Chapter Eight – Jeff

The night hadn’t been too bad of a bust. Casey’s cousin turned out to be pretty nice. Not my type but a nice girl, and she was fun to talk to. Casey, on the other hand, was weighing on my last nerve. I’d gone to high school with her and would never forget what she did to Ari and Ellie their freshman year.

Bitch.

I lifted my beer to my lips and watched Casey get a strike. She jumped up screaming and ran back to Gunner. She sat in his lap and planted a kiss on his lips.

Blah.

Fuck, I hope he doesn’t end up with her tonight. She isn’t his type, and we both knew it.

“So I’m going to say it’s safe to say you don’t like my cousin?”

Nettie’s voice came from my right. Turning to her, I smiled. “You’re right. I don’t like her.”

“May I ask why?”

“She’s a bitch who embarrassed my sister and her friend the first day of school their freshman year.”

“Ouch, what did she do?”

The memory of that day popped back into my head and pissed me off all over again.

“One of the football players had walked over to my sister’s table. It was her and a few of her friends. Casey got pissed and went over there and started making a scene about how a freshman was trying to snag a senior football player. Ellie’s best friend Ari stood up and started to ask Casey to just leave them alone. Casey said something about Ari that I never did hear, but whatever it was, it upset her. Then all the cheerleaders starting laughing and teasing Ari that she was about to cry. The whole thing was ugly, and I just stood there and watched it happen. I didn’t even stop it, and I hated myself for that.”

Reaching for my beer, Nettie took a drink. “Sounds like Casey. She’s always been a bit of a bully from what I’ve seen.”

“No, go ahead, take a drink of my beer,” I said as I motioned with my hands for her to drink up.

She laughed and finished off the beer. “Sorry; I’ll buy you another one.”

“Don’t worry about it; I’ve had enough. I need to make sure Gunner doesn’t do something stupid.”

“I don’t think you have to worry. He isn’t into her.”

Turning to look at her, I asked, “What makes you say that?”

She shrugged. “I mean look at him. Casey is throwing herself at him every chance she gets. Yeah, he’s kissed her back a few times, but anyone can see he’s not into her into her. If you know what I mean.”

I focused back over on Gunner and Casey. She was sitting on his lap, and instead of him taking advantage of it, he was just sitting there talking to some guy. Doug, I think his name was.

“Huh, you’re right. You’re pretty good at this stuff.”

Nettie smiled. “Well, I’m a people watcher. And I’ve been kind of hoping he wouldn’t be into her since she pissed me off by setting me up on a blind date. I told her no, I wasn’t interested, but she did it anyway.”

“Why no blind date?” I asked.

A huge smile grew across her face. “I have a boyfriend. Chuck’s in the army. We’ve known each other since high school. We were friends first, and one time he came home on leave and we all went out. Something between us changed, and we started dating.”

“Wow! That’s kind of cool.”

She nodded.

“Is it hard for y’all with him being gone?”

“It is, yeah. But he’s going to be stationed in Killeen so I’ll get to see him a lot more.”

I returned her smile. “I’m glad; you seem like a nice girl, Nettie. I’m happy you’re with someone who makes you smile like that.”

Her cheeks blushed then she bumped my arm with her shoulder. “What about you? No girl has caught your eye yet?”

Ari’s face flashed through my mind.

“Nope. Not yet.”

With a frown, Nettie tilted her head and stared at me.

“What?” I asked with a half-hearted laugh.

“I find that hard to believe. I mean, you’re a really good-looking guy, so I’m sure you’re not lacking in the women area. But something tells me there is a girl and you’re not ready to admit it.”

I laughed. “Tell me you’re studying to be a shrink or something because you’ve got the talent for it.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Accounting.”

Snarling my lip, I repeated her word. “Accounting? Good God, woman . . . that’s as boring as you could have gotten.”

Her hands went to her hips. “Hey! I like math and numbers. I think it’s fun.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “It’s a good thing you have a boyfriend because this”—I stated, pointing between us—“would have never worked out.”

“Nettie! Are y’all ever going to come play, or are you just going to stand there being a chatty Kathy?” Casey asked.

With a roll of my eyes, I whispered, “I really don’t like that girl.”

Lacing her arm in mine, Nettie said, “Come on, let’s just go have some fun and make her stop talking.”

With a smile, I replied, “One could only wish for such a miracle.”

I felt a strange feeling and glanced over my shoulder only to see Ari standing there with a group of friends. Our eyes locked, and I had to remind myself to breathe.

She looked beautiful.

The way she was looking at me was off. Almost as if she was upset. After I scanned her friends and didn’t see Ellie, I focused back on Ari, but now Nettie was pulling me since I’d slowed down.

“Come on, Johnson. She isn’t going to bite.”

After I pulled my eyes away from Ari, I sat down, and Nettie sat next to me. I could feel Ari staring at me, so I looked her way again. Her and her friends were just three aisles down. When our gaze met again, I decided to just try and be civil with her. So I smiled at her. It must have not been what she wanted because her left eye narrowed some before her gaze darted over to Nettie, then back to me. She frowned, turned, and sat down with her back to me.

Christ, that girl was moody as fuck.

“Do you know her?” Nettie asked, pulling me out of my trance.

“Yeah, she’s my sister’s best friend.”

“She looked a little mad when she saw you. Do y’all not get along?”

My heart ached in my chest. I hated that all Ari and I ever did was fight, but I was the main cause of that. I had started this little feud a few years back as a means to keep my distance from her.

“We get along fine. She’s just a moody little thing.”

Nettie giggled. “I’d say she was more jealous than moody, Jeff.”

Jerking my head back, I turned to look at her. “What?”

She lifted her brows. “Seriously? Men are so stupid. Clearly she didn’t like seeing you sitting here with me. Especially when you shot her that smile that sort of rubbed it in that you were with me.”

“What?” I lost it laughing. “I did no such thing.”

With a half-hearted shrug, Nettie gave me a wink. “Deep down you want her to think we’re together, don’t you?”

I couldn’t argue with her on that one. “Just get your cute little ass up and bowl.”

The next hour was spent trying to keep Casey’s annoying-as-hell voice out of my head and forcing myself not to look Ari’s way every five minutes.

When I saw Casey walking back from the bathroom, I tensed. She had seen Ari and was making a direct path right to her. My instinct was to get up and protect Ari, but like I did four years ago, I just sat there.

They exchanged words, and Ari folded her arms across her chest. Casey took a few steps back, her face shocked by whatever Ari had said. The girls who were with Ari all smiled and nodded their heads as if approving of what was just said.

Casey rolled her eyes and walked away, defeat written all over her face. Ari watched her walk away and then looked at me. She shook her head and snarled her lip as she pulled out her phone and typed something.

When my own phone buzzed, I jumped. Pulling it out of my pocket, I held my breath when I saw her name.

 

Ari: Some things never change. Casey is still a bully bitch, and you still sit there like a jerk and let her spit out her hateful words. It’s a damn good thing I know how to take care of myself. I guess you couldn’t be bothered to leave your cute little date. dickhead.

 

Ari wanted me to defend her? My stomach turned thinking Ari thought I didn’t care about what happened to her. Hell, I knew better than anyone the girl could take care of herself. She had a mouth like a sailor and wasn’t afraid of giving her two cents. But she had actually wanted me to keep Casey away from her, and I did nothing.

Again.

“That girl is the biggest bitch on the planet,” Casey shot off as she came and sat back down.

“Who?” one of Casey’s friends asked.

“Some little whore I know from high school. I have no clue what she’s doing down here; she’s still in high school. I hear she likes to give head in exchange for test answers.”

“Shut the fuck up, Casey. You and I both know that’s not true,” I said.

Casey turned to look at me, a snarky smile on her face. “That’s right . . . her best friend is your little sister. How is Ellie these days, Jeff?”

Gunner’s attention was now fully on the conversation.

“She’s doing amazing, Casey. But I seriously doubt you care since you made her life a miserable hell during her freshman year.”

“What?” Gunner asked, now turning to face Casey.

“Oh, don’t listen to him, Gunner. So I made the little girls cry their first day of high school. It toughened them up.” She winked at me, and I balled up my fists.

“I’m ready to leave now! Who else is ready to leave?” Nettie blurted out.

“You were a bully in high school, Casey?” Gunner asked.

She rolled her eyes. “For Christ’s sake, it was years ago. Who cares? Let’s bowl and forget the little maggot is even here.”

Gunner looked around. “Is Ellie here?”

The hopefulness in his voice didn’t go unnoticed, but I had to shelve that conversation for later.

“No, Ari is,” I stated and stood. “And you can find your own damn ride home, bitch.”

Casey’s mouth dropped open. “Gunner! Are you going to let him talk to me that way?”

Ignoring her, Gunner looked at Nettie. “Do you need a ride back?”

She shook her head. “We’ll get a ride; don’t worry.”

Glancing back down to Casey, Gunner shot her a fake smile. “Lose my number, Casey.”

“Gunner! Wait! Are you seriously kidding me right now? You’re leaving because of something that happened in high school?”

“No, I’m leaving because I’ve had all I can take of you, and you only just proved to me what I’ve been thinking all night: I really don’t like you.”

I smiled and hit him on the back as he slipped off his bowling shoes and replaced them with his boots.

When we started for the door, I couldn’t help but look Ari’s way. She was sitting down watching us leave, a questioning look on her face. I wanted to smile, to wave, to do something, but I looked away from her and focused on the exit.

When we got into Gunner’s truck, we both sighed.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Casey?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “It was high school, and you’re a big boy who can take care of himself. Plus, I honestly wanted to see how long you were going to be able to stand that laugh of hers.”

Tossing his head back and laughing, Gunner dropped his head on the headrest and cursed.

“Shit. She is annoying as hell. Why didn’t I see that before?”

“’Cause you probably wanted into her pants.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, well, that was the last thing on my mind tonight. I just wanted to get the whole night over with.”

“Let’s call Josh and Brad, see if they want to join us for a beer.”

Gunner nodded and started up his truck. “Sounds good to me. I’ll be glad for spring break; I’m ready to get the hell away from Austin.”

Ari’s face popped into my head when I pulled up my phone and saw her text still on the screen.

Hitting reply, I typed out my response.

 

Me: Looks like you handled yourself perfectly fine, Squirt.

 

It was less than twenty seconds later, and I was smiling at her response.

 

Ari: Stop calling me that, you fucking dickhead, son of a bitch, asshole jerkface!

 

I knew if I could see her right now as she typed that out, she’d have a huge smile on her face. Ari loved yanking my chain as much I loved doing it to her.

Backing out of the texts, I pulled up Josh’s number, and we planned on meeting back at our place. None of us felt like hitting up a bar, so Josh offered to stop and pick up a few pizzas and some beer.

It would have been the perfect ending to this shit day except for the fact that I laid in bed that night haunted by Ari’s green eyes. My dick was so fucking hard that I ended up having to jerk off to the image of Arianna Peterson’s beautiful face.

That girl was going to be the death of me.