Starless Nights (Hale Brothers Series Book 2) (16 page)

“She’s a dancer at Julliard.”

“That’s right.” He nods his head in agreement now that he remembers, and he grins. “Dancers are flexible . . . mmm, I can just imagine.”

“Asshole, gross. That’s my brother’s girl you are talking about.”

“Relax, I’m not talking about her, however, that little blondie over there . . .” He nods and I follow his gaze to a girl across the room. She’s standing by herself, with her arms folded over her chest and she’s looking out the window. I do have to agree with him, she is something to look at.

“Beau!” A loud squeal comes from behind me. Ali comes skipping over and she throws her arms around me. “I didn’t think you were coming.” Her face shines up at me.

“Tiny, you know I wouldn’t miss one of your parties. Besides, you said the magic word.”

“Pizza,” we both say at the same time and she laughs.

“I’ve missed you,” she says while lightly running her hand up and down my arm. This makes me feel bad because I know that she wants the three of us to hang out more.

“You just saw me a few weeks ago.”

“I know, but now that you are here in the city, and I know that I can see you more often—we want to, both of us.”

“School and tennis have been crazy, but I promise I’ll try to make it by more.”

“You better.” She punches me in the arm that she was just rubbing.

“Oww!” I always forget how strong she is.

She smirks at me.

Nate clears his throat. He’s grinning at our interaction.

“Tiny, this is Nate Jackson, he plays on the team with me. Nate, this is Ali.”

“Nice to meet you. I take it you are the sister-in-law?”

“Yep, that’s me.” Her eyes sparkle. “My friend is here and when you’re ready, I want you to meet her.”

I can’t stop the groan that comes out of me. “Why is this so important to you?”

“Because, she needs friends and you make a pretty good one.”

“Alright, bring her over later. First, let me get a beer and find my brother, in that order.”

“Okay.” She turns to Nate, “It was nice to meet you.”

“You too, Ali.” He smiles down at her.

I don’t like the way he says her name, so I elbow him in the arm.

“What!” he says.

“You know what,” I say under my breath.

Ali laughs at the two of us and skips off.

“Come on, let’s go grab a beer.”

Together we walk through the people and out onto the balcony. There, standing next to the cooler full of beer, is Leila . . . and Charlie. His arm is wrapped around her shoulders and he’s laughing at something Drew said. My gut calls Drew a traitor, even though I know he’s not. So much for talking to her tonight.

Leila looks at Nate, and then at me. She watches me approach but doesn’t say anything.

“Beau! About time you got here.” Drew slaps me on the back and we bump forearms pretending our arms are fighting swords. It’s something we’ve done since we were kids.

“What do you mean? The party just started,” I say back to him.

“For you maybe, pizzas hit the grill over three hours ago.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “Whatever, keep rubbing it in, but hand me a beer while you’re at it.”

He laughs and grabs two bottles out of the cooler.

“Hi, I’m Charlie, and this is Leila,” Charlie says to Nate, while removing his arm from around Leila and extending his hand. Why is this guy always so nice?

Nate’s eyebrows shoot up. He must remember her name from over a month ago. And of course her name has to be unique, not something like Sarah or Michelle. He glances my way and whatever he sees on my face causes him to smirk.

“Nate,” he shakes Charlie’s hand and then turns his attention to Leila. “Beau and I are on the tennis team together. It’s nice to meet you.” His eyes flick to Charlie and then back to her. “And it’s really nice to meet you, Leila,” he says smiling at her.

She frowns at him, but takes his hand. I imagine that I am frowning too.

“Yeah, I’m Drew. This one’s older brother.” He slaps me on the back again and smirks at me too.

“So, how is the season going?” Charlie asks us.

“Awesome for Beau here. He hasn’t lost yet,” Nate says, still giving me a sly smile. I know he’s thinking about that practice and our conversation. I never should have told him her name.

“Really? But then again, that doesn’t surprise me. He’s always had the talent and the ability to get exactly what he wants.” Drew’s eyes flare with mischief, the smirk is still in place. Charlie is watching the three of us.

I know there’s a double meaning to this, but I don’t want to hear any more. I look at Leila and give her a small smile.

“Hey,” I say to her.

Her eyes widen, and she lights up just a little bit. “Hey.”

And then that awkward moment happens where the five of us are standing on the porch and not one person says anything. The three of them are watching us, and if they are waiting for Leila and me to engage in some kind of conversation, it’s never going to happen. Not with Charlie standing here. Visions of his arm around her come back to me and just like that, I’m done with this little patio scene.

“Well, I’ll be inside looking for pizza.” My eyes lock with Leila’s one more time, and my stomach bottoms out at how blue and familiar they are to me. I know those eyes just as much as I know my own and I hate how she no longer sees me, but then again, I’m not really sure she ever did. I turn around and leave.

It takes Nate about three seconds to ask the question that I know he is dying to. “So, that’s Leila?” he asks, following me into the condo.

“Yep.”

“Wow, I can see why she has you all torn up.”

I stop walking and shoot him a look to let him know that he’s overstepping the line. I don’t want him or anyone else to look at her.

“Seriously? Ease up dude. Poaching my friend’s girls, whether they are current or in the past, is not my thing.”

I let out a sigh and he sees me relax.

“You do realize the girl that I just met is by no means over you. Did you see the way she was looking at you?”

“Whatever, and it doesn’t really matter anyway.” Didn’t he see the way Charlie had his arm wrapped around her?

“Are you sure about that?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Any little sliver of hope that I had from last weekend just vanished.

Walking toward the kitchen, my eye catches with Drew’s and he smirks again at me. He’s up to something.

“Hey Beau, come over here for a minute. I want to introduce you Ali’s friend Camille,” he says to me.

And there it is. Here we go . . .

Leaving Drew and Ali’s party, I sigh in relief. It’s funny how I used to love to go to parties. Now I just want to avoid them as much as possible. Three quarters of the night I spent thinking about Leila and the other quarter I spent thinking about when I could make my escape to head home.

“Hey, Beau! Wait up!”

I turn around and see Camille jogging toward me. I stop to wait for her, shoving my hands in my pocket. She really is a pretty girl, but I’m just not the one for her, and I need to make that clear pretty quickly.

“I saw you leave and I thought maybe we could walk together for a while,” she says.

“Alright, I was just walking home. Where do you live?”

“East side actually. Straight across the park.”

“Lead the way.” I gesture with my hand.

She smiles at me.

“So, you play tennis at Columbia?”

I’m not surprised that she knows this, “Yep, what else did Ali tell you?”

She chuckles. “Not a lot, just that you didn’t know very many people in the city, neither do I, and she thought that we might get along.”

“Yeah well, what Ali seems to be overlooking is that I choose not to know a lot of people. I like things just the way they are.” That probably came out a little harsher than it needed to. It wasn’t really directed at her but more at the way I want to live my life.

When I look over at Camille, her eyebrows are raised at me. “Look, your message just came through loud and clear, but no worries, I have a boyfriend.”

“You do?” I suddenly feel like an idiot. “Does Ali know this because she’s been in the
I’m all about pushing Camille
Beau’s way
for the last couple of weeks.”

She giggles. “No, I haven’t told her. Here, in the city, I get to be somebody completely different than I have to be back home, and well here . . . I’m free.”

“That doesn’t make sense to me.” Why would she choose to hide her boyfriend?

“Let’s just say that where I come from, he is the family approved boyfriend and expected to be husband one day.”

“You make it sound like it’s arranged.”

“May as well be.” She frowns and wraps her arms around her middle.

“So, where is this guy?”

“Harvard.”

I look down at her and that’s when I see it. She isn’t just a pretty girl, she’s of a high society pedigree. Everything about her is perfect: from her southern accent, to her posture, her gleaming white smile, and her clothes. I instantly feel bad for her. Why is it that we allow parents to have so much influence over us?

“I see. How about we hop in a cab since it’s dark out? Better to be safe than sorry crossing the park.”

“Sure. Thanks for taking me home.”

“Any time Camille, and maybe being friends won’t be so bad.” I look down at her and give her a small smile.

She smiles back at me and I can see genuine relief in her face. She must really need friends and not know how to make them. There must be more to her story than she’s telling me.

The cab ride is quick. We talk a little but not too much. Most of it is just the basic, where are you from type questions. She seems a little sad. I should definitely have her hang out with Nate some. He’ll get her laughing.

Dropping her off in front of her building, she waves goodbye before walking into her building. She seems like a really nice girl. I wonder if this guy even realizes what he has, or if he is just as caught up in the charade as their parents.

Glancing up to the sky, there’s a single star dotting the night and shining down. My mind instantly drifts and Leila’s thirteen-year-old voice takes over.

“Do you see it?” she asks, while handing me a piece of taffy. We’ve snuck out again and are down on the beach at Bean Point.

“What, the Summer Triangle? Of course I see it. We look for it every time we come out here.”

“I wish that we could see it year round,” she says as she lies back on the towel to stare up at the sky.

“I don’t know, I kind of like only seeing it during the summer. It’s like it belongs to us.”

She tilts her head to look at me and the moonlight has made her eyes a silver color. They are beautiful. She is beautiful.

“Beau, why do you like the stars so much?”

“Because they remind me of you,” I say looking out over the water and not at her. I don’t want her to see exactly how I am feeling about her.

She reaches over, grabs my hand, and hugs it to her chest. This causes me to blush. I’m so glad that it’s dark out.

“They remind me of you too,” she whispers.

“Did you know that Vega, from the Lyra constellation, is the 5
th
brightest star in the night sky?”

She’s still looking at me. “Which star is the second brightest?”

“Why didn’t you ask me about the brightest star?”

Looking down at her she giggles.

“Because you talked about it last week, remember? The dog days of summer.”

“Oh yeah, well Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky. We can see it so well because it is located in the southern sky. People who live north of Virginia can’t see it at all. Its name means keel of a ship, it used to belong to a larger constellation called Argo Navis. Story has it, the ship, which belonged to Jason and the Argonauts, was used to hunt for a golden fleece that was supposed to help make him king. Only, you know how these stories go, the glory days didn’t last too long.”

“Why do you know all of these things? You are always telling me interesting facts and stories.”

“Because, I like to read. When I’m at home, I always stay in my room, and since I don’t have a T.V., it’s the next best thing. Mom gave me an old set of encyclopedias, they probably aren’t too up-to-date, but I think they’re alright. Some of the things that I’ve read in them are so funny. Like did you know that on average, a chocolate bar has eight insect legs in it?”