by Blair Holden
To say that my much-looked-forward-to trip home had turned into long days of being cooped up inside and avoiding prying eyes would be putting it nicely. While I appreciate the down time, I don’t think cabin fever has the best effect on me.
Exhibit A, I wanted my best friend to kill my dad.
Well, I didn’t necessarily want him dead, but maybe an attempt on his life would show him the need to make more mindful decisions and, you know, not engage in personal relations with women who have questionable professions.
“Tessa.” Megan plonks down on the bed beside me and I’m distracted from the spot on my ceiling that I’ve been staring at for the last thirty minutes. See? Cabin fever.
“You know he’s sorry, and I know that you know because the man has gone above and beyond to tell that to you. He said it’s been years since it happened, and he didn’t expect it all to surface in the way that it did. He’s embarrassed and ashamed and more than ready to make a public apology and—”
“I know, I was there when he made the speech, remember? It doesn’t change the fact that I can’t walk into the local grocery story and not have people looking at me like I’ll infect their children with the disease of sexual promiscuity just by breathing in their direction.”
Beth snorts.” You’ve only ever slept with one guy, honey, I don’t think you carry the promiscuous gene.”
“Yeah, that one went to my brother.”
Realizing what I’ve just said, I slap a hand over my mouth and sit upright. “I am so sorry, I did not mean to say that.”
Beth, from where she’s sitting in the chair by my desk, seems to have gone a couple of shades paler, which is impossible, given her already-porcelain complexion. She doesn’t let the hurt show though, just shrugs. “It’s okay, that just means we’re a good match.”
I feel like I need to ask Travis if he and Beth are having problems.
“But back to your dad, I can’t believe Mrs. Stone just uninvited you like that. Considering the fact that she knows as much about your family as she does, she should have kept you out of this.”
I know I need to rein in Beth’s mama-bear tendencies before she attacks the sheriff’s wife, but it’s good to have someone be upset for me. Childish as it seems, it is validation that what’s happening to me is unfair and that it has been far too long that I’ve lived under the shadow of my parents’ actions.
“You know she’s called and apologized a thousand times. It’s not her fault; the board of directors don’t want any negative press, and I would never want to ruin the night. It’s for such a good cause and I’d feel terrible if I brought any drama with me.”
“Right, because god forbid we actually go out like normal people and have a good time without the townsfolk pointing their pitchforks at us.” Beth snorts and it hits me that this sucks just as much for her as it does for me. My brother must have been uninvited as well, given the O’Connell family ban, and that, by default, means that Beth isn’t going as his date. I feel so incredibly selfish for moaning about my own issues and problems when clearly Beth is just as unhappy as I am.
“Well, I for one am I glad that I wasn’t even going in the first place. Alex couldn’t make it back home this weekend, and there’s no point in going if you guys aren’t. You know what? Screw them! Screw their fancy gala and their finger food and fancy drinks that taste like vomit. We don’t need them.”
I think this might have been the most passionate speech that proper little Megan has made in quite a well so I don’t intrude on her moment. Whatever we can convince ourselves of right now is good, but at the end of the day, I’m still pretty humiliated.
It’s worse because I’ve somehow managed to persuade Cole to still go. Yes, he fought and yes, I threw some tantrums, but at the end of the day, I know that it’s important to Cassandra to have her entire family there for something she worked so hard for, and I cannot be the petty one in this situation. It won’t make me happy to know that Cole’s stuck at home just like I am, because at the end of the day, it’s just one night, and in the grand scheme of things, it won’t make much of a difference.
I think.
“Oh good, you guys stopped feeling sorry about yourselves. Is now a good time for pizza?” And like the massive jolt of energy that she is, Cami bounces into the room carrying two large pies in one hand and a convenience store bag in the other. She uses the heel of her foot to slam the door closed and whispers conspiringly, “Do you think your dad heard that? That was angry, I-hate-the-world-and-want-to-kill-puppies door slam. It works best for extorting favors from parents. I really hope he heard that.”
And while the three of us stare at her, she puts her loot onto my desk and starts handing out paper plates. “I had to rely on the reviews on Yelp to help me figure out where to get the best stuff since you’ve been moping around in the house all day but I think I did good. First, we eat pizza and then ice cream, later we’ll come up with a diabolical scheme to gate-crash this gala because nobody puts baby in a corner.”
Beth looks slightly dazed she chews on her pizza, extra cheese. “Have I mentioned that I think I love you?”
Cami waves it off. “Everyone thinks they love me until they discover that beneath all this perfection lies even more perfection and they just can’t handle me. But I’ll take your word for it.”
“Cami, what’s going on? You have a look on your face, and I’m scared of that look. What could you have possibly done in the twenty minutes you’ve been outside of the house?”
“I’m so glad you asked!” She sits down on the floor, crossing her legs, and rubs her hands together. “So while I was out, I got a Twitter alert about Cole’s lawyer...”
“Dick,” Beth mutters under her breath and I concur but don’t understand what that has to do with anything.
“...So as I was saying, I got a notification, and it just about proved the fact that the man would sell his own grandmother if it profited him in some way. And because of what he’s just done, we’ve got to sneak into the gala.”
“B-b-but we can’t. That’s a bad idea,” Megan stutters, always the voice of reason. “I mean if either Tessa or Travis shows up, it could go really badly for Dr. Stone. The hospital needs to raise a lot of money tonight; I would know since I’ve been volunteering at the children’s ward since I was fourteen. I...I wouldn’t be saying this unless it was absolutely necessary. They don’t need the drama.”
My heart sinks at the pleading tone in my best friend’s voice. The cause is so important to her; she’s personally invested in the lives of the children that the gala will be raising money for. But she’s a good friend as well, and I know that the only reason she isn’t going herself is because of me.
“Oh.” Cami blinks and then seems to deflate. “Okay, if you put it that way, then I guess operation rescue Colessa is a fail.” Her face drops and it’s almost hilarious if not for what she’s just said.
Cami bites her lip and the three of us wait for the next bomb she’s about to drop. “So the thing is, this notification that I got was Dick liking a tweet from someone called Stephanie who’s so excited to attend the gala with Cole as her date.”
My jaw literally drops. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah,” she vehemently shakes her head, “that was my reaction exactly. I mean who the fudge-sticks is Stephanie and why is she Cole’s date? But then she also tweeted a picture and the two of them standing side by side like it’s frickin’ prom night.”
My hands shake as she passes me her phone and right there, in HD quality, is Cole in a tux and a striking brunette next to him. Being a girl, my first instinct is to compare her to myself, and she’s the absolute opposite. She’s dark haired, taller even than my five seven, willowy where I have curves and has an olive complexion. In the photo she’s wearing a gorgeous, knee-length, red satin dress, and one of her manicured paws rests on Cole’s arm as they face each other. It’s not exactly a prom photo; they look like they don’t even know they’re being photographed.
; “Who the fuck is she?” Beth hisses, and I realize that I’ve missed both Megan and Beth crowding around the phone to look at the photograph as well.
“I don’t know, I haven’t gotten that far along in my stalking yet, but give me a few minutes and I can try to find out.”
“Or,” I say dryly, “I can just call Cole and find out what’s going on. He never mentioned a date to me.”
In fact, persuading Cole to go alone had been a task in itself. It took a lot of convincing and a lot of bribing for him to agree, and I know that he’s angry for me. So the fact that he now suddenly has a date, a date I don’t know anything about, has left me shocked. “Right,” Cami nods, “you do that.”
As I grab my phone to call him, I realize that the three of them are watching with way too much attention.
“Guys? Can I be alone when I ask my boyfriend why in the world is he standing next to a teenaged Cindy Crawford?”
They get the message quick enough; snarky Tessa is kind of a bitch.
***
Ten minutes later my bedroom door opens again, but this time, no one comes bearing pizza, but maybe what I see is something, or rather someone, looking even more delicious and sinful. Cole in a tux should be illegal, especially if the tux is not a rental and is custom made to fit his body. It’s not fair that he looks like this and I’m in sweatpants, but if we’re going to wait for an even playing field to have our arguments, then we’ll be waiting a long time, because even now, some old insecurities surface, which makes me question why someone who looks like Cole is even with me. But those times are few and far between. Now, for example, the one strong emotion I feel is anger, and insecurity is taking a hike.
“We could’ve just done this over the phone,” I tell him as soon as he walks in. “If you feel like you need to turn up the charm in person, then I think we’re in trouble.” I’m still sitting on my bed, still in sweats, my hair loosely braided and thrown to a side, and I didn’t even bother putting makeup on. Still, I see him all dressed up and remember the girl he’s going with tonight and it makes me want to pull my blanket over my body and hide.
“There’s not going to be any trouble, Shortcake, because we don’t have a problem. I wanted to do this face-to-face because I want you to look at me when I tell you that I had no idea I was taking someone until an hour ago.”
“I would’ve believed you over the phone. You’re just being dramatic.”
“Fine, if that’s what you want to believe, but I’m not taking any chances.” He kneels at the side of the bed and takes my hand in his. “You know that I’m telling the truth, right? I had no idea that I was going to take Stephanie to the gala, but she showed up at my door with her dad and he seemed really important to Cassandra, so I didn’t want to put her in a spot.”
“Who is she?” I twiddle my thumbs and begin having doubts about Cassandra having moved on from Team Tessa. I know that in their last days, she didn’t really like having Nicole around Jay so much and that she helped Cole and me get together. If something similar is happening now, if she no longer thinks that I’m good enough for Cole, for her family, then I could be in trouble.
“She’s the daughter of someone on the board, an important someone who brings in a lot of money and influence to the hospital. He’s, uh, he’s a big football fan, and apparently so is Stephanie.”
That name is really starting to bug me now.
“So this is like a favor for your mom?”
“Yes,” he stresses, “exactly that. She feels horrible about the fact that you can’t come, and she knows that making me take her colleague’s daughter instead of you isn’t making the situation better. But she’s in such a bind, I—”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, you know that, just…a little warning would’ve been nice. If it weren’t for Dick and Stephanie’s tweets, I wouldn’t have found out, now would I?”
“I was going to come see you in person before leaving; you know I’d never have done that. Then Dick showed up out of nowhere and began bullshitting about good PR and being associated with a good cause. All everyone saw was a great photo-op for the gala, and suddenly I was being mobbed by a bunch of people to pose with a girl I’ve never met before in my life.”
“Well, she clearly doesn’t mind.”
He sighs. “Scoot over.”
“What?”
“I said scoot over. This no-contact thing isn’t really working for me. I told myself that I would deal with this situation rationally, without touching you. Because if I touch you, then we’re both pretty close to losing control and therefore, losing the ability to think rationally.”
“Wow, well clearly you have no problem in the self-esteem department.”
“Wise ass.” He basically ambushes me to a corner of my bed and gets in, stopping only to take off his suit jacket.
“You’re wrinkling expensive clothing,” I say in a sing-song voice that reminds me so much of my mom. Whenever my brother and I were forced to wear fancy clothes, we’d find some excuse to destroy them. As a kid, I mostly ended up breaking the zipper because my mother would always buy clothes that were a size or two too small.
“I don’t care,” Cole sings back and then sidles up next to me, laying me down and wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“So here’s the thing.” He looms over me, and I hate that he’s wearing my favorite cologne, but for Stephanie. Okay, so maybe he didn’t wear it for Stephanie, but she shouldn’t get to smell my man.
“If you don’t want me to go, just say the word and I won’t. Cassandra’s feeling sorry enough that she’ll agree, and her stupid board of directors can shove their propriety up their asses. If I don’t get to take my girlfriend to the gala, then I don’t have to take anyone else; that was my condition. They shouldn’t have ambushed me the way they did, so right now, if I back out, it won’t be a problem, and even if it is, I don’t care. I know you’re hurt, Tessie, and I know how excited you were. It kills me that they did this to you, so I don’t owe anyone anything.”
I break, my anger evaporating in an instant, and I realize that the entire day has been ridiculous, all of it. So I start laughing; crazy laughter bubbles out of my throat until I’ve got tears streaming down my cheeks and Cole’s shaking me because he’s obviously confused whether I’m laughing or crying.
I bring my hands to his face and kiss him to give him the answer. It takes him a second to catch up before he’s kissing me back, but he makes the most irresistible sound, which tells me that he’s all in, not thinking about the million and one things we should be worried about. Soon the kiss progresses from something sweet and romantic to one that may require parental consent to continue watching, and just like that, someone’s banging against my door, forcing us to break apart.
Settling on our backs, both trying to catch our breath, we ignore Beth when she yells through the door to keep our pants on because my dad is downstairs.
“So I take it you’re not mad.”
“Take this Stephanie wherever you need to take her. Have Dick go social media crazy, pose for the cameras and talk to the right people. Help your mom earn some money and then come back to me. But if you touch her even once and I get to hear about it, you will be losing a very significant appendage.”
He laughs and kisses me again, his lips moving down my neck and resting at the juncture between my neck and shoulder. “I don’t want to leave this bed.” His voice is low and gravelly, far too much for me to resist. I’d love to keep him here, hold him hostage until this situation with my dad has normalized and I can be out with him in public, or at least until we leave this town again.
But I can’t. I see Megan’s face as she talked about the children at the hospital, and we couldn’t do anything to ruin their chances of getting some much-needed funding.
“You should go. I don’t like that you have to take Miss Perfect with you, but I’ll live. I mean I can survive a Stephanie if I’ve survived a Nicole, a Kimmy, and an Erica.”
Yu
p, we can joke about that now.
Cole grimaces, but I know he sees my jibe for what it is, a joke. “If it helps, I think she’s way more into Jay than she is into me. It didn’t help my case that I jumped five feet away whenever she tried to touch me. Jay, on the other hand...well, I think he just broke up with the girl he was seeing and he wouldn’t mind a rebound.”
“Well, then, when you put it that way. I know I’ve taught you enough about playing matchmaker; think you can handle all that by yourself tonight?”
He gives me a salacious grin. “Oh, you bet.”
***
After basically forcing Cole out the door, the girls and I decide to have a chill movie night at home. It’s just us here minus my dad and Travis, and we’re all trying really hard to pretend that we’re not bored out of our minds. Since coming out of my “I got uninvited” funk, I’ve realized that I’ve been cooped up in my room for way too long, so just another night at home makes me want to pull my hair out. Most of the people in our small town are at the gala, so if I ventured out, there wouldn’t be as many people staring, just some college and high school students working during the summer.
“You know I love Channing Tatum and all that, but this…” Megan, my Ivy League angel, does the job for me.
“It’s boring, okay? I’m bored. I’m so bored. I’ve spent the entire week helping my dad with taxes. He refuses to accept that I’m not even doing an accounting degree, and all this sitting around and staring at the screen makes me want to hurl heavy objects at your TV, Tessa. I’m sorry; I know we’re all supposed to be sad that we missed out on the event of the decade, but can we just do something fun?”
We all stare at Megan and then everyone bursts out laughing. Switching the TV off and ditching our ice creams, everyone stands, and I know we all have the same idea. But of course it’s Beth who’s brave enough to voice it.
“I knew I’d kept your fake IDs safe for a reason. Cami, you have one, right?”
“Got it when I was sixteen. Hi, I’m Sasha Giroux, twenty-six, and I work in advertising.” She flips her hair and pouts.