Imaginary Grace (21 page)

Chapter 32

Tanner

O
n the short drive back to my apartment, my thoughts were consumed with Grace. I couldn’t put my finger on what suddenly had me so intrigued—she was same old Grace, so why did I feel like I was seeing her for the first time? One thing was certain, I had never met anyone like her. I knew I’d made her nervous when I stared at her in bed this morning, but I couldn’t help it. I’d found her reaction amusing, which was why I kept doing it.

I had to admit I’d had a really good time with her at the wedding. And she had looked really hot, partially because she didn’t seem to realize how hot she looked. In that moment, I knew I wanted to see her again. The novelty would wear off, especially since I wasn’t sleeping with her (and who was I kidding—it would wear off even if I
was
sleeping with her). It’s not like we had anything in common, but that was exactly why I had chosen her for my little plan.

My parents absolutely loved her, so I knew it was only a matter of time before they gave me the money I needed. Maybe I’d bring her over to their house again soon to seal the deal. In the meantime, I decided to just enjoy our “relationship” while it lasted.

When I got home Scott was in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal. He looked up when I came in and said, “So, should I pack my bags for the summer tour?”

“Most definitely,” I answered confidently.

He put his cereal bowl down and walked towards me, hands up for a high-five. I reached up and smacked them.

“Do you have the money?” he asked.

“Not yet,” I said as I put my bags down on the couch. “But one more trip to my parents’ should do it. They loved her.”

“See, man, I knew it would work.”

“Yeah, it’s about time one of your crazy plans worked.”

I grinned. I didn’t mention that I’d actually enjoyed being with her. It was only a novelty, I reminded myself, so what was the point?

©

I had another class with Grace over Spring semester-- probably not a good thing, considering how things were going to end up. But I couldn’t think about that now, especially since it was a required course. As it was also the only class either of us had on Tuesdays, we made a running date to hit the gym together afterward.

When I got to class she was waiting outside for me, looking all innocently hot in her tight little jeans and sneakers. It was fun, walking in with her and pretending she was my girlfriend. We’d sit in the back together and I’d do my staring thing. I’d stick the cap-side of my pen in my mouth and kind of chew on it, half-smiling as I stared at her. She’d get all fidgety and flustered, knowing I was watching her while she was trying to pay attention to the professor. I liked to see how long it would take her to finally turn to me and say, “
What?
” Then I’d just laugh and focus my attention back on the lecture.

Even when I wasn’t staring at her, I had the sudden, inexplicable urge to touch her – run my hand up her arm or my fingers through her hair. Yeah, her hair – she had it up in a tight ponytail like she had the day we left my parents. It was hanging half-way down her back and I wondered what it would be like to grab hold of it and wrap in around my hand, then get behind her and….
stop it!

I couldn’t think things like that when it came to Grace, first, because it was never going to happen, and second because of the epic fallout that would occur if it did. Trying to refocus, I leaned back in my seat. When I glanced over at Grace again, I could see her left bra strap sticking out of her shirt. White. Cotton. Yep, just like I thought.

When class was over, we headed for the gym. I was waiting for Grace to come out of the locker room when I spotted Gary talking to two girls.

Gary. What a fucking asshole. I thought back to that frat party early last spring. I remembered exactly when it was, because it was right around the time I’d first played with Hudson-Nash. Scott and I were at the party that night, hanging out with a few other guys. Gary was there too, but at the time I didn’t know him, had just seen him around school. He was there with some girl I’d never seen before. She was thin, didn’t say much. Basically nondescript. We were all drinking heavily – nothing new – and I didn’t notice him or the girl again until much later.

I had just come out of the bathroom and the party was breaking up. I went to look for Scott, who was M.I.A. once again. I went to see if he was in the backyard, but no one was there, so I started to go back inside when out of the corner of my eye I spotted someone. Thinking it might be Scott, I walked over and was surprised to find the thin, nondescript girl I’d seen with Gary earlier.

She was obviously upset and seemed kind of disoriented. When I asked her if she was okay, she started crying and said she didn’t know. She said the last thing she remembered, she was with Gary, and then she said she must’ve blacked out. When she woke up she was lying on a bed, barely dressed, in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Gary was gone.

I asked her what she’d been drinking and she said she’d only had a couple of beers, plus a few sips of the mixed drink Gary had given her. As soon as she said that, I knew what he’d done, so I asked her if she wanted to call someone, or maybe even the cops. I watched as the realization of what he had done to her flashed across her face, but, still, out of embarrassment or fear or whatever makes girls do what they do, she’d said no, she didn’t want to tell anyone.

I don’t know what I would have done if Scott and the guys hadn’t found me with her and asked what was going on. Maybe I would have done nothing, maybe I would have found Gary and beaten the crap out of him. Instead, I told my friends, and they went off to find Gary. Of course, with Scott on the case, word of what had happened quickly spread through the sparse crowd that remained at the party, then like wildfire across the whole campus.

That prick Gary actually had the gall to try to pin it on me, saying I’d “conveniently” found her, but luckily the girl quickly shot down his theory. A few days later she dropped out, leaving people to speculate, and the matter eventually just faded away.

Ever since then, though, I’d despised Gary, and I suspect he had it in for me as well, since I’d blown his little nice-guy-from-the gym-act. After that night I heard it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and I figured it wouldn’t be the last. Well, I couldn’t stop him from hanging out with other girls, but I could stop him from getting his hands on Grace.

Grace finally came out of the locker room, pulling me from my thoughts. “What do you want to do first?” she asked.

“Treadmill?”

She nodded, and we headed over to the treadmills and found two free ones next to each other.

“Hey,” I said, a few minutes into our workout, “you want to eat at my parents’ tomorrow night?”

I’d only had to mention to my mother that we were stopping by the house so I could pick something up and she had insisted we stay for dinner, just as I knew she would. It was perfect timing, too, as the band wasn’t even playing this weekend.

“Sure.”

She tried to sound casual, but I caught the way her eyes lit up. Like any girl, she thought of it as the mark of a “real relationship”, and I brushed away my momentary pang of guilt. I wasn’t going to be able to relax until I knew that money was in my pocket, and this was my best chance of getting it.

The next night, I picked her up at six, right after I got off work. Grace was more talkative than usual on the car ride there, but I was only half-listening. I was too busy patting myself on the back for my well-orchestrated plan.

Dinner also went as planned. As expected, Mom talked Grace’s ear off about everything from the weather to the latest episode of Dateline while I made small talk with my father. But it was when we moved into the living room for apple pie and cookies that things really began to fall into place.

“So,” Mom said, “Do you kids have plans for the summer? It’ll be here before you know it.”

It couldn’t have been a more perfect opportunity. “Nope, I know I won’t be doing anything,” I said, then I turned to Grace. “How about you?”

It was like she was reading from a script or something when she said, “No, I’ll probably just be hanging out in Jersey. I’ve got nothing special planned.”

I instantly saw unease creep into my mom’s eyes. I could just imagine what was going through her mind.
If Tanner isn’t with Grace all summer, who will he be with? What if he slips back to his old ways? He’ll lose this nice girl for sure!

I let the idea sink in for a few minutes before I changed the subject. Not long after dessert, I announced that we had to get going. Mom insisted on packing food for me and cookies for Grace and asked me to help her. I followed her into the kitchen, where she asked me to get a plate that I’m sure she didn’t need down from on top of the fridge.

“Tanner,” she said in that way that she thought sounded nonchalant. Like the uneasy expression I’d seen earlier, it was anything but subtle to those who knew her. “Were you planning on taking Grace on the road with your band this summer?”

Bingo!

I acted confused at first, like I had no idea what she was talking about. “Oh, you mean the tour? Well, I’m not going, but if I
was
going, of course I would bring Grace with me.” I even managed to sound slightly offended that she’d even suggest I’d go without Grace.

“Oh,” was all she said, but I knew the wheels in her mind were spinning. I’d planted the seed in her head, and it was already starting to take root.

“Do you need anything else?” I asked, handing her the plate.

“Oh…uh…no, dear. That’s all. Just let me get you a bag to put the leftovers in.”

I went back out to the family room, where my dad had Grace engaged in a conversation about fishing.

“Ready, babe?”

Before she could stop it, a shit-eating grin split her face. Then she nodded and stood up just as my mom came out of the kitchen with the bag of leftovers. “Here you go, honey,” she said as she handed me the bag, adding, “and make sure Grace gets the cookies.”

My dad stood too, and we all started making our way to the door to say our goodbyes. “Tanner,” my dad said, “you have to bring Grace up to the lake house some time. We could give her a fishing lesson.”

“Oh, Tanner, that’s a wonderful idea,” my mom gushed. “Grace would love the lake house.”

“Yeah, sure, maybe over spring break,” I said, but even as I said it, I knew that by then I’d probably have cut her loose.

“Thanks so much for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Reed,” Grace said, slightly taken aback when my mother grabbed her into a tight hug.

“Any time, Grace. You’re welcome here any time.”

I was riding high on the way back to school. The money was all but mine, and I was in the mood to celebrate. I had had enough of playing the part of the dutiful son/boyfriend, so I dropped Grace off at her dorm, saying that I was exhausted from working all day. Then I headed back to my apartment to see what Scott and the guys were up to.

When I turned onto my block I saw a lot of cars parked on the street in front of my place, which meant that Scott had company. Sure enough, all the guys were there, each with a beer in his hand.

No one noticed me come in at first, but when I closed the front door Scott jumped up and yelled, “Tanner, my man! You got some catching up to do. Grab a beer!”

Hearing that, everyone turned around and started yelling for me to start drinking. The next thing I knew, someone slapped me on the back and put a cold beer in my hand. I loved walking into a party that’s already started. Everyone’s already drunk and they treat you like you’re some kind of celebrity or something with all the hooting and hollering and the “woo hoos.”

Above all the howling, I heard Scott shout, “Hey, T, where’s Gracie baby?”

Shut the fuck up, Scott
.

“Who’s Grace?” I heard someone yell, then another guy bellowed, “Yeah, who’s Grace?”

“Probably some hot piece of ass he’s fucking,” someone else shouted.

“She’s a hot piece of ass, but he ain’t fucking her,” Scott yelled above the other voices. That comment elicited a response of jeers and questioning looks from everyone, so I was forced to respond.

“She’s just a friend who Scott apparently has the hots for,” I said as I shot him a challenging look.

He stared back at me as everyone waited for his response, but he just busted out laughing. “Whatever, dude.” He then turned back to the crowd, Grace already forgotten. “Who’s up for shots before we go?”

Grateful that I was off the hook, I put my stuff in my room, then headed to the kitchen where Scott was lining up shots. I put the leftovers in the fridge then downed two quick ones because I knew everyone would be leaving for the bar soon.

I felt Scott’s eyes on me. “You know, Amber and Kristen are going to be at J.D.’s tonight.”

“No fucking way, Scott. I’m not starting up with her again after I finally got rid of her.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying she’s going to be there if you were looking to hook up.”

“I think I’ll pass,” I said, but the idea grew more appealing as I felt the effects of the warm liquor slowly course through me. Of course there was also the fact that I was horny as hell.

Not long after our conversation, we all got ready to head out. Scott and I caught a ride with Mickey, who happened to live a couple doors down from us but didn’t usually come out, as he spent most of his time with his girlfriend.

There was the usual line outside J.D.’s, so we slipped in through the side entrance and made our way to the end of the bar. I ordered a few beers and a round of shots for Scott, Mickey and myself, and as soon as we downed them Scott took off to scope out the scene.

He came back about twenty minutes later with Kristen and Amber. Amber stood there silently glaring at me, but I just ignored her. It was funny how the more I purposely ignored her, the more she didn’t want to be ignored.

I knew it drove her crazy when two girls approached me and Mick, saying they recognized me from the band. Her eye twitched angrily as we spoke to them, until, unable to take it any longer, Amber sidled up between me and the girl I was talking to, wrapping her arm around my waist like she owned me or something. The girl – Jess was her name – glared at her, but Amber didn’t budge. Slipping out of her grasp, I took a seat on the barstool and watched the showdown with amusement.