~SIX DAYS TO CUBA~
~FAYE~
I FaceTime Lori twice before she picks up.
"Finally!" I exclaim, even though her screen is dark and I can't see her. "I have news and it's huge! Can you come over?"
"Faye?" she groans. There's rustling on the other side of the phone, and then a light turns on. She's in bed. "It's late, I have work tomorrow. What's going on?"
"It's only like nine p.m., grandma. You need to come here. I have news!" Lori and I do everything together. We've been best friends since ninth grade, but sometimes her responsible nature gets in the way of my fun.
"Last time you said you had 'news,' it was that Jenna McAndrews got highlights that you thought 'washed her out.'"
"They totally did." That was when Jenna and Adam were dating, so Lori got to see them firsthand when she walked past the pair of them in my kitchen.
Lori rolls onto her side, her eyes half-open. "Well, I can't come, so tell me the news."
I can barely hold in my excitement. My smile takes up almost my whole portion of the screen. "Ray's appendix burst today, and they rushed him to the hospital! Isn't that great?"
Now Lori sits up in bed and rubs her eyes. Even half asleep, she's gorgeous. Her brown hair doesn't even stick up in every direction like mine does in the mornings.
"That sounds awful," she says. "Why are you acting like we've won the lottery?"
I was going to ease her into it, but I just can't hold it back anymore. "Adam is letting us come to Cuba with him next week!" I blurt.
She's silent for a moment. "Are you saying we're invited to Cuba with your hot older brother and his friends? What does that have to do with Ray's appendix?"
I huff. I wish we could just speed up this whole explanation thing and get right to the jumping-up-and-down-with-excitement part, but Lori is practical.
"Okay, first, ew. Adam is not hot. His friends are, but he's an ogre."
In both the literal and figurative terms of the word. He's mean, on top of being the uglier of the two of us, at least in my opinion.
He's only fourteen months older than me, so he's only a grade ahead. But if you didn't know we're related, you'd never realize it since he barely blinks at me in the halls. Even so, all through high school, girls have come up to me to say that Adam is hot and ask me to put in a good word, which is annoying and useless since Adam pretends I don't exist.
Adam and his friends just finished their first year of university and are celebrating by going away on an all-inclusive tropical vacation. I've been wanting to go on vacation forever, but my parents wouldn't let me go without them unless Adam comes too, and he would rather die than voluntarily go to Cuba with me. I'd pleaded with him to let me and Lori come, but he refused, adamant that it was a guys-only, no-little-sisters-allowed trip. Nothing's swayed him, and I haven't had high hopes because Adam's never done anything nice for me. Desperate, I was about to offer to do all his chores for the year, but thankfully I didn't go that far because it all worked out.
I prop my phone up against my pillows so she can still see me while I sort through the piles of clothes I've dumped onto my bed. The trip is in exactly six days, and I need to figure out what to wear.
To Lori, I say, "Since Ray can't go to Cuba, his brother Freddy felt guilty going and canceled. That completely screws over Adam and his friends since they were getting a group rate. It's so last-minute that no one else can come, and they already had to ask Dylan's cousin to come to cover Eli's cancelation. So now there are two free spots! Adam can either sit around with his dick in his hand or let us take their place!"
I shriek and do a little dance on the bed, and she holds the phone farther away to escape my excited sounds.
I find my laptop under the mess of clothes and wake it from sleep mode. "I'm emailing you the information now. I know how your parents are so they can totally call mine, and they'll answer all their questions. We have to buy the tickets quickly though, but we're going to Cuba!"
I'm so preoccupied with forwarding her all the information that I don't realize she's quiet until she clears her throat.
"Um, Faye? I don't think I can come."
"What?" I dive for my phone and hold it as close to my face as possible to see her better. "Why can't you come?"
Lori chews on her bottom lip. I know that look, and I clench the phone tighter in my hand.
"My parents just finished telling me how this summer is for studying, working, and volunteering only."
"So?" I exclaim. Lori's parents have such a tight hold on her, it makes me appreciate my mom and dad's relaxed take on parenting even more. Lori's lucky I'm around to force her to get out occasionally, or she'd be locked in a tower, wilting away studying until she's thirty. "It's a week, not the whole summer!"
Lori frowns and looks away from the camera. "I don't know, Faye. I really want to come . . . I'll try to talk to them."
This can't be happening. The stars have aligned to allow us to go on this trip, and I cannot allow Lori's superstrict parents to ruin it!
"I'll come over and convince them. I'll get my dad to come as well. That worked last time when we went to Niagara for the weekend. You have to come, Lori. At least look at the emails I sent you."
She sets her phone on her bed and gets up, and I hear her shuffle around her room. Once she's back, she props her phone on what I assume is her computer screen so I can still see her. "Before I bring it up to my parents, are you sure Adam's letting us come? Or did he just say 'maybe' and you interpreted it as 'pack your bags'?"
"Lori. We're g-o-i-n-g." I spell the word out for her. "He had a bunch of conditions, but I have the confirmed itinerary in my hands as we speak." I flap the stapled pages in front of the camera before pressing it to my nose and audibly inhaling. I sigh in contentment. "Smells like suntan oil and the ocean."
She laughs, her mood lightening. "You're ridiculous. What were the conditions?"
"Oh, I wasn't really paying attention. I'm sure it was the usual 'don't embarrass me, I don't want to see you the whole trip' blah blah blah." I fall back to lie on my bed. "Kellan's coming."
It's an effort to not start daydreaming about Kellan Reyes.
"Obviously Kellan's going." She hesitates. "Does he know you're going?"
Kellan is Adam's best friend, who I'm always around since Adam's friends are always over. Though I've known Dylan the longest, Kellan is my favorite. Kellan and I even hang out without Adam all the time, and it's in a totally non-datey way even when it's just the two of us. But when Adam has his friends over and if he's in a good mood—which is rare—he lets me hang out with them. I'm naturally flirty and flirt with everyone, and so does Kellan, so Adam thinks he has nothing to worry about.
Key word: thinks.
Because a few weeks ago, I slept with Kellan.
Twice.
Adam doesn't know, and never will, since Kellan and I swore to never tell anyone. Well, anyone except Lori obviously. She's my best friend, so when I say, I won't tell anyone, what I really mean is Lori and I won't tell anyone.
I sigh and shake my head to rid myself of images of Kellan. "I don't know. He hasn't messaged me about it. Do you think it'll be awkward?"
Lori's full lips stretch into a thin smile, and I can tell she's trying not to laugh. "Faye. It's you. It's almost impossible to embarrass you; Do you even possess the gene for that emotion?"
"You're right. I'm going to have fun either way. Get me a hot vacation fling," I say.
"Geez, Faye, we're sharing a room, right? I don't want to hear any of your sex noises!"
"That means you're coming! Yes!"
"I'll talk to my parents," she says, lifting her phone properly up to her face as I hear her laptop click shut.
"Good," I say. "And don't worry about the sex noises. I'll put the 'do not disturb' sign on the door." I chuckle, leaving her to decide if I'm joking or not.
"Great. Can't wait to sit on the floor in the hallway, waiting for your booty call to leave."
"You're such a team player."
Lori jumps and lowers the phone, leaving me with a perfect view of her ceiling.
"Lori, what are you doing up? I thought you said you had a headache and were going to sleep?" Her mom asks from what I'm assuming is the doorway to her room.
"I am," she replies before holding the phone up to her face. She's chewing her lip again. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Faye."
"Okay, bye!" I say, keeping it simple in case her mom is still standing there.
As soon as I hang up, I immediately text her: Make sure you're convincing! We need to go!
I'm going to Cuba! With Kellan. He's going to be shirtless practically all week. We're going to be around each other on the beach, in the pool, at the club . . . All. Week.
I squeal into my pillow.
—
I don't hear any news from Lori that night or the whole next day, but the following day, when I leave my room with wet hair after my shower, a very distinct voice flows up to me. Cracking a smile, I comb my hair with my fingers and bound down the stairs. I almost miss a step when I hear the word Jenna.
My brother and his friend Dylan are on the couch, watching some game on television.
"What was that about Jenna?" I ask at the bottom of the stairs. Neither boy moves his eyes from the television or bothers to acknowledge me.
My nostrils flare and I move to block their view. They shout protests right away.
"You're not getting back with Jenna, right, Adam?" I stare him down as Dylan tries to peer around me.
"What, Faye? Move," Adam says.
I don't move. "Adam!"
"Go to hell," he retorts.
"If you get back together with Jenna, I'm already there."
He exhales heavily and glares at me. "We're not getting back together. Happy?"
I grin at him, plopping down on the couch and squeezing in between him and Dylan. "Extremely."
Adam grunts in annoyance but makes room for me anyway. Dylan drops his tattoo-covered arm over my shoulders and licks my ear.
"Ew!" I shriek, pushing him off me and swiping away the saliva. He just laughs and turns back to the TV.
Besides Kellan, Dylan is Adam's other best friend, and one of my favorites. I've always been close to Dylan, probably because I've known him since I could walk, and sometimes I feel like he treats me more like a little sister than my actual brother does. Adam even once suspected me of wanting to date Dylan because of how close we are, and the mental image of me with a dude that's like my brother almost made me puke. He's never brought it up since, especially since I often announce that Dylan is my favorite "brother," even if we like to flirt because of our personalities.
"So, if you're not getting back together, why were you talking about her?" I ask Adam, not caring that he's actively trying to ignore me.
Adam had been dating Jenna for about two years, until two weeks ago, when she dumped him after we graduated. Like, literally. We had just thrown our caps in the air when my brother went to congratulate her, before he even congratulated me, and she was all, Oh yeah. We're over. Not that I care. She tried to make my life a living hell the whole time they were together.
Adam was cagey about the reason and never told me, not that he tells me anything normally, but according to Dylan, the only person Adam confided in, it's because she didn't want to do long-distance. She must be using the term very loosely because Adam already goes to the University of Toronto, and she's going to Western U in September, and they're only two hours apart. Unless that was a total bullshit reason that Dylan gave me to stop me from hounding him.
For some reason, my brother was like the golden child at school—everyone loved him, which totally baffles me because he didn't even do anything. He wasn't on any teams or clubs or councils; he just kind of . . . existed. Apparently when he's not too busy being a complete dick, he actually has a sense of humor. Personally, I think he's just a giant, grumpy baby.
Jenna used to love that her boyfriend was Adam Murray. I don't know much about their relationship, since Jenna is basically my mortal enemy, but it seemed like Jenna was dating Adam's name, not Adam. She would strut around school wearing his sweaters and be all, Oh, this old thing? It's just my boyfriend's. You know. My boyfriend, Adam Murray? Yeah, it's his. And I'm wearing it, because he's my boyfriend.
Adam doesn't reply, so Dylan volunteers the answer. "She's going to drop off his stuff tonight."
My eyebrows rise to my hairline. "Wow, you actually got her to bring it back. How'd you manage that?"
Adam shrugs, already bored with the entire conversation. "Told her she wasn't getting her stuff until I got mine."
"Wow, ruthless." I yawn.
"Oh, shut up, Faye. I can still be civil."
"She's a bitch and you know it. You know it was her life's mission to make me and Lori miserable, right? I'm your sister! Shouldn't you be all protective and all no one messes with my little sister but me?"
"You bothered her just as much as she bothered you." Adam rolls his eyes and checks his phone. "Plus, you and I both know you're completely capable of taking care of yourself. You yell at me any time I say something."
I don't know what he's talking about because he never says anything. "Well, duh, I can take care of myself. But it would be nice if my own blood wasn't sleeping with the enemy!"
"If you were ever in any real trouble, I would've stepped in, even if you'd get mad at me for it."
"Bullshit!"
He would not have. He never has. His doing nothing basically encouraged her to keep being a bitch to me and Lori.
"She's never—"
"Prom," I state, silencing him immediately, because he knows I'm right.
It was no Carrie moment with pig's blood or anything, but she still ruined Lori's prom, and Adam was just there all None of my business. A girl from school invited a bunch of the girls in our grade over to her house for a pre-prom party, with pictures and appetizers and everything. Jenna was there, and she literally pushed Lori into the pool. My running theory is that Jenna saw how gorgeous Lori was and got jealous. She denied it to Adam and said it was an accident, and he believed her.
"It was an accident, they bumped into each other," Adam clarifies. "And it worked out. Lori looked great at prom."
She did, but that was because there were eighteen girls committed to fixing her hair and makeup, and someone even called their mom to deliver a backup dress for Lori to wear.
I scoff. "Well, duh. Lori could wear a paper sack and still be ten times prettier than Jenna."
Adam gets up, clearly sick of getting the third degree. "Jenna will be here in five. Make yourself scarce, Faye."
I jump up beside him. "What? I haven't gotten to say anything to her since the pool incident!" And I have some very colorful words to share with her. The only time I saw Jenna after that was at the actual prom, where I couldn't kick her ass because of all the teachers, and then at graduation where, again, there were way too many witnesses.
"Faye, you're—" Adam starts.
"Let's go to Tim's," Dylan interrupts, rising from where he was lounging on the couch and sliding between me and Adam. "I want an Iced Capp. Keep me company, Faye?"
I know exactly what he's doing, and my narrowed eyes tell him that, but he just smiles at me in the lazy way that's all Dylan.
I debate for a moment before relenting. "Fine. But you're buying. And I want a donut."
"Deal," Dylan says, and I don't miss the appreciative nod Adam sends his way when he thinks I'm not looking. Jerk.
I follow Dylan to his car and buckle in as he reverses out the driveway and heads down my quiet street. Before he can argue, I grab his aux cord and plug in my phone to play my music as punishment for siding with Adam.
He groans when a boy band fills the speakers of his car but doesn't protest since he knows I'm not letting him get his cord back.
I look over at Dylan. He's conventionally good-looking. He's half–white Canadian, half-Jamaican, with black hair shaved in a fade and eyes just as dark, set against the light brown of his skin. His entire left arm is covered in black-and-white tattoos with the occasional pop of color, which, combined with his height, definitely gives him that badass vibe, even though he's a teddy bear. But I've never been attracted to Dylan. Every time I look at him, I remember the scrawny little kid that pushed my face into my birthday cake when I turned eight, and nine, and ten, and eleven. It took me longer than I'm proud to admit to realize he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near me when I blow out my candles.
We pass Jenna's BMW as we turn out of my subdivision, and I scowl.
"He really isn't getting back together with her, right?" I ask Dylan.
"Not that I know of," he says without taking his eyes off the road.
"Why did he date her?" I grumble, remembering all the shit she pulled on me over the years. "He knew she hated me. He knew I'd come home from school pissed off about how she started rumors about me or made Lori cry, and he just opened the door to our house and invited her into my safe space. Why would he do that, Dyl?"
"You handled her all right, all things considered," he says, signaling and pulling into the Tim Hortons parking lot. "And she's not terrible. You guys just always butt heads."
"You're supposed to be on my side! Remember when she spread that rumor that I was blowing the PE teacher and almost got him fired and me expelled?"
No one believed me when I said I wasn't, and even Adam and Dylan asked me if it was true. Kellan's the only one who undoubtedly believed me, who sat with me in the principal's office even though he wasn't supposed to be there, telling me stupid jokes to keep me from shaking.
Dylan's lips spread into a thin line. "I'll give you that one. But Adam didn't know it was her who started the rumors, if it even was her who started them."
I didn't talk to Adam for like three weeks after he refused to break up with or even reprimand my mortal enemy.
"Why does he hate me?" I ask quietly, more to myself than to Dylan.
Dylan opens his mouth, closes it, then replies, "He doesn't hate you, Faye." But his hesitation says it all.
I slump into my seat as he inches the car forward in the drive-thru line. "Why can't he like me? I'm his sister, but it's like he can't even tolerate being in the same room with me."
He hates hanging out with me, hates having to do anything with me at all. Even Lori's shocked anytime he shows his face when we hang out at my house.
"Is he . . . is he still mad about the Zach O'Sullivan incident?"
Dylan gives an uncomfortable laugh. "I think incident isn't a strong enough word for what happened, Faye."
"What happened wasn't my fault," I mumble for what seems to be the millionth time in the last year.
"I know. It takes two to make a relationship start and end. But he did explicitly ask you not to get involved with his friend."
"Adam has lots of friends! I can't be expected to not date all of them!"
Dylan snorts. "He just doesn't want you to date his best friends, in case it ends up like Zach . . . which it did."
I cross my arms and grumble, "Well, Zach was a self-absorbed asshole."
"Maybe," Dylan concedes, "but he was a self-absorbed asshole who was one of Adam's best friends, who now won't even look at him, never mind talk to him."
Zach and I dated for a whole three months before we started fighting more than kissing, and it was over before I knew it. After that, Zach ran the opposite direction from Adam whenever he saw him and stopped inviting him to hang out. He didn't even ask him to come to his nineteenth birthday but invited everyone else.
"Zach still talks to you, Alessio, and Kellan."
Dylan shoots me a look as the car inches forward. "He also didn't fuck our sisters."
I huff in reluctant agreement. "Fine, I'll give you that. But I'm not dating any of his friends right now—" barring secretly sleeping with Kellan twice "—so why does he still hate me?"
"Have you talked to him about it?"
"No. You think Adam and I can have a serious heart-to-heart? You're delusional."
All I've ever wanted was for us to be closer, or at least to be friends. Hell, I'd even take him simply stomaching my presence for longer than an hour.
"Well, we'll be in Cuba for an entire week. There's nowhere for him to run."
He's right. We're going to be at a resort in five days. Sure, it's a big resort, but not big enough for him to ignore my existence. Maybe we can connect there. Maybe we can take a step forward in our relationship. It would be better than nothing.
Dylan pulls up to the speaker and lowers his window.
"I'll have an Iced Capp and a jelly-filled donut," I tell him, looking out my window, wondering what Adam and Jenna are talking about.
They broke up. I graduated high school. Maybe Adam and I can have a fresh beginning, and Cuba can kick-start it for us.