Second Chances (9 page)

Parker has made a point of sitting beside Haylee and putting his arm around her again. I can hear him asking her what's wrong, as if I've done something to her. I am seeing red.

“Really, Parker?” she sort of snaps at him, and I can't help but smile as she slides out of his grasp again. “We were just talking. He's my friend who's been gone for four years.”

Haylee finishes another beer and insists that she's ready to board again. I think she's trying to work off some frustration that way. We can't talk anymore with the guys around so it will have to wait again.

While she's out there working the wake, I move to the back to sit beside Griff.

“You guys okay?” he askes me just loudly enough for me to hear him over the engine but not loudly enough to involve the other two guys.

“We're getting there,” I smile. “But hey, you sure there's nothing going on between her and Parker?” I need to know for sure. I'm not a fan of the guy anymore and I really don't think he's what she needs. Mostly though, I don't want to cause her any more problems. If she's dating the douche, I can let her know how I feel and wait for things between the two of them to fizzle.

Griff shakes his head and grins back at Haylee as she spins the board backwards. “No. I'm fairly sure Parker would like there to be but she's made it clear to him that she's only interested in his friendship.”

Relief washes over me. Parker is far too touchy-feely for my liking, but at least it doesn't appear that Haylee is interested in him that way. I certainly don't need any extra road blocks in the way.

Everyone gets a chance to hit the wake again and then Max takes us on a speed tour of the lake on the way back. I remember that Haylee loves just speeding along the water in a boat and I watch her up front as she closes her eyes and tilts back just a bit, letting the wind caress her face.

“Big bonfire tonight at Shepler's field,” Max calls out to all of us. I assume the rest of them already know about it and he is letting me know. Old man Shepler owned a bunch of farmland, most of which he never used anymore. His grandson had graduated a year behind Griff and they'd been having bonfires on the land in the summers for as long as I could remember. The high school kids and any graduates who were back in the area were always there. They were known to get out of control sometimes, but the cops pretty much left it alone unless it got really serious, because they too had once attended the bonfires.

“You gonna go too, Chase?” Parker calls from up front. I can tell he is hoping I'll say no, so I smile.

“If Griff and Haylee are going, I'll be there,” I call back and Griff chuckles beside me.

“Of course we're going!” Griff insists and winks up at Haylee.

  I take a little catnap when I get home that afternoon. Between dance this morning, the stress of seeing Chase again, and being out on the water all afternoon, I am exhausted. Mom isn't home so the house is dead silent. I am passed out on the couch, not even having been able to make it up to my bedroom. When I finally wake up, it's beginning to get darker as the sun is sinking down behind the mountains and it takes me a second to remember what time it is and what's going on.

The bonfire won't start until around nine and it's only seven. Griff said he'd be over after he passed out for a while as well. I take a long, hot shower and I hadn't realized exactly how tense all of my muscles have gotten. Things with Chase have been all over the map today, so I'm not surprised by my physical tension. I stand there until the water finally runs cold before I wrap up in a towel and tug a comb through my hair. 

When I get back to my room, I pull on a pair of my cotton dance shorts and an old t-shirt just until I figure out what the heck I'm going to wear. I don't usually wear much makeup but I add just a little bit more tonight knowing that Chase will be there and I blow dry my hair. I normally don't bother with my hair either, just let it air dry because it has those soft, beachy waves naturally, but tonight I dry it and even drag a straightening iron over it. I turn to my closet and begin pulling things out, hold them up in front of me in my mirror and toss them on the bed to try the next thing.

“Yo, Haylee Jo!” I hear Griff shout from downstairs as the front screen door bangs behind him. My middle name is Josephine after my dad, and Griff often calls me by both like he has since we were kids. 

“Up here!” I call back to him as the butterflies in my stomach take flight once again. I still have no idea what to wear.

  His big feet pound up the stairs and he bursts into a fit of laughter as he steps into my room. I shoot him a dirty look in the mirror.

“Why, Haylee Jo, I do believe you are growing up right before my eyes,” he mocks and even pretends to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. 

“Shut it, Griff, or I swear to God!” I threaten and spin around to face him. He's teasing the shit out of me because I never spend time getting ready or worry about what I'm wearing.

He glances all around my room, chuckling to himself. “Shit, Haylee, if I didn't know better I'd say a tornado touched down . . .just in your bedroom,” he is now bent over laughing at his own joke.

“I couldn't decide what to wear, you asshole!” But I can't be mad at him, and next thing I know I am laughing right along with him. “I don't know what's wrong with me.”

“I do,” he smirks. “His name is Chase Atwood and you like him and he's gonna be at the bonfire tonight.” I chuck a sneaker at him and it catches him right in the chest but he reaches out and grabs it before it hits the floor.

“It's just weird that he's back all of a sudden,” I sigh and flop down on the mound of clothes covering my bed. “And he's just a friend.”

“I'm not blind, Haylee. There is something more between you and Chase than just friendship, and I think it started long before he ever left.” He plops down in the wicker chair in the corner of my room, which is also piled with clothes. Griff may have been right about
my
feelings, but I am fairly confident that Chase only sees me as a really good friend. He's been with all those Cali girls for four years. I just can't compare with that.

“He didn't lie to me after all, Griff,” I speak softly as I lay there just staring at the ceiling while I think about what Chase told me on the boat. I have been so hurt and angry for so long. Now I hurt again, but in a different way, knowing that he tried to contact me and I'd never even known it. “He wrote a bunch of letters but I never got any of them. He said he'd written to you and Brynn in them as well.”

“Is that what ya'll we're talking about on the boat when we interrupted?” he asks. “'Cause it looked pretty heated from where I was standing.”

I pick my head up to glance at him to see if he is teasing me again. Sure enough, he's smiling at me with a single raised eyebrow. “Yes, as a matter of fact it was.” I tell him and stick my tongue out like a child.

“So is that what you're wearing?” he raises both eyebrows as he looks over my skimpy thrown-together outfit. “You might be a little cold out there tonight in that.”

“Get your sorry ass out of my room and I'll change already!” I say as I wad up a pair of jeans from beside me and launch them at him.

“Hurry up, Princess.” He laughs at me as he saunters past and closes my door behind him. I stand up and look at myself in the mirror again. I am no princess! I do have to admit though that I feel different all of a sudden. My stomach has been in knots all day and I am suddenly so worried about how I look. I suppose this happens to most girls at a much younger age but I've just never cared this much before now. I've dated guys because I know that's what I am supposed to be doing, but I've never felt anything for any of them. Chase is supposed to be my
friend
so it's a little, well, a
lot
strange to have these strong, new feelings for him.

I sigh. I don't know the first thing about dressing sexy or what kind of thing will turn Chase on so I give up. I tug on a pair of skinny jeans and pull a white tank top over my head and cover that with a purple and blue flannel shirt. I leave a bunch of the top buttons undone and realize that the neckline of the tank dips low enough to display some cleavage. I smile at that and pull a brush through my hair one more time. I dig through the mounds of clothes until I find my purple Converse and head downstairs. I quickly throw in a load of laundry so that I won't be out of bathing suits tomorrow.

I find Griff sitting on the couch in the living room with his flip flop shod feet propped up on the coffee table, watching TV. He glances at his watch and says, ”Impressive. I thought for sure I'd have to come up there and dig you out of the rubble.”

I choose to ignore him this time. “Where is Chase anyway?” He is staying with Griff and going to the bonfire as well, so why isn't he with Griff now?

“He is going to go and try talking to Brynn. Let her know he is in town. He said he'd meet us over there,” Griff replies and my eyes go wide with shock. I actually feel sorry for him. He has no idea how much Brynn has changed. “Don't worry, I warned him, and I would give anything to be a fly on that wall.”

We both laugh as Griff stands up. I have no idea how Brynn will react to seeing Chase. She pretty much doesn't do anything you would expect a normal human being to do these days. Brynn's mom and my dad were brother and sister, and her mom had a hard time after his death as well. She seems to be handling it better than my mom is now though, but she doesn't really know the extent of how much Brynn has changed. They know we don't hang out anymore and they are constantly trying to get us back together.

Griff and I head out to his truck. He'll have to drive because we have to get all the way out to the field and my little Corolla won't do well out there. By the time we get over to Shelper's field, it's chock full of trucks, jeeps, and SUV's. I can see the orange glow of the giant bonfire as soon as we near the field and the trees were no longer in the way. People are laughing and mingling and music can be heard above it all.

“You nervous?” Griff asks as he walks around the truck and stands beside me.

“No, why do you think that?” I ask nonchalantly as I let my gaze take it all in.

“Because you were wringing your hands like a crazy person the whole way here,” Griff smiles down at me.

“Oh,” is all I say. I wasn't even aware that I was doing it, but yeah, I am pretty nervous.

“You know he's still just Chase, right?” Griff asks and we start walking through some of the trucks parked haphazardly around us.

“I'm fine,” I reply quietly. It's my standard response and Griff just nods his head twice like he is acknowledging that he can see right through that. The sky is dark and clear overhead but you can't quite make out the stars because the light from the fire is that bright.

Griff slaps hands with a few people along way and then he stops to talk to someone that I recognize from the garage where he works, so I keep walking, watching people as I go. Tonight for some reason, being here reminds me of the one time that Brynn and I had come to one of these with Griff and Chase after their freshman year of high school. She and I weren't even in high school yet, but Griff and Chase had been like big brothers that night. They made sure that no one gave us a hard time and that we had fun. Not many guys would willingly choose to hang out with their younger, platonic female friends at a mostly high school party. I found myself reminiscing more now that Chase is back in town.

“Haylee!” I hear a shrill voice call out and I cringe and wish I could become invisible for a moment. “That was some practice you had this morning!” Valerie, the ridiculously tall, leggy brunette, steps in front of me with her hand cocked on her hip. She places it there so often, I start to wonder if she's stuck like that. Valerie is Brynn's new BFF and hands down the meanest bitch I know.

I try to step around her and just ignore her but she slides over to block me. “What do you really want, Valerie?” I ask. I'm so tired of her crap. We aren't in high school anymore, thank God, and I really just want her to move on.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on getting your sorry ass kicked out of class this morning. I've been dreaming of that moment for years,” she laughs.

“So have I, Valerie, so have I,” I mutter.

“If you hate it so much, then why are you still there?” she demands, leaning right over in my face. I'm not scared of her in the least bit. She may tower over me, but I have no doubt I can beat the shit out of her. It's her mission in life to aggravate the crap out of me every chance she gets. I also know that she's jealous of me. Somehow she is aware that I am really not interested in dance, but I'm good at it. She and I are the top dancers in Madame Eileen's school, and she wants nothing more than for me to leave so that her closest competition is gone.

I roll my eyes when Brynn steps up beside Valerie. “I had the strangest visitor show up at my house a little while ago,” Brynn smirks. She's a little taller than I am and her hair is light brown and pulled up into a high ponytail with perfect ringlet curls flowing from it. “And now that I'm thinking about it, I'd be willing to bet that Chase being back all of a sudden is what had you all worked up in dance this morning. Naturally he would come see you first. You two
were
always stuck together at the hip. I don't know what got you so flustered though;
I'd
practically forgotten all about him.”

“You're a terrible liar, Brynn,” I tell her. I know for a fact that she had been devastated when he'd left, just like Griff and I had. I turn on my heel and am about to walk around the two of them when Brynn's hand shoots out and catches my arm.

I turn back to face her with a frown. “There's no point in getting yourself all worked up over him. He's in a whole other league now. He's goddamn jaw-dropping and he's been with real women. He won't want his tomboy playmate anymore.”

I pull my arm out of her grasp and walk away from them. Unfortunately, Brynn always knows just what to say to cut me right down. I slowly make my way through groups of people here and there, unable to shake off what my hateful cousin has said, because I know she's right. Chase is by far the best looking guy I've ever laid eyes on, and I am just a simple, small town tomboy. I stop by one of the many coolers spread out around the field and grab a beer as I get closer to the circle of people around the fire.

On the opposite side, there are a few trucks backed up to face the fire and there are people sitting up in the beds of the trucks. I recognize the majority of the faces in the crowd from school and around town, but I'm feeling very much alone.

I take a big gulp of my beer and when I look across the huge fire again, my breath leaves me for a moment as I make eye contact with Chase as he stands talking with a couple of guys who'd played hockey for the high school. He smiles at me and I feel a warmth settle over me that has nothing to do with my proximity to the roaring fire. How am I supposed to turn these feelings off?

“There you are,” I hear someone say just as a set of arms come around my waist from behind. I flinch and turn to look over my shoulder. Parker is smiling down at me and he looks stoned already.

“Come on, Parker,” I mutter as I wiggle out of his grasp and spin around to face him.

“I've been looking for you,” he smiles, his eyes barely hanging half open.

“What are you on, Parker?” I ask him as he's stepping closer, trying to wrap his arms around me again. He gets high with some buddies of his every once in a while, and I am so turned off by that shit.

“Don't you worry your pretty little head about me, Haylee. I'm good.” He's whispering and bringing his mouth down close to my ear. I shiver from the contact that I do not want and push him back with both of my hands against his chest.

“You're
not
good, Parker. You're drunk and stoned!” I hiss at him. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

“I missed you. Why don't you come with me?” he slurs and takes a hold of my wrist as he starts to pull me away from the fire.

“Damn it, Parker! Let go of me!” I yell and try to pull my arm away. His grip is tight though, and he isn't paying any attention to what I'm saying as he drags me through people. I am struggling against his claw-like grip on my wrist when I run smack into his back because he finally quits pulling on me. He doesn't let go of my wrist though, and I look past him to see what's going on.