Crushing (17 page)

As soon as I got back to the house, the girls showed up. They hauled all their stuff in and dumped it in the great room, where we were going to be headquartered for the evening. My brothers made themselves scarce until we broke out the food, and then they came in to scavenge. Good thing we bought plenty.

It was going to be a relaxing evening of manis, pedis, and chick flicks. Exactly what I needed so I didn’t spend all my time obsessing over my love life. Before we got started, I sat down and told the other girls about the break-in. The police had come back today for a follow-up to their report. They told us it was probably just a kid. When I told them about my key going missing after the school break-in, they figured it was all related.

Whoever it was probably didn’t think about the alarm and thought no one was home. With things being what they were with the economy, people were more desperate. There had been similar break-ins around the island in the last couple of months. I was relieved to have a non-Lindsay-related explanation, but I still kept picturing Hoodie Guy looking down at me from my balcony. It gave me the willies, so I quickly changed the subject to something these girls could talk endlessly about: boys.

While we did our manis and pedis, Kelly and Ruby started asking for dating advice.

“He used to text me all the time, and now he won’t even look at me at school,” Ruby complained.

Laken, Veronica, and I exchanged looks. We knew exactly what we would do.

Laken spoke up. “So, do you want to know the rules?”

“What rules?” Ruby asked.

“We have dating rules. Have had since freshman year,” Veronica said while she painted Kelly’s nails a bright fuchsia. “We call them IGIT.”

“Are you kidding?” Kelly looked shocked.

The three of us laughed.

“No, we are not,” I said. “Interested?”

They nodded.

“This is top-secret stuff. No sharing, got it?”

More nodding.

“Number one: we do not text first. Ever.” I had broken this rule with Gage, but only in emergencies. “If he is interested, he will make the first move.”

They were both looking at me wide-eyed.

“Number two: we do not respond right away to voice mail or text. We pause and think carefully about what we will say and let him sweat it out. Ask for advice as needed.” I looked them in the eye.

They were nodding slowly as if it was taking a while to process.

“Number three: we do not react to a guy who starts ignoring. We make it a point to be chipper and happy in his sight line. No. Matter. What. No desperate puppy-dog faces or pathetic looks, and no complaining to other girls about him, ever. All discussion about said boy, outside of IGIT, stops.”

They looked stunned.

“What does IGIT stand for?” Ruby wanted to know.

When we told them “Idiot Guy in Training,” they cracked up. Simple, straightforward advice to never come across as desperate. They were a little shocked, but we brought them around to our way of thinking pretty quickly when they realized how well it worked.

“Does it ever fail?” Kelly wanted to know.

“Not so far.” Laken laughed. “Walker is calling and texting me all the time, Rory has two guys after her, and Veronica could have whoever she wants but chooses no one.”

“I can’t help it if I’m picky.”

Jackson chose this moment to wander in from the kitchen. “Breaking hearts again, are you, darlin’?”

Veronica looked irritated all of a sudden. He plopped himself down on the couch next to her.

“Just because I don’t choose to date high school idiots doesn’t mean I am breaking people’s hearts.” She grimaced.

“Reese Porter won’t shut up about you when we’re in art class. He says you won’t give him the time of day,” Laken pointed out.

“That’s ridiculous. I say hi to him all the time!” She glared at Laken.

“But that’s all.” Laken was not catching the hint, but I think it was on purpose.

“Reese Porter, huh? Soccer player, right?” He poked her in the arm. “You could do worse.”

“Shut up, Jackson. I don’t talk to him because I don’t want him to get any ideas. Boys are dumb.”

“Hey, I’m offended. I scored really high on my SATs,” Jackson said.

“Not you. High school guys. If you smile at them, they think you want to jump them.” She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

He rubbed his side. “Poor suckers. Stunned by your beauty and then shot down in flames.” He pushed himself up off the couch. “You’re crushin’ them, Ronnie.” He ruffled her hair as he walked by. He knew she hated anyone touching her hair, and he did it on purpose.

She swatted at him and missed. “Cretin,” she mumbled.

“I can hear you,” he bellowed.

A pillow went flying into the kitchen. I wished they would just go out already and spare us all the angst and arguing. Of course, I had my own issues. I would probably do better to worry about myself. I should stay out of other people’s love lives considering mine was a disaster reaching epic proportions.

We were debating which movie to watch. I voted for nothing scary, after the trauma of last night. I wanted to actually sleep through the night without the screaming. The doorbell rang. Odd. I wondered if my brothers had gotten hungry again and ordered pizza.

I answered the door and was almost mowed down by a pack of boys, but interestingly enough, they weren’t dressed like boys.

“We’re here for the sleepover!” Liam screeched in a falsetto. He brushed by me with his hair in pink curlers.

“I need a mani-pedi!” Walker was waving a nail file as he marched behind Liam. He looked like he was wearing his mother’s bathrobe, and he had dark-pink blush on his cheeks. Not a good look for him.

“Where’s the nail polish?” Dominic bounded into the room. He must have gotten Makenzie to help him. He had little pigtails sticking up all over his head and had on bright-blue eye shadow.

There were a few other stragglers that played on the football team. All were dressed up like girls. Or their interpretation, I guess. I was pretty sure they had been drinking, but I hoped not all of them. I looked out the door, and there was Dom’s golf cart sitting in my driveway. He must have had them all jam into that somehow.

They piled into the great room screeching and dancing around in a way I guessed they thought we did. They looked totally ridiculous. I was laughing so hard I had to run to the bathroom before I peed my pants. I had to give it to them. They were confident in their masculinity.

When I came out, they were settled down arguing with the girls over what movie to watch. So much for girls’ night.

“That one. The one about the people locked in that cabin,” Liam insisted.

“It’s too scary,” Laken whined.

“You can sit by me,” Walker said.

“I’m not sure that will make me feel better.” She looked at him sideways. “If a killer shows up, what are you going to do? Smother him with your mother’s bathrobe?”

“I may not look intimidating, but I have ninja-like reflexes.” He nodded.

Dom waved me over. He had saved me a spot right next to him on the couch.

“Umm, hello.” I giggled.

“What do you think?” He batted his eyelashes at me.

“You look, uhh, interesting.”

“You think I’m pretty, huh?” He put his head on my shoulder.

I pushed him off. “That isn’t exactly the word I was going to use.”

“Are you jealous, Rory?”

“Yes, that is definitely what it is.” I snickered.

“Hey, why didn’t you tell me what happened last night? I had to hear about it from Jeremiah.”

“I didn’t want you to worry. I’m okay.”

“You should have called. I would have come over.” He frowned at me, which looked a little strange with the hair and the makeup.

“I’m sorry. Jackson was here. He stayed up with me.”

“There’s been a lot of weird stuff going on lately. Want me to stay here with you while your parents are gone? I can stay with the Js.” He looked legitimately worried.

“No, two big, burly boys should be enough. I think I’ll just be sure not to be alone. We had new locks put on the doors, had the code changed for the alarm, and the security company is going to patrol our street more often at night for the next month or so. My dad talked to them from Atlanta.” I rolled my eyes.

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” I was interested in who was not here. “Where’s Holden?”

“We had it out. I told him we were done. After Ronnie told me what he did at the BBQ---” he gave me a look that was clearly supposed to make me feel guilty for not telling him. “---I can’t be around him. It was that or beat the crap out of him, so—”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Dom. Are you okay?” Holden and Dominic had been best friends forever. It would be like me having to give up Veronica or Laken. I couldn’t imagine.

“He’s making some really bad choices, Ror. You didn’t do anything. He did. You don’t have anything to feel bad about.” I knew he was right, but I still felt bad about the fact that I had been part of the last straw for their friendship.

I didn’t even get through the first part of the movie. I was exhausted. I knew I needed to tell Dom what I had decided, but I just didn’t have the energy tonight. I needed to be rested for tomorrow. We were all going to help with the search for Lindsay.

I fell asleep on the couch. I vaguely remember Dom covering me up with a blanket and that was it. I was out.

#

He wants me to show him I am a lady. I’m trying to do everything he asks but I’m weak and I can feel every move down to my bones. He stares, waiting for me to make a mistake. My whole body is shaking with fear. “I’m sorry,” I say, trying to keep the tears from spilling down my face, knowing this will only anger him more. But he only glares at me with hard eyes. I can’t see an ounce of compassion in them.

“No you aren’t.” His hand slingshots way back and he slaps my face. Hard.

I know now. I thought I understood before, but now it’s clear. Getting it right doesn’t matter. He plans to kill me.

We all woke up late the next morning. I must have been so tired that I didn’t dream, because I woke up refreshed. The girls and I headed to the kitchen and started a batch of chocolate chip banana pancakes. We were blaring the iHome and dancing while singing into spoons and spatulas.

Jeremiah shuffled through the kitchen glaring at us, then made his way into the great room and turned on the TV. He wasn’t a morning person. Jackson had already gone for a run on the beach and was showering. So much alike and yet so different at the same time.

We were getting ready to serve breakfast, when a loud “quiet!” came from the direction of the great room. I looked up, and Lindsay’s picture was on the TV. Veronica reached over and slapped off the iHome. We rushed into the room to hear what was going on. I dropped onto the couch. My heart was pounding. Did they find her?

“We’re here with Sgt. Lopez of the Charleston PD. Sgt. Lopez, what can you tell us about what you have found this morning?” the reporter asked.

“Well, all I can say is that a body has washed up on the beach, and we’re waiting for identification.” The officer looked serious and uncomfortable with the camera.

“Could this be Lindsay Patterson?” the reporter asked.

“We are unsure at this time. We do know the body is female, and we’re waiting on forensics for an ID. That’s all I can say for now.”

We all looked at each other. Could it be? Could she be dead? I started to cry. Her poor family. I prayed this wasn’t her. Maybe it was someone else. Even so, it was awful. Whoever it was, she was someone’s daughter.

The reporter went on to say the body had been found on a stretch of beach by an early morning fisherman. The beach they found her on was quite a few miles from here and not near where her car had been found on the road.

What on earth was going on? This was a quiet Southern town. Nothing happened around here, ever. Very little crime besides the occasional vandalism and liquor store robbery off the highway.

We heard through the grapevine that the search had been called off until the body was ID’d. Texts were flying fast and furious between our classmates who had been planning on helping search. We heard the police had called Lindsay’s parents and had them on standby. The girls all went home, and my brothers and I just sat in front of the TV waiting for news all day.

Late in the evening the news came in. It wasn’t Lindsay. They were sure. I was relieved but not. The news was bad. It was a seventeen-year-old girl from Charleston they thought had run away. She had been having trouble in school and with her family. They hadn’t found any evidence of foul play until now. She had been strangled and dumped in the ocean. Even though it wasn’t Lindsay, this wasn’t necessarily good news for her. It meant that there was a killer out there, and they would be looking more closely at those other girls they had thought were just runaways.

I went to bed and cried. I prayed for Lindsay’s safe return and peace for her family. I couldn’t sleep and just stared out my window. How did this happen in our beautiful little town? My phone pinged. It was Gage.

You okay?

Not really.

Need us to camp on your balcony?

No. I’m good. Don’t need Jeremiah going all Hulk on you.

That would not be good.

I’m so worried about Lindsay. I can’t believe this is happening.

Makes our problems seem small doesn’t it?

Yes it does. I’m glad you’re across the street. I’m glad you’re my friend.

What did I tell you about that?

Okay not my friend.

Nope. Love interest.

Sigh.

Awesome kisser . . .

Really? Is this the time for this?

Magnificent example of the male form . . . Hunk of a man.

=/

Strong, virile, manly man . . .

Virile?

I looked it up.

You are so weird.

=) Sleep well Aurora.

You too.

Strangely enough, sometimes we got along better by text. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

#

Monday was a grim day at school. Everyone seemed on edge. I felt like a zombie. I hadn’t slept well, and on top of that had woken my brothers up in the middle of the night with my screaming. They ended up sleeping on my floor, and while I felt safer, the snoring kept me up.

Veronica and I had to stay for a few minutes after school to meet with Mrs. Rainier, the Student Leadership advisor. We were trying to decide on another way to raise the money for the computers since the money from the dance had been stolen. Of course we lived in a wealthy area, but we went to public school. Most of us could have gone to our parents and asked for the money anytime, but Mrs. Rainier preferred we didn’t. She wanted us to understand how hard it could be to raise money for a cause and that money didn’t always come easy. We presented her with the ideas we had come up with, and she said she would look them over and we could vote at the next official meeting.

Veronica was giving me a ride home since I wasn’t supposed to be alone and didn’t really want to be at this point anyway. She got stopped on our way out to the school parking lot by one of the girls she tutored. She gave me her keys and told me to go on ahead.

As I got to her car and reached to unlock the door, someone grabbed me from behind. I screeched and tried to turn around. He was pushing me up against the car with his whole body.

“It’s just me, Rory,” Holden whispered in my ear. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. It smelled like something stronger than beer. Whiskey maybe.

“Holden, you scared me. Let go.” I pushed back and tried to turn again. He had my arms pinned to my sides.

“Why don’t you like me anymore, Rory? You never talk to me. I keep trying to tell you and you don’t listen.” He was slurring and trying to kiss my ear.

“Stop. Holden. Let go. What are you doing?” I put some weight into it and pushed back again.

He pushed me against the car harder this time.

“It’s all your fault. You were supposed to be helping. Don’t you get it? Now Dom won’t talk to me, and everything’s a mess. Don’t you see? You were supposed to fix everything, and you made it worse.” He hissed in my ear. He was really angry.

He pulled me backward. He had me in a bear hug I couldn’t get out of. He reached back and opened the back door to his car, which was parked next to Veronica’s.

“You let Dominic and Maddox put their hands all over you, but you push me away. What’s that about, Rory?” He turned us around and shoved me up against his car next to the open back door.

“You’ll let that meth head and dumb jock all over you, but you don’t even care about me? You don’t know what it’s like to be me.”

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I knew Holden was on the edge, but he obviously had gone over.

I was struggling to get away, but he was pushing my arm up behind me until it felt like it was going to snap. I was trying to get a big enough breath to scream, when he pushed me headfirst into the car. I landed hard on the backseat. My cheek hit the seat belt, and I saw stars. I tried to scramble away from him to the other side. He grabbed my hair and yanked me back so I was up against his chest.

I got a deep breath and screamed as loud as I could while I jabbed him in the gut with my elbow. The door was still open, so I prayed someone would hear me. I reached around with my free hand and grabbed for his face. I dug in with my nails.

“You bitch!” He pushed me back down on the seat. I kicked out with my feet but couldn’t get any real leverage. He was leaning over me with most of his weight pushing me down on the seat.

“You think this is bad? You have no idea how bad this could actually be! You’ve ruined everything!” He had hold of my hair, and my eyes were watering from the pain. I took a breath to scream again, but he covered my mouth and nose with his hand.

I couldn’t breathe. I started to thrash.

This was really happening. My body went cold, then hot. There was no way I could fight someone his size. I was crying and choking.

All of a sudden the weight of his body was off me. I sat up and scrambled out of the backseat and slammed the door.

I looked and saw Gage and Holden rolling around on the ground punching each other. People were starting to congregate.

“Gage, stop!” I yelled. I didn’t want him to get in trouble again. They were both throwing punches, but I could tell Holden was at a disadvantage from the alcohol and the fact that Gage was in a blind rage.

One of the girls was on the phone with 911.

“Stop. Enough. Please,” I begged. There was no way someone my size could stop them.

I grabbed one of the boys that was watching the fight.

“Please make him stop. I don’t want him to get in trouble. Holden was attacking me.” I recognized the boy as a sophomore on the football team. He looked down at my disheveled clothes and my face, which was probably a mess.

“On it.” He jogged up to Gage and grabbed him around the waist. He pulled him off.

Holden had definitely stopped fighting back at this point and was just covering his head.

“Come on, man. He’s down. Let’s let the cops handle it. She’s okay.”

Gage was thrashing and pulling the boy forward. Thankfully, he was a pretty big kid. Must have been a lineman. He also had a good grip.

“Ryan, make sure that douche doesn’t get back up.” He nodded toward Holden as one of the other boys stood over Holden with his foot on his midsection.

“Got him,” Ryan said.

Gage was still thrashing and pulling, but it was slowing down some. He turned to look at me. He shook himself hard.

“I’m okay. Let go.”

“You sure?” the kid—whose name I remembered was Tyler—asked.

“Yeah, thanks, man.”

The kid let go.

Gage looked dazed.

“Rory.”

I ran and threw myself at him.

He picked me up and walked a distance away to his car and sat me on the hood. He held me so tight I could barely breathe. He had his face buried in my neck.

“Are you okay?” he mumbled.

I was crying. I had my arms wrapped around him. “I think so. I-I just, uh, yeah, I’m okay.” I was trying to get a deep breath, but between him squeezing me and trying to stop the tears, it wasn’t easy.

We sat there just holding each other for a minute. I was still so worried. What would happen when the police showed up? I could already hear the sirens. Holden hadn’t even tried to get up. What if he was really injured? Gage already had issues with fighting. Would he go to jail? Would they believe him? Holden’s uncle was the police chief, and his parents were very influential. Drunk or not, old money meant a lot around here.

The police came skidding into the student parking lot with sirens blaring. An ambulance and fire trucks were right behind.

“I’m probably going to have to go now,” Gage whispered in my ear.

“No. No. You didn’t do anything wrong. You saved me. I’ll tell them.” I was starting to cry again. “I won’t let them take you.”

He pulled back and smiled at me. He was rubbing his hands up and down my arms and looking into my eyes.

“It’s okay, Rory. It’s going to be fine.” He took a step back and winked at me. He turned and walked toward the police cars.

Well, I hoped he didn’t think he was going to be some kind of martyr here. I was going to set the record straight. I jumped down and headed for the police cars myself. All the kids were talking at the same time. The policeman who was in charge was starting to ask questions and getting everyone pushed back into a more manageable group. Gage had already put himself right in the middle of the whole frenzy. I walked up to one of the officers on the sideline.

“Excuse me, Officer,” I said. “That boy on the ground attacked me, and Gage”—I pointed to where the other officer was starting to question Gage—“was just defending me. If you check Holden’s blood alcohol level, I’m sure it’s quite a bit above the legal limit. He’s tried to push himself on me before, and I thought it was harmless. But this time he pushed me into his car, and that’s when Gage grabbed him. It’s not Gage’s fault. It’s mine. I should have been more careful.” I was starting to cry again. I looked down, and my shirt was halfway pulled out of my skirt, and I tried to fix it. I could feel my face starting to throb, and all of a sudden everything seemed really overwhelming.

The officer looked at me and took me gently by the arm to his police car and opened the passenger door. He helped me sit down. He knelt down next to me.

“I’m going to have a paramedic come and check you out, and then we’re going to go down to the police station and talk about this whole thing. Are your parents around?”

“No, they’re out of town. My brothers are here though.” I was sniffling.

“Are they adults?”

I nodded.

“Okay, just hang on.” He waved one of the paramedics over. It was the nice old man from the last time. Well, that was small towns for you.

“Wow, we’re gettin’ to be good friends, you and me.” He smiled at me.

I tried to smile back, but it was pretty pathetic, I’m sure.

“How are you feelin’ this time? Breathing okay?” He started to take my vital signs.

“Yes.” I looked down.

“Are you having any pain?”

“My face.” I know what my dad would have said to that.

“You know what I want to say right now, don’t you?” He grinned.

“I know, I know.” I wrinkled my nose. “It’s killing you.”

He chuckled.

He turned my head to the right and then the left. He got serious again. “Your neck or head hurt at all?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“All right. It’s just an abrasion. I’m not going to bandage it. If you start to get dizzy or lightheaded, you need to tell someone, okay? Come into the ER.” He gave me a stern look.

“I will.”

“Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No,” I whispered.

“Are you sure? If you need to talk to someone else, we can do that.” I knew what he meant, but because of Gage I wasn’t going to need that kind of special treatment.