Chapter Nineteen
Tyler
My mom had me up and running errands all day. Four days until her stupid party, and she turns into an even bigger nightmare to deal with. I need to get out of this house.
I call Layla. Her voicemail answers, “You’ve reached Layla. Leave it at the beep.”
What the hell?
I send her a text.
Me: Hey. Wanna get dinner?
I wait for five whole minutes but there’s no response. Maybe she’s in the shower or something? I wait a little longer.
Seriously, time seems to creep on by until finally my phone dings.
Layla: Sorry. W/ Rach. Call u l8tr. :)
Well, there goes my plan of having dinner with my girl. I call Jared.
“Excellent timing,” he says.
“You know me. Hey, wanna go paintballing or something?”
Jared grumbles. “Last time I went with you, you had that one girl, whatever her name was, shoot me in my balls.”
I laugh. I’d totally forgotten about that and her. There was a random group of girls. Austin asked if they wanted to join our group? This cute little redhead named Chels was telling her friends she thought her gun was broken. I went to help her out. She hadn’t locked the ammo container all the way. Her finger was on the trigger, and she squeezed it twice. Two hot purple blots of paint decorated Jared’s crotch. He bent over in pain, and Austin and I were howling with laughter. Everyone was.
“Dude, it’s been a year,” I say.
“I don’t care. My nuts still remember. I’m starving. Let’s get a burger or something.”
“Cool. I’m hungry as hell too.” As soon as I say this my stomach growls. Yeah, I need to feed the tank. I slip on some shoes and grab my coat.
“God, my dad is being his royal ass self again. Get over here quick.”
“Awww don’t want some father-son time?” I joke as I head into the garage.
“Eat me! Quit clowning and get the hell over here.”
“I’m coming.” I end the call and slide into my Cherokee.
Jared and I are at Moe’s, this awesome burger joint. Once we are seated, I pick up my menu and try to decide what in the hell I want to eat. As much as my stomach is growling I feel like I should order the whole damn menu.
A pen clicks, and a voice says, “Hi. I’m Ginger. I’m going to be your server. What can I get you all to drink?”
I glance up at Ginger. Her standard white top is mostly unbuttoned revealing a large chunk of cleavage. She looks like she might be seventeen, maybe eighteen. But I know she doesn’t go to our school because there are no girls who look like that. Her brown eyes do a once over on me. Normally I’m all for a girl checking me out, but it’s not doing anything for me. It only makes me miss Layla. What am I saying? Ugh. Layla is turning me into a mess.
“I’ll have a water,” I say.
“With lemon?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Did I ask for a lemon?”
She blushes. “No.”
“Then I don’t want a lemon,” I say as if to imply “duh.” Probably shouldn’t be so harsh but seriously, I hate when waitstaff try to correct my order.
“Okay.” She jots something down and turns to Jared. “And you?”
Jared smirks. “What do you recommend?”
“Oh. Well. I hear the milkshakes are great.” She twirls a piece of hair.
“I just want a Coke with no ice.”
She nods and walks away, and I notice Jared checks out her ass.
I snort. “Dude. Thinking about hitting on her?”
He shrugs. “What? No.”
“I’m kidding. You know if Austin was here he’d be all over that.” I lean back against the seat. “So, what was your dad yelling about when I picked you up?” I ask.
Jared glares at his menu. “That asshole is putting together all this footage to send to potential scouts and I have to go through all this game film with him. Something about a great opportunity. I hope someone takes out my freaking knee this upcoming season.”
“I’d do it for you, buddy, but I’m sure that the entire team and school might kill me. We need ya, man.”
“Seen Juliet lately?”
I nod. “She dumped a whole pot of water on Mark the other day.”
“Why the hell was Mark there?”
“About being put on blast. Don’t worry, he won’t be coming back.”
Jared cracks his knuckles right as the waitress comes back with our drinks. “Know what you want yet?” she asks.
“I want a big boy rodeo burger. I want the popping sauce on the side,” I say.
“And for you?” she asks Jared.
He stares at his menu. “Can I get a Moe burger and cheese fries?”
“All right.”
As soon as she walks away, Jared snaps, “Why didn’t you call me? I would have gladly pounded that asshole’s face in.”
“Dude. He’s not worth the trouble.”
“He should have never got to date her.”
I shake my head. “Who’s fault is that? If I were you, I’d make sure no other asshole gets the chance to date her. Man up and ask her out. Or watch every other jackass do it. But honestly, the way she’s looking lately, I don’t think you’ll be having the issue of anyone taking her off the market just yet.”
“Watch it!” Jared warns.
I hold up my hands to say, ‘don’t shoot the messenger.’ “Hey. What are you doing the morning of Christmas Eve?”
Jared smirks. “Why? You wanna take me ice skating and hold hands? I think Layla might be a little jealous. I mean, we are having this lovely lunch date.”
“Don’t be a douche. No. I need some help with a gift for Layla.”
“I’m not helping you pick out a gift for your girl, man.”
I glare at him. “I got all her gifts, ass. I need help decorating her house. I wanna do it on Christmas Eve.”
“Dude. Isn’t that a little stupid? And why wouldn’t they have it decorated before then?”
“I don’t know. You get to see Juliet. Maybe talk to her without spilling shit on her.”
Jared looks out the window. “Thanks for bringing that up, tool.”
I shrug. “What are friends for?”