The Crush (12 page)

When I didn’t hear an answer back I made my way up the winding staircase to her room, she was probably still primping for our dinner tonight, it normally took her a couple of hours.

Her room was empty but it looked a tornado had went through it with clothes and shoes thrown everywhere, makeup lying out all over her nightstand and her pursed spilled out all over the floor. I figured she was probably in the bathroom that was attached to her room and I would sneak up on her.

 But before I could even open the door I heard moaning coming through the door that most certainly sounded like Lexie even though I had never heard a sound like
that
come out of her mouth before.

“What the fuck is goin on in here?” I pushed open the door and startled a very naked Lexie who was bent over her oversized Jacuzzi with her ass in the air and behind her stood an equally naked Brody Abney, someone I had grown up with and was a so called friend.

“Oh my god Grier! This isn’t what you think,” Lexie sputtered out while trying to separate herself from Brody and covering her body with her arms.

Now obviously she thought I was stupid if I didn’t know what in the hell was going on here.  I might have been waiting for Lexie till marriage but apparently she hadn’t been waiting for me. I felt like such a moron for not believing Wynn before, Lexie had probably been screwing around behind my back this whole time while I looked like a fool.

“You better get the hell out of here right now Brody before I beat the livin’ shit out of you.” I clenched my fists at my sides wanting to take all of my aggression out on his face but he scurried out of there faster than a speeding bullet, only stopping for a split second to pull his pants back on. Apparently his shoes and shirt weren’t as important.

I wasn’t one for hitting women but I really wanted to punch something right now and I think Lexie could tell by the way she was backed up against the wall with a shameful look on her face.

 I don’t think I was really mad about her cheating on me, although she could have just ended it instead of sneaking around on me behind my back. I was madder about the fact that I hadn’t believed Wynn.

“So how long has this little front you’ve been putting up been going on?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she answered back innocently.

“Don’t play dumb Lexie. Wynn told me what happened back during football season and for some reason I didn’t believe her, obviously I should have.”

Her mouth dropped open at that, she probably couldn’t believe that I hadn’t believed Wynn. She was clearly jealous of Wynn and she didn’t even know how great of friends we had become.

“I told that little bitch not to tell you,” she narrowed her eyes at me and the innocent look was wiped off her face, covered by her usual icy exterior. “I guess the whole school will know how much of a little slut she is now banging her own stepdad. It’s disgusting.”

My jaw dropped at the accusation that she was making about Wynn. I had no idea where she was getting her information from but she had it all wrong. If anyone was a slut it was her.

“We are through in case you hadn’t figured that out by now. I’m glad I didn’t touch you, who knows what kind of diseases I would have caught. And you better leave Wynn alone or I’ll be fillin’ in your daddy about his whore of a daughter, you understand?”

I ran down the stairs not waiting for an answer, taking them two at a time and brushed past Mr. Brockett who was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a look of disbelief on his face. Hopefully he heard every word I said about his daughter who he viewed as an angel. But I didn’t care, I only had one girl on my mind.

Wynn

The concert was awesome and I was thankful that the girls had talked me into going. We had all squeezed into granddaddy’s truck with Tessa on Collins lap and had driven about three hours away to Panama City. We were making a long weekend out of it and staying at a cheap hotel we had found at the beach. I was happily distracted from the mess of my life and just wanted to have a good time.

“So you think you like country music now?” Tessa asked as she stole a fry from my plate, swirling it around in her chocolate shake and popping it in her mouth. We had stopped at a 24 hour waffle house on the way to our hotel for a quick snack after the concert ended pretty late.

“Ew Tess I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.” Hallie held her stomach and moved closer to me while I tried to hold in my laughter. Tessa was always eating some weird combination of foods and Hallie could never stand it.

“Yeah thanks for taking me, I think I’ve learned to love country a little. Besides Taylor Swift is like right in the middle, a little bit country, a little bit pop, so I think it was perfect for my first time.”

Collins snorted out a laugh. “That is so true, you’re lucky we didn’t start you off with a Jason Aldean concert or something, those things get crazy!”

We finished up our meals and all loaded back up into the truck. I think if we ever took a trip like this again we really needed to consider renting a van or something. Four girls crammed inside a truck, not to mention all of our bags, was not a fun time.

“Oh that drive combined with the concert has me all freakin’ tired out.” Collins flopped down on one of the queen beds with Tessa joining her which left me and Hallie the other one, so we all climbed into our beds and passed out.

                                                                ********************************

“Morning sunshine!” I felt the mattress under me bouncing up and down and I peeked an eye open to see Hallie jumping up and down, already dressed in her bikini, ready to go for the day.

“Let’s go, we need to find a good spot on the beach so we can scope out all the guys.”

“What about Vance, isn’t he enough for ya? We could just stay here and sleep for the rest of the day.” Collins groaned out, her voice muffled by the pillow that she had over face. The spot next to her was empty so Tessa must be up and ready too.

“Come on girlie,” I pulled on Collins arm and she rolled out of the bed onto the floor. “You know she won’t leave us alone till we’re up.”

We all managed to get ready with only one bathroom, we didn’t need much primping since we were just going to the beach. I had bought a new bikini and although I was a little nervous to wear something that revealing I thought it looked pretty good the way the all white triangle tops and bottoms contrasted nicely against the warm golden tan I had gotten since moving here.

We found a perfect spot on the beach according to Collins after walking up and down for what seemed like hours and we all laid our beach towels out and lathered up our bodies with the tanning bronzer.

“Ah I am really gonna miss doing this,” Tessa said as Collins nodded her head in agreement while they looked out at the water.

“Don’t worry you two, Tallahassee isn’t that far from the beach, I’m sure you can make trips on the weekends. Maybe we could all meet up like once a month or something.”

“You just don’t understand,” Collins replied. “You didn’t grow up on a beach your whole life Wynnie. It’s just gonna take some getting used to that’s for sure. But I think a road trip like this one once a month sounds like an awesome idea.”

“Hey have you two figured out where you’re going yet? You do realize graduation is only like a month away, right?” Tessa asked looking between Hallie and me. We both looked at each other and couldn’t contain the huge smiles that broke out on our faces.

“Wynn Catherine Wakefield, do you mean to tell me you’ve know where you’re going this whole time and haven’t told your own cousin.” Collins looked over at me with her sunglasses lowered onto the tip of her nose and glared at me.

“Now I expected something like this out of you Hallie, always bein’ so secretive about everything but not my Wynnie. Now spill, are you two going to the same school at least?”

“Go ahead you tell ‘em Hal.”

Hallie balanced up onto her knees while clapping her hands excitedly. I knew she was thrilled that we had both been accepted. I told her I could really care less where we ended up as long as we were roommates so I left most of the decision up to her. Of course I knew what her obvious pick would be since Vance would be playing football there too.

“We’re going to Alabama, we’re gonna be a part of the Crimson Tides!”

Collins and Tessa both clapped for us and Hallie took an exaggerated bow.

“You sure you wanna go there too?” Collins asked me. “Isn’t it going to be hard to avoid Grier, going to the same school and all?”

I shrugged my shoulders and stretched out onto my back. “Who cares, I don’t have a problem with him, not my fault he thinks I’m a liar. Besides, it’s a big campus I’m sure we’ll barely run into each other.”

Truthfully I was a little worried about it since I still had some pretty strong feelings for Grier and I knew Lexie was going to following him to school. They would probably be married before they even made it to campus and I’m sure Lexie would have to rub it in my face even though I knew she was a cheater and would probably end up hurting Grier in the long run. Hopefully he made her sign a prenup, the way people talked, Grier would surely be playing in the NFL before too long if his college career panned out as expected.

We spent the rest of the day in the sun only pausing for bathroom breaks and grabbing frozen lemonades from the vendor that wheeled his cart up and down the beach. I called mom who was busy at the diner with the absence of their two best waitresses but she said they were managing to hold down the fort and was just glad I was having a good time.

After hanging up I was sprawled on my belly, halfway asleep when I heard a few whistles from behind us. I just ignored them, I wasn’t trying to be full of myself or anything but between the four of us everyone was getting a nice view and we had all been approached throughout the day.

“Now looka here fellas. Isn’t this a fine sight, especially that one.” I rolled over onto my back propping myself up with my elbows just in time to see Hallie fly into Vances arms. I knew those two couldn’t stay apart this long.

“Were you surprised baby?” Hallie just giggled in response while Tessa wrapped her arms around Dylan who must have come along for the ride. Collins had already rolled back onto her belly and appeared like she was sleeping. She didn’t ever seemed to be interested in boys and insisted she was waiting for a mature college guy to sweep her off her feet.

“Hey,” I heard behind me and whipped my head around to lock eyes with Grier who I had failed to notice. He looked especially yummy with his black hair covered up by an Alabama cap pulled low over his eyes even though I could still see the brilliant blue sparkling. His olive skin always had a deep tan to it and I craned my neck up to look at him.

“Does Lexie know you’re here, I don’t think she would approve of this,” I said waving my hand around the group.

He crouched down next to me, brushing off the sand that he had kicked onto my towel with his bare feet.“Yeah about that. I think I owe you an apology.” He pursed his lips together like he was contemplating something and then continued on.

“So I caught Lexie red handed or should I say buck naked the other night. I feel so stupid for not believing you before. I had no reason not to trust you, you had never lied to me before and we had become pretty close since you moved here. I don’t know why I was so quick to believe Lexie wouldn’t do something like that, I guess she really played the whole innocent virgin act well for me. Maybe she should consider that as a career, she would fit right in with that crowd. Now I don’t expect you to forgive me right away but I would like for us to be friends again if you’ll let me.”

I chewed on my bottom lip letting everything process in my brain that he had just told me. I really had missed having him around as a friend even though I had the girls. He just seemed to get me more than anyone and I had always felt so comfortable telling him just about everything.

“Yeah I wouldn’t mind being friends again. Just know that I wouldn’t ever lie to you especially about something like that. I was so scared you were going to make the worst mistake of your life by ending up married to that ice queen and even though I was pissed at you I know you’re a good guy and you don’t deserve that.”

“Good,” he grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet. “I will never understand how you girls can consider bakin’ your skin in the sun fun, we are going for a swim.”

We raced each other to the water, weaving through the crowds of people that seemed to fill this beach up a lot more than the one back at home. We crashed into the surface at the same time and I couldn’t help but giggle at the goofy grin plastered across his face. I had come to learn pretty quickly that life has it highs and lows just like the ocean does and sometimes you just have to see how far they’ll carry you.

Grier

I had called Vance to tell him what happened with Lexie and he hadn’t been too surprised by the news since Wynn had already filled him in on what had happened before. Luckily I caught him right before he left for Panama to surprise Hallie and I knew it was perfect timing. I could get out of town and away from Lexie for a bit since I knew she wouldn’t play the victim for long and I would be able to grovel at Wynns feet and hope we could be friends again.

When I saw her laying out in the sun in that white bikini that she filled out perfectly with her long honey hair fanned out around her it took everything in me just to chuck the whole friends idea and confess my undying love for her. I figured that probably wasn’t such a good idea though, I didn’t want to scare her off.

Somehow I convinced her to forgive me pretty quickly and it was like the past few months hadn’t even happened and we instantly fell back into our comfortable friendship that I had missed so much. We hung out with Collins since the other two couples couldn’t keep their hands off each other and we spent the rest of the day at the beach, tossing the football around and running back and forth into the water.

We got a separate room for the night and we all planned to meet up in the morning for breakfast at a waffle house down the road that the girls had already tried out.