Overcome (9 page)

Chapter 19

Carly

Carly was late and Mr. Green’s class was over. But that wouldn’t stop her from giving him the homework she’d swiped off the kitchen table before running out of the house.

      She rushed into his classroom, out of breath. “I’m so sorry. I have my homework.”

Mr. Green looked up from his desk, where he seemed to be grading papers though she didn’t know whose, because nobody else in her class did their homework.

“Carly,” he removed his rectangle reading glasses and sat them by the papers. “I’m surprised to see you today. Your mom called and said you were sick.”

Carly took in a deep breath. “I am. I was last night, but I did my homework before so I have it. And I wanted to make sure you got it.”

He smiled, “I’m impressed.”

She handed the papers from her book over to him.

“Thank you for trying.” He placed the pages on top of the others.

“You’re welcome?”

He laughed at this. “You don’t have to say that to me. It’s for your benefit that you try, not mine. But it’s good to know that my time isn’t wasted.”

“I’m late for history.” She pointed toward the door.

“Go on, get out of here.” He nodded. “Mr. Stewart isn’t as forgiving as I am.”

*****

History did nothing to brighten her mood, considering she bombed the pop quiz. It wasn’t that she didn’t try to study last night. That was what was so frustrating, she was truly trying.

She stepped out of the class behind other slackers who had to retake American history during what was supposed to be summer vacation. All she knew was she didn’t ever want to have to take summer school again.

Seeing Mr. Green standing outside the door with a wide smile and papers in his hands surprised her. His hair was damp with sweat and slicked to the side.

“Congratulations, Carly, you’re doing great.”

“Huh?” Carly held her books to her chest and took a step toward him in the nearly empty halls. 

Mr. Green held her homework out to her. The big red A at the top was unmistakable.

“How?” her jaw dropped and her arm fell to her side with her book in her hand. She grabbed the papers from Mr. Green’s grimy fingers.

“All the hard work is paying off. Keep it up and you’ll be able to get into a decent college,” he said.

She blinked down at the paper in her hand.

“See you Monday,” he said before disappearing down the empty hall.

The longer Carly stared at the paper, she realized it wasn’t hers. Her name was in her handwriting on the top of the page, but the problems were a poor attempt at copying her writing. Even in some places the numbers went from big and loopy to neat and tiny.

How?

Parker
.

Chapter 20

Parker

The penned chicken on his dash mocked him. Carly was right, he was a one. Only this time it wasn’t Bree he was afraid of, it was Carly. He stared at the entrance. She was in there. Her white two door car sat in the parking lot. She was probably on the counter, her feet bare, either on her stomach or sitting Indian style against the wall.

He entertained the idea of going to the back door. He could check out in the morning and never have to see her again. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to see her. Not just one more time, but a lot.

*****

Earlier, when he visited with his sister and niece, he tried not to think about her. It didn’t help that Bree kept bringing her up.

“Carly’s hilarious, isn’t she? She’s so much fun,” Bree said as he cradled Bailey in his arms. Holding a baby was different for him, but he couldn’t deny how cute her chubby little cheeks were. Her lips moving like she was eating as she slept made him chuckle, which made her startle and cry.

“Yeah, she’s cool.” Parker handed Bailey back to Bree.

“I think she likes you.” Bree wiggled her eyebrows at him and swayed back and forth, lolling Bailey back to sleep.

Parker laughed and ran his hand over his shaggy hair. “I don’t have time to do the whole girlfriend-boyfriend thing.”

“Maybe you’ll change your mind if you fall in lerve …” She sing-songed.

Parker chuckled again, swiping his hand across the back of his neck. “What’s lerve?” He wrinkled his brow.

Bree giggled. “Love, you goof.” She nudged him with her elbow, making the baby flinch her arms straight out.

“You say lerve for love and I’m the goof?” Parker shook his head, “I can see why you and Carly are best friends.” Though, he still wanted to forget about Carly and her crazy-spunky attitude.

*****

When he finally climbed out of the Jeep, he willed his feet to walk around the building, but they didn’t comply. He strode straight toward those big doors leading him to the girl who had slipped into his mind constantly.

She lay flat on her belly across the counter. Her curls covered her face like a curtain as she grumbled to her text book.

He didn’t allow himself to look too long. Just like a drug, every little bit made him want more. He couldn’t want
more
. More would be complicated and he didn’t do
more
with any girl.

He turned his face toward the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest as he shuffled past her.

“You aren’t even going to say hi?”

He paused and turned to face her. She was still on the counter, but had changed positions. Now she sat up with her legs curled under her. 

“H … hi,” he said.

“I have something for you,” she said, but she wasn’t smiling and she wasn’t snarling. There was no expression on her face. 

He wished she was smiling.

She grabbed the edge of the counter and hopped off. Her hair puffed out and floated back down to her shoulders.

Parker didn’t respond. He stayed where he was as if his feet were glued to the floor. The fruity smell invaded his insides, making his blood pump faster.

She leaned over and lifted a platter onto the counter.

“What …”

“You deserve a cookie …” her voice was flat and she looked down at the cellophane wrapped dish. “… or a plateful.”

He let the air out of his lungs, hoping to slow things down inside—heart, blood, lungs, nerves everything was in overdrive. “Carly …”

“Thanks for the A, but I prefer to earn it myself.”  She stared at him like she was looking through him.

“Carly …” he said again and his feet were finally moving toward her.

Her expressionless face turned into a scowl. “I’ve cheated my way through school for years. Did the minimum amount of work to get by. Of course I didn’t this last year, but that’s not even my point. I want to do this on my own.” His heart hurt when her voice became choppy.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Another step and he would be able to reach out and push her hair out of her face. He stayed where he was, and shoved his hands a little further into his pockets.

“You don’t know me … people think I’m stupid. They think that all I know … let’s just say I have a reputation and it isn’t a good one, though you probably figured that out the other night. And if you wanted to help, you could have helped me by distracting me. But don’t help me like this.” She balled two sheets of paper in her hand and tossed them at him.

He watched the crumbled homework fall to the floor. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. All he could do was stare at the ground, at the crumbled balls. He wanted to go ahead and check out of his room and go home right then, but that would require talking to her.

Then he heard a sniff, and he didn’t think that he could feel any worse than he already did. When he looked at her again, her head was down. One hand covered her face, the other planted flat by the plate of cookies. Her fingers splayed out like a fan. Her shoulders shook.

Parker took another step closer.

"Just go away." Her words pierced him like a dagger.

"I don't want to be your distraction." Parker hated that his voice waivered. He placed his hand by the cookies. They were lumpy and gooey looking … homemade like the ones his mom made.

"I already know that. You don't have to rub it in." Her voice muffled against her hand.

"I ..." he swallowed the lump rising in his throat. He'd never said anything like this to a girl. "I want to be more."

She lowered her hand and lifted her face. Parker resisted the urge to push her hair out of her eyes. The tips of his fingers were right there and he dropped them. He placed his palm on the counter beside hers, not quite close enough to be touching, but he could feel the body heat coming from her.

“I wanted to … believe me, it wasn’t that I didn’t. I just don’t want to take advantage of you.”

Chapter 21

Carly

“I don’t want more than a distraction.” She didn’t recognize her own voice as it rose out of her throat. She had to force herself to say it. She didn’t want to feel again. Numb was much easier for Carly than feelings, but something in her maybe did feel, and that scared her.

Parker’s brown eyes pierced into hers, his jaw clenched and he nodded.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected him to do, beg, plead, confess his undying need? What she didn’t expect was for him to turn and walk away, taking the plate of cookies with him.

She almost stopped breathing when his fingers grazed against hers.

Almost.

And though she thought that was exactly what she wanted, she wasn’t sure when he was out of sight that it was.  Once her heart rate returned to normal, she climbed back up on the counter.

Back to math problems she didn’t understand. Back to dead men she didn’t understand. Back to periodic formulas she didn’t understand. Carly had enough in her life that she didn’t understand.

Boys were supposed to be easy. They liked to be kissed and were more than happy to oblige if she offered something else.

But not Parker.

He was a mystery, much deeper than other boys.  Why did he say and do things no one had ever done for her before, yet act like she had a contagious disease when they got close? The kissing he didn’t seem to mind until she tried to take it a little further. Wasn’t that what they all wanted? Teenage boys and their hormones? Before Parker showed up she could’ve written a book on how simple boys were.

*****

The lip gloss was cool on her lips as she slid it on, looking in her rearview mirror before stepping into the morning fog.

His Jeep still sat in the parking lot. She was relieved he hadn’t left yet.

Goosebumps covered her legs because she hadn’t bothered to change out of the short, cotton shorts she’d slept in, or at least attempted to sleep in.

She was glad she’d thought to grab her hoodie on the way out. Even if it was June and smoldering by ten, it wasn’t warm at six and she had no clue how long she would have to wait.

Going in to wake him up might be a huge mistake. She preferred to say her goodbye in the parking lot, where she would have her guard up because someone could witness her breaking, and she didn’t do that in front of people. Almost losing it in front of Parker last night had her even more freaked out.

Birds sang their songs around her, and the fog had lifted before Parker came outside. His head was down. His face covered by his blue baseball cap.

Carly was on the ground, using his tire for a backrest. Her legs were stretched out in front of her, and her flip-flops sat under the Jeep.

“Whoa,” Parker said, coming to a halt at her knees. Carly stood, brushing debris from the backs of her legs. According to her phone, she’d been there three hours.

Carly didn’t wake up this early on normal days, let alone on a Saturday when it was her right to sleep in. What was he doing to her?

He scratched the back of his head, and she straightened her shoulders to make her just a little taller.

“What …”

“You can’t do that.” She’d had plenty of time to think of what she’d say to him when she saw him, but nothing she planned came out.  She pushed her hands into her hoodie. “Why do you … I just don’t understand why you are nice to me then … then you blow me off. I mean, it … it isn’t just normal-nice either. You did my homework, and yes, it ticked me off, but your intentions were … were … sweet.”

He opened his mouth, but Carly kept talking. She didn’t want him to have the chance before she spewed everything out.

“And you didn’t have to take me home and carry me inside. Or even you pushing me away when I was trying to seduce you. I was hurt, but after you said … after what you said last night.” She pulled her bottom lip in her mouth and watched the sparse line of traffic pass on the highway. “I just … I don’t know what to think.”

Parker stood close. Every single part of her felt him, even though he wasn’t touching her. She couldn’t read him. He wasn’t smiling his normal smirk like he was making fun of her in his head. “
You
were the one who said you didn’t want
me
.”

“But …”

“Did I hear you wrong?” His lips were in a flat line and one eyebrow rose under the bangs hanging over his forehead.

She looked down at her bare feet. “No,” her heart clenched when wished she’d said something different.

“Okay then, I guess this is goodbye.” He reached around her, and at first she thought he was going to hug her, but he didn’t. He opened his door and tossed his duffle bag in.

“Parker wait,” she called out before he could walk around his vehicle to the driver’s side.

Parker stopped and turned to her.

She opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. She couldn’t just let him walk away. She curled her bare toes under her feet and wrung her hands together at her stomach. “I … I … I don’t …”

He nodded and turned back around.

“Wait,” she called out again, this time taking a few strides to make her way to him. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now … but …” she placed her hand on his arm. It was solid and there was a flutter under her belly button. “I do want a friend.” She cringed at the word coming out of her mouth.
Friend
, how lame could she be? Nobody wanted to hear that word.

He looked at the ground, not speaking for what seemed like eternity.

“Sorry, I …” She began to turn.

“Friend works for me,” he finally said.

She smiled as she turned back to him, and he was smiling as well.

“I have to go.” He nodded toward his Jeep. “But friends call friends, right?”

Her heart skipped. Call? Not text. How romantic … but it couldn’t be romantic, she wasn’t … it wasn’t going to be like that. But despite her thinking how wrong it could go if they started talking on the phone, she couldn’t quit grinning when she answered, “Yeah.”