A Love Hate Thing Read online

  “Sure thing, Nan,” I let her know.

  We descended from the back patio to the beach itself, but not without bumping into her neighbor, Travis Catalano.

  “What’s up, girl?” Travis appraised her with obvious approval. “Your beach is better.”

  Nandy rolled her eyes and walked off toward her friends.

  Travis grinned, watching her go to one of the many bonfires. “I bet it’s wetter, too.”

  As salty as Nandy acted, I bet her beach was more of a desert.

  Travis turned back to me, the same weird smile he’d given me that morning crossing his face. “And we meet again.” He brought his gaze to my attire and smirked. “Black T-shirt and black jeans, because that’s not conspicuous at all.”

  I had a feeling the kid had a knack for saying whatever the fuck came to his mind. There was no filter. By his muscular stature, I hoped for his sake he was able to back up all that mouth.

  He focused on my face. “So, what sport do you play?”

  “I’m not a sports guy.”

  His eyebrows drew down and his gaze ran over my torso once more. “No? So you just juice up for the fuck of it, huh?”

  He definitely didn’t give a shit about what came out of his mouth.

  Travis chuckled. “I’m just fuckin’ with you man.” He held out his hand. “We cool?”

  When I didn’t shake his hand, he brought it back to his side.

  Travis appeared amused. “Listen, we—” he gestured from himself to me “—sorta got off on the wrong foot here.”

  “Fresh meat?”

  That smirk increased. “That was an ill joke, my bad. You don’t look like you belong here. Don’t worry, neither do I. Only the real can relate.”

  Real. What did any kid from Pacific Hills know about real? Hell, half their people were made of synthetics.

  Travis’s gaze moved in Nandy’s direction, and mine followed to where she was sitting with her boyfriend and some other people. “So I’m assuming Nandy informed you about me. Gave you all the dirty deets about my extracurricular activities?”

  I kept staring, wanting him to get to his point.

  He nodded, not seeming offended in the least. “I think it’s only fair that I warn you about Nandy.” He waved toward her friends. “Beyond the glitz and glamour, the oh-so-cool popular crowd is bullshit. They’re nothing but plastic smiles and silicone friendships. They’ll do anything to make themselves look and feel superior. You always gotta watch your back.”

  There was no way to hide my grimace. Fuck, I could find less drama where I was from. Real did recognize real back in Lindenwood. If you didn’t fuck with someone, you didn’t fuck with them, period. All that hanging out and pretending shit wasn’t our style.

  “Nandy’s cool, though, sometimes,” Travis quipped.

  “And let me guess, she misjudged you?” I asked.

  Travis grinned, moving closer and leaning over to speak in my ear. “I never said she was wrong about me.” He stood back and observed our surroundings. “I like to have fun and live my life. If that bothers anyone, that’s their problem. Why give a fuck when I don’t have to?”

  “At least you’re honest.”

  “Only way to live, Tyson.”

  “It’s Trice.”

  “Nandy said—”

  “I prefer my last name.”

  Travis didn’t argue. He threw an arm over my shoulders and steered me in the direction of the party. He pointed past me at two guys holding Solo cups and standing away from everyone else. “That’s my best friend, Matt, and his boyfriend, Ben. They’re sports and adrenaline junkies. I can get down with some adrenaline, but I don’t care much for organized sports.”

  That was ironic. The way Nandy painted him, you’d think he’d be captain of some shitty cliché. “No? Then what do you do?”

  Travis opened his arms, smiling with pride. “I’m on the drumline. I bring the flavor the marching band’s been missing.”

  This was no cliché. While standing in the midst of Pacific Hills’ local teens, I got the feeling that I was about to be living in something straight out of a white teen drama, appropriately named Pretty Filthy Rich Kids, but if Travis was as devious as Nandy said and he was in marching band, then things were far from ordinary. Hell, Nandy probably wasn’t some cheerleader either, although with her sour mood, I could see why she wouldn’t be.

  “You play the drum for the school marching band?” I just had to clarify.

  “Fuck yeah, you’d think that’d be lame, but the girls love the way I work my sticks, man.” Travis finished gazing at some girl who was bent over grabbing a beer from a cooler. He whistled. “Warhol’s gonna kill me someday.”

  The pretty Latina came over and punched Travis’s arm. “Hey, Trav.” She glanced at me, lifting a brow. “New guy.”

  Travis pulled the girl under his arm. “Edi Gómez, Trice. Trice, Edi Gómez.”

  “I’ve met your brother,” I said, finding no resemblance between the twins.

  Edi smiled. “Warhol said he met some new kid from the ’Wood today.”

  Travis studied me and squinted. “You’re from Lindenwood?”

  I nodded.

  “I guess things just got interesting.” He peered down at Edi. “I was just telling him how fake your friends can be.”

  Edi rolled her eyes and said something in Spanish as she moved from beneath his arm.

  “I love it when you speak that telenovela shit, Edi.” He winked, and she blushed. I had to admit, Travis had charisma. That was evident as Edi stood staring at him.

  “Back off my sister, Catalano.” Warhol came over and pushed Travis away. “Jeez, she’s not about to become one of your skonkas.”

  Travis held his hands up, proclaiming innocence. “I was just saying hi.”

  Warhol snorted and noticed me. “Trice, what’s up?” He reached out and slapped my hand, then pulled me in for a brief hug. “I’m glad you made it. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

  “He’s with Nandy,” Travis spoke up.

  Warhol made a face and observed Nandy and her friends. “Careful.”

  Even I had to look at Nandy. The Smiths seemed like nice, wholesome people, but if every guy I met warned me about Nandy, then perhaps she wasn’t so innocent after all.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  Edi rolled her eyes and shoved her brother. “He’s just holding a grudge because they used to date.”

  “Before Chad came through and pulled a robbery,” Travis added.

  Warhol gave me an annoyed look, as if what his sister and Travis were saying was exaggerated. “I don’t hold grudges, but I’m just saying be careful. Those girls are sneaky.”

  “It wasn’t even that serious between you two,” Edi said.

  “We hit second base!” Warhol whined.

  Edi pulled Warhol away, and the two went bickering over to where Nandy was sitting. Warhol obviously didn’t have a major issue, because he sat with Nandy as if it weren’t a big deal that they used to date.

  Matt and Ben came over and introduced themselves to me, having less of a dramatic introduction than Travis or Warhol and his sister.

  “You look like you play ball, do you?” Matt asked as he sized me up.

  I shook my head. “I don’t do sports.”

  Ben seemed slightly disappointed. “I have a feeling you’d kill on the lacrosse team.”

  I wasn’t planning on staying long enough to join any teams or make any real connections. I shrugged, as if I found the thought interesting but wasn’t willing to commit.

  Matt and Ben were holding hands, and Travis scowled once he noticed. “It’s barely been an hour.”

  “Ben’s leaving in the morning, cut me some slack,” Matt said as he led his boyfriend away.

  “Wear a condom!” Travis shouted in their direc
tion.

  Matt and Ben seemed like decent guys, and then there was Travis. He was trouble, or at least his mouth was. But even if that was true, I had a feeling there’d be no bullshit with him.

  “I’m gonna go have some debauched fun and do my best to live up to my reputation. You kick back. The Hills get real interesting at night.” Travis patted my arm and walked off to where a group of people was standing around a keg.

  “Well, well, well, look what the stork dropped off.” Behind me stood a girl who wasn’t hiding the fact that she was checking me out. With her tan skin, dark curly hair, big brown eyes, and obvious beauty, this girl made me think that Travis had walked away far too early. She tilted her head. “So, you’re who Nandy’s been fussing about.”

  At the mention of Nandy, I looked over and caught her glaring my way.

  “Something like that,” I said as I focused back on the girl in the black bikini.

  “Shayne Mancini.” She held her hand out daintily, as if she expected me to kiss it.

  I lifted a brow and did nothing. “Nice to meet you.”

  She took her hand back but kept smiling. It was like she was playing a game and she didn’t mind playing harder. “I hear you’re from Lindenwood.”

  Again, I looked at Nandy, giving her my own glare for the shit she’d probably been talking. I wondered how many robberies she’d told Shayne I’d been a part of. “Yep.”

  “Fascinating. Is it true what they say?” Shayne took a step closer.

  “What do they say?” I dared to ask.

  Shayne opened her mouth, staring at my arms and admiring my muscles. “Well—”

  “Shayne!” Kyle materialized beside her and held out a Solo cup. “I... I n-noticed you were empty-handed, s-so I grabbed you this.”

  Shayne peered at the scrawny boy and took the cup from him. She studied the contents and scowled, then handed it back. “What’s that?”

  Kyle moved some hair out of his eyes. “Sprite.”

  “And what color is it?”

  “Cah-lear,” he said, announcing each syllable with confusion.

  “I only drink pink drinks, Froggie, everyone knows that.”

  “It’s Frogge, actually,” Kyle said. “I’ll, uh, go get you another.”

  “Yeah, do that, please.” Shayne returned to me and rolled her eyes.

  If I were keeping score on the bizarre, twisted teen drama I’d fallen into, I had to take a guess and say I’d just met the extrabitchy best friend to Nandy’s main mean-girl character.

  Shayne grabbed my hand and led me to her group of friends. She pointed at everyone and said their names—names I didn’t care to memorize—but Nandy’s boyfriend, Chad, stuck out.

  They were talking about their summer plans, and I couldn’t relate to any of it. My family had never had the type of money where my parents could take me on trips to other countries. If my height and intimidating look weren’t enough to count me out of belonging in Pacific Hills, my background was the ticket I needed to get sent back home.

  “I’m trying to get Nandy’s parents to let her come with my parents and me when we take our yacht for the first sail of the summer. It’ll be so much fun,” Chad was saying as he sat with Nandy under his arm.

  Shayne was beautiful, and so was Nandy’s other friend, Erica, but it was obvious, as I looked around the bonfire at the other girls and the other guys, that Nandy was the most attractive girl in the inner circle, and if she and Chad ever broke up, she’d have a ton of admirers at her door. It was becoming more and more noticeable as each guy looked at Nandy every time her name was mentioned.

  A few girls swooned, as if Chad’s statement were the most romantic thing in the world, and Nandy gave a shy smile.

  “Then you can get laid while you sail the high seas,” some kid sitting on Chad’s right said, making a bunch of the guys laugh.

  Chad slapped the boy’s hand, causing Nandy to sit up and scowl. Chad was quick to backtrack. “Aw, baby, come on, it’ll be fun.”

  “There would be no time for that if your parents are on board,” she said.

  Shayne chuckled. “What’s a good time for you, then, Nan?”

  “Besides when his parents aren’t around, anytime when Chad decides to turn off the TV instead of muting it.”

  The guys teased Chad while the girls glowered at him.

  “What?” he asked. “I like to make sure my teams are scoring, too.”

  Nandy rolled her eyes. “He’s quite the romantic.”

  More like a redheaded fuck boy.

  Tired of hearing about their shitty plans and ill attempts at romance, I stood up and walked off.

  Music was blasting, and it was actually decent. Nandy’s friend Erica was controlling the music up on the patio, and she put on some Drake before coming down and meeting up with me.

  “Having a good time?” A loud laugh carried to us from the bonfire, and Erica looked over and scrunched up her nose. “Don’t mind Chad and his friends, they’re assholes.”

  “I gathered.”

  Erica tossed me a smile. “But if you show them no bullshit, they’ll show you the same. You just gotta stand strong. They’re kinda like dogs—they smell fear and weakness, and once they do, they’ll walk all over you.”

  In the distance, I caught sight of Kyle giving Shayne a new drink and her quickly shooing him away instead of offering him my empty seat.

  They smell fear and weakness.

  “So you deejay?” I asked, coming back to Erica. “What got you into that?”

  “My cousin Geordan and a few of my other cousins like to dance to hip-hop. Once when I was twelve and over at their house, he asked me to control the music, and I just fell in love with it, I guess. When they’re not working at the restaurant they’re usually working on dance moves, and I get to work on some mixes,” Erica explained. “My boyfriend actually gets paid to host club events, and I get to deejay since we’re a package deal now. I almost feel legit.”

  She sounded big-time, almost. “What do you go by?”

  She appeared confused. “Erica?”

  I chuckled for the first time in almost six months. “No offense, but that’s a bland DJ name.”

  Erica rolled her eyes. “Geordan says I should go by DJ Yee, but then people think I’m some Chinese guy.”

  Erica was beyond cute. Nandy had mentioned that she was half black, half Chinese and with one look at her I found that she was a strong combination of both with her sepia skin tone, defined cheekbones, and full lips. She had long silky onyx hair and pretty eyes that lit up whenever she smiled.

  “Yeah, but you’re still gonna wanna work on that name,” I let her know.

  Erica waved me off. “What do you like listening to?”

  “Kendrick, some ’Pac, but a lot of Pusha T lately.”

  Erica’s lips made a perfect O shape. “Ooh, good shit. Pusha’s debut is one of my favorite albums. The beats were insane and the lyrics were out of there.” She glanced back at the patio and frowned as Ashley went and stood at her laptop. “I love that boy to death, but he can’t do my job.” She gazed back at me. “I’m going to play you something.”

  She headed back up to the patio with the wind blowing in her long curly hair. She shoved Ashley away from her laptop, and soon “Nosetalgia” came through the speakers. I gave her a thumbs-up before distancing myself from the party and walking closer to the ocean, watching the waves crash as they hit the shore.

  Nostalgia.

  Her words echoed in my head. You deserve a good life, baby.

  My words came next as I had disagreed with her remark. No, we do.

  Looking around, I wondered if our good life could’ve been lived in a place like Pacific Hills.

  A place full of ease, comfort, and sunny days.

  Not too far into my reverie, the shots and screams from that
day sounded in my head, and I knew without a doubt that it couldn’t have.

  8 | Nandy

  The party was over and everyone was packing up and going home. Usually I would ride with Erica, Edi, or Shayne and rehash the night or gossip about things we couldn’t say in front of the group. We’d make smoothies and stay up late talking or watching movies.

  But I had to take Tyson home.

  “Warhol’s such a flirt.” Shayne was giggling as she walked back to the street with Erica and me.

  Erica’s and my faces shared the same expression. Pot, kettle, much?

  “Sure,” Erica responded.

  Shayne made a face. Everyone flirted with Shayne; she was beautiful, and much like Edi, she was available. Erica was infatuated with Ashley, and I had Chad. Shayne loved the attention regardless.

  “Why didn’t you tell us your new housemate was a total hot fudge sundae?” Shayne asked, batting her eyelashes.

  I wasn’t sure what bothered me more, her referring to Tyson as a dessert, or her flirting with him. The way he was so gung ho about Africa, I doubted he’d give Shayne a chance.

  She wasn’t the only girl who’d noticed Tyson. A couple others had stared at him off and on all night. I guess if you got past the cold exterior, he was handsome—very.

  I gave my best friend a big fake smile. “Oh, I don’t know, it must’ve slipped my mind.”

  Shayne marched out in front of us, walking backward as she held her hand in the air. “I call first dibs.”

  Erica scoffed. “He doesn’t need your drama.”

  Ahead of us I spotted Tyson leaning against my car, arms crossed as he stared down at his shoes. I could hear Shayne sigh, but all I could wonder was why he’d worn such heavy clothes to the beach.

  Shayne walked to Edi’s car and hopped in, and Erica stood with me, staring at Tyson.

  “Be nice, Nandy,” Erica told me.

  I was lugging him around whether I liked it or not. What more could I do? “This is me being nice.”

  My best friend blatantly scowled at me. “First off, we’re privileged and maybe he’s not—that doesn’t give any of us the right to judge him.”