The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) (19 page)

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“You don’t like the drive-in? We can do something else if you want.”

“No, I don’t want to do anything else. I have always, my whole life, wanted to come here, and never have. Have you ever been here before?”

“Mom used to bring us maybe once a year. I always thought it was neat,” he said. “I used to think I wanted to grow up and watch a movie with me in it at the drive-in.”

I laughed.

Climbing out of the car, he went around to the trunk. He had a whole little picnic in the there. He made a pallet on the ground, and we ate grilled-chicken wraps, fruit salad, and chips and watched
The Notebook
. We sat in the car and talked for hours after the movie was over. The stars were amazing, and we leaned the seats back as much as we could and stared into space as we talked. It was by far the best date I had ever been on in my life.

“You’re really something, you know that? This was amazing. I’m impressed. How did you do all of this?” I asked.

“Well, I had a little help. I went home to sign some stuff while you were at the hospital, and Mom helped me. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Yes, it is a big deal. You had to go to a lot of trouble to do this for me. I would have been happy to sit in the hotel and watch reruns with you.”

“I know you would’ve, which makes this even more fun. You deserve it. You could go with anybody to the movies, but I wanted to do something more than that for you,” he said. “Arden, I love you, and I always want you to have the best of everything.”

“I love you too, Slayde,” I whispered, and we kissed. I never would have imagined it would be possible to make love in that little car, but we figured it out.

After we got back to the hotel, we planned to stay up all night. I guess we didn’t make it. I woke up to Slayde’s alarm clock going off, and I knew that today would be a sad day. We ate breakfast in the room and packed all of our stuff within the next hour. Neither one of us said anything on the ride back to school.

He helped me carry my stuff up to my room and then sat down on my bed. I walked over to him and sat in his lap. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. “Please don’t cry,” he said.

“I can’t help it. I’m not ready to say good-bye.”

“I’m not saying good-bye. I’ll be back in less than a week. I promise. Friday will be here before you know it.” He wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“Why does it have to be so hard?” I cried.

“I don’t know, but I would much rather it be hard with you than horrible without you. I already know what that feels like.” He turned me around to face him. “I need you to promise me one thing before I leave. Well, make that two things. First thing is: don’t freak out and disappear on me ever again, no matter what. And the second thing is: no more dates with Eric!” We both laughed.

“I promise.” But our laughter faded. He had to go, and I hated it.

“OK, I’m going to hold you to that promise,” he said as he stood to leave. “I’ll call you before I take off and as soon as I land. I’ll be back before you know it.” He gave me a long, sweet kiss.

When he pulled away, he tried to smile, but his smile was hiding nothing. It wasn’t his gorgeous smile that reached his eyes; it was just a forced grin. He was sad. His eyes were dark, and I couldn’t see those gold flecks in them at all. It really bummed me out.

Looking me in the eyes, he said, “I love you,” and then kissed my forehead and walked out the door.

After Slayde called to tell me he was about to take off, I started getting our dorm room back in order. That would keep my mind busy. Milly and I had left it a wreck when we left early Friday morning, and no one had been back there long enough to straighten it since then.

A knock on the door interrupted my cleaning. When I opened it, I found Eric there, looking out of sorts. Something was bothering him, and my gut told me this was about Slayde, but I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

I had thought maybe he was mad, but once he asked me if he could come in, I started to think he was just flustered. Either way, he was not acting like himself. He came in, turned my desk chair around backward, and sat down. He wasn’t looking me in the eyes. He didn’t say anything for a minute, just sat there, fidgeting around in my chair and messing with his hair, and he finally mumbled, “I’m about to go to the hospital and see Mills. You wanna ride with me?”

I really wasn’t in the mood to take care of his ego or whatever issues he was having at the moment. I also didn’t want to go anywhere with him. I needed a pick-me-up, and he was definitely not that. “No, I think I’m going to tidy up around here for a little while, take a nap. I will go see her this afternoon after everyone else leaves.” I got the broom out of the closet and started sweeping the floor.

“So, are you sad?” he asked.

“Of course I’m sad. I would much rather be sitting in this room studying and joking with Milly than visiting her in a hospital.”

“I’m not talking about Milly. I’m talking about … ” He hesitated, like he didn’t want to say the name. “I’m talking about Slayde leaving.”

I stopped sweeping and looked at him. “How did you know he was leaving today?”

Now he was looking me in the eyes. “Well, he’s not here, and I just assumed he went back to wherever he came from.”

“Eric, I don’t want to talk about Slayde with you, OK?” I said sharply. He was starting to piss me off.

“I just don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand, Eric?”

“If he is so great, and you are so in love, then how come we didn’t even know you had a boyfriend? How come you hadn’t so much as mentioned his name? Not even to Milly? I didn’t think you and Milly had any secrets.”

I was beyond pissed; I was furious. “I will tell you what I don’t understand, Eric. I don’t understand why you are so concerned about my love life. It’s really none of your business.”

He got out of the chair and walked over to where I was standing. “Really? You don’t understand? You know how I feel about you. How I have always felt about you. You never dated anyone else all of this time. I just assumed you shared some of the same feelings as me. I was just waiting on you to figure it out,” he explained.

“Well, you know what they say about assumptions, Eric.” I grabbed the dustpan and started sweeping the little dirt pile into it.

“Whatever! You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better. And if that’s true, then why did you kiss me at the concert?”

I stopped and turned to face him. “Eric, I only kissed you because I was drunk. I’m sorry if that confused you. That wasn’t my intention.”

“Really? Does Slayde know about that kiss?”

“Actually, he does.” I was lying, but I had forgotten that I had kissed Eric until he brought it up. I guessed I would have to tell Slayde. “Slayde knows he has nothing to worry about. I shouldn’t have even gone to that concert with you in the first place. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

I could tell that really hurt his feelings. He looked up at me and said, “That doesn’t explain why you kept him a secret all this time. If everything is so great, why were you sad before he got here?”

“If you must know, I was being an ass and jumped to conclusions because I was scared. I ran away. It was a horrible mistake, and I was sad because I missed him so much.”

“I wish you luck. With a long-distance relationship with a famous underwear model, you’re gonna need it,” he said and stormed out of the room.

What an ass. What’s he talking about, a famous underwear model? Who does he think Slayde is?
Oh well, I wasn’t going to waste any energy worrying about what Eric thought. I needed to get the room together and go see Mills.

Milly was waiting for me like I had known she would be. “So, is he gone?” she asked with a dramatic pouty face.

“Yes, he left this morning, and to top it off, I had an argument with Eric.”

“Oh, man, what about?”

“His feelings for me, and why I hadn’t ever mentioned Slayde. Just crap like that. It’s really stupid.”

“You can’t say you didn’t see that coming. I thought they were gonna throw down in our dorm room the other night. They were both pissed that the other one was there, and of course you were no help in the condition you were in.”

“I know. It was an awkward situation, to say the least. Oh, and apparently I kissed Eric that night at the concert.”

She looked at me with a really dramatic jaw drop. “What? You are kidding. How in the hell did that happen?”

“I don’t know — too many Jell-O shots, I guess.” I laid my head on her bed. She laughed and rubbed my head.

“I sure didn’t see that coming but enough about Eric. I know that’s all meaningless anyway. So, what did you and Slayde do last night?” She raised her eyebrows.

I told her about our date and about him telling me he loved me.

“I don’t even know what to say, besides I’m so jealous that I hate you. I can’t believe how you went from the Virgin Mary to Jezebel in such a short time. Having sex in his dad’s car? So out of character for you, Arden Simms.”

Cracking up, I agreed.

I
stayed busy the next few days with schoolwork and caught up on the stuff that I had missed. Slayde would be back soon and stay through the weekend. I hoped to get ahead so I didn’t have to spend so much time on school when I could be spending it on Slayde.

Milly had to stay a few extra days in the hospital, which sucked, but I tried to tell myself that at least that gave me more time to visit with Slayde and get everything perfect for her homecoming. We had convinced her mom that she would be fine back at the dorm, and it was important for her to get back to school before she got any further behind. I was going to take on the role of her tutor to catch her up on everything she had missed. To my surprise, the professors had been graceful about her missing so much class. That wasn’t usually the case this far into the med school game. I have no doubt Dr. Adams’s checkbook had helped to persuade the school.

I had managed to get somewhat back on schedule with life. I had just finished my usual Thursday laundry run and was putting the clothes away so I could hurry and get back to the hospital and visit Mills when Slayde called. I still got butterflies in my stomach when I saw his number on my phone. I stopped what I was doing and got cozy on my bed to talk to him.

“What do you want to do when you get here?” I asked.

“I think I just want to lock myself in the hotel with you for the first forty-eight hours or so, if that’s OK with you,” he said.

I couldn’t help but smile at that idea. “That sounds like a plan to me.” I heard someone knock on the door. “Hold on a second.”

I got up and opened the door. It was Eric.
I have never seen anyone with such crappy timing.

“Look, can we just kiss and make up? Let’s go back to the way things were before,” he said. “We have two major tests next week, and you know we study better together.”

Realizing how his words must sound to Slayde, who was listening on the phone in my hand, I said, “Look, Eric, I think it’s best we find new study partners. We’ll always be friends, but right now, I plan on helping Milly get back on track. I won’t have any free time to help you study.” I went to close my door, but he blocked it with his arm and barged into my room. “Eric, what are you doing? Please leave my room. I didn’t invite you in for a reason.”

“Yeah, I know your reason, and as your friend, I’m going to tell you that I think you are making a big mistake. You are throwing away our friendship for a guy you barely know.”

I did not appreciate his tone. I could feel my cheeks getting hot, but I tried to remain calm. “I’m going to ask you to leave my room one more time, and I expect you to do it. At this point, I’m not sure this is a friendship I care to keep.” He stormed out of my room and slammed the door so hard that it flew back open.

I closed and locked the door and took a moment to take a few deep breaths. Then I went back to my phone call. “I’m back, sorry.”

“A, that is ridiculous. Is that guy serious? I’m not putting up with that shit. He will not talk to you like that. Is this something that happens often? Does he just show up whenever the mood hits him?”

“No, I’ve never seen him act that way before,” I explained. “We’ve only spoken to each other once since you left.”

“What did he mean by ‘kiss and make up’? Am I missing something?”

“He didn’t mean that literally. I think he meant let’s just stop fighting,” I said.

“Well, what were you fighting about to begin with? Have you kissed him?”

Great, this wasn’t going to be the sweet conversation I had envisioned having with him today.

“Apparently I did. It was the night I went to the concert with him. I didn’t even remember until he said something to me about it the other day.”

Slayde was quiet for a minute. Then he said, “Isn’t that nice.”

“Slayde, it didn’t mean anything, I swear. I was drunk, and that’s when I still thought you were having a baby with Kinley.”

I heard him sigh. “If you wanted to be with him, you would, right?” he asked.

“I guess, but I never felt that way about him. He’s just a friend. You have to believe me,” I pleaded.

“I do believe you, but I don’t think he needs to be coming to your dorm until he gains some respect for you. That was just uncalled-for.”

*****

Slayde and I did exactly what we had planned to do. We stayed locked up in his hotel room for the fi
rst two days, lying in bed, watching old movies, eating junk food, and making out. I couldn’t have thought of anything I would rather have spent my time doing than that.

“So, where do you have to go from here?” I asked.

“I have to go back to New York for a week, and then hopefully I will be back in LA for a while. My agent has an audition for a movie scheduled, and if that works out, I’ll be here so much you will be tired of me before you know it.”

“I highly doubt that. So, what’s the movie about?”

“It’s a movie based on a book series called
On the Run
. Jake Brandon, the character I’d be playing, is a soldier who was hurt in Afghanistan. He comes home but can’t handle going back to his job as a football coach in Iowa and decides to move to a little island village in the Caribbean called Saba to hide from his past. He finds a small house there and starts working at a little village school, teaching.