Chapter 6: Flattery Will Get You Anywhere
“So what’s going on between you and Jose Herrera, Sav?” asked Cara, a friend of Hannah’s, as she tried to get more intel on me and Jose, another ex-fling of mine and the current soccer team’s captain. As proud cheerleaders, some of them felt obliged to keep up with whom their most beloved athletes were dating.
“Nothing, of course,” Hannah interrupted me, waving her off before I could’ve gotten a word in just as I opened my mouth to reply, “Savvy’s moved onto college guys now,” she said suggestively to her friends as she winked at me and I sighed inwardly.
“Oh, really?” exclaimed another one of the bimbos whose name I couldn’t remember nor cared enough to.
“Yeah,” Hannah answered for me, “and you even know him,” she said in a low, conspiratorial voice, as if that would make it sound more secretive, which it sort of did, but that was not the point.
“Who?” Leslie Schmitt wondered, widening her eyes at her and not even glancing at me.
“Tyson Jones,” Hannah said simply, then straightened up and gave them a smug look as the girls were in awe and I took a sip from my beer.
Okay, so obviously that cat was out of the bag.
“No way.”
“TJ? Really?
“You can’t mean…”
“Tyson Jones?”
“Are you really dating him?” Cara jabbed me in the ribs, making me choke and almost spill my beer, but they were too curious to wait for me to swallow, apparently.
“To say I’m dating him is a bit of a stretch-“
“Ohmigosh, I’m so jealous…”
“You’re such a maneater…”
“You lucky bitch!”
I downed my drink and then slowly started walking backwards, trying not to attract too much attention, or be too obvious about it. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back. I need a refill,” I told them, although I doubted any of them were really listening. Not even Hannah who was animatedly telling everyone how crazy Tyson was about me and how he didn’t wait 24 hours to call me up and ask me out.
That, too, was a bit of a stretch, but since I doubted anyone cared to hear what I had to say, I decided to make my escape before I got the headache of a lifetime.
As much as I used to enjoy bonfires before – telling stories around the fire, singings songs, having a drink or two, hanging out with your friends and laying down under the dark starry sky, I thought I was falling out of love with them. I no longer cared for that.
Actually, right now I wanted to be as far away from people as possible. I walked down the beach until I was close enough to the bonfire to hear my friends’ laughter and yet secluded enough, so I could pretend I was somewhere else.
It was just me and the ocean, just the way I liked it. No interruption.
I didn’t hear anyone approach me until I felt a hand brush against my shoulder.
“Hey,” Rachel smiled timidly at me as she sat down next to me, “I brought you ‘s’mores,” she said to me as I looked at her disdainfully.
“I should’ve figured it was you. Did you put a GPS tracker on me or something because it seriously looks like you’re stalking me,” I told her in all earnest, ignoring her outstretched hand and the delicious s’more cookie it held as she slowly retracted it.
I wasn’t surprised that Rachel had shown up to the bonfire – all the upperclassmen in our school knew about it after all, so I knew she wouldn’t let the opportunity slide by.
“No, I didn’t,” Rachel replied, sighing and letting her hair down, “I saw you leave the party and I followed you. You looked lonely,” she mumbled, shrugging at me, pointedly avoiding making eye contact for some reason.
“Are you an expert on my feelings now, too?” I scoffed, thinking that this was exactly what I needed – my crazy sister playing my therapist.
“No, actually,” she paused, swallowing the lump in her throat before daring to face me, “I wanted to tell you that I broke up with Ian,” she informed me, as if this piece of news did anything for me.
Inwardly, I rolled my eyes – how long had it been this time? A week before she grew tired of him and tossed him away?
“Good for you, Rach,” I said sardonically, not really caring how her love life was going, “but what makes you think I care?” I quipped, wondering why Rachel still pushed the issue when she knew I wouldn’t budge.
There wasn’t one particular reason that led to our falling out.
It was a series of mistakes we both did, which at the end proved that we were incompatible as sisters. We may have looked alike and shared the same genes, but that was where our similarities ended.
She undermined me every step of the way, always trying to do better than me, or steal what was already mine. Ever since we were kids, back when our parents were still together, she’d always go crying to them about what I’d done whereas she was the perfect obedient daughter that never did anything wrong.
I was tired of always feeling like a failure no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried.
Every family has a fuck-up.
In my family that was me.
“I don’t. I just want us to stop fighting,” Rachel tried to reason with me, giving her best puppy dog eyes that didn’t work on me. I was immune to parlor tricks like this.
Who did she think I was?
I was the one who taught her that look.
“I’m not fighting with you,” I countered back, thinking that she was the one who always came looking for me, so that wasn’t on me, “you’re the one who always picks a fight with me,” I explained to her in the simplest terms possible.
“Because you refuse to talk to me!” Rachel exclaimed, frustrated that she wasn’t getting the results she wanted probably.
“Because,” I drawled, slowly, “it may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t like you,” I said honestly, not really too worried that I might’ve hurt her feelings by putting it like that.
“You may not like me, but we’re family, Savannah. We’re supposed to love each other,” she claimed, getting all high and mighty with me, as if she knew the next damn thing about family and family loyalty.
“And mom was supposed to love dad, too, but that didn’t stop her from cheating on him for years, lying to his face all that time without blinking,” I grimaced, fighting the urge to throw up as the memories of that awful time came rushing back in, reminding me how stupid and blindfolded I’d been.
“Both of you deserve each other,” I told Rachel, thinking that it was true what they said – like mother, like daughter, “the both of you know so much about love on theory, but all you do is hurt the people you love,” I said to Rachel, thinking that I still couldn’t look my mother in the eye without getting a queasy stomach, or the undeniable urge to run and never look back. “What I don’t understand is how you can sit here and talk to me about love and whatnot when you knew all about her sexcapades and never breathed a word about it to anyone. I don’t know how you could do this to dad,” I wondered absent-mindedly, thinking to myself that this, the day when the whole truth came out, was when I finally decided I didn’t want people like my mother and my sister in my life.
Rachel, to her credit, looked bashful and ashamed as she looked down at her hands and pursed her lips. “It wasn’t my secret to tell,” she said eventually, still not meeting my eyes, not even trying to defend herself.
“What a load of BS, Rachel,” I snorted, and then jumped up to my feet, “and you wonder why I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” I said to her, already walking away and back to the bonfire where my friends were.
“Come on, Sav, you can’t be still mad about this!” Rachel groaned, hurrying up to catch up with me.
“That,” I said, glaring down at her until she stepped away, realizing she was standing too close, “and many other things. Just watch me,” I said to her, leaving her behind without a second thought, the same way she’d left both me and dad in the dark, choosing the evil witch’s side.
***
My mood ruined for good with no chance of salvaging it, I was lucky enough to catch a ride with Paula Dwayne whose boyfriend had apparently felt up her best friend at the bonfire and she was having a hard time dealing with it, or so she said. Not that she needed to say it out loud, the look on her face and the angry tears in her eyes said it all. Although I really didn’t understand why she was so pissed-slash-hurt by it; boys would always be horn dogs. That wasn’t so surprising now, was it? But I sympathized with her. Knowing this, well…it never made things any easier.
I didn’t want to go back there to find my friends and explain to them what was wrong and why I wanted to leave since all I really wanted to do was just leave, so when I saw a tearful Paula making a quick escape, I grabbed the opportunity. Thankfully, she agreed and drove me over to Saul’s, considering I didn’t want to go to Connor’s to an empty house, so that I can dwell on all the shit my family had gone through in the last couple of years.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join me?” I asked her out of politeness, not really looking forward to continuing our lovely chat about how much life sucked. It was pointless drivel to me, all of it. Try having your whole family be torn apart by blatant lies, and deceit, and betrayal to the point where the four of you couldn’t be in the same room together before you start telling me all about your petty little drama. Then you’d change your perspective on boyfriends feeling up your girl friends.
However, I knew that sometimes comfort food did miracles for a crying soul.
“No, thanks,” she shook her head, sniffling and gripping the steering wheel with all her might, ready to go, “I have some pictures to burn,” she said to me and no sooner than I’d gotten out of the car, she’d slammed on the gas pedal and disappeared from my sight.
I walked into Saul’s, breathing in the homey atmosphere before I found an empty table and plopped down, throwing my bag on the seat next to me.
“Rough night?” asked Suzy as she came over to my table, ready to take my order, her hand poised over her little notebook.
“You don’t know half of it,” I said dramatically, rolling my eyes, only half-joking. Suzy chuckled, having already gotten used to my antics and no longer even batting an eyelash at the melodramatic crap that sometimes left my mouth.
“So I take it you’re going to have the usual?” she asked just to make sure, already writing it down on the paper.
“That,” I nodded my head in affirmative, my stomach growling as I rubbed it comfortingly, realizing it wouldn’t be long now before I had a meal for champions, “and a strawberry milkshake,” I said, deciding to spoil myself a little because I deserved it from time to time.
Just as Suzy left to give my order to chief, I got a text from Connor.
Where did you go off to? It said and a part of me smiled at how grammatically correct his messages had always been. Most teenage boys couldn’t care less about stuff like that, but even though Connor was a typical boy in many ways – this was not one of them.
I didn’t bother replying though because I knew that another question would follow after this one and I really just wanted to enjoy my burger in peace. When I didn’t get another text, asking what was up my ass, I thought Connor had actually gotten a clue and decided not to push it, which would’ve been a first. When he came strolling through the front door twenty minutes later, I found out that was not the reason.
I was just biting into my second savory burger, my food buds experiencing an intense orgasm when he noticed me and I stopped chewing.
He was all alone and when he saw me, he simply shook his head, as if he knew he should’ve expected this from me and was hardly surprised if at all.
He slid in the seat across from me smoothly, saying, “Look who’s not replying now.”
“Not even going to lie,” I said with my mouth still full, “I didn’t want to.”
Then instead of responding to my jab, Connor stole my third cheeseburger right under my nose.
“Hey, I was going to take that to-go,” I protested, but it was already too late – he’d already taken a bite out of it, so that automatically made it uneatable.
“I’m just looking out for your figure,” Connor jested, laughing at the look on my face.
Okay, so I might’ve not needed to stuff my face with burgers, like I was getting paid to do it, but I sure wanted to. Besides, I was a growing woman – I needed my carbs.
“That’s what you get for leaving your friends hanging,” he told me unapologetically as I shook my head at him, inwardly cussing him out to Canada and back.
“My friends will do just fine without me, trust me,” I assured him, thinking that Hannah was born a survivor, Owen was too cute for anyone to be mad at him, ever, and Connor…well, he was Connor. And those three were the people I really considered my friends. Everyone else was just a part of the background as cold-hearted and cynical as that might be. The truth was rarely pretty, after all.
“How did you get here anyway?” Connor asked curiously, probably figuring that since he was my ride to the bonfire and none of my so-called friends had no idea about my whereabouts, then I must’ve teleported myself over here, which would’ve been pretty damn awesome, I have to admit, but alas, that was not the case.
“I got a ride,” I said, slurping on my milkshake loudly just to annoy him, “apparently Paula Dwayne caught her boyfriend groping one of her friends and she was having a mental meltdown.”
“Who’s Paula Dwayne?” asked Connor in befuddlement, furrowing his brows in thought and giving me a confused look. My mouth gaping open, I stared at him, not believing that guy.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked him, finally closing my mouth before I caught a fly. “You don’t remember Paula? We had calc. with her for two years,” I informed him, enunciating each word, not that he seemed very interested in this piece of information at all. He seemed more interested in the floor tiles, or in eating his burger than in trying to figure out who that girl was, never mind that he’d been attending the same school as her for ages and should’ve at least learned her name by now.
“I go to school with a lot of people,” he stated, as if this was the best excuse he could come up with me. Not that he put any effort to prove me wrong to begin with. He never really did because that wouldn’t be cool, would it?
“Jesus H. Christ,” I muttered under my breath, not even finding the desire to fight the guy. Connor just might be one of the most self-absorbed people I’d ever met and he was so clueless about it, you couldn’t even hate him for it.
“Why did you leave, though? I bet Paula wasn’t the reason,” Connor speculated, quirking at eyebrow up at me, looking for some insight, but it was doubtful if he was going to find any.
“I just wasn’t having any fun,” I said truthfully…well, as truthfully as I could, leaving some things out.
“You, the party girl?” he asked, joking, but there was a seriousness and an edge to his voice I couldn’t miss, knowing him for as long as I had.
“There’s a first time for everything,” I remarked, shrugging. “How did you find me, anyways?” I added quickly, thinking that Connor had some kick-ass tracker skills. That, or he too was stalking me now. And that was a trend I wish people would stop following. It’d happened one too many times just tonight.
“Sav, you have no idea just how predictable you are,” he replied, smirking and I stared at him, scandalized that he’d even say such a thing. That just might’ve been the most offensive thing anyone had ever said to me.
“I’m so not predictable. Actually, I’m anything but predictable,” I countered back, taking personal offense in this statement. All my life, I’d been accused of acting too rashly, not thinking things through and being too spontaneous for my own good. When exactly did I become predictable? How did that happen?
“Yes, you are,” Connor nodded curtly, not missing a beat, “I can always tell what you’re going to do, or what you’re going to say. You’re way too easy to read,” he claimed and I scoffed at him at once.
“Now you’re just flat-out lying to me,” I told him because I was many things, but I was hardly a puzzle you can just put together and figure out what it means.
“And now you’re seriously insulting me,” Connor quipped, “when have I ever lied to you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging once more, “you could’ve lied to me. Who’s to say that you’re not lying to me now about not lying to me ever?” I wondered, leaning in and looking into his eyes as he blinked back at me.
“Okay, you lost me,” Connor sighed, leaning back in his seat, having been defeated by me.
“Can’t say I’m surprised,” I chuckled at this, “you are the brawn, not the brains after all,” I joked as he gave me a chilling look.
“Flattery will get you anywhere,” Connor said sarcastically, brushing it off.
I laughed and then we lapsed into comfortable silence as we both enjoyed the rest of our burgers.
“Jokes aside, Sav,” Connor suddenly spoke up again, leaning in and resting his elbows on the table, “what’s up? You just seem…kind of out of it tonight,” he remarked and as I opened my mouth to tell him that he was imagining things, he went on talking. “Don’t tell me it’s because of Tyson because seriously-“
“What? No?” I sputtered, wrinkling my forehead. “What does he have to do with anything? Why do you guys won’t stop quizzing me about him?” I wondered, truly at a loss why my friends wouldn’t stop talking or bringing him up. Frankly, I barely knew him, and yes, it didn’t take a fortune teller to tell you that I liked him (even more that I was smitten with him or whatever), but he was not what was bothering me.
“I don’t know. You seemed real interested in him,” Connor replied, shrugging one shoulder as he popped a fry into his mouth. “But now you’re just being weird.”
“No, you’re being weird,” I fired back, shaking my finger at him. “Although Hannah has apparently told everyone that me and Tyson are dating or something and that he’s in lurve with me,” I continued, frowning as I remembered the way she’d put me in the limelight without even giving me heads up and all.
“Well, aren’t you dating?” Connor queried, curiosity lacing his voice as he didn’t bother hiding his surprise.
“No, we only hang out once, you know that, and we haven’t talked since,” I admitted, not really upset by the news. I knew he was going to call, he said so and I had no reason to think he’d lie to me, so I was going to wait and not freak out, or wait by my phone until it finally rang and it was him. I wasn’t the kind of girl that did stuff like that. I could’ve been, but I wasn’t.
Connor kept chewing as he nodded his head in approval. “Good,” he concluded, swallowing and just as I was about to start scolding him for being so radical and harsh when he hardly knew the guy, Connor’s cell vibrated, signaling he got a text.
As he read it, I saw him furrow his brows, so I knew it wasn’t going to be good news. “My parents’ flight just landed for reals. Let’s get home,” he said, motioning for me to stand up as he pulled a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and put it on the table before we walked out of Saul’s and he drove us home.