Tangled Up In You (A Savioe Family Novel) (3 page)

“Okay.” I mumbled. Now I don’t mind fast food. Really I don’t. I just tend to get extremely ill afterward. Like I feel like my insides are trying to revoke all the grease and fat that just tantalized my taste buds. I much prefer home cooked meals. Which is very odd considering both my parents could burn water if they ever came close to a stovetop. So I tended to do all the cooking or just go to Jess’s and get fed by her dad.

We pulled into Frank’s Drive Inn. It still had that old 50’s retro style to it with
carhops that wore roller skates coming out to take your order if you sat in your car and deliver your food to you. Good ole fashioned root beer floats, the whole nine yards. I parked the car in the spot next to the bathroom by the back of the building and turned it off.

“So did you want to eat in the car or go to one of the tables out front to eat?” I turned to ask her.

“Let’s sit at the table. You know how I tend to drop my food. I really don’t want to hear the bitching if ketchup falls on the seats.” She explained opening the door.

I rolled my eyes at her and got out grabbing my purse and keys as I exited. We took a seat at the middle table and looked at the menu beside us. “So what did you want and please tell me I am not paying for you this time?”

“I have money.” She huffed indignantly at me. A few dollars and change slammed on the table. “See.”

“Just checking.” I mumbled. Jess, love her dearly, but she usually doesn’t have enough money to pay for most things, so I most of the time I end up paying for her. After a few years of her
mooching, it was getting pretty damn tiresome. I glanced over the menu to see if there was anything that didn’t drip grease. Settling on the grilled chicken sandwich and a root beer float, I placed my order through the old intercom system. Jess after counting her money got a double cheeseburger, fries and a small cola.

“We should do this more often, Roxy. It is so much nicer than having to fight our way through the lunch line only to get warmed c
at food served as a meatloaf.”

“I really doubt it is actually cat food. I will say that I like not having to deal with the crowds though. Never thought I’d say this though. After today I am really missing the RA.” I admitted pulling my hair back to secure it in a p
onytail at the base of my neck.

“So what is with Bus, you going to try to hook up? Did ‘you know who’ say anything in class?” She asked in a soft whisper.

“After all that we’ve heard about him hell no. I already told you what happened with Bus. He told me that he wanted to make sure that the Savioe’s didn’t hurt me in any way. That I reminded him of his sister who suffered at their hands and he didn’t want that to happen to anyone else.” I explained placing my elbows on the table. “Luke did talk to me in class but it was just kinda odd.”

Her eyes widened. “Odd how?”

“Well, he seemed like he was nervous or something. His accent was thicker than normal and he stammered a bit. He didn’t threaten me or anything. He just wanted to see why I said I kicked her ass. When I told him I didn’t, he asked if there was anyone else around that could have seen it.” I shrugged.

The
carhop rolled over with our food carefully balancing the two trays. It always amazed me how someone could be that graceful on a pair of skates. We paid for the food and ate a bit in silence before Jess spat out. “Guess who’s here?”

I turned around and saw Beau, Charles, and Luke getting out of Beau’s truck heading our way. My heart doubled its rhythm. There should be a law against allowing that much male beauty be
ing at the same place and time.

“Roxy, close your mouth you are drooling
. Not that I blame you. That is some serious panty dropping eye candy there.” Jess whispered across the table.

I spun around to face her hand coming up to my chin to see if she was right. I could feel my cheeks heating up at getting caught staring at them. “I am not!”

She giggled, “You might as well have been.” She put down her fries and looked the three of them over with a very appreciative gaze. “They are nice to look at. Hmm, very nice to look at. I wonder if they need a little Scot-Irish in their lives.”

“Oh my god! Please don’t start that again.” I laughed. While I had been cursed with being forgotten about, Jess tended to date as many guys as she could get a hold of. I unfortunately had to listen to every aspect about all of her conquests. The day she lost her
virginity, she had to explain every little snippet of it. I mean every little piece in nauseating detail.

“What? Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.” She grabbed a fry and took
a bite smiling the entire time.

“No I haven’t.” I glanced over to the table they sat at and watched Luke laughing at his brothers. His head tilted back a bit as he smiled revealing that elusive dimple. His teeth glistened a bright white when the sun hit them showing the slight overlap of the two front teeth. Yeah, I’d never admit to her that I did in fact think about it. Often.

“Liar! You’re staring again by the way.”

I grabbed the discarded tomato from my sandwich and tossed it at her
, my cheeks on fire from embarrassment. “Shut up.”

She tossed a few fries at me and laughed. “Make me.”

                                                        *****

             
             
Chapter Three

Luke

After leaving Science class and avoiding Christie standing at my locker
, I decided to head off campus for lunch with my brothers. I rarely get to spend time with them anymore. Thanks to my job and girlfriend. So having time to just bullshit with them helped ease my mind from telling Roxy what I did before leaving class.

“Luke, why are you ditching that piece of ass to hang with us?” Charles asked as we stepped out of Beau’s truck.

“C’mon, Charles, don’t you know that the constant talk of shoes, dresses and the like are enough to rob the balls of any man. Luke just wants to make sure he still has his. Well, what’s left of them anyway.” Beau laughed as he sat at one of the old tables in front of Frank’s Drive Inn.

I tossed my head back and laughed at them. “Hell, Beau you are just jealous that I actually have someone that might want to pay attent
ion to my balls and you don’t.”

“Please, you couldn’t get that uptight bitch to go anywhere near them.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, she probably hasn’t even let you do more than just kiss her.” Charles snickered looking over the menu.

I laughed harder as something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Still chuckling I turned my head and saw Roxy throw a tomato at her friend only to get fries tossed back. Beau noticed where my gaze was and snorted. I turned back to him and asked, “What?”

He nodded in her direction. “Did you ever talk to her?”

“I said I would. She said she didn’t start it and didn’t even know what was being said until she walked in to school this morning.” Looking back at
her, I added. “I believe her. She seemed genuinely worried and frustrated over all of it.”

Charles tilted his head to the left with a curious look on his face. Realization finally dawned on him when he started shaking his head. “Oh, the stuff with Marie. So it’s one of those girls?”

Beau nodded and pointed Roxy out to him. “Yup, the little one.”

His eyes widened in shock when he looked Roxy over, “Holy shit! How the hell did she even move Marie let alone twist her ankle? She
’s the size of an eleven year old, a very cute eleven year old. Hmm, is she single?”

My eyes narrowed at him as my lip curled up in disgust. He gave me a toothy grin wiggling his eyebrows before standing up. “I’m going to go say hello. Order me a burger and fries, Beau. I’ll be right back.”

Charles walked over to their table and sat down next to Roxy. She was taking a drink of her float and started to choke when he plopped down beside her. He gently patted her back to help her. She quickly waved away his help and mouthed something to him. He stopped patting but left his hand on her back. He leaned down close to her ear. My eyes narrowed even further. “Wha’ da hell does he tink he doin’? She ain’t goin’ fall fo’ dat.” I growled under my breath.

Beau laughed at me. “Why are you so riled over it? Damn, I don’t think I’ve heard you slip back into that accent since we moved here.”

“Mus’ be da day for it den.” I grumbled standing up to walk over there.

“Whoa. Stop right there.” Beau grabbed my arm stopping my advance. “What are you thinking
about doing?”

“Jus’ goin’ ta say hi.” I shrugged his hand off my arm and walked over to their table. Her friend Jess saw
me, as I got closer. I nodded to her and sat on the other side of Roxy placing my arm over her shoulder pushing Charles's hand off her back in the process. “Hey. How’s da food today?”

Charles snickered at me and scooted further away from her. Jess looked at us and swallowed her mouthful. “It’s great. As always. Don’t you think so Roxy?”

I glanced down at Roxy. Her cheeks were bright red, her breathing a bit uneven as she breathlessly agreed. “Yes, a bit greasy but good. If you don’t mind the fries getting thrown at you.”

She leaned closer to me placing a small hand against my chest speeding up my heart rate as she whispered. “Can you move your arm? People are going to get the wrong idea.”

I leaned my head closer to hers and whispered back, “Wha’ afraid ta be seen wit us?”

“No,” she gulped. “I just don’t want people adding to the rumor. Your arm around me will make them think the imaginary fight was over you.”

Charles laughed, “She’s got a point, Luke. So, Roxy what did happen yesterday between you and Marie?”

I removed my arm as she explained. “She tried to shove Jess into her locker. Jess squealed.”

“I did not!” Jess protested.

“Uh… yeah you did. Now don’t interrupt. When she
squealed, I tried to pull Marie away from her. Well, as you can guess that didn’t work. So I used the locker banks as leverage and shoved her as hard as I could. There was no fight. No harsh words unless you consider Shorty or Goliath a harsh word. I didn’t say anything to anyone over it. I didn’t even know she was suspended until Jess told me this morning when I picked her up for school.” She explained looking over at him. Beau had sat down at the table by that time bringing the food that was ordered with him and had heard her story.

“You called her Goliath?” Beau chuckl
ed taking a bite of his burger.

She ducked her head in a blush. “Yes, I did. She’s like a foot taller than me. It was the only thing that popped in my head when she called me Shorty.”

“I bet she loved that.” Charles said with a mouthful of food.

“I really don’t know. I hightailed it out of there before I could find out.” She admitted.

Jess glanced down at her watch and grimaced over the time. “We have fifteen minutes before the next class starts.”

Roxy groaned in displeasure. “I really hate History class.”

“Why?” I asked my arm bumping up against hers.

She looked up at me with those gorgeous green eyes again leaving me momentarily dazed. “The teacher makes it so boring. Half the stuff he tells us didn’t really happen.”

Jess laughed. “Trust her on that one. She’s a history buff. I swear that’s all she watches or reads about.”

“What? I find it fascinating. Wouldn’t you just love to be able to travel back in time and just live one day the way they did? Medieval England, Italy during the
Renaissance or even the Wild West. Man, I’d kill for that chance.” Roxy said dreamily. She sighed and started picking up her trash to throw it away. Charles who had scarfed down his food beat her to it. Beau still chewing on his last fry picked up Jess’s trash and tossed it with his.

I glanced down and realized I hadn’t touched any of my stuff. With a
sigh, I stood up with my food in hand. “I’ll see you two in class.”

Jess was already heading to the car when Roxy stood up. She started to head that way before stopping to look over her shoulder at me with a small smile. “Bye, Luke.”

I grinned back at her watching her get in the car and drive off. “Damn boy. You got it bad.” Beau laughed.

             
                                          *****

Roxy

“Holy shit! I so can’t believe that just happened.” Jess shouted when we drove away from Frank’s. She bounced up and down in the passenger’s seat. She stopped mouth wide opened and gasped at me. “You know what? I think you could possibly get a boy toy this year if you really wanted to.”

My cheeks heated up. “I’m not looking for one.”

“Bull shit. You are always whining about not ever having a guy in your life. Well, I think you could definitely get one now. We need to do your hair, makeup and m
aybe get you some new clothes.”

With a
snort, I rolled my eyes at her. “Please. I do not need to change anything about me. You know how much trouble I have finding clothes that fit. Anyway, I think they were just trying to find out all the details about yesterday. I have no illusions about any of them liking me. So don’t try to put any ideas in my head.”

Jess sighed at me. “You are blind. Both Charles and Luke were practically lusting after you. What did Charles whisper in your ear after he sat down?”

I pulled back into the parking spot and turned off the car thinking back at his words. After he had surprised me by sitting so close, he leaned forward and said, “You’re a pretty little thing aren’t you? No wonder my brother can’t keep his eyes off you. Mark my words he’ll be over here in the next little bit to try to chase me off.” He then laughed and sat back.

“Hey did you hear me? I asked what he said.” Jess demanded walking up the steps to the commons.

“He just said that his brothers wanted to talk with me.” I lied. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. If I told her, she’d end up telling the first person she came across and I really don’t need more drama right now.

“That’s it? Well, damn that sucks.” She pursed her lips as she sank into deep thought. We collected our books and headed to class.

“I wonder what this jackass will try to tell us today.” I curled my nose up in disgust.

She shrugged and took her seat as I headed to the back of the class. I slid behind the desk and took out my cypress drawing to finish some of the detail on the sky. When I looked back
up, I saw Luke walk to the door his girlfriend behind him. I assumed talking his ear off. All I could see was her mouth moving a mile a minute and him pursing his lips in contempt. I raised an eyebrow at them and continued to watch as she started pouting when he spoke to her in hushed tones. She lowered her gaze for a moment before giving him a seductive smile. Batting her lashes at him, she ran her hands up his chest to encircle his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. I quickly turned my head back to my drawing. With a sigh, I resigned myself to believing that his brother was just full of crap. I’m glad I didn’t get my hopes up.

I picked up my pencil and created a stormy sky rolling in to disrupt the once tranquil setting. A lightning bolt in the distance and a sheet of rain started to come to life when he took his seat in front of me. I tried to ignore him. I really did, but as
always, I found myself drawn to look at him. Instead of seeing the back of his head like normal, he was turned around in his seat watching me sketch.

“You are really talented.” He mumbled staring at the scene. “I meant to tell you this in our last class. That reminds me of home. Even down to the lawn chairs and the hint of a gator tail by the tree.”

I grinned. “Thank you. You can have it when I’m done if you want.”

His eyes lit up with genuine happiness. “Really? Thanks. I definitely want that.”

“Okay.” I smiled at him before the teacher started class.

             
                                          *****

The remainder of the school day went by quick. The looks and whispers were starting to die down. Thankfully. Luke had talked to me again at the end of History and beginning of English class, just small things about the class itself confirming my suspicions that his brother was indeed full of it. I stood by my locker grabbing the essentials I needed for hom
ework and to finish the sketch.

As I shut
it, the blonde girl that kissed Luke stood on the other side of the door making me jump in surprise. “Dang it, you scared me.”

“Stay away from Luke. He is mine. He will always be mine. If you by any chance think he is interested in you, you are wrong. He would never have anything to do with you and your raggedy wetback self. What? Did mommy and daddy get your clothes from the goodwill store or just pick up the things they found as they crossed the border?” She snarled at me.

I stood there for a moment awestruck at the attack before getting pissed. Did she seriously just call me a wetback? What the hell! I’m freaking Puerto Rican and Navajo. I narrowed my eyes at her and took a step forward. This bitch was going down. No one insults my family like that. The racist twit. “Who the hell do you think you are coming up to me and getting in my face? I don’t like your boyfriend. I know he doesn’t like me. Are you that insecure that you have to scare off any girl he talks to in a friendly manner? You don’t know the first thing about me. I might be small but I will not hesitate to wipe that smug grin off that mess you call a face.” I got in her face and growled at her as a small group of people stopped to watch the commotion. A strong hand rested on my shoulder stopping my rant. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Bus standing there with his football buddies. Charles stood by the water fountain and laughed his ass off with his phone in hand recording the confrontation.

“You need some help, Roxy?” Bus asked.

“I’m good. Thanks though. Do you have anything else you want to tell me, bitch? Or did you just want to have at it right now? Cause I will be more than happy to beat the racist right out of you.” I took a step toward her only to have Bus tighten his grip on my shoulder.

She stammered out a no and turned to walk away. Bus released my shoulder and asked me. “What brought that on?”

“Hell if I know. I just talked with Luke in class today and straighten out the BS rumor that has made its rounds today. I think she took it as a sign that I was invading her territory or something.” I shrugged my bag over my shoulder and headed through the commons with him by my side still fuming over being called a wetback. I don’t even look like a Latina well not really. I mean yes my hair is dark and I have the stereotypical big ass but I look almost identical to my grandmother. Whom I might add lived on the res until she was 16 before moving to New York.