by Sherri Renee
Lucas raised a brow. “Oh?”
“Yep. We have airline tickets to buy, and we’ll need a place to stay. Of course, we have to find the best surfing instructor.”
“And we will,” Lucas said. “We’ll do all of that.” Lucas winked at me. “But first, I think we probably ought to get to class.”
I glanced around, totally surprised to find myself at school. I’d been so into Lucas that I’d forgotten everything else. But now that I was back to reality, I remembered Brianna, too.
“Everything really is over between you and Brianna, right?” I asked Lucas. “Because she doesn’t act like it is.”
Lucas dropped one of my hands so he could run his through his hair. “It’s so over between us. She’s just mad because I’ve moved on, and she hasn’t.”
I tilted my head. “She knows that you’ve moved on? I kind of thought we just decided that a few minutes ago.”
Lucas blushed, actually blushed, and I couldn’t stop a smile.
“Brianna wanted to get back together.” Lucas shrugged, looking extremely uncomfortably. “I told her I couldn’t because I was into someone else.”
My smile grew, and my every nerve danced a jig. “Me?” I asked. “Even after I ran you off at the hospital?”
“Yes, even after that.” Lucas leveled a soft smile on me. “I planned to give you some time to deal with things your way, but you didn’t run me off.” He traced a finger over my cheek before cupping it in his hand.
“There’s just something about you.” He paused and tilted his head as if trying to decipher exactly what that something was.
Lucas nodded slightly, as if he’d discovered the answer he was searching for. “You’re different from other kids our age,” he said. “You say what you mean, and you don’t play all the stupid games like Brianna does. I like that about you.” He traced my lips with his finger before dropping his hand, leaving behind a sizzling trail of electricity. I drew in a slow breath as my senses exploded.
“I like a lot of things about you,” Lucas added.
I stared up at him, overwhelmed. Beyond overwhelmed. It was almost as hard to accept that fact that Lucas actually liked me as it had been to accept the news that I was in remission.
I licked my dry lips, my eyes locked on Lucas’s. “I like a lot of things about you, too.” I wanted to say more, but emotions made my throat thick and tears threatened. Lucas took my hand and so much happiness filled me it was almost painful.
Lucas smiled widely at my words. “Brianna knows things are over between us. She isn’t happy about it, but she’ll get over it. She’s only interested in me because I’ve been a key player in the past few games, but the season’s almost over. She’ll get over me and move on to the star baseball player when that season starts.”
I let out a snort. “I knew I didn’t like that girl.”
Lucas shrugged. “She’s not that bad. Just shallow. Enough about her, though, this period’s almost over. What do you say we skip the rest of it and hang out and talk?”
I beamed at him. “I’d say you have the best ideas.”
Chapter 31
“I can’t believe you haven’t kissed him yet,” Ginger said, checking the mirrors before starting her car. “At least a little peck on the lips?”
I shook my head with a shy smile. “At first, I was worried about the germs, but now that we’ve waited so long, there’s like this huge expectation. I want our first kiss to be really special. I thought maybe we could kiss at graduation. Or when we get to the beach.”
“No way! Graduation’s too public, and the beach is too long to wait.” Ginger zipped in and out of traffic on our way to the mall. Horns blared at her, and I cringed, bracing myself.
“Think you could slow down a little?” I asked, with one hand on the overhead bar and the other pressed against the dash. “I’ve already cheated death once. I might not get a second chance.”
“Haha,” Ginger said, but she eased her foot off the accelerator. I let out a relieved sigh and settled back in the seat.
“So, about this kissing issue,” she persisted.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not exactly an issue.”
“It’s absolutely an issue. It’s become this huge deal. Now, it has to go perfect, or it will be like a major letdown.”
I blew out a breath. “Thanks. Nothing like a little pressure there.”
Ginger laughed. “No pressure. You just need to plan it. Maybe you could have a romantic dinner. You know, with candles and Lucas’s favorite foods. The kiss could be the perfect dessert.” She glanced over, waggling her eyebrows.
I shook my head at her. “You’re such a goof. Dinner by candlelight’s not a bad idea, though. Maybe we could do it before the end of the year dance. I could kiss him then.”
“You can’t do it then!” Ginger yelled and swerved, almost hitting the car in the next lane. I squeezed the safety bar even tighter and wished I would have offered to drive.
“You guys are doubling with Derrick and me,” Ginger said without missing a beat. “You can’t set me up with a strange guy and leave me alone.”
“Derrick’s not a strange guy. He’s Lucas’s cousin, and he’s really nice.”
“And cute, right?” Ginger darted a worried look at me. “You said he was cute.”
“He’s cute.” I laughed. “And funny, and smart from what Lucas says. He’s a freshman at U of H. I think you’ll have a great time with him at the dance.”
“Plus, it will be nice to show Max I don’t need him and his roaming hands.”
I gave Ginger a sad smile. “Is he still calling you?”
Ginger shrugged. “He’s been texting every day. Says he just liked me so much he couldn’t control himself around me.”
“And he expects you to fall for that? If he couldn’t control his hands around you, what else wasn’t he going to be able to control if he got you alone somewhere?”
Ginger shuddered. “I know. It just sucks. I really liked him at first, and then he just got so creepy.”
“Well, I don’t know how much you’ll like Derrick, but Lucas has assured me that he’s not the least bit creepy.”
“That will be a relief.” Ginger parked the car, and we walked into the mall. “Where do you want to go first?”
Ginger and I were on the hunt for the perfect dresses for the end of the year dance. It wasn’t formal, but we both wanted to end our senior year with a bang.
I, for one, had a whole lot to celebrate. Not only would I be hitting my goal of graduating, but I’d also been able to check off getting a boyfriend and going to college.
I mean, I hadn’t gone to college yet, but I got a late admissions acceptance to the local university. I was thrilled, but so nervous. Focusing on the distant future sometimes felt like I was tempting fate.
I kept waiting for something bad to happen that would rip my plans away. So far, things were going well, but it was hard to completely ignore that little voice that reminded me everything I’d gained could be snatched away in an instant.
No matter how scary it was, I couldn’t simply live day to day anymore. Not now that I did have a future.
I would also be able to check surfing off my list. Lucas and I had finalized our summer plans. As soon as school was out, we were heading for California to learn how to surf. I couldn’t believe we were really going, but even my parents had given the trip their blessing.
For now, I had a dance to get ready for. My first one of the year, actually. The end of the year dance was the week before graduation, only two weeks away. And I knew exactly what I wanted to wear.
“Where can we find something fire-truck red and form-fitting?” I asked Ginger.
She waggled her brows up and down and whistled. “I know just the place.”
“I figured you would.” I laughed as she dragged me through the mall. “Is it the same store where you bought your booty shorts?”
“As a matter of fact, it is.” She raised a brow at me, and I laughed,
letting her pull me into a cute little shop filled with a wide variety of clothes. If I couldn’t find what I was looking for there, I probably wasn’t going to be able to find it at all.
I’d started putting on a little bit of the weight I’d lost over the past year, and I finally had a few curves. I was ready to show them off. And red was Lucas’s favorite color. So, I’d decided red and snug was the way I wanted to go.
I glanced around the store, overwhelmed by all the choices. Now, if only I could find something that fit my criteria.
Ginger swished hangers on a rack, scanning dresses at warp speed. I imagined she had a particular style in mind too.
“Derrick’s favorite color is blue, by the way. I asked him, just in case you’re interested.”
“I look good in blue,” Ginger mumbled, focusing in on the blue dresses in her size while I wandered the store on the hunt for something cute and red and hot.
“He’s only dating her out of sympathy. She’s like dying or something. We’re getting back together after the dance.” Brianna’s voice screeched down my back like nails on a chalkboard, but her words floored me.
She had to be talking about me, but I wondered how she’d found out about the dying part? I had no worries that Ginger or Lucas had told anyone. I trusted them both completely. But someone had talked. Maybe Max had overheard Ginger say something that had clued him in.
I spun around, searching for Brianna and found her and her normal crew gathered around a rack of long dresses near the back of the store. I realized it didn’t bother me that Brianna knew my secret. I mean, it ticked me off that she was spreading lies about Lucas and me. I actually wanted to pull her hair out for talking about Lucas at all, but the talk about me dying didn’t really bother me.
I took a deep breath and smoothed a hand over my stomach. Stress wasn’t good for anyone. I would not let Brianna get to me. I had Lucas. That was all that mattered.
I tried to ignore the rest of the girls’ gossip, but they were so loud that it was hard. They talked about everyone in our class, and no matter how far I moved away from them, their voices carried.
I wasn’t even interested, but I got a quick rundown on who was cheating on who, and who’d had plastic surgery over Spring break while I tried to concentrate on the dresses I was flipping through. My ears started to burn from all the trash the girls were talking.
Suddenly, I tuned the girls out entirely as I found my dress. I slipped a deep red, thigh-length dress from the rack. It was tapered at the waist, looking both classy and hot at the same time. I took it over to show Ginger.
“I love it!” She rubbed the fabric between her fingers and stepped back to get a better look. “You have to try it on.”
“I’ll wait for you. Have you found anything yet?”
She pointed to a stack of blue dresses. “I’ve found a few. Let’s try them.” She gathered her dresses, and we headed to the dressing rooms.
“Maddie! Ginger!” I turned to find Rylie waving at us. She hurried over, glancing at our dresses. “You’re so lucky you get to go to the senior dance. I’ll be stuck at the junior one. Brianna said it’s super lame.”
I leaned over to give Rylie a one-armed hug with my dress in the other. “We had a blast at our junior end of the year dance.” I looked over at Ginger, and she nodded her agreement. “You probably shouldn’t listen to half of what your sister tells you.”
Rylie rolled her eyes. “You are so right. I don’t know why I listened to her about this.” She smiled at me. “So, you and Lucas?” Her grin grew wider.
My cheeks heated, but I nodded. “Me and Lucas,” I said.
“Yes! It’s about time!”
“What about you? Who are you going to the dance with?”
Rylie’s face turned bright red. “There’s this guy,” she said. “We hang out. Skateboard and stuff. We’re going as friends.”
“Oh, my gosh. I know how that friend stuff is. Want my advice?” Rylie nodded. “If you want more than friendship, let him know. If he’s not interested, then you’ve saved yourself some time, and you can start looking for someone else. But if he is interested, well, I have a feeling the end of the year dance will be just that much better.”
Rylie nodded and bit her lip. “Maybe,” she said.
“We’re going to try these on,” Ginger said. I imagined her arms were getting tired from holding her stack of dresses. “Want to come?”
Rylie shrugged but beamed at us. “Sure!”
We’d have to walk right past Brianna to get to the dressing room. I hoped she wouldn’t see us. I didn’t want her to ruin my day any more than she already had.
“Oh, look!” Brianna called just before we slipped into the dressing room. “It’s the poor little sick girl.”
Ginger jerked to a stop, and I ran into her back. “What did you just say?” Ginger asked, taking a step toward Brianna,
Brianna shot me an icy look before cutting a cold smile at Ginger. “Are you like her bodyguard because she’s too weak to take care of herself? That’s so sweet of you. Kind of like how it’s sweet of Lucas to date her, so she can say she had a boyfriend before she dies.”
Her words were mean and stupid, but they hit too close to home. I knew Lucas wasn’t dating me because I was sick. Heck, I wasn’t even sick right now. But a few months ago, that could have been the case.
“You—” Ginger threw her dresses on the ground and moved toward Brianna. I grabbed her arm to stop her.
She looked over at me, and I gave her a hard smile. “I’ve got this,” I said.
The anger dropped from Ginger’s face. She stepped back with a grin and extended a hand toward Brianna. “Be my guest.”
Brianna’s smile fell as she looked between us. “If we fight, my girls are fighting, too,” she said. Ginger and I shared a look and laughed.
“Oh, Brianna,” I said. “You poor little thing. Your boyfriend dumps you, so you have to make up off-the-wall lies so your friends won’t find out he just couldn’t stand you any longer.”
Brianna darted a glance at her friends. They watched her with wary looks. She noticed Rylie aiming her phone at us. “Stop videoing me!” she screamed at her sister before looking back at me. “It’s not a lie!” Brianna screeched. “You’re dying.” She pointed a finger at me. “That’s the only reason Lucas would go out with someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” I let out a light chuckle. “Someone who’s actually nice to him and supports him whether he wins or loses a game? Someone who likes to listen to his hopes and dreams and not just rattle on about what she wants out of life?”
I moved closer until Brianna and I were almost nose to nose and poked a finger in her chest. “Someone who likes him for who he is and not what he can do for her?” Her friends backed up a step, but Brianna looked frozen in place.
“Yeah, if those are the reasons you think Lucas chose me over you, then you’d probably be right. Lucas is a terrific guy, and you did nothing but try to put him down. You don’t deserve a guy like Lucas. Actually, someone like Max is probably more up your alley. He is the one spreading rumors about me, isn’t he?” I was taking a wild guess that Max was the big mouth, but Brianna’s response quickly confirmed I was right.
Her cheeks were as white as the shirt she wore, and her eyes were huge. She looked to her friends for support, but they all walked away, leaving her alone with me. “Max wouldn’t lie to me. He knows all about you. Everyone knows you’re just a pity date.”
My jaw tensed, and the urge to smack Brianna was overwhelming. Instead, I gave her a confident smile.
“Lucas is over you,” I said in a low, even voice. “Do yourself a favor and stop chasing after him. He doesn’t want you, and it just makes you look pitiful.”
Brianna let out a short huff. I was ready for some smart comeback, but she surprised me. Tears filled her eyes, and the fight seemed to leave her.
The dress she held slipped from her fingers. “Let’s go, Riley,” she said, sounding defeated.
Rylie rolled her eyes but sent us a quick wave as she followed her sister from the store.
“Wow. What’d I say?” I mentally replayed our brief exchange. I felt bad for being mean to Brianna, but there wasn’t one thing I’d said that wasn’t true.
“I think you hit a nerve.” Ginger bent to pick up her dresses. She stood and gave my arm a small shove.
“Girl, I didn’t know you had that in you,” she continued. “You put her right in her place, and you didn’t even have to resort to violence. Now, me,” she started toward the dressing room again, “I was ready to put a fist right in that big mouth of hers.” She swung her fist around playfully, and I laughed, following her into the dressing room.
I chose the room right beside hers and swished the curtain into place. “Have you ever hit anyone?” I asked as I shucked my clothes and shimmied into my perfect red dress.
“No,” Ginger said from her dressing room. “But today could have been the day I did. That girl deserves it. So does Max. What a jerk. I swear I didn’t tell him a thing about you.”
“I know,” I said, deciding it didn’t matter how Max had found out. It was more surprising I’d been able to keep my secret as long as I had.
We slid the curtains back on our rooms at the same time and stepped out. Ginger looked beautiful in the off the shoulder dark blue dress she’d tried on first. “I think that’s the one,” I told her. “It’s perfect.” I nodded at her, feeling a little teary.
It suddenly hit me that this could be the last dance we ever went to together. Not because I was dying, but because we were both living, and our lives would probably pull us in very different directions. It was a painful thought, but at the same time, it was beautiful.
“You’re not going to cry, are you?” Ginger’s eyes widened with panic. “Are you feeling okay?”
I let out a snort-laugh at the question and dabbed my eyes. “I’m not crying,” I denied my tears. "That dress couldn’t be any more perfect. You’re going to knock Derrick’s socks off.”
“Me?” Ginger said. “What about you? When’d you get those boobs?”