Lads & Lattes (High School Clowns & Coffee Grounds Book 1)

by A. J. Macey

  Reid sank back down next to me on the other side of the tub, his hands wiping the tears as they started to pour faster and faster. The tracks turned from a tear here and there to a steady stream. Pressing my cheek into Reid’s palm, I sniffled.

  “I know I am,” I finally responded, murmuring as I looked at him. His hazel eyes were bright with emotions, warring between anger and sadness as he watched me. Glancing at Jesse, I felt a wave of gratefulness. “Thank you.” He shook his head slightly.

  “You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t do anything special.” I sat up straight and looked at him directly, the warmth from the tub finally thawing my shock-numbed brain.

  “You stopped him from”—I swallowed the lump that had built in my throat—“that’s special to me. I don’t want to even think about what could have happened otherwise, so I’m going to thank you,” I commanded. He nodded slightly, realizing he wouldn’t win this argument. I slouched back down, my tear covered cheeks pressing back into Reid’s open and waiting palm.

  After the water started to cool, I finally got out. The guys went into the hall and faced away from me, but I couldn’t close the door after everything at the party. Dressing quickly in the flannel, I went without a bra as usual before stepping into the hall. I made sure to dry any wet patches off Mr. Fritz before securing him to my chest in a bear hug.

  “Are you hungry?” Reid asked me. Shaking my head, I followed them into the basement living room. “All right, come here, Cali girl.” He steered me onto the couch, my back reclining against his lean muscled chest, my legs over Kingston’s lap with my feet resting on Jesse’s thigh. “Did you know, Coke was made before refrigerators, so it was meant to drink warm whereas Pepsi was made after therefore meant to be drank cold? Their recipes have both changed since the original formula, but back then cold Pepsi was supposed to taste like warm Coke.” The little factoid Reid read off as we got situated on the couch eased the shock a little more making the shivering recede and blanket of fog over my brain lift.

  “Thank you,” I murmured cocooning in the blanket they had thrown over me, the heat from the bath and blanket slowly dragging me to sleep safely within their arms. I don’t even remember closing my eyes, I only remember being surrounded by the comforting scent of Old Spice, cinnamon, orange, and Mr. Fritz.

  October 14th

  Going to the pumpkin patch with the guys, time for good thoughts and memories.

  #SquashPicking #Fall #SundayFunday

  The smell of breakfast cooking pulled me ever so slowly toward consciousness. The tantalizing scent of pancakes, eggs, and bacon filled my nose as I cracked open my eyes. I was lying on the couch in the basement living room, pressed up against something solid. Looking up, I saw Reid’s dark curls sprawled out against the cushion, his arm wrapped around my shoulders as I used his chest as a pillow. My right leg was tossed over his legs and hip, his morning wood pressing into my thigh. The early morning light filtered through the patio door, the soft pink and oranges washing over my slowly fading tan.

  I shifted slightly wanting to explore who was making breakfast because it couldn’t be my mom, otherwise she would have skinned me by this point for sleeping with a boy. Reid grumbled under his breath as he continued to sleep while I untangled myself from him. Thankfully he didn’t wake when I finally got up off the couch, but I did notice that somehow Mr. Fritz had migrated over into Reid’s arms. The sight of my boy cuddling a teddy bear made me smile and my heart skipped a beat.

  Shifting my attention away from Reid and choosing not to change out of my pajamas, I went right upstairs and found Kingston cooking and Jesse sitting at the table with a glass of orange juice, reading a book I recognized from my shelf.

  “Morning,” I greeted as I entered the room, my voice scratchy from sleep. “When did you guys get up?” I peeked around Kingston’s arm; his button-up had been taken off at some point leaving him in a white undershirt making his tan stand out.

  “Good morning, baby doll.” He lifted the arm I was trying to look around and pulled me into a tight hug. “We’ve been up for about an hour, but there wasn’t enough food for all of us, so we ran to the store for breakfast supplies.”

  “I’m sorry, I made my mom a list, but she’s been super busy and only picked up a few things.” I nibbled my lip, feeling bad they had to spend their money to eat at my house because we barely had anything in the cabinets or fridge.

  “Don’t worry about it.” He pulled the bacon off and placed it in the paper towels before flipping the pancake. “Besides, I’m pretty particular on what I like to cook with, so it’s a win-win. You guys get fed, and I get to pick the ingredients I like to work with.” I chuckled and stole a slice of bacon darting away from his playful attempts to get it back. “Troublemaker,” he teased before going back to the food.

  “Morning, Jesse,” I murmured giving him a small smile as I sat at the table. He dipped his head in greeting, apparently sucked into the book he was reading, so I busied myself with pouring some juice. Staring out the deck door, I watched the early morning sun rise higher in the sky. The house on the other side of us had two younger kids who were out in their yard playing on their swing set. The heaviness of what had happened last night felt like a lead weight in my stomach that not even the brightness of the sun could lift.

  “Emma?” Reid’s voice radiated up the staircase followed by his sluggish footsteps. “You up here, babe?”

  “Yeah,” I responded right as Kingston set a plate of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs in front of me. “Thank you. I could have gotten it, you didn’t have to bring it over, you know.”

  “I know.” He smiled down at me and rubbed my shoulder softly. Turning to the cabinets, he grabbed the syrup, butter, and more glasses for him and Reid before dishing up the boys’ food. We ate in silence, almost all of us too tired to really converse. When I couldn’t fit anything more into my stomach, I groaned and pushed the plate away.

  “So full,” I whined. “That was delicious, Kingston. Thank you.” I gave him a big smile; his food and their company had really helped keep the bad memories at bay. “We still going to the pumpkin patch today?”

  “If you want to.” Reid finally started to look awake after eating, his sleepy voice giving way to his normal effervescent tone. I nodded, excited to spend the day with them. I wasn’t sure what being alone would do to my already worn emotions after last night’s events.

  “Yeah, I need to shower though. I have extra unopened toothbrushes downstairs if you want to claim your own, and we have enough hot water if you guys need to shower.” I stood up, taking the empty plates and dirty silverware from everyone, and started to clean the kitchen. “I’ll get this all cleaned up, so you guys can get ready first.”

  With that, they filed downstairs, Jesse’s nose still in the book that he had seemed to nearly finish in the last forty-five minutes we were up here. The clock read almost eight when I finished up cleaning, and the dishwasher’s whirring sound filled the silence of the upstairs. When I reached the basement, I found Reid and Jesse on the couch watching TV and Kingston’s tall figure standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth.

  “I’m almost done.” His smooth words were garbled around the toothbrush as I walked in to start the shower. I nodded to let him know I heard him before grabbing my outfit for the day. The weather was even chillier than it had been Friday night, so I stuck with the same style of outfit with lots of layers in case it got warmer throughout the day.

  Within a half hour, we were back in Reid’s Jeep going toward the countryside in a similar direction to the haunted house we had been at Friday, but we turned off left down a dirt road instead of turning right. I found myself smiling as I watched the corn stalks and Halloween decorations the farmers had put up pass by the window. The sound of Reid and Kingston’s conversation washed over me like a comforting blanket, their voices doing their usual job of making me feel cozy, like I was home. A portion of me was sad when we got to the pumpkin patch because I could listen
to them talk and watch the world pass by for hours and not get tired of their company.

  Maybe they’ll take a road trip with me over a holiday break.

  I pulled myself out of my thoughts as we reached the parking lot of our destination. The pumpkin patch’s sign was large and colorful with the name of the place decorated with cartoon pumpkins and a cute scarecrow. Cars were scattered throughout the dirt lot, but it wasn’t overly full since it was still early on a Sunday. Once again, Reid paid for all of our tickets after Kingston handed him a large wad of cash. I rolled my eyes but didn’t complain or argue, knowing it wouldn’t do any good.

  “Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around them, my left around Reid and my right around Kingston squeezing as tightly as I could in the odd hug. “So, what do we want to do first?” I asked looking over the large map that was posted inside the entrance. “Holy crap, this place is huge.” Kingston snatched up a tri-fold paper that was inside a clear box and handed it to me so I could scan the map and walk around at the same time.

  “We can go check out the pig races, shouldn’t be too busy right now,” Reid suggested looking down at the map. “The next race starts in about five minutes.”

  “Pig races?” I made a face.

  What the heck is that?

  “Ugh,” he groaned. “Come on, Cali girl. It’s time to pop the race cherry!” My cheeks flushed at the statement, my mind immediately going to sex, but none of them seemed to notice as we walked along the dirt paths.

  There was so much to see on the way, a large barn that had delicious smells radiating out the open doors, several other food stands, as well as a full blown candy shop where I saw two workers making fresh caramel apples. There were several haunted houses, a corn maze, petting zoo area, and various other attractions I hadn’t seen before like a giant teepee and a playground of tractors.

  I definitely was not in California anymore.

  We came up on the race area where ten rows of wooden benches climbed up the slight incline that looked down on a fenced in dirt track. Sitting down in the third row, I was positioned between Reid and Jesse, the latter content to be quiet as he meandered around with us. Although, earlier he had to shift over to avoid a group of kids and didn’t move away from me afterward, so there’s that.

  Baby steps.

  I watched teenagers and parents with younger kids go down a large set of slides before climbing back up the stairs to do it all over again. Right at the top of the hour, a round man in denim overalls walked out with a headset microphone hooked over his ear. I found myself chuckling at his silly pig puns and fake stories fabricated for the little kids who had made their way over with their parents.

  It turns out a pig race is a group of pigs that run around the little track, and whoever gets back to the pen first wins. Each time the announcer would pick out five people to come up and take a colored flag that would coordinate with the colored bandana the pig wore. Everyone who participated got a little plastic piggy nose that could be worn over their face, and the winner received a coupon for a free caramel apple. They started with the tiny piggies before moving to larger and bulkier piggies. Reid jumped up at the last race when the farmer guy had asked for people to come up.

  “It’s her first time,” Reid shouted pointing down at me. I hid my face in my hands as everyone whooped and clapped when I got picked. Blushing up a storm at the attention, I made my way down to the fenced barrier and picked the pink flag. I was the oldest; two of the kids looked to be middle schoolers while the other three were little kids, the youngest being a little girl with pigtails.

  “I hope my piggy wins!” she told me excitedly. Her two front teeth were missing as she smiled. I knelt next to her to watch the pigs run by, her purple-flagged pig tying with my pink one for first place. “Yay!” She jumped up and down and nudged me in the arm lightly with excitement. “My piggy won, did you see that?”

  “I did, that was pretty awesome.” She beamed at my words making my heart swell. I stood as the farmer gave us our prizes, but before I could rejoin my boys the little girl tugged on the hem of my sweater.

  “Since it was your first time.” She held up the coupon for the caramel apple. My brows furrowed as I took the paper from her. Smiling wide, she pointed at her gap.“ I can’t have it anyway since the tooth fairy took my teeth! Bye!” she squealed before running up to her family. Chuckling, I joined up with Reid, Kingston, and Jesse.

  “You’re so cute with kids, Cali girl.” Reid smiled down at me as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. His tone wasn’t teasing, but sweet and complimentary, making my skin flush yet again.

  I should just stop wearing blush if this is how it’s going to be.

  “Thanks, she was pretty adorable. She even gave me her winner coupon since her front teeth had fallen out.” I tucked the paper in my jacket pocket so I wouldn’t lose it because a caramel apple sounded like a delicious treat for later. “Now where?”

  The rest of the day was spent wandering around the attractions, eating deliciously unhealthy food and treats, riding on the hayrack ride, and picking out our pumpkins from the enormous field, before heading home with plans to carve the pumpkins later this week. My mom was actually home when I got back, but I was so exhausted after the crazy weekend that I toppled into my bed and immediately fell asleep without even taking off my coat or shoes.

  12

  October 15th

  Grow through what you go through. -Unknown

  #IAmStrong #IAmResilient #MotivationMonday

  Something was wrong.

  Reid, Kingston, and Jesse were waiting at the edge of the parking lot when I got to school, frowns and scowls harsh on their faces. My skin prickled as other students, most I didn’t even recognize, glared at me with accusing stares. I beelined for the boys, my level of tolerance for the day already nearing zero by the time I reached them.

  “All right, what the heck is going on?” I whispered furiously as I got to them. They knew what was going on otherwise they would be inside waiting for me and not out here in the cold.

  “Brad’s spreading rumors and lies around about what happened on Saturday,” Reid started, his anger flowing off him in waves. “Saying how you tried to seduce him and that when you guys were done, you told Jesse some lie about how he forced himself on you so Jesse would beat the shit out of him.” My blood froze in my veins, anxiety fizzing painfully in my chest.

  “He’s telling people we had sex and then saying I lied about the whole thing?” I clarified. I ground my jaw when they nodded, their eyes filled with both anger at Brad and pity at the situation. “Well, that’s a bunch of crap because I’m still a virgin,” I hissed. My eyes immediately widened when I realized what I had just said. “I mean, uh…”

  “Really?” Reid tilted his head, effectively distracted from my admission. I nodded and continued folding in on myself in embarrassment.

  “Didn’t want to with Tyler,” I muttered, shrugging a shoulder dejectedly.

  “Never wanted to with any other boyfriends?” he asked. None of them seemed to look down at the fact I hadn’t had sex yet which I wasn’t used to. If anything, they seemed weirdly surprised. If my friends in Cali had known, I would have been pestered to do it so I wouldn’t be considered ‘prudish.’

  “I’ve only had one boyfriend,” I added, my brows furrowing at Reid in confusion at his wide eyes.

  “Really? I would have thought guys would have lined up for you.” My brain finally gave out at that statement and I stared at him.

  What is that supposed to mean?

  “Well, you’re sweet and funny and you’re fucking beautiful, Emma.” He said it as though that should be obvious to me. Apparently, I had asked that mental question out loud in my stupor. Unable to help myself, I smiled, completely forgetting about the crap that I would have to deal with as soon as the bell rang.

  “Thanks.” I couldn’t stop my smile as Kingston nodded his agreement. Honestly, it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me. Tyler v
ery rarely complimented me, and when he did, it was something crude. I wanted to bask in the warmth of their support, their compliments, but the feeling of eyes on me again pulled me back to the reality of the situation. “What am I going to do?”

  “We’re going to go in there with our heads held high. None of us did anything wrong, and Jesse stopped Brad from doing something completely unforgivable,” Reid hashed out, his tone filled with determination. “If anyone asks, we tell them the truth.”

  “We?” I questioned, not understanding.

  “Yeah, Cali girl, we. You’re our girl, and we won’t let them talk about you like that. We’ll stand by you no matter what people say.” Reid curled his arm around me tightly.

  “Anyone who believes otherwise isn’t worth our time,” Kingston agreed, rubbing small circles on my back. Jesse looked about ready to fight someone again, but knowing it was for me made me feel all fuzzy again.

  Why do they have to be so sweet?

  “Let’s just get today over with, and we’ll have our study party tonight.” I sighed, looking out at the student body and already dreading how the day would go.

  Here goes nothing.