Just a Boyfriend Page 17

  “I brought it back to her,” Bash volunteered. He didn’t seem shaken or undone at all. Just his normal self. “It was mixed in with my things.”

  “Oh, I’m the one who finished up your laundry,” she said, the very picture of innocence. Which made me instantly suspicious. “I must have done that on accident.”

  Ha. On accident? That was the biggest on purpose I’d ever seen. I hadn’t put away all of my clean laundry yet, but now I assumed that I was going to find some of Bash’s things in there.

  I wished Lauren and I were alone so that I could interrogate her. Because what had been her end goal here? Did she think he’d see my bra, and that would be it? He’d fall in love with me instantly? Maybe that might have worked on a boy her own age, but not so much on a guy like Bash.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked again. I would get my answer this time.

  “I’m here to kidnap you and Bash, so as I mentioned earlier, it’s great that you’re together. Less time. Come on, Doug, Marley, and Mom are waiting out in the car for you guys.”

  I was so confused. “For what?”

  “It’s a surprise. Something for Mom’s survivor list. Come on, kids, we don’t have all day. Let’s go.”

  I didn’t know if Doug had the car’s heater on, and I wouldn’t want my mom to wait out in the cold because I was arguing with my sister. So I grabbed my cell phone and coat and followed after Lauren, with Bash bringing up the rear.

  They had come in their SUV. Lauren climbed into the back seat next to Marley, which left me and Bash to share the middle row. We greeted everyone, and I asked what was going on, but my mother just smiled enigmatically at me. “Didn’t Lauren tell you that it’s a surprise? You’ll have to wait and see. And we’re all going to do it together!”

  She reached behind her, taking my hand. “I’m so glad you’re here. It means the world to me.”

  “Of course, Mom. You know I’m always here for you.”

  Mom faced front again as Doug started driving. She turned on some oldies station that she and Doug liked. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’d almost kissed Bash and now I was off on some adventure with our joint families.

  My cheeks flushed as I considered what would have happened if I had kissed him. Lauren would have walked in on us. She would have told everyone. How would they have reacted?

  I knew it wouldn’t have been good.

  But I still wished I’d kissed him. Even if it was only one more time before he stopped me to gently tell me that we were just friends now, and he didn’t feel that way about me. I wondered what he was thinking now. If he realized what had almost happened and how he felt about the possibility of that situation.

  Lauren leaned all the way forward to stick her head in between us. “Hey, Ember, do you remember when Mom first got sick and you drove me to play practice every day? We were doing Thumbelina, and I was the lead, and I didn’t want to have to drop out. And you had volleyball, and you would come home every night and clean the house and make us dinner so that Doug could take care of Mom?”

  “I remember.” What was with her?

  I figured it out when she turned toward Bash. “You weren’t there so you didn’t see it, but she is such a caring person. So devoted to her family and friends.”

  “Yep, I know that about her. If you call her and need her help, she will always show up.” That you’re-going-to-get-kissed look was still in his eyes. “I remember, too.”

  I caught my breath at his words, but Lauren pressed on. “Even now, she’s always checking up on my mom. Because she’s so caring.”

  “She’s also smart and good at everything she tries,” Bash added in. “And she’s funny. She always makes me laugh, and I love to laugh.”

  What was this? It felt like I was on some kind of reverse game show where instead of having me perform some embarrassing task, the other contestants were just going to say really nice stuff about me. Some song came on the radio that apparently Bash didn’t like. He grimaced and then grabbed his earbuds from his coat pocket. Once he had them in, I turned around to hiss at my sister, “Stop it, right now. Whatever you’re doing. Stop.”

  “What? Is it my fault if he’s already in love with you and knows how amazing you are? I am so married to the idea of you two getting together that I’ve already picked out our china patterns. Also, I can’t decide on Embash or Bember for your couple name.”

  “How about neither one?”

  “Negative. Your ship must have a name. And don’t tell me there’s nothing going on, because I saw you two when I walked in. There was some serious smoochage about to happen. You are catching feelings. And considering that you’re an athlete, that should be easy for you.”

  “I’m not catching anything! Besides, my job is not to catch but to smack that ball back over the net.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she said in a singsong voice. She leaned all the way back, making it so that I could no longer quietly talk to her. I mad whispered her name, but she started talking to Marley and ignored me.

  I had a good twenty minutes to sit and freak out over what was going on, what Lauren was trying to accomplish, and how impossible my entire situation seemed.

  “We’re here!” my mom called out just as Bash took out his earbuds.

  “Where?” I asked. We were in an almost empty parking lot near a couple of flat warehouse buildings. It looked like the kind of place where the government would perform alien autopsies.

  Cue another big smile from my mom. “It’s my surprise. We’re all going to jump out of an airplane!”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  BASH

  Everybody seemed excited as they climbed out of the SUV into the blinding sunlight. Everyone except Ember. Her face looked frozen, like she was terrified but trying to cover it up with a faux smile. Nobody else seemed to notice.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I asked her. I wrapped my fingers around her slim wrist and tugged her to slow her down, so that we were behind the rest of the group.

  “The only thing on my schedule for today was not dying, and now I’m putting that at risk.” She shivered as we walked toward the main office, where Tricia told us we were going to have an hour-long ground-training session before we all tandem jumped out of an airplane.

  “It could be fun,” I said.

  “And totally dangerous. I’m pretty sure there’s a negative fun-to-danger ratio here.”

  “It can’t be too bad, or they wouldn’t keep letting people do it.” My joke fell flat. She looked panicked, and every protective instinct I possessed screamed at me to keep her safe. I tugged on her hand so that she would stop walking.

  “You do not have to do this,” I told her.

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Yes, I do. My mom said it meant the world to her.”

  That just seemed stupid to me, but I knew better than to say it. “I don’t care who it’s important to. You can stay right here and wave at the rest of us as we jump. I’ll even stay with you.”

  Her eyes snapped open, determined. “No. I’ll do it. It’s important.”

  Ember was the only thing that was important, the only thing that mattered to me in that moment. She took her hand away from mine and strode off, following everybody else. I jogged to catch up with her.

  “I’m serious about this. You say the word, and I will call an Uber and get us out of here. Your mom will understand.”

  She just shrugged as her reply.

  I tried again, feeling how useless it was. “You can tell your mom no.”

  “I can’t,” was the only explanation she gave me. “So let’s go carpe this diem.”

  A very animated man named Skip led our training session, and he reminded me of a television host for a children’s program. Everything he said was big and in bold letters. And everything he said made Ember scoot down lower in her plastic chair.

  “Our state-of-the-art plane, with comfortable seats and easy exit access will take us up to a cruising alt
itude of ten thousand feet.”

  “Ten thousand?” she repeated to me. “That’s like . . . fifteen hundred of you.”

  “Which will give you about thirty seconds of free falling before your tandem partner will pull the rip cord, and you get to float the rest of the way down. While you’re free falling, you’ll be going at speeds of a hundred and twenty miles per hour,” Skip continued.

  Ember let out a little moan and then rested her forehead against her knees. “I don’t even like driving on the freeway because it feels too fast, and this is twice that.”

  “It will be fine,” I tried to reassure her. “If you want to leave, I will get you out of here right now. But if you choose to stay and jump, I’m going to support you. Whatever you want, I’m on your side.”

  She reached over to take my hand, and I held it tight, wishing I could give her some of my strength so that this wouldn’t seem so scary.

  “I’ve already made up my mind,” she said. “I’m going to stay. Even though I’d rather not hurl my body through space and hope it doesn’t slam into the ground on impact.”

  Skip told us that the weather would be about twenty degrees colder when we jumped, and that we might end up landing in some melting snow, which he said would be like jumping into a wet puddle. Ember couldn’t have been excited about that.

  We watched a training video, worked with our instructors/partners (mine was named Gil, and Ember had been matched with a guy named Albie), and practiced various pieces of the jump and landing. Then we were getting flight suits on and being taken out to the plane. I kept an eye on her, but she just kept going along with it. Everybody else was caught up in their excitement. Which I got, because I’d never been skydiving before, and I’d always wanted to. But my entire focus was on Ember and what she needed.

  I reminded her at multiple points that we could stop and didn’t have to go through with this. On the tarmac. As we got strapped to our instructors. In the plane as it taxied down the runway. As we climbed into the sky. But then she’d turn and see her mother’s grinning face, and she’d tell me she was fine and could do this.

  She was so brave it broke my heart.

  We reached our cruising altitude, and people started jumping. Tricia went, followed by my dad, then Lauren and Marley. Finally it was just me and Ember. With Gil and Albie.

  “I know I sound like a broken record,” I yelled at her. “But you don’t have to do this.”

  With her mom already out of the plane, she hesitated. “What if I’m not okay? What if something happens?”

  “You’ll be great!” I tried assuring her. “Albie here knows what he’s doing. And if something goes wrong, Gil and I will air bomb ourselves across the sky like a guy from a spy movie and we’ll save you.”

  Albie responded, “You know that’s not possible, right?”

  “Dude! You are not helping,” I told him.

  “It’s all good! We got this!” he responded, finally catching my drift. “You’re in great hands.”

  “I’m right behind you,” I said. “Wait for me on the ground.”

  She nodded, and then she was at the door with Albie. One second she was there, then she was gone.

  It felt too much like a metaphor for my liking.

  Then it was our turn. Gil had me tip my head back and tuck in my feet, and then I was just . . . falling.

  Not falling. Flying.

  At first the wind was too loud, and my brain couldn’t process what was happening. My hands and feet were kind of all over the place. The cold air slammed into me, making it hard to breathe. But as I quickly adjusted and started looking around me, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

  It was . . . amazing. Incredible. Exhilarating. There was this total sensory overload, but I’d never felt more like a superhero in my entire life. It was total freedom.

  I yelled “Woo-hoo!” into the wind. I wanted this feeling to last forever.

  Then Gil pulled the rip cord, and we jerked back until we settled into place. There was this total peace, as if nothing bad ever could or would happen again. I watched as the ground slowly came closer and closer, loving seeing the world from this angle. It wasn’t like looking at it from the top of a tall building or an airplane. It was a unique vantage point that I knew I’d never forget.

  The rush of adrenaline that was coursing through my body was like . . . coming from behind to score a touchdown and win a game in the last twenty seconds of the quarter.

  Then we were landing, and I stuck my legs out while Gil ran at the ground, easing us into a snow pile. As promised, it was like landing in a puddle. My clothes were soaked.

  As Gil released me from the harness, I spotted Ember at the edge of the field. She was sitting on the ground with her head between her knees. Once I was free I thanked Gil for the fantastic experience and ran over to check on her.

  A staff member hovered over her and looked at me gratefully as I approached. “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  The staff member said, “Usually people love this. Even when they’re scared initially, they’re thrilled after they land. We gave her some peanut-butter crackers and a water bottle.”

  I crouched down next to her. “We should probably go inside and get dried off.”

  “Okay.” She nodded. “That was terrible, by the way. I felt like I was going to die. On the plus side, I found out that I am definitely scared of heights.”

  I put my arm around her waist to help her stand up. Her body was trembling, her face completely white.

  “Don’t worry, Bash. I’m fine. So fine,” she tried to reassure me. “I am totally okay now.” Her legs gave way, and she collapsed against me.

  I put my other arm under her legs and picked her up. “Yep. You totally look like it. Eat your crackers. You’ll feel better when you get some carbs and protein in you.”

  “I’ll feel better when I get out of these wet clothes.”

  I stumbled and almost dropped her at the mental image her words conjured. I tightened my arms around her. “Sorry.” I wasn’t going to explain for what.

  Then she said something that sounded suspiciously like, “This wasn’t how I imagined you carrying me,” but I decided to ignore it and all the other inappropriate thoughts swirling in my head.

  We reached the locker rooms, and I let her down in front of the women’s changing room. “Are you okay now?”

  “I’ve got this. Don’t worry,” she told me.

  She went inside under her own power, and I hurried to change so that I could be there if she needed me.

  But when she finished putting her clothes on, she seemed fine. Still a little pale, but nothing like before.

  “You jumped out of a plane!” I told her.

  She gave me a thin smile. “Right. And I should be proud. Only it doesn’t really feel like much of an achievement if I had my eyes closed most of the time.”

  We were joined by the rest of our clan. Everybody else seemed to have loved it, and nobody noticed Ember’s lack of enthusiasm as they talked about how much fun it had been. There was some talk about going out to grab some ice cream, but I said that I had some studying to do. That wasn’t the reason I’d said it, though. I always had studying to do. What I wanted was to give Ember a break from pretending. We piled in the car, and I kept my eye on her all the way back to school. Dad pulled into a spot at Ember’s apartment complex, and I told him I’d get out here. I wanted to check on her, even though she was looking like her old self again.

  “Bash, wait,” Dad said.

  Ember turned to me, questioning, and I waved her on ahead. “I’ll catch up.”

  When she had left, my father said, “There’s something you need to know. Your mother has filed for joint custody of Marley.”

  It was like a gaping hole had opened up in my chest, like a giant wrecking ball had slammed into me and knocked me off my feet. “Wha—what?”

  “I guess she got tired of waiting to hear something.”

  “It’s only been, like,
two weeks!”

  My dad sighed, as if that same wrecking ball had hit him, and he was still carrying the weight of it around. “We’ll figure it out. But this means I’ll have to tell Marley. It’s one of the reasons why Tricia pushed to do the skydiving today. She wanted us to have this one last memory before . . .”

  “Before our lives blow up,” I finished. “But Mom left us. She gave up her parental rights.”

  “My attorney thinks I have a case for abandonment, but the judges in our county are keen to reunite kids with their parents. If she really is clean and has her life back together, your mom will be able to prove that she’s fit and should be given a chance. Even if it’s supervised visits at first.”

  “And she . . .” My voice caught, and I cleared my throat. “She didn’t care about seeing me?”

  The love in his eyes was almost too much to handle. “There’s nothing she can do about you. You’re an adult, and you get to make your own decisions.”

  If that was true, then I was going to decide that she wasn’t allowed to ruin our lives again. My brain buzzed with anger. “Give me twenty-four hours before you tell Marley. I’ll call you later.”

  I stalked off, determined to stop this from happening. I heard Dad calling my name, but I refused to stop. I went straight to Ember’s apartment and knocked on her door harder than I’d intended to.

  “The skydiving thing didn’t make me deaf,” she said when she opened up.

  “Can I borrow your car?”

  The amusement slid off her face. “What? Why?”

  “I just . . .” I wanted to punch the wall and yell about Canada. “I need your car.”

  “Not until you tell me why.” She spoke softly and carefully, but I could hear her determination.

  “My mom is suing for custody of Marley, and I’m going to go have a chat with her. Now.” I had taken a photo of my mother’s letter, so I had her home address on my phone.

  “I’m coming with you,” Ember said, putting her coat back on. “And I’m going to drive.”

  “I don’t need you to do that.”