After this morning at Cameron’s house, I needed a distraction. Something to occupy my mind so I didn’t spend every waking minute replaying the way he’d kissed me, the way my body had come to life at his touch. My skin began to tingle, my stomach clenching as I let the memories wash over me. Frustrated at myself, I shook away the intrusive thoughts and focused on the task at hand.
Drawing had always been a way for me to relax, to switch off from life and lose myself in nothing but the swoosh of a brush against a fresh canvas, or the scratch of a finely sharpened pencil against a crisp page in my sketch pad. I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t loved to draw. As a child, I was always doodling and coloring in and getting mom to carve shapes into potatoes so I could make crazy paintings. But when we’d moved in with Jason and his dad, it became much more to me than just a hobby. It was a way to express myself; to work out my frustrations.
And it was mine.
I didn’t need a team behind me cheering me on, or an audience chanting my name. In some ways, art was as far away from sport as you could get, and the irony wasn’t lost on me.
But I didn’t only love it, I was good at it.
As I stared down at the sketch of Cameron, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d captured his strength and physique to perfection. Without realizing, my fingers began to ghost over his face, covered by his helmet. Waking up in his bed this morning had been a shock, but it hadn’t been as awkward as I’d expected.
As it should have been.
In fact, there had been moments when it didn’t feel weird at all.
“Hailee, can you come down here please?” Mom’s voice cut through my thoughts and I let out a heavy sigh.
“I’m busy,” I yelled, adding more shading around Cameron’s helmet
“It’s important.”
Relenting, I closed the sketch pad and went downstairs. “Yes?” I dragged myself into the kitchen.
“Attitude, young lady.” Mom gave me a playful smile.
“Sorry, I was working.” I pulled out a stool and plopped down on it. “The art thing Mr. Jalin and Coach Hasson asked me to do.”
“Oh yes,” Kent said. “How is that going?”
“Okay, I guess. It’s not exactly my thing.”
“It’s football, Hailee, it isn’t the devil’s work.”
“Kent,” Mom said quietly.
He shook out his newspaper, offering me an apologetic smile.
“You wanted something?” I tried to change the subject, not wanting to get into all the reasons I loathed football.
“Me and Kent have been talking, and since you came to the game with us and Coach Hasson’s dinner afterward,”—she grabbed a white envelope off the table—“Kent pulled a few strings and well, happy early birthday, baby.”
I plucked the envelope from her, excitement dancing in my stomach as I tore into it and pulled out the contents. “You got me the tickets,” I shrieked.
“We did.”
“Thank you,” I beamed, leaping down off the stool and throwing my arms around her. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” Mom hugged me back, laughing softly. “But—”
“No buts, Mom.” Untangling myself from her, I pouted. “I’m eighteen.”
“You’re still seventeen for another two-and-a-half weeks, Hailee. And New York is a three-and-a-half-hour journey which is…” her voice trailed off as she glanced over at Kent.
“What your mom is trying to say is that we’d feel much better about you going all the way to New York… if Jason goes with you.”
My stomach dropped. “No.”
“Hailee, be reasonable,” Mom chided. “We got four tickets for the exhibition. We thought you could take Flick, and Jason could ask Asher or Cameron.”
“You honestly think they’ll want to hang out at an arts exhibition with me for my birthday?”
This day couldn’t get any worse. First, Cameron ruined what had been one of the best moments of my life, and now my mom and step-dad wanted me to play happy families with Jason—on my eighteenth birthday no less.
“I’d rather not go,” I said, folding my arms over my chest.
“Go where?” Jason breezed into the room and I silently groaned.
“We got Hailee tickets for an exhibition she wants to see at The Met Museum in New York,” Mom said, and he did a double-take.
“You’re letting her go to New York? Alone?”
I bristled, my teeth grinding together.
“Well, no. Felicity would be going with her, and we hoped…” Mom looked to Kent again and he finally put his newspaper down. “We’d like you and one of the guys to accompany them.”
“When is it?”
I don’t know who was more surprised: me, Mom, or Kent. “What?” Jason added as we all stared at him. “I can’t miss a game, but if it’s a bye week, it should be okay.”
“It’s October nineteenth,” Mom said.
“It’s a bye.”
“That settles it then,” she said. “Isn’t that great news, Hailee?”
“Great,” I grumbled, shooting daggers at Jason. His eyes narrowed, but I found no malice there.
What the hell was happening right now?
“I think Asher’s dad has a place we can stay, I’ll ask him.”
“You want to stay over?” I blurted out. This just got better and better.
“Well, yeah, unless you planned on sleeping in the car?”
Kent rose from the table, going to Jason’s side. “That’s a great idea, Son. I’m sure we’d both feel better knowing you were staying somewhere Neil vouched for.” His eyes flicked to my mom’s and she nodded around a smile.
“Just the one night, though.”
One night in New York… with my step-brother and his friends.
Kill me now.
“And no partying,” she added, her expression tight. Jason nodded, agreeing to her terms, but I saw the glint in his eyes.
“We should probably get going if we want to catch happy hour at The Royal,” Kent said, checking his watch.
“The two of you will be okay?” Mom glanced between us dubiously. “There’s money on the counter to order in and I left some snacks out.”
“I think we’ve got it, Denise.” Jason’s lip twitched earning him a stiff glare from his father. He ushered Mom from the kitchen, leaving the two of us alone.
“Why?” I wasted no time asking.
“Why what?” Jason went to the refrigerator and got a beer for himself.
“Why did you agree to come to New York?”
“Do I need a reason?” He unscrewed the bottle, leaned back on the counter, and took a long pull on it.
“The Met is—”
“You think I actually plan on going to some stupid art exhibition?”
“But Mom said—”
“Let your mom and my dad think whatever they need to think to breathe easier. We can ride together and when we get there, we can do our own thing.”
Of course, that was his plan.
Asshole.
“And here I thought you might actually have a decent bone in your body.”