How to Unbreakup Page 7

  “But I don’t know what to do.”

  “I’d say sabotage their dates, but we all know how well that worked for me with Trey,” Del said.

  “Can you say disaster?” Kenadi giggled. “I think I’m still trying to get the seagull crap out of my hair.”

  We all laughed. Lyncee and I hadn’t been there when this went down, but to hear them retell it during our bus ride home from our soccer tournament had the whole team rolling on the floor.

  “Okay, so what’s next on your list?” Lyncee asked.

  “Help him with his chores.”

  “Maybe you should skip ahead to seduce him,” she said.

  Allie scooted closer to me and the phone and said, “Or make him jealous. You should see the man candy that asked her out. I’m talking Grade-A steak here, ladies.”

  “Wait, when did you meet him?”

  I shot Allie a “why the hell did you bring up Logan” look. “Um, yesterday when he found my bikini top I’d lost in the waves.”

  “Oh-my-gosh. We need details,” Delyla said.

  I groaned. “You guys, seriously?”

  “Yes,” they said.

  “He’s tall, blond, gorgeous—and has probably seen my boobs.”

  “And you turned him down for a date?” Lyncee screeched on the other end.

  “No, not exactly. We’re gonna hang out Friday.”

  “As a group,” Allie interrupted. “Because Sage invited himself along.”

  “Sounds like he might be jealous,” Kenadi said.

  “That’s what I told her.” Allie nudged my knee with hers.

  “Okay, so what should I do?”

  “Keep working on your list and spend as much time with him as you possibly can,” Delyla said. “You two should be like Siamese twins.”

  “Attached together?” I chuckled.

  “More or less. Just make sure he can see you as much as possible. Be a constant reminder of what he lost and what he needs to have back,” she said.

  “All right, I’ll see what I can do. Miss you guys.”

  “Miss you too,” Lyncee said. “I’ll try to call in a couple days.

  “And keep us posted on what happens,” Delyla said. “If you need us to come up there and help screw up some dates, let us know.”

  “I will. See you.”

  When we hung up, I smiled. The talk had refreshed me. Made me ready to take on the world. Or at least Sage.

  Just then, the front door opened and in walked a drenched Sage.

  “Hey.” I waved. “I thought you were going boating.”

  “They cancelled right before I got to the marina due to the weather.”

  Fate had intervened. If I could reach the sky, I’d totally hug the thunderstorm. I tried to hide my smirk. Allie excused herself, giving me a wink as she left me alone with him.

  “Well, maybe now we can play that video game you owe me.”

  He took his jacket off and slung it over the back of a chair. “You’re on.”

  “Ah, not so fast.” His mom lumbered into the living room with a basketful of laundry. “You’ve got some things to do. I want these clothes folded and it’s your turn for dishes.”

  He scowled. “I thought this was summer vacation.”

  “It is. It’s summer and you’re on vacation. Now get folding.”

  “If you want, I can help you. It’ll make it go faster,” I said.

  “Really?” He raised an eyebrow at me, his hair damp from rain.

  “Yes. We can tackle the laundry first, then I’ll help you get the dishes done.”

  “Have I mentioned lately that you’re awesome?”

  A blush crept up my cheeks. “No. But you can tell me again if you want.”

  He laughed, grabbing a pair of boxers to fold. Right when he held them up, Chico launched himself at Sage. It was like watching a matador waving a red cape at a bull.

  “Meowrar,” Chico hissed, digging his claws into Sage’s arms.

  “Holy shit.” Sage leapt to his feet. “Your cat is on drugs.”

  I laughed. “You’re just now noticing this?”

  “He’s grown more vicious in my absence.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have stopped coming around.” When I realized what I’d said, I glanced down.

  “I didn’t exactly have a choice in that matter,” he whispered.

  My gaze met his. “Sage, I—”

  Just then his cell rang, he checked the number on the screen and picked it up. “Hey, Lila. No, I’m not busy—what’s up? You want me to come to your house? Hold on a second.” He covered the phone with his hand. “Grace, listen, do you think you could do the dishes for me so I can hang out with Lila today?”

  My throat tightened. I concentrated on the T-shirt I was folding. I wanted to tell him no. That I didn’t want to help him out so he could go out with some lame rich girl. Knots twisted in my stomach.

  “Grace?” he said again.

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat, hoping my voice would work. “Yeah, sure, whatever, it’s not like I had plans or anything.”

  No. Take it back. Tell him you want to do something with him.

  “Thanks, I owe you one.”

  “You have no idea,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Lila, hey, I can come over. Grace said she’d do my chores for me. Yeah, she’s an awesome friend like that.”

  Brilliant. For the second time today he called me awesome. So if I was so “awesome” then why the hell was he running off to see Lila? Maybe I ought to just come clean with him. Explain to him that our breaking up was a huge mistake. That I wanted another chance. A chance to make this summer perfect.

  “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said to her. “Mom, Grace is gonna cover my chores so I can still get together with Lila today.”

  Mrs. Castle poked her head into the room. “That’s nice of her. Grace, don’t you dare let him take advantage of you. If you don’t want to help, you don’t have to.”

  “No, it’s fine. Really. I’m sure he’ll have a lot more fun hanging out with them than chilling with us.” I glanced at him. Was it wrong for me to hope she’d slept wrong last night and woke up looking like Jabba the Hutt?

  He frowned, watching me close as he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. “I promise, I’ll play video games with you this week.”

  I shrugged. “I get it, you’re purposely avoiding playing a game with me because you know you’ll get beat, kind of like in our soccer tournament the other day.”

  His eyes twinkled. “Now, you’re flat out lying.”

  “If by lying you mean telling the truth. Go on, Romeo. Have fun. Me and my mad skills will be here when you get back.”

  He hesitated, and for a brief moment I thought he might reconsider going to see Lila. But at last, he stepped out the door.

  I finished folding his laundry, trying to ignore the fact that I was holding his boxers. When I finished with the clothes, I did the dishes then went upstairs to hide.

  “You okay?” Allie glanced at me when I slumped down next to her on the floor.

  “No. This totally sucks.” I buried my head in my hands. Tears streaked down my face. “Sage left to go see Lila.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.

  My shoulders shook. For once, I knew how he felt when I’d broken up with him. My heart hurt. It’s like I couldn’t breathe. Maybe I should give up. Just spend time enjoying the beach house and being around Allie and my family. But it was easier said than done. It’s not like I could get away from him here.

  “It’s over. He doesn’t want me. I need to quit wasting my time.”

  “Come on. Don’t give up. Look how far you’ve come in less than a week? He went from ignoring you, to having conversations with you. We’ve still got the rest of the summer.” Allie hugged me. “You’ve got to fight for him. Let him see the real you. The girl he fell madly in love with.” She waggled her eyebrows
at me.

  “And what if that’s not enough?”

  “Then at least you know you tried everything. You don’t want to look back on this summer and regret not doing anything.”

  Of course Allie was right. No way could I let him go. Not yet. When she released me, I wiped my eyes on the backs of my hands. I pushed to my feet, walked across the room, and grabbed my guitar from next to my dresser.

  We went downstairs in the living room, where there was more room. I pulled the guitar from its case and tuned it. If anything could make me feel better it was my music.

  Dad came down the hallway, smiling. “Hey, maybe you can play tonight at our bonfire.”

  “Um, in case you didn’t notice it’s been raining all day. We’ll probably have to build an ark and load Chico onto it.”

  “The rain stopped. And the woodpile’s been covered up. All we need to do is wipe down the chairs.”

  “Your dad’s right,” Mr. Castle said. He strolled into the living room wearing a pair of orange and brown plaid shorts. It looked kind of like a gorilla had collided with an Oompa Loompa. In two words: Not. Pretty.

  Allie sat on the arm of the couch as I strummed through a few songs. For the next couple of hours I practiced, trying to play things from memory. Songs Dad had taught me, songs I’d learned by watching videos on the Internet. It felt good.

  The phone in the kitchen rang and Mr. Castle hopped up to grab it. “No, Sage, you don’t need to go into town. You can come home and have a bonfire with the rest of us. I don’t care if they come along, but this is our family time together and you’re going to be a part of it. See you in a little bit.”

  In that moment, I could’ve hugged Mr. Castle. At least now, I knew Sage would be there tonight.

  ***

  Flames licked at the wood as we sat on the beach around the campfire. Smoke swirled up like a vanilla and chocolate twist ice cream cone. I loved the scent from the fire. It reminded me so much of every other summer. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore relaxed me, and I slid my guitar strap over my head and around my shoulder.

  My gaze shifted to where Sage, Lila, and Logan came walking down the deck stairs. Sage did a quick round of introductions.

  Dad stood up and grabbed a couple more chairs and placed them around our fire pit. “Ah, welcome to the Castles and Evers bonfire. I’m sure you will leave amazed.”

  Oh dear God. Please let him sit down and be quiet. Maybe Mom ought to cut off the wine coolers for him before he started doing his robot dance. With a grin, he grabbed a strand of Christmas lights and tossed them on the fire. Logan and Lila gave each other strange looks.

  They probably thought they’d stepped into an alternate reality with aliens or something. So of course I had to explain what my dad did. “The flames on the fire change colors when the Christmas lights burn.”

  We learned this cool and little known fact from a fellow camper a few summers ago. Something in the strands of lights made awesome colors in the fire. Ever since Dad had found out about it, he and Mom stopped at garage sales and picked up old sets of them to bring on trips with us.

  “Cool,” Logan said. “So you play?” he gestured to my guitar.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well go on then, Gracey,” Sage said.

  My heart fluttered like dozens of moths hovering around a bare bulb. Taking a deep breath, I glanced at Allie who nodded for me to go ahead. I plucked out several “camp”-type songs and everyone sang along. More than once my eyes shifted to where Sage and Lila sat huddled together, talking. She smiled at something he said, her fingers curled up in his hand.

  That should be me. My confidence wavered. The more I saw them together, the more evident it became that winning him back wouldn’t be easy. Not that I’d expected it to be.

  After a few more fun songs, I decided to play a slow one. In fact, it was the first song Sage and I ever danced to. It was our song. I strummed the first few chords then started to sing. Everyone else grew quiet and my voice carried on the night. This time when I looked through the blue and purple flames, I saw Sage staring back. My gaze held his. Every word about love and forever echoed in the air between us—suspended. Warmth spread through me as I sang to him. Did he know I picked this song to tell him how I felt? To say all the things I hadn’t quite found the courage to speak yet?

  His eyes softened and he released Lila’s hand. When I finished, everyone clapped and I immediately handed my guitar over to Dad.

  “Here, you can play for a while. My fingers are getting sore.” I lied. More like, I couldn’t concentrate with Sage watching me.

  Dad smiled. “I hope you’re all ready for the booger song.”

  Aw shit. On second thought, maybe I should take it back.

  “Dad, seriously?” I said.

  “Yes. You can’t have a family vacation without the booger song. Now be patient while I pick this one out.” He held up a pick.

  We groaned.

  “Dad, I think you just passed the point of lame and now there’s no turning back.” Benji rolled his eyes.

  Logan stood and sauntered over next to me, where he plopped down in the sand. “You’re great on guitar. And wow, your voice gave me chills.”

  My cheeks grew hot, and I suddenly became interested in the buckle on my sandals. “Thanks.”

  “I play guitar too, maybe we can jam out some time.”

  I smiled. “I’d like that.”

  We went on to talk about different artists we liked and songs we wanted to learn. It was nice to fall into an easy conversation, one where I didn’t have to think too much.

  “So how old are you?” I asked, trailing my fingers through the damp sand.

  “Nineteen. I’m a sophomore at Lake Superior State.”

  Lyncee would be thrilled to know he was an “older” college guy. If she was here right now she’d probably tell me to forget Sage and hop in Logan’s lap. And I was sure she’d tell me to do other things too.

  “What are you studying?”

  “Environmental Science.”

  “Cool.”

  For over two hours, we chatted about school, soccer, basketball, more music stuff, and family vacations. When I glanced up again, I noticed Sage watching us. He no longer sat huddled so close to Lila.

  “Well, I suppose we should get home,” Logan said, offering me his hand to help me up. He held my fingers in his a moment longer than necessary. His thumb swept across the back of my hand. “So, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” My head tilted up to look at him.

  “Tahquamenon Falls, remember?” he teased.

  I laughed. “Right. Sorry, my mind’s kind of fried today.”

  “Do you guys want me and Lila to meet you here in the morning?”

  “Sure.” Sage shrugged. “Do you want to drive or do you want me to?”

  “I can. We’ve got enough room for all of us in our car,” Logan said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

  “Can I tag along?” Benji walked over to our small group. “I don’t want to be stuck here with them all day.” He nodded to Caleb and Rochelle.

  “Sure.” Logan grinned his perfect white tooth smile. Somewhere a toothpaste model just lost his job.

  God, he was hot. “Do you want us to bring anything?”

  He reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Just yourself and a bathing suit. I’ll pack a cooler for all of us.”

  “Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” My voice came out kind of breathy as he dropped his hand back to his side.

  After Lila and Logan left, Sage came up beside me. “So, you and Logan?”

  My eyes widened. “No. He’s just being nice.” Then I added, “So, you and Lila?”

  He glanced at me, face serious. “I don’t know yet.” With that, he headed back toward the house.

  “What the hell did that mean?” I whispered to Allie.

  “I have no idea.” She tugged me up to the deck. “But, I think you might want to put
project Make Sage Jealous into action sooner rather than later.”

  “Yeah, but that could drive him further away. Besides, I don’t want to hurt Logan. He’s super nice.”

  “And hot. Definitely don’t forget hot,” she teased. “It’ll be interesting to see how tomorrow plays out, don’t you think?”

  Interesting was one way to put it. I was about to go on a double date with my ex-boyfriend. So not awkward or anything.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sage, Allie, Benji, and I stood in our driveway the next morning waiting for Lila and Logan. I hugged my arms to my chest, the air chilly. Hopefully it warmed up soon. The sun shone through the trees, not a cloud in the sky, which I took as a good omen.

  A moment later, an expensive looking SUV pulled into the drive. Logan sat behind the wheel, a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on his head. With a smile, he put the vehicle in park and hopped out.

  “Morning. Hope you guys weren’t waiting long. Someone,” he glanced at Lila, “took like forty-five minutes to do her hair this morning.”

  “I didn’t want to go out in public looking like Medusa.” She pouted.

  “Yeah, but we’re gonna be swimming today, which means your hair is going to get messed up anyway.” He rolled his eyes. “If you want to hand me your towels and stuff, I can toss them in the back of the car.”

  “Sage, you can sit in front with me.” Lila caught his arm. Her black tank top fit snug against her too-big chest. Red bikini top strings were tied around her neck. The girl’s shorts were so tiny, they could’ve been lingerie. And don’t get me started on her heels, which were really sandals that laced halfway up her legs. I wondered how the heck she’d be able to walk in those all day.

  I glanced down at my own outfit of blue soccer T-shirt and black basketball shorts over my infamous, but traitorous blue bikini. Maybe I was underdressed? But if we were gonna be hiking a lot, I wanted to be comfortable. No ass-hugging shorts for me. The only good thing about Lila being dressed up was she had a good chance of her inner thighs chafing, and she’d have to stay behind while we did fun stuff.