by Kasie West
“He is rather charming.”
“Hmm. I thought I had that in droves.”
Eve, who had joined us as well, gave a small laugh. “There’s a difference between charming and obnoxious, Spencer.”
“I’m sure you know that difference well,” Spencer said.
Eve raised one eyebrow. I waited for her comeback to him but both she and Spencer laughed. He rushed forward and threw her over his shoulder. “I’ll be back. I’m just going to drop this girl in the ocean as part of her graduation present.” He headed off like he was going to do that very thing.
“You better not,” she said, pounding his back. “Save me, Hayden.”
Hayden just shrugged with a big smile on his face.
“Ryan!” Eve screamed.
Both Hayden and I watched as Spencer trudged toward the ocean. Before he made it, Ryan joined them and they had a fake wrestling match in the sand. Hayden let out a sigh. He seemed so happy for the first time tonight. I didn’t need to tell him that Spencer had been a jerk to my friend two years ago. Spencer obviously didn’t remember and he had probably changed a lot since then. He seemed different, nicer.
“Your friends are fun,” I said.
“Yes, we had a lot of fun together.”
“You miss it.”
“I miss how it was before. Everything is different now and it’s pointless trying to make it the same.”
I hoped he meant that he had given up trying to win Eve back. Neither she nor Ryan deserved him in their lives.
Hayden was sitting at a table catching up with Spencer when I came back from the bathroom. I approached him from behind and draped my arms over his shoulders, pressing my cheek against his. Take that, Eve, I thought as she walked past us with Ryan. The night had cooled considerably and Hayden’s cheek was warm. I felt him smile then he laced his fingers with mine.
“You two are sickeningly cute, aren’t you?” Spencer said.
Hayden tensed and shifted in his chair. His fingers slipped from mine and he folded his arms over his chest. Oh no. He felt guilty. He wanted to tell his friend this was a lie. I could sense it because I knew the feeling. It had been one thing for me to lie to Jules—I felt like she’d deserved it—it was a completely different story to lie to Claire and Laney.
“Please don’t,” I whispered in his ear. He couldn’t tell him tonight when he had no idea how Spencer would react to this news. For all we knew, he’d run off and tell Eve and then this night would’ve been pointless. “You can break up with me tomorrow and let him know.”
Hayden offered a stiff nod. I pressed a kiss to the skin right beneath his ear. He smelled so good I wanted to linger there, take advantage of the last few moments of physical contact we’d have. I felt him shiver so I pulled away.
“You ready to go?” he asked.
“Stay and talk for another minute. I’ll go grab your shoes.”
He looked down at his still-bare feet. “Oh, right. I left them by the rocks. Thanks.”
It was getting late. It was darker this time and the path to the rocks a little less clear. I made it around the bend to see two people making out.
“Oh! I’m sorry.”
Eve and Ryan straightened up and faced me, Eve flattening her hair.
“Sorry,” I said again. “I just needed to get Hayden’s shoes. There they are.”
I scooped them up.
“Are you leaving?” Eve asked.
“Yes.”
“Thanks for coming,” Ryan said as I tried to scurry away. “It’s good to see Hayden happy again.”
It’s all an act, you jerk, I wanted to say. You are the worst friend ever and don’t use his happiness to ease your guilt. Of course I didn’t.
“Yeah, sure. See you around.”
Hayden was up and heading my way when I emerged from the rocks. “Thanks,” he said, pointing to the shoes, when I met up with him. I was so glad I was the one who had found Eve and Ryan behind that rock just then and not him. He didn’t need to see it rubbed in his face any more than he already had tonight.
He wrapped me up in a hug and buried his face into my hair. “Thanks for tonight.”
I closed my eyes. “Of course. It was fun.” And I was surprised to realize that I really meant that. Hayden was easy to be around.
He tightened one arm around my waist and his other hand moved up and down my back. Maybe he wanted to take advantage of the last few moments of physical contact we’d have, as well. “I had fun too. Let’s get you home.” He let me go and took my hand.
I glanced over my shoulder and sure enough, Eve was standing next to the rocks, staring at us. I should’ve known his reason for physical contact.
CHAPTER 16
We pulled up to his house and he turned off the engine and hopped out of the car before I could stop him. When he got to my door and opened it, I said, “Sorry, I should’ve mentioned that I need a ride home.”
“Oh.” He looked up and down the street like he’d see a car waiting for me there. “Did my sister get you?”
“Yes.”
“She’s so sneaky.”
“Yes, she is.” I stayed sitting in his car, waiting for him to shut the door and go back around to his side.
He didn’t. He nodded toward his house. “Do you need to get home right away? My sister is going to want a report. I bet you’ll give a more satisfying one.”
The clock on the dash of his car said ten p.m. I had two hours until curfew. “Okay, sure.”
We walked the path to the front door and Hayden unlocked it and stepped inside. Bec was sitting on a couch in the living room and she immediately turned off the television and looked between us. “So?”
Hayden put his arm around me. “You’ll be happy to know that there were many head games played tonight and much jealousy floating about. I’m not sure exactly who was playing all the games or who was the most jealous, but Gia did all the things that you made her swear to do.”
Bec turned to me. “Okay, now I want to know what really happened. None of this vague crap.”
At that moment an older woman came sweeping into the room. Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun, held by a pencil. Tons of flyaway strands had escaped the arrangement, leading to a windblown look. “Hayden, I thought I heard you. I need your face.”
“Mom, I have a friend over.” Hayden pointed at me.
She smiled my way. “I don’t see how this affects anything. You can bring her.”
Bec stood and followed after her mom, who was already walking down the hall without waiting for a response.
“It’s pointless to argue,” Hayden said. “She always wins.” He led me down the hall and around a corner. Inside a large room with double doors and hardwood floors were tons of paintings. Some finished and hanging, some halfway done, others blank canvases. One rested on an easel, a large sheet covered in paint splatters on the floor beneath it, as if someone had abandoned it right in the middle of painting. We all entered the room.
“This is Gia, by the way, Mom.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners?” She extended her hand to me. “I’m Olivia. I’m sorry for stealing this boy away but I need his gorgeous face. I mean, tell me that face doesn’t inspire creativity.”
Both Hayden and Bec rolled their eyes.
“She says that every time she pulls us in here and then she creates things like that.” He pointed to a painting of a half-insect, half-zebra face splitting open to reveal a blooming flower. “My face did not inspire that.”
“It really did,” his mom said.
“She just gets lonely in here,” Bec said.
“My children mock me, but they are my muses.” She studied me then. “I think you could be my muse as well. Your bone structure is amazing.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Bec said. “What she means is that she wants to paint bones. Probably dinosaur bones or something while she stares at you.”
Olivia did not seem offended by the banter. She just laughed and
began to paint while Hayden sat on the stool in front of her. By the way she studied him, it seemed she was using him as a model, but I could see her canvas and it was most definitely not Hayden.
Bec looked at me. “So spill. Tell us everything that happened tonight.”
I glanced at their mom, not really sure I wanted to admit to the act of lying in front of her.
“My mom already knows,” Bec said. “And while she doesn’t condone it, she can see why our immature brains might feel it necessary.”
“You are misquoting me, Rebecca. I said that revenge is the product of misdirected emotions but that I had a few emotions regarding Eve as well.”
“You did not say ‘misdirected,’” Bec said loudly. “I specifically remember you saying ‘immature.’”
“Maybe I said ‘underdeveloped.’”
“Same thing,” both Bec and Hayden said together.
Olivia applied a broad stroke of navy-blue paint to her canvas right beneath the crooked purple eyes already painted there. “My point was that revenge is never the answer.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Bec waved her hand at her mom then turned to me. “So anyway, tell us about the revenge.”
I looked at her mom and wondered if she was upset that they were fighting. She didn’t seem bothered at all. “Okay, so Eve was there with Ryan.”
“I knew it!” Bec yelled. “They’re still together, aren’t they?”
I nodded. “But you were right, she wanted Hayden too.”
“She did not,” Hayden said.
“Then why did she hug you and sit so close and put her hand on your leg?”
“She put her hand on your leg?” Bec’s expression went hard.
“She did?” Hayden asked.
“Oh, please,” Bec said. “You know she did. Don’t try to play all innocent, Hayden. And you probably liked it.”
Hayden just met her stare with an even expression that I couldn’t read.
“So please tell me you got back at her,” Bec said, looking at me.
“There was hand-holding and hugging. We danced.”
“And Gia jumped on top of me,” Hayden said.
I gasped. His mom turned toward me.
“I did not . . . sort of. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to knock you down.”
“Tell me she saw,” Bec said, smiling.
“She did.”
Bec spun in a circle once, her arms outstretched, then she grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. “You are awesome. Revenge is awesome.”
Olivia cleared her throat.
“Because I have a very, very immature brain,” Bec added.
“Tomorrow we are all going to be better people,” Olivia said, which was almost the same thing Hayden had said earlier. I caught his eye and he nodded once.
Better people. The way they had both said it made me want to try.
CHAPTER 17
Hayden slid off the stool.
“Where are you going? I’m not finished being inspired,” Olivia said.
Hayden directed Bec onto the stool in his place. “I need to take Gia home. She’s had enough of our crazy family for one night, I am sure.”
“Bye, Gia,” Bec said. “Thanks for doing everything I asked you to.”
It’s like she said it to remind Hayden . . . or me . . . that tonight was an act, not real. Hayden didn’t need to be reminded. He had put on a perfect show.
Olivia gave me a hug without using her hands, which were dotted with paint, pressing her wrists to my shoulders. “Good to meet you. I was serious about that bone structure. Come back and see me.”
I smiled.
“Dinosaur bones,” Bec said as Hayden and I left.
Hayden glanced at me a few times as we walked down the hall. “My family is weird but I love them.”
“Your family is awesome. You’re mom isn’t . . .” I trailed off, not wanting to bring up a bad subject.
“Isn’t what? Normal? Sane?”
I shook my head. “No, of course not. It’s just she and Bec were kind of fighting. She’s not mad, is she?”
“Mad?”
“About the whole revenge thing.”
“No, she’s not mad.” He opened the front door for me and the cold air bit at my cheeks, making me realize they were hot. “And if you think that was fighting, then you haven’t seen Bec fight.”
“I just can’t believe you told your mom about your revenge plans.”
“It’s my sister. She’s the center of all our craziness.”
“I can see that.”
“I’m sure you can, considering what she forced you to do tonight.”
“She didn’t force me,” I said. I wouldn’t mind hanging out again, but I couldn’t admit that. It felt weird, like I wanted something more from him, and I didn’t. We were both putting on an act. It would be completely ridiculous to read into an act.
“Well, I know she asked you to, so thank you. You did really well. Have you ever thought about studying acting?”
I laughed as I climbed into his car. “No, I haven’t.”
“It’s fun, though, right? It’s like a natural high to perform a scene like we basically did tonight.” His eyes were shining and I could see that he’d enjoyed the night for a different reason than I did.
“It was fun.”
“My mom’s right, though,” he said. “It was super immature of me to want payback, but in a small way, I feel a little better now.”
“Do you at least have closure? I know that’s what you wanted.”
“Yes, I do. No looking back.”
“No looking back,” I repeated.
I directed him to my house and when he stopped at the curb I jumped out before he turned off the engine. I didn’t want to make him pretend to be my date anymore. So I was surprised when I was halfway up the sidewalk and he was suddenly beside me.
“You’re fast,” he said.
“Oh. You don’t have to walk me up.”
“I can’t help it. My dad raised me right.”
“Where was your dad tonight?”
“He goes to bed early and wakes up with the sun.”
“So your mom named you but are you more like your dad or your mom?”
“Do you mean am I a wild free spirit or a conservative early riser?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You went to prom with me at the drop of a hat, no questions asked.”
“I asked questions.”
“Not ones that mattered.”
“You were too pretty for those questions.”
I smiled and tried not to be too flattered but a few butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Don’t you mean too lonely?”
He gave me a smirk. “Well, that too.”
We made it to the doorstep and I turned toward him. “So prom night makes me think you’re like your mom. But . . .”
“But?”
“But then you walk me up to my door out of the obligation instilled in you to be a gentleman and that makes me think you’re more like your dad.”
“My mom might take offense to that.”
“Why?”
“Because had she taken you home, she would’ve probably walked you to your door too.”
“So then I’d be standing on my front porch with your mom.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, not a great image.”
“So you’re saying you’re like your mom?”
“No. You got it right. I’m a little bit of my mom, a little of my dad, and a lot of me.”
“Well, that’s a very good mixture.” I pulled out my keys to unlock the door. “I had fun tonight.”
“What would you have done tonight if you hadn’t gone with me?” he asked.
Logan’s party. I hadn’t even thought about it since the beginning of the night. At first I’d even thought that the second Hayden dropped me off I would head straight there for the end of it, but I didn’t feel like doing that at all right now. “
My friend from school is having a party tonight. He’s thrown some killer . . .”
I trailed off because I couldn’t remember the last time a party had really been all that killer. Hayden tilted his head like he was waiting for me to finish. He was giving me that look again, the one where he was searching for something beyond what I was offering. Hadn’t he learned by now that what he saw was what he got?
“Go on,” he said.
“Never mind. It was stupid.”
The front door opened then—how could I forget that my parents always waited up for me?—and my dad appeared.
“Gia?” he said.
“Yes, sorry. I’m coming in.”
My dad took one step out. “Hello, I’m Mr. Montgomery.”
“Good to meet you, sir. I’m Hayden.”
My dad looked at me to explain who this was and I didn’t know how. “He just brought me home. Thanks, Hayden.”
I walked inside and heard my dad offer a better good-bye than I had then close the door.
My mom sat on the couch reading. “How did studying go?”
“I don’t think she was studying,” my dad said.
“What?” My mom looked concerned.
“The girl you met earlier? It was her brother. The one I told you about. He gave me a ride home.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” my dad asked.
“I just did.” I looked between the two of them, waiting for them to ask more, to accuse me of not being where I said I was. My mom just folded the blanket she’d been using and placed it on the couch. I tried to imagine what would happen if I told them about revenge and fake dating. The images in my brain consisted of a lot of sputtering speeches and confused looks. “I’m going to bed.”
“Say good night to your brother too. He’s leaving first thing in the morning.”
“Okay.” I knocked lightly on my brother’s door but there was no answer. I cracked it open and saw that he was already in bed.
He rolled over and sat up a little. “Hi, G. You’re home.”
“Yes. Just saying good night. Have a safe drive tomorrow.”
He dropped back onto his pillow. “What was up with Goth Girl earlier? Why are you hanging out with her?”
