So Over It (21 page)

“About half of them have dark hair and skin.”

“The really cute one—”

“The really cute one?” John asked, and Lisa winced at her mistake. John didn’t have a jealous streak—he had a jealous
mile
.

“
Skylar
thinks he’s cute,” Lisa said.

I doubted this specification would fix anything, but John turned to me. “What about Eli?”

“What about Eli?”

“You’re toying with my boy’s heart. You realize that, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Please.” But that guilty burn started in my stomach, the one that sometimes kept me awake at night because I knew I’d been leading Eli on.

“He knows our situation.” I tipped back my cup, hoping to chase away my conscience. “Jodi’d kill me.”

Lisa snorted. “She’d do worse. She’d make your life so miserable, you’d wish she
had
killed you. I can only imagine how your hair would look short. And speaking of which . . .” Lisa nodded at Sarah Humphrey, who lurked around Mrs. Starr’s china cabinet. “What’s she doing here?”

I wrinkled my nose. “She probably thinks Jodi and Danny are still together and she’s here to do some damage.”

“She’s got a boyfriend. Actually, she hangs with Mr. TDH himself.”

“Skylar!”

I turned toward Jodi, who’d yelled my name from the kitchen.

“Change the song, would ya? I
hate
this song.” Now she looked at Danny, and I vaguely remembered this being “their song.” Danny didn’t react, just returned to his game of quarters.

I normally wouldn’t have involved myself in one of Jodi’s post-breakup spats, but it gave me a handy excuse to walk by TDH. I kept my gaze fixed on the stereo beyond him, but I could feel him watching me.

“Hi,” he said, his voice clear and smooth.

I tapped skip, then glanced at him. “Hi.”

“Masterful,” Lisa said as I returned to her and John. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off you.”

“I don’t like you watching him so much,” John grumbled.

Lisa glared at him. “Like you don’t help Eli with girls when the two of you are out.”

“Eli doesn’t chase girls anymore.” He slanted me a glare. “Wanna guess why?”

I shrugged and drained the contents of my cup. “Not my problem.” And after the next beer I downed, hopefully I’d feel as careless as I sounded.

“You want another?” Lisa said. “I’m gonna go get one.”

I handed her my cup. “Yeah, sure.”

John waited until she’d left to say to me, “Skylar, I’m being serious about Eli. He’s got it bad for you. You need to either cut him loose or give him a chance.” He seemed to hesitate before adding, “And I’m saying that for your own good.”

I glanced toward the breakfast bar, but Eli had moved. He now stood in the eat-in kitchen, chatting with some blonde chick who’d blocked him in and appeared to be talking incessantly. He looked past her and smiled at me. I frowned at John. “What do you mean, for my own good?”

“You know how he is. You’ve seen his temper.”

I opened my mouth to respond but got interrupted by Jodi’s and Alexis’s squeals as they pounced on the couch and danced wildly.

“Come on, Skylar!” Jodi said.

She sounded drunk, drunk, drunk. And I’d have to be as well to get up there.

I pulled a cigarette from the pack in my back pocket. “There’s no way,” I said to John.

He grinned, watching my crazy, stupid friends. “I don’t know. You’d definitely get what’s-his-face’s attention.”

“You think so?” I turned and saw TDH still watching me. “I don’t know. I think he’s got a thing for Lisa.”

John frowned and scanned the crowd. “Where’d she go, anyway?” He walked off toward the kitchen without another word to me.

I bit back a smile and watched Jodi’s long blonde hair fly through the air. Man, she’d wake up with a headache.

“You know, I’ve been watching you the last couple weeks.”

I turned to see him standing where John had been. If possible, he looked even better up close.

I exhaled cigarette smoke. “Oh, yeah?”

“You’re friends with those girls, right?” He indicated Alexis and Jodi with his drink.

“Yeah.”

“Weird. You seem so much older than them.” He took a sip and studied me. “There’s definitely something different about you.”

I hoped I hid my smile better than Jodi had earlier in the kitchen with Eli. “Maybe,” I said with a shrug.

“You know what else I’ve noticed?” He leaned closer. “Wherever you are, he is too.”

I looked in the direction he nodded. The blonde girl still had Eli trapped. He bobbed his head politely as she prattled on and on. And on. When he noticed Aaron and me, he frowned.

“He’s a friend of mine,” I said.

“Hmm. So I’m not gonna step on any toes if I get you a drink?”

I shook my head. I wanted to look away from him, to not look too enthralled, but I couldn’t lower my gaze.

“Be right back,” he said.

“Wow,” Jodi breathed in my ear, her dancing routine apparently over. “How gorgeous is he?”

We watched him walk into the kitchen. From our post at the ugly sage chair, we could see only from his shoulders down. Stupid cabinets.

“What’s his name?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Of course, he could be named Archibald Frederick the Third and I wouldn’t complain.”

I smiled, then glanced at Eli. Instead of watching me, he’d trained his focus on the kitchen. And I’d bet money on who.

“Gosh, Sarah Humphrey’s here?” Jodi hissed. I followed her line of sight, which also led to the kitchen. There Sarah stood, with her flapper-girl haircut and too-long-to-be-real eyelashes, which she batted at a very tall guy in a black shirt. A tall, dark, and hot guy, I’d guess.

“What is she, stupid?” Jodi said, her voice pure venom. “If she even thinks about taking him from you, I’ll make it a military cut next time.”

Sarah cocked her head and passed him her cup, beaming with a big, fake smile.

I turned to Jodi. “Well, if he’s easily persuaded by someone like Sarah Humphrey, I doubt I want him anyway.”

Jodi took a break from shooting mental daggers at Sarah to give me an exasperated look. “You’re so practical. It’s no fun.”

She scanned the living room, as if searching for someone. “Seen anyone good tonight?” I asked.

“You definitely landed the pick of the litter. But the night’s young.”

I nodded to Eli. “Eli’s looking pretty miserable. Maybe you could save him from the wordy girl and do a little reigniting.”

“I’m not nearly drunk enough for that,” Jodi said with a laugh. “Besides, he’s only got eyes for you these days.”

I didn’t answer. My guy had finally broken away from Sarah’s clutches and moved toward Jodi and me, balancing three cups in his fingers.

He winked at Jodi. “Grabbed yours for you too.”

“What a sweetheart,” Jodi said. She gave him a flirtatious smile and slipped away with her drink.

I accepted the cup and stared into his dark pools of eyes. “You forgot to tell me your name.”

“Aaron,” he said. “Robinson. And yours is Skylar, right?” I nodded.

“I’ve never known a Skylar before.”

“There aren’t many of us out there. I guess my mom wanted to name me Skylark but my dad said no. Skylar was a compromise.”

“A good compromise.” He smiled, showing off his straight, white teeth.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around Shawnee Mission,” I said, taking the first drink of my beer.

And we began exchanging information. He’d just graduated from one of the Blue Valley schools and was headed to Florida State in the fall. That’s where his dad lived, and he couldn’t wait. It was just him and his mom around the house, and she’d become super controlling since the divorce.

“I just want out of here,” Aaron said.

“Totally,” I agreed and drained my cup.

He got me a refill, then started asking questions about me. When I told him my dad was P. M. Hoyt of P. M. Hoyt Construction, he was appropriately impressed. “I see their trailers all over,” he said.

“Yeah.” I shrugged as if it were no big deal that my dad owned the largest construction company in the metro area.

As I talked about my friends, I felt my eyelids growing heavy. Why did I feel so tired? I’d slept in until about noon. I should’ve felt fine. I had a hard time focusing on Aaron’s face, and noises around me seemed louder, sharper. I gripped my nearly empty cup. Talking to Aaron had made me nervous and I must have drunk too quickly. That’s all this was.

“So, you should call me sometime.” Aaron tugged my cell phone from where it peeked out of my front pocket. “You know, when you get tired of all these high school boys. How should I put myself in your directory? ‘Cute Guy I Met at Party?’”

“Way too vague,” I said. “I’ll never remember which one you were.”

Aaron laughed, and it seemed really loud. He’d been drinking a lot too.

Nearby, Jodi cackled at something, then stumbled into an end table and sent a framed family picture tumbling to the ground. At the sound of breaking glass, she laughed even harder. How much had
she
had to drink?

“You’re not like your friends,” Aaron said.

I looked up at him, finding him very close to my face. He brushed his mouth against mine, and when the room swirled, I grabbed hold of his shirt to keep from falling. My stomach churned. I so didn’t want to puke on this guy.

“Let’s find someplace a little more quiet,” he whispered. I nodded. Quiet sounded good.

I felt a weight on top of me. When I managed to open my eyes, I saw Aaron. Where were we? The room was dark except the blinking numbers of an alarm clock. The Starrs’ guest bedroom? I’d never been allowed in here.

I realized Aaron was kissing me. My mouth felt furry, and I’d never wanted a drink of water so bad in all my life.

Aaron pulled back and looked at me. “What?”

Had I said something? “I’m thirsty,” I said. “And . . .” My stomach felt horrible, and I just knew I’d throw up in another minute. I started to cry. “Please let me go. I’m thirsty.”

A beam of light sliced across the room. “What are you doing? Get off her!”

Lots of shouting. My eyes felt too heavy to open. Was this a dream or was it real?

There were two voices. One I recognized—Eli—and one I didn’t. Both sounded angry. I couldn’t understand what they said to each other. I couldn’t understand anything, just the angry volume of their words and the way they took up the whole room, letting me fade away.

The bare skin of my lower back tingled with contact. Eli’s words were warm in my ear. “You’re okay.”

“What’s going on?” Had I said the words out loud? Had Eli even understood?

“You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

He drew me close, and I recalled being a little girl—when I’d fall asleep on the couch during a movie, my dad always lifted me as though I weighed nothing and carried me to the security of my warm, comfy bed.

I snuggled against Eli’s chest. He’d take me home. He’d let me sleep. He’d keep me safe.

Connor’s fingers laced through mine. He hadn’t touched me while I talked, just sat there and listened while I purged myself of every detail. My body felt more relaxed, as if it’d been tense this whole year, winding tighter and tighter each time I pushed away the memories of that night.