The Exception

by Brittany Wynne

  “I saw the way you looked at it every time we went to the mall and you and Maya drug us to the jewelry store,” he said sheepishly. “So, do you like it?”

  “Like it? I love it! Thank you so much, Gabe!” I threw my arms around him to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Here, help me put it on!” I squealed, holding out my wrist so Gabe could hook the clasp.

  “You are more than welcome,” he said with a huge smile on his face. “But it’s officially after midnight and you have a big day tomorrow with what Maya has planned, so I guess I better be going.” We both stood up and I followed behind him as he walked across my room to my window, both of us being quiet so we didn’t wake up Maya.

  “Thanks again, Gabe,” I smiled unable to tear my eyes away from my new bracelet.

  “Anything for you, Em.” I heard him utter under his breath while climbing out my window. “Night, Em, see you later today,” he said with a wink and in a voice meant for me to hear this time.

  “Night, Gabe.”

  Chapter Two

  “Emma! Wake up!” I heard before a pillow made contact with my face.

  “Five more minutes.” I groaned.

  “Em!” Smack. There was the pillow again.

  “Alright, I’m up.” I said groggily, willing myself to move before I was attacked by another pillow.

  “Good. It’s about time. I’ve been trying to wake you up for the past five minutes because we have a ton to do today. We have to go get your new license, get our nails done, go to the mall to get new bikinis, and still be back here in time to get set up and dressed for the party,” Maya exclaimed.

  She may be my best friend, but that girl was entirely too perky in the morning. I’ve always been more of a sleep-till-noon type person unless I had to get up for school. Maya, on the other hand, thought nine o’clock was sleeping in.

  “So the boys are texting everyone the details about today and will be here about four to help set up. Speaking of boys, what time did Gabe leave last night?” she asked with a smirk.

  “He was only here for about ten minutes. He just wanted to give me my birthday present on my real birthday,” I said. Smiling as I remembered my new bracelet I was wearing, I held my arm out for Maya to see.

  “Holy crap, Em. That boy is in love with you.”

  “He’s not in love with me. He’s just my best guy friend, and you know he has always been super sweet and thoughtful.” I knew Gabe liked me – but loved me? That couldn’t be true; that would just make things so weird between us. I mean I loved Gabe, but I was not in love with Gabe and I certainly didn’t want to ruin our friendship.

  “Whatever, Em, whatever you say,” Maya said, dragging out the second whatever.

  “Oh shut up,” I said sarcastically, throwing my pillow at her.

  Within the next thirty minutes, we were both out of bed, had thrown on some clothes and a touch of makeup, and were putting the finishing touches on each of our messy buns. That was record time for the two of us to be up and ready. Then again, we weren’t really getting ready yet. We just had to look presentable enough to get our nails done and go to the mall. Plus, I wasn’t that worried about my license picture. No one ever sees those things anyway. That’s when it hit me for the first time that day. Yes, Maya mentioned it when we were still in bed but I was still trying to wake up then.

  “Oh my gosh. I’m seventeen now. I get my Jeep back! Maya, you don’t have to drive us everywhere anymore!”

  “I was wondering when you were going to show a little excitement about that.”

  We were both squealing when my mom walked in, giving us a strange look. So I ran to my purse, grabbed the keys that had been in there for a year now, and held them up. Realization hit my mom’s face, and for a second I thought she was going to cry before she pulled me into a hug, ”Oh, honey, I’m so excited for you! My little girl can drive again.” Next thing I knew we were all squealing when my dad popped his head in my room to let us know pancakes were ready. When he saw what was going on he quickly retreated, shaking his head and laughing.

  It felt like this day was never going to get here. One little wreck the week I turned sixteen and my license was revoked until my next birthday. No one even got hurt, unless you count the other car’s bumper and the front of my car. Apparently, they take it very seriously when you get in a wreck your first year of driving, especially when it is your fault because you were texting. Details.

  ***

  We had just sat down in the pedicure chairs when my phone beeped. It was Gabe asking if we needed the boys to grab anything else for the party tonight. I texted back that we were good, but if I thought of anything I’d let him know.

  “Wow, that was weird,” I murmured.

  “What’s weird?”

  I looked over at Maya in the chair next to me. “Gabe just called me Emmie.”

  “What?” Maya giggled as I showed her the text I had just gotten from Gabe.

  K. C U later Emmie!

  Maya shook her head. “Yup, he’s got it bad.”

  Not wanting to start talking about that again, I changed the subject. “So what’s up with you and Dylan?”

  “Oh, Em, I can’t figure that boy out. One minute he’s hooking up with anything that moves, and the next he seems like he’s into me.”

  “Well, it’s not like you wanted to be more than friends until this summer. Maybe he just doesn’t know that the infamous Maya is ready to settle down.”

  She let out a sigh. “Yeah, but I don’t know how I could make it any more obvious that I don’t just want to be friends anymore.”

  I burst out laughing. “Maya, the girl who could have any guy she wanted, suddenly doesn’t know how to let a guy know she’s into him?”

  I could see she was thinking about what I just said, and then she started laughing too.

  “Well then, I guess I’m going to have to find one hell of a bikini today,” she said winking.

  “And she’s back,” I said causing us to laugh even harder.

  “Ah, right on time,” Maya managed as we were both still laughing.

  I turned to see she was looking at Ryan walking in with two large cups in his hand followed by Dylan and Gabe, each carrying a drink of their own.

  “Your drinks, ladies,” Ryan reached out, handing us each a cup from our favorite place.

  “You guys are the best,” I said excitedly, taking a drink.

  “Just following orders for the birthday girl,” Ryan explained, nudging Maya.

  “Good little minion,” Maya cooed.

  I seriously had the best friends in the world. My birthday was technically yesterday, yet here they were making this day as special as they could for me.

  “So what’s on the agenda next?” Ryan asked.

  “Shopping for teenie bikinis,” Maya informed as Dylan started choking on his drink.

  Gabe chimed in, “Translation, can we come?” causing Dylan’s cheeks to turn a shade of pink.

  “Why Dylan, is that a blush I see?” I said jokingly.

  “More like a I can’t breathe after ice went down the wrong pipe,” he countered.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Gabe replied.

  “Alright ladies, we have to head out. I promised my mom I’d mow the lawn and take care of some other yard work before the party, and these guys said they’d help.” Ryan nodded for the guys to head to the door, then walked that way himself. Dylan gave a quick wave then followed after him.

  “See ya in a few hours, Em,” Gabe gave me a hug and then told Maya bye as he headed for the door as well.

  “Don’t you mean Emmie?” Maya called out.

  Gabe stopped briefly and then kept walking without turning around.

  “Wow. Really?” I looked at Maya as Gabe walked out the front door. She gave a little shrug before taking a big gulp of her drink. I rolled my eyes and then faced forward to check the progress of my toes.

  ***

  I had just come out of the dressing room to show Maya the purple two-piece I had
tried on when I saw him. Just the sight of him caused my heart to speed up. But he was with some tall, skinny blonde looking at purses in the section across from where we were. Of course he has a girlfriend. Why wouldn’t Mr. tall, dark, and handsome have a girlfriend?

  “Oh that one is cute, Emmie.” Maya teased before noticing my face. Realizing I was in somewhat of a trance, she looked the direction I was facing and then a knowing smile crossed her face. “Like what ya see, Em?” she asked.

  “Huh? What? I was just…”

  “You were just drooling over Jake Reynolds again,” she giggled. And before I realized what she was doing, she was walking in his direction not caring that she was still wearing the tiny, red, string bikini she had tried on.

  Maya had always been confident like that, not that she didn’t have a reason not to be. She was a few inches shorter than me, with long brunette hair, honey-colored eyes, olive skin, and a perky C cup that always got her attention from the guys; she was curvy in all the right places. I had more of a boyish figure. Not that I was lacking or anything with my long, blonde hair, blue eyes, and skin that was currently a light tan because it was the end of summer, but my B cups were not her almost D’s by any means.

  I just stood there as she made her way over to Jake, praying she didn’t say anything too embarrassing. I watched as she walked up and turned on her Maya charm, not acknowledging the girl he was with, who looked slightly annoyed, at all. She giggled at something before putting her hand on her hip and pointing in my direction. I immediately pretended like I had no idea she was over there and that I was checking out my swimsuit in the mirror, when they looked my way. I watched the rest of the time through the reflection of the mirror until I saw Maya walking back my direction.

  “You could have given me a little heads up that you were going to point at me so I wasn’t standing there awkwardly when you all turned to look at me,” I said obviously annoyed as I walked back into my dressing room.

  “If you’re going to act all pissy I guess I won’t tell you what we were talking about,” she said, following behind me.

  “OK.” I plopped down in the seat of my dressing room suddenly more excited than I should have been. By the growing smile that was on my face, she knew all was forgiven.

  “I told him it was your birthday and that we were having a party at your house and that he should come and bring a swimsuit,” she said mischievously.

  “What, what is that face?” I asked, knowing all too well that she wasn’t telling me something.

  “I may have said the party was by invitation only so he couldn’t bring a date,” she replied as if it were nothing at all.

  My jaw dropped. How she had the nerve to say half the stuff she did I will never know. I would have been way too embarrassed to walk up to him, much less half naked, and say something like that, especially in front of some girl who was probably his girlfriend. My mouth was still hanging open from shock when she walked back into her dressing room throwing over a skimpy, black bikini that matched the red one she was wearing. “Try that one on, Em. It’s your birthday. You want to look sexy, not cute.”

  Nope. No way. Me, wearing the black version of what she had on – not going to happen.

  “Especially if sex-on-a-stick is going to be there,” she added.

  OK. It might happen. And did she really just call him that?

  When I walked out in her bikini of choice, she smiled and clapped her hands together. “Yep, that’s the one! Take it off. I’m buying it for you for your birthday,” she exclaimed. I just rolled my eyes and walked back into my dressing room.

  “Thanks, slut.” I said as I threw the suit over the door to Maya.

  “You’re welcome, biatch!”

  ***

  By the time we made it back to my house, we only had about thirty minutes to get dressed before the boys got there. So I hopped in my shower and Maya went to my sister’s room to shower. Once I was out I put on my new black bikini, dried my hair, and had just finished putting on my makeup when my bedroom door opened.

  “Turn on some music before you come back here, OK, Maya?”

  “It’s me.” Gabe said walking into my bathroom.

  “Gabe, I could have been naked! Knock next time!” I said pretending to scold him.

  “Could have been?” Gabe said with a mixture of shock and excitement on his face.

  “Ya like?” I asked as I did a little twirl.

  “Of course I like it, but so will every guy at the party. Are you really wearing that?” he gawked.

  “She absolutely is,” Maya stated as she walked in, sporting a navy and white-striped cover up. “That’s why I bought it for her to wear at her party. So she’d look hot,” she said as she smacked me on the butt.

  Gabe almost looked like he was in pain. “Em, are you trying to kill me?”

  “Nah, we just had to make sure she was on her A game since I invited Jake.”

  Gabe glared at Maya. “And when did Jake get invited?” Gabe said through his teeth.

  “When we ran into him at the mall and I invited him. Sheesh. What’s got your panties in a wad?”

  “Nothing, considering I don’t wear panties,” Gabe said harshly.

  “OK you two. I’m about to put y’all in time out. Maya, why don’t you go see what they have left to do to get ready for the party.”

  “Okie dokie, boss. She does look hot though, doesn’t she, Gabe?” she said, winking at me on the way out of my bathroom.

  Gabe sighed as he sank into my bowl chair. “I’m sorry, Em. I didn’t mean to upset you on your birthday.”

  I walked over to him and sank down on his lap, which caused him to suck in a breath. I guess my bikini had more of an effect than I thought. “You didn’t upset me, but I’m also not the person you should be apologizing to. What got into you, Gabe?”

  “Nothing. I don’t know. I mean. You. This,” he said, gesturing at my bikini.

  “Gabe, I love you like a brother, but I’m a big girl and this,” I said, pointing to my bikini, “is just a swim suit. Every girl at the party will be wearing one.”

  “Yeah, I know. But do you have to wear one like that? It looks like something Maya would wear.”

  “She is wearing this, just in a different color.”

  Gabe’s jaw about hit the floor when I said that, but he quickly recomposed himself. Then he started to laugh. “You are trying to kill me. Well alright, let’s get this thing over with.”

  Gabe practically didn’t leave my side for the remainder of the night – giving death looks to anyone he thought was looking too long. It probably didn’t help that Dylan and Ryan started making catcalls and whistling as soon as we made it downstairs.

  The party was a lot of fun. Maya had basically invited our entire class, including some of the seniors, most of whom were on our team. Everyone had a great time swimming and hanging out by the pool. There were even a good number of people dancing in the makeshift dance floor Maya had created in the gazebo. She had it cutely decorated with little dangling stars, which she said added to the romantic effect. She really did think of everything.

  Once the sun went down, the pool lights turned on at the same time as my mom came out holding a lit birthday cake while everyone sang “happy birthday” to me. When I had blown out the candles, everybody started cheering and Gabe pulled me into a hug as he kissed the top of my head and whispered, “Happy Birthday, Emma.”

  I was looking around at all the faces that were now chanting “cake” and I couldn’t help but feel a little bummed that the one face I really wanted to see never showed up. I knew it was a long shot after the way Maya had invited him, and then there was the fact that I didn’t even know him. But wait, what was I doing? I have got to stop thinking about this boy. Especially since I haven’t said one word to him. Like ever.

  I quickly shook that thought out of my head before grabbing a piece of cake for myself. I had only taken two bites when I heard, “Dylan Andrews, you better not!” coming from a gigglin
g but trying to sound serious Maya. “Put me down!”

  I looked over my shoulder to the pool just in time to see Dylan tossing Maya in. “Gladly!” I watched as Dylan threw his fist up in the air, making a show out of his triumphant victory. He had just started to walk away from the pool when his eyes found mine. His eyebrow went up as he cocked his head to the side. I looked at him curiously, then he shouted, “Birthday girl next!”

  “Oh. No. You. Don’t.” I hollered, jumping out of the chair I had been sitting in, letting my cake fall to the ground as I made a mad dash around my backyard away from Dylan. Through some sort of primal instinct Ryan and Gabe had joined this game, and now I was being hunted by three of them. I had just turned the corner around the tennis court fence when I saw Ryan coming from that direction. I quickly turned to head back the other way when I face planted into Gabe, who quickly grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder. “Gabriel Shawn Walters, do not even think about throwing me into that pool! I’m finally dry!” I furiously kicked my legs, trying to break free.

  “I would never,” he countered in a mocking voice walking up to the pool. “I’m jumping in and I’m taking you with me!”

  “Eeeek!” I squealed as he jumped in.

  As soon as he surfaced, he threw his fist up in the air and all the guys cheered at their ridiculous victory. “Oh you think that was funny do you?” I swam back toward Gabe and dunked him, taking him by surprise. He popped back out of the water and looked at me with a shocked expression before smiling and yelling, “chicken fight,” cueing everyone to jump in the pool and partner up.

  The party lasted until around eleven thirty. Once the last of the stragglers finally left, Maya and I went back to my room and got ready for bed. In bed Maya rolled over and looked at me. “You bummed prince charming didn’t make it tonight?” I told her no and gave her the same excuse I had given myself earlier “that I didn’t even know him” then turned over and closed my eyes. Even though I had said it out loud this time, it didn’t sound any more true then when I had thought it to myself earlier. What was it about this boy?