Rules and Roses: Untouchable Book One

by Long, Heather

  “I don’t even know if I want to date her.”

  My phone buzzed and Archie’s text showed up in all caps.

  WHERE THE HELL R U 2?”

  He always seemed to lose words when he got mad.

  Had flat tire. Just got here. Be in cafe in a sec.

  Meeting Coop’s gaze, I said, “Then you should figure that out. Leading her on? That’s as crappy as lying to your friends.”

  “We are still friends, right?” The intensity in his eyes pinned me in place. “After whatever this summer was? We’re still friends?”

  “Yes, Coop,” I said with a sigh. “We are. I may not always like the things you guys choose to do, but…we’ve been friends for years. I’m still your friend. I’d like to think you guys are still mine, and it’s not just about telling me what to do.”

  He frowned. “When do we tell you what to do?”

  My phone buzzed and so did his.

  Shut up and get in here. The message was from Jake to him, and on my phone, Bubba had texted Need us to come get you?

  Coop made a face. “What a bunch of pushy bastards.”

  I laughed. “I seem to recall someone dragging me to the cafeteria and lunch on Monday.”

  With a shrug, Coop said, “Didn’t say I wasn’t one…” On the way to the cafeteria though, he said, “I really don’t know about Laura.”

  “Then figure it out,” I told him. Not that I had much in the way of advice to offer him.

  Our coffee and friends were waiting for us. Thankfully, since Archie brought me an iced coffee, mine was supposed to be cold. The conversation remained stilted; whatever beef really was between the guys they were talking around it. Archie frowned about the tire, though.

  “I can follow you at lunch in case you have to leave your car there.”

  “I am not leaving my car there,” I argued. “And I have study hall in fifth, so I can miss it if I have to, but I need the car this weekend.”

  I also needed the money I’d already made this week, but I’d figure it out.

  “I don’t mind,” Archie repeated on our way to government. “Could use a break from around here to be honest.”

  “You okay?” It wasn’t the norm for Archie to admit to needing anything. Not—real. He was fun, he teased, he played, and he could be extravagant, but the words I need help or I need rarely crossed his lips. Like it was a crime or something or maybe Archie just hadn’t ever had to ask for what he needed.

  Not that I was one to talk.

  “I’m fine. Coop’s pissing me off. Jake and Bubba are really focused on the game tonight,” Archie admitted. “Edward and Muriel are getting ready to go out of town and you know what that’s like.”

  I made a face. His parents traveled—a lot. They seemed like nice enough people, and they certainly spared no expense with Archie, but they were never around. I hadn’t seen Mom since Monday morning, and I wasn’t altogether sure she’d been home. She had to have been, but I’d also been busy and working so maybe we just missed each other.

  So I got it, sort of.

  “Okay, how about this,” I said compromising a step away from the classroom door. “Think you can grab some tacos and then meet me there? My treat?”

  “I can grab them, but you don’t have to pay for them.”

  “If I don’t pay for them,” I countered, “I don’t eat them.”

  He glared and I smiled.

  Yes, Archie was generous. Sometimes too generous, but I didn’t want him to ever think he had to have money to be our friend or that he had to pay to be accepted. Besides, I’d forgotten to pack a lunch earlier and breakfast was the ice coffee I was still sipping. If I didn’t get something at lunchtime, I might actually turn into a hangry bear and that would suck for the afternoon.

  “So, what do you say?”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “You shouldn’t have to pay.”

  I rubbed his arm. “I don’t have to. You would, I know that, but I like things to be a little more even.”

  With a grunt, he bumped my shoulder and then we settled at our desks prepared to be dazzled by the formation of the federal government and why there were specific powers allocated to specific sections of it.

  Yay.

  As it turned out, the teacher had a quiz for us, so color me lucky for having actually remembered the reading the night before. After, he discussed the projects we would be doing this semester, including examining judicial cases considered controversial, and how each of the three branches of the government played a crucial role. Archie mimed snoring, but I didn’t mind. Sometimes these things went places we didn’t know which was the reason we studied them.

  Calculus turned into a free study period since we had a substitute, so Bubba and I spent the hour making lists of songs for him to consider. While I’d never auditioned for a thing in my life, I knew what made people talk. How many singing and talent shows were on television? I pointed that out when I pulled up YouTube on my phone and scrolled the various clips. The ones with the most hits had some kind of emotional resonance—either really sad or really uplifting or just powerful and empowering.

  That gave me a few ideas, too, and I added those to his list—there was a guy who took songs and played them in minor keys, which could change something bouncy and uplifting into something haunting. That might actually be the way to go. When I sent him the channel via text, Bubba eyed me and then said he’d check it out after the game.

  I didn’t get as much time with Mathieu; he had to tutor a couple of the girls who were struggling with the French novel we had to read. I actually liked reading in French more than I cared to admit. Even when I didn’t recognize a word, I could decipher it from context clues. The girls who needed tutoring however spent more time flirting than working. Not that I could blame them—he was sexy adorable. He did walk me to the stairs, though, and asked if he could bring anything on Sunday for the preparation, but I told him I’d pick everything up after work. Then I made sure he had my address.

  It didn’t occur to me to ask if he needed a ride, but he had my number. He could call. All through AP Lit, Coop drove me nuts. He couldn’t stop fidgeting. He had his phone out, then up, then out again. I tried not to watch him, but it was hard to miss all the movement. A message on his screen appeared with Laura’s name.

  Focusing on the text and our assignment while not reading it took effort. My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I didn’t dare take it out, then it buzzed again. On the third one, I scowled and shifted as if I was getting something out of my backpack before retrieving my phone.

  Ms. Fajardo was having a one on one with another student and they had gone out in the hall, but I’d still prefer to not get busted playing on my phone.

  Coop: What do I do?

  The message made no sense until I realized it was the third one. The first two were a copy of the message from Laura—yes, Coop, I really wanted to read that.

  Apparently, she’d asked him out that night, and her next message said it was important.

  I gave him a mystified look, then mouthed What do you want to do?

  Coop: Go to the game with you and Arch.

  I typed in: Then tell her sorry I have plans, thanks for asking.

  Was it that hard?

  The biting at his lip was so non-zen it irked me. What was this thing with Laura that it had him so upset? The idea irritated me, but it was swiftly followed by the thought that it was none of my damn business.

  Sighing, I hid my phone under my book and went back to work.

  After class, Coop hooked his arm through mine and followed me out to my car. “Look,” I told him. “If you don’t want to see her, then break up with her.”

  “But we’re not actually dating.” Coop argued.

  “Coop?” I shoved my stuff in the backseat and Archie appeared right behind us in his orange Ferrari. “Have you spent the last week with Laura at lunch and after school?”

  “Kind of.”

  I stared at him. “What does kind of mean?”<
br />
  “I mean—she asked me to have lunch cause she wanted to talk on Tuesday, and she was kind of upset that I hadn’t called the last few weeks. She’s nice and…so after school I figured I’d make it up to her for being an ass. Then we ended up making out. It was an accident.”

  “What’d you do?” Archie called. “Trip and fall on her mouth?”

  I bit my tongue because that was some funny shit.

  Coop glared at him. “No, I just—she’s nice.”

  “So, date her.” Archie spread his arms. “See if we care.”

  Yeah. No. “Then figure out what you want before you break that girl’s heart,” I warned Coop. “If she is nice then she doesn’t deserve to be jerked around. If you just want to score, and she’s a relationship girl, then walk away. Because that’s really not fair to her.”

  “What she said,” Archie pointed to me. “We gotta go, Frankie. I want to make sure you get to the tire place before I go grab lunch.”

  Coop glanced at the school then at us, and I raised my brows at Archie. Coop clearly wanted to tag along.

  “Fine. Get in the damn car,” Archie said. “Let’s just go, but he buys his own tacos.”

  “I can do that.” Coop hurried around to my passenger door, and I stared up at the sky.

  Why did I like these idiots again?

  Chapter Eight

  Game Night

  As promised, Archie followed Coop and me back to my apartment. He slotted his car into the parking space next to mine. “The tire looks good,” he said as I climbed out. I glanced at the rear tire on the driver’s side. It did look fine. “You sure they just patched it?”

  “Said it was a nail,” I told him. I, for one, had been relieved. The guys there had gotten the nail out, patched it, and refilled the tire. Twenty-five bucks and four tacos later, I was out of there. “Don’t forget I owe you money,” I reminded Archie.

  He snorted as he trailed after us toward the courtyard. He’d brought the tacos, but with Coop’s intercept, I hadn’t given Archie the cash, and the snot hadn’t reminded me.

  Instead of diverting toward his apartment, Coop followed us. Archie cut a look at him and then me. “Did we invite him to dinner?”

  “Be nice,” I said as I unlocked the door.

  “The answer is no,” Coop told him. “She didn’t invite me and neither did you.”

  “Just checking,” Archie responded with a hint of a smirk.

  Tiddles waited just inside the door but cut off mid-yowl at Archie’s voice and then the cat was smoke as he vanished out of the kitchen and down the hall. “Don’t let the cats out,” I said as I juggled my backpack in and carried it through the kitchen toward the living room. The place was mostly neat, though I still needed to run the vacuum and probably should dust, but it wasn’t like Mom and I were using the living room at the moment.

  I hadn’t specifically checked, but her car hadn’t been in the carport and her bedroom door was always closed. I had no intentions of checking it right now. “There’s water in the fridge,” I called. “And I think some sodas. Need to shop this weekend.” That would excuse the scarcity inside it. Not that it was bad, but seriously, the last grocery shopping had been the Wednesday before school started, and I’d done it.

  Thankfully, I’d tossed the bad chicken so that wasn’t sitting in there to scream out, look at me, I’m wasteful. Tory stretched out from under the bed to rub against my legs as I toed off my shoes. Football game meant outside, which meant hot, so I wanted to change into fresh shorts and a lighter shirt. Fortunately, school dress code was a little lighter at football games than it was during the school day.

  “Hey, Frankie,” Archie knocked on the doorframe, and I pivoted, hands on the buttons to my shorts. His gaze dipped to my hands and he backed up a step with a wince. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, what did you need?”

  Coop popped up behind him. “We were debating dinner.”

  I glanced from one to the other. “And?”

  “Archie said you two needed to study, but you’d swing back by here to get me for the game.” The look in Coop’s gray-green eyes said he didn’t believe it. Archie on the other hand merely raised his eyebrows, almost a silent entreaty to agree with him.

  We didn’t actually have to study. We were both caught up on the reading, and we could quiz each other on terms, but somehow, I doubted that was what Archie meant. “Well, this started out as a study date,” I reminded Coop. “You were there when we made plans on Monday.”

  Disappointment flickered through his eyes, and Archie’s smile grew a tad smugger. “Okay,” Coop said raising his hands. “I guess I’ll see you guys in a couple of hours?”

  “Yep,” Archie replied, giving me a wink before he followed Coop up the hall. Rolling my eyes, I shut my bedroom door the whole way and got changed. The deep blue halter top worked for school colors and I pulled out my favorite pair of denim shorts. They just barely cut off where my fingertips hit my thighs, so they’d pass visual inspection. Well worn and a little faded, they were super comfy and just thick enough to protect my ass from the hard metal bleachers.

  Leaving my sneakers next to the bed, I dragged out a pair of sandals and slid those on before pulling my hair all the way up into a ponytail, then finished with a baseball hat.

  Archie was messing with his phone in the kitchen when I came in to get the food out for the cats. “Your phone buzzed,” he said, waving to the living room. I glanced at my backpack. It was exactly where I’d left it and didn’t look like he’d opened it. Thankfully, I hadn’t left the phone out.

  “Thanks.” The lure of wet food was enough for the cats to overcome their reticence toward strangers.

  “In the mood for anything specific for dinner?” Archie asked.

  I shrugged. “Not pizza? Or burgers.” I’d had the former a couple of times this week, and I served the latter all the time at work.

  “Sushi? They do some good stuff at the hibachi place.” He glanced at his phone. “We have time. We could do hibachi, talk while he’s cooking, work up our plan and then eat.”

  “Hibachi’s a lot of food.” Even if my stomach gurgled at the idea of some grilled steak and shrimp. Oh, why did I think of that? Now even my mouth watered at the idea.

  “That’s what takeout containers are for. We can bring the leftovers back, since we have to come get Coop anyway.” He made a face at the last. “Could always just text him once we’re at the restaurant to find his own ride.”

  “Don’t be mean,” I chastised. The cats had plenty of food and water. Their litter box would be fine until morning. I opened my backpack to pull out the spiral-bound notebook I used for government, and the folders with our vocab for both classes.

  “Not being mean. He knew you and I had plans. Not my fault he’s been an idiot all week.”

  “Maybe not,” I said, tucking those under my arm before retrieving my wallet. I fished out one of the twenties Mom left me, and then stowed the wallet in my back pocket before I grabbed my phone. When I offered the twenty to Archie, he shook his head and held up his hands.

  “Nope. And can’t make me do it.”

  Sighing, I closed the distance and backed him right up to the table then stuffed the twenty in his back pocket. He grinned.

  “You know some people have to dance for that much money.”

  “Sure thing, Magic Mike, but you brought me tacos.” I patted his cheek and retreated ignoring the way he grinned a little wider. There were messages on my phone.

  Jake: Normally we hit Mason’s after game, but what if we went somewhere else?

  Jake: Maybe Emilio’s?

  I laughed and Archie leaned over my shoulder to stare at the message.

  “Good thing you said no pizza,” he murmured. In the cool air-conditioned kitchen, he was warm. I was dressed for outside, not in.

  “Right?” I said with a glance. He was really close though and my nose brushed his cheek. He gave me a little bump and backed off a step.

  �
�You ready?”

  “Yeah, let me just answer Jake—and Bubba.” There was a message from my mom, too.

  Hey look, she remembered I was alive. Go me.

  Bubba: We could do Papa Pete’s if you don’t want Emilio’s.

  It was still pizza.

  I sent back Either is fine.

  “No it’s not,” Archie argued. “Emilio’s is a lot better.”

  Then added, But Archie whined that Emilio’s is better.

  “Hey,” he said with a mock scowl. “I did not whine.”

  “Then stop reading over my shoulder.” The fact he kept closing the distance was giving me goosebumps. Or maybe it was just the air. “And it’s freezing in here.” Not that I planned to turn the a/c up. It was just being in the halter and shorter shorts.

  “C’mon, Frankie,” Archie snagged my folders from where I tucked them and wrapped an arm around my bare shoulders. “I’ll keep you warm.”

  “Get off,” I said with a gentle elbow he avoided like a pro. I grabbed my keys and checked Mom’s message after I shooed Archie out the door.

  Mom: Long week. Really long week. Not going to make it in before you go to bed, probably out before you get up, too. Sorry, baby. Hope the first week was great. See you Saturday after work?

  Except I had plans Saturday after work and, to be honest, I didn’t think Mom was coming home, but I couldn’t really call her on that because maybe she was.

  Going out with the guys Saturday to do escape room thing. Left you a note about it.

  Mom: Oh, that’s right. Okay. Well, I’ll see you soon. I’m going to the grocery store on Sunday, leave a list on the fridge of what you need.

  I stared at the message for a beat. Archie had descended three of the stone steps but paused to look at me. “You okay?”

  I frowned. No. I really wasn’t. I hadn’t left Mom a note. We made the plans for the escape room on Monday after school, I’d meant to tell her about it, but I hadn’t really seen her and…

  She just lied to me. Granted, I lied first about the note.