Its not that simple, p.1
It's Not That Simple, page 1
It's Not That Simple
P. Roper
Copyright © 2023 P. Roper
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may
not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission
of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical
events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names,
characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any
resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are
entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-7781406-2-4
First Printing, 2023
Edited by P. Roper
Cover by Amanda Walker
Contents
Blurb
Dedication
Playlist
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty One
Twenty Two
Twenty Three
Twenty Four
Twenty Five
Twenty Six
Twenty Seven
Twenty Eight
Twenty Nine
Thirty
Thirty One
Thirty Two
Thirty Three
Thirty Four
Thirty Five
Thirty Six
Thirty Seven
Thirty Eight
Epilogue
Note From The Author
Synopsis
Bellamy
I'm not sure what I expected from the postcard town of Avernus. The place where my Mom grew up but hasn't returned to in two decades. Everything here is old and picturesque. Without hockey to take up my time anymore, I knew I'd need to figure something else out. It didn't take me long to see her. With her copper hair carefully tied away from her face, she was surrounded by the most curious combination of people. But I also stumbled upon them that first day. The worst kind of trouble, but I didn't want to admit it until it was too late. I got myself into this mess, and it's on me to figure that out. But I'm also far too selfish to not know her.
Ace
It's not often that we get new people in our sleepy little town. I could feel him watching me at lunch and in the class that we shared. At first, I felt too busy with other things to investigate his motive. But my curiosity won out. He became a lifeline out of the mundane monotony. A whole adventure, just knowing him. Everything with him felt easy. He was my knight in shining armour. Until I realized just how deep into the dragon's den he had gotten swept. Because, of course, it was too good. Maybe, he can walk away from the warmth he's found in the proverbial blaze. But I'm not sure I'm strong enough to stay away from him in the meantime. I can only hope that whatever this is between us doesn't go up in smoke.
Tropes: Small Town, New Adult, Coming of Age, Friends To Lovers, Found Family, Cinnamon Roll Hero, New in Town, Wrong Crowd
Triggers: Drug use/trade, sexual harrassment? (not by MC), childhood trauma, strong language, sexual scenes.
Dedication
For every questionable decision,
that eventually Brought you
to the best moments of your life.
Official Playlist
Take Your Time - Sam Hunt
Ruin My Life - Zara Larrson
Nightlight - We Three
She’s So Gone - Naomi Scott
Hey, Princess - Allstar Weekend
Hurts 2B Human - P!nk
Stuck In My Head - Blu Eyes
Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
The Nights - Avicii
Gonna Be Okay - Brett Morgan
Why - Bazzi
Shut Up and Dance - Walk The Moon
CWJBHN - Jake Scott
The Voice Within - Christina Aguilera
Classic - MKTO
Just Drive - Erin Kinsey
Stranger - Riley Roth
Tell You Everything - Robyn Ottolini
We Both Know - Liddy Clark
Old Me - 5 Seconds of Summer
We Wouldn’t Be Us - Alexandra Kay
Make You Mine - PUBLIC
One More Weekend - Maude Latour
Just A Little While - The 502s
Tuesdays - Jake Scott
Hallelujah - Pentatonics
Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn
100 Years - Five For Fighting
Bad Omens – 5 Seconds of Summer
Trying – Jordan Davis
Music is a critical part of writing for so many; myself included.
The playlist that I listened to while I wrote The Grey Series is more than ten hours long, but held each of these songs.
These were the ones that felt like they fit INTS, Ace and Bellamy’s story, best.
Everywhere I look, there are big, old trees. There are a lot of trees back home, but not like these. Everything here is so different from Michigan. Maybe it’s just that it’s hot. Fuck it’s stifling in this place. But this is where Nana needed us to be, so we’re here; Avernus, Alabama. My mom was born and raised here but never returned after moving up north for college.
Nana refused to sell her big, old house to move up north with us. So this summer, Mom sold our house and moved us here. I guess that’s a perk of being your own boss, you can relocate anywhere. This house is still too big for just the three of us. But I imagine if the house is this elaborate, the kitchen is probably a dream come true for Mom. A place to do her baking before she finds a new place in town to open up shop.
“Bell,” she yells from the front porch, smiling when I pop my head out of the back of the Uhaul I drove up here. She sold her car and followed me up in mine. Mostly because Nana has one for her here and Mom absolutely refused to drive the big truck a thousand miles to Alabama. “We’re still missing your bed,” she states, but it comes out more like a question.
“Yeah, it’s here,” I tell her, tossing my hockey hair off my face with a flick of my head, noting that I only have six more boxes and the bed to haul out of the truck.
She shakes her head at me, “You need a haircut, kid.”
“I’ll get one when I get one.” My eye roll might as well be audible because she laughs.
“Can I help you with anything else?” She calls, but Nana interrupts her.
“Just let the boy be, Kit. Come help me unpack all your fancy-ass cupcake shit,” the old woman snipes. I stifle a laugh as Mom widens her eyes at me before I make my way back into the truck. I lean against the wall and stare at the mattress. It’s in a bag, so I could just drag it across the yard if I wanted to. But I don’t even know where my room is. I’ve been dropping everything on the porch for Mom to take inside. We should have hired movers.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I absently scroll through a handful of messages. They’re all from friends back home, except one from Dad, making sure we got here okay. Sending him a quick reply, I make a mental note to reply to the rest later, once I have somewhere to lie down. I pocket the device again and walk up onto the huge porch.
Wandering into the house, I look around. It’s not really what I expected from the outside. The interior is bright and more modern than the facade implies, but I can still see a lot of the old charm in it too. Dark wood floors sit in stark contrast to the white walls. Following Nana and Mom’s voices, I make my way toward the kitchen, taking in the furniture and pictures on the walls along the way.
“I know they’re not going to let it be, though. We’re both happy now, Ma. But I never thought I’d be back here, having to explain things.”
“Kit, you worry too much,” Nana assures.
“I think I worry just enough, actually,” Mom retorts and I clear my throat, announcing my presence. Two identical pairs of golden brown eyes meet my own and I can’t help but smile at the similarity of their startled faces.
“Sorry to interrupt, but wondering which room is mine?” I put my hands in my pockets and rock back on my heels, waiting for a response.
“Whichever of the two on the left of the staircase upstairs,” Nana points to the ceiling and I nod.
“Thanks,” I nod and turn to leave.
“Bell, your things are all at the top of the stairs. I wasn’t sure which room you’d want,” Mom adds to my back and I nod more emphatically, so she knows I heard her. After taking the wide staircase, two steps at a time, I peek my head into the room closest to the stairs. It’s fairly nondescript. A desk sits in one corner and the closet doesn’t have a door, but the view out the window isn’t terrible.
A bathroom is attached and seems to walk through to the other room. Pushing the opposite pocket door open, I smile. The walls in the back bedroom are grey instead of white. It also has a desk, but while this room is smaller, it has far more windows than the other. Nodding, I step back into the hall and grab two of my suitcases. Nine boxes and a final suitcase later, all I need to relocate now is my bed.
An hour later, I’m staring at the pieces that I hauled in from the truck and up the stairs. But I don’t much feel like assembling the frame, so I stack the mattress and box spring on the floor, propping the headboard against the wall beside them. I don’t even know why I need the frame, but I’m at least eighty percent sure neither of the women downstairs would let me get away with not using it.
I dig through my boxes until I find a set of sheets before tugging my comforter and pillows out of the oversized duffle I shoved them in at the last minute. I used to use the bag for hockey, but I left my skates and everything at Dad’s house, knowing I probably wouldn’t be playing hockey on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. There is a bag of dirty laundry around here, too, but I’ll figure that out later.
A handful of pictures, wrapped in t-shirts, come out of the top of one box. The rest of it is filled with books, all of which find a place on the built-in recess that lines one wall. I’m sure Mom will let me take one of the two TVs we brought with us, seeing as Nana already has one in the living room downstairs, but in the meantime, I set my laptop up on the desk. Most of my afternoon is spent unpacking everything I can find a place for before I stack a few boxes at the bottom of my closet and put the empty suitcases into the unused bedroom.
Stepping back into the kitchen, I watch the two women move around one another with measured precision. They don’t speak, but neither seems remotely in the other’s way. “Do you mind if I take a walk?” I ask and they both look up to see me standing there.
“Actually, would you mind running to grab us dinner?” Nana asks, moving toward a little table in the corner of the kitchen. A big bag sits atop it and when she fishes inside, her hand comes out with a wallet. “There is a great little place just a couple blocks up, that’s been there forever.
“Ma, are you sending him to Heartbreak?”
“Oh, Kit. The kids don’t call it that anymore,” Nana waves off Mom’s question before turning back to me with raised eyebrows.
“Sure, Nana. Anything in particular?” I ask as she hands me way more money than I’ll need to grab food for the three of us.
“They know what I like. Just tell them Maggie Fredricks would like her regular.” I nod and turn to Mom, tilting my head in question.
“Just a burger and fries would be great, Bell,” she smiles, pushing a fallen chunk of hair out of her face.
“Okay, I’ll be back in a bit then,” I wave, turning toward the front door.
I only make it to the sidewalk before realizing that she said a couple of blocks but didn't indicate the direction. We came into town from the north and we only drove through a couple of residential streets, so I take a guess and head south.
Sure enough, two blocks south, I spot what must be the main street, a block west. Main is lined with small shops. A post office, a tailor, a laundromat and a lawyer stand out along the street when I look one way. Down the end of the block, it looks like a coffee shop and what I assume is a school. When I turn the other way, I see it. Heartbreak Gril is painted red on a faded white sign above the doors. I wonder if they know they missed a letter?
A bell rings when I push open the door and someone calls out, “I’ll be right there!”
Unsure of where I’m supposed to go, I stand awkwardly near the door while a handful of patrons glance at me. Thankfully, they all go back to their own business when a girl with pink hair pops up from behind the counter. She rounds it, pushing her glasses up and smiles at me. “Hey! What can I get you?”
“Uh, Maggie sent me?” I stammer, not quite expecting someone who looks like her to be in a place like this.
“Alright, anything else?” Her grey eyes search my own and I blink a couple of times.
“Um, just two burgers and fries?”
“Great! It’ll be about twenty minutes. Can I get you a drink or something while you wait?”
“Sure? Water is fine,” I nod.
“Okay. Have a seat in one of those booths,” she points to two that line the front window. “And I’ll be right back.”
“It’s hotter than hell out,” Jo complains from the passenger seat. “Like, the underwire of my bra is liquifying.” Her bare feet are on the dash and her hands frantically pull her mass of black hair up into a haphazard bun on the top of her head.
“I should have caught a ride with Cody. At least then I would arrive as a semi-solid instead of a puddle,” she whines.
Jo has never been very good at living in Alabama. Her preferred state is pale and her favourite colour is black. Her hair, clothes, nails, makeup? All black. Not naturally, of course. Underneath monthly boxes of dye, sits waist-length strawberry-blonde hair that matches my own. She’d probably be covered in the same freckles that I have too, but no one has tested that theory in our collective memory.
“Jo, just sit still. It’s like four blocks, I'm sure you’ll live,” Lennox grumbles from the back. “And you should put your feet down, so you don’t break your legs if Ace crashes.” Our cousin suggests, pushing glasses up her nose.
“Nox, honey, while I appreciate your concern? It’s far too early for you to sound that condescending,” Jo returns, pulling her phone out of her bag.
When I pull into the parking lot, Jo’s face changes. From being done with all the shit, to some sort of happy relief. Curious, I look around as I turn off the little black Golf that the three of us girls share. Standing on the curb is our neighbour, Cody. With scruffy hair that’s in desperate need of a haircut sticking out from under his ball cap and a boyish grin. He waves, carefully balancing a tray of iced coffees in his other hand. Clarity.
My sister is out of the car fast enough she could probably make the track team, while Nox and I follow her at a much more reasonable pace. “Have I told you lately that you’re my hero?” Nox smiles, accepting the cold drink he hands her.
“You know I’d do anything for my girls,” he smiles wider, with the tip of his tongue between his teeth, handing me my drink. “Are we ready for our last first day in this town?” he asks and I watch unexpected hurt flash in Jo’s eyes before he throws an arm over her shoulder.
Forever charming and thoughtful, our Cody. I’m not sure what the three of us would have done throughout our lives, without him. He’s been our neighbour since we were five. At different points in our lives, he’s been each of our shadows. But around eleven, he gravitated toward Jo and stuck.
On the other side of the double metal doors, it’s like time stands still. Nothing in this place has changed, in my entire life. My parents had both been teachers here, so Jo and I spent a lot of time in these halls when we were very young. I smile a little, inhaling the scent that has been familiar to me for what feels like forever.
Students line the halls, standing at faded maroon lockers, idle chatter filling the air. Upstairs, is probably much of the same, except the lockers are grey. Adjusting both of my bags on my shoulders, I stop at the locker that was assigned to me four years ago.
“Ace!” I turn toward my cousin calling my name, to see her running down the hall toward me. I don’t say anything, instead, I only raise my eyebrows and wait for her. “Hey, um, when do your council meetings start?” I resume walking and she falls into step beside me, maneuvering through throngs of other students, on our way to the cafeteria.
“We haven’t set regular times for the year yet, but this week we meet tomorrow after school. Why?”
“Oh, I just picked up three tutoring students. I was hoping to work at least one of them around your meetings, so I wouldn’t always have to walk home.” I nod, making my way down the lunch line.
