The Story of Us (13 page)

“It’s November,” I respond.

“It’s super cute,” she
counters.

“Okay,” I agree, laughing. “Besides,
it’ll give me a chance to show off my new tattoo.

“What?”
Hailey screams.

By the time my allotted hour is up, I
look completely re-done. Julie gives me a ‘smokey-eye’ look, Hailey
does my hair, pushing a lot of it to the right side and adding a
small cascading braid in the front of the left side. And of course,
Ashley picks out my brown skirt and I pair it with a plain white
long-sleeved shirt. Despite wanting to show off my tattoo, the
girls convince me to wear my dark brown cowboy boots. I only own
one pair, from a night Hailey and I went to a country dancing
class. We were on a big kick of wanting to learn the dances, but
ended up only going to one lesson. I grab a long necklace off of my
dresser to complete the look. The girls look equally dolled up,
Hailey in a knee-length dress, also wearing her cowboy boots, and
Ashley and Julie in jeans with dressier than usual tops. We’re just
about ready to go, so I text Tyler while the girls get their things
together.

“I’ve tried to convince
Hailey to tell me, but Craig is threatening her. Where are we
going?! Pleeeeaaseee?”

“I’m outside your door. I
could tell you… but I’m pretty sure Craig won’t let me go if I
do.”

Instead of texting back, I
just head out to the common room to see him. When I open the door
I’m surprised to see so many people waiting. My eyes find Tyler’s
and I head right over to him and wrap my arms around him in an
embracing hug, although I feel guilty after spending the day with
Craig. I know I
should
be with Tyler, but sometimes I see this other side of Craig
and it makes me question everything. It makes me question if I
really
want
to be
with Tyler… if Craig is as bad as he seems… if maybe I could be the
one girl he’d take seriously and stay faithfully committed to… if I
could somehow turn him into a relationship guy. But then there’s
times when I’m sure of my decision. Like the morning after our
camping trip when he admittedly had a three-some after saying
things to make me believe he was serious about liking me. And like
now… after spending the day with him and having him tell me that
I’m anything other than ordinary and that I deserve to be with a
guy who will tell me so every day, yet here he is with a playboy
bunny clone on his arm. Why would he say those things to me and
then bring this girl tonight?

“Princess, come here,” Craig beckons,
nodding his head for me to move in his direction.

I walk over to him since he did
orchestrate whatever it is we’re all doing. When I reach him, he
bends down and lifts my foot right off the ground. I bend my leg
and he takes off my cowboy boot.

“What are you doing?” I ask him in
surprise.

“You don’t have your tattoo covered
up,” he explains. “You either need to put something on it or lose
the cowboy boots.”

“Why?”

“Because the boots will irritate it
all night and it could get infected. Put some A&D on it and
then wrap it in a bandage. Then you can wear your boots. But after
that, no shoes that go past your ankle. You’ll want to keep it open
to let it heal.”

“Where’s Tiffany?” I ask him, looking
over at the girl he’s obviously here with.

“I told you, we weren’t serious. Out
with the old, in with the new.” He shrugs like it’s no big
deal.

I make a disgusted face at him but
before I can respond, Tyler approaches us.

“You got a tattoo?” he
asks.

“Um, yeah,” I admit.

“The school mascot?” he asks, looking
confused.

“Yepp. I just liked it,” I lie, not
wanting to give him the same explanation I gave Craig. It’s not
that I don’t care to, it’s just that I’d feel silly admitting the
whole spreading my wings metaphor to Tyler.

“Cool,” he decides, checking it out.
“Did it hurt?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

“Alright,” Craig shouts, “Julie, Dave,
Ashley, and this kid, whose name I don’t know…”

“Mike,” the guy tells him. I think
he’s Ashley’s date.

“…
are in Dave’s car. The
rest of us are in the van,” Craig finishes.

“What van?” I ask.

“Drew’s mom’s. She’s letting us use it
tonight,” Craig explains.

When we make our way out into the
parking lot and over to the van, Drew takes the driver’s seat, so
Hailey inevitably takes the passenger’s seat. Tyler motions for me
to jump in next, so I do. He follows in the seat next to me and
then Craig and his date file in, sitting in the seat behind
us.

“Anyone wanna tell me where we’re
going now?”

Hailey answers. “We’ve all been
threatened not to or else we won’t be allowed to go
ourselves.”

I roll my eyes, and then ask her to
turn up the music.

We arrive at the Mavis Center, a big
arena where sports events and concerts take place, forty-five
minutes later. Drew doesn’t pull into the main parking area though.
Instead, he goes all the way to the back, talks to a guard in a
booth who presses a button that lifts a gate, and then proceeds to
drive past the sign that says employee entrance. Julie’s boyfriend
follows straight behind us.

“What’s going on?” I ask. But no one
answers.

Drew parks the van and we all file
out.

“This feels sketchy. Seriously,
someone tell me what’s going on.”

No one answers but everyone starts to
follow Craig as he opens an unmarked side door, so I follow as
well. He walks down a hallway, turns and walks down another
hallway. Finally, he comes to a red door and knocks. A security
guard opens the door and smiles at him.

“These must be your friends,” he
assumes. “Hello everyone, I’m Craig’s dad, Rick.”

I’m shocked. All I know about Craig’s
parents is that they’re not around much. In high school, he was the
bad boy, having parties at his house and always getting into
trouble. I assumed he didn’t have a lot of good influences growing
up. I think I always assumed his parents were drug addicts or
something to that effect. But his dad looks completely normal. I
would guess he’s in his fifties because although his face looks
young, he has salt and pepper hair. He offers a friendly smile as
he takes us all in.

“Are you guys excited to see this
concert?” he asks us.

“It’s Valerie’s favorite band,” Craig
says, looking at me instead of his dad.

“It’s not…” I respond, trailing off,
thinking it couldn’t possibly be Lady Antebellum, one of my
all-time favorites.

“Yepp,” he replies, with a smug
grin.

“Seriously?” I run over to him and
throw my arms around his neck, not caring what anyone else thinks.
He picks me up off the floor and spins me around. When I let go,
I’m too embarrassed to look at Tyler or Craig’s date, so I just
focus on Hailey.

“Can you believe we’re gonna see Lady
A?” I shriek.

She laughs. “You don’t know how hard
it was for me not to tell you!”

Rick leads us out into the arena and
shows us the spot where we’ll be staying for the show. It’s not a
spot where anyone could buy tickets for. It’s roped off and looks
like it’s supposed to be used for equipment, but we don’t care
because we’re close enough to the stage that we can actually touch
it.

None of us know the opening band, but
we can tell right away that they’re pretty good. We’re all having a
great time together, except for Craig and his date who seem to only
wanna grope each other and make out the whole time. I don’t let it
get to me though. I’m too excited and giddy, I doubt anything could
bring me down right now. When Hillary and the guys take the stage,
forming Lady Antebellum, the whole arena goes wild. They start off
with “Need You Now” and I lose myself in the music. Hailey, Julie,
Ashley and I dance and yell the lyrics to every song they perform,
while the guys take a more laid-back attitude. But I can tell
they’re having a blast too. By the time the last song plays, I can
feel my voice fading. I don’t remember the last time I had this
much fun. The crowd cheers for them to play one more song, and they
come back out and start “Friday Night” – my favorite. When they’re
done, Craig takes my hand and leads me away from the
group.

“Where are we going?” I look back at
our friends, wondering why he’s only taking me.

“Back to my dad.”

“Oh, good. I don’t even think I
thanked him. This was so awesome, Craig. I can’t believe you set
this up. I’m glad you hijacked my birthday.” I smile up at
him.

We stop in a hallway where we see
Craig’s dad walking toward us with… Lady Antebellum.

Hillary Scott looks at me, “So this
must be the birthday girl,” she says, smiling.

And of course, I can’t talk. I mean, I
physically am unable to make a noise, so I just shake my head up
and down like an idiot.

Craig chuckles, “This is Val. She’s a
huge fan.”

“Can we sign something for you?” Dave
asks.

“I… I don’t have anything with me…” I
manage to croak out.

To my surprise, Craig hands them a CD
I hadn’t even noticed he was carrying.

The band passes it around to one
another and hands it back to me.

“Thank you
so
much!” I tell
them.

“Not a problem. I’m glad you had a
good birthday. We have to run, but it was nice meeting you Val,”
Hillary says.

Craig’s dad ushers them down the rest
of the hallway and out a back door.

I turn to look at Craig.
“I
cannot
believe
I just met Lady A!”

He laughs, “Yeah, if only you could
talk to them.”

“Hey, I talked!”

“Barely! I… I…” he makes fun of me, so
I hit his shoulder.

“Seriously, Craig. I can’t believe you
did all of this for me. Why did you?”

“Why not? I knew you’d be psyched to
see them.” He shrugs.

“You’re kind of amazing when you want
to be. You’re kind of annoying when you want to be, too,” I tease,
“but today amazing wins,” I give him.

“Amazing enough to deserve a kiss?” he
asks, coming closer to me.

“Ew,” I push him away, “not after
you’ve had what’s-her-name’s tongue in your mouth all
night.”

“Do I sense a hint of
jealousy?”

“I have a boyfriend,” I respond
seriously.

“Oh yeah. The one who makes you feel…
ordinary.”

I roll my eyes at him, but then
instead of getting upset, I pull him in for a hug. “Thank you,” I
whisper into his ear.

“For you, anything,” he whispers back,
holding me tighter.

“Why are you only good to me? Why do
you let everyone else think you’re this badass, carefree guy, when
you’re really a thoughtful sweetheart?”

He chuckles a little and then responds
seriously, “When people see good, they expect good. No
expectations, no disappointments.”

That night, Hailey and I stay up late
talking. I tell her all about getting a tattoo and how it felt and
I even tell her about me and Craig’s conversation in the tattoo
shop. Not about his sister, but about the rest of it.

“Val, I know you don’t want me to say
it, but I have to. You like him. Just admit it. And he likes you. I
don’t see the problem here.”

“I can’t be with him, Hail. He’s a
player. You saw him with that girl tonight. He’s already bored with
Tiffany and onto the next one. Why would I be any
different?”

She shrugs her shoulders and gives me
a sympathetic look, but it doesn’t help at all.

“The thing is… I don’t think I can be
with Tyler anymore either,” I add sadly.

She doesn’t look surprised and she
doesn’t even ask why. She just understands.

“What is wrong with me?” I growl in
frustration. “Tyler is perfect. He’s absolutely perfect. He’s sweet
and loyal and he’s such a good guy, but…”

“But no sparks?” Hailey
asks.

“No sparks. None. My heart doesn’t
race when he touches me, my skin doesn’t get goosebumps. I thought
I could convince myself to… to…”

“Fall in love with him?” Hailey
finishes for me. “Val, when it’s not there, it’s not there. Nothing
you can do.”

“But I want it to be there,” I
whine.

She laughs lightly. Then after a
moment, she says, “Val, you know what you have to do. Whether you
let yourself fall for Craig or not, you can’t go on being with
Tyler. You’re just leading him on and it’s not fair to either of
you.”

“I know,” I sigh.

It’s quiet for a few minutes, so I
roll over, ready to go to sleep. Just when I start to drift off, my
phone buzzes from a text, so I roll back over and grab it off the
nightstand. It’s Craig.

“Did you take the bandage
off and put more A&D on your tat?”