Free In Plain Sight by Amy Sparling

anger tearing at my heart. I want the real thing. I want it now. I want to be a loving boyfriend to a girl who loves me back. I’m not too young for that and I refuse to be told I can’t find something real right here and right now.
    My phone beeps with a new text message.
     
    Maria: Colby Jensen seeking love through a dating app? Never thought I’d see the day.
    Me: Why the hell are you on there? Surely you harass enough guys in person on a daily basis.
    Maria: Only you, sweetheart. Xoxoxo
     
    I roll my eyes so hard they almost fall out. Luckily, Josh is absorbed in liking photos of girls on his phone that the doesn’t ask who I’m talking to. I’d hate to lie to him.
    I type up another text and hope she gets the hint.
     
    Me: Good luck finding Mr. Right.
     
    While Josh chats up girls on his app, I decide to dive into the pool and try to take my mind off how I’m so pathetically in love with the idea of being in love. Not for the first time, Maddie’s adorable heart shaped face appears in my mind.
    I close my eyes and dive toward the bottom of the pool, trying to think of anything but her, that cute way she smiles when she thinks I’m not looking, and the intoxicating smell of her coconut shampoo.
    She’s one of the elite, I remind myself. She’s not into me. I can’t give her anything she’d want.
    I kick the bottom of the pool and swim back to the surface. Stop thinking of Maddie, stop thinking of Maddie, stop thinking of Maddie.
    Maybe if I keep saying it, I’ll be able to actually do it.

Chapter 13
     

     
    The last four days have been a dream come true. A surreal, insane, wonderful dream. I’ve spent most of my time with my mom and sisters, out at the pool or watching movies in the theater. And yes, Landon has a theater. He says it came with the house and he’s never really used it before we moved in.
    It has twenty reclining leather theater chairs that rise up toward the back of the room so that everyone has a good view, a massive TV screen, dark walls and a real popcorn maker. Between that, his pool table, the swimming pool, and our gorgeous bedrooms, there’s really no reason to ever leave the house.
    And now I have my own shiny platinum Visa card with my name on it. Landon and Mom gave it to me last night, saying they want me to be able to buy things I need without worrying about money. Although I thanked Landon profusely, I don’t want to use his money. It’s just weird.
    Of course, what’s even weirder than being given a credit card with no limit, is the question he just asked me at the breakfast table.
    “Um, excuse me?” I say over a bite of pancakes. Surely I heard my future step-dad wrong. There is just no freaking way.
    “Well . . . you’re seventeen,” Landon says, cutting into his pancakes with his fork. “The school buses don’t run on this part of town, and you need a reliable mode of transportation. Rose and I had a blast buying her car, and so I’d love to take you to get your own car today.”
    Mom brightens, like she’s been waiting all day for him to spring this offer on me. “I have an idea,” she says, smiling so wide I can see nearly all of her teeth. “Why don’t you and Landon go car shopping together and I’ll stay here with the girls? That way you can get some bonding time in.”
    “I would be delighted,” Landon says. He looks at me with this proud yet nervous smile, and I can tell he really wants to make a good impression on me. But he’s already done enough to win my praise and my recommendation to Mom.
    A car?
    I really don’t need a car.
    “Thanks, but . . . I don’t want to ask that much of you.”
    “It’s not asking much,” Landon says. “I’ve always wanted my own kids, but I never had any, and buying them a car has always been a dream of mine. I’m a car guy, after all.”
    I gnaw on my lip as I remember the tour he gave us the day we moved in. The garage is nearly as big as the house, and Landon has a truck, a Jeep, and three fixed