Forever Changed (22 page)

The only good thing that came out of the visit was that the constant criticism kept us from focusing on the holiday, and before we knew it, our first Christmas without my dad was behind us. Surprisingly, the only one who shed a tear that day was Grandma. Mom was so over her that I caught her muttering to herself several times that she was going to remove the Christmas ham from the oven and replace it with Grandma’s head. Megan and I smiled when we heard her mumbling in the kitchen, before escaping to my room for some Grandma-free time. The only thing that saved me the three days they were here was my endless texting with Maddon. Through text messaging, I learned more about Maddon than anyone else I had ever known. We shared our dreams, fears, past drama, and everything in between. The break from each other was hard, but the texting allowed me the freedom to express feelings and hurts I would have otherwise been too embarrassed to admit in person.

“It’s hard to believe Dad came from that,” I said to my mom when she arrived home from the airport, looking harassed. She didn’t answer me right away, but instead headed for the kitchen. We watched as she pulled out the bottle of wine she had bought for their visit and the leftover chocolate cream pie. Megan and I laughed as she poured herself a tall glass of wine and dug into the pie without bothering to cut off a slice.

“Stress much?” I asked, grabbing a fork for Megan and me.

“That woman is impossible,” she said, shoving a large bite into her mouth and washing it down with a swig of wine.

I couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Well, she did make Christmas a little easier,” I said, still laughing.

“At least we know the hag’s good for something,” Mom said with uncharacteristic sarcasm.

“Amanda—impertinence,” I said in a perfect impersonation of Grandma’s voice.

Mom choked on her drink of wine as she busted out laughing. “Yes, I guess my impertinence is shining through,” she finally said when she was done coughing.

“What do you think, Peanut?” I said, nudging Megan with my hip as I stood up, making her giggle.

“Weelll, as fun as these last three days have been, I think I’m going to go out for a little while,” I said, edging for the door.

“Kass, I want to meet your new friend,” Mom said, sobering up and not letting me off the hook now that Christmas was over.

“Okay Mom,” I said, resigned as I headed out the door.

I drove the two-mile drive to Drake’s garage, wondering how I was going to get around introducing Maddon to her.

“Hey, babe,” Maddon said, jogging over to me and swinging me up into his arms before crushing his mouth to mine. “It’s been a long three days,” he said, pulling back slightly.

“Tell me about it,” I said, wryly.

“So, did your mom ever switch out the ham?” he joked, tucking me under his arm as we made our way to the garage together.

“It was a close call at one point when Grandma questioned the wisdom of Mom cooking roasted potatoes versus mashed potatoes. By the time that suggestion rolled around, my mom was fighting the urge to bury a meat cleaver in the back of Grandma’s head,” I said, able to laugh about it now.

“I could tell by your texts it was hit or miss for awhile there,” he said, laughing with me.

“So, you got the whole ‘SOS’ signal I was sending your way.”

“I had the getaway car all gassed up and ready to go,” he teased, pulling me in for one more kiss before we walked through the door. “I missed you, sweets,” he murmured against my lips.

“I missed you too, hero,” I said, using the nickname I had coined for him.

The same crowd looked to be there from the week before. Most of them greeted me in one form or another, making me feel welcome. It was hard to believe it had only been a week since the last time I had been here and become friends, or whatever I was with Maddon. In that short time, I had gone from, “should I hate this guy,” “to do I love this guy?” It seemed hard to believe one week had changed so many things about my life.

Forever Changed stepped out onto the stage to the same cheers as the week before. This time I cheered just as loud as the rest of the crowd and felt the stirrings of jealousy as several of the girls chanted Maddon’s name. I had dealt with jealousy over the years, but never over a guy. Usually it was over some silly material possession my friends had that I felt I should have. This jealousy was different as it coiled up through me. I wanted to claw their eyes, or at least yank their hair out.

I turned my focus off of them before I did something drastic like clothesline them or something equally extreme as they bopped up and down. Pulling my eyes off of them, I focused instead on the reason I was even here. Looking up at the stage, I found Maddon looking only at me. His eyes spoke a thousand words as my jealousy slowly drifted away.

I couldn’t but respond to his intense look and had to control myself from melting to the floor in a puddle.

“What did you think?” he said, jumping off the stage to join me during their intermission.

“I think you need to stop looking at me like that,” I chastised.

“Like what?” he said huskily, anchoring the back of my head into place with his hand.

“Like you could devour me,” I whispered back, oblivious to the crowd around.

“Just because we can’t, doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” he said, nibbling on my lip.

I shivered, having no problem imaging it.

“I have to get back up on stage.”

“Go, before you make me ignite into a fireball,” I said, giving him a shove toward the stage.

He flashed me his typical, I’m-sexy-and-I-know-it grin.

The tables had obviously turned as the girls around me now glared in my direction as he blew me a kiss once he was back behind his drums. I smiled broadly, pleased my claim on him was set. He set it in stone when he chucked his t-shirt my way, making the other girls swoon with envy.

“You guys were fantastic,” I said as Drake and Maddon joined me when it was finally over.

“We know,” Drake said in typical cocky fashion with his arm around a gorgeous brunette with legs practically up to her armpits. She laughed with us, tossing her hair so that it floated around her like you would see in a shampoo commercial.

Maddon socked him in the arm. “Dude,” he said.

“Come on, bro, you know I was kidding. Thanks, Kassandra. I’m glad you could come out again. Especially since you’ve been monopolizing all of my boy’s time,” he said, smiling at me.

“Sorry,” I said.

“No harm, no foul. Someone has to keep him out of trouble.”

“Me? You’re the one,” Maddon said. “I could keep the girls here entertained for hours with some of your exploits,” Maddon said laughing. “One time…” he started to say as Drake snapped his sweaty shirt at him.

“Whoa, man, what happens in the band stays in the band.”

The brunette and I laughed at their banter.

“Hi, I’m Kassandra,” I said, holding my hand out to her.

“Carrie,” she said. “Leave it up to boys to forget something as trivial as introductions.”

“I guess girlfriends get no love,” I quipped.

“Oh, I’m not Drake’s girlfriend,” she said, sounding appalled.

“You’re not?” I asked, confused by the way they had been hanging on to each other.

“No way. Drake is way too much of a player for me.”

“Yeah, Carrie’s way too good for me,” Drake said, slinging his arm back around her. “Carrie hangs around to keep the band in line,” he added, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.

“Don’t let him fool you. He and Maddon took pity on me during sixth grade when I was a toothpick with giraffe-sized legs. Not to mention, I was ‘geek’ before it was cool,” she said, laughing.

“Yeah, you grew into your legs, and your boobs are sure to come in someday soon,” Drake teased, darting away from her before she could hit him.

“Don’t mind him, Carrie. You know he’s just jealous since he’s still waiting for puberty to show up,” Maddon joked.

I laughed at their easy banter, finally getting what my dad had been trying to tell me for years. Real friends may laugh at you, but they’ll always have your back. For the second time that night, I felt a pang of jealousy at the close friendship the three of them obviously shared.

“How about some chow?” Drake said, dragging Carrie back in for a quick hug. He dropped an affection kiss on the top of her head. “I was kidding, Slim Jim.”

“I know, Drakie,” she said.

“Food?” Maddon asked me.

“I’m game,” I said, knowing our borrowed time was coming to an end. I didn’t know how my mom was going to handle the situation, but I couldn’t face the idea of stepping away from the new world Maddon had opened up for me.

“Why don’t you guys leave your cars here and we’ll take my Jeep,” Drake suggested.

“That’s fine, but I need to get my purse from my car,” Carrie said, pointing to her Toyota, parked over near the gate.

“Sheesh Carrie, you parked in B.F. Egypt,” Drake grumbled as he set off with her.

“That good with you?” I asked Kassandra.

“I’m game for anything,” she said, sounding preoccupied.

“You okay?” I asked, helping her climb into the vehicle, trying not to focus on how good she looked in the jeans she was wearing.

“I like your friends,” she whispered, avoiding the question.

“Kass, are you okay?” I repeated.

She shook her head, looking ready to cry.

“Whoa, did someone say something to you?” I said, ready to jump out of the vehicle to hunt down the person that had hurt her.

“No, it’s not that. My mom wants to meet you.”

“She knows about me?” I asked, feeling that was a good sign if she knew about me and still let Kassandra come.

“She knows I’m seeing someone outside my ‘normal’ group,” she said, using air quotes with her hands.

“Oh,” I said, suddenly understanding.

“She’s happy I’m seeing someone, but I’m pretty sure that will change when she finds out.”

“Maybe she won’t recognize me,” I suggested.

“You and your dad were plastered across the news almost as much as we were after the accident.”

“Crap, I forgot about that. Maybe it’ll be okay babe. After all, I’m the hero right?”

She smiled at my word choice and linked her fingers through mine as Carrie and Drake climbed into the front seats, bickering about whether or not Bruno Mars was a legit artist.

I studied the back of Drake’s head as sudden inspiration hit me. “We could always use a decoy,” I suggested, indicating Drake.

She laughed. “That’s an idea.”

“We’ll figure something out,” I said, draping an arm around her. “We have to because I’m not ready to give you up when I just found you.

Hanging out with Maddon and his friends the rest of the night was fun, but still didn’t help the fear lingering in the back of my head. Drake was a playboy through and through. He flirted with anyone and everyone of the opposite sex, but I couldn’t help laughing at his charm. Carrie was a crack up too as she entertained me with harebrained ideas Maddon and Drake had when they were twelve and thirteen.

“They always had some grand scheme about how they could become millionaires. Like the one time they decided they were going to sell candy bars at little league games. They had to hide the candy bars in the pockets of oversized jackets they snagged from Drake’s dad since the concession stand didn’t allow other vendors to sell during games. So there was Drake and Maddon, flashing spectators the different kinds of candy bars they had, like a drug dealer or something. The only problem with their plan, though, was that it was ninety degrees out, so by the time they even rode their bikes over there, all the candy had melted,” she said giggling as the guys looked put out.

“Hey, it was a good plan,” Drake said defensively, making me join in with Carrie’s giggles.

“Even if the candy wouldn’t have melted, you still wouldn’t have sold anything. How much were you guys charging?” she teased.

“Five dollars,” Maddon mumbled.

“What?” I asked, not sure I heard him right.

“Five dollars,” Drake said louder. “Look, it was a good idea. We heard it was all about the markup. That’s how all the bigwigs make it.” We sat in silence for a moment until finally Carrie cracked, and we all laughed uncontrollably, bringing the attention of everyone at the restaurant in our direction.