All of You (10 page)

~~~~~~~~

“Hot chocolate time, monster?” Lincoln asked
Ben once we were free of the castle. Ben yelped with excitement,
grabbed Lincoln’s hand, and pulled him toward the hot chocolate
stand.

“Five, please,” Lincoln said to the woman
behind the counter. It was a cute little stand I think was meant to
look like an Alpine ski lodge.

“Four,” Kennedy corrected. “Madison and I can
share.”

The lady behind the counter nodded and served
up four piping-hot cups of chocolaty goodness before directing us
to a side table with toppings for our drinks. Containers of whipped
cream, sprinkles, caramel drizzle, chocolate chips, marshmallows,
nutmeg, and cinnamon lined the table. They had anything you could
possibly want to add to a cup of hot chocolate. Ben’s eyes lit up,
and he bolted for the table and reached for a can of whipped cream.
Kennedy quickly came up behind him to help him while holding
Madison on her hip. I scanned the table, looking for embellishments
to add to my own drink.

“Marshmallow?” Lincoln asked and held one up
in front of my face. I smiled, grabbed the marshmallow from him,
and popped it in my mouth, bypassing my cup. Lincoln’s face erupted
in a wide smile, and he grabbed another marshmallow and copied my
actions.

“Ever play Chubby Bunny?” I asked Lincoln as
he chewed his marshmallow. Lincoln cocked an eyebrow and shook his
head. “No?” I was surprised. “Never at a party in middle
school?”

“I didn’t go to many parties,” Lincoln said
sadly, and I mentally kicked myself. He had told me that.

“Sorry. Okay, we’ll make up for it right now.
Chubby Bunny. One by one, we shove marshmallows into our mouths
until we can’t say the words ‘Chubby Bunny’ anymore. Then the other
person wins.” I explained. “But, like, make sure you stop before
you choke.”

“Choke?” Lincoln questioned and his eyebrows
shot up.

“Yeah, people have died because they didn’t
know when to stop,” I said gravely. I wasn’t sure if that was an
urban legend or not, but it was still a good warning.

“And you played this in middle school??”
Lincoln said astonished.

I giggled. “Yeah, just don’t choke. You’ll be
fine.” I popped a marshmallow in my mouth. “Chubby Bunny.”

Lincoln grinned and followed suit. “Chubby
Bunny,” he said.

“No chewing!” I ordered and popped another
marshmallow in my mouth. “Chubby Bunny.”

Lincoln repeated the action. “Chubby Bunny.
This is stupid, Jillian,” Lincoln said without any problem.

“Just wait, it’ll get better.” I popped two
marshmallows in my mouth to speed things up. “Chubby Bunny,” I
said, sounding slightly distorted.

“Two?” Lincoln asked.

I nodded. “Step it up,” I said, trying not to
laugh at how funny I sounded.

“All right…” Lincoln said and put two in his
mouth. “Chubby Bunny,” he said without any difficulty.

I placed a fifth one in my mouth. “Chubby
Bunny!” I managed to mumble. This was getting to be too much.
Lincoln laughed at my struggle, and I picked up a marshmallow and
offered it to Lincoln. He managed to separate his lips, and I
crammed a fifth one into his mouth. Lincoln’s eyes sparkled with
laughter, and he breathed through his nose as if he was trying not
to laugh.

“Chubby Bunny.” Lincoln managed to say,
sounding only slightly less mumbled than I had.

I held up another marshmallow and gave
Lincoln a challenging look. I succeeded in shoving the sixth
marshmallow into my mouth, but that was my limit. My cheeks were
puffed out, and my mouth wouldn’t close all the way. I knew the
marshmallows were about to burst out of my mouth, but my
competitive streak took over, and I wasn’t about to let Lincoln win
this.

“Chubby Bunny!” I yelled out in a half grunt,
half mumble. Lincoln tipped his head back in silent laughter due to
the marshmallows and I tried to keep it together.

“Well,” a familiar voice said from next to
us. “If you weren’t a big enough freak show before, you sure are
now.”

All traces of humor vanished, and I clamped
my hand over my mouth as I felt a sickness rise in my stomach. I
turned to confirm my fear and saw Mackenzie McKay standing to my
left with a twisted smirk of evil on her face. I knew Mackenzie
only reserved that face for moments of pure evil. No one would have
voted her Miss Illinois if they knew what her face looked like when
she showed her true colors. But I knew firsthand how easily
Mackenzie hid her evil ways.

Kennedy must have heard what had been said
because she burst forward in my defense even though she couldn’t
have known that this evil bitch was the reason for a majority of my
problems in college. “What do you think you are doing? Get the hell
out of here,” Kennedy demanded.

I was confused but didn’t care at that
moment. I just needed to be away from Mackenzie. I had managed to
avoid her since freshman year, and the last thing I wanted was to
ever see her again.

“Careful now. There are cameras watching.”
Mackenzie inclined her head toward a line of news reporters who
were covering the festival.

“You need to get away from us. Now.” Lincoln
glared at Mackenzie and handed me a paper towel. He must have spit
out his marshmallows.

“What’s the problem, lover?” she said,
surprising me. Her eyes flicked between Lincoln and me. “Are you
fucking this dog or something, Linc?” Mackenzie indicated toward
me. “Why would you want that, when you could have this again?” She
pressed her body up against Lincoln’s.

I didn’t stick around to see Lincoln’s
reaction. I took the paper towels and stormed off in the opposite
direction, back toward the ice castle. I heard Lincoln call out to
me, but I didn’t stop.

I didn’t stop until I felt I was safely lost
in the crowd. I spit the remains of my marshmallows out in the
towel and threw it and my cup of hot chocolate into a garbage can.
I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Like seriously,
universe? Mackenzie—freaking—McKay. Seriously?

Not wanting to completely break down in
public, I looked around for somewhere to hide and eventually ran
for the ice castle. I ran all the way inside and up the stairs,
praying the tower room would still be empty. Thankfully, it
was.

I collapsed against the wall, putting my head
in my hands, and ignored the cold that was seeping into my body. I
gave myself a minute to despair, but I knew this was neither the
time nor place to break down. I wanted to go home and wallow in
self-pity in the peace and quiet of my bed. But Lincoln had driven
me here, and my options for getting home were limited. I pulled my
phone out of my purse and sent a text to my little brother asking
for a ride. I silently prayed he was not busy, and when he
responded with just that answer I breathed a sigh of relief and
quickly arranged for him to pick me up.

I wouldn’t speak to Lincoln anymore. We had a
nice kiss, and I let myself believe for a second that he wanted me.
I should have googled his personal life. Then I would have known he
was dating Miss Illinois, Queen Bitch herself. Of course he was
dating her. She was gorgeous, and so was he. I hoped the sweet,
caring, teasing side of his personality was a ruse and in real life
he was just as terrible as Mackenzie was. That way they could make
each other miserable for the rest of their lives.

I should have just trusted my instincts. Why
did I listen to Rebecca?! Ugh! I hated myself in that moment. I
second-guessed every reaction I had to him and every reason behind
everything I had done since meeting him. I kept coming back to the
same conclusion. Whatever reason he had for wanting to be around me
was beyond my comprehension, but the truth was I was stupid for
letting him in. I had no one to blame but myself. My phone chimed;
Lincoln was calling me. I hit ignore.

I had hit ignore twelve more times on calls
from Lincoln and had five unread texts from him before my brother
finally sent me a text telling me where to meet him. I made my way
out of the castle and looked around, not seeing Lincoln or Kennedy
with the kids. I turned my phone off, put my head down, and tried
to blend in with the crowd as I made my way to my brother’s
car.

“What happened?” Elliot asked me as I got in.
“Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. I just had to leave,” I replied
and then spent the entire drive home trying to convince him I was
fine.

Elliot walked me to the house, and Rebecca
was immediately at the door. “What are you doing? She was on a
date!” She exploded at Elliot when we walked into the house.

“She told me she needed a ride. She never
said she was on a date,” he shot back at Rebecca and then asked me
in a surprised voice, “You had a date?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Elliot,”
I said bitterly.

“Jillian, that’s not what I meant—” Elliot
started to say before Rebecca interrupted him.

“What happened, Jillian??”

I looked at Rebecca and saw the concern on
her face. I knew I probably looked like a sad little puppy dog at
the pound that no one wanted. It was a good description of how I
was feeling at that moment.

“He’s dating Mackenzie McKay,” I said in a
voice full of regret, and I buried my face in my hands as the sobs
finally broke free from my chest.

“Oh shit,” Rebecca exclaimed and ran forward
to hug me, but I wrenched out of her arms.

“Why did you have to push this, Becca?! I
told you this wouldn’t work out! I told you there was something not
right about this!” My venom was directed at Rebecca, but the words
were meant for myself. I knew it was my own fault for letting this
happen, but right now Rebecca was the one I wanted to blame.

“Jilly, if it’s true—” Rebecca started to say
while trying to hug me again.

“Of course it’s true, Rebecca! I saw them! I
heard what she said,” I declared as I pushed Rebecca away. “Why
would he ever want me when he could have her?”

I ran upstairs to my bedroom, leaving my
brother and sister gawking at me in the entryway. I kicked off my
shoes and dropped my purse on the floor. Only then did I realize I
was freezing cold. I crawled into bed with Rebecca’s coat still on
and snuggled under the covers. I let all my grief and pain out as I
sobbed against my pillow. I felt so stupid for letting him con his
way into my heart so easily. I had years of practice keeping
everyone out, and with one smile from a cute guy I forgot all that
and let him in, only to end up worse than when I started.

~~~~~~~~~

I woke up not long after having fallen asleep
against my wet pillow. I hadn’t been sleeping long; the sound of
the doorbell woke me up. I heard it again and wondered why Rebecca
wasn’t answering the door. When it went off a third time, I got
annoyed. Had my sister gone somewhere and not told me?

I crawled out of bed, hoping the person at
the door would go away so I could stay holed up in my bedroom and
not have to face the world. But I was also curious as to who kept
ringing the doorbell. I was about to open my bedroom door to go
downstairs when I finally heard my sister’s voice. I cracked my
bedroom door and perked up my ears trying to hear what she was
saying.

“What are you doing here?” Rebecca said
sharply.

“Is Jillian here?” Lincoln asked. I could
hear the anxiety in his voice. Serves him right, I thought.

“Maybe,” Rebecca said.

“God dammit. Is she here or not?” Lincoln
barked out.

“Language, Mr. Lincoln!” I heard Tabitha
scold Lincoln, and I stifled a chuckle.

“It’s all right, Tabby Cat. Get your crayons
and go color in the kitchen,” Rebecca told Tabitha.

“Tabby Cat, wait!” Lincoln said. “Is your
Aunt here?”

I gasped. How dare he ask her that?

“Lincoln—” Rebecca started but Tabitha
interrupted her.

“Yeah… She's here. She’s in her room. She was
crying,” Tabitha said sadly, and I felt remorse. I hadn’t realized
Tabitha had seen me.

“No! Lincoln, you cannot go up there. She
clearly does not want to talk to you, and I will not let you,”
Rebecca said firmly.

“Please let me talk to her. I don’t even know
what happened,” Lincoln begged my sister. I scoffed quietly. How
could he not know what happened? I had seen the way Mackenzie
pushed against him. Maybe Lincoln was not as smart as I thought he
was.

“You don’t know what happened?? Are you or
are you not dating Mackenzie McKay?”

“What?! No!” Lincoln said adamantly.

There was a pause, and I leaned closer to the
door. I didn’t want to miss any of this.

“Why would Jillian tell me you were? Tell me
what happened,” Rebecca demanded.

I heard Lincoln let out a frustrated groan.
“I told you I don’t even know. I thought things were going really
well. Jillian and I were teasing each other all day. We had kissed
and it seemed like she finally accepted that this was a date. We
were laughing and joking and the next thing I know she’s left me
standing alone again and she won’t answer her damn phone.” Lincoln
sounded mad.

“Well, wait. Where does Mackenzie come into
this?” I heard Rebecca ask.

“Is that what she’s upset about?” Lincoln
asked.

“Of course she’s upset about that! Are you an
idiot?! The woman you’re dating interrupts your date with Jillian.
Can you see how she would be upset by that?”

“I’M NOT DATING MACKENZIE! Dammit, please
just let me talk to Jillian,” Lincoln begged, but Rebecca
resisted.

“Why would Jillian say you were?”

Lincoln let out another large sigh.
“Mackenzie and I went on a few dates a couple of months ago. I
thought she was a good person, and I fell into her trap. It didn’t
take long before I figured out she was selling my personal details
to the media. She only wanted me to help her get famous,” Lincoln
said sadly. “I thought she had given up—we haven’t talked in
months. But apparently not. She came up to me at the
festival—Jillian was standing right next to me. She called me a
freak show and then acted like we still had something going on.
She’s insane.”