Allie

"I can't believe you talked me into this. You're supposed to be the one talking me into just being single." For crying out loud, that was her idea in the first place.

I have lost my few wits about me or something. Charity gave me too much to drink and I just know this is a terrible idea. Her brilliant plan is to corner Lucas and make his decision and if he chooses me, everything is supposed to be fine.

I should learn not to drink with kind of a psychotic woman. She bleached her hair again and got a pixie cut. It works on her, especially with her firecracker personality.

"You let me talk you into anything, it's why I'm your life coach. I should start billing you."

Charity is my best friend and even though things with her brother aren't exactly what either of us expected them to be, I'm happy to have her still. I asked her if she felt like she had to choose and she shrugged it off saying he was a dick and had to know about my stupid crush on him forever.

Apparently, it was obvious to everyone in school except for Ted.

I haven't told her about him grabbing me but it's not a big deal. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt me. Plus I think it was just a very emotional time for the both of us. As much as I was likely a touch hysterical, he was probably heartbroken too.

She doesn't know about his ring either. I had an idea he wanted to get married, but to save for something like that means he must have saved for a long time. I can understand why he's upset.

However, it changes nothing. The way Ted spoke about Jadon, after everything these past few years, is where I draw the line. I don't care that Jadon was never planned, but he is a child and his using that word toward him is an automatic ejection from our lives.

"I know my brother is a big dumb ass of a person, Allie. I think we should rule out Lucas just in case, too. Then, you can come live with me and we'll take the world head-on. Sound good?"

She says this while she is going through my closet since she has a date with some guy she met while buying the wine on her way over here. He is a fireman and I'm keeping my mouth shut about it because she has a thing about men with regular jobs that actually pay.

Charity has been known to mingle with artists, musicians, and most recently, a street magician. He disappeared and she said he probably learned real magic or something. So her date with a fireman raises questions I will never have answered.

Charity has thrown my dresses over her shoulder if she rules them out. She says they're too "Pollyanna" for her taste. Whatever that means.

"Do you mind if I fix this one?" She's holding up a blue dress that she gave me last summer. I have yet to wear it because it's too short and shows off the boobs a bit too much. This was after we had a moment of what she so nicely called "tit cupping" and tried to tell me I was nuts about the size difference of my breasts. She laughed at my argument and told me a guy would never notice and it was my fault Jadon had a preference when he was an infant.

"You can keep it."

I'd rather not hold onto a dress I will never wear just to have my boobs fall out. I would just die.

Charity leaves the room for a minute and comes back with scissors and proceeds to shorten the too-short hemline.

"I'm going to test him," she says while trimming whatever the fabric is. "If he doesn't leave her now, it's obvious he's not going to. Then, we have our answer."

I watch while she waltzes over to her purse and pulls out a— "Charity!" I jump back on my bed when I see it. "Why do you have a gun?!" I have to shout through whispers which is really conflicting right now, but I don't need Jadon or my dad waking up and hearing.

As if it's lip gloss or something she carelessly whips it to the side with a scoff. "I lived in the city, Allie, and don't freak out. It's not even loaded."

"So, what? Are you planning to tell gang bangers to wait while you load it? Are you insane? Forget why you have that in the first place and tell me why you wouldn't even have the bullets!"

"Chill, Allie. Damn, you're so uptight. It's enough to scare off the muggers and stuff when I need to. Now that I'm moving back here, I won't need it. But I'll be the bad guy and hold it to Lucas' head and make him decide right here and now what he's going to do. I'm so over this little Allie and Lucas-fucking-Kennedy saga. Either he sticks it in a hole and you get over the past or he fucks off with the gremlin twat."

God, she's something else. Muggers and "stuff." Yeah, she's a regular Al Capone alright.

"I don't even know where to begin with you. Maybe tell me where you found that gun." And forget talking about Lucas shoving things in holes.

She shoves it back into her purse and strips out of her stretchy pants and into the dress. "Bought it off a guy on the street."

"Are you serious?" She's breaking the law now? Is that how we're doing things? Did I miss something in the world? Lucas thinks he's some kind of detective about to solve a case and now Charity buys guns off of strange people on the streets.

What happened to us all? We used to watch Hannah Montana in our pajamas and fluffy rainbow slippers. It was not even that long ago.

She arches a brow at me like always. "Yes, Allie, we have—"

We hear Lucas pull up in the driveway.

I suddenly have to pee.

"Quick! Get dressed!"

She rolls her eyes and does whatever she's going to do while I see myself in the mirror.

I look like a slob. My hair is in a dumb bun and I need to wash my face or something. On top of it all, there's a stain on my shirt from dinner.

She looks out the window. "Damn, he's in a suit and everything, too. He was really looking forward to this invite from you."

"What!" A suit?! "Give me the dress."

Without hesitation, she takes the dress off while I probably sound like a rabid dog stuck inside during a thunderstorm. I bang into my dresser while trying to pull the damn dress over my head. Because I am a frantic, buzzed idiot I don't think to tear off the sports bra I have on until after I figure out the straps on the dress.

"I'll just take this one," Charity says and I hear the front door open.

"Shit!"

"Allie?" Lucas calls from downstairs and I just know he's going to wake everyone up.

Charity and I stare at one another with wide eyes. "Allie, hurry up."

Lucas' footsteps are not so quiet coming up the stairs and Charity has the brainpower of Einstein to lean against the door while she gets into a pair of heels she bought me that I also don't wear.

Lucas knocks on my door and I am about to lose my damn mind. "Allie?"

"One second!"

I have lip gloss somewhere I think. I have to. It's necessary because... well, I don't know but it just is.

"In my purse," Charity snaps her fingers and points while I dive for her purse. I avoid the illegal weapon—since fingerprints and all— and put on her gloss.

"Allie?"

"Just one second!"

He tries the handle and the door shakes a little but Charity is a damn rock right now, even in six-inch heels. She put another dress on that I think looks better on her anyway.

"Allie, is everything okay in there?"

"I'm just, uh..."

Now would be the time to have a brain.

But Charity thinks faster than I do and I wish she wouldn't.

"We're measuring vaginas, Lucas, and I need to get dressed now. I don't let anyone see the goodies unless they buy me dinner first."

I gape at her.

"You're measuring what?"

"Lucas, be a doll and go get Allie some water. She's had a bit to drink and if you play your cards right she might give something up."

She smirks while I consider hitting her over the head with her illegal weapon in her purse.

"I'll be right back, then. Allie, can you tell me you're okay first?"

Had he not had a moment of that caring nature right there, I may have murdered my friend. "I'm fine, just fixing my hair."

"I thought you were measuring something."

Charity snarls and cracks the door open. "Lucas, you seem like a really sweet dumb rock kind of a guy and are not what I thought you'd be."

I can't see him, but I hear his chuckle. "What?"

"You need to learn to listen to simple instructions. Allie needs some water and just a second to get dressed. I promise she's not sneaking out of a window. Okay? Okay, good. Now, just wait downstairs and she'll be right down."

"Ah, you must be Charity."

The door shoves open and Lucas comes in. Charity tried, but I think the top ramen no-exercise friend I have was no match for the muscley quarterback guy anyway.

Lucas looks really handsome in a nice suit. His buttons are undone at the top and his tie is hanging around his neck loosened. His white shirt is untucked and the sleeves are rolled up his forearms.

"Why are you wearing that?" His eyes narrow at my chest and I just know I look stupid. Why did I even freak out? I acted like a stress case.

I probably look like one. I let my hair out of my bun but it still looks kind of messy, I just hoped it would be sexy messy, but maybe not. I should go back to yoga pants and the general blob look I usually look like.

"Wow," he blinks, "you, uh, you look good."

Or not.

"Right," Charity tsks from behind the door. "Alright Lucas, that's strike one."

He turns to look at her. "Excuse me?"

"You're not excused now that you barged in here like some damn barbarian." Charity fixes the dress she has on with a twist around her hips. "Now, Lucas if you plan to see my best friend in ways that go past the whole exchange of sweet Jadon, you're going to have to—"

Lucas turns back to me. "I left her."

I think I'm hallucinating. Probably from the rush of things. Oh, that plus wine. "What?"

He doesn't look smiley or happy right now. Oh, he's serious.

"I told you I needed time." He holds up a folder. "I needed this. I was coming here tonight regardless and I just needed to get inside his house. Allie..." he looks over at Charity. "You're Charity. Ted's sister."

Charity rolls her eyes. "We have established my identity. I would say nice to meet you but I already have an opinion of you so I'll save it for now."

Charity's phone starts ringing and she shoves past Lucas to grab it from her purse. "Okay Allie, we established he left the naked mole-rat so if this is the out-of-order start to something new-ish, I'm gonna go."

"Um, okay?" Glad she could be helpful...

She leaves with a peck on my cheek when we hear another car pull up to the driveway. I guess she's the type that can feel safe with strangers considering she's definitely packing something more than pepper spray.

And now I don't know why I had to get in this stupid dress because I freaked out even though I knew he was coming. Because I invited him over while my friend offered to stay close by.

And now she's going to go get laid or whatever by a fireman. Then tomorrow she will start sending the pole and fire hose jokes my way. Inappropriate GIFs and all to follow.

Lucas has been watching me for some time now and I'm getting a little self-conscious once more. "Did you want to change?"

Well, yes. I do, but I would feel underdressed seeing as he's in a suit—albeit, in a way where he's more like after-party styled and looks too handsome and whatnot.

However that is just on-brand for Lucas-freaking-Kennedy, now, isn't it? Always looks good no matter what and I look like me.

"What's in the folder?"

"Right," he holds it back up for me to see. "I have something to tell you and I need you to be open-minded about it. Just," he punches his lip between two fingers for a second.

I'm in need of a seat, I think.

My butt finds the swivel chair at my small desk and I wait for whatever he thinks he has.

It would probably be ladylike to cross my legs or something but this dress is too tight so I'll just do my best not to have an open for business type of position.

"I went into Mark's office in his house tonight."

I figured he was over there since my dad mentioned something about dinner. Man, I should get another glass of wine for this probably. Though I want to remember whatever his epic breakup story is.

"I found this," he raises that folder again like it's the Holy Grail but has yet to tell me what's inside of it. "It was in his desk. Then, Mark came into the office so I had to hide for a few minutes."

Oh, that would have made me nervous. I probably would have passed out or something. Or peed. I always was the one that had to pee in hide-and-seek games so I always lost first round.

"Ted came in with him."

I jerk my head up to watch Lucas speak since I know I did not hear that correctly. "Excuse me?"

Lucas nods and I have never seen him this serious before. "Allie, Ted wasn't with you because he loved you. He was with you because Mark wanted him with you for some reason."

Maybe I should ask for the water or maybe Lucas should get one of those scans on his brain.

"How? I mean, I don't know about that, Lucas."

"It's all right here." He flips through this file and turns it over to face me. "Right there."

I have followed his finger but I don't know what I'm looking at. But I can read and I see pictures from a security camera. It's not a traffic camera but looks like a camera from someone's home or business. It's by the corner where I drove through the road and got hit. There are some notes on the bottom of the page. Timestamps and such.

I hate thinking about this day. I had these thoughts about reaching out to Lucas. I thought about reaching for my phone—I may have held it—but then that car came out of nowhere.

I'm getting a headache now.

"Do you want some water?" Lucas is in my face and his hands come to my cheeks. "You're really hot."

"This isn't the time, Lucas." Though, way to make a girl blush, why don't you?

"I meant your temperature. I'll be right back."

I'm officially a dumbass, myself.

Well, my pants are close by, so I can squeeze into those and drop this ridiculous dress and get back into my shirt.

Comfortable home attire. Super sexy, I know. It's my forte.

Lucas returns a few minutes later with some ice water. "That's what I was hoping to see," he tells me. The question is obviously on my face. "You in real clothes. Although your boobs are perfect even though one is just a little bit bigger."

I knew it was obvious.

He snorts. "It's not even noticeable, Allie."

It's noticeable to me. "You saw it through the dress."

"I stare at your boobs constantly. It doesn't mean anyone else has noticed."

Good grief. I drink the water while he leans against my desk.

"So they show that you were already going through the intersection when the other car came. You were in the right. The hard part is that it's not clear whether you were on your phone or not because the police report at the station says that."

I honestly don't know if that matters or not. The law is not my thing. The only law stuff I know is what I learned watching Reese Witherspoon and I'm not too sure that was accurate by any means. Or if there was any real law stuff in it.

"You had the right, Allie, and this is the car that hit you."

He flips to another page and I know the car instantly.

"I thought it was a white car." I know I saw a white car and it was a nice one. A Mercedes, I think.

"That one came after." He flips through the pages and I see the white car in one of the images. Maybe I misremembered some of it at the time. Lucas flips another page when the cars are driving away, and I can see the other car. The one that hit me.

I know that car. I rode in that car to the party where I met Lucas. I simultaneously want to scream and cry but also get sick.

"That was Ted's car." I feel like I have a head rush.

"Are you fucking serious?"

I nod.

Lucas slams the file shut and moves to leave but I catch him. "Wait!" When he stops I have to make sure he's not going to just leave.

I stick my foot out as though it will trip him because I have no brighter ideas right now.

"You don't know everything, and can't just go do whatever it is you think you're going to do to him."

"I'll kill him."

"Oh really? And then what? Jadon and I have to visit you with our hands flat on a metal table for the rest of your life?"

"Probably more like twenty-five years if you're cool waiting that long for me. Good behavior might bring it down a few if I smile like a good boy."

"Lucas!"

"Shh," he smiles a little and takes my hand. "I won't kill him, it just doesn't sit right with me knowing he's been here the entire time around the two of you."

"We should find out who the camera belongs to," I tell him. I saw Ted that day and he wasn't hurt or banged up or anything. It just doesn't make a lot of sense why Katrina's dad would cover for Ted. They never even knew each other. "Maybe they still have the recording. I would think whoever investigated it would have obtained it, right?"

Lucas shrugs. "There's a reason why this is hidden in Mark's desk. I'll ask Joel to look into it for us so we aren't the ones getting involved."

This is a lot to process.

"Allie, if he comes near you, you need to stay away from him. Mark was pissed at him for not getting you out of here. I know you don't want to hear it, but Ted was only with you because Mark somehow forced it out of him and it's because of whatever happened here."

I really don't like thinking this and it's making my skin crawl to think Ted has been here for other reasons.

"We just need to see the footage if we can find it and then they can deal with Mark and Ted however necessary. But I needed you to know I wasn't fucking around on you."

He's still holding my hand and I can't take my eyes off it.

"You left her? As in, you really left her?"

"I sent her a text, left her a voicemail, wrote a note and put it in her bedroom, left her at her parents' house, and then posted it on our shared social media account."

I didn't even know they shared social media.

"You didn't tell her to her face?"

"I'm sure I will be saying it to her face tomorrow when I go home to pack her things and set them outside."

"Tomorrow?"

"You can come if you want. I'm doing it after work."

I've been drinking and I have work? Seriously? What a freaking dumb day. Also, I'd rather have to walk around in this dress in public than face Katrina. Did she even know? Was she the one that pulled up in that car?

"I think I need to go to bed, Lucas, I'm a mess and I have to be up in a few hours." On top of the fact I will likely have a headache tomorrow and anxiety thinking about this. I was so much happier blissfully unaware.

"Okay, but can we talk about us for a minute?"

I sink back into the chair and he squats down in front of me. I have to look down at him, and he's stupid pretty from this angle, too.

"Allie, I know that things are weird and we've been in this limbo lately, but I'm here and I know that we both want this. I know you're going to want to take things slow since we kind of went fast the first time."

He's got that right.

"I'm just saying that I don't care how long it takes us to hit each milestone, but I just want to do it together. You and Jadon and me. I want to be a family. If you want to move in with me, or I move in here–"