The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (36 page)

He lowered his head, only glancing at me sideways. “You know how we talked about you winning her back at Hunter’s party?”

He’d helped me plot for hours last night. “Yes?”

“Well…Susan’s not going.”

“But—it—no…” I shook my head, unable to form a coherent sentence. “
Why?
”

Ethan gave a slight cough. “Apparently, she doesn’t want to run into you again.”

She was chickening out? I closed my eyes, my pulse racing. What about all my plans to sort this out with her? How could I, if she… A feeling of disorientation came over me. I scrunched up my face and turned, pressing my forehead against the doorframe.

“Chris? Are you all right?”

The wood rubbed against my skin as I shook my head. Nothing was all right. Susan Miller had become my personal tormentor, and she knew how to pull all the right strings to make me suffer. In a swell of frustration, my fist lashed out and knocked into the door.

“Look, maybe—”

“No, Ethan,” I cut him off fiercely as I straightened. “Just leave it.” I’d had enough. Susan wanted me gone from her life? Fine, she could have it. I gave up. The game was over. She won.

Feeling dizzy and lost, I shuffled to my room. There was quite the mess on the floor from my earlier fit of rage. The only clear spot was my desk chair. I sunk into it and swayed back and forth, my head tipped back. My mind was so full of crap. Thoughts that got me nowhere. It was time to let go and clear my head of all things Susan. She’d been lodged in there long enough.

My throat ached. It hurt on every swallow and every breath. The pain spread down to my chest, my stomach, and into my gut. I felt sick. Really sick. Everything inside me hurt.

My body heavy, as if weighed down with stones, I dragged myself over to my bed, curled up, and pulled the blanket over my head. The entire world could bite my ass today—I wasn’t going to come out of here again.

Too bad my phone was stuck in my jeans pocket, because when it started vibrating, I couldn’t ignore that. In my own little cave of isolation, the display light felt like an intruder. Ryan was calling. Shit. We had plans.

Pride over misery, I picked up. “Hey.”

“Hi. Are you ready? I can pick you up if you need a ride.”

“Sorry, dude. Can I take a rain check?” I moaned. “I’m really not in the mood anymore.”

He hesitated for a second. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Phone pressed to my ear, I closed my eyes in the already dark cave. “I’m just dying.”

“Are you ill?”

“Crushed.”

“Girl?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, listen,” Hunter said insistently. “If you aren’t running a fever, you’re going to get your ass up right now and get dressed. You’re not going to act like a damn wimp and hide in your house.”

“Well, thanks for your understanding.” A humorless chuckle escaped me. “I remember a good friend sulking in his room for weeks not too long ago when a girl put him through hell. Oh, wait! Could it be that this dude was you?”

“And I remember you calling every other day, trying to make me look forward again. Consider this me returning the favor. Now stop whining. I’ll be there in fifteen.” Then the bastard hung up on me.

Grinding my molars, I flapped the covers aside and breathed in fresh air. Sometimes even the best of friends had a talent for getting on your nerves. On the other hand, what was the point of drowning in misery? The world would keep turning whether or not Sue forgave me. I should roll with the punches and just close that door.

If only my limbs wouldn’t feel so lifeless. And my head so heavy. And if basically every muscle in my body could come back from hiatus right about now, that would be awesome, thanks.

The promised fifteen minutes later, Ryan honked outside the house. I’d donned a black hoodie over my t-shirt, and I climbed into his silver-gray Audi, which was a fricking racing car. Cruising around with him was always fun—only, today, it failed to lift my mood.

We headed to Charlie’s Café for starters, but it was clear from the beginning that Ryan was going to try to talk me into clubbing later. We would see about that.

Mitchell was waiting tables. He was here every weekend, but I thought even he would get off for Christmas vacation. We bumped fists with him, and I asked, “Man, you’re doing a holiday shift?”

“Yep. It pays extra. And I really need the money for a new car.” He nodded his head to an open table close to the bar that we could claim. “What can I get you guys?”

“Sprite,” I said, and Ryan ordered a Coke. We sat down at the table Tony had pointed out for us—the only empty spot in this place today.

After taking off my hoodie, I draped it over the backrest of my chair. When I turned back, Ryan had propped his elbows on the table and was studying me with eyes that seemed much too nosy this evening. “Trouble with Miller again?”

“Again?” A sarcastic laugh rocked my chest. “I couldn’t get out of this shit if I was the wizard of Oz.”

“What’s the problem? Is she still mad because you fooled her on that date?”

“Yep.” I pressed my lips together.

“But that was weeks ago.”

Nodding, I sucked in a breath through my nose. “Tell me about it.”

All of a sudden, Ryan started to chuckle. “You know what that reminds me of?”

“No. What?”

“Something a friend said to me once. When I had trouble landing Lisa, he told me it’s those girls that make you
wait
who are totally worth their salt.”

I sent him an irritated look. “Ha. Ha.” Did he find it funny shoving my own words down my throat, now, of all times?

“Just saying, dude.” He shrugged it off and took his hands off the table as Tony brought our drinks.

I paid for mine immediately, wanting to get out of here fast and be alone again. I didn’t want anything slowing me down later, especially not waiting my turn to pay along with about thirty other patrons.

As I took a huge drink of my Sprite, the sour liquid shriveled my stomach. I put the glass down and, from the corner of my eye, saw a familiar black-haired girl in army slacks walk through the door. I lifted my hand in a feeble greeting.

Sam waved back at us, wearing the typical happy grin that I’d spotted on her face from a distance many times. She made a beeline to the counter where Tony was. Because of her short height, she stepped onto the iron bar that was actually made for people to put their feet on when sitting on a bar stool, and heaved herself up by bracing her hands on the countertop. With some effort indeed, she managed to lean across the counter and kiss her boyfriend.

After she jumped back down, she came toward us. “Hi, guys.” Her friendly gaze rested on me. “Chris, right?”

I nodded and scooted to the side to make room for her when Ryan asked her to sit down with us.

From her pocket, she pulled a cherry lollipop and unwrapped it. “You two are making faces like us girls do when we’re talking about boys.” Her words slurred slightly as she put the candy in her mouth, her eyes darting back and forth between us. “So it’s either about Lisa or Susan.”

I liked the humor of Tony’s new girlfriend. And her boldness, too.

“Lisa and I are fine,” Ryan stated with an unmistakable rat-your-buddy-out tone and a smirk.

“Okay. Susan, then.” Her cheerful gaze fastened on me once more. “Can I help?”

“I don’t know.” My challenging smile came as an answer to her grin. “Can you make her change her mind?”

“I’m working on that.”

The smirk slipped from my face, replaced by a frown. “You are?”

“Oh, of course. You see, I think she got in her own way somehow and just doesn’t know how to move from there. It’s obvious she wants to be with you.”

Yeah, right. “Maybe it’s obvious to you, but certainly not to her.”

Sam sucked on her lollipop, then rolled it to the side of her cheek. “Aw. Have some faith.”

Faith? Who was this girl kidding? “Sue hates me.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“I’m with the mop of hair on this,” Ryan said to me, teasing Sam with a wink. “Miller doesn’t hate you.”

“Is that so?” Wrapping my fingers around the clammy glass in front of me, I cast Sam a provoking stare. “Did you know that I gave her a Christmas present?”

“Yes.”

“Did she open it?”

“No.”

“See?”

Sam grimaced. “But that doesn’t mean she didn’t want to.” Her fingers started to fiddle with the wrapper of her lollipop. “She keeps the package in a drawer of her desk. I’m sure sometime soon she’s going to take it out and open it.” Her gaze suddenly curious, she leaned toward me, biting her lip. “By the way, what’s in it?”

Intuitively, I wanted to tell her that I was
not
going to tell her. Her eagerness made me chuckle, though, and in the end, I just thought,
Why not?
“It’s a bracelet.”

Smitten, her eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Oh, this is so…romantic.”

Yeah, that was a word I’d heard from her before. Only, it didn’t matter if
she
thought so. The whole point was I wanted
Sue
to think it. “I really tried to make Susan see how great she and I could work together. Guess what!” Crossing my ankles under the table and leaning forward on my folded arms, I pursed my lips. “It’s impossible.”

“What? You’re giving up?” Sam made a face like someone had run over a bunny in front of her. “But you can’t!”

“Oh, rest assured I can. I’ve tried pretty much everything to make her forgive me, but all she ever does is ignore me.”

“If that’s your only problem, Susan will be here in about ten minutes. We’ll make her sit down, and you can talk to her then.”

“She’s…” I choked on the spit in my mouth. “She’s coming here? Now?”

“Yes.”

I cast a reproachful glare at Hunter. With his hands raised in defense, he said quickly, “Dude, I had no idea.”

“All right. I’ll be gone then.” No way would Sue get another chance to brush me off and add more hot coals to my suffering. Grumbling, I half-turned on the chair, pulled my hoodie from the backrest, and downed the rest of my Sprite in one go. Heck, I’d known it would be better to pay for my drink straight away.

Shocked eyes fixed on mine, Sam whined, “You’re leaving? No!” Her hands twitched like she wanted to reach out and grab mine, begging me to stay. It was cute…and ridiculous.

“Yep. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Sue I was here in the first place.”

“But when will you talk to her?”

A cold laugh escaped me. “Definitely not today.”

Sam turned in her seat, and this time she actually did grab my hand, holding me back. “At Ryan’s party then? Yes?” she pleaded.

My gaze was fastened on the door. Susan would walk in here any minute, and I really wanted to avoid another unpleasant confrontation. After a short moment of deliberating, I made up my mind and glanced down at Sam, my jaw set. “I don’t think so. Tell Susan she can go to the party. I won’t.” Then I shot Ryan a quick look. “See you.”

He nodded silently.

Sam, on the other hand, appeared desperate. “But—but—”

Her hands slipped from mine as I headed away, her stammering ricocheting off my back. She was a really sweet girl and her intentions certainly admirable, but this was my problem. I had to solve it the way I saw fit.

And if it meant I would stay home from Hunter’s party so as not to ruin New Year’s Eve for Sue, well then…so be it.

HOW I GOT through the weekend without running amok from the wrenching ache in my chest, I had no idea. But somehow I did, and suddenly it was December 31
st
. The day of Hunter’s party.

All of my friends would be there. Except me. I would be the one sitting at home all by my lonesome, stuffing popcorn in my mouth and watching some Christmassy movie I had no interest in. Oh, joy…

While lamenting in my room this morning, I did something I hadn’t done in a while. The comforter wrapped tightly around me and my head still sunk deep in the pillow, I reached for my phone and opened the inbox. Usually, it was empty, because I never kept messages for long. But over the past month and a half, it had filled up with texts from
Ponytail Sue
.

Sitting up and scooting back to lean on the headboard, I read them all again.

It was those messages in which Sue dared to come out of her shell just a little more that coaxed a smile from me—like the night she wrote
Sleep tight, sweetness
, just to tease me by stealing my line. Strangely enough, she was the only one among my female contacts I never rated according to my 1 to 10 scale. If my desire to hold her one more time was any indication, only one number could be considered for Sue. A fricking 100. But rating her would mean putting her on a level with all the other girls in my phone, and that just didn’t do it for me.

In fact, all these numbers had lost their purpose the day Susan had let me kiss her. It felt as if I was cheating reading
Lauren 10
,
Tracy 6
, and
Colleen 2
now.
Colleen 2?
Who the fuck was she anyway? I deleted her from my phone. Tracy followed right after, because we hadn’t talked in over a year. Keeping her made no sense…as little as keeping all the others I could barely put a face to anymore.

As if on a sudden crusade, I started deleting name after name from my contacts list.

Eileen 6

Tara 3

Jessica 8

A knock on the door made me glance up quickly. Ethan walked inside, already dressed, and from the animated look on his face, he’d already had his coffee this morning. Would it have been asking too much for him to bring me a cup, too?

“Hey,” I mumbled and deleted the next bunch of girls from my list. “It’s vacation. Why are you up already?”

“I got a call from a very concerned girl thirty minutes ago.”

“So?” Lifting my head, I quirked my brows. “Who was it?”

Ethan lowered into my desk chair and started spinning, his gaze on the ceiling. “Samantha Summers. And guess what she asked me?”

“If you’re wearing your Garfield boxers today?” I suggested in a sarcastic tone. It could be anything really, heck if I knew. Returning my precious attention to something more important than playing “guess what I’m thinking of,” I deleted the
10
behind Lauren and the
5
behind Tiffany.

After a cynical grunt, Ethan informed me, “Sam wanted to know if you’d changed your mind.”

“About what?”

“The party.”

Oh, that.
I vaguely noticed my brother stop spinning and fix me with a hard stare. “Why didn’t you tell me you don’t want to go?” he complained.

Luisa 5
went, and so did
Sarah 3
and
Audrey 3
. “Because I didn’t know you were interested. Also…don’t take this personally, but it’s none of your business.”

“It is my business. Did you forget what we’ve already talked about? You finally sorting things out with Susan?”

My hand holding the phone dropped to my lap. “No, I didn’t forget. Do
you
remember it was you who told me she doesn’t want to go because of me?”

Ethan grabbed a pencil from my desk, braced his elbow on the armrest of the chair, and let the pencil twirl around his fingers, back and forth. “She did say that. But the girls will make her go anyway.”

“And that’s why I won’t. I don’t want to be blamed again. Not only will I have ruined her entire life with what I did”—frustration tightened my throat—“but the New Year’s party, too, if I show my face there.”

“I see.” Ethan studied me for a couple of seconds. “Don’t take this personally, but you’re a jackass.”

“Yeah, right,” I muttered, getting a little pissed now. Ignoring him, I continued the task of cleaning out my phone.

“To hell with it, Chris. You’re creeping around the house like the Ghost of Christmas Past, and I’m sick of it. Come to the party with us. Give it one last try with Susan, and if it doesn't work…well, then you can sulk for the entire next year, for all I care.”

I’d deleted the last two unimportant names from the list and now thought about a new name for Susan.

“What are you doing over there anyway?” Ethan suddenly rose from the chair, sauntered to the bed, and snagged the phone out of my hands.

“Dammit!” Tossing the comforter aside, I jumped out of bed, hitching up my boxers, not in the mood to start a brawl with my brother. “Give it back,” I snapped.

Ethan sat back down and cast me a provoking look. “Ponytail Sue… Gee, is that what you call her?”

“I was just going to change that…
Charlie Brown
,” I muttered, grabbing a pair of jeans from my wardrobe and yanking them on. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I put on a pair of socks and cast Ethan an irritated glare. “Could you please put the phone down and leave my things alone?”

My brother ignored my request and typed something, mumbling, “Are you coming?”

“To the party? No.” And if he was so stupid as to just write a message to Susan with my phone, then he better be out of the State of California in the next ten seconds. “Put the damn thing down and get your ass out of my room!”

Ethan looked up, deliberating, while I pulled a sweatshirt over my head. A moment later, he repeated, “Are you coming?” as if it was the first time he’d asked.

“No,” I growled.

“Are you coming?”

“No.”

“Are you coming?”

Sick of giving the same damn answer time and again, I folded my arms over my chest and arched a brow at him instead.

“I can do this all day, you know,” he warned.

“And I can knock your teeth in if you don’t stop.”

Ethan hesitated a beat, then he started to smirk. “You wouldn’t. “

“Oh, I so would!” Reaching out, I snatched the phone out of his hand and shoved it in my back pocket. “Now go away.”

“Okay.” He rose to this feet and ambled to the door.

Because I was dying for a cup of coffee, I followed him out. Sitting down with my breakfast—black and strong—I leaned across the table to grab the newspaper and skimmed through the sports section. It didn’t take long for my dear brother to enter the kitchen, too, and sit down across from me.

Head lowered and eyes on the football scores, I ignored him, but his stare was like spikes in my forehead. “What?” I snarled, when the feeling became too annoying.

Ethan waited for me to look up. Then with one corner of his mouth lifted, he drawled, “Are you coming?”

Jesus Christ!
“No!”

“Are you coming?”

“No.”

“Are you coming?”

“Shit, E.!” I slammed my palm on the table, the mug jumping almost an inch. “What do I have to do to make you stop so I can drink my coffee and read this goddamn newspaper in peace?”

The second half of his mouth twitched up. “Come to the party.”

“Fine! I’m coming! You win, okay? Now leave me the fuck alone!”

With a satisfied hum on his lips, Ethan shoved the chair back and stood. As he left the kitchen, I banged my head on the table. God, what had I agreed to?

It would be a night full of suffering, trying not to stare at Sue. Because, let’s face it, she wasn’t going to speak to me anyway. Hunter’s house was big, but not big enough. Her concept of distance certainly wasn’t hanging out in opposite corners of the same room with a handful of party people between us. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t make myself invisible for her.

And knowing she was there…it would be like the other day when she visited my brother and I couldn’t talk to her. Painful shivers trailed down my spine at the memory. No, I really didn’t want to experience
that
kind of helplessness again.

Sighing deeply, I lifted my head. With my warm breaths, the damn page of the newspaper had gotten stuck to my forehead. Grunting in annoyance, I ripped it off and scrunched it up into a tiny ball, then threw it against the fridge door. It bounced off and knocked a CD case from Mom’s little radio.
Shit.

The case landed with a clatter on the floor. If it broke, my mother would kill me—or make me buy her a new one. Clenching my teeth, I rose and went to pick it up. It was the Sam Smith album—thankfully, unscathed. As I held it in my hands, squatting beside the island unit, I stared at the picture on the cover. This very CD had been in the player when Ethan had brought Sue home for dinner all those weeks ago. One song was particularly etched in my mind. “Stay With Me.”

That night, I’d been able to make Susan eat from my fingers. She’d enjoyed it, and we talked quite a while on the phone afterward. Her flirtatious voice still resonated in my ears.

I straightened and put the CD back in its place, my shoulders drooping. What was different now? Why was getting through to her so much more complicated?

Oh, but of course… Back then, I’d actually had a backbone. I’d known what I wanted and nothing could have stopped me.
No
hadn’t been on the list of possible answers back then.

That she was able to keep me at a distance now was my fault alone. Because I tolerated it. Man, did I have to grow a pair or what?

Ethan was right—it was high time I pulled my shit together and stop lurking around the house like the Bell Witch. Susan could be stubborn as a bull. Proof of that was obvious—she hadn’t even opened my Christmas present.

Yeah, I’d made a mistake. But, dammit, I’d apologized a hundred times. At some point, it just had to do.

Tonight, I was going to Hunter’s party. And Susan Miller wouldn’t get away with brushing me off again.

Filled with new determination, I stomped to the table, picked up my mug, and took a gulp of coffee. Ugh, lukewarm. A grimace marred my face as the liquid slid down my throat. That’s what you got for getting carried away during breakfast—a nauseating beverage.

I dumped the rest of the coffee in the sink and then went to find Ethan. He had to help me get a telephone number. Not only would I get my girl back tonight, I would also bring her a little present. And therefore I needed the help of a witchy little girl with black hair.

Ten minutes later, I sat at my desk and punched in the number Ethan had written on a blue Post-it. Saving the number as
Sam (+Mitchell)
, my gaze fixed on another entry in the list, right beneath it. Though I’d changed a lot of names and deleted even more this morning, this one certainly hadn’t been among my contacts before.

The number looked familiar. It ended with 1311.
Sue’s
number ended with 1311. And then I rocked with laughter. “Ethan! Seriously?” I yelled, knowing he would hear through my opened door. “
She’s the one
?”

“Yeah. Just seemed right to me,” he replied from his room, sounding amused.

I shook my head and rubbed the tears from my eyes, calming after the laughing fit. But to tell the truth, he couldn’t have picked a better name for Susan. For me, she was
the one
. And tonight, I was going to make her mine, or die trying.

First, there was this call to make, though. I dialed Sam.

“Hello?” she answered with unmistakable curiosity in her voice.

“Hi, this is Chris.”

“Chris!” Oh, I could only imagine her stumped face at hearing my name.

“Yeah. Can you talk?” I didn’t want to ask her a favor if Sue was with her right now.

“I’m here with Tony, but I can go outside if you want me to,” she offered.

“Nah, it’s fine. Listen. I need you to do something for me.”

“Oh. Okay. What can I help you with?”

I wanted to keep this chat short and come straight to the point. But at Sam’s immediate helpfulness, a deep sigh whizzed out of my lungs, and I relaxed into my chair. “First of all, you could tell me how Susan is doing right now?”

“Hm. She’s okay, really.” Sam hesitated a moment as if considering her words. “I mean, she’s coping. The situation with her parents is getting easier. She’s laughing more now. But…” Another pause, then she whispered, “I think she misses you.”

My heart began to pound like it had been zapped with a defibrillator. The smile tugging at my lips wouldn’t stay out of my voice. “Would you say tonight is a good time to talk to her again?”