Mistrust (28 page)

“Oh my God.” I clasp a hand to my mouth, laughing from behind it.

“Yeah, but that’s not the worst part.”

“Seriously, there’s more?”

“Yeah. Miles grabbed them before I got to them, and took off out of the pool.”

Dropping my hands from my face, my mouth falls open and I’m completely speechless. It takes me a few seconds before I can find any words. “What did you do?”

“Well you’d think your parents would have your back, right?”
Oh my gosh.
“Not in my family.” He laughs again. “I asked Mom to grab me a towel.” He moves his head sideways, and laughingly screws his mouth up. “She grabbed a towel alright.”

“Oh no.” Why do I suspect he’s going to say something to make me laugh?

“Yeah, matter-of-fact she grabbed
all
the towels. And took off inside. With the towels . . . and a newspaper they had sitting out on the table where my uncle was reading.”

“Oh my God.” I can’t help it. I laugh so hard everyone turns to look at me. “Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious. But of course, it doesn’t end there.”

“What?” I’m laughing so much I have tears rolling down my cheeks. The entire thing is so freaking funny. The priceless look on Reece’s face, his resignation to the fact it actually happened, the tone in which he’s telling the story . . . everything is hilarious.

“They locked me out. Do you know how hard it is to try and open a slider while holding your . . . you know?” He looks down at the water and I lose it even more. “The only thing I could do was get in the pool and hope to God someone would feel sorry for me. That didn’t happen. Miles came out recording it on his phone, while Mom kept taunting me from the pool’s edge with a towel.”

I lose it. I’m laughing so hard I have to grasp the pool’s side and hold on. “You can’t be serious!” I gasp through the bursts of insistent laughter.

“Deadly.” He huffs. “They uploaded it to show everyone too. Thank God you couldn’t see . . .” he clears his throat. “Anything.”

“Your family is nuts,” I say wiping the tears away. “Like seriously crazy.”

“Taught me a damn lesson. Don’t go swimming if your trunks are too big.”

Once we’ve gotten over our laughter, the five of us have a race to see who can swim the fastest laps. We race four times, Sam won two, Reece one, and Taylor one. Sophie and I didn’t win a race, but we had the most fun trying to slow the others down.

It’s not long before the sun starts to descend behind the mountains and the sky turns a beautiful burnt orange. “Wow, look at that,” Sam points to the huge full sun as it falls rapidly.

“Have you ever seen a sunset so perfect?” Sophie says in awe.

“I’m hungry,” Taylor adds. And I hear a slap, obviously from Sam. “What? I am.”

The back slider opens and Mom comes out carrying some plates. I quickly get out of the pool, foregoing the majestic sunset to help Mom. “I’ll help.” I dry myself off in record time and go into the kitchen. The island counter has a huge spread on it, so I start bringing everything out.

When I place the first two bowls down, I look over to the pool to see everyone coming out and drying themselves. Reece is already out and helping Dad with the hot food on the grill.

When the table’s set, we all sit down in peaceful harmony to eat dinner. Today, I’ve had a glimpse into the world I once knew, and it gives me hope that everything will be okay.

I’m not hating myself.
For now.

Mom and Dad are inside washing up, and the five of us are sitting around the fire pit making s’mores and talking.

Reece has gotten on really well with everyone, even Sophie seems to like him. She makes a s’more and starts eating it. “You know, Reece, you’re nothing like the others.” She looks over to him and smiles. The smile is soft and apologetic.

“What do you mean?” He turns the marshmallow over the fire, crisping it up further. The outside catches on fire and you can hear the sizzle of the small blue flame coating the exterior. The sugars quickly burn and the fire goes out on its own.

“I mean, most of the guys on the team are jerks, Levi being the leader of the jerks.”

“I’m not denying that. It’s only been recently I’ve seen exactly how much of a dick he is.” He sandwiches the marshmallow with a piece of chocolate and two graham crackers and starts eating it.

The whole process is quite hypnotic. Watching the marshmallow burn, then watching the assembly procedure.

“He’s not very nice,” I manage to say in a small voice.

“Neither are a lot of the girls who hang off you guys like you’re some kind of rock stars. You’re not rock stars,” Sam says. “I gotta tell you, it’s sickening! They have no self-respect.”

“I have to agree. I watch the way they act around the team, and how they throw themselves at the guys.” Sophie shakes her head, disgusted.

I crinkle my forehead and scrunch my brows together. “Was I like that?” I ask, looking at everyone.

Sophie averts her eyes and so does Sam. My own sister is implicitly saying I’m the girl she was describing. “Not as bad as Lindsey and Jordan, but you weren’t great either.”

Slumping my shoulders I sink into the chair and look to the ground. “Really?” I ask with a small sigh. Man, how blind was I? Does this mean I was asking for what happened to me? Did I lead someone on? Could I have avoided it if I was a nicer person?

My stomach knots in agitation and my heart starts pounding heavily in my chest. Tangling my fingers together I try not to look at anything but the grass beneath the chair.

Chatter continues in the background. I can’t make out the words they’re saying, but I know they’re still on the same subject. “Sorry,” I whisper to everyone. The talking stops, and I feel four pairs of eyes turn to me. I keep my head down, ashamed and embarrassed at how I once was. “I’m really disgusted by my old behavior. I wish someone would’ve told me earlier.” Looking up I’m met with them all looking at me with different expressions.

Taylor’s confused.

Sophie’s concerned.

Sam’s sympathetic.

And Reece’s proud. “You know now, and you’re a better person for it,’ he says. “You can’t let the past dictate your future.”

“But I was a bitch.”

“That’s right. You were a bitch. Now you’re pretty cool.” Reece winks at me and smiles.

“I’m sorry, guys. I really am.” I meet all their eyes so they know I’m actually remorseful for everything I may have done to them. “I won’t give you an excuse, because truthfully I don’t have one. I’m sorry for anything I’ve said or done.”

Sophie jumps up and hugs me. “Now you know you weren’t the nicest person, but you’re making up for it all.” She pulls out of the hug and her face softens. “You’re alright now.”

“Wow, this has become a downer,” Sam adds. “I wanted to bitch about those bitches Jordan and Mariah, and more importantly, Lindsey and suddenly everyone’s on the edge of crying.”

“I’m not a huge fan of those girls.” Reece shivers and down turns his mouth. “None of them are nice. I’m kinda glad you got away from them. You were definitely the nicest one out of them all.” He shivers again. “That Jordan.” He shakes his head in revulsion.

“What? Why?” I ask.

“She and Aaron had a fight at one of the parties someone threw after a game we won. She made a beeline straight for me. She literally draped her arms over me, and leaned in for a kiss. She was drunk, but let me say, she knew what she was doing.”

Against my will, I feel my face betray how I
shouldn’t
be feeling. I shouldn’t care, but something inside me begins to boil and snaps in frustration how she’d throw herself at Reece. I shouldn’t care, but my churning stomach, my rising anger, and my thumping heart all say I
do
care. “What did you do?” My voice is so small, the question barely reaching my ears. Reece looks at me, and tilts his head to the side. “What did you do?” I say much louder, and more forcefully.

“That particular time, I held her hand, led her outside and called her a cab. I took her back to her house and made sure she got in okay.”

“How many times has she thrown herself at you?” Sophie asks the question burning on my lips.

“Only one other time. Remember when she and Aaron broke up for like two days just after the New Year?” His gaze turns to us all individually. I sneak a look at everyone to see Sophie shrugging her shoulders, like she doesn’t know
or
care. Sam’s holding Taylor’s hand, nodding her head. I smile to myself when I look at Taylor leaning forward desperate to hear more. He looks like a gossip queen.

“Yeah, I remember,” I say.

“Yeah, well that time she was even worse.”

“How so?” Taylor asks, wide eyes and desperate for more.

“She came over to my house, and flirted with Miles. Even told him she’d be glad to share herself with him and me. She didn’t say it in front of me, but Miles pulled me aside and told me about ten minutes after she got there. She kept asking me if I wanted to go to my room, and I kept her out in the family room. Mom would walk in, give her stink eye and walk out again.”

“Stink-eye?” I ask, laughing.

“Yeah, Mom’s not real keen on her. Or too many of the girls I know.”

“Great,” I mumble and look away. That dreadful feeling creeps inside me, as if I already know she won’t like me.
Not that it really matters.
I’m never going to date again. Ever.

“Needless to say, when Miles told me she threw herself at him, I told her to leave ‘cause we had a family party we were going to.”

“She’s a real skank,” Sam announces loudly. “I didn’t think she was like that. I thought Jordan was nice.” She huffs out a breath while her leg bounces in agitation. “Christ.” I can tell by Sam’s reaction she’s taken aback by what she’s hearing.

“Yeah, she’s not as nice as what you think she is. And trust me when I say, she has
never
had your back.” Reece pointedly looks at me.

This causes a nauseating feeling to sit in the pit of my stomach. I almost don’t want to ask, but at the same time the sucker in me needs to know what she’s said. “I don’t think I want to know.”
But I do . . . no I don’t.

“She’s nasty, as bad as, if not worse than Lindsey. Mariah’s okay though.” Reece shrugs his left shoulder. “By okay, I mean she’s better than those other two. She’s never said anything bad about you, but she never stood up for you either.”

Sam gets up and sits in the vacant chair beside me. She leans over and whispers, “Lucky you’re no longer hanging out with them.” Sam moves back, and gives me a smile.

“Yeah.”

“They’re all bitches.” Sophie declares as she stands and stretches. “I need a soda, who wants a drink?”

Everyone says they want a drink and Sophie walks over to the fridge outside, grabbing an assortment.

“Darling,” Mom says coming out of the slider, her eyes travel the entire backyard, checking on everyone.

“Yeah, Mom.”

She walks over and lays a kiss on Sam’s forehead, then mine. She’s holding five fleecy throws in her hands, giving one to each of us. “I thought you might want these if you get chilly.” She smiles at us as she passes them out.

“Thank you, Mrs. B,” Reece says and takes the dark red throw Mom holds out for him.

“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett,” Sophie replies when she comes back with the drinks. “You can put mine on that chair, please.” She nods her head to where she’d been sitting, while she juggles the five drinks she’s holding.

“Your father and I are ducking down to the church to give them the food,” Mom says to me when she reaches me last.

“I’ll come too.” I stand.

“You stay here, darling. You can come with us next time. We won’t be long, about twenty minutes. Here’s the house phone in case you need to call us.” Mom hands me the cordless phone and leaves. She quickly turns and points her finger at me with a smirk on her face. “No wild parties.”

“I’m so putting the call out,” Sam teases. “Wild night at the Bennetts.’ Hard core drugs, lots of unprotected sex, loud, obnoxious music. You know, all the things us teenagers get up to.” Sam smiles at Mom while Mom stands with her hands on her hips, giving Sam the ‘death stare.’

“Just don’t disturb the neighbors, we don’t want to piss them off,” Mom retorts sarcastically.

I look to Sophie who’s laughing, and Reece whose mouth is gaping wide while Taylor’s trying to shrink away. “We’ll keep the loud music down then,” I say cheekily smiling at Mom.

Mom rolls her eyes and walks away. I think I hear her mumble something, but I can’t be sure. It sounded like,
‘I’ve got the best kids in the world.’
If only she knew. “We won’t be long,” she calls over her shoulder then disappears through the slider.

“Your parents are so cool,” Taylor says. He sits back in his seat and has a long, wistful look on his face.

“Your Mom’s really nice too,” Sam responds. “She’s kind of different. Like she likes all that opera music and stuff. But she’s nice.” Taylor’s eyes land on Sam and I can see the love he has for her. He worships her, absolutely adores her. It’s there for everyone to see, and he has no shame in showing it.