Falling to Pieces (7 page)

"
Watcha guys doing?" she asked, nudging me in the side. That was one of the things I loved about Ivy. The way she would just come up and talk to me. Even in a big group I was the first one she spoke to, the one she joked and bantered with. Even my girlfriends would wait for me to come to them, but not Ivy. She was different.

"We're going to jump off this rock into the lake." I turned to her, raising my eyebrow. My gaze lingered on her bikini clad body, and I was gr
ateful that I had on sunglasses so she wouldn't see how my eyes scaled every inch of her.

"Cool." She placed a hand on her hip
, exposing her short nails that were painted a dark purple. "I'm in."

Some of the oth
er guys kind of chuckled, and gave me an incredulous look. I glanced back at the other girls lathered up in suntan oil. No way would any of them be over here threatening to jump from this high rock down to the cold water below.

"Ives." I grab
bed her arm. "You don't have to do this."

She cocked
her head to the side. "I know I don't have to, but I want to."

"Ah, just go back and sunbathe with the other chicks. This is guy stuff," Cole teased her. Cam and Michael laughed from over her shoulder.

Ivy smirked, her gaze sweeping all of us. "Are you guys scared that I'm gonna make you look bad?"

"C'mon, it's dangerous," Michael piped up.

"Not any more dangerous than hanging out up here with you guys," Ivy countered, a challenging gleam in her eye.

My lips curled upward at her statement. Some of the other girls peered over to see what was going on
, but they didn't look surprised. I think everyone was used to Ivy hanging with the boys.

"Okay, enough jabbering." Cam pushed past her. "This is what we get for hanging out with a chick. I'm jumping." He swiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Not so fast there, speedy." Ivy knocked him out of the way and placed her feet at the edge of the rock. My breath hitched in my throat. "It's my turn." She lifted her hands high in the air, and despite my best efforts, my gaze landed on her chest. After pushing up with her legs she jumped off the rock, and plummeted to the water below.

I gasped
and lurched forward. She entered the water with a splash. I kept my eyes on the place she landed, waiting for her to surface. After a few seconds her head bobbed up. She waved at us and I waved back, exhaling with relief.

"That girl is
crazy," Cole breathed.

"Yeah
, she is, isn't she?" I smiled, my eyes still glued to Ivy as she lazily swam back to shore.

“Are you going to go see him?” Cole
's question pulls me back to the present.

I know exactly who he’s talking about
, and it makes me squirm. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“You’re going to have to sooner or later.”

I take the last drink from the bottle and then toss it at my feet. “Maybe not.”

“Suit yourself.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I snatch it out. For a second I’m hoping it will be Ivy, but then I shove down the thought. I shouldn’t want to hear from her after what she told me. Besides, she hasn’t tried to get in touch with me for a year despite the fact that I still have the same phone number. I doubt she’d finally text me now.

Just wanted to check on u. U seemed sad when u left the restaurant.

Without bothering to respond, I shove the phone back in my pocket.

“Who was that?”

“Peyton. Boy, she sure doesn’t waste any time.” I shake my head. “It’s not like I’d ever get back together with her.”

“She’s not that bad,” Cole says.

I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, so she’s a little over the top,” Cole concedes.

I snort. “That’s an understatement.”

“Hey, but you know what? This really hot trainer I work with, Mercedes, she’s having a party this weekend. You should come with me. It’s gonna be off the hook.”

“I don’t know.”

“C’mon, man, she’s got tons of hot friends. It’ll get your mind off of all this stuff.”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

I’m not sure if I’m ready to get Ivy off my mind and move on. A part of me just wants to lose myself in some other girl, but another part of me wants to cling to Ivy forever. I hate how complicated things are. It’s never been like this for me, and it’s frustrating. Maybe I should go with Cole. Perhaps letting loose with my friend is exactly what I need to put things in perspective.

It has been several
days since I showed up at the Steakhouse and learned the truth about Ivy. Still I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind. She has haunted my dreams, and lingered in my thoughts during the day. As hard as I’ve tried to forget about her, I can’t. I know I should be so angry with her for lying to me, but I keep thinking about that night and I’m just not upset. It’s true that she didn’t tell me it was Cam. I jumped to that conclusion. The only part that stops me up is that little nod she gave me. It seemed like a confession, but maybe I misread it.

“Ready, man?” Cole clamps me on the shoulder.

In an attempt to get Ivy off my mind and Cole off my back, I agreed to go to the party with him.

“Yep.” I nod, holding the keys to my car in
my palm.

“I’m so glad you’re coming.” Cole hops in the passenger side and clangs the door shut behind him. “It’ll be just like old times.”

I slide into the driver’s side and close my own door. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get that crazy,” I joke, as I stick the keys in the ignition. They jangle together, a clash of metals.

“Let’s hope it does,” Cole responds with a wicked smile.

Laughing, I start the car and pull out of the driveway. My tires crunch on the pavement as I turn onto the street. I flick on the radio and a fast hip hop beat fills the car. Rolling down my window, I let the warm breeze spill into the car. Just being out with Cole on a warm summer evening reminds me of old times.

“Hey, remember that party at Robert’s house when we almost set the neighbors house on fire?” Cole asks with a chuckle.

“How could I forget?” I feel alternately horrified and proud at the memory. “Who brought over the illegal fireworks anyway?”

“I don’t know, but they were awesome.”

“Yeah, until the one landed on the neighbor’s roof,” I supply.

“Remember how freaked Robert was? H
e thought we were going to jail for sure.” Cole continues laughing, but my stomach clenches.

Maybe going out with Cole isn’t the best idea.
The last thing I need is to be in trouble with the law again. I really hope this party is tamer than the ones from high school. For the rest of the drive Cole drones on about how hot this Mercedes chick is, and how her friends are as well. I hope he’s right. Cole normally has good taste in girls, and I could really use a distraction tonight. Especially since I’m Cole’s DD. No drinking means I’ll need something else to keep me occupied at this party.

We pull up in front of a s
mall tract home with numerous cars parked out front and along the street. The street looks similar to mine with the houses that all resemble each other. I step out of the car, and lock it up. That’s when I spot a couple making out on the hood of a car in the driveway. 

“Does Mercedes still live with her parents?” I ask, taking in the size of the house.

“No, she rents this place with a few of her friends.”

I nod
as we walk up to the front door. The door is unlocked, so we don’t bother knocking. We just walk inside. It looks about like every party I’ve ever been to with couples strung all over each other, scattered about the family room and kitchen, red solo cups in hand.

“Coley, you made it,” a tanned girl with dark hair and eyes saunters toward Cole.

I raise my brows at him. “Coley?”

“Shut up, man.” He swats me good-naturedly on the upper arm. “You have to admit, it sounds cute when she says it.

The girl smiles when she sees me. “And you must be Asher.”

It reminds me of what Billie said when I met her
, and I find my thoughts unwillingly drifting to Ivy again. I grin. “And you must be Mercedes.”

“So, Coley’s told you about me, huh?” She bats her made-up eyelashes at Cole
, and he beams back at her.

Wow, he’s got it bad.

Deciding to the leave the two of them alone I say, “I’m gonna go in the kitchen and get a drink.”

Cole raises his brows at me.

“Don’t worry, man. I’ll have soda or something,” I reassure him before making my way to the kitchen. The minute I enter a cute blond girl looks in my direction, flashing me a shy smile and wave. She sort of reminds me of Ivy with her fresh-face and light blond hair, but that’s where the similarities end. This girl has green eyes instead of Ivy’s blue ones, and there is innocence in them that isn’t present in Ivy’s. When I look into Ivy’s eyes it’s like I can see the weight of the entire world in them.

I make my way over
to the counter that the girl sits behind on a barstool.  “Hey,” I say to her.

“H
ey, yourself.” She bites down on her bottom lip, and it’s clear that she isn’t used to flirting.

“Do you know if there is any soda or water around here?” I shove my fingers into the pocket of my jeans.

She points to two ice chests near the back door. “The blue one has beer, the red one has waters and sodas.” Then she juts out her hand. “I’m Sydney, by the way. One of Mercedes' roommates.”

I take her hand in mine
. It’s cold and clammy, supporting my theory that she’s not a big flirt. Clearly she's nervous. It makes the whole thing that much more endearing. “Asher. I came here with Cole. He’s a co-worker of Mercedes.”

“Oh, I know Cole,” she says.

I reach into the red cooler and find a coke. As I pop the top, I take the barstool next to her, set my soda down and rest my elbows on the counter. A group of rowdy guys play a drinking game behind us at the kitchen table, and from where I sit I can see Cole in the family room with Mercedes.

“So you know Cole? Do you work at the gym too?” I ask
Sydney.

“No, but I work
out there, so that’s how I’ve met him.” She takes a sip from her red cup, and then raises an eyebrow at me. “Do you have something against alcohol?”

“No.” I shake my head feeling a little embarrassed. “But I’m driving tonight.”

She gazes at me with newfound appreciation. “Responsible. I like it.”

“Glad I could impress you.” I grin
, moving my barstool a little closer. This night just got a whole lot better.

7

Ivy

“So Brandon invited us to a party tonight,” Billie says the
second she gets home from work. She sits on the couch next to me and unhooks the strap on her shoes. After slipping them off, she wriggles her toes, flashing the candy apple red polish of her toenails at me.

“Brandon, the busboy?” I sit forward and raise an eyebrow. I had already changed into my sweatpants and planned to spend a quiet evening with my latest mystery novel.
The idea of changing into other clothes and going to someone’s house to watch guys chug beer from a keg in the kitchen sounds less than appealing right now.

“Yeah.
A friend of his is throwing a party tonight and he asked if you and I wanted to meet him there.” She shoves her shoes aside, and gives me a questioning glance.

“So
unds weird to me. We don’t even hang out with him. Does he like you or something?”

Billie winks. “Maybe.”

“Do you like him?”

“As a friend. Anyway, who cares if he likes me or not? It’s a party. It’ll be fun.”

I sink back onto the couch cushions and rest my head. “Well, have fun then.”

Billie pulls me up by the arm
, and I reluctantly lift my head from the cushions. “No, no. I didn’t say that Brandon invited me. He invited both of us.”

I groan. “Billie, I ha
ve no desire to go to a party where I don’t know anyone.”

“
You’ll know someone. Brandon’ll be there.”

I cock an eyebrow. “The busboy? The one I’ve spoken maybe two words to my entire life? I hardly call that a friendship.”

“So what? He’s a nice guy. C’mon, Ives,” Billie pleads.

“I don’t care how nice he is. I don’t want to go to a party.” I narrow my eyes
, and lean back. Curling up on the couch with a book sounds even better now than it did before. “You know how much I hate those.”

“Okay, that’s it. I’m not going to let you sit around and have this Ivy pity-party anymore. It’s time to go out and have some fun.” Billie stands, placing her hands on her hips. “You’re coming with me to this party, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “You can’t make me go.”