Soaked

by Courtney Elliott

  Me: Hey, can you ask them how they feel about a fourth girl in their group?

  West: They said no new members.

  Me: Oh well, guess I’ll just have to make my own sign then.

  West: …

  Me: I’m only kidding. Jeez.

  West: :)

  Me: I already made a sign last week.

  West: Keep it up, and I won’t tell you my surprise.

  Me: Ooh, what is it?

  West: Not until you take it back.

  Me: Fine, I didn’t make a sign.

  West: …

  Me: I also think you’re the best player on the whole Houston team.

  West: …

  Me: And the best looking.

  West: Much better. Alright, you may want to sit down for this. Drum roll please. I’M COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

  Me: Really?

  West: For two weeks.

  Me: That’s great!

  West: You better be ready because I’m going to come see you. Like first thing.

  Me: Are you bringing Sam with you? Because otherwise, I might be busy.

  West: You’ve become hateful since I’ve been gone.

  Me: Only teasing. I can’t wait to see you.

  West: Yeah, I’ve been missing you like crazy.

  Me: Same here.

  We had reached the inevitable point in our conversation. The one that we seemed to reach every time we talked. Even though, we had both decided that the most we would be while I was still seventeen was friends, we both still flirted with that line. At some point in our talks, we would hit that line where we went from friends to maybe something more. I lived for that point.

  West: I wish I could come visit sooner. Maybe you could take a college day and come down here?

  Me: Doubtful. Besides, Dad usually comes with me on those trips.

  West: I could take him. Or at least, I would try to take him.

  Me: Then Sam would definitely be the better looking one.

  West: Sam is a tool.

  Me: Jealous?

  West: Definitely.

  Me: No need. You are the only guy I’ve ever seen.

  West: Send me a picture.

  Me: Now? I look horrible. My hair is a mess, I’m in sweats, and my glasses are on.

  West: My favorite look of all.

  I smiled at his compliment. Then I turned the camera on and snapped a quick picture of myself. I sent it and waited for the little bar to cross the screen. A few seconds passed before his reply came through.

  West: You are so beautiful Lennon.

  Another ping followed with a picture. I opened it up and my mouth fell open. West was lying on his back, shirtless with that dimpled grin of his. The photo only showed part of his body, but I could still see several lines of well defined muscles. It really wasn’t fair how good he actually looked. I wanted to say something flirty back to him, but I couldn’t think of anything. Before I could come up with something, another message came from him.

  West: I’m about to pass out. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Sweet dreams Lennon.

  Me: Goodnight West.

  I spent another few seconds just staring at the picture he had sent me before finally shutting off my phone and going to bed myself.

  Thirteen

  Christmas had never taken so long to get there. I had been counting down the days ever since West had first told me he would be coming home to visit. I couldn’t wait to see him, and I had been trying to think of how to make that happen. While Mom hadn’t mentioned our talk at all, I knew she was still against me being alone with him. That just meant I was going to have to get crafty with it.

  The only part that left a little cause for concern was Katie. Matt had gone away with his family for Christmas so she was back to being attached to my hip. I was happy to have my best friend back, but I knew she was going to make being alone with West, difficult.

  My phone pinged and I checked the screen. My smile was involuntary when I saw West’s code name.

  West: I’m about twenty minutes out.

  Me: I’ll meet you out front.

  Twenty minutes didn’t really give me a lot of time, but I wasn’t about to let that deter me. I went into the bathroom and attempted to fix my mass of hair. I thought about curling it, but before I could even finish half of it, the first bit had gone flat. I gave up and put it up in a messy bun. I definitely wasn’t looking my best, but it would have to do. Besides, according to West, I looked beautiful when I thought I was at my worst so I figured I would be alright.

  I added a bit of mascara before making my way quietly down the hallway. As usual, Dad was at work so that just left Mom to sneak by. She was in the living room with Jameson. The TV was turned to one of his favorite cartoons while Mom sat in her chair, crocheting. I tiptoed as quietly as I could to the front door.

  Thankfully, it didn’t make any noise and I was able to make it outside without her being the wiser. A happy smile found my face as I saw West’s familiar black Chevy pulling up to a stop at the edge of the driveway. My legs moved of their own accord toward him. He had a wide smile on his handsome face complete with my favorite dimple. He watched me as I made my way around the front of his truck and climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Man, are you a sight for sore eyes,” he said happily. I grinned over at him while he put his truck in gear and pulled back onto the road. I couldn’t stop smiling as we made our way through town. Apparently, neither could he.

  “You can change the radio if you want,” he said. I glanced over and noticed it was already on my favorite station. So instead I went with turning it up. “I love this song.” I smiled as the lyrics to Hotel California filled the air around us.

  “It’s amazing.”

  “The Eagles are my favorite band,” he admitted.

  “They’re great. I’m a little partial to Freddie Mercury myself though. Bohemian Rhapsody is a gift to the ears.” West chuckled at that and gave a nod.

  “Very true.” He was still smiling as he looked over at me. “I didn’t know you liked the older stuff. I pegged you as a NSYNC fan or whatever you girls listen to these days.” I scrunched my nose up at the suggestion.

  “NSYNC broke up like six years ago, and while they did have some catchy songs, I don’t think they had anything on bands back then.” He glanced over at me.

  “I couldn’t agree more.” We both turned our attention back to the road and I noticed he was heading out of the city limits.

  “Where are we going?” He gave a shrug of his shoulders.

  “Nowhere really. I was kind of just driving.” He looked over at me and smiled again. “How about we play a game.”

  “What kind of game?” I asked skeptically.

  “We each ask ten questions and no matter what, we have to answer them completely honestly.” Well, that didn’t sound that bad.

  “Okay,” I said slowly. He turned down a road and turned the radio down low enough for us to be able to speak easily over it.

  “You can go first,” he said.

  “No, you go; I need time to think of something.” He narrowed his eyes as he seemed to think over what he wanted to know. Then he smiled.

  “Alright, I’ve got it. What’s your middle name?” I raised a brow at him. I was expecting something a lot worse from him.

  “Christine,” I said without missing a beat. “What made you ask that?”

  “Normally people are a lot less forthcoming with their middle names. I was trying to ease you into this.”

  “You can do better than that Blake,” I said with a smile. His eyes widened with surprise. “My turn, if you couldn’t play football, what would you do?”

  “Easy, I would open up a sports shop. One with everything for any kind of sport. I’m talking batting cages, hockey goals, everything a kid would need to be a great football player. Hell, I would even have fishing stuff.” I smiled at his answer. He looked over at me. “What about you?”

  “I want to be a teacher.” I saw a smile touch his
lips.

  “A teacher huh?”

  “Yeah, I think I could be really good at it. Plus, the idea of being able to help shape the minds of the future is kind of amazing.”

  “I think you would actually make a pretty great teacher.” He turned down another road and I looked out at our surroundings. I had no clue where we were, but he seemed so sure of where he was going. “If you couldn’t teach, what would you do?”

  “I think I would like to be a librarian or maybe open up my own bookstore. That could be fun.”

  “You really like to read, huh?”

  “I love reading. Every new book is like a whole new adventure. It’s a new hero with a new quest or a new great love story. I think it’s fascinating to be able to enter into the worlds that authors are able to create.”

  “Why not be an author then?” I shook my head and smiled.

  “Oh no, I tried once when I was younger to write a book and let’s just say it’s not for everyone. Some people are meant to create worlds and others are simply meant to explore them.” That brought out a smile on his face.

  “What’s your favorite novel?” I didn’t even have to think about it.

  “The Princess Bride. It’s a love story between a girl that becomes a princess and a farm boy. It has pirates, and sword fights, and revenge, and it’s actually pretty funny.”

  “It doesn’t sound funny.”

  “The funny parts are from the author. He just has little quirky things that he adds to the story that make it unique. I think it’s one of the greatest novels of all time. They actually even made a movie about it in the eighties. Though, I prefer the book.”

  “I might check that out.” I didn’t expect him to, but I appreciated that he said that.

  “Okay, you’ve had like five questions in a row, it’s my turn now.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Tell me something nobody knows.”

  “That’s not a question,” he replied with that dimpled grin.

  “Okay then, what’s something that nobody knows about you?” He chuckled.

  “Touché. Ah, something no one knows, okay so when I was about eight years old, I accidentally stole a toothbrush that I actually still have somewhere.”

  “How did you accidentally steal a toothbrush?” I asked with my brow raised in wonder.

  “Well, Dad had taken Katie and me to the store one night that Mom was sick. He was going to get her medicine and while we were down the aisle, Katie had picked up this little stuffed poodle or something. She begged and begged for Dad to buy it, and he finally agreed. Naturally, I wanted something too, but Dad was already frustrated about Katie throwing a fit and not being able to find the medicine for Mom so he just flat out told me no. I promised that I wouldn’t get anything expensive, but he still just kept saying no. I figured that if he saw that I really would get something cheap, he would change his mind so I looked around and the first thing I saw was this blue toothbrush with the Superman logo on it. I think it was like two bucks or something.” I listened, riveted to his story.

  “So anyway, I showed Dad the toothbrush and naturally he still told me no and told me to put it up. I didn’t though because I figured he would change his mind before we ended up leaving. Well, about that point in time, apparently whatever Mom had, had infected Katie too. While Dad was standing there looking over medicine, she just lost it all over the place. Dad was horrified and asked me to help carry Katie’s stupid poodle and her drink cup. So, I put the toothbrush in my pocket so I could do what he asked. Long story, shorter, we ended up making it all the way home before I realized I had the toothbrush still in my pocket. I never told anyone because I thought the cops would come take me away for stealing.”

  I waited until he was completely done with his story before the fits of giggles started. He just sat there and watched me laugh uncontrollably. I could just picture little West being terrified of ending up in jail over a two dollar toothbrush.

  “Alright, it’s not that funny,” he said, which only made me laugh harder. “Okay, you’re turn. Something no one knows, go.” I finally stopped laughing as I thought about his question.

  “I don’t really have anything like that,” I admitted. “I’ve never stolen anything intentionally or by accident. I’ve never really done anything even remotely embarrassing unless you count any of the thousands of times that I’ve tripped over my own feet. I don’t have any great stories.” I could feel his eyes on me, so I looked up.

  “We’re going to have to change that then, aren’t we?” Without waiting for my response, he turned the truck down a dirt road, then another, and another before we came to a clearing with what looked like some kind of creek in front of it.

  “What is this?”

  “You need a little adventure in your life Lennon Cooper and I’m going to give it to you.”

  “I am not getting in that water.”

  “Oh yes, you are.”

  “No,” I said as I shook my head. “It’s the middle of December. That water is going to be freezing.” He smiled as he put his truck into park and shut off the engine. “West, I’m not going in that water.”

  He ignored me as he opened the door and climbed out. I watched as he made his way down to the water. He looked at me over his shoulder before he started to remove articles of clothing, one-by-one. He was crazy if he thought I was ever going to join him.

  Once he was completely stripped down to his boxers, he walked toward the edge of the creek and looked over at me one last time. Then he dove in. I craned my neck from my spot in the passenger seat and waited for him to resurface. When he did, he had a large smile spread across his handsome face. He tried to hide the fact that his lip quivered slightly, but I saw it.

  Even though winters didn’t really exist in Texas, that didn’t mean that the water wasn’t still ice cold. I watched him from the safety of the bank while he tried to play it off like he wasn’t freezing his butt off.

  “Come on, we don’t have all day,” he called out to me. I shook my head again. “This can be your something nobody knows. The day Lennon Cooper swam in a creek in the middle of December.” He threw that dimple my way, and I’m not gonna lie, I thought about joining him.

  His smile was downright dazzling. Suddenly, I was hit with a better idea. I walked over to the spot where his clothes were still lying in a pile. I grinned as I reached down and picked up every scrap of clothing he had left, including his shoes. His eyebrows rose as he watched me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked. I didn’t answer though. I just made my way over to a nearby tree and one by one tossed his clothes as high as I could until eventually the branches were decorated with West’s various articles of clothing. Then I took his shoes and threw them as far as my arms would allow. I looked back over at where he sat bobbing in the water. His mouth was gaping open.

  “How is that for something nobody knows? The day Lennon Cooper threw your clothes into a tree and left you nearly naked in that creek.” I couldn’t stop smiling.

  “I’ll get you back for that.”

  “You’ll have to get out of the water first.” He didn’t waste any time coming up out of the water. He went to the tree and was able to grab one of his pant legs pretty easily. Unfortunately, it caught on a branch on the way down and ripped all the way from ankle to knee. I’m pretty sure I snort laughed while he stood there just gaping in surprise.

  “These were my favorite jeans,” he said as he looked over at me. I kept laughing as he pulled them up and buttoned them. He had a lot more success with his shirt and got it out of the tree without incident. He only found one of his shoes though which brought on a whole new fit of giggles from me.

  “You’re pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” He asked once we had returned to his truck. He was blasting the heat and it was getting toasty enough that I had to actually pull off my jacket to keep myself from sweating.

  “Actually,” I said as I looked over at him. “I am.” We both laughed and
he let out a little shiver. “I can’t believe you thought it would be a good idea to jump in there. You should have known it was going to be freezing.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t really think it all the way through.” A beat of silence passed between us before he spoke up again. “So, you don’t actually think that Queen is better than The Eagles do you?

  “Uh, I know they are.” He looked shocked.

  “What? You can’t be serious. Glen Frey is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.”

  “Second to Freddie,” I said simply. He shook his head and smiled. Then he proceeded to name all the reasons that I was wrong which I quickly rebutted with all the reasons I wasn’t. I’m not sure how long we sat there debating which band was actually better, but I do know we never came up with one sure winner. Though, in my mind it will always be Queen.

  Finally, it started to get dark and regretfully, that meant it was time to head back. West started up the truck and slowly pulled out of the field.

  “When do you have to go back?” I asked.

  “Not until after the new year. My first class is on the sixth, I think.” I nodded my head while I tried to pluck up the courage for what I really wanted to ask him.

  “Did you hear about Katie’s New Year’s Eve party?” I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

  “Yeah, you going?” I saw him look over at me, but I didn’t look back at him. I knew I’d lose my nerve if I did because even though we had been talking to each other nearly every day for the last month and a half, I still didn’t know what we were. It didn’t feel like we were just friends, but it also didn’t feel like anything more.

  “Yeah, according to her, I’m obligated to be there.”

  “Oh yeah?” He asked with a little lilt to his voice.

  “Something about my duty as her best friend to show up at any event she ever throws.”