“Please tell me you got a hold of Mom,” he answered. This was our usual thing. There always seemed to be a reason for our calls to each other and that got addressed without any sort of greeting.
“I sent her a text letting her know I arrived without injury,” I told him. “Though I don’t know how much she’d care about the injury part.”
“Rhian, she’d care.”
I snorted, rejecting the idea that the woman who had been cold my entire life somehow actually had motherly feelings.
“She would. Think of the headlines back home if something happened to you.”
Now I laughed and so did he. It was wrong to think of things that way, yet true as hell.
“Well, that’s accurate. But I fully expect to find job openings in Dad’s district in my email tomorrow morning.”
“And that’s bad?”
I swallowed hard. “Not bad. It’s just… I don’t want that. I’m not sure I want to teach, but I know with one hundred percent certainty that I wouldn’t want to teach in his school. Could you imagine having Dad as your boss?”
“No. Definitely not. Which is why I went another direction. So why did you even major in teaching?” Tegan asked.
Whatever he’d been doing before I’d called obviously fell into the background. But that was what we did for each other and I hadn’t asked him if he was busy. But now he was asking me to take a long look in the mirror at myself. I wasn’t sure I’d like what I saw.
“It was easier,” I said quietly.
“What’s that?” the jerkface asked when I knew damn well he’d heard me.
“It was easier, OK?” I spoke in a more normal voice this time. “Mom was all over me, probably because you’d told them you were going to PA school.” He chuckled on the other end. “You’re stronger than I am.”
“Ha! That’s never going to be true. But what are your plans now, Rhian?”
That was the million-dollar question and I groaned at the idea of having to answer. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get into stripping.”
My brother began to gag loudly in my ear on the other end of the call. “That’s disgusting.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at both the sound and his words. “You know there are people who’d probably pay to see me naked.”
This time he made a disgusted sound that remained buried in his throat. “I don’t doubt that, but I also don’t want to know about it. And they should earn it, not pay for it.”
“Good night, Tegan,” I said while still laughing. He said it back, then I ended the call.
All alone on the back porch and not ready to go to bed, I pulled up my Instagram and mindlessly scrolled through it. Except that it wasn’t as mindless as I would’ve liked. Noticing updates from people I’d just graduated with wasn’t mindless scrolling.
One posted pics from their graduation vacation before “returning to the real world.” Others had updates from various parties. A few were spending the night in. But almost all of them had some mention as to this being their last bit of fun before adulting in the real world. Jobs, prospective jobs… One of the women I knew had gotten married last year and was about to have her first kid.
If that didn’t reek of responsibility, I didn’t what did.
Yet here I was sitting on my best friend’s back porch not knowing what the hell I was going to do with my life. Or even where I was going to start. I really should’ve thought this through when I’d had the chance in college.
The screen door creaked open beside me, causing me to quickly glance up.
“What’re you doing out here?” Laney asked as she sat down beside me. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Not tired yet.”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” she asked.
“What?”
“We’re done,” she said. “No going back to school. No more classes. I’ve been in school so long, I honestly thought it’d never end.”
I contorted my face into a frown. “I miss it already.” She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out, I added, “Please don’t ask me what I’m going to do. I don’t know.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes. She held her hands up in defense and that was when I noticed the happily tired look on her face. Probably should’ve grossed me out to know just how much Zac had satisfied her, but it didn’t. I was happy for her. Maybe a little jealous. Not of Zac, though, but of how happy she was and the obviously decent sex she had ahead of her.
“I wasn’t,” she said again. “I was going to ask if you tucked Porter in on the couch.”
“Oh. Yeah. He had far too much to drink to drive.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He did,” I assured her. “He was unsteady on his feet. Slurring words. Still wouldn’t tell me his name, though. Gonna give that up?”
Laney giggled quietly. “Not yet. I will tell you. I promise. But I have to at least give the guy an opportunity to do it himself. It’ll be worth the wait. Promise.”
“I’m trying to think of what the worst name would be, but I’m coming up with nothing, honestly. At least nothing worth hiding. But I want to know so bad.”
“You will.” She glanced from me to the yard, then back again. “But why do you want to know so badly?”
I shrugged. “I don’t like not knowing. Plus, I call him ‘Porter’ and that’s apparently not his name.”
“It’s not,” she said quickly.
“So who have I been talking to if not Porter?”
Laney chuckled. “Trust me. ‘Porter’ fits him more than his actual name.”
We fell silent, listening to the sounds of the night. There was noise in the distance, a party maybe. But not close enough to be a bother.
“You know he’s not a good idea, right?” Laney finally said and I could feel her eyes on me, waiting for my reaction.
I turned to her, my body now sideways on the bench facing her. “Why would you tell me that?”
“Because he’s—”
“Ah, no. I know how he is, but why would you tell me this?”
She sighed. “Rhian. Do you think I don’t notice the flirting? You two have been dancing around each other since that first time you came here last summer. I told him you were off limits, but I’m sure that just makes him want you more. I know better.”
“Oh, really?” I asked with a smile. “I’m off limits?”
“To him. He’s not a relationship guy and you said you were done with douchebags. I don’t want things to be weird.” She quickly wet her lips. “Actually, I want you to love it here and stay forever.”
“Well, I have no plans of leaving, no matter what happens. Just have to figure out what I’m going to do while I’m here. Besides, where would I go? To my parents’?”
Laney laughed loud enough to wake the neighbors at the idea of me moving home because she knew it was the last thing I wanted to do. No. I was in East Branch and would make it work. Whatever I decided to do with my life, I could always drive into the city for work.
“But I do think Porter would be fun,” I added, which immediately stopped the laughter.
“Of course he would be. That’s what Porter is,” she told me. “But seriously, I’ve known him since before he knew what a vagina was and I’ve never once seen him in a relationship. Sure. There are girls he sort of friends-with-benefits with, but not like a take-him-home-to-meet-the-parents relationship.”
I cringed at the mention of parents. “I don’t want anyone to meet my parents.”
“And you probably don’t want to meet his.”
That just piqued my interest as make me feel a little bad for him. Having awful parents sucked. “Why not? Are they terrible?”
“Not terrible,” she told me. “Just… hard to take.”
Zac pushed through the door before I could ask any more follow-up questions.
“What’re you two doing out here?” he asked, then he tapped Laney on the thigh, which was
a signal for her to stand. She did, he sat in the spot she’d just vacated, and then he pulled her onto his lap.
“Warning her about Porter,” Laney told him. I groaned.
Zac brushed a lock of hair back across her shoulder, his fingertips skimming against her exposed skin. “Do you really need to do that?”
“Uh, yes,” she countered, leaning her cheek against his bare chest. “Remember I told him to stay away from her and they flirted most of last summer.”
“True.”
“I’m right here and a grown adult. I flirt with everyone,” I told them.
“You don’t flirt with me,” Zac said with a wide grin.
“That’s because you’re disgusting.”
They both broke into a laugh loud enough to wake the dead, though I didn’t think Porter would even stir. Because we all knew Zac wasn’t disgusting and if he weren’t so in love with my best friend, I probably would have flirted with him. But as it stood, he was beyond off limits forever.
“We should do a road trip,” I said as soon as the idea popped into my head.
Laney sat up straight. “That sounds amazing. It’d be so much fun. Where should we go?”
I shrugged. “I came up with the idea. I have to decide where to go too?” We both giggled, but I could see the wheels turning in her head as mine were. I pulled the internet up on my phone and began searching. “We should do something kind of dumb. Something nobody else we know would do.”
“Like skydiving? Because I’m not doing that,” she said.
“No. Not dangerous. Just a fun, dumb thing. Like go see the biggest ball of yarn.”
“Oh, I see where you’re going with that.” She moved off Zac’s lap and squeezed between us to sit next to me.
“Oh, shit,” I said. “That’s in Kansas. Like a fourteen-hour drive.”
“Too far. At least if we want Zac to go. He can’t take off that much time.”
I sighed, as if her boyfriend were the biggest inconvenience on the planet. “I suppose he can come with us.”
Laney laughed and nudged me with her shoulder. She would’ve known when I’d come up with the idea and said it in front of him that he was included. She and I might do some things on our own still, but for the most part, Zac was part of the group. Or rather, I was part of theirs.
“Oh, yes!” I said suddenly.
“What’d you find?”
“There’s a fair in Ohio. Not far from school actually, but it has a butter castle. Let’s go to that.”
“A butter castle?” Zac asked.
“Yup.”
“What the fuck is that?”
I looked up at him with wide eyes, as if it should’ve been obvious what a butter castle was. “A castle made of butter.”
He rolled his eyes. “No shit. You go inside it?”
“Yup.”
Laney laughed quietly. “I think it sounds perfect.”
“Like something we would do,” I said to finish her thought.
“Exactly. Plus, we could make it a two-nighter for sure. Drive down. Go to the fair the next day and then come home the next.”
“Absolutely,” I said. She shimmied in her seat. “This is going to be fun.”
“When can we go?” I turned to Zac. “Like with your work?”
He pushed his lips together into a thin line as he worked over my question. Since it was still Monday, I really hoped he didn’t say we had to wait for the weekend. This was my first day in town and I already wanted to leave—no, that wasn’t accurate. I wasn’t leaving town specifically. I just wanted us to do something fun.
“Soonest I’d be able to get off is Thursday,” he finally said. “I can move some schedules around so someone can cover me, but I’d probably have to pick up a weekend day for them.”
“Thursday works for me,” I agreed.
Going on a quick trip as a third wheel wasn’t exactly what I’d had planned, but Zac was part of Laney’s life, so he was part of mine. And at least they didn’t make me feel like the third wheel.
This trip was going to be fun, not transformative, yet, as I went to bed that night, I really, really wanted it to get me out of my own head and hopefully help reveal my future.
Chapter Five
Zac and Porter were both gone when I woke up the next morning. They had to work and I wondered how much of a hangover Porter had. I was alone in the kitchen sipping on some coffee when Laney joined me. She looked as rough as I did. It was going to take some time for us to get used to this non-college student way of life. Technically, we could’ve still slept all day if we wanted but I needed to start looking for a job and… well, I didn’t know why Laney was up so early.
“Morning, sunshine,” I said with a big smile.
But she only groaned and I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
After getting herself a water, she leaned against one of the counters and took two drinks before speaking. “What do you think about inviting Porter to go on the trip with us?”
“Why?” I asked.
“Why invite him or why do I want to know what you think about it?”
“Why invite him,” I told her. Yeah, it made sense for Zac to come along. He was Laney’s boyfriend. But Porter…
“He’s our friend. This is something we would’ve done together before. If we’d ever done a road trip. Going to the Detroit Zoo doesn’t count.”
“With Maddie.”
Laney nodded. “I asked her too. She’s coming.”
Laney and I were very open with each other. So the question that had been nagging me was getting asked. “Is it still weird to see her and Zac doing regular stuff together now that they’ve had sex and a kid?”
This time Laney shrugged. She didn’t like to say her deepest thoughts out loud even to me sometimes, but I still knew what they were.
“Yeah, I don’t care,” I told her. “Invite him. Maddie, him, and I can have fun while you and Zac are being all coupley.”
“We won’t be.”
I snorted. No way did I believe her on that.
Laney and I spent the next few days doing our laundry and getting my things from school unpacked. The laundry backlog was in part because it’d been a pain at school to haul everything to the laundry room and back, so we’d done it as seldom as possible. Now, at her house, there was a small laundry room at the end of the hall at our disposal any time day or night. It wasn’t really a room; it was more of a closet. But no quarters were required. I’d take it.
When Thursday morning came around, we were each packed and ready to go. We’d both chosen cute but comfortable clothes for this trip. I wore a light blue tank top paired with comfy jean shorts and planned to take a hoodie just in case I got chilly. Sometimes air conditioning could get overwhelming. Laney wore a skirt and tank top. I noticed the hoodie she dropped near the door. We also had a bag of snacks and a small cooler of drinks because it was cheaper to bring things with us than stop along the way.
Unfortunately, Zac couldn’t get the entire day off. He had to cover the morning before one of his coworkers could come in and take over. Leaving after lunch would have to do.
Zac sent Laney a text telling her that he was home and hopping in the shower. He’d be quick, she said. But that meant we could pack our things in the car. We’d told him he’d have to bring his own bag.
“Wait,” I told her as we were grabbing our overnight bags. “We never decided what car to take.”
“We can take mine,” she offered. “I just don’t want to take Zac’s. I love the Nova, but it isn’t the most comfortable for a longer trip.”
“I bet.” Taking his hadn’t even crossed my mind. “I was thinking we should take mine. This whole thing was my idea, so I’ll pay for the gas. Plus, it’s all shiny and new.”
“Good idea,” she agreed.
We continued out of the house to my Accent, and made a second trip with the snacks, which I put in the backseat rather the trunk. Easier to get to when any of us needed something to munch on. The
cooler went in the back, though. By the time we did that, both Zac and Porter were headed our way with a single duffle bag for each of them.
Porter had obviously showered, his hair still looked damp, as did Zac’s and they were both wearing simple jeans and a T-shirt. The standard guy uniform in my opinion. What I always wondered was how in the hell did they make something so simple look so damn good with absolutely no effort. Especially Porter. He seemed to give the least amount of attention to his appearance yet always looked hot.
As a woman, that frustrated me but I wouldn’t dwell on it.
“We’re taking Rhian’s car,” Laney said as they got close enough to hear her. “It’s brand new.”
Porter cocked his head to the side. “We’re going to a butter castle in a big booger?”
“It’s not a booger,” I countered. “You can walk, ya know.”
“I’m with her,” Zac agreed. “It doesn’t look like a booger. It’s more like… ” He paused, as if trying to come up with the right words. I had a hunch he was going to need to be punched in the gut. I could feel it. Then he snapped his fingers. “Remember when Dylan had peas for the first time? All of his diapers were this color the rest of the day.”
“You guys are assholes,” I muttered. “When’s Maddie getting here?” I directed the question to Laney because I wasn’t speaking to the Booger Brothers.
“Oh shoot.” She snapped her fingers. “I forgot to tell you she can’t come. Someone at work’s kid is sick. They’ll probably be out the whole weekend so she said she’d cover.” She turned to Zac. “Did you check to see if she needs you to keep Dylan?”
He nodded. “She doesn’t. Her parents said they’d like him for the weekend.”
“Cool.”
Instead of trying to convince the guys that my alien green Accent wasn’t a booger, I went to the driver’s side and climbed in to wait for the rest of them. My trunk shut, which I assumed meant the guys dropped their bags inside and Zac and Porter were still laughing when they opened the doors. Porter folded himself into the seat next to me while Zac and Laney got comfortable in the back. Not surprising.
We left Detroit excited and ready for this small adventure. Only half an hour in, Laney was asleep with her head against the window and her legs resting on Zac’s lap. I couldn’t imagine how her seatbelt was comfortable enough for her to sleep in that position. But I she’d had a late night since Zac slept at our house and that girl could’ve slept anywhere.
A Little More Touch Me (The Fallout Series Book 2) Page 4
