Boy Crazy (15 page)

T
hey were all laughing so hard when Greta pulled into Cassie’s driveway, as Greta reenacted a key scene from the Will Ferrell comedy they’d just seen, that it took Cassie a moment or two to register that there was someone sitting on her front steps.

And it took another heart-stopping moment to recognize that that person was Trey.

Cassie heard Greta and Keagan’s laughter fade, but all she could do was drink him in with her eyes. She wanted to leap out of the car, run over, and touch him to convince herself that he was real. She wanted to hear his voice. She felt that ache that she’d had ever since they’d met spread through her.

But she’d already made her choice.

“Hey, K,” she said to Keagan in the front seat, though she looked at Greta. Greta stared back, expressionless. “Could you ask him to leave?”

“Uh, sure,” Keagan said. She fumbled with her seat belt.

Greta held Cassie’s gaze for a long moment, but then she reached over and stopped Keagan from moving.

“Wait,” she said. She lifted her shoulders as she took a breath. “You should talk to him, Cassie.”

Cassie looked over and saw that Trey was walking toward the car. God, it hurt. It hurt to see him move, in that rolling, lazy way. She wished she could see his eyes, try to read his expression. He’d been so mad when she’d last seen him…not that it mattered now.

“Are you sure?” Cassie asked.

“Yeah,” Greta said with a sigh. “Go. Talk.”

Cassie squeezed her best friend’s shoulder before she stood up in the backseat of the convertible and slid over the side. It took her only a few steps to be near him again. She had to take a moment to deal with their closeness. All the memories she’d been fighting so hard to keep buried since that awful night rushed back at her, almost taking her knees out from under her. That sweet, happy look on his face that night at his parents’ house. The way he’d cradled her tightly to him. Cassie sucked in a breath and tried to steady herself.

“Cassie,” he said, his voice soft. Exactly as it had been
when he’d once told her he loved her. The sound of it twined into her bones and weakened her resolve. But she straightened her spine. If she could turn back time, she would have avoided all of this in the first place. That’s what she kept telling herself. So that’s how she had to act.

“I think you should go,” she said. And it cost her. It actually hurt to say the words. Cassie felt her eyes fill up with tears, but she looked away, hoping he didn’t see.

“I’ll go,” Trey said. “I promise.” He stepped around her and looked into the car, directly at Greta. “But first I want to talk to Greta.”

Cassie hadn’t expected that. She turned, and it was clear that Greta was just as surprised.

“What?” Greta asked. Defensively. She looked from Trey to Cassie, then back to Trey. Cassie couldn’t read her expression at all. “Why?”

But Trey didn’t say anything further. He waited.

Greta blew out a breath, sounding frustrated.

“Fine,” she said. She climbed out of the car and slammed the driver’s door with unnecessary force. “Let’s talk,” she snapped at Trey.

In response, he led Greta off around the side of the house, disappearing into the shadows of the backyard.

Cassie rubbed her hands over her bare arms and turned to Keagan.

“Wow,” Keagan murmured, her eyes wide. She shook her head. “The plot freakin’ thickens.”

“Tell me about it,” Cassie muttered.

And then they waited.

Keagan turned on the car and cued up Greta’s iPod. One Republic started belting out “All We Are,” and Cassie closed her eyes, leaned against the side of Greta’s convertible, and let the late summer evening soak into her, like she had on that first night, so long ago now. She heard sirens from farther away, closer to the action of Wilshire Boulevard. She could hear the sounds of traffic on the streets around Hancock Park. She tilted her head back and looked up. There was a bright light she figured must be a satellite, and a few stars. She tried to remember the view from high up at the Observatory—all those millions of stars, crowding the sky. She tried to remind herself that from up there, her house was just one more dot of light in all the rest of the blazing lights that made up Los Angeles. Whatever happened tonight, it would still be part of the greater glow. She thought that might make the waiting easier.

After a while—it felt like days to Cassie—Trey and Greta walked back out from behind the house. Cassie straightened, studying both of them as they drew closer. Trey had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, and Greta was hugging herself as she walked. As she closed the distance between them, Greta looked up, and Cassie was startled to see that she had tears in her eyes.

“Greta—” she started to say.

But Greta threw her arms around Cassie and hugged her.

“It’s okay,” she whispered fiercely. Her voice sounded thick. “You
should
be with him, Cassie.”

“What are you talking about?” Cassie asked, confused. But she reminded herself—sharply—that it didn’t matter. That she didn’t need that little jump of hope in her belly that had made her heart start thumping so hard. “Listen, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m—”

“He’ll explain,” Greta interrupted her again. She stepped away from Cassie and looked over at Trey. It seemed like something passed between them, and then Greta turned and smiled at Cassie. “It’s fine, Cassie. Really.”

Cassie stood there, feeling confused and frozen, as Greta climbed back in the car. And then she and an equally confused looking Keagan drove away. Cassie had no choice but to turn and face him.

“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. “Come sit with me.”

“I don’t understand,” Cassie said. She didn’t take his hand—she knew she was way too weak for that—but she did follow him back to the front stairs. She settled herself next to him, and marveled for a moment that they were back in that same position they’d been in that first night in Catalina. Sitting so close. And yet, tonight, so far.

“I apologized to Greta,” Trey said. He shifted slightly. “Something I should have done a long time ago.”

“You should have told me it was her,” Cassie said, not looking at him. “When I asked you about what happened. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“At first I thought you knew,” he said. “And then when I realized that you didn’t, I didn’t want to tell you. I thought…I knew you wouldn’t be with me.”

Cassie shook her head. “I guess it’s good you apologized,” she said. “I’m glad, for Greta’s sake. She deserved it.”

Trey let out a breath, and then turned so he was facing Cassie.

“I was so mad at you,” he said. “I couldn’t believe you were kissing that guy, and that you would actually stand there and tell me it didn’t mean anything, that it was some game you had to play with your friends. Especially after the night before.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Cassie said, sitting back from him. “What’s the point?” She couldn’t think about
the night before
—all that hope and joy at his parents’ house. She already knew what it meant to her, how she held on to it. Talking about it might break her into pieces.

“Please,” he said, in that quiet voice. “Please just listen.”

Cassie searched his face, looking for some clue in his
dark eyes, but saw only sincerity. She nodded once, sharply, and wrapped her arms around her knees.

“But after a few days it started to dawn on me that I had that coming,” Trey said. “Because before, with Greta, and other girls, I didn’t care. I was this stupid jock and I liked that I was supposed to be a bad boy or something. I wanted people to think that. It wasn’t personal, the things I did. I mean, it was all about me.”

“I thought you already figured that out,” Cassie said then. “When you had to sit out your season.”

“I didn’t lie to you, Cassie,” he said. “I did figure some stuff out. But I didn’t know what it would feel like to see a girl I was in love with do to me what I’d done to girls like Greta. I knew what I’d done was bad, but I had no idea how much it would hurt until that night.”

Ah, the power to inflict pain,
she thought miserably. She was the one who had not only wounded Greta, but Trey too. That must put her in the running for the worst person in the world.

“I never meant to do that to you,” she managed to say.

“Cassie, stop.” He reached over and put his hand on her back. She loved the feel of his warm palm against the thin fabric of her T-shirt. “I’m not blaming you.”

“Maybe you should,” Cassie said.

“No,” he said. “This is on me. Greta told me about your pact—the ten-boy summer. Project Kiss. Believe me, it’s nothing I haven’t done myself.”

They sat there like that for what felt like a long time. Trey’s hand stayed on her back, and Cassie felt how much he meant it. He wasn’t mad at her, which was good. She couldn’t have lasted much longer thinking that he was off somewhere, hating her. This was better, whatever
this
was.

“You kind of took me by surprise,” Trey said after a while. He smiled slightly when Cassie looked at him, that crooked smile that she loved so much. “This was supposed to be my last big summer, you know? And then you came out of nowhere at the first party I went to.
And
you were friends with a girl who hated my guts. I didn’t know what to do.”

“So you thought you’d just show up on my ferry,” Cassie said dryly. “Interesting choice.”

“I couldn’t seem to stay away,” Trey said. He looked at her, and there was so much feeling in his gaze that it made Cassie’s heart swell and her breath catch. “I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet a girl like you. You’re athletic and funny and really easy to hang out with. We even like the same books. You love the Observatory, and I couldn’t kick your ass at bowling. You were perfectly happy to have a chili dog with me. And you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

Cassie felt all the emotions she’d been fighting to hold at bay wash through her, leaving her almost dizzy. She could see how much he meant what he was saying.
She felt what she’d always felt around him—the sense that somehow, she already knew him completely. That she could see into him, and he could see into her. Like they recognized each other.

“Trey…” she whispered.

“I love you,” he said. “I really do.”

“I know,” she told him, finally, the dam breaking as she leaned toward him. “I love you too.”

He caught her face between his hands and kissed her, and the world tilted all around them, up and down, switching back and forth, and none of that mattered because finally, finally, she was kissing him again.

“I leave for school in a week,” she told him, pulling away.

“So do I,” Trey said, pulling her close again and laying soft kisses along her cheek, her jaw. “Why don’t we just enjoy the last few days of summer while we can?” He looked at her. “Without sneaking around.”

Cassie felt her smile start deep inside and spread upward, until she could feel herself beaming at him.

“That sounds perfect,” she said.

Trey kissed her again, and then pulled her closer, across his lap, so he could hold her tight to him. Cassie felt like screaming her happiness to the world, but decided her parents and the neighbors would probably appreciate if she kept it to herself. She could feel her skin practically hum with it.

“So…” Trey said, looking down at her, as he toyed with the front of her hair. “About this ten-boy summer.” His eyebrows crept up his forehead. “Exactly how well did you do?”

Cassie let out some of that happiness in her laughter, and then allowed herself a one hundred percent Greta smile.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she teased him.

It might not have been the summer she’d planned, or thought she wanted, but Cassie couldn’t think of a better ending.

Cover art © 2009

Cover design by Jennifer Rozbruch