Perfectly Wrong

22. He's Always There

Camila walks out of her house and takes the backseat next to Maisie in the car since both Noah and Connor are in the front seat. Maisie immediately smiles at her, letting her know she’s not going to press her for answers. They all greet her as Noah drives away from her house, the radio on as they talk and laugh. After a few minutes, Maisie scoots closer to Camila in the backseat and cups her hand to Camila’s ear.

 “ He knows.” The blond whispers so the boys won’t hear.

 Camila holds her breath, looking at her friend in confusion while thinking back on conversations that might give her a clue who Maisie is talking about.

 “ Who knows?” Camila asks back in a whisper. “ And what does he know?”

 “ Noah. He knows you’re not interested.” She whispers back. “ He’s fine with it. There’s no pressure. We’re just friends tonight, all of us.”

 Camila breathes out in relief because she was already planning on how to turn Noah down without being rude.

 Once they reach Getty’s and order their pizza, Camila decides their pizza is heaven. She didn't get to taste it the night before, but now she regrets it. They order two and Noah is eating one by himself. She didn’t even think about being mad at her mother the whole night, or about Shawn. She’s having fun for the first time in weeks and it’s nice.

 “ Connor, what’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?” Noah asks.

 “ I can only pick one?’ Connor asks, making the girls laugh.

 “ The one. The stupidest one.” Noah replies.

 “ I guess I would have to go with the time I was visiting my grandparents on their ranch and I had to use the bathroom really bad, but my brothers would dare me to do stuff all the time. They dared me to pee on the electric fence. It knocked me on my back and I was laying there, unable to move with my dick hanging out of my pants while they ran home to get our parents.”

 Camila laughs loudly, being followed by Maisie and Noah. They start getting glares from other customers because of how hard they’re laughing when Connor tells his girlfriend that it’s her turn.

 “ I guess when I ran over you with my car.” Maisie tells him.

 “ Try again.” Connor says.

 “ What? That's it.” The blonde says. “ That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

 “ What about after you ran over me?” Connor laughs. “ Tell them about that.”

 “ We fell in love. The end.” Maisie says, clearly embarrassed.

 “ You have to tell us now.” Camila protests.

 “ Fine.” Maisie says after a pause. “ It was the second day after I got my license and I was being super careful. When Joel was teaching me how to drive, he paid careful attention to how I parked. I really wanted it to be perfect, but I didn’t like how I parked the first time.”

 “ Or the second, third or fourth time.” Connor says.

 “ So on the fifth time, I was determined to get it right.” She says. “ I backed out extra far to get a better angle and that’s when it happened. I turned around and didn’t see anyone so I panicked, thinking I had hit the car next to me or something. I continued to back out and drived until I found another spot. I finally saw him when I got out of the car.”

 “ You… drug him?” Camila asks, trying not to laugh, but letting it out when Maisie nods her head to confirm.

 “ I broke his leg.” She says. “ Joel was so worried they were going to sue that he made me take food to Connor at the hospital every day for a week. That’s when we fell in love.”

 “ You’re lucky you didn’t kill him.” Noah says with a laugh.

 “ I would love to hear your stupid story, Camila, but it’ll have to wait. We’re going to be late.” Maisie says as they scoot out from their booth and leave the place.

 On their drive to Club N9NE, Maisie pulls a folded piece of paper out of her back pocket, reading it over whatever it’s written down on it.

 “ What’s that?” Camila asks with curiosity.

 “ It’s my song.” Maisie says. “ I’m going to perform tonight.”

 “ Seriously? God, you’re brave.”

 “ Not really. The first time Connor and I went, I promised myself I would do one before I turned eighteen. My birthday is next week, so when Mr. Mendes told us we could skip the final exam if we performed, I took it as a sign.”

 “ I would just say I did it, Mr. Mendes won’t know.” Noah says. “ I doubt he’ll be there.”

 “ No.” Connor says. “ He’ll be there. He’s always there.”

 Camila feels slightly nervous when she hears that, looking out through the window and waiting for the subject to change.

 “ Man, Hayley really did a number on him.” Noah says.

 Camila looks at Noah with curiosity in her eyes.

 “ His ex.” Maisie explains. “ They dated their last two years of high school. They were the it couple. Homecoming queen, football star…”

 “ Football? He played football?” Camila is shocked to hear that. It doesn’t sound at all like Shawn.

 “ Oh, yeah. Star quarterback three years running.” Noah tells her. “ We were freshmen when he was a senior. He was a nice guy, I guess.”

 “ Can’t say the same thing about Hayley.” Connor says.

 “ Why?” Camila asks. “ Was she a bitch?”

 “ Honestly, she wasn’t that bad in high school. It’s what she did to him after they graduated. After his parents…” Maisie trails off.

 “ What did she do?” Camila knows she sounds too interested, but she doesn’t care.

 “ She dumped him two weeks after his parents were killed in a car wreck. He had a football scholarship, but lost it when he had to move back home to take care of his little sister. Hayley told everyone she wasn’t marrying a college dropout with a kid. So, that’s it. He lost his parents, his girlfriend, his scholarship and became a guardian all in two weeks.”

 Camila moves her gaze back out the window, not wanting Maisie to see the tears in her eyes. That explains so much. That’s why he was so scared to take everything away from her, like it was taken from him. All this time she thought his feelings weren’t as strong as hers, but she was wrong.

 “ Here.” Maisie whispers, discreetly handing her a tissue. Camila squeezes her hand to thank her before wiping the tears from her eyes.