Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (52 page)

He turned me to look at him squarely in the face and stared into my eyes. His voice was serious. “You
always
have a choice. ‘No’ is a perfectly acceptable answer.”

I gazed into his hazel-green eyes and knew he was afraid that he was forcing me into something I didn’t want to do and that the playfulness that they meant might have gone over the line. That’s not how I felt though. I was just scared of embarrassing myself. But I was with him and the crew. I shouldn’t be frightened of looking stupid. They’d like me either way. “I know.” I grinned. “Sure, why not? I’m not the one putting myself in harm’s way. You guys are.”

Jason smiled and leaned against the wall, watching us. Now that I agreed to this challenge I was determined to do my best. Patrick had me try to hit a ball. He set up an easy shot with a ball in front of a pocket and the cue ball in front of that. Cassie came over to watch and stood near the pocket I had to aim at.

I lined up my shot. I mimicked what I saw Patrick and Jason doing earlier. At least what I thought I saw them doing. I held the end of the stick with my right hand and rested my left hand on the table. I put the tip of the stick under my left index finger. I ignored Jason and Cassie watching me. I pulled the stick backward and quickly pushed it forward. I missed the ball entirely and scraped the table.

“Oops.” I laughed. “Let me try that again.”

I tried again. I positioned the stick closer to the ball. I pushed the stick as hard as I could. This time I made contact. The tip of the stick went under the ball and launched it the air. I guess I hit it too hard. Before I could yell anything, it hit Cassie in the chest.

“Oh, god! I’m sorry. Sorry! Are you okay?” I ran over to her.

Cassie rubbed the spot where she got hit. “Yeah, I’m okay. My fault. I shouldn’t have stood so close. It’s okay.”

Knowing she was okay, the guys started laughing. Sure it was funny to them, a girl getting hit in the chest. If it was a guy getting hit in the groin, they wouldn’t laugh, but the girls would. At least we’d all make sure the person was fine before laughing.

I felt awful about hitting her. I thought about quitting for a second, but I wanted to help Patrick try to beat Jason. I didn’t want to let him down. I, also, didn’t want to hurt anyone else. The clock was ticking.

Patrick showed me how to hold the pool cue and had me practice shooting the ball without the ball. I know I looked silly, but I wasn’t going to argue. I still wasn’t doing it right. I knew I was learning impaired when it came to stuff like this. He knew it too. I was happy that he was patient.

Patrick briefly went over the logic and rules of the game. The logic part I understood. It was just vectors, force and momentum. I knew what shot to take and what angle the balls should be hit at to get it in the pocket. I just couldn’t actually make it happen.

We played a practice game. Well, it was more like he semi-played both sides. When it was his turn, he’d have me tell him what he should do. When it was my turn, he’d help me. He stood right behind me and helped me hold and control the stick. He was like a coat wrapped around me, guiding me. I slowly got a better feel on how hard to hit the ball. I was improving. I could hit the ball, keep it on the table and have it go where I wanted. I wasn’t perfect, but I was a lot better than an hour ago. Not only that, I was having fun and laughing.

It was time for the rematch. Patrick racked the balls for me and Jason. Jason let me break. I was so excited that the stick hit the cue ball which hit a ball which made all the rest scatter. I was solids. I did a pretty good job keeping up with Jason. It was a close game. I was proud of myself. In the end, I lost. That’s okay. The crew still gave me high-fives and hugs for doing as well as I did, considering I just learned how to play.

The crew seemed suspiciously celebratory. Why did they seem so happy about all of this? I knew they weren’t rejoicing in the fact that I lost and Jason won. There was something I was missing.

I looked at Patrick, “What’s up?”

“Nothing, Liz. Nothing.” He grinned and put his arm around my shoulders.

I slapped him. “Don’t lie to me. What am I missing?”

“Okay. Okay.” He leaned in. “They knew you didn’t want to play pool or darts or anything. So, their goal was to get you to.”

“So, I was setup, huh?” I knew something was weird from the beginning. I should have known. Well, it worked. I was glad they did.

36. INSTINCT

David, who had the male solo in the concert, came into the game room looking for me. He was excited. “Hey, Liz! Come on, they’re setting up the karaoke. Sing with me.”

“Sure.” I was looking forward to karaoke. I asked the crew to come with me.

Singing on stage was one thing. Singing at a party was a little different and I wanted my friends there to support me. Even though I probably sang in front of everyone at the party already during the concert, karaoke was still different. I hadn’t really done it with an audience before. Despite my love of singing and several aunts and uncles having a karaoke machine, I never really sang in front of my family for years. I’d sit in the back of the room or in another room entirely singing along, without a microphone, without anyone hearing me.

My family was critical enough of me, I never wanted to give them something else to criticize me with. So, with my newfound confidence and an audience who had heard me before, I was excited to try it. But I still wanted my friends there to make sure someone was cheering me on. I wanted a guarantee that there were at least a few people who weren’t looking for me to mess up.

Dylan had set up the karaoke machine in the family room. It looked professional. There were stacks of CDs and binders of songs to look through. The binders had songs listed alphabetically, the CDs were by genres. David had found a duet to sing. He programmed the machine and up came the song on the huge 60 inch television. I was glad it was a ballad.

The music started and suddenly I was nervous. I looked over to where the crew stood and realized how full the family room was. There were a lot of people there! It was overwhelming. I had to block them out and just focus on the screen. I was still pretty self-conscious that when it was my turn to sing, I didn’t hold the mike close to me. I didn’t like hearing my voice through it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone coming toward me.

Patrick pushed the hand holding the mike closer to my face. He smiled, “Can’t hear your beautiful voice.”

When David and I were done people cheered and clapped. I could definitely hear the crew. I heard some mumbling from people that they didn’t want to follow us. Since no one was rushing to try a song of their own, David had me pick a song next. Now, I was feeling more comfortable. I found another duet song for us. By the end of the song, people were more willing to sing, not that there was a line forming. But at least now, people were looking through the CDs and binders. They were curious.

I got Emily and Cassie to sing along with me on a girl group song. They weren’t always on key, but it was fine because we had a blast. They wanted to do another. When we were done, we walked back over to where the guys were sitting.

“What’d ya guys think?” I asked. “Weren’t they great?”

Jason and Bobby whole-heartedly agreed and kissed their respective girlfriends. “Wonderful. You guys should form an all girl group!”

We all laughed and I noticed something. “Where’s Patrick?”

That deflated the energy quickly from the guys. Bobby’s face was sour. “Eh. Becca came over and wanted to talk or something. She came bearing a peace offering.”

Emily looked as confused as I felt. “Peace offering?”

“Yeah, she brought him a soda. I swear, it was the first time I had ever seen her do that. It was always Patrick who fetched her drinks.” Kraig answered.

I remembered the dance and how Becca did act like she expected to be waited upon. That time, Kraig went to get me a drink, and being nice offered to get her one. She acted like she was queen or something.

“Anyway, you know Patrick… so, they went out to talk.” Jason motioned to the backyard.

I didn’t like it. Not that I was jealous, but because I felt like she was up to something. She wasn’t the poster child for trust, at least for me. Maybe that feeling that something was going to happen wasn’t about the crew setting me up to play pool. Maybe it was something else. Maybe I was being oversensitive. Maybe. Maybe not.

I hung out with the crew in the family room listening to others karaoke. They looked through the binders and CDs trying to find other songs for me and the girls to sing. I felt like I was split in half. I was there with them, enjoying their company and laughing, but I was also wondering more and more about Patrick. Emily, Cassie and I did another song together, this time an oldie. I couldn’t really get into it. I could hear Patrick and Mrs. Connor’s voices in my head –
trust your instincts, listen to yourself.

He had been out there for about half an hour. I couldn’t imagine that he’d still want to be talking to her, especially based on my last conversation about Becca with him. He was too polite to just get up and leave, maybe he needed to be rescued from her cornering him. I went to the backyard to look for him.

Even though it was nighttime, the pool and patio were fairly well-lit. The outdoor Christmas tree helped. I spotted Patrick leaning in a lounge chair near the pool. Becca was next to him. He seemed… not himself. Was he falling asleep? Not interested in what she was saying? No, that wasn’t it exactly. She pushed him back into the chair and he just flopped there. Something was definitely off.

As I ran over to him, she straddled him and began kissing him. I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t fighting her off, but he also wasn’t reciprocating. Every bell and alarm in my head was going off. Something was wrong. If I
was
wrong, then at least I was going to err on the side of trying to be a friend. I’d rather he was mad at me because I was trying to help him than to leave him hanging when he needed me.

I stood over them. “Patrick, are you okay?”

Becca ignored me and kept shoving her tongue down his mouth. It was like it took a few seconds for Patrick to register that I was speaking to him. He groggily he turned his head to look at me. “Liz! Hey! I thought you were singing.”

“Yeah, I was. I just needed some air.” I looked at them suspiciously. I was getting really worried. “Are you okay?”

“He’s fine.” Becca interrupted. “Now, if you don’t mind, we were in the middle of something.” I didn’t move. “Or you can stand there and watch. Up to you.”

She shot me a look as if she had won. Becca started kissing and running her hands all over him then started undoing his pants. Normally, Patrick would have pulled back, flinched,
something
with
anyone
standing there. But he just laid there, chuckling with his eyes glazed over. It was like he was drunk. This wasn’t like him at all.

“Patrick. Are you alright?” I bent down next to him and sniffed the cup next to him. It was just soda.

“Liz…” His speech was slurred. “When did you get here? I thought you were singing.”

Now, I was frightened. He had no clue that he had just said that. Something definitely was wrong. I felt my pulse and mind race as I tried to figure out what was going on and what to do. I had to get Patrick away from Becca that much I knew.

I grabbed the hair on the back of Becca’s head and threw her backwards. “What the hell did you do to him?”

She fell off the chair and landed on her butt. “Nothing that he didn’t really want, deep down. Just got him to relax and get out of his own way.”

She stood up and fidgeted with the charm around her neck. She wore it like some entitlement to him. That stupid charm was the reason why she cut out a chunk of my hair. Patrick remained on the lounge chair, trying unsuccessfully to get up. I stood between him and Becca. I’ll be damned if I let her touch him again. “I can’t believe you.”

Becca hissed back at me. “Look who’s talking! I thought you would have learned your lesson when I beat the shit out of you this week for coming between me and my Paddy.”