Chapter 3
It's Saturday morning, and I wake up to my phone buzzing. I roll over to glance at my clock and it's ten fifteen, so I answer the phone still half asleep. "Hello" I grumble.
"Mora, I told you that you had to be here at ten sharp!" My dad's voice is firm over the phone.
"Shit!" I scream out as I jump out of bed, now fully awake I run to my closet and dad screams back. "Do not use that language with me, and get here NOW!" and he hangs up quickly.
It's ten forty five when I finally make it to the shop. Dad pulls his head out from under an old pickup truck hood and is wiping his hands free of oil on an old stained up rag. He's pissed.
"I'm sorry dad. I didn't hear my phone go off." I say apologetically, and he doesn't even look at me.
"I gave you two extra hours. Anyone else would have to be here at eight. Just because you're my daughter doesn't give you the right to just show up when you want." I stand there and take it. "Just know it's coming out of your pay Mora." he's looking and pointing now as he says it.
Gosh he's so grumpy sometimes.
This summer dad asked me to work in the office at his mechanic shop. I really just help Lorene file invoices, and take phone calls. I don't think she really needs my help, but dad wanted me to have some responsibility.
"Hey kiddo." Lorene gives me a forgiving smile as I walk inside. She's in a blue vest, and boot cut jeans today. "I'm so sorry Lorene." I tell her.
"Oh, you're okay. It's Saturday after all. You should be able to sleep in a little." She winks at me.
"Tell that to dad." I huff, and she giggles, making me laugh with her.
I've known Lorene my whole life. She's always been working at the shop for us as long as I can remember. She's only about five years older than my dad. She has dark skin, and long silky black hair. Her eyes are a deep brown. She's absolutely gorgeous, and really like family to Conner and I.
"So Mora, what do you have planned tonight?" Lorene asks while I file appointments on the computer. "I'm not sure. Probably calling Emily to see if she wants to go see a movie or something." I'm waiting on the computer to load, while Lorene drinks her coffee.
"What's Scarlett doing tonight?" I stop what I'm doing and look up at her and roll my eyes.
She snorts. "Oh I see."
"Yes, if it doesn't include Conner then she's not interested." I start to say "and at this point I'm kind of glad Conner will be gone some so maybe I can get my best friend back." My computer finally comes to life, and I sign in.
"Ahh Mora, he'll be gone here really soon and you're going to miss him, and honestly this next month is going to fly by."
"Sure, I guess." I say knowing that she's absolutely right. I'm going to miss him so much and I'm not quite ready for that subject yet.
It felt like the day was never going to end. As soon as I'm off I call Emily to see what she's doing.
"Hey, you want to go to the movies. I hear there's this new romance comedy that's supposed to be really good."
"I would, but Zoe begged me to go to this party out at Lake Conroe, and I finally caved in."
"Oh" I answer. She comes back and asks "Will you please come. Everyone is supposed to be there."
I really don't want to go, so I get a little uneasy when I finally answer. "Nah, I think I'm going to stay in tonight. We just did this same thing last night."
"Please Mora. She's bringing that same guy from last night, and I don't want to be the third wheel."
"Then don't go." I sigh
"I can't stand her up. I promised. If you want, you can drive separate and not drink so if it's a dud you can just leave. I'll ask Zoe to drive so if I'm not enjoying myself I'll ride back with you." I don't respond, so she starts to beg "PLEASE?"
"Ugh, maybe. Let me call Ross and see if he's going so I don't have to drive by myself."
Her tone quickly changes. "Awesome! He's already going. I saw him talking about it on snap chat." Damn.
"Okay. What time are you getting out there?"
"Ten" she cheerfully says.
"Okay. See you then." and I hang up.
I text Ross.
Hi. Are you going to the lake house tonight?
Yes, You?
Yep. You driving?
I can.
Pick me up at nine thirty?
10-4
I go through my closet, and decide on my blue bathing suit, bleached out jean shorts, and a light white and tan polka dot beach jacket. I wear my hair down since it's finally not humid for once.
I walk down stairs and my dad is screaming at the Arkansas Razorbacks "Come on defense. You have to block better than that." he's cussing, and pacing around the living room acting like a fool. He's always been a hogs fan. I don't understand why though, because he's not from there.
"Dad, I'm going to hang out with Emily and Ross for a few hours."
"Okay, be back by two." He turns his head, but keeps his eyes on the TV.
"Love you." I say and run out the house.
Ross is outside waiting in his car. He is wearing a plain white t-shirt, with blue jeans. His hair is fixed with a messy look to it. "Mora!" he welcomes me in the car.
"Thanks for letting me tag along."
"No problem". He smiles. "Do you want to grab something to eat before we head out there?"
"Nah. I'm okay if you are." I answer.
"Okay."
An old Black Sabbath song is playing through the speakers. "Ross, can we please change the radio station?" I ask him if I can change the music every time I ride with him. He's always listening to old country, and rock music that's older than my dad. "Yes girl, yes. But it can't be that depressing stuff you love so much like, what's her name?" He looks up sarcastically "Is it Birdy?"
He knows me well. I laugh. "Okay, no Birdy tonight." I get my pandora going on my phone and pull up Hailee Steinfeld and he just rolls his eyes.
The lake house party is already two times bigger than Zach's party. The beach there has two large bonfires, and is a mix of mostly seniors, and some college kids. Every window on the house is brightly lit. I don't know who is throwing this party. "Do you know whose house this is?"
"I think it's Lilly McFadden's grandparents house, but I'm not sure."
"Must be nice." I say.
I wonder where Zoe and Emily are. I'm tagging along side Ross as he meets up with some of the guys from school.
"Hey Andrews." Dylan Story yells, and gets between Ross and I and drapes his arms around our shoulders.
"Hey" I give him a half smile and ask "Have you seen Zoe and Emily?" He acts like he doesn't hear my question and pushes forward.
"When are you and Ross going to just kiss and get it over with?" Ross pushes him off of us before I can do it myself.
"Bro, leave her alone." The group of guys just laugh, and I roll my eyes.
"Dylan, my question before..." he interrupts me
"They're over there by the bonfire." he points and they start to walk off.
Ross asks me "Do you want me to tag along?" I can tell he wants to go with the guys.
"No, go ahead. Just don't leave me." I smile
"No way Mora. I'd never leave you." he continues "Just text me if you're ready to go, and I'll do the same."
"Okay."
Zoe is wrapped up in the arms of the same guy she brought to the party last night, while Emily is talking to a group of people on the other side. I walk up behind her. "Hey." and she turns around and hugs me.
"Hey." she says loudly. "Thanks for coming, Mora. Really. Zoe made me drive her car here, while they made out in the backseat." she makes a gagging motion, and I laugh out loud.
"No problem." I say. The breeze is cool from hitting the water. "Are there any games going on." I ask.
"They have flip cup going on closer to the house. Do you want to play?"
"Yeah, let me text Ross really fast and ask him if he's drinking tonight." I text him, and he quickly responds.
Nah. I'm driving. You go ahead. Where are you?
Flip cups
K
In a few minutes we've finally picked teams. Emily and I are teamed up with Danny, Zach, and Zach's girlfriend Shannon. "Hey Shannon, how are you?" You can tell she's already played a few games "I'm good. You?" She yells over the music.
"Good. Let's kick butt!" and she high fives Emily and I.
I gag while I chug my beer before flipping the cup on the table. It's a heavy beer. Not what I'm used to. Emily is in agreement following me. "Good God, what is this?" she yells as she's attempting to land the flip. A drunk guy across the table screams back.
"It's six point o" I look at him confused. He explains better "It's cheap!" Ah. I start to chug again.
Before I know it, I'm pretty tipsy and ready to move on to something else. "I need to pee." I say to Emily.
"Let's go." she responds, and tucks her arm through mine as we walk inside.
When I get out of the bathroom I wait on her leaning against the wall, looking down the stairs at all the people when I hear my name.
"Hi Mora." I yank my head behind me where there's a den and a couple people playing video games. It's Aiden sitting there giving me a small waive. I walk up to him.
"Hey. Didn't know you would be here." and I didn't. He usually isn't one that comes to all the parties. Don't get me wrong, he gets invited to them, but usually only comes on special occasions.
"Yeah I didn't have anything better going on." he smiles. "Want to play?" he motions his game controller to me.
"No thanks, but I'll watch you play."
Emily walks out as I'm sitting down next to Aiden, and eye's both of us amused.
"What are you doing? Want to go back outside?" I'm finally comfortable, when I decline.
"Nah. I need to sit down for a few minutes after those beers. I'll come down in awhile."
"Okay." before she leaves she looks at Aiden, then back at me and raises one of her eyebrows. I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I hope that he didn't see her make that expression.
"So did you come with Emily?" he asks while he shoots down a soldier in the video game.
"No, I came with Ross." I respond, and he quickly pauses the game and stares over at me, and one guy sitting on a bean bag speaks up.
"What the hell Aiden!" Aiden quickly un-pauses the game, and starts shooting again.
"Ross Langley?" he asks now watching the men move on the television screen.
"Yes." It's a weird feeling sitting next to Aiden Bryant and talking to him about what I'm doing, and who I'm hanging out with.
"Isn't he your brother's best friend?" he asks, and I can't help but giggle at his statement.
"Yes, but he's one of my friends too."
"Makes sense I guess." his voice is unimpressed. "I'm done playing this stupid game." he hands the controller off to someone else. "Do you still want to sit up here, or do you want to go outside and hangout?" he looks down at me. How weird. He didn't come with me. He could just go downstairs and leave me, but honestly I didn't know any of these people so there's no way I'm staying without him. "Sure, let's go outside."
He grabs my hand to help me off the couch, and I can't miss the heat that comes from him.
"Are you drunk?" he nudges me with his elbow laughing.
"No, just a little tipsy." I smile back. "Are you?"
"No. I learned my lesson after last night. So I'm drinking soda tonight."
Aiden isn't as bad as I thought. He's actually really nice. I should've known better than to judge someone based on what others say, or how I see them in the hallways at school.
We're downstairs walking through the double doors out back when he questions me again. "So you and Ross are just friends?"
Even though we've made our way outside in the dark I just know he can see me blush. His concern about Ross makes me wonder if he's jealous. But that wouldn't make sense. "Yes. Why?" I ask curiously, wondering why he cares so much.
"Just wondering." he answers looking over at my friends dancing by the bonfire.
Aiden sits next to me on a log next to Zoe, and her boyfriend. Emily is taking selfies with Danny and a few other people I don't know because they are a couple years older than me.
"Hi I'm Mora." I let out my hand and introduce myself to Zoe's new boyfriend.
"Hey. I'm Melrose." he shakes my hand. He's tall and slender with a short haircut. He has olive colored skin, and deep brown eyes.
"This is Aiden." I nudge Aiden and he takes out his hand from his pocket.
"What's up." he gives Melrose a fist pump.
Zoe is solely focused on Melrose. I don't think I've ever seen her look at a boy this way, and I've seen her look at a lot of boys over the years.
"How long have you two been dating?" I ask both of them.
"About a month." Zoe say's elated.
"You two are really cute!" I respond, and she smiles really big, laying her head on his shoulder before he kisses her forehead.
Suddenly I feel two hands on my shoulders taking away my attention on the two of them. "Hey Mora, are you ready to go?" It's Ross. I look up at him, and he let's go of me, to walk around the log and sit down opposite of Aiden and I. "Hey bro." He says to Aiden.
"Hey Man, whats up?" Aiden seems unbothered by Ross, and it surprisingly sets off a short spark in my stomach.
"Oh nothing. Just seeing if Mora is ready to go. We came here together." He says in a sharp voice.
"Ahh Ross, I'm actually having fun right now. Can we stay a little longer?" I ask him.
Shockingly he looks irritated at me. "I don't know. I'm getting tired." His words are brief now.
Aiden quickly injects himself in our conversation. "I can take you home if you're not ready to go yet." he says only to me.
Ross shoots him an annoyed look, and steps up before I can answer. "Nah, it's okay. I can hangout a little longer if you're having a good time Mora."
I feel the tension immediately, and I sense that it's between the two of them. I can tell Emily and Zoe feel it too. They both look at me with eyes opened wide.
I quickly jump up to intervene. "It's okay Ross, I don't mind riding home with Aiden if you are ready to go. I promise, I won't be mad if you leave." I respond, and he sighs loudly.
"Okay. Fine. Will you at least text me when you get home safely?" he asks me.
"Sure thing." I go over and hug him. "Thanks for bringing me tonight."
"You're welcome." he hugs me back, then slowly walks away.
We all debate music and movies for about an hour next to the fire when Aiden turns and glances at me. "Want to get away from this fire? It's kind of hot over here." I can feel knots in my stomach. It's weird. I haven't felt this way in a long time. He's so cute in his dark charcoal v neck t-shirt, and gray jeans with classic converse shoes on.
"Yeah. Okay" I answer.
We walk over to a pavilion where there's a bunch of floaties, and towels hanging up inside. He grabs two towels and lays them down on a grassy hill that meets the sand at the lake. I sit down, as he lays back on his elbows. He stares up at the sky in silence.
I find myself so curious in what he's thinking, but don't bring myself to ask.
He puts his hands behind his head. "You know Ross likes you." He randomly says, and I look down at him shocked.
"No he doesn't." I answer back, and he snorts.
"He definitely does." his eyes stay glued to the stars above us.
Even if he did like me, which I know he doesn't, it's not really Aiden's business, and I find myself getting defensive for Ross. "No, I'm sure he doesn't. We've been friends forever."
I've seen Ross go through a handful of girlfriends, and I know for a fact that since I was thirteen, he hasn't liked me. Besides the cookie, he's never shown any interest in me. If anything it's the exact opposite.
We lay there in silence for a while when suddenly a football is flying our way. Aiden jerks up to catch it, and throws it back.
"Are you ready to go home?" He finally looks over at me. I wasn't, but I could tell he was over this conversation and being here. I don't refuse.
"Yeah, let's go." He's up before me, and helps to pull me up off the beach and we start walking back to the bonfire so I can tell the girls bye.
I see Zoe first, dancing with Melrose. He's holding her by her waste, and she sways left and right. Emily is sitting with Danny closely may I add.
"I'm headed home." I say to Emily, and she whispers something to Danny and gets up quickly to give me a hug. She mutters in my ear "Call me tomorrow when you wake up. I want details." I don't have time to tell her there are no details before she is off at Danny's side again sharing his drink.
I guess I'm going to have to get more details from her than she from me.
Zoe is zoned into dancing to even notice me waive her bye.
We walk in silence to the driveway out front. He leads us to his black jeep wrangler. It's an older model with dust stained on the side of it. As I climb up inside I notice it's a manual shift. I'm impressed. "You can drive stick?" he looks over amused at me while keeping his hand on the shifter.
"There's no other way to drive." he answers.
"Sure there is." I smile. "Automatic... I mean, that's how I roll anyway." I respond, and we both laugh as we leave the lake house.
We drown our silence with the radio, until we make it to my house, and I'm surprised he knew how to get to my house "How do you know where I live?" I ask him.
He puts his jeep in park on the curb of my driveway, and looks over at me. "Mora, I've been here a few times. Don't you remember." he puts his hands over his heart gesturing the motion like he's been wounded.
"When?" I ask.
"All those football lunches on Sundays back in Jr. High." he says more like a question.
"I didn't know you were on the team." I admit.
"Ouch Andrews. You didn't even notice me. That hurts... hurts a lot." He gives me a pouty face.
"I'm sorry. I just tried to stay clear of all you boys." We both laugh again.
"Yeah yeah." He says.
I hope I didn't hurt his feelings, but then again I don't think Aiden Bryant is a boy who gets his feelings hurt.
I open the door, and throw my purse over my shoulder. "Thanks for taking me home Aiden. It was nice of you to offer." I say.
He leans over. "Anytime Mora. I hope you have a good night."
"You too." I smile at him and close the door running up on the front porch of my house.
He waits on me to get my keys out and get inside. Once I open the door I see his headlights pull out of the driveway.
While I'm shutting the door I hear my dad unexpectedly say "Mora."
I jump "Dad, you scared me!" while he just stands there staring at me. "What? I'm thirty minutes early." I sarcastically state.
"That's not Ross's car. Who was that?" he asks.
"Aiden Bryant" I answer.
"Are you two going out?" he questions, and I just sigh. I'm not talking to my dad about boys.
"Nooo." I drag out my word, and start to walk upstairs.
"Okay then. Good night." Dad always knows when I'm uncomfortable and never pushes me.
"Good night Dad. Love you." I say behind my shoulders. I can't hear his response as I'm passing Conner's room.
He sees me first stopping me in my steps. "Did you have fun tonight?" I hold myself up on the frame of his door only leaning in my head.
"Yes, you?" I ask.
"Yeah, we went and ate at the Grill, and then played mini golf." His expression becomes more serious. "Did I hear you just tell dad that Aiden Bryant brought you home?"
I hesitate before answering for reasons I don't know. "Yes."
"I thought you rode with Ross?"
"I did."
"Why didn't you ride back with him?" I feel like I'm being interrogated by dad, and I'm starting to get a little annoyed
"He was ready to go, and I wasn't. Aiden offered to bring me home, so I was doing the nice thing and letting Ross go home."
"Just be careful with Aiden..."
I cut him off. "Why does everyone keep saying that?" I push myself off his door frame standing in his doorway now.
"He's just been around Mora. I don't want you to get your feelings hurt."
I'm starting to get pissed now. "It's not like we're going out or anything. We're just friends."
"Aiden Bryant doesn't do just friends Mora."
I snap at him. "How do you know that?"
"All I know is the only time I've seen him around a girl, he's either dating her, or making her cry afterwards."
"Conner, I'm telling you now that there's nothing between the two of us. He's my friend, and that's it. He's never tried to do anything with me. He's seriously a really nice guy." I hesitate shortly. "Zoe, and Emily were getting along with him great tonight, and I know you and Scarlett would like him too."
"Mora, I already know him, and yeah he's an okay guy. I'm just watching out for you, and you've only been hanging out with him a couple of days. He could like you, and you don't know it yet." Suddenly his phone lights up, and he checks it, now occupied he says "Just be careful."
"Yeah Con, I get it." I stomp off to my room.
I get into my pajamas, and flip my pillows. Finally laying down I text Ross.
I'm home safe and sound.
K.
He's being short, so I text back.
Are you ok?
I'm fine. G-night.
Good night.
I decide to not feed into Ross' short text. Normally I would call him to see what I did to upset him, but I have a feeling it was Aiden, and I'm too tired to get into that tonight.
As I lay down I can't help but think about Aiden. I know that I told Conner we're just friends, but I can't help but imagine us more than friends. Maybe he's not a playboy, but just misunderstood.