He moaned. “I don’t want another one. I want to be a non-mall person today.”
Parker was rarely not interested in another comic book. His non-mall vibes were coming on strong today. But I knew him well. I leaned on my elbow and gave him an eyebrow wiggle. “I’ll buy lunch. We can eat at that Chinese place you love in the food court.”
A look crossed Parker’s gray eyes and he leaned forward. “You are mean, Hannah.”
“I just know what you like. And you love egg rolls. I’ll buy you all the egg rolls you want if you come help me pick out an outfit for tonight.”
He stood and stepped over my clothes on the floor. Yeah, I was a pig. Flora would get it, though. She was our housekeeper who came every Monday. He held out his hand to me. “Fine. To the mall.”
“This is why we’re best friends,” I said, letting him pull me up.
“Because you boss me around and I let you?”
“Ouch, Parker. That hurts.” I shoved his shoulder and he chuckled. “No. Because no one else knows me like you do, and you know I can’t go to a stupid party without being neurotic about it.”
“Then don’t go,” he said quietly. “We could have another Hunger Games marathon and pig out on popcorn.”
I knew Parker wasn’t a social butterfly, and neither was I. But he underestimated my obsession with getting Lucas to notice me. “Let’s just try the party for a little bit, then we can come here and watch a movie.” Unless Lucas started talking to me. Then all bets were off.
His gaze didn’t waver from mine. “Okay. I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Thank you. For everything. You really are a great friend.”
He nodded, then brushed past me and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Come on. Let’s go to the mall.”
We climbed into my Mazda and I backed it out of our three-car garage. It was just Dad and me who drove. My little brother was only five and Mom left us four years ago, but Dad used the extra space to store all of the gear for his hobbies. Golfing was his latest obsession. At least that didn’t take up as much space as the time when he was into woodworking.
It was the beginning of February, but with Sweet Water being right along the coastline in North Carolina, the weather was in the fifties. I rolled my window down to get some sun.
“Roll that back up. It’s freezing.” Parker rubbed his arms.
“Totally is not. You’re just cold because you never wear a jacket.”
“I don’t look good in a jacket,” he mumbled.
I didn’t say anything, but I wondered if he even had a jacket. Parker lived on the other side of town in a house that looked like it would fall over if a good, stiff wind came up. Not that it mattered where he lived, but I often wondered if he even had food in his fridge at home. It made my heart ache for him.
“Maybe when we’re at the mall, we’ll find you a jacket you can look good in.”
“Can’t. I spent my last dollar on Green Star.” He smiled at me. “But it was worth it.”
I laughed at him. He was so obsessed with that comic. But that’s okay. I had my own obsessions. “I’ll buy you one.”
“You don’t have to buy me a jacket,” he said, tugging at the seat belt. “I’m fine.”
“I know you’re fine.” I resolved to keep my eye out for a jacket for Parker. I could say I wanted him to look good if he was going to be my fake boyfriend. That might work.
I parked my car and we headed into the mall. The smell of the popcorn from the theater hit my nose, and my stomach growled. Or was that Parker’s? Maybe both. All we’d had this morning was the doughnuts from the bakery. “Let’s get lunch first. Then we can shop.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
We headed to the food court, joining the line of people waiting for Kung Pao Chicken. I fidgeted. I was hungrier than I thought, and the line wasn’t moving.
“How’s your mom?” I asked Parker to take my mind off the food. His mom hadn’t been answering her phone last night, and he’d left my house early to check on her. When I had texted him, he said she wasn’t feeling well.
“She’s fine,” he said, not looking at me.
Parker had a weird relationship with his mother. He was always running to her rescue for something or another. I didn’t understand it. It seemed to me like she was almost using him as a substitute husband, which I realized was an odd thing to think, but she’d been single as long as I knew Parker. And he and I couldn’t spend an afternoon together without his mother texting him, saying she needed him to bring milk home or unclog the sink. I admit, it annoyed me. But he always helped her out.
“Is it that flu that’s going around? My biology class was half-empty yesterday.”
“No, it’s not the flu.” He was staring at the menu, even though he always ordered the same thing.
“What are her symptoms?”
He looked at me and shrugged. “Just not feeling well. Are you getting some Crab Rangoon? Because I want one, but I don’t want a whole order.”
“Sure, we can split them.” I glanced away, sure that Parker was acting weird about his mom, but I didn’t want to pry. If he had something he wanted to tell me, he would do it in his own time. He was just like that. Sometimes it took him a while to come clean about stuff.
“Thanks.”
The line moved, and soon we were sitting with our food. I inhaled the smell, my stomach going crazy. I shoved a Crab Rangoon in my mouth and the flavors ran over my tongue.
“You’re going to choke if you eat that any faster,” Parker said with a smile.
“Shut up,” I said, my mouth still full.
Parker and I ate lunch, a comfortable silence between us. It was like that with him. We knew each other well enough that we didn’t have to talk if we weren’t feeling like it. It was nice just sitting with him. It felt like wrapping up in your favorite fleece blanket and rereading a book you love. I was with a good friend.
Parker’s eyes flicked to something over my shoulder. “Don’t look now, but you-know-who is behind you.”
My heart jumped and I turned anyway, expecting to see Lucas. What I saw was Tasha and her band of merry followers walking my way. Ugh. I made a mental note to tell Parker not to use the term you-know-who unless he was talking about Lucas. Everyone called Tasha the head of the MG’s. Mean girls. The reason was self-explanatory.
“I said don’t look,” Parker whispered.
I turned back around. “I don’t care about her.” That was a lie. I did care, because she made my life miserable. But I didn’t want to, so I picked up my fork and shoved the last of my rice in my mouth and acted like I hadn’t seen her coming toward us.
“Well, look who we have here,” Tasha’s annoying voice piped up behind me. “Two nerds, eating a nerdy lunch.”
Parker raised one eyebrow. “That’s a good one, Tasha. Did it take you all morning to come up with it?”
I snorted and then tried to cover it up by picking up my drink and noisily sucking the last of it through the straw.
“Funny,” Tasha said, coming around the side so I could see her. “What are you two doing here?”
“Eating lunch?” Parker said it slowly, like he wasn’t sure why she asked.
“Well, eat up,” Tasha said as she picked up Parker’s drink and dumped it on his food. Luckily the soda was almost gone, so it was mostly ice that came out.
He jumped back to avoid getting any soda on him. “Hey!”
“Don’t get in my way,” Tasha hissed as she turned on her heel. Her flock of Barbie doll fluff-heads followed after her.
Parker scowled and started putting the napkins and trash on his tray so he could dump it. “What did I ever do to her?” he said under his breath.
“Nothing. She’s just mean. Pure and simple.” I helped him clean the rest of the table off, wiping up the mess. Then we took the trays to the bin.
Parker shoved his hands into his pockets. “Where to now?”
“Come on. I know where I need to
go.” I grabbed his arm and walked with him toward my favorite shop.
Parker was very accommodating as I tried on clothes. He even wandered around the store and picked out a few shirts for me to try. I liked one so much I bought it, along with several pairs of jeans that made my butt look good.
I dragged him over to the skirts, flipping through the racks until I found one I liked. “What do you think?”
Before he could answer, Tasha turned the corner and came into view. I shoved the skirt back on the rack, grabbed his arm and tugged him behind another display.
The scraping of metal on metal told me Tasha was looking where I had just been. I peeked around the corner, and she pulled the exact skirt off that I had just had. I inwardly groaned. “Look at this. Isn’t it cute?”
One of her sidekicks grabbed it from her. Kelly somebody, I think. “That’s adorable,” she said.
Tasha grabbed it back. “Yeah, well, it’s mine.” She looked at the tag and swore under her breath. “I don’t have enough for it.”
Kelly grabbed it back. “Then I’ll buy it and we can share it.”
Tasha raised her nose in the air. “Fine. We’ll switch, every other week.”
After they left, I let out a scoff. “That’s how Tasha treats her friends? She is so stupid.”
“Totally.”
I paid for my clothes, then convinced Parker to go with me to the leather store. When I saw the black leather jackets, I knew I had to get him one. I slid one off the hanger. “Try this on.”
He shook his head. “No way. Do you know how much that costs?”
“Doesn’t matter. I have my dad’s credit card.”
“That’s for emergencies.”
Technically, that was true. My dad had meant for me to use it if I was ever stuck somewhere and needed to get home, or something like that. But I really wanted to get Parker a leather jacket, so I stood my ground. “This is an emergency. You’re supposed to be my boyfriend now. I want you to look the part. Now try it on.”
He reluctantly shrugged into the jacket. When he turned around and posed in it, I stared. He looked good. Dang good. Like that one movie where the nerd pays the girl to make him popular and she gives him a new wardrobe and suddenly he’s hot. I played with the collar to mask my surprise.
“Well?”
There was no way I was going to tell him what I was really thinking. He’d never let me live it down. So, I just smiled and said, “I’m getting it for you.”
“Are you sure your dad won’t freak out? Did you see the price tag?”
I hadn’t. I pulled his arm up and grabbed the tag. Three hundred dollars. A surge of guilt sprang through me. My dad would not be happy. But I didn’t want to give it up. I’d just have to tell him I was spending some of my future allowance now. He wouldn’t be too upset. At least I hoped not. “That’s fine. Let’s get it.”
Parker let out his breath and slid the jacket off. “All right. But if he kills you, I get to say I told you so.”
“You can engrave it on my tombstone.”
He snickered, and I realized we had a morbid sense of humor. After I paid for the jacket and took off the tag, I gave it back to Parker to wear. “Now we just have to do your hair.”
He ran a hand through it. “What’s wrong with my hair?”
“Nothing. But I want to style it.”
“You’re not going to make me look ridiculous, are you?”
“Of course not.” I was going to see if I could improve on this hot thing, because dang, he was really rocking the jacket.
He gave me a wary look but didn’t protest again. I tugged him into one last store where I tried on costume jewelry while Parker held my shopping bags. I found a necklace that went with the top he’d picked out and bought it.
“Now, let’s go back to my house, and you can tell me how awesome I look in my new clothes.”
“Okay, but after this, you owe me a Michael Bay movie.”
“Deal.”
Chapter Three
I tugged on the bottom of the cute shirt I’d bought, suddenly nervous that Parker wouldn’t like it on me. Weird. I usually didn’t care what he thought. At least, not about what I wore. I must be anxious about the party. I pushed my way out of my bathroom and into my bedroom. Parker looked up from the snow globe he was turning around in his hand. It was the one my dad had bought me at Disney World. I collected snow globes. He placed it back on my shelf while staring at me. “Nice.”
“You think? It’s not too short?” The cut of the shirt was supposed to be shorter, but I wasn’t used to wearing something like that, and I was a bit self-conscious. It didn’t exactly expose my belly button, but there was a sliver of skin showing.
His gaze traveled down me, then snapped back up to meet mine. “I was talking about the snow globe.”
I picked up a pillow and threw it at him. It hit him in the head, and he laughed. “Just kidding. Your shirt isn’t too short.”
“Good.”
A loud shriek sounded from the hallway, and my little brother Travis came running into my room. He wore a helmet and was swinging a foam sword around, yelling something about being victorious.
“Whoa, Trav, what do you have there?” Parker said, grabbing my brother and picking him up from the ground.
“I’m a warrior,” he yelled, wiggling to be let down.
Parker swung him around and he giggled. After he set him down, Travis hollered again and jumped on my bed.
“Dude, settle down. You’re going to break something.” I shooed him off.
Travis ran around the clothes on my floor. “I’m taking you down!”
“Oh no, whatever will I do?” I said in a monotone voice.
Parker chuckled. “I’ll take her down with you.”
“Yeah!” Travis yelled. “Get her.”
“Wait—”
Parker came at me, and I didn’t have time to get out of the way. He tackled me, pushing me onto my bed. Travis climbed on my legs and waved his sword. “We got her!”
Parker was practically on top of me, pinning me to the bed. “What should we do now?” he asked my brother.
“Tickle her!”
“No, you don’t,” I said, but it got lost in the shouts from Travis.
Parker’s fingers tickled my sides and I couldn’t help but laugh. I wiggled and tried to get away, but Parker was pressed on top of me. Travis jumped on the bed and shouted.
“Truce!” I yelled and Parker stopped tickling.
“We got her,” Travis shouted, jumping. “We slayed the dragon.”
Parker looked down at me and I could feel his chuckle rumble through his chest. “Hear that? You’re a dragon.”
“I feel more like a pancake.”
Travis must have thought that was funny because he slammed himself on top of Parker and my breath wooshed out. “Dang, kid. I can’t breathe,” I said as I gasped for air.
Parker rolled off me and grabbed Travis. “I think we tortured the princess enough for one day.” He tickled Travis and peals of laughter rang out.
Travis jumped away from Parker and waved his sword. “I will conquer.”
“All right. Go conquer,” Parker yelled after him as he ran down the hallway to his room.
I rolled onto my side and leaned on my elbow as I tried to catch my breath. “That kid.”
Parker grinned at me, still leaning back on the bed. “He’s a hoot.”
“He’s obnoxious.”
“Little brothers are supposed to be obnoxious.”
I ran a hand over my hair. “So much for getting ready for the party.”
Parker’s smile faded and he swallowed. He reached out and tucked some hair behind my ear. “You look amazing.”
His words sent a weird sensation through me. Like static electricity or something. Odd. “Thanks.”
I sat up, then hopped off my bed and ran back into the bathroom to brush my hair, despite what Parker had just said. After fixing my hair and making sure I looked decent, I joined
Parker in my room and glanced at the clock. We had two hours until the party started. “Were you serious about wanting to watch a Michael Bay movie?”
“I’m totally in a movie mood. Let’s go flip through Amazon.”
Parker and I were total movie nerds, so I nodded. “Sure.”
Two years ago, my Dad ripped out his home gym and made it into a theater room. Now he has a membership to Club Fit, and I get to watch movies in style. I flipped the switch as I went down the stairs, which turned on the rope lighting along the walkway. We always sat in the two recliners in front, because we liked to be close to the screen. I picked up the remote and plopped down.
Parker took the remote from me. I elbowed him. “Hey.”
“I shopped with you. That means it’s my choice.”
I rolled my eyes but let him take control. “Whatever.”
He scrolled through the choices. After a minute and a half, I huffed. “Pick one already.”
“You can’t rush me.”
“You’re so slow. At this rate, we’ll be late for the party.”
He clicked on A Quiet Place. “There. That’s what I want to watch.”
“Oh, no way. You know I don’t do horror.” We watched all kinds of movies, but that was where I drew the line. I didn’t like waking up at night in terror.
“This isn’t horror. I’ve seen the previews. It’s suspense.”
I frowned at him. “Aliens killing humans? Look at that woman. She looks horrified. That’s the definition of horror. Being horrified.”
“I swear. It’s suspense.” He took my hand. “I’ll let you squeeze my hand if you get scared.”
I shoved his hand away. “I’ll squeeze your head off if this is horror. What happened to Michael Bay? Explosions? Action?”
He chuckled. “Come on. You’ll like it.” He didn’t wait for me to agree and started the movie.
“Fine. But if I get nightmares tonight, I’m calling you and waking you up.” I gave him the evil eye.
“Deal.”
Halfway through the movie, Parker leaned over and whispered. “I know I said you could squeeze my hand, but could you let me get a little blood to my fingers? They’re purple.”
Falling for My Best Friend Page 2
