From The Wreckage - Complete (34 page)

They exchange a few texts throughout the day; mostly comments about his brother having a great game and how they are going out to dinner. He asks again about her nightmares and she evades the question by thanking him for his sweet song. He promises to call her after dinner to make plans for Sunday, so she mopes around the house and waits for him to call.

“What’s Katie up to tonight?” her mother asks when she walks through the living room and sees Jules staring at the wall absently. She shrugs in reply. “Why don’t you call her and have her come over? I haven’t seen her much since…well, these past few weeks.” 

“Eh…”

“Honey, you can’t sit at home and do nothing just because your boyfriend isn’t around. You did that with Stuart too, you know.”

Jules pops up from the couch and looks at her mom’s frown. “I did?” It is a rhetorical question; she knows her mom is right. She always sat around the house when Stuart couldn’t go out. It’s why she missed most of the parties everyone else went to. 

Giving her a gentle smile, her mom sits on the edge of the couch and moves Jules’ feet into her lap. “Sweetie, I know you really care for West, just like I know you cared for Stuart…but you need to be your own person, too. You can’t live for boys.”

“I know, and it’s not that. I just don’t have anything I want to do.”

“What are all of your friends doing?”

She doesn’t have the heart to tell her she stopped talking to most of her friends since school started. She’s shared a few text messages with a few girls from the old squad, but it is surprising how quickly people move on when they don’t see you day in and day out. 

“You’re right,” she lies; sitting up. “I’ll go make some calls and see what’s going on. Maybe Katie and I will go to the movies or something?”

Closing herself in her room, she pulls up Facebook and scrolls through the posts. Her newsfeed is littered with updates and photos from Friday night’s game and she cringes; missing the feeling of being in the middle of all the action. She feels its absence in her chest and misses the fun she used to have. A glance at the clock shows it’s almost seven and she looks at herself, still sitting in pajamas with her hair in a messy bun, and makes a decision.

She steps into her bathroom, starts the shower and dials Katie.

“Hey Ju-ju-bee!”

“Hi! What are you doing tonight?”

“Uh, hanging with Jeff. Ruben called him about a party, and I think we might hit it up. Why? You wanna join in?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jules replies, and agrees to be at her house in an hour.

It is almost nine when Jeff’s car finally pulls off a back road onto a gravel drive. The drive leads past an orchard; apples, she muses, as they follow another vehicle in front of them. After a few minutes of winding around a trail the car stops. Jeff pulls over, turns off the ignition and parks the car on the side of the drive, along with everyone else. 

“Where are we?” she asks; pulling her cell out and checking for any missed calls from West.

“Apple Valley.”

“Apple Valley? I haven’t been here since I was like, ten. Do the Black’s still own it?” Grant Black is a few years older than Jules and her friends. He went to Hillsdale and played football back when she was a freshman. She has no idea where he is now, but she does know he’s not playing for a Texas team.

“They do. It’s cool though; they don’t check up at night. Come on.” 

They follow the sound of music down the path further into the fields before coming to a large, open area containing an open pavilion with picnic tables. It seems vaguely familiar in the dark, and Jules remembers they used to do a fall fest every October where you could pick your own apples, go on hay rides, or eat apple butter and doughnuts. 

“Jules!” Ruben’s thick, deep voice booms as they close in on the first fire barrel. “Hey momma.”

“Hey!” she sings. She lets him lift her up and her hands wind around his huge neck as he swings her around; making her head swim.

“Damn girl, I miss you. Katie, you too,” he calls; dropping Jules and giving Katie a bear hug too.

Faces turn their way all around, and Jules recognizes many of them from Hillsdale. Tommy, whom she barely ever sees at school, is sitting on top of a table with a beer in his good hand already. Their eyes meet as his head tips and he raises his drink in a silent salute. She nods and turns; exchanging glances with Katie when excited squeals ring out. Several of their former cheermates rush towards them and she braces for the inevitable tackle-hugs.

“You're here!” Jules joins in the obnoxious revelry, happy to see her old friends, even though she has been a little out of touch.

“Looks like you could use a drink,” a familiar voice whispers behind her.

“You noticed, huh?” she admits; taking in Mark Jones. Mark was trapped in the Grier house with her the night of the twister. He was also one of Stuart’s best friends, and therefore a good friend to her for several years.

“I recognize the face of someone who doesn’t quite fit in,” he mumbles; leaning in and giving her a small hug with a quick peck on the cheek.

“Is that personal experience talking?”

“You could say that.” He shrugs, pulls her to the cooler and plucks out a can before popping it open for her. They stand there just to the side of a fire pit; the dim light of the flames casting long shadows on their faces. 

“How you doin’? How’s Rossview?”

“Ha!” she spits out; taking a long chug of her beer and grimacing at the taste as it goes down. “I imagine it’s about as
fabulous
as Robinson is.” 

“I’ll drink to that.” He sighs and they both take long gulps.

“You talk to Stuart?”
Stupid
! she curses at herself for allowing the question to come out. “Never mind, I shouldn’t have asked.”

She can’t read his expression as he chugs the remainder of his drink and crushes the can. “You can ask. He asks about you.”

“He does?”

“Sure. Unfortunately I never see you, so I don’t have a whole lot of info for him. Lucky for you.”

“Lucky for me? What’s
that
supposed to mean?”

He grabs another drink before answering her, and another round of screeching rings out. Over her shoulder, Jules catches sight of unknown new arrivals.

“Mark?” she questions, pinning him down with her blue eyes. 

“Where’s West?” The sarcasm in his tone explains his attitude and guilt pushes its way in.

She ignores the question. “He knew about West before he left.”

“He knew you were confused, Jules. Even
I
had your back on that one.”

“You what?”

“Before he told you he was going to Houston, he told me. He also told me you were distant. He didn’t know what to do and asked my advice since I’d been in that house too.” She forces herself to drink the remainder of the beer as she listens to him. “I told him to back off, and he became pissed as hell when West moved in on you.”

“He didn’t move in on me; not really.”

He harrumphs and Jules rolls her eyes. “He didn’t, Mark. It wasn’t like that.”

“I know. It was the circumstance, and I tried to explain that. I figured you would flirt a little and West would lose interest, so I told Stuart to just give you time. I didn’t expect you to end up glued at the hip.”

“Gossip travels, huh?”

“Through Tyler and all the way to Houston, doll.” The use of the nickname ‘doll’ serves as an awkward reminder of Stuart. He always called her doll, and it stokes the fires of guilt another notch.

“So he heard we’re together, then?”

“Yep.” He tips his face closer to hers, evidently catching the sadness in her voice or the change in her stance. “He’ll be fine, Jules. He doesn’t know what you’ve been through. How different things are here for all of us. He got to leave.”

Mark’s voice is filled with bitterness. She shakes her head and plunks her hands on her hips. “You know what we need, Jones?”

“What do we need, Blacklin?”

“Beer. Lots of it.”

And that’s what they do. They start chugging down cheap beer; the alcohol loosening whatever bitterness Mark has and relieving the guilt Jules feels. Dropping to the grass close to a fire barrel, they laugh and drink. Mark tells her about Robinson and complains about playing football with their team. She fills him in on Rossview. Tommy joins in eventually, declaring his intent to get totally wasted, and Jules and Mark happily agree with his plan. They each pull a new beer and race to see who can chug one down first, with most of Jules’ ending up on her shirt.  

Soon the field is full of partying teens. It reminds her of the last time she was surrounded by so many students. It was at the Ice Shack, the night of the tornado. Anxiety filters in as she recalls the panicked crowd that night. 

“Where’s Katie?” she mumbles, her speech a little slower than normal.

“Uh, next to you, silly.” Katie giggles and sways side to side, patting Jules' head.

“Wait!” Jules exclaims. She holds her arms out, her fingers splayed wide, like she’s stopping traffic. “Do you guys feel that?”

“I’m feeling good…” Tommy mumbles and the others nod in agreement.

Hesitating, Jules bites her lip and looks around at her friends. “Why is my ass vibrating?”

Giggles spew from Katie’s mouth, along with a mouthful of beer, and Jules falls into Mark’s lap.

She lifts her butt cheek and tries to find whatever is biting at her. “What the hell?” 

“It’s your phone.” Mark sighs. He has the audacity to reach behind her and pull the cell from her rear pocket, which makes Jules laugh. 

He hands her the phone and she straightens; pushing up off of him. Running her hands through the hair covering her face, she looks up and her eyes fall onto a group of people she didn’t expect to see at this party. Across the way at another fire pit, but with a direct view of her position, is Aubrey with two minions and several guys she recognizes. 

Keeping her gaze on Aubrey, her finger hits the green ‘Answer’ button at the same time as she elbows Katie and wails, ”What the hell are
they
doing here?”

Aubrey’s body snaps to attention, as if she’d been listening to the conversation, though Jules knows she can’t hear them over all of the crowd noise. They sneer at each other and the blonde curls her lips into a malicious smile. Jules is so busy glaring at Aubrey that she misses West yelling through the phone at first.

“Jules!” he shouts and she glances around before zeroing in on the phone in her hand. In her over-inebriated state, she’s slow to react to the voice calling her name on the other end. “Jules!”

“Hello?” 

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Oh, hey! It’s my boyfriend, West Rutledge!” she shouts; smiling gleefully towards Aubrey. “What’s up, baby?”

“Uh, wow,” he mumbles on a light laugh. “You sound a bit wasted, babe. Who you with?” 

“No one…or everyone.” She laughs and glances around at all of the chattering people she doesn’t recognize, and a few she does. 

“Hey K, who’s all here?” she asks her best friend for assistance.

“I dunno. I think I’m a little drunk. Jeff?”

“Oh yeah, Jeff is here,” she echoes. She’s talking — to the air, not to West — and she finds the cell laying in her lap. Pulling it back to her ear, she repeats herself. “Jeff is here. Oh and Ruben, Tommy and Mark, too. He touched my ass, though. Should I be mad?” She giggles. 

“I’m pretty sure
I
should be,” West grumbles. “Where are you at? I’m-”

She interrupts him and hits Mark’s arm, saying, “West is mad at you.”

“Me?” he thunders, and his hand shoots out to grab her phone. He wrestles it away from her hand and shouts into the mouthpiece. “What the hell, man? What did
I
do? West? Hello?” He looks up from the screen with wide eyes. “I think I hung up on him.”

“Eh, he’ll call back.” She drops the phone in front of her legs and finds Aubrey again. She’s still standing there with her eyes making evil little squints at her and Mark. It reminds Jules of an angry little mouse.
Wait, no…not a mouse,
Jules laughs to herself, and shakes her head to clear it.
Something beady and bitchy. A rat, maybe?
she debates silently.

Katie stretches her legs out in the grass before them and knocks her shoulder against Jules as she gets comfortable.

“Hey, isn’t that Carter?” Jules’ eyes follow Katie’s finger as she points toward the group of people Aubrey stands with.

Sure enough, Carter has joined them and Aubrey’s pinched face is now glowing.

“What a little fake she is.”

On the other side of Katie, Jules overhears Jeff muttering into his phone. “Hey man…yeah she is. Sorry, I didn’t even realize.” Jules leans forward, trying to eavesdrop, sure he’s talking to West. “Apple Valley…you are? Yeah, we’ll stay here. ‘Kay.”

“West will be here in thirty,” he explains after hanging up.

“Um, no. He’s not home.”

“No, actually he
is
home. He came home early.”

“Awww, he missed you!” Katie croons; falling against Jeff with more giggles.

Two things hit Jules. First, Katie giggles an obscene amount when she’s drinking, and second, Mark.

“Oh crap, Mark! He’s coming to kick your ass!” she warns; her muddled head clearing quickly. 

Mark, who is now lying in the grass on his back, leans up on his elbows. His expression is best described as dazed and confused. “What?”

“West is on his way here…” she trails off, grabs her cell and scrambles to her feet.

“Jules, sit down,” Jeff calls after her. “I told West we’d chill here.”

“Water. I’m getting water…right there.” She motions to the cooler where the boys have been pulling drinks all night. 

“I’ll go with.”  

Katie clumsily gets to her feet and they lock arms; their heads touching as they saunter away. Their steps are slow and disjointed, and halfway there they are accosted by a few players from Hillsdale who give them showy hugs and exaggerated praise for their outfits.

“I hear you and Stu broke up. It’s about time you became free.” Casey winks and Jules’ cheeks turn red as he slides an arm around her waist.

He drops his face. “I sure miss those legs of yours on the sidelines.” 

It’s not lost on Jules how Casey is a friend of Stuart’s; a good friend. She giggles, not as loose and carefree as Katie, but a giggle brought on by a little liquid fun.

“So you think I should keep it in the family?” she asks; talking to the group of guys at large. “Think Stuart would mind if I decided to conquer the whole gang?” She turns into Casey’s chest and his arm tightens around her; a warm grin stretching over his face as she looks up at him.

“I think his loss is our gain.” Satisfied male grunts fill her ears. Katie’s high pitched ‘Jules!’ rings in her ears, but she is too busy letting herself go free to pay attention to it.

You could do this
. The thought flits through her mind unbidden and unexpectedly.
You could be the girl who doesn’t give two cents about what she does, and just let the alcohol be your guide. Tanya used to do it. New guy every week. The fun one. Maybe
you
could be the fun one now. It’d be so much easier…

“His loss is West’s gain, or didn’t y’all hear about that?” The familiar voice snaps Jules from her destructive thinking. Looking at the face in front of her and the body her hands are pressed against, dread fills her. 

“Sorry, I’m not free,” she mutters; easily stepping away when Casey drops his arms and a confused look crosses his face.  

Tears threaten to spill when the voice asks, “Introduce me to your friends, Jules.” It’s Lauren.

Jules wants to run and hide. She has no idea why Lauren showed up, but something on her face is friendly. Friendly, and perhaps a little sympathetic.