Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series)

by Cooksey, Jenn

  I gotta admit, that felt good. So good in fact that I almost want to turn back around and rub it in a little more. But, no. That would be overkill, don’t you think? Maybe I can talk Tristan into doing a little gratuitous smooching in front of her sometime though. That could be fun.

  I’m starting to think that Tristan’s little lunch speech had effectively greased the wheels of the rumor mill. Well, it’s not really a rumor going around, but you know what I mean. A bunch of the kids in my P.E. class were talking about what they heard about Mike’s party and because there were very few underclassmen there, they were asking me what was true and what wasn’t. It was a little weird. I wasn’t embarrassed or anything, but some of the awed looks I got from people, both girls and boys, who obviously think of Tristan as a god or as their idol, made me sort of uncomfortable. Even though, I’ll be honest here, I still fall in that category myself. The god one, not the idol one... So anyway, I was grateful for both Kate and Melissa in dance when they fielded the majority of questions worth giving an answer to with experience and expertise.

  I guess this is what it feels like to be able to write your own ticket socially. It’s popularity. And it’s the good kind, but it’s odd. I can now totally understand and appreciate why Tristan prefers to keep what he does private—even if it doesn’t always work.

  I also found out Tristan was completely aware of our bodyguard waiting in the wings during lunch. During dance, Kate told me that Conner had told Jeff what was happening and he in turn grabbed Pete. The three of them were just kind of observing but when Zack started running his mouth and they realized how Tristan wanted to handle it, Jeff sent Tristan a text letting him know they had us covered. And you might think I’d feel a little weird about Jeff knowing so much about how Tristan and I are together, but I don’t. Jeff is good people just like Kate and I’ve kind of come to love him like a brother.

  Anyhow, when the bell rang and school was officially over, Tristan, Jeff, and Keith, who’s pretty much cut ties with Zack for the time being, joined Melissa, Kate, and me in between locker rooms for some frivolous flirting. Well, the other four did; Tristan and I don’t really flirt. We tease, and we tease well, but it’s not the same. And actually, a lot of times we were asked what we were talking about or what was funny because we were communicating in inside jokes that we haven’t yet seen fit to share. Tristan never quite gave a direct answer to those questions either. During one of those instances, Tristan had taken his shirt off and was about to pull it over my head like he had during Mike’s party when I was holding my torn top to my chest, when Melissa stopped him.

  “Oh, you have one too… Camie, I hate to say it but, you can’t draw.”

  “Yeah I know.”

  “So um…what is this exactly?” She asked, examining his arm and then mine in comparison.

  “Our contract,” he said it so simply but the look he threw me when he did gave me goose bumps. “Oh, that reminds me…be right back.”

  I shrugged my shoulders when he left us to go into the boys’ locker room. Thankfully, “Dear Jeff” distracted Melissa from scrutinizing my tattoo further, and then she and Keith departed to the appropriate locker rooms to change as well. And it’s not that I don’t trust her or Keith or anything like that at all, but some things need to stay between Tristan and me. Kate might know what the symbolism means and she might not, but she hasn’t asked and I doubt she will. And since I can’t help it if one of Jeff’s super powers just happens to be that he can pick up on almost any inside joke, whether he was inside or outside, I don’t really care that he knows what it all means. Besides, he rarely says anything that Tristan or I would consider an invasion of privacy. He might tease us, but no one really gets what he’s teasing us about, so it’s okay. It’s like he speaks in code.

  OH! I can speak in code! I have a power! YAY me!

  Having changed into his regular clothes, Tristan came back out and tossed something at me.

  I caught the pouch of Big League Chew bubble gum and raised my ear to him as he bent to whisper, “For when we bring you up from the minors.”

  Then he pulled the cap off a fine tip Sharpie and added the letters NWOG on my arm in between second and third base where the short stop would play.

  Yeah, he can keep dreaming, but I’ve discovered I like messing with him so I opened the pouch and pulled out a decent amount of the stringy gum, stuck it in my mouth and gave him a “look.”

  “Keep it up Camie…”

  “I thought I was.” I couldn’t help it.

  His eyes flashed at me and I worried for a second that I should’ve maybe just kept my mouth shut but he recovered fairly quickly. “Okay, enough of that, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. I’m gonna go collect my winnings from Mike, you go get changed and then we can get the hell outta here.”

  “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that…wait for me.” Jeff said over his shoulder as he ran into the locker room to change.

  “You bet?” I asked. I don’t know why I’m surprised though.

  “Yeah, before I left Mike’s on Sunday.”

  “Broken or not broken?”

  “Totally broken.”

  “How did you know?” He just gave me a look like he was wondering how I could’ve had any doubts. “Well, it did look pretty ugly today but you didn’t even see him after the fight so, I’m just wondering why you’re so sure.” I mean I certainly wouldn’t have put money on it or anything.

  “Trust me, I’m the one who did it…it’s broken.”

  “I heard a doctor say it’s actually kinda hard to break a nose,” Kate commented.

  “Nah, it really just depends on the angle and placement of where you hit ‘em. It only took me one hit…I felt it go the second it did.”

  “You say that like you’re disappointed or something.” Actually, it sounded like he wasn’t satisfied with having “only” broken a bone in Zack’s face.

  He gave me another look but I couldn’t figure this one out. “Hurry up, go get changed and I’ll meet you at the car.”

  “What car?” This time I was able read his expression. It was one of questioning how I’d had the time to get a lobotomy while he’d been changing. “Well how am I supposed to know?! I don’t know what you do after school! I mean you have water polo um...stuff, homework, and umm, whatever else it is that you do and I don’t like to just assume, you know?”

  “Okay, well, let’s put it this way,” Tristan said to me and then turned to face Kate who was giggling at me. “Kate, you are hereby relieved of your chauffeuring duties indefinitely. And Camie, you might wanna call home and tell your mom you’re gonna be late. I wasn’t bullshitting with that picture I stuck in your locker...the girls miss you.” Then he kissed me on the forehead and wandered away to find Mike.

  Kate and I walked back into the locker room together and while we were swapping our dance clothes for regular attire, I asked her what she thought about that look of his that I couldn’t decipher.

  “He won’t say it, but I really think Zack got off easy. Tristan’s very much aware of his temper and that’s essentially why he avoids people and situations that have the potential to get the better of him through it. Now throw in his massive jealousy over you and it’s a wonder Zack even walked away from that fight. That’s also why Jeff’s been laughing his ass off about how Tristan’s been treating Pete. He thinks Tristan’s jealousy is hysterical and honestly, I think it’s a little funny too…”

  I kinda do too. I think…

  26.

  Do You Wanna Tell ‘Em or Should I?

  On the way to Tristan’s, I asked him about the whole jealousy thing. Really, it’s funny and all but I’m wondering if it’ll ever ease up.

  “So um, I wanna ask you something and I kinda need a straightforward answer.”

  “From the sound of that, I don’t think I’ll like being straightforward but ask away.”

  “Well, is the whole jealousy thing ever gonna wear off? I don’t think I’ll mind too much if it d
oesn’t, but if that’s the case then I need to have this information before I unknowingly cause another brawl by simply being friendly with another guy.”

  He gave me a quick glance that looked to me like just the thought of me being friendly with another guy isn’t something he wants to consider. “I don’t know, but I kinda doubt it.”

  “Okay, well how about giving me some guidelines…like with Pete, I don’t wanna come between you guys.”

  “Pete and I are good...” I just waited because he totally said it like there was more. His eyes flicked to me again and he finished with a grin. “…As long as he doesn’t touch you.”

  “At all?”

  “At all.”

  “You can’t be serious about that.” I mean really, it’s not like he has anything to worry about with me and another guy, especially Pete.

  “I can and I am. It’s not just him though… Really, Camie, I don’t want a single other person of the male persuasion laying a finger on you.”

  Well I guess that answers my question then.

  “Not even high-fives? Oh, and what about family? Because we’re huggers and I’m prone to holding Derek’s hand.”

  I’m kind of teasing him now. I really don’t mind that he’s jealous. In fact, I kind of like it. I’m thinking of it as one of the ways he has to show me how he feels about me without saying it.

  “Holding hands with Derek is debatable...I remember how you used him to torment me all too clearly. High-fives I can probably handle. Hugging immediate family’s okay too, but anything past hugging and I’ll have some of the same issues God would have that. Also, I can’t guarantee hugging anyone past a first cousin will go over well.”

  He’s got a really cute grin on his face now so I know he’s playing along and able to find the humor in an otherwise sober situation, which I find to be sort of a relief. I mean sometimes, you just gotta be able to laugh at yourself, you know?

  “Maybe I should just wear a hazmat suit.” I’m totally joking, but I do think his earnest jealousy makes me hazardous to other guys’ health.

  “Hey, there’s an idea!” He said and started to laugh.

  “It might help you out with keeping to our contract too…I’m sure it’d slow you down at least a little bit at getting my bra undone.”

  “Nah. Zippers, snaps, hooks…pretty much all the same.”

  “I could look into padlocks…”

  “I’d say be my guest, but I think I’d take it as a challenge and I’m sorta competitive. Besides, you’re enough of a challenge on your own and I have a feeling you’re not gonna make it easy for me to keep my end of the bargain as it is.”

  “Warning or threat?”

  “Neither. I think I’m screwed.”

  “Well that’d clearly be a contract violation.”

  Tristan gave me another quick look and said, “You see my point.”

  He pulled down into the long driveway of his house and parked next to a Land Rover that I haven’t seen before. I’m guessing it belongs to one of his parents, but I wasn’t expecting to meet either of them today so all of a sudden, I’m finding myself approaching something like a panic attack. All I can think about is the conversation about my bra written in his bedroom. I’m assuming the damned thing is still hanging on the bulletin board too.

  Ugh. This is gonna be uber-uncomfortable, I just know it.

  “Relax. It’d have to happen eventually. If it helps, they’ll be more afraid of you than you are of them,” he said, chuckling at his little joke that was meant to induce confidence.

  “I find that extremely hard to believe, Tristan.”

  “No, it’s true! Watch, they won’t know what the hell to do.”

  “Why not?”

  “Hi, remember me? The recently reformed promiscuous reprobate? Yeah, I’ve never brought a girl home except Kate, and well, she doesn’t count. Plus, the only time she’s ever been here without Jeff was when my parents babysat her and even then, he was almost always here too.”

  Crap. That makes it even worse.

  I started whimpering and dragging my feet.

  “Want me to distract you before we go in?” He waggled his brows at me and gave me a teasing grin.

  “NO! Are you kidding? I’m so not gonna meet either of your parents right after you kiss me! I’ll look like I’m on drugs!”

  He laughed at me. “Not either. Both.”

  “What?!”

  “They’re both home. Come on, let’s get it over with…I promise you’ll be fine but, how much do ya wanna bet one or both of them starts drinking before we leave?”

  Oh God, please help me not make a complete moronic fool out of myself.

  He led me to the door and gave me a really quick kiss, which actually did calm my nerves. Well, not exactly calm them, but I was more relaxed when he took me into the house and into the sunk-in family room where sitting in separate, but really comfy looking chairs were his parents. Tristan’s dad was reading a newspaper and his mom was reading a book. I zeroed in on the title and saw that it was Homer’s The Odyssey. Okay, nothing to freak out about…it’s just a little light reading. NOT. I mean I’ve read it and I enjoyed it too, but it’s not exactly what normal people read to pass the time, you know?! Anyway, his parents both welcomed him home but neither of them looked up as he led me by the hand to the sofa and plopped down on it, pulling me with him as he put his arm around me.

  “So, how was your day?” His dad asked and I noticed he wasn’t exactly “reading” the paper. He was doing the New York Times’ crossword…in freaking ink.

  Well, that’s not intimidating at all either! And again I say ugh.

  “Eventful,” Tristan answered with nonchalance.

  “How so?” This came from his mom. It’s kind of funny, they have no idea I’m sitting here.

  “Do you wanna tell ‘em or should I?” Tristan asked me as he stretched his legs out on the table in front of us, looking particularly amused—and smug.

  “Why don’t you...” The sound of my voice totally got their attention though, and I have to give him credit here, Tristan did a splendid job of keeping his laughter at their shocked expressions from coming forth.

  “So be it.”

  Uh-oh. That doesn’t bode well… From how he said it, I immediately remembered that that’s a line from Jillian’s theme song “Don’t Tread On Me” and now I’m wondering if he’s finally going to get even for the teasing I’ve been doing today. I’ll kill him if he does…

  “Well, first I made a spectacle of myself this morning, however I had an excellent reason and it paid off, so I ditched two classes and got a tattoo, and then two girls put their hand down my pants, separately of course…the first chick pissed me off, but the second one is welcome to visit any time.”

  He’s not getting even, but I still think I would’ve been better off telling them. And he said all that like it could’ve been an everyday occurrence! Once again, ugh.

  “Let’s see, what happened next? Oh yeah, I aced the test I took in trig, I missed an opportunity because I didn’t have gum so I bought some, then I asked to be hit, I presented one award and accepted a couple others for my behavior Saturday night, and then I invited the gossips to talk about why I’d been violating the school’s dress code all day. And finally, I won two hundred bucks. I think that’s it.

  “Oh, I almost forgot…this is Camie. Actually, her name is Cameron but I tried it out once and it didn’t feel right, so, I prefer to use the cute nickname. And you guys probably won’t believe this, but it just so happens that the events of her day sorta acted as a catalyst to mine. Well, aside from the trig test that is.”

  I couldn’t help it. I clapped.

  Tristan said, “Thanks baby,” and then he beamed a not-so innocent smile at his parents who are still wide-eyed.

  “Eventful indeed,” his mom said, having finally recovered from her shock of either having me in their house or his version of our day, I’m not sure which.

  And now that I can see
them without leaves obstructing my sight, I can totally see where Tristan gets his god-like build from and if Tristan’s body looks this good at his dad’s age and we’re still together, then I gotta say, WooHoo for me! He gets his drop-dead gorgeous good looks from his mom though. She’s beautiful. And he totally has her eyes.

  “He gets his sense of humor and good taste from you my love,” his dad said and winked at his mom whose eyes are doing that sparkling thing that Tristan’s do.

  “Ah, I’m so sorry. In my shock I’ve lost my manners…it’s such a pleasure to actually meet you, Camie.”

  “You too, Mrs. Daniels.”

  Tristan started laughing at his dad’s awkward expression and then with a rather mild Texan twang, his dad explained. “Darlin’, you gotta forgive us, his friends have been callin’ us Mom and Dad for so long that when we hear Mr. or Mrs. Daniels come outta a young person’s mouth, we automatically think of my parents. I’m Stan, that’s Trinity, but you call us whatever your pretty little heart desires.”

  Aw, how sweet is that? My pretty little heart… I think I’m blushing.

  “Really dear, we’re just glad he brought you home.”

  “He’s sitting right here you know,” Tristan said blandly, but when I looked at him, his expression was still amused.