Dancing With A Stranger (Londyn Carter Book 1) Read online

  We got our drinks and a little snack. She had passed on lunch as well because she knew we were going out to eat with Mom and Gavin tonight.

  “I’m so glad we are going to be at Mom’s for the next week. I don’t see how you take Dad, always on you about the things you do and how he thinks you should act. That would drive me insane. Do you think he’s going to be like that with me when you go away to college in the fall?” she asked, raising her head up slowly from being on her phone.

  I didn’t want to lie to her, but then again, I didn’t want to tell her the truth either. I knew he was going to do the same thing to her. I gave her the most basic neutral answer I could think of by shrugging my shoulders as I kept driving to Mom’s house. Mom moved across the city to get far away from the “five mile radius,” but still close enough to me and Jules. Her house wasn’t as big as Dad’s house, but it was a nice grey brick house with a huge front porch. If someone were to ask me where I would want to live, I wouldn’t hesitate in saying with my Mom.

  The minute I turned onto Devon Drive; I could see Mom sitting on the porch. Her long auburn hair was pulled up into a messy bun. She was on the far side of the porch, sitting in her favorite chair. She had probably been out there the minute she knew school let out, waiting for us to get here.

  I pulled into the driveway beside her black SUV, and she was next to the car before I had a chance to open the door.

  “Sorry, we made a quick trip to Starbucks for drinks and light snacks,” I said, getting out of the car.

  “That’s fine. I’ve missed you both!” She threw her arms around me, then quickly let go and ran over to Jules. “Are we still going out to dinner tonight with Gavin?” she asked, letting go of Jules.

  “Yes. I told him to be here as soon as he could because Jules and I skipped lunch so we would be hungry for dinner tonight.” I grabbed our bags out of the trunk. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you, but a bunch of us are going to The Loft tomorrow night. I hope you don’t mind. Lucas is driving me, Gavin, Sam, and Jayde, and his friend Blake, along with the rest of their group of friends, are going to follow us.”

  “Londyn, we already talked about this. Remember, you asked me a few days ago.” Mom moved a piece of my hair away from my face.

  “I did?”

  “Yes. Is everything okay? You seem preoccupied right now.”

  “Lucas has been giving me the cold shoulder the past couple of days. He says I have nothing to worry about.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. Is there anything else on your mind that you want to talk about?”

  “No.” I said, walking up the porch steps.

  “Why don’t you and Jules go put your bags in your room? Then we can decide where to go for dinner tonight before Gavin gets here,” Mom said, walking back toward the kitchen.

  I stood there and watched her walk through the arched doorway that separated the living room from the dining room. She was wearing a black pair of leggings, with a purple cold shoulder kimono tunic, and black flats. She didn’t dress like most moms that had kids in high school.

  I turned to walk up the stairs to go to my room, which was located at the end of the hall to the right. I opened my door and flopped my bag on my bed so I could start unpacking it. I didn’t want to worry about my clothes being a wrinkled mess for tomorrow night. I don’t know why I was worried about what I looked like since I was going to be with Lucas and our friends. My room was smaller here, but I really didn’t care about that. I didn’t have to worry about any listening ears at my door, or lectures on how I needed to act in public. Here, I could be me.

  “I hope I got here fast enough,” Gavin said, walking into my room.

  “I didn’t even hear you pull into the driveway. Yeah, we just got here a few minutes ago ourselves. Mom told us to unpack, then we are going to decide where to eat before you got here. She knows you don’t care and will go wherever.”

  “Where is your Mom? Jules let me in. She’s right. I don’t care where we eat. You and Jules are the picky ones.” He let out a small chuckle.

  “Um…I think you mean Jules,” I said, hanging clothes up in my closet.

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  Chapter 5

  It took me about twenty minutes to put my clothes away, and make sure I had brought everything I needed for tomorrow night. Mom yelled for us at the bottom of the stairs to come down so we could decide where we wanted to eat dinner. Jules was already in the living room sprawled out on the couch, watching a movie with her phone in her hands. Gavin and I walked over to the loveseat and sat down, while Mom sat in her favorite big, round beige sofa chair.

  “Has anyone given any thought on where we are going to eat? I didn’t eat much today, and I’m starving. So, I’m open to just about anything,” Mom said, looking over towards me and Gavin. “Jules, what do you want to eat?”

  “I don’t care. I’m going to leave it up to Londyn and Gavin. They can decide where we can eat.” She kept looking between her phone and TV.

  “Well, I guess it is up to us,” I said, looking to the right of me at Gavin. “What do you feel like eating?”

  “It doesn’t matter to me. I could go for a good burger. So, any place that will have a good burger is fine with me.”

  “That sounds pretty good to be honest. I’m with Mom on the starving thing. Let me get my purse upstairs and we can go.” I ran up the stairs to get my purse out of my room. Everyone was waiting by the front door by the time I reached the middle of the stairs.

  I let Jules ride up front so I could sit in the back and talk to Gavin on the way to the restaurant. We weren’t even out of the driveway, and I was already checking my phone to see if I had texts from Lucas. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that there wasn’t one from him.

  “Maybe he got busy with something after school.” Gavin lifted my chin up with his finger and thumb.

  “So, Gavin, how was your cruise? Were there any good looking guys around?” Mom asked, looking back at us in the rearview mirror as she drove down the road.

  “It was great. The Bahamas was amazing. And, yes. There were a lot of great looking guys on the cruise. One is going to college in Baltimore in the fall. He’s texted me a few times since I’ve been back from the cruise. We will see what happens.” Gavin smiled.

  Before I could stop myself, I was sliding my phone open to check for texts from Lucas. I looked out the window at the blurred trees whizzing by from Mom speeding down the road.

  Gavin and Mom kept talking about the cruise and the cute guy he met while he was gone.

  I didn’t add much to the conversation for the simple fact I was trying to figure out the reason why I hadn’t heard from Lucas since lunch.

  We were about five minutes from the restaurant when out of nowhere, Hunter popped in my mind. I wanted to see him again, but now that would never happen since Jayde dumped his best friend Skyler. I didn’t see how she could keep bouncing from guy to guy all the time. It’s a wonder there were any guys left in the school for her to date, or who even wanted to date her with her reputation of using guys. Gavin put his arm around me and tried to pull me closer to him.

  “Cheer up, Londyn. We are going to have a great dinner, the four of us, and tomorrow night we are going dancing. You know I will dance with you if Lucas won’t.” He smiled, flashing his perfect white teeth.

  Mom pulled into the restaurant, and we arrived at the right time judging from the numerous empty parking spots. Gavin got out first so he could come around to my side behind Mom and open the door for me. Lucas hardly ever opened the door for me, unless it was for special occasions like the prom.

  “I’m going to get a big cheeseburger and fries,” Gavin said, wrapping his arm through mine the closer we got to the entrance. I didn’t know what I was going to get, but that did sound good.

  Gavin opened the door for us and smiled when I passed by him walking into the restaurant. He was right. I needed to stop worrying about Lucas and focus on having a good time with my mom, si
ster, and Gavin. He always had a way of cheering me up, no matter how upset I was at the time. I trusted him over Sam and Jayde. He didn’t throw judgment at me for how I thought about some things.

  The seating hostess was behind her little counter, fixing the menus when we walked up.

  “Hi, how many?” she smiled, turning to grab silverware wrapped in napkins.

  The hostess had four menus and napkin-wrapped silverware, leading us through the maze of table and booths back to a corner booth. It was a round booth nestled in the corner, which was perfectly fine with me. Jules sat in the middle, mom to her right, me and Gavin on her left.

  “Hi, my name is Skyler and I’ll be your server today. Can I get you something to drink? Londyn?”

  I looked up to find Skyler standing in front of us, wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with his server notebook in hand.

  “Hey, Skyler. I owe you and apology for Jayde. I pretty much yelled at her for what she did.”

  “Oh, it’s okay. I had a feeling she was like that. Trust me when I say I’m fine. It’s great to see you, though. What can I get you all to drink?” He smiled.

  “I think I’ll have a sweet tea. Where are my manners? This is my mom, Elizabeth Carter, my sister Julie, and my other best friend Gavin Cruz.”

  “Hi. Nice to meet all of you.”

  Each of them said hi before giving their drink order. Mom got her faithful water with lemon, Jules and Gavin got sweet tea like me.

  “Who was that, Londyn?” Mom asked, looking across the table at me, her head tilted to the side. Her don’t lie to me look was written all over her face.

  “He went out with Jayde a few times, then Jayde decided he wasn’t her type apparently.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Not her type? He’s a nice looking kid. What is it with her and always dumping guys after a few dates? She’s going to get a reputation and, eventually, they won’t even bother asking her out.” She kept glancing over at me every few seconds in anticipation that I was going to jump to Jayde’s defense. I was done sticking up for Jayde when it came to how she treated guys.

  I sat there looking around the restaurant at all the pictures on the walls around us pictures of celebrities and a few pictures of famous places around the world. There was a beautiful picture of the Eiffel Tower in Paris lit up doing sunset with hues of orange, pink, and dark purple.

  “Here are your drinks. Do you need more time to look over the menu? I can come back in a few minutes if you like?” Skyler said, sitting the last drink down on the table.

  Gavin got a cheeseburger with everything and fries, Jules got her ever faithful chicken tenders with honey mustard, I decided on a BBQ mushroom burger and fries. I figured Mom was going to order a big salad, but she go the same thing as me. A smirk spread across my face when I glanced over at her.

  “Nothing.” I looked down, smiling. I knew I was going to hear it later at home about how much she shouldn’t have eaten the cheeseburger for dinner. I will remind her that eating a cheeseburger every now and then is perfectly okay, and she’s not going to gain 1000 pounds from it.

  ****

  Gavin and I went up to my room while Mom and Jules were deciding what movie to watch in the living room. I didn’t feel like watching a movie, and I hadn’t been able to talk to Gavin much since he’d been back from his cruise. Gavin flopped down toward the foot of my bed as I closed the door to my room. It was nice being able to close my door without having to worry about whether Dad was listening to my conversation with my friends on the other side.

  “So, the server is best friends with the guy you danced with at The Loft? He’s good looking. Too bad he’s not gay.”

  “Well, you would treat him a lot better than Jayde ever treated any guy,” I said, propping a couple pillows against the headboard.

  I felt bad for Gavin a lot of the times. He had such a big heart and would treat any guy like a king, but he always ended up getting his heart trampled on. I knew that was one reason Gavin got annoyed with Jayde. She treated guys the way guys treated him sometimes. He knew how hurtful it was to play with someone’s emotions.

  I went to reach for my phone on my nightstand, realizing I left it over in my purse on my vanity chair. I didn’t know why I wanted my phone. It’s not like there was going to be a message from my boyfriend.

  “Londyn, why are you torturing yourself? You know there isn’t going to be a message from the asshole.”

  I sighed, my hand shuffling things around in my purse in search of my phone. “I know. I know.”

  I tossed my phone over on the bed on my way to my dresser to grab a pair of my many fuzzy socks. Some people collected coins, Funkos, or some other kind of figurines. Me, I collected fuzzy socks. I think I have every type of fuzzy sock imaginable. I got out a pair of black fuzzy socks with pink flamingos all over them. They were probably one of my favorites. I propped my fallen pillows back up against the headboard, then reached for my phone down by Gavin at the foot of the bed.

  “Wow…He can text me back. It’s a miracle.” I raised an eyebrow, glancing at Gavin over the top of my phone. The text was to let me know he was sorry that he missed my text earlier and he would call me later. He didn’t come over to my Mom’s house much because, most of the time, we were never home on the weekends, busy with shopping, or going to visit friends that hadn’t seen us for a while.

  ****

  I got up rather early the next morning. In fact, I was up before Mom. I tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen to see what Mom had in the refrigerator for breakfast. She had a big container of fresh blueberries. I grabbed the blueberries and went to the pantry to search for ingredients for pancakes. I decided on blueberry pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. I got the ingredients out of the pantry, sitting them on the counter, then got the griddle out and turned on the stove. I almost forgot to get the skillet out for the bacon and eggs. I poured myself a big glass of juice while I started cooking the bacon.

  “What are you cooking? It smells good.” Mom yawned, walking through the doorway.

  “Morning, Mom. I thought I would make us all breakfast. We are having blueberry pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.” Right as I finished rattling off the menu, it hit me I didn’t check to see if Mom had syrup for the pancakes. I ran over to the pantry and let out a huge sigh after a few minutes of scanning the shelves for syrup.

  Mom started the coffee, then she happened to look down at the bacon, grabbing the tongs to flip it over. “Everything okay?” she asked, peeking over her shoulder at me.

  “Yeah. I forgot to check for syrup before I started cooking.”

  “Do you need any help?” Mom asked, walking to grab her mug out of the cabinet to the right of the sink.

  “No. I want to cook for you and Jules. You can keep me company though.” I smiled.

  “Did you ever tell me what time you were leaving tonight to go to The Loft? If you did, I’m sorry I forgot.” she said, walking over to the kitchen table in front of the big curved bay window.

  “We are leaving between eight and nine tonight. What time do you want me home?”

  “Just be home before three in the morning. I’m not going to be like your father and tell you midnight because that won’t give you any time to have a good time with your friends. Does he know you are going there tonight with your friends?” she asked, raising her mug of steaming hot coffee nestled in both hands to her mouth.

  “No. Are you going to tell him if he asks?”

  “Londyn, I would do that to you. Your dad doesn’t have the right to question me on what I let you and your sister do while you are staying with me. I don’t question him, but then again, he doesn’t really let you both do a lot of things, in fear his precious reputation might be damaged in some way.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” I turned around and went back to cooking breakfast, so we could eat and get ready to spend some time together before Sam and Jayde showed up later to get ready for tonight.

  ****

  Jayde and Sam show
ed up at the house a little late, as usual, and for once, I didn’t mind because it gave me and Gavin more time to talk alone.

  “Sorry we are late. Sam’s mom decided to make her do last minute things around the house before she was able to leave,” Jayde said, rolling her eyes as she put her stuff down in front of my white bi-fold closet door.

  “She’s not my MOTHER!” Sam screamed, walking through my bedroom door. “How many times do I have to keep telling you that?” She glared over at Jayde.

  “She basically is your mother. I mean, she’s the only one you remember. So yeah, she is your mother.”

  “Whatever! You know what I mean.”

  “Hey, can you two stop? We need to get ready here in a little bit. We are going to go have fun. Listening to you argue is not fun,” I said, getting up off my bed.

  “Well, I’m already ready,” Gavin laughed, looking down at his lavender, button-down shirt and khakis.

  I spun around, my eyes piercing. “You know what I’m talking about.”

  I knew Gavin was trying to deflect tension from the conversation, but it wasn’t helping my mood. He wasn’t the one that had to listen to them bicker back and forth about the same things all the time. Jayde constantly called Olivia Sam’s mom, when she knew for a fact she was not. She knew as well as I did that Sam’s mom left her and her dad when she was around three or four years old. She never tried to contact Sam or her sister, and Sam didn’t really remember much about her. As long as I can remember, Olivia had never been loving toward Sam. She treated her a lot different than her little sister Alexis.

  Jayde also knew it irritated me that she constantly picked on Sam about it. In a way, I could see why Gavin got so annoyed with her a lot of the time. There was no reason to keep bringing it up all the time, since we all knew the truth.

  I let Jayde use mine and Jules bathroom while I had Sam stay and get ready with me in my room. I knew Sam would want to get ready in peace without Jayde making some kind of comment to make her mad again. Gavin went downstairs to visit with Mom and Jules.