Friendship, Texas Series: Volume 1

by Magan Vernon

  Sofie wasn’t a furniture hoarder, like her dad, but she did manage to pile a shitton of stuff in her tiny room. Her twin bed, dresser, and desk all formed a circle with her closet and framed her bright pink shag rug in the middle, which was always covered with celebrity gossip magazines. I stepped over the latest issue of some UK magazine with a headline about the latest celebrity to use a surrogate. Then I grabbed my bag from her desk chair.

  “My parents are going find out about this and I’m going to be grounded forever." I sulked, tossing my coat on her desk chair.

  “Well, it’s not like any of this stuff will get posted for a couple days, so you’ll at least have some time before your parents find out. And that's even if they'd catch anything. I can't see your mom reading TNC," Sofie reasoned.

  “So…Miss Chapped lips. What about you and Johnny?" I tried changing the subject

  “It was just making out. It’s not like I’m going to marry the guy," she scoffed, plopping down on her bed, the springs squeaking underneath her lime green comforter.

  “Well you two seemed to really like each other,” I sang and slid off my sweater and exchanged it for a white tank top.

  She rolled her eyes, quickly getting into her pajamas before she snuggled under the covers. “Please, Lia, I’m a realist. I know we were just having fun and I’m not going to let some cute guy take up all of my time.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?" I arched an eyebrow and slid into a pair of flannel pajama bottoms.

  “I’m not going to waste my energy on some guy who is just going to be gone when his training is done and leave me crying like some desperate bimbo.”

  I swallowed hard as I climbed in bed next to her. She must have realized what she said and widened her eyes. “I mean, not like Jay would do that to you or anything.”

  She smacked her forehead with her palm as I curled in next to her. “I’m sorry Lia, I wasn’t thinking.”

  “No... it’s all right," I forced a tight-lipped smile as she turned off the light before lying down next to me. “That’s why you’re my best friend; you say it how it is. And, you're right, it's not like we're actually together or anything. I'm probably just his good time.”

  But even as I said the words, I knew I didn’t completely mean it. Yeah, I meant that she was my best friend and I liked that she told me how it is, but it wasn’t all right. All I could think of was if she was right and once Jay went back home after training, I would be left alone crying. There was no way my parents would let me go to USC at this rate and even if they did, I couldn’t count on him wanting to stay with me.

  I was almost twenty years old, an adult essentially. Yet, I was still a little girl, living with my parents, and obeying their rules.

  Why in the hell would a guy like him want to stay with a girl like me?

  I barely even shut my eyes when my phone vibrated in my coat.

  Sofie moaned and rolled over. Since she was probably going to pass out soon, I grabbed my phone and crept out to the living room before answering the FaceTime call.

  "Hey, babe." Jay's bright blue eyes lit up the screen.

  I smiled, sliding down on one of the couches. "Since when did we graduate to cutesy names like that?"

  "I can come up with something more original. What's the Italian word for beautiful?" He smirked.

  Even though it was a cheesy as hell line, I still could feel the flush in my face. "It's bella, so not real original either."

  "How about you suck it up and take my compliments instead?" He raised an eyebrow.

  "What kind of girl would I be if I just laid down and took what you gave me?"

  Scotty's head popped onto the screen. "The kind that isn't very good in bed."

  "Shut up, Scotty." Jay shoved him out of the picture, but Scotty's laugh still rumbled in the background.

  "I'm going up to my room. Hold on, you're going to have to walk with me," Jay said, standing up and angling the phone so I got just the right view of the cut of his hip bones and that black tribal shark tattoo. He was a lean guy but toned. A wicked body that definitely made him very agile in the pool, and I'm sure in other places that I didn't want to think about while I was sitting alone on my best friend's couch.

  "Were you just checking me out?" Jay brought the phone back to his face, his brilliant smile flashing.

  I curled my upper lip. "No. Definitely not."

  He shook his head, laughing before he stepped into what I recognized as his bedroom and plopped on the bed. "You definitely were. It's okay. You can look all you want and if we're playing show and tell..."

  I widened my eyes, blinking rapidly and trying to figure out what to say. "Um..."

  He laughed. "I'm just playing with you. I can already see enough in that shirt."

  I crossed my arms over my chest and put my chin down. I should have maybe put my sweater on before I answered the call instead of having everything hang out.

  "Come on, Lia. I'm just kidding around. You don't need to be so self-conscious."

  "Yeah, I'm sure that's what all guys say," I muttered.

  He sighed and sat up. "Look, we both know that if I was looking for a quick hook up, we would’ve already gone there. But that's not what I'm looking for, no matter what that douche at TNC likes to say about the supposed stoner playboy athlete. Even though I don't get to see you as much as I'd like, I still enjoy talking to you. The best part of my day used to be when I hit the pool in the morning, and now it's when I get to FaceTime you every night."

  "That was almost cheesier than the bella line."

  "But did it work on you?"

  I put my thumb and forefinger together. "A little bit."

  "Is it even cheesier that I wish you were here right now? So I can actually hang out with you in person instead of just seeing your face on the screen all the time?"

  I closed my eyes and opened them, shaking my head. "It's not cheesy at all. I wish I could be with you right now, too."

  "So...when is that going to happen?"

  I sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Soon. I hope. At least."

  "Is this because of Saul? Are you having second thoughts?" he asked. It was the first time I'd seen any kind of trepidation on his face as he slightly furrowed his brow.

  "What? No. I'm not just going to listen to what some guy on some really bad celebrity network says."

  Jay sighed. "I shouldn't let the shit on TNC get to me, but it does."

  "He sounds like a high school mean girl," I muttered, briefly thinking of Christy and all the things she'd said to me and Sofie over the years.

  Jay laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess you can call him that, but he's not all wrong about things. I was stupid. Stupid for too long. I concentrated on my newfound fame instead of the pool that got me there. Now that I'm trying to get back to where I was, it's like the ghosts of my past keep following me."

  "You know my nonna has a saying and it doesn't translate very well literally but something about not being able to kill a ghost. The only way to get rid of a ghost is to let it know that you've moved on."

  Jay licked his lips. "Have I told you how smart you are? I don't know why you still hang around with a dumb jock like me."

  I wanted to tell him that I liked talking to him. That I loved that he learned how to play one of my favorite songs on bass and made me feel wanted for the first time ever. But I wasn't going to be that cheesy. Instead, I just smiled.

  "I have to get up early for practice tomorrow, but can we hang out after? I'll even swing by the restaurant if you wear that tank top." He wiggled his eyebrows.

  "I think my parents would have a heart attack if I wore this to work, but maybe we can talk after. I can figure out something. Tell them I'm hanging with Sofie."

  "So, they still don't know we're together, I take it?" He raised his eyebrows.

  I sighed. "It's complicated."

  "Are you embarrassed of me?"

  "No! Not at all." I widened my eyes.

  "Then what is it?"
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  I tried to think of the right words. How would I explain that my parents were strict, straight off the boat Sicilians who believed in the rules of the old world?

  "Jay! Quit having cybersex with your girlfriend and come play COD with us!" Scotty or Johnny yelled, pounding on the door.

  First time I was ever happy for their interruption.

  "Shut up!" Jay yelled, turning toward the door so I got a good view of that chiseled jaw that I wished I could lick.

  He turned back to the screen. "Hey, I gotta go. Text me, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."

  I smiled. "Okay, bye, babe."

  He grinned. "Bye, babe."

  ***

  I awoke to the sound of my phone vibrating against Sofie’s desk.

  “Lia, tell your lover boy not take wake me up so early," she mumbled, turning over and smashing her pillow over her head.

  I glanced at the clock. It was six o’clock and there was no way Jay would text me that early. I knew he had practice in the morning, but wouldn't be done until a lot later, and we didn't get off the phone until close to two a.m.

  Odd.

  I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and grabbed my glasses before looking down at the phone. A picture of Sonny with his trademark cocky grin popped onto the screen.

  “This better be important…” I yawned and pressed the phone to my ear.

  “Have fun at the bowling alley last night?" he asked.

  “What?" I sat straight up, suddenly feeling wide-awake. How did he know? Did one of his friends see us there? Was it on Facebook? Shit. Did my parents finally watch TNC?

  “Have you seen the morning paper?”

  I shook my head, letting out a silent laugh through my nose. “Sonny, no one reads the paper anymore, not even Ma and Dad. That’s what the Internet is for.”

  “Yeah, well, they read it when it got delivered to the restaurant for the stand out front. They just so happened to see their daughter holdings hands with a swimmer when she was supposed to be spending the night at her friend's."

  "Uh, well, Sofie was there too and we just happened to run into the guys when we went bowling." It wasn't a total lie and I hoped it would work with my parents.

  Sonny sighed. "If that's the story you're sticking with, you'd better get pretty good at your poker face before you come home."

  Chapter 9

  I dreaded every turn on the way back to my parents' house. It was the first time I’d actually drove the speed limit since I got my license. I was trying to live my last moments of freedom before I would probably be grounded for life.

  Sonny was outside smoking when I pulled in. He looked up from his cigarette as my tires crunched on the gravel.

  "You know those things will kill you,” I muttered.

  He smirked, tossing the cigarette down and twisting it underneath his shoe as I stepped onto the front porch. "Yeah, but Pops will probably kill you long before these cigarettes take me out."

  "That bad?" I kicked at a stray rock.

  "See for yourself." He opened the door, stepping aside so I could walk in before him.

  My parents' house was a mixture of their Sicilian culture with the traditional western style that every architect in the Dallas suburbs thought houses should have. The house was full of high beamed ceilings, crown molding, and oak floors, but that didn't stop my parents from putting down floor rugs on almost every square inch and oil paintings from the Sicilian countryside covered the walls. I walked through the foyer and past the formal living room, which was full of the gold and floral furniture, that Nonna swore she dragged on the boat straight from Sicily, and headed toward the kitchen.

  Even though my parents had the restaurant, the kitchen was still up to restaurant quality with a huge stove and granite countertops, always filled with different spices and vegetables. Ma had her back to me as she stood over the stove. She was stirring something that smelled like basil and garlic. I looked around the corner, expecting my dad either to be sitting at the kitchen table or on the brown leather sofa in the attached living room, but the only person in the living room was Nonna staring blankly at the television.

  "Your father is waiting for you in the dining room." Ma didn't even look up from the stove. Crap. She was disappointed and this was her Sicilian guilt coming through.

  I nodded. "Thanks, Ma."

  I walked through the living room toward the dining room. The double doors leading to the room were shut, never a good sign. I took a deep breath and looked back at Sonny, who gave me the cheesiest thumbs up he could before he plopped down on the couch next to Nonna.

  I sucked in a deep breath before I threw open the doors. "I can explain—"

  I stopped. I was used to seeing my dad at the head of the table underneath a giant picture of The Last Supper, but I wasn't used to seeing Jay and his coach flanked on either side of the table.

  "Sit." Dad's thick accent poured through his lips, blowing strands of his graying mustache. I took my seat at the other end of the table. The sweat was gleaming off of his bare forehead before he wiped his handkerchief along his brow line.

  "I see the paper this morning and I think my daughter is lying to me, disrespecting her family." He put his hands out on the table, his deep almond eyes boring into me.

  "Then I get a call from this Mr. Morningstar telling me he can explain."

  "Yeah and then he hung up on me." Jay let out a single laugh, before my dad shot him a glare that could have melted ice.

  "So then I hear a knock at my door and two men are standing there, telling me they want to talk." He straightened in his chair, putting his handkerchief in the front pocket of his shirt. "I let them in, I ask them if they want anything to eat, but they say no, they just come here to talk about my Rosalia."

  I glanced over at Jay, his eyes meeting mine before he winked.

  "What I was telling your dad is that Jay meant no disrespect by taking you out without his permission," Jay's coach said. "I didn't even know that your father didn't know about this relationship until Jay told me at practice this morning. I figured it’s why he’s messing up his sets. Since I have a daughter of my own, I sympathized with your father and told him that he had to come clean."

  "Yes, but like I said, Mister Douglas, he should have asked me first before taking my daughter out. She still lives under my roof," Dad added, putting his hands out on the table.

  "Mr. Conti…" Jay turned his attention toward my dad. "I'm sorry for thinking that Rosalia had your permission to go out with me and my friends and I promise it won't happen again.”

  Dad nodded, crossing his arms over his large barreled chest. "Good, I'm glad that we have an understanding."

  "But I still want to continue seeing her, as long as it's okay with you, sir. I promise to have her home early every night and only take her out when you allow it."

  I stared from my dad to Jay as Dad's eyes grew so wide I swore they would just pop out of his head. "We wouldn't have had this problem if you would have just come to me in the first place, and I wouldn't have to read about my daughter's escapades in the newspaper."

  Dad slammed his hands on the table, the porcelain statue of Mary shaking on the buffet behind him.

  Jay and his coach slid back in their seats, the coach's eyes widening like he had no idea what he just got himself into.

  I didn't even see the paper, but Sonny said it was an article in the local Friendship paper with a picture of Jay and I on the front, courtesy of TNC. I guess they did move fast.

  Sonny poked his head through the dining room doors. "Is everything alright in here, Pops? Nothing broken?"

  "Santino can't you see that we are talking here?" My dad raised his hands out toward me.

  "Well, it sounded more like you were breaking things." Sonny walked in, folding his arms across his chest as a cocky smirk crossed his face.

  "Sonny, this doesn't concern you," I hissed. What was he going to do now? Get me into more trouble? I think he enjoyed seeing me squirm.

  "Watch
and learn sister, watch and learn," he whispered and sauntered toward my dad.

  "Pops can you really say it's been such a bad thing that a guy is finally interested in Rosalia? Especially one that has the newspaper and local celebrity gossip columns mentioning our restaurant by name?" Sonny raised his tweezed-twice-a-day-eyebrows.

  "Well…no…" Dad put his hands in his lap.

  "That's right. Business has been great. People from Dallas are coming into the restaurant now. And come on, Pops." Sonny slid his arm around my dad, shooting a wink in my direction. "It's not like guys are really banging down our door to get to Lia."

  I wanted to glare at Sonny, but I couldn't with my dad right there. And the fact that he was right about that. He just didn't need to say that in front of Jay.

  Sonny circled the table, putting his hands on Jay's shoulders. "Come on, Pops, this Morningstar guy seems all right. Who else would be willing to come in here and sit across the table, asking one of the most powerful restaurant owners in Texas to date his daughter?"

  For the first time a proud smile crossed my dad's face. I had to give it to Sonny, he was good.

  Dad nodded, "Okay, Santino, maybe you are right." He stood up, extending his hand out to Jay. "You have my blessing to date my daughter."

  Jay's eyes widened before he stood up and briskly shook my dad's hand. I just stood there shocked as Dad then turned to Jay’s coach and they started talking about Dad things like daughters.

  Sonny put his hand on my shoulder. I turned toward him. "Why'd you do that for me, Sonny? You've never been nice."

  Sonny smiled, squeezing my shoulder. "Because you're my little sister and if this guy is going to have the coglioni to come here, and ask for Dad's permission to date you, then he can't be that bad."

  I smiled. "You know sometimes you aren't so bad, Sonny."