Hold the Forevers

“The trip was canceled?” he asked right as I was about to say something.

“Yeah. She told me after the game.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s canceled.”

“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.

“I mean that Shelly’s still going skiing.”

“But … no, she said her parents were taking her to New York.”

“I don’t know what she told you, but some of the guys in the locker room were trying to get me to go with them on Shelly’s ski trip. I guess her brother is going to be out of town and gave her the entire house. She invited all the guys to drive up with them.”

I blinked in horror. My stomach dropping out. “She said this tonight?”

“Fuck, sorry to be the one to tell you, but she must have pulled a Shelly.”

“Pulled a Shelly?”

“She’s notorious for pulling this kind of shit.”

My hands were shaking. I was going to throw up. Shelly had lied to me. She’d likely never intended for me to go skiing with her. She’d invented the whole thing so that she could tear me down. It was … unfathomable.

“Are you going?” I asked, my voice tight.

“Nah, even if I didn’t have to work, I have no interest in Shelly’s games.”

“You work?” The surprise was evident in my voice.

“Yeah. My dad says it builds character. Plus, if I don’t work, I won’t have gas money.”

I glanced over at Ash with new eyes. I’d seen him as a spoiled, rich kid, like so many of the students that I went to school with. As far as I knew, I was the only one at either school who worked. And while Ash and I worked for entirely different reasons, it changed my idea of him.

“I work at a dance studio on the weekends.”

“That’s cool. I didn’t know you danced.”

“Yeah. Cheering is actually a new thing. Thought I’d make friends.” I rolled my eyes. “Should have known better.”

“Hey, don’t let Shelly Thomas get to you. She’s not worth your time.”

Easy for him to say.

I leaned my head against the cold window in response. A few minutes later, I directed him in front of my house downtown.

My dad had bought the house when he and my mom had first been dating. It was the only thing we still had of him after he skipped town and left the paid-off mortgage to my mom. She’d wanted to move a dozen times, and she knew that even though the free house was hush money to not come after him—which she never did—she couldn’t bear to sell the place.

“Thanks for driving me home,” I told him as I popped the door open and slung my cheer bag over my shoulder.

“Hey, Lila.” He stopped me before I could rush up the front sidewalk.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have plans tomorrow?”

“Work,” I offered.

He grinned. “After work?”

“Uh, no. Why?”

“Do you want to hang out?”

My jaw dropped slightly. I’d just thought that Ash was being nice to me. Poor little poor girl with no car and no family to come and get her.

Was he asking me out? No, there must be a mistake.

My hackles rose. “I don’t need your pity.”

He balked at the comment. “Who says it’s pity? What if I just want to hang out with you?”

“Why?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “Do I need a reason? You seem cool. Not like the other girls at your school.”

I’d never known Ash before tonight, but I’d heard plenty of other girls talk about him. I knew all about his reputation. “Hanging out” with him was likely a bad idea. He probably used that line on every girl.

And yet when I looked at him, really looked at him, he didn’t appear to have any guile in the statement. He was either an incredible actor or actually sincere. The part of myself that was hurting right now from Shelly’s betrayal assumed the former, but the selfish, hopeful part wanted it to be the latter. Finding out the truth would probably break me.

“All right,” I said finally.

“Great,” he said with a dazzling smile.

We exchanged numbers, and then I got out of the car.

I’d probably made a mistake in accepting, but I couldn’t deny my pull to Ash.

6

Savannah

December 9, 2006

“Let me get this straight,” Marley said the next day at the studio, “you’re going on a date with the quarterback.”

I scrubbed at the fingerprints on the mirror with my sponge. “It’s not a date.”

Marley flung soap at me. “He drove you home and then asked you to hang out.” She put air quotes around hang out. “Then he said you were different than other girls. It’s a date.”

“But he didn’t ask me out. Just said to hang out.”

“What century are you living in, Lila?” she asked. “Hanging out is the new date language.”

“Ugh! Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

“He’s hot, you’re unattached, and he asked you out. Why wouldn’t you go?”

“The rumor at school is that he’s a player.”