Caught Up In You (7 page)

“But why did you have to lie to me about
it?”

Angelina sighs and shakes her head. “I didn’t
want you to blame yourself. You already have so many other things going on, I
didn’t want to add to your stress or for you to think it was your fault.
Because it wasn’t, nothing that happened to you was your fault.”

This was exactly why she was such a good
friend. Here we were sitting in the middle of the hall not on the best terms
and she was still trying to make me feel better. She was still trying to
protect me.

“I understand why you did it.” I curl my
legs underneath me so I’m sitting Indian style and crank my neck a little to
make better eye contact with her. “But you can’t lie to me, you just cant. The
rest of my life is a complete mess right now. I don’t need to worry about
anything going wrong with you. It would probably completely push me over the
edge. I mean, you’re really the only person in my life who knows the truth
about everything going on.”

“I am?”

It surprises me she even has to ask. “Of
course, everyone else just knows bits and pieces. It’s almost exhausting having
to remember twenty-four hours a day what I can say to who and what I have to
remember to leave out of certain conversations. Everybody has a different set
of rules I have to stick to, except for you.”

Angelina beams and pulls me into a tight
hug. “Don’t worry, I’ll always be here for you, always. And I swear from now on
I wont keep anything from you. Even if I worry that it will hurt you.”

I pull away and smile at her. “Good,
cause I don’t think I would be able to handle it if anything ever went wrong
between us.”

She jumps up and holds her hands out to
help me up. “You don’t ever have to worry about that.” She pulls me up
effortlessly. Jeez, for someone so tiny she’s abnormally strong. “Now come on!
We have got to talk about your choice in wardrobe lately. I mean, how do you
expect to win Nathan back looking like you just rolled out of bed everyday?”

Right.

Chapter
Seven

So I have a confession. Even though I
keep giving Angelina shit about how she continues to butt into the situation
with Nathan and me, I secretly really like it. I mean, let’s face it, if it
weren’t for her I wouldn’t be spending any time with him at all. It was strange
somehow she had managed to develop some sort of relationship with him. A
relationship where she seemed to be able to get him on board with whatever idea
she seemed to come with at that moment in time.

Although, now that I think about it,
Angelina’s always been able to do that type of thing, make people think she has
really good ideas. I think it’s because she’s so happy and excited when she
talks to you about it that you figure it must be a good idea. So I guess it
made sense that she had managed to convince everyone, including Nathan, what a
good idea this whole article was.

The best part about it was that Angelina
was literally setting everything up better than I ever could have by myself. I
mean, I could barely get a whole sentence out around Nathan, let alone ask him
to hang out, or if I could come to his scrimmage. I was still really intimated
by him for some reason. I had a pretty strong moment when he was over last
night, but that was in the moment, as soon as it passed I was back to being a
big thing of mush around him again. But thanks to Angelina, I was about to hang
out with him for the second time in just a few days. Well, not really hang out,
but at least I would be in the same room as him. That was always a plus, or at
least it was tonight.

“Angelina, I can not wear that to a
basketball game.”

“What do you mean? It’s perfect!” She’s
standing in front of me in my bedroom holding a tiny piece of black fabric in
her hand. I’m laid out on my bed looking at her like she’s lost her mind.

“It looks like something you would wear
to the beach! If I go to a basketball game in that everyone will be staring at
me the whole time! You’ve lost your mind!”

“That’s the point! You want everyone
looking at you!”

Moe snuggles closer to the side of me and
whimpers a little at the sound of her voice growing higher. I reach my hand out
and rub the back of his ears the way he likes and he snuggles under my touch in
content. “She’s crazy, isn’t she, Moe?” Moe snuggles closer to me and sighs
loudly as if showing his agreement. “Yeah, I know she is. Your Aunt Angelina is
crazy isn’t she, little Moe?”

Angelina rolls her eyes. “You and that
dog always gang up on me!”

I smile and put my hand over Moe’s head
protectively. I hate to admit it, but she was right. I had grown really
attached to this little guy in the past few weeks. He was just so sweet and he
really seemed to care about me as much as I did about him. He was still standoffish
and scared of people easily, he would even get nervous around my Aunt Jenna
sometimes. He rarely did with me anymore though. He was comfortable with me and
I was with him too. No matter how sad I felt or how stressed out I was if Moe
was near by he would always sit there patiently just listening, so patient and
sweet.

I had really tried to not get attached to
him but I had failed.

I pick Moe up and put him on my lap as if
no amount of contact is close enough. “Angelina, that dress is not something
you wear to a sporting event. That’s, like, a club dress or something!”

Angelina sighs and plops her tiny body on
the bed next to me. Moe moves a few inches away from her on my lap and Angelina
rolls her eyes. “You need to look sexy, like, really sexy. That’s the whole
point of this. How is Nathan supposed to remember what he’s missing if you
don’t remind him?”

See, this is what I meant about Angelina
being convincing. She can literally make something you know is a horrible idea
sound like a really good idea. I was actually starting to consider wearing this
ridiculous dress to Nathans game, or his scrimmage, or whatever it was.

I mean
,
I did
want Nathan to see how good I looked. I just didn’t want to look like a fool
while I did it. And me walking into a gym in a dress so tight it may or may not
look like it was glued on definitely fell into the whole making a fool of
myself category. Didn’t it?

I’m about to ask Moe for his opinion when
the door to my bedroom swings open. I’m expecting to see my aunt standing in
the hallway or one of her employees who just happened to be stopping by. But
it’s not. Instead, it’s Eric. Just standing in the doorway to my room like I
invited him over or something and not like he just showed up here. And judging
by the look on his face he was pissed off. Yikes. Guess the karma of ignoring
his texts and phone calls since I threw him out of here last night caught up
with me.

Shit. This was exactly what I was trying
to explain to Angelina this morning in school. Having both of them together in
the same place was a very bad idea because Eric didn’t know much about what was
going on with Nathan. As far as he was concerned I was really trying to get
over the whole situation and let go of Nathan in any way shape or form. This
could get bad fast. I had to be quick on my feet.

But before I can say anything Angelina is
jumping around screaming at the top of her lungs. She screams so loud that Moe
takes off under the bed to hide. She jumps back so quick that she bumps into my
dresser and knocks a bunch of make up and jewelry onto the floor. She grabs her
phone out of her pocket and starts to enter the pass code to unlock it. “YOU
GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I MEAN IT, I’M CALLING THE POLICE RIGHT NOW!” She
holds her phone up in the air as if to prove her point.

The big scene that Angelina is causing
makes whatever
anger that
had been evident on Eric’s
face fade away. Now he just looks kind of amused and a little annoyed. He
pushes me over a little and practically jumps down on my bed. Moe let’s out a
loud bark from underneath. “Who’s the crazy one crouching down in the corner?”

Angelina’s still pressed against my
dresser only now she’s kind of squatting midway down with her phone still held
up as if she’s ready for the fight of her life. What was she freaking out about
anyway? Anyone who looked at Eric could tell he so wasn’t the braking and
entering type.

I mean, he was perfectly groomed, as
always. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans, a blue polo, and what looked like
some type of boat shoes. (Okay, that part was a little weird.) His hair was
freshly jelled and he smelled of men’s Gucci cologne. Not exactly breaking in
type of attire. He was way to pretty looking to get his hands dirty.

“Watch it! I have a sensitive dog under
this bed!” I push his feet a few inches away from me playfully. “Angelina, this
is Eric.”

“Eric? Who the fuck is Eric?” She still looks
shocked and a little frazzled.

“My friend?” It comes out as more of a
question than a response.

“Your friend? WHAT FRIEND?” Yikes,
Angelina’s really getting going now.

Eric crosses one leg over the other and
crosses his hands over his stomach casually. “I knew it, I knew you never
talked about me. So typical, Tor.”

“Hey!” Angelina finally lowers her phone
from where she was holding it mid air. “Don’t you call her
Tor!
I call her Tor! Not you!”

Eric ignores her statement and instead
picks an invisible piece of fuzz off his polo. “Your crazy friend is still
crouching down even though any type of threat of her being chopped up into tiny
pieces is gone, Tor.”

Angelina immediately shoots up straight
and it could be my imagination but it almost looks like she’s even on her tippy
toes now. “Stop calling her that!”

“Why? I’ve always called her that. Ever
since the day I met her.”

Lie. He’s barely ever called me that
before, maybe once or twice in his whole life.

Yikes. These two really are not hitting
it off that well. Which makes sense since they both like to be running the
show. But still, I need to defuse the situation before it gets bad.

“Eric, this is Angelina, my best friend.
Angelina, this is Eric. He was my friend in um… treatment?”

“YOUR FRIEND IN TREATMENT?” Angelina
looks alarmed again like maybe Eric is an axe murder after all and she let her
guard down a little to quick. I see her tighten her grip on her cell phone
again.

I roll my eyes and sigh really loudly,
trying to make a big show of how ridiculous I think she’s being. “Yeah, I told
you about him, remember?”

Angelina looks at me like she has no idea
what I’m talking about.

“Oh right!” Eric swings his legs over the
side of the bed and nudges his body closer to me. “Angelina! I should have been
able to tell based on the, you know…” He trails off but waves his hands around
his head and swings it around for emphasis. Like we should know exactly what
he’s trying to say.

Angelina narrows her eyes. “Based on
what?”

Eric waves his hands around his head
again swinging it back and forth, only making the situation worse for himself.
“The crazy hair.”

“My hair is not crazy! I’ll have you know
that I rarely go a whole day without someone telling me how much they love my hair!
How they wish it was their hair even!”

Eric smirks. “I just meant Tor would
always talk about how much she loved your hair. It’s perfectly fine hair, just
seems like maybe you have a little trouble taming it.”

I can practically see steam coming out of
Angelina’s eyes.

I jump up quickly from my bed and grab
the dress Angelina was holding up for me before off the floor where she had
apparently dropped it in all the excitement. “So, you really think this isn’t
to much for a basketball game?” I’m practically shoving the dress in her face now,
dying to get the conversation away from the daggers she’s shooting at Eric
across the room.

Luckily it works and Angelina’s
expression softens. “No, I think it’s perfect. You need to look really sexy
tonight!”

“Maybe you’re right.” I bite my lip and
look down at the dress. I’ll do it if it will keep the two of them from going
at it anymore and having any more of my secrets come into the light.

“Oh! We’re going to a basketball game?
I’d love too! I haven’t been in what feels like years! Oh wait, it has been
years.” Eric laughs at his own joke.

Angelina’s soft tone quickly goes away.
“Oh, no, you don’t. We’re going.” She waves her hands back and forth between
the two of us. “As in me and Victoria. It’s more of a two-person type of
activity. I’m sure you understand.”

Eric shrugs and pulls his phone out of
his pocket, glancing at the main screen. “Not really, sounds like a group
activity to me.”

“Well, it’s not,” she snaps.

“Look, now really isn’t a good time,
Eric. Maybe I could call you later and we can get together-“

“Yeah!” Angelina says interrupting me.
“It’s really not a good time now Eric. We’re busy getting ready to go to a
basketball game where Victoria is going to win back her one true love! And we
don’t need your loud mouth screwing it up!”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“
Ohhhhhhhhh
really?” Eric gets up off the bed and in a quick stride is right next to me
draping his arm around my shoulder. “Her one true love, huh?”

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

“You don’t even know about Nathan?” She
lets out a sound of amusement. “You don’t sound like very good friends to me.”

Of course she said it. And for a second I
feel like time stops. The jig is up. I’ve pretty much been lying to Eric this
whole time and now the jig is up. I don’t even know how I’m going to begin to
explain myself. I wait for him to start yelling at me or to walk out and slam
the door behind him or something else equally awful. Not that I would blame
him, since it’s what I deserve.

Only he doesn’t. I see a slight look of
surprise flash across his face but he recovers quickly. So quickly I’m sure
Angelina didn’t see it. “Oh, I know all about him, I was just making sure you
know! Didn’t want to throw my best friend under the bus here!” He squeezes my
shoulder a little to tight after he says it. Ouch.

“Well actually I –“

“Why wouldn’t I know? Of course I know!”
Angelina interrupts me again. Geez, who could get a word in with these two?

“I don’t know
,
seems like something she might only share with one of her close friends.” Eric
tightens the grip on my shoulder. Ugh. He must be really annoyed with me.
(Again, not like I can blame him.)

“That’s me!” Angelina waves her hands in
the air as if she can’t believe how stupid Eric sounds right now. If she knew
Eric like I did she would know Eric was just messing with her. It wasn’t a
contest to him, I had told him all about Angelina in treatment. He wasn’t dumb
enough to think that he was my best friend over someone I had known for years.
Not like I could tell Angelina this though. She was way to worked up, which
meant she was way to sure of herself.

Sigh, this whole thing was taking way to
long. I mean
,
some of us had a basketball game to get
to. Nathan already wasn’t sure that I was taking this thing serious. If I
showed up late to his game he would think so even more.