From The Wreckage - Complete (35 page)
Read From The Wreckage - Complete Online
Authors: Michele G Miller
Feeling the need to flee, Jules shrugs, makes quick introductions and pulls Katie’s arm; excusing them from the crush. Lauren winks at her as they walk away; already well on her way to charming Casey and his friends.
They make it another ten feet before a girl’s voice stops their progress once again. “Hey Jules!” Jess makes her way through the crowd and catches up with them. “Crazy party! It’s not very often I show up to find people from all the schools at the same place.”
“I thought it was strange, too,” Jules offers, and introduces Katie and Jess. “Jess is the girl I told you about who warned me about Aubrey the first week of school.”
“Ohhh, brave girl taking on your captain,” Katie remarks with yet another giggle.
“Nah, she doesn’t scare me.”
Jess is decked out in a sweet lace tank top and baggy short shorts. Her long legs rock the shorts along with a pair of low cut, red cowboy boots. Her dark hair is pulled back in a high ponytail, showing off her classic profile and great cheekbones. Jules is a little jealous just looking at her. “You should come hang with us. I’ll introduce you to some friends.”
She hesitates, so Jules changes tactics. “Did I say
cute
guy friends? Come on…we’re way more fun than fake Ms. Teen over there.”
“Fake Ms. Teen over where?”
“Ohhh, buuurnn,” mumbles Katie as Aubrey rounds their circle and stands before them.
“My bad.” Jules laughs and looks over at Jess. “Fake Ms. Teen standing right
here
,” she clarifies, and points at Aubrey with an innocent look.
“Aww how cute, the whore called me a name.” Aubrey’s voice reminds Jules of those little sugar candies her grandmother used to buy her. Marzipan? It was sweet to the point of being nauseating, especially when every word out of her mouth was crap. “I saw you with your little friends over there. Does West know you’re so close with all the players from your old school?”
“Aubrey, right?” It is Katie who asked; her words slurring together. “Why is it that you are so concerned with what my girl here does?”
“You should just go back to your boyfriend, sweetie. I don’t have an issue with you.” Another sickeningly sweet phrase, and Jules can practically feel the cavities growing.
“Well, actually you do. See, Jules is my best friend, so her problems become my problems.”
“Katie,” warns Jules as Aubrey rolls her eyes hard.
“So listen, we were just leaving to get some water,” Jules informs Aubrey and her minions with a little smile. “Thanks for stopping by to chat.”
She pushes Katie towards the cooler, but Aubrey’s voice stops them in their tracks.
“You said
best
friend, right? You should be careful. Her
last
best friend died in that twister because she left her.” The words slip off her tongue like it is nothing for her to say something so evil. Even the girls with Aubrey step back in shock.
“What the f-” Katie rages, and Jess has the foresight to grab her.
Jules feels the sucker punch to the gut the words provide and her anger boils over; causing her to laugh, much to the surprise of Aubrey.
“You’re a real piece of work.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
“Like you see it? Who the hell are you? You didn’t see jack…were you there? No.” She seethes and steps back, pushing Jess and Katie to go on. “Don’t even answer that. I’m not wasting any more of my precious time on your sorry ass. I don’t know what you think your issue is with me, but if you ever speak of Tanya again, or speak to me again, you’ll regret it. Got that?” She enunciates each word; spitting them out like darts to Aubrey’s vapid little head.
Aubrey calls after her, “You keep warning me, but I don’t think you have it in you to follow-”
She doesn’t get the chance to finish. Spinning on her heel, Jules rears back and slams her fist straight into Aubrey’s jaw, laying her out flat.
“How’s that for a warning,
bitch
?”
Jess grabs her arm and pulls her away as Aubrey’s friends shriek and a crowd forms.
“What the hell?” Jeff shouts when he reaches them through the throng. He wraps his arms around Katie, who is laughing so hard she can barely breathe.
“Owww!” Jules cries and shakes out her hand. Her knuckles burn from the contact, and although her eyes are filled with tears, her mouth is wreathed in a huge smile. “Damn, that felt good.”
“I bet!” Jess laughs as the four of them walk away from the party.
“Jules!” Carter jogs after them and Jeff stiffens.
“Dude, you need to back off,” he calls out; his hand rising to warn Carter off.
She can’t tell if Carter is pissed or only concerned, with nothing but the moonlight along the gravel drive to light their faces. However, she does know Carter cared about Tanya once. He needs to know what Aubrey said.
“Jeff, it’s okay.” She waves him off.
Jeff pulls his phone from his pocket as Carter stops walking about ten feet away.
“What happened? I left Aubrey for five minutes and you punch her out?” he asks; his voice irritated but not overly angry.
“Are you dating her?”
“Aubrey?” He shrugs. “I guess, kinda.”
“Kinda?”
“It’s casual.”
“Look, Carter — she made a comment about me leaving Tanya the night of the twister. I’m sorry, but-”
“Wait. What did she say?”
“She asked if I was her best friend, and told me to be careful,” Katie explains when Jules can’t speak. “Then she had the nerve to say ‘her last best friend died in that twister because she left her’. Nice girlfriend you’ve got there.”
Hearing the words again feels like a knife to the heart. Guilt. Every ounce of the beer she drank, every feel-good little buzz it put in her is gone.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. That was low.”
“Just keep her away from me, Carter,” she warns and heads back down the gravel road towards Jeff’s car. He calls after her but she continues to walk; her feet tripping over the rocks as she leaves Jess, Katie and Jeff behind.
Reaching Jeff’s car, she leans against the trunk and waits for them. Katie’s giggles in the distance let her know Jeff is having a time dealing with her. A pair of headlights make their way towards her, passing by the cars parked along the road and squeezing down the crowded drive.
“Where do they think they’re going?” she mumbles to herself; crossing her arms.
The pops and snaps of gravel crunching under tires fade out as the vehicle stops a few cars away. Jules straightens and contemplates ducking behind the car in case it’s parents or the cops, but as the door swings open and the interior light illuminates the driver, relief washes through her.
West.
He leaves the door open wide. Walking around it, his voice is concerned and soothing at the same time. “Jules?”
The headlights illuminate his well-known silhouette, and she takes five steps into the center of the drive. A few partygoers laugh and gawk as they pass by on their way from the party, but Jules pays them no heed. She focuses on West. His body is backlit by the lights so that she can’t make out the expression on his face. His steps are sure, his shoulders are back, and his hands are out wide to his sides as if he’s asking her silently, ‘What’s up?’
“I’m here to kick Mark’s ass,” he quips when he’s only a few steps away.
The light tease pulls a laugh from her lips that quickly morphs into a sob as she stands there, cupping her hands over her mouth.
“Oh no…you’re not a drunk crier, are you?”
“No,” she manages between gulps and shakes her head. The sudden movement confuses her senses still swimming in alcohol, and she holds out a hand to steady herself.
West reaches his hand out, allowing her fingers to fall into his open palm, and clucks his tongue. He’s admonishing her drunken state. She can tell by his posture, he finds her funny. “Poor baby, I can’t leave you alone for one weekend, huh? You turn to drunkenness and debauchery.”
“Debauchery?” she blurts, and thinks back to the less-than-one-minute she spent in Casey’s arms, contemplating doing just that. Tense and worried at having to own up to that moment, especially before Lauren tells him, she plays his wording off as a joke. “That’s a big word, Spike.”
His reply is waylaid by an obnoxious bellow. “East!” Katie’s giggles echo around them. “You should have seen it…she was awesome.”
“So I heard.”
Jules rounds and focuses a glare on Jeff. “You
called
him?”
“Dude! I thought Carter was about to go off on you when I saw him running after us.”
“Not cool, Jeffrey,” Katie chides; wagging her finger in his face and nearly poking his eye out. Jeff grabs her hands and pulls her to his chest; whispering something in her ear and making her giggle again.
“It’s something I wouldn’t mind seeing on instant replay, over and over again, that’s for sure,” agrees Jess, standing to the side of their group.
West and Jess exchange nods as Katie launches into a blow-by-blow recap of the scene for West and Jeff, who only saw the getaway and not the actual punch.
Through their shared laughs, it takes a moment before they realize Jules isn’t joining in on the commentary. She stands rooted to her spot with one hand firmly clasped over her mouth and the other still using West to keep her body upright. He frowns and moves closer to her.
Jules sighs as his scent fills the air around her, making her weak. Other than his warm hand, he hasn’t moved to touch her or kiss her hello since he arrived. Her blue eyes change their focus from the ground to his face as he leans in, and her heart speeds up.
“You okay, Buffy?”
His voice is tender and his breath teases the hair by her ear when he asks the question. She is tempted to smile at his nickname for her, but can’t. She is filled with mortification at the scene she caused tonight with Aubrey, and is wracked with guilt at the very accusation Aubrey made. She
did
leave Tanya…she ran…she lived.
She tries to nod, to lie and say she’s alright, but her eyes betray her. Her non-answer is enough for him. West finally pulls her into his chest and runs his hand down her spine to press her closely to him. “Can I take you home?”
“No.”
“No?”
She is loath to leave his embrace so he tilts her head up. “Well, I mean I’m supposed to be staying at Katie’s. Or that’s what I told my parents, anyway. I didn’t even ask her if I could.”
Bending his head, he places a butterfly kiss on Jules’ forehead. “So you don’t have to go home tonight?”
There’s hope in his voice and her fists tighten their grip on his shirt while her mind sorts things out. Oh.
Oh!
she thinks as it finally dawns on her. “Your dad’s not home, is he?”
“Stay with me?”
“Is this your ploy to get me into all that debauchery you were talking about earlier?”
He smirks; the sly, bad boy smirk that always makes her pulse leap and her palms sweaty. “This is my ploy to hold you all night. Any debauchery will be solely up to you, but not turned down by me.” His brows lift meaningfully, causing the pit of her stomach to twitch.
Out of the corner of her eye Jules observes Jess, Katie and Jeff still laughing and chatting. Katie is loud and animated as she tells a story. She’s totally wasted, but she’s happy and it makes Jules happy.
“Let’s go.”
“My place?”
“Yeah,” she confirms with a slight nod. West hugs her quickly, not even bothering to hide his excitement.
“Hey guys, I’m taking this girl with me,” he declares, practically picking her up to carry her away.
“Hold on, Romeo.” Jules grins and swats his arm. He releases his grip and she grabs Katie to give her a hug. Jules left her car at Katie’s house, so she knows she needs a story for that when her mom sees it in the morning. “K, will you cover for me?”
“Of course. Call me before you head home and I’ll let you know if I have to tell mom anything. She’ll probably sleep in as late as we do, since she went out with Greg again tonight.” Katie’s mom was always laid back about things with them. She never enforced a curfew on Katie, as long as she knew she was with Tanya and Jules. For the most part they never really abused the leeway she gave them.
“Don’t worry about it, girl.” Katie smiles and gives her another hug before adding in a whisper, “I’d jump at the chance to stay with Jeff. Go have fun, and remember, I want details tomorrow.”
“Love you!”
“Love you more, Juju.”
Jeff and West clasp hands and mutter boy things as Jules gives Jess an awkward hug and thanks her for her help earlier. “Thanks for helping get us out of there.”
“Thanks for the show. Aubrey is probably in full bitch mode right now, but it was worth it.” She laughs. “Speaking of, I should probably get back there and pretend I care.”
“Won’t she give you crap for leaving her on the ground?” Katie asks through subdued giggles.
“She can try, but I’m the driver tonight so I doubt she’ll throw too big of a fit.”
“You know, if you think you can stomach her wrath, we should hang sometime,” Jules offers, and Katie immediately chimes in her approval.
“That sounds like a plan. Plus, you need to introduce me to these guys you mentioned tonight.”