Chapter Five

Callum

 

the town was at this party, all crowded around the kitchen island like a plague of locusts on the hors d'oeuvres. I craned my neck to try to see Harper, but the second we walked in, Gray and I were cornered by Mrs. Collis, our formidable old eighth grade English teacher.

She was rambling out some long-winded, yet very eloquent complaint about the difficulties she had teaching the classics to unruly boys such as ourselves, when I spotted Harper across the room and my breath left my lungs like I'd been punched in the gut.

In that shiny red satin dress, Harper looked just like a present. Like a goddamned gift just waiting to be unwrapped. She was talking animatedly with my sister, completely oblivious to the effect she was having on me. I raised my beer to my mouth, needing something to calm me down. The way that dress hugged her curves...

I nearly jumped a fucking mile when something lightly brushed my arm. I looked down to see Mrs. McCabe tugging at my shirt. "Excuse me, Josie," she cooed, interrupting Mrs. Collis's rant. "But I need these boys."

I cleared my throat, trying to convince myself that there was no way she could know the thoughts I was thinking about her daughter. "Yes, what's up Anna?" I asked, my voice several octaves higher than normal.

She shook her head. "Will you boys please go see what the hell is wrong with Everett?" she sighed. "He got here this morning and everything was fine, but as soon as people started showing up, he holed himself upstairs like some kind of morose teenager. He's missing the party."

Gray looked at me. I shrugged. "I have no idea why," I sighed, "But that sure sounds like something Rett would do." I looked down at Anna's anxious face. "Don't worry Ma. We've got it."

Mrs. McCabe squeezed my arms. "I don't know what I do without you boys," she said, and fluttered off to refill drinks for the rest of the partygoers.

"What do you think is bothering him?" Gray asked as we walked towards the back of the house. The echoes from the party were silenced as we rounded the alcove off the main great room. Gray looked around. "This house carries sound weird," he observed. Then he cleared his throat. "Echo!" he yelled.

"You idiot," I growled, but he was right. The sound was bouncing crazily all over the place, muffled in some places, but carrying in others. I wondered if it was some kind of architectural quirk of the house.

Gray grinned. "Come on, let's go get our boy."

Our boy was sitting on a guest bed, playing with his phone. He looked up sharply when we barged in without knocking.

"Least he wasn't jacking it," I observed.

"Are you seriously doing this again," Gray hissed, immediately barging over to snatch Rett's phone away. "Come on, Mr. Antisocial. Your mom sent us to get you."

Everett rolled his eyes. "Did she really?" he asked looking straight at me, knowing I’d be the one telling the truth.

I shrugged. "Sorry to say, man. You might stand a foot and half taller than her, but you'll always be her little boy."

Everett growled. "I am literally in anything but the mood to go talk to a bunch of people that I try to avoid most other days." There was a strange bluster in his voice, something a little more emphatic than he'd normally be in this situation. It made me wonder if he was being genuine.

I shrugged again. "Listen, I'm just the messenger," I told him. "And your mom will have my hide if I don't drag you out to the party."

Everett grumbled and complained, but eventually we manhandled him to a standing position. Gray shoved him bodily out his door and every time he slowed down, I prodded him along with a slap to the back of the head.

"You guys are the biggest assholes on the face of the planet," Everett said.

Then he stopped short.

I looked out to where he was looking. The bulk of the partygoers were now gathered in the great room, while below them the lights on the Christmas tree twinkled off the polished wood floors.

I looked out across the sea of faces, some familiar, some I didn't recognize, and I spotted Harper again, still talking with my sister. "Come on," I urged. "If we go talk to Brynn and Harper now, your mom will be satisfied and we won't have to make you talk to our old world history teacher or something."

Everett still look like he was a deer caught in the headlights, but we managed to drag him over to where his sister and my sister were standing.

"There you are, Rett" Harper teased, nudging him with her shoulder. "Were you hiding from the scary people?"

Everett darted an odd look back and forth between Harper and my sister. "No," he mumbled. Then he looked at his empty hands. "I need a drink," he said and shuffled off over towards the liquor cabinet.

Harper looked at me. "What's gotten into him?" she asked.

I shrugged. "You know how he gets. Easily overwhelmed and stuff."

Brynn was looking over the drink table. "I think I need a refill myself," she said, swaying unsteadily.

"Uh, hey. You take it easy there," I warned my sister.

"Bite me," she said evenly. "I've been drinking you under the table since we were kids."

Harper laughed out loud and I turned on her. "Hey, what are you laughing at, are you even legal yet? Can I see your ID, young lady?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm twenty-five, you know that."

"I knew that," Gray piped up. "Because it's been five years since you've been home."

Harper shrugged indifferently. "Unfortunately the children's book publishing industry in Reckless Falls is lacking these days."

I smirked at Gray. "She saying she's too good for this town. And too good for you."

Gray threw up his hands. "Hey now. We all know she's too good for any of us. In fact why is she talking to the likes of you right now?"

Harper rolled her eyes so hard there was barely any iris showing. "Would you two cut it out? I'm sorry I haven't been home in a while, it's been too long, I agree."

"Well in celebration of suddenly being allowed to drink legally," Gray teased. "Can I get you something?"

I shot him a look. His face was a mask of blatant adoration. I wondered if she saw it.

"Another glass of the dry Riesling would be awesome," she said.

"Oooh, fancy."

"I've come a long way since sneaking Boones Farm in the gully, huh?" She grinned, then winced. "Ooh, don't let my mother hear that."

Gray snapped a crisp salute. "Whatever my lady desires, my lady shall get." And he disappeared into the crowd heading over to the drinks table, leaving me and Harper alone.

"It has been too long since you've been home," I heard myself say.

She nodded emphatically. "Every time I thought I was going to definitely make it, something came up," she sighed, looking around the room. "I'm surprised how happy I am to be here."

"I'm happy you're here too," I said softly.

She looked up at me, startled. What the hell was I doing? The drinking had loosened my tongue. "Really?" she breathed.

My stupid mouth moved faster than my brain. "I thought a lot about the last time you were here," I said. My hand moved of its own accord, reaching out to touch her shimmering hair.

Her eyes followed my hand, but she didn't flinch, not when I picked up a strand and let it fall gently back to her shoulders. "You mean my graduation party?" she asked, her voice a little breath in the air.

It was that voice that made me move closer, I swear to God. "You remember what we did?" I asked her, winding that strand of hair around my finger.

She looked up at me, her lower lip shining wetly. "I do," she said, looking me directly in the eyes.

The fact that she didn't shy away, the fact that she didn't demur or hesitate had me bending to kiss her all over again...

When suddenly Gray reappeared.

"My lady's drink!" he practically shouted. Then he paused and stared at us. My fingers were still in Harper's hair and her eyes were half closed. I could see color that had nothing to do with alcohol flame across Gray's cheek and the white on his knuckles as he squeezed his fists.

But he said nothing other than, "How about you Cal, you good?"

"I'm good," I replied, though I felt anything but.