The Nerdy Girl (White Oak Creek High Book 1)

by Lee Wardlow

  Then he kissed me. “I told you I would wait as long as you need. Abby, sex is sex. It feels good but I want the next time to be with someone I love. I want it to be with you.”

  The next kiss was fierce. It was hot. It made my toes tingle when Cal stuck his tongue in my mouth, sliding his across my tongue. “You feel it too Abby, don’t you?” He asked when he broke the kiss.

  I did.

  “When it’s right, it will happen,” he breathed against my lips. I could feel his heart racing heard beneath my hand. My own pounded in my chest.

  He rested his head against the chase. I put mine on his chest and listened to the thundering of his heart slow to a steady gallop. “I love you, Cal.”

  “I love you too, Abby.”

  We made one mistake. We got too comfortable and fell asleep. The early morning sun peeking through the curtains at the window hitting me directly in the eye woke me.

  “Ah shit,” I whispered. I hopped up. “You have to go.”

  He stretched and yawned. Then he too realized that it was morning. He looked at his watch. I grabbed his wrist and looked too. Seven am. I might get lucky. No one could be up this early. Mom was up first every day of the week but seven was early for her too.

  I kissed him at the door to the pool house and we slipped outside. Then I watched Cal slip over the fence with such ease that I was jealous. I would have face planted, upside down hanging from the top of the metal pole.

  I circled the fence and went through the mudroom door into the laundry room where I met my mother closing the lid to the washing machine. I knew it was no accident. She had seen me and met me here. Shit.

  “Abby,” she said. She wasn’t happy but she wasn’t like Dad. She was willing to listen. Dad grounded first then asked questions later. “I don’t need to ask where you’ve been. I saw you walk out of the pool house with Cal.”

  “Dad up?” I asked.

  “Nope,” she replied. “What were you doing out there?”

  “We were talking and fell asleep.” Honesty is always the best policy with my mother. She and Dad had been harping on that for years.

  My mother wasn’t like my Dad. She was shrewd. The difference between them was she had an open-door policy and made herself available and listened to us where Dad blew his stack which made it hard to tell him things.

  “Mom, I love Cal.”

  She took a step closer and caressed my cheek. “Honey, I won’t try to tell you that you’re too young or you don’t understand those feelings, because it wouldn’t do any good, but you can’t be sneaking outside and sleeping all night with him. Your father would…well he would not understand.”

  “Do you believe me that nothing happened? We didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

  I was being honest about that.

  “I do believe you. I don’t want to keep things from Dad, but I will this time. Don’t do it again. I like the effect that Cal has on you.” Mom smiled at me.

  I did too. I was coming out of myself, little by little. Growing and changing. Feeling more confident. His family had a good effect on me too.

  “I like it too.” I grabbed her and hugged her hard. “Thanks Mom.”

  “Abby, just tell me if you need birth control. I don’t want you to have sex this young. I’d much rather protect you than have a teenager who is pregnant.”

  “I will Mom, but we aren’t having sex.”

  “Okay.” She sighed. I knew she wanted to say more. Same thing as before. It was so easy to give into temptation when the feelings were strong. I know. I knew. She knew too and understood all these things. She was once a teen too. I got it. I had heard it before. I wanted to wait though. I wasn’t ready for sex yet.

  I left Mom in the laundry room and detoured to the living room because I heard Dad roaming around upstairs. I couldn’t explain why I was up early, so I turned on the television and cuddled on the sofa like I had been there all night.

  “Abby,” Dad called softly as he passed by the living room. “Did you fall asleep on the sofa?”

  I stretched and yawned and sat up. I rubbed my eyes for good measure. “Yeah, I did,” I lied through my teeth.

  “Watching football with me and Tyson later Abby?” Dad asked.

  “Not in this lifetime, Dad.”

  He chuckled as he walked to the kitchen, none the wiser. Today I had to spend the day with my family although I wanted to see Cal. I had it bad.

  I turned off the television and ran upstairs to my room. I texted Cal to see if he got in any trouble for coming home this morning instead of last night.

  I’m fine. Mom and Dad trust me to make the right decisions. It’s different for a boy. They weren’t this lenient with the girls which my sisters point out regularly.

  That’s just not fair. I agree with your sisters.

  LOL. Did you get caught?

  Mom. She’s cool but told me it can’t happen again.

  I like waking up with you in my arms.

  I’m sure your arms were paralyzed in that small chaise.

  I don’t care Abby. I’d sleep with you anywhere.

  I sent Cal hearts and kissy face emojis. He sent me another LOL.

  What is the plan for today?

  I need to spend time with the family. Maybe later I can see you if you want?

  I want. I would spend every moment I could with you Abby.

  I like that response Cal.

  Good. Message me later. I’ll come get you. Hang out with you there. Whatever you want. Love you Abby.

  I love you too.

  I headed to the shower to get the hairspray out of my hair. Then I went downstairs to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. My stomach rumbling for food.

  Mom put a bowl of oatmeal in front of me. She and Dad were making a grocery list. She was going alone. He had some work to do. He might be home on Sundays, but work was never far from his brain.

  “I’ll go with you, Mom,” I offered.

  “I’d like that Abby.” I had made her smile.

  After breakfast, I grabbed shoes and a hoody and went with my mother to the store. Something that often terrified me. People were at the grocery store. I needed to start facing my fears head-on. Especially if I wanted to go away to college in two years.

  We wandered aisle after aisle. Talking about Thanksgiving a month away. Grandma was coming to White Oak Creek and I couldn’t wait to see her.

  Then I saw him, helping his mother who was riding an electric cart. She was probably about my mother’s age. Her hair like his color was pulled back from her face. She looked tired. Ill. Aiden walked beside her and put stuff into the basket that he pushed.

  He looked ahead when Mom said something to me, then he saw me. His eyes immediately filled with anger and an unnatural hatred that I just didn’t understand. His right eye was encircled with a deep bruise like someone had hit him. A bruise, I was sure that he didn’t have Friday night or yesterday at the Cooper’s.

  Mom moved ahead of me, leaving me behind. Then she realized that I wasn’t moving. “Abby, coming?”

  Aiden’s mom smiled at us as we moved by her. Aiden didn’t. His face was a mask of anger, hurt and pain. I had done this to him. I could see it on his face.

  “Mom, that is Aiden.” Suddenly I needed to talk to her. “I don’t know why he hates me.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Cal’s friend.”

  I nodded. “I think his Dad hurt him. He didn’t have that bruise around his eye after the fight with Cal on Friday and he didn’t come to the dance last night.”

  Mom moved in beside me and put her arm around me. “Honey, it isn’t your fault. It isn’t your fault either that he, or Cal are at odds right now.”

  “I just want to fix things,” I said.

  She nodded but didn’t give me any advice for how to do that. “Can I ask Cal to come over for dinner?”

  “Sure honey. We’d like to see more of him. Maybe Dad would relax about the two of you dating.”

  I rolled my eyes a
t her which made her laugh. She wasn’t so uptight about that as Dad was. I texted Cal about dinner tonight. He agreed he would be there at six on the dot. I was excited. I wanted this to last like he did. I couldn’t imagine the heartache if we broke up and I didn’t want to either.

  I saw Aiden several times before we left the store. Each time was the same. Across the checkout lanes, he was frowning at me while his mom paid for their groceries. Mom was paying for ours while I tried to avoid Aiden’s glare.

  I glanced at Mom wanting her to hurry. Escaping Aiden was my priority right now. Mom was chatting away with the lady behind the register. At this point, we would walk out of the store together if she didn’t hurry it up.

  The last of our bags was in the cart. I grabbed hold of the handle, itching to push it out of the store. Mom signed her name after running her credit card.

  “Three hundred dollars later, we’re ready to go until next week,” she groaned. “That’s what happens when you have a growing boy. Luckily, you weren’t twin boys,” she teased me.

  I laughed half-heartedly. Aiden’s mom was almost ready to go too. Mom walked ahead of me out of the store. I hurried trying not to run over her. She was searching for her sunglasses and her car keys. I didn’t want to look back and see where Aiden was. Then I felt the crushing pain in my heel, and I knew he had rammed their cart into me.

  I glanced over my shoulder trying not to cry.

  “Aiden, what is wrong with you,” his mother said, her voice soft and low. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Are you all right?”

  I nodded.

  “I wasn’t paying attention,” he mumbled. “Sorry.”

  He wasn’t sorry at all. Mom stepped back to me. She looked at my heel that was scrapped and bruising. She sighed. “It’s okay,” she said smiling at Aiden’s mom. My mother was good at putting on her game face.

  “He must have been looking at your lovely daughter. I’m so sorry. I’m Carla Todd.”

  Mom shook her hand. “Kat Gardener.”

  “You must have some classes together if you’re from White Oak Creek?” Carla Todd said to Aiden.

  “She’s Cal’s girlfriend,” he said but the stoniness in his tone was obvious at least to me.

  “Oh, that explains it.” His mother was oblivious to Aiden’s anger at me. We were all waiting for her to explain herself. “Why I haven’t seen Cal in a while. He’s such a sweet boy.”

  I wish I could say the same for your son.

  “My Aiden is the klutzy one. Just look at his face.”

  “Mom,” he jerked away when she tried to reach up to him.

  “Bicycle accident. Always trying to be a daredevil, this one is.”

  I liked his mom, but I realized that whatever was wrong with her made her unaware of her surroundings. Her situation at home or that Aiden’s father was hurting him.

  “Aiden is a good boy,” she rambled on. “I have MS. He takes great care of me. His father is an over the road truck driver and gone a lot.”

  At least he had some redeeming qualities even if they didn’t extend to me.

  “Carla, it was a pleasure to meet you and you Aiden,” my mother said, sugar dripping off her tongue. I wanted to roll my eyes at her. “But we have items melting in our cart.”

  “Oh dear, I’m so sorry for keeping you.”

  “Not a problem, Carla. It was my pleasure to meet you both. If Aiden needs anything when your husband is out of town, please don’t hesitate to contact us. My husband and I would be happy to help. That has to be a lot of responsibility for a young man.”

  His mouth fell open. He knew Mom realized he jammed his cart into me on purpose and he was as surprised at her offer of help as I was.

  “That is nice of you Kat. I’m sure he’s tired of it. We’ll let you know,” Carla said.

  Mom smiled at the woman. I knew we would never hear from them. Aiden wouldn’t allow it. Maybe on some level Mom knew that too and that’s why she offered. She knew he wouldn’t take her up on it either. “Come on Abby. Gotta run.”

  I limped beside my mother who now pushed the cart.

  “Why did you do that?” I asked.

  “What?” Mom asked looking sideways at me.

  “Offer to help them?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do,” she answered as if it were that simple.

  “He hurt me Friday night and jammed that cart into me on purpose.”

  She nodded. Her voice was soft when she responded. “I know Abby, but two wrongs don’t make it right.”

  I hated it when she said that besides my foot hurt and I wasn’t feeling charitable right now.

  “Abby, you said his father gave him that black eye. His mother doesn’t even know what is happening to him. Don’t you think he’s in pain?”

  “I have a hard time feeling sorry for him, Mom.” I rolled my eyes at her back.

  I helped her unload our groceries from the cart into the trunk in Mom’s expensive SUV. It spoke that we had money like Dad’s vehicle, our house. Our clothes. The things inside it and for once I was paying attention and I was embarrassed.

  Looking at our life versus what I had seen of the Cooper’s life. Aiden’s life. Maybe even Luke’s life although I didn’t know much about him.

  We had the material things that Dad’s success could buy but we didn’t have him any more than the Cooper’s had Daniel Cooper. At least his job was for God and country. He had a selfless position in this world. Dad worked for himself to better himself. To gain glory for himself to line his bank account.

  I began to look at my dad in a different light, not that I didn’t love him, but his career also took precedence over everything including us.

  “Mom,” I said when we were buckled in and heading out of the parking lot, “do you ever wish Dad did something else?”

  She shot me a quick look. “Like what?”

  “Something that didn’t take up all his time,” I said. “He’s home Friday night for Ty’s game. Then only on Sunday. Even then he’s answering email’s during commercials and halftime.”

  She laughed at me. “Abby, I knew what I was getting into when I married him. He’s always been an overachiever. He had lofty goals at eighteen.”

  I nodded and stared out the window. “But wouldn’t you like to see him more?” I asked.

  “I see him every night at ten o’clock sometimes ten-thirty. We wind down together every evening before I close my eyes. I get a good night kiss and a good morning kiss. I’m content.”

  I wanted so much more than to be content. I wanted more than charity events and tennis lessons to occupy my time while my husband worked sixteen hours a day, six days a week except when his son had football games on Friday night.

  I wanted dinner with my husband and family every night at six o’clock or seven. In today’s world dinner seemed to be later and later but I wanted that. All of us, together, eating every night or as many as we could not just one night, on Sundays.

  Maybe it had something to do with Dad’s parents not being so close to him. My Grandma that I was close to was Mom’s mother. I saw my other grandparents when someone died or got married. Otherwise, I rarely saw them. They lived in Florida where they retired at fifty-five. My dad didn’t seem interested in seeing them either.

  “Why isn’t Dad close to his parents like you are with Grandma?” I asked.

  Mom shot me that same look. “Why so many questions, Abby?”

  “Just trying to figure out dynamics, relationships. Why we are the way we are, I guess.”

  She stared at the road. “Dad’s parents aren’t like mine. Your grandpa worked long hours, seven days a week.” Just like Dad. “He wasn’t loving like your dad is.” Mom smiled at me. “Your grandmother is warmer but different. She wasn’t raised in a loving, huggy type of family like mine. So, it was different for them. They didn’t mind not seeing each other so much when they moved to Florida. Seemed like the natural thing to them.”

  “It isn’t,” I declared.


  “Maybe not to some but who are we to judge, Abby. You’re right, though. It didn’t seem normal to me either. Your dad was different when I first started dating him. He loved me with a passion that scared him. He wasn’t used to feeling this way. He wasn’t used to being touchy-feely like I am.”

  I was fascinated that she was talking about my parent’s relationship so openly. “Then we lived together because that is what made him comfortable. I don’t think he wanted to get married until we realized that we really wanted to have kids.”

  “He said he did.”

  Mom laughed. “He would. We are best friends Abby. Partners in life and love as corny as that sounds. I love him as madly today as I did seventeen years ago when I married him. Even longer when we started dating, faults and all. You need to be able to accept it all, honey. Marriage is hard. It’s not all hearts and roses, you know. We don’t show you the fights. Maybe we should so you know it isn’t the glass front house we live in all the time that seems perfect on the outside.”

  I was surprised she admitted that to me.

  “Dad and I have our ups and downs like every other married couple, but it is worth it to us to stick together for you, for us. For our family.”

  “Do you know what I like about the Coopers?” I asked.

  “What?” She glanced at me again. A slight frown on her face as she waited for me to tell her.

  “What you see is what you get. There is no façade. It is what it is. They let it all hang out,” I explained not realizing that I had inadvertently hurt my mother’s feelings.

  I didn’t really mean to but my entire life, my relationship with her had been about keeping up appearances. Being better. Looking better. I loved her but part of my insecurities about myself were because she was not only a tough act to live up to, but she was offering me suggestions on how to better myself instead of accepting me how I was.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” she replied. I could hear that it wasn’t. Her tone was clipped now.

  “Mom, I didn’t mean it.”

  She looked at me with tears in her eyes and she smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, you did Abby. Maybe you had a right to feel that way though. I’m always trying to change you, aren’t I?”