Chapter Four | Live, Breathe, and Become a Fool
“This is her house, right?” Preston asked, rolling his Mercedes into her driveway. How’d he know where she lived? Did these two have some sort of relationship that I wasn’t aware of?
“Well, aren’t you a little stalker?” I asked rhetorically. My hand went to the handle of the car, preparing to leave.
“You have such high expectations of me,” Preston said, sarcastically as he leaned back on his seat. “That I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the man you think I am.”
“Nom you’re exactly the man I think you are and this proofs it.” I gestured to my face, and widened my eyes to emphasis the markings. See? The raccoon mask he drew on me was faded from all the washing I did for a whole fifteen minutes—maybe even more longer since the tips of my fingers had become wrinkly.
Preston laughed, throwing back his head. There he goes again. That annoying laugh that makes my heart flutters. I could already feel a smile crossing my lips—no hold it back. You are not going to boost Preston’s arrogant mind, Alli. You are not. His laugh is not that contagious.
I opened the door and made my escape. The breeze of the autumn tickled my nose and a sneeze fled.
“Alli!” someone called. That did not sound like Preston…or Chrissie. “She’s your girlfriend, right?” I tensed, forcing my head towards the direction of the voice.
Damn, it was probably one of the chicks Drew was hooking up with. She was dragging Drew by the arm, her eyes glittering with anger.
I grimaced, glaring at Drew. I thought the previous chick was the last time I’m going to play his Alibi. The girl stopped in front of me, one of her hands on her hips. The booze smell stung my nose. “Were you with him last night?”
“Yeah…” I trailed off, wary of how to respond. So she wasn’t the chick he hooked up with at the party.
“Then why’d you get out of another guy’s car?” She pressed her index finger on my chest. “Why are you cheating on him, you cheater?” She wobbled back a bit, Drew helped her catch her balance.
For some odd reason, I couldn’t look into Drew. Was I feeling guilty? No, how am I guilty? He’s always with another girl.
Someone cleared their throat. Oh gosh, I forgot about Preston. My face heated up in embarrassment. Out of all people who had to witness this, it had to be him?
She turned around, pointing her finger at Drew now. “You’re a cheater, too!” she exclaimed. “You both are cheaters! I saw you, Drew Morgan, with Mitchell in front of the drugstore. Kissing.”
From the corner of my eyes, I saw lights turning on in Chrissie’s house. If she saw this…she’d find out about the deal and—
“No,” I interjected. “I was with Drew last night, but I got too wasted that Drew left to get me some hangover medication. So I crashed at Preston’s until then,” I did the most well-rehearsed line I had prepared. I looked at Preston. “Right? That’s why I was in your washroom.”
I looked into Preston’s eyes, pleading him to continue on my lie. His brows shot upward, questioning my intentions, but they quickly disappeared under a smirk.
“Yeah, she was so wasted, she didn’t even realise me drawing on her face.” He cupped my cheeks and turned my head towards them two. “You have to admit, who can miss this masterpiece. It shows off way better against red, don’t you agree?”
The girl started cackling like mad, agreeing with Preston. Her words were slurred with swear words. I bet she wouldn’t notice if I pulled out a sharpie and doodled on her face or even take a punch at her. Not to mention I had a couple of words to say to her.
A sound sent birds fluttering off the roof.
“What’re you guys talking about?” Chrissie asked—no yelled— from the front of her doorway. She strode down her steps and moved in beside me. She was well groomed and smelt of shampoo.
Her hair was still soaked, and some were leaking onto her shirt. She probably was too worried about the lie that she forgot to blow dry her hair. “Nothing,” I muttered, clamping my hand around hers. “Let’s go.” I sent Drew an ‘I’ll-talk-to-you-later’ look before looking away.
Relief filled me when I found out the door was locked. The better I got Chrissie out of there, the better. Turning the knob, I let Chrissie in first before I got in, closing the door in behind me.
The walls of her house were filled with portraits of famous artists and brimmed with neon colors.
“Where is everyone?” I asked, moving into the kitchen area where I sat on a stool by the counter.
“My dad’s at work. My mom is in the backyard, trying to clean out the shed and no question where my seven-year old brother is.”
I snorted. School. He was at school. “Thanks for the reality check.” I began to drag my finger along the counter, doodling on it. Please don’t mention them, don’t mention them, I begged Chrissie in my mind.
“Okay, what’s the deal? I get why you were with Preston, but what about Drew and Katy?” I closed my eyes, and held back the squeal. She asked the question!
“You know her?” I began tapping on the desk, trying to play it cool.
“Yeah, she’s been living in this neighbourhood for like…forever. Now spill.” Chrissie took a seat on a stool next to me. “Why was Drew and Katy there?”
My guess was he went to Katy’s house in the morning, who’d been drinking since he saw him kissing a girl last night, though I couldn’t tell Chrissie that. For all she knew, Drew and I were an item.
I shrugged. “He might’ve gone there to work on a project or something.”
“She was drunk.”
“I don’t know…maybe she was drinking last night.” I dodged Chrissie’s eyes and tried to distract myself by staring at the microwave.
“If she was drinking last night she’d have a hang-over…not be cussing her life out.” Chrissie exhaled, loudly. “Don’t you care what Drew was doing with her?”
“I do…” My shoulders relaxed. At least that wasn’t a total lie. “But I trust Drew, and I’m sure he isn’t cheating on me.” I thinned my lip to prevent myself from saying the reason: because we aren’t really dating to begin with.
“Wow,” Chrissie said, her eyes open. “You’re so faithful.” She patted my shoulder. “I salute you my amazing, faithful friend.”
I laughed, pulling my shoulder away from her hand. “I’ll remember that, thanks.” In the exact moment, a growl rumbled from my stomach. Loudly.
Chrissie started giggling. “You didn’t get a bite before you left?” She slid off her chair, and went to the fridge.
“I ate little there,” I told her, watching as she pulled out milk.
“Get the cereal,” She said, moving towards the dishwasher, and pulling out two bowls and spoons.
“Sure.” I got off the stool and went to the cupboard. I’ve slept over at Chrissie’s a lot of times, and nearly had her place memorized. “Preston had no trouble finding this place. It was kind of creepy how well he knew this place.”
“Yeah?” Chrissie asked, taking the cereal from my hands and dumping its content in her bowl filled with milk. I followed her lead and made my cereal. Cold cereal. Yum.
“I bet he stalks you,” I teased, watching her expression intensely.
“His mom goes to the same book club as mine. Actually my mom hosts the book club in the backyard.” She dug into the bowl, and shoved a tone in her mouth. Between the munches, she continued. “And he sometimes drops his mother off.”
“Really? I didn’t take Preston as a…gentleman.”
“He has to be since he is the heir to a big company.” She motioned above her lip. “You have a milk moustache.”
I quickly wiped it off with my sleeve. “A company?”
“Yeah. It’s a magazine publishing company.” She waved her hands. “He’s like the fifth generation for the company.”
The deck door slid open and Chrissie’s mom, Mrs.Raine poked her head in. She was a pudgy woman with really kind eyes. “Good Morning, Alli. What are you two talking about?”
“About Preston. What’s his family company name again?”
“I believe it’s called Dallas Inc. I’m sure those magazines on the counter has enough pictures of him to make a collage.”
“Mom,” Chrissie said, in a hush voice, her cheeks were reddening. “I don’t make collages anymore, and even if I did: they sure won’t be made of Preston.”
“So it’s Alli who is making the collage?” She strode towards the counter, and pulled out a couple of magazines from the pile. “These are the latest ones.”
I coughed and waved my hands vigorously, trying to stop the accusations. “I’m not interested in him.”
“I know, Mom. Alli has a boyfriend. She’s going out with Drew Morgans.”
“Is that so?” Chrissie’s mother’s eyes widened in amusement, as she said, “That’s wonderful, Alli. Why didn’t you tell me? I heard he was going to bring his hockey team to the national.”
“I just didn’t have the time.” I shoved a spoonful of cereal in my mouth, so I didn’t have to continue.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Why are you here so early?”
Shit. I forgot about that. “Can I use your phone? My phone died.”
She gave me a wry look. “Sure. You know where it is.”
After talking to Dad about the consequences and what will happen next, I came back to the counter to finish my cereal. Chrissie was flipping through the magazines and humming a tune.
“I’m back,” I sang, sliding back on my seat. I gripped my spoon, and cringed. The cereal got soggy.
“Consequences?”
“No parties, or hanging out for a week. Translation: I’m grounded.” I sighed, remembering the conversation.
“That’s not too bad,” Chrissie commented, turning the magazine in my direction. “Check it out.”
I peered downward and there he was: Preston Dallas. It was a black and white picture, with him wearing a black leather jacket. Kind of cliché, but hot. Insanely hot. His hair was tousled, and his hands were in the back of his dark tight jeans.
“I know so drool worthy, so wrong.” Chrissie sighed, taking back the magazine, and flipping through it again. “There’s more.”
She slides the magazine back to me. This time Preston was with a girl, his lean yet muscular torso was showing. The girl’s face was hidden, but I could identify the ear Preston’s lips were on. His eyes were so focused on the camera.
I looked away from the magazine. “This picture is definitely not a thousand words, it’s more like three: he is hot.” I said in reference to the famous quote: a picture is worth a thousand words.
“Actually there is at least three decent sentences,” Chrissie lifted a finger at each point. “One: he is insanely hot. Two: he is bad ass. Three: He’s sexy and he knows it.”
“If only his looks measured up to his personality.”
“Oh, it does.”
I raised my right brow, meaning for her to elaborate.
“Well…his looks are as big as his ego, not to mention charm and let’s not forget humour.”
“He isn’t funny!” I cringed at the thought, pointing at my faded racoon mask. “Just look at what he did to me! This is the whole reason why he let me stay over so he could do this to me in my sleep!”
“He did that?” Chrissie burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. “He’s a genius!”
I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest. “More like an idiot.”
How was I going to explain to Preston about what happened today? Would he even remember that? What kind of lie would fool him? He already proved he was an expert at making people look like fools. Especially me. I never felt like a chump until I met him.