Smiling at my handy work, I brush my hands on my shorts and strut out of the living room. I, Reese Bentley, have successfully cleaned this entire house. Mom’s working late tonight so I’ll have to wait for her approval and Dad is sleeping because he worked a night shift last night. The only other person I can show is A.J. and there is no way that’s happening. If I was desperate enough for someone’s approval, than sure, I’d go to A.J. but that boy needs a good kick in the knees for what he did to me.
He did this. He got me into this whole mess. Even though I can stop sneaking around and hating everyone, I’ve had to clean this entire house by myself and no one has made it easy on me. I hate to admit I deserve every last greasy dish and dusty cobweb, but truth be told, I actually do deserve this cruel form of punishment. I had been a complete nuisance—constantly singing around the house to annoy my mother, sneaking out, ignoring my family. Goodness, I can’t believe my Mom even kept me around.
My dad wasn’t too happy about it either. I hate it when he disapproves of things I do, and those are the only looks I’ve been getting from him for the past month and a half.
Still, I blame A.J. for ratting me out. Heck, I think he should get a punishment too. I mean, he helped me. But, I guess being Mommy’s favorite and going ahead to tell on me has its perks.
Jerk.
“Reese! I have a dish for you to wash!”
Stopping midway up the steps, I glare at the bedroom down the hall. See what I mean? What kind of brother does this?
“Oh, no!” I yell back, “I finished cleaning. You take care of your own dishes from now on you lazy sack of bones.”
I hear a chuckle from his room as I tiptoe closer to it, purposefully dodging creaky floorboards on my way there.
“Come on, Reesie! Pay for your terrible deeds, you little delinquent.”
I stop, my eyes hooding in annoyance. Delinquent? Excuse me. I hope he pees himself when I scare him.
“I know you’re outside my door.” He adds.
Darn, caught in the act.
Sighing, I walk the rest of the way to his bedroom door recklessly and push it open. There he is in all of his glory, A.J. on a studying day. He’s still in pajamas and his hair is absolutely horrendous. Hasn’t the boy ever heard of a brush? It’s a great invention really. I find personal hygiene to be very important.
“Here,” he orders, holding out his glass whilst reclining back on his pillows, “take it and be gone with you.”
“And to think I thought you were on my side,” I scowl, “you’re the worst.”
Sitting up, the glass drops to his lap as he retaliates, “Look, you’re my little sister. I do what I can for you, or at least I try,” he rolls his eyes, “you were messing up the balance of happiness in this house. If the Queen’s not happy, nobody’s happy.”
“I still hate you.” I tell him.
A.J. scoffs, “Yeah, well you hate everyone, even your boyfriend, so whatever.”
I’m slightly taken aback and lean against his door frame, eyeing him suspiciously.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I try, testing the waters to see what he knows.
“You do.”
“Uh, huh,” I say, narrowing my eyes, “what makes you think so?”
He lifts his textbook off of his bed sheets and shows me the cover, “Studying psychology, remember?”
Shoot, that’s right. That’s why he was able to read Mom so easily. He’s going to school to study people’s behavior.
Clearing my throat, I shrug, “Doesn’t mean anything.”
He laughs, “Yes it does. You’re hard to read, but not impossible. According to what I’m learning right now, you’re definitely with someone right now.”
“Am not!” I say more forcefully, crossing my arms and stomping my feet childishly.
“Denial,” he smiles and stands up, setting his dish on the floor before padding over to stand in front of me, “These are just casual observations, anyone can see your lips are a little swollen—you’ve obviously been kissing someone. You’re standing a little taller and you’ve always got this very light—sometimes unnoticeable—blush on your cheeks.”
My mouth is hanging open now. What the heck? This guy needs a hobby, that’s what he needs.
“Ah,” he smiles smugly, “Genuine surprise? I can practically smell Justin’s mint toothpaste on your tongue. That’s who you’re seeing right now, right?”
I snap my mouth close, probably only confirming everything he’s said. But seriously, what kind of weird voodoo is this?
“Have you been stalking me?” I ask, slightly aghast.
He bursts out laughing at this and I frown at his attempts to catch his breath when he’s calmed down.
“Nope, but that little statement proves I’m right—so, ha!”
“What? No!” I argue. I’d kick myself if I could.
“I knew it was Justin. He’s the other lead singer, right?” he asks, smiling to himself, “Yep, I’ve only seen him a couple times, but I could totally tell. You both reek of sexual frustration.”
“Ew, don’t say that!” I tell him, quickly covering my ears and squeezing my eyes shut. I am not going to talk about Justin with A.J. Just…no.
An airy breath of laughter escapes A.J.’s lips when he says, “Embarrassed?”
“No!” I growl, dropping my hands from my ears and opening my eyes, “I just don’t get why you’re bugging me about this!”
“I’ll shut up about Justin if you wash my dishes, “he states simply.
“Blackmail?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well, I’m not afraid of talking about Justin—so bring it on.” I say stubbornly. Reese Bentley does not lose. Reese Bentley does not give in.
Wait—what am I saying? I’ve given in to more things than I’d care to admit.
Who cares? I refuse to clean up after him.
“Fine,” he smirks, “I’m sure mommy dearest would love to know.”
Gasping, I look at him in horror. Nope, he’s taking things too far.
“You wouldn’t,” I hiss, my face contorting into an ugly scowl.
He brings his face down in front of mine and whispers, “Try me.”
I throw one of the world’s biggest tantrums after that, messing up his bedspread, threatening to throw his books out the window and down into the dirt. But, in the end he wins and I’m left to carry his glass downstairs and wash it.
It’s not that my mom would be mad—no—she’d be ecstatic. She’d be embarrassing—that is until she found out it’s Justin. Then, you would witness a human being grow claws and fangs. She doesn’t like Justin much, especially not after she watched my performance with him. Therefore, she must never find out I’m currently with Justin Knight. If it was anyone else, she’d turn crazy giddy, but since it’s Justin she’d just turn plain crazy.
That boy causes me so much trouble! He better consider himself lucky to be on trial with me.
~*~
My skateboarding is a little rusty, that I can admit. On our way to Justin’s house for my first practice back, I tripped over at least three rocks and lost my balance as well. I blame it on the boys. They purposely weaved around me and sped up just as I began to catch up. To say the least, I’m relieved when we finally stopped in front of Justin’s garage Tuesday afternoon after school.
“I think you need some more practice there, Carrots. I could give you another lesson.” Justin comments about my skateboarding skills while wiggling his eyebrows.
No.
Cringing at the idea of clutching to him for dear life and actually liking being around him, I shake my head and tell him, “I’d rather not.”
“Oh, c’mon,” he beams, wrapping an arm around me playfully, “it’ll be just like old times.”
Austin comes up behind Justin then, whacking him upside the head with a quick hand and then sending me a wink. Justin’s arm leaves my shoulder and aims a kick at the shorter boy’s shins.
“Hey! That’s my boyfriend you’re abusing!” Kris calls out to Justin as Austin dodges Justin’s attempt at kicking him.
“He’s ruining my moment!” Justin yells down the driveway at Kris who’s walking beside Sean and Alex.
Austin is smiling at me from behind Justin, waggling his eyebrows. Do you think the boy could be any more obvious?
“There wasn’t a moment to ruin.” Sean shrugs and Austin sends him a sly glance before raising his eyebrows at me.
What doesn’t this kid know?
Justin rolls his eyes at him and then turns to me.
“Hang out after practice, yeah? I wanna talk to you.”
All of the boys look at me, Austin with a small smirk and Alex with a kissy face. Wow guys, way to make a girl feel uncomfortable.
Then, Justin disappears to unlock and open the garage door, leaving me with a bunch of smirking, knowing boys.
Austin steps up to me, resting and arm on my shoulder, his eyes twinkling when he says, “I know what he wants to talk to you about.”
I immediately close my eyes and cover my ears, “I don’t want to know—don’t tell me.”
“You sure do seem reluctant,” Sean comments, “Why would you go through with something you’re not sure about?”
What is he, a fortune cookie? Thanks, but I don’t need a lesson about life choices right now. I’m kind of too busy dreading whatever Justin wants to talk to me about.
Still, I shrug and open my eyes, looking directly at him when I ask, “Why are you still chasing something you can’t have?”
Sean looks away, his jaw tight and his arms crossing defensively.
Austin makes face, his lips in an “o” shape, grimacing slightly, “Ouch.”
“Shut up.” Sean says crossly, pushing past us to stalk into the now open garage.
Kris shakes his head at me, “Don’t upset Sean. He’s one of the most reliable people I know. I wouldn’t want to lose him if I was you.”
Sighing in frustration, I run my hands down my face, “I’m sorry! I just—ugh! I feel like he’s smothering me!”
“If anything, he’s looking out for you,” Alex states, “Him and Justin got in a little bit of a fight. He said, and I quote, “If you break her heart, I’ll break you.”
I wince at that, looking over my shoulder at the two boys in the garage setting up their instruments, both keeping as much distance between one another as possible.
“They’re making their band fall apart.” I whisper in a frustrated sigh.
Austin hugs me to his side, “Sean cares about you a lot, he quit for Karma—remember? Justin and him never got along the best in the first place, and no offense, but you’re making things worse.”
“You don’t have to date either one of them, you know.” Kris tells me, “And even if you do, if you break up, it’ll be messy. You’re probably going to be told to leave again. You’ve seen how Justin gets. He’s a hot-head.”
“And so are you.” Alex adds.
I close my eyes and exhale deeply, “You guys are not helping at all.”
“Just don’t let them pressure you into choosing, okay? We all think your romance is entertaining—but we don’t want the band to break up, okay?” Austin says while rubbing my shoulder soothingly.
I nod and they all walk away to join the other two in the garage. Standing there, I rethink my options. If I date Justin and we have a messy break up, I’m sure I’ll get kicked out. If Sean keeps interfering, Justin and him will get in a fight and break up the band. Either way, the band is going to break up. If I’m going to get involved with Justin, I’m going to have to move my pieces right. I’m going to have to make some premature decisions.
This is about to get very complicated.
“Joining us for warm-up, Carrots?”
Taking a deep breath, I turn and smile at them, “Yep!”
And with that, practice begins.
~*~
“I like it, I want to sing it.” I argue to Justin, who’s been battling with me about my song choice for the past fifteen minutes. Yeah, okay, we can do your dumb Lady Gaga song, but not my bad ass Bonnie Tyler one? His choice sounds as straight as Austin and mine is totally killer! Why would he argue about this? I have no idea.
“Mine will serve a purpose. Yours will only complicate my song choice.”
I scoff, “Purpose? You wouldn’t even let me sing during your song choice, I want a solo too!”
“Told you she wouldn’t like it.” Sean sings from behind his keyboard, looking smug.
Alex rolls his eyes and continues to play with his drumsticks while Austin and Kris have decided to sit down. Practice was going great until Justin told me no. All hell broke loose after that. I’ve been getting told no for the past month and a half by my mom, I want to do my song!
“Be quiet Sean,” Justin snaps and then turns his attention back to me, “You’ll thank me later. Let me do my song, you can do yours next week.”
Growling I tell him, “I think I deserve to do my song. You’ve got to make all the song choices for over a month. My turn.”
“It’s your own fault!”
“My fault? Really Justin? You don’t want to go there with me.” I threaten, anger boiling in me.
Justin shakes his head, “Look, we have a show tomorrow and you didn’t show up for practice yesterday. I think it’s only fair that we do what I want until you start being punctual.”
“You want to give me a punctuality lesson?” I warn, “You almost never show up to class on time, so don’t even think about telling me what to do.”
“Reese, just go with it and I promise you won’t be disappointed,” he grinds out through a tight smile and a clenched jaw.
“I will be disappointed! You want to sing Bad Romance for heaven’s sake. Can you get anymore gay?”
“Oi!” Austin blurts.
Grumbling, I turn to the slightly offended boy, “You know I love you.”
“It serves a purpose!” Justin interjects stubbornly.
“What purpose?” I ask again, saying it slowly and loudly as if he’s incompetent.
“You’ll see!” he shoots back just as rudely.
“Would you two give it up! Let Reese do hers. Justin your song doesn’t need to be done,” Sean interrupts, “You’re just setting her up.”
“Sean, “Alex warns.
“What?” I ask in confusion, “Set me up?”
“No—“
“Yes,” Sean cuts Justin off, “He wants to put this show on for you in front of the whole café to ask you to officially be his girlfriend. You can’t say no in front of a large crowd, can you? He’s setting you up so he can’t lose.”
“Who says I’d want to say no anyway?” I say crossly to Sean who ducks his head, and then turn on Justin, “Really? Is that what this is about? Because if it is, I just lost a whole lot of respect for you, and there wasn’t much to begin with.”
“No, I thought it would be—I don’t know, cute, cheesy, cliché, girls like that.” Justin says defensively, his face furious and his fists clenched.
I shake my head and let out a frustrated growl, “We both know how I feel about our current relationship. I obviously don’t trust you and using a performance to ask me to be your girlfriend is like trapping me. How could I say no in front of all those people without looking like a stuck up brat?”
“Thank you!” Sean breathes, apparently relieved.
The other boys are staring at us in awe, not really sure what to do and not quite sure if they should jump in and break it up.
Justin is red faced and angry, tripping over his words and sputtering. C’mon Justin, spit it out, unless you’ve got something to hide! Gosh, why is this even happening?
“You are all so full of it!” Justin yells, “Like I would actually put that much thought into Reese, c’mon, I’m not that desperate.”
My eyebrows raise and I look at him in pure disgust. Everything becomes dead silent, even Sean is biting his tongue, holding his breath.
“Excuse me?” I say in barely a whisper, “That kind of sounded like you took one step forward and then a thousand steps back.”
“What?” Justin stutters, “I didn’t mean it like that. You know how much I like you.”
I shake my head, looking away from him and biting my tongue. I can’t even look at him right now.
“Well, what?” Justin snaps, “You would be mad no matter what I did.”
“Well, it kind of sounded like this is all just an act, Justin,” I hiss, “It kind of sounded like you don’t really care that much.”
Justin begins to run his fingers through his hair, pacing and not facing me, “You are totally taking this the wrong way! You always overreact!”
“Yeah?” I ask, “What else, Justin, what else ticks you off, because I have a lot to say to you right now.”
He laughs lowly, “You want to know? Really?” he asks, “Well, let me tell you what Princess, you aren’t going to like what you hear.”
“Princess?” I say, the word leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
“Guys…” Austin starts, a worried look flashing across his face.
Justin ignores him and instead continues on, “You’re basically using me, ever think of that? You let me go on trial all for me to not be able to even touch you or kiss you without cringing, oh, and you don’t even want people to know. What’s the point? Is it just so you can say you’re not alone and single, anymore, huh?”
“You pressured me into this trial!” I shoot back.
“Don’t even.” He glares.
“Don’t even what?” I ask, “I’m so sick of all of you! Justin, just please, stop trying to push your way into my life. I don’t even know why you bother—and Sean, I know that you’re just looking out for me, but please, all of you just stop! I’m so done! I can’t take it anymore! Both of you just leave me alone. I don’t want either one of you.”
And with that I stalk out of the garage, picking up my skateboard on the way out. I can feel the warm tears sliding down my cheek before I can stop them. All of this emotional stress is really taking its toll.
I’m done with Justin and I’m done with Sean. I don’t want to ruin things for the band and from what I hear, Justin was doing exactly what Sean said. Setting me up, trapping me. What would he have gained from that?
Bragging rights against Sean?
Twice the popularity for the band with our love triangle?
Did he even really care? I want to believe he did, but a part of me is saying that I was just another piece in his game. A challenge, as Sean said. Once he had me trapped, he could finally win.
Another heart to be broken.
Well, I ended it before it could begin.
Tears have streaked my face, and I wipe away the moisture with the back of my hand. It’s not worth it, he’s not worth it.
“Reese!”
God, no.
“Reese, please wait up!”
No.
“Reese,” Sean says breathlessly when he’s caught up. Walking backwards, he steps in front of me and holds my shoulders. I shake his hands off so he tugs at his hair instead.
“Reese, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Please don’t be mad at Justin. He’s going to kill me, Reese, please don’t do this.” He rambles in between desperate gasps of air.
“Keep worrying about yourself, yep, sounds like Sean.” I say as sarcastically as I can, looking down to hide that fact that I was and probably still am crying.
His breathing hitches and then he covers his face with his hands, “No, I’m sorry. Just—please don’t do this. Forget everything I said, don’t listen to me.” He begs.
“Why? You were right, weren’t you?” I ask, “Got what you wanted.”
He shakes his head, his hands still covering his face, “No, I didn’t want to see you upset, that is the last thing I want. I don’t want this to hurt the band. Pretend this never happened, for everyone’s sake. I’m so sorry.”
I look up at him, unsure of what’s happening right now. I’m confused and afraid for the band. Sean is too, I can tell he never wanted things to get this bad. I know he’s right. I need to go back, pretend this never happened. The band is more important than some stupid high school drama.
Reaching up, I pull his hands away from his face. Again, he’s not wearing his glasses, but his eyes are shut and he refuses to look at me.
“You’re right.”
He nods, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say anything right now,” I tell him, holding back more tears that threaten to spill down my cheeks. Everything I’ve been holding back is trying to push through, “I just really need you to hug me right now, because I’m breaking down.” I tell him, my voice cracking.
Without another thought, he pulls me in and hugs me tightly, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“I’m sorry,” whispers again.