She grinned back at me. “Thanks.”
Once she pulled her suitcase from the trunk, I grabbed her hand and dragged both her and the suitcase inside. We raced by Chase who had been loitering on the front porch, chain-smoking cigarettes and seemingly on edge about something.
“Hi Chase,” Rachel called out, as I ushered her past him into the house.
He opened his mouth to say something in return, but we were inside before he could get the words out. Oh well. Whatever it was couldn’t have been as important as what I had to say.
“I am so excited that you’re here,” I said breathlessly as I pushed Rachel into my room, shut the door behind me, and collapsed onto the bed. “This has literally been the best summer of my life, and it’s just that much better now that you’re here. And you get to meet Zack!”
She grinned widely. “I know! Can I just tell you how dreadfully bored I’ve been all summer without you two!”
I paused for a second, looking over at her. “Who is you two?”
Rachel looked up at me, and I thought I caught a flash of panic in her expression, but I might have just been reading her wrong.
“You and Michael, of course. Who else would I be talking about?”
“Ah, so when is the elusive Michael returning to Charlotte? And do I finally get to meet him? Please tell me you have pictures of him from his surprise visit.”
When Michael had surprised her a few weeks earlier, he’d only been able to stay for a few days, since he had to get back to the internship he was doing in Chicago, but it had been enough to squelch any concerns that he wasn’t being faithful to her. Rachel had called when he left, waxing on and on about how amazing he was and providing too many details on all the things they’d done during his visit. I let her go on and on about him because it was the first time she’d ever been serious about a guy, but also because I was pretty sure I’d been guilty of doing the same thing to her all summer.
“Right around the same time you get back, and yes, you can meet him. I’m overly excited to see him. Oh, by the way,” she said, changing the direction of the conversation as she leaned over to dig something out of her suitcase, “I love the nose ring. It’s so not you that it totally works.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“It’s a compliment,” she said, tossing something small at me.
I reached out and grabbed it in mid-air, closing my fingers around it. I opened my hand to reveal a tiny package that was wrapped in green paper.
“What’s this?” I asked, looking up at her.
“Just something I picked up,” she said, smiling widely.
I opened the package in a hurry, letting the paper fall to the ground and fumbling slightly with the lid of the box. Inside was a tiny, silver ring, similar to the one now gracing her lower lip.
“Rach!” I said, realizing what it was.
She shrugged. “I figured you’d want to have some variety – you know, switch up your look every now and again.”
I hurried over to the mirror, taking out my tiny sapphire stud and placing it carefully on the dresser. It was the first time I’d taken it out, and my nose looked funny with the tiny hole in it. It was like a large pore – kind of ugly – so I set to work on putting the tiny ring in place and found it was not the easiest task. For five minutes, I struggled with it while Rachel watched me in amusement from the bed, leaning back on her hands, her legs extended out in front of her.
It was a relief when I finally had the ring securely in place, and even though my nose was a little sore and red from the small amount of abuse I’d inflicted upon it, the ring actually looked really good. I spun around to show Rachel.
She grinned. “I love it,” she said, nodding.
“Me too,” I giggled, feeling like I was ten years old again.
Rachel slowly ran a hand through her long dark hair, letting the strands slide through her fingers. I was having a hard time getting used to her new look. She looked so different from the girl I’d hugged goodbye six weeks earlier.
In that moment, it seemed like she was contemplating something. She had a faraway look in her eyes, and I waited a few seconds to see if she would tell me.
“You okay?” I asked her, thinking maybe she wanted to talk about what was bugging her.
She looked up at me, seeming slightly startled, but it was so subtle that only someone who’d known her as long as I had would have been able to pick out that she was a on edge.
Realizing that I was on to her, she gave me a wide smile that I could tell wasn’t fully genuine, and said, “Let’s go to the beach. I’m dying to lie in the sun and relax. Can we?”
“Absolutely,” I said, wanting to pry, but knowing that it was better to let her tell me what was on her mind in her own time. I knew that when it came to Rachel, I had to exercise patience. “The beach is pretty much all there is to do here.”
“And sleep with hot guitar-playing guys,” she said coyly, and she was instantly back in the moment.
“Ha, ha,” I said, thinking that sleeping with a cute guitar-playing guy named Zack was one of the top three things I’d done that summer, so I really couldn’t argue.
“I still can’t believe you cheated,” Rachel said. “I mean, I know I’ve been the biggest advocate of you breaking up with Ben, but you were so set against it, and then wham, you’re here two weeks and it’s game over. Shit, you made Ben wait a year before you slept with him, and Zack had to wait, what, less than a week?”
“Rach, you know I love you, but you also know you’re not exactly in a position to judge me.”
She put her hands up in defense. “I’m not judging,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m freakin’ proud. My girl’s all grown up!”
I had to laugh at her before opening my mouth to tell her to get her butt moving if she wanted to hit the beach, but it was then that I noticed the intricate marking that encircled her belly button. It looked like some kind of tribal design with lots of twists and swirls in all black. She had definitely not had that when I left for vacation
“Um, excuse me, but is there something you’d like to tell me?” I asked, pointing at her stomach.
She looked down, noticing her tank top had slid up to reveal her new tattoo. “Oops,” she said, guiltily. “Yeah, so, I also got a tattoo.”
“Um, yeah, I can see that. I thought you were going to get one while you were here?”
“I didn’t wait. When I told Michael about it, he sort of designed this for me, and I got it while he was visiting.”
“Is he a tattoo artist? I thought he was an economics major or something.”
Rachel laughed. “Environmental Biology,” she said. “But he’s also an artist.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I said, leaning over to inspect it. The artwork was beautiful.
“Can you see it has my name twisted throughout?” she asked, trailing her finger along the letters hidden in the design. If you didn’t know they were there, you couldn’t see them.
“That was so sweet of him,” I said, thinking how much this guy must really like her. I wondered what her plans were once school started. He didn’t exactly live near Chapel Hill, but I guess the distance was better than what they’d been dealing with all summer.
I walked over to the dresser to grab my latest acquisition – a red string bikini that looked fantastic with the deep tan I’d acquired.
“These are so cute,” Rachel said, and I turned around to see her clicking through the pictures on my iPhone. She held up one of Zack and me. “He’s gorgeous.”
Zack and I had been messing around taking pictures of each other the day before after getting back from the beach. We’d taken a selfie lying side by side on my bed, our heads touching. We both look way too smiley and happy. Even if we didn’t keep in touch after the summer, I’d always have a memory of just how great our time together had been, but a part of me really wanted to keep seeing him.
“Yeah, I know.”
She set the phone on my nightstand a
nd got to work switching her bra for her bathing suit top.
“You’re glowing by the way,” Rachel said, as she tied the strings of her black bikini top.
“I know,” I said again and grinned widely. “Zack is amazing. You’re going to love him.”
“And when exactly am I going to get to meet this amazing guy?”
I felt my smile stretch wider. “He’s actually meeting us at the beach.”
“You never looked this way with Ben,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “Not even in the beginning.”
“I know,” I said, sounding like a parrot, but those were all things I’d already thought about, so they weren’t a surprise to me.
We both turned when we heard a knock on my door a few seconds later. “Come in,” I said, looking around for my beach bag.
Chase opened the door and leaned against the door jam, but he didn’t come into the room. He was wearing black and gray board shorts and carrying a towel, and he still had an apprehensive look on his face, but I didn’t know what was wrong with him. I also figured he probably wouldn’t appreciate me asking.
“Hey. We’re almost ready,” I told him.
He nodded his head once and looked at the floor, shuffling his right foot slightly. Something was definitely up with him. I realized then that he wasn’t stoned. It was a first, and maybe it was the reason he was acting so weird. Maybe weed really did calm him down.
“So Chase,” Rachel said, and I could hear the start of a taunt in her voice. “I hear you have a girlfriend.”
Chase looked up at her for a second, turned bright red, and then looked down at the floor again. I looked between the two of them, seeing how visibly uncomfortable my brother looked and how satisfied Rachel looked that she’d embarrassed him. She was playing into his weird mood, and I knew it. She’d known him way too long not to pick up on it, and being so true to form, she was taking advantage of the situation. Poor Chase.
I knew it wouldn’t do me any good to tell her to back off. She’d never listen.
“Yeah, I do,” he mumbled.
“Amy, is it?” Rachel asked him.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly.
“Who apparently he did not cheat on with Molly, even though they spent two nights in a hotel together,” I said, still not believing that my brother had been faithful to his long distance girlfriend.
That comment earned me a few daggers from Chase.
“Aw, that’s so sweet, Chase. I always knew you were one of the good guys,” Rachel said coyly. Then she stood up, grabbed her bag, and started for the door. “Of course, that blows my plans of hooking up with you this week completely out of the water, but I guess I missed my chance.”
I watched Chase’s face turn bright red as she smacked his cheek lightly a few times, stunning him as she walked past.
“So adorable,” she said, teasing him as she glanced over her shoulder, smiling wickedly.
“Eww, gross,” I called after her.
“Totally kidding,” she called from down the hall, not bothering to turn around.
“Thanks,” Chase said sarcastically to me.
“No problem,” I said as I walked past him, smacking him on the chest as I did. “Quit being so weird. You’re freaking everyone out.”
I left him standing in my doorway as I followed Rachel downstairs. Chase eventually caught up with us when we hit the sand, but then he veered off to the side of the house.
“Where are you going?” I asked him.
He paused and turned halfway around. “I’ll meet you down there.”
“Have fun,” I said, hoping smoking would mellow him out. I turned back to Rachel. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Can you give me a sec?” she asked.
“What for?”
She glanced in the direction Chase had walked. “I feel bad that I made fun of him. I just want to apologize.”
My eyes went wide. “To who? Chase? You think he feels bad that you made fun of him?”
She shrugged. “He seems a little on edge. I just want to make sure he knows that I was only joking.”
“Okay, but I’m sure he’s fine,” I said, thinking she might be just a little oversensitive. My brother was not easily rattled. Rachel’s comment shouldn’t have gotten to him.
“I’ll be down in a sec,” she said, already walking toward the side of the house.
I decided not to try to stop her since I could see Zack walking toward our beach spot with his cousins and some tattooed guy I’d never met. I ran down to meet them, losing sight of everything else, as I did whenever Zack was around.
“How’s today,” I asked, as soon as I reached him and gave him a kiss.
He shrugged. “A six,” he said, using his one to ten rating scale on how his Mom was doing. “She got up and had breakfast, watched a little TV and went to the grocery store, but when she came home, she said she was exhausted and has been napping for the past three hours.”
“Well, I’m sure she’s okay,” I said, spreading my towel out on the sand. “She probably just needs some rest. She had a pretty full morning.”
He nodded, drifting away from me for a few seconds before snapping back. “Em, this is Derrick. He’s a friend of mine from Durham.”
He let me turn around in his arms, but he kept ahold of my waist as I shifted my attention to the blond with sleeves of tattoos on both his arms and half of his stomach. He looked vaguely familiar to me. I figured I might have seen him around town before. It was really too bad Rachel was taken, since this guy was exactly her type.
The guy just nodded once in my direction. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” I said, figuring he wasn’t much of a conversationalist.
“So, where is this elusive best friend I’ve heard so much about?” Zack asked, as he pulled me back against his chest. “Is she here yet?”
I grinned and turned to look up at him. “She’ll be down in a second. She made Chase upset or something, so she wanted to apologize.”
“I can’t wait to meet her,” he murmured, and leaned down to kiss me, making me forget that we were surrounded other people.
I got lost in the kiss, and everything around me faded away until I heard Molly say, “Okay, enough. Get a room, or I’m getting a crowbar.”
I felt my face turn bright red, as I pulled away from Zack and looked up at him. He grinned sheepishly at me and leaned down to kiss my nose once.
“You changed it out,” he whispered, noticing my new ring.
I nodded. “I wanted a ring all along. Rachel gave it to me.”
“It’s cute,” he said. “Just like you, princess.”
I’d succumbed to the fact that Zack thought I was cute and sweet and a ‘good girl’, and I let him call me princess. I honestly sort of liked it when it was him saying it.
“Oh, you so must be Zack,” I heard Rachel say from behind me, and I jumped, not having heard her sneak up on us.
I looked over to see her standing behind me, a wide smile on her face and her hands on her hips. I couldn’t see her expression from behind her mirrored aviators, but I could tell she enjoyed catching us. Next to her Chase looked visibly more relaxed and visibly stoned.
“I’m Zack,” Zack said, running a hand through his dark hair. I watched it flop back down, half in his eyes, in that sexy way it did when he was playing the guitar and so in tune with the music that he forgot about everything else.
“Well, I’m Rachel,” Rachel said, “and I approve.”
Zack laughed and put his arm around me, pulling me close again. “I guess that’s good to know. Nice tat, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Rachel said. “You too.”
Zack looked down at the large overlapping ‘LE’ tattoo on his arm that I’d just assumed it was his mother’s initials. It was surrounded by some intricate design work that I loved to trace when he was shirtless.
“Thanks,” he muttered, and I hoped Rachel wouldn’t pry. I’d told her about Zack’s mother, but I knew he wouldn’t want to tal
k about her situation.
“Hey, that is cool,” Molly said, leaning down to inspect Rachel’s stomach. “One of yours?”
I looked up to see her directing her question at Chase, and when I glanced over at him, he looked a little caught off-guard.
“Uh, no, not one of mine,” he mumbled, pulling a cigarette out of his pack.
He concentrated on lighting it, as I stared at him in wonder. I had absolutely no idea my brother designed tattoos. He was a freaking mystery to me still, after all the time we’d spent together in the past few weeks.
I didn’t have long to ponder it though and figured I’d have to ask Chase about it later, since Zack set about making introductions, pointing to everyone in turn.
“And this is my friend, Derrick,” he said last, and I heard Rachel gasp.
I think she’d finally noticed the cute blond guy who’d been checking her out since she’d walked up. I watched her swallow hard, as she said a hushed hello to him, and I made a mental note to remind her that she had a boyfriend when everyone else was out of earshot.
After a few hours of baking in the sun, Molly, Derrick, and Chase had left to smoke. Jared, Leo, Reagan, and Keely were hitting a volleyball back and forth in the surf, and Zack had gone back to the house to check on his mom. That left Rachel and me alone alone.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, letting her head fall back as if she was exhausted.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, peering at her over my sunglasses.
“That guy – Derrick.”
“He’s cute,” I said, stealing a glance back up the beach where he was just disappearing around the side of our house behind my brother.
“He’s also the drummer for Liar’s Edge,” she said, shaking her head back and forth.
“What?” I questioned, not sure I’d heard her right.
“Yeah, it’s him,” she said miserably.
“Shit,” I said, sitting up straighter. “The guy you slept with who never called you? I thought he had longer hair.”
Rachel raised a condescending eyebrow at me. “Well, he obviously cut it, but I’d remember him anywhere. That bloody piranha tattoo on his stomach is pretty unique,” she said as she made a sour face.
Broken Fairytales Series Box Set (Broken Fairytales, Buried Castles, Shattered Crowns) Page 24
