Misters & Mochas (High School Clowns & Coffee Grounds Book 2)

by A. J. Macey

  “Come on, Cali girl.” Reid tilted his head as he got out, wanting me to follow. As we walked up to the garage keypad, Reid hopped up, looking into the small semi-circle windows at the top. “Looks like my parents are still here. They should be heading to work soon, though. Hopefully, they won’t pester you with questions.”

  “Seeing how your mom zoomed from one topic to the next when I first met her, I don’t foresee that happening,” I murmured. Reid grimaced but didn’t argue.

  The interior of Reid’s house was just as modern as the exterior with sleek lines and a contrasting monochromatic color scheme. The mud room was also a laundry room, its black cabinets, white stone countertops, and gray-washed wood flooring matching the kitchen we walked into. The only color in the room were the flowers on the table and a couple of paintings on the walls.

  “Is that you, Reid?” I heard his mom call as we stepped deeper into the kitchen.

  “Yeah, Ma,” he shouted back, chucking the duffel on his shoulder into the corner of the mud room. “Cali girl is here too, just so you know. Going to change before we head to King’s.”

  “You don’t have to yell, I’m right here,” she chastised playfully, coming around a corner that led to what looked to be a hall. “Nice to see you again, Emma. How have you been? We didn’t get much of a chance to talk last time we saw each other. Come”—she waved me to follow her to the counter—“would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea, hot chocolate?” She zoomed from one topic to the next, barely taking a breath as I stood there awkwardly.

  “Hot chocolate sounds great,” I said, my fingers fiddling with the hem of my sweater. Reid’s mom—Faith, if I remembered correctly—busied herself, pulling mugs from cabinets and milk from the fridge. She looked the same as when I’d first seen her, only this time, her dark brown hair was tied in a smooth ponytail instead of a messy bun. She was dressed in the dark blue uniform I recognized from the airline where I knew she worked as a flight attendant, the red patterned silky ascot tied around her neck, bringing a stark contrast to the deep suit skirt.

  “Have a seat, dear, no need to stand there.” She waved toward the barstools under the counter. Doing as she asked, I sank into the wooden stool. “So, how has school been?”

  “It’s been great,” I lied with faux cheer. “Having a lot of fun with my friends. Classes are good.”

  “Faith,” Reid’s dad, Micah, called out. “Are you almost ready to go?” His voice was deep and gravelly, rumbling down the hall as he stepped into the kitchen. “Oh, I didn’t realize Reid had a guest.” He wore his pilot’s uniform, his black curls cut shorter than the last time I saw him. His lips curled down slightly as he glanced at me.

  “This is Emma, Reid’s friend, remember, honey? We met her that night at the store,” Faith stated brightly, unfazed by his irritated tone. “Here you go, one cup of hot chocolate for you and one for Reid whenever he’s finished. If you’ll excuse us, we need to get to work.” She flashed me a cheerful smile before moving around the island and throwing on her coat. “We’re heading out, Reid. I’ll let you know when we land in New York. Bye, Emma.”

  Wow, does she always move at a thousand miles an hour? I stared at the now closed garage door, alone in the silent kitchen. Getting up, I grabbed the two piping hot mugs and started down the hall, following the noise coming from one of the far doors that was partially open.

  “Babe?” I called, glancing in the room. Reid’s toned back flexed, his olive skin bared with only a pair of light wash jeans hanging low on his hips. My mouth went dry as he turned. His torso was muscled, the slight hint of a six-pack cutting his stomach.

  “You can come in, Cali girl. I don’t bite,” he teased, digging through his drawer. Swallowing the lump that formed in my throat, seeing Reid half naked in a house where we were alone, I inched into his room.

  I forced my gaze away, glancing around the room in an attempt to not melt into a puddle of heat on his floor. His walls were filled with posters, most science themed, including space, a periodic table, and some things I didn’t recognize. Some posters were of different bands I knew Reid liked. There were so many, it took a while to realize his walls were a pale green that matched his green sheets. His bed was tucked into the corner, the black comforter bunched up. I had expected it to be messy, but there wasn’t as much spread around his room as I anticipated, only a couple pieces of clothing that seemed to have missed the hamper and a small pile of glasses and empty soda cans.

  “Aww, look at that cute blush.” Reid’s cooing pulled me from being nosy and back to him. My eyes inadvertently widened at his still-exposed chest. He glanced down, a cocksure smile taking over his face. “Does Cali girl like what she sees?” he murmured, stepping closer. Tucking my lower lip between my teeth, I shrugged.

  “Maybe,” I muttered, my eyes glued to his warm skin as he stopped in front of me.

  “I would hope you like it, I mean, I am your boyfriend,” he teased, tilting his head down so he could look me in the eyes. “You don’t have to be uncomfortable, Emma. We don’t have to do anything, and I do, in fact, plan on putting on a shirt.”

  I half-heartedly glared before chuckling. I still feel like these nerves are going to make me combust, but he always knows how to make me feel comfortable again.

  “Ha ha,” I deadpanned. “I’m not uncomfortable. I mean... I’m a bit nervous, but I’m not uncomfortable with you without a shirt on,” I rambled. “Did you know your earlobes line up with your nipples or that the average size of people’s nipples are the size of a ladybug?” I huffed, rubbing my face to help calm my thoughts. “Sorry,” I mumbled on the other side of my hands.

  “Cali girl,”—Reid pulled my hands away from my face and held them together, bringing them to his lips for a soft kiss—“you can feel whatever you need to feel; I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me. Or nervous, but I get that may take some time. Don’t think I forgot what you said during your birthday Q and A about never wanting to do stuff back in Cali but feeling differently here.”

  “I know, and I don’t want you to think I don’t like seeing all of this,” I emphasized, looking at his chest. “I’m just weird.”

  “You’re perfect, Cali girl, nervousness and all,” he murmured, leaning forward until his lips barely brushed mine, not moving forward or try to deepen the kiss, giving me the chance to do it.

  With a surge of confidence, I kissed him back, tentatively brushing my tongue against his lips. Before it could go further, Reid pulled back, giving me a soft grin.

  “See? Not so bad, but I am getting cold, so I’m going to put a shirt on now.” His abrupt change of topics made me laugh as I reached over and grabbed the hot cocoa mugs.

  “Here, your mom made these for us.” I held it out after Reid tossed on a long sleeve shirt.

  “Perfect, we’ll drink this, then head to Coffee Grounds. I want you to myself for a little while longer,” he explained, sinking onto his bed with a pat next to him.

  Can’t say I didn’t want that too, I thought, sinking next to him.

  I’ll always take more time with my clown.

  Once our hot chocolate was gone, Reid and I headed out, and fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the shop’s lot. It was busy since it was the middle of Saturday, but thankfully, Lyla was working, as usual, her red hair fluttering as she moved from one end of the counter to the other, working alongside one of the other part-time employees; I couldn’t remember her name. Note to self, look at her name tag when you get closer.

  “Hey, I’m going to go to the bathroom real quick, can you get me a...” Reid trailed off as he looked at the board. “Peppermint mocha?” I nodded, begrudgingly accepting the ten-dollar bill he placed in my hand, knowing he would be upset if I didn’t. I ordered quickly before glancing discreetly at the name tag of the other worker, focusing on committing her name to memory—Rebecca, I repeated as I stepped off to the side. Apparently, I hadn’t been looking where I was shifting to because a man bumped into me.
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br />   “Oh, sorry!” I squeaked, trying to shift out of the way so he would have more room to pass.

  “It’s alright,” the man stated, his voice deep and gruff. Glancing up, I was met with an older man with graying black hair, ebony skin, and sharp eyes. “Are you okay?” I nodded, unsure of what to say. “Good, though, maybe next time, look where you’re walking, hmm?”

  “Yeah, sorry about that.” I cringed. He smiled with a slight nod and a “Don’t worry about it” before walking out of the crowded shop. I spent the next few minutes waiting for Reid and our drinks, running through the scenario. I could have sworn he wasn’t there when I’d moved over, but maybe I really wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings.

  “Hey, Cali girl,” Reid’s effervescent voice pulled me from my wandering thoughts just in time for Lyla to call out our names.

  “Thanks, Lyla, I’ll be heading back shortly to change,” I called with a wave as Reid stepped forward to get our drinks, handing mine to me as we sat at one of the few open tables. “Ha, she drew curlicues on yours.”

  “What?” Reid questioned, glancing at the side with a laugh. “What’s yours say?”

  “Emma Bean,” I read, chuckling at the little heart next to it. “She’s such a dork.”

  “Very true, but life would be boring without the weirdos in the world,” Reid half shouted while striking a gallant pose with his arms, nearly smacking someone in the process. “Oops, sorry!” The person just shook their head with a chuckle and continued walking.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re the weirdest of them all, babe,” I sputtered through my laughter.

  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  December 1st

  Decorating at Kingston’s resulted in a race to see who could wrap a person in wrapping paper the fastest. I ended up being the person turned into a human present.

  #ButWeWonThough #Joyful #SundayFunday

  Mom was sleeping in, her light snores resonating through the upstairs. For whatever reason, I hadn’t slept well, so I found myself up early, the sun barely peeking over the horizon as I buttered my toast. What do I want to do until I head over to Kingston’s? Sinking onto the cold wooden chair at the table, my mind was calm as I watched the pinky orange of the sunrise.

  Oh, I could update all my photos. I had so many pictures since coming here, I hadn’t updated my albums. Maybe I could write in my diary; it’s been a while since I’ve made a dedicated post. With those ideas in mind, I finished my breakfast and darted down the stairs. Digging my laptop out from under a pile of papers from school, I got comfortable on my bed.

  It was soothing, transferring photos and organizing them into folders, my mind running on autopilot, and before I knew it, my photos were sorted and ready to be printed. Now, which ones did I want to have in my photo album, and which did I want to keep digital only...

  “Oh, I like that one,” I muttered to myself, selecting a few from my Halloween birthday and a couple from the pumpkin patch. “That’s adorable,” I whispered when I found one from when Reid stayed the night. It was when I stumbled across a photo of the four of us before the party from hell, I realized as much as I had been ignoring the problem, I had a long road ahead of me.

  I was smiling happily between my boys, oblivious to what was to come only a couple hours later. A sense of disconnect wound through my chest as I looked at the photo, my mind replaying the night as if I was an outsider looking in. My body cold and numb as I was carried back into the bathroom, I didn’t feel Brad’s hands or mouth on my skin despite knowing I should. The echo in my mind of Brad’s scream as Jesse hit and kicked him had me shaking my head.

  What is going on with me?

  “You need some self-care, Emma,” I told myself. “It’s been too long since you sat down to journal.” Pulling up a blank page in my computer notes app, I started a new diary entry. It had been a while since I’d done this, so I sat down and just wrote out what was on my mind. No fun hashtags or little snippets of my day, just me and real-life talk.

  December 1st

  #SundayFunday

  I have been in the middle of freaking nowhere, Nebraska, since early September, and at first, I thought it would suck, but surprisingly, it’s grown on me.

  That could totally be because of the guys I spend most of my time with or my job I really enjoy, but either way, I’m finding myself genuinely happy here, instead of to sulking like I thought I would be.

  It’s not all rainbows and sparkles, though. Some stuff has happened, and I found myself having nightmares a couple of nights a week while feeling jumpy and on edge when I’m at school because I know Brad is around. When I’m not at school, it’s not a problem unless I’m going to a party. And let’s be real, I haven’t done that since what I’ve dubbed “the party from hell.”

  I’m starting to wonder if I should talk to someone about it. I know I have to talk to Kingston’s dad for the courts, but thinking about doing that scares the living daylights out of me, so I don’t even know if I can talk to someone else about it.

  Maybe I’ll ask Lyla. She always seems to have a level head about everything. Or if it continues being a problem, I’ll talk to Ms. Rogers or maybe try to pin down my mom to tell her. Is it terrible I still haven’t told her about what happened? I mean, I feel bad, but it’s so hard when the little time I get with her, she’s always working, and I just want to enjoy the rare free moments we get together. Who wants to focus on depressing thoughts during that time? Not this girl, that’s for sure.

  I think I’m going to try meditation or maybe focus on doing a bit more journaling or doing things I enjoy, to help balance out that creepy feeling I get when I’m at school. You know, when I was in California, I would have had a dozen or so people to talk to, people I thought were my friends. But being here, around real people, I’ve realized just how fake everyone in Cali was. Their concern about my ‘problems’ or what I was dealing with wasn’t because they actually cared, but because it was something to talk about, gossip for the rumor mill. I can’t believe I was ever actually friends with them, or I ever wanted to be like them. I thought I would miss them when I moved, and while it hurt at first when they basically forgot me, I wouldn’t know what to say anymore if they called or what we could talk about. But you know what? Good riddance to fake friendships.

  Well, I think that’s it, I mean, other than the stuff I wrote in my last post about my dad and mom both being absent in my life. That’s still going strong. Hopefully, it’ll be different next time I write a journal post, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

  Positive note, though. I’m about to go help Kingston, the boys, and King’s family decorate their house and tree. King said we’re having cinnamon rolls with chili. How weird is that? I don’t know what kind of crazy place I moved too, but that’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve heard of so far, closely followed by pig races at the pumpkin patches.

  Okay, I’m going to hop off and take a bath with a bath bomb, soak up the aromatherapy, and relax before going to King’s. I’ll be back, you know, whenever.

  With that, I logged off and got my bath ready.

  If things get any more stressful, I’m going to pick up more bath bombs.

  But for real, who actually needs a reason for more bath bombs?

  6

  December 6th

  Stumbled across this gem of a joke this morning before school- Why do seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they flew over the bay, they’d be bagels!

  #TerribleJoke #OfCourseILaughedBecauseImMe #FunnyFriday

  “Freedom!” Reid shouted, his arms flinging wide into the air as he ran to his Jeep. Several other students around him whooped and hollered, cheering with excitement that it was finally the weekend. As much as I shook my head at his ridiculousness, I couldn’t help but agree.

  It had been a long week of quizzes, essays, and a bunch of homework. We were nearing finals for this quarter, and every single teacher was piling on the course work, so we would be free to study the next we
ek and a half before exams. On top of the increased schoolwork, I continued to be a Bradnet, attracting his creepy gaze wherever I went. The only positive from the whole thing was it solidified my urge to talk to Kaleb when we got a chance.

  “Em?” Jesse asked, his words quiet as his fingers brushed the back of my hand. “You slowed down.” Only then did I realize I had stopped walking.

  “Sorry, got lost in thought. Let’s go,” I stated, walking again. “We still hitting Kingston’s first to grab everything?”

  “That’s the plan.” Kingston nodded, having slowed when I did. “You have your stuff, right?”

  “Got it in the trunk,” I nodded, hitching a thumb over my shoulder as we reached our cars. “I’ll meet you guys there.” Climbing into my car, I pulled out, following Reid’s muddy Jeep. I was sad I had missed out on their most recent mudding adventure last week but wasn’t too upset since the boys promised to take me when the snow was melting, and the trails were the best for it.

  Thankfully, it only took twenty minutes, even in the post-school traffic, to get to Kingston’s house, and soon enough, I was parked off to the side, away from possibly blocking his parents’ cars while we were gone. A whip of cold air swirled around me, making me pull my hat down tighter on my head and shove my hands into my pockets as soon as I had my duffel pulled from the back.

  “Ah, boys, Emma!” Stella hollered. “Before you go, I made some cookies and snacks for you all to take. Come and get them.” Tossing my bag in the back of Reid’s Jeep, I followed my boys into the house.

  “Emma, darling,” she murmured, pulling me off to the side as the others filed into the kitchen. “Kaleb and I need to talk to you before you go. It’s about everything with the Warlands.”