Every Little Piece (4 page)

“Cheater!” But I couldn’t complain. Anything goes in our football games. It wasn’t Haley on the beach. It was Carly, and she was alone. She seemed so sad. No one should be alone the night before graduation. I wanted to completely ignore her, but through the next three plays, I stayed distracted.

Carter pulled me aside. “Hey, man. Carly’s been hot for you for years, but you’re not thinking about cheating on Haley, are you?”

“No way.”

I dug my toes into the sand. She stood down at the water, with her back to us, alone. I sighed.

Carter punched me. “You’re not giving in to her games.”

“It’s different this time. I’ll be right back. Don’t lose for us.” Despite my friend’s objections, I headed toward the waves and Carly.

The air was cooler closer to the water, and the waves crashed in and slid out. The ebb and flow mesmerized me, and I understood why she came here.

“What’s up?” I asked.

She didn’t say anything at first, ignoring me completely. After a few minutes I turned to leave. So much for being the nice guy.

“You know how my dad and your mom work together?”

“How could I forget?” I challenged her.

She winced. “I’m sorry I’ve tried to take advantage of that. I’ve had a crush on you since elementary school.” She blushed.

The back of my neck prickled with heat. What the hell was a guy supposed to say to a statement like that?

She stuttered a bit but then got into a groove. “I’m sorry but it’s the truth. I know you’re with Haley. I get that. If I flirt with you it’s not because I think I have a chance. I guess I just like to pretend.”

I was speechless.

“You see, the strange thing is, you can’t spend years thinking about someone without eventually truly caring about them.” Her admission seemed to hurt her pride and her cheeks turned even pinker.

Again, I’d no clue what to say.

“You don’t have to say anything.” She caught my gaze with a new confidence. “I know about your parents.”

I tensed but didn’t move. How the hell did she know when I just found out? “So?”

She pushed her hair away from her face and tears pooled in her eyes.

“Please, don’t shed a tear over me. I can take care of myself.”

“I’m not.” Her face turned hard, her jaw clenched. “I thought you might like to know the whole story. I probably know more about it than you.”

Seriously? “Wow, this is low. After spending years pining over someone you can’t have, you use his family problems to get close to him? Classy.” As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. I could tell she wasn’t working an angle, but I had no other way to respond. I didn’t want to think about my parents or their problems, and she’d caught me off guard.

The hurt was apparent in her eyes and she sagged a little bit. “Fine. I get it. But you don’t have to be a jerk. If you want to know more, I can tell you.”

“Fine. Whatever. I’m sorry.” I sat in the sand. “What do you know?”

“Is your girlfriend going to get mad at you for talking to me?” she asked, her hair hiding her face again as she sat next to me.

“Nah.” If Haley knew the whole story, she’d understand. I pressed down the guilt for not letting her know what was going on but I still stuck with my decision. Tonight wasn’t the night to burden anyone with problems.

We sat in silence but it wasn’t awkward. If we were at school or at a party it would be. I’d already have drifted off toward Haley. I wasn’t sure if Carly was waiting for me to start this or not.

“Remember the eighth grade celebration here?” Carly asked.

Memories returned of all the moms, including mine, hovering over the snack table. Of course it hadn’t been down on the beach because the seagulls would attack. Carly’s dad and a few others organized the games except it had been so hot that year we ended up in and out of the ocean even though the water was freezing.

“So much changes from middle school to high school,” she said wistfully.

I kicked at the sand. “Yeah, it does.”

“That’s when our parents first met.”

“Um, yeah. I guess so.” I couldn’t see where she was going with this.

She huffed. “You don’t know anything, do you?”

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “What do you mean?”

She let out a puff of air. “My mom’s leaving. She told me last week.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. Her eyes were glazed over and a tiny bit red.

The air left my chest, like I got sucker punched by an invisible fist. Jeez. Why couldn’t parents wait until after graduation? Hospitals should give out a list of major don’ts to new parents, and high on the list should be don’t ruin your child’s happy events with your own shitty news.

“I get it.” I didn’t know why that small admission felt so good. Maybe I did need to talk about everything, to someone who understood. “My dad talked to me tonight.” I wanted to spill the rest but saying the truth would make it real.

“What’d he say?” Her voice was gentle and soft, so unlike the usual Carly.

I held my breath and closed my eyes, then let it out and opened my eyes. “He’s leaving.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Her voice broke. “I’m truly sorry.”

I shrugged. “Nothing you could do about it.”

She waited as if I was supposed to say something. “Do you know all that’s going on?”

I felt like a dumb-ass. “Not really.”

“Are you blind?” Her words crackled with anger. “Your mom and my dad?”

I must be blind because I didn’t see. I didn’t see at all. Waves crashed against the shore. It was no longer calming.

“They’ve been having a thing now for a couple years. I found out working in the office last summer.”

My fingers curled into a fist, and my heart raced. I needed to punch something. She made a blind accusation, and called my mom a slut. After all the seduction games she’d played with me the past few years. The flirting. The sly smiles. The suggestive comments. I glared at her, the fury building at her accusations. “So you learned your slutty ways from your dad and not your mom?”

She backed away, her eyes filled with hurt.

But I didn’t stop. The word vomit kept coming, and I had no control. “Wow. You’re a real bitch. You can’t have me so you pull this card out of desperation? Pathetic. I’m with Haley.”

She gasped. “That’s not fair.”

“What did you want? My sympathy? A shoulder to cry on?” I stood, towering over her.

She stood and got right in my face. “No! I thought you might want to know. I thought you deserved the truth.”

“Why should I believe you?” I spit out. “This could just be one of your games.” Inwardly I cringed at every hurtful word.

She tensed, her arms stiff at her sides. “I wouldn’t play games with this kind of thing. I can’t believe you don’t know. Let me clue you in. Late work nights at the office? Weekend business trips?”

She didn’t need to connect the dots. Her words rang true, but why would I have thought my mom was cheating? Lots of parents work late and go on business trips.

“You’re a big fake. And right now, I feel bad for Haley. Being with a boyfriend who’s lying to himself and can’t face the truth like a big boy. You probably haven’t even told her, have you?”

I exploded in anger. “I just found out tonight!” The words kept spilling out, aimed at Carly because she was close and the one digging into the wound. “And if my mom’s cheating, I blame your dad. Completely and one hundred percent. He brings new meaning to the word man-whore.”

She bit her lips, tears caught in her eyelashes. “That’s just mean. If I ever thought I was in love with you then obviously I had you confused with someone else.” She poked her fingers into my chest. “I guess this brings out your true colors.”

She stormed back to the parking lot before I could do any more damage. I didn’t follow her, and the anger whooshed through me, leaving my body trembling.

Jamie and Carter ran up to me. “What was that all about, man?” Carter asked.

“Nothing.” I added a slight edge to my tone of voice, and flashed him a dark look and he knew not to press it. But I had the sudden desire to see Haley, to prove Carly wrong, that I was the good guy. And then the words I yelled at Carly came back. I was horrified at what I said. I pushed that away. “I’ve got a great idea.”

“What’s that?” Jamie asked.

“Let’s just say that Haley has shared some of their get-ready rituals with me and I know exactly how to sabotage them.”

They nodded at my evil plan. As they ran up the beach ahead of me, I allowed the guilt about what I said to Carly weigh me down, then I pushed it back and jogged after them.

Tonight was about celebration and I wouldn’t let anything ruin that.

The hot tub was heated and bubbling, waiting for us. We slipped into the burning water inches at a time, with sighs of relief.

Brin relaxed with her arms lying across the sides of the tub and her legs floating to the middle. “Just what I need.”

The jets shot water into the muscles along my spine and lower back. Steam coated my face. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. Another moment of perfection. I wanted to freeze it. I wanted to never forget and never lose what I had here, right now.

That was when I heard it. The whispering. The arm punches. The cursing. I glanced to the side of the house but they didn’t show themselves. Crap. Me and my big mouth gave us away. I’d slipped about this routine to Seth more than once. I couldn’t alert Kama and Brin without getting myself in trouble.

The screen door slid open, and Kama’s mom walked through, her curly blonde hair bouncing as she walked, the spitting image of Kama. She carried a tray with fluted glasses filled with what looked like sparkling apple cider, and a spread of thinly sliced Subway sandwiches.

Kama squealed. “Mom!”

We gushed our thanks. I plastered on a smile and tried not to look over at the hedge where the guys must be hiding.

Her mom smiled. “You only graduate once. And you only have the night before graduation once.” She placed the tray on the small landing that surrounded the tub. “Enjoy this moment, girls.”

I studied her and the brief wistfulness in her eyes and face. She kissed Kama’s head and then headed back inside.

“Your mom rocks.” Brin helped herself to the sparkling apple cider and an Italian sub slice.

“Yeah, I know,” Kama agreed. “Most of the time.”

“Excuse me.” I flicked water at Kama. “What’s that supposed to mean, ‘most of the time’?”

“Well, they’ve been giving me a hard time about the fall.”

I put a plate together, going for the chicken Parmesan. I never realized there were obstacles on Kama’s road to New York. I forgot about the covert operation only a few feet away. “How come we haven’t heard about this before?”

Kama shrugged but the fear flickered in her eyes. The bright shining hope that always twinkled briefly faded. “My mom is more than aware of life in New York for the starving actress trying to make her way. She knows what the drama life is like, or she can guess.” Kama paused and bit into her sandwich but she struggled to swallow it down. Tears glistened. “They sat me down the other day and laid it out for me. I have to prove I can find a place to stay, somewhere safe with adults or a family, and I have to share my finances with them biweekly.”

“That’s not too bad,” I said.

“I don’t know anyone in New York.” She sounded desperate.

“Since when have you ever let that stop you?” I played devil’s advocate. “At least they’re not saying you can’t go.”

Kama let that thought sink in.

Brin sipped her glass. Our eyes connected. I knew what she was thinking before the words left her mouth.

“At least your parents care.” Her voice broke. “At least your dad is around.”

Kama placed her plate on the side of the tub and immediately moved through the water and hugged Brin. “I’m so sorry. That was insensitive of me. You’re so right. We can’t reach our dreams without fighting for them.”

I slid over to the group hug. “We’ll make it. Together.” I promised.

Finally, Brin pushed us away. That was the longest she’d let either of us hug her. We returned to our spots a little more sober and teary-eyed. At that point, I didn’t know whether to tell Kama and Brin or not about our company.

Kama didn’t stop there. She pushed Brin. “What’re you going to do in the fall?”