Crushed (29 page)

She
didn’t feel that way at all.

“I’m staying because Luci already told me I had to,” Reece said somewhat smugly.

Cleo tugged Luci’s hair even though she was busy
pouring lemonade. “So who planned this?”

“We both did,” Reece told her
as he and Luci shared a look.

Cleo crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. She raised her eyebrows as
she
wai
ted for a better explanation. Her
l
ips twitched because she
was trying not to smile.

Reece started laughing at her
as he opened the pizza boxes.

“I heard Emma say she was busy
,
before class yesterday
. So I thought I’d call to check with Luci to see if she had any ideas.” He shrugged
and continued to smile. “She told me what to bring and when to be here.”

“I just told him pizza and a cake. I d
idn’t tell him to bring flowers. T
hose must be his idea.”
Cleo
glanced at Reece long enough to see his cheeks redden
. T
hen to Luci who smirked at her
as
she stuck a finger fu
ll of frosting into her mouth. “I told him to have the writing
done
in pink but he didn’t,” she said with a
disapproving
frown.

“That’s because pink is
your
favorite color,” Reece pointed out. “Cleo
’s is
turquoise.”

Cleo scooted over so she
could insp
ect the contents of the box Luci ha
d just stuck her fingers into. A red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting;
Happy 18
th
, Cleo
written in turquoise.

Her
mom
had always made her
a red velve
t cake for her birthday. She had
mentioned
it to Reece last year, after her birthday had passed. It had been the only year that
she didn’t have
a red ve
lvet cake. From out of nowhere she
felt tears
wanting to fall. Both because she missed her mom and because she
was so touched that Reece remembered.

Hi
s face suddenly crumpled in concern. “Was the cake a bad idea?” H
e took a step forward as if to hug her
.
But she held out the flowers she was still grasping like they were
some type of shield.
“Was that too much?”

She shook her
head. “No i
t was perfect.” She
took
a breath and mad
e her
self smile. “This is all perfect but
you really shouldn’t have
. Thank you.”

“Not true,” Reece said. “It’s totally necessary. You deserve a whole lot more, Cleo.”

Before she could comment Luci began
asking about the pizza.

“Veggie for Cleo
. S
aus
age, black olive for you and me. J
ust like always
,” Reece said as he handed Cleo her
plate
. T
hen
he
got one ready for Luci. Luci had brought the lemonade into the living room
already. They
followed her and she plopped herself down in her dad’s recliner, le
aving the couch for Reece and Cleo. She gave Cleo an innocent look and Cleo
tried not to roll
her
eyes at her.

When they were
almost done eating, Luci started eyeing up Reece.

“Is Cleo going to be your girlfriend again?” she asked.

“Reece already has a
girlfriend,” Cleo quickly informed her before she
had to hear Reece say the words.

Luci gave him a look that said she was
not pleased.

“Is she as pretty as Cleo?” Luci demanded
as she set her pizza down. She was
all business now.

“Not even close,” Reece said befor
e Cleo
had a chance to say anything. He was looking at
her
as he said it. His eyebrows shot
upward as if he was daring her
to refute him.
“And
also,
we broke up.”

“So why can’t
Cleo be your girlfriend again?” Luci pushed.

Cleo
was afraid to hear the answer to this
.
Reece just gave a small shrug
.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out.”

She
gave
him a thankful smile and Luci started
talking again.

“Can you still be friends?”

Cleo
said, “Sure” the same moment Reece
said, “Definitely.” Luci gave them
both a smile, appeased at last.

Then she yawned theatrically. “You were right. I need to start going to bed earlier
so I’m not so crank
y for you in the morning.” She went over and kissed her sister on the
cheek then leaned over
to
give
Reece a hug. “I should probably go to bed now.”

Cleo
saw
Reece trying to fight off a smile.

It was barely after seven but Luci gave
them
another fake yawn and headed off to her room. “Good night!” she called over her shoulder.

They
both called “goodnight” back and Reece started to laugh. It started out quiet but
then he couldn’t help himself and really started to laugh, which made
Cleo
laugh.

“I’ve told you how much I love that little drama queen, right?” he finally asked.
He was still grinning

“Yeah, you have.”

“I really miss her,” he said
. B
ut before
she
could comment—which was good because
she
had no idea what to say
to that
—he hopped up. “I’ll be right back.”

She heard the front door open. A few minutes later he came back. He was
holding a gift wrapped box
and
a gift bag.

She was already shaking her
head. “Reece, you
got me
flowers.” Tulips,
her
favorite, which of course he
knew.

“They were just for decoration,” he tried to argue. “This,” he said as he held out
the gift bag, “is from my mom.” He had an odd look on his face and he bit the inside
of his cheek
.
Cleo
didn’t move to take it.

He tossed himself down next to
her
again and sighed hugely. “Turns out we had a big misunderstanding, Mom and I.” He
went into a lengthy explanation of a conversation they’d had the week before.

Cleo
honestly
didn’t
know what to say.
Or w
hat to think
.
She had
always blamed his mom a little for what happened
. B
ut maybe she’d really had no part in it.

She
opened
the gift.
It was an enormous gift basket stuffed full of gourmet food items. Boxes of breads,
muffins, desserts, soups, spices and a cookbook for quick and easy meals.

Reece was blushing adorably. “I happened to mention how you take care of your family.
That you do all of the cooking and that you always say how terrible you are at it.”
He shrugged at his explanation. “I hope I wasn’t out of line.”

“No,”
she said, surprised that his mom had gotten her such a well thought out gift
. “This is
perfect
.” She
made a mental note to send his mom a thank you card. Not something
she
normally did. B
ut not exactly something
she
normally had a reason for, either.

He gave
her
a shy look. O
ne that
she
hadn’t seen since
they
’d
first started dating and handed
her
the box. “This one is from me
.
I wanted to get something I knew you’d like. But I knew you wouldn’t want anything
too personal,
”
he admitted with a shrug.

She
took the small box from him.
She
found an iPod
Touch
inside. “Reece,”
she
started as
she
tried to hand it back to him. “This cost way too much.”

He wouldn’t take it. “I know you wanted one. I had the money for it.”

“You’re allowance?”
she
asked.
She
didn’t mean for there to be an edge to
her
tone. But
she
didn’t want anything that could be tied to Landon.

“No,” he said. “I worked all summer. I spent
my
money.”

“You worked?” The fact that he’d spent his own money on
her
and not money given to him by his parents, by his dad,
made all the difference.

“Yeah, all summer at—”

Luci’s door flew open. “I can’t go to bed yet!” she announced
. S
he marched back out of her room. “I forgot to have cake. And I forgot to give you
your present.”

Her present turned out to be a book. This wasn’t a shock considering that she was
always trying to get
Cleo to read more. But she
simply didn’t have the time
.
She would
try to squeeze in the romance she’d given
her
, just to make
Luci
happy.

Minutes later
they
were standing in the kitchen
.
Luci was poking eighteen candles, courtesy of Reece, into
Cleo’s
birthday cake. “Make a wish,” she commanded
after Reece had all of the candles lit.

Cleo
didn’t hesitate.
She
inhaled and as
she
blew out the candles
she
glanced up. Luci was standing with her back resting against Reece
. H
is hand was on her shoulder. His eyes were on
Cleo.
The expression in them
caused the dull ache of missing him to return
and
she
had to look away.

They ate their
c
ake and Luci put herself to bed
again.
Cleo
was sure
she wasn’t sleeping this early. She was
probably reading a book.
She and Reece
made small talk and the evening was nice. It was comfortable and it felt so
right
. The last thing
she
wanted was for Reece to leave which was exactly why
she
needed to make him go.

She
didn’t mean to sigh. I
t just slipped out.

“This was great,”
she
told him.

“But?” he asked.

“I need to get some homework done.” That, actually, was the truth.

“Okay,” he said as he got up.
She
followed him to the entry way and waited for him to get his shoes back on. “I guess
I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said as he opened the door.
She
nodded
her
head but then he stopped and turned back around to look at
her
.

Without really meaning to,
she
found
her
self wrapped up in a hug.
His arms tightened around
her and he took a deep breath. A
s if he was trying to breathe
her
in,
to
make
her
a part of him again.

“Sorry,”
she
managed to say when
she
realized that
she
was making the hug awkwardly long.
She
backed up, just a bit.

“I’m not. I’d be happy to stand here all night,” he said
. H
e made no move to let
her
go.
She
tilted
her
head back and looked into his eyes, instantly realizing how dangerous this was. “Cleo,
can you tell
me how I can make
things
right?
Can you tell me what I did wrong?
”