Lunangelique (The Lunangelique Series) (6 page)

When my mom comes home later that day she comes into my room while I’m reading and asks me how it went with Cole today.

“It didn’t,” I tell her.  She gives me a questioning look. “I didn’t see him today.”

“Lexi, life is too short to sit around and wait for something to happen. You need to go over there and make something happen. Go talk to him,” she coaxes me.

“One day isn’t going to kill anyone.” She gives me a disgruntled look and I sigh. “Look, the way I left yesterday wasn’t on good terms. And though I felt excited and relieved after talking to you last night… it still didn’t help with the fact that he told me he couldn’t see me. So, I’m not going to go over there. I would rather wait to see if he makes any promising attempts. And if he doesn’t…” I shrug. “Then, I’m going to stick to my original intentions and wait till I meet someone in college.”

“Okay,” she tells me. “If your mind is made up about this then that’s what you’ll do but I better not see you sulk around the house for weeks before you get over it.”

I promise her that I won’t and she leaves the room so I can get back to my book. I have a plan that will be implemented tomorrow.              

*

The next morning I tell Alex to start calling the gang so we can all hang out and have an ‘end of the summer’ party. Really, I just want to make Cole jealous. See if he comes out to play when he sees a big crowd at the house. And… if that doesn’t work, then maybe it will get my mind off him.

I call the girls while checking the fridge for food supplies for the party, taking inventory of things I need to run to the store for. Alex is outside checking the chemical levels of the pool and cleaning it out from all the leaves that have accumulated in the past couple days.

While I’m writing down a list consisting of hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks and chips, Alex comes in and asks me, “Should I invite Cole? He would have to come here?”

“No.” I tell him a little too sternly. “I don’t want to think about him today,” I say while grabbing my purse and heading out the door. “Be back in a few,” I call out at the same time I hear him say, “Oooo-kay.” I don’t know if it’s in response to me leaving or to not wanting Cole to come over.

As I pull out of the driveway I see Cole walking out his door. I quickly look forward toward the street and pretend I didn’t see him. Even though I might pretend that I don’t care, honestly, I’m wondering if he was about to head over to the house. I continue to the store, finish the shopping and am back home in an hour. When I get home, Alex comes into the garage to help me bring everything inside.

“Everyone should be here in about an hour. Will you get the cooler out and fill it while I start the grill?” he asks. I notice that he didn’t mention Cole.

“Sure. Just let me change into my suit. I need to get some towels out for everyone too,” I answer him. I’m really curious to know if Cole
did
stop by after I left but I don’t want to appear weak in front of Alex. I’m sure that if he did, Alex would have told me. This thought makes me angry because that means he didn’t come over and he’s continuing to play a game that I don’t like.
Well, screw him.
Internally, I’m screaming.
Why am I so irrational? I don’t even want to date right now. What is wrong with this picture?

“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Alex disrupts my thoughts.

“No, I’m fine,” I say, abandoning the groceries on the counter and going upstairs to change.

I have this cute white bikini that is a little old but looks amazing on my tanned body. I slip the pieces on and then go into the bathroom to shave. I shaved yesterday while taking my long soaking bath but it doesn’t hurt to touch up again. I run the water warm in the sink and jump up on the counter to get to business. Then I slather on some oil to give my body a smooth, glowing effect.  Back in my bedroom I slip into some white shorts and a pair of flip flops before noticing something lying on top of my pillow. Curiously, I walk across my room and bend over to retrieve a small, silver object.

“What is this?” I whisper to myself. It’s about the size of the palm of my hand and has the imprint of feathers on both sides. It appears to be wings but not like a birds that our stretched out horizontally. These are more like what you see in pictures of angels with the wings hanging vertically. The metal reminds me more of white gold than silver; it has a golden undertone to it. I notice there is a hole near the top’s center, like it used to be a part of a necklace.

I wonder how it got here. Maybe it belongs to Kaitlyn, though I don’t ever remember seeing her wear anything like this. I slide it into my back pocket so I can ask her about it when she gets here and then I head downstairs, stopping to grab an armful of towels on my way down.

When I get downstairs, Alex already has the grill started and is organizing all the food next to the grill for easy access. The grill is stationed on our large patio, near the kitchen. We also have a patio table, opposite the grill, that already holds some plates and cups for our party.

Our backyard is beautifully landscaped around the fence line with primroses, gardenia bushes, lavender, hydrangeas, lemon mint, hyacinths, moonflowers, gladiolus, foxglove and so many other flowers and plants I can’t name them all. Their effect is beautiful as they all blend together masterfully. You can walk along the flowers and breathe in the most beautiful array of fragrances.

The pool is right smack in the middle of the yard but we still have room in the back of the yard for a gazebo, which replaced our old play set years ago. There is a large oak tree that still holds our tire swing and an open space that’s good to play catch in, or volleyball, as the net is set up there now.

I start to speed up my pace, as I notice I only have about twenty minutes before people start to show up. I get the ice and drinks in the cooler and then start setting out the condiments and side dishes. I don’t like to cook, I can, but I hate how time consuming it is. So, instead of making the potato salad and macaroni salad, I bought them at the deli. And instead of cleaning and cutting up fruit, I bought platters from the produce section. I know, I’m ridiculously lazy. I just don’t have time for everything.

I drag the cooler outside when the doorbell rings. “I got it,” I call to Alex as he starts plopping the first batch of hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill.

I rush to the door and swing it open to Kaitlyn, Hope, Nathaniel and Ollie. Kaitlyn is dressed similar to me except in a bubble gum pink bikini with jean shorts. Hope has on a dress over her bathing suit and the guys have on their swim trunks with tee-shirts.

I forgot how unbelievably cute Ollie is. His hair is a little long, hanging down over his forehead and into his eyes. It makes him look boyish but in a cute, I want to squeeze those cheeks, kind of way. Forget Cole. I have Ollie here to swipe the memory of him from me.

“Hi, you guys, come in, Alex is in the back working on the grill,” I inform them, giving Kaitlyn and Hope individual hugs. I notice that Ollie makes sure he is the last one to come into the house.

“How have you been?” Ollie asks me with a sweet smile on his lips.

“Great, thank you. How about you? Have you got a chance to get out and meet more future classmates?”

“Yeah, Nathaniel and Hope are under the impression that I’m their kid and have been dragging me around everywhere.” He laughs and I smile watching his dimples stand out when he laughs.

“They’re great.” I loop my arm through his before taking him through the front door and toward the backyard.
Eat that
, I think, hoping Cole saw us.

After answering the door a few more times, I’m finally able to sit back and hang out with everyone. I shouldn’t be too surprised that Cole didn’t turn up; I mean he wasn’t even invited, so it would have been rude for him to show up. Still I can’t help the feeling of rejection.

Everyone seems to be having a great time. Half the group is in the pool, while the other half is sitting around, picking at scraps of food and spiking their drinks. Me and Kaitlyn try to clean up some by throwing empty plates and soda cans away but I give up and leave the trashcan next to the grill before going to sit next to Ollie.

“Ready to get in the pool yet,” he asks me.

“Sure, have you ever played water volleyball?” I ask him while raising my eyebrows up and down.

“Of course,” he answers, shrugging his shoulders.

“Alright everyone,” I shout. “Form into teams.” I start to slide my shorts off when I remember the angel wing pendant in my back pocket. I take it out and call over to Kaitlyn. “Is this yours?”

She shakes her. “No, I haven’t seen it before.”

I hold it up over my head. “Does this belong to anyone? I found it in my room earlier.” Everyone shakes their head and mumbles “no,” more interested in shedding their clothes and getting into the pool.

I shrug my shoulders and put it back in my short’s pocket, noticing Ollie is staring at me as I fold my shorts and set them on a chair. At first I vainly think he’s checking me out but then I notice he’s staring worriedly at my shorts.

“Is the pendant yours,” I interrupt his thoughts.

He seems a little startled. “Uh, no. Sorry, I just think I’ve seen it somewhere before.” He gives me a smile, shrugs and walks over to the pool. So I shrug too and follow him.

There is a lot of commotion as everyone starts forming teams. Alex and his friend Sammy setup the volleyball net over the pool. The guys are trying to pull a ‘girls versus boys’ competition but I’m not having that. So we draw up team captains. Me and Kevin, one of Alex’s friends, are the most competitive when it comes to sports so, of course, we’re the captains. I pick Kaitlyn, Alex, Ollie, Sarah, Sammy and Clara for my team. Kevin has chosen Hope, Nathaniel, Ethan, Mandy, Jenny, and Anthony.

The game turns out to be unevenly matched from the start. Ollie is an awesome asset to our team; he doesn’t hold any spikes back. Kaitlyn and Alex have been playing with me for years so they can hold their own. Kevin, however, did not pick his players well. He chose based on sinners and winners. Ethan and Nathaniel are great sportsman with a drinking problem. Where they have a wicked arm and can move fast, their spikes are wild and their movement is erratic due to the drinks they were mixing prior to the game.

Kevin keeps cussing everyone out as his guys are laughing and playing around with the girls. Nathaniel has Hope on his shoulders and Anthony keeps swimming underwater in-between Mandy’s legs. They look like a bunch of idiots compared to my team who are looking forward and focused on the game.

Ten minutes into the game the score is already 9-3 and we’re only playing to ten. Sarah sets up for probably the last serve and slams it right towards Anthony who has just come up from under water. Kevin flies over the water, knocking Anthony back down and manages to keep the ball in the air so Ethan can hit it back over. I move to follow the ball as it comes our way but it goes over my head and towards Ollie who hits it up toward me and closer to the net. I jump up in the air and slam the ball smack into the water, right in front of Kevin.

“Woooohoo,” everyone on my team starts screaming and high-fiving each other, spreading our congratulations. Ollie comes over and I start to high-five him but he picks me up and lifts me instead, spinning us around in a circle. I laugh at his antics, too much in high spirits to make him put me down.

“You are amazing,” he tells me.

I laugh and dislodge from his embrace, still holding on to one of his hands so he won’t get offended from me pulling away. “You too,” I admit. “I didn’t know they had water volleyball in Italy,” I tease him. He responds by giving me a dimple-filled smile.

I move away from him and start lapping the pool before getting out. Ollie is great and I am sure we would have a great relationship but he doesn’t give me those fiery feelings that Cole has summoned up in me. And I like those feelings; I wish I had them right now. Cole has made me feel so many things in the past few days that I’ve never felt combined throughout my entire life. Desire, excitement, eagerness, happy, want, anger, hurt, disappointment. I don’t entirely like all those feelings but I can’t help but think it has to mean something if he is the one who put them there. But still, I’m determined to stick to my plan and not even touch foot on his side of the street until he comes to me.

I wrap a towel around me and walk over to the fruit platter, picking up pieces of the juicy pineapples, strawberries and grapes. Kaitlyn casually, but purposefully, makes her way over to me.

“Ollie really likes you,” she whispers next to me as she starts to pick up some grapes.

“Gee, you think?” I reply. “I don’t know how to brush him off without being rude and hurtful and still keep him as a friend.”

“I’m sure if you keep yourself at a distance, he’ll get the point,” she says.

“True.”

The rest of the party/get together goes on without any complications. Kevin, Ethan, Nathaniel and Hope had a little more to drink than I presumed and Ollie ended up driving Nathaniel and Hope home while Sarah took home Kevin and Ethan. Kaitlyn stayed later than everyone else to help Alex and I clean up. Neither one of them said a word about either Cole or Ollie. They know me well enough.

Mom and Dad came home around eight o’clock. They had promised to go on a date after work while we had our end of summer party. I love my parents, they’re the greatest. I will say that a reason why they are so great and not the kind of parents that ban everything is because Alex and I cleaned up the house after the party so there was no tell-tale signs that anything even happened. One of many reasons why they trust us.

After talking to my parents about the day for a while I go out back to be alone. I sit by the pool with my feet dipped into the water, alternating between watching the water dance across the surface of the pool, the stars twinkling in the sky and the angel wing pendant sitting in the palm of my hand when I hear the latch lift up at the gate. I look over to see Cole slipping through the gate.

I feint interest by staying where I am as he walks over to me.