Abi and the Boy Who Lied Read online

  Abi and the Boy Who Lied

  Kelsie Stelting

  Copyright © 2019 by Kelsie Stelting

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  For questions, address [email protected].

  Editing by Tricia Harden of Emerald Eyes Editing

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Also by Kelsie Stelting

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  How Jon managed to look even better in a mortar board with a gold tassel hanging over his face, I didn’t know. It wasn’t fair.

  He caught me staring and turned his smile on me. “What?”

  Grandma yelled, “One more,” twisting the dial on the back of the plastic camera to set it for another photo.

  The first thing I was going to do once I had some extra spending money was buy Grandma a digital camera. This disposable camera business was getting old, and she refused to take photos on her phone. Her thumb always got in the way.

  Jon shook my shoulder, grinning, and I rolled my eyes up at him. I could only stay exasperated for so long when it came to Jon.

  “Right there!” Grandma yelled, and the camera clicked with the shot.

  I wished I could freeze this moment forever, staring into Jon’s eyes, knowing that for whatever reason those eyes, that person, saw me. Broken pieces and all.

  I read somewhere—probably in one of Grandma’s magazines—that some cultures fixed broken vases with gold. The liquified metal filled each of the cracks and made a design even more beautiful than before. The flaw made it even better.

  I hoped that was me. That somehow my past had weaved its way through my broken bits, and when I came back together, I was more interesting, more beautiful, worth more for all the struggles.

  “I’m going to get your parents,” Grandma said to Jon. “See you at graduation.”

  “Bye,” I said, barely able to tear my gaze from Jon.

  He tilted his head, still waiting for an answer as to why I’d been staring at him.

  “How do you look so good?” I asked.

  He chuckled low and brushed his nose against mine. “How do you look so good?”

  I rolled my eyes again. He was delusional. But I wasn’t complaining. I’d worked hard to fit into this dress—even if it was covered by a shapeless graduation gown.

  “Abi,” Grandma called from beside the mailbox. She held up a blue envelope. “Looks like someone got their card in the mail right on time.”

  I grinned. “I hope this one has money.”

  She brought it over to me. “If it does, chili’s on you.”

  I shook my head. “We’ll see. Meet you at the cook-off?”

  “That’s the plan,” she said. “Should save us some time in all the commencement hubbub.”

  I smiled. “See you.”

  Jon and I walked together to his car and got in. As he pulled away from the house, I tore open the card. On the front, it said: Well wishes to the grad.

  On the inside, written in block letters: Enjoy it while you can.

  My chest constricted. What was this?

  I flipped the card over, looking for a name, a signature, something that hinted this was a joke and not a threat, but there wasn’t even a return address on the envelope.

  “No money?” Jon asked.

  I swallowed and shook my head.

  “Guess your grandma’s paying.”

  Chapter Two

  Why we decided to have our graduation reception party at a chili cook-off two hours away, I didn’t know. Well, I kind of did.

  Skye and Andrew were weirdly competitive about chili recipes, and this was the first competition of the “season-ing.” A chili pun, which, according to Andrew, was part of the fun.

  So, while they rode with their parents to make sure the chili was ready, the rest of us crammed into Evan’s brand-new-used SUV, a graduation gift from his parents. Jon and I sat in the two seats that folded up in the very back, our feet touching.

  The parents were riding together, carpooling where they could, which left us alone with two hours to take in what had just happened. We’d graduated from high school. Received our diplomas. Closed a major chapter in our lives. Soon we’d be saying goodbye.

  As I looked at the people in our car, Frank and Stormy pressed together in the middle seat, Evan and his girlfriend, Michele, arguing playfully over music in the front seat, Roberto staring out the window with his freshly buzzed hair, and Leanne and Macy quietly scrolling through Macy’s phone, I couldn’t help but feel like we were at a fork in the road. Destined to part ways. I just hoped the road would bring us back together somehow. That Jon and I could stay on the same path.

  Jon laced his fingers through mine, and I squeezed his hand back. I’d never get tired of the way his touch sent warmth through my entire body.

  “Why are Johnson and Scoller so far apart in the alphabet?” he asked. “I wished I could have sat by you.”

  My lips spread into a smile. “Why’s that?”

  He leaned closer and placed a slow kiss on my cheek. “So I could do that.” Then he pressed his lips to mine. “And that.”

  My heart sped. “Yeah?”

  It would have been nice to have Jon sitting by me. I spent the entire ceremony trying to push the graduation card out of my mind.

  “Seriously?” Roberto yelled. “I can�
�t be surrounded by this.”

  Jon laughed against my lips and pulled away. I kept ahold of his hand, though.

  Roberto shook his head. “You just want a nice trip with your amigos, and this is what you get.” He pointed at each of us. “Couple. Couple. Couple. Couple.” He pointed to himself. “Forever alone.”

  Frank broke apart from Stormy long enough to clap Roberto’s shoulder. “You’ll find a nice chicka someday.”

  Stormy laughed. “It’s cheek-ah, not chick-ah.”

  Frank shrugged. “Close enough.”

  Michele eyed him. “I can’t tell whether that’s racist or not.”

  Frank pointed at her. “Juniors don’t get a say.”

  She pretended to pout, but soon was smiling.

  “Gosh, I love you guys.” I said it out loud, even though I only meant to think it.

  Jon squeezed my hand. How he managed to say so much with such a simple gesture, I’d never understand.

  “Now,” he said low, his green eyes gleaming. “Where did we leave off?”

  Chapter Three

  Evan drove along a dirt road by some fairgrounds. The frames of shut-down carnival rides looked more like a sad ghost town skeleton than the busy place it would be later this summer.

  When he passed a white tin building, his GPS told him we had arrived, but we probably could have figured it out from the full dirt parking lot. There were vehicles everywhere, mostly trucks with mud spatters and guns hanging in the back glass.

  “And I thought McClellan was redneck,” I said.

  Jon smirked. “I mean, it is.”

  I rolled my eyes. “There’s redneck, and then there’s ‘grab yer guns, grab yer wife, git-r-done’ redneck.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know there was a distinction?”

  I shoved him. “Get out, smart aleck.”

  “It’s Jon, but okay.”

  I snorted. I loved this carefree, fun side of him. It seemed to be coming out more and more, the longer we were together. In a week, it would be two months. Two months of perfection I never thought I’d get.

  I followed him out of the car, and we all walked inside together. Rows and rows of white folding tables covered in Crockpots lined the building. There had to be at least fifty competitors there, and they were all wearing team T-shirts.

  “What is this place?” Stormy asked, giggling.

  Evan grinned. “Chili.” He laughed. “Like Chile. Get it?”

  Macy shoved his shoulder playfully. “You needed Andrew to hear that if you wanted someone to laugh.”

  That made me smile. It was true. We each paid our way in and then started walking around. Our parents—my grandma—filed in a little later. I caught sight of Andrew’s family, Skye’s family, chatting with each other.

  “Come on,” I said to Jon. We walked, hand-in-hand, to their group. My eyes immediately took in Skye and her sister, wearing matching “Chili Beans” shirts. Her sister held a baby who couldn’t have been more than a few months old in a “Chili Beans” onesie. The baby had these beautiful, wide blue eyes and dark hair.

  “Oh my gosh, she’s so precious,” I gushed.

  Skye’s sister, Liz I think, grinned. “She takes after Dorian.”

  “Dorian?” I glanced around and... My mouth fell open. “Dorian Gray?”

  This guy I’d only seen on social media or on music cover art on my phone grinned back at me, his eyes smoldering. My mouth fell open, then closed. Holy speechless fangirl.

  Jon stuck out his hand. You know, like a normal human, and shook the alternative rock star’s hand. “I’m Jon. This is my girlfriend, Abi.”

  The word girlfriend warmed me, snapped me back to reality. Yeah, maybe drooling over a famous guy in front of his fiancée/baby mama and my boyfriend wasn’t a great idea. “Nice to meet you,” I managed.

  He smiled. “You too.”

  I was about to ask to hold the baby when Andrew came over and called us for a group meeting. “You can stay here, Skye. It’s just grad reception, present stuff.”

  She shrugged and took the baby from her sister, holding her close to her chest. So sweet.

  Andrew pulled us to a complete opposite corner of the building and handed each of us a giftbag. Stormy reached in to see what was inside, but Andrew yelled, “Wait!” He lowered his voice. “Wait. I want you to put these on right before the judging. And only right before the judging.”

  He hurried off, looking frazzled. Andrew never looked frazzled.

  Our group stared at each other.

  “Is he...” I asked.

  Stormy pulled out the shirt, her mouth falling open, and nodded. “Looks like it.”

  Chapter Four

  If I felt this nervous, I didn’t know how Andrew was still standing and walking around the chili cook-off. What would he do if Skye said no? Had he asked her parents already? What did Andrew’s parents think of it?

  But then I saw Skye and the way she was looking at Andrew, pure love in her eyes, and I knew none of that mattered. They belonged together.

  I watched Jon where he stood several feet away, already talking to Grandma and his parents like life wouldn’t permanently change for two of our closest friends after this day. We’d only been together two months, but if our relationship continued this way...would we be next?

  I shook my head. Too soon. Too soon to think about things like this.

  “Yo,” Roberto said, coming to stand next to me. He pointed his spoon at his bowl. “You gotta try this menudo chili.”

  “Doesn’t menudo have pig stomach in it?” I asked, eyeing the dish.

  He held out a spoonful. “No.”

  I hesitantly took a sip, and flavors flooded my mouth, some savory, spicy, even a little sweet. “I know you’re lying, but I don’t care.”

  “I didn’t lie,” he responded. “It’s cow stomach.”

  I closed my eyes, trying not to think about that.

  He patted my back. “I’m gonna go before chunks fly.”

  “Good idea,” I said, eyes still closed.

  “Who was the card from?”

  I opened one eye to see Grandma next to me.

  My stomach twisted again, but not from the surprise ingredient. This time, it was fear.

  “I don’t know.” I reached into my purse and showed her the letter.

  Her lips pursed. “That’s not a very funny prank.”

  “You think it was a prank?”

  She rubbed my shoulder. “Of course. Kids are always getting up to stuff around graduation.”

  I nodded, remembering our class’s senior prank. We took the Sinclair dinosaur from the shut-down gas station and put it on top of the school. How we managed to get away with that without getting caught...I didn’t know.

  Still, my stomach had an uneasy feeling as I tucked the card back inside my purse.

  “How was the drive?” she asked.

  My lips twitched as I thought of Jon looking at me, calling me beautiful, his fingers dancing along my skin. “It was good.”

  “Good.” She held up a bowl of what looked like white chicken chili. “Have you found your favorite yet?”

  I shrugged. I was trying not to eat too much for lunch since there was sure to be cake later. Plus, I had to do a five-mile run my college track coach had put on my summer workout plan. The idea of doing that with chili bouncing around my gut was a total appetite killer.

  “This one might get my vote,” she said.

  “There’s our grad,” Marta announced, coming closer, Jon and Glen in tow. “We are so proud of you, honey.” She wrapped me in a tight hug, the kind I wished my actual mom had given me, you know, before she got sentenced to prison time on drug and abuse charges.

  I smiled into her shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “I need to get in on this,” Glen said, and he wrapped his arms around the two of us.

  I looked up and saw Jon smirking at me.

  “I think Jon and Grandma better join in.” I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him.

/>   “Great idea,” Grandma said.

  We all held on to each other, and if I was being honest, it felt like having a family. This was my family, blood or not.

  “I love you guys,” I said.

  The microphone squealed to life, making my ears burn. “Ouch.”

  We pulled apart, but Jon took my hand and said, “That’s our cue.”

  Chapter Five

  We hurried to the one family bathroom in the building, but the door was already locked when we tried the handle.

  “Occupied!” Stormy yelled.

  Someone began speaking over the microphone about chili. How long would this go on before we needed to be back out there?

  “Let us in,” I said.

  “Abi?”

  “Yeah.”

  The door clicked open, and I saw six of my friends had filled the small space, in various stages of changing.

  Leanne covered her chest with her T-shirt. “Shut the door.”

  We sidled in and locked the door behind us. I pulled my shirt out of the bag and laughed at the words on the front. I love you from my head to-ma-toes.