Page 24 of Full Circle

From the corner of my eye, I could see Celeste cross and uncross her ankles. Her fidgeting feet gave away her anxiety. “Hillary won’t like it,” she finally said, her voice small and apologetic.

“Hillary?” I repeated in confusion, jumping back to my feet. “Like Hillary Stanbrooke? What the hell does she have to do with this?”

Celeste’s eyes were round and filled with tears. She had never been on the receiving end of my rage before and although I knew somewhere deep down that I needed to get it in check, I was too hurt and pissed off to care.

“She’s about to become my stepsister,” confessed Celeste.

My jaw dropped as I tried to process that information. “Your dad is…” I trailed off, the statement too ludicrous to fathom.

“Marrying Desiree Stanbrooke in a few weeks,” she finished for me.

So that was the Desiree she mentioned back at the pool. Hillary and her twin brother Jeremy were treated like royalty at our school. She had won several beauty pageants, including Miss Georgia Peach Teen, and her brother was the all-star of the eighth grade football team. He was already slated for varsity when our freshman year started next week.

“But he wasn’t even dating her when I left!” I cried.

She nodded tearfully. “I know. They went on their first date the day after you left. Daddy hasn’t…been himself.” Her voice cracked as her words dropped off.

None of this made any sense. I couldn’t get my mind to catch up. Mr. Hendricks was the most careful, considerate person I had ever met. He hadn’t expressed any interest in dating again after losing Celeste’s mom. Well, that I had heard anyway. I guess a grown man wouldn’t have to admit something so personal to his daughter’s best friend. But still, there was a small part of me that felt just as betrayed. I respected the hell out of her dad, which was more than I could say about most other adults in my life. It was really out of character for him to do something so impulsive.

I slammed my fist on top of the dresser, making Celeste jump. “Hillary can fuck off! I don’t like her, Celeste. We’ll deal with her and your dad, I don’t care!”

She gave me her usual small smile, albeit a bit more watery than usual as she brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s go find Maggie and head back to the restaurant.”

This wasn’t at all how I pictured this moment going. I expected the same kind of fireworks as our last kiss, for her feelings to be as powerful as mine. This was all wrong. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back against me, tilting her chin up to force her to look in my eyes.

“Tell me you don’t feel the same as me,” I snarled. “Tell me you haven’t wondered how kissing me again would feel since that first time in July.”

A twinkle sparked in her eyes as the arm I wasn’t holding snaked around my waist and sealed our bodies together. My cock was starting to get hard again. She felt so warm and so right.

“I would never lie to you like that, Wesley,” she murmured. “You’re my person, right?”

Her soft smile tugged at my heart and I felt instant relief. I gently ran my fingers along the side of her face to weave them through her hair and pull her closer. Placing a tender kiss on her forehead, I whispered, “For my whole life.”

She looked up at me and nodded. “For my whole life. But things are different now. You’ll see.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but thought better of it. Celeste wasn’t the type of girl you rush things with. Just like everything else with her, she threw me off kilter. But this discussion was definitely going to be revisited later. I wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

We left the room and said our goodbyes to Aunt Shirley on the front porch, who reminded me to call if I ended up staying over at Celeste’s for the night as I had in the past. The prospect was something I was eager to explore, but from the way Celeste’s face fell, I knew that was no longer an option. Still, she didn’t stop me as I wove my fingers through hers, walking in companionable silence side by side.

Maggie had found a job babysitting this summer, which she hated, but Celeste said they paid her a lot more than what Celeste made as a lifeguard. They spent a lot of their free time over in Savannah, the closest city to River’s Run, since Maggie’s mom was dating a man who lived out that way. Celeste said their original plan was to start saving up for a car, but after they both started earning money, they found it far more enjoyable to spend it on clothes and makeup.

I tried to laugh with her as she told me stories of their shopping excursions, but I only felt guilt eating away at the pit of my stomach. My dad had given me two new credit cards with unlimited credit at the start of the summer in addition to the access I had to my checking account with an obscene amount of money from being a stock shareholder in Madden Enterprises since birth. My father had never even so much as batted an eye when I bought something, no matter the price. Why would you when money wasn’t an issue? I had no idea what it meant to live on a budget or have to save up for anything. It had never occurred to me to save up for a car because I fully expected my dad to provide one as soon as I got my learner’s permit. He might be a douchebag, but he never withheld from me financially. Money was his solution to every problem, and his wild son was his biggest problem to date.

“Wesley!” Maggie squealed as she threw her arms around me in the backyard of the Ross family. They lived one street over from Aunt Shirley and were one of the few families in Smithson County who had a lot of money. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ross were attorneys who preferred country living and wanted to restore an old house in their spare time. They commuted to Savannah a few days a week for court, but predominantly worked from home in their crumbling southern farmhouse. They had three kids who howled as they chased each other around the yard while we stood there talking to Maggie.

I laughed as I hugged her back. “This doesn’t really seem like your scene,” I joked as I dodged a Nerf bullet that hit her square on the head.

She shrugged. “Turns out, anything with money is my scene. Hammond, STOP EATING GRASS!”

Celeste and I both exchanged a look, mine filled with alarm while hers was full of mirth. She tried to hide her laughter behind her hand, but Maggie joined in right away.

“They’re heathens, I swear!” she sighed dramatically. “So are y’all heading over to the diner?”

We nodded and she promised to meet us there as soon as the Rosses returned. Celeste and I started to walk back towards the gate when Maggie called me back to her.

She leaned in really close and poked me in the chest. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you and make it look like an accident!”

My eyes widened, not at her threat but the fact that she knew something. “How did you know?”

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