Falling - On the Banks of Lake Saint Clare (Falling - Book One) (2 page)

“Oh, my God!” Erica yelled. “You don’t get kicked out of
New York
!”

“That’s what I heard,”
Abbie
leaned back. “I’ll find out more facts and let you know.”

Abbie
was always full of facts. Never gossip. Cold hard facts. And if there was a bit of doubt, she called them ‘unproven cold hard facts’.

I half listened to my three best friends arguing about the new bad boy teen that miraculously got relocated to our tiny
Missouri
town
that Abbie swore looked exactly like Mathew
Mcconaughey
.

Erica, my best friend and I had close to the same sense of humor and had been best friends forever. We talked about being in love, boys, and spent all our free time reading some old Judy Blume adult novels we sneaked out of her mom’s library. We had read the same 3 books a hundred times. We wrote the page numbers to sex scene’s in the back of the book for reference and research.

My grandmother described my other best friends,
Kaitlyn
and
Abbie
as the Barbies that were trapped in a 50s bubble. They had the vintage clothes and the simple small town girl attitudes. They were the sweetest girls in the world, would do anything for anybody, except ever admit the fact that Erica won all arguments they ever had. Debates they called them. My Dad called them the twins because they are so much alike. He actually thought for the longest time they were the same person. One day he asked what kind of hick would name their kid
Abbie
Kaitlyn
. Mom looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Alex’s friend?
Abbie
Kaitlyn
,
” he explained. “What were they thinking?”

Abbie
and
Kaitlyn
were both honor students, but had a very simple outlook in life. They always acted appalled by Erica’s conversations about sex. Being wholesome girls, they were always talking about saving themselves until marriage. They lectured Erica about being so promiscuous, but I knew they loved living vicariously through her. They had a pure look that enticed perverts. It wasn’t rare for men to expose themselves on a monthly basis. Once they recovered from one incident, the next one would come along. No pun intended.

I would describe myself as the glue that kept the girls together. Everyone came to me to complain and I always listened. I didn’t always care, but I also never let on. I heard people say that I was pretty, but I always thought
Abbie
and
Kaitlyn
were way prettier than I. I had a pretty nice figure which was a surprise because I hated to work out and hated to watch what I ate. So I didn’t. I loved gossip. Not so much as telling it, but hearing it. I wanted to know everything and would ask until I found the person who knew. I never repeated it because I knew it would come back to bite me. I was also guilty of stereotyping. For some reason, I just assumed most people were typically the same.

I watched as Michael hit the ball past the center fielder and started running around the bases. His tall, 6’
7
” 240 lb (I did my research) dark, extremely muscular body, in no time passed each base and made it to third. I watched him stand on the base, talking to my dad. His perfectly chiseled face was strikingly handsome, and I couldn’t stop starring at his amazing lips.

I watched him run to home plate and reach down and pick up the bat. He looked up and smiled that crooked smile and half waved. My heart started beating like crazy and I could feel my face turning red. I felt Erica’s foot shoving into my back, giving me the hint that I needed to do something back.

“Ok Alex, that was pathetic. A double thumbs up?!? You have to be kidding me! He smiles and waves to you and all you can think to do is a thumbs up?”

“I panicked,” I laughed. “I look like an idiot now.”

“He probably thought it was adorable,”
Kaitlyn
reassured me, being the motherly person she always was.
             
“Oh yeah,” Erica interrupted, “guys are always attracted to the ‘thumbs up’.”
             
I watched Brad, one of the players, walking up the bleachers toward us, and sit down beside me.
             
“Hey,” he smiled and nudged me.
             
“Why are you up here? Isn’t my dad going to get mad?”
             
“Nah, we are on a twenty minute break.”
             
Brad had been on my dad’s team since he was 7. For some reason, even though my dad only had two girls, he coached t-ball, little league, Babe Ruth baseball, and now senior baseball league. He followed the same group of boys throughout their baseball career.
             
I always felt my dad wasn’t too fond of me since I was a girl. He tried to get me to play ball, be a tomboy, but I never liked outdoor sports.

Dad worshipped my sister, Rachel. Rachel ruled the house from sun up to sunset. If things were chaotic in the house, it was because Rachel was home. She was a year older than me and I was counting down the days until she would move away to college, 48. I wanted to ask my mom if they are going to have a cot outside her dorm room for my dad to sleep on, just in case Rachel got thirsty in the middle of the night and needed some water.

My mom would find the humor in it, but would probably never admit it. I heard her say once, “If you treated Alex and me half as good as you treat Rachel…” and the bedroom door closed.
There were times I felt he resented me for some reason.
             
“So you feel like a movie tonight?” Brad asked as he moved closer to me.
             
“Who
me?” I asked
. I was
not prepared for the question “I can’t. We are having a cook out at the house,” I said, trying to get out of the awkward situation.

“Your house sounds better,” he smiled, squeezing my leg.

I felt a chill run through my back and I shuddered as he walked off.

“What was that about?” Erica asked.

“I don’t know. He caught me off guard. I don’t want him to come over. He makes me uneasy.”

I watched Erica looking at him walking onto the field, “Well, I think he is a dreamboat.”

“Dreamboat?” I laughed. “My grandmother uses that word.”

Erica smiled, “I know, she said it once. Made me laugh. Another thing she said was when she saw Justin Timberlake, she said she wanted to eat him up. I’m going to bring that one back”

“Good luck with that,” I smiled.

Brad was blonde and bulked to the max. He was a really good football player, a defensive lineman who held the record for the most tackles in a season
in the state
. Everyday he would post on Facebook, “going to lift weights.” An hour later, he would post that he lifted 210 that day. The next day he would post that he lifted a 212. As a joke, Erica started posting everyday one pound over what he lifted. She did it for 180 days straight. Immediately after his post, she would post hers. He even hit the like button on a few of her posts.
 

“The thing I
love
about Brad,” Erica continued “is….”

“His eyes” All three girls chimed in together.

“I know, right!”
Kaitlyn
shrilled, squeezing
Abbie
and Erica’s arms.

Brad did have beautiful crystal blue eyes. The girls had referred to them in the past as mesmerizing, addicting, and hellah cool. I remember telling them that one time he had come to the house and when I answered the door he wanted to come in. I wasn’t allowed to have boys in the house when my parents weren’t home. He stared at me as if trying to read my thoughts or as I put it then, feel my inner soul. Not even sure that made sense. It’s just how I felt at the time.
For some reason, I felt he thought I was lying.

“Well,” Erica said, interrupting my flashback, “if he’s the first one to screw this chick, I will be leaving the lights on so I can stare into those baby blues.”

“I still find him creepy,” I shuddered again.

“His eyes are exactly like yours, Alex,”
Kaitlyn
gasped. “I never noticed.”

“So you are saying my eyes are creepy-soul-searching-make-people-have-chills eyes? Thanks a lot! Anyway, my eyes are green, not blue.”

“They still have the same look,” she added, sounding hurt that I wasn’t excited about her discovery.

“Hey!” I heard a deep voice coming from the ball field.

I looked up and saw Michael standing against the fence, his muscles flexed as he held on to the chain links above his head. I had to look down to avoid getting flustered and overly excited by his body.

“Alex!” He yelled, gesturing for me to go down there.

“Oh dang,” I said, feeling my knees buckle as I tried to stand up. I looked at Erica for moral support.

“Just go see what he wants,” she pushed
.
“Give him my number!”

I carefully walked down the ten steps, scared to death I was going to fall flat in front of the hottest guy in the world and look like a fool.

“Hi,” I said, jumping down in front of him. I had only spoken to Michael a few times since he had moved to town. It was either a hello or something stupid about the weather. I was always too busy gawking at him to concentrate on actually speaking intelligently.

“Hey you,” he smiled. I looked up at him, not realizing how much taller he was compared to me. For the first time in my life, I hated being so short.

“Your Dad said something about the team coming over to the house after practice. You going to be there?”

I stood there trying to figure out what to say. Did he want me to be there? Did he want to know if I was going to be there so if I was, he wouldn’t come? Was he going to come over to try to get with one of my friends?
Oh God, I’m going to throw up
.

“I’m gonna be there. Why?” I asked almost defensively.

“Great,” he smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear. See ya then.” He turned around and walked away, leaving me standing there, wondering if I had heard the conversation correctly. I watched him walk to the mound and pitch the ball to his friend, Derek. I assumed they were best friends since they were always together. Derek was also very handsome. He was thinner and darker than Michael and had a thin beard that was perfectly shaven. I knew it was a matter of time before Erica would be trying to seduce him.

Michael looked up in the bleachers and caught me starring at him. He smiled
that same crooked smile that made me swoon at the store,
and gave me a small wink. I realized that I was still standing in the same spot, watching him. I felt my knees go weak and knew I needed to go sit down before I did something embarrassing.

“So what did the Black Hunk want?” Erica asked immediately when I started climbing back up.

“Don’t say that,”
Kaitlyn
whined. “That’s so racist.”

Erica rolled her eyes, “I called him a hunk, for Christ sake.”

“He was asking about coming to the house after practice.”

“Did he ask about me?” Erica asked, almost begging that the answer would be yes.

“He just asked about coming over,” I said, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

“I’d have to say, he is definitely number one on my number one list,’ Erica smiled, poking me in the rib with her elbow.

I was extremely jealous hearing her say that. Not that I thought it would happen, but I knew that I didn’t want her anywhere near him. Even though she was my best friend, I wasn’t sure that even if she knew I was very interested in Michael, that it would stop her from pursuing him. I don’t think I wanted to know the truth.

Erica looked at me, “You like him, don’t you?”

“I don’t have a shot. I think he is so hot, but I don’t know what he is even like. Anyone that hot has to be extremely conceited or is a complete moron. God wouldn’t create a more perfect person than himself.”

I heard
Kaitlyn
gasp, “Alex!”

I smiled, knowing that whenever I said anything religious that wasn’t what
Abbie
and
Kaitlyn
believed, they would spend the rest of the day praying for me.

I could hear
Abbie
and
Kaitlyn
discussing what I said. I heard saved, damned in hell and forgiven a few times. I could tell Erica loved every minute of it because it took their purity lectures away from her.

Chapter 3

I ran into the house, down the hallway to my bedroom and started looking for something perfect to wear. The team was going to be over any minute and Michael was going to be in my house. I only thought a million times about him coming over. I would
lie
in my bed thinking how nice it would be watching a movie on the couch with me leaning against his large chest, feeling his fingers move through my hair.