Accepted Fate (12 page)

"What are you doing here? I thought I was supposed to meet you at your house tomorrow morning to get everything ready for the pool party." I quickly scan my memory, trying to remember if there was something I forgot I was supposed to do. My mind has been on overload lately so it's definitely a possibility, but nothing comes to mind.

She walks right past me with her eyes set on Coach Andy like she's a woman on a mission. On top of coach being the best around, he's also young, attractive and a hunk of muscle. I'm used to the drool factor plastered on females that are in his presence. Even with Presley in all her promiscuity, this is still a new one, even for her. She is not even eighteen yet and coach is thirty.

I turn back to face coach in complete confusion. The look on his face is as if he has just seen a ghost. He looks nervous and knowing Presley's reputation for getting what she wants, I can understand why. Poor guy. He has always been nothing but professional. She stops in front of him, barely leaving a space between them. "Presley, do you mind telling me what's going on," I ask.

She turns back to look at me with a guilty gleam in her eye. Oh no, what has she done? "I just came to borrow you for the rest of the evening. Something...suddenly came up." A seductive smirk takes form on her face before looking back to Coach Andy. She places her index finger right over his navel and begins lightly trailing up his torso. "You won't have a problem cutting this practice session a little...early, now would you coach?"

He looks over to me, turning a little pale. "We'll pick this up in a couple of days Kinzleigh. Just give me a call to set up the details, okay?" He starts backing away from Presley, looking side to side. I imagine he is terrified of another parent seeing a seventeen year old rubbing up on a grown man. Rumors can ruin a perfectly innocent person now days.

I sigh, defeated. I might as well see what Presley is up to. She always gets her way. I know this by now. I look to coach apologetically, "Okay coach, I guess we'll call it a day." As he turns and walks rather quickly towards the office, stopping only long enough to gather his belongings, I start to unstrap myself from the harness that I'm still standing in. I think I was in such shock by the series of events, I couldn't remove myself from the confinement of the trampoline.

Presley is now making her way towards the entry to the trampoline. Her face now appears totally serious as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened. What did just happen? I have no idea, but I'm going to find out. "Presley, what the heck was that? Do you want coach to stop training you? It isn't like he needs the money with the mile long wait list of other girls waiting to train with him. What are you doing here? I was a little busy. You could have called." My small five foot two body comes flying off the trampoline, arms wailing in every direction as I yell at her. "If you need me to be backup for you to get with some guy, fine, but ask. Some of us have actual important things going on in our lives," I say harshly, sounding a little angrier than I meant.

"Are you done yet," she asks sarcastically as if daring me to continue. "This right here," she says, waving her finger in my direction, up and down my body, "Is exactly why I'm here. Look at you, Kinzleigh. Do I really need to elaborate?"

Now calming down from my earlier burst of anger, I look myself over trying to figure out what is wrong with my clothes or body. I wouldn't think anything is out of the realm of normal workout clothing. I'm wearing black yoga shorts and a neon pink sports bra. The only place I dress this way is practice or training with coach because it is easier to stunt and flip in fitted clothing. My hair is pinned up in a tight bun on my head to keep it out of my face and I'm barefoot with my black ankle sleeves on to keep from twisting an ankle. I'm glistening with sweat but I've been practicing all day, for goodness sakes.

Now I'm confused, which isn't uncommon around Presley. I still, after seventeen years of friendship, am not sure what all goes on in that head of hers. Her thinking is quite unlike anyone else. Her brain really should be left to science one day. "What's wrong with my clothes? I always dress like this for practice," I say walking to my gym bag to grab a towel. Presley is following closely behind, making a loud noise on the floor with her shoes. I grab my hand towel and begin wiping the sweat from my forehead and the rest of my face. I throw it back in the bag and grab my bottle of water. 

Taking a sip of water, I sit on the small set of bleachers utilized for family watching practice. Standing in front of me, Presley crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at me. "You really don't get it do you? Look around Kinzleigh. It's Saturday night and we're on summer vacation. Look where you are. You're wearing gym clothes, no makeup and covered in sweat from head to toe. I get that you have the national tryouts coming up and you want to make the squad, but come on Kinzleigh, you know you're going to make it. You're the best cheerleader around. You don't have to divulge in sex and alcohol if you don't want to but you need to get out. I try my best to leave you be, but it's time I put my foot down. You're my best friend and it's my duty to keep you from wasting away like an old maid. This is supposed to be the best times of our lives and I'm not letting you waste it away practicing and staying at home with dear ole mommy and daddy. You won't get a do over of your senior year."

She comes to sit beside me and grabs my hand. I look down at our hands fitted together. This is definitely awkward. That's one reason me and Presley get along so well. We are not emotional people. We don't entangle our hearts to men or anyone else like the rest of the girls do. It's easier to keep your heart to yourself, to worry about one heart instead of two. If it makes me seem like a heartless person then so be it, but at least I know it will forever be intact and completely mine. Maybe when I'm older and have accomplished all my dreams, will I consider sharing it. Call me selfish, I don't really care.

She sighs as she stares off across the building. It's a large warehouse packed with mats, trampolines, harnesses and swings. There is a small lobby up front and an office. "What are you afraid of Kinzleigh? I get that you want to keep your heart out of the equation because you and I are one and the same, but you don't have to fall in love to have fun, you know."

Presley, of all people should understand. Corey was as close as she has ever come to giving her heart away and I am quite positive she wasn't in love with him. It was more of an 'we've been friends since kindergarten, I love you'. Besides, look how that turned out. She ripped his heart out and stomped it to pieces because they didn't share the same type of love. He has loved her since childhood. He finally got her to notice him in a way other than friends sophomore year. He unintentionally smothered her and became overly jealous and controlling. No man will ever control Presley. The girl has a mind of her own. She's beautiful and bold and turns guys’ heads everywhere she goes.

If he would have been smart, he would have embraced her qualities. In return for his behavior, she ruined him for all other females while she carries on unaffected. It's sad really, how one person can forever change the life of another. Love is cruel that way. Two people that are passionately and completely in love are the minority in a pool of people who love one they can't have. The best thing to do is avoid it at all costs. Protect your heart from heartache by caging it up and keeping it hidden from anyone else. From anything I have ever seen, getting involved with someone does nothing but emotionally drain you, so why lead someone on when you have no intentions of putting your heart out there for the taking. So many indulge in love hoping to get the fairy tale they see in the movies and books, but that's not reality. Reality is hard, ugly and painful. It doesn't take one with an experienced broken heart to know that's the way it is. Just look around you. You will see pain stricken and broken hearted people everywhere. I just think it's easier to avoid it than try to pick up the pieces after it's said and done.

She begins snapping her fingers in front of my face. I guess I was lost in thought. I turn towards her and straddle the bench. I shrug my shoulder at her. "I don't know what you want me to say Presley. I just have other priorities in my life right now. I get that you're worried, but my parents have put a lot on me and I need to remain focused. You're just like me, but instead of focusing on cheerleading, you focus on guys, in the plural form, to keep from giving your heart away. That's okay, but that's you, not me. I don't need a guy to make me happy."

I reach into my bag to pull out my pink Fudpuckers t-shirt. In the bottom of my bag, lies a brochure size BJ's menu. How did that get in there, I wonder, as my brows come together before I am reminded of last night? Suddenly, I begin wondering what Breyson is doing. The boy has a gorgeous smile and body from what I saw that day at the beach. I have never seen a guy my age that built and defined. Maybe he is as involved in something as I am with cheerleading. My lips begin to tingle like they did after he kissed me. I begin fanning myself. Gosh it's really hot in here. I guess coach forgot to turn on the air.

"I call bullshit," she says a little snippy.

"Excuse me?" Now what is she talking about. She still hasn't told me why she is actually here. I slip on my shirt and Versace flip flops before removing my keys from my bag, zipping it up.

"You may have everyone fooled Kinzleigh, including yourself, but I know you better than anyone and I know you were affected by a certain southern charm. Get up, you're coming out with me. I'm not taking no for an answer."

I drop my head down, resting my forehead into the heel of my hand. "Presley, I'm not even dressed or showered to go anywhere. Can I please just go home?"

Her mischievous look takes form on her face and she shakes her head. "I thought you might say that so I grabbed some clothes and your makeup bag from your room. The bag is in my car. You can shower in the locker room."

She must have planned this all out. "When did you go to my house?" She throws her arm around my neck, towing me towards the door.

"Now now, how did you think I knew to come here? If you don't want to be found, you really should become less predictable." I roll my eyes as we walk closer to her white Mercedes convertible.

She bends over into the car to retrieve my bag from the passenger seat. The top is down. As she reaches over the driver's seat, her feet lift slightly from the ground, leaving her rear in the air resting on the rolled down window. I chuckle lightly. Presley can't do anything the easy way. Could she not have just walked to the passenger side? "Where are we going, anyway, that is so important? Some big summer party you forgot to mention? A concert?"

She pulls the bag across the seat and lifts it from the car, turning around. Extending her hand toward me with the handles resting in her palm she says, "Uh uh uh, a girl never tells her secrets. You just go get fabulous and leave the rest to me. I will be right beside you, to keep you company, so don't even think about bailing on me," she says and pops a piece of gum in her mouth.

"Oh heavens, what would I ever do without you?" I roll on the sarcasm thickly, grabbing the bag and turning on my heels; walking back inside towards the locker room.

She skips up beside me, slapping me playfully on the butt like baseball players do, catching me off guard. I yelp. "Lucky for you you'll never have to find out. Get a move on it sister. We have places to be and people to see."

Walking into the locker room, I set my duffle bag onto the countertop. There is no telling what Presley packed. The girl doesn't have conservative in her vocabulary. I exhale and begin opening the bag. I pull out necessities for showering, my makeup bag and the folded bundle of clothing and shoes. Surprisingly, it isn't as bad as I expected. She packed white denim capris, a coral and salmon candy striped, open shoulder sleeveless that meets at the neckline, front and back, and my favorite coral sandals. "Not bad huh," she says leaning over behind me, directly beside my ear.

"Crap! You scared me. Do you have to do that?" She moves beside me and turns her back to the countertop, gripping the side with her hands and jumping slightly to sit on top.

"Oh don't be such a baby. I may be dealing with the socially impaired but I know how you like to dress, doll. You know I take care of my girl. Baby steps. One of these days I'll bring out the sex goddess I know is in there, but for now getting you out of that pretty little shell is top priority." She smiles, kicking her dangling legs back and forth.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm really going to miss her when I'm gone. I don't know how I'm supposed to leave her behind, or any of it for that matter. Why couldn't this wait one more year? One thing about Presley that only I know is that she acts all tough, but deep down she has a heart of gold. Everyone thinks she is this outgoing, emotionally disabled heartbreaker, but most of it's just an act.

What she doesn't know is that I know the one thing that can break down her barriers. I guess the one person is more appropriate. I've watched her hopelessly, for years, pine after my brother. He is the real reason she could never fall for Corey. It's kind of depressing to be honest. She is only promiscuous to take her mind off the one person she wants that she can't have. It's why I don't judge her. I think some of it is to try and get his attention; to try and show him she isn't the little girl that follows him around anymore. He never gives her a second glance though, not really anyway, aside from thinking she is hot. I see him glance her way occasionally, but that's all it is.

The truth is me and Konnor made a pact a long time ago. When I was just becoming a teenager he made me promise not to date any of his friends and in return he wouldn't date any of mine. I think he only did it trying to play the big brother role and protect me from being the used and thrown away, as so many girls are, but the thing is, Konnor never breaks a promise. He never has. At the time, I was selfish and didn't want him dating my friends, but after watching her all these years and seeing how Sophia has done him, maybe they deserve each other. Maybe that's why she is letting out this emotional side to her I've never really seen. Maybe it's because of Konnor being single. I wonder if she is allowing herself to feel in hopes that he will notice her and make a move.