I waved to Coco and climbed through my window, leaving the lights off in my room. I slipped back into my pajama tank and shorts and climbed into bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about that fight. I doubted I’d get much sleep. I reached for my phone beside my bed and pulled up Jett’s number. He’d given it to me today, and after Shaw mentioned Jett’s concern about me telling Alec, I wanted him to know that he didn’t need to worry. It wasn’t my secret to tell. I typed out a quick text.
Me ~ Hey. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t say a word about tonight to anyone. I didn’t want you to worry about it.
I hit send and stared at my phone, chewing on my thumbnail when the three little dots popped up.
Jett ~ Thanks. Why the fuck do I have 23 texts from Sherman?
I covered my mouth with my hand to muffle my laughter.
Me ~ Two of those are my responses so technically he only sent 21 messages. I guess he’s a curious guy. LOL.
Jett ~ Jesus. All right. Get some sleep, Ace. This is a late night for you, huh?
Me ~ It’s senior year. I’m living on the edge. Good job at the fight. Good night.
The text showed as read, and I dropped my phone on my nightstand and closed my eyes, willing sleep to take me.
“Where you going, Ladybug?” Daddy had called me by the silly name since I was a little girl.
“A group of us are going out to the lake. I’ll be home for dinner though.”
“I thought you and Mama were going dress shopping?” he asked. Homecoming was in two weeks, and I still hadn’t found a dress I liked.
I chuckled. “That’s tomorrow. But look at you, Daddy. You’re all in the know about what’s going on.” I wrapped one arm around his waist and gave him a half squeeze.
“Hey, I’ve been told I need to keep up, so this is me keeping up.”
“Well, I hope you can keep up with me on our run,” Clementine said as she entered the kitchen.
“You still want to do that?” Daddy moaned.
“Daddy-kins. I’m on the cross-country team and our coach doesn’t spend any time training the girls and he barely gives me the time of day because I’m a freshman. I want to stand out.”
My father nodded and I laughed. “You’re right, Clem. Let’s do this.”
Mama entered the kitchen looking like a Lilly Pulitzer clothing ad. Her dark hair was pulled back in a twist, and she wore a baby blue and pink shift dress and heels. “Alec’s on his way to pick you up. Make sure you wear sunscreen. Tan lines will not look good in your homecoming photos.”
I rolled my eyes once I knew she couldn’t see me as she buzzed around the kitchen. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t get an attitude with me, Adelaide Charlotte. You’ll thank me for saving your skin when you’re older and for making sure your photos look good.” Mama grabbed the orange juice from Daddy’s hand and reached for a glass. He wiped his mouth to hide the fact that he’d just chugged right from the bottle. She filled the glass and handed it to him, before tucking the juice back in the fridge and kissing his cheek.
My parents had been together forever. And just like Alec and me, they’d been friends when they were young and then they’d started dating. Mama said it was a fairy tale that all girls wished for.
“And when you two get home from your run, you head straight for the showers. It’s a humid day out and I won’t have my house smelling like sweat.” Her gaze bounced between my father and sister.
“Have you ever even broken a sweat?” Clem asked, and Daddy laughed, which caused my mother to frown at both of them.
“I sweat when I do yoga and when I play tennis. Let me tell you what I don’t do. I don’t come home and sit on the nice sofa until after I’ve showered.”
The doorbell rang and I was thankful for the reprieve.
“Sunscreen, Addy. And be safe. Keep tomorrow open for dress shopping. We’re down to the wire.”
“Okay.” I jogged to the door and pushed Alec back when he started to step inside. “Trust me. She’s on a sweating is bad and no-tan-lines allowed in your homecoming dress kick. You do not want to go in there.”
Alec chuckled. “Got it.”
“How was football practice? Only a few more games, huh? Are you ready to be done?” I asked as we slipped into the car.
“Yeah. I’m tired of my dad riding my ass. He isn’t nearly as involved in basketball. And I’ll have my girl cheering for me again, so I can’t complain.” Alec glanced over at me and smiled. He had the most perfect dimple on his right cheek, and his light blue eyes sparkled when they locked with mine.
“I’ll always cheer for you. Do you ever think about playing football or basketball in college? I know a lot of the guys on the team are getting recruited. I’m sure you could too, if you wanted to.” He pulled up to a stoplight and reached over to place a hand on my thigh.
“Nah. My dad says I need to make good grades to prepare for law school, and God knows they aren’t good right now, so I’ll need to up my game for sure. Plus, I want to have some fun in college too.” He winked. “I’m glad we’ll be going to school together.”
“Me too. I just can’t decide if I should live in the dorms and have a little bit of the college experience, or live at home, which is what Mama thinks I should do.” I placed my hand on top of his.
“I cannot live at home for another minute after we graduate. You know I love my family, but Dad and I are at each other’s throats and I want to have some fun.”
“Do you ever think about going anywhere else? Farther from home? We could apply other places.”
“My father would lose his shit if I didn’t go where he went. You know how he gets. And I don’t really have the grades at this point to go anywhere better than State. And we’ll be together, so it’s a perfect fit. It’s a decent school, close to Willow Springs, so you can live at home if you don’t want to live on campus, and we’ll both be there. I heard the teaching program is really good.”
I nodded. I don’t know who decided I wanted to be a teacher or when that happened, but everyone talked about it like I’d had this lifelong dream of being an educator. I hadn’t. My mother suggested it, and everyone just took that as the truth.
“Sometimes I don’t know if I want to be a teacher. I mean, I love writing. I wouldn’t mind doing something with that.” I glanced over and he smiled.
“If you want to write, Addy, you should do it. You don’t have to teach if that’s not your dream. You know I’ll support whatever you want to do.”