Something New

by Amanda Abram

  “Cassie,” Lauren said, waving a hand in front of my face.

  “Huh?” I blinked and turned to her. I’d almost forgotten she was there.

  “Elijah was just asking you if you’re going to Dylan’s party on Saturday, but you were zoned out.”

  I closed my eyes briefly, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. “Sorry. Um, yeah. I’m going.” I gave him a sympathetic look. “I heard you can’t go, though. That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah, it sucks,” he agreed. “You and I could have gone together.”

  I said nothing as I averted my gaze to the floor.

  Elijah shrugged. “Oh well. There’ll be plenty of other parties in the future, right?”

  “Right,” I said with a nod.

  We stood in awkward silence for a moment before he smiled. “Well, I’ll see you later?”

  “Sure,” I said. I returned his smile and gave him a little wave as he turned and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Lauren let out a low whistle.

  “You’ve got to put that boy out of his misery soon,” she said. “He thinks he still has a chance with you.”

  “I know,” I moaned, covering my face with my hands.

  “And now that you’ve got things squared away with Dylan, it’s the perfect time to rip off the Elijah Band-Aid as well. That way, on Saturday, you can meet Chad without all this other boy drama weighing you down.”

  I removed my hands from my face and turned to her. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You just need to tell Elijah that you’re over—for good. Tell him you don’t want to go to Winter Formal with him. Not even as friends.”

  “But he already bought the tickets.”

  “Who cares? He’ll find another girl to go with. Cassie, you can’t keep stringing him along, giving him hope that you’re going to take him back one day.”

  “You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “As soon as I work up the nerve, I’ll talk to him. I swear.”

  Linking her arm through mine as we walked out of the classroom, Lauren smiled. “If you want me to tell him for you, I will.”

  I wanted nothing more than to take her up on that offer, but I knew I had to deal with it on my own. “No thanks. He should hear it from me.”

  She nodded in agreement before changing the subject. “Oh, hey, do you want to go shopping after school? We can buy cute new outfits to wear on Saturday.”

  “Why bother? It’s just a party at Dylan’s house.”

  “So? I have a new boyfriend to impress, and you have a potential new boyfriend to impress. We’ll want to look good for this party.”

  She was right. I did want to look good for the party, but not for the same reason she was thinking. I only had one new cute outfit, and Dylan had already seen it…

  Stop it, I scolded myself. You’re not trying to impress Dylan. You’ve agreed not to have feelings for him. He’s just your friend, remember? REMEMBER?

  “So? What do you say?” Lauren asked as we stopped at the door to her next class. “Are we going shopping or not?”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “I guess.”

  Lauren beamed. “Maybe we can get you something sexier than a sweater this time!”

  “Hey,” I grumbled, “you told me that sweater looked hot on me.”

  “And it did,” she assured me. “But I’m thinking you should go with something low-cut this time. Something that will show some cleavage maybe.”

  I suppressed a groan. I was already regretting my decision to go shopping with her. “I’ll consider it.”

  Grinning, she gave me a thumbs-up before saying goodbye and heading into the classroom.

  As I walked down the hallway to my own next class, I found myself wondering what Claire was going to wear to the party. And then I found myself wondering if Dylan would like it. And then I reminded myself again that it didn’t matter. My goal now was to impress some boy I’d never met in hopes that he would help me forget about all the drama surrounding Dylan and Elijah.

  I wasn’t sure showing any amount of cleavage was going to help with that, but I was just desperate enough to give it a shot.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  With a frown, I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror of my parents’ car. Maybe it was just the dim yellow lighting coming from the dome light above making it hard to see, but something about my reflection didn’t look right. I couldn’t tell if it was the hair, the makeup, the outfit, or the look of apprehension on my face that wouldn’t go away.

  I wasn’t sure what Dylan’s party held in store for me. What if Chad and I didn’t hit it off? Would Lauren hold it against me? Was Elijah going to be there after all and I’d have to awkwardly avoid him all night? Was Dylan going to be making out in a dark corner somewhere with Claire? There were so many uncertainties I didn’t want to face, but I’d promised Lauren I would be there, and I couldn’t back out this time.

  Cutting the ignition, I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. “You can do this,” I muttered through a fake, toothy grin before exiting the car.

  As I walked up Dylan’s driveway, I pulled out my phone and texted Lauren to let her know I had arrived and to ask where she was. I was planning on waiting outside until she responded, but after a minute of standing in the freezing cold with no jacket on, I decided to just let myself in and find her on my own.

  Even though the party had only begun an hour ago, it was already in full swing, and the inside of Dylan’s house was nearly unrecognizable through all the groups of people scattered everywhere. I could barely see what direction I was going in as I pushed through the crowd. I didn’t even recognize half the kids I brushed past and had to wonder if Jake and Chad were not the only Ellsworth Prep students in attendance tonight.

  Not feeling like aimlessly searching the whole house for Lauren, I made my way over to some empty floor space next to the staircase and pulled my phone back out to send her another text. I was only able to type out the first two words before a deep voice next to me said over the loud music, “Hey, you made it.”

  The familiar scent of spicy aftershave hit my nostrils and I almost dropped my phone. Turning my head, I saw that Dylan was standing only a few inches away from me with a warm, welcoming smile. His face was freshly shaven, his wavy hair was a little more unruly than usual, and his signature flannel button-up was replaced by a faded black denim one over a tight gray t-shirt. He looked good—really good—and it killed me to know it was probably because he wanted to impress Claire.

  I quickly turned off my phone and put it back in my pocket. “Yup, I just got here.” I glanced around the room. “How’s it going so far?”

  “It’s going okay,” he said. “Nobody has puked in a potted plant or broken any vases yet, so that’s cool.”

  “That is very cool,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Looks like you’re going to have a lot of cleaning up to do tomorrow, though.”

  “Eh, it’ll be fine. My mom won’t be home until late anyway.”

  “I can come over and help if you’d like,” I offered.

  His smile widened. “I would like that.”

  Something about the way he said it made me weak in the knees. He must have noticed it too, because he quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject. “You want something to drink?”

  “Um, no, I’m good, thanks,” I replied, suddenly wanting to get as far away from him as possible. “I was going to go look for Lauren.”

  “Ah, okay.” He paused. “Oh, by the way, I’ve already met Chad.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “You have?”

  “Yeah. Lauren introduced me to him. I hate to admit, all my predictions about him were wrong.”

  I smirked. “No ascot, huh?”

  “No. That doesn’t mean he never wears them; he’s just not wearing one tonight. He also does not play lacrosse, which after meeting him, I was not surprised to learn.”

  “And his name?” I asked.

  “Sadly, not Chad Chadwick Chadington the Third,” he a
dmitted glumly. “I had high hopes for that one.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “But that was the most far-fetched prediction of them all. You couldn’t have possibly thought that would be his name.”

  He chuckled. “In all seriousness though, he seems like a nice guy. I think you’re going to like him.” Glancing around the room, he ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, well, I’ll leave you alone so you can go find Lauren. She was heading in the direction of the kitchen the last time I saw her.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a solemn nod, knowing that as soon as we parted ways, we wouldn’t see each other for the rest of the night.

  “No problem.” He glanced over my shoulder and furrowed his brow in confusion. “What’s he doing here?”

  A feeling of dread shot through me when my first thought was that Elijah had just shown up to the party. But when I turned around, I saw that Elijah was nowhere in sight. Instead, an older guy who looked to be in his thirties was making his way over to us.

  I didn’t need any introduction to know the man was Dylan’s dad. The two were practically spitting images of each other, down to the hair and clothing style. The only difference was that Mr. Meyers was a little taller and scruffier.

  “Dad,” Dylan said, his voice tight. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hey, D,” Mr. Meyers said with a grin as he approached. “I was just on my way to a poker game and thought I would stop by and make sure everything was going okay.”

  “Everything’s going fine,” Dylan assured him.

  Mr. Meyers’ gaze lowered to the plastic red cup in Dylan’s hand. “I’m just going to assume that’s soda in there.”

  “No need to assume.” Dylan held it out to his father, who glanced inside and sniffed the cup’s contents.

  Looking relieved, Mr. Meyers slapped his son on the back approvingly. “Sprite? That’s my boy.”

  Dylan rolled his eyes. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Dad?”

  “Well, actually, I—” Mr. Meyers began but then his gaze landed on me and an apologetic look came over his face. He glanced between me and Dylan. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”

  “It’s fine,” Dylan mumbled. “Dad, this is my friend Cassie. Cassie, this is my dad.”

  “Cassie,” Mr. Meyers repeated slowly, as if my name sounded familiar. “Oh yeah, Elijah’s girlfriend, right?”

  “Ex-girlfriend,” I corrected him.

  “Oh.” He looked uncomfortable for a second but then smiled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Cassie.”

  “Nice to meet you too.”

  “Okay, great,” Dylan said, clearly annoyed. “Now that we’ve got apologies and introductions out of the way, what were you about to say?”

  His dad cleared his throat and turned back to face him. “Oh, um, I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about. I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go out for breakfast tomorrow so we can discuss them?”

  I could tell by the look on Dylan’s face that he didn’t like the sound of that, but he nodded anyway. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Pick you up around eight-thirty?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Great. I’ll see you then.”

  “Okay.”

  The tension between the two of them was palpable and I suddenly felt uncomfortable watching them converse. It was obvious Dylan hadn’t forgiven his father for everything yet, and it was even more obvious that Mr. Meyers was intent on patching things up whether Dylan liked it or not.

  He reminded me of Elijah.

  “Okay, well, I’ll leave you to it,” Mr. Meyers said. He glanced around and then added, “Make sure to keep this all under control. I don’t want the neighbors calling the cops.”

  “Not a problem. My friends are all perfect angels,” Dylan joked.

  “Right, I believe that,” Mr. Meyers said with an eyeroll. “See you tomorrow, kid.” He smiled at me before turning around and heading back out of the house.

  “Your dad seems nice,” I commented.

  “Yeah.” After a moment of awkward silence, he gave my arm a friendly pat. “Well, anyway. Have fun tonight, Briggs. See you later.”

  He didn’t even give me a chance to respond before turning and walking away.

  I held my breath for a moment as I watched him disappear into the crowd and head in the direction of none other than Claire, who was chatting with one of her girlfriends on the living room couch. As he approached them, the friend said something to him and then got up and motioned for Dylan to take her place. He obliged, sitting down so close to Claire they were practically touching, even though there was still plenty of empty space on the other side of the couch.

  Biting the inside of my cheek until I felt pain, I tore my gaze away from them and began my trek to the kitchen. I was aware of what sort of things happened between boys and girls on couches at parties, and I had no desire to watch them happen between Dylan and Claire.

  A quick scan of the kitchen upon entering indicated Lauren was no longer where Dylan had last seen her. With a sigh, I turned back around to go search the dining room, but my steps were halted when I ran right into the chest of a boy I didn’t recognize.

  “Omigosh, I’m so sorry,” I said after recovering from my stumble. I quickly took a step back from him.

  The boy smiled and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “No worries. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” He gave me a brief, inquisitive once-over and pointed a finger at me. “Cassie, right?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah. Do I know you?”

  “Not yet.” He flashed me a grin and held out his hand to me. “I’m Chad. Your best friend’s new boyfriend’s best friend.”

  “Oh,” I said with a chuckle. Taking his hand in mine, I shook it. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Lauren’s over there. She saw you come in and sent me over to introduce myself. She told me to get creative with how I did it, saying she wanted us to have a ‘meet-cute’ or something. Does that make any sense to you?”

  I glanced over Chad’s shoulder at Lauren, who was giving me a grin and a thumbs-up. “Yeah,” I said. “It’s a romantic comedy thing. She wants us to have a fun story to tell people about how we met. Like she and Jake do.”

  “Ah,” Chad said with a nod. “Well, I wasn’t going to intentionally spill a drink on you, and I’ve never watched a romantic comedy, so I had no idea what to do other than come over and just introduce myself to you. But then you ran into me and nearly knocked me over. Could that be considered a cute-meet?”

  “Meet-cute,” I corrected. “And yes, I suppose it could.”

  He grinned. “Cool.”

  With our introduction out of the way, I took a moment to size him up. He was cute—tall and kind of lanky—with shortly cropped dark blond hair, dark brown eyes, and a dimple on his left cheek when he smiled. He looked nothing like most other Ellsworth Prep boys I’d seen, and I couldn’t picture him wearing an ascot or playing lacrosse. He didn’t even look like a Chad; he looked more like a James or a Mike. Something more traditional and old school.

  “Let’s go see our friends,” I suggested. “I’m sure Lauren is dying to hear how our introduction went. Plus, I want to meet Jake.”

  “Jake’s a great guy,” he said as we began moving. “He seems to really like Lauren.”

  “Well, she seems to really like him too. She’s been pretty much talking about him non-stop all week.”

  Chad looked like he understood. “I know, right? Jake’s been no different. It’s like, dude, I get it: you like her. But we have other things to discuss, too. Like video games, or D&D strategies.”

  I glanced curiously up at him. “D&D?”

  “Yeah. You know, Dungeons & Dragons?”

  “Oh, right.” I’d heard of Dungeons & Dragons before; I had just never known anyone who played it.

  “Do you play?” he asked.

  “No. I’m more of a Cl
ue, Life and Monopoly kind of girl.”

  “That’s cool,” he said with a smile as we approached Lauren and Jake.

  “Hey, girl!” Lauren said, stepping forward and enveloping me in a quick hug. “You’re early.”

  “Yeah, Jade let me leave work early.” I paused. “Actually, it’s more like she forced me to leave early. You know how she loves it when I go to parties.”

  “Where do you work?” Chad asked.

  “Java Jade’s. It’s a small coffee shop in town. Jade is the owner and my boss, and she’s pretty much the best.”

  “Sounds like it.”

  Lauren grabbed my hand and pulled my attention away from Chad. “Cassie, I’d like you to meet Jake. Jake, this is Cassie.”

  She motioned to the boy standing next to her, and I blinked at him in surprise. He was not at all what I was expecting; he was basically a carbon copy of Chad except a little shorter with longer, darker, shaggier hair.

  Lauren usually had a type when it came to guys: she liked them to be about a foot taller than her with pretty boy features and a muscular physique. Basically, she liked guys that looked like football players. Jake, however, looked like he had never played a sport of any kind in his life. He was cute, but he struck me as the type of guy who spent his Saturday evenings playing video games in a friend’s basement instead of attending high school parties.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said with a smile. “Lauren has also told me a lot about you. I feel like I’ve already known you for years.”

  Jake chuckled. “She’s told me a lot about you as well. All great things, of course.”

  “Of course,” I chuckled back.

  Despite him not looking like the type of guy Lauren usually went for, I could see why she was so smitten with him: he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

  “Well,” Lauren said, “I would love nothing more than to have my best friend and new boyfriend to get acquainted, but for now, Cassie, why don’t you and Chad hang out here and get to know each other a little, while Jake and I go find somewhere to make out?”