A Whole New Crowd

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I was sitting on the front step when Tray pulled up to the house. As he strolled over, he turned to survey the street. Then he twisted back and arched an eyebrow. “Are you people watching or waiting for winter?”
I laughed. As he sat next to me, I scooted over. His legs pressed against mine. I didn’t scoot over that far. “I like to people watch. Austin’s at a tournament. The folks are gone and Mandy’s with Devon. What else should I do?”
His voice dropped to a soft whisper. “Hang out with me?”
My heart slowed. Even with those four words, I was affected by him. Excitement and warmth began to build in me and a small shiver ran through me. It was a good shiver. I hugged my legs to my chest and rested my cheek against the top of my knees. Turning to him, I flashed him a smile. “After this week of friendliness?”
He laughed softly. “It was you too.”
It was. We had both been circling around each other. I let out a sigh. “It’s that time, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“You and me.”
He frowned, but his eyes darkened to an amber color. “You and me?”
I nodded. “We were going to be a*sholes, right?”
He laughed, raking a hand through his hair. “We aren’t being a*sholes anymore?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. “Maybe we could try. We can be true to our a*shole insides.”
“You’re such a bitch,” he teased.
I teased back, “And you’re such a dick.”
He nodded. “You’ll never change, will you?”
“I’m all about being selfish. It’s only what I want. Everything’s about me.”
He tried to keep a straight face but failed. A grin slipped out. “We’ll never have a future like that.”
“I know.” A laugh was moving up my throat. I kept my lips pressed tight and tried to swallow it. When the other corner of his mouth curved up, my laughter almost boiled over. I sputtered, keeping it in. “You’re such an a*shole.”
He ran a hand over his face. The smile was forced away and a blank expression looked back at me. His eyes sparked in amusement. “Don’t try to change me.”
I barked out a laugh, but silenced it. “Don’t try to change me.”
“Still an a*shole. I stand by that.”
“I do too.” My head lifted up and down in a nod.
“Good.” He snorted from a choked laugh, but widened his eyes and put the blank wall in place. “So we’re on the same page again?”
“I think so.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. His tone softened. “If we’re still going to do the a*shole thing, are you up for Crystal Bay?”
“What’s that?” His hand dangled off the side of my shoulder and I reached up, lacing our fingers together. I leaned into him. In that moment, I didn’t feel so alone.
Squeezing my hand back, he answered, “It’s a cliff over the river. There’s a cave and a waterfall there. A lot of us like to go and jump from the top. It’s pretty nice, actually.” He hesitated. “A bunch of us are going.”
Of course. I should’ve known. “Mandy?”
He nodded. “She’ll be there.”
When he grew guarded, I asked, “Were you with them last night?”
“I stopped by. They were having a movie night. I just went to see if you were there.”
There it was. That same shiver wrapped all the way around me. I was beginning to forget what it felt like to not have this feeling around him. I was too far gone. At this point, I only hoped that I wouldn’t be crushed at the end of it. Whenever that would happen. My throat swelled.
“You’ll still come?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He squeezed my hand once more. “But I have to warn you, there’s a lot of others coming too.”
“Oh god.”
He laughed.
“Not the student council, yearbook committee, and cheerleaders?”
“Don’t forget the basketball team and football team.”
“Why not invite the entire school?”
His chest was shaking from repressed laughter. “It pretty much is.” Then he hugged me. Both of his arms folded over me and I was moved so I was sitting on his lap.
I turned so I was facing him. My legs wrapped around his waist and my arms wound around his neck. Closing my eyes, my head tucked into the crook of his neck and shoulder. This wasn’t a sexual hug. This was one of comfort and security. No matter our joking conversation before, I was realizing that he was mine. I didn’t know the definition or terms of how he was mine, but he was.
He hugged me back and we sat there for a while longer. I didn’t want to leave, but when we did, it was later, much later. Tray asked me to pack a bag, just in case we went somewhere else after the bay. When we got there, I was glad I had. He hadn’t been lying. There were twenty cars parked on the road. I glanced at him when he parked. “Something tells me this might be an all-day event.”
He nodded, getting out of the car. As I did, he said over the top of the car, “They talked about grilling at my house tonight.”
I should’ve known. They didn’t party last night so, of course, they would tonight. I shook my head as we started down a trail to the beach. “Is there a requirement that there has to be one party every weekend?”
Tray laughed, leading the way. “At least one. Most want two, though.”
I shook my head, but then we got to the bottom and I saw the cliff part. I stopped, speechless for a moment. Crystal Bay was a cliff that jutted out into the river. Large boulders and rocks sat around the opening of it and waves crashed onto them. I had known the river was big, but I hadn’t realized how big until I saw the power of those waves. They slammed onto the rocks before retreating back into the water, only to come back with renewed strength.
Tray started up the rocks. He glanced back and lifted his hand. I shook my head. “I’m a cat burglar, remember?”
He flashed me a grin. “That’s right. I forgot your illegal ways.” When we headed around the mouth of the cave, voices from inside drifted out. They echoed off the cliff walls, growing louder as we got closer. The light grew dim, but it was still manageable. A moment later, the light exploded and filled up the entire interior of the cave. A waterfall fell into the middle of the cave into a pool of water. As we rounded the last curve of the cave and stepped into the clearing, someone yelled out, “Hell yeah!” before they dove down from the top and into the pool at the bottom. The splash sent shrieks from the girls sitting around the edge of the bank.
It was a party inside a cave. I drew next to Tray and asked, “I’m surprised there’s no deejay.”
He laughed. “Dylan tried to lower down speakers one summer and ended up ruining his entire stereo system.” He gestured around the cave. Almost everyone was in their bathing suit. After the guy who had jumped pulled himself out of the water, he went over and shook his hair out over a group of girls. They shrieked, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that they enjoyed it.
“Taryn!” Mandy waved from the opposite corner. Since Jennica and Amber weren’t with her, I told Tray, “I’m going to head over and say hi.”
“Okay. I’m going up top.” As he headed for the side of the cave where people were climbing up, his hand brushed mine. He flashed me a grin over his shoulder.
I sighed. He had slipped under my skin. He was inside and the more time I spent with him, the deeper he burrowed into me.
“Taryn!” Mandy called again.
I ignored her. I couldn’t take my eyes from Tray. He stripped his shirt off and dropped it on the ground. As he did, the muscles in his back rippled from the movement. He was gorgeous. Every inch of him was perfection. Then he started up the makeshift ladder. There were steps carved into the wall. He climbed up them, grabbed hold of the rope that was attached from the top, and hoisted himself up, his feet going to the rocks that stuck out from the wall. The last few feet looked like they were the hardest. He pulled his body up and stuck his hand in the air. He was grabbed from on top and hauled up the rest of the way.
“Taryn!” Mandy waved at me again. “Hey! You made it.”
“Yeah.” I grinned at her. She was drenched in a white bikini, but she was smiling. She looked happy. “I’m here.” I was going to keep my mouth shut about Devon. It was her life and her suffering that she was signing up for.
When she latched onto my arm, I smelled alcohol. “That’s so awesome. I wasn’t sure if you would come, but I’m happy you did. You have no idea. I love you, Taryn. I really do. You’re like my sister now.”
“Okay.” I untangled her hand from my arm and pushed her back a little. “You’ve been drinking.”
Her cheeks were red, and she started giggling. When she couldn’t stop, she clamped a hand over her mouth.
“You’ve been drinking a lot.”
Mandy doubled over, still laughing, and reached for her drink. As she took a sip and kept drinking, one of the other girls spoke up, “Want a drink? There’s some coolers they lowered down from the hole.” She pointed to a corner. “Dylan brought a pony-keg, but it’s on top. Half the guys are up there.”
I saw mostly girls were in the cave. The guys were jumping from the top and climbing back up. As I watched another one make his way up the side of the wall, I asked, “No girls can climb up?”
Mandy was still laughing, curled up in a ball now. Her friend saw my frown and laughed nervously. She said, “A lot of girls are scared, plus you have to pull yourself up using the rope. That’d be really embarrassing if they couldn’t get up, you know.” She shrugged. “We mostly just come through the base like you did and hang out.”
My frown deepened. “That’s bullshit. Someone could bring a ladder so the girls could have fun too.”
“This is fun.” She shrugged. “Enough for me.”
It wasn’t. I muttered, “Not to me.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “Are you going to try it?”
I nodded. Damn straight I was going to try. This was what I did. If there was a wall, safe, lock, or any barrier put in front of me. I would tear it down. Standing up, I noticed people had grown quiet as I approached the wall. Someone whispered behind me, “No girl’s made it all the way up there, have they?”
Another whispered back, “No and shut up. I want to watch this.”
Ignoring them, I gritted my teeth and started up. My feet covered the first steps easily. I held onto the rope as Tray had, pulling myself up as the spaces between the rocks grew wider and wider. I was almost there. I could feel the breeze from up top and could hear the boys laughing up there. They didn’t know I was coming up. They pulled Tray up, but they’d been watching for him. They were so loud, they wouldn’t be able to hear me if I called out. Then I glanced down. Every single person below me was watching. Mandy was pale. Her hands were pressed to her open mouth. Amber and Jennica moved out from a corner. Both were waiting for me to fall and they crossed their arms over their shoulders. Smug smirks appeared on their faces.
I grew harder in my resolve. I’d go it alone. With that thought, I gripped harder on the rope and wrapped it around my arms and shoulders so if I slipped, my fall would be slowed enough I could stop myself. The rope burn would hurt, but I was going to tackle this one way or another. Wrapping the rope around my leg, I looped it so my foot fit into a small pocket and then I began to climb. When I broke into buildings, it was rarely a full-out climb like this, but I had done it on a few occasions.
I kept going. All of my muscles were stretched tight and they began pulsating as I held my weight, then climbed up one handful at a time. As I neared the top, the guys still didn’t know I was there. My head had almost cleared the surface. I heard someone shout from below, “Help her!”
I glanced down, surprised. It was Mandy’s friend. She stood to her feet and walked to the edge of her bank. Giving me a thumbs-up sign, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled again, “HELP HER!”
“Yeah!” More girls clambered to their feet and stood with her. They all started hollering. “Help her! You helped the others.”
Mandy’s hands fell from her mouth, but it still hung open. She was gazing around the group. Amber and Jennica shared a dark look, their mouths in flat lines. I grinned at them. That made this even more satisfying, and with that last burst of adrenalin, I used it for momentum and clambered up. My head broke the surface.
All the guys were sitting in a group around the keg. Their backs were to me. I rolled my eyes, but grasped the rope at the top and pulled myself the rest of the way. When I was at the top, the bottom broke out in cheering and clapping. The guys heard that and turned. A few jumped when they saw me. “Holy shit.”
Tray moved around the group. His eyebrows shot up, and he began shaking his head. He came over to me. “Why am I surprised? I shouldn’t be.” He helped me up and patted me on the back. “Want a drink?”
I shook my head. Ignoring the stunned looks from the guys, I turned and headed towards the opening of the waterfall. “I’m jumping. I came up here to have fun and that’s what I’m going to do.”
He nodded, moving back. His eyes were full of approval as they roamed over me. I climbed up in my clothes, but took them off now so I was standing in my bathing suit. It wasn’t meant to be a show, but with all eyes on me, it was one. Even now, as I stood there, a few girls had went over to the wall. They were assessing if they could do it too. Then I lifted my arms up and jumped. As I soared down into the water, a sense of liberation went through me. I was alive. I did what I wanted. It was a freeing moment. Then I pulled myself up from the pool of water and went right back. My body was aching from the swim last night and the climb, but I was going again. Then again. Then again. I would go until I was done having fun.
I started back up when Mandy’s friend came over. “You’re going again?”
“Yeah. You could too, you know.”
Regret flashed over her face and she shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t pull myself up at the top.” She lifted her arms. “These aren’t strong enough.”
I shook my head. “Start up after me. I’ll haul you up the rest of the way if I have to. They do it for the guys. They can do it for us too.” Fierce determination came over me, then I heard a mocking tone.
“When did you become all about women’s lib?” Amber folded her arms again over her chest. Mandy’s friend melted away, so did a lot of the girls, and Jennica took their place, coming to stand beside her friend.
Mandy frowned. She started forward, but stopped. Fear flashed in her eyes. Jennica and Amber saw her too. We all waited to see if she would speak up. She didn’t. Her head went down and she sat back with her group.
That pissed me off. When I saw the smug looks in Amber and Jennica double, I gave them a polite ‘f*ck off’ smile and asked, “Care to give it a try? Women’s lib or not, it’s a rush to jump from the top.”
The smug smirks disappeared. They shared another look, but this was one of matching hesitation. Then I smirked this time. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” With that last parting shot, I started to climb again. When I got to the top, Tray was there. He reached down from the rope, but I shook my head. I had a point to prove. “No, I have to do this alone again.”
He saw Jennica and Amber and nodded. “Okay.”
He was there when I finished and drew me against his chest. Hugging me to him, he dropped a kiss to my lips. We were in plain view of everyone, on top and down below. I didn’t want to think about who would be pissed or who would be surprised. I answered his kiss, deepening it, and knew in some way this was giving Jennica and Amber the middle finger. When I pulled back from him, Tray caught me. His hand cupped the back of my neck and his forehead rested on mine.
The climb and diving back down had my blood pumping. The adrenalin was addicting, but it didn’t compare to this. His thumb rubbed back and forth over my neck in a soothing motion, giving me goose bumps. Whatever unspoken agreement we had before, the joking banter we shared earlier in the afternoon, was done.
Tray was claiming me in front of everyone.