by Piper Shelly
By Friday, my mom rescinded my detention. She said she had never seen so little of me in all her life, or how pale and withdrawn I had become, and it worried her on a deep level. Yeah, my room was my castle. I didn’t need food, nor company. And I wasn’t sure when I last had a bath.
Even without being grounded, I saw no particular reason for leaving my fort. Should the world move on without me, I didn’t care. I was content with the twenty square meters of this earth under my domain.
Saturday afternoon, the first text message came in. From Tony. CAN I COME UP?
Since the day we decided to be best friends because we both loved Tom&Jerry cartoons, he’d never once asked before coming to my room, using either door or window. I sighed then walked to the open window with the cell phone in my hand. Tony was leaning against the tree, hands tucked into the pockets of his blue jeans. I wondered if he knew what he wore today, the blue tee and shirt above, was my favorite. And if he’d put it on for a purpose.
Our gazes met, and his face had the word sorry edged in every line. I didn’t know what message my expression sent him, but in case he didn’t get it right, I slowly shut the window. To be absolutely clear, I pulled the curtains closed, too.
Funny, the same day, Ryan tried to call me. I didn’t answer the phone, but decided to block his number so I wouldn’t be tempted to pick up should he try again. I couldn’t sleep all night then, because I wondered if blocking him was the right decision after all. Close to three in the morning, I cancelled the block. And hey, he’d tried to reach me two more times. There also was a text message. PLEASE TALK TO ME.
Somehow, I really wanted to reply to that text. I missed him. Hoped he would be honest with me and could convince me he wasn’t an ass after all. But I was scared he might do just that, and I’d be the idiot who believed him. So I sent one message back. GO TO HELL. That text to him at three in the morning was enough to render him silent. He didn’t try to contact me again after that.
Fantastic. It seemed I got just what I wanted. Only that I hated it.
A few days before school started again, Susan Miller called me. She wanted me to accompany her at some shopping for our new classes. I let her talk me into it in a thirty-minute phone call, and then only because I was curious how the soccer training was going since I opted out. More, I wanted to find out how things were between Ryan and Tony, and shopping with Susan was perfect.
She picked me up on Friday morning, and we decided to take a walk to town instead of driving her father’s car. In fact, this was the first time in weeks I made it past the borders of our garden and into civilization. It felt like I’d been gone from this world for years. All the more I was surprised that nothing had changed.
“I missed you at training,” Susan confessed as we entered the paper shop. Then she made a gagging face. “Hunter took Millicent Kerns from his Biology class onto the team to replace you. I swear the girl is like an avalanche when she goes for the goal. Buries everything underneath her.”
I grinned at that picture. One hundred sixty pound Millicent was just the girl to roll across the field like a snow slide. While we rummaged through a box of pens and picked several pads, I said in the most nonchalant way, “Yeah, I kind of miss it, too. But after I hurt my leg the first time, I thought I’d better not do this murderous sport for a profession.”
Susan dropped a pink pencil back into the box and slowly turned to stare at me, folding her skinny arms over her nonexistent breasts. “Are you shitting me?”
That grabbed my attention. I opened my mouth to say something, but I just didn’t know what. So I closed it and gaped at her with quirked brows.
“Everyone knows you quit playing because Hunter put the moves on you, and you didn’t like it.”
I took a few moments to think this over. “Is that so?” Who would tell this bullshit?
“Yeah. Well…it’s the truth, isn’t it?”
If I kept taking pauses between answering like I did, people might start to consider me a little retarded. “Not exactly.”
Her eyes narrowed. Little Susie seemed slightly confused. “What do you mean, not exactly? He didn’t hit on you?”
“He did. I just meant the ‘I didn’t like it’ part.”
“Wow, so you did?”
Like it? “Yeah, I think so.”
Susan laughed as if this was the most pleasing news she’d heard in weeks. She grabbed a few booklets and dropped them into her shopping basket. Then she stopped dead and turned to me, looking like she was about to explode. “Then why for Pete’s sake did you leave the team?”
I played with the books and shrugged. “It’s a little complicated.” And not something I wanted to talk about. I could feel her eyes boring into my head, so I spun around with a sigh and spilled. “He kissed me, and I liked it, okay? Only, he didn’t do it for the right reason. Not because he really liked me. More as a favor to a friend.”
“Are you bananas, babe? Ryan Hunter is completely under your spell.”
As she stressed every syllable, my chin dropped to my chest. “What?”
“Do you have any idea how long it took him to convince Tony to bring you to one of his parties?”
“You serious?”
She nodded vigorously. “And you were the only one who came onto the team without scoring a goal at the tryouts. I would know, I had to score two to really prove myself.”
“Wait, that’s not true. I hit Frederickson straight in the chest.”
Susan’s grin irritated me. “Do I need to lay the rules of soccer out to you? A goal is not where you hit the goalie.”
Damn, she was right. “But Tony and Ryan told me to shoot at him.”
“Because it was the easiest way for you to succeed.”
I slapped my brow and ground my teeth. Ryan really did treat me in a favored way. But why would he?
As if to answer my silent questions, Susan tilted her head, pursed her lips, and sang in an annoying I-told-you-so tone, “He likes you.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I agreed in a low voice.
“So what will you do? Come back to play soccer?”
“No.”
She made a pouty face. “Why not?”
“I told you it’s complicated.”
“You’re still in love with Tony. That’s it, right? M&M will never really break up.”
At this point I regretted coming to town with Susan Miller, nag-queen of Grover Beach High. If she wasn’t so sweet in her own nosy way, I’d have turned and walk out of the shop already.
“I think it’s cool that you forgave him. Cloesetta Summers was just a stupid mistake after all.”
“Cloesetta?” I snorted with laughter at that name.
“The girls on the team call her that because she has the irritating ability to drag every boy into her closet and make out with them. I think the name fits.”
Me too. However, I couldn’t believe how much this girl knew about my private life. And with her, the entire soccer team as it seemed. Maybe it was time to set a few facts straight. “I don’t think Tony and I will ever be what we were before Cloesetta got hold of him.”
Her nose wrinkled as she shifted her mouth funnily to one side. “Shame. You were like the only absolute term in a changing world as we grew up.”
It was a shame. But I didn’t want our chat to go down this road. So I shrugged it off and dragged her to the cash register, where we waited in line to pay for our items. However, it didn’t take long until curiosity got the best of me. “How are Tony and Hunter getting along during training, anyway? Last time I saw them, one had a bleeding nose.”
“It’s spooky. They either shout at each other, or they don’t speak at all. No one who sees them now would believe they were this close—” she crossed her fingers for emphasis “—only a few weeks ago.”
It hurt me in a strange way to hear that. I knew how much Tony idolized Ryan. Their friendship went way back. The thought that I had driven a wedge between them upset me no end. And as this realization san
k in, I knew I had forgiven him. He’d been a complete ass a few weeks ago, but he’d been my best friend for a lifetime. Maybe it was time to see him. Set things straight between us and repair our friendship if I could.
For all the nagging Susan did this afternoon, I was still glad I’d gone out with her. We said goodbye at my front door, but instead of getting to my room, I tossed the bag with the books and pens on the shelf in the hallway and headed out again.
Wearing my spaghetti strapped top, a humid evening breeze settled around my naked arms and shoulders as I walked up the few meters between my house and Tony’s. After not seeing him for so long, my heart thudded violently as I rang the doorbell.
CHAPTER
14
EILEEN MITCHELL ANSWERED the door.
“Hi, Miss Mitchell. Is Tony in?”
Her face, which had lit up when she saw me, now turned into an apologetic moue. “Sorry, dear. You missed him about ten minutes.”
Perfect. Just my luck. “You wouldn’t know where he went?”
Eileen shook her head. “Shall I send him over when he comes back?”
Should she? I grimaced. “No. I think I’ll just call him.”
She smiled and nodded, then closed the door as I dragged my feet from their front yard. I pulled out my phone, but somehow I didn’t want to talk to him this way. So I punched in a message instead. WHERE ARE YOU?
GROUND ZERO were the two words he sent back. And I hadn’t even reached my front door yet.
My spirit lifted. I wheeled my bike out of the shed and pedaled it to the small lake where Tony and I had spent some very nice afternoons together. It wasn’t really a lake, but more a pond in the middle of the woods. We used to call this place Ground Zero, because some ten years ago, Tony had found a strange box there, filled with six metal balls. He’d assured me they were made of Trilithium, the only known power source for starships. We had been waiting for the aliens’ return all week. Little did we know of Boccia, the Italian style of bowling, back then.
I spotted Tony sitting on the aging log that was about as long as a park bench. Leaning my mountain bike against the closest tree, I climbed over the fallen trunk and settled down next to him. Neither of us said a word.
Gazing at the small pond for quite some time gave us the chance to silently make up. When the concert of frogs turned the evening into a romantic night, I rested my head on Tony’s shoulder and let out a sigh that seemed to have stuck in my chest since the last time he’d climbed out of my window.
His arm wrapped around my shoulders, his cheek pressed against my brow. It was like all those many times when I was in his arms before, utterly content, completely safe. Just this time I felt no tingle in my gut. No butterflies. No joyful heart-pounding. Like all the excitement had faded out of me.
In a way I missed it. In another…not. I knew why the feeling was lacking now. He’d hurt me on a level that was beyond repair. But somehow even that was okay. Things changed. We were growing up. And I couldn’t hold it against him.
“Sorry. I didn’t intend to ruin your summer with being the master of ass-land,” he said in a very calm voice.
I let that apology hang in the air for a few minutes.
Finally, I scooted out of his embrace, lifted my legs to the trunk and hugged my knees to my chest, facing him. “Why did it never happen with us? The couple thing I mean. I’ve spent more time in my life with you than with anyone else. We cuddled, we played, we talked. We did everything together. Why did we never kiss?” Amazing. One might think I’d knocked back half a bowl of wine cooler to babble so free from the heart and not blush one bit.
Tony rubbed the back of his neck, giving me a tight smile. “I don’t know. Maybe hanging out was too normal for us.” He licked his bottom lip. Swinging one leg over the log, he sat astride and grabbed both my ankles in front of him. “At least it was for me. I kind of took you for granted. Your love for me was permanent. Why should I have worried about losing you?”
Because Ryan Hunter came along while you were busy with someone else. “Yeah, why should you?”
“The thing is I never knew how much it would hurt to see you kissing another guy. You made me learn that lesson the hard way.”
“You know I always wanted you to be my first.” And the last for that matter. The fact I could tell him this now had me wondering how far I really had distanced myself from him, emotionally.
“That ship has sailed away, I suppose.” He angled his head with that typical sheepish smile. I still loved him for that, if nothing else. Suddenly he held my ankles tighter, moved my legs apart and scooted forward. When he let go, my thighs rested on top of his. We were sitting in a very new, very intimate position. His face was so close I could count the lashes on his lids.
I realized he was a breath away from kissing me. And suddenly I was smiling. “You aren’t really going to do this, are you?”
“Why not?” The smirk didn’t totally vanishing from his lips. “I think for the sake of all those years I granted you the larger part of my comforter when you fell asleep in my bed, we should at least give it a shot.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything at all. And then Tony broke into the last inch of my personal space and kissed me. Slowly. Sensually. Like I’d always wanted him to do. He tasted perfect. Warm, sweet, natural…everything I expected it to be. His hands covering mine were a gentle caress.
When I drew back, his warm blue eyes searched my face. Sweet dimples appeared on his cheeks. “This is not going to happen again, right?”
A sigh escaped me on a soft laugh. “Why do you think so?”
He brushed his knuckle along my jaw. “Because a kiss from me obviously fails to make you shiver like one look of Ryan Hunter does.”
I laughed again. And this time I felt my cheeks warming slightly. Yeah, just thinking of Ryan did that to me.
Tony shifted back on the log, and I resumed my curled up position. With my cheek resting on my knees, I watched the vanilla moon creep up above the lush crowns of the trees. Next to me, Tony fished out his phone and his fingers flew over the keypad.
“What are you doing?”
“Texting a friend.” When he was done, he tucked it back into his pocket.
Minutes ticked by as we gazed at the sky together. Although peaceful and relaxed, the situation felt awkward. For both of us. Like no one knew what to say right now. Not something that happened very often between us. Relief swamped me when he dropped his gaze from the sky and said, “Some of the guys are going to watch The Avengers this weekend. Wanna come?”
I wondered who some of the guys was. I knew from Susan that Tony wasn’t talking to Cloey anymore. But if she was with the group, I sure wouldn’t go. “Maybe. Who’s coming?”
“Andy, Sasha, Alex. He’s with Simone now, by the way. Frederickson will come if he doesn’t have to sit his baby brother. And then of course…him.” He nodded his chin in the direction behind me.
That definitely gave me an electric bolt. I jerked my head around, spine straightening.
Ryan Hunter strolled toward us, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, the sleeves of a black shirt rolled up to the elbows. My mouth hung open at the unexpected sight of him. The pounding of my heart was so loud I was sure he could hear it. He greeted me with the tiniest tilt of his head and a slight half-smile.
“Am I disrupting something?” he asked, his eyes set on me.
“Nope. I was just about to leave.”
Huh, what? My gaze snapped to Tony who’d risen from the trunk and stood next to me.
“What have you done?” I whispered, horrified, only now realizing who he’d sent the text to.
He leaned down to speak into my ear. “Correcting a shitload of mistakes.” As he drew back, he winked. “See you later.”
Oh, I should have strangled him with my bare hands. Only, I was in shock and couldn’t move. Not even when Tony was gone and Ryan Hunter settled down behind me, straddling the trunk and looping his arms ar
ound my middle from behind.
His breath feathered against my neck, his muscled chest pressing against my back. “I’m sorry for what happened, but I never meant to hurt you. And I certainly didn’t have any bad intentions. I swear.”
“Yeah, I guess I know that. Susan told me a few interesting things today.”
“Did she?” I could clearly hear how this made him a little uncomfortable, but an edge of relief filled his voice nonetheless. “So, what are we going to make of this situation?”
“Situation?” I swallowed to get rid of the dryness in my throat. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you…me…” Suddenly his lips were on my bare shoulder, brushing toward the crook of my neck. “Alone…in this place…”
His tongue trailing up my throat sent shivers along my skin. Everywhere. Down my arms, my legs. Even the hair at the back of my neck stood on end.
“With only the frogs to watch us…” He placed the softest kiss to the spot behind my ear.
My breath hitched. My mind searched for an escape from this situation. But there was none. And even if there had been, Ryan wouldn’t have let me go. His hand moved up to my neck and shaped against my cheek, tilting my face slowly until I gazed into his gorgeous tiger eyes.
“What do you say, Matthews? Should we two give it a try?”
I searched his face for a reason not to believe in his sincerity. The tiniest lie even. But nothing. He seemed to mean what he said. A reluctant smile tugged on my lips. “Only if you start using my first name, Hunter.”
He laughed at that, softly, melodiously. Beautifully. His nose skimmed across my cheekbone, and he pressed his lips gently to mine. A volcano erupted in my stomach with thousands of butterflies set free. But he wouldn’t kiss me just yet. Instead he drew back, a spark lighting up his eyes. “While we’re at it, Liza…I have a condition, too.”
“You do? What is it?”
“For the time being—” He emphasized each word. “I’ll be the only one climbing through your window.”
