by K. S. Thomas
“Right. Well, I mean, I’m not trying to go out of my way to piss them off,” her voice is muffled, probably because it’s half sunken into a giant mug.
“Uh-huh. Only if pissing them off is conveniently located on the path you’re already traveling.” I take a second to assess the weather. It’s nice enough to walk. So, I sling my bag over my shoulder and start my trip toward school. It’s only five blocks up anyway.
“You’re no fun today,” she pouts. “I’m getting married. For the first time ever. You’re supposed to be more fun.”
“Mom.” I sigh. I swear, sometimes the roles get reversed between us. But then I guess that’s bound to happen when your mom is only fifteen years older than you. “Give me another five weeks. Let me get through finals and the end of year concert and I will come home and be more than happy to dive into all things wedding with you. I promise. I will be the most fun you’ve ever had.”
I can hear her grumble something on the other end of the line and I make one last ditch effort to pull her out of her pink dress funk. “Hey, did you call Aunt Dick? I’m sure she can’t wait to talk dresses with you!”
“You’re right.” She sounds perkier already. “I should definitely call Gina. I keep putting it off thinking she’s too busy.”
I let slide the fact that she thinks her best friend is busier than her daughter who’s currently knee deep in course work trying to complete the first year of her master’s program at Juilliard. Granted, I’m not a new student here, but still. It doesn’t get any easier. If anything, this year has been far more stressful and strenuous than the previous four were. “Yeah, that’s Aunt Dick. Busy, busy, busy. I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles when you’re in charge of casting major motion pictures in Hollywood. Let me just cry her a river and drown myself in it.” I guess I didn’t really let it slide after all.
“Oh, you think she could steal me a dress from one of her movie sets? How cool would that be?” My mom didn’t even notice.
“Only one way to find out.” I see my friend Jolie standing up ahead and wave. “Alright, well, I believe you have a favorite best friend to call and I have a semester to pass. So, no more calling me unless it’s an absolute emergency. Otherwise, I’ll see you in five weeks.”
“Peace out, kiddo.”
“Peace.” I shake my head at Jolie who’s staring at me like I’m a weirdo.
“Your mom?”
“Yep. Did I tell you she’s getting married?” I smile. I really am happy about it.
“No way. To who?” Jolie hands me the extra cup of coffee she’s carting around in a to-go cup. She knows me pretty damn well. Of course, I’d expect her to after five years of friendship.
“Joles.” I stop and give her a look like it ought to be obvious. “To Barret. Who else?” Then we start moving again. I finally take my first sip and let the warmth of it settle throughout my body. Needless to say, my mother isn’t the only one who has a slight dependency on coffee.
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “She hasn’t married him in the last decade, I just figured it had to be someone new who finally came along and made her want to settle down.”
“Nope. Still Barret. And I don’t know that you can call their non-married state a lack of settling down. They’ve been living together for nearly ten years. Honestly, I think it was an issue of laziness more than anything. You know how my mom is. Unless you bribe her with the prospect of greasy food or hot coffee, you’re not likely to see her get much done outside of her realm of personal interests.” Which to date have mostly only included, me, Barret and her bakery. Outside of those three things, the world doesn’t really exist to my mother. Unless there’s coffee present. Or greasy food.
“When’s the big day?” We both turn the corner in step.
“June. The twenty-second, I think. But I’ll be home long before that to help her put it all together. Hopefully my Aunt Dick can come early, too.”
Jolie stops. “Your aunt what now?”
I turn back toward her and grin. Sometimes I forget how weird it sounds. “Aunt Dick. It’s some stupid joke my mom and her started when they were young. They’re best friends, but they grew up like sisters. Were always together. And always in trouble, according to my aunt. So, when people would meet them, they’d usually already heard about them, small town and all. Plus, it only added to the hoopla that they both have the same last name even though there’s no family connection there at all. Anyway, people’d meet them and they’d say something along the lines of ‘You must be the Richards girls’ and then they’d both giggle and say, ‘Yep, that’s us. Just a couple of Dicks’.”
Jolie’s laughing. “Your mom’s a fucking trip, I swear.”
“Yeah, well, wait ‘til you meet my aunt. Gina’s even worse.”
Jolie frowns and does a dramatic double take. “Gina?”
I’m not doing a very good job explaining things here. “Yeah. We don’t really call her Aunt Dick. It’s more like her title. Not her name.”
“Gotcha.” We toss our empty coffee cups into the trash before we start up the stairs to head inside. “So, was that your sneaky way of asking me to come home with you this summer?”
I smirk. “Yeah. Did it work?”
She nods. “I’ve got nothing better going on. Might as well come check out your sleepy little beach town.” Then we get inside and she spots him. “Unless of course you’d rather take Marcus.”
He sees us and waves before I can decide how I want to handle running into him.
“Not really, no.” We’ve been dating for a couple of months now. It was meant to be casual, but recently he’s been getting more and more set on doing certain things, like joining his parents for brunch on Sundays and going to visit his Granny Rosalie at the nursing home every other Wednesday. Which would be fine, if he didn’t expect me to go as well.
“Hey, beautiful.” He slides his arm around my waist and kisses me on the cheek. I’m pretty sure he was aiming for my mouth, but I averted that missile just in time. I’ve never been particularly comfortable with public displays of affection. Well, maybe never isn’t an entirely accurate term. In recent years, I’ve not been a fan.
“Hey, Marcus.” I can’t figure out if my intense desire to step out of his grip is due to my severe phobia of PDA or really just boils down to the fact that maybe I’m not as into Marcus as he is into me. I’ve got no reason not to like him And I do like him. He’s smart. Handsome, with his blue eyes and brown hair. Not to mention, he’s built more like a football player than your average music nerd. And, of course, he’s really passionate about his craft. The Oboe. Fine, maybe it’s not the sexiest instrument in the orchestra, but anyone with his kind of talent is automatically boning material. Ugh. I said boning. I’m officially cut off from talking to my mother for a while.
“See you later?” Jolie’s already escaping the awkwardness.
“Sure. Text me when you get out.”
She nods and disappears in the sea of people moving through the building headed to the drama department. Jolie’s an aspiring actress with killer vocals to boot. It’s just a matter of time before I have to start buying tickets for Broadway shows if I want to catch her in action.
“I missed you last night,” Marcus murmurs into my ear as he nuzzles my hair now that we’re alone. Sort of. Not counting the swarms of other students roaming through here right now.
“Sorry. My work load has been nuts. Plus, now with the wedding, my mom’s been calling me every five minutes.” I start walking, hoping it will automatically put a more comfortable distance between us.
“That’s right. The wedding. I meant to tell you. I booked us two flights already. A week before the wedding is early enough, right?”
I stop dead in my tracks again. “I’m sorry, what?”
He seems completely unfazed. “I said arriving a week early is enough, right? I mean, I know you want to help your mom get ready and everything, but we can’t just dedicate our entire summer to your mother’s wed
ding. Especially considering it’s kind of a joke anyway.” He chuckles and I don’t even know where to begin.
“First off, it’s not a joke. Not at all. They’ve waited ten years for this day. We all have. It’s a big fucking deal. Second, no, a week is not enough. So, thanks for the ticket, but I plan on going as soon as the semester ends.” I could easily come up with a third and fourth, but judging by his pained expression, one and two did the trick.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Harper. I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I just wanted to make things easier. Plus, I had a few romantic plans of my own for you and me this summer. But it’s no biggie. I can reschedule everything and we’ll still have plenty of time just for us after the wedding.” He kisses me again. This time on the mouth. His lips are soft and he still tastes of toothpaste and I wonder why I made such a fuss about avoiding this moment. “Call you later?”
“Okay.” I watch as he opens the door to his class and goes inside. Then, standing out in the hallway I get a sudden flash of the first time I was kissed here.
I wasn’t even a student at the school. Yet. A lot of things had been very different. And for that split second that he kissed me I’d thought maybe they’d stay that way. Then, his lips left mine and disappeared from my life as abruptly as he’d entered. For the second time.
Acknowledgements
So...Last Girl is just about ready to meet the world. Which means I'm mostly ready as well. Mostly ready. Slightly scared. But that's normal. You should be a little scared when you hit publish. Like, walk out of the house naked scared. I could do it. I've birthed a baby. Countless people have seen all there is to see, but I'd still feel a little apprehensive about it...publishing, it's about the same.
Last Girl will mark the 24th time that I hit publish and the 19th full length novel I've released in the last three years. I guess you could say, I've been busy. But then so have countless others. Beta readers, proof readers, bloggers, book reviewers and book promoters, to name a few. I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for all the work they put forth on my account over the last few years. And that’s not even counting the friends and family members who’ve supported and pushed me all along the way. To simply say that I appreciate it, seems small and empty somehow. How do you thank someone for helping you pursue your dreams? Are there words big enough to fully convey the sort of gratitude one experiences in moments of dream fulfillment? I haven’t found them yet, but I’ll keep looking.
In the meantime, simple words of thanks in print will have to do...
THANK YOU
Thank you to my own personal team of awesomeness: Stephanie, Rachel, Tawnya, Alyssa and Steve. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Thank you to my family. The list of reasons I must thank you goes on and on, and I’m certain I don’t thank you nearly enough.
Thank you to my friends. Those who understand that I disappear from the real world at times and always welcome me back with open arms. Those who endure awkward rough drafts of sex scenes emailed to them at four in the morning because I have too much self-doubt to continue. And those who allow me to be my weird writer self and actually seem to kind of love me for it.
I also want to say thank you to the readers I met on Wattpad. Writing LAST GIRL there with all of you, has been an amazing experience and I will be forever grateful for the insight and feedback I received, not to mention the beautiful words of encouragement!
Last but most definitely not least, I must thank you – the reader! Without you, all the stories I’ve had the opportunity to share these last few years would likely still be jammed up in my brain and I would be a very crazy, cranky (possibly locked up) individual right now. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a tad. But seriously now, all joking aside, it has been my absolute honor to entertain you and share with you the stories and characters who have been with me for so long. It was you who truly brought them to life.
About the Author
Aside from being an author, I am also a mom to a beautiful little girl. I tell everyone I named her after my great-grandmother (because that's the mature answer), but really, I named her after my favorite princess - just so happens I got lucky and they had the same name...If I wasn't a writer, I would work on a horse ranch - I'm an animal lover (in addition to dogs, horses are at the top of my list). I wear flip-flops pretty much everywhere I go. I would rather stay awake until 5 am than get up at 5 am (years of bar tending have left their mark), if I can, I'm going to the beach AND I will always be nice to people who bring me chocolate...or coffee...if you bring me both, I'll probably love you forever.
A gypsy at heart, I write the way I live, following the story wherever it may lead, always ready to start the next one. This is clearly reflected in my body of work which to date includes everything from Children's Lit to Thrillers.
I happily reside in sunny Florida (for now) and can be contacted via my blog (www.friedgatortail.com), my website (www.ksthomas.net) or the following social media sites ~
Facebook: www.facebook.com/friedgatortail
Twitter: @friedgatortail
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/friedgatortail
Read more at K.S. Thomas’s site.
