A Is for Abstinence (23 page)

There were so many things I wanted to say, so many feelings I wanted her to understand. I’ve never been good with speeches. I express myself lyrically, so I did the only thing I knew how to do—I quietly sang the words to her song.

Forever I’ll wait, it’s drivin’ me mad

Driven by memories I’ve not yet had

Hanging on a promise of you and me

Hope springs eternal for things that could be

You ask me to wait, don’t know if I can

Too scared to lose, I’m only a man

But I can’t let you go, can’t shut the door

Heart’s telling me you’re worth waiting for

“It’s
you
, Val. It’s not Cara. It’s not any woman from my past. I don’t see a silly little girl. I see an incredible woman. Your prudishness and naïvety are what make you so special to me.”

Her gaze came into focus and she narrowed her eyes the tiniest bit. It made me smile. “Sorry, I can’t deny that you’re a naïve prude. We both know you are one,” I teased. “But I love that about you. I find your innocence so…what were the words you used…hot and tempting.”

She blushed and I laughed again. “I’m serious,” I said. “That’s why I can’t ever keep my hands off you—because you’re too damn sexy for your own good. You are so much more
hot and tempting
than anything else in the world—even more than me without a shirt on.”

Her lips finally curled up and I kissed her. “There’s my smile.” I laced our hands together again and sighed when she gave me a reassuring squeeze. “What more can I do to make you feel better about us? How can I help you?”

Val gazed out in front of her and shrugged. “I don’t know. Get me a dartboard with the Lakers’ cheer team on it for Christmas?”

A startled laugh burst out of me. “I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”

“Never.”

We laughed a minute, but my giggles gave way to a sigh. “Are we good, then?” I asked. I really hoped the answer was yes.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. “We’re good. I’m sorry I’m such an insecure mess.”

“Well.” I snuck my arms around her waist and kissed her again. “I can hardly blame you. You are dating
Kyle Hamilton
, after all. That’s a lot to compete with.”

Val brought her arms around my shoulders and let me give her a kiss that was more than just a peck. “Am I dating Kyle Hamilton or his ego?” she asked.

I grinned against her lips. “We’re a package deal, actually. Lucky you, you get us both.”

“Lucky me.”

We lost ourselves in each other for a minute, both of us needing the connection after our fight. But eventually I had to stop before I laid her back on the bench and got us both arrested for public indecency.

“So,” I asked, pretty sure I was the insecure one at the moment, “do you still want to go home?”

Val sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Not really. You up for seeing a movie or something?”

It wasn’t a quiet night at my place, but I’d take it. “So long as it doesn’t star Brian Oliver, I’m good with that.”

Before I knew it, a month
had passed and the Fourth of July was upon us. Cara and Shane were throwing some huge party, but I was determined to spend the night alone with Val. I needed the attention.

After Val settled in at Cara and Shane’s house, she’d found her groove and gradually got busier and busier. She dove headfirst into starting her F is for Families office and spent a good deal of hours with Robin doing Not Everybody’s Doing It stuff. She’d also flown back to Northern California twice so far for meetings she couldn’t do over Skype and maid of honor stuff for her best friend’s wedding.

Still, she always made sure to schedule time for me, even if I was literally being penciled into her planner. It was hardly romantic, but at least she gave me the password to her Google calendar so that I could pencil myself in whenever I had something I wanted her to attend with me, or if I simply needed Val time. For her, that was the equivalent of exchanging keys to each other’s houses.

This weekend, I definitely needed some Val time. I’d blocked out all of Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday on Val’s schedule with a written note that any changes would result in severe punishment. (Robin had the password to her schedule too and liked to move my Kyle time around on occasion.)

Somehow I’d managed to keep the entire weekend mine until Friday morning when Val’s birth mom asked her to spend the Fourth of July with her and her son. I knew Val was still really anxious about her new relationship with her half-brother, so I gave up my alone time and told her we should go.

Val’s birth mom lived all the way out in Lancaster. It was a crap drive, but there was a huge festival set up in the city park where they were going to shoot off fireworks at dark, so we met Val’s birth mom and brother, Brody, for dinner before heading over to the park a couple of hours before the fireworks.

Brody was fifteen and moody as all hell. The kid had been a total punk since the second we showed up. He’d barely said a word to any of us all through dinner, and if he said a word to Val at all it was snide. His attitude got worse when we went to the festival and he started seeing a lot of kids from his school. It was getting very hard to ignore.

We were at a booth where you had to shoot basketballs into hoops to win a teddy bear when Val Sr. tried to break the ice for the hundredth time. (I don’t know if the titles of junior and senior apply to girls—Val certainly laughed whenever I used them on her and her mother—but it seemed the easiest way to distinguish the two of them.) After Brody made three shots in a row—consequently winning a ridiculously large stuffed bulldog—she said, “Val, did you know Brody was on the varsity basketball team this year? He was the first sophomore to make the team in over five years.”

“That’s awesome!”

Val was genuinely impressed, but Brody didn’t appreciate her enthusiasm. The punk sneered at her, making me want to punch him in his frowning face. Val’s smile faltered, but she pressed on, determined to be nice. “I’m a bit of an athlete, too. I’m not very good at basketball, but I played college volleyball for Stanford.”

“Good for you,” Brody muttered, then walked off without looking back.

If I were his mom, I’d have knocked him upside the head for that, but she only sighed as she watched him stalk off. There was a sheen layer of tears in her eyes. “My husband knew about Val, but I’d never told Brody about her until I saw the movie,” she confessed. “He’s been having a hard time with it. He’s been very cold to Val.”

“I noticed,” I muttered.

I was surprised at how hard it was to control my temper. I’m not really the overprotective type, but I knew how much Val wanted to have a relationship with her brother and how hard she was trying. It bothered me that he wouldn’t give her a chance.

A hand slipped around my waist, easing some of the tension from me. “He’s been getting bullied by the kids from school since the Connie Parker Show,” Val said. “Even by his teammates.”

Valerie Sr.’s eyes filled with tears. “They were saying very hurtful, derogatory things about both Val and me. They’re spamming his Facebook with nasty comments, teasing him when they see him. It’s been pretty bad.”

Teenagers were cruel. I felt bad for the kid, but he shouldn’t have been taking it out on Val. It wasn’t her fault.

“I can’t blame him for hating me,” Val said sadly. The way she sighed I knew she was already resigned to the idea of never having a good relationship with her brother.

I had no idea what I could do or say to make things better, but both Val and her mom looked so sad that I had to do something. I looked at the kid manning the basketball booth and said, “How much for a ball?”

“Sorry, they’re not for sale.”

I pulled a hundred dollar bill out of my pocket and held it up. The kid’s eyes popped wide open and he glanced back to make sure his boss wasn’t looking before he pocketed the cash and handed me the ball.

“We’ll meet up with you guys in a little bit,” I said, kissing Val’s cheek.

Her grateful smile was all the motivation I needed.

The city park was huge. All of the carnival rides, games, and vendor booths were set up on the acres and acres of grassy fields. But on the other side of the massive recreational area—beyond the restrooms and playground—the tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts were unaffected by the festivities and still open for public use. It was this last attraction that I was sure held Brody’s interest when he’d ditched us and left the festival.

After saying good-bye to Val and her mom, I headed toward the basketball courts, dragging a gaggle of starstruck high school students in my wake—most of them girls. That was pretty standard anytime I went out in public, but it was unusual that no one had approached me so far. They simply followed me around, trying to be discreet while snapping pictures of me on their phones.

I think they were holding back because I’d been with Brody and his mom. It was clear that most of the kids following me went to his school. The news that I was here hadn’t taken long to spread once the first of Brody’s classmates had seen us, and throughout the night I’d gathered a bit of an entourage.

Normally I would have stopped to talk to them, but Brody had been such a jerk to Val that I hadn’t been in the mood. Now I was on a mission, and being elusive to the kids that knew Brody was going to work in my favor. I ignored them all and headed straight for Brody.

I found him sitting on a bench next to the basketball courts. There was a pickup game in progress on one of the courts, but he hadn’t joined.

“Heads up!”

Brody caught the basketball I threw at him just before it took his head off. Judging by his nasty look, I may have put a bit too much force behind my pass for it to be considered friendly. “What the hell, man?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I said.

I came over and sat down next to him without waiting for an invitation. He gave me a wary glance but didn’t tell me to get lost.

I studied him as he sat there trying to ignore me. He didn’t look much like Val—his complexion was darker and he had brown hair instead of blond—but he had the same deep brown eyes as Val and he shared her height. At only fifteen, he was already about six-foot-four or five. It was no wonder he played basketball.

Eventually he broke the silence with a scoff. “They sent
you
out here to talk to me?”

“Nope. It’s worse than that. I sent myself because my girlfriend was upset.”

When Brody shot me a questioning look, I grimaced and pointed at myself. “Totally whipped.”

Brody shook his head, but he cracked a small smile.

We both turned our eyes to the pickup game. After a short pause, I said, “She’s pretty cool, you know. You should give her a chance.”

Brody leaned forward and began bouncing the basketball on the ground between his knees. “Why?” he asked. “She’s ruining my life.”

I scoffed in disgust. What a whiner baby. “No way. If your life is getting ruined, it’s because you’re letting it. You think Val’s never been teased? Hell, I bullied her myself and I did it in front of the entire world. At one point my fans dubbed her the most-hated girl in America. Her house got vandalized. She got death threats. She was lied about in tabloids. People called her a liar, a hypocrite, and a whore.” Brody flinched at the harsh words. “But do you think she let it ruin her life? No. She stood up for herself and made people respect her instead of sulking around like a little punk-ass bitch.”

The basketball stilled in Brody’s hands and he shot me a wounded look. Val would have been pissed at me for calling him out like that, but seriously, the kid needed to man up.

“What do you know about it?” he grumbled, turning his gaze back to the basketball game. “I bet you’ve never been made fun of in your whole life.”

I laughed and shamelessly admitted, “Not once. Some people are just too awesome for that.” When he gave me another dirty look, I said, “So, I have no idea what you’re going through. But you know what I am an expert in? Being popular. I can fix your social status problem right now, if you want.”