Over It (The Kiss Off #2) (4 page)

At least Hamish was having a good time. He’d been bouncing his head and shoulders along to the music for the whole trip, tossing fruity candies into his mouth from a packet on the dash for the past couple of hours, so obviously he was enjoying the music, at least. Except for that one song.

My playlist consisted of Academy of Lies, Fat Bottomed Girls, The Himbos, Lexie De Graff and a bunch of other artists we'd be seeing live over the weekend. I was looking forward to it, but the way things were going…

My forehead creased with concern as I watched them through the rear view mirror, took in Mads’s tightly crossed arms and the way Nikki had practically pressed herself against the door, as far from the sleeping rhino as possible.

So far, this was not the trip I had planned.

There had been nothing of interest to see for the last couple of miles of highway, save for the odd homestead. The closer we got to the shore, however, the more the grass changed from parched yellows and browns to lusher, healthier looking vegetation.

I watched in a zoned–out stupor brought on by the long, boring drive as a rest stop appeared on the horizon and, slowly, over ten minutes or so, became larger and larger until we passed it straight by.

Wait. No, we weren't passing it by. I blinked myself awake as Hamish pulled into the slip lane off the highway and rounded the parking lot. He pulled the car in beside a pump and switched off the engine so suddenly that the song ended in deafening silence, mid–shriek.

Without a word, Hamish opened his door with a loud creak and slammed it shut after him.

Mads sat bolt upright and looked around, disoriented.

The three of us sat in silence for a moment.

"You guys need to go?" I asked.

"Yeah I probably-"

"Better take the oppor-"

They both stopped and exchanged suspicious glances. Mads sat back in her seat and crossed her arms again.

"No thanks," she said, "I'm fine."

Nikki watched her for a moment, then unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car. "Well I'm taking the chance while I've got it," she said, slamming the door behind her, leaving me alone with Mads. I grabbed one of Hamish's candies and threw it at Mads's head.

"What is your problem?"

"What's
my
problem?" Mads asked, livid. I knew she’d been holding back, but suddenly she let it all hang out. "Why did you invite her? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I want you guys to get along."

Mads shook her head. "Never gonna happen."

"Why?"

"Why?" Mads scoffed. "Why should I? Because she pretended to be your friend and then stole your boyfriend the second you weren't looking? Because she constantly threw it in your face that she was with Cam and you weren't, like you even needed reminding? Because every time I ever came into contact with her, she called me some variation of a slut? Which one of those reasons makes you think I could possibly be friends with her? She’s a bad person."

Mads climbed out of the car and the whole vehicle shook when she slammed the door behind her. I jumped out into a wall of heat and scurried after her as the electronic bell above the sliding glass doors dinged as I entered.

She was taking deep breaths in front of a small display of trucker caps and tee shirts, sunglasses and cheap make–up. She inspected a lipstick tester, painting a small spot onto the back of her hand.

"I had it wrong about her," I said, "I've told you. I was the bee–yotch. She didn't deserve my crap. Or yours."

"Uh–huh," Mads said, a response akin to having ignored me.

"And whenever you guys were in the same room together, you were like a police dog on a meth dealer," I said.

Mads gaped at me. "I was
not
. Are you serious right now?"

I couldn't back down. I was moving into some shaky territory here, but I persevered. "You called her some really horrible things, too, Mads. You know you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

Mads didn't look at me, knowing I was right.

I said softly: "How was she supposed to react?"

Mads didn't respond. She tried on a pair of fake Ray Bans and checked herself out in the mirror.

"She's not a bad person, she's really cool, and you're really cool and I know if you just-"

"It's not going to happen," Mads said, "it's just not." She placed the glasses back on their rack and stomped away toward the ice cream freezers. She passed Nikki with an icy glare as she went.

Nikki walked over to me with her hands in the air.

"I don't think I can do this for a whole four days," she said. "Maybe I should go home. There are buses outside, I’m sure I could-"

"It's not that bad, is it?" I said.

She didn't need to say anything.

"Okay, so maybe it
is
that bad," I conceded, "but that's just now. She'll warm up to you."

"She doesn't
want
to warm up to me," Nikki said, picking up the exact shade of lipstick Mads had just tried out. Nikki drew some onto her fingertip, looked in the mirror and pressed it onto her lips.

"Nikki, please," I said softly. She couldn't give up.

"Okay, okay, I'll try," Nikki said, "but she's not getting away with calling me shit."

"I know. I've talked to her," I said.

"Quite frankly I'm losing interest in being her friend at all."

Seemed they had still more in common. "Nooo... don't say that," I said.

"Let's talk about something else," Nikki said, smacking her lips together and inspecting her pout. She shook off our previous conversation and shot me a conspiratorial smile.

"Let's talk about why you never told me your cousin is so freaking hot." Seemed someone else was good at compartmentalizing, too.

"Ugh," I said, gagging. “Barf.”

"You don't think he's hot?"

Well, sure...
now
. "No, Nikki, I think he's
my cousin.
"

"Would you have a problem with it if I maybe..."

"Dibs."

We both turned around, and there was Mads, holding a grape Popsicle.

"Excuse me?"

"Dibs," Mads said again. "On Hamish."

Nikki and I opened our mouths, not quite sure what to say. I turned to Nikki and found her eyes narrowed, staring Mads down.

"You can't be serious," she said.

Mads bit off the top of her Popsicle and crunched on the purple ice. "Totes serious."

Nikki groaned. "Are you five? You can't call dibs on a guy."

"Hell, someone needs to confiscate your girl card,” Mads said, “Because you can so call dibs on a guy, and I just did."

Nikki didn't respond. She looked from Mads, to me, and back again. Her jaw set in a hard line. "We'll see about that."

Uh–oh. "Um, guys..."

They ignored me.

Mads, up for the challenge, said: "Oh will we?"

"Come on, stop."

Nikki placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Yeah. Yeah, we will."

"No... guys… seriously now..."

Mads smiled smugly at Nikki. Was I even still there? "Fine, bee–yotch. Game
on
."

Nikki put both hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Mads in a challenge. “You bet it is.”

Oh crap.

“Time out!” I said, stepping between them.

Nikki and Mads gave each other a final glare, then they both turned on their heels and strode away from each other.

I placed my hands against the nearest shelf for strength, closed my eyes and let out a frustrated groan. Unlocking my cell, I texted Ty.

4 hrs and counting. Mads and Nikki are driving me crazy. Can’t wait to see you.

It wasn’t more than a minute before he texted me back:

Have my babies.

I blinked at my cell a couple of times. What the hell? My face flamed and a nervous tingle made its way down my spine. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to reply to that? That was the most random reply ever.

I narrowed my eyes, suspicious. Something was up. After a moment of indecision, I glanced around and moved down the aisle to the back corner of the store, away from people, and called Ty. It rang twice and then disconnected. He’d hung up on me!

I pressed my lips together with determination, fished my ear buds out of my handbag and jammed them into the phone. I logged in to Skype and pressed video call.

After several rings, almost too many rings, it picked up, and after the camera jerked around a bit, a face filled the screen.

I stared at him for a moment, neither of us speaking.

“…Hey,” I finally said.

“Heeeeeyyyyy…” he said back, grimacing.

“You’re not Ty.”

“Nope. Nope I’m not,” the guy said, baring his neon white teeth in an uncomfortable smile. “Busted.”

A wave of relief rushed over me. Okay, it wasn’t Ty who wanted babies. It was a prankster. “Who the hell are you and why do you have his phone?”

“I was just playing. He’s at sound check. He left his phone here, so…I mean…anyone would have, am I right?”

Not just anyone would mess with someone’s phone. Van wouldn’t. I bet my mom would just ignore it, too. But he
was
right. I probably would have done the same thing. Not that I was going to admit that to him.

A man in a flannel shirt and trucker’s cap ambled over toward me and I stepped out of the way as he perused the motor oils behind me.

“Who
are
you?” I murmured, glancing awkwardly at Mr. Motor Oil and then back at the screen in my hand. The guy was cute, maybe early twenties. He was wearing a white polo shirt and his shiny brown hair looked blow waved and moussed back in a ‘summer at the country club’ kind of way.

“Gordo,” he said, and gave me a two–fingered wave. “Hey. What’s up.”

“Okay…” I said. So I now knew his name but it didn’t mean I knew who the hell he was.

“We’ve been touring with Ty and the guys for a while. I’m playing at Bay Fest too. You’re coming here, right?”

My eyes widened. “Stop reading Ty’s texts!” I hissed. “That’s a complete invasion of privacy and-”

He quickly cut me off. “I haven’t! I swear! Except for just that one, but it was only so I could tell him you texted. He told me you were coming. Heard it directly from the source, scout’s honor.”

“Uh–huh,” I said non–committally.

The door jingled and slid open as Hamish wandered into the store. He looked around, spotted me and nodded in greeting.

“Give him his phone back,” I said and disconnected the call. I pulled my ear buds from my ears and stuffed my phone back in my bag. I felt antsy. Uncomfortable with some random guy reading Ty’s texts. At least I’d learnt my lesson about sexting and there wasn’t really much for him to find. I hoped. I thought for a second, then pulled out my phone again and started scrolling through my previous conversations with Ty just to make sure.

“There you are,” Mads said with a smile as she wandered over to Hamish, who had stopped by me.

"What's up guys, find anything good? Ooh, Popsicle, nice," he said, watching Mads eat.

Mads smiled, all innocence and doe eyes. "Want a bite?" she asked, holding it out toward him.

The door to the ladies’ restroom opened and Nikki walked out. She gave Hamish a carefully relaxed smile and wandered over, ignoring Mads altogether.

"So Hamish,” Nikki said, “How far away are we? Are we getting close? That sea breeze will be nice," she said with a dreamy sigh.

Hamish snorted and tried on a pair of Jackie O sunglasses from a rack nearby. “‘Are we getting close?’ Really? Is that the teenage version of ‘are we there yet’?”

I shot him a look, but he was distracted; he pouted jokingly into the small mirror before tossing the glasses back and picking up another pair. I glanced at Nikki, who frowned.

“Sea breeze,” Hamish said, "I'm more of a tequila man, myself."

"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" I asked, crossing my arms and facing him directly. "What the hell happened to you?"

"What do you mean what happened to me?"

"You're an entirely different person."

Hamish smiled. "Thank you."

I snorted. "I'm not sure it's a good thing."

He glanced at me in the mirror, his smile turning hostile.

“You want to walk the rest of the way, cuz?”

“Sorry but…I mean…” I didn’t know how to describe it to him. How was I supposed to tell him that he’d turned into a giant frat boy sea donkey without being insulting?

It wasn’t possible.

Hamish decided not to push the issue, and instead turned his attention to Nikki and Mads and their stiff, uncomfortable body language.

“So what’s the deal with you two?” he asked. “I’m sensing some tension.”