10. Allie #2
“I know you mentioned staying in their spare bedroom tonight and Allie driving you back home tomorrow so she can visit Willow over the weekend, but do you want us to wait?” Dad asks. “Just in case…”
“No,” I say immediately. “I won’t leave with her upset at me.”
My mom sighs, the sound almost sad. “Okay, Bubs.”
I throw open the door, but Mom reaches into the back seat before I leap out of the car, grasping my hand. “I’m proud of you. You did great tonight, and I don’t want you to regret it, okay?”
I frown. I already regret choosing the scout dinner over Allie. “Thanks, Mom.”
I leave my parents behind, my dad’s Jeep tires peeling over the pavement as I rasp my knuckles against the front door. Only a few seconds tick by before it creaks open, and I’m greeted by the sight of narrowed, unimpressed dark eyes, and a deep frown on Dom’s menacing face.
I’m taller than him by a few inches now, but he’s no less intimidating than he was when I was a child.
"You should probably call your parents and ask them to turn around before they get too far,” he says gruffly.
“Can I please see her?” I lift on my toes, scanning the inside of the house over his head for any glimpse of Allie.
Dom steps out, shutting the door behind him and cutting off my view. “No, Archer. No, you can’t.” He sighs, crossing his arms. “You devastated her tonight.”
“I had a scout dinner, and it ran way longer than it should have, and—”
“That’s fucking dandy, but it’s really not my concern.” He nods behind him. “She is.”
“I’m sorry. I just want to tell her I’m sorry too.”
Dom rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to say more when the door flies open behind him. “Dad?”
My gaze lands on Allie immediately. She’s in a pink T-shirt and matching cotton pajama shorts.
She rubs her face groggily before dropping her hands, revealing tear-stained and swollen eyes, a red nose, and streaked makeup.
Her hair is still pinned into an extravagant updo, two ringlets left loose to frame her beautiful face.
My heart sinks, chest cracking, guilt and despair flooding every inch of space inside me.
“Allie…” I sigh. “I’m so…”
“You stood me up,” she murmurs.
I shake my head. “No. I…”
“Go back inside, baby,” Dom says, the words soft when they’re directed at his daughter, before he returns to me in a much harsher tone, “Call your parents, Archer.”
“Dad. Stop.” She shoves past him, stepping outside. “Can you give us a second, please?”
His gaze darts between Allie and me for a moment, jaw set and brows furrowed. I know he wants to say no, but after a while, he nods. “Five minutes, Allie.”
The moment the door clicks shut behind him, Allie sniffles, rushing into me and wrapping her arms around my waist, burrowing her head into my chest. Her shoulders shake with quiet cries and it fucking obliterates me.
I cradle her head, dropping my chin so I can press my lips against her crown. “I’m so sorry, Allie Cat.”
“I’m mad at you,” she murmurs. “But you’re the only person I want to be with when I’m upset.”
“I know,” I whisper. “Is there any way we can still make it?”
She pulls back from me, shaking her head. “I already cried off all my makeup.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
She crosses her arms, dropping her gaze to her feet. “Well, what’s the excuse?”
“I was invited to have dinner with a scout from Texas University, but tonight was the only time he was in California.”
Her head snaps up, eyes narrowing. “You had a scout dinner with TU? And you didn’t tell me?”
Allie knows what a dream school Texas University is to me.
She’s dead set on attending Golden State though.
They have a renowned culinary arts program she’s interested in, while TU doesn’t even offer culinary classes—I checked.
Plus, the proximity to Pacific Shores would allow her the opportunity to work with my mom at the bakery.
Allie has always known she’d go into a technical art—either dancing or baking. Though, the closer we get to adulthood, the more it seems that culinary school is the path she’s drifting toward.
And while Golden State has Division I athletics, the football program is nothing to write home about, but I’ve always kept the school on my list because I know it’s where she’ll be.
“I didn’t want to jinx it, so my plan was to tell you tonight. I didn’t think it would go as long as it did. My mom had to fake an emergency so we could get out of there.”
She snorts a laugh, but the humor is short-lived before her face falls again. Her eyes drift toward the front lawn, where the palms are illuminated by the streetlights. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Allie Cat.” I grip her chin, turning her head to face me. “I really am sorry. I would’ve done anything to take you tonight.”
She shrugs. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does.”
Commotion sounds from the other side of the door, startling us both. The mixed voices of her parents grow louder, telling us that Dom is about to open the door and force me to leave.
“Go through the side gate,” she whispers, nodding toward the right side of the house. “Climb the trellis to the roof and go to my window. I’ll let you in.”
“Allie.” I deadpan. “If your dad catches me, he’ll castrate me.”
“No, he won’t.” She snorts. “I told him once that you’re the only person in the world I’d ever have children with, so he wouldn’t ruin his chances of being a grandparent someday.”
My brows skyrocket, a warm, electric sensation sizzling in my chest at that revelation. “You said that?”
Her lips quirk into a smile as she rolls her eyes before smacking my chest lightly. “Go. I’ll see you in a second.”
I bend forward, planting a quick kiss to her cheek before I spin, bounding down the porch steps and around the garage.
A small white gate separates the front of the house from the backyard, and I flinch when it creaks as I reach over the top and pull the latch.
Once I’m through, I find the trellis. The dining room window illuminates it just enough for me to make out the white panels covered in purple wisteria.
Thankfully, the curtains are drawn, so nobody inside can see me as I begin scaling the side of Macie and Dom’s house.
Once I reach the roof, I drop to my hands and knees, palms sweating as I crawl to Allie’s window. “No one else on earth I’d do this for,” I mutter to myself, nausea rolling every time I glance over the edge and to the lawn below.
It takes a few minutes before the light flicks on inside and I hear muffled voices. The panel shakes slightly with the shutting of a door, and another moment later, the blinds are pulled up and Allie’s pretty face fills the frame.
She slides the window open, holding a finger to her lips as I climb inside.
I crawl onto her desk before hopping down to the floor as Allie presses play on a speaker beside her bed, and the room fills with the sound of a Billie Eilish song I know she loves.
It’s low and sad, but enough of a hum to drown out our voices.
I notice a deep red glittering gown strung over the back of her bedroom door. The sparkles glisten in the soft glow of the lamp in the corner of the room. It's V-cut, with thin shoulder straps and a straight shape that looks as if it’d flow to the floor.
“Is this the dress you were going to wear?” I ask, stepping up to it and running the fabric between my fingers.
“Yeah.” She sighs.
“It’s beautiful.” I spin, facing her. “Wish I could’ve seen it on you.”
“Me too,” she murmurs, chewing on her lip as her eyes lift to mine, glistening with sorrow. “Wish I could’ve shown you off too.”
I cock my head, offering a bemused smile. “What do you mean by that?”
She shrugs, padding over to her bed in the corner before flopping down atop it. “Nothing.”
Allie’s room is structured beneath the A-frame of the roof, being that it’s the only upstairs bedroom.
The large window I climbed through sits at the center of the room, with her full-size bed nestled into the corner on one side, and her closet and bathroom on the other.
She has a desk beneath the window, her dresser across from it beside the door.
The entire room is decorated in deep shades of navy blue with pink accents.
An eclectic mess of mismatch throw pillows are piled high on her bed, floating shelves lined with books on the wall above it, and canvases of paintings Willow made her hang around the space too.
I make my way to her bed and sit down at the end of it, placing her feet in my lap. “Tell me what you meant, Allie Cat.”
She inhales sharply, blowing her lips when she breathes out. “You know everyone at my school hates me, right?”
“Hates you?” I level her with a flick of my brow. “I don’t believe that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Well…I don’t have any friends. That’s for sure.”
“I have a feeling it’s because you don’t try making any.”
“So?” she snaps, sitting up abruptly and pulling her knees to her chest as she leans against her headboard. “I don’t even want to be here. I want to live in Pacific Shores.”
“What about the girls on your dance team?” I ask.
She shakes her head, eyes cast down to where her hands clasp over her knees. “They don’t go to school with me. Most of them are in Santa Monica.”
“I’m sorry.” I hum contemplatively. “What does any of that have to do with showing me off?”