I shook my head and laughed to myself- at myself. What an idiot! Sighing, I went around the house, checking to see that the doors were locked and the lights turned off. It had been a good night and I was excited for tomorrow. Maybe I would be able to get a better read on Blythe tomorrow when we went on our ‘date’.
The next day, our parents showed up just before lunch. All of us kids had spent the morning cleaning up, trying to make it seem as though we hadn’t completely destroyed the place in their absence. Blythe and I had just finished washing the dishes from breakfast when our parents breezed through the door.
“How did it go?” Mom asked, reaching up to kiss my cheek.
“Just fine,” I replied, wiping her kiss off with the back of my hand. “Mom.”
“Walker.” She rolled her eyes before turning to Blythe. “Was everything really okay, honey?”
Blythe smiled, her eyes flicking toward me for a split second before answering my mom. “Yes, the kids were great and I think they had fun.”
“Good. Thank you both so much.” Mom gave Blythe a side hug.
“Did you guys have fun at your...thing,” I asked. I really had no idea where they went or what they were doing.
“Yeah, it was wonderful. The show was excellent. The food was amazing. The hotel was just lovely.” The sparkle in Mom’s eye made it worth an evening of babysitting. Besides, I’d gotten to hang out with Blythe.
“Glad to hear it.”
“So, do you two have a plan for this afternoon? For your reward time?” Mom asked, her eyes bouncing between us.
“Yes,” I replied at the same time Blythe said, “no.”
Mom grinned and raised a brow when I grabbed Blythe’s hand. “We do have a plan.” I glanced sideways at Blythe who was looking at me like I was crazy. “I have a plan. Blythe doesn’t know about it yet.”
Mom waggled her eyebrows at us. “Ooh, sounds fun.”
I nodded. “So, when are we free?”
“Pack up your stuff so you’re ready to leave tomorrow and off you go!” Mom shooed us out of the kitchen. She didn’t have to tell me twice. I pulled Blythe along with me.
“How long will it take you to pack and get ready?” I asked her, knowing I could be ready in ten minutes.
“Um, well, what are we doing? How should I dress?” she asked.
“It’s a surprise. But we are riding bikes, so,” I gestured toward her. “Whatever girls wear to ride a bike would be good.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “An hour?”
“An hour!” I almost shouted. What could possibly take an hour?
Blythe’s eyes widened. “Forty-five minutes?”
I sighed. “Forty-five minutes. Meet you out front.”
Chapter Nine
Blythe
I jumped in the bathroom and took the world’s fastest shower. I’d seen the look on Walker’s face when I told him how long I’d be. Apparently, he was anxious to get going. I slipped on a red and white polka dot sundress and matching strappy sandals that I knew would be okay riding a bike. I applied a light shimmer of eyeshadow, some eyeliner and mascara. I finished with pink lip gloss. I pulled out the hair dryer and prayed for my damp locks to dry quickly. After my hair was dry, I swiped my straightener through it and twisted a braid across the front, securing it with bobby pins.
I took another five minutes to throw all my crap into my suitcase and ran downstairs after only thirty-five minutes. Walker was already in the front drive, standing between two bicycles. He looked casually hot in army green cargo shorts and a plain white t-shirt. A baseball cap covered his golden-brown hair. He grinned when he saw me.
“You look great.” He reached for my hand and twirled me around. “Ready to go? Sure, those shoes will work?”
I glanced down at the sandals. “They’ll be fine. They’re more comfortable than they look.”
Walker nodded, still smiling. “Let’s go then.” He tugged my hand, pulling me toward one of the bikes and holding it steady as I got on.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he flipped up the kickstand on his bike with his foot.
“I said it was a surprise. Follow me. I looked up the directions earlier.” And with that, he set off down the driveway and onto the bike path that led out of the neighborhood where our rented house was located.
It was a beautiful day and an even more beautiful ride. The bike path followed the ocean in many places and the landscape was gorgeous. Before long Walker veered and I was awed by what I saw next.
“Wow. Can we go in?” I asked when Walker slowed to a stop.
“Do you want to?” He asked smiling like he already knew the answer.
“Yes! Absolutely!”
“Okay, then. Let’s go.” Walker led the way up a drive to the lighthouse. It was painted with black and white candy cane stripes and it was amazing. Before I knew it, we had parked and locked our bikes.
“Ready?” Walker asked, holding out his hand.
Butterflies flew in my stomach when my hand touched his. He didn’t let go for the next hour. We walked to the entrance of the lighthouse, both of us grinning like fools. My eyes soaked up the unfamiliar sights inside the lighthouse as Walker led me toward the stairs leading to the observation deck.
“Two hundred and fifty-seven steps,” he said and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “You up for it?”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, tugging on his hand as I placed my foot on the bottom step. “We are so going up there!”
And we did. The climb was long, like twelve stories of stairs. Walker stayed just one step below me the whole way up. It was warm and humid on the way up, but I shivered more than once from the contact between my back and Walker’s hand as he guided me up the steps. Finally, we reached the observation deck.
“Wow,” I breathed, looking all around me, not knowing where to start and wanting to see it all, committing it to memory.
“No kidding,” Walker agreed as we moved together to stand at the railing, facing the ocean. “This is amazing.”
“You can see forever up here.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the view, it was that incredible. We walked the circumference of the deck, enjoying the view of both the ocean and the island. After a while, we knew it was time to go. Walker, with his hand at the small of my back, led me to the stairs once more. With our fingers still laced together, we made our way down. At the bottom, Walker asked if I would like to visit the museum.
“Sure. Unless you had something else planned?” I asked.
He nodded. “I do, but we have time to walk through the museum if you want to.”
“Okay, I’d like to.”
We moved through the museum, taking our time, reading the little plaques explaining the exhibits. Walker never left my side and either held my hand or kept me close to his side with his arm around my waist. I loved the feeling of being so close to him, especially when he stood behind me to look at the different items in the museum, tucking his chin into my shoulder as he read the descriptions aloud. A few times, he turned to look at me, his lips a breath away from my ear or cheek. I don’t know how I didn’t melt into a puddle at his feet.
After the museum, we hopped back on our bikes. Walker led me to the section of town that was filled with little shops for tourists.
“I thought we could just wander around for a while,” he told me with a smile after we’d parked and locked our bikes again.
The shops were filled with t-shirts with seashells printed on them and Cape Hatteras in bold writing. There were necklaces made of shells and shark teeth. Snow globes and painted signs. We tried on silly hats and tasted salt water taffy. We used the money our parents gave us for babysitting to buy a few souvenirs. I found a cute little painted sign with the lighthouse on it to put on a shelf in my room and Walker bought a leather cuff for his wrist with a silver plate riveted to it with an engraved filigree.
Just as we were about to leave the shop, Walker turned around, leaving me standing at the door wondering what in the world he wa
s doing. He wove through the store, back to the display where he’d found the cuff and picked up something. He made his way to the cashier and paid for whatever he’d gotten and was by my side once more.
“What’d you get?” I asked, peering at the bag.
“Nosy much, Bly?” he teased me, holding it away from me.
I nudged his side with my hip. “Hey, that’s our joint money for babysitting. You can’t just go and get whatever you want with it.” I grinned to let him know I was just kidding. But I was curious.
“Even if it’s for you?” he asked, brow raised.
Suddenly, for the first time that afternoon, I felt unsure. Walker bought something for me? “You got something for me?”
I must have sounded as surprised as I felt, because his playful expression turned serious and maybe a little insecure.
“Yes?” he answered, but it sounded like a question.
My lips turned up into a little smile. “Well, are you gonna give it to me?”
Walker’s face relaxed into a teasing grin. “I don’t know, you’re being awful greedy about this, Bly.” He still held the bag out of my reach.
“Fine.” I folded my arms across my chest and stuck out my lower lip. “If that’s how you’re going to be about it.”
Walker laughed and pulled me toward his side. “Bly, if you stick your lip out like that, I’m gonna have to kiss it.” His blue eyes laughed down at me, but beneath his playfulness, I could hear the earnestness in his voice as he said the words.
My breath hitched in my throat. His eyes found my lips and without thinking, I tucked my lower lip behind my teeth.
Walker
I don’t know how I’ve resisted, but I still haven’t kissed Blythe the way I want to. It kept me up last night after our almost kiss, the one Joy interrupted. This afternoon had been perfect. Blythe was so cute in her polka dot dress and sandals. I loved her red painted toe nails peeking out from beneath one of the straps. I loved how she’d hopped on her bike without even asking if we could borrow a car from one of our parents. She was so easy and fun to be around and I was seriously in jeopardy of falling for this girl.
The sight of her pouting lower lip had almost tempted me beyond my control and I’d promised myself not to rush things with Blythe. But damn, I’d only been around her for one week and I was ready to ask her to be my girlfriend. And now, with her hazel eyes gazing up at me and her lower lip stuck behind her perfect teeth, I’ve got to do something about it.
Slowly, I brought her hand, the one I’d been holding, up to my chest and rested it there. With one hand on her hip, I turned her to face me. Reaching up, I pulled her lip down with my thumb, entranced with the red fulness of it as it emerged from behind her teeth. And before I could talk myself out if it, I leaned forward and took it.
Blythe, my entire consciousness sighed her name. My lungs breathed her in and my mouth tasted. She tasted like sunshine and smiles. I kissed her softly, my mouth just barely open, even though I was dying to explore more. It was longer than the peck in the closet, but much shorter than what I wanted. When I pulled away, her eyes were still closed and it made me smile.
“Do you want what I got for you now,” I asked, my voice just above a whisper. I desperately didn’t want to break the spell between us, but we were standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk.
Her eyes blinked open and I couldn’t hold back my grin. I swear, I was holding her up and it was beyond satisfying to know she was like that because of me.
She nodded.
“Okay.” I released her just long enough to take her hand again and lead her to a nearby bench. First, I took the leather cuff from the bag and snapped it onto my wrist. I wasn’t that into jewelry, but I really liked the edgy look of the cuff and the engraving on the silver plate was badass.
“Ooh, I really like that,” Blythe said, then blushed deep red when I smiled at her.
“Yeah?” I asked and she nodded. “Good because I got you this.” I reached back into the bag and pulled out a ring. It was silver as well and wide. And it was stamped with the same engraving as the plate on the cuff. I’d been looking at it when I was deciding on the cuff. I talked myself out of it because, well, it seemed a bit much to get a ring for Blythe, but I just couldn’t walk out of that store without it.
“Oh, my goodness!” Her eyes were wide as she glanced between the two pieces as though she was trying to determine the significance of us wearing matching jewelry. I suddenly felt as though I needed to lighten the mood.
“Hey, we needed something to remind of us of our fun week and surviving babysitting our siblings, right?” I held out my hand, the ring resting in my palm.
Blythe smiled and then let out a breathy kind of laugh. “Yeah, we do, don’t we?” She picked up the ring and tried it on her finger. I’d found one that fit on my smallest finger, figuring it would fit on one of hers. She slid it onto her left index finger.
“I like it,” I told her. “It’s kinda hot.” And it was. Kind of a contrast to the girl-next-door look she wore so sweetly.
Blythe rolled her eyes. “Yeah, super hot.”
She had no idea. But I got a feeling it would scare her off if she did, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
“How about some dinner?” I asked, rising from the bench and holding my hand out to her.
“Sounds good to me.”
Chapter Ten
Blythe
We ate dinner at an outdoor cafe. Walker ordered a burger and fries and I had chicken salad. After, we shared a chocolate shake.
“Back to reality tomorrow, huh?” I said as we slowly walked our bikes up the drive to the beach house. It was late so we’d have to return them in the morning before we started for home.
Walker sighed. “Yeah. Football starts on Monday. I’m going to regret all the food I’ve eaten this week.” He tossed me a wry grin. “And the fact that I’ve done no conditioning.”
I nodded. “Me, too. I should have been running every day.”
“Does cross country start Monday, too?” he asked.
“Yep. First thing in the morning. Coach always does that so we can beat the heat of the day.” Stupid humid Indiana.
“I am not looking forward to that. One thing I did like about California- no humidity. I was hot, but it’s not the same.”
“And you guys are doing two-a-days, right?” I asked, wincing just thinking about it.
“Yeah, at ten and four.” His shoulders drooped and I had to laugh.
“I thought you liked football,” I teased, lighting punching his shoulder.
“I love football games, just not practice,” he replied. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I like practice, but I hate two-a-days and I hate when it’s hot. I’d rather play in the snow than in the heat.”
“Ha! Well, it is Indiana. You’ll probably get a chance to do both.” And it was true. Indiana is known for its rapidly changing weather. It isn’t all that unheard of to experience ice, hail, sunshine, and even a tornado warning, all in one day.
“Yeah, I remember that about Indy.” He stopped walking and set the kickstand on his bike before reaching over to do the same with mine. “I had fun, Bly.”
He held my gaze with his own. I heard the sincerity in his voice and it made my heart pound. “I did, too.”
He took a step toward me and I held my breath. Would he kiss me again?
“Hey, you two, did you have fun?”
We both looked up to see my mom’s smiling face hanging out over the deck railing above us.
I turned to Walker again with raised brows. He shrugged and let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, Mrs. R, we had fun.”
“Where did you go?” she asked.
“We better go up there,” Walker said softly.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “We should.”
“We’ll come up and Blythe can tell you all about it,” he called up, grinning at me.
“Yes! And then you both need to double check that you have everything packed.” And with t
hat her face disappeared again.
“You better get up there and tell her all about it,” he smiled again.
I rolled my eyes and made my way toward the wooden steps that led up to the deck. I stopped, my foot on the bottom step and looked back at him. “Thanks, Walker.”
He smiled his bone melting smile. “Thank you, Blythe.”
Walker
The next morning it was over. We packed up the rest of our gear into our SUV and we were on our way back to Indiana. As we drove away, I couldn’t help but think over our week with the Richardson’s at the beach house. My week with Blythe. I wondered how the friendship, if that’s what it was, that we’d developed would translate into our life back home. Ha. A life I hadn’t even really figured out for myself yet.
We arrived home late on Saturday night, exhausted from a long day in the car. Even though I’d slept a good portion of the way home, I still fell into my bed and slept in until noon on Sunday. I spent the rest of the day unpacking my room and finding all the gear I would need to start football the next day. And I thought about Blythe the whole time. I caught myself looking out my window every half hour or so since my window faced her house. I had no idea which window was hers, but somehow hoped it was one of the ones facing our house.
Before falling asleep, I sent her a text, wishing her good luck at her early morning practice the next day.
Bly: You too. *smiley emoji*
Me: Do you have a ride?
Bly: My dad can drop me off on his way to work and mom will pick me up.
Me: I wish our practices lined up. I’d give you a ride.
Bly: It’s ok. Thanks though.
Me: You still gonna ride with me to school?
Us at the Beach Page 6