Unbreakable (Accidental Crush #3) (10 page)

My stomach is in knots. I don’t want either of them to get hurt, and now they both are.

Ryan gives Brian and Mark a glance, and then they all go over.

“All right, that’s enough!” Ryan shouts in Todd’s ear as they pull him off Casey.

Casey is a bloody mess as his friends come over to help him up while Ryan, Brian, and Mark surround Todd. I can see he has a pretty big gash above his eye.

“Oh great, just great.” I feel Sid’s hand on my shoulder.

Everything happening around me is in slow motion. It’s as though I’m watching a movie, and none of it is really happening to me.

“My dad is going to kill him.” Sid shakes her head as if this is a regular occurrence, which I guess it kind of is becoming one. I can’t think about that now, though.

I run up to him.

The boys are still holding him back, but his eyes lock with mine, and his bloody hand comes up to my cheek to wipe a tear away. I didn’t even realize I was crying. His touch is so gentle, which is crazy after seeing his fist slam into Casey’s face.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I couldn’t help it.”

“I know,” is all I can say.

“Ash, not now. You should go.” I hear Ryan’s voice and feel Blythe and Sid’s hands pull me back. Regardless, I want to be with him. He’s bleeding and he needs me.

“Come on, Ash. He’s fine. Let the guys take care of him,” Blythe says as she continues to guide me away from the commotion. “There’s nothing to see here, people,” she shouts out to the crowd that’s gathered, trying to clear the area.

“That’s right, people. Move it.” Shane takes one look at me and jumps right in to distract everyone. He signals to the guy who is DJ’ing to turn the music up.

I can’t believe I’m crying. I don’t know why exactly, but I can’t seem to stop.

I glance over to see Casey’s friends surrounding him. He is holding his head back and someone gave him a sweatshirt to use to stop the bleeding.

I don’t know exactly what happened with them, but I want to scream at him I’m so angry. Why did he come here tonight? Why can’t he just let it go?

I’m already dreading our next swim practice. Maybe Todd has been right all along. I don’t know anymore.

Still, a small part of me feels bad for Casey. He has shown me he’s good person, and I know he doesn’t have anyone else. Even though he’s surrounded by friends, I know he’s alone.

“He’s definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow for the dance,” Sid says. That’s the last thing on my mind, but once she says it, I can’t help laughing through my tears.

“Well, it should make for interesting pictures,” Blythe chimes in.

I’m not sure if it’s stress or nerves, but we all start laughing hysterically. I know I look insane because I’m laughing and crying at the same time. Not to mention, laughing probably isn’t something a sane person would do right after two boys almost killed each other because of her, but, oh well. I can’t help it. It’s the only way I can deal with everything at the moment so I just keep laughing.

Chapter 8: The Day After

TODD

As soon as I open my eyes, everything from last night comes pouring back in. Then I run my hands over my face, and the searing pain is another instant reminder. My eye feels like I got hit with a sledgehammer, and my hand is killing me.

I look at my hand to see it’s scabbed and bloody.
Shit.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

The room is spinning, and my stomach joins in. I know I need to move quickly because whatever I ate last night is coming back up, but I can’t. I try, but my body only knows one speed right now—slow motion.

One step at a time,
I repeat to myself then smile because it makes me think of Ash.

I make it to my trashcan just in time. Man, I’m in bad shape.

The homecoming dance is tonight.
Shit.

I crawl back to my bed and see a bag filled with water next to my pillow. At one point, that must have been ice for my eye. I wish I had ice right now. I think about drinking the water in the bag, but I’m not that desperate.
Yet
. Besides, I don’t think I could keep it down at the moment.

I close my eyes. Maybe that will stop the spinning. I have the whole day to feel human again, but I’m not sure that’s enough time. I can’t believe I let that asshole get to me again. Ash must want to kill me.

There is silence for a second, spinning silence but silence, nonetheless. I try to convince myself the room is not spinning. Then there is loud banging on my door.

I’m going to strangle Sid.

“Not cool, Sidney,” I shout as loud as my head and lungs will allow.

The door opens. “It’s not Sidney.” I hear my dad’s voice.

Shit.
It’s too late. I can’t hide any of the evidence, not that I have the strength to move even if I want to. I’m suddenly grateful I tied up the garbage bag. Maybe he won’t notice I was drinking last night.

“It smells like a brewery in here.”

Guess not.
Shit.

I open the only eye I really can and instantly regret it. My dad does not look happy.

“Sit up.”

He has no idea how difficult that request is going to be for me at the moment, or maybe he does.

“I’d rather not,” I try to say as lightly as possible.

“If you want to talk about rather nots, I’d rather not come into my son’s room at noon to find that he is still asleep, obviously hungover, and apparently he also got into a fight last night. So sit up. We’re painting the fence today, remember?”

Double shit.
I bolt up, and my head instantly retaliates. Nothing like the threat of chores to give me the extra trajectory I needed.

“I can’t, Dad. Come on. I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m sure Sid would love to help.” I forgot about the damn fence.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Todd, first it was the stunt at school, which made you sit out the entire first quarter of the game when you knew college scouts were coming, college scouts who are interested in you. What if Coach didn’t let you play?”

I know this is not a question he actually wants me to answer. I can also tell he’s not even close to being finished with this rant, so I start to lie back to take in the rest. I just need something to lean on while I do it. Thank God for my headboard and pillow.

I try to keep my movement casual so he doesn’t notice just how bad of shape I’m really in.

“You don’t realize how lucky you are that you have several schools interested in you, and then you go and almost blow it.”

I take a deep breath to try to will the anger starting to bubble up away, not to mention the burning I feel in my throat. I think I’m going to be sick again.

“I didn’t blow it, Dad.”
Stay calm.

“Who knows? I’m sure the scouts asked why you weren’t playing.” He shakes his head. “The three of you, you don’t think.”

“I got a verbal offer from Penn State last night, Dad, so I didn’t blow it.”

That stops him in his tracks. I didn’t tell anyone other than Ash last night.

“Is that true?” He looks at me like I’m such a screw up it can’t possibly be true.

I feel like I’m going to throw up if I say anything else, so I squeeze my lips together and nod my head.

“Son, that’s great. Is the same possible scholarship offer they mentioned earlier still on the table?”

Once again, I nod my head.

I need him to go.

“Wow. Penn State,” Dad repeats.

He is in such a daze of happiness I think everything else is erased until he glances over at me, and my face reminds him that he was in the middle of a rant.

“What happened to your face? You are a mess. You got a possible scholarship offer from a great school, and then you think it’s a good idea to go get drunk at some party and get into a fight? Look at your hand, your eye. You have no guarantees, Todd. You need to play this smart. And fighting and underage drinking are not good choices when you have so much riding on this. Penn State has a long line of kickers, I’m sure. Plus, think about baseball; what if you broke your hand?”

He isn’t stopping. There is so much I want to say to defend myself, but I can’t open my mouth, or it will be over. I close my eyes to try to zone him out and concentrate on not throwing up; however, I can’t hold it any longer. I start to get up, but before I know it, everything I ever ate is coming up all over my dad’s shoes, my rug, my bed. I mean, it is everywhere.

“Todd! What are you doing?” he yells as if I’m a little kid again. He hasn’t used that tone with me in years, and the scowl on his face is irreparable.

Well, there goes homecoming.

ASHLEY

It’s noon, and I’m starting to get worried. I’ve texted Todd a hundred times. Well, five, but it feels like a hundred. Sid checked on him a few times for me earlier and said he was still breathing, so I know he’s alive, but he was in bad shape last night.

He said he was sorry a million times on the drive home. Since none of the boys were in any condition to drive, Blythe gave us all rides. I was on Todd’s lap, which would have been incredible except for the fact that he was bleeding and still reeling from the fight.

I kept trying to get him to keep the ice packs on his eye and hand, but he kept pushing them away and saying he loved me and he was sorry. He normally would never talk like that in front of Ryan and Brian, so that’s how I knew just how out of it he was.

Despite Sid lecturing him for the entire drive, he just ignored her. She was positive their dad was going to be livid, though, so I’m just waiting for the verdict.

Finally, my phone buzzes, and my heart races as soon as I see Todd’s name.

Hi, Ash.

Hi, yourself. How do you feel?

Like crap. You?

Better now.

Sorry about last night. Can you talk?

I know that is code for am I alone?

Yes.

My phone rings almost instantly.

“Hey,” I say

“Hey.” He sounds worse than I imagined.

“Wow. You sound horrible.”

“Yeah, thanks.” I can hear his smile.

“Sid was pretty sure your dad was going to kill you, so I’m glad to hear you are still alive.”

He gives a small laugh. “Barely.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Well, I just threw up all over him.”

“Your dad?”

“Yup.”

I press my lips together to try not to laugh. “How’d that go over?”

“Not well.”

I know this isn’t funny, but I can’t get the image of Todd’s dad out of my head. He’s always so buttoned up.

“Did you tell him about Penn State?”

“Yeah, but before he was covered in my vomit, so that didn’t really help.” There’s a long pause, and I know before he even says the words, “I can’t go tonight, Ash.”

And there it is. My first thought is how much I hate Casey. This is his fault. I don’t know what to say, so I don’t speak.

“I’m so sorry. Now I’ve ruined your homecoming, too.”

Silence.

Anger.

More silence.

“Say something, Ash,” he says quietly, finally breaking the silence.

“What can I say? You can’t go, which means I’m not going.”

“That’s ridiculous. You should still go. I want you to go.”

“But I don’t want to go without you.”

“Ash, I’m going to try to fix this. I showered, and I still feel like I got run over by a truck, but I’m going to go outside and paint the fence with my dad. Maybe if I do everything I’m supposed to do today, he’ll change his mind.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Then you should still go. Sid and Shane will kill me if you don’t go. And I want to see you in your dress.”

“But you won’t be there.”

“I’ll figure out a way.”

Chapter 9: The Dance

ASHLEY

Todd’s dad didn’t change his mind. In fact, he called my parents, and now Ryan is allowed to go to the dance but nothing else. He has to come straight home, which means I have to come straight home, too.

More hate for Casey.

I’m going through the motions of getting ready, though I couldn’t care less. Sid, on the other hand, is still beyond ecstatic and still coming over to get ready. Todd said he almost convinced his parents it was a stomach bug, but when his dad discovered his car was still at Mark’s, it sealed the deal on what his dad already knew—this is no stomach virus—which equals Sid’s parents driving her over here and no Todd.

When I hear Ryan opening the front door for her downstairs, I want to be excited, yet I can’t bring myself to even fake it.

My bedroom door swings open while I remain planted on my bed. I have improved on my make-up abilities since last year, so that is done; however, I’m still in shorts and a T-shirt.

Sid is standing there in my doorway with her giant garment bag and a smile bright enough to light up my dark room.

“Get up. It’s homecoming!” She’s so giddy she reminds me of Gretchen. I actually think they would be good friends if they got to know each other better. “And turn some lights on, for God’s sake. So what if he can’t go? I told you last night. I knew it,” she continues as she moves around the room, turning on all of my lights.

“Thanks, Sid, but the I-told-you-so’s don’t make me feel any better. I’m still going alone.”

“Excuse me? What am I, chopped liver? And Shane is going to be here in twenty minutes. You have two dates.”

“You have Simon and Shane has Johnny.”

“And you have Todd ... and Casey.”

My eyes dart to hers, filled with anger and shock. I can’t believe she just said that.

“Finally, a reaction. Please, we all know how you and my brother feel about each other and how much he loves you after last night. I mean, he wouldn’t shut up about it in the car.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t remember any of that, so it’s probably a good idea not to bring it up.”

Her eyes study me for a moment before she finally drops her arms and shrugs like she’s been defeated.

“Fine. Don’t go.” The look of disappointment on her face is enough to guilt me into finishing to get ready and at least pretend like I’m happy about it.

“I’m going.” I push myself up. “Geez, I didn’t think you’d give up that easily.”

Her lips turn up in an evil smile. “I knew that would work. That was all part of my plan.” Then she cackles, actually
cackles
.

“You are evil.”

“Oh, please, like I was going to let you
not
go.”

***

Shane and I are a sweaty mess. We have been dancing nonstop and are finally taking a break on the chairs that are lining the room.

The dance is more fun than I thought it would be without Todd. Johnny and Shane seem better, even though Shane says they are playing it as “just friends.” At least they are talking. Shane seems happy except for when Johnny dances with girls, which he is currently doing. The one positive is it motivated us to take this break.

“You know what? I’m going to dance with a girl, too. Let’s see how he likes it. Why can’t I dance with a girl?”

“Hello. Girl. Sitting right here.”

His eyes connect with mine as he brushes his sweat soaked hair off his forehead. “Come on, Ash, you know what I mean.”

His eyes relock on Johnny who is in the middle of a slow dance with Courtney Fleming. She’s one of the leaders of the popular junior girls, and she is all over him.

Surprisingly, a lot of girls came to homecoming alone this year, so I fit right in. The chairs along the perimeter of the room are packed with girls during all of the slow songs.

I gesture over to the line of girls. “Well, there’s tons to choose from.”

Shane glances over, and I can almost see the wheels turning.

“Yeah, but which one?” he says under his breath.

“How about Emma Miller? She’s nice. And I actually think she might have a crush on you.”

His shock-filled eyes meet mine. “Really?”

I just give him a headshake and an eye roll. “You are ridiculous, you know that?”

“Don’t Sid me. I saw that.” He slowly gets up to make his way to the group of girls lining the wall.

“It’s our one year anniversary!” Sid squeals as she plops down next to me.

“Oh, yeah, it is. Wow. I can’t believe that was one year ago.” I think back to last year’s dance and how jealous I was of RTS when I saw her kissing Todd. It’s incredible how much has changed, and I can’t help smiling at that. “Speaking of, where is Simon?”

“Bathroom. Plus, I needed to take a break. Where’s Shane?”

I gesture over to the direction he just went, and then Sid and I both do a double take. Our heads whip back to one another.

“Emma Miller?” we both say over one another.

I fill her in on Shane’s plan, but neither of us can look away.

Shane looks uncomfortable and unsure of what to do with his hands, but Emma looks elated. Poor girl, if only she knew…

Surprisingly, Emma takes control of the situation. She wraps her arms around his neck and rests her head on his chest, while Shane nervously glances over in our direction, looking for help. Sid and I get up and embrace each other to show him what to do, he gives us a head nod with a smile.

One thing Shane made sure he did right was place himself directly in Johnny’s line of sight.

“Look at J,” I whisper to Sid, purposely avoiding using his full name because there are enough people around us, and Shane apparently has rubbed off on me.

Johnny is visibly affected by Shane’s show. Sid and I are still attached and swaying to the music to coach Shane through this. I’m playing the boy in our visual example, so I move my hands down and cup her butt, showing Shane what to do. When he nods with a smile and copies my move, Emma responds by nuzzling into him more deeply. Shoot, I hope we aren’t starting something Shane won’t be able to get out of. Oh, well.

Johnny follows and copies Shane’s moves on Courtney, and of course, she reciprocates, but Johnny’s focus is zeroed in on Shane. He has no idea Sid and I are guiding him through every move.

My eyes are locked on Johnny. His jaw is clenched, and his moves seem to have a little more force behind them. So I lean farther into Sid and run my hands down her back, trying to channel Todd, doing everything I love that he does when we dance. Sid plays her part of the girl perfectly, going with every move.

Shane must be doing exactly what I’m doing because I see Johnny copy each of my moves with just a slight delay.

“Is there something I should know?”

Ryan’s voice startles me, and Sid pulls away abruptly.

Ryan is standing next to us with his arms crossed and a questioning look on his face.

“No, Ry, it’s not what it looks like.”

“Um … It looks like you’re feeling up Sid.”

“Okay, so it is what it looks like, but—”

“I get that you miss Todd. I’m sure he’ll be happy to know he’s been replaced by his sister. Isn’t one Hamilton enough for you?” he asks with a smile.

“We were helping Shane.” I gesture my head in Shane’s direction on the dance floor.

Ryan’s eyes land on him, and understanding seems to filter in.

Sid is speechless and bright red, which is an amazing feat for her. Then she spots Simon just a few feet away and heading in this direction.

“Maybe we keep this to ourselves,” she pleads with Ryan.

“Hey, you guys were the ones doing it out in the open, in front of the whole school.”

We sort of did forget that part.

“Hey, guys.” Simon slides in next to us. He notices something is off, and I can tell he’s trying to read the situation.

“You’re a lucky man, Simon.” Ryan pats him on the back as he makes his way through the crowd.

“Thanks,” Simon says and then does a double take as he absorbs Ryan’s words. “Wait, why did he say that?”

“Who knows?” Sid dismisses it quickly. “Are you thirsty? I’m thirsty. Ash, thirsty?” She is talking so fast I’m not sure anyone else could even understand her.

I bite my lip to hold in my laugh. I have never seen Sid this flustered.

“I’m thirsty,” Simon chimes in as he wraps his fingers with hers.

Well, I guess one other person can understand her. I smile to myself. I’m truly happy for Sid.

“I’m good, thanks.”

When Sid gives me a questioning look as if to confirm I’m really okay before they walk off, I nod back and mouth, “
Really, go
.” Then I feel my phone vibrate. Finally.

I make my way back to the chairs and pull out my phone. Just seeing his name makes my heart start to pound.

How is it? I wish I was there. I miss you.

It’s good. Not the same without you. But if you hear something about me and Sid, there’s nothing there, trust me
,
I type back.

What does that mean?

Nothing. I’ll explain later.

When you get home, stay dressed.

Okay?

I’ll be there at 10:30.

Okay?

Just be ready. See you soon. Love you.

“Hey, Ash. Thanks for the coaching. I think it worked.” Shane throws himself into the chair next to me, gesturing toward Johnny who is talking to Ryan and Brian.

“Yeah, I was watching him. He definitely noticed.”

“I know,” Shane says with a playful smile. “He asked if we can talk.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, but Courtney won’t keep her hands off him.”

My eyes shift back over to Johnny. I didn’t notice at first, but Courtney has her fingers slipped through his back belt loops. Her body language definitely says ‘we’re together.’

“Yeah, how’s he going to get out of that one?”

“We shall see,” Shane says with a half-smile. I can tell he’s nervous.

Courtney is not a girl you mess with. She could blow their secret if she ever found out. Johnny’s playing with fire right now, and by the look in Shane’s eyes, he’s well aware.

***

Once again, our dad picks us up promptly at ten o’clock, and of course, the deep blue Volvo station wagon is parked right out front for everyone to see. Since Ryan is in trouble, he was allowed to go to the dance in the limo, but he’s going home with our dad.

I chose to avoid the limo altogether without Todd. I thought it would be awkward with all of those couples and me. Blythe wasn’t happy, but I think Ryan was secretly overjoyed.

Sid is going home with Simon, and Shane is getting a ride with Johnny, so it’s just me and Ry in the blue ride of joy. Gretchen is going to Olive’s with everyone else in the limo, but now that they actually have to separate, you would think Ryan was going off to war or something.

Dad and I have been waiting in the car for them to say their goodbyes for exactly ten minutes already, and I know this because I have been counting every second. It’s such a double standard. Dad would never let me stand here and “talk” to Todd for this long. Ever. I’m actually surprised at how physical Ryan is getting, knowing our dad is right here. Dad, of course, is pretending to check college scores on his iPhone, but I know he is completely aware of everything.

I can’t hold it in anymore. I know Todd is going to be at our house at ten thirty, and I need our yard to be clear of parents.

“Are you going to stop them, Dad? This is ridiculous.”

Once he glances over to see Ryan’s hands running down Gretchen’s back and his face attached to hers, he rolls down the window. “Today, son.”

Finally!

Ryan tenses up and I chuckle to myself. I know he’s pissed he has to go home. It’s his senior homecoming, he was voted homecoming king, and he has to separate from his queen. Blah, blah, blah. Let’s go.

Ryan slides into the front seat and slams the door, making it clear just how angry he is. There’s no thank you to me for taking the back seat, either, but I guess I’ll let that one go.

“Watch it, Ryan. This is not my fault. You can thank yourself for this.” Dad uses “the tone,” the one that says, “don’t even think about breathing, because it could be mistaken for a response.”

Ryan turns back and glares at me. I know a part of him blames me for this. I’m the reason Todd got into a fight. I’m the reason Todd couldn’t go to the dance. I’m the reason Todd’s parents called mine. And I’m the reason Ryan is in Dad’s car instead of a limo right now. I know it’s not really my fault, but he needs someone to blame, so fine, blame me.

Ryan thinks I should break all ties with Casey, but I’m not the one who invited him to that party.

“We’re here, Ash.” I hear Ry’s voice, and when my eyes land on him, he’s looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. Dad is already out of the car and opening our front door.