Sway

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Lacey and Mari danced around their patio to Usher, the music blaring from the outdoor speakers. Mari was barefoot, but Lacey managed to dance in her platforms without a single wobble. Her blonde hair flew around while her hips moved from side to side. Smoke and the smell of burnt steak trickled from the barbecue, where Charlie was attempting to cook.

“Crap!”

While trying to get one of the steaks off the grill, Charlie flipped it a bit too

enthusiastically. It missed the plate and landed on the ground with a splat. “This barbecue is useless.”

Mari stopped dancing and put a hand to her head. “Charlie, you’re giving me a headache,” she groaned. She sank into one of the patio chairs. Lacey kept on dancing, swinging her arms from side to side in what was probably another Just Dance move.

“Should I do something?” I asked Mari. She cast a furtive look at her husband but didn’t reply.

I stood by the grill and tried to give Charlie instructions, but I was no better at steaks than he was. Lacey gently hip-bumped both of us out of the way and took over.

In no time, she had everything under control, and we were all sitting around the huge patio table, digging into our dinner.

“How was Kellynch?” Charlie asked around a bite of steak. “Are the Crofts decent?”

“They seem nice,” Mari replied. “Although Dad would have a heart attack if he saw Richard and all his piercings.”

“They keep up the house,” I said. “They haven’t made any changes that I could see, so that’s good.” Not that they had been there very long.

Charlie nodded. “I figured as much.” He passed the salad bowl to Lacey. “Eric said they’d take good care of it.”

Just like I thought, Charlie and Eric had worked the whole thing out. I swallowed a mouthful of bruschetta.

“Did Eric also tell you he’s coming back to LA, and that he’ll be staying at Kellynch too?” Though why Eric would want to set a toe inside my house was beyond me.

Lacey paused in the middle of piling her plate with salad. Charlie busied himself with his food.

“He might have mentioned it,” he mumbled.

I glared at him. “You might have told me, you know. Given me a little heads up.”

Charlie let out an exasperated sigh. “What does it matter? It’s been eight years. You’re both over it by now. That’s what you keep saying, anyway.”

Yes, I was over it. Whining about it only made it look like I wasn’t. I went back to my food.

“You’re going to invite him over though, right?” Lacey asked Charlie. “I’d love to meet him.”

I froze mid-chew. Seeing Eric again was not something I was looking forward to. Maybe coming to stay with Mari and Charlie had been a mistake.

Charlie shrugged.

“You’ve already met him, Lace,” Mari said.

“I was just a kid,” Lacey said. “All I remember is some guy who used to wear that weird hat all the time.”

Eric’s fedora. Despite myself, I smiled at the memory. He was obsessed with the thing our entire sophomore year. Charlie used to tease that he only wore it so he wouldn’t have to wash his hair.

“Yeah, I don’t remember him much either,” Mari said.

“He sings those old Frank Sinatra songs, right?” Lacey asked.

“He writes his own songs too,” I said. “He does a mix of both.” My face heated under their stares. “What? Just because I broke up with him means I can’t listen to his music?”

Mari shot me a knowing grin. She raised her eyebrows up and down. “Of course you can.”

Honestly. They would never leave me alone.

“He’s like that other guy,” Charlie said, ignoring us. “Michael Bublé. This article I read called him the next Michael Bublé.”

Eric probably didn’t like that any more than being called the next Frank Sinatra.

“I’ve heard him on the radio,” Mari said, shooing away a fly. “What’s that song he’s got out now?”

No one answered. “‘Miss Me,’” I replied with a sigh.

Mari pointed at me and said, “Ha!”

“Wait, he did that song… What was it called?” Lacey looked around for help. “I absolutely loved it when it came out, and then it was in that cellphone commercial.” She frowned, thinking hard, then snapped her fingers. “‘No Two Hearts.’”

I stared at the table, trying to keep my face smooth. “No Two Hearts” had been Eric’s first single. The song made him famous. And it was about us.

“I love that song!” Lacey went on. “And that guy is hot. Did you read the article about him in GQ?”

“What article? All I saw were the pictures,” said Mari. “Yowsa!”

“Nice,” Charlie said.

I picked at my broccoli with my fork. I had no idea Mari was keeping up with Eric’s career or reading articles about him. Well, looking at the pictures anyway.

Mari and Lacey continued to talk about Eric but “No Two Hearts” had started in my head, drowning them out. His song, his sweet voice singing those painful words played through my mind and I couldn’t shake them loose.

Once there were no two hearts so open

Once there were no two minds so alike

No feelings so in harmony

Now we’re strangers and it’s killing me

Once there were no feelings so in unison

Once there were no faces so adored

No tastes so much the same

Now we’re strangers and it’s killing me

Once there were no two souls so happy

Once there were no lovers so close as one

No perfection so complete

Now we’re strangers and it’s killing me

Once there were no two hearts so open

Now we’re strangers and it’s killing me

No two hearts so open

Now we’re strangers and it’s killing me

They talked about Eric the entire night. Lacey and Mari made plans to buy his CDs so they’d know his songs by the time he got to Kellynch. At first, they were just going to download everything, but then Lacey pointed out that they wouldn’t have anything for him to autograph.

I retreated to my room, unable to listen any longer. I knew I was supposed to be over him, and I was. But for some reason, the more they talked about him, the worse I felt. In rare moments, I still got aches over Eric, but mostly I kept him out of my mind. He was the past, why dwell on it? But they kept repeating it, Eric Eric Eric over and over, like an annoying techno dance beat. I just wanted to run from the room.

Grabbing a book from my luggage, I snuggled into my borrowed bed. Mari and Lacey could spend all the time with Eric they wanted. I would stay away. Nothing good was going to come from seeing my ex-fiancé.

* * * * *

I pushed Aiden on the swing while Mari pushed Landon. The sun covered me from head to toe like a warm blanket, brushing over my skin. Sweat pooled underneath my floppy hat, but I closed my eyes and reveled in the fresh clean heat, different from the muggy thickness that was summer in New York.

“Push me, push me!” Aiden yelled. I gave Aiden a harder push on the back and he squealed.

“It’s too hot out here,” Mari complained, wiping the back of her neck with one hand. “I can feel my scalp burning.”

“I told you to wear a hat.”

She groaned. “I didn’t want to ruin my hair.”

Mari had big plans that night. Eric had finally made it to LA and Charlie had called him up, eager to see his old bestie again. They made plans for dinner at STK, a restaurant so posh that vowels were beneath them. Mari and Lacey were going, as well as the Crofts. I made plans with Lexi to get out of going, not that anyone expected me to. Lexi had argued with me—she wanted me to go just so she could tag along and meet the infamous Eric Wentworth—but I finally convinced her that it was a bad idea to the power of ten.

“You’re going to want to shower anyway,” I said to Mari. A thin sheen of sweat glistened down her arms and her neck.

“We should never have come to the park,” Mari grumbled. She stopped pushing Landon and the swing slowed. Landon and Aiden both hopped off and ran to the playground. They grappled with each other, trying to be first up the steps.

“I still can’t believe you’re not coming,” Mari said, sitting down on a park bench and stretching her white legs in front of her. Mari was unnaturally pale for a Californian. Not that I thought she needed a tan, but some vitamin D would be good for her. “It’s STK! I’ve wanted to go there for so long but Charlie would never make reservations.”

I sat beside her, crossing one leg over the other. Dad would tell me not to because I’d give myself varicose veins but I was more concerned with flashing a kid in my mini skirt. My eyes followed the boys down the slide. Their giggles floated through the air.

“You know why.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I guess. Although I don’t know what the big deal is. You’re going to have to see him eventually.”

Not if I could help it. He had to go back on tour someday.

“Lacey bought me a new outfit for tonight, did I tell you?”

Only a few hundred times. “I bet it will look amazing.”

“I should’ve told her to get something for Charlie too,” she said. “He’s got nothing but t-shirts and jeans. And sweats.”

A smile quirked my lips. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Charlie in anything but what Mari just described. For senior prom, the dressiest he’d gotten was a blazer over a Star Wars tee.

“He’s got to have a nice shirt somewhere in his closet,” I said.

“I should text Lacey and tell her to bring him something, just in case.” She pulled out her phone.

I watched Landon scramble down the stairs of the playground. My eyes scanned, searching for Aiden. I found him at the top, reaching for the fire pole.

“Um, Mar,” I started. Landon stood at the bottom of the pole, looking up at his brother.

I stood. “Can Aiden climb down that thing?”

“What?” Mari asked absently. She looked up, and gasped. “Aiden, no!”

Aiden reached his arms out, grasping the pole. From our vantage, he seemed almost horizontal.

We ran for him. “Aiden, stop!” Mari yelled. Aiden stepped off the platform. He managed to get one small leg wrapped around the pole but not the other. For one long second, he hung suspended. Then his grip loosened and he fell to the ground.

Aiden lay on his back. He didn’t move. His eyes were open, but his face was paler than the sand underneath him. Landon began to cry.

“Are you okay?” Mari asked, crouching beside her son. “Does it hurt?”

Aiden stared at his mom. His lower lip quivered but he didn’t cry. He didn’t make a sound at all.

“Mari.” I stared at Aiden. Below his neck, a bone was pushing against his skin “I think he broke his collarbone.”

Her eyes went to the protruding bone and she began to scream. A small crowd of parents and kids gathered around us. “My baby! Oh no! What do we do?” Landon cried even harder.

“I don’t think we should move him, in case we make it worse.” I reached into my pocket for my phone and dialed 911. I wrapped Landon in my arms and attempted to settle him and his mother down while we waited for the ambulance.