Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
MADDEN
It’s not like Avery to skip school. I didn’t have any classes with her this semester, but I still liked knowing she was here. Today, both Avery and Carson were missing, and it was strange.
Carson always has perfect attendance. The dude is never sick. He gets some stupid plaque at awards day every year for showing up. So something is definitely up.
“What’s your problem?” Cori asks, scooting closer to me.
“Nothing, just off today.”
“Anything I can do?”
“Nah,” I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
She hesitates a second before cautiously speaking, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What should I do about Nash? It seems so easy for you. You don’t let them control you, but they leave you alone.”
“Honestly, I just don’t feed into anything. Everything they do is to get a rise. They try to use their power to influence everyone around them to obey. It’s simple if you see through their shit.”
She growls, “How do I win? How do I come out on top?”
I sigh, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
“Is that what you did?”
“No, I play the game.”
She smiles, “So is that what I do? Play the game?”
“No, Chicago, you have to play better.”
Lainey walks up, practically glued to her phone, but looks up to comment, “So are ya’ll gonna start kissing now? You’re practically sitting in his lap, Cor.”
She laughs, running her hand down the back of my arm all seductively and whispering in my ear, “Nah, just playing the game.”
I realize what she means when Nash appears only seconds later. Lainey makes a gagging sound as he approaches.
“Come on,” he demands, grabbing Cori by the hand. “This show has gone on long enough.”
I think about cussing him out but decide better of it when she hops off the wall without complaint.
“Cori, you can’t seriously be doing what he says,” Lainey scoffs.
She winks at me, wrapping her tiny hand around Nash’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss.
This is her version of “game on.”
She shoves her backpack against his chest, “Carry my shit, boyfriend.”
“You can call me Mr. Langdon,” Nash says, taking her bag. “And I said you belonged to me. I never said I was your boyfriend.”
I laugh at them as she stalks off, Nash close behind. “This should be good.”
Lainey smiles, “I think Nash is finally about to meet his match.”
“She’s a feisty one,” I agree. “If anyone can handle him, it’s her.”
“How great would it be if she dethroned everyone and became queen—I don’t know—shark?”
“All she needs is for them to respect her. Cori will be fine. Besides, if he hurts her, I’ll kick his ass. I owe him a good right hook.”
Lainey’s brows knit together in confusion, “What happened to Switzerland?”
I think back to him shoving Avery in her kitchen. He can forget Switzerland when it comes to that girl.
“Can’t be nice all the time.”
She laughs, “Our definitions of nice are totally different.”
I turn my gaze back through the glass windows to the Shark table, but my sudden interest doesn’t go unnoticed.
“You could be less obvious,” Lainey sings. “People are starting to notice.”
“Notice what?”
“Your infatuation with Avery Sinclair is causing quite the ruckus in the girl’s locker room.”
Oh, whatever.
“I don’t care what people say.”
“Yeah, well, since you don’t care about what people say, I guess you don’t care what I heard about why she isn’t here.”
After our moment at the playground, I’m starting to worry more. She was really upset. So I don’t care about rumors, but I do want to know what Lainey heard.
“I’m sure it’s bullshit, but what did you hear?”
She pushes her phone into her back pocket, “Just that there is only one reason they’d both miss school like that.”
I stare at her, unsure of what she means.
She pats her stomach, and I laugh. Only because I know that’s ridiculous. Avery isn’t pregnant.
“You know that isn’t true.”
She shakes her head, shrugging her shoulders, “It’s always the ones you’d never expect.”
“So the rumors are that Avery is pregnant with Carson’s baby, but I’m her side piece?”
Lainey grins, pulling her phone out to answer another text. “Basically.”
Wow. It’s crazy how shit gets twisted around here when all I did at her party was give her a bandaid.
“Mom is making your favorite tonight,” I wiggle my eyebrows, changing the subject.
“Ooooh, chicken alfredo?”
I laugh, forgetting the chick is basically a garbage disposal, “No, Stuffed Peppers.”
“Damn, Mad. Those are so good. I’m coming over.”
“You sure you’d rather slum it with me than ride around in pretty boy’s jeep?”
“Oh, I’m sure. I’d ditch Stevie Nicks for your mom’s peppers.”
“I feel used.”
She laughs, shoving my arm playfully, “Gotta be part of someone’s family.”
Those words make my head spin with anger.
Her mom and dad seriously piss me off. Pastor Blackwood pretends she doesn’t exist and hasn’t said six words to her in three years.
Her mom acts as if the whole affair never happened but mostly takes it out on Lainey.
If she had never been exposed to the truth, the slime ball probably would’ve gotten away with it.
He still stands up there every Sunday and has hundreds of people come to listen to him be a hypocritical piece of garbage. I’m not sure what story they’ve spun for that to happen, but I can assure you it isn’t the truth.
After school, Lainey and I watch as Cori reluctantly gets into Nash’s Jeep, putting on a pretty good show for everyone watching. I’m proud of her for standing up to him because someone needs to, yet I just can’t help but wonder if I made the right decision by telling her to play his game.
Guess we will know soon enough.
When we pull up to my house, Lainey’s gasp fills the entire car, “Who the hell is that?”
A man in a black truck is backing out of my driveway, and my mind goes wild with a thousand different scenarios, “Oh, I don’t know.”
She lights up as her pupils basically form little hearts, “Oh my God! Does Jenny Atwood have a boyfriend?”
I scowl at the thought, “She better not.”
Lainey opens the car door, skipping over to me, slipping her arm around my elbow, “Has she ever dated anyone, Mad? Oh my goodness, it was a secret!”
Her excitement is unsettling. It’s not that I don’t want my mom to be happy, it's just that no one is good enough for her. There isn’t a man in this world that loves her more than me, and if they don’t worship the ground she walks on, they can get lost.
“Jenny!” Lainey yells as she bursts through the front door. “We met your boyfriend outside, and my oh my, is he smokin’ hot!”
Mom’s face turns a ghostly shade of white as I turn my dark eyes to her. She looks different. Not because she went to the salon or changed her hair but something else. Something I’ve never seen.
Mom waves Lainey’s comment off, “Oh, Sam is just a friend from the station.”
Lainey’s eyes get wide as she pulls out a barstool. “He’s hot. You should totally bang him before someone else does.”
I stare at them, my mom’s mind obviously still on this Sam character.
“Right, Mad?” She nudges me with her elbow.
Lainey’s pushing is pissing me off, “Why don’t you just go fuck him if you want him so bad!” I growl, slamming my backpack down on the floor.
“Madden Caleb Atwood! Watch your mouth,” Mom warns, piercing her eyes into mine.
Lainey is satisfied with herself, “Yeah, Madden Caleb Atwood. Watch your mouth.”
I yank her off the stool, wrestling her to the ground. She wiggles underneath me as I dig my fingers into her ribs. She struggles to breathe between her laughing and my body on top of her.
“Mad, stop,” she giggles, twisting her tiny frame around just enough to get to the spot that gets me. I ease up a little but only enough to let her get a breath in.
“I’m gonna—” she squeals. “I’m gonna pee on myself.”
I stand up quickly, twisting my face in disgust, “You’re disgusting.”
Mom is shaking her head in the kitchen as she puts the peppers in the oven, “How was school?”
“Fine,” Lainey and I respond, pretty much in unison.
“Just fine?”
“Yeah,” Lainey grins. “Madden’s girlfriend is missing, though, and maybe pregnant.”
Mom nearly drops the jug of tea from her hand, “What?”
“Oh, don’t worry, Jen. It’s not his.”
I roll my eyes, “Don’t listen to her, mom. She’s delusional.”
“Not delusional, just psychic,” Lainey winks.
An hour later, we’ve finished eating and Lainey has filled Mom in on all the Legacy drama for the past two weeks. She used to eat over here often, but her mom has her on a tight leash lately, afraid she’ll end up slumming it with me, I guess.
She opens the top left drawer of my dresser, her drawer, and pulls out some lounge pants of hers.
Dropping her jeans in the middle of my room, I struggle to look away from her bare legs.
She’s my best friend and I shouldn’t look, but I can’t help it when she puts it in my face.
Plus, we walk a fragile line with our relationship, we’re not a couple, but there isn’t a girl in the world I wouldn’t trade for Lainey in the end.
I’m not sure what that says about me, about us.
I tear my eyes away, smirking at her black toenails.
I bet Drayton loves that. We chill for a while, talking about our plans for the school year.
I tell her about my song ideas and play her a few beats I’ve had in my head.
I watch her intently as her head bobs along to the songs, the same look in her eyes I see every time she hears something she loves.
We share the same passion for music. I like to make it, and she wants to hear it.
She’s using her thumbs like warriors against her phone screen as a smile grazes her lips.
“Pretty boy?” I ask, focusing on her cute black toenails.
“Yeah. I think I’m gonna ask him to the homecoming dance.”
I nearly choke on my own spit, “Homecoming?”
“Yeah, I mean, I like him, Mad.”
“I get it, but homecoming? You’ve known him for like a week.”
She shrugs, looking back down at her phone, her smile instantly returning.
Homecoming is a big deal at Legacy. It’s a total Sadie Hawkins nightmare. The girls ask the guys, and it gets really cutthroat. There is nothing worse than hundreds of teenage girls fighting over the Sharks. Nothing. I’m honestly surprised Lainey even wants to go.
She drops her phone, “How should I ask?”
Oh, I forgot. Asking is supposed to be some grand gesture. It’s worse than the stupid prom-posals.
“I don’t know. Maybe you should start with running him over with your car.”
She stands up, grabbing her stuff, “I’m just gonna go. This is ridiculous, Madden.”
I stand with her, pacing the floor. “What do you want me to say! Huh?” I yell. “That I’m happy for you guys, that I like him? I. Don’t. Like. Him.”
She runs her hands through her hair, frustrated, “You don’t even know him!”
“And you do?”
“I know enough.”
I stand there like a statue as she storms out of my room, and a shadow of darkness takes her place.
It’s hard to explain. Like my room is color, and now that she’s gone, it’s all black and white.
She’s my best friend. Not any of the guys on the team, and not Grady.
It’s her. I would trust her with my life.
I don’t know how long I’ve been standing here, but I break my stance, busting up the stairs into the living room to find mom leaning against the island.
“Where is she?” I ramble, grabbing my keys off the counter.
“Gone,” Mom points to the door. “Must’ve really pissed her off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lainey mad at you.”
I start walking around frantically, looking for my keys.
“I’m an asshole,” I agree. “But I just can’t shake the feeling that something is up with this kid she’s seeing.”
Mom leans against the counter with her arms crossed, “I think the only thing wrong with him is that it’s not you, Madden.”
I shake my head, “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s my friend.”
“You love her, son.”
“Yeah, Mom, as a friend. I’ve never touched her like that.”
“Jesus Madden, are you really that blind?”
“Just drop it!” I open the front door, looking down both sidewalks for Lainey. “Where did she go?”
“I don’t know,” Mom shrugs.
I take off on foot, down the sidewalk in the general direction of Lainey’s house. As my boots hit the concrete, they start moving quicker and quicker until I spot her up ahead.
“Lainey, wait!”
She stops, turning to me, and heat pools in my stomach when I see the tears burning her eyes.
“I’m sorry. Don’t be mad at me. I just… I’m not used to this.”
She steps back a little to create space between us, “Not used to what!?”
“To sharing you, I guess. It’s always just been us.”
I refrain from mentioning that seeing her with someone else has me crawling with jealousy, and I’m not even sure what that means.
“I know,” she huffs. “But we’re just friends, Mad.”
She’s right, I think to myself. We are just friends.
“I know and I’m sorry. I just… I’ll try to be better.”
She unfolds her arms, allowing the sleeves of her sweatshirt to cover her hands, “Just give him a chance. He’s not the Nash Langdon reincarnate that you think he is,” she begs. “Please.”
Right as she wipes the tear from her eye, Drayton’s white Jeep pulls up to the curb, and I watch her get in.
I plop down on the sidewalk and watch them drive away. I feel like a weight is placed on my back, pushing my head down low between my shoulders.
I walk back home and find my phone on the floor of my room, next to Lainey’s jeans. I fold them carefully and put them in her drawer. A single message waits to be opened, and I swipe the screen, hoping it’s Lainey.
I’m even more surprised when I see it’s a number not saved in my phone.
Unknown
Thank you for the other night. -A
Avery.
I sit staring at the screen. Is she with Carson?
Madden
Hope your wishes come true.
Holding the phone in my hand, I stare at the black and white letters.
Avery
They will. One day at a time.
Instead of responding, I save her number in my phone, pull out a notepad, and begin to write.