“You know him a lot better than I do. What was he like with you?” she asks. I twirl the ends of my hair and think long and hard before I answer. I don’t know if I should trust Lisa. Trusting people hasn’t been going that well for me. Maybe if I tell her more about Cal she’ll tell me what she knows.
“I’ll tell if you go first,” I reason with her.
She turns toward me, rests her hand against the vanity and nods.
“Okay, it was only once. Well, at least that I know of for sure. He called himself Cal. He tried to sleep with me.” She chuckles and my smile immediately drops. “Oh, no. Trust me, it wasn’t a thing. Chris and I are like brother and sister. Which was why it was so out of character for him. He was this cocky and aggressive ‘I don’t give a fuck’ version of Chris. Which was sexy but he had Chris’s face. Don’t get me wrong, I know Chris is hot, but it was just too weird. And when he started telling me he wasn’t Chris, that his name was Cal, I thought he was high or something.” I can’t help but laugh at the last part. “If he had stuck around a little longer, I think we could’ve had some fun though.” She laughs and I smile nervously.
“Not that type of fun,” she assures me quickly. “We would’ve caused a lot of trouble. A bad ass Chris, me, and Aidan. This town wouldn’t have been ready for us,” she says, putting the last touches on her makeup. She’s gone from demure pre-k teacher to rock star bartender in less than 10 minutes.
“Chris has always been the moral anchor between Aidan and me,” she adds, closing her make-up bag. She puts it under one arm and then links her other with mine, pulling me from the bathroom as she leads the way to the living room. She stops short when Caylen’s room catches her attention.
“Oh my gosh! This is so freakin’ adorable,” she whispers, her eyes scanning it. Then she notices my luggage.
“Are you staying here?” she asks in disbelief. I nod. A sly wide smile spreads across her face before she bursts into laughter. I shush her as best I can and push her past my sleeping baby’s room.
“No shit. I bet Jenna blew a gasket about that.”
“She and I didn’t get off to the best start,” I mutter.
“Did the witch try to hit you with her broom?” She chuckles, and I try to hide my smile. “Don’t put up pretenses for me. I can’t stand her and the feeling is mutual,” she says, walking into the living room and sitting on the couch.
“Why doesn’t Jenna like you?” I ask, but I think I know the answer to that. Lisa is just as blunt as she is and the opposite of conservative. She’s a really attractive girl. I can’t blame Jenna for being uncomfortable about their friendship.
“She thinks I’m secretly in love with Chris. Or that I want to screw him which is completely ridiculous. She tried to stop us from being friends. Complaining and whining to Chris after they became official. I’m glad Chris kept his balls that time and stood up to her or I would have had to kick both their asses,” she huffs. “If she only knew… me and Chris, we would be like a bad Jerry Springer episode,” she mutters. Aren’t all those episodes bad?
“So your turn,” she says, squealing. Her excitement is contagious. She pulls me down on the sofa next to her. I can feel myself blushing.
“Cal. I’ve been trying not to think about him.” I sigh and she pats me on the knee.
“I don’t understand how you do it. I mean, I kind of can because the guy I met acted so differently that it’s hard to think of them as the same person.”
“Why did you never tell Chris about Cal? Or mention it?” I ask her, and she shrugs.
“It was just one of those things, not to add, super embarrassing. I was only seventeen and at the time I didn’t know he really didn’t know what the hell he was doing. The whole almost sex thing made everything awkward to bring up and the next day he was back to himself, like nothing had ever happened. I thought he was just embarrassed about me turning him down.” She laughs at the last part.
“And now?” I ask her, and her eyes widen.
“You can’t tell him Lauren!” she says urgently, and I’m a little caught off guard.
“I-I won’t,” I tell her. I don’t think it’s my place but I can’t help but wonder why she wouldn’t want him to know after everything that has happened.
“Good,” she says in a relieved tone. Just then Mr. and Mrs. Scott come through the door with bags in hand. We both get up to help them. Lisa and I never get to finish our conversation and she doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all…It’s just that it bothers me more than it should.
Chapter 39
Chris
Work flew by. I hated leaving Lauren and Caylen at the house alone but she insisted they’d be fine. I guess it’s really been just the two of them up until now. I asked Lisa to stop by when she got off work to check up on them. Jenna and Lisa hate each other but I can see Lauren getting along with Lisa better. Lauren’s pretty laid back and didn’t flip a gasket when Lisa blurted out all the stuff about how she and Cal met. Aside from checking on them, I wanted to talk to Lisa about everything that’s been going on with me. It was a toss up between her an Aidan but Lisa’s been more understanding. When it comes to my condition, Aidan thinks it helps to make fun of it like it’s a big joke.
It doesn’t.
Hopefully, Lisa will be more adult about everything than Aidan. When I drive up to the house, I see my parents have made it back and Lisa’s car is parked next to theirs. I walk into the kitchen and see Caylen in her high chair while my mom’s chopping vegetables.
“Hey honey, how was work?” she asks cheerfully. I haven’t seen her this happy in such a long time and I know Caylen is the reason.
“Good,” I say cheerfully. I go over to Caylen and kiss her on the cheek.
“How’s she been?” I ask, stealing one of Caylen’s carrots. My mom gives me a disapproving look.
“Like a perfect little angel, of course,” she says, replacing the carrot I took off Caylen’s plate even though she has at least five more pieces already.
“Lauren and Lisa are in the living room,” she says as I head in there. Lauren’s sitting upright in the brown chair. Ironically, it’s my dad’s favorite. She smiles when she sees me and my heart speeds up.
“What’s up?” Lisa says, her tone between singing and rapping.
Lauren giggles. “Hey.”
“How’d things go today? Lisa hasn’t dragged you into any trouble, has she?” I ask, sitting on the couch next to Lisa and across from Lauren.
“Oh please. If I were looking for trouble, we’d be gone,” Lisa says, hitting me with a small couch cushion.
“So…Lauren and I have been talking,” she starts, and Lauren nods her head innocently.
Maybe sending Lisa over was a bad idea.
“Lauren would really like to hear you play and since you’ve been promising to play at Ardeby’s since forever, we could all make a night of it. Saturday is open mic night,” she says excitedly, and I frown at her.
“I’ve never promised you I would play at Ardeby’s, and this Saturday? I haven’t picked up a guitar in almost a year. It’s not happening,” I say adamantly. Lisa threw Lauren’s name in this but I know this is all her doing from the awkward look on Lauren’s face.