our school in the past three years, but our relationship never jumped the line past flirting.
I was in the process of getting Tracy off me when Lily walked in. Tracy had taken the moment before to demonstrate the awesomeness of her new assets. So what Lily saw was a half-naked girl on my lap and not my attempt to remove said girl from her perch.
“What was that?” Hunter asked from my side.
“Nothing, man. A misunderstanding.”
“I’ve never seen Madison so pissed.”
Truth. The girl was like a rabid pit bull. Normally, she was more like a fluffy lap dog.
“Everything is messed up.”
“I thought you were going to tell Lily how you feel about her tonight?”
Hunter had been privy to my crush on Lily since he was sworn in as best friend material freshman year. It was part of the reason he pushed the whole dare so hard. He wanted to give me a fighting chance. But he also gave me a deadline for telling her or he would out me.
End of summer.
“I was until Tracy happened.”
Hunter glanced over his shoulder where most of the partygoers had gone upstairs. Everyone except Tracy. She stood on the porch arms still crossed tightly against her chest.
“I told you flirting with her was a bad idea. Girl is like a hyena when she wants something. Nearly broke my dick last year at homecoming.”
I groaned, tipping my head back. I royally screwed up. After the years of back and forth I was fairly certain Lily would never forgive me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she made her mom move to get away from me.
“So what now?” I asked Hunter. It wasn’t as if he was the king of relationships, but he was my best friend. I needed best friend advice.
“Now, we go back to the party. You’re up here three more days. Let Lily cool down before you try to talk to her. It’s not like you don’t know where she lives.”
“She might set fire to my house or something to get me to move.”
Hunter chuckled and slung an arm over my shoulder. “Nah, I would be more worried about Tracy doing that.”
Tracy gave me the evil eye as we approached the house. I wouldn’t put it past her either.
Sensing I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her, Hunter transferred his arm to her, pulling her in close to whisper something in her ear. Whatever it was made her laugh and drew her manic gaze to him.
Can’t beat a loyal best friend.
“Where did Lily go?” my dad asked the second I stepped inside. “I asked her to get the chairs that apparently you couldn’t handle grabbing. Next thing I knew, I heard she left. I promised her mom I would look after her. She isn’t going to like her leaving at night.”
“I don’t know. I caught her and Madison as they were packing up their stuff but they wouldn’t tell me why.” Good thing my dad didn’t know me well enough to catch my lie. In fact, most of our conversations included lies. On both ends.
“Maybe boy trouble,” Hunter added as he led Tracy into the kitchen.
I scowled at him. Way too close to the truth for comfort.
“Well, I should call her mom, let her know she’s headed back.”
“No,” I blurted out. Ms. Holladay would figure out something was off the second my dad mentioned boys. “I’ll call her.”
My dad nodded before someone called for him upstairs. With a pat on the shoulder he left.
I didn’t know what the hell I was going to tell her mom, but I pulled out my phone anyway and dialed. After three rings, she answered. I was really hoping it would go to voice mail.
“Parker?”
“Hey, Ms. Holladay. I just wanted to let you know Lily and Madison are headed home.”
I could hear shuffling in the background. Sounded like papers. She was known to work late especially during the summer when most people bought houses. “What happened? Is she sick or something?”
“No. My dad decided to throw a party. It’s just not her scene.”
“Oh. It’s odd she would drive all the way back home tonight.”
Yeah, because I blew her off then threw a girl in her face. But I couldn’t tell her mom that. Ms. Holladay had been a surrogate mom for most of my life even when Lily stopped talking to me. I didn’t want to lose that relationship or have the ire of another Holladay woman.
“Yeah, I wanted you to know. Just in case.”
“Well thank you, Parker. I’ll give her a call.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. I could only hope she didn’t tell her mom the truth. Knowing their relationship, she probably would. “Okay… Well, good night.”
“Night.”
I hung up the phone and tapped it to my forehead. Lily had three days until I came home. Three days to tell her mom everything that happened or to come up with her own plan to shut me out of her life forever. Judging from the look she gave me as she got into the car that was her exact plan.
Bass from the stereo rattled the walls. People laughed. Balls cracked against each other on the pool table, but I couldn’t concentrate. Normally I loved to lose myself in a party. Shut out the world and all the responsibilities my dad piled on me. After the crap night I had, all I wanted to do was lock myself in my room and go to bed.
Not that sleep would have come. My racing mind made sure of it.
I found myself standing on the threshold of Lily’s room. The same room she always used when we were kids. The bed was made I noticed. She was always that weirdo who
made the bed right after getting up. Said it started your day with something productive. As weird as it was, I liked that about her.
With a stuttered breath, I stepped inside and reached for the closet door on the right. I slid it open and took in the many boxes filled with photos that once adorned the walls. My dad stored them during the remodel, and neither one of us had gotten around to putting them back up. For me it was hard to see both my mom and Lily everywhere. Even though I avoided the lake house. For my dad, I think he just wanted to move on. Not forget, which is why he kept the photos, but attempt to continue with his life.
He even dated a few women over the years, but nothing stuck. There was a high chance that had more to do with me. Several of the meetings hadn’t gone well. My dad may have been looking for his next wife, but I sure as shit wasn’t looking for another mom. The women didn’t get that.
I pulled out the top box and sat down with it resting at my feet. For some reason my hands shook as I flipped open the flaps. The first picture on top was one of Lily and me at Christmas. We sat next to the tree in matching pajamas. Ones with snowmen all over them. My mom loved giving everyone matching pajamas and having a race to see who could put them on fastest. Winner got to be Santa and pass out the presents. Lily won that year. Her Santa hat sat low on her forehead, threatening to fall into her eyes. I had my arm wrapped around her shoulder and Lily was looking up at me with the biggest grin on her face.
We had just turned ten with her birthday in October and mine in September. Fourth grade and thick as thieves. Most of the time our parents couldn’t separate us and on more than one occasion we had sleepovers during the week. Since we were right next door it made it easier, but it didn’t stop our parents from making a big deal about it. School nights or something like that.
I let the photo drop to my lap and reached for another. Lily and I held hands at the beach. We couldn’t have been older than five. In the distance my mom did a cartwheel in the surf. My dad must have taken it. Judging by the slightly blurred edges, I was almost certain. He was never very good with the camera.
Our lives were practically intertwined. I spent the next hour going through the photos, remembering the good times before everything broke. A few times someone from the party stopped in to see where I went. Eventually I locked the door.
My dad never came, and I figured on some level he must know what was going on with me. At least I hoped. Our relationship hadn’t been the same since he started the renovation without asking me. He wiped away my mom, tossing her in the closet instead of dealing with the pain. He focused all his energy on my swimming to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore. Or him.
But he was still my dad.
I lay on the floor surrounded by snapshots of my life. One way or another I would get my life back. Starting with the girl who stole my heart the day she nearly knocked out her teeth on a hill that was way too steep for bikes. All because she couldn’t turn down a dare.
The chirping bird outside the window went from annoying to maddening in the span of an hour. All I wanted to do was sleep my vacation away, but the damn thing had other plans. Three days in a row I woke up to the noise. It didn’t bother me too much at first. Summer song and all. But it was Tuesday. The day Parker came home from the lake. And I was a bundle of nerves.
I tried to persuade my mom to let me stay over at Madison’s, but she gave some lame excuse about me already being gone and wanting me home. I had half a mind to sneak out. But we only had one car, and she took it to work.
Uber was still an option though…
The bed creaked under me as I rolled over. I expected Parker to have at least sent me a text in the past few days, but nothing. Radio silence. He hadn’t even posted any photos on social media, which was strange for him. Not that I was checking or anything…
Hunter did however, and I was pretty sure I saw enough pictures of Tracy to last me a lifetime. Apparently, her fling with Parker was short-lived. Hours short. By the end of the night, judging by the postings, she ended up in the hot tub with Hunter.
Good thing I was never going back to the lake house because I would never be able to look at the hot tub the same let alone get into it. Not without copious amounts of bleach.
My phone chirped from my nightstand. I had half a mind to ignore it, just in case it was Parker. Seeing as he hadn’t tried yet, I reached for it, noticing a notification from Madison.
Madison: A guy that I’m pretty sure is a swimsuit model just came into the store
Me: Hot.
Madison: Would it be weird if I told him I could help him try on clothes?
Me: Considering u work in a shoe store….ya
Madison sent me a photo of her making a weird cringe slash excited face. In the background was a guy who could pass for a blurry model, bent over grabbing a pair of shoes.
I rolled my eyes and tossed my phone on the bed. If I responded it would just encourage her creepy behavior.
At ten in the morning, it was far too early to be up and about especially during the summer. But considering the bird and my best friend refused to let me sleep away my life like Sleeping Beauty, I got up.
I wasn’t going to be happy about it, however.
My mom was long gone—she had an early meeting out of town that would keep her well past dinner. Thus the reason she took the car and didn’t carpool like normal. She kept weird hours, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re a real estate agent. Got to work around client schedules.
I went straight for the kitchen, planning on pouring myself a bowl of sugary cereal when a noise from outside caught my attention. Before I even reached the window, I knew what I would find.
Parker’s Eclipse sat in the driveway. Next to it was Parker, his tight gray shirt stretched to its max over his back muscles as he unloaded a bunch of stuff from his trunk.
I don’t remember bringing that much to the lake.
As if sensing me, his gaze flicked to my window. I ducked out of the way even though I was pretty sure he couldn’t see me with the glare from the sun. But just in case, I pressed into the wall and peeked through the window from the edge of the curtain.
Parker pulled out his phone and typed something in. I heard my phone chime upstairs. I scowled in his direction and let the curtain fall into place. He could go straight to hell. If he thought rolling into town equaled instant forgiveness, he had to be out of his mind.
With a whole day of daytime TV in mind, I threw my hair up in a messy bun and grabbed my bowl of cereal. Madison would be at work until almost five and by then her parents would want her home for dinner. My mom wouldn’t be home at all, not until late, so I figured, why not add another lazy day to the ones I had already compiled.
That was the plan. However, whatever Parker was doing outside was making a hell of a lot of noise. I had to turn up the TV three times before it drowned it out. But by that time I couldn’t get him out of my head.
He didn’t deserve another second of my time.
Stupid jerk. I already spent all of Sunday moping and when that didn’t help my busted heart, I switched my emotions to anger. An easier emotion to cope with under normal circumstances. With him back, it flared brighter making me want to go over there and kick him square in the balls.
Alas, doing so would let him know how much he hurt me, how much he burrowed under my skin in the days we spent together. So, I decided instead I would just revert to old Lily. Main objective: pretending he didn’t exist. Him and his stupid tight shirts, vibrant hazel eyes, and perfectly floppy hair could go to hell.
I wandered upstairs, needing space from him. Walls and a driveway weren’t enough. My phone chirped again, and I picked it up without thinking. Two notifications filled my screen. One from Madison and one from Parker.
My hand shook as my thumb hovered over his name. I knew he texted me from outside. So full of himself.
With apprehension and curiosity crowding my belly, I tapped on his message.
Parker: Stop staring
at me like a creep & come outside.
Like hell. I quickly deleted all of his messages then his number, ridding my phone of him so I wouldn’t be tempted to respond and egg him on. After a brief moment where I stuck my tongue out in the general direction of his bedroom like a five-year-old, I clicked on Madison’s text.
Madison: Wanna do lunch?
Me: Too broke. No car.
Her reply came a few minutes later as I was making my bed. At this point it was a surprise she hadn’t gotten fired for always being on her phone.
Madison: What if I told u there were a couple of hotties here willing to take us to lunch?
Me: I would still be left with no car.
She sent me the middle finger emoji followed quickly by another message.
Madison: Movie night at least? The ‘rents are driving me nuts
Me: Sure. Mom left money for pizza anyway.
A GIF popped up on my screen of a person dancing in a full-blown flower costume. I rolled my eyes. She was such a weirdo.
Something banged from Parker’s driveway, but instead of looking like I wanted to, I walked out of my bedroom toward the shower. I congratulated myself on two things as the water warmed up. One, I held on to my plan to pretend Parker no longer existed. And two, I was finally taking the shower my mom had begged me to for days.
“So.” Madison held up two movies the second her bag hit the floor by the front door. “Funny love or sappy love?”
“And why couldn’t we pick something on Netflix?” I reached for the red holders containing DVDs from Redbox. I didn’t even know that thing still existed.
“We’ve seen all the good stuff.”
I squinted at the titles. “I haven’t even heard of these movies.”
“Yeah, well, it was slim pickings.” Madison snatched the disks from my hand. “We could always go out.”