The '68 Camaro Between Kenickie and Me (Pacifica Academy Drama Book 2) Page 18

  Right. Bree’s eighteenth birthday party. Something I hadn’t thought twice about all week since we weren’t friends. I’d never even spoken to her.

  “Natalie, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m…” I sniffed a couple more times and tried to stop crying long enough to beg for help. “In trouble.” My voice cracked on the words. “Can you guys come get me? Please?”

  Another pause, then, “Yes. Absolutely. Hold on a sec.”

  I smiled at the sky and closed my eyes, which pushed out more tears.

  It sounded like she’d pulled the phone away from her mouth, but I could just hear my name and “trouble” and “we need to go.”

  Panic stopped my tears. I didn’t need the entire school knowing about this total humiliation. I would have enough drama to deal with Monday morning.

  “Kassidy, please don’t tell anybody about this.”

  “I won’t. I promise. Where are you?”

  Her question caught me, and stupidly, off guard. I looked around me. I walked quite a distance from the townhouse, but was still surrounded by off-campus student housing.

  “I’m…down by the San Francisco State campus,” I said as I searched for street signs.

  She gasped, and I cringed.

  Hopefully they wouldn’t change their minds about coming to get me.

  “Okay. We’re leaving now. But it’s going to take us a while to get down there. Bree lives a few blocks from school. Can you give me any street names?”

  That’s when I noticed what looked like a bus stop. Several feet in front of me and located in the middle of all the housing.

  I awkwardly grabbed the shoes from underneath my arm and speed walked toward the stop. “I’m heading for a bus stop. It should have a stop name or address.”

  “Text it to me so I can get the directions. Will you be okay until we get there?”

  I released a soft huff. “I think so. It’s not a…bad area. Just student housing.”

  “Well, I’ll keep checking in with you. But call me if you need me.”

  The tears picked up right where they left off seconds earlier. “Thanks, Kass.”

  “Natalie, don’t thank me. We’re friends. You’d do the same for me.”

  Yes. I would. Because that was the real Natalie.

  Chapter 27

  Yet another cool breeze hit my skin, covered in goosebumps that hadn’t gone away since I sat down on the bus stop bench…forever ago. I rubbed my arms with my shaky, clammy hands, and could no longer feel the lower half of my body, especially my butt. So when I saw the approaching headlights of a slowly moving car that looked like a smaller SUV, my shoulders—my entire, trembling body—sagged from relief.

  I put my phone in its case. It was finally them. Kassidy had also texted they were close.

  My phone and bitchy side had been my only weapons against unwanted attention from other college boys, staggering by me on their way to the next party. Some had even staggered off the bus that stopped once. But my strength had weakened. From the cool air. And emotional and physical exhaustion. My head was full and heavy. My latest tears were stuck to my cold cheeks.

  The SUV got closer. I could just see Kassidy and J.R. in the front. Her face brightened in relief when she saw me and she waved. Even J.R. looked relieved to see me.

  Definitely a good sign he wasn’t pissed at driving all this way to come get me.

  I picked up my shoes, pried myself off the bench and stood on my numb feet. And I noticed they weren’t alone. There were two people in the backseat.

  My pulse fluttered.

  Who the hell could be with them? She’d promised not to tell anyone about this.

  I squinted into the headlights, and noticed my eyes were gritty and puffy.

  J.R. steered the black SUV toward me and, as they pulled up, I saw Meg and—my heart stopped when my eyes connected with his.

  Oh, my God.

  I turned, and now shook from being cold and complete mortification.

  But of course he’d been at Bree’s party.

  Car doors opened and closed. Then Kassidy and Meg were beside me. They pulled me into their arms for a hug. Though the hug and warmth felt…awesome…I started crying. Again.

  “You’re freezing,” Kassidy said and pulled away. “We need to get you in the—”

  I groaned and said, “Kass, what is he doing here? You promised…not to tell anyone.”

  The tears I didn’t know I had left fell fast.

  “I promise no one knows but the four of us. And Owen. He wanted to come, too, but there wouldn’t have been enough room for all of us in the car.” She came in for another hug. “Shane was sitting with us when you called. He and Justin and Owen were talking about their rehearsal today. He heard what I said to Justin. About you being in trouble and needing to come get you.” She squeezed me. “He wouldn’t stay, and I…wanted him to come with us.”

  My tears stopped, and I stared at her as she leaned back.

  “I had a feeling something was going on with you two. Before tonight.”

  I, speechless, blinked the wetness from my eyes.

  “You did?” Meg asked. “Because I sure as hell wasn’t expecting him to jump up like he did and want to come with us. That came out of nowhere.”

  Kassidy gave me a tiny smile. “I saw the way you were looking at each other. The day they came to tell us about the competition? Like you two had a big…secret.”

  And I’d thought we’d been sneaky. Until he’d told me the answer to my one trivia question the way he did.

  One thing that caught my hazy, exhausted mind was Kassidy and Meg weren’t looking at me with judgment. Even though no one had seemed to know about him and Maddie breaking up.

  “He was ready to come out here before we pulled up, but I stopped him.” Kassidy grasped my left hand and squeezed. “I figured you needed the girls first.”

  I tried smiling at her.

  Meg’s eyes became round. “You were texting Shane that day. At rehearsal?”

  I bit my lower lip and nodded-shrugged. Then my eyes watered up. Thinking about him sitting steps from me right now. What would I say?

  “I can’t face him,” I whispered. “Look at me. I’m…a fucking mess.”

  “What happened tonight?” Kassidy quietly asked.

  “My stupidity.” I placed my frigid hands on my face and wiped my wet cheeks.

  “Nat, he won’t care.” Meg hugged me. “He’s worried. And was scared. All of us were.”

  I squared my shoulders and took a quick breath. I had to get this humiliation over with. I also couldn’t stop trembling from being out in the cool damp air for…forever.

  “Does my face look as awful as it feels right now? Tell me the truth.”

  Kassidy lifted her shoulders. “It’s obvious you’ve been crying. But that’s it.”

  Thank God for waterproof mascara.

  “There’s a box of tissues somewhere in the car. I’ll find it for you.”

  Kassidy went back to the SUV, and Meg gave me an encouraging smile.

  I paused as another wave of tears hit, but I frantically cleared my eyes and turned.

  I followed Meg toward the passenger-side’s rear door as it opened. She went around the back of the SUV, and Shane got out. He took a step away from the opened door.

  I forced myself to look up, and our eyes met. My barely held together dam almost broke for the hundredth time. At seeing his concern. Relief. And no anger. No judgment.

  I stopped when we were in touching distance. “Hi.” Totally lame. But I didn’t know what else to say. Could a person die from humiliation?

  He took my shoes from me. With his free hand, he took my right hand and gently pulled me toward him. The second he wrapped his solid warm arms around me my tense insides melted. The goosebumps slowly disappeared as my skin absorbed his heat. I relaxed against him and breathed in the safety of his arms. His warmth. His gentleness. And being right where I belonged.

  I also breathed in his fam
iliar scent I’d missed. Terribly.

  “You’re shivering,” he said, hugging me tighter. “I need to get you in the car.”

  I nodded and reluctantly pulled away from him. I kept my face down, hidden behind my hair, and slid into the backseat beside Meg. He slid in after me and closed the door. I became sandwiched between them, but allowed myself to lean into him.

  He wriggled his arm behind my lower back and hugged me to his side. And a tiny sigh escaped from my chest as Kassidy handed me the box of tissues.

  J.R. turned in his seat, his expression like everyone else’s. Relief mixed with concern.

  Kassidy was right about him. He, like Shane, wasn’t like most of the boys at our school. Most boys on this planet.

  The guilt from how harshly I’d treated J.R. back in the fall filled my eyes.

  How could I have any tears left?

  “Thanks…for coming to get me,” I murmured before grabbing a tissue.

  His face relaxed. “I’m glad you’re okay.” His eyes flicked to Shane and back to me. “So where are we going?”

  I started to give him my parents’ address, but stopped and released a quiet moan. I didn’t have my keys. Those were also in my purse, sitting on the floor in Quinn’s bedroom. My parents probably weren’t even home yet from their party. A good thing. If I had my keys.

  “Shit.” I wiped my wet eyes. “I don’t have my keys to get in and my parents aren’t…” My voice failed me. I didn’t know how much more rotten I could take.

  “You can drop us off at my place,” Shane said.

  I sniffed and peeked at him.

  He couldn’t be serious. And what would his parents think when I walked into their place looking like I’d spent the night in a cold version of hell? Which I had.

  He hugged me tighter to him. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

  I relaxed since I didn’t have the strength to worry. And I trusted him. Completely.

  “Okay.” J.R. faced forward. “Do you need the heat turned up higher?”

  I shook my head, even though I couldn’t stop trembling. The only warmth I wanted and needed happened to be right against me.

  After a few minutes of silence, the kind of silence that wasn’t uncomfortable but not comfortable either, Kassidy angled herself to see the backseat. To see me.

  “Do you…want to tell us what happened?” she quietly asked again.

  No. I sure as hell didn’t. Especially while snuggled against Shane. But because they’d left their party and driven all this way to come get me, I knew I had to tell them something. The highlights. But that word made my stomach tighten. Nothing about what happened the second I stepped into the townhouse had been a high. Though I’d convinced myself acting like a careless high school dummy would make me feel high. Help put my heart back together.

  Everyone waited for me to say something. Anything.

  Hopefully none of them—Shane—would hate me after all this.

  “Well, let’s see,” I said with a bit of sarcasm to hide my embarrassment, “I had a really horrible week and—” Shane became tense. Because he felt somewhat responsible for my horrible week. But I forced myself to continue. “I thought it would be a super idea to go out with Ella and Quinn and forget…everything. So I drank…way too much.” I stared at my lap as I twisted the tissue back and forth. “I…was hanging out with this…guy.” I couldn’t say his name. Didn’t want to. I also couldn’t look at any of them. Him. Not during this next part. “And he…wanted more than to just hang out. But I—” My voice broke and sickness creeped up my throat.

  The car became so quiet all I heard were the moving tires beneath us.

  I wanted the backseat to swallow me whole while I waited for the judgment. For someone to blame me for what happened. Like Ella did. My dress and the shoes were pretty flimsy. And I had drank way too much. Maybe careless and dumb Natalie had been asking for it.

  “Did he hurt you?”

  I ripped the tissue at Shane’s softly spoken question. A question I’m sure all of them had.

  “No.” I laughed, but it sounded close to hysterical. “I kneed him hard, you know where, and kicked the shit out of him.”

  Meg growled. “You should’ve ripped it off, too. No offense to the boys in here.”

  Her comment made me smile and eased some of the tension in the car. Her comment also eased my embarrassment since there’d been no judgment. By anyone. If anything, it seemed they agreed with Meg. But Shane became rigid. No longer warm.

  Did he hate me now? For this newest mess I’d caused him? Us?

  “You obviously got away from him and out of there, which is great,” Kassidy said. “Is that when you called me? What happened to Ella and Quinn?”

  The tears I’d been doing a good job fighting came back with a vengeance.

  “I couldn’t…find Quinn. But I found Ella. And when I tried…to tell her…what happened she—” I let the tears fall as I recalled her hate.

  Shane relaxed, and his arm tightened around me.

  Meg took away the ripped tissue, pulled out a new one for me and handed it over.

  Shaking from my emotion, I wiped my cheeks and mumbled, “She’s not my friend.”

  None of them needed to know the awful things she’d said to me and about them. My real friends. The people I…loved. Especially him. And I cried harder when I remembered how I’d treated him this morning. I so didn’t deserve to be…curled against him like this.

  “I left,” I said during a break in my tears. “When I was far enough away, I called you.”

  Kassidy reached out and clasped my free hand. “Natalie, can I tell you something?”

  I sniffed twice, swiped my nose with the tissue and shrugged. Too exhausted to respond any other way. But I tried to prepare myself for a truth I probably didn’t want to hear.

  “Quinn seems okay. I guess.” She paused, then added, “But I don’t know why you were friends with Ella. She’s…evil. Nothing like you.”

  My eyes caught hers. And I saw…compassion. After how Ella treated me, I so needed to hear we were nothing alike.

  I squeezed her hand, and she nodded and smiled.

  “Yeah,” Meg agreed. “I’m not voting for Ella Walker. I don’t care who her dad is.”

  “Me, either. She’s nuts,” J.R. said. “Shane sits between Ella and me in math. Sometimes I can hear her talking to Quinn who sits on her other side. All she does is bitch about everything. And text during class. I can’t believe the T-Rex hasn’t caught her yet.” His eyes shifted to Shane in the rear-view mirror. “I don’t know how you sit next to her.”

  I never knew Shane sat by Ella in the T-Rex’s class.

  “I tried getting the empty seat on the other side of you and behind Owen. But he told me no one’s allowed to sit back there.” Shane smirked. “He’s caught too many kids texting.”

  J.R. shook his head.

  “You’re too good for her, Natalie,” Kassidy said before she turned forward in her seat.

  A smile tugged at my mouth as she and J.R. laced their fingers together, then rested their arms on the center console.

  I snuggled a bit deeper into Shane’s arm and side.

  I still had a chill that probably wouldn’t go away until I took a scalding shower. To burn off Daniel and the rotten night. Which stopped being rotten when my real friends rescued me.

  Then it hit me—Quinn had yet to text. Because she hadn’t noticed I left the party.

  Chapter 28

  I walked into the third-floor condo, and Shane followed me and shut the door.

  The living room, barely lit up from a lamp on a table, was straight ahead. The room looked big, but cozy at the same time. Filled with cushy furniture and fat pillows. A big part of me wanted to head straight for the sectional couch and collapse. Put my head on one of those pillows and lose myself—my thoughts—in its warmth and softness. With him beside me.

  Then I thought of his parents.

  “Your parents are asleep?”
I whispered. And what would they think if they woke up and saw me here with their…perfect son? Their perfect son who was way too good for me.

  “They’re not here.” He walked around to stand in front of me. “They took off in the AMX for a few days. I think our trip on your birthday brought out my dad’s…romantic side.”

  I heard the smile in his voice, but still couldn’t find the courage to really look at him.

  Embarrassment had gripped me and refused to let go.

  “But my brother and his fiancée have been staying here while they’re gone. They’re remodeling their house and needed to get away from the mess and noise.” He stepped toward me. “They’re not here right now, either. They went out with some friends.”

  So we were alone. And wouldn’t have to stumble through any lies about what I was doing here this late.

  A breath of relief came out of me in a soft puff. But knowing we were alone made me feel…exposed, and I looked at my skimpy dress, bare legs and feet. The bottoms had to be black.

  I crossed my arms and the trembling returned.

  Shane dropped the Jimmy Choos on the floor and stood close enough his heat found my cold skin. He hesitated before reaching to cup my face and gently tilt it upward.

  “Natalie, look at me.”

  It took me a few seconds to find the courage to do what he’d sort’ve asked. When I did our eyes, of course, did the strange, magnetic snapping together.

  My breath left me at what I saw in his eyes. Still relief and lots of concern. And more than a little anger. But not toward me. Or the huge mess I’d gotten myself into tonight.

  “Now that we’re alone, be honest with me. Did that asshole hurt you?”

  His concern and the way he was...staring into my eyes...sparked several pieces of my heart and they clicked back into place.

  “Shane, I swear he was the only one who got hurt in that mess.”

  He gave me a quick nod and kissed my forehead.

  Tears filled my eyes, and I hated I couldn’t stop crying. I wasn’t even sure how I hadn’t fallen into his arms from emotional exhaustion.

  “I’m so sorry,” I blubbered. “About this morning and tonight and you missing your party and...everything. Especially looking at your phone. I wasn’t...thinking.”