The Mason List (12 page)

Chapter 18

When
I was sixteen…

The
jingle of the door caught me by surprise.  My stomach automatically tightened
at the sight of her.  Ashley Cartwright walked through the front door of
Jeeter’s, followed by two of her
Ashley-bots
.  It was a cliché, really,
when you looked at the facts.  However, clichés only become notorious in the
world for a reason.  It was just too damn common of a story.  Unfortunately, it
was currently mine.

“Look at
Ashley,” Natalie said, her eyes shifting toward the counter. “She went home
after school and got slutted up for a Coke.  No one’s even here but us.”

I knew
exactly what she was trying to do in Jeeter’s.  The day or the moment wasn’t
clear in my mind when everything started with Ashley.  Ever since I moved to
Arlis, she’d looked down her perky nose at me.  It didn’t matter much back in
those days.  I had Jess and the ranch.  He didn’t like her so I wasn’t forced
to spend much time in her presence.

As life
evolved, it all became a different playing field in high school.  I’d fretted
about the changes that would come as we grew older.  I wish I’d known just how
hazardous it would get the next few years.  Who knew Jess would become the
football star, love the popularity, and start dating my mortal enemy?  I really
could just kill him sometimes.  I pictured my hands around his throat, choking
out his lust for Ashley.

“I guess
I need to go help them.”  I slid out of the booth.

“I can do
it.”

“No, it’s
my turn.” I let out a sigh and walked toward the counter.  The words of Kenny Chesney
played on the jukebox, announcing my impending doom.

Ashley
stood at the front of the group, wearing tiny pieces of raveling denim she
called a skirt with a tight, blue tank top that forced you to look at her
breasts.  Her perfect skin was surrounded by flowing blond layers, she modeled
after Jessica Simpson’s perfect hair.  With the cowboy boots, Ashley could be
an ad for that new country line dancing bar on Highway 37.  I wondered if Mrs.
Mason had seen her lately.  She would definitely not approve of this outfit.

I
self-consciously smoothed my hands over my uniform, trying to dust off the
splatters of ice cream.  The afternoons on the ranch ended quite some time
ago.  These days, Jess went to football practice while I made milkshakes at
Jeeter’s after school. 

Old man
Jeeter had opened the place almost sixty years ago.  His granddaughter Caroline
now owned the restaurant, which sat conveniently down the block from the
hardware store.  My father picked me up after he closed the shop.  Caroline
always made sure we had something wrapped in foil to take home for dinner.  She
was the doting, fussy type and about my father’s age.  He said it was my
imagination, but I think she liked him. 

“What can
I get you, Ashley?”  I plastered the fake, service worker smile on my lips and
glanced back at Lila and Katie Rae.  I never could tell where they stood toward
me.  Obviously, they were her
Ashley-bots
, always following along
silently in the background, doing what they were told.

“I don’t
know.”  Her glossy lips pursed in contemplation.  She wasn’t friendly but
wasn’t hateful.  Hopefully, it would be a good day.  The thought didn’t release
the tight knot in my abdomen. 

Jess and
Ashley had known each other their whole lives.  Somewhere along the way, he
went from hating her to dating her.  I couldn’t blame him really.  She was sexy
and sometimes he was just a stupid boy. 

Ashley’s
family owned the tag agency.  In some twisted way, the fact her parents slapped
a date stamp on the back of every Arlis truck, made her feel special.  She was
involved in every organization at school, including cheerleading.  While every
guy wanted to date Ashley, every girl either wanted to be her or was afraid of
her, or a little of both. 

Ashley
wasn’t necessarily an aggressive mean person unless you attempted to take away
something she thought was hers.  This caused most people to tread lightly
because she assumed most things were hers.  I guess this also explained why she
developed a major issue with me.  She thought Jess belonged to Ashley, and I
should vanish from the face of the earth.

“Have you
decided?”  I really didn’t want to poke the bear with a stick, but two songs
had played on the jukebox since she came to the counter.  Ashley didn’t
answer.  She briefly lifted her long eyelashes, caked in mascara, and then
looked back at the menu.  My fingers clenched into my palms.  She was doing
this on purpose.

I never
knew how an encounter would go with Ashley.  With Jess around, she was civil
and sometimes over the top with gooey compliments.  The true selfish bitch
would sneak around the corner when everyone else was out of sight.  Often, it
was little jabs whispered in my ear while walking past her in the hall, like
loser
or
homeless skank
.  If she had some free rein, her words turned into
long, drawn out barbs about me stinking up a room. 

About a
month ago, Ashley crossed into hostile after coming to a dinner hosted by the
Masons.  I knew something would happen the moment the words left his lips. 
Jess had the guests laughing at one of our ranch stories.  I had watched the
fake smile on her face change to a very menacing look in my direction.  Ashley
didn’t like attention focused on me when it involved Jess. 

The next
day, I opened my locker to find my jacket and backpack soaked in something that
smelled like rotten garlic juice.  I threw away my clothes, but my locker still
carried the faint odor.  Every time I smelled it, I hated her a little more. 
The lingering scent haunted me until she got me with the eggs.

A few
weeks ago, I returned home to find the farmhouse pelted with sticky, cracked
yokes.  Not just a quick drive by fling, but roughly ten dozen eggs, baking in
the hot sun to a curdled mess.  I frantically scrubbed every piece of wood on
the front of our house, praying to finish before my father returned from work.

With each
shell picked from the ground, a deep hatred burned through my skin.  I went
absolutely nuts when I saw the lipstick prints on some of the mangled pieces. 
My blonde tormentor planted a signature kiss on the eggs before destroying my
porch.  I carried the shells behind the shed and beat them into splinters with
a hammer.  Maybe I couldn’t destroy her, but I could at least kill the
evidence.

“Ashley?”
I prompted her menacing face.  I would not stand here all day, waiting on her
twisted mind to figure out her order.

“Since
you are so impatient.  I need one scoop…not two, of the low-fat, vanilla
yogurt…slightly blended, with low-fat milk.”  She turned her piercing eyes from
the board to focus at me. 

Good
grief!
  Just say
small yogurt milkshake.

I rang up
Lila and Katie Rae’s orders.  Turning my back to use the mixer, I felt their
eyes watching my every move.  It was difficult to do my job knowing she was
just a few feet away.  Finishing the orders, I handed the cups to each of
them.  Ashley peered down at the shake then slanted her eyes at me.

“I said
one scoop, not two.  That’s two.”

“You
watched me make it.  There’s just one,” I said, keeping my tone even.    

Ashley
smiled at me, never breaking eye contact as she tilted the cup sideways.  I
watched half of the white contents splatter to the floor.

“There. 
One scoop.  All fixed.  No need to thank me.”  Ashley’s perfect nose pointed up
as she grinned.  Turning to leave, she stepped over the sloppy mess.  “Come on,
girls.” 

Ahh,
I wanted to scream in her smug,
flawless face.  I wanted to put my hands around her throat.  I pictured
Ashley’s happy hater eyes, popping from her skull as my fingers tightened. 

“That’s
some seriously, twisted shit you got with her.”  Natalie came up behind me with
towels.  “You need to squash that bitch.” 

From my
angle on the floor, I only saw the laces of her black combat boots.  “Like
how?  You act like she’s a spider I can just step on.”

“For
starters, tell your BBF that his perfect girlfriend, is bat-shit crazy.” 

“I can’t
do that.  This has nothing to do with him.”

“Sure it
doesn’t.”

“Ashley
has never liked me.”  I scrubbed the ice cream splatter off the benches by the
counter. 

“She
didn’t like you in seventh grade.  She put a bulls-eye on your ass four months
ago when she pulled your horny friend in the back seat of her Mustang.”

“Don’t
say that about Jess.  It’s not his fault.”

“Don’t
defend him for being a dumbass.”

Natalie
knew about Ashley’s increasing torment, but I refused to tell Jess.  What would
I say?  The most popular girl in school, who just so happens to be your
girlfriend, is harassing me for not having any money and living at your
ranch.   He would just try to take care of it and I didn’t want that from him. 
This was personal.  She purposely targeted the worst area of my life.  School
would be out soon for the summer.  I just needed to stay clear of her and let
the tension die down between us.  Maybe Ashley Cartwright would just forget
about me.

Chapter 19

When
I was sixteen…

I was
wrong.  By the end of summer, my life was the same, if not worse.  I kept up a
good face for Jess, but I felt a deep strain on the inside of my gut.  He had a
beautiful girlfriend and I had a scary bitch, haunting me like a red stain on
Mrs. Mason’s carpet.

“Alex,
you ok?”  Jess asked as I sat next to him in the meadow.  He was taking a break
from cutting hay.

“Yes,” I
muttered.  I watched him take bite of the hamburger I had brought him from
Jeeter’s.  Over the summer, I didn’t spend much time with Jess.  He worked long
hours at the ranch around his football practice schedule.    

“Sure? 
You ain’t sayin’ much.”

“I’m
fine.”

My black
nail polish-tipped finger flicked a fire ant from my knee.  The tightly woven
strings of bracelets on my wrist seemed to constrict into my sweaty skin.  I’d
become good with the intricate braids and painted designs on top of the macramé
threads.

“Skeeter
Rawlins came into Jeeter’s this morning, bragging about his meatloaf.”  I said,
trying to get his attention elsewhere.

“Meatloaf?” 
Jess laughed.

“You know
how everyone was talking about Sara Beth Nelson baking cookies in her car? 
Well, Skeeter apparently tried to top that with a pan of meatloaf on the dash
of his truck.”

“Gross. 
I guess he ate it?”

“What do
you think?  I had to listen to every detail about how it was a little dry and
chewy on top, but still gooey in the middle from all the eggs and ketchup.”

“Really? 
I’m eatin’ here.”

“How do
you think I felt?  I swear I saw a piece of raw meat still caked in his dirty
beard.”

“Geez,
you can be real nasty sometimes.”  His nostrils flared in disgust.  “I guess it
doesn’t surprise me.  I heard he went fishin’ and got down to the pond with his
Marlboros but no lighter.  Skeeter decided it wouldn’t be much different if he
just chewed ‘em up and ate ‘em.”

“No way,
he ate cigarettes.”

“Why
would he make up somethin’ that stupid.”

“I don’t
know,” I muttered.

Jess took
a drink of his Dr. Pepper.  I went back to picking at the strands on my wrist. 
He chewed for a few minutes.  The hot sun baked more freckles into my pale
skin.

“I want
to talk to you ‘bout somethin’.”

“Ok?” I
asked, hesitant at the direction this was going.

“I’m
gettin’ a back to school campin’ trip together over Labor Day weekend.  That’s
our off week with football, so everybody should be free.  I want you to go with
us.”

“Us?”

“Buzz,
Gentry, and Ashley.  Maybe a few of the girls.  Thought you and Natalie could
come too.”

“You want
me to do
what?
”  My throat tightened as I spit out my Coke.  The bubbles
burned in my nose.  Just last week, Ashley had dumped a bag of trash in the cab
of my father’s truck while I was at Jeeter’s.  Now Jess wanted me to spend the
whole damn weekend with her.

“Al, look
at me.  Don’t do this.  It’ll be fun.”

I watched
Jess take another bite of the burger.   The cheese dripped over his bottom lip
as he licked it back into his mouth.  He continued to chew while staring at me,
waiting for an answer. 

“I’m
starting to regret that I brought you lunch.”

“Come on. 
You’re gonna have to talk to me.  What’s your hang up with Ashley?”

“It’s
nothing.  We are just different people.” I pictured her perfect fake smile and
gagged.

“She’s
not that bad.  You should spend some time with her.  She’s a fun person.” 

Fun
for you!
  We
didn’t discuss that part of his life, but I was fully aware of his
sex-capades.  The whole damn school heard plenty from Ashley.  I hoped for the
sake of public sanitary purposes, most of the stories were just inflated
gossip.

I watched
Jess cram the rest of the burger into his mouth.  Leaning against the tractor
tire, he wore a fitted white t-shirt and old pair of Wranglers.  His shaggy
black hair was pushed back off his forehead with a University of Texas cap. 
Almost a decade older now from when we first met, but he still had the same
deep, blue eyes.  Those same pink lips turned into a frown.  I squinted back
with a mean stare.

“You’re
goin’ to have to do better than that.  Either you talk to me or you’re goin’ to
Possum Kingdom with us.”

“There’s
nothing to say and I am not going camping.”  I gritted my teeth in aggravation.

“You need
to give her a chance.  Spend some time with her.”

He had to
be kidding me!  Give her a chance my ass!  Just knock me in the head, tie me to
a rock, and throw me in the freaking lake!  I’d rather spend the weekend dead
instead of being in a cabin with
her
!

I took a
deep breath, inhaling through my nose, trying to calm my patience.  I cared
about Jess and hated seeing him with such a terrible person.  It was my fault that
his kind heart was currently being held captive by the Devil’s sister.  I
should have told him months ago about her dark side, but now it was past the
point of no return.

“Al,
please do this for me.  You don’t have to get in the lake.  I know you hate it. 
Please…just say yes.” He wrinkled his eyebrows up at me.  “I don’t feel like I
see you as much lately.”

“Don’t
tell me you miss me.  I see you all the time.”

“You know
that’s not true.  It used to be just us.  Now there’s school, and football, and
you’re at Jeeter’s and I help Frank.”

I frowned
at his words.  I wish it was just those things keeping us apart.  Why was
growing up so tough?  I missed being those carefree kids running through the
meadow. 

“Please
say you’ll do this.”  Jess put a palm on each side of my face; his thumbs
rested on the corners of my lips, forcing a smile.  He moved my head up and
down.  “See, I knew I’d get you to say yes.” 

“Gross! 
Get your cow manure hands off my face.  I can see it under your nails.”  I
glared at him, batting his hands away.

Everything
was just too complicated.  Come clean about Ashley, or go camping.  “Fine! 
I’ll go, but I’m doing this for you and only you.”

“I knew
I’d talk you into it.” 

“I hate
you sometimes.”

He gave
me one of those irritating grins.  The things I do for this boy.  Shaking my
head, I stood up.  “I gotta go back to work.”

“Stay and
ride a couple of rounds with me.” 

I looked
up at the old tractor that lacked an air-conditioned cab.  “Why are you driving
that one?”

“The new
one already needed some hydraulic part.  I kinda like the old one.  It’s nice,
once you get goin’.”

“Fine. 
I’ll go, but just a couple of rounds.  I have to change before I go back to
town.  Thanks to
you
, I’m covered in
sweat.
”

“Stop
complainin.” Jess climbed up to the cab and leaned down to pull me up beside
him.

“I’m not
complaining.” His fingers clung to my wrists as the soles on my gray, canvas
shoes slipped up the worn steps.

“It’s
hot.  I’m sweatin’.  I don’t want to go campin’,” his voiced pitched high to mock
me.

“I’m
going to hit you.”

“Shut up
and sit down.”

“Fine!” 
I hissed, despising the fact I had to touch him.

The cab
didn’t have room for two people.  It was really just one seat with a small
fender ledge over the tire.  I plopped down on the hot metal, feeling it burn
through my jeans.  Jess fired the tractor up and we rolled forward.  The breeze
picked up as we made the first curve.

“You
wanna drive?”

“Is that
your apology for being an ass?”

“Stop
shootin’ off your mouth and get over here.”  Jess pulled me from the ledge into
his lap.  My fingers grabbed the steering wheel as my shoulders relaxed into
his chest.  It was hot and sticky being pressed against him.  The sweat of his
body seeped through the back of my shirt. 

“This is
different than driving a car.”

“Yeah, it
takes a little body movement to turn the wheel.  It’s got some power steerin’
issues.”

I made
the turn a little wide and tried to line back up in the row.  My palms fought
the wheel to stay in a straight line.  Tractor driving was hard, but fun.  The
wind kicked up putting a breeze across my hot cheeks.

“Al, you
smell like hamburgers.” 

“Hamburgers? 
Geez, Jess.  You smell like sweaty gym socks washed in horse shit.”

“You must
like it too, or you wouldn’t be sittin’ here,” he laughed in my ear.  “You know
you want some of it.”  He smeared his hands over my arms and across the top of
my legs.

“Stop it,
jackass!”

I heard
the laugher building in his voice.  This was bad.  Jess seriously would not go
there today.  His fingers dug into the side of my ribs and tickled their way up
under my armpits.

“Quit,” I
screamed, but his fingers moved down across my stomach.  I fought back, but his
hands kept finding more places to grab my body.  Finally, I elbowed him hard in
the gut.  “
Stop!
”

“I’m sorry.” 
Jess released his hands, letting me slide back to my place on the ledge.  “It’s
just too much fun, making you look mad.”

“I am mad
at you!”  I spat back.

“I know,”
he continued to laugh.  “Your face is gettin’ all red, and angry lookin’.”

My eyes
narrowed, shooting death rays at his white, smiling teeth.  I clung to the
ledge, hoping to keep myself as far away as I could from Jess.  I inhaled
deeply, trying to calm my anger.   The smell of freshly cut grass filled my
nose as we rounded the field for another pass through the meadow. 

“I’m
sorry.  Don’t be mad.  Come here.”

“No,” I
huffed.

“Come
on.  I’m really sorry.”  His blue eyes pleaded, trying to win me over.

I let
Jess put an arm around my waist.  He pulled me back down into his lap.  I fell
against his chest, feeling his heart beat fast through the sweaty shirt.  The
pounding slowed down to a steady rhythm as he held me close to his body.  This
time, his fingers stayed in place across my rib cage.

“Are you
still mad at me?”

“No,” I
muttered.  I never could stay mad at him for long.  His sweet face never
allowed it.

“I like
it when you ride with me.  You haven’t been out all summer.”

“I know,”
I said, letting out a deep breath.

“I know
you like it too.”

“I
guess.”

“You
guess?” He chuckled next to my ear.

“Yes.”

Ashley
wouldn’t have the same answer if she drove out to Sprayberry.  Riding on the
tractor with Jess just might get my house burned down, or rather the
Mason’s
farmhouse.

His arm
tightened around my waist as we bounced over some ruts.  The burn scars popped
out from his skin, shining through the dirt and bits of grass.  His flesh
singed forever from our afternoon in the snow.  I touched the biggest gash next
to his elbow.  Hair didn’t even grow over most of the places.  They looked
painful, but I knew he didn’t feel a thing.  My fingers traced along his skin
until the jagged lines ended by his wrist. 

“You
know,” he spoke close to my cheek. “I don’t really mind it much when Frank has
me cuttin’ grass.  It’s kind of peaceful, don’t you think?”

I
shrugged against his chest.  As long as
she
stayed in my life, there
would be no peace.  I wish there was another way around this Ashley situation. 
I needed to stop being the victim and find a solution; one that didn’t involve
Jess.

“It’s one
of my favorite things ‘bout this place,” he said in that syrupy voice.  “I like
it better though when I’m out here with you.”

“Would
you be quiet?  It’s not
peaceful
with your constant blabbing in my ear.”

“You know
you like me blabbin’ in your ear,” he smirked next to my cheek. 

I rolled
my eyes even though a grin stayed on my lips.  That boy drove me crazy
sometimes.

We
traveled up and down the meadow with the tractor rocking us back and forth, in
a clunky rhythm.  Leaning my head back against his shoulder, I listened to Jess
hum one of his dirt road songs.  I wanted that peace he talked about so
fondly.  Closing my eyes, I did my best to enjoy the rest of the rare, Ashley
free, afternoon with Jess.