More Than Each Other (More Than Best Friends Book 2) Page 2

  Haylee rubs the back of her hand against her lips, attempting to mask her snicker.

  I swing my arms out to my sides. “What? I told you about the coffee house incident.” Their expression doesn’t change. “Oh, my gosh you guys. Lane gave me something to wear so I could take off my wet shirt.”

  Stacey walks through the doorway and props her shoulder against the wall, beside Haylee. “Wow,” she starts in and folds her arms against her chest, hooking one ankle over the other. She’s comfortable making my life uncomfortable.

  My face begins to pinch waiting for the lava that’s about to spew from Stacey’s mouth.

  “You’re one surprise after another today, Regan. You actually kissed a boy in public?” She shakes her head. “I have to say, I didn’t see that coming.” She tsks, grinning at her prey before she pounces. “Oh, I’ve teased you about Lane, but I never actually thought you two were an item.”

  Teased me? Teasing would be a whole lot easier to deal with than the gossip and lies she enjoys making up about me.

  Tobi leans back against the sink, grasping the edge with her hands.

  Haylee pipes up, “This is none of your business, Stacey.”

  I know she’s intimidated by Stacey. It took a lot for her to say anything, and I appreciate the love she just showed me.

  Stacey’s eyebrows shoot up as she gives a snarly look down her nose at Haylee. “Everything is my business. You should know that by now.” Stacey moves her focus on Tobi and spouts, “You too.”

  The muscles in my neck and shoulders knot one by one. Stacey finds the greatest joy in making my life and cousin, Susanna’s, life miserable. If I push back, Stacey torques things for Susanna. So I keep my mouth shut.

  I can’t wait to get out of this gossip-filled town.

  The bathroom walls close in on me. I snatch my coat and bag and head toward the exit.

  Stacey steps in front of me. “I thought the kissing was bad enough. I mean, ew, why Lane would kiss you when he could be kissing me?” She shivers, “I just don’t get it. But really, Regan, what are people going to think when they hear you ditched the field trip, went to a college boy’s room, and took off your clothes?”

  My fingers curl into the palm of my hands. Every fiber in me is screaming, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  “It seems your ‘good girl’ status is about to expire.” Stacey hitches her bag over her shoulder, saunters to the nearest stall, and calls, “Have a wonderful evening, ladies.” She closes the door, and I make a beeline out of the school to Tobi’s car.

  My mind is swarming with the trouble Stacey could cause.

  Haylee’s the last to get in the car. She slams the back door shut and growls, “I wish we could make her pay for her nastiness!”

  Tobi and I look at each other and then to Haylee. Haylee’s usually always calm and quiet. She’s always the diplomat, trying to smooth everything over.

  “What?” she says. “I’ve tried to get along with Stacey, but there comes a time when we should give her a taste of her own medicine.”

  We meet the stop sign near the park. I’m already floored at Haylee’s words when Tobi bangs her palm on the steering wheel.

  “I’m tired of Stacey’s crap, too. Why does she get to rule the school and spread rumors all the time?”

  Stacey’s probably giddy making her plans right now. “What are we going to do about it? If I don’t take her crap, she’ll make it worse for Susanna. And I can’t live with that.” I groan. “I shouldn’t have gone on the field trip. Maybe I should see if my parents will let me homeschool. I’d never be around for her to talk about then. She might even back off of Susanna and Abby without me around to remind her of my family.”

  I’ve never given much thought to homeschooling before, but this might work. Except for the fact I’ll be condemned to be around my dad more than I already am. Before this year I wouldn’t have thought homeschooling was such a bad thing. Before Lane left. Before I needed my friends more than ever. I need Lane. Seeing him on the weekends isn’t enough.

  “No way. Absolutely not.” Haylee leans over the console between the front seats. “That’s crazy, Regan. You can’t isolate yourself in hopes of avoiding Stacey.”

  Tobi glances over at me. “Yeah, Rey. Don’t even go there.”

  Haylee moves back to her seat. Her voice is sad. “I’ve seen what hiding away can do to a person. It’s a dark place to be.”

  I turn in my seat to see Haylee. Her parents’ divorce was really hard on her mom. Haylee shares things every once in a while, but I know there’s more to the story.

  I reach for her hand and give it a squeeze.

  She forces a smile. “Don’t bail out of school over stupid Stacey.”

  “She’s right. Don’t let Stacey push you into hiding,” Tobi agrees.

  How can I stand up to the Queen of gossip when she’s tossing threats about me and Lane around? Hiding out might be the best option.

  4

  Regan

  After supper, Tobi and I head back to her room to finish our papers.

  “I’ve been thinking about the coffee house incident.” Tobi sits on her bed with her laptop resting on her crisscrossed legs.

  The short stool at her desk is the most comfortable spot for me since I can’t lean against the wall or anything. I finish typing a sentence and give her my attention.

  “If that had happened to me, I would have been devastated and ticked at the same time.” She shakes her head. “And Johanna? Really? Does he know how she treated you when he wasn’t around?”

  Ugh, Johanna, Lane’s ex. She’s not even here and she’s ruining the delicious supper that is now resting in my belly. I raise my eyebrows and scoff. “No one would ever do that to you, Tobi. They’d be falling all over themselves to clear a path for the royalty you are.”

  “Ha. Ha.”

  I glance at the computer screen and shake my head. “Besides. What’s the point in telling him? It won’t change anything. I’d rather not see or talk about her again.”

  “Hey…” She waits until I make eye contact before continuing, “Lane is one of the sweetest guys I know, but sometimes,”—she shakes her head—“he doesn’t know the line between polite and encouraging a girl." He needs to learn how to say ‘back off.’”

  Her comment makes me laugh because it’s true, and it hurts, and I don’t want to cry about it anymore. The walk from the coffee house to Lane’s dorm was excruciating. I really thought he was back with her.

  “Remember Brea at the graduation party? He stood there and let her paw at—”

  I cut through the air with my hand. “Brea, Johanna, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not relive all Lane’s wannabe girls. Let’s just get these papers done.”

  She holds her hands up in surrender. “It irks me he thinks he’s being a ‘gentleman’ by allowing it, that’s all.”

  I work my jaw to the side. “Yeah, I know. But that’s all behind us now. Friday we’ll talk to my dad and everything will finally fall into place and become normal again.”

  Tobi twirls a piece of her long, blonde hair around her finger. I can tell she has more she’d like to say, but she holds her tongue.

  When I walk in the door, Mom has fabric pieces she’s pinning together spread out over the dining table.

  “Hi, Mom.” I set my bag down and hang my coat up.

  She gives me a warm smile. “Hi, sweetie.” It’s bigger than the usual welcome-home smile because she knows. She knows about me and Lane. She guessed there was something going on before I was really sure about being more with Lane.

  The house is quiet. I glance around. “Where’s Dad?”

  Mom carefully lines up the next pieces of fabric, inserts the first pin and sits down. “He’s in bed.”

  Finally, something goes right this evening. I have a few more things to tell Mom about today, and I don’t want Dad to hear it.

  I take a seat across from her, and Mom pinches her brows together.
“Where did you get that sweater?”

  “It’s a long story.” I start from the beginning, when Lane surprised me this morning and I sort of blew off the field trip. It wasn’t a total blow off. Technically, I was at the science department today.

  “Regan, if you and Lane are more than friends, you shouldn’t be in his bedroom.”

  “My shirt was soaked. Lane just wanted to put some stuff on my burns and get me a clean shirt.”

  “Come here, let me see if we need to go to the doctor.” She stands and waits for me to come around the table.

  I slip out of the sweater.

  Mom lifts the back of my T-shirt. “Oh, sweetie.”

  “It doesn’t feel too bad.”

  “I don’t think the doctor is necessary.” She lowers my shirt. “I won’t say anything, but you two better talk to him by Friday.”

  “Thanks.” I step toward the hallway for the bathroom to brush my teeth.

  “Regan?”

  I turn back to see her “I mean business” expression.

  “I trust you. If you break that trust, everything will change. You’ll have to earn it back.”

  I nod, not sure if she means with Lane or what exactly. That knot in my chest that says I’m guilty shows up. All I want to do is get out of here and go to my room.

  I fall asleep pretending Lane is here with me, thinking about every little kiss and how close I felt to him by the time I had to leave today. We were best friends, yes. And so much more.

  5

  Lane

  Johanna strolls into comp. class smiling her flirty smile, and I wave her over. I made sure I was in class early so I could talk to her.

  “Hey, Lane. Did you get started on your paper? Were my notes easy to understand?” Johanna sits next to me, brushing her leg against mine.

  “Yeah. They were fine, thanks. I wanted to ask you—”

  She cuts me off. “Yes.” She tilts her head and grins, revealing her sparkly white teeth.

  I swivel in my seat, facing her. “Why did you kiss me at Panther House yesterday?”

  Her bright expression falters half a beat before she pastes her smile back on. “Oh! Well, we’re close.” Her eyes round with an innocent expression. “I guess it’s a natural reaction when we’re around each other. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

  I look down at my jeans and sigh. “Did you bump into Regan in the bathroom? You know we’re seeing each other.”

  Dipping her head, Johanna looks up through her eyelashes at me. She’s pouring all her flirt into it. “You didn’t seem to mind the kiss.” She reaches for my hand, and I move away from her.

  Regan was right. “You did it on purpose. You wanted Regan to think I’m seeing you behind her back.” I stand and grab my bag. “Yeah, I did mind. Don’t ever do it again.”

  Johanna’s mouth drops open, but I walk off and find the furthest seat from her before she can say a word. I don’t want to hear anything else she has to say. It would probably be lies anyway.

  Guilt powers through my chest like a spear. I can’t believe Johanna would do this. I’m such an idiot sometimes. If Johanna would do that on purpose when I made it clear to her, I was seeing Regan, I wonder if Johanna did that sort of stuff when she and I were dating. She was jealous of Regan. I know why now, but then I thought she was way off.

  I shove any thoughts of Johanna in a box and try to focus my attention on class. As soon as it’s over, I bolt out the door for my dorm to call Dad. I messaged him last night that I need to talk to him, and I don’t want anyone eavesdropping on my conversation.

  Nervousness creeps in and I’m not feeling very confident about talking to Regan’s dad tomorrow. I step out of the elevator and press the call button on my phone. The line rings three times before I get to my door to unlock it, and I’m worried Dad can’t take my call for some reason. His voicemail picks up, but I end the call before the beep. I blow out a long breath as I drop my bag on the floor. “Great,” I grumble and run a hand through my hair.

  I’m about to reach for my guitar and play the song I’ve been working on for Regan when my phone rings.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hi, son. Sorry I didn’t answer. I was still clocking out.”

  “That’s okay.” I swallow, not sure how to start this conversation.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Um, did Mom tell you I called yesterday?” I hunch over my knees, resting my forearm on one leg.

  Dad chuckles. “She did.”

  I groan. “Dad, come on.”

  He chuckles again. I can picture him sitting in his car right now, a giant, grin on his face, waiting for me to ask for his help.

  I rub my palm against my jeans. “You know I like Regan? Like, more than a friend.” Mom probably told him, so I don’t know why I’m nervous talking about it.

  He clears his throat and answers, “Yeah, I figured that out.”

  “When?”

  “Is that what you want to talk about? When I figured out how close you two really are?”

  I crash back on my bed and think back to the day our parents screwed this up. “You know the Sunday I left for Eastern? We were going to tell you guys that day. But y’all started talking about all the married people you know who met at college.” I shake my head, reliving the bad memory. “And Mr. Stone went off about me being too old for Regan and didn’t even want us to be best friends anymore.” These nerves are doing their best to put my muscles on edge. “I don’t know what to do—how to convince him it’s okay.”

  “Yeah. Tim can be intense for a kid. But do you understand if it doesn’t work out with you two it could mess up your friendship?”

  Why does everyone have to bring this up? Even Regan tried to use it as an excuse. I blow a frustrated breath through my lips and answer, “I know, Dad. The way I feel about her …” I stand up, rub the back of my neck, and lean against the window frame. “I don’t think I can handle being only friends. I need more.”

  “Mmm.” He’s quiet for a moment. “What are you going to do if Regan doesn’t want to stay around Stelmo? She’s pretty strong-willed, Lane. She’s been talking about leaving for a couple years.”

  My eyelids slide shut. “Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know where we’ll be in two or four or ten years. How can anyone know?”

  “Okay, okay. It’s something you need to think about, though. It matters.”

  I groan, “Alright, but I’m supposed to talk to Mr. Stone Friday. What do I say? I mean, I usually don’t have any problem talking to him, but he made it clear he thinks I’m too old for her. How do I change his mind?”

  Dad spends the next thirty minutes giving me advice on how to handle Regan’s dad. After hearing his advice, I’m even more nervous. If I hadn’t blown off my classes yesterday, I’d destress with a workout. But I did. So, I need to get my butt in gear before I’m late to biology.

  6

  Regan

  I’ve been standing at the end of my drive waiting on the bus for twenty minutes. Finally, the roar of the engine grows louder. It’s damp and dreary out here. All the leaves are now gone from the trees after the rain last night. At least it’s not as cold as yesterday. A drop of water plops on my head. Great, more rain. I pull my hood over my head. The bus comes to a stop in front of me before I get pelted with a downpour.

  Climbing the steps takes effort this morning. When I reach the top, the stench of vomit about knocks me over. Saliva pools in my mouth, and I cover my scrunched-up nose, trying not to breathe, before I add my own breakfast to the mix. So, this is why the bus is late.

  When we take off, the odor lifts to the open windows, but I don’t dare lower my coat from my nose. I guess I’d rather be cold than breathe vomit fumes. If I can get through today and tomorrow, I can finally relax and won’t have to keep my boyfriend a secret. Boyfriend. I giggle at the way that sounds. Lane is my boyfriend.

  As soon as I walk in the double doors of the school, the first bell rings. I speed walk to my
locker and swap out my stuff for first class.

  Haylee joins me at my locker. Her long dark hair is pulled up on top her head in a braided bun. “Hey, how's it going this morning? How's your back?”

  I hang my backpack on the hook and close the door. “It's better. Your hair is so pretty. How did you do that?”

  She waves her hand. “I just braided it and twisted it into a bun.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  She shrugs.

  “Did you see Cam last night?”

  She dips her head, smiling. I don’t know why she’s still shy about dating him. They actually do make sense together.

  “Yeah,” she says. “We ate at the diner.”

  We take off toward her mom's classroom.

  “I guess I was too late, huh, Regan?” Paul Frak’s hot breath pushes through the back of my hair, making my skin crawl. “Lane took your GG status? I didn’t think Cary had it in him after all that Bible talk about purity.” He snakes his arm across my shoulders.

  I try to shrug his arm off, but he pulls me into his side.

  The little freshman boy that rides my bus steps aside with his mouth hanging open, starring at us. A couple of the varsity basketball players pass us calling out a play-by-play,—“He shoots. He scores,—laughing down the hallway.

  I drop my head and wish I could evaporate into thin air.

  Paul leans over me and whispers, “How are you feeling today? I hope he was gentle. I’m always gentle with my virgins.”

  A tremble runs through me. Paul Frak gives me the willies. After Lane gave Paul a black-eye for the stunt he pulled, asking my dad to go out with me when I’d already refused him, I thought he’d stay away from me. Evidently it didn’t work.

  “It's too bad. You and I could’ve had a good thing.” Paul loosens his grip, and I twist away from him. “It’s never too late, though.” He stops in front of me, wearing smugness from his head to his sneakers. “You know where to find me.” He winks and struts away.