Chapter Eight

 

Colton

 

 

 

I knew Elle was going to be trouble the moment she showed up at the airport, and I was right. She’s got me singing in the kitchen, and it’s getting my sister’s attention as I normally never sing out loud unless I’m home alone.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, trying to avoid the weird look Maggie is giving me. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing.”

She circles her finger in front of me. “Then what’s this? Why are you so chipper?”

“Chipper?”

She shrugs. “Yes, cheerful, happy, you know what I mean.”

“If you mean cheerful, then why use chipper?” I ask, my face all seriousness, but I’m just taunting her. It’s this thing we do, and she always takes the bait.

She rolls her eyes at me. “It’s a new word I’m trying out and… You know what? That’s not even the point. What I want to know is, what is going on with you?”

“I guess I’m just chipper,” I say, emphasizing the last word.

“Why are you changing the subject?”

“I’m not,” I say as I close the fridge and take a sip of water.

“You’re avoiding answering me by turning this into a conversation about semantics. You’re not fooling me, Col. I know something’s up.”

I sit down at the kitchen table and shrug. I’m not going to tell her what’s up. She doesn’t need to know how much fun I’m having with her best friend, who is so quirky and sweet and adorable and, yes, smoking hot. If I do, I’ll never hear the end of it. She’ll start this spiel about how I can’t, under any circumstances, date her best friend as it would lead to trouble and all that. To be honest, just because I find Elle so amazing doesn’t mean I want to date her, so what would be the point of telling Maggie how I feel about her friend?

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” She slides into the seat opposite me and leans in closer. “Did something happen at work? Or did you meet a girl?” Her eyes are narrowed now. I’m so bad at fooling her. “You did, didn’t you? Tell me who it is.”

I laugh. “I didn’t meet a girl, Mags. Can’t a guy be in a good mood every now and then? Let it go. There’s nothing to see here.”

“But I’m your sister. I have a right to know.”

I get up and throw my empty water bottle in the recycling bin. “No, you don’t. You just can’t stand not knowing all of my secrets.”

“Ugh. You enjoy torturing me like this way too much.”

“You know I adore you, sis, but yes, I love how worked up you get whenever I don’t spill my secrets to you.”

Her eyes light up at those words. “So, you admit it? There are secrets? Well, spill them!”

“What’s this about secrets?”

I look to where Elle is standing in the entrance to the kitchen. I didn’t even hear her approaching.

“Nothing,” I quickly say.

“Colton’s weirdly happy and he doesn’t want to tell me who’s making him that way,” Maggie says simultaneously.

Elle stops in her tracks and her forehead wrinkles as if she’s trying to make sense of what we’re saying.

“Please, tell me who is it,” Maggie insists.

I flick my gaze to Elle and clear my throat. “It’s, uhm…” I desperately try to come up with an explanation that will lead the attention away from me. “I’ve got a date. Yeah, you got me. I’m going on a date.”

Maggie jumps up and down as if I told her we’ve won the lottery. “A date? When? Where? What’s her name?” Her voice is two octaves higher than normal.

“Relax, it’s nothing serious. We’re meeting each other tonight at… uhm… the bonfire.”

“Weren’t you going for drinks with Tyler?” Elle asks.

“Yeah, and didn’t you say the bonfire was for eighteen-year-olds you didn’t want to hang out with?” my sister chimes in.

I groan. They’re both right. Things like this are exactly the reason why I don’t lie. It’s messy and I hate it.

“I’m meeting up with this girl and Tyler. Separately,” I add.

“Sounds like you have a busy night ahead of you,” Maggie says with a laugh.

I gratefully take that as my cue to leave. “You’re right, I better get ready. See you later.”

I rush away and hop into the shower. When I head back to my room ten minutes later, I try to come up with ways I can rectify this situation. I can’t possibly cancel my plans with Tyler for some imaginary date, but if I show up without someone at the bonfire, Maggie will know I was lying.

After showering, I shoot off a text to Tyler, asking him to meet me at a different bar. There’s one on the outskirts of town where I doubt my sister would ever show up. Thankfully, Tyler doesn’t ask any questions.

I throw my jacket on and run up the steps, but before I can reach the front door, I bump into Elle. I grab her arm to keep her from toppling over. Right away, her gaze travels to the spot where I’m touching her. My eyes are drawn to it as well, and instead of just letting go of her, we both stare at our skin touching.

“Can’t wait to get to your date?” she asks.

It takes a lot of effort, but I drop her arm. I don’t want to come across as a creep, or worse, have her think this means something, because it doesn’t.

“Yeah, I am. What about you?” I ask. “You look stunning.”

It’s only now, looking at her instead of just her arm, that I see how amazing she looks. Her curly red hair hangs loosely braided over her right shoulder, and the curves of her hips fill her dress perfectly.

“Thank you,” she says, her face turning a light shade of red. “I’m going on a date as well. Layla from the park set me up with someone.” Her eyes sparkle as she says the words.

I grin. “Let me guess. Zeke?”

Her lips part and she laughs. “How do you know that?”

“Because she’s been trying to get that guy into a relationship for months now.”

She scrunches up her nose. “That doesn’t sound good. What’s wrong with him? Why hasn’t Layla succeeded in her quest to find him someone? Ugh, now I’m nervous about going.”

I put my hand on her arm again in an attempt to calm her down, but all it does is get my own pulse racing. “Don’t worry, the guy’s harmless. Rumor has it that he needs to work on his moves, though.”

“His moves?” She chuckles, and I can’t help but laugh with her.

“Yeah, his dates always follow the same script. At least, that’s what I hear from the girls at work.”

Her shoulders drop and the sparkle in her eye is almost completely gone now. I feel guilty for ruining this date for her before it’s even started.

“Why don’t you call me when you need to escape? I promise I’ll come and rescue you right away.”

She hands me her phone so I can type in my number. “Despite the fact that that’s a real Prince Charming thing to say, I doubt your date will be happy if you run off to rescue some damsel in distress.”

I hand her phone back, and our fingers linger longer than they need to. “She’ll understand. Since you’re my sister’s best friend, you’re basically like family, and family comes first, right?”

She nods. “Yeah, family.”

I turn around, rush out of the door, and hop on my motorcycle.

Practically family. What a thing to blurt out after sharing… I don’t even know how to define that moment between us, but it wasn’t one I’d ever share with a family member, that’s for sure.

I make it to the bar, and spot Tyler waiting for me at one of the tables in the back.

“Hey, man,” I say, taking off my leather jacket and draping it over one of the chairs.

He hands me an ice-cold beer and we clink our bottles together before taking a swig. “How are things going with the new roommate?” he asks.

“Good.”

He laughs. “Good? That’s all? Wow. Having her around must be a snooze fest.”

I take another swig of my beer to buy some time before answering him. Even though Tyler is my best friend, I don’t know if it would be wise to tell him about Elle. The thought makes me chuckle, because there’s nothing to tell. Nothing palpable anyway.

“She’s great, actually, but we haven’t spent a lot of time together yet. I did get her a job at the park,” I say, glancing at the door every now and then. I hope neither Elle nor my sister will come here tonight.

“That’s nice of you.”

I grin. “You know me, always happy to help. How are things going with you?”

“Great. Our firm is going to be designing that new housing project in Lakedale.”

“That’s amazing,” I say.

Tyler works as an architect at one of those fancy firms. He says he’s going to stay there for another year or two and then start his own firm.

He leans back in his chair and taps his finger on his lips. “You’ve got to relax, man.”

“I am.”

“Then why do you keep looking at the door every ten seconds as if something bad will storm in any minute now?”

I suck in a breath. “I might have gotten myself into a situation, and now my sister and her friend both think I’m on a date. I don’t want them to find out I lied.”

He snorts. “You told Maggie you had a date so she wouldn’t set you up with another horrible one? That’s actually kind of genius.”

I take another swig. If I keep this pace up, I’ll be drunk before I can blink. “Yeah, I had to do something, right? She keeps pushing me, trying to get me to stay put by handing out my number to every single girl in a ten-mile radius. Honestly, it’s not something I want to take part in.” I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “If I ever meet The One, it should be on my terms, you know? I want to meet her in a spontaneous way, become friends first, share some laughs. I need someone who gets my pulse racing. All that blind dating stuff is too artificial. Not to mention I don’t want to get entangled in a complex situation with a girl who wants to build a life in Summerville Creek while I’m saving up to get out of here.”

“Do you have an idea of when that’ll be?”

Tyler and I don’t talk about me leaving that often, but once in a while he cautiously asks about my plans. He’s one of the few people who haven’t judged me for wanting to uproot my life. He knows it’s something I need to do, and that there’s a good chance I’ll return one day.

“It depends. If I find a place to live that’s affordable, I won’t hesitate. I don’t understand why Maggie is so against me moving away.”

“She loves you, that’s all. Once you’re gone, she’ll have no one left here.”

I shake my head. “That’s not true. She’s got her colleagues and now her best friend is back.”

“Yeah, but they aren’t family. I’m not saying you should stick around for her, but I do get where she’s coming from.”

“I guess.”

My phone lights up with a text. A rush of endorphins spreads through me when I see it’s from Elle.

 

Is a cheesy monologue about the color of my eyes part of this guy’s routine? I had to take a time-out in the bathroom to stop myself from slapping him into normality.

 

I hesitate a moment before firing off my reply.

 

I think so. Do you need me to come and save you? No need to text me the address.

 

I don’t need you rescuing me… yet. But I do need to know how you know where I am. That’s kind of creepy.

 

What’s creepy is that I know where you are because Zeke takes every girl there. Enjoy your time at Casa Mama Pizzas.

 

She replies with a couple of stunned looking emojis, and I laugh. I’m secretly hoping for another text from her soon, asking me to come and be her knight in shining armor. Not that I want her to have a miserable date, but Zeke is so wrong for her, it isn’t even funny.

“What’s that all about?” Tyler asks.

“Oh, nothing. You know, just some girl.”

He shakes his head and laughs. “Oh, man, you’re in trouble. That look in your eyes? That tells me this isn’t just some girl. You’ve got to spill the beans.”

I motion for the waitress to bring us another couple of beers. “There are no beans, so I can’t spill them.”

Tyler grabs my phone and holds it above his head so I can’t reach it. “Damn, it’s locked. Didn’t think of that.”

I push myself up and manage to take my device from his hands. “Nice try, though.”

Just then, another text message comes through, but I refuse to read it in front of Tyler. For an entire hour, we talk about our jobs, Tyler’s renovation project, and the latest sport stats, but all I can hope is that he doesn’t notice I’m zoning out half the time, trying to figure out when would be a good time to read this message from Elle. My phone is burning a hole in the table, and I can’t touch it, which is driving me bonkers.

Yeah, I was definitely right. Elle is a big bag of trouble. Delicious, toe-curling trouble.