Pull

Chapter Nine

Alyssa

I woke up to someone pounding on my door. With a grunt I

threw off the covers, stumbled out of my bed, and walked

drunkenly toward my bedroom door, opening it with irritation.

“Hi, friend.” Demetri smiled.

I closed the door in his face.

“Is that any way to treat your friends?” He laughed from the

other side.

Closing my eyes didn’t make the problem go away. I was

still in my Seaside High Track t-shirt and old running shorts. I

looked like a little kid. I glanced in the mirror and cringed. My

brown hair was pointed in every which direction, making me look

possessed, and I had giant bags under my eyes.

“Go away!” I yelled.

Silence and then, “No.”

“Demetri.”

“Alyssa.”

Dang, I should have never told him my name. “How do you

know where I live?”

“I followed you.”

“Seriously?”

His laugh made me want to strangle him. “I’m kidding. It’s

my day off, so I went down to the store to grab my three pieces of

taffy and…”

I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, can I finish telling you why I’m here to your face? It’s

weird talking to a door, even weirder when the door has a Justin

Bieber poster staring at me.”

Crap. I forgot about that stupid poster. Brady had put it

there as a joke when I confided in him that I loved Justin Bieber.

After everything happened, I hadn’t the heart to take it down.

Slowly, I pulled open the door. Should have known Demetri

would push past me and make himself right at home. “No really,

come on in. I wasn’t sleeping or anything on my day off.”

“Good.” He took off his leather jacket, revealing a tight tank

top that showed off tattoos down his right arm and across his

collarbone. I tried to pry my eyes away, but I was tired and clearly

needing more oxygen or something in my room.

“They’re just tattoos, Lyssa.”

“Wow.” I chuckled pulling my hands through my tangled

hair. “Already got a nickname, huh?”

“I like it.” He crossed his arms, making his muscles bulge.

I bit my lip and looked away. “So, the reason for my wake-

up call.”

“Oh, babe.” He chuckled. “You haven’t even seen the

beginning of my wake-up calls.”

“I’m not going to even ask.” I threw on a sweatshirt and sat

on the bed cross-legged. “So, the reason for you being here?”

“You’re a cheerleader?” Demetri pointed at the school

sweatshirt. The same one that had Brady’s old football number

splashed across the front. Just another piece of him I couldn’t give

away. Like everything else in my room that had his scent or touch

on it.

“Um, I was a cheerleader. Yup.” Talking to Demetri was like

herding cats. One minute he was on-topic, and within seconds he

was changing subjects as if it was completely normal to talk about

taffy and tattoos in the same sentence.

His eyes scanned the sweatshirt. I could tell he was trying to

put pieces of a puzzle together. But I wasn’t up for fixing. I liked

the puzzle pieces scattered, so I tried my best to give him a flirty

smile and touched his arm.

“You were saying?” I urged.

His eyes darted immediately to where my hand touched him

and then back up to me. “Taffy. I had three pieces.”

“What flavors?”

He grinned and pulled out the three wrappers for me to

sniff. With a laugh I took them into my hands and smelled each

one. If I didn’t know he was in rehab, I would think he was either

drunk or high the majority of the time.

“Kahlua, Pineapple, and Rum Punch?”

Demetri howled with laughter and began clapping.

“Seriously. Best party trick ever.”

“Clearly you’ve been to all the wrong parties if you think

sniffing candy wrappers is the way to go.” I rolled my eyes.

“Or just the wrong parties in general.” He shrugged, his

smile gone. I wanted it back and I hated that he was making me

care for him.

“So…” I leaned back against the pillows. “You came all the

way to my house to tell me about your three taffy flavors?”

“Sort of.” He lay down next to me — it was almost too

intimate. The last time I lay down with a guy on the bed… I jolted

up and began pacing in front of him.

He lifted his eyebrows in confusion but kept talking

anyway. “I saw your parents and asked where you were. Weird,

but your mom knew exactly who I was.”

I nodded. “Figures. She has a slight obsession with

Entertainment Tonight. ”

He cringed. “You’d think that would make her want to shoot

me.”

“She likes the bad boy.” I smiled. “So? You asked her where

our house was so you could torture me?”

“Torture?” His dimples killed me. “Is that what’s happening

between us?”

Panic swept through me as I felt my face heat under his

seductive smile. He was the devil. Why couldn’t he bother someone

else? Was he truly that desperate? Couldn’t rock stars pay people to

hang out with them? At least he had the luxury of money and the

choice to do whatever he wanted with it.

“Sure feels close.” I huffed, blowing my shorter layers of

hair away from my face. “Anyway, thanks for stopping by, now if

you’ll just…” I pointed to the door.

Demetri didn’t move.

Of course not.

“Nope, I came to find you for a reason, and it wasn’t torture.

Though I’d love nothing more than to bring you so much pleasure

that you scream my name.”

I felt myself blush as I looked away.

“I want us to be friends.”

“Excuse me?” I was in the process of taking off my

sweatshirt, so I could jump in the shower, only it got caught on my

head, making me run into the dresser.

“Friends.” I could feel his warm body inches from mine, his

hands reached up and tugged the sweatshirt off me, leaving me

feeling naked as his eyes boldly scanned my body. “I want to be

your friend.”

The way he said friend reminded me of the way the shark in

Finding Nemo chased Marlin in hopes to be friends not food.

“Friends,” I repeated.

“Friends.” He leaned closer, finally resting his forearm on

the wall above my head.

“I have friends.”

“You said they moved away.”

“So I have one friend.”

“Really?” He looked intrigued.

Crap. I was the worst liar ever. “Yup, I have a friend.”

“What’s your friend’s name?”

My eyes darted to the floor. He even had nice Converse

shoes that seemed expensive, even though I knew they weren’t.

Ugh. “Sally.”

“Sally?” He laughed. “Is she eighty?”

I tilted my chin up. “Nope, and we have plans today.”

“You do?” He wasn’t buying it. His grin seemed to widen as

my lie got bigger.

“Yup, so if you’ll just excuse me. I’m going to be late.”

With a chuckle, he pulled back and went to the door.

“Alright, Lyssa, I’ll give you this one. You know where to find me,

if you need a… friend.”

“No, I don’t.” Crap. The words were out before I could stop

them.

“Oh.” He winked. “How rude of me. Here.” He put a slip of

paper in my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Have fun with Patty.”

“It’s Sally!” I called.

“Right.” His laugh echoed through the house as he left.

My hand was clenched tightly around the slip of paper he

gave me. Unable to stifle my curiosity, I pulled it open and

laughed. It had his cell number, his home number, his agent’s

number, his email, his Facebook and LinkedIn profile, as well as his

address.

Now that was interesting. Mrs. Murray was his neighbor. I’d

always been curious about who owned the gorgeous beach house

next door to hers. Now I knew. At least I lived a few miles away

from him. It was hard enough knowing that we’d been seeing the

same shrink.

I threw the piece of paper in the trash. Impossible. I couldn’t

do it. I couldn’t be his friend. When you were friends with boys, it

never worked. It always turned into something more, and then

when you got really close, the one person you swore you’d give

your everything to, leaves. Clearly, I was still struggling with past

demons.

Emotion welled in my throat. They leave you with nothing,

but sharp jagged pieces of your memories together. Each time I

wore the sweatshirt, it was like another cut. Each time I saw the

Justin Bieber poster, the cut got deeper.

But as long as I was cutting myself emotionally and not

physically… At least I felt pain. At least I knew it was real.

A tear escaped from my eye and dropped to the floor before

I could brush it away.

I glanced back at the trash can.

Muttering a curse, I retrieved the paper. Just in case.



****

I only kind of lied. I mean, I was visiting a friend. That is, if a

friend is an insanely old seal that lives at the Seaside Aquarium.

The staff knew me by name and always had little fish

waiting for me, so I could feed the seals. It was what I did on my

day off, another one of my ways to remember the pain. Brady had

loved seals. I always thought they were stupid. I mean, who claps

when they eat food?

But one day, Brady pointed out to me that I did exactly that.

If I ate something that was really good or that made me happy, I’d

clap my hands. He’d roll with laughter. Thus, my new nickname

became Little Seal.

It was typical for us to visit the aquarium on the weekdays

when it wasn’t that busy, and then a few months before the

accident, he got a job there.

I was there every day.

Old habits die hard.

“Hey, Alyssa!” Sam was already standing by the seals,

throwing them their morning meal. He graduated a few years

before me and was close to Brady, like really close — they were

brothers. He was one of the few people who stayed behind after

graduation. Consequently, he healed just fine after the accident.

Apparently boys aren’t as emotional as girls. He put everything

into his studies and sports, and after a while, we just stopped

talking, unless I stopped by to feed the seals. Honestly, it was just

too hard being near him. It reminded me of everything I lost that

day. Recently we’d fallen into a sort of routine. I think he felt

responsible for me somehow, which was ridiculous. He gave me

the fish, I fed the fish to the seal, we made small talk, and he gave

me a hug.

So, sadly we talked once a day about things that didn’t even

matter, and never about Brady. Saying his name out loud was

something I never did. It hurt too much.

“How’s work?” Sam threw another fish and politely handed

me the bucket so I could join in.

I shrugged. “Well, I figure I’m a few taffy pieces away from

curing world hunger, so that’s good.”

“Awesome.” He chuckled. “I know you’ve been working on

that one like your whole life. Great accomplishment.”

“Yes, I hope to cure cancer next.”

“My, my, you’re driven.”

I laughed and threw another fish toward my favorite seal.

Sally swam up next to me and splashed water near my face.

“So, rumor has it that one of the famous AD2 members has

kind of a thing for you.”

“Rumors suck,” I grumbled, patting the water next to Sally.

“He’s bad news, Alyssa.”

I froze for a minute then shook my head in denial.

“Nothing’s going on.”

“Okay.” Sam put up his hands. “I just wanted to warn you,

that’s all. I know you probably don’t know what happened last

year, since you were basically MIA all year and stuff…” He just

waved his hand in the air. “But he was dating that girl Nat Murray

for like a few months, then the brother started dating her. I still

don’t know what happened, but he nearly overdosed on drugs and

killed himself.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that, but it gave me another good

reason to reject Demetri’s friendship. Surrounding myself with a

guy like that would do nothing but get me into trouble.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to people talking about me. I

mean, I’m famous, but still…” a deep voice said from behind us.

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. My eyes flickered

between Sam and Demetri. “What are you doing here?”

“I like fish.”

“They’re seals.”

“Damn, the pamphlet said aquarium. You understand my

confusion.” He winked.

Sam stood in front of me.

“You must be Sally.” Demetri held out his hand.

Laughter bubbled out of me before I could stop it. I put my

hand over my mouth; it smelled like fish, but I didn’t care. The look

on Sam’s face was priceless.

“No.” Sam swallowed and stepped farther in front of me.

“That is Sally.” He pointed to the seal, which chose that exact time

to splash all three of us.

Demetri’s clothes were drenched. His tank top was suddenly

molded across his perfect abs. I fought to keep my jaw from

dropping. No guy just out of high school should have that nice of

body. Everything told me to avert my eyes, but like an idiot, I just

kept staring.

“I think Sally’s upset,” Demetri finally said, wiping his face.

“Must be the company.” Sam sneered.

Demetri smirked. “I like your friends, Lyssa.”

“We’re not —” I stopped talking, because to say I wasn’t

Sam’s friend would be hurtful. But friends didn’t give up on you,

and Sam had. Sally, however, was a completely different story.

“To be clear, I meant the seal,” Demetri said, saving me.

“Can I feed her?”

“Sure.” I grabbed the bucket from Sam’s clenched fingers

and handed it to Demetri. “Just don’t let her bite you.”

He grabbed a few fish and tossed them to Sally. Demetri’s

rich laughter was like water to a marathon runner. It was

intoxicating, beautiful, deep. I took a step away from him. “So, still

stalking me I see.”

“Not at all.” He shook his head and grabbed another fish.

Sam stood on the other side of him, brooding. “I was bored, and

since my friend wouldn’t come hang out with me, I decided to do

the only touristy thing I could find in this town.”

“Taffy. Why don’t you check out the taffy?” Sam offered,

obviously trying to get rid of him.

“Ah, now there’s a fun story. I work at Seaside Taffy.”

Demetri shrugged. “So, it’s not very touristy for me anymore.”

“You?” Sam sputtered. “Work?”

“I sing the jingle. Wanna hear it?” Demetri looked dead

serious. I laughed again. Why the heck was he being nice to Sam,

when Sam was being a genuine ass?

Sam nodded his head. “If it makes you leave, I’ll hear it.”

“No such luck, friend.” He jumped down from the concrete

step and went to wash his hands. “I’ll leave on my own. I don’t

need to sing in order to gain permission to do so.” He winked at

me. “Pleasure seeing you again, Lyssa, and Sam, nice meeting you.

We should hang out sometime. I’m gonna go into the aquarium.

You know since I paid to see fish and all.” With a grin he walked

off.

Sam and I stood in silence.

“He’s, uhh…” Sam scratched his head.

“Not nearly as hostile as you,” I pointed out.

“I was being protective.” Sam’s eyes flashed as he grabbed

my hand and pulled me close to his body. He’d never acted like

this before, and I didn’t like it. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Since when did I nominate you as my protector?” I jerked

away.

He glared. “You didn’t. But I’m sure it’s what Brady would

have wanted. After all, I’ve been protecting both of you for years

now. And now he comes into the picture?”

I tried to pull away, but Sam’s grip tightened. “What would

Brady think, Lyss?”

“I have to go.” I threw the bucket down and ran into the

aquarium. I wasn’t sure why I was running toward Demetri, but I

was frantic.