by A. L. Martin
“Really?”
“Come on, before we are late to class,” he said, closing my locker for me.
He wrapped his arm around mine, asking me what I was going to do about Hunter and Wyatt. The one question that kept coming to mind, walking down the semi-crowded hall…What about Hunter? I mean, if Hunter truly wanted to be with me he would have talked to me by now. Instead, he left me in the dark, wondering what the hell was going on and if he was ever going to talk to me again. It was time I took charge of my life, and not let other people decide for me. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear a word Gavin had said to me. I turned to the right every few seconds to see his mouth moving, but it was as if there was no sound, just movement. I wasn’t good at reading lips either, so every few minutes I would shake my head, without knowing what I was shaking my head to. For all I knew, he could have been calling me a big dumbass, and there I was, walking beside him shaking my head in agreement.
Gavin walked me to Math, then hurried across the school to his class. I was amazed that he was never late to class, considering the first bell always rang the minute we reached my class. Mrs. Webster was already at her desk, looking on her computer, when I walked into the classroom. She glanced up and nodded, then went right back to looking at the computer. I walked over to my seat, which was now toward the back of the room. I was fine with it, even if I was surrounded by most of the guys in the class. Jayde was up toward the front of the class, which made the switch that much better. She was up there talking to her new so-called friends, who were probably just being nice to her because of Lucas. I knew without a doubt one of them would deceive Jayde by sleeping with Lucas.
English and Marketing flew by, and the bell rang for lunch. I left my books at my seat, grabbing my back that was hanging on the back of my chair. I turned around to find I was the last one in the classroom. I walked out into the hall, that had a few scattered kids getting to their next class or going to lunch. I sauntered towards the cafeteria where I knew Gavin would be waiting for me outside as usual.
“Well, hello, Sunshine. Why do you look so down?”
“You know why.” I sighed, opening the door to the cafeteria.
“Oh…” He followed behind me.
We walked over to our table where Sam was sitting there eating a salad, playing around on her phone.
“Wow…You look great Londyn,” she said, laying her fork down. “Hunter finally get a hold of you?” She smiled.
“No. I don’t think he’s going to either.”
Sam sat there with a puzzled look on her face. “Then?”
“She got a surprise visit at her house last night. I showed up with someone that wanted to see her.” Gavin winked.
“Who?” Sam asked before taking another bite of her salad.
Gavin didn’t say a word but motioned over toward the door. Sam crinkled up her nose, looking at Gavin, then looked straight in front of her toward the door.
“Wyatt?”
Gavin smiled, shaking his head yes.
“Oh. My. God! Wyatt!” She yelled.
“Will you be quiet?” I yelled through gritted teeth.
Sam sat there looking at both of us as she took a couple more bites of her salad. “Well, I want details! You can’t leave me hanging.”
Gavin started to tell Sam what happened, when she cleared her throat, motioning her eyes, trying to get Gavin’s attention.
“What?” annoyance escaped his mouth.
“Hey, Gavin,” Wyatt said, pulling a chair out to sit down between me and Gavin.
I didn’t know if it was possible, but Wyatt was even more good looking than yesterday. His hair was spiked up in the front, his dress shirt hugged his muscles, and his eyes looked more blue today than yesterday. I found myself staring at him a couple of times and managed to turn away right when he would look my way.
“So, what is everyone doing after school today?” Wyatt asked, glancing at his phone.
“I’m going absolutely nothing,” Gavin answered, looking at me. “What about you, Londyn?”
“What about me?” I looked at Gavin, then over at Sam as she took another bite of her salad.
“What are you doing after school?” Gavin shifted his eyes to the right of him at Wyatt. “I don’t think you have anything going on, do you?”
“I have to take Jules home after school. What about you, Sam? What are YOU doing after school?” I tilted my head, raising my eyebrows at her.
“Huh?” She looked up from her phone. “What am I…”
“Doing after school?” I repeated myself.
“Oh. Um…Going…To your house.”
“Sam is coming over after school.” I smiled at Gavin.
“That’s okay. Wyatt, do you want to go over to Londyn’s after school?” Gavin winked at me.
“Sure,” he said, glancing down at his phone.
I glared across the table at Gavin, hoping daggers would fly out of my eyes at him.
He mouthed “what” at me, but Wyatt turned back around toward us before I had a chance to mouth anything back at him. Sam was keeping unusually quiet, which wasn’t like her. I tried several times to get her to talk to me, but she was too into her salad. Her salad did in fact look delicious, but I wasn’t in the mood for one today. I could go for a big juicy cheeseburger and fries, something I don’t eat that often, but I indulge once in a while. Today was turning into one of those days.
I looked at each of them, watching for a few seconds before turning to the next one. Wyatt was on his phone, flipping through what looked like texts, Gavin was doing the same, while looking around the cafeteria every few seconds, and Sam was finishing up her huge salad.
“Instead of going to my house, would you all want to go get something to eat somewhere?”
“Where do you want to go?” Gavin and Wyatt asked at the same time.
“I don’t care, as long as they gave a good cheeseburger and fries. I really want that.”
“That does sound good,” Sam mumbled, chewing her food while she held a hand up in front of her mouth.
“Great! I will run Jules home first and meet you wherever you all want to go,” I said, getting up to grab something to snack on before lunch was over.
“Hey, Londyn, care if I go up with you?” Wyatt asked, getting up out of his chair.
“Sure.”
“By the way, you look beautiful today. I didn’t want to say anything in front of your friends. It would’ve made things awkward.”
I had to yell at Jules to hurry up when I got closer to the car after the last bell of the day. I threw my book bag in the backseat, then looked behind my car toward the row of trees where Jules was with Asher. I yelled at her again to come on before I left her there. Five minutes later she hopped in the passenger seat, trying to get her seatbelt fastened before I stepped on the gas.
“Why are you in such a rush?” she snapped.
“I have to be somewhere in about forty-five minutes, and I want to fix my makeup.”
“Fix your makeup? Where are you going?” She turned to face me, trying to look me in the eye.
“What?” I said, glancing quickly over at her, averting my eyes back to the road.
“You know what. Does this have to do with Wyatt? Londyn, what about Hunter?”
“What about him? He’s not tried to get a hold of me for three days now. After he promised me. So, what about him?”
“I know you are upset, but I believe he’s going to contact you. I know you really like Hunter. I know you like Wyatt, too. You need to be honest with yourself and Wyatt. If you can sit there and tell me without a doubt you are over Hunter, I will shut up about you liking Wyatt.”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, twisting my hand around it. I didn’t want to admit my sister was right about me not being over Hunter. I was mad for letting myself be sucked into liking Wyatt way too fast. I eased up off the gas, as we made our way down the road towards home.
“What are you doing, Londyn?”
I thought you had somewhere to be?”
“Not anymore.” I sighed.
“Londyn, you can’t sit at home waiting for Hunter either. I know it’s none of my business where you were going, but you should still go.”
“I was meeting Wyatt, Gavin, and Sam at PJ’s for a burger,” I glanced over at her, waiting for her response.
“Londyn, forget what I just said. You need to go have fun with friends.” She smiled. “I don’t think you want to hear Dad bitch about how you should be with Lucas still. Besides, Asher is coming over later, so I won’t be by myself with Dad. Thank God!”
I let out a frustrated sigh the minute I spotted Dad’s car from the road. “What the hell is he doing home? I don’t feel like or have time to play his question game.”
“You go upstairs to fix your makeup and I will stall him so you can leave after you are ready.”
“Thanks, Jules.”
I parked the car, then we each took a deep breath, exhaling before we opened the doors to get out and go inside to face him. We grabbed our bags from the backseat and headed inside to face questions or lectures. The minute my foot hit the entry way, I ran upstairs, closing my bedroom door behind me. I flung my book bag over onto my bed and I sat down so fast on my vanity bench that I nearly bounced onto the floor. I plugged in my curling wand to re-curl some of the curls that had fallen throughout the day while I touched up my makeup. I picked up my phone to make sure I wasn’t running late to PJ’s to meet everyone.
I cracked my door open, listening to see if I could hear Dad moving around downstairs. I eased the door open enough to get out, closing it behind me. I tiptoed over to the stairs, leaning over the banister as much as humanly possible, trying to see if I could tell if he was in the kitchen with Valerie and Jules or was hibernating in his office for the day already. The minute I stepped onto the top stair, he started yelling for me to come into his office for a minute. I let out a loud exhale, dropping my head, thumping my feet down the stairs. Jules came out of the kitchen when she heard me throwing a semi-fit down the stairs.
“I’m sorry, Londyn. I tried to keep him occupied as much as I could,” she whispered.
“It’s okay, Jules,” I said, walking down the hall toward his office.
“Dad, did you want to see me?” I asked, knocking on his partly closed door.
“Where are you going? Jules said you were meeting friends for a burger,” he said from behind his desk, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. There were several paper all over his desk, which let me know he was going to be in here most of the evening working.
“Yes, I’m meeting Gavin and Sam at PJ’s for a burger. I need to get going before I’m late. Is there anything else you need?”
“Is Hunter going to be there?”
Boom there it was! I knew there was a reason for him calling me down here and sure enough, he couldn’t resist.
“No, he’s not going to be there, thanks to you. And, if he did happen to be there, what is the big deal? You don’t like him for the simple fact he doesn’t have money, and that is a jackass move,” I snapped.
“Watch how you talk to me!” he glared at me over his monitor.
“Why should I? You didn’t show me or Hunter any respect when you chased him out of here Sunday evening. The respect thing goes both ways. You want me to respect you, but you don’t show the guy I like any,” I clamored, slamming the door behind me.
I made my way to the door, and out to my car before he had the chance to stop me. I didn’t care. I was tired of him belittling people because they didn’t have money. Jules came flying out the front door, right as I was starting to back up.
“Can I go with you, Londyn?” she asked, looking back at the house.
“Go get your phone and stuff real quick.”
She ran in the house and back out within what seemed like a mere five minutes. She jumped in the front seat and we sped down the drive. I didn’t ask her why she wanted to go with me, but I assumed it had to do with Dad bitching at her about me and who I was meeting at PJ’s.
“You okay, Jules?” I asked once we were far enough down the road from the house.
“Yeah. Dad came out of his office into the kitchen, yelling about how you had no right to talk to him like that, and I shouldn’t look up to you anymore,” she sighed.
“Thanks, Jules. He’s probably going to get mad at you for leaving with me.”
“I’m not worried about him getting mad at me. He didn’t say anything when I went back in the house to get my stuff.”
“I thought Asher was coming over in a little bit?”
“Do you care if he comes to PJ’s?” She leaned forward, trying to look my in the eye best she could.
“Tell him we are on our way there now.” I smiled.
“Thanks, Londyn!” Her fingers started gliding over her phone.
We arrived at PJ’s about fifteen minutes later. When I pulled in, I instantly spotted Gavin’s car. He probably picked up Wyatt and Sam on the way. Jules let me know that Asher was on his way and would be here in about ten minutes, while we made our way to the entrance.
PJ’s was locally owned burger place that had almost any kind of burger you could ask for. The doors were a dark wood, with etched glass in the middle of them. Inside, the floors were dark mahogany, with booths and tables close to the same color in wood. There were pictures of local high schools teams on the walls from various sports. Off the left of the front doors was the hostess station, with a couple of girls dressed in black pants and burgundy shirts. One of the girls showed us where Gavin and them were sitting, which only sat four people. Jules sat in the booth across the aisle from us, so it would be easier to include them in conversations. Gavin and Sam were sitting on one side of the booth, which left the seat next to Wyatt for me. I gave Gavin the evil eye when I sat down next to Wyatt. He raised his eyebrows, motioning his hands up like “what did I do?” He knew exactly what he did. He’s not the only guilty one either. I ordered a sweet tea, and Jules got the same.
“Are we ready to order?” Gavin asked, looking down at the menu.
“Not yet. We are waiting for Asher, remember.”
“Oh, yeah.”
We sat there talking about the day and made sure to include Jules in the conversation while we waited on Asher to get there. He was there not quite ten minutes later, scooting in next to Jules in the booth. He apologized for being a little late.
“What are you doing after we get done eating?” Wyatt asked me, leaning closer to me.
“Probably going home to get yelled at for what I said to my Dad before we left the house.” I sighed.
“What happened?” Gavin asked, taking a drink of his tea.
“You know my dad. He couldn’t resist asking if Hunter was going to be here with us. After he did that, I couldn’t help but go off on him for what he did Sunday evening.”
“Oh, Londyn. You didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did. Then, I stormed out of the house.”
“Hunter?” Wyatt asked, tightening his hand into a fist.
I glanced down at his fist on the table, then over toward Gavin who was staring at Wyatt’s fist too. We both shot each other a quick look, without saying a word to one another. I made a mental note to be sure and text Gavin later about it. I was positive he was doing the same exact thing also.
“Londyn’s dad chased him away Sunday evening,” Sam said, not noticing Wyatt’s fist on the table.
“He’s the guy you’ve been talking about?” He scowled.
“Is that a problem?” I questioned, looking over at Gavin instead.
He relaxed his fist and the scowl erased from his face. “Sorry. Jealousy got a hold of me, when there was no reason for me to be. Please accept my apology, Londyn.” He reached for my hand.
“It’s okay. It has been a crazy week. Hopefully, the craziness is behind us and things can start getting back to normal.” I smiled, raising my glass of tea.
I didn’t realize at the moment how cra
zy things were about to get. Maybe I had brought it on myself by stating that I hoped things would get back to normal. Our server just happened to be one of the girls from school that most made fun of because she had to work, unlike the rest of us. She seemed startled when she looked up from her mini ordering pad. I knew she recognized me and Sam for sure, and probably Gavin too. She tucked her wild strands of hair behind her ears, ran her hand over her shirt, and adjusted her apron. The lighting in the restaurant was dim, but I could still make out the flushed color on her cheeks. She didn’t make eye contact with us, when she asked if we were ready to order. I personally never had a problem with her or the fact she had to work.
Sam realized who our server was and looked over at me, trying to get my attention without making it obvious as to what she was doing. I looked back at her, mouthing that I already knew.
Gavin was beyond clueless that our server was Kristen from school. Then, it hit me that I didn’t know her last name. I felt a lump in the pit of my stomach to think that I could be as heartless as Jayde. Gavin and Wyatt both ordered burgers, while Sam ordered a big crispy chicken salad. Then, it was my turn to order, but I was too busy trying to remember Kristen’s name that I forgot to look at the menu.
“I can come back in a minute if you need more time,” Kristen said, barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry, Kristen. I got preoccupied and didn’t look at the menu, but I know what I want to eat though.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. “I didn’t think you recognized me.”
“I know who you are. Good for you for working. Making your own money. I think it’s great. You shouldn’t worry about what those stuck-up assholes say at school. They wouldn’t know what to do without their parent’s money.” I smiled.
A faint smile spread across her face. “Thanks, Londyn. I always knew you weren’t like the others in school. What can I get you?”
“I’m in the mood for a good cheeseburger with sautéed mushrooms.”
“Is fries okay?”
“Fries are great. Thanks.”
