[Dedicated to Noelle, who probably knows how inspiring she is, not only with her brilliance and rise to success but also with her incredibly crafted stories.]
I told myself that I had a right to enjoy my last weekend of true leisure before school started, completely aware of how that was a blatant excuse not to tell a certain someone that I was going to disappear for a weekend. He would ask too many questions, I convinced myself, and besides, I wanted to be able to go somewhere without being responsible for anything. And my family! It wouldn't be fair if I didn't dedicate myself completely to spending time with everyone when I rarely got to wind down with them.
I was so bad at making excuses. Really, I wondered how I'd gotten through the last three years at high school without any teachers calling me out for my bull.
"You're so weird," said Dacey into my ear as I grunted, lifting a suitcase into the back of my family's prize SUV. (My dad had reminded me of a little kid who had been let loose in a candy store when my family came to the car dealership to get him his dream vehicle for his fiftieth birthday.) "You're not going to say anything?"
Feeling completely conspicuous, I adjusted the Bluetooth device in my ear and winced. "Why would I? I mean, I don't owe him anything."
Bullshit.
"You do!" Dacey screeched. My wince grew more pronounced, and I had to step aside as my brother sent me a puzzled look, loading his own gear into the back of the car. Dacey continued shrieking (destroying my ear drums in the process), "He fucking confessed to you, and you couldn't even say anything, you stupid bitch!"
Carter poked my shoulder, and when I turned to meet his eyes with pursed lips, he mouthed, pointing to my Bluetooth, "Who is that?"
I didn't really have to answer since Dacey just kept going on, like I had murdered my own mother and she was the Pope, "What do you think he's thinking now, huh?" She threw on her best "guy" voice, and with that, Carter's lips quirked up. He nodded and disappeared back into my house, probably to grab yet some more bags. (This was the day that my brother packed more than I did, which almost never happened.) "Oh, Lottie didn't say anything. She probably likes me back, yo, and everything's just great."
"Please don't ever use that voice again" was the only weak response that I could conjure.
Dacey clucked. "You're stupid," she said once again.
"That's nice," I responded absent-mindedly, fiddling with my bag. I was going to stuff it further in the car so my brother wouldn't have any issues with fitting in his. I was such a kind person that way.
"No, take me seriously, Lottie," said Dacey. She paused. "I mean, after I opened up to Carter about my, like, real interests, everything just...everything was right for me." She let out a happy sigh. "And now, we text every day."
I could just imagine the little smirk on her face as she said this, lounging on her couch and re-painting her nails, probably. This was easy for her to say—my brother hadn't quite yet confessed his love for her, but he'd certainly gotten a lot more amiable once he figured out that she wasn't always a nut whose only aspiration in life was to attend his college (which was, admittedly, a fantastic place). And really, that starting point was all she ever wanted. Dacey knew what she was doing when it came to guys...I wished I did.
"Texting is absolutely fascinating," I responded to her, crossing my arms as I watched my mom throw in a bag full of cooking supplies. It was kind of fun to watch her face—-she thought I was taking to myself—-and just because I was a tease, I added to Dacey, "And yeah, he's, like, so hot."
I'd never seen my mom look so scandalized before.
After sending her off with a wink, I returned my full attention to Dacey, who had been completely silent for those few seconds. Not hearing Dacey's screechy voice in my ear felt strange, I found. "What?" I said.
"Did you just"—-Dacey choked—-"just call your own brother hot?"
Obviously, I didn't think through that very much.
"I was messing with my mom," I replied off-handedly. Nowadays, I never found anything too shocking anymore, and funnily enough, I recovered from all my flubs in split seconds. Nothing could surprise me anymore, not after Dom and his confession...
But Dacey was so right—she told me everything that I already knew but needed to hear one more time from a third party. I owed Dom something, anything that would put his mind at ease. And what was I doing now? I was going to avoid him and run away like a fucking coward, because that was what I was. And really, it wasn't even like Dom was a tax collector who was going to fry my ass for neglecting my bills.
He was my crush...who just confessed to me.
And he was awaiting my response, like I was someone important or gorgeous or amazing whom he admired.
"Lottie?" Dacey's voice blasted in my ear. Frowning, I fiddled with my Bluetooth. Was there seriously no way for me to mess with the volume settings on this damned device? I blamed my dad for messing it up before passing it down to me.
"I'm right here," I called back, completely forgetting that she wasn't there with me.
"Hey!" Dacey protested, her voice cracking at the end. Was I going to be kind today and not point that out? Yeah, I was going to be kind. I owed someone that much... "What the fuck are you doing with your phone? Did you break it again?"
The last time I broke my phone, my volume settings got screwed up. And so, whenever I was on the phone with anyone, my voice would come blasting out of that person's speakers, sounding much, much more high-pitched than it truly was. Unfortunately for Dacey, she was pretty much the only person I called—-and I called pretty frequently—-and she had to endure the brunt of the technical difficulties.
"I didn't," I said defensively.
"Then what?"
"She thought I was talking to myself." I walked along the length of the SUV, trailing my hand on the glossy, sleek exterior. Even though I'd never admit it to my dad (who loved the damn thing more than he loved me and my brother combined, probably), it was a gorgeous car.
"Are you using your stupid Bluetooth thing again?" Dacey sighed. "Lottie, those are for middle-aged businessmen who have no other way to get about their busy, boring daily lives. You, on the other hand, are a perfectly interesting teenage girl who has headphones with microphones"—-she cleared her throat meaningfully—-"that you can use."
I shrugged. Then, I realized that Dacey, once again, wasn't there. I sighed. Sometimes, Dacey was so overbearing that I forgot she wasn't always with me. (That was a good thing; I didn't think I could bear to witness Dacey's reactions to everything that happened in my life.) "Those are nerdy too."
"You're a geek," shot back Dacey.
I stopped in the middle of my pacing, hand still lingering on the SUV. "Hey!"
There was a pause in our conversation. My dad came out with his gear and his own suitcase, winking at me. I pretended to choke. (I never wanted to have to witness my dad winking ever again. It was horribly scarring.) From the way he was hurrying back to the shed, I could tell that we were about to set off—he was going to go hook up our bowrider to the back of the SUV.
"But girl," said Dacey, startling me out of my little reverie, "just go enjoy your weekend while you can, all right?" She sighed. "Even if that means you have a hell of a mess facing you after you get back."
"You mean my homework?" I caught the keys that my dad had tossed me on his way back from the shed, and I headed for the driver's seat in the SUV. Now, I was to back up the SUV to the shed so my dad could do all the fancy hook-up business. "I know for sure that's a pile of bull that'll be awaiting me."
"You're hopeless," Dacey groaned. "But whatever."
I shook my head and disconnected the call with Dacey. I had bigger problems now—helping my dad with our bowrider, of course.
But Dom was always on my mind. That didn't matter anyway. He'd be there to face me in person a couple days from now.
↔
"That was absolutely glorious," Carter remarked to me, running his hand through his messy hair. He'd made the excuse that he had no time to brush his hair, even though the only thing that our family did today was to hop on the car and take the one-hour drive back home. "Fucking fantastic, Lottie."
He jumped up and touched the ceiling of the shed, where we were currently standing. I sighed and put my hands on my hips. "Dude, the only thing that happened to you this weekend was when Dad finally let you drive the bowrider."
"It was epic!" he protested, grinning widely at me. "You can't say that you did that."
I scoffed. "I don't want to. The jet ski is already too much for me."
"Please." Carter rolled his eyes at me as he gingerly patted the bow of the bowrider. "You drive it like a grandma. Don't you like to feel the wind in your hair?"
"I do," I responded, walking out of the shed, "but I like to keep my sunglasses secure." I paused and raised my eyebrows at him. "My Oakleys, you know." I frowned. "Oh wait—-you're a poor college student who can't afford those. Whoops."
Carter swatted my shoulder as he followed me out of the shed and closed it. "Don't be mean," he whined. "I am not the starving college student. I'm the frat boy who hosts parties every other day and has dozens of girls hanging off his arms." He rolled his eyes. "Duh. Why haven't you figured that out earlier?"
I could only shake my head and laugh at him as we both made our way to Carter's Corvette (which he'd named Penny, for whatever reason). Oh God, I was going to miss bantering with him once summer ended and once he'd have to move back to his college (he was living in an off-campus apartment this year). And I was going to miss our joint breakfasts, which we shared together on the rare mornings we both woke up early enough to grab something together.
Our banter came easily as my brother zoomed down Main Street with all of our windows down. I couldn't help but laugh as he jabbed me in the shoulder and told me that he was going to actually come back for Christmas. (Last year, he didn't come home for the holidays because he'd somehow managed to lose track of his phone for a full four weeks before break started for him, during which time my parents had been blowing up his phone with reminders to not miss the flights we had booked for him.) He was a doofus like that—but yeah, what else could I expect from my brother?
Soon enough, Carter pulled into a parking space in front of a McDonald's, rolling his eyes at me when I protested. "What do you expect?" he said petulantly, sticking out his bottom lip. "I'm a poor college student who can't afford anything more than a McMuffin."
"Shut the fuck up," I said, snickering as I slapped his arm. "But whatever. You have to buy me a McFlurry to make up for it though."
Carter wrinkled his nose. "That sweet shit?" When he caught my sharp look, he held up his hands, walking backwards to the entrance. "I'm just trying to look out for you, Lottie. You need to keep yourself nice and fit for cross country season or else some freshman girls will kick your ass when the season starts."
I grimaced. He really was taking pages out of Dacey's book, wasn't he?
We walked into the McDonald's and got into the relatively short line. Of course, my brother threw me the dirtiest look that I'd ever seen when I ordered an extra large McFlurry for myself as breakfast, but again, what did he expect from me? Something extraordinary?
And that drew my thoughts back to Dom again, which explained the silence between me and Carter as we sat at our little booth, waiting for our food. Thank goodness Carter didn't think much of it—he was accustomed to me going into deep reveries about life and 1950s gamblers—because I could finally return my thoughts to the one person I'd been studiously avoiding all weekend.
The cellular network was weak up in the lake house, I told myself. I would be isolated from society (excluding the locals and the boats, of course) there. But in reality, the Wi-Fi and the network worked just fine. Dacey had even called me a couple times to make me feel guilty about what I'd done to Dom. Cara had checked on me a couple times, just to remind me to go on my obligatory runs for cross country.
And Dom.
I bit my lip.
Dom had called exactly twice. I remembered the pang in my chest—the little moment of panic—that hit me as soon as I recognized his contact name on my phone. Of course I wasn't as cool as I wished I was. And I remembered turning my phone's ringer off, looking away to face the wall so I didn't have to confront reality for just two days, and going straight for my brother, who was so occupied with the boats.
And the calls had haunted me all weekend, really.
It was mostly because he hadn't bothered to contact me beyond that. No voicemails. No texts. Nothing. (I'd even stalked his social media to see if he was calling me out, and I found zilch. But that afternoon, while my mom and dad had gotten themselves lost in the middle of the lake, I went through the rest of his photos, most of which featuring him shirtless with a bunch of buddies. And that was wrong of me...but needless to say, I was hot and bothered for the rest of the day.)
What did Dom think of me now? Was he going to call me out for being the chicken I was?
But he was Dom, ever-so-patient Dom who was so endearing and hot at the same time. I felt my cheeks warm as my mind pulled up an image of him—-one of his face so close to mine because of our last kiss, so close that I could count the little flecks in his dark eyes. Oh God. I took in a shallow breath and covered my face. (Carter had already gone to get our food and to use the restroom—-hopefully not in that order.)
Why was I tearing up? Was this some sort of weird guilt? I hadn't even done anything too bad. Then why was this feeling consuming me? Why was Dom always there, just watching me with those steady eyes?
I must have sat there for a couple minutes before the door into McDonald's burst open. Startled, I looked up from my hands, and my eyes immediately went to the clock. It was ten fifteen, exactly fifteen minutes before breakfast food time ended at McDonald's. I glanced to the group of guys that had just entered—-typical guys. They didn't deserve my attention, not when I was stuck over Dom like this.
But then, I found that I really had no other things to think over. I was a fuck-up like that. So my eyes couldn't help but follow the sweaty guys to the counter where they laughed and punched each other while ordering.
They must have just finished a game or something because all of them were sweaty and...absolutely gorgeous, if I had to say so. I slapped myself mentally—-what was going on with me? They were probably going to stink up the place and destroy this place of solace.
Since when was McDonald's the ideal location to sit down and think?
I was sure I was going insane.
But my eyes still lingered on them because there was something familiar about a couple of them that I just could not place. Did they attend my school? Maybe they did. Were they a bunch of rowdy freshmen? They were immature like that. But seniors—-and college guys, as I knew from my brother—-could be that way as well.
So that didn't matter.
Then I caught a glint of someone's blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes. That was when my heart stopped for a second, and I froze, hands clutching onto the edge of the table.
What were the chances?
What were the chances that I would run into Evan, who almost always went everywhere with Dom, at one out of a million McDonald's places on a Monday morning?
And that was when my luck ran out because one of the dark-haired ones turned around and met my eyes. It wasn't Dom—-no, his eyes were too light. But he poked another guy's arm, and that guy's signature brooding eyes met mine squarely.
I caught my breath because I hadn't realized how much much I had fucking missed him.
He made his way to me. All the way, I begged myself to move, to do something, to get away before he could get to me—-but it was all futile. I sat there, frozen like a deer in headlights, staring at Dom.
"Hey," he said once he got to me. He still stood. Why were his eyes so soft and warm? Why didn't I just surrender to him there and then? Why did I have to be so stubborn and stupid and prideful?
I felt the heat in my chest overtake my entire body, and all of a sudden, my vision was woozy. "Hey," I repeated dumbly.
Dom took in a breath, eyes brightening for a second. "Lottie," he started, "I was wondering—-"
But just then, I caught sight of my brother, who was making his way to our table with our breakfasts in his hands. I stood up abruptly, catching Dom completely off-guard, and rushed to Carter, resisting the urge to look back at Dom.
"Hey!" I said breathlessly to Carter. "Let me help you with those."
Even though Carter raised his eyebrows at me, he handed over my McFlurry, and we went over back to our table together. Dom was gone. I felt something hit me in the chest, and all of the warmth bled out of me. I didn't understand why. I'd practically shooed him away from me. Why did I feel like this?
Dom still haunted my thoughts, even as Carter and I sat down and dug in. But again, I made the mistake of looking up over Carter's head. That was when I caught sight of Dom's head in the throng of boys taking their food to a table on the other side of the restaurant. And he turned his head, his smoldering eyes hitting me once again.
I shivered and slid down in my seat.
Dom.
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I realized that I forgot to update this yesterday (it's still November 1st for me at the moment), and while I'm currently experiencing a lot of troubles with Microsoft Word, meaning that the "edited" version of this chapter is not accessible for me, I thought that having something up late is better than having nothing.
But hey guys, how are you? Lottie sure is good at avoiding issues...but you know she'll have to confront him soon. Stay tuned for that!
The song of the chapter is Sue Me, which is absolutely amazing. (I'm sorry this isn't as lengthy as it usually is; being pressured about time does that to an author.) Check it out XD
Anne xo