Distraction (11 page)

"I
'
m not acting like a baby." She stomped her foot on the
floor and I laughed, which pissed her off more.

“All right then, you
'
re acting like a jealous, crazy,
insecure little girl. And if you do not let up, I swear to God I
'
m going to walk
away." My chest rose in slow measured breaths. Why couldn't she see I
chose her? Regardless, I refused to stand by while she manipulated me or gave
unrealistic ultimatums.

Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away.

Fuck.

"I love you," I whispered, wrapping my arms around
her waist.

"I love you, too." Her words sputtered out as she
cried. I turned her around to face me and lifted her chin.

"Listen, Kellie, I love you, but trying to manipulate me
by setting ultimatums isn
'
t the way to go." I stroked her face, and her expression
softened.

"It was obvious how she felt. The way she looked at you,
like you walked on water. And I could see the way you looked at her, too."
Kellie took in a deep breath before going on. "
Tristan, I don'
t want to lose
you, but I think underneath," she placed her hand on my chest, over my
heart, "I think you
'
re in love with her."

I opened my mouth to speak, but my tongue suddenly felt too
thick. How I felt toward Elle wasn
'
t fair to Kellie, but I couldn't flip a switch and turn it
off. God knows I
'
ve tried–it just never helped. Besides, what the hell was she
talking about? Elle didn
'
t look at me the way she suggested.

"I
'
m here with you. You
'
ve gotta trust me." I kept my
arms around her and lowered her head against my chest. "There is nothing
between me and Elle, okay?" I had to stop for a second. I felt my voice
crack. I didn
'
t want to lose her. "Kellie, you
'
re what
'
s real. I
'
m here with you.
I love you, so don
'
t let this get in the way of us being happy."

Kellie lifted her head from my chest. Her tears had dried,
but she still looked unsure. I had to make her understand. "I am here with
you. I love you and I won
'
t end this because what we have is real."

"I–" She stopped. "I
'
m okay with you
being friends, but why can
'
t you understand that I don
'
t want you to
hang out with her without me?"

"
Elle'
s busy and she has a lot on her plate right now. If she
calls, I won
'
t hold back. She
'
s my friend and only my friend. Okay?" I cupped her face
in my hands willing her to understand how I felt.

"Okay," she breathed out.

“Okay." I pulled her back to me and hoped like hell it
would be.

Elle

After work the next day, I dialed Tristan
'
s number, but a
female voice answered the line instead. On the verge of apologizing, the person
giggled. Kellie. In an all too cheery voice, she agreed to put Tristan on the
phone. When I heard kissing noises in the background, I nearly gagged. Another
milestone to overcome.

When he answered, I asked if Kellie still wanted to go with
me and Alyssa tomorrow night. He held his hand over the receiver, urging her to
go. When he got back on the line, he agreed to drop Kellie off tomorrow evening
around seven. Yay, apparently I had a thing for being miserable.

* * *

The party tonight wasn
'
t themed, just our annual beginning
of the year bash with open invitations, but I wanted to look my best tonight.
Alyssa let me borrow her cute yellow summer dress and sandals. I actually
applied mascara after curling my long black lashes.

"You should totally wear mascara more often,"
Alyssa encouraged when I walked out of the bathroom and into our room.

"I don't look bad, then?" I didn
'
t usually wear
makeup and didn
'
t think women should hide behind a mask to make them feel
better about themselves. Though I had to admit the mascara gave me a boost of
confidence.

"Nope, it makes your eyes look smokin
'
hot. I bet Eric
will notice the difference too, along with the dress. You
'
re so gonna kill
tonight." Alyssa wiggled her eyebrows at me.

Eric and I had gone out a few times, but I never pursued
anything with him. He was cute, tall with sandy blond hair, and gorgeous, deep
smoky-blue eyes.

Tisha popped her head in our room. "Hey, Elle, your
hot-ass friend is here with some girl. She kinda looks like you. Weird, huh?
Oh. By the way, I am glad he
'
s on the team with my brother. I can totally eye him up when
he
'
s on the field.
I still cannot believe you held out on me this long. I may have to reconsider
us being friends." She folded her arms and shook her head playfully.

"Thanks. I think."

"
No prob
." Tisha waved on her way out.

"Hey, do you think Kellie and I look alike?"

"I guess I could see a resemblance. You both have the
same hair color, and are about the same height," she stopped for a second,
"but you
'
re way hotter than the twerp."

I bit my bottom lip, thinking over what she
'
d said. Alyssa
frowned.

"You have nothing to worry about, Elle. I bet this
stupid engagement won
'
t last anyway. Besides, what the hell is he thinking? And
Tristan of all people?" Alyssa shook her head, creating a gauntlet of corn
white curls around her shoulders. "He
'
s always been a
ladies’ man. I wouldn
'
t be surprised if his old promiscuous tendencies didn't get
the better of him."

I didn
'
t want to hold on to the idea of them not lasting. If I did,
and their relationship held, I
'
d be left picking up the pieces all over again. No, I only
wanted to make sure our friendship remained in the end. Over the years my
feeling for Tristan grew and I hadn't realized how much I depended on him being
in my life, and to not have him, even as a friend, well, I didn't think I'd
ever be the same.

"I only care about making sure she knows I
'
m not going
anywhere."

A mischievous grin crossed over Alyssa
'
s face. "I
think I like this side of you, Elle Richards. Maybe it
'
ll pay off in
the end?"

I loved Alyssa like a second sister, but trying to analyze
her thought process was pointless, even her therapist thought so.

"Okay, whatever that means. Are you coming out there
with me?"

"You bet your ass I am. I wouldn
'
t miss any of
the action."

In the living room, I found Tristan and Kellie talking with
Ginger. Kellie bit the end of her thumbnail.

"Hey, Kellie. Looks like you
'
ve met
Ginger,
"
Alyssa said in a taunt. I did my best not to laugh.

"Hi, Kellie. I
'
m glad you came. We
'
re gonna have a
great time tonight," I said, and followed up with a smile.

Ginger sighed. "Whatever, I
'
m out.
" Ginger
then flipped her red hair over her shoulders and walked out the door.

"I
'
ve got to get going but I
'
ll see you
later. Be good to my girl." He graced Kellie with a tight squeeze around
her shoulders, and then followed Ginger out the door. As soon as Tristan left,
Alyssa dove in.

"So you and Tristan, how
'
d you meet? I
want all the details." I had to hand it to Kellie, she put on a great
poker face when Alyssa jumped in with her questions. Alyssa could be your
greatest ally or worst enemy. Unfortunately for Kellie, she classified as the
enemy.

I didn
'
t care how they met. Tristan mentioned their hook up briefly
last weekend. Instead, I ignored the conversation, and surveyed Kellie from
head to toe. We did favor, in a subtle way. The color of our hair being
similar, our height, but I didn
'
t see any other resemblance. Her face was too round, her
cheeks dimpled when she smiled, making her seem childlike. Her eyes were brown
while mine were green. Though I had to give her props about one thing, she knew
how to show off her more, um, larger attributes. If I had to guess, Tristan
noticed her chest first.

"Did you hear that, Elle?"

I winced, being caught staring at Kellie
'
s oversized
chest.

"Uh, sorry. What? I was...I mean..."
Shit,
Elle.
"I
'
m sorry, I didn
'
t hear. What
were you saying?"

"Kellie just said she talked to Tristan
'
s dad, and that
'
s how he got on
the team." Alyssa smiled.

I stared back at them, shocked. "When did this happen?"
I focused my attention on Kellie.

"Last semester–"

"You went behind his back and talked to his dad. Does he
even know?" I resisted the urge to yell, and she squirmed under my glare,
biting her thumbnail before answering me.

"I talked to his dad when I realized Tristan wasn
'
t going to. He
wanted to play football here at one point, and so did his dad. I
'
m not sure what
went on between them, but I was hoping I could close the gap."

When she finished, I couldn't believe what I heard. Sure, I
wanted to talk to Tristan
'
s parents, but interfering wasn
'
t my business or
place. Not that Mr. or Mrs. Daniels would talk to me, but that was beside the
point.

Huh, Alyssa might be right. If Kellie continued to push
Tristan, no way would they last. But she still hadn
'
t answered if
Tristan knew any of this.

"Does Tristan know?" I eyed her closely. Kellie
immediately dropped her eyes to the ground. Holy shit!

"I begged Wade to let me speak to him first. I talked to
his dad the other day and promised that Tristan would call this Sunday."
She just called Mr. Daniels by his first name and Tristan doesn
'
t know. Wow.

"Wade told me if I could get Tristan to agree to go to
school here, he
'
d make sure Tristan played on the team. So when he finally
filled out the paperwork, I let Wade take over from there." She
straightened her shoulders, obviously proud with herself.

"Okay, good luck with telling Tristan about all that,"
I answered.

"Let
'
s get to the party; we
'
re late enough already,"
Alyssa said. We walked out the door and headed to the Kappa house in Alyssa
'
s
car.

Once there Alyssa headed to the kitchen, leaving me alone
with the enemy. I didn
'
t know what to say. When I looked at Kellie, her eyes were
wide as she took in the scene. Her lips turned up ever so slightly at the
corner, and I followed her stare to Robbie. Go figure. Robbie and Tristan could
be related with the way they had girls lining up, but Robbie was an ass and
Tristan at least pretended to care. Okay, so I guess he was an ass, too.

"Here, this
'
ll help settle your nerves," Alyssa said, handing Kellie
a cup of our famous purple juice.

It was a potent mix of cool-aid, everclear, sugar, and a
variety of fruit to help hide the bite of alcohol. Kellie didn
'
t waste any
time, and gulped the potentially toxic mixture down in one long drink.

"That
'
s good. What
'
s in it?" Kellie held her cup out to Alyssa, who
surprisingly, took it from her without a smart retort.

"Everclear," she shot back over her shoulder and
returned to the kitchen.

"I love him," Kellie declared, not looking at me.
"I just wanted you to know that. I understand you and Tristan are close,
and it might have been wrong for me to talk to his dad behind his back."
She stopped. "I didn
'
t want him to regret not playing here."