Page 1 of Just (Fake) Married (Calloways vs. McGraws #1)

HARMONY

That Night in High School

“I can’t believe I let you drag me to this,” my sister Sunshine muttered.

“It’s just a party,” I said, staring up at the house with all the lights on and the music so loud I could feel it in my eyeballs. Someone was throwing up in the bushes just outside the door.

It was awesome .

“I don’t go to parties,” Sunshine said. This was true, but I wanted to go to the party and there was no way I was walking into this one alone. Sunshine was a terrible wing-sister, but she was the only one old enough to come with me. I mean…I was barely old enough to be here.

“Now, you do,” I insisted, and clutched my sister’s hand and pulled her past the puking guy. “We’re in high school. We’re supposed to go to parties.”

The music and the heat were like a wall at the door, but I pushed my sister through the dancing, laughing bodies of our classmates and we were in, actually in !

My first high school party. Honestly, anything could happen. “Are we even invited?” Sunshine shouted, looking anxious.

“Everyone was invited.” A tiny lie. Teeny. I heard about the party in 3 rd period gym from two girls who were absolutely not inviting me. But a freshman girl with a nerdy older sister had to make her own opportunities.

“If they knew I was coming, there would be a Keep Out sign on the door,” Sunshine said, lifting her thumbnail to her teeth. I grabbed her hand in mine, and turned her to face me. Someone jostled me from the back and we both collided with a couple making out by the coat rack.

“You look great,” I told her. I’d tried with her hair and makeup, but there wasn’t much to be done about the glasses and braces.

My sister was a genius, like, for real, and not the most popular girl in Last Hope Gulch.

But all these assholes who teased her and called her names just needed to get to know her. That’s what parties were for, right?

She rolled her eyes at me and tugged on the green satin tank top that I’d been saving for just this occasion. My first high school party.

“You look great,” she said, and smiled so I knew she meant it. “I’d never guess you were a freshman.”

“No one is going to tell you to leave,” I assured her. “The entire high school is here, we’ll just blend in.”

“Okay, but I’m not drinking,” she hissed. “One of us is going to need to drive home.”

“One of us is just going to call mom,” I reminded her. “You know she would love to pick you up from a party.”

We stepped into the equally crowded kitchen, where there was a line at the keg and two guys throwing a football across the room.

“Really?” Sunshine drawled. “Would she love us being here with them?”

She pointed over everyone’s heads at Ethan and Seth McGraw, standing by the sink with red Solo cups in their hands. Ethan laughed at something Seth said and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. The grey t-shirt he wore went tight around his arms and chest and my whole body went haywire.

Yes, Mom would have something to say about us hanging out with the McGraws.

Because we were Calloways.

And our families had been, for lack of a better word, feuding for over a hundred years.

Our families were the legend of Last Hope Gulch. Every year we celebrated our bloody history with The Feud Day Festival. Part historical re-enactment, part county fair, it brought in tourists from all over the country who wanted a taste of the Old West.

It was silly and a little cringe, but it was ours.

And, you’d think maybe after a hundred years, the McGraws and the Calloways would, I don’t know, get over it. But no. Our families still hated each other.

The McGraws had their big, fancy cattle ranch, the Swinging D, and their big, fancy house on the property next to ours. McGraws owned almost all the land around here, except for our ten measly acres.

We were forbidden to be friends with a McGraw. Which, in a town the size of Last Hope Gulch, wasn’t easy. Rumor was, Leroy McGraw didn’t even say my mother’s name - just called her that woman . And the McGraw boys weren’t allowed to be friends with us, either.

The football flew through the air again and Seth reached up and snagged it. A scuffle broke out and Ethan put his arm around Seth and pulled him away from it.

Ethan was two grades above me, and was…well, he was basically the hottest guy in school. Probably Wyoming. Some people said Seth, who was Sunshine’s age, was cuter, but they were wrong.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s Tag,” Sunshine said, clutching my hand and burying her face against my back. “He’s with them.”

Tag Durham joined Seth and Ethan with three more cups of beer. Tag’s dad worked for the McGraws and Tag had grown up on their ranch. Tag and the McGraw boys were inseparable. A gang of hotness.

“Of course he’s with them. Ethan and Tag are, like, best friends.” I looked at my sister’s tomato red face over my shoulder. “Wait, do you have a crush on Tag?”

“Noooo. Do you have a crush on Ethan?” she accused me back.

“Noooo.” I said with equal conviction. “I just think…he’s…he’s…” amazing.

“I’m going home.” Sunshine announced. “This isn’t any fun.”

“Because you won’t let yourself have fun,” I said, trying to get her to stay, but when Sunshine made up her formidable mind about something, there was no changing it. “Fine. Suit yourself. I’m staying.”

She looked horrified that I would stay here alone, but I hadn’t gotten dressed up just to head home at the first sight of the McGraws.

Bravely, I pushed through the throng gathered in the kitchen and got in line for the keg.

“I’m telling you, I’m leaving. As soon as I graduate, I am gone. I don’t give a fuck what Dad says,” Ethan was telling Seth.

I wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation. I just happened to be standing close enough to hear what they were saying and the beer line was moving slowly.

Seth laughed. “Right. Sure. You don’t care. Trust me, Dad is not going to let that happen. You’re going to UW, or if you’re lucky, Montana State.”

“I’m going to UCLA. Pre-med,” he said. “I will be the exact opposite of a cowboy.”

“Don’t knock cowboy life, my friend,” Tag said. “It’s honest work.”

“It’s not going to be my work,” Ethan said. “I need another beer.”

“What about the one in your hand?” Tag pointed out.

Ethan chugged the whole cup and then he stepped back into the beer line.

“You can cut,” I practically shouted, getting his attention.

He noticed my hair first. Everyone noticed my hair first. I had my mom’s red hair, but mine curled wildly around my head, and because there was no taming it, I just let it happen.

“You’re a Calloway,” he said.

“You’re a McGraw,” I said.

“You gonna poison me?”

“You gonna shoot me?”

Look at us, making feud jokes. Maybe he thought it was as stupid as I did. Maybe he thought what we all needed was to put this feud to bed and move on.

He chuckled and I felt my whole face flush. I made Ethan McGraw laugh.

“Harmony, right?” he said, and I could have died right there. He knew my name.

“Yep. And you’re Ethan.”

“You old enough to drink?” he asked me.

“Are you?” I shot back. We were both underage at this party.

“You’re right. I’ll go get us both some beers.”

Because he was Ethan McGraw, practically all he had to do was snap his fingers, and some underclassman was putting beer in his hands.

“Hey man, you gonna be cool?” Mike Palmer asked, looking between Ethan and me. “I don’t need the Calloways and McGraws feuding it out in my mom’s kitchen. She’ll be pissed.”

“We’ll be fine,” Ethan said, and drank his beer in one long swallow. He was really drinking fast. I took a sip and tried not to grimace.

The football was thrown again and hit Seth in the face. “Who the fuck threw that?” Seth bellowed.

“Oh shit,” Ethan groaned, and he grabbed a bottle off the counter, opened the door in the alcove between the kitchen and the back door, and pulled me in after him.

“What are you doing?” I asked, hesitating at the doorway. Behind me, Seth tackled someone and they crashed into the cupboards.

“Come on,” he said, with a crooked smile. “I’ll keep you safe.”

How could I resist? I stepped into the pantry, and he shut the door. The small room was illuminated by the light coming in from the wide crack under the door.

We were in a pantry. Alone.

OhmyGod!

“Seth has been wanting to kick somebody’s ass all night.” Ethan took the top off the bottle – whiskey – and took a sip. He grimaced and handed it to me. My brain said no, but my brain wasn’t in charge. I was in a dark pantry with Ethan McGraw at my first party. I took a sip of the whiskey.

He leaned forward, reaching for something on the shelf behind me, and his face came within inches of mine. He closed his eyes, and as cool as I wanted to be, I panicked.

“What are you doing?” I squawked.

“What do you think I’m doing?” he asked, and leaned back, bringing a handful of Oreos with him. “Want one?”

Like he was going to kiss me ? I took an Oreo and shoved it in my mouth.

Somebody collided with the door, making it shake, and there was a lot of yelling happening out there.

“You don’t think you should do something?”

“What do you think I should do, Harmony Calloway?” he asked, his voice all low and deep.

“Help your brother?”

“There is no helping Seth. If the guy wants to fight, he fights.”

More yelling. People were cheering. I sent a worried look at the door.

“You’re worried about a McGraw?” he asked. “That’s against the rules.” He took another sip of whiskey and seemed a little unsteady on his feet. I could smell the fumes of beer and whiskey pouring off him.

“Are you drunk?”

“Nope.” He ate another Oreo and I laughed, because he was so drunk. “I’m celebrating.”

“What are you celebrating?”

“I’ve decided I’m going to UCLA. I’m going to be a doctor.”

“You aren’t graduating yet,” I said. “How do you know you’re going to be accepted?”

“Semantics,” he said, waving his hand around. “The important thing is, I’ve decided.”