Friendship, Texas Series: Volume 1

by Magan Vernon

  Friendship, Texas

  Volume 1

  Magan Vernon

  Text copyright© 2018 by Magan Vernon

  All rights reserved

  www.maganvernon.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form by or any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

  For information visit www.maganvernon.com

  Summary: Welcome to Friendship, Texas.

  A town where everyone knows your name.

  Your secrets.

  And who is hooking up with who at the TL ranch pond.

  Get to know everyone’s favorite characters from this LOL series.

  Second Edition, October 2018

  Cover Design by Kassi Snider https://kassicoop.com/

  Edited by Jenny Sims

  For more information about the author:

  Website: www.maganvernon.com

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  Twitter: www.twitter.com/maganvernon

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  Edge of Glory

  Friendship, Texas #1

  Chapter 1

  Some girls have all the luck and some girls spend New Year's Eve working at their parents' restaurant.

  "Order up, Lia."

  I turned toward the kitchen just as a wave of steam from a plate of linguini rose up and hit me in the face like a giant, pungent cloud.

  "Ack." I vigorously wiped my eyes and hoped I didn't have dough underneath my fingernails that would blind me.

  "Sonny, can you warn me next time you are about to put down a plate of food?"

  "Ey, I said order up," My brother, Sonny, yelled over the clanging of pots and pans. The only thing I could see was the top of his head and the shine on his slicked back hair.

  "Hey, no fighting the two of you. Che Cazzo!" Ma's voice boomed.

  "We weren't fighting, Ma, Lia just can't take a joke," Sonny said, giving her his trademark shit-eating grin.

  I glared at my older brother. The pain in the ass. Of course, Ma smiled at him. Every Italian mother loved her son, and my ma had two of them. My oldest brother, Nicky, was married and living with his wife in town, but I had a feeling Sonny would never move out of my parents’ house.

  Sonny graduated from Texas A&M and then moved right back in. I thought maybe with him back home my parents would ease up their strictness on me. No such luck.

  Just like always: Sonny could do no wrong and Rosalia was the delicate flower.

  "It's not bad enough that I have to spend my New Year’s Eve stuck here," I mumbled, grabbing the tray of food and quickly darting toward the nearby tables, so I wouldn't have to get an earful from my mother.

  The air was stiff in the restaurant, every single booth was full, and every time the front door opened, everyone leaned in to catch some of the cold, Texas air, which was an oxy-moron in itself. It never got cold in Texas and now that it was in the teens, everyone thought it was the end of the world. Stores were out of milk and bread, and everyone coming into the restaurant was layered in whatever warm clothes they could find.

  I dropped off the tray of pasta to its respective table and headed over to a corner booth that had just piled in. I tried to put on my best smile and then a squeaky voice caught me from a table behind one of the lemon trees.

  "What is with this restaurant? We've been waiting like forty-five minutes. It's times like this that I really miss Austin. At least they have more than one decent restaurant."

  As if my night wasn't bad already, it had to be Christy Quinn's whiney voice behind the tree. I would rather be cleaning up Nonna's goat’s poop than deal with her. I put on the best smile that I could and walked over to her booth where, of course, she had to be sitting with the rest of her drones. Seriously, carbon copies of her that just said what she wanted them to say.

  Why. Why. Why couldn't she stay at University of Texas over winter break? It had been so nice these last few months without her.

  "Welcome to Conti's. I'm Lia, and I'll be your server tonight, is there anything that I can start you out with?" I could have said that line in my sleep and no matter how much I hated staring at Christy's stupid powder-covered face, I could still take an order.

  "Do you have anything that is, like, not carb filled or fried?" Teagan Munson's hair was so blown out and hair sprayed I wondered if she was hiding an entire colony of bees in there.

  "Teagan, you know this is an Italian restaurant, right?" Marcus Benjamin laughed. He looked even more like a horse face when he laughed, with his stupid overly bleached teeth taking over his whole face.

  "Yeah, but they have to have something else." Teagan turned toward Joey Bianchi. "You're like Italian, or whatever, don’t they have something else?"

  "Yeah, Joey, you even dated our friend Rosalia back in the day, so I'm sure she could show you all of the best sausages," Marcus quipped.

  Neighhhhhhhhhh, Neigggggggggggggh. It was the only thing I could think every time the guy opened his mouth.

  "Oh please, Marcus, you know that Lia doesn't like sausage." Christy tossed back her glossy, black hair.

  Obviously, I was still standing right there.

  "Do you guys still need a few minutes to look over the menu?" Don't cry Lia, don't cry. A few more months and you'll be away at school and away from the lame lesbian jokes.

  With very strict parents, I didn't have much of a social life in high school. I had an early curfew and didn't do many extra circulars. Since I didn't dare try to date anyone and have to bring them home to my overbearing parents, I was labeled as a lesbian early on. I guess it was the best comeback that kids could come up with and it stuck.

  "Yeah, that'd be great." Joey didn't even try to look at me.

  Grow a foot, learn to play football, and all of a sudden you forget who your friends are.

  I made my way back to the kitchen when my overly pregnant sister-in-law, Dana, stopped me.

  The girl was petite, blonde, and a complete sweetheart. The opposite of my brooding oldest brother. They always gave me a little bit of hope that maybe I could find a guy for me, but then of course my parents would have to remember that I'm almost twenty and not a little girl that couldn't leave the house.

  "Hey, Lia, do you mind covering this next booth for me?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Really, Dana? I'm already covering half your tables."

  "Please," she pleaded with those pre-natal vitamin dilated pupils.

  "Ugh, fine." I rolled my shoulders and craned my neck from side to side.

  "Thanks, Lia, you're my favorite sister-in-law!" She beamed and then waddled toward the bathroom.

  "I'm your only sister-in-law," I yelled back as I reached into my apron to pull out my note pad.

  I turned toward the booth, not looking up as I flipped through my book for a fresh page. "Welcome to Conti's. I'm Lia and I'll nguhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

  I froze. Directly facing me was Olympic swimmer, Jay Morningstar…and I just made an idiot of myself.

  The rest of the table looked up to see me standing there with my mouth practically gaping. His coach, who I recognized from TV interviews, and even two other swimmers from the Olympic team. They didn't say anything; they didn't even blink.

  "Uh…I mean…"

  I couldn't even put together my words an
d Jay Morningstar was just staring at me with that Wheaties box smile and those icy blue eyes.

  What was I supposed to say? Sorry I just made a weird noise; it's just that I have a poster of you on my wall where you are wearing nothing more than your gold medals, a smile, and a pair of man panties?

  What the hell was he doing in Friendship anyway? Not that I was stalking the guy, but there were a lot of rumors floating around the internet about him and unflattering pictures of him partying along with a mug shot. I never believed all of the celebrity rumors, or followed them like my best friend Sofie, but I knew he'd disappeared for a while. I guess Friendship was the place to go and not be noticed.

  "Don't worry I get it all the time." His coach tossed his hand out and the rest of the table let out a stifled laugh.

  "Well, is there anything that I can start you out with tonight? Our house wine is a—"

  Shit. Jay was my age and pretty sure the mug shot was from a DUI. But the other guys were older, maybe I needed to offer it to them. Gah. I couldn't think.

  "Lia, that's an interesting name, is it short for anything?"

  Oh em Gee, Jay Morningstar was actually talking to me and addressing me directly. I could literally feel the blood rise to my face.

  I tried staring at his chiseled jaw and that damn dimple on his chin, but my eyes kept lingering over the shirt that stretched across his broad chest. He supposedly had a wingspan that was longer than his six-foot-two frame and what a girl wouldn't give to be wrapped in those long arms.

  "Uh, it's actually short for Rosalia, the Patron Saint of Palermo, where my parents are from." Geez, Lia, I'm her probably didn't want to hear your whole life story. Way to go.

  "I like it. It suits you."

  He was still staring at me. I was trying my hardest not to stammer or faint or just trip over something and look incredibly stupid.

  "Are you going to keep flirting with the waitress or can I order some food? I'm freaking hungry," Scotty Forrester, the red-haired, freckled face Olympian whined. He broke some records in the pool and supposedly some other ones outside of it for most hook ups post games.

  At least that's what Total Celebrity Network said.

  Christy poked her shiny head through the lemon tree and was looking right at Jay. "There's really no point in flirting with Lia, she's not into dudes."

  Ugh, Really? Right now?

  "Well I'm sure that Scotty could change that." The other swimmer, Johnny Laughlin, laughed, pointing in Scotty's direction.

  "Well if you'd like a girl that doesn't smell like olive oil, my friends and I will be up at the Q Ranch in the hot tub all night after this." She fluttered her too-long-to-be-real eyelashes and all of the attention was definitely off me.

  "Um…I'll go get you guys some waters and be back to take your order," I squeaked, practically running toward the kitchen.

  "Is that..?" Sonny leaned on the counter as I approached it. I rested my hands on the cool, granite top, hoping that would do something to keep my temperature from boiling over.

  "Yeah, that's the Olympic swimming tri-fecta and I just made an ass of myself in front of them." I couldn't look up. Christy Quinn, once again, made an idiot of me.

  "I was actually going to ask if that was Julie Quinn's hot little sister, but that answer works too." He shrugged, turning back toward the kitchen.

  "I'm really not in the mood to hear about all the girls you want to bone in the restaurant tonight." I picked at a piece of dough that had managed to get stuck on the hairs on my arm.

  "Well, I don't want to hear about you boning that spiky-haired dude whose poster takes up your entire room." He turned back to me, flashing that cocky grin of his. I swear I didn't know how he got so many girls. Our Nonna always said he reminded her of a young Marlon Brando, I just thought he was a minchia

  "Would that be the cereal box poster or the underwear ad?"

  I turned to find myself face to face with the spiky-haired one himself. He was grinning, making that damn dimple and pearly white smile shine. I couldn't stop staring at him.

  "Uhhhhhh…" If my face wasn't already red enough, it was now probably darker than the pizza sauce.

  "Oh, it's definitely the underwear ad." Sonny poked his head out from behind me in the kitchen.

  "SONNY." I whipped my head around, hoping that I didn't hit Jay in the face with my ponytail.

  "Well, he asked." Sonny leaned back, holding his arms in the air.

  "It's cool. I like that one better too." Jay leaned in so his face was just inches from mine, I could almost smell his toothpaste and it was very minty. I wonder if he tasted like that. Mint and Chlorine I imagined.

  "Uhhhmmmmm…" I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't sound stupid and of course trying to suck in my stomach at the same time. Try meeting the man of your dreams and you’re covered in pizza dough and been eating breadsticks the past hour.

  "I'm sorry about my teammates back there, they were just messing around, so don't worry about them." No wonder he was on the cover of a cereal box, in person, his smile was even better. No neighing horse teeth.

  "Oh, it's fine, I'm used to it. I have two older brothers and, well, you already saw what I have to put up with." I let out one of those silent giggles where it's just blowing air out of your nose. But my nose isn't all that small so I was a little afraid that I might have blown the hair off of his head or scared him with my large, Sicilian nostrils.

  "And sorry about that rude chick. I don't know what her issue is with you, but I just wanted to come and say something because...well..." He laughed slightly. "I don't know, I guess I didn't want to come off as a dick."

  "I'm not a lesbian, you know," I blurted without even thinking what I was saying.

  He blinked slightly then smiled. "Good to know that trying to flirt with you could actually work."

  My eyes widened and every part of my body awakened. Was Jay Morningstar really flirting with me? Did he flirt with every waitress at every restaurant?

  "Rosalia! Does this young gentleman need a drink order?" Dad's gruff hand was on my shoulder.

  Dad was a few inches shorter than me and balding with a thick, graying mustache, but still commanded power like he was the biggest Don in Texas. Though, I was pretty sure the man never had any mafia ties.

  "No, sir, just apologizing to the waitress for my table's rudeness." Jay put on the extra charm with each word, but Dad's stern expression didn't change.

  My eyes trailed down to the Olympics ring tattoo on Jay's arm. I’d only seen it in pictures, but I found myself staring at it and wondering about the other tattoo that I'd only seen in pictures. The one that his Speedo barely covered.

  But I had to shake those thoughts out of my head.

  "Well, I guess I'll see you when you come back with the waters…" He curled his lips into a sort of awkward smile before he turned and headed back to his table.

  Okay, so I couldn't help but watch him walk away. The guy had an amazing body. I'd seen it on TV in a Speedo, but in person it was even better. He had a body that had to have been sculpted by the Greeks. And whatever jeans those were, he should have been a butt model for them.

  "I've never seen that boy before in my restaurant," Dad said.

  "That's Jay Morningstar. The Olympic swimmer," I blurted.

  "An Olympian in Friendship, Texas?" Dad asked.

  "I guess so."

  Dad shook his head. "That boy looks like trouble, Lia. If he starts asking for more than breadsticks, you come have me deal with him, capeesh?"

  I nodded slowly. "Uh. Yeah. I understand."

  "Good." Dad walked toward another table and greeted some locals.

  "So are you going to bring his table their waters or are you just going to gawk at the customers all night?" Sonny poked my back with a basket of breadsticks.

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed the basket and a tray of water, sauntering toward the swimmers' table. "Shut up, Sonny."

  "Ugh, finally I've been s
tarving."

  The last person I wanted to see smashed in-between Scotty and Jay was Christy, pawing at Scotty's hair and smiling like a Cheshire cat at Teagan, who was sitting at the other side of the table. I didn't see where Marcus and Joey went, but let's just say I was concentrating more on not jumping across the table and strangling Christy.

  I set the waters in front of each person, trying not to let my temper get the best of me.

  "Can you hurry it up a bit? These boys have been training all day and I know they just can't wait to get into my hot tub." Christy giggled.

  Jay's coach looked between the three boys. "I assume you're all going to be back by curfew?"

  "Yeah, yeah, Coach. We can handle ourselves," Scotty or Johnny said.

  I wasn't paying attention to who it was. I didn't want to look at any of them. I just turned and walked back toward the kitchen and then out the back door to the Texas night air.

  I kicked the brick wall which only amounted to my feet hurting. Stupid shoes did nothing for arch support, my dad was right, but I wasn't going to admit that to him.

  This always happened to me. Christy Quinn got everything when we were in high school: first chair flute, student council president, and the best locker. Now, even out of high school, she was still getting everything, including my dream man: Jay Morningstar.

  I tried my hardest not to cry, but my eyelashes were getting heavy with frozen tears. I had to start peeling the little ice cubes off of my lashes as I hopped on one foot, staring at the other one.

  “It’s a little cold to be hanging outside by the dumpsters, don’t you think?”

  I looked up to see Jay staring down at me with an eyebrow cocked and his head titled to the side.

  “Uh…that's why I'm hopping.” I stopped jumping and put my foot down, wincing a bit.

  “Really?” He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “In sixteen degrees weather without a coat?”

  I could feel my face flush, which made me realize just how cold I actually was. I started rubbing the goose bumps on my arms. “Yeah, you know, just a quick break. What are you doing out here anyway?”