Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) Read online

  She put her hands over her mouth to hide her wide smile and blushing cheeks. “I can’t believe we just did that,” she said through her hands, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

  He couldn’t see her smile to know if she was happy or upset. “Was it alright?”

  “Alright? Oh my god, it was perfect.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and quickly kissed him again. This time fast and hungry, and unlike she’d ever been kissed before, with a need that had been building for weeks.

  By testing the water and kissing, they came up with a new problem. Not only were they now deceiving Marissa Lou, but they realized as soon as their lips touched that their feelings were mutually surprisingly strong, and deeply intense. In hindsight, maybe they’d look back and wonder if they should have handled it differently, but at that moment nothing else mattered. It was just the two of them.

  Chapter 8

  Katie didn’t see Daniel on Sunday, the day after she professed her feelings for him even though he was scheduled to work. So when Monday came around, she was feeling less than confident. Saturday evening, after the blissful kiss, Katie was on cloud nine and she couldn’t stop smiling, but by the time Sunday afternoon came around when he didn’t show up for his shift, her mind began racing with doubts. Not doubts about herself, but doubts that he had changed his mind. Now she had to face both him and Marissa Lou at school. The thought was paralyzing and almost enough to make her never want to leave her room again. But she knew she had to, especially if she was going to get into college and leave that small town and the people she wanted to hide from.

  When she entered the school building, she pulled her baseball hat down, trying to shadow her face. She then proceeded to walk through the hallway with her head bent. When she got to the senior hallway she hugged the wall and peeked from under the brim of the hat, looking up and down the hallway. When she saw that the coast was clear she hurried to her locker, opened it and retrieved books for her first four classes before lunch time as quickly as she could. It bummed her out when the school year first started that she didn’t have any classes with Marissa Lou that year, but now she was thankful. It didn’t help her in the hallways or during lunch though. She’d just have to get creative. Daniel on the other hand had almost every class with her. Avoiding him would be impossible.

  She stopped at her first period class and poked her head in the doorway and scanned the room. When she was satisfied that Daniel wasn’t there yet, she hurried in and sat in the back row of desks close to the window. She slouched down and turned her head to look out the window at the scenery outside, hoping to not be noticed.

  “Hey you, there you are.”

  Katie gasped and froze at the sound of Daniel’s voice coming from beside her. She ignored him and continued to look out the window, hoping he’d get the hint that he was speaking to the wrong person and go away.

  “Hey, is everything alright?” he asked concerned, and put a hand on her arm.

  His touch made her heart elate and ache all at once. He knew it was her so there was no point trying to hide anymore. She turned to face him, but didn’t make eye contact. “Hey,” she said sadly.

  He sat down in the desk beside her, leaned in close to her, and whispered, “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” she said shaking her head.

  “Okay, so why are you hiding out in the corner looking all sad and ignoring me?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Bull!”

  “Fine!” she said taking off her hat and tossing it on top of the desk, messy dark waves cascaded down her back as she did. She smoothed down her now wild hair then looked him in the eyes. “I’m just a little hurt and I feel really silly today. Thus I’m hiding.”

  “Hurt? Hiding? I don’t get it.”

  Her anger subsided for the most part when she saw the confused look on his face. Was I wrong? she thought.

  She turned away from him and began picking at the chipped corner on the desk surface. “I haven’t heard from you since the other night. I figured you changed your mind or something. I mean, it’s okay if you did, I’d understand, but I just wish I knew,” she said in a small voice.

  He sat up straight and stared at her. “Hey, look at me,” he said to her, and she did. “I haven’t. I swear. I’m sorry we haven’t talked. I’ve been really busy lately and I was trying to process everything that happened.”

  “I understand.” His words stung.

  He said he didn’t change his mind, but he had to spend the weekend processing it. Obviously he didn’t feel the same way she felt about him. She felt her eyes beginning to burn from tears, so she quickly looked away, refusing to let him see her cry. Not again and not over her hurt feelings toward him. It’s just not the way she was.

  “Besides that, didn’t you hear what happened?” he asked hoping to break the awkward silence between them.

  Without looking at him she shook her head ‘no’.

  “Marissa Lou got into an accident over the weekend.”

  That got her attention. She jerked her head toward him, her heart fluttered in her chest with fear that something bad had happened to Marissa Lou. “Oh my god! Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Thank god, what happened?”

  He sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair then down his face. “After you and I talked, I went to her house. I had to know what was going on. I needed to hear it from her that we were over. When I got there, she was really sad and quiet at first, then she got loud and angry. She began screaming at me. Saying stuff about how I betrayed her and she didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

  “Wow, what did you say?” Katie asked, her throat going dry. She knew he was leaving thing out, probably things about her.

  “What could I say? I was stunned, but mostly I knew she was right. I have feelings for you and I have for a little while.”

  Despite the somewhat sad story, she couldn’t help but to smile.

  “But my lack of words only made her madder. She grabbed her keys and stormed out of the house. I didn’t even know what had happened until I heard her tires squeal out of the driveway. I hurried out of the house just in time to watch her tail lights disappear in the dark. Without thinking, I jumped in my car as well and caught up with her, but when she saw me she sped up. It was insane! I didn’t know what else to do but follow her. Neither of us saw the deer until it was only a few inches from her car.”

  “Oh no,” Katie said covering her mouth with her hands. “She didn’t hit it, did she?”

  “Nah, but when she swerved to avoid it, her car lost control and went head first into a ditch.”

  She dropped her hands and stared at him. “Are you sure she’s okay?”

  “Yeah, I took her to the hospital to be sure. She only got a bump on the head. Her car got it the worst, but it still runs, so I guess it all turned out better than it could have.”

  She nodded her head in understanding. “Sounds like you had an interesting weekend.”

  “Interesting is an understatement.” He grew quiet. “I really am sorry that I left you hanging this weekend. After what happened on Saturday I felt like I owed it to her to hang out with her on Sunday to make sure she was okay.”

  “I’m sure she appreciated that,” Katie whispered.

  But Daniel only laughed. “Hell, who knows. She didn’t say one word to me the whole time. We just sat there, silently watching TV.” After a long silence he finally spoke again. “Do you regret it?”

  Her expression softened and she slowly shook her head. “Not at all.”

  “Neither do I,” he whispered and reached across the aisle to grab her hand.

  She looked at it surprised for a moment before looking at him again. He smiled weakly and the tears that were previously threatening to fall instantly dried up. She had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions these past couple of days while not knowing if he changed his mind about her, but right here, right now, she had no doubt that he wanted to b
e with her. She took a deep breath to push out any lingering emotions and smiled back at him. The next test would be seeing Marissa Lou again. For now she was happy to bask in her blissed out feelings and deal with Marissa Lou when it came.

  He held onto her hand across the aisle throughout the rest of the class, only letting go briefly when the teacher walked by. When the bell rung they walked out of the room together, still hand in hand, and walked slowly to their next class. Everyone stared and whispers could be heard as they publically announced their union with the innocent jester. It all happened so quickly, and Katie was quite certain that no one knew about the break up between Daniel and Marissa Lou, thus making their display into a naughty scandal, but she didn’t care. By the time they got to their next class they still had a few minutes to kill so they lingered outside the door. In the nook between the wall and a row of lockers, Daniel turned her around to face him and softly brushed his hand over her flushed cheek, both too caught up with their growing feelings to notice anything else around them.

  They were so caught up in the moment that they never even heard the gasps as Marissa Lou strolled through the hallway, or how the air seemed to have sucked out of the building all at once when she spotted them. It was Katie who noticed her first and when she did she shook her hand free from Daniel’s and quickly looked away, but not before spotting the nasty bruising on the side of Marissa Lou’s forehead from the accident. It was obvious she tried to cover it up with make-up, but Katie was her friend and had been for a really long time. She could spot any change in her, no matter how subtle.

  “Oh my god,” Katie whispered in Daniel’s chest.

  “What is it?” Daniel asked, his smile turning into concern. When Katie didn’t answer he turned around and saw what happened. Marissa Lou.

  * * *

  Marissa Lou had stopped in her tracks only a few feet away from Daniel and Katie when she saw them together, but her legs were too stiff to back away, so she just stood there staring at them. When Daniel turned in her direction her heart crumbled to pieces for the hundredth time. She didn’t even look at Katie, who now appeared to be hiding behind him. She only looked at him. She desperately wanted to turn around and run away, but her class was in that direction and she didn’t want to look weak. Not in front of him, and not in front of her classmates. She was the “it” girl in school. She could have anyone she wanted, and always got what she wanted and no one had ever stood in her way.

  Unfortunately, what she wanted wasn’t hers to take, not anymore, at least for a little while anyway. She was the one that broke things off, so she had to stand by her convictions. Besides, he’d be back. She had no doubt about that. He was hers, he just needed a little time to remember that. But for now she was alone and in pain, although she knew it didn’t have to be like that.

  She broke eye contact with Daniel and looked around the hallway at all the eyes on her. She felt humiliated. It had only been a few days and they were already making out in the hallway in front of everyone. Now everyone would know that Katie stole her boyfriend. There was no doubt that the gossip mill would be spreading like wild fire after this. She continued to look around as she considered what to do.

  There were eyes of concern, eyes of excitement and eyes of pity, except for one. The lone set of eyes of Randy Farris, resident sexy bad boy, weren’t of pity, but of amusement and desire and that was exactly what she needed; someone to desire her and distract her from her reality. And someone to make her look less like a loser. Forcing her legs to move, she pushed past a few people as she made her way to him.

  “Hey,” she said with a smile. She looked around at all the people who were still staring at her, knowing they were probably straining to hear what she was saying. She rolled her eyes and looked back at Randy. “Are you done watching this lame show?”

  “Drama isn’t really my thing, so I was only watching one thing.”

  “Good, you want to get out of here then?”

  “Whatcha have in mind?”

  “Come with me,” she said grabbing his hand and without another look toward Daniel or Katie, she escorted him through the crowd. All eyes were on her and Randy as they walked out of the school hand in hand and she instantly felt victorious.

  * * *

  Katie knew Becca and Jess had watched the interaction along with everyone else, except they actually had something invested there. The four of them were best friends. Cheating in the group was not acceptable.

  “What the heck, Katie!” Becca scolded her once Marissa Lou was out of sight.

  Katie was still hiding behind Daniel, wishing the wall would open up and swallow her already. She was so concerned about how things would go down between her, Daniel and Marissa that she didn’t take into account Jess or Becca. The four of them have been inseparable for a really long time, but this, what happened today, would surely change everything and that scared her more than anything.

  “Katie!” Becca yelled when she didn’t answer.

  “Hey, stop it!” Daniel yelled back, coming to Katie’s rescue.

  Katie had seen him watching as Marissa Lou left with that loser, Randy Farris, his face a mask of disbelief. He had continued to watch the door, and she wondered if he was hoping, expecting, her to walk back in. He hadn’t even notice the other girls walk up. Not until Becca raised her voice. He turned to look at her, still cowering behind him. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes and when he saw the tears, his expression softened.

  “Are you okay?”

  She looked away and wiped her tears before shaking her head ‘yes’.

  “Is someone going to explain to us what just happened?” Becca asked, her voice filled with disbelief.

  “Marissa Lou and I broke up,” Daniel said still staring down at Katie. “And there’s a thing here, or at least I hope there’s still a thing here.”

  Katie slowly looked up at Daniel. Her eyes still leaking and her throat feeling like the Sahara Desert had inserted itself there. She liked Daniel so much. He was everything she could ever want. But Marissa Lou was her best friend.

  Was she kidding herself earlier? She was so happy to finally be with Daniel. She felt free. And something in the back of her head kept telling her that it would all work out. That she could be with Daniel and she and Marissa Lou could still be friends like they always were. Nothing had to change. That was until she actually saw Marissa Lou and the look on her face. She did that. She hurt her best friend.

  “I, I don’t know if I can do this,” Katie said and slid from between Daniel and the wall and briskly walked away, leaving Daniel staring after her, and Becca and Jess staring daggers in him.

  * * *

  “Great, just great. Good job, Daniel. I hope you’re happy now. A nuclear bomb would do less damage than what you’ve done,” Becca seethed and walked away as well, pulling Jess with her.

  Chapter Nine

  Marissa Lou stared out the windshield of Randy’s beat up old truck, replaying what happened at school. In the scenario, in her mind, each time she said and did something different. Hell, anything would have been better than that what she actually did, which was stand there frozen, silently staring at Daniel like a pathetic loser.

  “Hey beautiful, how about you slide your fine self closer,” Randy said to her and before she could react, he wrapped his arms around her rear and pulled her close to him and draped an arm around her shoulder. “That’s more like it.”

  Marissa Lou giggled as he did, although the smell of cigarette smoke rolled off him in waves and crashed into her. She never considered Randy as a potential anything before and quite frankly, she wasn’t sure why that was. He was the ideal bad boy, and of course all girls loved a bad boy. He was cool, sexy and dangerous, which was the complete opposite of Daniel. Sure Daniel was hot, but there wasn’t a dangerous bone in his body, he was too much of a good guy for that. He was the All-American golden boy. The change to Randy would be exactly what she needed to distract herself for the time being.

  “I can
’t believe we are skipping school,” Marissa Lou said with a sparkle in her eye. She was always up for a good time, but defying authority wasn’t something she was accustomed to.

  Randy smirked, “You’ve never skipped before?”

  She shook her head ‘no’, but the smile she gave him told him she liked the thrill.

  He gave her a considering look before he reached across her with his free hand and opened the glove compartment. He was so close his face was practically on her chest. He was so close he could probably even hear her heart speed up at their closeness. He smiled when he found what he was looking for. He sat up and leaned in close to her again.

  She watched him in disbelief as he lit a lighter, lighting up a joint. She knew people that smoked pot, but she was not one of them. She didn’t like the burned out way potheads acted. She always said if there was ever a top unattractive quality in a person, it would be that one.

  “Here, you want some?” he asked holding the joint out to her.

  She looked away and fanned the smoke from her and stifled the need to cough. “No, I’m good. Thanks.”

  He pulled the joint back and put it to his lips, taking a big inhale of the toxic fumes. He grabbed her chin, turned her face to him and crushed his lips to hers, forcing the smoke into her mouth.

  “What the hell?” she asked coughing on the foreign substance.

  “Hey, don’t knock it before you try it,” he said and shrugged his shoulders.

  She quickly became annoyed at his obvious lack of care of what she wanted. She pushed away from him and stared out her side window. But within minutes the mad feelings steadily dissolved leaving her with a sense of giggly happiness, although she was working hard to hide it from him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.