Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole, #3) (32 page)

“I see your point.”

“Thanks.”

“Alright, regardless of whether she knows, the fact is you
do
believe in soul mates and you
have
been searching for yours. Another part of your deal quite clearly stipulates whatever it takes, so if you think she might be it, what’s it gonna take for you to find out? Nothing ventured, nothing gained is an age-old adage for a reason, lover. She might not be, and if that’s the case, so what? It might sting a little but you’ll both survive and move on. But, what if she is and you let her go because you didn’t take the risk of finding out one way or the other? I mean, Tristan, it’s the Great White Buffalo…”

I blew out a breath and nodded. “You’re right. But it’s gonna be tricky…” Really tricky. For one thing, I still really shouldn’t touch her. The cake incident proved that’s asking for trouble. And I need to figure out a way to not tell her why I’ve let her believe I broke up with her, because if she learns the truth, she’s gone. Game over. Period. The end.

“
That
, lover, is an understatement,” Mia said and stood up.

“What do you mean, why?”

“Well, you have a little damage control to do…”

Annnd
, I’m hyperventilating and feeling strokey again.

“Oh fuck, Mia, what…what
else
happened?”

“Well, it’s Kate’s theory that the reason you broke up with Camie is that when she told you no, you cheated on her…”

“Fuckin’ Kate!” You know, when I told her to just do what she’s been doing,
that
was
not
what I fuckin’ meant, and between her and her fucking boyfriend, Zack is starting to sound like a good guy to pal around with!

“With me.”

“WHAT?!!?”
Oh fuck…not a stroke. This is much, much worse…this has gotta be an embolism. Oh, Jesus…what do I do? Oh God, this is a nightmare… I wanna quit the nightmare,
I wanna quit the nightmare!!

“I did tell her no but I don’t know if she believed me or not, so, there it is.”

OH MY FUCKING GOD!
I told Camie I went to Joey’s birthday party and she got all weird…because she
knows
who Mia is and that she would be there! Oh…I can’t breathe…OH! OH!
NOOO!
I told her I ended up spending the rest of the night
in bed
! I grinned and chuckled too! OH and I
winked
! Why did I wink?! What the fuck was I thinking?! Oh Jesus…
I can’t believe I winked!!

GODDAMNIT, ADAM!! Just because she hands you a fucking piece of fruit doesn’t mean you have to take a bite, you stupid fucking prick!

Mia took me by the shoulders, looked me in the eyes and said, “I’ll miss you…now go. Go hunt your Great White Buffalo.” Then she blew me a kiss as she pushed me away.

And away I went into the gym, mentally and profusely apologizing to Eve for my offenses and sorta wondering how long it takes before an embolism kills you…

Panic at the disco ~ Pete

Chaos reigned supreme.

It was like a bomb had been set off in the gym the second Tristan walked in looking more than slightly crazed. Well, a bomb
had
actually been set off, but it was a small cherry bomb in one of the backstage dressing room toilets, however, that didn’t happen until a little later. Mia left the scene pre-carnage to give Camie a chance pull herself together in private, the sound techs couldn’t get the volume on Mike’s microphone adjusted and it was so loud you could literally hear him breathing, and when Kate came out from backstage, Jeff grabbed her by the arm and dragged her right back to where she’d come from to presumably go over their murder/suicide pact. Todd tripped over one of the side stage curtains, pulling it halfway down and also knocking over the water cooler when he fell, then when Keith heard what’d happened with Brandon, he made a snide comment to Ryan loud enough for Melissa to hear and she was so pissed that she refused to change or even participate in the dress rehearsal and was in the middle of backing Keith into a corner as she jabbed her finger into his chest. Anyone who wasn’t backstage or listening to an obscene phone call via Mike’s microphone or Melissa berate Keith, heard Landon break up with Courtney and her tell him in return that he could learn a thing or two from his twin, Logan, whom she apparently hooked up with over the weekend, and then just as Nathan made the mistake of being in his tennis sportswear that he’s supposed to model when he opened his juice box, which of course exploded with strawberry kiwi juice and got all over the front of his white sweater, the circuit breaker went and with it, so did the lights. Mike’s breathing was, unfortunately, uninterrupted. Seriously though, we’re in high school, who drinks juice boxes in high school?

“Can you believe this? It’s a certified madhouse!” I said, walking up to Tristan in the dim light being cast from the blacked-out windows high above our heads.

“Yeah, it’s great, whatever, but I
winked
, Pete…where is she?
‘Cause I fuckin’ winked!
” He said, sounding unfazed yet completely deranged at the same time, making me think that one; he was right at home in this pandemonium, and two; he’d somehow heard about the Camie/Mia exchange.

“Um, I think sh—”

“Tristan? Is that you?” Hannah’s voice floated over to interrupt me as she moved close enough to see him and then she put her hand on his arm and said, “
Definitely
you…Jamie’s freaking out and wants you to strip so we can start as soon as the lights are back on. Not that I’d mind waiting to see you strip for me in the light, but still…”

“
Really?
You do realize you just said that out loud,” Tristan said and even though I couldn’t really see his face, I could clearly see the disdain that was there through our link that chose this moment to make itself known, letting me know that time is running out. “And by the way, not no, but fuck no! I have important shit to take care of so tell Jamie I’ll change when I’m goddamned good and ready!
And
I’m not stripping for you or anyone else! Fuck! What is it with chicks wanting me to take my clothes off today?!” He spewed in ill temper.

Hannah’s hand went from Tristan’s arm to his chest and as she leaned into him she purred, “Well, I can’t speak for the others, but watching you parade around in swimwear is the highlight of my day.”

He made a disgusted sound and then snapped, “Jesus Christ, learn to filter and get your fuckin’ hands off me, you troll…Pete, you said backstage, right?”

No. I didn’t
say
it, I
thought
it…

“Mm-hm,” I barely mumbled just as the lights came back on in time for me to see Hannah pout at Tristan who was already disappearing behind a stage curtain.

Yep, the learning curve for girls in this school is pretty pathetic, and yep, Tristan and I are almost completely synched…

What friends do ~ Jeff

“Well, uh, what was I supposed to say, Jeff? He told me to be her friend, so when my friend comes to me and asks my opinion on this whole situation, I’m gonna tell her!” Katy whisper-hollered at me behind the curtains at the side of the stage.

I grabbed her arm and towed her into and empty dressing room, not meaning to bump into someone on the other side of the curtain as I did. I shut and locked the door and then rounded on her. “Katy, when he said be her friend, I’m sure he
didn’t
fuckin’ mean tell his girlfriend you think he fuckin’
cheated
on her! Jesus, use your head!”

“Use
my
head?! Really, Jeff? You want me to use my head? Why don’t you guys pull your heads out of your collective asses and use yours?! Camie’s never been through something like this before but she’s not stupid, you know, she might not understand any of this any better than I do, but she knows he still has some kind of feelings for her and it’s really screwing with her emotions and her life! So when she asks me, her best friend and someone who supposedly knows Tristan, what his behavior might mean and how to deal with all of this, I’m gonna tell her exactly what I think it means because that’s what friends do!

“So yes, I told her that in my
opinion
, Jeff, opinion…not that it was a fact, that Tristan’s behavior lately seems to be indicative of a severely guilty conscience and that it might be possible that he cheated on her and that was the real reason he broke up with her. And yes, when she told me about him going to that birthday party and asked if I thought he might’ve screwed Mia then
and
the night of her party, I said it was possible. Not that he did, only that it was possible. And the truth is, I honestly think that’s what happened but since you two won’t tell me for sure, I left that part out.

“I can’t be an unbiased spectator here and Tristan knows that. That’s why he can’t trust me anymore and you know what? That hurt, Jeff! To hear one of my very best friends in the world say he doesn’t, can’t, and won’t trust me and for me to admit that he’s right really fucking hurt!” She vented and started crying, which honestly made me feel about an inch tall, but still, I gotta try to get her to let it go…for
everyone’s
sake.

“But Katy, don’t you get it? Speculating on something like this without having any facts only complicates things even further and he
so
doesn’t need any more complications right now. He’s dealing with some serious shit and he wants to do it alone.
That’s
why I can’t say anything…because believe me, babe, I want to. I really wanna tell you everything, but it’s not my place. I’m the
only
one he’s trusting with the truth right now and I swear the only reason he told me
any
of it was because I pushed him to his literal breaking point, and you know what? It broke my heart to do it.

“Besides, you know Trist doesn’t want to hurt you or your feelings…it’s not like he and I are having these secret meetings where we’re plotting his next move in his dastardly scheme to confuse the shit outta Camie and keep her from getting her driver’s license, you know? What he meant when he said just be her friend was that if you could stay out of it, that would be showing him the respect your friendship with him deserves and giving him some silent support. He’s confused too and quite honestly, he’s in a lot of pain here…probably more than she even is. I mean think about it, Katy, you
know
him and you also know how much he cares about Camie, so do you really think any of this is easy for him or that he’d be an asshole to her just to spite her?”

She sniffled and as she wiped at her eyes, she walked into my arms and said, “I never thought about it like that…I don’t know why it never occurred to me that she and I aren’t the only ones who are confused and hurting…”

“I know and I’m sure he’ll understand that too, because regardless of how or why things between him and Camie are the way they are right now, nothing’s really changed…he’s still Tristan. He’s still our friend and he knows we both love him but he doesn’t need either of us interfering, so, let’s drop it and just have sex…for Tristan’s sake. I’m sure he’d be totally cool with that,” I told her and started kissing her.

“Um, babe? I understand now why I should probably cool it with my theories and everything, but, ah…are you gonna try to tell me you misspoke like Pete did when you called Camie Tristan’s girlfriend a few minutes ago?” She asked with a smile as she stepped out of my arms a little to scrutinize my face.

I took her smile and the power going out as signs that I wasn’t required to answer that and pulled her back to me so I could continue kissing my pit-bull, who I might add, reached behind her to make sure the door was locked before she yanked off her fashion show sundress.

I know, right? YAY ME!

Are you calling me a chicken? ~ Tristan

Okay, so I have an idea of where she is, but what do I say when I find her?!

I’d just asked myself that question when I slowed to an uncertain stop backstage. Honestly, this situation couldn’t be more delicate if it was a dried out sand dollar and I’ve recently shown such a massive lack of handling interactions with Camie with genteel aplomb that I’m starting to wonder if maybe I should put it off until I can think about what I’m going to s—

“So, how was your
doctor
appointment? Are you still a straight A student?” Camie asked from behind me which actually, and sadly, made me jump.

I did catch the sarcasm in her voice but at the moment, I’m too freaked out about how I’m gonna explain that I didn’t cheat on her at any time or screw Mia over the weekend to care why it was there, or that her questions didn’t relate to each other at all.

Huh. Maybe I should just let her believe I
did
cheat on her. I mean, it’s better than the truth, right? Think she’ll be cool with that explanation and be willing to overlook my made up transgression? I know, I know.
Fuck.

I mentally pulled myself together and still unsure of what I was gonna say, I turned to face her and seeing the indignant irritation in her expression and the toe tapping she was doing, I immediately went into explanation by way of groveling with diarrhea of the mouth mode. I’m pathetic.

“It’s not what you think! I—” Was how I began when she interrupted me and because I was so focused on issuing what I was hoping would be a reasonable explanation said in a way she would believe and maybe even help her to understand that I’m interested in trying to work things out, I talked over her in return and kept on doing that until she stopped trying to interrupt me.

“You d—”

“—I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea on Sunday, Camie, honestly. I meant that I went home and literally slept—”

“Tristan, I—”

 
“—the rest of the night. Alone! I went home alone and stayed alone and slept alone! I went to the party early specifically so I wouldn’t even
see
her, and nothing happened with her the night of your party either, honestly, you
have
to believe me, I—”

“She tol—”

“—haven’t even seen her since the beginning of June! Before I ever even saw you that first time, I swear! And I swear I was gonna tell you about her, but there was never a good time, and I had no idea the two of you would ever run into each other and have a reason to talk because if I had, I
promise
I would’ve prepared you for it so you weren’t put in the situation you were in at that party! OH! Which I just found out about today! I didn’t know Jeff introduced you to her
two
weeks ago
, and if I’d known sooner, please believe I would’ve said something then instead of just now…I’m still gonna tear Jeff a new asshole though…and she’s really not a bad a person, so I hope you didn’t take whatever she said or did personally because she really didn’t mean anything by it.