Always Us (We Were Us Series Book 2) Read online

  “Yeah, I guess. People I know though. No random kids from other schools or high schoolers or anything.”

  “Sounds fun.” I guessed we could slip away for kissing and I smiled to myself.

  “So you’ll come?” He ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Of course.” I smiled at him this time.

  “And dress up?”

  “That’s debatable.” I scoffed.

  “You have to.” He leaned down close to my face. He was really serious about me dressing up.

  “Yeah, okay,” I whispered. I was fine when we were sitting on the couch, but his proximity to me now was causing my brain to malfunction. I’m sure I’ve forgotten how to walk and will stand in the doorway for hours after he’s left.

  “Jenna?” he whispered in my ear. Warming places I didn’t know whispers could warm. “I want to be yours this year.” What was warm, was now blazing. Heat spilled down from the top of my head, over my shoulders, and down the rest of my body.

  I didn’t know how to respond to that. I just stood there, inches from him. His one hand on the door knob, the other on the door frame, making himself seem larger than he already was, encompassing my entire range of vision. In this moment, he had infiltrated every part of my being.

  “Okay,” I managed to squeak out.

  He smiled his lopsided smile, kissed my cheek, and turned to leave. “Goodbye, Jenna.” His voice was all low and sexy. I tried to return his smile with a suggestive smile of my own, but I know it just came out goofy.

  As I predicted, my brain had turned to mush. I was standing in the doorway watching nothing, letting the last of the warm September air wash over me. School had started and autumn was in the air, I could smell it. I thought of Andrew and I snuggled up under a blanket with hot tea, watching the leaves fall from the ginormous oak tree outside my apartment window while the fake fire blazed. I laughed a little at myself. It was kind of a pathetic daydream, but it was mine, Andrew was mine and I liked that.

  Lauren popped up in front of me startling me out of my thoughts.

  “What are you doing?” she asked when I wouldn’t move out of her way.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing,” I repeated and stepped aside so she could get through the door.

  “I went to orientation today at the beauty school. They have a spot open so I’m going to start this semester.”

  “That’s fantastic!”

  “Yeah. I want to celebrate.” She threw her bag down on the couch and flopped down on it right where Andrew had been sitting.

  “Who was that guy I saw in the parking lot?” She asked.

  “No one,” I said too quickly.

  “I wonder if he lives around here. He was hot. That hair, I just wanted to run my fingers through it.” She turned around on the couch and peered out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Andrew again.

  “He doesn’t,” I said, again too quickly.

  “How do you know,” she turned back around and sat forwards on the couch.

  “He’s Andrew. I know him.”

  “You know him,” She leaned in close to me, her eyes wide.

  I laughed at her. She looked like a depraved dog waiting for its first meal in weeks.

  “Yes. He’s my friend,”

  “Your boyfriend?” She said in a joking tone.

  I had to say yes otherwise she’d try to claim him. Andrew was mine and had been for a year now. But was he my boyfriend? Not technically. But he would be soon.

  “Yes,” I spat out before I could stop myself.

  “You’ve been holding out on us. Does he have any friends?”

  “I’m sure he does. He’s having a Halloween party. Want to come?”

  “Of course. I need a boyfriend.”

  “So tonight.” I changed the subject.

  “What about tonight?” She asked.

  “We’re going out tonight. Pedicures. Remember?” I joined her on the couch

  “Oh yeah, that’s right. Maybe we can get drinks after, too?”

  “You mean sodas right? None of us are twenty-one yet.”

  Lauren seemed to like living away from Riverview. I was concerned at first that she’d back out and go back home. She hadn’t had any plans to go to school, possibly ever. She was working at the market and was destined to end up like her mother and become the town gossip. I knew she had more potential, so after a night at my house where we had a good old fashioned girly slumber party, complete with makeovers from head to toe, she applied to a beauty college in Brookhaven and was accepted. That’s how she ended up with Michelle, Stef, and I in the tiny apartment.

  “Of course. Unless Andrew wants to buy us some,” she winked.

  “No. He just turned twenty-one, he doesn’t need to get arrested for buying minors alcohol.”

  “Fine,” she said playfully. “Don’t you have class soon?”

  “Yeah, in like forty-five minutes.”

  “Can I ask you something?” She seemed unsure about whether or not she wanted to ask me something. Maybe she was hoping I’d tell her no. But I was curious as to what she was thinking so I said sure.

  “What’s going on with Josh?” She asked the question I didn’t want to answer.

  “Nothing. He’s in Riverview and I’m here. He’s never going to leave there and I never want to go back.” I shifted uncomfortably next to her.

  “Riverview’s not that bad.”

  “I know, but I don’t want to go back either. I have nothing there anymore.”

  “Your mom?”

  “Nope. My dad is selling the house. If she ever gets out of jail, she’s on her own.”

  “Wow, Jenna. That’s a little harsh.”

  “It is what it is.” I crossed my arms over my chest and slumped into the cushions.

  “Okay well, I need to pick out what to wear tonight. I kind of want a boyfriend. It’s been a while.” She flitted out of the room. That girl baffled me sometimes.

  I skipped a shower and fumbled my way through my first two classes. I was finally taking psychology classes, but I had one more Gen Ed class to take. World History. I loved history, I’d actually considered majoring in history, but changed my mind my senior year. I wanted to help people and history didn’t do that for me. Studying for the rest of my life didn’t sound appealing.

  I grabbed my schedule to make sure I was going to the right class.

  Psych 101 at ten every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

  World History following at noon on the same days.

  Then Positive Psychology on Tuesday evenings for four hours and Introduction to Human Sexuality on Tuesdays and Thursdays at two in the afternoon.

  It was a busy work load, but I wanted to stay busy and focus on school. Neither of my parents graduated from college. I’d already taken the first step and left the failing, rundown town of Riverview. Step two is finishing college. Step three was to find a job.

  Classes were short today. All we did was go over the syllabus and make sure we all had the correct books. I made a mental note to pack a lunch or at least a snack since my classes were back to back over the lunch hour three days a week. I did not do well on no food.

  After classes were over for the day, I went straight home. There was no point hanging around. I lived with everyone I wanted to talk to plus Andrew.

  When I walked in the door, Michelle, Lauren, and Stefanie were all sitting on the couch, chatting.

  “Hey guys,” I said a little leery of what might be happening.

  “Jenna! You’re here!” Lauren jumped up.

  “Yeah?” I set my bag down and shimmied out of my coat.

  “Don’t take your coat off. We’re leaving. Its girl time,” Michelle jumped up off the couch too.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes. We’re bored,” Stef piped up.

  “Can I change first? Or shower? I didn’t do that today.”

  “Ew, Jenna,” Stef laughed.

  “Yeah, gross,” Michelle agreed.

  I was g
lad to see Michelle and Stefanie getting along. After the shopping disaster I’d been worried about them. But Stef had agreed to drive Michelle to her morning classes so I didn’t have to get up in the mornings.

  “Yes, we’re going out after.” Lauren piped in. “There’s an eighteen and under bar around here somewhere. I heard about it in class today.”

  “Great. I’ll be quick.”

  Thirty minutes later, I emerged from the back. I had my long hair pinned back. It elongated my square face, essentially making me look thinner. I’d put on some weight over the summer from stress and eating less than healthy café food. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the T&C Café, but they weren’t known for healthy foods. No roadside diner really was.

  All three girls were giggling and chatting on the couch. Michelle was fiddling with Stef’s hair. She’d recently cut her hair shorter so it brushed her shoulders. Her usually mousy brown hair was now streaked with hot pink. I remembered last year she’d told me that she’d just had her entire head hot pink, but dyed over it because she didn’t want to stand out too much on her first day of school. Since then she’s had several colors in her hair including purple and turquoise. Always tastefully done and she always looked fabulous. She carried herself with confidence, something I wished I had.

  “How do I look?” It was the beginning of September and still hot most days, but the nights were getting colder as autumn approached.

  I had on a pair of skinny jeans and a black and white chevron racerback tank top. I grabbed a cardigan too, just in case it became chilly later tonight.

  “Perfect!” Michelle said. She, of course, was the picture of perfection. She wore a pink, swirly skirt with a white halter top. Her red hair was thrown precariously into a perfect ponytail. Lauren’s blond hair was similar, pulled back into a tight, high ponytail, her long swooping bangs falling over one eye.

  Dang. We were hot.

  “Let’s go guys! The night is young and I don’t want all the good guys to be snatched up before we get to the bar!” Lauren said, hurrying us out the door.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Lauren, are you sure this is safe?” Stef asked.

  We’d pulled up to the bar she’d mentioned. It was downtown Brookhaven, but it was down a side street, away from the hustle and bustle of the other bars and shops that lined the streets.

  “Of course it is. Some girls were talking about it this morning at school.” She exited the car and motioned for us to follow.

  The building looked decent enough. The yellow stucco and burnt orange roof gave it a southwestern feel. There were several small windows cut out that made me feel better about escape routes.

  “Come on guys, I’m sure it’s fine,” I said, feigning confidence.

  Our pedicures had been uneventful and kind of sucked. Stef and I had discussed where to go before hand, but since neither of us had ever gotten a pedicure before, we decided to just go to the place in the mall. They never looked busy, and had at least six chairs so we hoped we could all sit together while we got our toes done.

  As expected, the place was deserted. This should have been our first clue as to how the pedicures would go. I’d picked out a pretty red color, but for some reason, the lady doing my pedicure started painting my nails black. She didn’t speak any English, so I just left it alone. The water was luke warm and cloudy and the chairs, which were supposed to be massage chairs, were broken. The parts jabbed us in the back causing us to sit at odd angles just to be comfortable.

  Forty-five minutes later we waddled out of the salon barefoot because they were out of the disposable flip flops. I vowed to never go back to that place again and prayed I didn’t pick up some rare foot disease or something.

  I’d followed Lauren’s directions to the bar she’d heard about, only to discover that it was situated down a long dark alley. The parking lot was half full but that was the only encouraging feature about it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say serial killers would be popping out from behind the old wood-paneled building any minute now. I pulled into a spot as close the front door as I could get and under a flickering lamp so that at least we could see our attackers before they hacked into us.

  But no attackers emerged so we climbed out of the car and scurried to the front door. A fat man in a black shirt with bouncer printed in white letters across his chest stood in our way.

  “You comin’ in?” he said. His voice was gruff and he looked us up and down in a way that made me uncomfortable.

  I leaned over to Lauren and started to ask her if she wanted to stay, but she jumped forward and said yes before I could say anything.

  The fat bouncer didn’t even check our ID’s, he just stepped aside and let us in.

  Inside was surprisingly amazing. It was the complete opposite of the frightening exterior. There was a dimly lit dance floor in the middle with colored flashing lights and a disco ball hanging in the middle. Surrounding the dance floor were booths that were brightly lit and a bar that ran along the front with hundreds of bottles on display behind the bartender.

  “Let’s go find a table,” Michelle said and led the way through the mingling crowd. It was Wednesday so I didn’t expect it to be too busy.

  “So, what do we do now?” I asked. I’d never been out to a place like this before. Do we eat? It was still early in the evening and we hadn’t had dinner.

  Before anyone could answer, a waitress stopped at our table. “Menus, ladies?” She asked. Her voice was high and squeaky. She was blond and wore a simple white t-shirt with a short black skirt.

  “Yes please,” we all said.

  She passed them out and said she’d back in a minute for our order.

  “Food,” I said hungrily.

  “I know. Why didn’t we plan this evening better?” Michelle asked.

  “I don’t know,” I stated.

  “I think I’ll get a cheeseburger. I’m starving,” Lauren piped in.

  “Me too,” I said. I didn’t feel like reading the menu, but a cheeseburger did sound delicious.

  “Nothing for me,” Stef said, “I, uh, forgot my wallet,” she averted her eyes from the rest of us.

  “How did you pay for your pedicure?” Michelle asked. A valid question.

  “I mean, it’s in the car. I don’t want to go out and get it alone.” Stef shifted uncomfortably.

  “I’ll pay, you can pay be back tomorrow,” I smiled at her.

  “Thanks,” Stef said, although she didn’t sound very grateful. I let it go though, I didn’t want to ruin the evening.

  We all ordered cheeseburgers and cokes and devoured them when they arrived.

  “We need to make a meal plan when we get home. I can’t eat out every day,” Michelle said between bites. “I’ll get fat!”

  “I know. Chinese is getting a little old too, but nothing else delivers,” I replied.

  “Looks like mac and cheese and ramen noodles for us!” Lauren exclaimed.

  “Hurray for poor college students,” Stef joked.

  “True that,” I said and raised my glass.

  “Here, here!” Michelle said and raised hers along with Stef and Lauren.

  “Hey ladies,” a deep voice interrupted us.

  A tall, blond, college-aged boy stood at the end of our table checking us all out with a sleazy grin on his face. Maybe sleazy was the wrong word. It wasn’t a creepy grin, but he was definitely looking for a date tonight.

  “Hi, I’m Lauren,” Lauren said and practically fell out of the booth. She was on the dance floor with him before we knew it.

  “One down, three to go,” Stef joked.

  “Two to go. I’m not looking,” I sucked back the last of my coke and watched Lauren get handsy with the blond guy.

  “Oh, are you and Andrew and thing now?” Stef asked.

  “Kind, of. I don’t know. We kissed today.” I sucked even harder until every last drop of coke was gone.

  “What?” Stef and Michelle said in unison.

  “Yeah, he came over a
fter you guys left. I hadn’t seen him yet and he just wanted to see me I guess. I don’t know.”

  “What about Josh?” Michelle asked.

  “Nothing about Josh. We’re done. He’s in Riverview. Why do I have to keep explaining that?”

  “Sorry,” Michelle said.

  “Let’s go dance,” Stef said and grabbed Michelle’s hand.

  They left me alone at the table while they danced it up.

  Lauren spent the rest of the evening with the blond boy, who she later introduced as Brandon. Stefanie, Michelle, and I danced to a few songs, but I wasn’t in the mood to dance, so I sat by myself at the table and watched the other girls flirt with random guys. I ordered more cokes in case they needed a break, but none of them came back. Tonight was the night I learned that I definitely wasn’t a party person.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Dad, I’m not spending any more time in that house. I spent the whole summer cleaning, there’s nothing left for me to do.”

  He sighed at me on the other end of the line. Weeks had passed and I’d been able to put Riverview and Josh out of my mind. School had been keeping me busy, along with my roommates and the apartment.

  Andrew and I had hung out several more times, but he seemed to be taking things slowly. He held my hand and kissed me chastely and hadn’t pushed for more. Things were running smoothly between us.

  I couldn’t say that about the apartment though. Something had happened between Michelle and Stefanie. They’d turned on each other and each day things got a little worse. Michelle picked on Stef then Stef would retaliate and vice versa, each situation building on the last.

  And it was childish pranks too. Michelle hid all the toilet paper one day, then Stefanie took all the towels out of the bathrooms. Then Michelle stole Stefanie’s underwear and wouldn’t give it back until Stefanie returned Michelle’s bras. It was funny at first, but they were building on the pranks and they were affecting Lauren and me now.

  “Sweetheart, once the house is sold, you never have to go back,” he pleaded.

  “Dad, I never have to go back now. Just sell it as is. I got everything I wanted out of the house so please, just don’t make me go back there. It was hard enough the first time, I don’t want to do it again.”