by Keelan Storm
“Very funny!” she replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“I know, right?!”
Isabel laughed at her brother’s response and waited for her mom to answer. “Mom?!” she tried again, her arms above her head as she fought with the clip in her hair.
“Already headed to the door!” Bridgette finally called.
Isabel heard the clip click a few moments later and dashed back into her room. She glanced at the dresses on her bed and headed to her closet to try on another one. Eventually deciding on her black shift dress with a bright beaded necklace, Isabel selected some earrings from the tray on top of her dresser, her fingertips brushing lovingly across the detailed etchings her father had carved there years ago. “I wonder what Daddy would have thought of Wesley,” she thought, hoping he would have approved. With a final glance in the mirror, she slipped on her flats and headed downstairs.
Wesley was standing near the arm of the couch, drumming his fingers against the side of his leg and glancing at his watch. “Hey,” he greeted her, “You look nice today.”
“Thanks,” she blushed.
“Are you ready for the movie?”
“Yep, let’s go.”
“Honey?!” her mother’s voice came from the kitchen where she was drinking coffee with Jet’s mom, Helen.
“Yeah, Mom?”
The older brunette’s head popped out of the kitchen doorway. “I’d like you home by ten tonight. You still have to get up and babysit tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” Isabel replied, rolling her eyes as she turned away. “Sorry.” She mouthed to Wesley.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Dearly. I’ll have her home on time,” he assured her mother, guiding her to the door.
Bridgette smiled and disappeared back into the kitchen.
“I just don’t understand why you let the kids yell across the house, Bridgette,” they heard Helen say as they left.
“So, what’ll it be, The Savage or that new rom-com movie?” Wesley asked her once they were in his convertible.
“You have to ask?”
“Uh…I guess so,” Wesley said, raising a brow.
“I don’t do scary, remember? My imagination’s too vivid for my own good.”
He took a second, pressing his lips together as he took a breath. “Okay, rom-com it is then.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” he flashed Izzy a charming smile as the Mustang’s engine roared to life, the vibration sending her a little thrill as they pulled away from the house.
The engine settled into a purr as they reached the highway, and Isabel leaned back into the soft, black, leather seats, noticing how the rich smell reminded her of Wesley: expensive, like money and old leather rather than new like his car.
It wasn’t bad. It was just…weird, like not a smell you’d want to sink into at the end of a long day. Tucker’s family was pretty well off, too, but he didn’t smell like that. She couldn’t pinpoint his exactly, but it was…good.
“Why am I thinking about Tucker’s smell?” she caught herself. She shook the thought away, determined to enjoy her date, no matter what Annie had said earlier.
* * *
“Hey, son,” Chuck Patterson said from his seat at the dining room table, perusing the sports section of the paper he’d been reading when Tucker slammed through the front door and stormed into the kitchen.
“Hey, Dad,” he grunted as he yanked the refrigerator open and sifted through the various items on the top shelf.
“I left a plate in the microwave for you, sweetie. I’m sure you’re hungry after being out in that sun all day.” Jenna Patterson said from where she stood at the sink, loading the dishwasher. One of her freshly made cakes sat waiting to be decorated on the island behind her.
“Thanks, Mom. Maybe later,” he murmured.
“Everything okay?”
Tucker emerged from the fridge, holding a soda. “Just work,” he replied shortly as he opened the can and took a long drink. “Oh, smaller sips,” he told himself as his belly churned. His stomach had been feeling off since he’d talked to Jet that afternoon, but he figured it was nerves. He’d wanted to talk to Izzy before she left for her date tonight.
“But no…Emma had to leave early, so I was the only lifeguard there when that guy whacked his head on his board.”
His stomach had only gotten worse after that. He knew that Izzy wasn’t likely to drop everything and date him when he first talked to her, but on the off chance she would have…
“You don’t normally complain about your job,” his mom commented when he didn’t elaborate. “Is something else going on?”
Tucker took a smaller sip from the soda and leaned against the kitchen counter. “I should have known she would pick up on something.” But the Izzy situation wasn’t something he was really ready to share. His mom was likely to go blabbing to Bridgette if she knew what was up.
“Today just wasn’t a good day to get off late. I needed to talk to Izzy before she left,” he told her instead.
Jenna closed the dishwasher and pressed the buttons to start the load. “Oh, well, honey, you can go talk to Izzy when she gets home. You know Bridgette won’t mind if you go over for a bit.”
“Yeah, I know,” he answered dismissively, wishing the soda was helping more.
His mother looked him up and down for the first time since he came in that evening. He’d swear he could sense her sensing something.
“Does this have anything to do with that boy she left with?”
“Crap.” “Wesley. He’s another lifeguard,” he heard himself say, too bitterly for even his own ears.
This time, a smile curled up on the edge of Jenna’s lips. She turned to grab a sponge and started wiping down the counters. “Well, it will be fine; I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Tucker shifted uncomfortably. His mother’s smile told him that she had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and he needed an escape before she tried to dig any further. “I’m gonna shower, then hang out at Jet’s for a bit.”
“What about dinner?” Jenna asked before he could disappear up the stairs.
“After I shower,” he said over his shoulder, anxious to leave for his room. He knew eating was not a good idea, at least not until after he talked to Izzy, but he also knew his mother, and she wouldn’t let him go without it.
* * *
“Do you think Izzy’s back yet?” Tucker asked Jet a few hours later while they watched television in the Thanos’ living room.
“Dude, Annie said she’d give us a call when…” Jet started to say but was interrupted by his phone. “Maybe that’s her.”
Tucker leaned back against the sofa, trying to calm himself while Jet talked to Annie. The thought of talking to Izzy in a matter of minutes had sent his stomach churning again. “At least, I managed to get it under control after that pot roast and potatoes earlier.” His mom would never have let him out of the house if she’d known how sick it had made him.
“Okay…I’ll send him over,” Jet ended the call. “Annie says that Wesley’s car just pulled up, so if you want to talk to Izzy before she goes inside, you’d better head over now.”
“Alright.” He slowly got up and headed shakily towards the door, his nerve rattled stomach in tow.
“Dude.” Tucker turned to look back at his friend. “Good luck.”
“Thanks, man,” he replied and stepped outside.
The night air felt good in his lungs and helped to calm his stomach as he headed across Jet’s lawn. He started allowing himself to get excited about the conversation now that it was about to happen. If everything went well, he could be dating Izzy tonight.
He had just reached the stepping stones that led from the Dearly’s driveway and around to the front porch when he heard a soft laugh coming from nearby. He stopped. That laugh was way too flirty to be Izzy, wasn’t it? He inched his way quietly to the edge of the garage, peeking past, afraid to look but ne
eding to anyway.
He found Izzy sitting against the railing, Wesley standing in front of her as he reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, whispering something to make Izzy laugh. Tucker’s heart sank at the scene. But he stayed there, his eyes glued on his best friend as she flirted with the wrong guy. He knew it wasn’t right, but he had to find out what was happening. Wesley was his competition after all.
“No, really, I promise we won’t go see something so sappy again,” Izzy said, still laughing slightly from before.
“And no horror,” Wesley said, taking a small step closer to her. He placed a hand on the rail at her side.
Izzy looked up at the dark, handsome face in front of her. “No horror,” she agreed in almost a whisper.
“You really do look beautiful tonight,” he complimented, his fingers running along her necklace; he leaned in.
Tucker’s stomach twisted when he realized what was going to happen, but he was frozen, paralyzed to watch as another guy kissed the first girl he’d ever found feelings for.
He waited to see what she would do, hoping that she would pull away, anything to let him know she didn’t really want Wesley. But fate wasn’t in his favor tonight. Izzy leaned in, deepening the kiss as Wesley’s hand slid into her hair to cup her head.
It hit him hard.
Pain ripped through him, and his chest tightened as though he couldn’t find air. He knew that was no first kiss, and his stomach churned at the thought, his frustration rising. Wesley didn’t care about Izzy, not like he did. The creep had no right to be kissing her like that.
“I can’t watch this anymore,” he thought in desperation as he heard a moan that in no way came from Wesley, but before he could head back to Jet’s, before he could even get out of earshot, he felt it happening and knew he was done for. With one great twist, Tucker’s stomach sent him down onto all fours, his painstakingly forced dinner flying onto the Dearly’s lawn.
Isabel pulled back from the kiss at the sound, and her eyes flew to Tucker as he rocked back to his knees. “Oh, my God,” she cried, pushing past a shocked Wesley to rush to her friend’s side.
She bent down next to him, careful to avoid the mess in front of them, and pressed her hand to his forehead. “Wow, Tucker, you’re burning up. We need to get you home.”
Tucker was reeling. This wasn’t how the night was supposed to go at all.
“No, I’m fine,” he managed to mutter just before his stomach tossed wildly again, another portion of his dinner lost.
Isabel rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re obviously sick.” She looked up at Wesley’s irritated expression as he approached. “I’m so sorry.”
He grimaced at the sight of the lawn. “It’s alright, but I think it’s best I head out.”
She nodded, frowning as the roar of the convertible filled the street. “It would’ve been nice if he’d helped,” she thought, trying to figure out how she was going to get Tucker’s massively muscled frame up to lean on hers.
She pulled Tucker’s arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s stand.” She groaned under the effort as Tucker got weakly to his feet. He swayed for a second, and she placed a hand at his chest to steady him. “You got it?”
He nodded, leaning against her as she guided him home.
“What were you doing outside if you felt like this?” she asked, concern coating her words.
Tucker had to take a few deep breaths before he could answer. “I wasn’t…sick at first…not like…this.”
“Were you coming to talk to Annie or something?”
Tucker shook his head weakly. “Talk…to you,” he said between deep breaths. He was working desperately hard to keep his stomach in check. He still had to tell Izzy that he liked her, that he wanted to be with her.
“Well, we’ll talk later when you’re feeling better,” Isabel said as they made their way up the walk to Tucker’s front door.
“No, it can’t wait.” But before he could argue, he was retching again.
The door opened, and Jenna peered out. “What happened?” she gasped, finding Isabel rubbing Tucker’s back as he dry heaved in her flower beds. “Chuck!” she called.
“I think he was coming over to my house to talk to me, but he got sick on the lawn. He’s burning up,” Isabel explained as Tucker’s dad came out to help.
“Well, we’d better get him in then.” Chuck pulled Tucker’s arm across his shoulders as Isabel had done, his son’s long body a head taller than his as he helped him up the porch steps. They weren’t even inside before Tucker started arguing about whether or not he’d be going to see a doctor in the morning.
“I’d better go make sure he’s okay, see what medicine I can find for him before we can get him an appointment tomorrow,” Jenna said, wringing her icing smattered apron in her hands, “I’ll have him call you when he’s up to it.”
“Thanks,” Isabel replied, reeling a bit at the events as she headed home. She wondered what he might have wanted to talk about; it was so late. “What if he saw that kiss?” she realized with a start. And why did that bother her?
7
Overreaction
“Dinner was great tonight, Mom,” Annie said as they finished their meal sometime later the next week.
“Thanks, honey. I wish I could cook for y’all more often. Maybe I should see about switching to the night shift. The NICU’s not as crazy then, and I’d see you three so much more.”
Isabel shook her head, passing her little brother another roll as she reassured her. “But that only works for summer, Mom. Remember how much trouble your boss gave you trying to switch back once school started last year?”
Bridgette sighed, her expression and features a nearly perfect match for her daughters’ as they discussed the options. “You’re right. But we’re still going to make room for some family time this summer,” she decreed.
“Like what?” Tyler asked, his brown eyes wide as he bounced in his seat. He snatched another roll and tore a bite out of it.
“Well, you and I,” she gave her son a look, letting him know to settle down, “will be going to Granny Pope’s for a few days tomorrow. She’s having a garage sale, and I promised her we’d come help. I figured we could go to the zoo before coming back Sunday morning.”
“But, I have to work this weekend,” Annie said, laying her fork across her plate as she finished her chicken.
“And I have plans with Wesley,” Isabel added, ignoring her sister’s scowl.
“I know. I checked the kitchen calendar. The three of us will be doing a girl's day when Tyler and I get back. We’ll have to do a whole family thing another day.”
“Not a whole family day,” Isabel thought almost errantly, her father’s absence hiding just beneath the surface of the discussion.
“Sweet!” Tyler said excitedly, pulling her focus back. “I love hanging out at Granny’s. She’s always got homemade cookies! I’ll get to eat them all, and you won’t get any,” he smirked at his older sisters.
The twins rolled their eyes as their mother gave him a reprimanding look. “So I’m trusting the two of you to behave yourselves while I’m gone. No parties or anything else you know I wouldn’t approve of.”
“Well, I guess we should cancel that beer order, sis,” Annie joked.
“Very funny,” her mother replied, pretending to give her daughter a stern look.
Annie grinned and shrugged. “We’ll be fine, Mom, don’t worry.”
“So are we really not going to try to throw a party this weekend?” she whispered later while the siblings cleared the table.
Isabel raised a disbelieving brow. “You know we can’t. I’m sure Helen and Jenna will check in, and Stefano and Chuck would have our butts if we tried anything.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Annie said sadly as she scraped the plates into the trash can. “It would have been fun, though.”
Isabel opened the cabinet for the Tupperwa
re to start storing the leftovers as her sister set the dirty plates in the sink. “Do you mind finishing up for me? I kind of need to go.”
“Why? Do you have another date with Wesley tonight?” Annie asked in exasperation, disapproval clear in her voice. “Tucker seriously picked the worst time to get sick,” she carped to herself. This would make three dates since he was supposed to tell her.
Isabel pulled the lids off the containers with a little more force than necessary. “No, Annie,” she grated. “I do not have a date with Wesley tonight, but he is coming with us to the dance hall tomorrow.” Annie’s dislike of Wesley was really starting to make her angry. She couldn’t even talk about him around her.
“Well, that’s going to be a real downer. You know, you really could find someone else to date.”
“Why, Annie?!”
“Nothing…I just kind of wish you hadn’t stopped being so picky. I mean, why lower your standards now? Why Wesley?”
“Because I like Wesley, and I’m not lowering my standards! I like being around him. He’s nice.”
“Is he, sis? Don’t you think it’s weird that none of your best friends seem to like him? Don’t you think there’s a reason behind that?”
Isabel faltered with that comment. She really didn’t understand why her friends didn’t like her boyfriend, or at least the guy who was on the fast track to becoming her boyfriend. He hadn’t officially asked her yet.
“Well, you’re the only one who gives me grief about it,” she said quietly.
Annie went over and gave her sister a hug. “Look, I’m sorry if it’s bothering you, but I can’t just suddenly change my impression of him. But I’ll try to dial it back.”
Isabel smiled, accepting the apology. “Thanks, but seriously now, do you mind if I go? I was hoping to head over to Tucker’s soon.”
“He’s feeling better then?”
“He must be if Jenna let him ask me over.”
“Well, go then. I’ll finish cleaning up. Tell him I said hi, and call me as soon as you’re done. I’ll probably be out for a run,” Annie said excitedly, practically pushing her sister out the kitchen door. “Tyler, you’re supposed to be doing the trash!”
