Ruined by You (3 page)

Sarah smiled at me. “It’s still a good sign,” she said. “It’s going to be a fun summer, indeed.”

I beamed up at her. “I hope so.”

* * * * *

Later that night, after Sarah helped me unpack most of my stuff, and after we’d enjoyed a simple, dinner, Huck showed up at the door. He was dressed in tight blue jeans with a large buckle and a cowboy hat. He looked very handsome, and I could tell by the glint in Sarah’s eye that she thought so, too.

“Be back at a reasonable hour,” Mom said to me before we left. “And please be safe.”

“I will,” I reassured her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Take good care of these girls,” Grandma said, her stare leveled at Huck. “Don’t forget I know where your Daddy lives.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Huck said, his chin dipping down as he did.

We piled into his truck, and gave them a final wave as we pulled out of the driveway. The engine rumbled as Huck turned the ignition. He eased along the winding road that led us off of the tiny hilltop neighborhood where my aunt and uncle lived, and we started the drive into town.

“So what’s the story with this place we’re going?” I asked.

Sarah grinned at me. “It’s the Hill Country Saloon,” she said. “But we just call it the Saloon, for short.

I laughed. “Sounds like the kind of place from a Clint Eastwood movie.”

She laughed with me. “It’s not fancy, but it’s what we’ve got. Everyone goes there to hang out, and on Saturdays there’s even bands that play.”

“Well, as long as you can promise there won’t be any shootouts, I’m sure it’ll be a good time,” I said.

The drive into town was quick, and I was reminded of how small Green Falls really was. Especially when compared to a place like Newark. But there was still something pleasant about the sleepy little town. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.

A song came on the radio while we drove, and Sarah cooed with excitement.

“I love this song,” she said, excitedly. “Have you heard it?”

It sounded like every other pop rock song I’d heard in the last year, but I was pretty sure I’d never heard it before.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“It’s so good,” she said. “Just wait, it’ll get stuck in your head.”

As we listened, I had to admit that it was very catchy. I was pretty sure Huck was relieved when it finally ended, though. Sarah gave him a sour look, and teased him about being a buzz kill.

When Huck made the final turn into a gravel parking lot, I was surprised by how packed the bar was. The Hill Country Saloon was a brick building, with a neon sign and barely a single empty parking spot to be found. Hopping out of the truck, I could hear the rumble of music coming inside. A small group of people lingered near a mountain of a man who leaned against a stool. They were talking, and all had smiles on their faces.

“Wow, this place is packed,” I said. “You weren’t kidding.” Sarah’s eyes beamed at me. I frowned. “Aren’t we going to get carded when we try to get in? It’s a bar, after all.”

Sarah looked at me, her brow knitted in confusion. Then she and Huck looked at each other and erupted in laughter.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Sarah said after she caught her breath.

“Is it an all ages kind of place?” I asked, confused.
 

“Not exactly.”

“No one cards around here,” Huck piped in. “Just don’t get drunk and cause a scene and you’ll be fine. No one really cares much if it’s all good fun.”

“That’s definitely not how things are in Newark,” I said.

“I bet there’s a few things we do differently around here than they do in the big city,” Huck said, his back straightening with pride.

As promised, the huge bouncer let us in without so much as a question. He nodded at Huck and Sarah, and gave me a warm smile. The music inside echoed and reverberated off the walls. It was louder than I’d expected. Steel guitars cried their solos, and the drums pulsed deep in my chest.

In the middle of the bar, a tiny dance floor was littered with a crowd of all ages. They were all dancing, and having a good time. It was a kind of dancing I’d never seen - almost like everything was choreographed. The men and women moved, quickly, twirling and scooting around the dance floor. The girls were pulled in close and tight for a few beats, and then swirled out and around, once again. If someone messed up, everyone was going to crash into each other. It looked like an amazing time. Maybe I should learn to dance?

“Get us one of those tables, I’ll get some drinks,” Huck said, nodding toward a row of high-topped tables nestled near one of the walls. Sarah nodded at him, and we made our way over.

As we settled into the seats, I let myself take in even more of the bar. Couples leaned in close to one another in the booths along the wall to our left, and men talked in small groups at the bar. Everyone had smiles on their face. Fun and laughter hung in the air, and the atmosphere felt like it belonged at a family reunion. Not at a bar on a Friday night.

All of the pressure and stress I’d felt since Mom had suddenly announced that we were going to be spending the summer in Texas with family began to fade. For the first time since we’d left Newark, I was feeling comfortable. As I took in the laughter all around me, I began to think that I could handle a summer of this. Maybe things weren’t going to be
that
bad.

And, that was when someone at the bar caught my attention. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I leaned over and looked through a small group of people to the far end of the bar.

A nervous buzzing filled my chest, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

It was the mysterious tattooed guy from the gas station. He was here. And he was looking right at me.

“Maggie?” Sarah said. “Maggie is everything alright?”

I shook my head, snapping out of a daze. Our eyes connected, and I gave her a serious look. I leaned in close so I wouldn’t have to shout over the music.

“Remember that guy I was telling you about this morning?” I asked. She nodded. “He’s sitting over there, at the end of the bar.”

Her head jerked around, a little too quickly for my liking, and I looked at him in alarm. Thankfully, it didn’t look like he noticed us staring at him. He had a bottle in one hand, and he was tilting it into his mouth. Sarah studied him, intently.

“He’s hot,” she said, when she turned back to me.

“I think he saw me,” I said.

Maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me?

“You should go talk to him,” Sarah said. “Go introduce yourself.”

I looked at her in horror. “No way,” I said. “I could never do that, I’d be too nervous.”

She rolled her shoulder and looked back at him.

“His tattoos are sexy,” she said, a leering smile stretching across her face.

“What tattoos?” Huck said, appearing out of nowhere. He set a pitcher and three tall glasses on the table, and frowned at Sarah, suspiciously.

Sarah and I laughed together.

“Maggie was telling me about a guy who talked to her at the gas station this morning,” Sarah explained. “He’s sitting over at the end of the bar.”

Huck turned all the way around and searched the bar, making no effort to be subtle.

Both of us groaned at him at the same time. “Could you be any more obvious?” Sarah said.

“That guy down there?” Huck said. “He doesn’t look like much.”

“What do you know?” Sarah said. “He looks… fun.”

“What’s
that
supposed to mean?” Huck said. Sarah and I looked at each other and laughed, again.

“It’s nothing,” Sarah said. “You just mind your own business and leave the girl talk to us.”

He rolled his eyes and poured himself a full glass from the pitcher. He was more than content to sit and drink his beer, though he assured us he would only be having one since he was driving.

“Want me to get his name?” Sarah asked. I looked at her in alarm.

“No,” I said. “If he wants to talk to me again, then he will.”

She shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. “Unless someone else gets to him first.” She nodded toward him, and my head snapped around. “Someone like that,” she said.

I watched as a beautiful girl with golden blond hair, and too much cleavage, sat down next to him. She tossed her hair over her shoulder to get his attention, and then gave him the biggest smile she could have possibly given. I watched as the two of them started talking, heat burning my cheeks.

“It’s no big deal,” I said, trying not to clinch my teeth together. “I don’t even know who he is. We talked for thirty seconds, tops.”

I cursed myself for being jealous at all. It wasn’t like I had any right to be. If I wasn’t going to go talk to him, then that beautiful girl had every right to. She was probably easy too, which I’m sure he would appreciate. I groaned and sunk onto my stool.

“So you’re going off to school next year?” Huck asked me, taking a small sip from his beer.

I nodded. “I’m going to New York State,” I said, feeling a familiar sense of nervous excitement at the thought of living in the city.

“That’s so cool,” Huck said. “I can’t wait to go off to school. I can’t wait to get out of this little town.”

Sarah rolled her eyes at him. “Keep dreaming,” she said. “It’s not like you’re going to be going very far.”

“I’m serious,” he said. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I think I’m going to do it. I want to get out and see the world.”

Sarah studied him more intently, and the awkward smile on her face turned down.

“Your mom won’t let you get far,” she said. “She’d be a wreck without you.”

He gave her a lopsided, confident, grin. “You let me worry about her,” he said.

Sarah scowled at him, and crossed her arms in front of her. It was obvious that she hadn’t been aware that Huck had been thinking about going away to college. I bit my lip, not wanting to get in the middle of it.

Sarah gave him a hard look when he took another sip from his glass.

“Have you forgotten your manners, Huckleberry?” she said. “Is the big college man too important to offer a girl a drink?”

Huck looked at her, nervously. Then his eyes swung to me, and he reached for the pitcher.

I held up a hand. “No thanks,” I said. “I don’t drink.”

Sarah looked at me, genuine surprise in her face. “Really?” she asked. “I figured that was just a show for your mom.”

“Really,” I nodded.

She gave me a calculated look, like she was adjusting her mental image of me. Then she turned back to Huck, and gave him a hard look, her eyes flitting down to her own glass.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, quickly, as he grabbed her glass and filled it with beer. Part of me felt sorry for Huck. He’d set off a trap he hadn’t even realized was there.

“Your parents can’t afford to send you to some far off school,” Sarah said, when he was done pouring.

“I’ll figure something out,” Huck said.
 

“Are you going to take out loans that you’ll never be able to repay?” Sarah asked, sharply.

I groaned out loud.

“Can we talk about anything other than student loans?” I said. “I don’t even want to think about paying for college right now.” Sarah looked at me, her eyes narrowing. I waved my hand. “I got some scholarships and everything,” I said. “But, I still need to find a summer job if I’d like to have food on the table.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard,” she said, her back straightening. “We know a lot of people in town, I’m sure we could find you something.”

Huck took another swig from his glass.

“You should talk to Scottie,” he said. “The Battle’s coming up. I’m sure there’s something he could have you help with.”

“No one asked you, Huck,” Sarah said, turning back to him. He leaned back in surprise, giving her an apologetic look. “Come on, Maggie, I’m not in the mood for this crap,” she said, nodding at the beer she hadn’t even touched. “I need a real drink.”

She slid off the stool and, giving Huck one more glare, bee lined for the bar.

He shot me a confused look, and all I could do was shake my head.

“Hang in there,” I said, patting him on the arm. Then I ran to catch up to my little firecracker of a cousin.

* * * * *

We made our way up the bar. Sarah was walking stiffly with her hands still folded across her body. There were a lot of people at the bar, but it wasn’t so full that we couldn’t find a place to squeeze in. Two bartenders made drinks. One of them was older, and clearly in charge. I risked a glance at the mystery man, and felt my stomach drop when I saw that both he and the blond had disappeared.

So much for that!

We stood at there for a minute, neither of us saying anything. Sarah kept her eyes focused on the bar, lost in thought.

“Everything OK?” I asked.

“What?” she said. “Oh. Yeah, everything’s fine.” She shrugged her shoulder, unconvincingly.

“That stuff with Huck seemed pretty intense,” I said.

“What is he thinking?” she said. “He can’t go and run off to some far away college just because he wants to get out of Green Falls. That’s selfish.”

I gave her a warm smile, and squeezed her shoulder.

“So who’s this Scottie person?” I asked, changing the subject. “I really do need a summer job.”

Sarah perked up, and she nodded at the far end of the bar.

“That’s him down there,” she said, nodding at the guy in charge. “He’s kind of a big deal around here. Opened this bar a few years ago, and he’s been doing good things for everyone ever since.”

“What’s the thing that Huck was talking about?” I asked.

“The Battle of the Bands?” Sarah said. I nodded. “It’s this thing Scottie started a couple years back. Started off as a little concert, but then he started to get some sponsorship deals and it turned into a little competition with each band trying to one up the other.”

“Sounds pretty interesting,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty fun. All the kids at school talk about how they’re going to win it, but I don’t think any of them really have a shot.”

I considered it. Working at a concert wouldn’t be a horrible way to spend the summer. It would definitely be something different. But, something told me that it probably wouldn’t be enough. I’d probably have to get another job to go along with it, and that might be too much for me to handle. Something was better than nothing, though.