Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1)

by Brittney Musick

  “Sounds good. I’m sure I’ll be up,” I smiled. “Have fun at work.”

  “Oh, I always do.” He grinned cheekily as I pushed open the passenger’s side door.

  I shook my head as I climbed out of the car. I waved and said goodbye before closing the door and heading into the house. I heard Jackson drive off as I pushed the front door open. I smiled to myself as I stepped inside and slipped off my shoes. Aside from our discussion on cottage cheese, it had been a great afternoon.

  I headed into the kitchen to grab something to drink. The house was surprisingly quiet, so I guessed practice ended early on account of other obligations. As I stepped into the kitchen, I nearly collided with Skylar.

  “Oh,” she gasped in surprised. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “That’s a shock since it seems we can actually hear around here today,” I mused.

  “Too true,” Skylar nodded, brushing her hair out of her face. “So, where’ve you been all day?”

  “I went to lunch with Jackson.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “All day?”

  “No,” I blushed. “He also taught me how to drive.”

  Skylar made a face, biting her lip. “Should I ask how that went and how he’s doing or am I better off not knowing?”

  I glared at her. “It went fine, ye of little faith.” I stepped around her and went to the refrigerator. I pulled the door open and grabbed a can of Sierra Mist. “Band practice broke up early?”

  “Yeah,” Skylar nodded. “Stevie and Toby both had to work. As you might’ve guessed, Luke wasn’t pleased. He threw a hissy fit. I think he’s pouting in his room now.”

  Rolling my eyes, I shook my head as I popped the top of my drink.

  “Oh!” Skylar said, as if suddenly remembering something. “Mom said we can’t have anyone over for dinner tonight. Just family.”

  I raised an eyebrow as I took a sip from my drink. “Why?”

  “Not sure,” she shrugged. “I figure Dad’s had enough of Oxide and is planning to tell Luke they can’t practice here anymore.”

  “You know that would kill him, right?” I laughed.

  “One could only hope,” she said, mildly. I shook my head as she strolled out of the kitchen. I knew she was only joking, but if Skylar wished death upon Luke, it made me wonder what she wished would become of me. I decided not to ponder that point and pushed it from my mind as I made my way up to my room.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon in front of the computer. I browsed MySpace and Facebook and played a few games while I listened to Luke play guitar in the next room. When Dad arrived home from work a little earlier than usual, I didn’t think much of it until I remembered what Skylar said about the “family only” dinner.

  I wasn’t sold on the idea of Dad booting the band out of the garage. We wouldn’t need a dinner to address the issue. Besides, as angry as Dad had been with Luke as of late, and vice versa, I didn’t like to believe he was heartless enough to kill Luke’s dreams for the band.

  When I grew bored of the computer, I logged off and picked up About A Boy by Nick Hornby. I’d borrowed it from the school library the Friday before spring break, but so far I hadn’t got far. I realized I’d been a bit lazy in the reading department as of late, but with everything else going on, it had fallen to the wayside.

  As I was reading, I smelled something baking in the oven. It smelled pretty good, but I was too lazy to go investigate. Nearly an hour later, Skylar yelled through the door that dinner was ready. I marked my place in the book before dropping it on my desk and heading downstairs.

  The heavenly scent I’d smelled turned out to be chicken broccoli alfredo. It was really good, and I made sure to throw that out there.

  Mom, who I noted looked pale and drained throughout dinner, smiled at the compliment, but I also noticed she didn’t eat much either.

  Dinner was otherwise unnaturally quiet. I considered telling them about Jackson’s driving lessons just to liven things up, but upon more consideration, I realized they’d probably ban me from seeing Jackson again if I told them. It wasn’t as though I needed to give Dad a reason to dislike him. Being my boyfriend was already like the kiss of death. Besides, I didn’t want to rub salt in his jealous wounds since I knew how envious Dad was of Jackson’s car.

  Finally, as we were finishing eating, Dad cleared his throat and spoke up. “Kids, we have something to tell you.”

  We all looked up then. Skylar frowned. Obviously, she’d still been expecting Dad to dash Luke’s dreams and kick him out of his place of practice. It seemed my feeling that it was something more than that was more accurate. For his part, Luke just looked curious as Dad turned to Mom and nodded, as if to tell her to go on.

  She took a deep breath and smiled grimly. “I don’t really know how to say this any other way. I’m just going to tell it to you straight,” she said. “It looks like you’re going to have another brother or sister come late September.”

  Skylar, who had been taking a drink of Pepsi, choked slightly as her eyes grew wide. “What?” she coughed.

  “Your mother’s pregnant,” Dad clarified.

  Obviously, this was unnecessary. We all understood what she was saying. The believing seemed to be the part we were having trouble with. Even I, who normally tried to say something assuring and optimistic, had nothing. This was just as weird to me as it had to be to Luke and Skylar.

  “Well,” Mom said, impatiently, after a prolonged moment. “Say something!”

  Luke and Skylar glanced at each other as if trying to decide what to say. Then they both looked at me, as if expecting me to break the silence. I held up my hands in defeat. “Don’t look at me,” I shrugged. “I’ve got nothing.”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. I realized then that Dad looked just as tired as Mom. Their nervousness was also plain to see now that I knew to look for it. It was obvious they were expecting something more from us.

  I was still trying to wrap my head around this bombshell. Of course, this did explain the mysterious pregnancy test, but if Mom was due in late September, I wondered why she’d only just now discovered she was pregnant. Then I remembered what Skylar had said about menopause. Maybe Mom had mistaken the pregnancy for menopause at first as well.

  On that note, I voiced the first coherent thought I could form. “Looks like you were wrong, Luke,” I said. “Apparently, Mom’s not too old to have a baby.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  When I was little, I used to always ask my parents for a baby for Christmas. Of course, they always gave me baby dolls, but what I really wanted was a baby brother or sister. As I grew older, the desire for a younger sibling became less and less about the actual baby and more about not wanting to be the youngest. I always felt so envious of Luke and Skylar when someone told me I wasn’t old enough or big enough to do the things they were allowed to do. In my little girl’s mind, I figured I would seem older and be allowed to do more if there was a baby in the house.

  I hadn’t thought about that in years, though, so, naturally, the news of Mom’s pregnancy came as a shock. When Skylar, Luke and I discussed the mysterious pregnancy test, none of us believed it could actually belong to Mom. For me, it had nothing to do with age. Mom wasn’t that old, and women older than her had babies every day. No, I’d only suggested it for lack of a better idea.

  To have the theory that had seemed so improbable proved possible was stunning. I’d just figured Mom and Dad were done having children. Skylar, Luke and I were basically already grown. Starting all over seemed so strange when they would have been kid free in a few years time.

  When we disbanded from the table, it was in a mostly stunned silence. I was still trying to process the new information, so I wasn’t really sure what I thought or felt about either. There was only one person I could think to call. After stealing my handset from Luke’s messy—and might I add stinky—room, I closed myself off in my room and dialed Tegan’s cell phone number.

  I hadn’t spo
ken her to since the day she and her family left for Florida. I’d tried calling a couple of times, but there’d been no answer. I figured either she wasn’t getting good reception or she’d been too busy to bother with her phone. I couldn’t fault her on either account. Today, though, I really needed to speak to her, so I crossed my fingers and tried to channel a mental message her way.

  Luck was, apparently, on my side for once. She picked up on the third ring, and I blurted out the only coherent thing I could think to say. “My mom’s pregnant!”

  There was a pause before Tegan, tentatively, said, “Silly, is that you?”

  I sighed. “Yes.”

  “Your mom’s pregnant?” She didn’t sound like she was asking for clarification; instead, she sounded as if she was trying to work out a cryptic message.

  “Yes.” I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. Then I reiterated the words, hoping she would see that this wasn’t a joke. “My mom is having a baby.”

  “Wow.” The scope of Tegan’s shock and surprise seemed to ooze from the singular word. She was quiet for a moment before she finally said, with a nervous laugh, “Congratulations.”

  It sounded more like a question, and I cracked a smile. “I guess. I really don’t know what to think or say about it right now. It’s just too weird.”

  “I bet,” Tegan agreed. “But it’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?”

  “No, of course not,” I decided quickly. “I just wasn’t expecting this, so I guess I’m just a little stunned right now.”

  “But haven’t you always wanted to be a big sister?”

  Tegan was right, of course. I’d been envious of her when we were younger when she told me Trista was pregnant, first, with Tanner and then, a couple years later, with Tatum.

  “It’s just weird. I’m going to be almost sixteen years older than the baby. Luke and Sky even older than that. People their—well, heck, even my—age have babies every day. Granted, they shouldn’t, but they do, you know? I guess I’m just freaking out a bit.”

  “I get that,” Tegan soothed. “But it’s not so unusual. Lots of older couples have babies these days. Besides, at least now you won’t be the only one at home once Luke and Skylar go away to college.”

  I hadn’t even thought about that. In truth, I’d been looking forward to being the only one at home. At least until Jackson and I started seeing each other. In recent months, I’d realized that it would probably only get worse with Dad when Skylar and Luke were no longer around as a buffer. Without them around to get in trouble, the focus would likely fall to me. At least with the new baby there would be someone else to distract Mom and Dad.

  I nodded to myself, thankful to Tegan for pointing this out. I was still floored by the news, but that would likely fade in time. I sighed, deciding not to fret over it and enjoy the opportunity to speak to Tegan for the first time in four days.

  “So,” I asked, “how’s the vacation going?”

  “Great.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “The beach is so nice. A bit crowded, but still enjoyable. We spent the whole day down on the beach the first couple of days we were here. Yesterday we went sight seeing. It’s been fun.”

  “Sounds like it.”

  “I wish you were here,” she said, and I felt guilty all over again for not taking up her family’s generous offer to include me. “Vacation isn’t the same without you.”

  “I know,” I sighed. “If only it were possible to be in two places at once.”

  “Two of you?” Tegan laughed. “That sounds scary.”

  “Hey!” I objected with righteous indignation.

  “I’m joking, of course.” She didn’t bother to mask the mirth in her tone. “So, have you been spending some quality time with Jackson?”

  “That depends on your interpretation of quality time. He’s been over to the house a couple of times, but the band has been practicing. That’s pretty much all you can hear throughout the house. Earlier today, though, we went out for lunch; then he taught me how to drive.”

  “Really? That sounds like so much fun,” she exclaimed. “Well,” she amended, “not listening to Oxide since Luke thinks he’s commander and chief or whatever, but driving sounds fun. How’d it go?”

  “It was good. I felt a little nervous,” I admitted, “but Jackson was so calm and cool about it, which helped a lot.”

  “Lucky. Tierney was nervous and tense when she let me drive her car. She kept shouting out incoherent commands that just made me feel jittery.”

  I laughed because the mental image seemed to clash so greatly with the Tierney I knew, but at the same time I knew she was a bit of a perfectionist. Standing—or sitting—idly by while Tegan tried to get her bearings behind the wheel probably wasn’t at all an act within her comfort zone. “Maybe you could get Mark to teach you,” I suggested.

  “He might,” Tegan chuckled. “I’m not sure I’d want to drive like him, though.”

  “True,” I agreed. A car ride with Mark was always lively. He wasn’t afraid to put the pedal to the metal. He also had some choice words for those on the road who he perceived to have slighted him in some way. I mostly closed my eyes and tried to tune everything out until the car ride was over.

  “Have you talked to Mark any since you’ve been gone?” I wondered. He hadn’t mentioned anything about it, but I hadn’t asked either.

  “No,” Tegan sighed. “I’ve been so busy, and my phone’s been iffy at best. How’s he doing? Practicing hard?”

  “Oh, yeah, Luke’s been a real slave driver,” I laughed. “I’m so glad he didn’t let me into the band because I’d have already quit.”

  Tegan and I talked for a few more minutes until the line started to break up. We quickly said goodbye before hanging up. It had been a long, bizarre day. Most of the week I’d stayed up until late in the night. Usually I’d read for a while, or sometimes wait up for Jackson to call or message me online, but I was tired. I crawled into bed, curling up beneath the covers, and quickly fell asleep.

  I woke the next day feeling refreshed, but that didn’t last long. When I made it downstairs, after showering and dressing, I found Skylar in the kitchen with Mom.

  Skylar was speaking too fast for me to catch any of what she was saying while grinning like a Cheshire cat. Mom seemed to understand what she was saying, though, and smiled right back.

  When Skylar paused to catch her breath, I asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I got accepted at the Art Institute of Chicago!” Skylar exclaimed, jumping off of the counter and running over to me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into a hug. “Isn’t it great?”

  I was somewhat taken aback by her sudden affection. Apparently she’d overcome her discomfort with hugging. I wasn’t sure which was weirder: the hug or the genuine smile on her face. Skylar usually kept her emotions close to the vest. Most of the time, she exuded the persona of a brooding artist. For her to be so light and open about her feelings was a sure sign that this was a very big deal for her.

  “That’s great news, Sky,” I assured her, snapping out of my shock and hugging her back.

  “I just hope Dad thinks so,” Skylar commented, pulling away but leaving an arm draped around me. She turned back to Mom, her face uncertain but hopeful. “What do you think he’s going to say?”

  “I think he’ll be very proud of you,” she smiled. “I know I am.”

  As happy as I was for Skylar, her college acceptance was also a reminder that she would soon be gone. At the beginning of the year, I couldn’t wait for Skylar to go away to college. Things had changed so much since then. I wouldn’t say Skylar and I were particularly close, but there had been a shift in our relationship. We were no longer constantly at odds.

  These days it felt more like we were on equal footing. The same could be said for Luke and I as well. Instead of being overlooked or ignored, my opinion seemed to have some value. I didn’t feel like the outcast like I had in the past. Sure, my siblings still thought I was weird. S
ince I’d gotten to know them better over the past few months, though, I didn’t see that belief as an insult any longer. I already knew I was different from them, but, in truth, I sometimes thought they were a bit odd as well, so the feeling was mutual.

  Still, we were finally beginning to act more like a team, so the news of yet another college acceptance felt bittersweet. A year ago, a discussion like we had about the mysterious pregnancy test never would have happened. It hadn’t necessarily been a pretty conversation, but it was more than we ever had in the past. Back then we barely spoke. Now we no longer felt like strangers sharing a house, so for Skylar to leave just as we were all starting to come together as a family clouded some of my happiness for her.

  When Dad arrived home from work, Skylar and Mom double tagged him with the news. He took it better than expected. He gave her an awkward hug—maybe Skylar had taken after him in that area—and congratulated her. I was sure he was still holding out hope that she would choose the University of Illinois, but he didn’t voice his disrespect for her choice in career paths. I suspected he’d learned his lesson after his argument with Luke. Things were still chilly between them.

  Dad even went so far as to say it was cause for celebration, being accepted into two of her colleges of choice, and suggested we all go out for dinner. Skylar was allowed to decide where we’d eat, and we found ourselves seated at Applebee’s an hour later.

  While we waited for our dinner, Luke announced, “Oxide has decided to take part in the talent show.”

  He seemed a bit nervous, and I couldn’t say whether it was because he knew how much Dad disliked the band or because he still felt unsure about performing in front of a crowd.

  “That’s great,” Mom enthused and Skylar rolled her eyes.

  “You’ll be great,” I encouraged.

  Dad’s only comment was, “It’s about time you got out of the garage and made use of all that practicing you’ve been doing.”

  It was hard to tell if that was a complaint or a compliment. Luke, apparently, couldn’t tell either, so he just shrugged and took a sip of his drink.