Love Me Back (2 page)

“You are right, I like you.”  I bite my lower lip not sure what happens now.  His mom or brothers could walk in at any time. 

“I like you too.”   Trent whispers and turns around to watch television never letting go of my hand.

Chapter 2 – Present Day 25 years old

The plane dips down and both my hands clutch the armrests.  I have never liked flying but I am extra on edge this trip.  I don’t want to go back home but I have no choice.  My brother has decided to finally marry his college sweetheart Lindsey Jacobson.  Don’t get me wrong; I love Lindsey, I couldn’t ask for a better sister-in-law.  The problem is they planned a weeklong wedding extravaganza and like every other wedding of the Bigs and Little’s during the past years everyone is involved.  I would not only be spending a week with Jack and Lindsey and their wedding party, it would include Bryan, Mackenna and from what I heard last night, Trent.

A hand goes over my mine squeezing.  “It’s alright sweetie, just some turbulence.”  Ian Fisher, my best friend says quietly.

“I know.  I hate flying.”  I say.  Ian and I became best friends back in college when we worked together at the rec center senior year.  We both lusted over the same male.  Unfortunately, for me the hot male swung Ian’s way, not mine. 

I made Ian take a week off of work to come with me and since he knows most of the people it would make it easier.  I need him there with me to face everyone again.

“It’s going to be fine Maddy, just relax.”  Ian looks at me squeezes my hand and goes back to reading his magazine.   We both know he isn’t talking about the flight and we both know things won’t be fine.

The plane lands five minutes early and I am thankful to get off.  Ian and I make our way to baggage claim and Ian stops to get one of the carts. 

“Why do we need that?”  I ask sharply.

“For our bags, I can’t carry them all.”  He snaps back to me.

How many bags to do you have?”  I met him at the gate this morning so both of us had already checked our luggage. 

“I don’t know.”  He tilts his head down looking at me through the top of his eyelids.

“Oh God, you probably have more than me.”  I shriek.

“Probably.  Now help me pull this through.”  Ian is yanking at the cart corral.

“Here, let me help.”  A deep voice says from behind us.

I see the tanned firm forearm easily guide the cart out of the corral.  My eyes roam from his arm up to the firm bicep to his strong shoulders and when my eyes reach his face I gasp.

“Hey Madgirl, long time no see.”  Gabe Basso says smirking at me.

“Hey Gabe, what are you doing here?”  I ask surprised.

“Came in for the wedding.  Groomsman.”  His eyes leave mine focusing on Ian “Hi, I’m Gabe.”  Placing his hand out for Ian.

Ian looks as dumbfounded as me but puts his hand out to shake Gabe’s.

“Sorry, Ian this is Gabe Basso.  Gabe this is Ian Fisher.”  I motion my finger back and forth between the two of them.

“Nice to meet you.”  Ian says.

Gabe nods his head to him.  “What baggage claim are you guys at?” he asks.

“Five, you?”  Ian takes charge of the conversation since I am already mute stricken.  If I am this way in front of Gabe how will I make it through everyone else?

Gabe’s eye shift to me and I see the concern in his eyes.  “Six” he answers.  “Is anyone picking you guys up?”  He asks looking at me, I can’t believe how much he looks like Trent or how much Trent looks like him. 

“I rented a car.  I didn’t want to rely on anyone for rides the whole week.”  I divulge more information than I have to.  That is what happens when I get nervous.  I can’t stop talking once I get going. 

“Do you mind if I hitch a ride?  I was going to catch a cab but since you guys are here.” 

“Sure.”  I shrug my shoulders agreeing.

The three of us walk over to baggage claim five and six.  I can see Gabe’s has already started moving with some bags coming down but ours is still quiet where I see the passengers from our flight waiting.

Gabe jogs over quickly grabbing a garment bag and walks back our way.  Although it’s only June, Gabe is already tan which I assume has to do with living in Florida instead of the Midwest.  Gabe moved down there after college.  He and a couple buddies went in together on some real estate deals and from what I heard he is doing pretty good for himself especially for only being twenty-eight.

My bag is the first to come off.  I hope that is a sign that this week won’t be so bad.  Ian is waiting next to his cart, he has pulled off two bags already and going for a third.  His matching plaid faux designer print luggage is a set of five and I assume he brought every piece.

“How much luggage did he bring?”  Gabe motions his head towards Ian.

“I have no idea but I bet he will come home with another suitcase on the way home.”  I smile.

“I guess he will be prepared for whatever comes up.  From what Doug told me it is quite the week of events planned.” 

“Yeah, I haven’t heard much of anything.”  I raise my shoulders.  Looking down at my feet.

“Knowing Jack, I am sure he planned a fun time.” 

“That’s my brother, party planner!”  I smile back at him.  His teeth are perfect and white.

“I am looking forward to it.  It has been killer this summer.  All of our houses are booked for the season and we have been working like crazy getting everything ready.  It was all I could do to get the time off.”  He exclaims.  “How about you Maddy?   What’s the decorating business like?”

“Hard to get into.  I do most of my work for free to try to get my foot in the door.  I tried to work for another decorator as their assistant but they just want to boss you around and do their personal errands.”  I confess.  I have actually thought about switching careers lately but I don’t want to go back to school.

“Yeah, I have heard that.  I had a friend who graduated in fashion design and she had a hard time too.” 

“What happened?  Did she finally break through?”  I cross my fingers praying his answer is yes.  Give me some hope to continue with my dream.

“Unfortunately, no.  She ended up getting married to some investment banker she met and now she lives in Connecticut with two kids.”  He gives me a lopsided smile.

“Oh” I deflate.  I knew going into design that few people where able to really succeed in it but it is my passion.

“But” he nudges his shoulder with mine.  “She wasn’t half as talented as you Madeline Jennings.”  He smiles down at me. 

“Thank you.”  I grin back.  “But you have never seen my work.”

“Yes I have” he answers.  Before I can ask where we see Ian coming over with his cart of luggage and five pieces of luggage.

“About time Ian, God.”  I turn around towing my suitcase behind me.  Then I feel my suitcase stop behind me and jolt back.

Gabe is there grabbing it “You might as well take advantage of the cart.”  He takes the suitcase from my hands and places it on the cart.  Ian huffs as though it is too much to push but Gabe and I both chuckle walking to the rental car.

The young boy motions to me as the next person and I walk over to him.  I am surprised to see Gabe right next to me.

“Can I help you?”  The young kid asks.

“Reservation for Madeline Jennings.”  I place my id and credit card on the counter.

“Ok, we have you down for a compact this week.”  The kid puts his hands on my id and credit card to take it but a hand goes over his startling the young man.

“Can we upgrade to an SUV?”  Gabe asks.

“What?”  I raise my eyebrows at Gabe.

“His luggage isn’t going to fit in a compact.”  He points to an exhausted Ian making his way over to the rental car place with all the luggage in tow. 

“We will have to strap it to the roof.  I can’t afford to upgrade.”  I admit nodding to the young man to continue with the compact.

“First of all, I don’t think a compact has a rack you can strap luggage to.”  He laughs.  “Second, I would never make you pay.  Let me get an SUV, we can share the truck all week.  We will be going to the same places anyway.”  He says awaiting my answer.

It made sense in a way but I didn’t want to rely on him for a ride and I couldn’t let him pay for it.  I bite my bottom lip contemplating my options.  “I can’t let you do that Gabe.  Not to mention the reason for me getting a rental car was not to rely on anyone this week.”

He pulls out his wallet handing the young kid his id and credit card.  “Go ahead and book us an SUV and put us both on the truck.”  He grabs my credit card and hands it back to me.  “You can keep the truck and come get me when we are doing something.”

He puts finality to the conversation.  Did I miss something?  Since when is he in charge of me? The problem is I knew Ian’s luggage was a problem to begin with.  I figure I will just go ahead with Gabe’s plan and then drop the truck off later for him to use for the week.  I don’t need or want his charity.

We lug all of Ian’s bags onto the shuttle van to take us to the rental car lot, Gabe makes me pick out the SUV we are going to use.  Of course, Gabe can’t just get an SUV he has to get the full size SUV.  I pick a nice blue Chevy Tahoe but it is huge and I don’t really want to drive it.  Since living in New York for the last two years, I never drove and to go from taxi cabs to this monster of a truck is too much for me to take.  When Gabe tries to give me the keys I tell him to keep them.

Gabe raises his eyebrows to me after we load Ian’s last bag into the back.  I am astonished that it is jam packed with luggage. 
Did he always have to be right?

We head down the freeway. Our town is about an hour outside of Chicago.  I can’t stop nibbling on my lower lip.  I don’t know what to expect when I get there, I have heard Gabe’s phone buzz a few times with text messages and I wonder who they are from. 

By the time we pass the sign Welcome to Belcrest population 1,531, my lip is raw and I am starting to sweat.  I can’t believe I am back to the place I swore I would never revisit.

“Holy Shit.  You weren’t kidding when you said you came from a small town.”  Ian remarks from the backseat.

“Belcrest is small but mighty.  Right Madgirl?”  Gabe nudges me with his elbow.  That is how the football team has always been described as, small but mighty.  We never have as many guys as other teams but we were State Champs for five years in a row when my brother and Gabe played.  By the time I graduated the run ended.

“Hum…I like the sound of that.”  Ian teases in the back.

I remain quiet, nervous to see everyone.  We pull up to Gabe’s house, still the same white porch with the hanging flower baskets.   I get out to stretch my legs and Mrs. Basso comes walking out with a chocolate lab behind her.  Dixon passed away when we were in high school and they got their new pup Kisses, affectionately named by Mrs. Basso.  She said she was outnumbered for years and it was time she got a girl.  Since all the boys were pretty much out of the house there wasn’t really a fight.

“Gabe, it’s so good to have you home.”  She embraces him in a tight hug. 

“It’s good to be home Mom.”  The hug from Gabe is just as strong.  I know he always had a close relationship to his family unlike me.  “Anyone else here yet?”  He asks.

I freeze, not wanting to know if Trent is here. 

“Doug is outback with your dad.”  She says and then turns towards me doing a double take.  She looks from Gabe to me looking confused or upset I can’t really tell.

“Madeline?”  She asks curtly.

“Hello Mrs. Basso.”  I say.

“Hi Maddy, I assumed you would be in town this week” she comes over giving me a short hug.  Cold compared to how she used to hug me.  “Why are you guys driving together?”  She seems irritated.

“We ran into each other at the airport, thought we would share a rental car this week.”  Gabe tosses the keys in my direction. 

Catching them I hear Ian clear his throat behind me.

“Oh I’m sorry.  Mrs. Basso this is my friend Ian.  Ian this is Gabe’s mom Mrs. Basso.”  I motion back and forth.

She eyes him up and down.  “Please, call me Wendy.”  She extends her hand.

“Nice to meet you…Wendy.”  Ian shakes back.

“Alright then, let’s go.”  I say to Ian.  “Nice to see you again Mrs. Basso.  Gabe, let me know if you want the car.”  I turn around before either one of them can say anything back heading back to the driver side of the blue monster.

“Wait Maddy.”  Gabe is jogging over to me.

“What’s up?”  I impatiently say.

“I don’t have your number.  Give me your phone.”  He demands.

I dig it out of my purse and hand it to him.  He programs his number and then calls himself.  After he hands it back to me I see he stored himself as the Hot Basso Brother.

“Nice” I smirk up to him.

“It’s not my fault my brothers got stuck at the shallow end of the gene pool.”  He puts his hands out for me to disagree.  I don’t.

We pull out of the driveway of what I considered my home once and I want to cry for what has happened between myself and the Bassos.  I won’t let myself get dragged into it again, I promised myself.  I see Mrs. Basso giving Gabe the third degree about why he would be with me and he is shaking his head back and forth. 

“She’s a trip.”  Ian says.  “What is her problem with you?”

“She used to be nice.  I was like a daughter to her.”  I say staring at the road ahead of me.

“What happened?”  He asks.

I don’t answer.  I don’t want to talk about it.  I can’t tell him that I took something from her that I could never replace.

Chapter 3 – 12 years old

Trent and I “went out” for about two weeks before we broke up.  We were able to keep our friendship going surprisingly when Trent started “going out” with Candice Montgomery, Katie Pierce, Amanda Schmidt and Jenny Roberts.  Needless to say Trent was a lot like Mackenna, hard to make up his mind.

Over the year Trent, Bryan, Mackenna and I became a close-knit group.  We usually got together with the Bigs and watched movies, played video games or went bowling.  We had turned into the best of friends.

There were some days I talked more to Trent than I did to Mackenna. When Jack’s football team went to play in the state championship we traveled with the Basso’s up there.  We were able to convince Trent’s parents to take Bryan and Mackenna with us.  We piled in the Basso’s conversion van with games and snacks not realizing that Madison was only a few hours away.