By My Side

  By My Side

  By Stephanie Witter

  All rights reserved. Published by Anchor Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

  Copyright 2013

  Published by Anchor Group

  PO Box 551

  Flushing, MI 48433

  Anchorgrouppublishing.com

  Edited by Melissa Ringsted

  Cover Design by Strong Image Editing

  Pour ma mère et ma grand-mère, Corinne et Annie.

  Merci pour tout.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Before writing this story, I never realized how writing a book is not a lonely journey. I’m thankful for each and every one who helped me along the way.

  I would like to thank Karen Swart, a fabulous author, who was the first one to read By My Side. She fell in love with my characters and my story, always cheering me and boosting me to believe in myself and in my writings.

  I would also like to thank Luzette Bezuidenhout for her help in improving this story. We don’t know each other and yet she believed enough in By My Side to beta read it.

  And last, but not least, I would like to thank Melissa Ringsted and Stacey Rourke for making my first dream come true. I’m getting published!

  Chapter One

  What a soft melody to hear, the fight between my parents. Unfortunately, this song is no longer new. Now, I know who gave me the talent to swear. “Go to hell!” said the lovely voice of my mother, a well-respected literary agent. Never underestimate the frustration of the lack of curse words in a working-life where every sentence is carefully thought out.

  “Oh, really nice, Elizabeth,” mumbled my father, who was obviously tired, or more accurately defeated because he couldn’t find a good way to insult her in return. Pathetic. Luckily, I wasn’t with them; they were downstairs in the huge living room decorated with modern, soulless furniture. I was in my bedroom, which faces the staircase, with my door open. I waited to run down the metallic stairs and climb into my Comet, in hopes of finding a place to escape this round of fighting. My best friend’s place, for that matter. Silence.

  If the fight is already over, I’ll stop cursing and be a model seventeen-year-old girl, I silently promised.

  “What? No more well thought out speech about our family? No more criticisms about me? I’m baffled,” said my mother in an icy tone. It’s always strange to witness how we can take after our parents; strange and also disturbing. A chill ran up and down my spine.

  “What do you want me to say? You’re incredibly obnoxious, frigid, and …”

  It’s wonderful how we can preserve ourselves. Knowing how they hate each other these days is less frightening than hearing something about their sex life. After I was born, in my head they became asexual creatures. A kiss or two was okay, but nothing else. Phew.

  I snatched up my big, black leather purse and my car keys, ran down the stairs and out the door, heading straight for my car. I started breathing normally only after I was on my way to Andy’s. They didn’t even see me leave the house and it’s Saturday night. Three months ago it was still our Chinese night. We ordered in tons of Chinese food and we ate with chopsticks, even if we sucked at it. I hadn’t eaten a bite of Chinese food since our last time.

  Five minutes later, I was in front of the Green’s family home. I loved this house as much as I loved Andrew, my best friend. In the backyard, I fell from a tree at nine after a dare. In one of the bedrooms, I had my first sleepover at five. In the kitchen, I learned how to bake Andrew’s favorite chocolate cake for his sixteenth birthday. This place was also a home for me. More these days than ever, my home had been falling apart for a while now.

  I parked the car in the street, and took in a few deep breaths. I could already feel my shoulders relaxing and my heartbeat returning to normal. I know Andy will try to make me laugh; we’d watch some movie while eating junk food. The best medicine, and I knew it would do the trick.

  In front of the wooden door, I took a deep breath. Not because I was anxious, but only to make the lump in my throat disappear. I rang and waited, frowning to see the old lady from next door glaring at me.

  The door was opening and my smile was returning. A tall, thin guy with curly brown hair should have been in front of me, but instead there was a very tall guy with broad shoulders. He had huge arms straining a T-shirt from a gig by Muse, piercing grey eyes, and dark hair long enough to lie haphazardly on his head, nearly in his eyes.

  My mouth dropped open, because even if it wasn’t my best friend, I knew the guy who was presently rubbing the short stubble on his chin. The only new thing about him was the little scar on his left eyebrow. It was Gabriel Green, known to me as Gabe the douche bag. Great!

  “Lily Saunders. Still short, and still here,” he mumbled in a sigh, as if I was more boring than math. Scumbag!

  “Gabe Green. What a lovely surprise! Still arrogant, and still … well, I can’t find a word to describe you.”

  “It’s because I’m too wonderful for the word perfection.”

  If I hit him now, will it be that bad? Even at twenty, he was still a huge idiot. This was the final straw in ruining my first day of summer vacation. What was he doing here? He hadn’t come back for two years. Crap! “College didn’t do well for you, if you think for a second that perfection could be associated with your name,” I replied, more defeated than cold. I just realized that if he was here now, he would be here for the entire holiday. Well, more or less, however the less would be better. Kill me now.

  “Maybe.” He shrugged, and for the first time in my life he took me by surprise. What did he mean? Never mind.

  “Where’s Andy?” I insisted.

  “Upstairs,” he replied, stepping aside and only leaving a little space for me to pass him.

  I brushed past him, not bothering with a thanks or any other politeness, and went into the house. There, everything was soulful. Not a trace of modern design furniture, just homely family furniture, nothing was cold or uninviting. It was the exact opposite of my house. On the left, the living room—which was smaller than ours, but more comfy—had a cream colored, leather couch in the center and family pictures on old furniture surrounded the room. On the right was a gigantic kitchen for Mrs. Green, painted and decorated in every shade of blue. In front of me was a staircase in old wood, not cold metal like ours. Without further thought, I climbed the stairs and headed for my best friend.

  Andy’s room was the first door. When we were little, I used to enter without knocking, but when we were twelve years old puberty forced that choice aside. I knocked and waited. “Come in,” Andy said in a deep voice, his young boy one had disappeared two years ago.

  “Please make my day and say that your brother is just visiting. It might just boost my mood at the moment,” I said, opening the door with some force and going straight to the bed after slamming the door with a loud crack.

  “I’d love to, but I didn’t even know he was coming,” he replied.

  Andy was lying in the middle of his room, bed unmade. He never made his bed and his room was barely in order. Seeing him so depressed unnerved me. I remembered quite well he and his brother never got along. There was always tension and fights. I still don’t understand how Gabe had been so popular. He was such despicable person.

  “Our summer will totally suck now.”

  “Stop being so pessimistic, Lily. He’s here, so what? He’ll do his thing, and we’ll do ours.”

  “You’re such a naïve optimistic.”

  “Why did you come? I wanted to tell you about Gabe before you discovered it like that.”

&n
bsp; I turned my head and caught Andy’s soft brown eyes. I didn’t have to explain how awful home was. He knew with just a glimpse of my pain. Only he could see me like that. He sighed and made some room for me to lie next to him, like we did sometimes to talk and relax. For now, my sarcasm was gone.

  Chapter Two

  I was in my bedroom, glad for the silence in the house. My father was sleeping on the couch in his little office downstairs, while my mother was in the king-size bed in the main bedroom across from the corridor, decorated with happy photographs from the past. A past I have begun to forget.

  I fidgeted with my hair absentmindedly. I hadn’t seen Gabe when I left Andy’s, but I was uncomfortable. Seeing Andy without his enthusiasm was nerve-racking. I wanted a summer with a lot of fun, maybe even go a little crazy, but not that crazy.

  Even when I was in kindergarten, I hated Gabe. I remembered when I was seven, he hit me with his soccer ball, and he laughed seeing me try to hide my tears. When I was eleven, he pushed me in a huge pool of mud.

  He always wanted to make me cry or humiliate me, but I swear this year will be different. I’ll ignore him all summer, even if it costs me to not insult him with sarcasm. On this thought, I fell into a dream where I still had a boring life, a life where my family wouldn’t soon become another statistic.

  It’s late. I felt it in my body and in my burning eyes from the hot sun outside. I forgot to close my curtains. I moaned to encourage myself to escape from my comfy bed. One foot on the floor, and my head is still on my favorite pillow. I was startled when my phone rang, so if I was angry with the caller it’s not my fault.

  “What?” I answered with an acid tone.

  “I woke you up!? It’s eleven in the morning, Lily,” Andy replied.

  “Are you going to be my alarm clock all summer or what?” Honestly, Andy knows I’m a pain in the ass before three coffees.

  “You suck, Lily!” he barked back at me. Now I was awake. He never speaks to me like that. I was the one with an attitude problem.

  “What happened to my best friend that’s always funny and in a good mood?” I was pacing in my bedroom, afraid Andy was fed up with me. Will I lose him?

  “I’m just … Forget it. Just get over here.”

  “I was still in my bed, smartass.” Trying to escape the tension was not as easy as I thought it would be.

  “We’ve got plenty of coffee,” he encouraged me.

  “The gateway to my heart!” I replied with a false melodramatic voice before I hung up without the usual polite words.

  In my car in front of the Green’s house I was a little self-conscious. I was used to wearing cut-off shorts and a tank top in summer, since it was always very hot, but with Gabe here I was a little anxious he might mock me. My now curvy body was nothing I had to be ashamed of, however I felt so young and exposed with him in the facility.

  I could see him on the porch, and shockingly he was reading. Gabe was in all the girl’s fantasies, but not in mine. He’s my nemesis, but I will never allow him to have power over me. With a little too much force I closed the car’s door, startling him. Good, point for me.

  “I thought I frightened you when I didn’t see you at breakfast,” he mocked me. I regarded him for a moment, wondering if it’s thanks to him that I can do sarcasm so well. He checked me out and then casually looked down the street, dismissing me.

  “Well, you’re not wrong. I was afraid to die from boredom around you,” I replied.

  His gray eyes locked with mine. He stood up, towering high over me. He was deadly angry, but I didn’t know why.

  “Andy is in the kitchen,” he said before he went into the house without so much as looking at me again.

  My heart pounded against my ribs. We fought in the past, but this was different. I’ll never admit it aloud and give him the upper hand, but I was a little afraid. He could be quite frightening when he wanted to be. A chill ran down my spine as I passed the still open door and came into the kitchen. Andy was alone with a mug of coffee, sitting on one of the stools, his attention fixed on his computer.

  “Hey! Where’s my coffee?” I joked with a frail smile. I took the hot coffee pot and filled a mug with my precious gasoline. It was good. So, so good. A groan of satisfaction escaped me.

  “I don’t know if you’ll find this coffee as enjoyable when you find out that Gabe made it.” Andy chuckled when he registered my killer look.

  “But he didn’t know how to make coffee!” I complained. It was true. Besides, Andy was always the first up, even before his parents.

  “Now he knows,” he said somberly, finishing his mug. I didn’t want to drink something made by his older brother, but I couldn’t resist coffee, even when it tasted awful. So I drank it in silence, contemplating the new info about Gabe.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him, sitting on the stool next to him, my feet not touching the floor. I was really too short, not my most attractive trait.

  “I’m checking the gigs at Dreamland Sugar. A buddy of mine told me about the band playing there tonight. They came from LA.”

  I loved to go to that place in summer. Obviously, it was the only place to go when you’re between thirteen and twenty-five. Also, it’s the best place to listen to live music during the season.

  “Don’t tell me it’s some Indie-rock, pretentious band. It becomes annoying.”

  Last year we went to no less than eight gigs with that type of band. It became boring after the fourth one.

  “No, it’s kinda punk,” he replied with a frown. I knew he was thinking that Gabe would come. Not with us, since he’s got his own friends, but still.

  “And I suppose some of your friends will be there?” I asked. He turned off his computer and scratched his forehead without looking at me.

  “Some. Like usual, my buddies from the track team.” I sighed heavily. Andy was kind of an honest boy, but he’s often minimizing the truth. It’s cute and maddening at the same time.

  “And their girlfriends, and the friends of their girlfriends?” I questioned, already knowing what the answer was. With a little smile, he nodded.

  “I’ll pass,” I replied, not interested in the local cheerleader squad.

  Now it’s his turn to sigh. I was conscious, I was irritating, but I preferred not to spend time with the King of Cummings High and his court, even if he preferred to spend the night with me. Everybody loved Andy, which was understandable because he’s funny, enthusiastic, and loveable. I was not like him and I’ll never be. Unfortunately, spending time with these people in high school was unavoidable, but it wasn’t necessary during summer. I wanted to be free with sarcasms without restrictions. Au revoir obligations and bonjour holy-free-days!

  “Lily …” he pleaded, his right hand on my bare knee. “You know we’ll see them.”

  “But we don’t have to stay at their table the whole night. Talking to them for ten minutes I’m okay with, but nothing more.”

  “You’re always like that!” he replied with anger, his hand now on his lap. “Is it so difficult for you?” If he wanted to be a stupid ass, I’d show him I could be one, too.

  “What? Now that Gabe is here you’re afraid to lose your status as king of the town?”

  Maybe it’s a little harsh; I was really a snob sometimes. He must hate me by now. What could I say?

  He glared at me and without a sound he indicated the door. Wow! I’m stunned. I knew that what I said was the truth, but this is shockingly not what I was expecting.

  “Go now or I’ll say something I’ll regret. I don’t want to deal with your crap today,” he snapped at me. It felt like an electrical shock passed through my body. We never argued, ever. We teased each other every day, but nothing more. I was an idiot. Gabe will always be a tough subject for him. I left his house like a robot, moving around with nowhere to go. I didn’t have the opportunity to tell Andy that my father was packing his things. I had nobody to talk to, nobody at all.

  I spent all day between the park and the l
ibrary. I was still in the latter, reading a paperback copy of Much Ado About Nothing. My back was killing me and my eyes were tired. I needed to wear glasses when I read, but didn’t want to go home to fetch them. Rubbing my neck, I realized that it was already twilight. The gig would begin in ten minutes. Andy must already be there, laughing with everybody and being the center of attention. Why couldn’t he be satisfied with only me? I really like punk music—much more than Andy does—but I didn’t want to apologize, I couldn’t.

  If I went, I’d be alone like a total loser. Great, now I’ve got a headache! I put the book on the first shelve behind me, and headed straight to Dreamland Sugar in my tank top, cut-off shorts and white All Stars. Not exactly an outfit for going out, but to Hell with everybody! I’ll be there for the music.

  Dreamland Sugar was a place like nowhere else, or nowhere in this town. New York, on the other hand, had everything. It’s not exactly the right time to fantasize about New York. Right now, I would love to disappear among the shelves overcrowded by thousands of books, a paradise for readers.

  Andy was with a bunch of loud people, ignoring me even though I knew he saw me coming in. I was disappointed, but even more, I was hurt. Thanks to the band on the little stage that began to play so loudly I could feel it reverberating in my chest, I was less exposed. Absentmindedly, I sat down at the last free stool at the bar. Now I could relax.

  Until I saw my stool’s neighbor, or more accurately, the person sitting on it. Gabe, alone. This day sucked. Hurry up to the next, but only if it’s better.

  “What are you doing here!?” I attacked in a reflex.

  “For your info, I was already here before you put your ass next to me,” he mumbled in my face, his breath stinking of alcohol. I had never seen Gabe drunk. I knew he had already drunk beers at parties during high school, but now, in an ice-cream shop?

  “Why are you drunk?” I asked him, leaning close in order to not attract the attention of the customers and Ethan, the manager. Now that I thought further about it, it’s a little strange and ridiculous to not want him to land in trouble.