“Presley, you haven’t gotten below a B on any test you’ve taken all semester. You’ve got this.”
Leaning into him for additional courage, I take one more deep breath. “I must have had a really great tutor then.”
He smiles and places a quick kiss on my lips before turning me around and smacking me on the butt. “Go get ‘em, tiger. I’ll be right here when you get done.”
I laugh as I walk into my last class. Ninety minutes and then I’m free.
*****
One hour is all the time I have to get into town and pick up Presley’s Christmas gift, get it hidden, and then get back to school. I’m really hoping she doesn’t freak out when I give it to her. I spoke with Mrs. D, and she had said it was fine, and she was actually a bit jealous. She had always wanted a gift like this.
As I make the last turn, I see a sign at the end of the driveway, Puppies for Sale. I turn in and get out of my truck; a too bubbly blond bounds down the front steps.
“Hey, stranger. It’s been a while.” She is the last person I want to deal with right now after Marcus filled me in on one of their more recent conversations.
“Hey, Heather. Your mom home? I talked to her about one of the puppies.”
“No, but she told me you were coming by. I can help you out if you want.” I roll my eyes. No, I don’t want her help. I want nothing to do with her, but I don’t have time to come back again.
“Yea, I guess.”
I follow behind her as she gives me a tour of the house. She shows me the living room with a fire in the fireplace, her bedroom with twinkle lights strung across the ceiling, and finally leads me down a long hallway to the back of the house. I hear the sound of yapping puppies muffled behind a closed door.
She opens the door and stands in the doorway blocking my way. I don’t have time for her little games.
“Here they are. Mom said you could pick whichever one you wanted. Or you could skip the puppies and have me instead.” She slides a finger under the loose fabric between the buttons on my shirt.
“I’m just here for the puppy, Heather.”
“Too bad. We could have a lot of fun together.” She sticks out her bottom lip in a pouting manner. “You know, like old times.”
“I’ve changed. I’m with Presley.”
“So? She doesn’t need to know.” Instantly she presses her body against mine, her lips suction to my neck as if she’s going in for a kill. I try to push her off gently, the last thing I want is to hurt her and have her saying I attacked her. She’s just crazy enough to spin a story to intentionally hurt Presley.
“Heather, stop!” I push harder against her, and she steps back, smiling at me this time.
“Take whichever one you want and leave the money on the table.” She storms off down the hall. “Jerk!”
I look at my watch and notice Heather’s little stunt has drastically cut my time short. Luckily I had already seen pictures of the puppies and I knew which one I wanted. I pick him up and scratch behind his ears. He’s a happy little white cotton ball of fluff, and I envision Presley’s face when she pulls him out of the box. “Your momma’s gonna love you as much as she loves me. Yes, she is.” He licks my face, and I’ve almost forgotten about whatever the hell it was Heather was trying to accomplish. On my way out, I set the money on the kitchen table and book it home to stash the ball of fluff riding in the back seat.
*****
I finish my test early, turning in my exam to Mr. Jameson and go to find Robert. He usually has baseball during this period, so I head down to the field house. But with it being finals week, I’m not sure what Coach has them doing. I walk in and find the place empty. Coach rounds the corner, so I decide to ask him.
“Hey, Coach. Is Brice back there?”
“Haven’t seen him. I canceled all practices this week. Sorry Presley but have a good Christmas.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks. You too.”
On my way back up to the school, I catch Marcus headed towards the parking lot.
“Hey, have you seen Brice?”
“Umm, I think I saw him leave about an hour ago. I thought you were with him.”
“No. I had my algebra final.”
“Oh, well, I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” Robert didn’t mention anything about leaving campus, but then again, it’s not like I expect him to check in with me and let me know everything he does. He said he would be here when I got done with my final. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting me to get done as early as I did.
“I’m sure you’re right. Thanks.” I make my way back into school, and Olivia stops me on her way out.
“Hey, girl. Everything alright?”
“Huh? Yea. Fine.”
“You sure? What’s going on?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Marcus said Brice left an hour or so ago.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it. He probably wasn’t feeling well. He looked a little weird at lunch.”
“Yea. You’re right. Well, guess I better go catch the bus. Merry Christmas, Liv.”
“Merry Christmas to you too.”
As I’m making my way over to the busses, I see Robert walking towards me. His clothes look disheveled, and his hair is a tousled mess.
“Hey, beautiful! How’d your test go?” His arms are open wide, and I allow myself to be wrapped in them. He picks me up, and I bury my face in his neck. He doesn’t smell like my man. Instead, he smells like cheap perfume and vanilla body spray. I wrinkle my nose and furrow my brows. “I’m sure you did great. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He thinks my reaction is towards my test and not the fact he smells like a dime-store hooker.
“I thought you went home. I couldn’t find you and Liv said you looked out of it, at lunch.”
He looks flustered as he shifts his body weight. “Umm yeah. I ran to the store to grab some medicine. Truck’s nice and warm already. Let’s get you inside. It’s freezing out here.” He rubs his hands together and blows into them. It’s a balmy forty degrees at best. I would hardly classify it as freezing, but I follow him to the truck and climb inside. The smell of cheap perfume hits me again and I think I’m going to be sick. I look at Robert, the tears fighting against my throat, and that’s when I see it.
“Who the fuck is she?”
“What? Who is who? Presley, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t play games with me, Robert! YOU smell like cheap perfume. YOUR truck smells like cheap perfume, and you have a giant fucking hickey on YOUR neck!” Reaching across the center console, I pull down his shirt collar as he looks in the rear-view mirror.
“Fuck,” he says out loud.
“Is this because I haven’t slept with you yet. I can't believe you would do this to me!”
“Presley, it’s not what it looks like. It was all Heather—”
“Heather!” There’s no containing my rage, “you’re fucking Heather?”
“No! God No!”
As I reach for the door handle, I look down into the side door pocket, today just keeps getting better. “Oh, really?” I say, holding up a neon pink lace thong and throwing it at him. “Well, these definitely don’t belong to me!” I get out and slam the door shut. I hear him scream her name through the closed windows, but I don’t turn around.