Cousin - Improper (A Bad Boy Romance)

by Wilde, Delilah

  "You don't have to use bottled water, Ma. You can use tap water. It just says that if you use tap water then you have to replace the filter more often."

  "More money. It's a never ending racket. The whole thing. Run by politicians and big pharma. Just trying to convince us that our tap water is not good for us. No thanks. I'll stick with what I know."

  I smiled. Somehow Grams always managed to blame things on what she called big pharma. Of course, when most people said big pharma, they meant the major pharmaceutical companies that produce and distribute prescription drugs. Not Grams. When she said big pharma she meant anyone tied to any pharmaceutical knowledge. Doctors. Pharmacists. Nurses. College students learning to be doctors. It didn't matter. If you tried to convince her that a particular drug was good for her, you became a part of the beastly big pharma.

  Gary rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to me. "So, why are you late, anyway?"

  "There was an accident on the road."

  "An accident? Are you okay, Timmy?" Grams asked.

  "I've warned you about those stupid motorcycles. They aren't safe. And in the rain."

  "Relax. It wasn't me. It was between two other people. Some lady rear-ended some guy and he was bullying her. When I pulled up I helped her out a little and then I left and came here."

  "By helped her out a little bit, I assume that means you got her phone number?"

  I rolled my eyes at my brother's need to jump into this conversation. "No. That's not what I meant."

  "Well, was she pretty?"

  I gazed over at Grams and blinked. Did she really just ask me that? "I don't know. I guess. I didn't really think about it because I was trying to get here. I just stuck around long enough to make sure she was okay and that the guy left her alone and then I came here. I didn't even talk to her."

  "That's my Timmy. Always the hero. But I wish you would find someone nice. You should have stopped to talk to her. We wouldn't have minded waiting for you a bit longer. The clock's ticking."

  I smiled. No need to let her know that I took off because the police were on their way. Still, the thought of settling down with some nice woman made my stomach twist. My parents had a horrible marriage. Why would everyone want me to sign up for something like that?

  And then there was my cousin Marti getting married in Grams's backyard later this weekend. The house was huge. A mansion, really. So it made sense. We could all fit here easily.

  Wanting to fit here with each other was another story.

  The echo of a sputtering engine drifted into the house.

  "What the hell is that?" Gary jumped over to the window to investigate the noise. "It's Angela," he answered himself a couple minutes later.

  "Who's Angela?"

  "She's your cousin, Timmy. You remember her don't you?"

  I wanted to tell her that no, if I had remembered who she was then I wouldn't have needed to ask who she was. But I bit my tongue and walked over to the window.

  Oh crap.

  ***

  Finally. Grams's house. And judging from the parking lot, I was one of the last people to arrive.

  My car sounded like a sick animal, sputtering. Ever since that stupid accident. But I was starting to wish that had been my biggest problem.

  I crawled out of the car and popped the trunk. The slippery ground made me regret that decision almost right away. Instead of being able to slip around the car, grab the dress, and gracefully walk into Grams's house with some dignity, I was forced to slip and slide, covering my legs in mud. I grabbed onto the lip of the trunk to regain my balance, knocking my chin against the trunk door.

  More tears.

  I finally got my hands on the dress and slammed the trunk closed before making a dash toward the door.

  At the last step, I slipped again and fell in the mud. Thank God the dress was still wrapped in plastic. But still, I just knew I was going to be yelled at for this.

  I stood up and grabbed the dress again and headed for the door.

  Everyone was there.

  Laughing.

  I took a deep breath and tried to get my tears under control.

  Mom opened the door for me and let me in. "Thanks," I muttered.

  "Oh, Angela." Grams said as she wrapped a towel around my head. "Are you okay?"

  "Yea. But this night has just been horrible. Do you think it would be okay if I took a shower?"

  "You've got to be kidding me!" Marti's voice rang out from behind the crowd.

  "What?" I asked.

  "First you're late, then you ruin your dress, and now you want us to sit around and wait for you? You should have showered before you came here."

  My jaw dropped and I could only stare at her. Was she serious?

  "We have a lot of work to do. And now we have to try to fix your dress."

  "Stop it all of you. Honestly. First you attack Timmy and now you're yelling at Angie? The dress will be easy to fix. Just hand it here and I will take care of it.

  I smiled and almost broke down into a new wave of tears.

  My eyes darted around the crowded room. Marti had tears in her eyes, and mom was right by her side. Comforting her in her time of need.

  "So what happened? Why are you late?" my uncle Gary asked.

  "Ugh," I whined as I walked into the kitchen on the hunt for some of that coffee. "Some guy cut me off as I was heading up that hill on Elm? And then he kept brake testing me. And anyway, my car slid into his and then he started yelling at me."

  "You were the one in the accident?" Aunt Marge asked.

  "What does that mean the one? What one? How did you know? Oh my God was I on the news?"

  "Relax, drama queen," Marti scoffed.

  "It's just that Timmy saw an accident on his way here."

  "Oh well it couldn't have been the same one. After I hit this guy, he got out of his car and started yelling at me. He told me to get out of the car because he was going to kill me. He really freaked me out. And I called the police. And can you believe this? The police gave me a ticket but said they couldn't do anything to hi--."

  Then my eyes fell on Tim.

  More specifically, on Tim's jacket.

  With the red wings on the back.

  Tim stared at me. He must have recognized me.

  He nearly dropped his coffee mug.

  I stopped talking. Everyone turned around to Tim.

  "You left Angie to fend for herself against that maniac? What if he had been an axe murderer?"

  "She's fine!" Tim shrugged his shoulders up.

  My stomach tightened and for a minute I was brought right back to to being a little girl. Marti was the perfect child who could do no wrong, and the only child worse than me was Tim. And once again I got him in trouble by accident.

  I started grinding my teeth and turned my attention back to my search for a spoon to stir the sugar into my coffee.

  "When I left there, the guy wasn't bothering her anymore," Tim continued to defend himself against the judgmental jabs put on by the family.

  I took a deep breath and sipped at the brown water. Part of me couldn't wait until the wedding work was done for the night so all this awkward fighting would be over. But I had to take a shower. The mud dripping down my legs itched. I needed to get out of this uniform, but I didn't relish the idea of stepping into clean clothes while I was still covered in so much dirt.

  "I just can't believe that you could be so callous and uncaring," Aaron chastised Tim more.

  Tim rolled his eyes and stepped outside onto the porch, away from everyone. A few seconds later, Aaron approached me with another towel and asked how I was.

  "I'm fine, really."

  "I don't even know why he's here," Aaron said. "He's such a jerk. But Grams wanted us to invite him, so we did. I never would have thought in a million years that he would have shown up."

  "You're his brother, Aaron. Why do you hate him so much?"

  "I don't hate him and I'm not his brother. My dad used to be his step dad until h
e got smart and divorced his mother."

  "Well, you divorce spouses, not children."

  "Whatever. He never comes to these things. So why come to this one?"

  I shook my head and took another sip of my coffee-scented water. "I don't know. But we should make the best of it."

  ***

  My stomach twisted in knots of guilt and my heart felt heavy inside my chest. I put down my mug and walked out onto the porch.

  "It's actually nice out here when you're not slipping and sliding in the mud," I said.

  Tim stared out away from the house. The cool air turned his breath into mist. "Yea."

  "I wanted to tell you. That. It's just. I'm sorry that everyone jumped on you like that."

  "It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

  "But they shouldn't have done that."

  "They're right. I shouldn't have left you there with that asshole there."

  I took a deep breath and stepped closer. He turned around and leaned his back against one of the poles. The covers of every romance novel I had ever read swam through my head. Tall. Brown hair and dark eyes. Well trimmed facial hair. His sunglasses tucked into the front of his tee shirt.

  My body nearly jumped.

  "If I had known it was you I would have stuck around. You know? I just didn't know it was you. So what happened after I left?"

  "The police got there. Gave me a ticket for hitting the guy. But one of the cops told me I could fight it at the hearing. She said that they had no choice. They had to give me the ticket but she thought the judge would dismiss the case if I went to the hearing and explained everything."

  "What did you tell them about me?"

  "Nothing. I didn't know it was you."

  "So you didn't give them my license plate or anything?"

  "I didn't even look at your license plate, to tell you the truth."

  He nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

  The cold air attacked my skin, rupturing into goose bumps and spiking my sensitivity. But I didn't have much time to bask in the feelings rippling over my skin. The door opened and Marti poked her head outside.

  "Damn it, Angela. Let's go, already! Why are you just standing around?" She yelled before slamming the door shut between us.

  I took a deep breath and kicked at the wooden planks making up the porch. "Just like old times, huh? Seems like I was always getting you into trouble. And then you and I would go hide from Marti and Aaron."

  He smirked and grabbed an electric cigarette from his back pocket. "Yea well. There wasn't much you could do. What with Marti and Aaron getting all the praise all the time. Someone had to catch all the shit."

  My lips clenched together.

  "Anyway, I don't need you out here apologizing. You best get back inside before you catch cold and they blame me for that, too."

  I nodded and turned back toward the house. "Well, anyway. You left before I had a chance to tell you thank you for what you did. I really thought that guy was going to kill me back there."

  "Angela! Now!" Marti's screams didn't need an open door to reach me.

  ***

  I tried to keep my stare out at the lawn. I didn't want Angela or anyone else to follow me outside. Why couldn't they just leave me alone?

  Giving up on the idea of solitude for the weekend, I followed Angela inside and back to the kitchen.

  "Hey, Tim!" Aaron called out to me.

  "Look, I said I was sorry I didn't check--."

  "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to know if--."

  Loud crashing came in from outside. The sounds of wood splitting and cracking followed by the hiss of glass shattering. Part of me was relieved to not have to hear the rest of what Aaron was about to say. But my stomach my gut jumped into my chest at the thought of what made those horrible noises.

  Aaron and I rushed back outside. Grams's largest evergreen, gone. Sprawled out across the parking lot and covering most of the cars.

  I wanted to laugh. My bike, of course, sat safely tucked along the side of the house where I left it.

  "Oh no. No, no, no." Someone cried from behind me.

  I turned around, trying to wipe the grin off my face before anyone could see it.

  Angela.

  Damn, could her luck get any worse?

  She sighed and her lips curled down into a frown. I thought for a moment that she was going to start crying. But instead she shook her head and smiled.

  Then she giggled.

  A small chuckle.

  Followed by the hysterical laughter. Watching her laugh made me want to laugh more. She snorted when she tried to take in a breath, which made us both laugh even more.

  "My car was under there," she said in a high-pitched voice between laughs.

  I nodded, holding my stomach against the forming cramps.

  "And I got into a car accident with an asshole...and now there's a tree on my car. A fucking tree." She leaned over onto the wall for support and kept laughing. More of the family started walking over to the door to see what happened.

  "Holy shit," Gary yelled. He glared at me and Angela. "I don't see how this is funny!"

  Angela held her breath and tried to stop laughing. She glanced over at Gary and then back at me. I couldn't stop smiling. My cheeks ached from just those few minutes of hysteria.

  "Relax," I said. "I'll go check on them. It's possible the branches hit between the cars. Maybe the damage is minimal."

  "You really think so?" Angela asked. Her eyes turned glossy with tears.

  I took a deep breath. "It's possible. I'll look."

  She smiled and nodded. The smile was fake, though. I wished she didn't feel the need to throw a fake smile at me.

  Gary scoffed and walked back into the front room yelling at everyone about the tree falling. Aaron followed him. "At least Tim is amused. But the rest of us are probably stuck here."

  I shook my head and looked at Angela. "Go on. Go take your shower. I'll take care of it. Besides, the faster we get through this weekend, the faster I can get out of here and away from all you people."

  She leaned up on the tips of her toes and threw her arms around me. The movement caught me off guard. "Thank you," she whispered into my ear.

  I nodded and peeled her arms off me. "Go on," I said. Leave me your keys."

  ***

  Rain drops tapped along the gravel driveway as I crawled over the fallen tree to reach the cars. I should have known no one would volunteer to come out here with me to check on anything. I debated checking on just Angela's car and leaving the rest to rot. After all, what did I care if the rest of them could drive out of here or if they would have to pay to rent a car?

  But my selfish side got the best of me. If I could tell these people their cars were working fine, then they could get out of here faster. And Grams would be happy.

  This weekend, above all weekends, Grams needed to be happy.

  So I stopped at one car after another. Double checking to see if the branches of the tree actually hit the car or just landed around them.

  It looked as though this family had more than its fair share of luck saved up. Most of the cars had minimal damage, and it looked like only a few clipped branches would set them free. Then I got to Angela's car.

  The trunk of the tree fell flat against the top of Angela's car.

  "Oh shit," I said out loud. The sunroof had cracked, and water cascaded inside the car. The roof of the car was flattened against the seat headrests. No way she was getting out of here.

  The rain came down harder. Lightning laughed at me for even trying.

  I sulked back to the house. Predictions of what each person would say coursing through my head. If at all possible, Gary was going to find a way to blame me for the tree falling. Others would chime in. And then when they realized that there was no way for it to possibly be me, or when Grams stepped in to shut them all up, then the blame would be on me for not being able to catch the tree before it could damage anything.
<
br />   At least the wedding was in the backyard. Parking aside, the tree couldn't have interfered with that.

  "Damn it," I swore as I stomped back into the house.

  "What's wrong, Timmy?"

  "Nothing, Grams. It just. It looks like Angela's car is wrecked. She's going to be stuck here for a while. And now with the rain coming down even harder, I won't be able to get out of here on my bike, either."

  "Well, that's okay Timmy. You can just spend the night. There's clean clothes in the closet upstairs. Just pick one of the rooms up there and you should be comfortable."

  "Thanks, Grams." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "You're the best."

  "Yes well, just do me a favor. It's hard for me to go up and down the stairs so just make sure you pick the place up, okay?"

  "Sure thing, Grams."

  "All right. Now that that's settled, we can get to work on setting up this wedding. I don't want everyone running around at the last minute." Grams said as she walked back into her kitchen.

  "Wait, so that's it? What about the rest of us?"

  "What about the rest of you what?" I pretended not to know what Gary was asking for.

  "Did you check on our cars?"

  "Not that you asked me to, but yes I checked. We should be able to get them out without much trouble. But we'll need something to cut the branches so we can dig them out."

  "Okay, can you get them out tonight?"

  "Seriously?"

  "Well what else are you going to do? It's barely nine o'clock now. What, you thought you could just crawl upstairs to bed and leave us hanging? Not all of us want to stay the night here."

  "Yea, I have things to check on at home. My cats need to be fed and I need to let the dogs out." Marge chimed in.

  I glanced around the room at the disappointed faces. All eyes glared at me.

  "Fine," I said. "Let me just grab some tools from Grams's shed and I'll head back outside." I started back toward the back door.

  ***

  While the rest of the family glared at Tim, I huddled quietly into the corner trying not to drip on anything. The kitchen towel I was using was soaked through. I knew I wasn't going anywhere tonight. I just hoped I would be able to get to work tomorrow. I couldn't afford to lose my job. Not over this.