by Amy Sparling
I step to the side and hang out near a water fountain in the middle of the room and call Mom. She answers after several rings. “Hey honey, how did it go?”
“It went great,” I say, trying not to look too excited in front of the older college students that are mulling around. “I got my class.”
“That’s good. Are you all done?”
“Yep.” Apparently the Starbucks wasn’t that busy because to my horror, I see Park walking toward me, holding two paper cups of coffee. “I should probably go,” I tell her right in the middle of whatever she was saying back to me.
“Wait,” Mom says. There’s shuffling on the other line, the sound of a car door beeping because it’s been left open while the key is in the ignition. I realize she’s not sitting at home watching television. She’s in her car somewhere. “I figured we could get lunch to celebrate you being a college kid now. Does Mexican food sound good?”
My heart leaps into my throat. “Um, no Mom, I can’t—” I try to think of a reasonable excuse as to why I can’t go with her, but my brain completely freezes up, leaving me helpless.
“I’m at the college now. I think I see your car…I’ll go park by it.”
“What? No,” I stammer. “That’s probably not me.”
I guess it’s not unusual for more than one person to have an old Corolla, but whatever car she sees, I can be sure it’s not mine. Because my car is in Bayleigh’s parking lot in Mixon, Texas. “Mom I can’t meet up with you because I’m busy,” I finally manage to say.
“What are you doing? Did you get called into work? I can just bring you food.”
“No, that’s not it,” I say. Park saunters up next to me, handing me one of the cups. “Extra sugar, because you seem like an extra sugar person.”
I smile and mouth the word thanks. Then I turn back to the conversation with my mom. “It’s not work, it’s um, this college thing. Like an orientation.”
“I don’t remember reading about that.”
“Yeah, it’s optional, but I really want to go. I see some friends here so I think I’ll just hang out a while.”
“Oh, well okay. Would you like me to stop by and see the school? Help you find your classes?”
“Mom,” I groan. “No. Sorry but no. I’m in college now, you can’t have your parents hang out with you.”
“Okay, okay. Fine.” The disappointment in her voice is obvious but if I weren’t lying to her, I wouldn’t feel bad. It’s true…college students don’t need their parents hanging out with them on campus.
“I’ll call you later.”
“Let me know how it goes!” I hear her car start up again.
“I will, Mom.”
The moment I hang up the phone, Park starts in on me. “Was that your mother? You were lying to your mother? I can’t believe you did that.”
“Shut up,” I say, sipping from my coffee and leading the way toward the parking lot. “I had to lie to her because you are with me.”
“And you’re embarrassed of me?” He nudges me with his shoulder as we walk. “That’s so mean of you, Becca.”
“I’m not embarrassed of you. I’m not anything of you. I don’t even know you.”
“You keep saying that,” he says. He taps his finger against the cup in his hand. “I’d love for you to get to know me better.”
“What does that mean?”
We’re at his truck now, both of us on the same side. The passenger side. He unlocks the door with the remote on his keys and then pulls open the door for me. “It means I think you should know me better. And I should know you better.” He’s standing entirely too close right now. His hand rests on the inside of the passenger door and the truck is so tall that I need to hold onto the door to climb inside. I wonder if he knows that. If he’s trying to get in my way on purpose so I’ll have to touch him.
Instead of climbing into the truck, I put a hand on my hip. “Are you hitting on me, Nolan Park?”
He puts a hand on his hip, an embarrassingly girly pose that is meant to mock me. “Yes I am, Becca…whatever your last name is.”
I climb into the truck, making sure my ass brushes against his arm on the way up. “Someone who’d like to get to know me better might start by learning my last name.”
He leans into the truck, stopping his face just inches from mine. “I’ll know your last name by the end of the day. Promise.”
Chapter 10
The sun is setting and I’m sitting dangerously close to Nolan Park on Bayleigh’s couch. We’ve rented a movie and ordered a pizza and I have entirely too many butterflies in my stomach to bother eating any of it. He is so close and he smells so good and I can’t focus on anything.
I don’t know how this happened. Seriously.
Like a bunny rabbit following a carrot on a string, I’ve fallen into his trap. He leans forward, places his drink on the coffee table and then leans back into the couch, sliding a few inches closer to me. He nudges my shoulder with his, leaning over, looking down into my eyes, his lips just inches from mine. “You ready to watch the movie?”
That is so not what I thought he was going to say. I nod, probably a little too eagerly. “Of course I want to watch the movie, I’m the one who picked it out.”
He laughs. “Then why are you staring at me instead of the television?”
I roll my eyes and look away. He starts the movie and we settle more comfortably on the couch. Our shoulders touch but he’s tall enough that his shoulder makes a perfect ledge that I could totally rest my head on if I were to get the courage. For now, I tuck my hands into my sides and lean my head against the back of the couch.
I don’t know what exactly we’re doing. But I don’t want it to stop. We’ve spent the entire day together, from waking up this morning to driving to the college and then having lunch together at a small place called the Sunflower Café. When he brought me back to Mixon to get my car, I ended up hanging out a little longer than I realized. We talked and laughed and watered Jace and Bayleigh’s plants together.
I was just starting to think that he was somebody I could love being around. And that’s when he had said the magic words. “You should stay over here another night.”
“Why’s that?” I’d replied, giving him the coyest of all coy smiles.
“I’m all alone in this tiny town and I’m bored. We could hang out.”
He flashed me that freaking smile and it was all over. My mother was surprisingly cool with it when I called her and asked if it was okay for me to spend another night at Bayleigh’s apartment. I told her it was fun to watch as much TV as I wanted without having to keep the volume down since Dad sleeps during the day for his night shifts. Also, I might have made a teensy lie about how Bayleigh’s apartment was full of leftover wedding stuff and I wanted to get it all cleaned up and nice for her when she returned home. Mom thought that was very sweet of me.
Biggest lie ever.
Bayleigh’s apartment is spotless, as always. But in the effort of not being a complete and total liar to my own mother, I promise myself to clean up as much as I can before I leave.
The movie is still in the opening sequence, a musical number with swirly painted scenes scrolling across the screen while the names of the movie stars fade into view. I can’t help myself. I turn my face up so that my cheek is pressed against Park’s shoulder. “Why are we doing this?” I ask.
“Well I assumed it was because you wanted to see the most girly movie in existence,” he says. “I would have been happy with an action film…or a comedy…or even a tragedy…”
“I don’t mean the movie,” I say, lifting up from the comfortable position on his arm. “I mean this. Me and you, watching a movie, hanging out. Nothing good can come of this?”
“Nothing good?” Concern flickers across his face. “Do you really mean that?”
As much as it hurts to admit that I’m a dorky loser who doesn’t want to just hook up with a guy for the fun of it, I nod. “I’m sorry, Park but…I’m just not that
kind of girl.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “What kind of girl?”
I sigh because he can’t just get the picture without making me explain it. And I’d really like to not explain it. It’s embarrassing. But if a girl doesn’t keep her morals, then she has no reason to be proud of who she is. “You know…the kind of girl who does this kind of thing…” I gesture vaguely in the air.
“What kind of thing? Watch a movie with someone awesome?”
I sit up straighter. “Park you know that’s not what this is. This is pretending to watch a movie for other reasons. And I’m sorry and you’re super hot but it’s just not going to happen. I’m not the kind of girl who can have a one night stand and then go about her life like it was no big deal. It would kill me. I’m sorry but it would.”
“Wait, no.” Park stands up and then sits back down on the coffee table, facing me. “First of all, stop apologizing. You should never say you’re sorry for something like that. And secondly…” He points to his finger as if he was about to number off more things to say, but instead, he chews on his bottom lip and avoids looking me in the eye. “I just…it’s not like that. I mean yeah, I was hoping we’d make out, but I’m offended that you’d call it a one night stand.” His eyes slowly lift toward mine. I sit rigid on the couch, arms wrapped around myself, eyes unable to do anything but stare at him as he reveals more of himself than he’s done all day. “I want to be close to you, I want to know you. I…definitely wanted to kiss you but…it wouldn’t have been a one night stand. It’s not like that with you.”
“Really, Park?” My voice sounds stronger than I feel, and it catches me off guard. “You live in California and I live in Texas. Please tell me how this would be anything other than a one night stand.”
“It wouldn’t have been a one night stand. I planned on staying here as long as I could and getting to know you. I wanted to learn everything I could about you and then just figure it out along the way. I know this sounds crazy but I was hoping you’d feel the same way.”
“Right, so in a few days when your credit card gets here, you’re not going to pack up and leave immediately so you can go back to your beautiful state with all the ‘nice’ girls?”
He shakes his head. “No, I won’t.”
“How do you know that?”
For once since I’ve known him, he actually looks embarrassed. “Because my card was shipped overnight. It’s already here. I just needed an excuse to stay longer.”
I don’t even know what to say to that but I think I’m smiling. After a few moments of awkward silence, the words come to me. “You wanted more than a one night stand and yet you thought you’d start off the relationship with a lie?” I cock my head to the side. “And how exactly did you think that would work out in your favor?”
“I didn’t think,” he says, shaking his head. “I never think. I just act on impulse. Trust me, there was no thinking involved when I met you at the wedding. I just knew I had to know you.”
“You’re talking like a crazy person.”
His smile softens. He drops back to the couch, turning to face me, letting our knees touch. “You’re making me a crazy person. This isn’t like me. I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Yeah, but I also can’t stop thinking about you and it’s probably because we’ve been together all day.”
“That’s my point.” His hand slides onto my knee, spreading a tingly warmth thorough my whole leg. He looks down at his hand, at the goose bumps prickling my skin underneath his touch, and he smiles. “I should be sick of you by now. We’ve spent the entire day together. With any other girl, I would have started hinting for you to leave, like hours ago. I would have probably made a move on you because you’re so hot and then I’d have bailed. But it’s not like that with you.”
“Probably because you haven’t made a move on me,” I say, trying not to forget how the corner of his lips turned up when he said I was hot. “You keep saying crap like that, but you haven’t made a single move all day, Park. I think you’re just full of shit.”
There’s barely any time to register the sinister smile that flashes across his features in the second before his lips meet mine. He tastes like Cherry Coke and his lips are full, warm and inviting. Chills dance across my cheek when he slides his hand down my face, toward my neck. His fingers wrap around the back of my neck, pulling me into him.
He doesn’t need to pull me—I am all his and I am eager to fall into him, kissing him with abandon. Kissing him like I’ve never been kissed before. His fingers dig into my hair as a yearning to deepen the kiss takes over him. His tongue slides over my bottom lip, slipping my lip between his teeth. I shudder in pleasure and lean into him, needing him, wanting to be closer and closer.
I press into him, sliding my hands across his hard chest and up over his shoulders. He wraps a strong arm around my waist and shifts, pulling me straight into his lap. I move my legs to where I’m straddling him on the couch. Our eyes meet.
I feel like giggling, but I don’t. I stare straight into his clear blue eyes and give him a sultry smile. He draws in a deep breath, his eyes sweeping down my body and then back up again. His hands slide up my thighs and tuck under my butt. My eyes close when he nuzzles into my neck, his soft breath tickling my skin as he leaves behind a trail of kisses.
His mouth hovers on my neck for just a moment before his tongue grazes across my flesh. A groan escapes me and I clutch to him, digging my fingers into his shoulders and pressing my body into his.
And then my phone rings.
I have to gasp for breath. That’s how totally out of reality I’ve fallen. “That’s Bayleigh’s ringtone,” I whisper, suddenly scared that my breath smells bad. After all of this, kissing, faces pressed together—now I’m suddenly worried about bad hygiene? I really need to get my priorities together. “I should get it,” I say after the third ring. “It could be important.”
He nods, watching his finger as he traces circles on my thigh. “You should get it.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’m just going to get up…” Why, oh, why is it so hard to get up?
I answer the phone, breathless.
“Were you sleeping?” Is the first thing Bayleigh says. “I didn’t realize it was so late. What time is it over there?”
“You’re in a different time zone?” I ask, confused by the idea at first. But I guess when you have your own private airplane on your honeymoon, you can fly wherever you want to go.
“We’re in New York City! We’re about to see a Broadway show.”
“Wow, sounds fun. Why are you bothering to call me on your honeymoon, missy? You should be off having sex and stuff.”
She laughs. “Don’t worry, we’re taking care of that. I just had to tell you that Jace thinks he left some vegetables in the fridge and he wanted me to see if you’ll throw them out before they get all moldy and smelly and disgusting.”
“Sure thing, I’ll check it out,” I say, getting up and heading to the kitchen without even thinking about it. “Looks like the asparagus is already pretty gross,” I say, taking it out of the vegetable drawer with my nose crinkled up.
“You’re over there right now?” she asks, curious. “Is Park still there?”
“Yeah,” I say sheepishly. Then, lower so he can’t overhear, “That’s kind of why I’m here.”
She gasps on the other side of the phone and then bursts into laughter. “You’re a bad girl, Becca Sosa!”
“No…no it’s not like that. I mean it’s a little like that but-” I stop talking when I hear a shuffling on the other end—she whispers something to Jace, presumably what she just found out about me and Park. I dispose of the vegetables and then walk back into the living room. There’s more shuffling and then a deep voice comes on to the phone. “Becca?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Park meets me near the couch, coming up behind me and sliding his arms around my waist. The feel of his hands on my stomach sends tingles down my entire body.
Jace’
s voice quickly makes them go away. “Look, I won’t tell you how to live your life or anything, but you should stay away from Park.”
I freeze. “What do you mean by that?”
Park steps closer, pressing his body into my back. His fingers trail down my arms and he leans in, gently kissing my neck while I hold the phone to the other ear. Jace sighs into the phone and I can tell he’s struggling with what he wants to say. “He’s a good guy and all, but he’s a player. He’s not like me. He loves the spotlight and the fame that comes with racing. It’s not surprising that he would try to hook up with you, but I just don’t want you to get hurt. Especially not by my own friend.”
My stomach twists into knots and I find the strength to step away from Park’s embrace. “Thanks, Jace.” My voice is a dejected display of what I feel inside. “Goodnight.”
Chapter 11
As much as I’d like to say that hearing news about Park’s reputation made me hastily grab all of my things and bolt out of the door, back home to the safety of my bedroom in my small town where nothing bad will ever happen to my heart…it doesn’t exactly happen that way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not thrilled with learning about Park’s less than stellar reputation, but I kind of already knew that from the way he talked at the college today.
Park isn’t like Braedon. He’s not safe. He won’t play the role of sweet but shy boyfriend and wait until he thinks it’s okay to kiss me or slide his hand down my shirt. Park is gorgeous, rich, and famous in the motocross racing world. If he wants something, he’ll work hard to get it.
And now he wants me.
Knowing this should make me freak out with insecurities. But for some reason, I just want to be around him even more now. I know it’s stupid. Trust me, I do. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I took the advice of just about every college student and lived my life a little. I don’t need one special boyfriend. I could date around. It might be fun and it would definitely not end in heartbreak if I don’t allow myself to get emotionally invested.