Because of You (11 page)

“I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this.” He rubs the back of my head as I continue to soak his navy blue t-shirt in my tears. “Why don’t you just go home?”

“I wish I could, ‘cause every minute I have to spend with him makes me hate him even more.”

Austin holds me tighter making my heart feel safe again. I look up just in time to see my father and Trisha walk out of the store. She looks upset as my father tries to comfort her. She is such a phony bitch. I hate her.

He snaps his head towards me. His eyes widen when he notices who is standing next to me. He opens the car door for Trisha and then begins to cross the street again. I pull away from Austin before he can reach us.

“So I see you and my daughters are friends again,” my father says with a wry look in his eyes. My father knows exactly how Austin broke my heart when we were kids. I remember he told me I was better off knowing what a jerk he was before it was too late. Years later he turned around and used his dad to handle his divorce.

“Yes we are,” Austin says, putting his arm around my shoulders. I quickly battle with either pushing his arm off me or letting him keep it there. I decide not to move. “I called her and noticed she was upset. So, I came to see if I could do something to cheer her up.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Do you think you can do me a favor?” My dad says still with some doubt in his eyes.

Austin nods his head.

“Can you take my daughter out for a while before she has to go to work. She’s had a hard day. I think she could really use a friend.” I’m speechless. That’s the last thing I thought my father was going to say.

“Not a problem.”

My father turns to me and says with warmth in his eyes this time, “Sometimes I do things without thinking and I apologize for that. I love you and nothing will ever change that.” He opens his arms and I rush into them. For this small moment I’m his little girl and I still believe he can do no wrong. “Go have a good time.” I hug him tighter. I wish I could hold on to this feeling forever.

He crosses the street, gets into his car, and drives off.

It really sucks that my parents are no longer together. I wish I could rewind time and try to fix whatever was wrong with them, or at least stop Trisha from meeting him.

“I hate seeing you cry,” Austin says, wiping my tears off my face.

“I hate crying. These last couple of months I feel like all I’ve done is cry. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Well I’m here now, and I’m gonna make sure you do a lot more smiling than crying.” He takes a hold of my hand.

“Thanks. But I’m sure you have better things to do than take care of me.”

“Not really. Well, actually I have to go help Derek with the party, but I can do that later. I just wanna spend time with you.”

I know he’s just trying to be nice. “It’s cool. You can drop me off at Logan’s house.”

“Are you sure? I did promise your dad I’d make sure you have a good time.”

“It’s really okay. I’m just thankful you came to rescue me,” I say getting into his car.

“You promise we’ll hang out tonight?”

I nod. There’s nothing more I want than to be by his side tonight. There’s no part of me that wants to fight this bond we’re building anymore.

“Good. I’ll make sure you forget all about your horrible day.”

I nod again, trying not to make my smile so wide. It’s weird how in two weeks Austin has gone from being my enemy to my personal hero.

I enter Logan’s house and am shocked to see Jesse sitting there. Jesse quickly tells me how he had a fight with his mom and headed down here to see his dad. I don’t care how bad the fights with my mother get I would never choose my dad over her.

I guess for Jesse it’s different, he doesn’t only have his father in Cisco Beach, he also has Logan. It must have been twice as hard for him than me. He didn’t only leave his dad he also left his friends when he moved. I don’t think I could make it if I didn’t have my friends around, and now Austin.

I decide not to tell Logan and Jesse anything about what happened earlier. They didn’t even realize it was Austin who dropped me off. If Logan would’ve seen me step out of his car he’d be lecturing me right now instead of playing video games with Jesse.

I know I’m eventually going to get that lecture but I want to avoid it for as long as possible.

After an hour of watching Logan and Jesse play Call of Duty we finally head to work. Before I start my shift I text Farrah and ask her to bring me something to wear for the party tonight. I don’t feel like going back to my dad’s, at least not until I have to.

I can’t believe it’s my last official day at Delights. As much as I couldn’t stand working here I’m going to miss this place. It has been an escape from my reality.

Not that I’ve been able to escape everything that happened today. Most of all it hasn’t helped me from not thinking about Austin. He’s been on my mind all evening long. His brown eyes and his smile have been engraved into my head. My pulse quickens every time I think about seeing him tonight.

“What’s up?” Logan asks looking at me suspiciously as he closes the door after our last customer exits.

“Huh?”

“You’ve had a smile on your face the whole shift. I never thought you like serving ice cream this much.”

“I’m just in a good mood.”

“I like seeing you like this, but it also scares me. Is something going on?” I wish I could tell him about the new friendship I’m building with Austin, but I’m afraid he’ll have a negative reaction and feel like I’m betraying him.

“No. Just trying to enjoy our last day here.”

“Is everyone gone?” Our boss Billy asks, walking out from the back. “Yeah. I was just about to get you,” Logan says starting to close out the register.

A knock on the door startles all of us. I look over and see Farrah standing at the glass window. “It’s Farrah. Can I let her in?” I ask Billy. “She’s here to help me get ready for the party.”

“Yeah, sure. But make it quick, I wanna go home.”

“No problem.” I rush to the door and let her in. She looks so good with her pink summer short dress on. Her make-up is so natural you can’t tell she has any on, and her hair is up in the perfect ponytail. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. I hope Josh likes it too.”

“I’m sure he will,” Logan says, actually checking her out.

“Thank you. I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Don’t get used of it,” he grumbles before returning to talk to Billy.

Come on lets go.” She grabs my hand and drags me to the bathroom. “Okay, so I brought you this. It’s going to look so good on you.” She holds up a tiny cream colored crocheted dress. I doubt it’s even going to cover my thighs.

I slip into it and realize I’m right. “This is too short.”

“Are you kidding? It’s perfect. Here.” She hands me a pair of beige strappy wedge sandals. “I would die for your legs,” she says standing next to me.

“Shut up. You know you have an amazing body.”

“Come here. I’ll do your hair and make-up.”

Farrah gives me a front French braid and lets my brown waves fall past my shoulders. Then she only applies a little mascara and lip-gloss. “There you go. Go look in the mirror.”

I walk over to the full-length mirror by the door and actually like what I see.

“I’m gonna take it you like it,” Farrah says.

I nod.

“We look hot. Lets go party.”

Billy and Logan’s eyes almost pop out of their sockets when they see me. “Wow! What did you do to our little Jade?” Billy asks.

“Shut up,” I say, feeling heat rush to my cheeks. “Logan, you ready to go?”

“Yeah. Jesse is meeting us at my house.”

“Jesse? Didn’t he just leave last weekend? He’s already back?” Farrah asks confused.

“Yeah. He had a fight with his mom about playing football. He’s just here for the night. Give the guy a break,” Logan says looking annoyed.

“Whatever.” Farrah rolls her eyes. “Well, we better go already. I need to go see Josh.”

Logan and me both turn to face Billy. Logan begins, “Well Billy it’s been fun. I can’t say I’ll miss the ice cream or the customers, but I’ll miss you.”

“Me too,” I quickly add.

“Well I feel the same way about you two. Have a good year, and if you want a job next summer just come look me up.”

“Thank you,” we both answer right before walking out the door for the season.

Derek’s house is not too far from Logan’s so we decide to leave Farrah’s car at his house and walk down to the party. I have no idea what Derek’s parents do, but they’re away leaving him alone. I think they feel guilty and that’s why they allow him to have all these parties at his house.

I used to go to them with Garret. They were always the same, a bunch of people dancing to loud music while getting drunk. There’s always a beer bong game going on and couples making out everywhere. I’ve heard many girls lost their virginity in one of his five bedrooms upstairs.

Garret always wanted to go up to one of those rooms, but I always refused. Instead I ended up losing my virginity in his car. It was very painful and very unromantic. It didn’t get much better after that. I still wish I hadn’t slept with him, but I was dying to feel anything but the pain in my heart. It didn’t make anything better.

The walls seem to be vibrating as the music blasts throughout Derek’s house. Everyone is scattered around his huge living room and outside around his pool.

The four of us walk through his house and head outside where most of the football players are hanging out. A girl bumps right into us as she celebrates dunking her ball in one of the plastic cups making another girl have to drink the beer. The last time I played beer bong I couldn’t walk straight if you paid me.

“Well I’m off. See you guys later,” Farrah chirps, quickly finding Josh. She strolls over to join him. I really hope he’s good enough for her. I swear I will kill him if he hurts her.

I quickly look around for Austin, but I don’t see him.

“You wanna drink?” Jesse asks Logan and me.

“Yeah, thanks,” we both answer. He walks off towards the kegs.

“Who you looking for?” Logan asks.

“No one.”

“You sure?” Oh God, does he know something?

“Is Jesse okay? He seems sad,” I try to change the subject.

“Yeah. You know how it is. Our parents’ relationship sucked and we pay the emotional price.”

“So true. We really should start our broken home club,” I tease trying hard not to remember what I went through today.

“Sounds good to me. We could meet every Thursday and bitch about how screwed up we’ve become since our daddies left home.”

We both laugh walking out further to where Logan’s football friends are standing. I wish Farrah wouldn’t have left me alone. I feel awkward being the only girl among all these guys.

“He’s probably scoring as we speak,” Derek says taking a sip from his cup.

“Who’s scoring and with who?” Logan asks, jumping into their conversation.

“Austin. He and Leah went for a walk on the beach, but I’m sure by now they’re lying down on the sand,” Derek says laughing, breaking every single piece of me into bitter grains.

“They always end up lying down somewhere,” another one says laughing.

Logan looks over at me as wanting to see my reaction. I try to make the corners of my mouth go up, but they don’t move. I don’t know why I’m even surprised.

I spin around and walk off to find Farrah. I’m such an idiot for thinking there was something going on between us. Why did I trust him again? All Austin cares about is himself.

“Hey, here’s your drink,” Jesse says stepping in front of me.

“Thank you.” I take it and gulp it down.

“Whoa, you were thirsty.”

“Which one’s Logan’s?”

“This one,” he says pointing to the cup in his left hand.

“Thanks.” I take it and continue to look for Farrah. I think I’m ready to go home.

Why did Austin ask me to come to this party anyway? And if he knew I was coming why would he go off with Leah? I finish Logan’s drink and quickly find another cup of beer.

Then again Austin wasn’t offering anything but a friendship. I think I built it bigger in my head. Damn it! I wish he’d never come back into my life. He’s just going to ruin it more than it already is. I swear I’m never talking to him again.

Oh God, it’s really becoming hard to walk in these shoes. Or maybe it’s the alcohol. I take my last gulp and grab another drink from some guy walking by.

“Hey!” He calls out, but doesn’t stop me.

I’m glad I learned about Austin’s true colors before I invest too much of my time and heart. I swear I am never going to trust anyone again.

I walk through the crowd feeling lost. Where the hell is Farrah? I look up the stairs and see Garret coming down the stairs with Cara. He finally got his chance to try out one of those rooms.

I really need to get out of here. I turn around and BANG hard into someone’s broad chest. My beer goes flying in the air as I begin to fall backwards. Two strong arms grab me and stop me from busting my ass.

I look up into my hero’s eyes and realize it’s too late. I’m invested.

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