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“What’s her name?”
I unbuttoned my shirt a little. It was suffocating me. Or it was the fear. I couldn’t tell. I saw my face in the mirror. It looked greyish. Dad sat on my bed, making himself comfortable.
“Is it Clem?” he pressed. “Your mother has been waiting for this development ever since you punched that kid for pushing her when you were ten.”
“He pulled her hair,” I clarified.
He was referring to the day Dylan Williams was trying to catch her in our backyard.
“Whatever,” dad waved me off. I felt my palms sweating, and I rubbed them in my jeans. “Are you planning on telling her?”
No, dad, I plan on kissing her at midnight, but I’m not going to tell you that.
“I’m thinking about it,” I said. “Don’t tell mom, okay? She’ll make a big deal out of it, and I’m already nervous.”
“Why? You’ve known Clem your whole life. You are friends.”
“She’s changed,” I shook my head. “It’s not the way it used to be between us.”
“Yeah, feelings are messy and complicated sometimes,” my father stood up and patted my back. “I have to go check on Troy and your mom. He messed up his clothes, trying to bake cookies for Katie while your mom was getting dressed. I may have had to watch him, but ended up watching a game,” dad wiggled his brows. “Don’t go into the kitchen.”
I laughed. Troy was still letting mom dress him up like she wanted, and tonight was the annual New Year’s Eve party Chase’s parents were throwing. The whole street was going. That meant Troy was dressed at least as sharp as dad.
“He thought he could bake cookies while mom was getting dressed?” I mocked my little brother.
“I get the feeling he’s going to be a hopeless romantic like your mother. And he’s also six. You, on the other hand…,” he took a look at me from head to toe. “Keep the shirt, it won’t hurt. But don’t put so much pressure on it. Everything is going to be fine.”
Turned out even my father was wrong every now and again because that night was a complete disaster.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucas
The present
The music was so loud I couldn’t hear anything from the conversation Chase was having with the girl on his lap on the other side of the couch. I presumed it was a dirty talk by the way she was pressing herself to him.
It was New Year’s Eve. Chase’s parents were throwing a party as they did every year. My parents and Troy were there. The last time I went to that party was four years ago.
Not that I didn’t visit their house. I did. Just not on New Year’s.
My mother begged Clementine to go with them ever since she got back from Seattle a few days ago. She refused. I got it. It wasn’t her style to waltz in Amy’s house when the two of them weren’t talking at all and pretend nothing ever happened. And I also hoped that house brought her bad memories.
Even though I was still grounded, my mother agreed to let me come.
I was going to ask Clem to come with me. Not as a date. She wasn’t ready for that. But as a peace offering. I knew Hannah would be here. I thought it could work.
Clem, however, made that impossible. Every time I went into the room, she found a reason to leave five seconds later. I even tried to go to her bedroom. I knocked and waited for her to invite me in. I heard her walking to the door. Her shadow appeared under it. She hesitated for a moment, then locked it.
I considered staying home with her. No. I wanted to. I needed to. It was physically difficult for me to distance myself from her ever since she got back from Seattle. I was so used to her presence around me that her being away for three days made me wish her closeness even more.
But I knew her. Pressuring Clementine into anything would only make her resist it even more. She needed to feel free to make her own choice.
I felt a punch in my shoulder. I cocked my head and looked at Chase. His eyes were already glassy from the alcohol.
“What the fuck, man?” he asked.
I knew what he meant. I was pouting again. I shook my head signaling him I wasn’t going tosharemy feelings. Not that I was ashamed of them. I just wanted to share them with my hazel-haired nemesis first. Then shout them out loud for everyone else to hear.
