He glanced up, saw me staring, and walked over. “Hey, just
the person I was looking for,” he said and leaned over to kiss my lips. I
turned my head and he got my cheek.
“Let me get my stuff and I’ll be ready.” Red-faced, I walked
away from him.
I slipped into my coat, yelled goodbye to Ellen, and grabbed
my purse.
“I’m ready to go.” I said, walking out into the main lobby.
Nick smiled and put his arm through mine.
“Your chariot waits.” I hid my head. People were staring at
us. When we got outside, I pulled my arm away and walked to the car. I yanked open
the door before Nick could come and open it for me.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, concern in his voice as he
got into the driver’s side.
I shook my head. “No.”I quickly changed the subject, “I
still don’t get why my mother won’t let me take the car to work. I’m completely
fine. My ribs don’t even hurt anymore. Even my bruises are starting to fade,” I
whined.
“I don’t mind picking you up, you know that right?” he
asked, setting his hand on my arm.
I pulled away, “Yeah, I know that,” I said frustrated.
He grabbed my head and turned it towards him, “I know
something is wrong and we aren’t leaving this parking lot until you tell me.”
I just sat there, arms crossed, staring out the window. “I
don’t want to talk about it,” I argued.
“Tough. You are going to tell me what is wrong before we go
anywhere. I’m worried about you.”
“Why are you taking care of me? We weren’t that close before
Ryan died. Is it because you feel guilty about something?” I asked.
“No. After graduation, Ryan pulled me aside and told me to
‘take care of Lauren for me.’ I never was able to ask him what exactly he meant
by that comment because the accident was that night.”
I bit my lip.
Oh, so maybe Ryan was planning to kill
himself and that’s why we found the brakes were tampered with on the car.
“Now that I’ve told you that, are you going to tell me
what’s really wrong? I’m not falling for the ‘nothing’ excuses right now.” I
glared at him over the steering wheel.
“I don’t want to tell you,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“I don’t care. You’re going to tell me or I’m not taking you
home.” He took the keys out of the ignition and held them.“Sorry. I’m just
worried about you. You seemed fine earlier today, but now you’re moody. I want
to know what’s wrong.” I sighed. He wasn’t going to give up . I took a deep
breath and turned to him,
“Fine, you win. If you really want to know what’s going on
with me I’ll tell you.” He nodded. “ I guess I got a little jealous when I saw
you talking to Michaela,” I lied.
“I like you, but I’d feel weird starting something because
you were Ryan’s girlfriend.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Nick stared straight ahead. “Now that that’s settled, I can
get you home.” He turned on the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
I stared out the window the whole way home, embarrassed that
I’d just lied to Nick. He pulled into the driveway, turned off the engine, and
faced me.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m not sure if you
still want me to bring you home, though.” He glanced down at his fingers twined
together. He looked nervous.
“Yes, of course I want you to drive me home. You need to
keep up your end of the bargain to Ryan. You need to take care of me!” I
exclaimed, leaning over to unbuckle my seatbelt.
“Lauren, wait. That’s not what I actually wanted to say at
all.” He turned his body to mine. We were so close I could see the armpit stain
on his t-shirt.
“I just wanted to do this.” He leaned over and kissed my
lips. It was a short kiss, but it left my lips tingling afterwards and I wanted
to do it over repeatedly.
“Wow,” I whispered, touching my lips.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grinned, reaching over
to open my door. I knew he thought he was being polite, but I knew the real
reason; he was just trying to get the chance to touch me again.
I stood in the driveway for the next five minutes watching
his car pull away until I couldn’t see it anymore. It wasn’t until I heard the
creak of the front door did I look up.
“Oh. You are home. I thought I heard a car. Why didn’t you
ask Nick in?” my mother chided, smiling.
“I forgot. Well, I’m going to go upstairs until dinner.” I
said walking past her. Upstairs. I shut my bedroom door and slid down the frame
onto the floor.
Nick kissed me,
I mumbled repeatedly. I was confused. He
told me he didn’t like me, but then he went and kissed me. Talk about mixed signals.
Normally, when something like this happened to me I’d run and tell Elisabeth,
but we were fighting. There was always Bryn. I grabbed my cell phone out of my
purse and dialed.
“Bryn, it’s me. I need to talk to you,” I said excitedly.
“Hey, Lauren, what’s going on?”
“I don’t want to tell you over the phone. Do you think you
could come over for a little bit?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes. I was tired
from work and didn’t want to go anywhere.
“I guess so. Let me see if I can borrow the car and I’ll be
right there.”
“Okay, thanks. Bye.” I hung up the phone before she could
say another word. I leaned over and sniffed my shirt. I smelled like burnt
toast and desperately needed a shower. I walked over and opened my bedroom
door.
“Mom, Bryn’s on her way over, but I’m going to take a
shower. Tell her to come on up,” I yelled and shut the door before she could
respond.
I turned on the shower and let the steam fill the bathroom,
as I got undressed. I slipped into the shower and just let the warm water pound
down on my body for a few minutes. I reached over, grabbed the shampoo, and
lathered my hair good, anything to get burnt smell off me.
The only thing that I hated about working at the café was
that I always came home smelling like food and grease, yuck. I thought I heard
the doorbell, so I hurried and finished lathering up and rinsed off. Just as I
was grabbing my towel, I heard footsteps on the stairs. Bryn was here.
“Lauren, I’m here. What’s so urgent?” she asked, coming into
the bedroom. I wrapped myself in a towel and opened the bathroom door.
“Hey, I think they heard you in Timbuktu. You are loud when
you walk,” I joked. She stuck her tongue out at me.
“Sorry, I’m heavy footed. I’m here, what’s the big emergency?”
I took a deep breath, pausing for effect. “Well, I went over
to Derrick’s house the other day and he asked me why I was dating Nick. He said
he thought that I was attracted to jerks and I had to tell him the real reason.
And, that’s when he confessed that he has a crush on me.”
She nodded. “Well, I guess Ryan’s accident was a good thing.
Now, you’ve got guys all over you. I’m happy for you,” she said sarcastically.
“I can’t believe you just said that. That's not true and you
know it.”I fell down onto the bed trying to cover myself so Bryn wouldn’t get a
show.
“Maybe Elisabeth is right. Maybe you really didn’t care
about Ryan, after all. Since you’re all giddy about Derrick now. I don’t think
you can make up your mind,” Bryn said
“How can you say that?” I exclaimed.
“Well, you should know that Elisabeth already thinks that
you’re sleeping with Nick.”
“Well she’s the expert, isn’t she?”
“Yes. Although I think that you should be a little nicer.
Ryan was our friend. Not just your boyfriend.”I got up, walked over to the
dresser, and began slamming drawers.
I turned to her. “You want me to be nicer? Why don’t you
look in the mirror?” I asked angrily.
I grabbed a pair of pink shorts that said AERO on the butt,
my bra, and a white shirt and slipped into the bathroom to get dressed.
“I am nice!” she yelled at the bathroom door. I heard a thud
against it and found one of my tennis shoes sitting on the floor when I came
out of the bathroom.
“I think you forgot something.” She piped up pointing to my
shorts. I glanced down thinking there was a stain I hadn’t known about or a
rip, but there was nothing.
“What is it?” I blew a stray piece of hair out of my face.
“If I can tell that you don’t have underwear on, people are
definitely going to be staring at you.”
I shrugged. “I thought that I’d try something different.
Elisabeth said that if I’d been more adventurous Ryan wouldn’t have cheated on
me, so I thought I’d take her advice.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think this is what Elisabeth
had in mind. And Nick’s bad news.”
“What do you mean? Nick is just a normal person. We’ve known
each other since junior high, for god’s sake.
“I just don’t think that’s a good idea.” Bryn bit her lip.
“Why? Tell me one reason why I shouldn’t try to move on? We
already know that Ryan did that before we were even broken up, it’s my turn.”
“That’s fair; just promise me that it won’t be Nick Majors,
of all people.”
“Tell me why first. Don’t even tell me it’s because he’s a
bad person. You don’t even really know him.”
Bryn took a deep breath. “Fine. I hate to tell you this, but
I overheard a conversation between Nick, Ryan, and Derrick right before
graduation and it definitely points fingers at Nick for Ryan’s death.”
“Do you mean the conversation about the prank Nick wanted to
pull on Ryan? I asked. Derrick already told me about it.”
She shook her head, “I don’t think that it was a prank. I
think that Nick really meant to kill Ryan. You didn’t see his face. It was
scary.”
I sat there speechless listening to Bryn tell me about a
conversation that she’d heard between Nick and Derrick. They hadn’t known she
was there until it was too late. She said that they had just about threatened
her that if she told anyone there would be consequences. I felt chilled to the
bone now. We said goodbye after I promised her I’d be careful.
The gate that was normally closed to visitors, unless they
had a guest pass was wide open on this hot July evening. The guard shack was
empty, so I drove around for a few minutes trying to find a spot and finally
found one in the front lot. The park was full of people walking around on such
a beautiful summer evening. I glanced over at the ball field and saw a bunch of
kids playing baseball. People were sitting at the picnic tables eating ice
cream, while others were lying on the grass, tanning.
How am I supposed to
find Bryn in this mess?
I wondered to myself. I adjusted my pink t-shirt so
that it covered my stomach, pulled my denim skirt down and grabbed my purse,
slamming the car door shut. I stood there surveying the crowd for a minute.
There he was. Nick. His blonde hair was spiked again and he
looked like one of those rich, trust fund boys that I always hated. I still
felt this urge to go kiss him, but I refrained and began walking in the
opposite direction.
I heard footsteps behind me, but kept walking, ignoring him.
Suddenly, he grabbed my arm, turning me around.
“I called you last night, but got your voicemail. Why didn’t
you call me back?” he asked
“We can’t do this. I can’t be around you right now.”
He frowned. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked nervously.
I couldn’t tell him the truth, so I had to make him think it was about the
kiss.
“If I promise that I will keep my hands to myself will you watch
the fireworks with me?” He looked so hopeful I felt bad saying no. I shook my
head.
“I can’t. I promised Bryn that we’d make it a girl’s night.”
“That’s all right.” He frowned, “I guess I’ll call you later,
if that’s still okay.”
“Yeah, that’d be good,” he said starting to walk away, and
then he stopped. He leaned over, gave me a peck on the cheek, and ran off.
****
“Hey girl,” Bryn piped up behind me. I turned around, guilt
all over my face.
“Hi,” I mumbled.
“I’m sitting over here. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited
Elisabeth to sit with us. I thought that it could be like old times.”
“What did you do that for? You know that her and I are
fighting. I don’t want to see her,” I said. I walked over with Bryn to the
blanket that she had set out. Elisabeth was sitting there looking nervous,
“Hi Lauren.” She said shyly. She had her dark brown hair
down for once and it looked like she had blue tips.
“ Hi.” I said. I glanced over at her frowning, “Lizzie, are
the tips of your hair blue?” I asked
She nodded. “Yep. Aren’t they the best? My parents are
totally freaking out right now.”
“I can’t believe that you did that.” I sat down on the
blanket, stretching my legs out, my flip-flops falling off my feet; my toe ring
sparkled in the sun.
“Neither can I, but I like them. This is how I see it,
Ryan’s death gives us all the perfect reason to not act like ourselves. I dyed
my hair and you’ve started acting like a slut.”
“Is there food at this thing?” I asked Bryn, ignoring
Elizabeth. I saw people walking around with bags of popcorn.
Did one of them send the text message?
I wondered.
“Yeah, there is a snack bar somewhere. Here I'll come with
you.” Bryn said getting up off the grass.
“No, I’ll go,” Elisabeth offered, getting up. I sighed. I
really didn’t want to be alone with her, but I could pretend to be nice. We
walked over in silence to the makeshift snack bar that was set up in the
parking lot. I dug my wallet out of my purse and began counting money. A second
later, my phone chimed telling me I had a text. I picked up the phone and held
my breath. I hit read.
“Lauren?” Elisabeth questioned.
“Oh it’s just Bryn. She wants us to bring her back some
nachos,” I said glancing up at her.
“Okay. I was beginning to worry there. Your face turned as
white as a sheet.” She paused. “I really am sorry for what happened between me
and Ryan,” she said