by A. J. Moran
The light in the truck brought me out of it and I covered my eyes. “Get up. I can’t get you up stairs on your own.” Wade smacked my leg and tugged a little bit.
With a groan I sat up. At least everything wasn’t spinning anymore. Although, the nasty taste in my mouth made me gag. “Not in the truck.”
Wade moved out of the way and I slid down the side of the seat to the ground. My hands gripped my legs as I bent at the waist. I breathed through my nose trying not to puke. I was never drinking again. Nothing good ever came from it.
After twenty minutes and a bottle of water that was pushed into my hand I felt a little better. I needed to talk to Taylor. I looked up at the dark house, the only light shining from the entryway. She would be in there right now. Tossing the now empty bottle into my back seat to take care of later I headed for the house. Wade was close on my heels and he grabbed my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” He blocked the way to the door now. Arms crossed he stood in front of me like a statue.
“Move.”
Wade didn’t move. I pushed him and he still didn’t budge. “Whatever you are thinking right now, it’s not a good plan.” Wade replied to another push.
“Maybe not for you.” I growl, the memory of him dancing with her burned on my retinas. He obviously wouldn’t want me to fix things and apologize.
With a sigh he moved out of the way and gestured for me to move past him. I took the stairs two at a time and was at Taylor’s door, my fist raised to knock before Wade could follow me. I knocked once and waited, listening for any noise on the other side of the door. Silence answered me. Raising my hand to knock again Wade grabbed onto my fist and held it still.
“You should wait till morning.” Wade suggested when I turned towards him.
“I have to do this now.” I tried to turn back to the door but he still held my fist.
He squeezed and then let go. “No, you really need to sleep this off. I don’t know what you are planning but doing it while you are drunk off your ass isn’t a good plan.”
“I’m not drunk.” I growled at him. “I just need to talk to her.”
“Again, do it in the morning.” He pushed me towards my bedroom and I stumbled slightly before catching my balance.
“What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that she will like me more?”
“Actually, that is the last thing I am afraid of. You are going to make an ass of yourself if you do this now.” He pushed me in the direction of my room again.
“Bully.”
“You got that right, now get your ass to your room and stay there.” He sounded so much like dad at that moment that I listened to him. I would talk to Taylor in the morning.
Chapter 26
Taylor
Quentin found me like he had sonar equipment that could pick me out of a crowd the moment I stepped into the school's lobby on Monday morning. I had avoided all contact with everyone since the dance on Saturday. It was becoming a nasty habit. Avoid anything that makes me uncomfortable.
Including skipping the after party that everyone else probably went too. I had heard Marcus and Wade come in sometime after one in the morning that night. Their footsteps stopped outside my room, a single knock on my door, and a hushed conversation passed between them before they moved onto their own rooms. I had half expected them to burst into my room.
On Sunday I managed to avoid Marcus and Wade. I had spent some time shopping with Claire and my dad, and we had gone out for a late lunch. The driveway had been emptied by the time we returned home, and I locked myself in my room for the rest of the night. And this morning I was out of the house before anyone else was moving, I had spent the last two hours at a small coffee shop in town.
"Tay! You missed the party! Where did you disappear too? I tried calling and texting Sunday too." He didn't wait for a response before he dove right into his story. "Let me tell you what you missed. Jacob showed up at the party with a girl he took to the dance. I don't think she knew he liked boys because she was clinging to his side like she was Velcro. When our eyes met across the room, you could feel the heat snapping between us. It was hot. He nodded his head towards the kitchen, and I met him there. It was a little awkward, but we talked for a while before that girl came to find him. I think he is afraid or something." He paused. "Oh, and Marcus Frost was wasted. He stood on a table demanding to know where you were. He wanted to know where his Princess was. His date had looked up at him helplessly. Then his brother had to talk him down. Crazy right? Besides at the dance I've never even seen you guys talk. Sam said you talk in Chemistry but that it really isn't ‘talking,'" he used air quotes as he rambled.
My attention had caught on Marcus looking for me. He had announced to a party that I was his princess. After the way he had acted at the dance, I was pretty sure he hated me. But now I wasn't so sure. My heart flipped over.
I didn’t care. Stupid heart. It didn’t know anything.
"You are the talk of the school today." He added. It was then that I noticed all the eyes aimed our way. "But I don't understand why he was looking for you. Is there more going on between you two than I know?" Quentin questioned me, his all too perceptive eyes taking in all of my actions or non-actions for that matter. "Okay spill." He demanded, at my silent avoidance of his question.
Looking around to see who all was looking our way I cringed. "I can't talk about it here. But we can meet later, all of us. I have something to tell you all." I told him. It was time I came clean. It was time for my friends to know the truth. If Marcus was going to go unhinged at parties looking for me, it was only a matter of time before the cat was out of the bag.
“This is going to be good!” He laughed, and clapped his hands together excitedly. “I’ll tell the others to meet us at your house after school.”
I sighed and gave him a nod. If I were going to tell them anyway, then it wouldn't matter if Marcus or Wade were around.
◆◆◆
After leaving Quentin with the promise of telling them everything later I couldn't help but notice the stares, and the whispers as I walked past people. I was suddenly someone that people looked at. And it wasn't in a good way. I felt like l was walking naked down the hallway with the way people were gawking.
I heard a random girl whisper, “Princess, Marcus Frost called her his Princess.”
Another girl said, “I don’t see it. He could do so much better. Princess, my ass.”
“Ice Princess, maybe.” Another hissed.
And even another snidely muttered loud enough for me to hear, "He will use her and lose her just like all the rest."
I had never wanted to blend in with the crowd so much as I did at that moment. By the time I made it to Chemistry my nerves were on edge. I had gone nearly three years without becoming part of the gossip, and suddenly I was thrown in the middle of it for something that I hadn't done. Samantha beamed at me as I entered the room and I slowly made my way back to her.
“Want to hear what people are saying?” She chirped.
I grimaced in response, “Not really.” I told her as I dropped my book down to the tabletop, and folded into my seat.
"People are saying that you dumped Derrick to get with Marcus." She leaned forward. "They are also saying you've been having a secret romance for weeks. Allison Grange said he wanted to have a threesome with you at the party on Friday night and you seemed game for it. She said she left him to you after some choice words."
Allison must have been that girl I had accidentally interrupted a make-out session with, which ended with a make-out session between Marcus and I. I felt a blush start to heat up my cheeks at the thought.
“OMG Taylor!! I didn’t think it was true!” Samantha squealed. “You have to tell me everything!”
"It's not." I denied her words. It wasn't true. Not really. Derrick and I were better off friends, and that was true before Marcus had kissed me. And a kiss is not a romance. Not even close.
"Some part of it is. I can tell by the look on yo
ur face. Were you really down for a threesome?" She questioned me. Her face entirely lit up at the thought. I didn't know why that was the rumor she chose to believe.
"What? No!" I just hadn't been able to move my damn feet away from that place. I definitely could move after he started to touch me. And his kiss was so consuming that I could barely think after his lips touched mine. I was so absorbed in denying everything that I missed the fact that Marcus was already in the room and he was approaching our table. "Oh god." I groaned, and I sank back into my chair. The smirk on his face didn't bode well for the next hour.
"Princess." He greeted me with his smirk turning into a full grin. He dropped his book carelessly down to the table, and sat down next to me, his eyes never left my face. All attention was fully on the pair of us, and he was eating it up. I would have thought he would show some embarrassment at what he had done at the party. "You mean you aren't going to talk to me now that it is all in the open? Heartless." He said the words clearly, and over half the room had heard him, my eyes snapped to him.
What was he doing?
"What are you doing?" I asked him lowly my grip on the edge of the table was turning white. If I were a superhero, I would break it off and hit him with it. But that really wasn't the behavior of a superhero. Okay, so maybe if I was the anti-hero I would do that.
“Just a joke.” He held up his hands in surrender. At my look he had the good thought to look a little sheepish. “Can we, maybe, talk?”
My heart thumped in my chest at a rapid pace. Talking with him was the last thing I wanted to do after the dance. But you wouldn’t know that if you took my blood pressure. Traitorous body.
“About?” My throat felt dry and I tried to swallow. It felt like sandpaper.
“Stuff. We need to clear the air.” His hand landed on my shoulder and he absently rubbed a circle with his thumb. It sent a shiver down my back and I shrugged him off. A half smile pulled up the corner of his mouth as he watched my movements.
“What are you trying to do?” I whispered at him, making sure to keep myself angled away from him. Distance was good.
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t think that is a good idea for either of us.” I opened my textbook in an attempt to block him out. It didn’t work. He just leaned closer, his tangy scent of lime washing over me.
“I think we need to talk.” He said. His breath sent a ghost of shivers down my side as it tickled my ear.
“Fine.” I jumped to my feet, my seat clattering loudly on the floor behind me. My overreaction to the feelings he sparked grabbed the attention of everyone in the class once again.
Before Marcus could say anything else, Mr. Tanner requested all attention to be on him so he could start class. Marcus reached down, and put my seat back on all four legs and patted it with a smirk.
“Eat lunch with me today.” He leaned over and whispered after Mr. Tanner turned to the whiteboard and started writing down our assignment for the day.
“I don’t know, that might fuel the rumors.” I replied, turning my head only to find his face right next to mine. I sucked in a breath and quickly turned my head away.
“What if I like the rumors?” He breathed into my ear.
“Right. You made it clear what you thought of me Marcus. You don’t have to pretend.” I told him loud enough for him to hear, while I kept my eyes on the back of our teacher’s head. I couldn’t bring myself to look over at him, but I could feel him looking at me.
Chapter 27
Marcus
I watched her sitting with a stiff back next to me. Breathing in her amazing perfume or whatever it was. I was a jerk. Her rejection had stung. When I had finally had her in my arms, it didn't last. I was back to being just the hired help, too low for her. So it made me lash out. Taylor had taunted me at the dance. I actually lost my mind for a minute. Then at the party I had made an ass of myself.
It was a cycle I needed to break. Talking to her and apologizing would be the first step. I didn’t know what came after. What I didn’t understand was why it was different for Wade. How she could still laugh and joke with him? How she could give him her smiles?
I draped my arm lightly along the back of her seat and leaned towards her. Her strawberry smell floated in the air towards me, and I inhaled it deeply. I could tell I was pushing her buttons but I couldn’t stop. Yeah, I was sorry, but getting under her skin was still fun.
"What are you doing?" She hissed at me. A glare narrowing her dark eyes as they moved from my face to my arm. I reached out a hand and fingered one of her red tipped curls. Her hair was beautiful when she let it hang naturally. The curl slipped from my fingers as she sat forward with her arms crossed on the desk. "Stop it."
When the bell rang, I was ready, and I swept up her books. "I've got these for you," I told her sweetly. Her answering growl made me laugh. She was cute when she was mad. Hell, she was cute all the time.
She stood next to our lab table, and I gestured to the door where the rest of the class had already exited. We were eating lunch together today. She wasn’t getting out of that.
With a shake of her head, she stalked out of the room. "You are not eating lunch with my friends and me. We will eat outside." Her finger poked into my chest as she stopped at her locker. She then grabbed her books from my arms and turned her back on me heading in the direction of the doors. I followed her and fell into step next to her with a smile.
“Works for me, I wanted you alone anyway.” I winked at her and I swear she was going to stomp on my foot and elbow me out of spite. I couldn’t help the laugh that broke free.
Chapter 28
Taylor
It was a relief to leave the school. The whispers that filled the hallways as I walked past had morphed into full-blown gossip over the course of the day. Even with Marcus by my side it was a freedom I didn’t realize I had needed. I let out the breath I felt like I had been holding the majority of the day and turned towards my tag along.
“So talk,” I raised my brow at him and put my hands on my hips. I was surprised I hadn’t started tapping my foot.
Instead, he unwrapped the sandwich he had pulled out of his backpack and took a bit. Holding up a finger he ate a few bites. “This is good. Want a bite?” The sandwich offered between us was like a peace treaty.
“Nope.” I shove my hands into my back pockets and rock back on my heels. “So, are you going to eat or talk?”
“Can’t talk on an empty stomach.”
“Alright.” I pulled my hands from my pockets and swung my backpack back onto my shoulder. “You have fun with that.”
As I make my way back to the school I really don’t want to go back into, he jogs up next to me. The sandwich was missing from his hands, “Wait.” He halts me with his hand on my arm.
Crossing my arms over my chest I turn slowly to him. I was done with whatever game he was playing. It was bad enough that I had come out here at all.
“So—“ He paused, “I just want to say that I’m sorry about what I said at the dance. I shouldn’t have said any of that to you.” His apology disarmed me and my arms dropped to my sides.
“Oh.” It was the only half noise that I could get out before my throat closed up.
“Yeah.” He rubs his neck with his hand and looks at the ground. He closed his eyes and seemed to take in a slow measured breath. “I know you don’t think that highly of me. Because I don’t have money like you, but we aren’t that different.”
“No—I, that’s not it. It’s just, you’re a playboy.” I couldn’t help the cringe I had at the last word. It wasn’t 100% true. It was because I didn’t want to be anyone’s second choice and he had made it clear that I was just convenient that night.
“Right.” He backed away from me. “Well, good talk.” He turned away from me but not before I caught a flash of hurt in his eyes. Panic gripped me and I took a step towards his retreating back. But what would I say? I stopped and watched him go, a heaviness settling in my chest.
When I got home, Mario was in the kitchen making pumpkin pie. Yum. Of course, Marcus and Wade showed up minutes after me. Wade sat down at the island across from me and picked up an apple from the bowl that was sitting out. Marcus didn't say anything, but he did give a small smile when he saw me standing next to the island.
"You are a quiet bunch today," Mario observed. He was right. Normally Marcus and I would be throwing halfhearted insults at each other and Wade would be laughing at the sparring match. Or Wade and I would be joking around, and Marcus would be nowhere to be found.
"Bad day at school?" His caring eyes looked at me. I shrugged in response. I was not sharing the gossip from school with Mario. That would be like sharing it with my dad, and that was not going to happen. Thankfully Dad and Claire would be gone for the week; maybe it will have blown over by then.
"It wasn't a bad day Mario," Marcus told him. "Just eye-opening."
"No- shut up," I told him, holding my hand up to him. He would not share with Mario.
Wade laughed and rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be good.” He said.
"I realized I liked this girl over the weekend. She has been a pain in my ass for months." He informed Mario, and Mario's eyes drifted over to me. I kept my face blank. He was not talking about me. Nope. Not me. "But something changed on Saturday night. Like a switch was flipped." He smiled and grabbed an apple and shining it more than it already was he took a bite out of it before continuing his story. "Now I'm head over heels for her. The only problem is she thinks she is too good for me."
There is no way that is how he feels. I can’t help but stare at him as he tells his story. He avoids looking my way. Another game.
“Is that so?” Mario smiled. “Sometimes the best romances begin like that. That is how my Cara and I started, many, many years ago.”