“You’re letting her run free!”
I cringed, waiting for my dad’s reaction. “She’s gotta grow up sometime.”
“She was growing up fine without your influence.”
I slid lower, not daring to peek around the corner, lest one of them spot me. I couldn’t tell for sure if they were in the hallway or had moved the argument back to the living room. It had sounded closer for one brief moment. Either way, if they saw me, it would no doubt spell disaster with the mood Mom was in.
“I was right all along saying this was the complete wrong thing to do.”
“Why? Because she’s out here with me?”
That was enough for me. I crept up to my bedroom as silently as I could and grabbed my car keys and cell before heading down the back stairs and out of the house through the patio door in Dad’s office. I doubted they’d even hear my car driving past while they kept arguing.
***
I needed air. I needed someone to tell me this was all going to be over soon. That I hadn’t just messed my life up beyond repair.
The cell phone on the seat beside me began to ring, and I gripped the steering wheel tighter, doing everything I could to ignore it. The phone stopped for a minute, then the ring tone changed, and I knew it was Sorche. They must have gotten to her. I didn’t care. Didn’t want to talk to anyone at that very moment. I just wanted to be alone.
I didn’t want to be someplace someone would recognize me or come over and want to talk. I didn’t want to go somewhere Dad would think of finding me. Which meant my beloved Pink’s was off the list.
I found my way out onto the PCH and just drove, letting the stereo blare, trying to drown out the echoes of my parents’ argument in my mind.
I pulled off when I found a half-decent drive-thru and bought something to eat. I didn’t feel hungry, but my stomach was growling. Who knew an emotional breakdown could be so draining?
I put my food on the passenger seat and headed back on the PCH, driving ’til I hit a deserted parking lot and stretch of beach.
Sitting there, staring at the waves crashing the shore and watching the darkening clouds coming in off the ocean, I picked at my French fries which held no taste whatsoever and grabbed my cell phone, scrolling through the missed calls. I didn’t want to call Sorche, for fear Mom could talk her into anything. Milo would no doubt be super-cooperative—to Dad. And Trish was totally out of the question. Which left me with one person.
I hiccupped pitifully a couple times and took a long gulp of root beer, hoping to chase them away before I hit dial.
Moments later, Rico was on the phone. “Chey! You sound upset. What’s wrong?”
I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, Rico. I wasn’t sure who else to call. Uhm, I need to get a hold of JT but I don’t know where he is, and I don’t want to call his cell or text him in case he’s at my house.”
“Where are you?”
“On a stretch of PCH.”
“What happened?”
I heard Lorna ask who it was in the background.
“I shouldn’t have called,” I murmured, ready to hit ‘end.’ I mean, the last thing I wanted to do was worry anyone else.
“Wait!” Lorna came on the phone. “Chey? Rico looks very worried. What is it?”
I blurted out the truth before I could stop myself.
“I just don’t want Mom or Dad coming out here right now. I need some space,” I finished by saying.
“I understand, but why don’t you call and just say you’re okay?”
“I doubt they’ve noticed I’m gone yet.” Okay, lie. Because that first ring tone had been Dad’s, and it had been alternating between five people ever since. Dad, Mom, Sorche, Milo, and Trish. “Can you call JT for me?”
“Rico’s dialing already. Do you know where you are?”
I looked back at the abandoned parking lot; I remembered seeing a sign as I turned off. “I think so.”
I could use my GPS for the exact location if I had to. I just needed my eyes to stop blurring with those damn tears that kept coming every once in a while.
There was a muffled conversation on the other end for a moment. “He’s at his place, heading for his car. I’ll hang up, and he can call you.”
“Thanks.”
No sooner did I end the call than it rang again. Seeing JT’s number, I clicked it on. “Hey.”
“Where are you?”
I rattled off my estimated location.
“Stay put. Eat. I’ll be there in a few,” he ordered, and then the line went silent.
I clicked the phone off the second he said he was on his way. I reclined my seat back a little and leaned into it, reaching for my food. I was barely through picking at my chicken sandwich when I noticed his car pulling in the lot behind me.
“Did you break every traffic law in California?” I asked when he appeared next to my door.
JT laughed as he opened my driver’s door and crouched down to my level. I must have looked worse than I thought, I realized when I heard his sharp intake of breath.
I pushed aside my urge to pull the sun flap down and look in the mirror. I didn’t want to make myself feel any worse than I already did. And his reaction to however I looked right now was more than enough.
“Scoot over.”
“It’s my car.”
He laughed again, softer this time.
“Yeah, it is.” He leaned in and unlocked the passenger side before slamming my driver’s door.
Before I knew it, he was in the other seat, taking a sip of my soda, my bag of food now on his lap.
“You look like crap,” he complimented, as if I hadn’t already gotten the message.
“That’s what happens when my mother turns into the wicked witch of Los Angeles.”
Who knew someone could eclipse Adriana?
He froze, his eyes searching my face. “Adri gave up her title?”
I fought my smile unsuccessfully.
“Apparently.” I stole my soda back and took a long sip, my mouth suddenly desert-dry again. “According to Mommy dearest, I’ve made more mistakes since I’ve been out here than I have in my entire life, and now, the press is documenting it all so we can have a scrapbook of all these beautiful memories to look back on.”
JT shook his head. “What did she say about me?”
I didn’t think he’d want to know. “We hadn’t gotten to you yet,” I lied.
“Come on, let’s go for a walk. You need some air.”
I needed a lot of things at that moment, not quite sure air was one of them. For all I knew, my things were being packed up at Dad’s and being sent back to Buffalo. I could have a brand new plane ticket awaiting my arrival.
Halfway down the beach, I pulled my sneakers off and dropped down in the sand. The wind was picking up, and there were dark, foreboding clouds overhead. I must have missed the whole creepy-dark-clouds-coming-in thing, being lost in my own personal dark cloud of doom. The ones I’d seen had been a pale, dusty grey. These were near black and downright scary.
JT sat beside me, completely blowing any thoughts of personal space away. I leaned my head against his shoulder as we looked out at the darkening sky and the dark water ahead of us.
“You know, eventually, you’ll have to go home,” he said softly.
Suddenly, he’d become the voice of reason? Never would have imagined that.
I nodded weakly. “Eventually.”
Which, to me, meant a long time from now. And home no longer meant what it used to.
There was now Mom’s and Dad’s. And I just sorta existed between the two.
He turned his head, and his blue eyes met mine.
“You’re going to ruin my bad boy rep, you know that, don’t you?”
“Had an inkling,” I said with the smallest trace of a smile.
He laughed, a low rumble I could feel reverberate through him.
“This is…”
I waited.
“Nice.”
“Wow, you
really want to lose that bad boy label, don’t you?”
He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me even closer to him. I wasn’t even cold. And at least, I’d finally stopped crying.
“Storm’s coming,” he said, glancing up at the sky. The wind had picked up a little, but even that didn’t bother me.
“Great. Matches my life. Not to mention my mood.”
He grinned. “It’ll pass, don’t worry. Rico will talk to her. Your dad will talk to her. Heck, I’ll even talk to her, if you want. All about how Adriana’s a manipulative and jealous witch who wanted to drive you out of her town and used everything at her disposal to do it.”
“Doubt she’d listen,” I said sullenly. I’d tried and couldn’t get through to her. I doubted JT’s baby blue eyes would get to her. “Besides, you didn’t help matters any. You’re the reason I was in my first paparazzi chase.”
The first drop of rain hit me square in the face. Followed by another. And then another. Each one stronger than the last.
“We gotta get out of here…” He hauled me to my feet, and we jogged barefoot back towards the cars, the strong scent of fresh rain hitting the air.
“You cool to drive?”
I shrugged, digging in my pocket for my keys. “Yeah, guess so.”
“I’ll lead. We should get to Malibu just before the storm hits big.”
“Good. I’ll call home from your place.”
JT gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and opened his car door just as the first drops of rain began to fall, hitting me smack in the head.
I tilted my head back and took a deep breath full of the ocean air before I got into my car.
32
I told JT I’d be fine to drive, that I could handle it. I was a lot more cool-headed than earlier—not to mention, finally cried out—and besides, I still could use a little time to myself. We’d head up to Malibu. I’d call my parents. We’d wait for the storm to pass and then head back to the city where I’d no doubt be grounded for all eternity for taking off like I did. And that wasn’t even worst-case-scenario—in which I’d be headed home on the next flight.
I flicked my headlights to signal I was ready to go. I was glad he was going to lead since I couldn’t remember the way to his place. His lights flickered back at me, and then, he was pulling out of the parking lot. I started the engine and headed after him. The rain began to fall heavier the further we drove, and I gripped my steering wheel tightly as the pavement turned shiny and slick with the rain.
I turned the radio down just as my cell phone began going off again. I doubted I’d have any room left on voicemail before the night was through.
JT’s tail lights disappeared around the curve, and I stepped on the gas to keep up, not wanting to lose him. I took the turn, and the car started to lose control, the tires not getting any traction as the rain pelted down. The wipers were working overtime, and I still couldn’t see more than the blurred headlights up ahead of me, way up the curve.
My foot slammed down on the brake pedal to slow down as I tried to keep my eyes on the road and not squeeze them shut like I desperately wanted to do. My heart felt like it was in my throat, and the urge to throw up was getting harder and harder to ignore. Why hadn’t I asked JT to show me some of that damn stunt driving? At least, learn how to handle things like this as I pressed harder on the brake, hearing the screech of tires as suddenly, I lost complete control of the car.
33
“We’re live from outside the hospital where the latest Hollywood ‘it girl,’ Chey Morrow, has been brought in. According to an unnamed source, she lost control of her BMW earlier tonight on a slippery stretch of PCH and spun out into oncoming traffic. No reports yet on whether or not alcohol was a contributing factor…”
The same perky blonde reporter from the premiere flashed a bright smile at the camera like my sudden downward spiral was the highlight of her day.
The screen split in two, and before the serious-looking anchorwoman could ask a single nauseating question, I clicked the television off, glaring at the darkened screen. Alcohol a contributing factor, my rear. I hadn’t been near any all night. I’d been stone-cold-sober throughout the entire painful ordeal.
I’d been wide awake for the last hour, plucking a bald spot in the fur of the teddy bear JT had bought me from the hospital gift shop. I had a nice row of butterfly bandages near my temple from the impact of hitting my airbag, plain white ones which, according to JT, didn’t scream ‘it girl’ to him. That’s why there was a box of Disney Princess Band-Aids on the bedside table, a gesture that had actually made me laugh in spite of everything.
My door opened, and Mom walked in, dark rings under her eyes that I wasn’t sure had been there the last time I saw her.
“Hi,” I said meekly.
She pulled me into a careful hug. “Chey! You scared us to death taking off like that and then to get a phone call from the hospital saying you’d been brought in—”
“Took years off your life?”
“Most definitely.” She sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers brushing my hair back, giving the slightest, almost imperceptible, shake of her head as she stared at the bandages by my right temple. What can I say, I must have hit the air bag hard. I was already thinking I was going to have a black eye or close to it the way the nurses were talking. “I talked to the doctor. They just want to keep you under observation for the rest of the night, make sure you really are okay.”
“I’m fine.” At least, for the moment. I pulled my gaze away from hers. “How’s my car?”
“That’s the least of your worries”
I slid deeper under the cold hospital blanket. “I know.”
She sighed just as the door opened and Dad stepped in, the worried expression on his face matching Mom’s.
“So, this is where the next stunt driver’s hanging out?” he asked with a teasing grin.
“Ha, ha.”
“JT said he’d give me the card of his instructor.”
He smiled, but I wasn’t so sure he was really kidding.
I suddenly felt a little defensive. “The road was slick from the rain, and those tires couldn’t get a good grip. Before I knew it, I was fishtailing.”
He moved closer to the bed, and instead of joining Mom on the edge, he took a seat in the room’s lone chair. “You scared us.”
“I know.”
Truth be told, I’d kinda scared myself with the accident.
“Just glad you’re okay.” He leaned forward and patted my leg through the thin blanket.
Me, too.
“You should get some rest,” Mom said, at last. “I’m going to go get some coffee. It’s been a long day.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Not going far, Chey. There’s one of those coffee machines near the waiting area. Your dad and I already decided we’re taking turns sitting with you tonight.”
I dozed off for a couple hours, or as much as I could with the nurses coming in to check on me what seemed like every fifteen minutes, my new teddy bear beside me as Mom and Dad alternated watching over me ’til dawn. I heard whoever was in the chair get up and head to the door where some sort of mini-conference took place. I was still half-asleep, my eyelids too heavy to open as I listened to my father’s voice.
“I never expected…”
Right, me to take off. Not the best day of my life, considering where I’d ended up. I snuggled closer to my teddy bear.
“To take me up on my offer.”
My shock and surprise grew with those words. I listened a little closer, doing my best Oscar-winning performance to look like I was still sound asleep. I couldn’t hear who he was talking to, and I didn’t want to risk a peek, knowing the conversation would come to a halt the moment someone saw my eyes open.
“A whole summer together; we’ve never had that. I figured she’d come out for a few days, a week, tops. But then, there she was, planning out an entire summer in L.A.”
I bit the inside of my lip, f
ighting back the tidal wave of emotion. So Dad had never really wanted me to stay here at all? Or, at least, not this long. Wow, did everything ever click right into place. The entire summer made sense.
Cruel Summer Page 35
