by Kate Brian
Megan looked up. Doug’s expression had changed. He and Evan were now both staring at her with hard eyes, as if they were trying very hard to keep what they were really feeling and thinking inside. For the first time Megan was struck by how similar these two seemingly different guys really were. Same stubbornness, same ignorance, and, apparently, same taste in women.
“The truth is, I feel sorry for you guys. I really do,” Megan said. “You’re all so busy looking out for number one that you don’t realize how much you’re hurting the people around you. People that really love you. Or could, if you gave them the chance,” Megan finished, looking at Evan. She held his gaze until her face burned with the effort and he finally blinked.
Megan turned to Doug. “So don’t think that it was your stellar freeze-out that got me to leave, ’cuz it wasn’t,” she added. “I just can’t stand to be around people who take so much for granted.”
Aside from the birds in the trees chirping their good-night songs, the backyard was totally silent. Megan had said her piece, and having been that honest, she felt exhilarated. She felt capable of anything. Now, all of a sudden, she had an overwhelming urge to talk to Finn. She turned and, out of habit, walked over to the shed, not even thinking about the fact that he had been banned from his home-away-from-home. One push opened the door and Megan’s entire world came to a screeching stop.
Standing on the easel directly across from her was her own image. Finn’s painting of her. Completed to the last eyelash. It took her breath away.
Slowly Megan approached the painting. It was unlike anything else Finn had ever painted. He hadn’t painted her profile or her shoulder or her hands or her ear. It was the only painting in the room that was a full, face-forward portrait, and it was amazing how much it looked like her. Only softer somehow. Prettier. More open. Her lips were pulled up on one side in a sort of knowing smile. Her skin practically glowed, and the smattering of freckles across her nose actually looked sweet to her. But it was the eyes that killed her. They swirled with at least five shades of green and had delicate gold flecks painted subtly through them. Was this what she really looked like to Finn? Did he really think she was this . . . beautiful?
Megan reached out and touched the edge of the canvas. The paint was completely dry.
When had he had time to finish this? She remembered suddenly that he had been grounded for the past few days. He must have been sneaking out here all week to work on it. And he had finished it. He had actually finished a painting. Of her.
A horn honked in the driveway. Megan’s car was here. Early. Ready to whisk her away.
Just go! she told herself, trying to rally the inner troops. Get the hell out of here already.
Megan turned her back on her own eyes and ran inside to get her things. This place was more than she could handle. Too confusing, too overwhelming, too much. It was time to go back to a boy-free world.
* * *
“Attention, passengers on flight 233, nonstop service to Los Angeles,” the gate worker announced. “We are now boarding passengers in rows fifteen to twenty-five. Fifteen to twenty-five, please have your boarding passes ready.”
Megan took a deep breath and looked out across the dozens of people gathering their carry-on bags and wrangling their kids. Beyond the seating area for her gate was the concourse that led to the main lobby of the terminal. Megan had been staring in that direction for an hour, much to her own chagrin, thinking she might see a familiar face. That someone, anyone, might come to say a final goodbye. But apparently life didn’t imitate movies. In less than twenty minutes she was going to be in the air. Pretty soon, there would be no turning back.
Pulling her backpack straps onto her shoulders, Megan stood up and headed for the long line that snaked away from the gate.
You don’t want to turn back, she told herself, squaring her shoulders. It just seemed so wrong that she hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to Finn. He had been her best friend at the McGowan house. Her confidant. Her first kiss. She couldn’t believe that she was actually getting on a plane to Korea without talking to him one last time.
“Hey! Megan! Wait up!”
Megan’s heart leaped out of her chest as she whirled around. There he was, running toward her through the crowd, shoving people aside to get to her. Never in her life had she been so happy to see . . .
Doug.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, yo?”
He doubled over in front of her, sweat streaming down from his temples as he gasped for breath. Megan checked behind him but didn’t see anyone else in his trail.
What the . . . ?
“Are you alone?” she asked.
“I gotta sit,” Doug said, wheezing.
He backed up clumsily and fell into the nearest vacant chair. Megan stepped out of line and followed him uncertainly. She looked around the terminal, half expecting to find a hidden camera somewhere. This had to be a joke. Doug was chasing her down?
“What are you doing here?” Megan asked, narrowing her eyes. “And how did you get through security?”
“I had ta buy a ticket, you belee d’at?” he said, pulling out a little American Airlines folder. “I can go to Chicago now if I want.”
Megan sat on the edge of the chair next to his. “Doug, seriously. I have to get on this plane.”
“Hey, you wanna bounce, that’s your business,” Doug said, shoving the crumpled ticket into the back pocket of his jeans. “But hear me out first.”
Megan sighed and leaned back. “Okay. You have five minutes.”
“All right, look,” Doug said. “After you left, me and Evan, we talked for the first time since all this crap went down and I can’t speak for him, ya know? But me? I realized I been kind of a jerk lately.”
“Oh, you realized that, huh?” Megan said.
“Let me finish, woman!” Doug said.
Megan suddenly realized what an effort it was taking for him to talk to her at all, so she pressed her lips together and waited.
“I was just pissed at you from jump ’cuz you snaked my room. But I thought on it and I figured out why you irritate me so much,” Doug said.
Megan raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that?”
“Well, ’cuz you came in there and you did all this stuff, you know? Like stuff no one else can do,” Doug said. For the first time since she’d met him, Doug was looking at her and his guard was down. He wasn’t making a sneer or putting on a tough front—he was just there, talking to her. “Like you got Miller talking about stuff that’s not baseball. And Ian and Caleb are actually afraid of you. And Sean, like, occasionally comes out of the garage now. And my mom? She’s a different person since you been there. She’s, y’know, calmer or something.”
“Really?”
“It’s like just having another female around has chilled her out or something, seriously. She’s only whacked me upside the head like once since you got here,” Doug said.
Megan couldn’t help grinning.
“Plus what you did for me . . .” Doug said. “That was pretty cool too. I still don’t know why you did it.”
“Soft spot for lost causes?” Megan said with a shrug.
“Well, whatever,” Doug said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Megan said. It was only one word, but she had a feeling he actually meant it.
“So, look, you can’t leave,” Doug said, sitting up straight and turning toward her. “If you do, Miller’s gonna revert and Caleb and Ian are gonna ride roughshod and Sean’ll go back to being Ghost Brother and Finn . . .”
Megan’s heart slipped. “Finn what?”
“Finn will be destroyed,” Doug said, looking her in the eye. “You got that dude all up in a twist, you know that, right?”
“What does that even mean?” Megan asked.
“All’s I know is, he found out you left and he locked himself in the shed and barricaded the door. No one’s seen him since,” Doug said. “When I bolted, Sean and Evan were trying to boost Caleb
up onto the roof so he could look through the skylight and make sure the kid wasn’t dead or something.”
Megan swallowed hard. “Wow.”
For a few minutes Doug and Megan sat in their plastic chairs, watching as the line at the gate grew smaller and smaller. Megan slowly turned everything over in her mind. Was it really possible that she had changed the McGowans’ lives like Doug had said? She had thought that her presence had only disrupted things, but now it seemed like in some ways, she had actually made things better.
“We always thought it was cool that my mom only had boys, you know?” Doug said, for once dropping his gangsta accent. “Who knew that we actually needed a sister?”
Megan looked down at her hands.
“Oh, man! Are you gonna go all blubbery on my ass?” Doug asked.
Megan laughed. “No.”
“So are you comin’ back with me or what?”
Megan lifted her head and sighed. “I have a few conditions.”
“Shoulda known,” Doug said, rolling his eyes.
“First of all, I did not sign up for a truck stop bathroom,” Megan said. “You guys need to start cleaning up after yourselves in there. No more blood, no more hair, no more random stains that I don’t even want identified.”
“All right, all right,” Doug said. “That it?”
“Hardly,” Megan said. “I want a hands-off rule on all my stuff. Including my bike.”
“Okay . . .”
“And I want everyone to stop calling me Megan C Cups behind my back.”
Doug’s jaw went slack as he flushed. “How did you know about that?”
Megan raised her eyebrows.
“All right, fine. Is that all?” Doug said.
“You think you can do these things for me?” Megan asked.
“Well, I may have to put the beatdown on a few people, but yeah. No problem,” Doug said casually.
“Don’t beat down anybody,” Megan said.
“Don’t tell me how to do my job,” Doug said, cracking his knuckles comically.
“Okay,” Megan said, standing. For the first time all day, she felt calm—certain. “I’ll come back.”
“Thank God!” Doug said. “Let’s get the hell outta this place.”
“Oh, wait! One more thing,” Megan said, stopping Doug in his tracks.
His shoulders slumped and he turned around. “What? You want my kidney?”
“I want in on the next ultimate Frisbee game,” Megan said.
Doug grinned. “You’re playin’ skins.”
Megan grinned back. “We’ll see about that.”
* * *
Megan leaned back into Sean as she gunned the engine on his Harley, racing up Oak Street. The wind pressed a couple of tears from her eyes as she whooped in total, unadulterated glee. She had almost forgotten how much she loved to ride. It was as if she had just regained a limb she had been missing for the past few weeks.
“All right! Let’s take it home!” Sean yelled in her ear.
Megan slowed up and turned the bike into the McGowans’ driveway. The ultimate Frisbee game on the front lawn was put on pause as Evan, Finn, Caleb, Ian, and Doug all stopped to watch. Megan climbed off the bike and pulled her helmet off, wiping at her face as she laughed.
“You’re a natural,” Sean said giving her one of his rare grins.
“Thanks,” Megan replied.
“Next weekend we go get your Massachusetts permit,” he said. “I’ll talk to my buddy Deke down at the junkyard and see if he can find you a bike.”
“Really?” Megan didn’t know which bowled her over more—the offer or the number of words that had just been strung together.
“Heads up!”
Megan glanced left and snatched the Frisbee out of the air before it had a chance to take her eye out.
“Sorry!”
Evan lifted his hand in an apologetic wave before turning and heading for the porch to swig from a jug of water. It was the first acknowledgment Megan had gotten from him since his very awkward apology on Thursday night. He had come to her room after she and Doug had returned and told her he was sorry. Since then, he had avoided her like the plague.
Megan followed him with her eyes and saw that Aimee and Miller were sitting on the front steps next to the refreshments, watching the game. She launched the Frisbee back toward the other boys and waved at Aimee, who grinned and waved back.
“Miller and Aimee. Together on a weekend,” Megan said in awe.
“Yeah, that’s just weird,” Sean remarked, stepping up next to her.
“Yo! You losers playing or what?” Doug shouted from the center of the yard.
“We’re in!” Megan replied, jogging over to them.
“All right. It’s you, me, and Finn against Evan, Sean, and the twits,” Doug said as Megan reached him.
“We’re not twits!” Ian protested from a couple of feet away.
“Yeah, you just keep tellin’ yourself that,” Doug said.
Megan leaned in to the huddle between Finn and Doug. “Do you guys even realize that you’re not really playing ultimate?” Megan asked. “I looked it up online and you’re doing it entirely wrong.”
“We’re doing it McGowan style,” Doug replied with a knowing nod.
“What does that mean?” Megan asked.
“It’s football with a Frisbee,” Finn told her. “And at the end of the game we like to high five a lot and make barking noises. No one knows why or when we started it; we just did.”
“Ah,” Megan said with a smile. It was nice to be near Finn again. It was nice that he was talking to her like a normal human being. Of course, it didn’t stop her from wondering what he was thinking.
“So what’s the play?” she asked, hoping to focus.
They huddled closer and her arm brushed Finn’s and her pulse skittered ahead. They both looked at the spot where their skin had touched and inched away from each other. Megan held her breath.
“All right, I’m faking to Finn and throwing to Megan,” Doug said, oblivious. “Let’s see what you can do, Kicker.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Megan said sarcastically.
They all clapped and walked over to the line. The second Doug got the Frisbee, Megan broke right, dodging Sean, and raced toward the driveway with Ian and Caleb hot on her heels. She turned around and saw Doug fake the throw to Finn. Evan jumped to block the Frisbee, but it wasn’t there. It was rocketing right toward Megan.
She jumped up and grabbed the disk, but the second she came down, Ian and Caleb grasped onto her legs.
“Get ’em off me!” Megan shouted, struggling forward and laughing uncontrollably. “Get ’em off me!”
“Die, Kicker! Die!” Ian shouted, holding on for dear life.
Finn rushed over and Megan tried to toss the Frisbee to him. He let it fly right past his face and instead grabbed Caleb, tickling him until he had to let go of Megan.
“Foul! No fair!” Ian shouted.
Caleb rolled on the ground, giggling, and Megan tripped over him and tumbled forward, taking Finn down with her. It was a huge mass of tangled arms and legs, but all Megan knew was that she was right on top of Finn, her chest pressed against his, his leg between her thighs, her wrist pinned under his neck. Someone—Ian—was on her back, holding her down, preventing her from extricating herself.
Not that she exactly wanted to.
“Well, this is awkward,” Finn said with a laugh, trying to sit up. “Ian! Get off her!”
“All right!” Ian said, rolling free. Ian snatched the Frisbee from the ground and he and Caleb took off across the yard, holding it high.
Finally Finn was able to sit and Megan rolled away from him, sitting in the dirt at his side. They both fought to catch their breath, though Megan’s oxygen deprivation had nothing to do with the game.
“You okay?” Finn asked.
“Yeah, you?” she replied. Every inch of her body was throbbing to touch him again.
“Yeah,” he replied with a huge grin.
He pushed himself around and got on all fours in front of her, pausing there with his face just inches from hers. “I’m glad you stayed,” he whispered his breath warm on her face.
Megan somehow managed to reply. “Me too.”
Then Finn pushed himself up and headed back toward the center of the yard. For a moment, Megan couldn’t move. Then Doug walked over and offered his arm. Megan grasped it thankfully and he yanked her up to her shaky legs.
“Who’s all in a twist now?” he asked with a smirk.
Megan laughed and shoved him from behind as they headed back to the line.
“Dude! I wanna trade!” Doug shouted. “Finn for Sean!”
“You got it,” Evan replied.
“Get your head in the game,” Doug said to Megan.
Megan shrugged him off and lined up, this time directly across from both Finn and Evan. Finn smiled openly at her and Megan grinned, her heart pounding. But when she looked at Evan, it stopped completely. He was staring at her with those intense eyes. Staring right into her. Just like he had in those couple of moments when she had thought, for a split second, that he wanted to kiss her.
Well, that’s . . . interesting, Megan thought.
Doug took the Frisbee. With a deep breath, Megan stood up and dodged right between Finn and Evan, racing upfield. They both took off after her. The Frisbee took flight, sailing in a perfect arc over the boys’ heads. All three of them leapt into the air and reached for it, but it was Megan who outran them all and plucked it right out of the sky.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Boy Guide
Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys
Entry Thirteen
Observation #1: Boys are unpredictable.
This may not be news, but I’m starting to think it’s one of the best things about them.
KATE BRIAN is the author of The Princess & the Pauper, The Virginity Club, Lucky T, and Sweet 16, as well as the hot new series Private and Privilege. She is both relieved and regretful that she’s never lived with seven boys.
