Collecting the Pieces Read online

  My hands and knees were killing me and my ego had taken a catastrophic hit, but I didn’t say as much to him. “Yeah, I’m okay.” I reached for my book. “Thanks for...” I was too humiliated to finish the thought.

  “Sure.”

  He stood at the same time he reached his hand down to me. For a minute, I just stared at his hand and even knowing better, those damn butterflies started flapping around. As soon as I put my hand in his, heat sparked to life where our skin touched—a heat that seared right up my arm.

  “What class do you have now?” He asked as we stood before he released my hand, which had the heat fading at the loss of his touch.

  “Science.”

  “You’re not going to make that before the bell rings.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ll take you to the nurse. You can get a note from her.”

  “That’s okay, I’ll risk it.”

  “Come on. It’s only the second week of school. You don’t want to earn a reputation for being tardy so early in your high school career.”

  He said that in the most exaggerated way that my lips cracked into a smile. “If you walk me to the nurse, you’re going to be late for class too.”

  “I’ll get the nurse to write me a commendation on my chivalry.”

  I couldn’t believe I wanted to laugh during what was the most embarrassing moment of my life. “I’ll be sure to embellish on your good deed. Maybe they’ll erect a statue in your honor in the courtyard.”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  We hadn’t taken many steps when Jake’s head dipped, his eyes studying my face. “You’re in pain.”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “How hard did you hit?”

  “Hard enough.”

  “I’d carry you to the nurse, but I suspect you would expire from embarrassment if I did.”

  “You would be right about that.”

  “Is that me or just guys in general?”

  Doubly so for him because even dying of embarrassment, I would die a very happy girl. “I think I should save my Scarlett O’Hara moment until I’ve been here for at least a month.”

  The sight of those dimples did strange and magical things to my insides. “Good thinking.”

  We reached the nurse’s office and Jake held the door for me. “See you later, Scarlett.”

  He flashed me a smile before he strolled down the hall. It wasn’t until I was sitting in science class later that I realized he never got his pass from the nurse.

  The following day at school as I swapped out my books at my locker my thoughts were on Jake. I didn’t understand why I had his attention, but I loved that I had his attention. Just thinking about him made my heart race. Never had I been eager to get to school and now I hated when the school day was over. Just the idea that I’d see him, even if it was just a glance in the hall, filled me with the headiest sense of anticipation. As if my thoughts conjured him, I shut my locker, turned and almost walked right into him. And what a sight he made, leaning against the lockers with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

  His lips curved up before he said, “Hi.”

  I hadn’t noticed in the two previous encounters I had had with him, but his eyes weren’t just brown, there were flecks of green in them. I was staring; really I was looking in wonder probably a lot like how Harry Potter looked when seeing Hogwarts for the first time, but Jake was at my locker smiling at me. There was a good chance I might throw up. His smile grew wider and I realized I hadn’t said anything. I did not dazzle him with my wit when I replied, “Hey, you didn’t get a pass from the nurse yesterday. What did your teacher say?”

  He leaned closer and lowered his voice as if what he had to say was private and for my ears only. “Nothing.”

  I was feeling a bit lightheaded being that close to him, so it took a minute for his answer to sink in. There was a sparkle of mischievousness burning in those brown eyes. “Nothing?”

  “It was study hall and Mr. Lawson is always ten minutes late. Does that lose me some chivalry points?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  He laughed and the sound just washed over me. “Honest, I like that. So what class do you have now?”

  “English.”

  “I’ll walk with you.”

  “Study hall again?”

  “No.”

  “So you’re risking being late for your class so you can walk me to mine. Why?”

  He didn’t say anything at first, just sort of looked at me with an intensity I really liked. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  He did NOT just say that. As much as I wanted to jump up and down in joy, I instead tried for humor just in case I was reading more into it. “You can’t stop thinking about my graceful face-plant?”

  He leaned even closer, so close that if I moved just an inch my lips would be on his. “I hate to tell you this, but your face-plant wasn’t at all graceful.”

  Lack of blood to my brain had it taking a few seconds longer to process his words. Tease.

  He didn’t wait for me to accept his invitation, taking my lack of answer as a yes, and started down the hall. “Have you always lived in the area?”

  His question came as a reality slap, the unpleasant reminder of how so very different we were, but why not enjoy his attention while I had it. “I’ve lived here since I was ten.”

  “So how the hell did I never see you in school before this?”

  That was easy. I was utterly forgettable. It was only this past summer that my body started taking on the shape of a woman and even still, I looked more like a board. I wasn’t about to say that though, so I stayed quiet.

  “You’re gorgeous and we were in middle school together. I don’t understand how I never saw you.”

  Gorgeous? Did he just say I was gorgeous? My jaw might have dropped, but really gorgeous?

  “I don’t plan on making that mistake a second time. If you don’t want my attention, say it now because I plan on making a nuisance of myself.”

  The urge to look around to see who had put him up to this was strong. Or maybe I was daydreaming.

  “What about your girlfriend?”

  He looked sincerely confused. “Who? Allison? I broke it off with her last year.” He moved into me, his big body crowding mine and I so didn’t have a problem with that. “How’d you know about Allison? Have you been asking around about me, Sidney?”

  I chalked up what happened next as a result of having him in my personal space. My mouth opened and the truth came pouring out. “Yeah.”

  A sound came from the back of his throat, the single sexiest sound I’d ever heard. “Tell me now to back off or I’m taking your silence as an all clear.”

  I’d never had anything I could call my own and here was this incredible guy asking if he could spend time with me. And I knew we were like night and day—came from such different worlds—but for the first time in my life, I let myself believe in the dream. “I’d like to see you being a nuisance.”

  “And there’s my green light. Sweet.”

  I sat alone at lunch trying and failing to not obsess over the conversation with Jake from yesterday. He wanted to be a nuisance, oh my God, I so wanted him to be a nuisance. Rylee wasn’t at lunch because the drama club was holding their first meeting. She tried to get me to join, but not only did I have zero acting talent, but crowds terrified me. Connor had the same lunch period; we had seen each other in line. I had hoped we could eat together, but he joined his friends at a table on the other side of the courtyard. I was a freshman and he was a senior, but it still hurt that he didn’t include me.

  Someone settled on the bench next to me. His body brushed up against mine and I knew it was Jake from the way my body responded.

  “Can I join you?”

  Like he had to ask and still I teased, “Don’t people usually ask that before they sit down?”

  “Just making it harder for you to say no.”

  “Why do you think I’d say no?” />
  “I can’t quite read you, so I’m not taking any chances. There’s a bonfire tonight at Carpenter’s Field. Are you going?”

  A bonfire. That sounded like fun. “This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

  “It’s tradition. The Carpenter’s have a bonfire the second weekend of school.”

  “Where’s Carpenter Field?”

  “The other side of town.”

  It sounded like fun, but I had no way to get there. And with how flighty Connor had been acting, he’d likely drop me off and forget about me. Walking twenty miles home held no appeal.

  “Probably not.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t have a way to get there and I can’t really count on Connor to remember to pick me up.”

  “Come with me.”

  Every part of me liked this plan, but I didn’t like crowds. I was awkward and a freshman and he was a very popular guy. I didn’t see good things coming out of that perfect storm of trouble.

  “I’m not really great in crowds.”

  “We’ll avoid them.”

  “I don’t imagine you have much luck avoiding crowds.”

  Dipping his chin, he studied me for a second or two. “Why do you say that?”

  “I saw you the first day of school and the crowd that circled your car when you parked.”

  “You were checking me out?”

  Oh yes I was and drooling. “I was checking out your car.”

  “My car, okay we’ll go with the car.”

  I should be embarrassed, him calling my bluff, but I wasn’t. And how I could be so calm in his presence baffled me.

  “Please come with me. And before you ask why, this is me being a nuisance. If you don’t like crowds, we’ll avoid them. But I want to see you tonight. Say yes.”

  How the hell did I say no to that? “Okay.”

  “I’ll pick you up at six.” He reached for his pizza and I sat transfixed as he brought it to his lips, so when he spoke again it took a minute for his words to penetrate my hazy brain. “You feel it too, don’t you, Sidney?”

  There was something in the way he asked that question. With a seriousness I hadn’t yet experienced with him, so I answered honestly. “Yes.”

  Jake arrived exactly at six, and a half an hour later we were settled in chairs that were close to the bonfire but not right by the logs that were setup as benches. It was dark, people would have trouble seeing us if they didn’t know we were there. I felt bad forcing him to be in the shadows and as much as I really didn’t like crowds, I’d suffer through them for him.

  “We can move closer if you want. I feel badly that you’re not with your friends.”

  “You’d move closer for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks, but I’m very happy right here. So what do you think of the bonfire?”

  “It’s beautiful. He does this every year?”

  “Yeah, his way of kicking off the football season.”

  “Are you hoping to get a scholarship for football?”

  “No. I like playing and I’m decent, but I don’t think scholarship level good.”

  “From what I’ve heard, you might be wrong about that. Kids talk, teachers talk. Is it weird having people discuss you when you’re not even around?”

  “It’s not really me, it’s the player, the position. People love their football. It all comes with the territory. I don’t mind it, maybe more so because it isn’t what I want to do with my life. It’s just a hobby that I happen to really enjoy.” He then lowered his head and shook it slightly.

  Why he did that, I hadn’t a clue and even afraid of the answer I asked, “What’s wrong?”

  His head lifted, his eyes finding mine; the change in him confused me until he said, “We’ve only just met and yet it feels like we’ve known each other so much longer. How’s that possible?”

  I understood. I should be a blubbering fool around him, but for some reason he didn’t make me feel self-conscious or nervous. It was easy, comfortable and we hardly knew each other. “I don’t know. I’m usually tongue-tied and awkward around people, I don’t feel that way around you.”

  “Good. Now tell me about Sidney Ellis.”

  I hesitated sharing my life with him, but it was my life. “As you’ve probably already figured out, Connor and I are foster kids. I moved in with the Millers when I was ten.”

  Tenderness moved over his face, his voice softly probing when he asked, “Did your parents…”

  “Die? No, I never knew them. I spent the first ten years in a group home before the Millers decided to foster me.”

  “And how’s that been?”

  “Do you know the Millers?”

  “A little.”

  “They’re not very active parents.”

  “Meaning?” There was an edge of anger in his voice.

  “They do their thing, we do ours. We’re under the same roof, but that’s where the family bond ends.”

  “That’s fucked up.”

  “I’m used to it.”

  He touched my cheek, a delicate swipe of his thumb. “Maybe, doesn’t change the fact that it’s fucked up.”

  Belonging

  Connor sat out back smoking. I pulled up a chair and settled next to him. His head turned in my direction, his eyes going from me to his cigarette.

  “I know. It’s a terrible habit.”

  “So why are you doing it?”

  He shrugged, his focus shifting to the woods behind our house. “I fed your cats.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  “Me too. Does that make us bad people?”

  His head snapped to me. “Why would that make us bad people?”

  “They took us in.”

  “And are getting paid to do so. They didn’t do this out of the kindness of their hearts, Sidney. We wouldn’t be here if they weren’t getting paid.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  He shifted a bit, turning more fully in my direction. “I heard a rumor that you and Jake Stephens are together.”

  My face went beet red. I felt the blood pooling at my cheeks. “Yeah.”

  “He’s a good guy.”

  “He seems it.”

  “What are your plans after you graduate?”

  “I want to go into veterinary medicine.”

  “Yeah? I think that’s great.”

  “I love animals, love watching Dr. Livingston work and how at ease he is with his patients. What about you?”

  “I want to be anywhere but here.”

  “Have you given any more thought to college?”

  “I’m not really college material. I’m barely passing high school.”

  “That’s nonsense. You’re barely passing high school because you’re hardly there.”

  He looked at me from the corner of his eye as his lips formed a crooked grin. “That’s true.”

  “I saw you the other week outside the Circle Market. You were drinking. Is that smart, to do that out in the open?”

  “It’s a little alcohol, Sid, nothing to worry about.”

  I was worried because Connor wanted away from here but he wasn’t doing anything to make that happen. “I love you, Connor. I want to see you happy.”

  His arm came around my shoulders. “I am happy.”

  But that was said with very little conviction.

  The sound of the front door slamming closed had us both jerking. “Speak of the devil,” Connor muttered.

  I stood. “I need to start my homework before I make dinner.”

  “Why is it you have to make dinner? Why the hell can’t she fucking boil some water?”

  “They’re perfectly happy with their frozen dinners, but I don’t have their iron stomachs. I don’t mind, I’m teaching myself to cook.”

  “It’s still wrong.” He dropped his arm around my shoulders again. “Four more years until you graduate and then you’re free. Just remember that.”

  “You only
have a year.”

  “And I’m counting the days.”

  Connor was gone when I came downstairs the following morning and that kind of hurt that he hadn’t waited for me, especially after our talk yesterday. Since I wouldn’t be getting a ride, I hurried out to the bus stop.

  I arrived at school and found Jake standing at my locker. My feet just stopped as I stared. He hadn’t seen me yet, he was talking to someone, but the sight of him at my locker was one I really liked. Especially replaying his words, which I’d been doing all weekend, about wanting to make a nuisance out of himself. His head turned and our eyes met; he left his spot to join me.

  “Morning.”

  “Hi.”

  He took my backpack, his fingers running down my arm as he removed the strap, and honestly the heat stirred by that simple touch burned in a really good way. “Did you have a good weekend?”

  I had spent my weekend daydreaming about him, but I wasn’t about to be that candid. “I spent it doing homework.”

  “I spent it thinking about you.”

  And though he was smiling, he looked to be waiting, watching my reaction very closely. I gave him what he wanted, the truth. “I thought about you too.”

  “Do you have any idea how badly I want to kiss you?”

  “Probably as much as I want you to kiss me.”

  His voice sounded a bit gruff when he asked, “What class are we walking to first?”

  “Biology.”

  “At least it’s not chemistry, we’ve got enough of that going on.” He wiggled his brows, lightening the mood before he added, “Dissection. You’ll start with an earthworm and graduate to frogs.” He cocked his head, a grin pulling at the side of his mouth. “I have a feeling that doesn’t gross you out at all.”

  “It doesn’t. I’m fascinated with biology.”

  “Another layer to Sidney Ellis. I’ll see you to homeroom and then I’ll be back to walk you to class.”

  “Your homeroom is two hallways over.”

  “I’ll just have to move quickly.”

  I swapped out my books and shut my locker before joining him. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for being late all the time.”

  “My teachers love me. I’ll be fine. Can I join you and Rylee for lunch?”

  “Like you need to ask.”