Change of Heart (16 page)

“So can we take Route 66 home?” I ask after I eat my last biscuit.

“No, it’s not the most direct route.”

“So what?”

She looks up at me, and in a tone that clearly questions my intelligence, says “It’s a very long drive, Decker.”

“No shit,” I say sarcastically as I lean back in my seat, the front two legs coming off the ground. “Come on, Casey. It’ll be an adventure. When are you ever gonna get to road trip with your best friend again?”

She’s playing with her food but I can tell she’s thinking about it. I can almost hear the squeak of the wheels inside her head. Finally, she sets down her fork, pushes back her plate, and leans forward with her elbows on the table.

“I’ll go on this adventure with you Decker–”

I don’t want for her to finish, I jump from the table and hurry to her side, lifting her out of her seat and spinning her around. She laughs as she slaps my arm, begging me to put her down. I miss hearing her laugh. She doesn’t laugh enough. She’s so serious all the time. I finally set her down and she sways a little, her equilibrium off from the spinning.

“Under one condition,” she finishes, poking me in the chest with her pale pink fingernail.

Nothing she says is going to dampen my excitement. “Name it.”

“You have to map out the entire trip.”

“Done!” I fist pump, and she giggles.

“And you have to tell my mom we’re going to take longer getting home,” she says with a grin.

“Hey, that’s two conditions,” I whine, pretending to be upset when I’m still high over the fact that she’s coming home. I have to hand it to her, though, she’s smooth. Her mom is not going to be happy I’m planning a detour that’s going to prevent her from having her daughter back home as soon as possible. It’s almost worth skipping the adventure.
Almost.
“Deal!”

Casey groans, then laughs and takes off running when I try to pick her up again. “Decker, stop it! You’re such a big kid!” On the way to her bedroom, her laughter turns into the occasional shriek when my fingertips nearly make contact.

“Gotcha,” I say as I wrap my arms around her and swing her down onto the bed. I straddle her legs and grab hold of her left hand first, then her right, and use one hand to hold them both above her head. We’re both breathing heavily from the run, wide smiles on both our faces, maybe something else? Her eyes look darker.

I lean forward, reach down, and tickle the side of her ribs.

“Decker!” she shrieks, squirming in an attempt to get away from me.

I let go of her hands and use both of mine now, attacking both her sides at once. She’s laughing, yelling, slapping, and crying.

“I’m gonna pee! You’re gonna make me pee!”

And tickle torture is over.

I quickly roll off her and wave my hands towards the bathroom. She glares at me as she carefully rolls off the bed and gives me a wide berth as she side steps around the perimeter of the room to the bathroom. I laugh at her ridiculousness. It’s been a while since we’ve had that much fun. Maybe even since before high school.

I lie back on her bed, folding my hands behind my head and staring at the ceiling.
No glow-in-the-dark stars here
, I think to myself. I consider surprising her with some one day while she’s at work, but I don’t want this place to become any more of a home to Casey. I want her back in South Carolina. Even if I have to wait until she graduates.

I hear the toilet flush, and a moment later she steps out of her bathroom. She pauses when she sees me lying on the bed, and her cheeks turn a little pink. I smile and pat the bed beside me. It surprises me when she smiles back and hops up right next to me, lying on her side, resting her cheek against my chest with her arm wrapped around my stomach.

Like so many times before.

“I missed you so much,” I tell her, tipping my face forward just enough to kiss the top of her head.

“I missed you so much, too.” She squeezes my body for emphasis.

Eventually we get up and clean the kitchen from dinner. There isn’t too much since I’d cleaned as I’d cooked. Casey packs up the leftovers for Kate, since she’s working the late shift at the restaurant tonight. What she doesn’t eat, we’ll probably have for lunch one day.

Once we’re finished, she takes my hand and leads me back to her bedroom. She lies down and pats the bed where I’d been lying before. I lie down and she curls up into my side again. We talk for a couple hours about everything and nothing. I miss this. I miss the connection Casey and I have always shared. I miss hearing her voice. I miss her warmth. I miss everything.

Everything
.

And that may be a problem.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Casey

I’m taking Decker to the Golden Gate Bridge today. He wanted to bike it, but that much cardio would probably kill me, so we’re walking it instead. We park in a lot near Ghirardelli Square since I plan to surprise him with a stop at the famous chocolate shop at the end of the night and take the cable car up and through the city. He’s so mesmerized by the bridge that he doesn’t even notice the famous sign towering nearby.

“Aren’t we going in the wrong direction?” Decker asks, pointing to the bridge in the distance behind us.

I tip my head back, close my eyes, and enjoy the morning breeze running through my hair. “I thought you might like the cable car.”

“It’s moving slower than my grandmother drives,” he groans, tapping his feet incessantly. His white knuckle grip on the side rail says otherwise, but I let it go.

“Only because we’re going uphill.”

“So let me get this straight,” he says after a minute. “There is a cable in the ground pulling this thing?”

I open my eyes and tip my head towards him, he grins a cheesy grin, and I can’t help but smile back. “Sort of. There
is
a cable in the ground, and it’s always moving. The trolley grabs and lets go of the cable as needed when it stops and goes and stuff. The cable pulls it uphill, and on flat ground I guess, but not when it’s going downhill. When it’s going downhill it releases it.”

His eyes widen. “You mean to tell me that this hunk of metal is like a runaway train going downhill on
these
hills?” His point is emphasized by a cable car rushing by in the other direction. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” he narrows his eyes at me.

I laugh. “It’s perfectly safe. And come on, aren’t guys supposed to be adrenaline junkies or something? This is nothing.”

He sits back in his seat, crosses his arms over his chest, and huffs. “Adrenaline junkies,” he mumbles to himself.

I stifle another laugh.
What a baby!
I gently pat his leg. “Don’t worry, the ride down takes no time at all.”

His eyes widen as he glares at me, yet again. “Yeah, not making me feel better.”

“Quit being such a baby.” We switch cars near Nob Hill and Decker has my hand in a death grip the entire trek down Mason. I’m surprised he doesn’t get down on his hands and knees and kiss the ground when we get off at the end. Maybe it was the crowd.

“You know it’s not likely you’re going to live that down, right?” I ask him as we take a cab to Presidio.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he says, looking out his window towards the bay.

“You shrieked.”

The cabbie snorts and Decker shoots him a look. “I did not shriek.”

“Pretty sure the ringing in my left ear says otherwise.”

He rolls his eyes, “Whatever. Stop being so dramatic.”

I burst out laughing, nearly rolling over in my seat. “I’m dramatic,” I say once I’ve calmed down, “right!”

“I’ll deny it,” he says, completely serious.

One look at his straight face has me in hysterics again.

“Go ahead, yuck it up.” He says, and I’m pretty sure that, through my tears of pure joy, I see the corner of his mouth turn up. I straighten myself up and reach over to take his hand. He gives my hand a small squeeze and smiles at me. “I’ve really missed you, Case.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Deck.”

***

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

I sneak a peek at Decker. His eyes are bright and all his earlier stress completely gone. He turns in a complete circle, taking in the scene around him, and I laugh. He’s just too much.

“Would you like a sample?” a young girl in the Ghirardelli uniform asks.

“You give samples?” Decker asks with the glee of a five-year-old.

The clerk smiles, “Sure. I have here dark chocolate with sea salt or milk chocolate and caramel.”

Decker glances quickly at me, then back at the girl. “Can I have both?” He presses his palms together and holds them up in front of him. “Please?”

“Oh, dear lord, Decker.” I shake my head, grab a milk chocolate and caramel, thank the clerk and walk away. I cannot watch a grown man beg for chocolate. Though I’m not sure what I expected bringing him here. The things Decker will do for chocolate…

Decker finds me several minutes later checking out the various ice cream flavors and toppings. “What? Did you buy the entire store?” I ask, gesturing to his two bags full of chocolate.

He gives me a “don’t mess with me look” and proceeds to tell me all the flavors he bought and the great deal Heather, that’s the clerk, gave him. I tried to explain to him that the offer was for all customers, but he insisted that it was his southern charm.

“I can’t believe they have ice cream here, too. This place is amazing! Now I see why you like it here.”

I laugh. “Yes,
this
is why I stay in California.”

“You gonna get a sundae?” he says after looking at the menu board for a few minutes.

“I’m thinking about it.”

He rubs his hands together in front of himself. “You get the banana split and I’ll get the hot fudge brownie sundae.”

I nod my head. “So, really, you want both and can’t decide between the two?”

He smiles that devilish smile. “You know, there’s a reason you’re my best friend.”

“If I recall, I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. I believe you
told
me I was going to be your best friend and that was that.”

“Worked, didn’t it?” he smirks and bumps my shoulder with his.

It sure did. How I lived three years without this guy, I’ll never know. And now it’s only going to be more difficult letting him go.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Decker

I had the most amazing time with Casey today. I’ll give her one thing, the city
is
beautiful. It doesn’t charm me the way home does, but the bridge, and the view from it, was gorgeous. I loved being able to see Alcatraz and wished we could have toured it. Maybe another day I’ll be able to channel my inner Sean Connery and make that island my bitch. I feel like I need to make something my bitch after screaming like one on the cable car. That shit’s not right.

Tonight we’re doing pizza and a movie. Casey’s roommate is out at work or something, so she and I take over the living room with our feast.

“Want a beer?” I ask her from the fridge.

“No, thanks.”

“Beer not good enough for you?” I tease. I love giving her a hard time by suggesting she’s a snobby wine drinker now that she’s been in California.

“Ha-ha,” she says dryly as she loads a couple slices of pepperoni pizza on her plate. “I don’t even know how I’m going to eat this after all that ice cream.”

“We can always have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow,” I offer. “Or breakfast.”

“Ew,” she scrunches up her nose. “I don’t understand how you can eat pizza for breakfast.”

I laugh. “It’s not like I invented the concept. Plenty of people do it.”

“Whatever. It’s gross. Breakfast food is delicious. I could eat breakfast food all day long.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I agree.

“That’s because you could eat
anything
all day long. Of course you can’t argue with that.”

“Truth,” I mumble through a mouthful of pizza.

“You’re so gross,” she says, shaking her head at me.

“But you love me anyway.”

“I do,” she nods, completely matter of fact.

“So, I was thinking.”

“Uh-oh,” she interrupts.

“Shut up.” I throw a piece of pepperoni at her which she effortlessly, and surprisingly, catches in her mouth.

She waves off my applause. “I’m talented, what can I say?”

“Apparently. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…I was thinking that when we get home, we could go out with the old crew from high school.” I don’t really want to share Casey with any of them, except maybe Sam, but since part of the demise of our friendship had been due to the fact that I’d never included her when I’d hung out with them, this may be a positive step.

I eye her carefully as she pauses in sipping her drink. “I didn’t have a crew in high school.”

“The guys always liked you.”

“Right,” she says dryly.

“They did,” I argue.

“Look, Decker, just because I’m going to be home for the summer, doesn’t mean you have to entertain me. I’ll be just fine by myself. I always was.” She said the last part so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her.

“I’m trying to make an effort here and you’re making it really difficult.”

“I don’t want to fight, Deck. Can we just watch the movie?” Her voice has lost its edge and she just sounds tired.

But I’m not ready to let it go. I pick up the remote and press pause. “No. Why don’t you like my friends?”

She sighs and sets her plate and cup on the coffee table. “I don’t have a problem with your friends.”

“Bullshit. If you didn’t have a problem with them then you wouldn’t have a problem hanging out with them.” I’m not sure why I’m getting defensive, I don’t even really want to hang out with anyone from high school—not when I can be with her, but it pisses me off when Casey’s not honest with me. And right now I know she’s not telling the truth. About this and who knows what else.