Gravity (Free Falling) Page 19

  I stared at her in disbelief and so did AJ. Is she serious? It was already pretty apparent that she wasn’t my favorite person and I definitely wasn’t hers……and yet, here she was asking me for a favor.

  Before I could answer, she turned back to AJ. “Or, I could just sit up here while you practice like I used to and wait for my dad to come get me.” She smiled and I suddenly had a change of heart.

  “Nope, it’s fine I’ll take you. Where do you live?” I asked. As much as I didn’t want her anywhere near me, I definitely didn’t want her anywhere near AJ.

  “About 15 minutes from here.”

  “Fine. Get in,” I replied. AJ was still in disbelief. Leila sat there motionlessly as AJ and I said our goodbyes. He shot her a warning look before closing my door, and seconds later, I was pulling out of the parking lot.

  Leila didn’t seem to be uncomfortable sitting next to me, but I wasn’t nearly that relaxed. The thought crossed my mind that she might be lying about the car trouble just to have an excuse to talk to AJ, but I guess she probably wouldn’t have asked me for a ride if that was the case.

  From the corner of my eye, I could see that she was staring which made me turn toward her. Her eyes were vacant; she didn’t even blink. Kind of like the lights were on, but no one was home.

  “So, are you and AJ really together, or just hanging out?” She asked, startling me when she spoke.

  I was reluctant to respond. “Yeah, we’re together.”

  “Hmm……What’d he tell you about us?”

  Her forthrightness came as a shock. “He said you two were together for a while, but it didn’t work out.”

  “Is that all he told you?” She asked implying that there was much more to tell.

  “Basically,” I replied.

  There was a devilish grin on her face. “How nice of him to spare your feelings. It must’ve been hard for him not to confess all the juicy details. Well, you’ll have to ask him to show you the pictures someday. I’m sure he still has his copies.”

  I felt my palms start to sweat. My head was pounding and all I could think about was tearing her head from her body and rolling it down the street as I sped toward it in my car to run it over. Leila had no idea how close I was to letting the life out of her. It took every shred of control in my body to restrain me from losing it.

  I took a deep breath and tried to keep my cool. “Look, in case you haven’t noticed, AJ doesn’t want you; hasn’t for a long time. And if you’re wondering, I’m a lot crazier than I look.”

  She laughed. “Don’t get all ghetto on me. I’m just making sure he’s being upfront with you. It seems like he’s being pretty honest so far.” She paused and turned to look out the window.

  “So, what, you’ve been with him for like a week or something?”

  I didn’t respond.

  “Not before homecoming, I’m sure,” she added.

  “Why you all in our business?” I asked harshly.

  Leila smiled again, obviously pleased with my irritation. “Just checking.” She paused momentarily.

  “Checking what?” I asked flatly.

  “You know….making sure he wasn’t trying to string us both along.” I had the nagging feeling that she was about to say something that I wasn’t ready to hear. “I screwed him that night,” she confessed. “He couldn’t stay like he usually does cause my dad’s shift was ending early, but we had enough time to do what needed to do.” She bit down on her lip while gazing out the window as if the memory was still fresh in her mind.

  I nearly ripped the steering wheel off and slapped her with it. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, so I see he did decide to keep one secret from you after all.” She laughed again.

  She had to be lying, but either way she had to go. I pulled the car over to the side of the road. “Get out.”

  Her laughter became sinister. “Awww…..Did I hit a nerve? Well, look at it this way: at least you found out early. He’s never gonna get over me. I was his first.”

  I felt myself getting ready to boil over with every emotion possible. Lucky for her, she took heed and climbed out of my car. I don’t even know how far we were from her house, but I didn’t care.

  I drove home in shock. Was she telling the truth? Was he with her that night? Truthfully, he could’ve gone to see Leila in the hours that passed between the dance ending and when he decided to text me. Granted, he and I weren’t together at that point, but if this were true that meant that he lied. According to him, they hadn’t been physical since two years ago when he was sixteen, but it wouldn’t be the first time a guy lied about such a thing.

  I needed to talk to him…right away. This wasn’t a call that could wait, so I sat there in my driveway and dialed his number. After two rings I remembered that he was at practice. There wasn’t much time for me to get frustrated, because not even five seconds later it rang in my hand. I answered and didn’t bother with courteous greetings. “Did you sleep with her after Homecoming?”

  “What?” He was mumbling something under his breath. “I’m on my way.”

  Twenty minutes later he was pulling up in front of my house and I was still fuming. I got out the car and waited with my arms crossed as he approached me, still wearing his clothes from practice.

  “I knew she was gonna do something stupid. I should’ve never let her get in your car.”

  “That’s not the point, AJ. I just need to know if she’s telling the truth!”

  “No! I told you I haven’t done anything with her since Sophomore year!” He insisted. Guilty or innocent, I would’ve expected him to say the exact same thing he just had, which was why this conversation wasn’t really getting us anywhere. “After the dance, I hit McDonald’s and came straight home! The only reason I waited to call you was because I figured you’d be getting home late,” he explained.

  “I don’t know who to believe.”

  “Really? You don’t know if you can believe me or the crazy girl who’s trying to run you off?” He rolled his eyes and turned his back on me. “You’re not even being reasonable.”

  “Whatever, AJ. And what about these pictures she told me about?”

  “What pictures?”

  “Pictures of you and her…..together,” I hinted.

  AJ lowered his head, understanding what I was referring to. “There were pictures, but they’re long gone. I burned them when I broke it off with her.” He finally turned back around to face me, assessing my reaction.

  I’d half expected him to deny it, but he was straight forward and honest with me as he had been about everything else up until now. That made me question whether Leila had made the whole story up. I looked into AJ’s eyes as he stared intently into mine, unwavering. He was telling the truth; I would’ve bet my life on it. There were definitely pictures, but Leila’s rendition of Homecoming night never happened. I searched for a way to tell him that I’d made a mistake accusing him, but I was at a loss for words.

  As we stood there staring at one another, my mom pulled up to the house. She didn’t seem to notice that AJ and I were extremely tense as she waved before pulling the car into the driveway. His expression softened a bit as he began to speak again. “Sam, I have nothing to hide. Anything you wanna know, just ask me and you can trust that I’ll tell you the truth.” He touched the side of my face. “Even if she had been telling the truth, I would’ve told you before and we could’ve moved on.” He paused for a moment. “But I don’t think anything like this’ll come up again. I’m going to handle Leila.”

  I moved closer to hug him, feeling bad for letting Leila get inside my head and making me doubt him. I made up my mind not to let that happen again……

  *****

  The next day, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Deanna made sure to call me the night before to make sure I didn’t still have any suspicions about Leila’s story. She assured me that if it was true, AJ would’ve told Karl, and Karl being the hopeless blabbermouth that he is, would’ve told her. Tha
t actually eased my mind even more, because I was beginning to trust Deanna too. She reminded me of Leslie in the sense that she’s easy to talk to and genuine.

  Surprisingly, Leila behaved herself. At lunch, she sat quietly beside Trevor and didn’t even so much as look at AJ. I wasn’t sure what he did or said to her, but it worked. Served her right. She was proving to be more of a pain than I imagined, but maybe this was the end of her games.

  At the end of the day, AJ was waiting for me outside the school doors to walk me to my car. He seemed excited about something which peaked my interest.

  “Got any plans for tomorrow?” He asked.

  “What’s tomorrow?”

  “Remember, no school because of that district meeting or something.”

  “Oh, yeah. No, I don’t have anything going on. I honestly forgot until you just reminded me. Why? What are you doing?”

  The devious smile on his face made me nervous. “I have a plan. Karl mentioned having everyone stay the night at his house and doing the bonfire tonight instead of Saturday. You could tell your mom that you’re staying with Deanna and then you’d be able to stay too.”

  AJ obviously didn’t know what it was like to live with parents who had you on constant lockdown. “My mom doesn’t even know Deanna. She’ll never go for it.”

  “Just try. The worst she could say is no.”

  Under normal circumstances, I would’ve just dismissed the idea altogether, but I thought about it and decided to give it a try. “Ok, but don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work.”

  He smiled reassuringly. “I have faith in you.”

  *****

  If my homework was done before my mom came home, my chances of getting out would be much better. The second I slammed my History book shut I heard the garage door open. It was time to put on my game face and do my best to convince my mom that I was going to be spending the night with Deanna – which wasn’t a total lie. After all she’d be there too.

  I took a deep breath and ran downstairs to meet her at the door. As soon as it flung open I started begging. “Mom, my friend Deanna from school wanted me to ask if I could stay the night at her house tonight. Remember we don’t have school tomorrow? I’ll here alone tomorrow bored if you say no. Can I go? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?”

  She looked confused. “Wait. Slow down a bit. Who is this Deanna? Do I know her?” She inquired.

  “No. She’s a new friend, but I’ll call her if you want to talk to her,” I offered.

  She stared into my eyes for a long while before responding. “That’s not necessary. Just let me run it by your father when he gets home.”

  That frustrated me because I knew that tonight was Daddy’s late night at the office and I honestly wanted to be long gone before he returned. I had to do something. “Well, she wanted me to come over soon. Couldn’t you just call him and see?”

  She stared at me again before finally giving in. “Give me a minute to at least take my shoes off and I’ll try him.”

  I smiled as she rolled her eyes at me. She was obviously annoyed by my impatience, but it seemed like the plan was going to work. I ran upstairs and started thinking about everything I’d need to pack: a pair of clothes for tomorrow, a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt to sleep in and my pillow. I’d have to pack my toiletries after I showered again. The sound of my mother’s footsteps startled me. Not wanting her to know that I was anticipating getting my way, I flung the bag into the closet and slammed it shut just as she walked in.

  She looked at me curiously as I leaned against my closet door, but she dismissed it quickly. “Well, I spoke with your father and he said that it was fine as long as your homework was done before you left.”

  I smiled. “It’s done already.”

  “Then you’re free to go. What time are you coming back tomorrow.?”

  “I’m not sure, but it won’t be late.”

  She nodded and left the room. As soon as I knew she was gone, I jumped around excitedly. I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough. I scrolled sown to AJ’s name, hit ‘send’, and only had to hear it ring three times before he answered.

  “She said yes!” I whispered eagerly, but there was silence on the other end. “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  “No, it’s just that I talked to Trevor and……..he and Leila are going too, so I’d actually decided to just stay home.”

  “What? I don’t care about her. Come on. I actually got my mom to agree to it.”

  AJ deliberated for a moment before answering. “Fine. If you still wanna go…..then we’ll go.”

  “Good. So what time should I meet you there?” I asked.

  “Karl said about 7.”

  “Ok. Then I’ll see you there.”

  I didn’t wait for him to respond before I hung up the phone. Seconds later, I’d stripped out of my clothes and jumped in the shower. By the time I got out and dressed it was nearly a quarter after six. I threw the rest of my things into my bag and went back to the bathroom to do my hair, put on my favorite silver hoop ear rings my father bought me last Christmas, and checked over my outfit to make sure that I was satisfied with it. It was now 6:27. After double checking my bag, I threw it over my shoulder and headed downstairs. Mom was in the kitchen finishing up dinner and there was still a little time to kill before I needed to leave, so I sat there watching her. She turned to look over her shoulder at me and smiled. “Well, don’t you look cute?”

  “Thanks.”

  She stared a few seconds longer before turning back to the pot in front of her. “So, how were things when Antonio came back to school?” She asked.

  My heart sank. I’d tried not to think about him these past few days, but she’d just made that impossible. “He actually won’t be back until we go back to school on Thursday. The principal gave him a couple extra days because he punched the wall on his way out of the office. And there’s no school tomorrow, so…..”

  She turned to look at me again, but only for a second. “Are you worried?”

  I sighed. “A little. I’m torn because I don’t want AJ to feel like I push him away, but I don’t want Antonio to feel like I’m throwing our relationship in his face either. I don’t know how to not hurt one while trying not to hurt the other.”

  “I’m sure that it will all work out.

  I glanced over at the clock on the microwave…..6:36.

  “Gotta go. I told Deanna I’d be there by 7.”

  “Samantha……be good now.” Something about the way she said that made me believe that she knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I jumped up from the chair and hurried out the door.

  I pulled up in front of Karl’s house a few minutes early, so I decided to wait in the car until I saw AJ pull up. Trevor and Leila arrived shortly after I did, and I watched them walk up to the house without noticing me. Trevor was speaking to Leila, who was inattentive. He smiled and laughed by himself, all the while she maintained her usual unfeeling expression.

  Before now, I’d never really paid much attention to Trevor. He and AJ shared very few similarities other than their nationality. He was maybe just as tall, but wasn’t nearly as attractive. His slight overbite and awkward posture, made him a less qualified stand-in for the real thing than I’d imagined.

  I replayed my run in with Leila in my mind. There was definitely the possibility that she’d pull something tonight. I could only hope that AJ’s threat would make her back off. After all, it seemed to work pretty well at lunch today.

  Just then, I saw AJ’s black car pull up behind me. He refused to let me carry my own bag as we walked to the door hand in hand. Mr. Holmes answered with the same enthusiasm as before. “AJ! Samantha! It is Samantha right?”

  I smiled. “Yes, but you can call me Sam.”

  “It’s great to see ya again! You kids get comfortable. I’m just getting everything ready to throw on the grill. You can take your things downstairs, but everyone’s already out back.”

  The fire wa
s already blazing. Everyone was huddled around carrying on their usual cheerful banter. “What’s up AJ!” Karl yelled. “Sam! Glad you decided to come.”

  There were a few empty seats near Randy so we sat down next to him. Deanna walked over, grinning from ear to ear. “Hey! You made it!”

  “Yeah, it took a little finesse, but I got my mom to let me out.”

  “Good. We’re gonna have a great time,” she replied.

  I smiled back Just before Deanna turned to walk back over toward Karl. Across from me, through the fire, I could see Leila staring directly at me. As the flames danced wildly just like her red hair, they seemed to engulf her face. I didn’t shy away from her gaze. There was a hatred simmering between the two of us, no doubt about that. I wanted more than anything to X her out of the picture altogether, but I didn’t see how that could happen. We’d somehow have to learn to coexist, but that’s like telling oil to mix with water.

  “Come and get it!” Mr. Holmes yelled from the picnic table where he’d prepared a large spread fit for royalty.

  Randy was the first one there with his plate in hand, looking over the food like he hadn’t had a thing to eat in days. Without hesitation, he reached forward with his heart set on the large burger before him.

  “Get back boy! Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?” Mr. Holmes asked gruffly before turning to address me. “Ladies first.” His tone was far more gentle now, his heavy southern drawl slowing his sentence. He handed Deanna and I a plate and I saw his eyes look up without lifting his head. Leila was coming toward the table and Mr. Holmes rolled his eyes and sighed. “Even the crazy ones,” he mumbled in a voice low enough that I knew he didn’t intend for anyone to hear. I laughed quietly to myself and went on about my business.

  Nearly an hour later, Randy was the only one still eating. He’d fixed three or four plates and was finally showing signs of slowing down. It amazed me that this boy, who couldn’t weigh more than 140 pounds even at his height of over six foot, could eat so much. The others stared at him as he inhaled his last hotdog in less than a minute.