Resilient (8 page)

“Of course he did.” He doesn’t look surprised.

“You don’t have to worry, Laura,” Mrs. Cooper says. “Adam’s friends are great kids, especially Kyle. They’ve been best friends since they were little. He lost his mother very young, but he grew up to be a very nice young man. His dad owns the market in town and Kyle helps out every free moment he has.” 

She really likes Kyle—I can tell when she talks about him. It’s like she is talking about one of her own kids. 

“Is he coming to pick you up?” she asks me.

“No, I’m going to drive myself.”

“No need, honey, Adam can drive you.” Mrs. Cooper glances at Adam, who is nodding, but he looks reluctant. “That way, you don’t have to drive at night by yourself. Right, Adam?”

“Sure.” He smiles. “Why not?” He doesn’t seem as uncomfortable as he did a moment ago, but I’d still rather take my own car. 

“I think it’s great!” Mom says. “It’ll give me some peace of mind to know you are not alone.” Great, I guess that leaves me no choice.

As soon as we are done eating, Adam wants to leave. “We better get there early before everyone is trashed.”

“Is there gonna be alcohol?” 

I assumed that much, but I haven’t been to many school parties. Adam dismisses my question with a look on his face that says I’m crazy for even asking. Back in New York, Alyssa threw a girls-only PJ party where I drank two glasses of wine and fell asleep. I woke up with toothpaste all over my face and I learned never to be the first one to fall asleep at a sleepover party. The memory makes me even more reluctant to attend this one.

Adam and I say goodbye to everyone and head outside. He pulls his car around, then gets out and opens the door for me to get in. So he actually knows how to be nice; surprise, surprise. 

“Thanks,” I say, as pleasantly as I can. He drives a grey Jeep wrangler that’s high off the ground, and the motion of climbing pulls my dress up way too high. “But maybe we should take my car,” I mutter. “That way I don’t risk getting naked by trying to get in your Jeep.”

“Nothing wrong with being naked in my Jeep,” Adam says, grinning, and I roll my eyes at him. Another personality trait for my list. Eventually I’ll have him all figured out.

He starts driving and I turn his radio on—no way am I making conversation for the entire drive. I browse through stations and stop when I hear “The Scientist” by Coldplay, my favorite song. I lean back and stare out the window, suddenly a little more at ease.

“Coldplay, huh?” Adam says. I turn my head to look at him squarely.

“Yes, my favorite band, and my favorite song.” 

“Does it remind you of someone?”

I suppose it would be a good song to keep in memory of someone, if I’d ever had a someone. “No, nobody.” 

From the corner of my eye I see him trying to hide a smile. He holds the steering wheel with one hand and rests his elbow on the window. 

“You know, I was going to invite you to this party this morning, but you seemed happy to spend the night watching a movie with your family and I didn’t think you would want to come with me.” 

I look at him, puzzled. Why would he want to ask me to come with him, given that the few times we’ve been around each other, he’s always seemed bothered by me? He sure doesn’t understand that he needs to be nice to someone before befriending them. Another personality trait: unrealistic. 

Nonetheless, I can’t ignore that his confession stirs up something inside of me, and I fight to hide a smile, too.

“Well, it’s not like you are ever nice to me.” 

“Then you got the right date. Kyle suits you better. He’s always nice.” 

“It’s not like that!” I snap and he turns to look at me. “Kyle told me about the party, and I told him I might show up. He didn’t ask me to go as his date.” 

“I don’t think he got the memo. I heard that he’s bringing a date.” Adam brushes his hair away from his eyes. He has this charming way of messing with it that makes me stare for a moment too long. He looks at me, raising his eyebrows, and I realize I’m letting him get to me. 

“Well, it must be someone else,” I say.

“Or you misread his intentions. Believe me, it always happens.” 

“It doesn’t happen with me.”

He snorts and continues, “If you want an easy way out, we can pretend you’re my date. Everyone will see us getting there together.” 

He looks at me and I can tell he’s serious. It actually sounds tempting, not to be Adam’s date, but not having to re-explain everything to Kyle in an awkward conversation. But I can’t do that. I know better than anyone that feelings of disappointment are some of the most powerful in the human soul, and it wouldn’t be nice of me to inflict them on Kyle just because I’m afraid of embarrassment. 

“Nah, that’s okay,” I wave off his offer. “I’ll talk to Kyle and clear everything up. Besides, you’ll end up finding some pretty girl to flirt with and ditch your fake date. That would be bad for my reputation.”

“Whatever you want,” Adam says and glances over at me. “But just so you know, I wouldn’t ditch you.” 

He turns his car into a long driveway. We come to a stop at large iron gate, guarded by two men. 

“Password, please,” one of them says.

“Sidekick,” Adam answers. The gate opens and we drive in. 

Adam parks his car all the way in the back. “Just in case we leave earlier,” he explains, “I don’t want people blocking me in.” 

“That’s okay; I don’t mind walking. Besides, it’s nice to know we won’t be trapped.”

“I hate feeling trapped.” 

I smile to myself. It must be the only thing we have in common. Adam walks down the gravel road and I follow him. As we reach the end of the driveway, a huge white house comes into view. It’s a one-story home but has large, glass windows that reflect the sun setting on the water; the backyard is the entire bay. 

We reach the front door and my heart pounds faster in my chest. I close my eyes and I imagine a rush of water falling over me. I’ll have to keep that sensation running constantly through my head if I want to maintain my sanity in there. From the loud noise coming from inside, this place must be packed. I suddenly wish we’re back in his car. 

“Are you okay?” Adam asks. I open my eyes to see him staring at me and holding the knob of the front door.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got lost in thought.” I try to smile.

“Don’t worry,” he grins, “they won’t bite. If you want to leave, just say the word.” 

I nod and wonder if I should add “caring” to his traits.

Adam pushes the door open. I can feel eyes on us; there’re tons of people in here, and through the windows I can see more outside. Anxiety makes my stomach hurt—I shouldn’t have come.

“Adam! You finally made it.” A girl comes up to hug him. When I take a second look, I realize that she’s the girl I saw in the picture on his Facebook page. A big smile takes over his face and he embraces her. I find myself hoping that it’s nothing more than a friendship. I turn around before they see me staring.

I figure I’d better go find Kyle and let him know I made it. 

“Livia!” The music is loud but I hear Adam calling me back. I pretend I didn’t notice and push my way into the crowd, the swarm of emotions lurking around me as I restrain the sensation of water from leaving my mind. Adam shouts my name again and I feel someone touching my shoulder. I turn around and there he is with that girl.

“Hey, I want you to meet Brianna. She’s a good friend of mine.”

“Hi,” I say absently, shaking her hand. 

Her face is bright and friendly. “Nice to finally meet you Livia; I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

“Really?” I ask, curious. I’ve only been here for two days. What could she possibly have heard? 

“I’m going to find Matt,” Adam says. Before I can protest, he is gone, leaving Brianna and me alone. 

“So, Adam told me your family bought Aphrodite. She is a really sweet horse.” She has to shout to talk over the music. “I think he was a little sad to see her go.” 

“I could tell he’s attached to her.”

“We often go horseback riding together. You should come next time.”

Brianna seems to be nice. Her excitement brings a spontaneous smile to my face.  Maybe I should give her a chance—just because she might be Adam’s fling doesn’t mean she’s as unpleasant as he is.

On that train of thought, I blurt out, “So, uh, are you and Adam…” before I trail off. She looks at me and her eyebrows go up.

“What?” she laughs. “We’re just really good friends. I do have a boyfriend, though, and that’s Matt—the guy throwing the party.”

“Oh. I don’t know why I thought that.” A strange relief washes over me. “Sorry!”

“I guess we do hang out together a lot, and that could give the wrong impression.” She shrugs and grabs me by the hand. “Come on! Let’s get you something to drink and then I’ll take you to meet Matt.” 

She hauls me through the crowd and I do my best to ignore all the emotions, but it’s hard to control and it feels like a ton of voices are screaming in my mind. I’m getting claustrophobic, and I feel pain starting to pulse in the back of my head. I stumble after Brianna.

We walk into the kitchen and I grab a bottle of water sitting on the countertop. I take the lid off, tilting it onto my lips and letting the water flow down my throat—it makes me feel better, as if the room is not so cramped anymore and the noise is subsiding; for now, anyway.

I put the bottle down and I take a look around. Brianna and the guy across the countertop are studying me. “I guess you were thirsty huh?” she says and I nod, a little flustered.

“Want more?” The guy hands me another bottle.

He stands at the other side of the bar; there are bottles of liquor spread across the counter, which is blocked off to everyone but him.

“Don’t you want something other than water?” Brianna asks. “Michael here can make pretty much anything.” She gives Michael her cup and bats her long eyelashes. “Refill, please!” 

Looking at her up close, I see that she is very pretty. Long, curly blond hair, light brown eyes, and a slim body. “So what’s it gonna be?” she says.

“I’ll stick with water, thanks.” The last thing I need is alcohol in my system. I’m already feeling dizzy with everyone’s emotions invading my mind. 

“Don’t you want to try my mimosa and see if you like?” Brianna offers me her cup. I bring it close to my nose and it smells fruity and citric. It actually makes me want to taste it, but I hand it back to her with a face of unchecked disgust. I can’t take any risk of the alcohol acting like a megaphone to the already harsh roar. What if it gets out of control?

I look around again, but I don’t see Kyle. I wanted to talk. “Do you know Kyle?” I ask Brianna. “I want to say hi.”

“I sure do. I know where you can find him. He is usually playing pool with Matt in the media room. I can take you to him if you like.” I nod as I take another sip of my water, and she gestures for me to follow her.

We walk outside and the loud music becomes a background noise.  I take a deep breath, and I’m glad for the fresh air. There are a lot less people here, but their emotions are still whispering in my ears, waiting for me to crack open so they can take hold of me again. 

I follow Brianna into a separate building, connected to the back of the main house. As soon as we walk in, I see Adam resting his foot against the wall, talking to a pretty blond girl. They are laughing about something. I can’t distinguish her feelings among the other ones in here, but just by the way she is looking at him, I would say desire is what she’s exuding. She is all over him. 

He looks in my direction and our eyes lock. I’m the one to look away, and I spot Kyle at the pool table. 

“I told you he would be here,” Brianna says, walking in their direction. “Kyle and Matt are addicted to pool. Sometimes they bet money, but Kyle usually wins. Matt!” She calls out. “Come here, I want you to meet someone.” 

I see a tall, slender, dark-haired guy walking in our direction. “Hey, babe!” He says. “Where have you been? “ He gets closer and kisses her. 

“Livia, this is my boyfriend, Matt.”

Matt looks at me and his eyes widen. “Welcome to Whidbey!” He steps in close and embraces me. 

“Nice meeting you, too!” I tell him and he turns to hug Brianna.

“Glad you made it,” Kyle says as he approaches us.  “Did you have trouble finding the place? It’s a little hidden from the road.”

“I came with Adam,” I tell him. His emotions reel from happy and relaxed to resentment in a split second, and I see his body stiffen. The shift of his emotions is so intense that I feel the need to explain, and fast. “He just gave me a ride so I wouldn’t drive by myself. Our parents had dinner together, so it sort of just worked out that way.”

“Good,” he says, blatantly lying. One thing I’ve learned during all these years is when people are lying. “I’m almost done with the game here. I want to take you to meet some of my friends when I’m done, if that’s okay with you.” 

He looks at me and I’m almost tempted to turn him down. There’s a sort of resentment within him, a sadness that I don’t understand. 

“Sure,” I say despite my discomfort. “I’m going to grab a drink and I’ll be back.” 

“I’ll see you soon.” He walks back to his game and I turn to leave.

“Wait up!” It’s Brianna shouting at me. “I’m going with you.”

We walk back to the bar, stopping a couple of times to meet some of Brianna’s girlfriends. “Look to your right,” she says. I see Adam and that same girl from before. “That’s Lindsay, Adam and Kyle’s ex-girlfriend.” 

I look at her, confused. “What do you mean? They shared the same girl?” 

“No!” She laughs. “She dated Adam first, then he got sick and tired of her trying to control his life, and he broke up with her. She wanted to make him jealous and hooked up with Kyle. I guess he just couldn’t resist her.” Brianna shakes her head in disapproval. “Adam and Kyle were best friends, but Lindsay messed that up.” 

“If Adam didn’t like her anymore, why did he care about her and Kyle dating?” 

“He didn’t care for her, and he wasn’t jealous, but he was upset with Kyle. He felt betrayed. Everyone knows not to mess around with a friend’s ex.” Brianna is matter-of-fact. “Lindsay doesn’t give up, and she throws herself on Adam every time she sees him.”