Backing out of the driveway proved to be the hardest part. Going forward wasn’t too much different than driving a car. I cruised Main Street looking for any sign of a pizza place, but never came across one. How could a town not have a pizza place? There was a burger joint on the corner though. That would have to do; I was starving.
If I thought backing out of the driveway challenging, parking the monster was a complete nightmare. I circled the lot three times before I found a spot wide enough I felt confident I wouldn’t hit anybody pulling in or out of.
The line inside the place was outrageous and I waited almost twenty minutes for a cheeseburger and fries. Needless to say, my double wide parking spot was no more by the time I got back to the truck. Some idiot had squeezed in so close to me that I could barely open the door to climb in. How the heck was I going to get this thing out of here now? And, just to go along with the theme of the evening, the idiot had to drive a Mercedes. If I scratched that puppy I would spend the rest of my life trying to pay for it.
Shifting into reverse, I eased the beast backwards a few inches, but the enormous side mirrors were coming too close for comfort to the Mercedes so I pulled forward again trying to straighten her out. Then I inched backwards again; same problem. This was never going to work. I pulled in and out bit by bit a few more times before a knock came at my window. I jumped a mile and slammed the truck into park to avoid any accidents before rolling down the window.
“You need some help?”
An absolutely drop-dead gorgeous blonde guy wearing a blue t-shirt that highlighted his dark blue eyes stood outside the truck with an amused grin on his face. His shirt left little to the imagination in regards to his well-defined chest over his designer jeans. What was this town, hot guy central? Not that I was complaining.
“You seemed to be having a little trouble getting out of the spot,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, well, if some idiot hadn’t parked so close to me it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Oh, sorry about that.”
He would be the idiot, wouldn’t he?
“Let me make it up to you.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Give me the keys. I’ll get you out of here,” he offered.
I considered turning him down, but decided it would more humiliating to have him watch me continue to try and wiggle my way out, so I scooted over on the seat and let him climb up beside me. It took him less than a minute to get the truck free of the parking spot.
“Son of a pumpkin!”
Jason laughed and I cursed my weirdo mouth.
“Would that be like . . . a gourd?” he inquired.
“Yes,” I said defiantly, folding my arms across my chest. So I said weird things sometimes, so what? I blame it on my mother. She runs a very PG household. I have to get creative sometimes in order to express myself. Back at my last school everyone was used to it, but here I guess it was either pick up a new vocabulary or get used to the weird looks for a while.
“Uh huh. So a moving truck huh? Does that mean you’re new in town?”
“That is what it would mean.”
“Where are you living?”
“Over on Chestnut.”
“Oh, okay, that’s not far. You gonna be alright getting this thing home by yourself.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him.
“Sucks that you moved here right after school ended. How are you supposed to make any friends?”
“I guess I can just keep getting this beast stuck in parking spots. It seems to be working so far.”
He laughed. “That’s true. I’m Jason by the way.”
“Melody—Mel,” I told him, taking his extended hand.
“Well, Mel, it was very nice meeting you. If you’re not busy this weekend would you like to meet up over at the mall? A few of my friends will be there. You can get to know some more people before school starts back up.”
“That sounds great, but I’m not sure what’s going on this weekend yet.”
“Let me give you my number and you can give me a call if you decide to come. I’ll even pick you up so you can leave this baby home,” he added, patting the dashboard.
I handed him my cell and he programmed in his number.
“Drive safe,” he said over his shoulder as he climbed out of the cab.
“Thanks,” I called out the window after him as he headed back towards his car.
“No problem. Talk to ya later, Mel.”
I couldn’t believe it. I’d actually made a friend, an incredibly hot friend, and he had invited me out. It was too good to be true. Suddenly, I loved that stupid truck.
*****
The rest of the week passed in a blur of unpacking. Mom was at work, as usual, despite the fact that it was the weekend, and I had been fiddling with my cell all day debating calling Jason. I didn’t want to look pathetic, but I also didn’t want to actually be pathetic either, sitting around my house alone on a Saturday night. Finally I decided to suck it up and just called. Jason answered on the second ring, almost like he had been waiting for my call. Yeah right, wishful thinking.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Hi. Jason?”
“Yeah.”
“This is Mel. From the burger place the other day,” I hedged.
“Oh, hey, Mel. I hoped you’d call.”
“Well, it turns out I don’t have anything going on this weekend.”
“Oh, no? Got tired of picking up guys with that hot ride of yours?”
“Sadly the beast had to go back to the rental company.”
“Well, in that case, would you like to go to the mall with me and some of my friends tonight? We’re going to hit up the movies.”
“That sounds like fun.”
I gave him my address and he arranged to pick me up at six. That left me just over an hour to get ready. About five outfits later I was convinced I needed to do some serious shopping, and soon. Finally settling on a pair of skinny jeans and a black V-neck tee, I moved into the bathroom to finish getting ready. I was never big on makeup, but that was before I moved to Hotsville. A little lip gloss and eye liner couldn’t hurt. After pulling my long chocolate-brown hair up into a messy bun, I secured it with a clip and surveyed the final product in the mirror. Not bad, if I said so myself.
I was just pulling on a pair of strappy sandals when the doorbell rang. The doorbell . . . nice. Most guys I knew would have just blown their horn. Who wants to risk a parental meet and greet? Good thing mom wasn’t at home. Jason looked amazing again in his button up black shirt and dark jeans. We matched . . . terrific. I considered running back upstairs and changing until he said, “Wow, Mel, lookin' good.” His eyes ran over my ensemble and he grinned. Well, that settled it. It was officially my new favorite outfit.
“Yeah, I tend to clean up decently when I haven’t been hauling boxes all day.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
I snagged my purse off the counter and we made for that gorgeous car of his. Cherry red with the smoothest black leather interior you could ever imagine. I almost didn’t want to sit on it, fearing I would damage it somehow. When he turned the ignition the car emitted a low, sexy rumbling sound. It essentially purred. The cold AC felt great on my sweat dampened skin and some kind of techno music pumped out of the speakers. Techno. I must admit, I didn’t see that one coming.
The mall was a few towns over, about a twenty minute ride and Jason chatted amiably the entire time. He never ran out of things to say or questions to ask. I had never met such a naturally social person before. There weren’t any of those awkward silences where you wrack your brain hunting around for something to say and usually end up spitting out something completely absurd and embarrassing. There was only easy conversation and a lot of laughing. By the time we reached our destination I felt like I had known the guy for years and I liked what I knew. Just inside the entrance we were met by another guy and a girl. He was rocking
a hoodie with some band name splashed across the front and shaggy reddish hair. The girl was blonde, like platinum Barbie blonde, and she was decked out in a designer sundress. Suddenly my outfit wasn’t so impressive. Great, I had been completely fooling myself. Jason was probably about to introduce me to his gorgeous girlfriend.
“This is Kyle and Jenna,” Jason presented. “Guys, this is Mel. She’s new in town.”
“Hey, Mel.” Jenna immediately latched onto my arm. “It is so nice to finally have another girl to hang out with around here. Too much testosterone, if you know what I mean. It can make a girl nuts.”
She seemed nice enough, but that lingering annoyance of too pretty to be real kept me from warming up to her—that is, until Kyle slipped his arm around her waist as we strolled into the mall concourse. She suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
“So Mel, where are you from anyway?” Kyle asked as we window shopped our way to the theater.
“California.”
“California? Why would you ever leave California to come here?” Jenna demanded to know.
“My mom got transferred. If she wanted to keep her job we had to move, so here we are.”
“That bites,” Jenna declared. I couldn’t disagree.
Just as we reached the food court everyone came to a dead stop and it took me a moment to realize why. There he stood, right in front of us: jerk face from next door. His gaze flicked between Jason and me several times before finally settling on me.
“Hey,” he said with an abrupt nod.
“Hi,” I offered cautiously, feeling completely uncomfortable.
Everyone seemed tense and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Jason’s hand slipped into mine, feeling almost possessive. I won’t lie and say I didn’t like it, at least a little.
“Jason,” he said, shifting his gaze again.
“Lucas,” Jason returned, stiffly.
Then everyone resumed staring at each other. What the heck was going on?
“We’re going to the movies. You wanna come?” I offered, having had enough of the awkward silence.
Lucas glanced at me. “No. Thanks, but I need to get going.”
“Alright then, see ya around.”
He moved around our group toward the exit and the tension finally seemed to ease.
“Lucas is a freak, Mel,” Jason warned. “You should stay away from him.”
“Well, that could prove difficult since he lives next door.”
“You live next door to Lucas Prescott?” Jenna asked incredulously. “Oh man, that bites. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the guy is like totally hot,” this was met by a round of groans from the guys, “but he really is a freak.”
“Why?”
“Who knows? He’s totally antisocial, never talks to anyone,” Kyle chimed in.
“He talked to me for like a week when I first met him, but then it was suddenly like he couldn’t be bothered anymore,” Jenna told me.
“Yeah, same with me,” Kyle agreed. “Who knows what that guy's deal is. It’s like he has some personal vendetta against Jason especially. No one really knows why.”
What was his problem? He hadn’t even made an attempt to be friendly with me when I first met him and apparently that first week was all anyone ever got from him. Oh well, no great loss.
“Does anyone have to hit up the ticket booth?” I asked as we approached the theater at the rear of the food court.
“No way,” Kyle laughed, whipping a ticket stub out of his pocket and waving it in front of my face. “I’ve had this baby for like two years. You just wave it at the guy collecting tickets and he lets ya slide right past, they never look close enough to notice.”
“Yeah, we’ve all got 'em,” added Jenna. “It was Jason’s idea actually. None of us have paid for a movie in years.”
“But isn’t that stealing?” I asked, astounded by their cavalier attitudes.
“It’s not like the theater needs the money more than we do, right Jas? They’re showing the film whether or not we’re sitting in the seats so we might as well be there,” explained Kyle, sounding as though I were the one being illogical.
“I don’t know about this, guys,” I hedged.
“Don’t worry, Mel, it’ll be fine,” Jason assured me.
“It just doesn’t feel right.”
Alright, so I sounded like the party-pooper of the century, but my queasy stomach disagreed with this plan.
“You gotta learn to relax a little and enjoy yourself,” Jason laughed. “Here,” he added, offering me a small square ticket stub, “I brought an extra for you, too.”
“Oh, well, I already bought my ticket online before we came so I might as well use it,” I explained, grateful for the excuse to turn him down.
Watching them lie their way inside was going to be bad enough, not a chance I was up for the challenge myself.
“Sorry, I should have told you not to bother,” Jason apologized, throwing an arm around my shoulders and ushering me towards the entrance.
“No problem. I don’t mind.”
“Well, next time you’ll do it our way,” he said matter-of-factly.
“We’ll see.”
*****
I inhaled a bowl of Captain Crunch, the breakfast of champions, at the kitchen table. Mom had poured coffee into her to-go mug and headed for the door just as I'd shuffled into the kitchen. Now I sat alone in the quiet house trying to decide what I was going to do with the rest of my day. Was it too soon to call Jason again? Okay, pathetic much? I guess it wasn’t impossible for me to find a way to entertain myself for a few hours at least. There had to be something on TV.
I had just settled on some lame, mind numbing reality show when the doorbell sounded. I wasn’t sure I'd heard my doorbell ring this much . . . well, ever actually. Check out Miss Popular. When I answered the door I couldn’t believe who was standing there. Lucas. Two different hot guys in as many days. Impressive.
“Hey,” he said, like it wasn’t strange at all that he was standing at my front door.
“What’s up?” I asked. “I’m all out of sugar so if you’re looking to borrow a cup . . .”
“Listen, I’m sorry about the other day. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“I was having a . . . bad day.”
“Well, I guess everyone’s entitled to a bad day now and then,” I agreed, still not sure what it was he wanted.
“Let me make it up to you. You wanna go for a walk? There are some decent trails in the woods near here.”
Okay, weird. But sort of nice too. Unfortunately, after all the warnings I had just received to stay away from the guy, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of going off into the woods alone with him.
“I don’t know. My mom . . .”
“We won’t be gone long. Come on, help me ease my conscience.”
“Cause easing your conscience is the number one priority on my to-do list today.”
Wow, bratty much? I could probably stand to reign in the ‘tude a bit.
“Fair enough. Can we at least talk for a minute?”
“Fine,” I agreed, mostly out of guilt.
Slipping out onto the porch, I pulled the door shut behind me. I wasn’t ready to be alone inside my house with him just yet either. I eased into one of the wicker porch chairs, while he took the other. For a minute he didn’t say anything, just sat there staring out over the yard. Hello? Earth to Lucas.
“So . . . you and Jason,” he finally asked, “are you two together or something?”
“I don’t see how that is any of your business.”
Clear failure to reign it in.
“Sorry,” I sighed, wanting to smack myself in the head. “Yes, Jason and I are sorta together.”
At least that’s the conclusion I had drawn from the good night kiss he gave me when he dropped me off after the movie last night.
“Sorta?”
“It’s not official or anything, but yeah. Why?”
“No reason. I just . . . You don’t know what he’s really like.”
“He seems like a pretty decent guy to me, even offered to help me out when I was struggling, unlike some people.”
Sheesh, there I go again. This guy clearly brought out the best in me.
“Yeah, sorry about that. Bad day,” he reiterated. “I had sort of just lost something important. Not my finest moment.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I agreed.
Maybe I should just staple my mouth shut when he’s around. Lucas only laughed, though. It was a nice sound.
“You’re not gonna let me live that down are you?”
“No, apparently not.”
“Well then, you owe it to me to at least have the chance to prove that I’m a decent guy, too—most of the time.”
I considered his proposition for a minute before deciding, What the hell?
“Alright, deal.”
“Tomorrow night, then. There’s a carnival rolling into town. You and I are going.”
“That didn’t sound like a question.”
“It wasn’t. I’ll be here at six so be ready.”
With that he excused himself and headed across my lawn back toward his house. What was his problem? Looked like I had plans yet again tomorrow night, with Lucas. Weird. I wondered how Jason would take the news. The least I could do was let him know about it. It’s not like it was a date or anything so it shouldn’t have been a big deal, but I knew how Jason felt about Lucas in particular. Reaching into my pocket to pull out my cell, I found it empty. I tried the other but same problem. Huh. I checked every conceivable place it could have fallen on the deck and came up blank. I knew I had had it out there. My fingers had been fiddling with the key pad while I waited for Lucas to explain what he was doing here. So where could it have possibly gone?
Half an hour later, frustration had me ready to pull my hair out and I had completely given up the search. There was always the house phone, but I didn’t actually know Jason’s number without the stupid cell phone. Apparently there is something to be said for contact books. Even though I would probably just lose that too.
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