“I miss you too. But I’ve been busy too. Tomorrow is my first final. And I’ve been going nutty getting ready. I’ve never been so worried about exams before. I think these college apps have totally thrown me for a loop. I can’t concentrate. I feel like I’m going to screw it up and end up going to a trade school for making bolts or something.”
He chuckles. “I don’t think they have trade schools for that.” He smiles and I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. I need to make a gif animation of his smiling face so I can look at it when I’m stressed. “Just relax and do the best you can.”
“Easy for you to say. You already passed calculus. And at Berkeley too, for crying out loud. My man is a genius. Are you sure you want my unworthy ass?”
“Yes, I definitely want your ass. And the rest of you too.” His sexy grin comes through loud and clear. “Only a week and I’ll be back in town. You ready to see me again?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure? It hasn’t been that long. Are you sure you miss me enough yet?” His teasing smile makes my girls part warm, squeeze, and dampen.
“I miss you plenty.” I squeeze my thighs together to get a hold of myself. “We just need to get through finals alive.”
“Tell me about it.”
“How about we just worry about school for the next week? I know you have a lot to deal with. So do I. So no more stressing about missed calls. If we have a chance, we’ll text. Otherwise, just go to work and study your ass off and I’ll be waiting for you when you get home.”
“Wow, Megan Miller. You’re starting to sound like a college student already. By the time you get here, you’re gonna be a pro at managing your time.”
“Here?” I question with a raised brow.
His mouth rises on the left side into a crooked smile. “You caught that, huh?”
“I did.”
“No pressure, remember? Just a thought that came out … unintentionally.”
“Hey, we have enough stuff to worry about. Let’s not start thinking about where I’ll end up. I’ve decided to not give it any more thought until I get my acceptance letters.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
“I’m gonna need all the luck I can get.” And that’s the truth. I can tell myself to forget about choosing a college for the next three months a million times and I doubt it’s gonna work.
“Baby, I gotta go. I still have a lot to do for my morning class.” The expression on his face has gotten serious. The smiles and sexy grins are gone.
“Same here. Social studies is tomorrow. So I’m gonna go through my notes one last time. But, hey, I get to finally see the baby tomorrow. Mrs. Gelson is coming to visit after school. I’ll send you pictures.”
“Cool. I can’t wait to hear all about it when I get home.”
“Okay. Try getting some rest. And kick ass on your finals.”
“Same to you, Megan.”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too.” He smiles.
“Goodnight.”
He flashes me that sexy grin again, his eyes narrowing on mine. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
“Love you,” I tell him, meaning the words to my core.
“And I love you.”
Our first day of finals has come to an end, finally. This morning, I couldn’t finish my social studies exam fast enough. I kept thinking about Mrs. Gelson’s baby. She’s visiting today. She should be here any minute with baby Mia and I can barely sit still.
“I can’t believe I’m gonna come back from break to a substitute. Did you get someone good? Someone cute?” I ask Mrs. Fuller. She won’t be back until after spring break. She couldn’t have waited until after I graduated to get knocked up.
“What about your stud, Alex? Don’t tell me you’re looking again,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me.
“No way. At least not the way you’re thinking. I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt my eyes to see a nice looking guy fifth period every day.”
She chuckles at my joke. “You’re too much.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying,” Travis chimes in, rolling his eyes. “Why don’t you just eat already? Stop babbling away and sit. Pacing and chattering isn’t gonna make her get here any faster.”
Mrs. Fuller laughs. “And I thought I was impatient,” she says through a mouthful of food. She waddles over to us and sits down with a piece of double pepperoni pizza in her hands.
“Meg could win a gold medal in that department. She has the patience of a two-year old.” Travis has no problem digging into his lunch.
The door flies open and we all look up at the same time. “Where is she?” Steph asks, her hands in the air.
“Sit down and eat,” Mrs. Fuller tells her. “She’s running late. Mia probably had other plans this morning. She’s adorable, but she already runs her mama and daddy.”
“Oh, I’m sure Noah is gonna be very mindful of you and Mr. Fuller as soon as he makes it out of your womb,” I joke.
“He better be.”
“Are you really naming your baby after the guy in that chick flick?” Travis asks with disgust.
“That guy’s name is Ryan Gosling. Don’t hate just because you’re jealous of his hot body.” Steph throws her napkin at him. “Those abs are …” She fans herself.
“Well said, Stephanie,” Mrs. Fuller says.
“Amen, sister,” I agree.
“Where’s Mr. Fuller? I need some back up.” He shakes his head with a sigh.
The door opens again. This time we see a stroller enter first, with Mr. and Mrs. Gelson right behind.
“Oh,” I squeal, jumping out of my seat. Steph is right on my heels as we get closer to the baby.
“Hey, girls,” Mrs. Gelson says. “A little excited, are we?”
“They’re crazy,” Travis says. Mr. Gelson sidesteps around us and sits next to our friend.
Mrs. Gelson pushes back the shade on the stroller to reveal a little Mia all prettied up in a lavender outfit with itty bitty white flowers on it. She wears a matching elastic headband around her head and is covered with a crocheted blanket. I have blankets like this in my baby stuff my mom keeps stored for me.
“She’s adorable,” Steph says, wiping a tear from her eye. “She looks just like you. Look at her dark hair and little mouth. How cute.”
“Wanna hold her?”
“Yes, I’d love to,” Steph responds, wiping another tear.
As exciting as it is for me, it has to be ten times more for Steph. Mrs. Gelson is her teacher.
I glance over at Mrs. Fuller. Her hubby is here now, standing behind her, massaging her shoulders. Her hand rests on her belly as she looks at Mrs. Gelson in awe.
“This is gonna be you in a few weeks,” I tell her.
Her smile lights up the room. “I know. I can’t wait,” she says, patting her baby bump.
Steph and I each take turns holding Mia. Travis won’t hold her. He’s happy enough to let her hold his finger.
We only stay for a bit, ooh-ing and aww-ing over the baby before we leave the two couples alone. We still have finals, and I only have one more day to study for calculus. I leave Steph and Travis in the quad and head to Mr. Dunhill’s room for more tutoring with Amy and Brody. If only they could crack open my head and pour the study guides in.
Chapter 20
“Oh my god!” I scream, running down the hall and circling the couch my parents are sitting at a few times. “I passed. I passed!”
When I’m out of breath, I fall back onto the loveseat with a big sigh of relief.
“What in the world are you yelling about?” my dad asks. “You passed what?”
Through gasps for air, I explain to them that my math teacher finally posted our grades.
“Great, honey. We’re proud of you. Did you call Brody?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, I already sent him and Amy a text. They can’t believe it. Brody only beat me by five percentage points. He’s probably emailing our teac
her right now to get his grade checked.” I laugh just thinking about it. His study methods worked so well, I almost scored the same as him. I know he’s wracking his brain trying to figure out what he could’ve possibly gotten wrong.
My dad looks at my mom. “Did she just say Amy?” Poor guy looks confused.
“Yeah, where have you been?” She plays it off like it’s not a big deal. “They’ve been talking for months. Pay attention, mister.”
He shrugs, picks up the remote, and changes the channel. “So what did you end up getting in the class?” he asks, while he surfs through the channels at record speed.
“I got a B.” I practically jump out of my seat. “I’m gonna go get ready. It’s time to celebrate.”
“Where are we going?” I ask as I hop into the front seat of Josh’s truck. “I’m ready to revel in the glory of my bad ass B in calculus.”
“Shh,” he says, with an index finger pressed to his lips. “It’s a secret.”
I flash a confused look at Keesh who is sitting bitch beside me. “From who?”
“From everyone, apparently. This bonehead won’t tell any of us where we’re going.”
I look over my shoulder at Steph, Travis and Andi in the back. “Really?”
They nod in agreement.
“Where’s Shay?” I ask.
“I didn’t invite her. Dom wasn’t coming and Alex isn’t home yet, so I thought it’d be cool if the six of us just went out. We haven’t done anything together in a long time.”
True. “Cool. So where we going again?”
“Nice try, Megster.” He turns up the radio and we all belt out the words to Moves Like Jagger. We’re killing it. Steph sounds great, pulling off Christina with ease. Girl has some lungs. Me? I just pump my fists in the air, dancing to the beat, and join the vocals on the chorus. We should record this shit and post it to YouTube. Or maybe we should wait till we’re not driving down the freeway because Josh gets a little carried away and swerves into the next lane. He swears he’s the next Adam Levine.
We exit the freeway, and when Josh pulls into a parking lot for a veterans’ hall, I recognize the place.
“Hey, we’ve been here before.” Each of us looks around while Josh finds a place to park. I notice girls are all dressed up in holiday colors, with flowing skirts. They remind me of characters you’d see in a black and white movie.
“Yeah,” Steph says. “This is the swing dance place, right? Josh?”
He cuts the engine and turns around toward the backseat, placing an arm behind Keesh. “Yeah. Cool huh? They’re having a Christmas Swing Party. I thought it’d be fun to take a trip down memory lane.”
“Dude, swing dancing?” Andi asks.
Travis smiles even though he’s rubbing the tension from his forehead. “Yeah, this guy got us all to go swing dancing our sophomore year. I don’t know why he’d want to go again. He sucked at it.”
Keesh and I bust up laughing because he’s so right. Josh was like a stick figure hardly moving to the beat. Steph is trying really hard not to laugh aloud, but we know she’s dying inside.
“Hey, bite me, bro. I wasn’t that bad. It’s not about the dancing, though. It’s about being … what’s the word?” He thinks for a beat. “Nostalgic.” He opens his door. “Let’s go.”
We all pile out of the truck and I’m tempted to text Alex. I’m midway through typing before I cancel. He’s probably asleep since he has an early flight home tomorrow. Being mature sucks. Sometimes, I’d just like to text or call without considering the time, work, or class schedules.
Josh, Andi, and Travis walk ahead of us. Andi is practically skipping in, having mentioned something about being good at this style of dancing.
“Josh means well, but this kinda sucks,” Keesh says.
“Why?” I ask. “The last time wasn’t so bad. I remember having fun.” One. Two. Swing out. Alex and I practiced those steps for days before we went.
“The last time we were here with our guys. Jon was here, remember?”
“Oh,” Steph says. “It’s okay. We’ll make new memories. Just us girls. The three of us can be band groupies and stand in the front, making googlie eyes at the sax player.”
“You liked him too?” I ask, chuckling. “I love the sax and that guy was hot.”
Keesha rolls her eyes. “Like the same band will be playing.”
When we finally make it inside, I jab Keesh in the side with my elbow. “We’re in luck. I could pick that sax player out of a lineup. It’s the same band. Let’s go drool.”
We act like regulars paving the way toward the stage. Andi and Travis are already dancing. They look like old pros, swinging from side to side and spinning around like they’ve been doing it for years. Josh is kicking back near the bar with a soda in his hand. It looks like he has his eye on a petite blond in the corner. Whatever is going on with Shayna is definitely not serious. I hope she understands that. I may need to have a talk with her.
“Hey, girl.” Keesh taps me on the arm. “I thought we were making new memories. Reveling in calculus grades. Let’s dance.”
The three of us rock back and forth, take turns partnering up, and when we’re not messing around, we have fun admiring the band.
By the night’s end, the saxophone player is on to us. He sends someone over with a note for Keesha. It’s his phone number. His name is Max. Max the Sax, I say to myself, chuckling inside.
On the way home, I’m not laughing anymore. Keesh is freaking out.
“You know, this was totally fun until he gave me his number. He killed it. I don’t want to call this guy. I feel guilty now, like I encouraged it. Like I’m cheating on Jon Jon. I didn’t want this to happen,” she cries out.
“Chill, Keesh. Jon wouldn’t think you’re cheating,” Josh says over his shoulder. “He’d be proud his girl is so cute other guys wanted her.”
“Whatever, Josh. This is your fault.”
I reach out to hold her hand, but she swipes it away from me. “Hey. It’s not that big a deal. If he’d given me his number, I would’ve laughed it off. Alex wouldn’t get mad. It’s not like you want to use it.”
“Meg’s right,” Steph says, sitting forward so she can see Keesh around me.
“Easy for her to say. She gets to see Alex all the time. I’ve seen Jon twice in the last two years. And that’s it. I wonder how many girls are tossing their numbers at him. I wonder how many he’s calling.”
Oh my god. She’s lost it. Am I this bad?
“Keesh. Knock it off. You should know better. Stop freaking out. My boy isn’t calling anyone. That guy has been wrapped around your finger since before he left and nothing’s changed. And you know it.”
There’s silence for a bit. I don’t dare say a thing. It’s not often Josh raises his voice. In fact, I can’t remember ever hearing him get angry. But he sure put Keesh in her place. And if I had to guess, she knows it. She knows he’s right.
She inhales a huge gulp of air and exhales with a big huff. “Sorry, you guys. I just remember being so happy the last time we came here. I want to be that happy again. I want Jon Jon to be home with us. I want to see if things will work out for me and him. But even if they don’t, he deserves to be with his friends. This is his home. We’re his home. He hasn’t found that out there. And I know he’s tried. It just hasn’t happened.”
Josh peeks at her through his mirror. “He’ll be home soon. And things are gonna work out just fine for you two. You’ll be happy again. I promise.”
Keesh rests her head on my shoulder, and this time, she allows me to hold her hand. “Thank you, Joshie,” she says. “He’s coming home for both of us, you know.”
He looks back at her. “I can’t wait.”
“Dude, neither can I. Everyone tells me he’s funnier than Josh so I can’t wait to spend some time with him,” Andi says.
We all crack up when Josh says, “Now, let’s not take it that far. I’m way funnier than Jon. And I’m also funner too.”
“
Funner?” we all tease.
“Yeah. Whatever. You get what I mean.”
Alex and I are on the way to the post office the day before Christmas Eve. Is that called Christmas Eve Eve? Anyway, instead of sending a bunch of individual packages, I decided to be the Ben Calloway care package coordinator. Every month, I’m going to put together a box of goodies and send it to our favorite Marine.
This month, the package is loaded with Steph’s homemade chocolate brownie cookies, a slew of nudie magazines from Josh and Travis, a book from Keesha, and a loaded MP3 player from Dom. When he was here for Thanksgiving, Ben talked about missing music. Now that he’s out of boot camp, he might be able to put on some headphones and chill with some tunes for a few minutes a day.
Alex and I pitched in for a FlipCam. Last night we all had a great time videoing ourselves like a Big Brother Confessional. The plan is that we’ll send him a movie to watch. He’ll record one for us and send it back with the prepaid postage box we’ve included. Great idea, eh. My mom thought of it, so I can’t take the credit. I think he’ll get a kick out of it and I can’t wait to see his face every month when he sends it back.
“We should’ve picked up lunch first, and ate it in line while we waited. I guess we’ll just have an early dinner,” Alex says, after we’ve had to wait in line for almost two hours to send the package.
“No kidding. That was ridiculous.”
“We also should’ve sent it at least a week ago. He won’t get it till after Christmas.”
“That was my plan. His mom said she was sending him plenty of things for the holiday. So I thought ours would arrive just before the New Year when the excitement of his mom’s stuff has worn off.” I smile, pleased with myself.
“Good idea,” he says, reaching over to hold my hand. He lifts it to his lips and plants a kiss on the back of my hand. “Ready to shop now?”
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” I ask.
“Excuse me?” His eyes widen with surprise.
I chuckle. “Ha. Ha. I’ve always wanted to say that. My dad says it all the time.” I can’t stop laughing. It sounded so funny coming out of my mouth. I tried to blurt it out with the same seriousness my dad uses but I couldn’t pull it off. “Basically, yes. I’m ready to shop.”
Double Threats Forever (Double Threat Series) Page 15
