28. Vivi Peachtree Posse
vivi: peachtree posse
ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS about being seventeen is that no one really expects you to be that introspective.
But, deep down, I pretty much was. And so, as Lake and I walked down the main street of Peachtree Bluff, which was now converted into a fall fairyland, care of Gransley and her Peachtree posse, I had to wonder why exactly I had brought Lake here.
I liked him. He was a lot of fun. He was a good kisser.
And… well, maybe that was enough? But I knew that a teeny-tiny part of me hoped we would run into Tyler.
And he would be crazy jealous. And I knew that made me a bad person.
Lake held my hand, and we were kind of swinging them back and forth like kids.
And I knew I really liked him. And it made me wonder whether this was going to stick.
And what I would do if Tyler apologized like I wanted him to and begged for me to come back to him.
It was a nice thought. Unlikely after the way we left things. But a girl can dream.
Lake stopped in the middle of the street and looked around.
The streets were closed off and the middle of town had turned into the most giant hay bale maze you’ve ever seen.
On the other side of it—which we couldn’t see because of the hay—I knew all the carnival rides were set up, mostly because we could see the Ferris wheel peeking up into the sky.
Down the side street in front of Peachtree Perk, Peachtree Tavern, and in the Peachtree Historic Site were vendors set up selling everything from art to homemade soda to cotton candy and caramel apples.
“I have to tell you something,” Lake said.
I looked over at him curiously.
“I’ve never had a caramel apple.”
I gasped in disbelief. “Lake, my mother is, like, the health food police, and even I’ve had a caramel apple.”
He shrugged and hung his head. “I know. I’m a deprived child.”
“Well, let’s remedy that. Right now.”
“Hello, Vivian!” Mrs. McClasky called from the cake walk. Or, well, cookie walk?
“Hello, Mrs. McClasky,” I called back. I’d heard all about the cake walk controversy. Peachtree Bluff problems were really so great if you thought about them.
We walked up to Peachtree Perk, where Keith himself was manning the candied apple station.
“Keith! No coffee today?”
“I am a man of many talents,” he said, handing us each an apple on a stick.
“Not for me,” I said.
Lake looked appalled. “I don’t like the way it gets stuck in my teeth.
” I pointed a few booths over. “I’m going to get cotton candy.
” I did love cotton candy, but I was mostly going to try to disperse the throng of women surrounding Chase, who had somehow ended up with both ice cream and cotton candy.
He was my mother’s. It was the right thing to do.
“You can go ahead,” Keith said. “I can supervise over here.”
Lake tentatively dipped his apple into the little spinning caramel machine. “You really want to make sure you get it spread evenly,” Keith was saying.
I walked over to the booth with a scarecrow dressed in a Peachtree Provisions T-shirt holding cotton candy. It was a real machine too, not just prepackaged cotton candy.
“This is so cool!” I said. Beside me, Kimmy was passing out sweet potatoes.
“Vivi! Don’t give into the capitalist sugar machine!” she called to me.
I think she was kidding. But, well, it was Kimmy, so only half kidding. Chase popped out from behind a camera and handed me a stick. “It’s for a good cause,” he said.
“Ladies!” I said. “Let’s give the movie star some breathing room, please!”
I was about to dip my stick in the machine and start spinning my own cotton candy, when I spotted a figure I knew very, very well running toward me.
It felt like my heart stopped beating. Was he running because he saw me?
Had he missed me that much? Was this going to be my emotional reunion scene?
And, if so, what was I going to do with Lake?
He was here with me for the weekend, like it or not.
But could I resist that huge, handsome quarterback running toward me?
I didn’t have to decide because he wasn’t running toward me; he was running to Kimmy. “Kim!” he screamed to his sister. “They want me to walk on at Georgia!”
They started jumping up and down and squealing and, when he spotted me, he ran over to me and whisked me up in the air, and I wanted to kiss him and celebrate with him for all the world to see.
But, of course, I did not. Instead, when he put me down, I said breathlessly, “Tyler! Are you serious? UGA!”
He was red-faced and panting as he said to Kimmy, Chase, and me, “I mean, obviously, financially, it would make more sense to go to a school that will give me a football scholarship, which UGA won’t.
But I would at least be able to go to UGA and have the chance to practice with the team and maybe even play some. ”
I smiled at him. “And you’d still get the HOPE!” I pointed out.
“What’s the HOPE?” Chase said, picking a little fingerful of cotton candy out of the machine.
“Oh, the HOPE Scholarship is for Georgia kids who get into UGA and maintain a really good GPA. They get a big chunk of their tuition paid for.”
He nodded, and I said, “Tyler, this is Chase, by the way. Mom’s boyfriend.” I looked at Chase. “Right? I mean, are we labeling?”
He scoffed. “Boyfriend is so lame. I am her, like, one true love. Don’t you think?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Tyler and I locked eyes somewhat uncomfortably because, a few weeks ago, wouldn’t I have said the same about him?
“Sure, Chase. Tyler, this is my mom’s one true love, apparently.”
Tyler put out his hand. “I’m Tyler. Vivi’s ex-boyfriend. She dumped me because she believed some girls she doesn’t like over me.”
My jaw dropped and I crossed my arms. “Wow, Tyler. That is… bold.”
Chase fist-bumped Tyler, which I found irritating. I glared at him. “What?” he asked. “My man is speaking his truth. We fist-bump to that.”
I turned back to Tyler. “I think there is more to the story than that, so if we could please just leave it be and enjoy the day. I am excited for you about UGA.” I said it pertly.
But I was. I also wanted to go to UGA, but I was very much out of state, meaning admission for me would be much harder.
But, well, also kind of a breeze because I could definitely do the Ivy League thing if I wanted.
But I didn’t. I wanted to go to a big, Southern state school with SEC football and sorority houses, and proximity to my grandparents and my favorite place in the world.
Previously, Tyler and I had been sad we’d have to break up before college because we had figured he’d play football at a smaller school.
But now that he was probably going to UGA…
Well, it was a really big school. We wouldn’t have to see each other.
But being wrapped in his arms again made me realize how much I really, really would want to see him.
“You’re right. This is kind of sticky,” Lake said, walking over to join us. “I’m not sure I can actually eat it.”
Tyler’s ecstatic face suddenly turned neutral. Oh, this was going to be as deliciously awkward as I had hoped.
“Um,” I said, “Tyler, this is Lake. Lake, this is Tyler.”
Lake was awesome. And, on paper, he fit into my life perfectly.
CEO mom, great vacations, designer loafers, private school.
Oh, and so blond and handsome and a lacrosse prodigy.
This should work. He should be the one. But, then again, when he said, “Ah, the football star farm boy,” I shot him a look. What did that even mean?
I was kind of impressed with Tyler when he retorted, “The future finance bro.” Tyler patted Lake’s chest. “With the vest to prove it.”
They both laughed a little like it was a joke.
It was not a joke. They super hated each other.
Which was natural. I had this fantasy that tonight, around the bonfire at whatever party we ended up at, a few beers in, they would get in a fight over me.
Nothing where anyone got hurt. But a small physical altercation.
I would act appalled, but, secretly, I would love it.
“Tyler just found out he’s going to walk onto the UGA football team,” I said. I sounded like I was defusing the situation, but honestly, I expected Lake to make some crack about how he was getting a full athletic ride to Princeton. Because that was true. Only, he didn’t say that.
He said, “No way, man. You’ll get to play with Nazir Stackhouse!”
I had no idea who that was.
Tyler nodded excitedly. “Well, I mean, I’m just walking on. Not a lot of playing time, but—”
“But you get to be a Bulldog, man. Y’all might be first in the SEC this year.”
“ ‘Y’all’?” I said. “Lake, you only leave the Upper East Side to go to Gstaad or Nantucket or, rarely, Palm Beach. That does not make you a card-carrying member of the ‘y’all’ club.”
But no one was listening to me.
“With Carson Beck as QB one and…”
I looked at Kimmy. “Are you getting all of this?”
She just shrugged. Lake and Tyler were lost in chitchat about rushing yards and touchdown passes and receiving yards, and frankly, I was a little annoyed. They were literally from two different worlds. How could they have become friends this quickly? And, furthermore, did I have a type?
Chase put his arm around me. “Well, kid, you might as well make your cotton candy. You’re going to need something to eat. Looks like it’s going to be a long night for you.”
We turned and, when I was confident we were out of earshot, I whispered, “How did this happen? I was clearly bringing Lake here to make Tyler jealous.”
We looked over. Now they were laughing. “Man, Viv. That’s rough. I think maybe you’re the one who should be jealous. That’s bromance at first sight.”
I shook my head. “I mean, it started so well. Farm boy? Finance bro? Those are annoying stereotypes that are hurtful because they’re true. The perfect recipe for anonymous hatred. Where did I go wrong here?”
“You know, Viv, I think you underestimate the simplicity of men. If there is a ball involved, they can bond. Race, creed, nationality, socioeconomic status are no longer in play. There is a ball. We are bonding.”
I sighed. Chase must have sensed that I was too listless to even spin my own cotton candy, because he did it for me. “You’re really good at that,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “If acting doesn’t work out…”
He handed it to me, and it dissolved in my mouth, the sweetness almost overpowering. But it was kind of soothing too.
“Do you think your mom would want to move here?” he asked. “We could move here, and I could, like, make the cold foam for Keith?”
I shook my head. “I am her kid with another man. You’re supposed to downplay your love for her to decrease my ick factor.”
“Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. Well, I cannot. I apologize.”
I shrugged. “I’m kind of used to it. But my mom only likes like six people on the planet, so don’t screw it up.”
“Noted.” Chase looked back at the boys. “So,” he said confidentially, “who’s who on your roster?”
I squinted at him. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Like, your starting lineup. Your go-to?”
I nodded knowingly. “Ah.” I studied the two boys laughing with each other again.
They were both tall, broad, and handsome.
They were both charming and kind. But one of my best qualities was that I knew my gut very, very well.
“Finance bro is in my starting five,” I said, “but farm boy is my QB one, figuratively and literally.”
Chase nodded. “So, um, you mixed up your sports analogies there. I’m going to need to work on that with you. But I think I hear you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. As I took another bite of cotton candy, Tyler caught my eye while Lake was talking to Kimmy. And he winked at me. He winked. I saw it. And so did Chase.
“Well, well, well,” Chase said. “Look who’s back in the game.”
I raised my eyebrow at him. “Put me in, Coach.”
He patted me on the back. “Proud of your sports lingo.” He looked at me and said, “But you can’t string them both along. I think you might have to tell your MVP who he is and send the other guy back to the bench.”
He’d kind of lost me again, but I got the gist. I was going to enjoy my weekend here with Lake because I liked him, and he was here. But I was in love with Tyler. Despite the stupid kiss with stupid Katelyn. And, sooner or later, I was going to have to find out whether he still loved me too.