True (True Believers #1)(54)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Don’t be a tool,” I told him, which also seemed to crack him up.

Jessica had climbed onto the free sled but was having second thoughts. “I don’t want to crash.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kylie reassured her. “It’s fun.”

“But what if I hit the cement thing? I could break my ankle.”

It surprised me, but she really did sound anxious. I didn’t tend to think of Jess as being afraid of anything, but she was clutching the handles tightly and her shoulders were tense.

“You’re not going to break anything,” Kylie assured her.

“Either go or get off and let someone else have a turn” was Riley’s suggestion.

That clearly pissed Jessica off because she hunched forward, like she was steeling herself to go. “I’m going. Just give me a second.”

But Riley’s boot came out and he gave the sled a mighty shove, sending her flying down the hill, her screams of terror ripping through the quiet night. Clearly pleased with himself, he chuckled.

“Dude,” Tyler said in a vague reprimand, but it was clear he was struggling not to laugh himself.

“That was mean,” Kylie told Riley.

“What? She was hogging the sled.”

We all watched as Jessica tumbled off into the snow, clearly concerned enough about her ankle to arrange for an early exit from the plastic sled. She rolled about four times before coming to a stop with her arms and legs spread out like a snow angel. She was completely still for a second, long enough for me to take two steps, intent on running down the hill to see what she’d broken. But then she sprang up, yanking her hat off and throwing it on the ground.

“You’re an ass**le!” she screamed up at Riley. “I could have been killed.”

This made him give up the fight and start laughing out loud. “You’re not that fragile,” he told her. “You look like you have a decent amount of padding.”

Uh-oh. Given that it was the furthest thing from the truth, he clearly was just yanking Jessica’s chain, but she wasn’t someone I would necessarily want to mess with.

“Ouch, bro, that was a little harsh,” Tyler told him. Yet he was chuckling under his breath.

“Screw. You.” Jessica stomped up the hill and threw the sled at Riley.

It bounced off Riley’s arm, his feeble attempt to block it marred by his laughter. He was practically doubled over, he was so entertained by himself. “Don’t. I could be killed.” Then he burst out laughing again after mimicking her words.

“Dick,” she said, walking right past him. Then with a speed that a ninja would envy, she scooped up one of her snowballs, turned, and smashed it right into Riley’s face.

His laughter cut out, and he swiped at his face. “Hey!”

Jessica smiled in pure satisfaction.

Tyler eyed me. “You’re not going to smash a snowball in my face, are you?”

“No. I’m more subtle than that.” I shivered. “Am I the only one who thinks its freezing out here?”

“You can go in if you want,” he told me, hugging me close. “I’ll stay out here with the boys.”

Easton and Jayden took another turn down the hill while Kylie and Nathan made out. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind going in and escaping the snow piling up on my eyelashes. I kissed Tyler and called to Jess, “I’m going in. Want to come with me?”

“God, yes.”

I glanced back at all the guys and Kylie, watching them laugh and urge Easton to go down the hill on his stomach. The night was almost perfect, filled with the people I cared about the most, minus my family. The air was crisp and clean, and the snow blanketed the dirty parking lot in pure white.

For one moment the world seemed beautiful, and I was happy.

But tomorrow the snow would most likely melt, leaving behind a slushy brown muck that we had to sludge through whether we liked it or not.

Chapter Eighteen

It is amazing what we can ignore. What we can compartmentalize and put in a box labeled Later. How we can let the motions of ordinary, everyday life distract us from real, looming problems. For two weeks Tyler and I ignored his upcoming hearing. We went to the coffee shop and I ordered lattes and he ordered black coffee, like we always did. We watched movies and studied and took turns sleeping in my dorm room or at his house if his mom was gone. I cooked. I went to my work-study job. Tyler went to the convenience store. Each day clipped along as it always had, and we laughed and talked and made love.

It was like if we just ignored the future and lived in the now, it would magically sort itself out.

Twice I tried to ask Tyler about the hearing, possible outcomes, and what his court-appointed lawyer had told him. Both times he brushed it off, saying, “It is what it is, no point in worrying about it.”

We took our finals and made plans for him to come up for a few hours on Christmas Eve when I was at home for break. I didn’t exactly have permission from my dad for that, but I figured once the hearing was over, we could work on damage control. He had said himself he liked Tyler.

The morning of the hearing, I was still arguing with Tyler about going to the courthouse with him. “I can talk to my professor.”

“Absolutely not,” he said as he put on a dress shirt he had borrowed from Bill. It was a little small, but it was preferable to wearing a Metallica T-shirt to court. “You have your lit final today, and we don’t know if we’ll be done in time for you to get back for it.”

We were in my room, and Kylie and Jessica had already left for their respective exams. I did have the lit final at one-thirty, and thanks to Tyler I actually felt somewhat prepared. Riley and Nathan were going to court with Tyler, but I still felt a pit of anxiety in my stomach. I wanted to be there. I couldn’t change the outcome in any way, but the control freak in me thought somehow I could. That I could ask the right questions. That I could support Tyler. That by the sheer force of my will I could make the outcome a positive one.

“I’m sure I can reschedule it.”

“No.” He gave me a firm look as he tucked the blue shirt into his black jeans. “That’s the last thing in the world I want is for you to be rearranging your exams because of me. You have your scholarship to think about, you can’t be risking your grades. Your dad will hate me more than he already does.”

He was right, about all of it. But I still wanted to be there. “Text me the minute you’re done. I’m going to be freaking out.”