The Crush (15 page)

“Thanks Wynnie, I don’t know what I would of done if you wouldn’t have been here with me. Vance probably would of taken me with him then for sure if I didn’t have you.”

“Not a problem Hal. Thanks to you too by the way. Last night was perfect.”

We made our way back towards the beach so we could walk home. Hallie finally calmed down a bit and I just heard a few remaining sniffles coming out of her.

“So I guess I should make sure to swap the sheets out then?” There was the Hallie I knew and loved. Always quick with a comeback.

I rolled my eyes at her while we came to a stop in front of Hallies house. Soon enough we wouldn’t be making the short walks up and down the beach to each other’s houses, we would be roommates. Judging by her room that was in a constant state of disarray I was sure the small dorm rooms that we had toured would barely be able to contain even half of Hallies stuff.

“I’ll see you tomorrow right?”

We had planned a day at the beach to kick off the summer and I was looking forward to spending time with Tessa and Collins before they took off.

“Yup, make sure you talk Ms. Betsy into makin’ some lunch for us. I need to fill up on that stuff as much as possible before we leave.”

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“You girls headed to the beach today?” Aunt Gracie asked as she came into the kitchen where Grams was putting our basket together. She had really outdone herself with this one packing up some fried chicken, potato salad, brownies, and a jug of iced tea. I was sure she would miss us when we left, she seemed to love taking care of us.

Collins nodded her head and grabbed up our beach bag while I took the basket from Grams. It was weird to just see the two of them in the mornings now getting ready to head out to the diner. Mom had taken the job with Dr. Snyde and she seemed to really like it. I was glad that she found something that she enjoyed doing but I think Grams missed having her at the diner.

“You two have fun with those girls then. We’ll see you later at the diner. If you want to head in a little late that’ll be fine, I think we’ll be able to handle it.”

Grams gave us both a wink and ushered us through the sliding glass door where we could already see Hallie and Tessa had claimed a spot.

“I’m going to miss this so much. How many people get to walk right out to the ocean?”

“I know how you feel trust me. I’ve lived here my whole life and I’m not sure how I’ll adjust.”

We made our way down and smoothed out our towels in the sand. I tossed Collins the bottle of bronzer and we took turns glossing up our bodies.

“So have you heard from Grier yet?” Hallie asked with a big grin while pulling her hair up into a small ponytail.

 From the look on her face I could tell she had already heard from Vance. Grier had called about 30 minutes after we left each other to tell me how much he had already missed me and I went to bed that night with the dopiest smile on my face and Collins making fun of me the whole night.

He had called earlier in the morning to tell me that they had made it safely and about some of their teammates they had already met. They weren’t technically allowed to start practicing until August but the Coach wanted them to bond as a team and they could still go for runs and do some weight lifting.

“Yeah it sounded like they were getting pretty well settled. Grier was already complaining about Vances big messes. I swear if you two end up getting married I am never coming over to your house. You’ll end up on one of those episodes of Hoarders between the two of you.”

I could hear muffled laughs coming from Tessa and Collins who were both turned over on their stomachs already and Hallie just stuck her tongue out at me.

“Nah the ‘Bama Brothers will make it to the NFL and I’ll get me a house maid. That place will be so clean you could eat off the kitchen floors.”

“Oh my god Hallie, you sound like Lexie Brockett! Is that why your with Vance, I was wondering about that. Now you confirmed it, you only want him for all the big bucks you think he’s gonna make.”

Tessa ducked under her arms as one of Hallies flip flops narrowly missed beaming her in the head.

“Oh zip it Tessa Grimes, I’m not anything like that ice queen. I would stick by Vances side even if he was a homeless bum on some street corner. Speaking of, have you guys seen her lately?”

 Collins flipped over on to her back and covered her eyes up against the glaring sun that was beating down on us.

“I have actually, when I was leaving the diner the other day. Of course she didn’t say a word to me, walked right by like she had a stick up her ass and her nose in the air. But it looked like to me that she’s working for her daddy at that hotel he owns across the street. He must have finally decided she needs to do somethin’ instead of spending all of his money now that he knows she won’t have Grier to milk off of.”

“Oh my I would like to see that. Could you imagine her working the front desk and having to deal with all of those customers? Or what if she had to clean the rooms, I would pay big money to see that one. Her dad will find out how big of a mistake that was pretty soon once he starts losing money since none of those guests will return.”

We all cracked up at the image of Lexie that Tessa had painted, I think she hit it pretty spot on. We spent the rest of the day imagining what jobs Lexie was doing and everything she was doing to mess them up.

After it started getting close to the start of our shift, me and Collins headed back home, leaving Tessa and Hallie at the beach. We knew that Grams had said to stay as long as we wanted but we both loved going to the diner. Collins had practically spent her whole life there and it was like a second home to me.

We were training Miranda to take over for us once we left town. She was a year behind us and had been looking for work for awhile so we figured it would be the perfect opportunity and Grams wouldn’t have to work so hard, trying to cook, waitress, and run the cash register. She was in good shape for her age but I could barely handle something like that myself.

I pulled out my phone as we made our way over and clicked through the text messages that had piled up from Grier.

I already miss u.

 I think we are officially switching roommates. Think you want to be my new roomie, we can have lots of fun ;-)

Just making sure you haven’t stopped thinkin’ about me

I love u.

I quickly typed answers back out to each of them with a big smile on my face. I knew he was going to have issues with Vance even though they’ve been best friends practically their whole lives. And I wouldn’t mind one bit sharing a bed with Grier.

“Hey girls!”

I looked up and found mom sitting in a booth with Anna, wiping out all those pictures of Griers naked body out of my head quickly.

“Hi Wynn, is that my boy who has your face all lit up?”

“Yeah he just sent me a few messages while we were at the beach.”

I tucked my phone back into my pocket and slid in next to mom. It looked like they had been sitting there for awhile, judging by the empty plates stacked up and the coffee mugs that they were sipping on.

“That’s good, I know you two will keep in contact well enough until you make it to campus. He told me he had plans for coming back to pick you up in a couple of weeks, right?”

I nodded my head while mom filled her in with all the details.

“Well we figured that would be best since I didn’t really want her driving her granddaddy’s truck that far anyway. Grier offered since he said he wouldn’t mind seeing you anyways and I thought it sounded like a good idea. I would probably be a mess if I drove her myself.”

“Oh girl trust me I know how it is. He just left yesterday and I’ve already cried my eyes out from missing him so much. You call me if you need anything Wynn, I know he’d want me to take care of you. Did you look at that list of therapists I gave you that are around that area yet?”

“Yup, I already made an appointment with one that you said you went to school with so I am all set with that at least.”

Mom reached out and patted my hand before I got up to get to work. I had come a long way since the start of school after ‘the incident’ and Dr. Snyde had played a big part of that. She had suggested that I continued to see someone when I went away since it would be such a big change for me but she had faith that I would be just fine and I’m sure I would since I would have Grier there with me every step of the way.

Wynn

Just like Grier predicted the time that I had left at home flew by. Mom tried to jam pack it with as many family dinners as possible before me and Collins left and I was sure I had gained a few extra pounds because of it.

Hallie put together a big birthday dinner for me when I finally turned 18 and didn’t have to worry about Richard again. Grier called me the minute my eyes opened to wish me a happy birthday before anyone else had the chance, I think he felt a little guilty about not being there but I reassured him that there would be plenty more birthdays.

He was still sweet though and made sure that I knew he was thinking about me. He sent flowers to me at home
and
work that I loved. After we had finished up with cake at the birthday dinner Hallie had planned out, she handed me a single wrapped box which I opened and found a silver bracelet with little charms dangling from it. There was a small seashell, a sand bucket, a starfish, a small heart, and an A with Alabama’s school emblem that were attached to it with room for even more. I couldn’t believe how thoughtful he was and I would never take it off.

Collins and Tessa were all packed and ready to go and were heading out a few days before us. Mom and Aunt Gracie had taken the both of us shopping together so we could pick out all of the fun stuff for our new dorm rooms. We loaded down two shopping carts at Target a couple of towns over and managed to stuff everything into the back of granddaddy’s truck bed. Grams had stayed back at the diner insisting that this would be the perfect time for Miranda to get tested on her own.

“I am so proud of you both but we sure are going to miss the two of you,” Aunt Gracie said as she sat next to my mom across the booth from me and Collins.

They looked so much alike the waiter did a double take when he sat us. Mom seemed so much happier since she had started her new job and I knew she loved living with Aunt Gracie and Grams, I’m sure it just got to be a little much sometimes.

“Thanks mom, we’ll miss you too. Maybe you can meet up with us on one of our road trips we have planned out, you two could fit in with the college crowd easily. Then you guys could shack up with a set of college boy twins and become cougars. ”

Oh jeez Collins, did that really just come out of your mouth? It was bad enough she wanted to invite them on a trip but she actually wanted her own mom to date someone the same age as her daughter. Ew.

“Aw thanks Coll but I think we’ll be okay visiting when you guys can make it home. Hopefully you can plan it out to come back at the same time and we can have a few girls’ weekends.”

I know I would miss mom and always having her around. I hoped with me being gone maybe she would have more time for herself and find someone that actually deserved her.

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“Does this look alright?”

Collins stood in front of the full length mirror that hung on the back of the door in our room that we would only be sharing for one more night. We were getting ready for a good bye party at Tessas house since her and Collins would be leaving the next day.

“You look great Coll, it’s a good thing you’re leaving town tomorrow because every guy there tonight is going to be chasing after you in that.”

Her long honey blonde hair that was so similar to mine was down and as straight as a pin pooling around her bare shoulders and she had on a strapless emerald green dress that fit her like a glove. If I wore something like that I would look like a stripper with my boobs popping out but Collins pulled it off.

“Well I guess I should bring this along with me to Florida then with all the parties me and Tessa will be hittin’ up. Now it’s your turn and I don’t want to hear one blip of complaining comin’ out of that mouth of yours, just ‘cause Griers not here doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. It’s a party and I demand you have fun. I can do that since it’s kinda my party.”

She went to my side of the closet that was still pretty full since I had a few days before leaving, I guess I was a little bit behind on the whole packing thing.

“Here this will look perfect.” She shoved a black halter dress at me that I had never worn before. At least it had a built in bra so I wouldn’t have to worry about that for the night.

“Now hurry up, the party doesn’t start till I get there.”

I hurried in to the bathroom and threw my hair up into a high ponytail before pulling the dress over my head and tying it around my neck. It was a little shorter than I liked to wear but it would do, I slipped on a pair of wedged sandals and applied a bit of lip gloss and I was already to go for Ms. Bossy.

We made our way out to the garage, passing up granddaddy’s truck and hopping onto the golf cart that Grams was letting us borrow for the night. Tessa lived in a huge house near the center of town but she didn’t overlook the beach like the rest of us so it was a little too far to walk.

Collins whipped us out of the garage and flew out onto the road without even stopping to look for any oncoming traffic as I held tight to the overhead roof.

I must have looked scared because she started giggling at me and let up on the gas just a bit.

“Oh relax Wynnie this thing barely goes over 20 miles per hour and I’ve been driving it since I was 13. Can you imagine us when we’re old and gray coming back to this town and joy riding in one of these? It’ll be our thrill of the day. We’ll have to get one of those pimped out ones though, not something boring like this old thing that Grams likes to drive around.”

“I can hardly wait Collins. It’s something I’ll look forward to, why even go away to college, we could just stay here and pool our money together for the classiest golf cart around.”