Rival Love

by Natalie Decker

  He takes a step back. “What do you mean I’m not your type?”

  Is he offended? Maybe this lie can work. I can save myself from any more humiliation and I’ll be able to get through our six-day vacation together. “Well, I mean you’re nice, and funny. But your uncle dates my mom and that would be super weird. And your eating habits make me gag; you chew too loud. I like guys who read. I like guys who like that I’m smart. And you date girls who are stupid. Plus, I won’t be having sex with anyone until it feels right for me, and you, my friend, have a reputation for one-night stands. It’s safe to say I’m not your type either.”

  He follows me. “That’s what you think about me? Fine. Forget it!” He storms back into the building and I sigh. Okay, maybe I went a little overboard but I need him to think I don’t feel that way about him. Even though I do, and he’s completely my type.

  ***

  It’s Tuesday; I went back home after my spat with Caleb. I needed a change of clothes. Picking up my guitar, I play a couple of songs before my mom enters my room. “Are you packed?”

  I shrug. “Not really.”

  “Well, don’t you think it would be a good idea to pack a bag instead of playing songs?”

  I set my guitar back on its stand and look over at my suitcase. My mom goes over to my closet and starts to shift through my closet. “All right. I’m going to pack, just don’t try to put any outfits together for me,” I beg.

  She smiles. “Okay, Liv.” She walks over to my bed and flips the suitcase open. “I know you aren’t thrilled about this trip.”

  “It’s okay. I just…feel weird. You know?”

  “I know, honey. But maybe it won’t be so ‘weird,’ as you put it, with me, Brian, and Caleb there. I mean, if you end up feeling too awkward you can always come hang out with us at the hotel suite.”

  I nod and smile. My mom gets that part and I’m thankful she doesn’t try to force the whole work-out-your-daddy-issues thing. I gather up some tops and head over to my bed. My mom’s hand closes around mine. “You know your father loves you, right?”

  I look over at her and shake my head. “Sometimes I want to believe that. Other times…it’s kind of hard to see. He’s never been to one of my games or meets, even the really important ones. I know this sounds selfish, but I hate it, Mom. Lidia gets everything that I should have had. And what makes her so special?” I tear up. This is the first time I’ve ever confessed how I feel about the whole Dad-leaving-us event.

  “Honey, I’m sorry you ever felt like that.” She hugs me. “She’s not special. Your father just loved Julie more than me. And that’s okay. It’s taken me a long time to be able to say this, but it’s okay that he fell in love with her.” I sob harder. “And I know it sucks that he’s absent from the big moments in your life, but that’ll be his regret. Don’t make them yours, and don’t you ever think for one minute that you’re doing something wrong.” She hugs me tighter. I pull back and wipe away a few stray tears.

  “Thanks, Mom.” I gather up the rest of my clothes and place them in my suitcase.

  Ten minutes later, I’ve got everything packed and take my bag to Brian’s Acadia.

  “Let me get that,” Caleb says. I wheel my bag to him and he smiles then lifts it into the back. I slide into the backseat and put my earbuds in. My playlist starts up and I rest my head on the seat. An hour later, we’re at the airport and going through the whole security thing.

  I frown while I take off my super cute flats and toss everything into a bin. And as I make my way through the line I mentally curse myself for not wearing tights with my shoes. These floors are probably not even clean. Ewww, dirty feet, dirty feet. The whole thing creeps me out. I close my eyes and rush through the metal detector. I hop around while waiting for my bin to slide through so I can put my shoes back on.

  “What’s wrong?” Caleb asks.

  I wince. “This part creeps me out, and our bins are taking too long. I need my things.”

  “Hop on my back.”

  “What?” I look at him as if he’s crazy.

  “Hop on my back, Fletch. You won’t be touching the floor and you’ll stop looking as if you’re going to pee your pants.” He bends down a little and I concede and hop on his back.

  But the whole thing is making me feel things I want to avoid feeling. Things like my heart pounding like crazy, butterflies swarming, and the deep want of this. Why doesn’t he want me like I want him?

  He gathers up our things and hurries me over to a seat. Once he drops me, he hands over my shoes, and purse. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.” He smiles. I’m about to say something else but my phone rings.

  I look at the caller ID and groan. “Who’s that?” Caleb asks.

  “No one.”

  He grabs my phone and answers it before I even have a chance to stop him. “Hello?”

  “Um, hi. You don’t sound like my sis,” I hear Lidia say in a sultry tone.

  I roll my eyes and try to grab my phone back. “Definitely not your sister. Who, may I ask, is your sister?”

  “Skylar. Are you Kevin?”

  “Nope. I’m Cal…”

  “Give me that. Hey, Lidia. How are you?” I say through clenched teeth.

  “Good. So who’s the guy? Are you dating him?”

  “What? Oh you’re breaking cushhhhhh cushhhh have to cussshhhhh.” I click “end” on my cell. Then turn it off.

  Caleb laughs. “That wasn’t very nice, Sky.”

  I narrow my eyes, put on my shoes, and walk away. I meet up with my mom and Brian at our gate and take a seat across from them. Caleb slumps down next to me. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I ask.

  “Answering it.”

  I shrug. “It doesn’t matter.” Even though it does. What if he ends up liking my half sister? I don’t think I can take one more person liking her over me. I push number seven on my playlist—Eve 6’s “Think Twice”—and wait until we can board.

  Chapter 42

  Caleb

  Our flight to New York was quiet. Skylar hasn’t spoken to me from the time we boarded to the time we got the luggage. Outside there are two cabs waiting for us. Skylar goes up to one, and Erin whispers something to her. Skylar looks back at me with a frown and then groans, “Come on. I guess you’re coming with me.”

  Erin smiles. “You kids go ahead and take this cab to Liv’s father’s house. We’ll come collect you both for dinner in a little bit.”

  “This is just great,” Skylar mumbles.

  I elbow her. “Oh wow, I didn’t know you were going to show me off to the other part of your family.” I do a turn. “Do I look all right?” I tease.

  She narrows her eyes. “You look like you normally do. Although you’re acting like a fruit.”

  I laugh and open the door for her. Once we’re both in the cab, she mutters the address to the driver.

  She turns to me. “Could you stop being so sweet?”

  I’m taken aback. “Did you even read the note I gave you in English?”

  “No.”

  So she still has no idea how I feel about her. Great. Maybe she really doesn’t have any feelings for me after all. That kiss on the field, though, says otherwise, and so do her eyes. If that’s how she looks and kisses someone she has no interest in, it makes me wonder how she kisses people she is into. I sigh and look out the window.

  We’re in the cab for about thirty minutes before it pulls up to a brick building. Skylar looks over at me and then gets out. I do the same, but glance up at the building. A girl with reddish-blond hair flies out of the building and down to Skylar. “You’re here! You’re here! Yay!” She turns to me and squeals. “You brought a boyfriend! Wow.”

  “Hey, Lidia,” Skylar says in a tone that I’ve never heard her use before. “We’ll be right up. Okay?”

  “Oh, I gotcha.” She winks at us and runs back inside. I look over at Skylar who’s shaking her head and handing money over to the cab driver.

  I reach o
ver and grab our things and she starts to take her bag, but I don’t let her have it. “I got it. Go on inside.”

  “Wait. I…uh…” She winces. “I’ve got a strange request and feel free to say no.” She looks down at the sidewalk and mutters, “Never mind it’s stupid.”

  “You want me to be your boyfriend?” Her gaze meets mine. Desperation is clear in her eyes, but I wish she was desperate for something other than a pretend relationship. “I can do that.”

  “Really?”

  I wish she knew I’d do anything for her. “Yeah, now quit grabbing the bags, and wrap your arm around my waist.” She does it and this might sound crazy, but I swear she inhales and then sighs. This might be fake to her, but I’m going to show her how real this could be. We walk up to the brownstone.

  Her sister opens the door and frowns slightly at the sight of us. Then she smiles and giggles. “You two are so cute. So what’s this one’s name again?” she purrs.

  “I’m Caleb, and you must be Lidia. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too.” She winks and then skips off down the hallway.

  “Where’s Dad?” Skylar asks.

  Lidia stops and faces us. “Oh, he’s at the office, but don’t worry, he’s got to stop by to change for the art gallery showing Mom’s got downtown.”

  I look down at Sky. Her face is turning a slight shade of red, and I finally understand what her Mom meant by these trips always doing something to Sky. “Hey babe, where do you want me to put our bags?” She looks up at me and smiles.

  “Let’s go to my room,” she whispers. She turns slightly and heads up the stairs. I follow and she enters the first door on the right. She stops right at the doorframe. “What the…where’s my stuff?”

  “Sky? What’s…” I stop and look around the room. The room is filled with paintings, canvases, and paints. “When’s the last time you were here?”

  She looks up at me with watery eyes and my heart breaks. I want to comfort her, but she might think I’m acting when I’m not. “I was here last winter, for Christmas break. See why I only see these people once a year? He doesn’t even…” She chokes back a sob and shakes her head. She stomps back down the steps, and I leave our luggage by the art room and follow her.

  “Where the hell is my stuff?” she screams at Lidia. Lidia smirks from the couch.

  “Oh, yeah…you’ve been moved to my old bedroom. All your things are in it, but we didn’t paint the walls black and red like you had them in the other room. Sorry. Mom thought you were going through an awkward stage.”

  I hold Skylar back, because it looks like she’s about to beat the hell out of her half-sister. Lidia turns her head back to the TV while Skylar jerks herself away from me and marches upstairs muttering, “Maybe your mother should have worried about my well-being when she decided to break up my family and get pregnant with you.”

  “Hey,” I say and grab her hand. She looks at me but turns away. I pull her down to me and hug her against my chest. “It’s okay. I’m here.” I rub circles into her back and she sniffles.

  “Thank you.”

  I kiss her forehead and we walk to her new bedroom. The walls are baby yellow. Sky turns to me and says, “Oh there’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep here.”

  I hear footsteps coming down the hall. So I pull her to me and whisper, “Someone’s coming.” Then I say in a normal voice, “Who said anything about sleeping?”

  She laughs and smirks at me. “You’re so bad.”

  The door opens and Sky pulls away from me. A tall man with dark hair and blue eyes looks at us. “Skylar, and…who’s this?”

  “My boyfriend. Didn’t I tell you he was coming?”

  “No, you certainly did not. I don’t feel very…”

  Skylar interrupts him. “It’s kind of like how you didn’t tell me that my room is her art studio now. I get a hand-me-down room with walls so bright I’ve got a headache. And how you and her are going to one of her art shows instead of being here when your daughter, your firstborn daughter, is coming in to visit.”

  “Skylar, there’s no reason to take that tone. Julie needed a place to put her things. We felt that room was too small for a girl of your age anyway. And I’m sorry about the walls. Julie read that if you have a brighter color on the wall, moods seem to brighten too.”

  “Tell Julie that her paint mood crap doesn’t apply to me. I want my walls to reflect my personality and if she doesn’t like it, then that’s fine. Seeing as this is my room—or is that a lie too?”

  I kind of feel sorry for Skylar’s dad but then again I don’t. He folds his arms and looks over at me. “And where does your guest plan on staying?”

  “Why, in my room. Where else?”

  “I don’t…”

  “Think so? I do think so. See, Caleb”—she squeezes me to her—“is a package deal. Kind of like the whole Julie and Lidia thing is a package deal when I come to visit.”

  He glares at me and then says, “We’ll talk about this later.”

  As soon as he’s gone, Skylar starts to separate from me. I don’t want her to. She unzips her suitcase and puts her things into drawers. I sit on her bed and look around the room. She has a massive bookshelf filled with books and a couple of guitars resting in stands. “Do you ever make up your own songs?”

  “Hmmm? Oh, yeah, I used to write all the time. So, what would you like to do now?”

  I want to hold and kiss you. That’s what I want to do. I don’t say this though. I point to the guitar and say, “Play something.”

  “Nope.” She glances over at something on her desk and then back at me. “I need to eat.”

  Reluctantly I get up from her bed and follow her out of the room. I’m just about to hold her hand when the doorbell rings. Skylar’s face goes slightly pale when we see Erin and my uncle standing in the front room with Lidia and Sky’s father.

  “Oh, so he’s not staying with us. Good,” her father says.

  Lidia smiles and winks at me. A chill runs up my spine and I focus on Skylar. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. Lidia seems to have the hots for you.” She rolls her eyes as we reach the bottom of the steps.

  “I’m sorry I don’t inform you of every event in my life, Erin. Frankly, Skylar doesn’t seem to mind!” Skylar’s dad shouts.

  I notice my uncle tensing. He’s great at controlling his anger. A skill I wish I possessed. As I stand back watching uncle Bri, the argument between Erin and Sky’s father escalates. “It’s always about you-you-you! You will never change. Our daughter doesn’t want to go to Columbia but you probably had no clue because you never listen to anyone but yourself! That’s probably why she doesn’t tell you that every event you miss of hers she feels crushed!” Erin fires back.

  “That’s a bunch of bullshit! Sky and I talk. She understands I can’t just get on a plane whenever I want and go wherever,” he states.

  My hands ball up at my sides. He’s got no clue how much he hurt Sky when he missed her state competitions. I wasn’t there, but when she confessed that he wasn’t there you could see and hear the brokenness in her. Fingers brush my hand. I squeeze them and feel a sudden pull. Outside, the chilly November air claims my lungs. Skylar looks up at me and sighs, “I can’t listen to them anymore. Sorry. Walk with me, or don’t. It’s up to you.”

  I touch her chin and tilt her head upward to meet my gaze. I smile. “I’m here for you. If you want to get out of here, let’s get out of here.”

  So we do.

  ***

  I’m at the hotel suite, in my own massive room, with my personal bathroom. It’s completely awesome and yet, it’s missing someone. Call me crazy and lame, but I’d give anything for Skylar to be next to me. And it killed me to let her go back to that house. It kills me to know she has no idea how I really feel about her.

  I should have told Sky how I felt the minute she asked me to pretend to be dating her. That little plan of hers blew up in her face as soon as w
e came back from our walk. I guess after we slipped out the door her dad mentioned why Erin would be okay with Sky and I dating. Erin told him we were not doing that. And Erin suggested that maybe Skylar said this to see if he was listening. Lidia heard the whole thing too and greeted us at the door with the biggest grin ever. She looked like the joker, major scary.

  Speaking of Lidia. Yeah, total freaking stalking nightmare. Once I dropped Sky off at her dad’s I walked to the nearest busy intersection to catch a cab. I was about two blocks away when Lidia tackled me from behind. Then she followed me for two blocks, asking me all kinds of questions. If that wasn’t already freakishly weird, she tried to kiss me when a cab pulled up. I dodged her lips and hopped into the cab.

  I don’t want her—or any other freaking girl, for that matter—kissing me. Just Skylar. That’s it. Damn, I think I’m falling in love.

  Chapter 43

  Skylar

  “Rise and shine,” Lidia sings. I look up at her and think about hitting her with my pillow but decide not to. Last time I did this she threw a fit, told on me, and somehow managed to get my guitars taken away from me for the entire visit.

  I throw my covers over my head and pray she leaves. “I just want to tell you, wow. I mean, I can totally see why you said he was your boyfriend. That boy can really kiss.” I draw the covers down and eye her up as she fans herself. Did he really kiss her?

  “Caleb”—I swallow—“kissed you?”

  “Yeah, it was amazing too.” She blushes. I don’t know whether to believe her or kill her. Either way my heart is tearing and my anger is beyond boiling.

  She smirks and sits on my bed. Does she really think I need to hear this? I rip the covers off me and gather up my clothes, swim gear, workout bag, and guitar. I’ve no intention to return to this house today. Not with her here. I’ve tried to be nice, I’ve tried to be understanding, but that is my final straw. Her purposely trying to gloat about another freaking thing she took from me is uncalled for.