She was primped and polished. She walked over to Dean and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Hey honey, what are you doing here at this time? I thought you’d be at work.” She told him.
He didn’t move his eyes from his screen, “I told you Max was sick last night.” He responded.
“Oh.” she looked up, “and what are you doing here? Why aren’t you in school?” she asked me.
Before I could respond, Dean spoke up, “Max stayed with her and Landon last night and had them up.”
“So why didn’t you go to school when you woke up? Don’t you dare take advantage of Dean.” My mom scolded me.
I turned around and continued to clean the rest of the chicken. “I told her it was fine.” Dean said to her.
“Oh honey, don’t let her fool you. I know her tricks.” I could feel her staring daggers into my back.
“Max,” he said gesturing to him “is sick. I told them they could stay home since Max didn’t want to leave them last night and had them up, with him throwing up and stuff. She could be in her room getting more sleep instead the first thing she did was made breakfast and started on some soup for Max.” he looked up at her and scowled.
“Oh right, you poor thing Max. I’d better be going then. The last thing I need is to get sick. Lucy, let this be the last time you try anything sneaky like this again.” My mother said, but I still didn’t turn around to acknowledge her.
“Rebecca, quit being a bitch. It’s unattractive. Leave her alone, she didn’t do anything wrong and I was the one who told them to stay home from school this morning. So are you saying I’m sneaky?” Dean asked. I spun around. Whoa did he just defend me and tell her off? My mouth was gaping open. What just happened here?
My mother paled, “Wh… what? No! Of course not. It’s just not the first time that she’s done something like this is all.” She said.
“Do what? Take care of another person who can’t take of themselves?” he challenged her.
“No deceive people. Listen Dean, let’s not fight over this. It was just a misunderstanding. I will see you when I get back I have some things to take care of.” She told him.
“Looking for a new place for your shop?” he asked.
She paused and cleared her throat, “Yes of course. I really need to start working again. I hate not having anything to do. Finding a place is so hard you know?” she said. I knew she was lying, given anytime I’ve seen her come in was with shopping bags. I rolled my eyes.
“Ok, let me know how that goes. I think you have sufficient cash from selling off your previous shop to find a decent place in no time.” Dean said returning his attention to his screen.
She gave a tight smile with a wave and left. I turned back to what I was doing and shook my head. I’m ashamed to say that woman is my mother most of the time. I wonder if Dean could see she was the one taking full advantage of him.
Dean sighed and I looked at him from the corner of my eye. He looked extremely frustrated. I wonder if he’s not as oblivious to her as I’ve thought he was. There was still tension in the air when Landon cleared his throat, “So, Max your birthday is coming up right?”
Max instantly perked up, “Yes! I can’t wait.” He turned to his father, “Dad, can I have a party for my birthday?” he asked.
Dean smiled at him and nodded, “sure. What kind of party do you want?”
“MARVEL! I want to invite the cool superheroes to my party.” He said excitedly.
“What about your friends?” I asked.
He shrugged, “Yea I guess they can come too. But you’ll be there right Lucy? You’ve never been here on one of my birthday’s before.” he asked me.
“Would I miss your party Maxamillion?” I asked him planting my hands on my hips.
He grinned wide and shook his head, “nope, ‘cause you’re the best. Hey! You can be a princess for the girls. They don’t like Spiderman but they like sleeping beauty. You can be her for my party ok? And you can wear your crown too and look like a real princess like you did at daddy’s party.” He told me.
I felt a pang of hurt in my chest at the mention of the party. The one I’d dressed up for and couldn’t wait to show Landon for him to blow me off, and watch him kiss another girl. Nope I didn’t want to relive that memory. I nodded, “if that’s what you want then I can.” I told him.
I finished up the soup and we all ate together. Dean once again complimented my cooking. I put Max down for a nap after that so he can get some more rest, and then sat with Landon in the living room to watch TV.
“So when is Max’s birthday?” I asked him.
“Three weeks. Not a lot of time to plan a party right?” he asked with a smile.
“Then we need to get right to it.” I did the calculations in my head, “wait isn’t that when we’re going to the cabin and our parents are going on the cruise?” I asked horrified. No way could we miss his birthday. Why would they even plan anything during his birthday?
Landon laughed, “relax Lucy, I can see the worry all over you. No, you got the dates wrong. His birthday is in 3 weeks on Saturday. We leave that following Thursday. Erica’s last class is Thursday morning and she’s flying up until Monday morning for his birthday. So she’ll be around to help for the last minute stuff. I’m surprised he asked for a party. He normally wants something small with friends. I’ve never known him to ask for something like this. He must want to show you off.” He teased.
“Oh whatever, I think he might just have a stomach virus. He doesn’t have any other symptoms. It’s only Tuesday. Do you think we can ask your dad if he could stay over with a friend this weekend or at least Friday night into Saturday so we can do the main planning? From there me, you, Nick, and Mel can run errands that we need to… although me and Mel will probably take care of the decorations no offense. And Erica can even help with booking stuff you know since it’s over the phone or online. How does that sound?” I asked him getting excited.
“It sounds more like your party.” Landon joked.
“Shut up, I’m serious. You said yourself he’s never really wanted to do a party so I think there’s some making up to do here.” I told him.
He nodded, “I agree.”
He spoke to Dean who agreed with the plan and made sure his schedule was clear for Saturday so we can go over the details. I called Erica and let her know, after a squeal she made me promise to call her on speaker so she’s ‘in the know’. We spoke to Mel and Nick afterwards and they agreed as well.
Max was able to return back to school the following day. It was a 24 hour bug as we suspected. The rest of the week flew by without incident. By the time Saturday rolled around we all gathered at the table, me and Mel with papers to take notes. My mom also joined since as she put it, Dean said it was a family thing… so I’m assuming she felt obligated because she didn’t look too happy. We had a bunch of great ideas and it was going to be fun. We assigned everyone duties to accomplish over the next few weeks. My mom got the cake and booking the Marvel characters, popcorn machine and cotton candy machine.
It was Thursday and Erica had just landed. That night we went to Dean and my mom to follow up that they had everything in order on their end. Not to my surprise my mother forgot. She fucking FORGOT about Max’s birthday. WHAT. THE. FUCK. How do you even do that? Dean looked downright pissed and called her out on it. She said she was looking for a shop, but his credit cards said otherwise. He made her hand over the card she had to me so I can try to salvage her duties. With the help of Landon’s death glare, Deans credit card, and some name dropping we were able to secure everything by the skin of our teeth.
He had a cotton candy machine, popcorn machine, nonstop bubbles everywhere (yep we got a bubble machine), there was a clown, Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Batman and they threw in as a courtesy the Power Rangers, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Needless to say, there were people in costumes everywhere. The cake was awesome! We found a cool picture online with a bunch of his favorite
characters, both Marvel and others. We had it edited to insert Max into it in the middle wearing one of his Marvel t-shirts posing. He looked like one of the team. We didn’t cater it, Dean bust out the grill and made burgers, hotdogs, and grilled chicken. At a decent time I went upstairs with Erica and let her dress me up as a Disney princess and I wore my tiara which he bragged he got me. To my surprise, Landon came down dressed as my knight in shining armor. His friends loved it; I had no idea these kids were that into Disney. When the party was over, Dean let some of his friends stay over so we lit the fireplace and roasted marshmallows with them and told them scary stories before it was their bedtime. Before he went upstairs he came by and gave Mel a hug, then Nick, Landon, and me last. After he gave me a hug, he grabbed my face and gave me a huge kiss on the lips, I think because he’s seen Nick do it a few times when he wanted to get slapped… or even seeing me kiss Landon. He screamed out a big thanks and ran to his room. When he left they all bust out laughing. By the end of the night I was thoroughly exhausted. We all did a ton of shit, but it was worth every second seeing him enjoy himself and the kids all vying for his attention. It was really nice to see him being so social. The only person who hadn’t contributed was my mother. She spent her whole time shuffling around trying to schmooze with the wealthy looking mothers.
Sunday, we were all beat and set about splitting the cleaning duties. We dragged ass but got it done. Max was on cloud nine, he talked about all the highlights of his party and I put in the order to get the pictures dean picked out printed to be framed. To my surprise he chose one of me and Landon dressed up pretending to be Disney lovers. There was another with me, Max, Landon, Mel, Erica, and Nick. It was at the beginning of the party before people began to arrive. I noticed that in the camera roll there was not one picture with my mother in it, I thought that was odd considering he was the camera man.
Erica headed out early Monday, around the same time we left for school. That day I rode with Landon since he didn’t have practice today and I was still drained. The day went as expected. It wasn’t until the end of the day when I got to my locker and found Nick, Mel, and Landon all waiting for me that I became weary. When I reached them I cocked an eyebrow in question.
Nick stepped forward and grabbed my hands. He let out a girly squeal, “guess what Lucy!” he said enthusiastically in what I presumed was a girl voice.
“What Nick?” I asked
“We’re going shoppingggggggggggg!” Nick said jumping up and down grinning.
I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. “What are going shopping for?” I asked now curious.
“Well my precious little tulip, you and sweet cheeks don’t know a goddamn thing about skiing,” he said throwing his arm over my shoulder. “So Landon and I being the gentlemen that we are decided to look out for you and make sure you have all the proper gear so that you don’t ruin our trip.” He responded.
I looked up at him. “Yea, good looking out.” I said dryly.
“Anytime darling, now… let’s hit the shops.” He announced.
When we left the mall, I’m not going to lie… I wouldn’t have thought I needed half this stuff. So this was a trip well needed. Did I tell them that? Hell no! I bitched and moaned about how they’re out of their goddamn minds.
Mel spent the night on Wednesday since we were heading to the cabin right afterschool on Thursday. Our parents were heading out for their cruise on Friday, and will be gone for a week. We’ll be back Monday.
At lunch that day, Ricky asked Landon, “So you’re heading away for the weekend right?” he asked.
Landon nodded, “Yea, going to a cabin so we can get some skiing in.”
Ricky nodded, “Nice. I don’t know shit about skiing though. I’ll tell you that, but it sounds like fun. You guys know how?” he asked.
Nick replied, “Hell yea. It’s fun as hell, but I’m looking forward to seeing these two bust their asses to be honest. When sweet cheeks falls, I’ll be able to rub her where it hurts.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“In your dreams perv,” Mel replied.
“You damn right I’ve been dreaming about it. Let’s make it happen girl.” He said and ducked away from her punch.
“You’re going away together, by yourselves for a weekend? Like a couple’s thing?” Dan asked.
Landon’s head snapped up, “Yes we’re all going away together, and no it’s not a couple’s thing. We’re not couples.” He said eyeing Dan warily.
“Oh.” Was all Dan said in reply and seemed to be thinking.
Alright that was weird. Why would he ask that? I guess he needed confirmation that I wasn’t lying to him before. Well there you have it straight from the horse’s mouth. Hopefully it’s now a totally dead issue, never to be brought up again… at least where he’s concerned.
When it was time to go I was bouncing with excitement. My class got held up a few minutes, so when I got out they were all waiting by my locker. I was so happy that when I got there I threw my arms around Landon and placed a kiss on his cheek.
He pulled back in surprise, “what was that for?” he asked.
“I have no fucking idea I’m just so excited right now I need to get it out of my system.” I said grinning up at him. He smiled back and shook his head.
“Alright, how about you do it in the car? We have 5 hours, I’m sure you have enough time to let out some of that energy.” He said with a chuckle.
I nodded, and he grabbed my bag from me and led the way to the car. The whole ride the guys tried to school us on how to ski and what to expect, blah, blah, blah. Me and Mel were bouncing with excitement and all these tutorials they’re trying to give us were pointless. We kept talking over them and asking each other questions like, “Do you think I’ll make it to the big ramp?” and “do you think we’ll run into wildlife?” even “what if we see a bear?” after a while they both grew silent. When we asked what was wrong, Nick said we’re not taking this seriously and he’s going to beat our asses. At that we picked up where we left off. More than a few times I met Landon’s eyes in the rearview mirror and he gave me a smile. At one point I blew him a kiss and he raised his eyebrows then narrowed his eyes and shook his head. That made me smile wider.
When we finally arrived it was late, so we headed straight to the cabin. Nick was complaining he wouldn’t get to ski today, but I mean really he should’ve expected it. We didn’t hit the road until after 3. Now he was just being a baby, and it was Mel’s job to coddle him. The cabin was a two bedroom, and I think that like with the Paris trip, Dean assumed that the girls will be in one room and the guys in another. However, they weren’t with the plan this time. When we went in, Landon grabbed my shit and took it with his into a room. Nick nodded and grabbed Mel’s bags and took them to a room with his. We both just stood there and watched, so they were making the decisions huh? We went out for dinner and had a few drinks then headed back to the room. We were hoping to get up early and eat, get some gear and hit the slopes as early as possible. When we got back to the room I went to my bag for something to sleep in. I looked through my bag for something comfortable and something was wrong. I saw the clothes I packed and some I didn’t. Even worst I didn’t find any of my normal pajamas. What I found was something I definitely didn’t pack. I’m going to kill someone and that person could only be Mel and/or Nick. All I had in my bag to sleep in was lingerie! I also noticed that we weren’t in the master bedroom so we needed to use the bathroom outside the room. So I either change here in front of Landon or risk going to the bathroom and changing and running into Nick and Mel in addition to having Landon seeing me wear this. I sighed in frustration. I stood up and kicked my bag to prove my point.
“Did your bag do something to offend you?” he asked.
I nodded, “it ate my pajamas.” I pouted.
He laughed and took off his shirt. He threw it at me, “there, problem solved.”
I nodded because his t-shirt will fit big on me… bigger than my usual baggy shit. It must tell
you something that his clothes fit my curvy ass baggy. I smelled him on the shirt, as I held it. I looked up and he was there in all his shirtless glory. Holy fuck. I took my time scanning every fucking dip line and curve in his sexy as fuck 6 pack and his pecks. Then those muscular arms, until I reached his neck. I tried to swallow, but my entire mouth was dry. When I finally reached his chin I saw those dimples looking at me and I licked my dry lips. I don’t understand how it technically didn’t feel dry. I kept moving up at my leisurely pace until I met his eyes. When I did they were looking right at me and they were smiling.
“Like what you see?” he asked.
I scoffed, “nope I’m wondering why you’re in here stripping.” I told him, but my voice held no venom.
He laughed, “Right.”
I gave him the finger and decided to ignore him. I turned my back to him and quickly changed out of my clothes and into his t-shirt and got in the bed. He joined me in just his boxers and I sighed. Fine, so he’s decided to torture me. I tried to lie as far away from him as possible, but he just came closer. I could feel the heat from his body and I huffed. I kept fidgeting trying to find positions to get comfortable but I just couldn’t seem to do it. After 5 minutes of moving I slapped my palms on the comforter and sighed.
“Ok, what gives? You’ve sighed about a hundred times in the last 60 seconds.” Landon said.
“Nothing.” I muttered in frustration.
Now he sighed, “Lucy, what is the matter?” he asked again.
“I said nothing, now leave me alone. Better yet, go put on some clothes.” I told him scowling.
“That’s what this is about? Are you that uncomfortable with me like this? This is how I normally sleep Lucy. I just don’t do it at home because your mother is bat shit crazy and I have no idea what type of shit she’ll accuse us of.” Landon explained.
Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1) Page 27
