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  “I have another favor. I want you to make an attempt to be friends with Lucas. Get to know him, so we can all hang out together. I don’t want to leave him out.” He thinks about it for a minute and says “Okay, I will do my best.”

  “Thank you.”

  We drive in silence, until my phone buzzes. I pull it out of my purse and look at the screen. Sarah

  “Hey I’m with Brady. See you at home.”

  “What? Are you freaking serious? Did he kidnap you?” I laugh out loud at that comment and Brady looks at me, head cocked to the side. “What’s so funny?”

  “Sarah thinks you kidnapped me.” I say. “By the way, you’ve missed a lot that’s gone on. But I can fill you in at a later date.” He nods, as we reach the school parking lot. It’s deserted. I unbuckle my seat belt, and reach for the door handle and then turn to Brady.

  “I’m glad we talked. A huge weight has been lifted. I love you Brady.”

  “I feel the same way. Love ya Abs. Now get home before your sister sends out a search warrant for your kidnapping.” I smile, get out and shut the door.

  Chapter 21

  I get home and find my mom and Sarah in the kitchen. Sarah sees me come in and smiles. “Well, how was the talk with Sir Brady?” I approach the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water and sit down at the kitchen table. My mom is cooking dinner; her famous beef enchiladas she makes once in awhile. I prefer the chicken ones, but these are really good too.

  “It went really well. I feel so much better now that he knows about everything. It was a big weight that has been lifted.” I take a drink of my water, both Sarah and my mom staring at me. “What?” I ask, feeling slightly uncomfortable. I hear a knock at the door and get up feeling grateful for the interruption. These two are doing my head in. I open the front door, Brooke is standing on the other side, with her arms crossed in front of her, and looking really nervous.

  “Hey.” I say.

  “Hey Abby.” We both stand there in silence, staring at one another. She clears her throat before she speaks. “Can we talk?” I open the door wider for her to come in.

  “Hi Brooke, it’s great to see you.” My mom comes out of the kitchen to greet her politely. “We’ll talk later.” She says to me walking back to the kitchen.

  “Hi Brooke.” Sarah shouts from the kitchen. “Hi Sarah.” We walk to my bedroom and close the door. I sit on my bed and she slides on into my desk chair.

  “I talked to Brady and he told me you guys settled everything.” She looks nervous, fiddling with her hands not looking at me. “I’m really sorry, for everything. You know, I’d never intentionally hurt you. I wanted you to know about us but Brady wanted to tell you and then you walked in and caught us and I just, I’m sorry.” She looks at me through her long eyelashes. I sit cross-legged and put my hands in my lap. “I’m sorry too.”

  For a moment she looks confused. I guess Brady didn’t tell her everything. “Okay, I guess you should know I’ve been secretly dating Lucas.” She stares at me, unreadable expression on her face. I just continue. She can yell at me later. I stand up and pace around my room.

  “You know the party we all went to? Well, Lucas was there. After you left with that guy, Matt I think? Anyway, Brady was really drunk and high, so Lucas took me home. Although we went to IHOP for some food and we had a great time.” I’m still pacing and Brooke is still sitting there dumbfounded. “So, to make a long story short, he and I have been sneaking around. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t know how to tell you. I know I’m a horrible person and I feel awful for keeping it a secret. I’m so in love with him though Brooke and sometimes love makes us crazy.” I stop pacing and look at her.

  “When did you and Sarah become all chummy?” I flinch, surprised by her lack of concern for anything else but our conversation. I sit on my bed across from her and stare into her eyes. “Are you okay? After all that I told you, you ask me that question?” She relaxes and leans back against my desk, crossing her legs. “It happened after she told me she’s moving in with my dad.” She gives me a confused look. “What?”

  “Yeah, that’s another topic to cover but first I want to get this all out so there are no more secrets. I’m sorry Brooke. I love Lucas, bottom line and I should have told you. Also I had sex with him.” Her eye brows rise in shock. “Are you serious? Abby Lewis is no longer a virgin?” I laugh. “Nope, I’m a big girl now.”

  “Oh my God, that’s crazy! How was it? Oh goodness you have to give me details.” I bounce on my bed in excitement. “Really? So are we cool again? You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to talk to you about this.” She sits on my bed next to me and grabs my shoulders. “Of course. We will always be friends. I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you Abby. I truly am. I didn’t want to hurt you. You know I love you. It wasn’t planned. But I really care for him, Brady.”

  “I know and I have to admit you guys looked cute together. You’re better together than I ever was with him. Besides, I’m happy with Lucas.” A smile spreads across my face so wide, my teeth start hurting. Brooke hugs me fiercely. I hug her back. I’m really happy for her and glad to have her back. All this time avoiding each other because, of boys, seems miniscule.

  We talk for a couple of hours. I tell her all about how Sarah and I squashed our differences and how she’s really surprising me in her changes and about my dad. I go into detail about how Lucas and I started and the day we spent together before we spent it in his bed. She sits there, listening for the most part and saying things like “Ooh” and “ahh” and asking questions. It feels like old times, having fun and talking about your biggest crushes. She seems genuinely excited for me, which makes me more excited.

  “Well, how cool will it be if we can like double date?” She asks with a huge smile.

  “I think it would be awesome. We just have to make sure the boys get along. You know how they can’t stand each other much.”

  “Please, I will take care of that. Lucas will not be left out anymore, rest assured sister!” She starts jumping up and down in excitement and I can’t help but join her. “Oh my gosh this is so cool. I am so happy for both of us! We are going to have so much fun together, the four of us.” I nod in agreement. Brooke can be a little overly excited about things sometimes but I love her enthusiasm.

  Once she leaves I enter the kitchen and warm up my dinner in the microwave. “Wow, so what’s with Brooke? I could hear squealing in here.” I grab my hot plate out once the timer goes off and sit down at the table.

  “Apparently she likes the idea of me and Lucas.” I answer, taking a small bite of my food.

  “Why, so she can date Brady?” I shake my head and take a sip of my soda.

  “Well, she just likes the idea of us going on double dates together. She’s excited so I’m not going to take that away from her. We are all past this now.” I burn my tongue and drop my fork onto my plate. “Dammit! That shit is hot!”

  “Maybe you should blow on it before you stick it in your mouth, genius.” I snicker at her and take another drink. “Thanks, I’ll try to remember that next time.”

  “By the way, there is supposed to be some really big family gathering of some sort this weekend. I don’t have all the details but dad said he wants you to invite Lucas.” I grit my teeth. I can only imagine how that’s going to go down. The door bell rings and Sarah and I look at each other for a moment. “Are you expecting someone?” She asks me.

  “No, not that I know of.” She gets up to answer the door while I sit there and finish my dinner. Then Sarah enters the kitchen again, with Lucas. “Look what I found at our doorstep. You need to keep him on a leash, don’t let him get away Abby.” She says laughing as she leaves the room. Lucas bends down to kiss me briefly before plopping in the chair next to me.

  “Hi.” I say taking another bite but not before blowing on it first.

  “Hi. How was your day?”

  “It was pretty interesting, good. Oh and my dad wants you to come to some family gathering this weekend. Sar
ah just told me. You don’t have to go if you don’t-“

  “Of course I’m going. I want to support my girl around her judgmental family.” I smile and hold his hand. “I’m sure they’ll love you.” I wrap my arms around his neck and tilt my head to look at his green eyes. He kisses me sweetly on the lips. I break away after a few minutes. I go to the sink to wash my plate and put it away.

  “Oh hi dear, I’m glad you ate. Hi Lucas.” My mother walks in the kitchen with a pile of laundry to wash.

  “Hey Angie.”

  “Do you need help with that mom?” I ask, rinsing my cup out and setting it by the sink for future use.

  “No, honey I’ve got this. You go hang out with your boyfriend.” We take our cue to leave and go to my room. I sit on my bed exhausted.

  “Wanna watch a movie?” He asks as he stands in my doorway.

  “Sure, pick one. But don’t just stand there like I’m going to bite.” He comes in and looks at my DVD collection. He sifts through them skeptically and I get up to close my door.

  “You have a great collection. It’s hard to choose one. Chick flick or comedy?”

  “Um, how about the Wedding Singer?” I ask. I love Adam Sandler movies. And that is one of my favorites. Drew Barrymore is so cute in it too.

  “Sounds good to me, the old lady is cool.” It makes me smile that he likes the old lady. She’s so cute when she dances and sings in that one scene. I always sing along with her. I hope I’m that cute when I’m old and wrinkly. He takes the DVD out of the case and slips it into the player. I get in my bed under the covers and he grabs the remote and lies down beside me, turning the TV on and pushes play. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and I lay my head in the crook of his arm. I entangle my legs with his, feeling the warmth from his body. Within the first half hour my eye lids get heavy with sleep and soon enough I can’t fight it anymore. I doze off.

  “Babe, I gotta go.” Lucas nudges me awake but I don’t budge.

  The next thing I know, I’m awoken to the sound of my alarm clock. I stretch and thrust the covers off of me. I sit up and a yawn escapes me.

  “Get up Abby.” My mother peeks in the door frame.

  “I’m up.” I slowly make my way to my closet for clothes.

  At school I yawn a lot like I haven’t slept in days. What is going on with me? I wonder. I get through my classes pretty easily and even though I’m exhausted, I manage to get my assignments done.

  “Abby, I need some help with one of these questions. It’s so confusing. ” Chelsea taps me on the shoulder. I look at her then down at her paper. After I explain the question to her until she figures it out, I sift through my English book, after I have finished my History assignment.

  When the bell rings, I get up to leave. Chelsea catches up to me and walks beside me. “Hey, so I heard about you and Lucas. How did that happen?”

  “It’s a long story. But one day I will fill you in.” I wave bye to her and hit my locker.

  “Hey beautiful.” Lucas says from behind me.

  “Hey, sorry I fell asleep last night. I guess I was really tired.” I say, as I put my stuff away and close my locker. With no homework, I decide to leave my bag and books in my locker for the night.

  “Oh it’s okay. I loved watching you sleep. You look quite angelic.” I lightly tap on his chest. “Please, that’s so cheesy and totally untrue.” I say but happy to hear his sweet comments. I hug him and he wraps his arms around me protectively.

  “Seriously, you looked beautiful sleeping. Come on, let’s walk to the parking lot together.”

  “Thank you Lucas. I love when you say stuff like that.” We walk hand in hand to my car. He stands in front of me and reaches up to tuck some of my hair behind my ear. He leans down to kiss me and for a moment I forget where I am.

  “Call me later. What are you doing tonight?” He asks, leaving me breathless from our kiss. My eyes flutter open and he chuckles to himself.

  “I love the effect I have on you.” I push him away.

  “Thanks. I actually have something I need to do. But let me call you later, okay?”

  “Okay. I’ll be around. I love you.” I get in my car and he closes my door gently, then he leans in the window and kisses my cheek.

  “I love you too. Bye.”

  I drive off, semiconscious of what I’m doing. I think of a few different scenarios that may happen. I turn on my stereo to try and drown my thoughts. When I find nothing I like on the radio, after throwing a few curses out there, I decide to scrimmage for a CD. Just my luck. I think. I grab my big CD case from my passenger seat and carefully look through it, while watching the road. I need a good upbeat song, at the moment. I find my Def Leppard Greatest Hits CD and stick it in. I turn to “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and blast it. This gets me moving and singing. I shake my head in time and use my hand as a microphone.

  When I get to, Maple Avenue, I turn right a block by a cul-de-sac, park and shut off the engine. I let out a deep sigh and get out of the car. There is a nice view to my left of a dog park and a hill that looks like a fun hill to go skiing down. There are neighborhood kids playing outside, riding their bikes. I envy them. Life used to be much simpler back then. Actually that is such a lie. It would have been much simpler if I had a normal childhood. A little boy rides his bike a few houses from me on the sidewalk but falls off. I rush to his side and help him up. “Are you okay?” He steadies himself and looks at me, a big cute smile on his face. “Yes, thank you. I lost my balance.” He has big crystal blue eyes and chubby cheeks. His hair is light blond. He’s definitely going to be a heartbreaker when he gets older. I lean down to his level and ask “How old are you?”

  “I’m six. My name is Christopher.” He hold his hand out for me to shake. I take it and smile. “Nice to meet you. Where do you live Christopher?” He points behind me, to the house I was standing in front of before I helped him on his bike. It hits me then that this little boy is my step brother, one I’ve never met. It makes sense, he has similar features as me. “Are you supposed to be out here by yourself?” I ask him. He looks guilty and puts his head down afraid I will rat him out.

  “It’s okay, I won’t say anything. Let’s get you home before it gets too dark.” I walk with him as he slowly rides his bike.

  “Thank you for helping me back on my bike.”

  “Abby. My name is Abby.” I say. “And you’re very welcome. I never had anyone teach me to ride a bike. I had to teach myself.” We reach the door and I ring the doorbell. He puts his bike on the porch, leaning it on the kick stand. The door swings open and there he is. He’s wearing a nice Armani type black suit with a gray tie.

  “Here, I thought you might need him.” I say, referring to Christopher. “He was riding his bike and fell off.”

  “Yeah, she helped me back on.” He said looking up at me, smiling. Then he raced in the house.

  “I assume you didn’t come here just to give me my son back did you. Unless you’re some kind of psychic and knew he would fall off from the other side of town. Thanks either way, for helping him.”

  “No, I’m not a psychic. But it’s nice to know I have a little brother. He’s adorable.”

  “I suppose you would have eventually found out about him. What brings you here anyway?” I cross my arms over my chest, nerves all over the place. But I’m determined not to let it show on my face.

  “We need to talk.”

  Chapter 22

  He gestures for me to come in. His house is like something straight out of a magazine. It’s pretty big, two-story with a vaulted ceiling. The walls are painted a cream color with family pictures everywhere. I have a step brother and step sister. They are both beautiful. My dad once said he always wanted a big family, I guess he has one now. It’s kind of ironic considering he ditched me and my sister. I guess we weren’t good enough for him.

  Stop it Abby, just talk to him. I chide myself. The living room is like two of ours. It has a flat screen TV hanging on the wall and a bookshelf of pict
ures and books. My dad doesn’t read so I’m assuming they belong to my step mother. I take a gander at them, curious what kind of books interests her. I see books by Danielle Steel and some I don’t recognize.

  “Oh those are Jaclyn’s. She reads that trashy nonsense. I never understood women and their need to fill their brains with that stuff. Do you read?” He asks noticing my interest in the library. I nod my head.

  “Some. Not as much as I used to but when I can I read. And men don’t understand that women like reading to escape their troubles. Or just for the pure pleasure of it.” He snorts.

  “Well, I try not to complain too much but when she starts a book its like I’m not even there.”

  “Well, that’s what an Xbox is for. Women have their books and men have their games. Brady used to play and ignore me for hours.” He gives me a sympathetic look. “Point taken.” We reach the kitchen where a pretty brunette is cooking dinner. She’s tall with long hair loosely put up in a pretty bun. She’s wearing an apron over her clothes. She’s thin with a model face. Damn, he’s shallow

  “Jaclyn, dear, this is my daughter Abby.” My dad introduces us. She wipes her hands on her apron before taking my hand.

  “It’s so nice to meet you Abby.” I smile politely. I really want to hate her but she’s so sweet and likeable. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  “We are going to be in my office if you need me.” He kisses the top of her head.

  We head up the stairs. The staircase swirls around in a fancy fashion. Again, there are more pictures that accent the walls. I guess it makes the walls nice instead of bare. I can’t help but notice the little girl looks a little like me when she was a baby. She’s so adorable.

  “Abby, come on.” My dad pulls me away from the pictures. It saddens me that we never did family pictures, at least not that many. We only took a few before he ran off with the hot model. “This way please.” He says as we round a corner and pass a couple of bedrooms. We stop at a door that says My Office on the front. Huh, original. He opens the door and I feel a draft of cold, which gives me goose bumps.