31: Salvageable
+8 Point:
31: Salvageable
Luci
Kane Brown What Ifs ft. Lauren Alaina
“Your new friend?” Easton’s eyes glance away as he thinks. “Does she know who Cole truly is? I saw her earlier during practice….”
I reach up to touch his hand as I rapidly shake my head. “No, we didn’t tell her anything other than I babysit him. Not even his last name. And Cole’s never said anything about his family to
her. She only saw him at the game I swear.”
“I believe you, Luci.” He frowns angrily. “Did she pretend to be your friend? You are calling her
right now. And I want to see the text she sent you.”
I feel the torn skin on his knuckle and tug at his hand.
“Easton, you’re hurt! Let me see the other one.”
His knuckles are torn on both hands but worse on the right one. “We need to clean these. The
human mouth is absolutely filthy.”
His lips twitch as his eyes light up. “Some more than others sweetness. Especially with the
right inspiration.”
I’m busy yanking out the peroxide and more cotton pads. “What?” I ask as again I lose focus.
“I’ll demonstrate later. You going to take care of me now Luci?”
I nod and gently press the soaked cotton to them. “You might need to be tested for rabies or something considering it was Maxton. How many times did you hit him?”
“Not enough. He was still breathing.” He says tightly.
“Sorry, am I hurting you?” I glance up at his face with concern.
“Killing me sweetness.” He answers and I stare down at the cleaned scrapes.
“I don’t think I can bandage them.”
“They’ll be fine. Not the first time I’ve done this.” He flexes them.
“Lucky you were at the rink.” I mumble very grateful for him. “I forgot to thank you.”
“Wasn’t luck. Kendall saw you walking in and then fuckhead following you. I raced over as fast as I could.” He tells me about Kendall’s brother and that phone call. I shiver realizing I could
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31:Salvageable
have been there all night.
“Call Stormi on speakerphone.” He grabbed my phone while I was lost thinking of grim scenarios. “You can thank me later. I have ideas. Filthy minds go with filthy mouths.”
When she answers she sounds all cheerful. “Hey Luci! What’s up?” Easton is frowning
thoughtfully.
“Stormi, um..”
Easton taps my nose and shakes his head. He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Ask her if she texted you earlier.”
“Did you text me earlier about meeting you?” I bite my lip afraid. I thought she was nice.
“No. I knew you were busy babysitting. Was going to text you tomorrow about maybe girls night on Sunday. Think you’re off then right?”
“Yes.”
Easton interrupts again. “Ask her what she did today.”
“I’ll talk to Sydney. What did you do today after class?”
“Ugh. I had to interview Coach Humphries for the paper. What an insufferable ass. Though his brother, the football coach is worse, I heard. I get to interview him in two weeks. Color me unhappy. I saw the hockey team practicing. Met one that didn’t play. He gave me the creeps. I hope we don’t have any reason to cheer for him.” My heart pounds and Easton makes a rolling
motion with his hand.
“Who was it?”
“Said his name was Max. He had just left the office and looked seriously pissed off. Ran into me and then tried to turn on the charm. But it was slimy. Total creep.”
“What made you say that?” My hand is shaking. Easton takes the phone and holds it for me.
“He’s flirting with me, blocking me from knocking on the office door and then asks if he can borrow my phone to text his girlfriend about picking him up because his phone is dead.” I glance up at Easton. Now he glares.
“Tell her.” He whispers.
“Stormi, I got a text from you saying you needed me to pick you up at the rink. That you were waiting inside and had a bunch of stuff to carry out.”
“No I didn’t. Why would I…wait at what time?”
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31: Salvageable
“At 4:45, right before I was able to leave Cole.”
Easton shakes his head, clenching his jaw.
“Wait, that guy? Do you know him Luci? I heard…..I heard the two teams don’t like you after I left the rink. A guy at the paper said he was surprised Humphries talked to me civilly, with me having been around you. Why would anyone not like you?” She sounds truly bewildered. “Let me send a screenshot of my texts to you. I swear I sent you nothing. That’s close to when he borrowed my phone.” A minute later it comes through.
“You could have deleted them. He was trying to play a prank on me, but it didn’t happen.” I say
sadly.
Easton whispers “good girl, that’s the way to play this.”
“I didn’t! I swear. That guy even mentioned he’d seen me with my two new friends! I knew he was a creep. Luci are you ok?” She sounds genuinely concerned.
“I’m fine.” I’m not, but what can anyone do about it.
“Luci, do you need me to come over? I can call Sydney too. I promise I never sent you a text.
Why do they hate you?” She sounds close to tears.
“That’s a long torturous story. I’m ok. Nothing happened. I believe you. I’ll call you guys
tomorrow. Do me a favor and don’t tell Syd yet. I’ll text her later.” Easton nods again.
“Ok. Please believe me Luci. You are the sweetest person I’ve met in so long. Call me
tomorrow please.”
“Ok. Bye Stormi.” Easton ends the call and sets my phone next to me.
“She sounds sincere.” I venture out hopefully.
“She does, but you be on guard. And I don’t want her near Cole until we figure out if she’s
telling the truth. I did see her and Maxton was there at the same time. You did good. Gave her
a test too. If she calls Syd right away, you know she was doing damage control?” He asks.
I nod. “Sorry. You can go home and see Cole. Catch him before he’s asleep.”
“Jackson is on bedtime duty tonight. I had plans.” He stares at me intently like all week. “Are
you ready to listen to me, Luci? Which means I get to talk this time. You didn’t let me breathe
a word the other day when you wrote off me kissing you.”
I feel my face heating up. “You didn’t say much did you?”
He huffs softly. “You noticed now. Syd says I can call your name slowly or touch your ear to
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+9 Point:
31: Salvageable
bring you back. Is that true?”
“Yes. It works for some reason. Why…” I gesture helplessly toward the table.
“I’ll start at the beginning. We will talk about what happened tonight later but you need to eat
and I’m trying to salvage that.” He points. “I didn’t plan to kiss you Luci, but it certainly wasn’t
a f*****g mistake nor are you. You have been driving me insane. The way you treat Cole, the
way you are so sweet about pretty much everything….you got to me in a way no one has in a
while. That was why I kissed you.” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “I wanted to ask if
you’d give me a chance. Might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done but I can’t stop thinking
about you. You shut me down without letting me talk Monday. Decided I couldn’t possibly want you. Which is utter f*****g nonsense.” He looks at me. “Still with me?”
“Yes.” I am. My wool–gathering brain is all tuned in as my heart threatens to run out of my
chest.
“Good. So I decided to prove to you all week that I do want you. That I see you.” Suddenly all
the gifts make sense. My eyes widen and I gasp.
“The planner and gloves….”
He shakes his head. “My brothers were right; you had no f*****g clue what I was doing. Thought I was doing it all wrong. I’ve never had to do this before and figured maybe I sucked at it. You really don’t give much thought to yourself being wanted, do you sweetness? Too busy trying to stay on track with everything else, I imagine.”
I nod slowly and he sighs. “It’s not really on my radar. I think Syd tried to give me a hint too.
That I missed.”
“That’s why tonight, Syd let me in so I could surprise you with dinner and then maybe I can
take you somewhere else. At least I was close by to get to you in time.” He grimaces.
“You were going to surprise me with a date?” I clarify to make sure my brain didn’t completely
malfunction.
“Yes. Luci, would you like that? Dinner with me and than another surprise? I come with a s**t ton of baggage sweetness, like a cargo plane’s worth. But we’ll have that conversation later. I get one night with you not knowing how f*****g screwed up my life is.”
I stare at him perplexed. “It is?”
His fingers run along my jaw. “Yeah, Luci it is.”
“Trust me. I doubt you have baggage or screwiness worse than mine.” I admit to him.
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31: Salvageable
“Luci, you might be surprised. Maybe we share luggage then? I’ll help carry yours and you do the same for me.” He frowns. “And that was cheesy as fuck.” He rubs the back of his neck embarrassed. “Sorry. I don’t do pretty words or poetry well, sweetness, so you need to understand that now. And run far if that’s very important to you.”
“I didn’t think it was cheesy. Sounded reasonable and nice.” I tell him honestly. “A lot like chunking that I told you about.”
“Because you are too sweet for your own good. Which is another conversation we are going to have. Right now though, you haven’t answered me.” He looks truly nervous and I marvel at that. The great Easton Reed scared of my answer to a date request.
“It sounds nice. But if you are doing this because of Cole, you don’t have to.” I’m wary no matter what I truly want to say.
“No. I don’t have to do that. He has you wrapped around his turkey wing.” He smiles. “A date
for me. I’m asking for myself only.”
Nothing but hope and worry in his silver eyes and I take a deep breath thinking about all the
things he’s done this week. “I would like that.”
The relief in his eyes is swift. “Thank you, Luci.” He rakes one hand through his hair. “Alright,
let me finish setting it up and warm up the food. Sydney told me you like lo mein, sesame beef, sichuan shrimp and chicken pot stickers. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll warm it up.” He lifts all the containers.
“I can help.”
He instantly glares at me. “No.”
He turns the microwave on as I make my next offer.
“I’ll go change so you can have your hoodie back.”
“Also no.”
I stare at him confused. “Is that the only answer you can give?”
He presses his lips together, clearly amused. “No.”
I hang my head and he laughs. “You look good in my hoodie. I’ve…never had a girl steal my clothes. I might like it.”
“Now I know you’re lying. And you made me take it. No stealing involved.” I retort.
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31: Salvageable
+8 Points
“I’m not. There goes that sassy attitude of yours.” He growls.
“Can I go wash my hands and my face after all that?” I haven’t moved.
“Yes. See different answer.” I start to jump down but he’s there instantly, lifting me to the floor.
I hurry to my room to do that wondering if he really will still be here. I emerge to find him setting the plates on the table. He’s about to knock the glass over and I rush to grab it.
“I manage a four–year–old fairly well, but I can’t set up dinner tonight.” He grumbles.
“In your defense, it’s been a rough night and I bet your hands hurt.” I feel guilt over that.
“Don’t feel bad. It was satisfying. He thinks he can threaten Cole and you. He should be off the team if not expelled now.” He pushes my chair back while he pours tea. I sit and let him slide it closer. He already lit the fat vanilla candles he must have bought because those are not mine. He sits down and frowns hard. “This is…lame. I…this is not my strong suit, Luci. Romance is not…I’m sorry. This is the stupidest first date ever. I thought this would be easier to talk to you about your misconceptions when I decided to do this instead of taking you somewhere nice to eat.” He looks angry with himself.
“What…why would you say that?” I reach across the table and touch his hand, careful not to
hit his cuts.
His face is full of self–derision. “Candles with takeout chinese food in your apartment. Screams stupid. You can admit it.”
“Umm Easton?” He glances up at me, looking defeated. “It’s my favorite food. I’m not a fancy girl. You’ve spent all week buying thoughtful gifts for me which I was clueless about, but you kept going.” I take a deep breath. “You were trying to make it easier on scatterbrain girl. That’s
…thoughtful, not lame. I mean, aren’t I the one you’re trying to make an impression on?” I end
by teasing and he cracks a hint of a smile.
“I guess it is up to you, but I’ll do better next time.” My heart skips that he thinks there could
be a next time. “Eat then, sweetness. You skipped breakfast today, didn’t you?”
I nod, wondering how he knows. “I want to hear all about this turkey costume.”
We eat and he laughs as I describe how Cole used Mrs. Hutchins to sucker me in. I only lost
focus once during dinner and he brought me back by calling my name a few times.
“Grab your warm stuff. We’ll be outside.” He warns after I finish eating. “Dessert will be there.”
He leads me out and helps me into the passenger seat which is already warm. “I turned it on
remotely while we were inside.” He says before touching the pompom on my hat. “You really
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+9 Points
31: Salvageable
are adorable in that.”
“It’s warm and very soft. Thank you again.”
He drives toward one of the downtown parks. “They are putting the winter festival decorations up today and tomorrow. They sell tickets for these two test run opening nights as special packages. It’s not very crowded because they limit it. There’s a light show, the whole park is lit up and decorated for you to walk through, and they serve hot chocolate with desserts. At the
end is a building where they give you a movie pack that has popcorn, a mat to sit on with
blankets, and drinks. Then they play a Christmas movie. I thought we could walk that and talk
more and then watch the movie. Syd said you love movie night. It all starts in ten minutes.
Does that sound ok?” He looks nervous again and I smile widely.
”
“That sounds amazing. I do love movie night.” I take a deep breath knowing I need to ease his
worries about him sucking at date planning. To me that sounds pretty sweet and romantic.
I’ll tell you a secret about me. I watched a lot of movies growing up. How I spent lots of my
free time. It was my escape from reality and my brain would jump into the stories so easily. I
could imagine myself in them. An escape for my rambling brain. I still love them for that
reason.”
He turns and smiles slightly. “Then maybe this will be ok.”
After we park and walk through the gate, he points to a bench. “The light show is first.” It’s not
very long, only twenty minutes but fun to watch. At the end, he helps me to my feet and tucks
my arm through his leading me to the trail. He was right. It’s not very crowded. There are tons
of lights and elaborate lighted decorations. “You ok? Too cold?”
I shake my head as I look around. “It’s so pretty.”
Easton
“Yeah it is.” I agree as I look down into her face. Her eyes are sparkling with the lights
reflecting off them and she has that happy, sweet smile.
“Do you bring Cole?” I keep her tucked against me.
“I plan to bring him next Saturday night to the tree lighting ceremony and this. Maybe…maybe
you could come with us.”
“I don’t want to intrude.” She says nicely.
“You wouldn’t. Cole would love you being here.”
We stroll leisurely along as she points to different light figures. “You haven’t come to this
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+8 Points
31: Salvageable
before?”
She blinks a few times. “No. I haven’t.” They hand her a hot chocolate and warm cookie. I
decline.
As we walk, I ask her how she and Sydney became such good friends. Having talked to
Sydney a lot this week, the answer doesn’t surprise me. We end up at the movie building and
walk in taking the big box they hand us. I point to a big square column in the center of the room. “We’ll go sit there so I can lean against it and you can lean on my side. Will be better than sitting on the floor all night with no support.”
She helps me set up the cushioned mat and we sit down right as the movie is starting. It’s Elf
and I listen to her laugh, not paying that much attention. Once it’s over, we repack the box and
turn it in before leaving. The parking lot is close by. “What was your favorite part of the movie?
She asks.
“I love when Santa says he put the rangers on the naughty list.” I’ve seen that movie tons of
times.
“I like when he reads off what the reporter wants from her boyfriend.” She laughs again.
I drive her home asking her for a list of her favorite movies. She is very enthusiastic about that
topic. When I walk her to her door, I wish I didn’t need to go home.
“Luci, we need to have a very long talk. Tomorrow, Cole is going to an introductory hockey
lesson at 10. We can sit in the stands and talk if that works. I have something important to
warn you about.”
“I can be there. Send me the address and I’ll meet you there.”
“I prefer to pick you up. Ok?”
“Ok.” She smiles at me. “I had a really good time. It wasn’t stupid or lame.”
“Me too. This time I’ll ask, I want to kiss you Luci. Ok?” I wait hoping.
She nods shyly and I cup her face gently. “Sweet Luci.” I whisper before I kiss her. Like before, I
can’t hold back and she follows me right along. I end it with my heart thumping wildly. “Go
inside sweetness and lock the door so I hear it.” She stares up at me before smiling and
nodding.
“Goodnight Easton. Thank you.”
“Goodnight.”
