Falling - On the Banks of Lake Saint Clare (Falling - Book One) (9 page)

Michael stared blankly at her.

“Alex,” she looked at me, “
w
e literally need to for sure go get a pedi together soon. Girls’ day out.”

“Oh literally, for sure!” I
laughed.

She gave me a glare then smiled when she saw Michael looking at her. “She’s precious
,
”
s
he said, almost choking on the words.

She turned around and walked away, “Jeffery!” she yelled. “I literally thought you went home!”

“That was weird,” Michael said.

“That was literally priceless,” I laughed. “You have no idea how much she hates me.”

“I think I have an idea. She sent me a 400 word
email
on Facebook, warning me about you and
how you are destroying her life
.
” He held up his finger, fighting to not laugh, “
Michael,
I am pretty sure I literally texted you, but you never answered,” he said
, sounding exactly like Hailey.

“You are so talented,” I la
ughed. “Please forward the email.
”

“Absolutely,” h
e smiled, and took my hand and squeezed it.

“Awe,”
Kaitlyn
, the queen of romance, sighed when she saw. “How was your evening? Are you two in love now?”

I felt my face turn red.

“Sure,” Michael
shrugged
. He raised my hand and kissed it.

“What about you and Derek,”
Kaitlyn
asked Erica.

“Eh
.
Not sure with him. He’s kind of the mysterious type.”

Michael smiled at me and shook his head enough for just me to see.

I opened Michael’s hand and saw the numbers Hailey wrote. The zeros were hearts. I wanted to puke, literally!

I licked my finger and started wiping it across his hand smearing the numbers away, not even caring if he’d get mad. I had put up with her crap for over 6 years and I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my perfect date with Michael wondering if he was going to call her after he left me.

“I could have done that,” he smiled, watching me stick my finger in my mouth again “Although, that’s extremely hot when you do that,” he winked.

I gave him a friendly warning glare and continued wiping it off. “So what are the numbers about?” I knew I sounded jealous. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t help it.

“Not really sure. She said something about her Daddy” he said with sarcasm, “Not sure yo
u are aware he is the principal
”

“Really?” I
gasped
. “Never heard that one before.”

“She said that if I wanted to lift weights or use the gym for basketball, she could make it happen. But it would have to be a day that she could go with me
,
”
h
e laughed.

“There is no way a principal is going to give the keys to the gym to his daughter and a guy. She has got to be insane.”

I looked at my phone to make sure we weren’t going to be late. I was curious about how Derek and Erica got along, but figured it wasn’t that great since she wasn’t hanging all over him at the moment
and he was outside with the jocks
.

“When
do
you need to leave?” Michael asked.

“We have at least thirty minutes. Her mom goes to bed early, so she never knows if we are a little late.”

I glanced up and saw Brad standing at the register.

“C
ould
we go ahead and leave now? We can talk in her driveway until our curfew
.
” I wanted to avoid Brad at all cost.

“Sure. But why?”

“No reason.” I didn’t want him to think I was crazy for feeling uncomfortable around Brad.

We stood up to leave when I saw Brad walking toward us. He bumped hard into Michael causing him to fall into Erica. She fell to the floor.

“Hey, what’s the deal?” Michael said, helping Erica up.

“Oh man, I didn’t see you,” he lied. “We cool?”
He asked
, holding out his hand to shake.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Michael looked down at Brad with a look that was far from being cool.

I started to get nervous. “Can we leave?”

“Yeah,” Michael said not taking his eyes off Brad. “Go get Derek.”

I stood there for a minute while the two had their standoff. Michael looked over at me. “I’m coming,” he said without moving.

I could tell Brad was trying to intimidate Michael. I have seen him do that to a lot of guys. They always backed down. Always.

I started walking toward the door, stopped and looked back at them. Neither had moved.

Michael gestured for me to leave with his eyes. I decided I’d run out and tell Derek what was going on. I didn’t want them to fight, but more than that, I didn’t want Michael to let Brad win like everyone else did.

“Derek,” I said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from the crowd. I didn’t want to bring attention to what was going on.

“Michael won’t do anything wrong. He’s not stupid,” he reassured me.

A few minutes later Michael walked out the door. Erica was right behind him.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking my hand. He opened the car door for me and walked around to the other side. It took him a moment to get in.

He climbed in and looked at me. “Sorry,” he forced a grin. “I might have over-reacted. I hate jerks that don’t care about what they do and end up hurting someone.”

“I’m not mad. I really think it was time someone stood up to him.”

We got to Erica’s house. I was upset that everything had turned into a major uproar. I was worried that Brad would convince Michael with his antics that I’m not worth the drama. Maybe it wasn’t me that Brad had an issue with anyway. Maybe he just wanted to show the new guy in town that he was a bad ass.

Michael walked me to the front door. Erica stood by the car talking to Derek for a few minutes then walked past us and went inside.

Michael gently pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. He held me, not saying a word. I felt him sigh heavily.

After a few minutes he took my chin and raised it up and kissed me softly. His hand ran down my back. “What’s the chance you would want to do something tomorrow afternoon
?
”
H
e asked quietly.

“With you?” I smiled.

“Sure, why not?”
H
e grinned. “I’ll pick you up at
noon
?
”
             
“
Sounds g
reat
,
thanks for tonight. I truly had a fabulous time.”

“Me too,” he smiled. “I have to get home. My mom stays up till I get there and I don’t want her to worry.”

“Awe, you are so sweet.”

“Yeah, I am pretty awesome,” he winked. “I’ll text you in the morning. He held my hand as he was walking away, letting go slowly until only our fingertips touched and then he walked off.

He walked to the car and opened the door, “Hey Alex,” he said.

“What?”

He kissed his finger and pointed at me. “I’m falling for you,” he smiled and got into the car.

I stood on the porch watching his car drive away until it was no longer in sight.

“Oh shit! You missed it,” Erica said when I walked into the living room. “Sit
,
sit
,
sit,” she ordered. “I know
Abbie
and
Kaitlyn
are dying to tell you but I get to do it.”

“Tell me what?”

She tossed me a bag a chips and propped her cast on the coffee table. I knew she was going to have a good one because she was getting in her
,
“I got some gossip” stance.

“Ok,” she said all excitedly
,
“
w
hen you went outside, Brad started poking Michael. He said he better figure out what was more important, his pretty face, or you.”

“Me? As in he was talking about me?”

“Yeah, he said, pretty face or Alex. You pick.” Michael just looked at him. He didn’t even say anything.

“So Brad got pissed and started poking Michael in the chest.
‘
Said, fucking dumb ass can’t speak?’”

Michael took his finger and bent it back. Brad took a swing with the other arm and Michael grabbed it. Michael stayed so freaking calm and said, ‘what do you want to talk about?’ Brad acted all tough guy, but you could see his eyes were starting to water. He finally got away and walked off saying ‘it’s on, muther fucker, it’s on.’”

“Damn, Michael was so cool. Acted like it happened on a daily bases. He was so unbelievably…” I knew she didn’t know how to word it by her pause.

“The management never did anything?” I asked, wondering how all this happened without anyone getting kicked out or the police called.

“It happened so fast. I don’t think anyone was aware of what was going on.”

“I have to figure out a way to get Brad and Hailey together. Then they will quit meddling in our lives.”

“Haha,’ Erica said, with a mouth full of chips, “convince her over your pedis.”

I heard my phone buzz and checked the text…

Michael: Thinking of u. Can’t stop

Alex: I was getting the run
down of the episode. R U OK?

Michael: Im fine. Ask
ur
parents if I can take u out of town 2maro.

Alex: like kidnap?

Michael: that would work. But its not kidnap if you ask. I was thinking the zoo.

Alex: Sweet. I luv the zoo. Which one?

Michael: u pik. Same distance for either one.

Alex: ??

Michael: I googled.

Alex: I’ll text them and ask.

Michael:  let me know in the morning. Don’t wake em

Alex: Im sure it will be fine.

Michael: Im exhausted. TTYL!

Alex: GNite.

I grabbed Erica’s laptop and followed her into the bedroom.

I logged on to Facebook and started scrolling down the pages.

Hailey posted: waiting for his call :)

Brad posted: it’s on Muther!

What a loser to post a threat on Facebook. Oh well, Brad was a loser.

Chapter
7

I called my mom the next morning about the zoo. After 20 minutes of begging and pleading, she finally gave in. Michael said Derek would go if Erica wanted to. Erica hadn’t mentioned anything about Derek and with all
my
excitement I forgot to ask.

“Sure,” she said, without any excitement.

“What’s going on with you two,” I asked.

“He’s fun, but I don’t think he likes me likes me.”

“Why
do you think that?”

“He
said so.”

“Just like that? He said I don’t like you like you?”

“Eh,” she shrugged. “I made a comment that I haven’t had a boyfriend in a long time and he said
he wasn’t going to get serious over anyone since he
will be
a senior. He ha
s
too much going on to have a steady girlfriend.”

“Hm
m,” I
thought
, hoping Michael wasn’t thinking the same thing.

The guys picked us up fifteen minutes later. I instantly got butterflies in my stomach when I saw the car pull into the driveway.

We climbed into the car and I watched Michael set the
GPS
to Springfield Zoo.

“Why did you decide
Springfield
?”

“I saw on your Facebook that you love otters. They have an otter habitat that looks really cool.”

I smiled, thinking how much more amazing can this guy be?

“I wanted to get away with you and spend some time because I start basketball camp tomorrow. I’m going to be gone a week. I wanted to make sure that I make an impact on you so you won’t forget about me while I’m gone.” I felt his hand on my thigh.

I was instantly turned on. “I don’t think I will forget about you,” I smiled.

“The recruiting coach asked us to come to the camp so we can see what it will be like in college if we go there.”

“So you both are going?”

“Yep. We have to leave at four in the morning. Plane leaves at six.”

“Plane? So it’s far away?” I asked. I really didn’t want to feel uneasy about him leaving. I didn’t even know why I did.
             
“It’s in
Kentucky
.”