Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

DARCY

T his is all my fault. I picked a fight with Cody—dumb, stupid Cody with his dumb, stupid face—and I made Maya so upset that she fell. And now she’s hurt, although I don’t know how badly because she and Cody have been talking to the paramedic for half an hour, and I’ve been instructed to wait outside since I’m ‘ causing chaos ,’ according to Cody.

I don’t think he has any right to talk to me about my behavior, not after the way he’s acted towards me for the past ten years. I mean, where does he get off acting so high and mighty? I know the truth. He’s scared. Always. Constantly. He’s scared of what other people think of him, how he’s perceived. And he’ll sacrifice anything to keep himself safe from a bad image. That’s why he abandoned Maya and I in high school. He was our very best friend. Our third part. But he gave it up for five minutes of popularity. And then he did it again after graduation when he abandoned his family. He abandoned all of us. To what? Talk back to some rich old ladies at a ski resort?

I pace the floor. I pace and pace and pace. Maya can’t be too badly hurt. Just a little twisted ankle. Surely. I cannot— will not —be responsible for ruining my best friend’s trip. I’ve already been such a bitch to her all day.

God? The universe? The stars? Whoever is listening? I think as I look up at the sky, I know I haven’t prayed in… well, ever. But this is important. Please let Maya be okay. If she is, I will never fight with Cody again for as long as I live.

“Darcy!” Maya hobbles out through the sliding doors to me with Cody following closely behind, his hand extended out to steady her, should it be necessary. “I’m okay! It’s just a sprained ankle!”

“Thank God!” I pull her into a tight embrace. “I was so scared you were really hurt.”

“Relax, babe, I’m fine.” She pulls back, and I take note of the large smile on her face and flush to her cheeks. “And you will never guess who the physical therapist is here.”

“Uh...who?”

She doesn’t need to answer. He comes stalking out of the examination room like a peacock displaying his feathers. Louis.

I have to stop myself from facepalming. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Cody mumbles under his breath as he comes to stand next to me. The two of us watch Louis and Maya flirt back and forth, smiling and giggling and touching hands. At one point, Louis even reaches out and brushes a strand of Maya’s hair from her face.

I’m appalled.

“Aren’t you going to stop this?” I quietly ask Cody. He looks about as disgusted as I am.

“I already tried. She’s decided he’s her ‘soul mate.’ She said something about ‘invisible string theory.’ I don’t really know.”

“This is outrageous. She’s known him for not even two hours.”

“And it’s Louis ,” Cody emphasizes, his face scrunched up in discomfort. “He has a tryst with every blonde who has set foot in the resort.”

“Did you tell her that?” I ask, gesturing to his sister, who is far too busy making heart eyes at Louis to even notice that we’re still here.

“Twice,” Cody confirms. “I’d beat him up, but he gives the best damn massages, and I really don’t want to get on his bad side.”

I stare at him. “How brave you are. Brother of the year.”

He shrugs. “She’s an adult. I warned her. You warned her. What else can we do?”

I consider for a moment. “Well, you could …and this isn’t me saying you should …but if you really cared about Maya you could …cut his dick off.”

Cody hums and crosses his arms. “Yeah, that’s Plan B.”

“And Plan A is…?”

“I drag her back to Ohio by her ear.”

“Hm. Solid plan. I’m afraid we might be past that, though.” My stomach twisting unpleasantly, I nod toward Maya and Louis, who have started kissing. They’re actually kissing! Perfect. Maya is getting more action than me on my honeymoon.

My cancelled honeymoon.

My trip with my bestie because refund policies suck.

“You’re gonna need a Plan C.”

The blood drains from Cody’s face, and I almost laugh. He storms up to his sister and her new boy toy and physically pries them apart. He then shoves his sister behind him and jabs his finger into Louis’ chest. “Not cool man. You do not make out with my sister!”

“Don’t be such a jerk, Cody!” Maya cries in annoyance. “I’m an adult; you can’t tell me what to do!”

Cody smiles a sweet, handsome, evil smile. It makes me grin a bit, too.

This guy is starting to actually amuse me. Huh, mutual enemies really do bring about the most unlikely alliances.

“You’re right. I can’t,” Cody says. “But I can tell Louis what to do. Right, Louis?”

Louis squares up to him. “I’m not afraid of you, Cody. What are you gonna do?”

Cody takes a step closer. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s actually going to beat Louis up, massages be damned. Luckily, Maya steps between them right in the nick of time. She pushes them both back and glowers at Cody.

“Back off, Cody. I’m twenty-three. You can’t scare off every guy I kiss anymore. Just…” She sighs and looks at me. “Darcy, can you and Cody please go get dinner? I’ll meet up with you for drinks later. Louis needs to uh…monitor my condition.” She looks to Louis for help and he nods.

I almost laugh at the thought. Me and Cody, alone for dinner? “You really think that’s a good idea, Maya? There’s probably a better chance of Cody and I beating each other up than Cody and Louis beating each other up.”

Maya gives me The Look. She doesn’t use it often, but when she does, it means business. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Please , go.”

“Okay, okay, we’ll go.” I take Cody’s arm and attempt to pull him away, but he won’t budge. He’s like a guard dog on alert. Maya leans in close to him and whispers something that only he can hear. It seems to calm him down. He nods at her and allows me to drag him away.

“Hey! No more back massages half price, Cody!” Louis shouts after us.

“Arghh! Fuck my life,” he grumbles, then glares at me, “ You egged me on, and now I’m going to develop knots in my shoulders.”

I roll my eyes.

“I’m sure you’re going to be fine princess.”

As we walk toward the bar, I try to ease his worries. “He’s probably not as bad as you think.”

“I know,” Cody glumly says.

“And Maya isn’t dumb. She won’t let him trick her into anything she doesn’t want to do.”

“I know,” he repeats.

“So, what are you so worried about?” I ask curiously. “This isn’t the first time you’ve seen her kiss a guy.”

Cody is quiet for a moment. “She just got here and she’s already gotten hurt. I don’t want it to happen again. It can’t happen again. I just want to protect her. That’s all. I know it’s not my place, but?—”

“But it’s Maya,” I finish because I understand perfectly. I feel the very same way. “I know. She’s the sweetest person I know—too sweet, I think sometimes. She will get hurt again and again and never hold a grudge. One day, though…”

“One day, someone will go too far and completely break her heart.”

Cody’s eyes meet mine and we share a moment of understanding. There may not be a lot we agree on—practically nothing—but we agree about Maya, that she’s the best thing to happen to either of us. That we want to protect her.

Cody and I have managed to find common ground.

How strange.

“It’s not your fault, you know,” I tell him. “The accident, I mean. Or at least, it’s not all your fault. I was picking a fight.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have to fight back. Maya asked me to be nice to you, and I just… I saw you, and it was like being sixteen again. All I cared about was having the last word.”

I get it more than I would like to. Seeing Cody brought up old childhood feelings that I never had the chance to resolve. Feelings of being unwanted, of being rejected. I didn’t like it, so I rebelled.

And look where that got us. I remember the last time we fought and it wasn’t pretty. Both of us young and with sharp tongues.

The annual school talent show was my chance to shine. I'd spent weeks perfecting my song, practicing until my fingers bled and my voice was hoarse. This was going to be my moment.

As I peeked out from behind the curtain, my heart sank. The auditorium was half-empty. Where was everyone?

Then I heard it – the unmistakable thump of bass coming from the gym. Curious and frustrated, I snuck out of the auditorium and followed the sound.

The gym was packed, music blaring, lights flashing. And there, in the center of it all, was Cody Banks. He was on a makeshift stage with his new "band," if you could call it that. They were terrible, but the crowd was eating it up.

I spotted Maya in the crowd and pushed my way towards her. "What's going on?" I shouted over the noise.

Maya's eyes widened when she saw me. "Darcy! I thought you'd be at the talent show!"

"I'm supposed to be," I said, my anger rising. "What is this?"

Maya looked guilty. "Cody organized it. He said the talent show was lame and ? —"

I didn't hear the rest. My vision went red as I stormed towards the stage. Cody had just finished a song, basking in the applause.

"Hey, asshole!" I yelled, climbing onto the stage.

Cody turned, surprise flickering across his face before he smirked. "Well, if it isn't little Darcy. Come to join the fun?"

"Fun?" I seethed. "You ruined the talent show! Do you have any idea how hard people worked for that?"

He shrugged, that infuriating smirk still in place. "Not my problem if people would rather be here."

Something in me snapped. Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed the microphone from him and addressed the crowd.

"Hey everyone! You want to know why Cody really organized this? Because he was too chicken to perform at the real talent show. He knew he'd never win, so he had to sabotage everyone else!"

The crowd went silent. Cody's face darkened. "You don't know what you're talking about," he growled.

"Don't I?" I challenged. "I've heard you sing, Cody. A dying cat sounds better."

The crowd started to murmur. Some people laughed. Cody's cool fa?ade cracked, and for a moment, I saw the hurt in his eyes.

But then it was gone, replaced by cold fury. He grabbed the mic back. "At least people showed up for me," he sneered. "Face it, Darcy. No one wants to hear you screech on stage. You're a joke."

The words cut deep, but I refused to let him see how much they hurt. Instead, I smiled sweetly. "Better a joke than a coward."

With that, I jumped off the stage and stormed out, ignoring Maya calling after me. As I left, I heard the principal's voice booming through the gym, shutting everything down.

From that day on, Cody and I were more than just former friends who'd grown apart. We were enemies, each determined to make the other's life miserable. He'd ruined my chance to shine, and I'd humiliated him in front of the whole school.

It was war, and neither of us was backing down.

I shook my head, dispelling the memory. That was a long time ago. We were different people now. At least, I hoped we were.

“Let’s just make a truce,” I decide. “For as long as we’re with Maya, we won’t argue. As far as she’s concerned, we’re the very best friends. ” Her voice drips with fake enthusiasm. “If we want to bicker, it can wait until it’s just you and me. Deal?”

Cody nods and smiles sweetly. I had forgotten how truly handsome he is. Though, it shouldn’t be a surprise because Maya is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Banks are, like, the sexiest 60 year old couple out there. I haven’t seen them in years but from the photos Maya has shown me they both still look incredible.

Both of the siblings have enchanting turquoise eyes, the color of the ocean, and honey-tan skin with just the right amount of pink in their cheeks. They have heart-shaped faces with full lips. The only difference between them is their hair. Maya has blonde beach waves, while Cody has short, brown curls that sit on his head in a heaping mess. A cute mess, but a mess nonetheless. If you were to see the two of them sitting side by side, it would be no question whether they’re related. And they’re always the most attractive people in the room.

It was strange growing up with them. I eventually got used to girls batting their eyelashes at Cody and guys hitting on Maya all the time, but sometimes it stung. Sometimes, I felt completely invisible.

“I’m glad you and Maya decided to come on this trip, Darcy,” Cody tells me, eyes gazing intently into mine. “I know you didn’t want to, but I really am happy you’re here. Both of you.”

I consider his words for a moment. “Yeah... I am, too, I think. It got off to a bad start, but maybe this will actually be kind of fun.”

Saying it out loud, something clicks.

I have to stop moping around. Stop bitching and moaning and whining. I don’t want to be the person I’m becoming. The bitter ex-fiancée who never got over it. I shudder at the thought. He may have stole my wedding from me, yes. But I can’t let him steal my future. That is mine to control.