Page 12 of Coastal Runaway

Distantly, I heard Luke trying to get my attention. He was suddenly standing right in front of me with a concerned look on his face. I looked around and saw Nolan heading to Baby Blue, without a care in the world.

“You know he means well, and is only joking right?” He said, as concern etched his features,

“Yeah, I know.” I let loose the breath that I had, unknowingly, been holding in. “I’m just excited to go to college and not be trapped under the guise of ‘popular star athlete’s dorky and pathetic twin sister.’ Just call me Laney Boggs because once I remove my glasses it's over for all of you.” I scowled and pointed at the imaginary people that were talking shit behind my back. Luke burst into laughter, which eased the tension in his shoulders.

I conned Luke into watching the She’s All That movie with me at least 200 times. He swore it was ridiculous for anyone to believe that Rachel Leigh Cook could hide her beauty behind those paint-covered overalls. With every viewing, we had an animated argument about the reality of how removing some glasses could shock a town, but that was my favorite part.

What if that was me?

Regardless of his constant teasing on the matter, he never once refused to watch the movie with me, and so it became our usual pastime.

He leaned down into my space until his mouth rested just above my ear and whispered, “you’re anything but pathetic, Tig. Don’t talk about my best friend that way.” He had the audacity to smirk as he stood back to his full height. He looked down at me and said, “besides, I kind of have a thing for dorks." Then he turned to follow my brother to the car and that smirk broke into his killer smile.

I was frozen in place for a brief moment as the butterflies went wild in my stomach. I quickly snapped out of it and schooled my features to indifference at Luke’s shameless flirting as I trailed behind the duo. I always put on a cool and calm demeanor around Luke to appear unbothered instead of utterly obsessed. The boy had a panty-melting smile and he knew how to use it.

I wasn’t naive enough to think that Luke would ever go for a girl like me, above-average men didn’t crush on below-average women, but Luke enjoyed flustering me. It had all been a funny game to him; I just tried not to react. He knew that I was remarkably bad at it so he found it hilarious to make me squirm.

I had to take a deep breath just to stop the rapid beating of my heart every time that his attention was solely focused on me— little stolen moments that only came with Nolan’s absence.

Nolan.

He would freak out if he found out that I was in love with his best friend. My brother, all jokes aside, was very protective of me. Actually, all my brothers were protective of my sisters and I. So I knew, if Luke dared to touch me, then it would be like putting a bounty on his head to all of the Kelly men.

I stepped up onto the wheel well of Baby Blue and then slunk into my assigned back seat. It was the perfect summer day in Connecticut, so we had the roof off and the music turned up as Nolan pulled out onto the road to head home from the country club. As the wind whipped through my hair, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I let my mind wander, and imagined a world where I was cool enough to get a guy like Luke Cavan. However, I was quickly derailed by thoughts of getting ready for our joint graduation party with Aiden tonight.

While Aiden was technically a year older than us, our mom thought it would be fun to push Nolan and I forward in school so the three of us could stick together. Tonight we would celebrate moving on from high school— a new beginning.

Our dad would be present for a little while, but my brothers and I knew that he would casually disappear so we could have our fun, leaving our safety in the hands of our oldest brother, Owen.

The other thing that was on my mind was deciding where the hell I was going to spend the next four years of my life. I was stuck between Coastal Crest University in Los Angeles, where my brothers were going to school, or Columbia University in New York.

Nolan committed to CCU for football during our sophomore year of high school and has been excited to move out west ever since. Also, my late mother went there and I could carry on her legacy like my siblings. But, Columbia was familiar. Safe. Closer to home and my sister, Maeve, who would be completing the rest of high school alone, being the youngest of six.

I always loved spending time in NYC. I practically grew up at my dad’s offices there— regularly attending Broadway shows, and spending weekends on my dad’s boat on the Hudson. While CCU was what my family was pushing for, there was a part of me that wanted to stay and go to Columbia in the fall, because there would be another perk: Luke.

While I wasn’t going to make such an important decision based on a schoolgirl crush, I also couldn’t help but wonder, what if he finally realized that he’s the Chuck Bass to my Blair Waldorf?

Sigh.

In all actuality, I was deciding who I wanted to spend college with. Both Nolan and Luke cast their own shadows, but who would let me shine through? I opened my eyes and dismissed the foolish feelings that I would ever be anything more than best friend or dorky sidekick within our trio as we pulled up to the front gates of our sprawling estate.

present day

I was lost in memory as I sped down the highway towards campus.

“Okay seriously,” Maeve was screaming above the music snapping me back to reality, “slow the fuck down before you kill us both.”

“What?” I asked, glancing over at her confused, and eased my foot off of the gas pedal.

She reached across to turn the music volume down, “I’ve been trying to get your attention for ten minutes.” Maeve crossed her arms and leaned back against the passenger seat.

I knew she was frustrated with me. I've been throwing tantrums since Nolan revealed what his big surprise was at the pool party.

I sighed, “I’m sorry. I’m just on edge.”

“I know this is a lot for you. But you can’t let a boy have this much control over you. So what? Luke is an asshole who lives in our house now? Big deal. You haven’t needed him since the day you left, and you don’t need him now.” Maeve had fire in her eyes as she gave me a speech about feminism and not needing a man.