Her
Page 5
Jessica comes up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist, letting him know she’ll take care of me. It kills me when I see Sarah flinch. Nice time to act possessive, Jessica. I go ahead and pay for their ice cream too, and we all walk outside.
They both got cups. I feel a sense of solidarity with Sarah that we always get waffle cones. We just mesh. I finish first and sit quietly while they eat theirs. I glance at Jessica. I’ve got to break up with her if I’m going to have any shot with Sarah.
Kyle asks if we all want to go hang out at his house. He has a hot tub, and as much as I want to see her in it, there is no way I want him to. I make up some shit about my mom needing me for something, and Sarah says her head hurts. No hot tub for Kyle is all I can think.
I drop him off first, and the asshole has the balls to ask her for her number, and she gives it to him. In her defense he did put her on the spot, asking her in front of us.
Once he’s out of the car, Jessica turns back to her. “I told you he likes you.”
And then her phone buzzes.
“Oh my gosh, is that from Kyle?” Jessica asks.
When she nods I roll my eyes. Jessica doesn’t stop gushing until we get to her house. When I stop the car, she whines. “Babe. I thought you were going to drop me off last.”
I glance back at Sarah. Not a chance. Sarah looks away when Jessica pouts and puts her hand on my thigh. Shit, why does she have to do that in front of her? I fake cough and say I’m coming down with something. She blows me a kiss and gets out, shaking her ass all the way up the driveway. Half the guys in my class would be all over her, but I just can’t wait to be done with her.
I look back at Sarah. “Coming up front?”
She watches Jessica’s front door shut. “Are you sure it’s okay?”
I almost laugh. “Don’t be a dork. Get up here.” I pat the passenger seat.
I laugh and call her certifiable after she runs around the car, almost diving into the front seat. On the way back, I change the channel from the crap Jessica put on and start to turn it up before I remember Sarah said her head hurt.
“How’s your head.”
She looks at her hand and starts spinning her ring. “I kinda lied about my head hurting.”
I’m ear to ear grinning. If she liked Kyle, she would have wanted to hang out at his house. “That’s cool. I lied about my mom needing me.”
“And your cough?”
I just laugh.
I’ve never broken up with someone before. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but I never should have dated Jessica in the first place. I’ll just tell her it’s not her, that it’s me, and we’ve grown apart. I park in front of her house and sit in my car to put off going inside.
Something catches my eye from the passenger seat, sort of wedged between the seat and backrest. I lean over and pull it out, smiling when I see what it is. It’s a small tin of lip gloss. Sarah’s. I can still picture her digging through her bookbag yesterday looking for it.
I go to set it in the cup holder between the front seats but stop. Opening it, I pause to smell it. The melon scent hits me, and I wonder what it would be like to taste Sarah’s lips. Guilt comes next. This isn’t fair to Jessica. It’s not her fault I like someone else. I push the lid on and drop it quickly before I’m tempted to smell it again. Getting out of my car and walking up to Jessica’s house, I mentally repeat, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ over and over to myself.
I want this over. I push the doorbell confidently, thinking tops this might take ten minutes. Jessica answers the door with half a smile. She reserves her full smile for when people are watching us.
I follow her into the living room. “Hey, I think we should talk.”
She stops in front of the couch, her back to me. “About what?”
She hasn’t turned around. I don’t want to break up with her when she has her back turned.
“Maybe you should sit down,” I say, thinking she would have to look at me that way.
She spins, her eyes flashing. “Maybe I should sit down? William Price, are you trying to break up with me?”
Oh shit. My pause and failure to immediately tell her no sets her off.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I take a step back. “It’s not you; it’s me.”
She shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “Have you been cheating on me with Sarah?”
Does mentally count? “What? No, I haven’t cheated on you.”
“You don’t have to do this, Will. We’re perfect together.” She takes a step towards me.
I turn my head and look down. “That’s the thing. We both know we’re not. I am so sorry if I hurt you, but I just can’t do this anymore.”
She whirls around and steps back to the couch, slowly sinking down onto it. “She’s nothing special.”
My eyes snap to hers. “Let’s leave Sarah out of this.”
“How can I? We both know you’re doing this for her.”
It’s been over a week since I broke up with Jessica, and I still haven’t told Sarah how I feel about her. It’s official. I’m chickenshit when it comes to her. It’s the first day of spring break. Annual tradition for our school is to go to the local amusement park. The temperature has been warm enough that this year the waterpark is already open. I wait outside her house and laugh when I watch her run back in for something.
“Got everything, Miller Lite?” I joke as she climbs in.
“Shut up.” She punches my arm.
“Someday I’m going to pick you up, and you will have everything you need the first time you come out.”
She rolls her eyes and puts on her sunglasses before pulling her hair up into a ponytail.
“Alright, William, whatcha waiting for?”
I stare at her. What am I waiting for? Should I tell her how I feel right now? What if she doesn’t feel the same way? I held off for so long just because I didn’t think she was interested in dating anyone period. After she agreed to go out with Kyle, I knew it would be a matter of time before other guys started asking her out. The only thing that scares me now is if she doesn’t feel the same way, I will lose her as a friend.
As I back out, she asks to open the sunroof. I laugh and nod.
“Are we picking up anyone else?”
I shake my head. “Nope, you’re stuck with me. I expect you to be entertaining the whole drive.”
She leans her seat back and puts her feet up on the dash. “God, too much pressure. Just put on some music.”
“Actually,” I reach over, pushing her feet down and open the glove box, pulling out a CD before shutting it. “My dad got me something to practice my Italian.”
My mom, dad, and I are going to go to Italy for a month over the summer. My mom’s family is originally from Naples, and even though she grew up in the States, she still goes back once a year to visit relatives. I haven’t been since the summer of sixth grade. I want to go, but I don’t. It’ll be my last summer with Sarah before we start college, and it sucks that I’ll be away from her for part of it.
The rest of the drive, we repeat common Italian phrases. When we get to the park, we head straight for the Z section of the parking lot. This is where everyone is supposed to be meeting up. When we get out, I can’t help but notice Jessica three cars over, standing really close to Kyle Nelson. Like something is clearly up with them so close. Sarah looks up at me. I can give a crap about Jessica. I just don’t want her to be a bitch to Sarah.
“So rides first or waterpark?” Sarah asks.
I put my arm around her shoulders as we walk over to everyone. “Rides first, always rides first.”
Jessica sees us and rolls her eyes. God, why did I ever date her? We wait for some more of our classmates to show before descending on the park. Sarah and I have season passes so we don’t have to wait in line with everyone else. It was my birthday present to her this year, that and funnel cake. Funnel cake is her favorite and definitely on the agenda for today.
r /> Before meeting me, Sarah had never gone on a roller coaster. She sometimes gets motion sickness, doesn’t stop me from dragging her on every ride, and miraculously, she’s never thrown up. Since school is out, the lines are bad. There seem to be some other schools meeting up here today too.
We’re waiting in line for one roller coaster. When the line moves, I grab her hand, pulling her forward to catch up. When we catch up, though, I don’t let go, just keep holding her hand. I tug her towards the queue for the first car. I love the way her hand feels in mine. I’m not letting go.
“So after this one want to grab some funnel cake?” I ask, leaning down.
She isn’t short, but I still have at least six inches on her. “Hells yeah.”
I grin, pulling on her ponytail.
“So you two finally hook up?”
We both turn at the sound. It’s Jessica and Kyle. She stands, twirling a piece of her blonde hair as Kyle fidgets next to her, his hand hesitating before resting on her shoulder
I let go of her hand. “Shut up, Jessica.”
“What, you can’t tell she’s hot for you?” she goes on.
I look down at Sarah. “Just leave her alone, Jessica. You know we’re just friends.”
Why did I say that? Why didn’t I just say I would be lucky to have Sarah like me?
The cars pull up, and we step into the first car. As it slowly makes its way up the first drop, I turn to her. “She’s such a bitch. You okay?”
She nods, not saying anything.
We’re almost at the top. I turn my head to face her. “Come on. Talk to me.”
“I’m good.” She’s lying.
After the ride ends I stop and buy the picture of us from the ride booth. I have an album of them at home. This one isn’t our best. I look annoyed, and Sarah looks sad. She runs off to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I think of a way to cheer her up.
When she walks up, I drape my arm around her shoulder and point to the funnel cake stand. “My treat.”
“Twist my arm.”
She still seems down. When she asks if we should head to the waterpark, I have another idea of a way to cheer her up. “When was the last time we rode bumper cars?”
She laughs. “Like a billion years ago.”
She shivers when I put my arm around her as we walk. I look down at her and lick my lips.
There isn’t a line when we get there. The attendant glances around to see if anyone else is coming before he waves us on.
“I’m coming for you,” I tease, pulling the strap over my head.
“You can’t catch me,” she shouts back.
She shivers again, even though it’s hot out.
The music turns on as the cars come alive. She takes off only to back track and turn away when I go the opposite direction. With all of the empty cars on the track, she has to fight her way through them as I barrel towards her. She screams but manages to get away. She looks back at me, and I wink. That girl. I come right up behind her, and she cuts over to the right, turning the opposite direction before I can get her.
Now she’s behind me. I grimace as I try to get away from her, but it’s no use. She laughs loudly as she bumps me into the tires lined up the middle of the track. I hang my head in shame before whipping around to come after her again. This time, she has nowhere to run and we’re nose to nose while I bump my car into hers. We’re both grinning as the music and cars turn off.
“Waterpark?” I ask as we walk out.
“Waterpark!”
We’re at a bank of lockers.
My mouth drops when she takes off her tank top. “You’re wearing a bikini.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, which only pushes her breasts up.
“I’ve just never seen you in one before,” I continue, unable to take my eyes off of her.
“Stop looking at me,” she snaps.
“Sorry.” I look away, hating every guy here who might be looking at her right now.
I hold my hand out for her tank top. She hands me her shorts too, and I sneak a peek at her while I take off my shirt. She looks incredible.
I’m looking down when I hear something that sounds like a smack. “Who knew Miller had a nice rack?” Josh Jamison jokes behind us.
“JJ, touch my ass again, and I’ll chop off your hand,” Sarah says.
The fuck? I stand up. “He touched your ass?” I look at her before getting in JJ’s face. “You touched her ass?”
“Chill, man” he says, taking a step back.
Nobody should get to touch her but me. “That’s not cool. Say you’re sorry.”
“What?” JJ and Sarah both say at the same time.
I take another step towards him, and JJ shrugs. “Ah, sorry, Sarah. I was only joking.”
“Don’t do it again,” she says, shaking her finger at him.
He smiles but frowns when he looks back at me “I’ll see you guys later,” he says, taking off.
I can’t believe some guy just smacked her ass while she’s standing right next to me. He never would have done that if we were together. Are guys going to be hitting on her all day?
My back is to her. She tugs on my arm. “Will?” When I don’t say anything, “William.”
I turn around and look at her. I’m still annoyed he touched her. “I think I like you better in a one piece.”
“What the hell does that mean?” She picks up her bag and shoves it into the locker.
“You just look really nice.” I manage before growling. “I’m seriously thinking about kicking his ass.”
“Oh.” She bumps her hip against mine “It’s just JJ. He’s harmless.”
“He still shouldn’t be touching you.”
She groans and rolls her eyes.
I shrug, wishing I could touch her. “Just saying.”
“Whatever. Slides, wave pool, or lazy river?”
I know she likes the lazy river the best. “It was a long,” I dip my head, “walk over here.”
She grins, then grabs my arm and pulls me over to the lazy river. I don’t want her floating away from me so I rest my foot on her tube so she’s stuck with me. We talk about Italy, and when we’re passing under a small footbridge, I see some guys from our school.
“Hey, Will. Who’s that girl?”
How do they not recognize her? She lowers her glasses.
“Oh shit! That’s Sarah Miller.”
She blushes and pushes her sunglasses back up. I just wish they’d stop looking at her.
“Will, you hittin’ that?”
That’s it. I take my foot off of her raft and grab her hand so they can see. I look back at them like what?
“Damn. Go Price is right man.”
She tugs her hand out of mine. “You just made them all think we’re together.”
She says it like it’s a bad thing. I drop my head back so the top of it gets wet before sitting back up and looking at her “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“I don’t think I need to be looked after,” she grumbles.
She sounds annoyed. “God, I wish you wore a one piece.” I look over at her. “When did you even buy that?”
Her mouth drops, and she just stares at me.
“Well?”
When she sniffles, I get that I just hurt her feelings. “I thought you said I looked nice before.”
Fuck it. I flip over on to my stomach and dog paddle over to her. When I get to her, I rest my chin on the side of her raft and look up at her. Time to grow some balls, Will. I lower my shades so she can see my eyes. “You don’t look nice. You look fucking hot.”
When she doesn’t say anything back, I push off of her tube and float away. What the fuck did I just do? I just ruined our friendship. Neither of us say anything when we make our way from the lazy river and we go further into the park to the water slides.
I want to keep her by my side, so I grab her hand and pull her to the line for the tandem slide. I sit in the tube first, and she hesitates before sitting in fron
t of me, between my legs, her back to my chest. This would be a very bad time to get a hard on.
I wrap my arms around her waist. She gently lays her hands on my arms, raising them when I unwrap my arms from her waist. She just isn’t close enough. I put my hands on her shoulders as I pull her towards me so that she’s lying against me before circling her waist with my arms again.
She feels stiff. I whisper in her ear. “Relax.”
She leans her head back against me, turning her face so I can feel her breath on my neck.
All at once, we’re flying after the attendant uses his foot to propel our tube down the slide. My grip on her tightens as I lean forward, my cheek pressing against hers. We crash into the water a tangle of arms and legs.
When she stands and turns her back to me, I suck in a breath and go to stand behind her, my body pressed against her. She looks back at me, her mouth falling open when I reach down to fix the bottom of her bikini. She blushes. At some point during our slide, her suit shifted. I look down at her, and she mouths ‘thank you,’ my hands still on her. This is it. I’m going to kiss her. I lean forward and watch as she wets her lips.
“Get you some, Price!”
I close my eyes, ready to deck whoever interrupted us. I pause then look over. Kyle and Jessica are standing to the side of us.
She glares at me. “Never knew you had a thing for SPT, Will.”
Sarah stiffens and pulls away. Fuck. Jessica is such a fucking bitch. I glare back at Jessica, who just smirks, before chasing after Sarah. Once I catch up to her, I drape my arm around her shoulders as we make our way to our towels. Grabbing hers, I wrap it around her.
I look back at Jessica, who is still watching us as I tug on her towel, pulling her towards me and gently kissing her forehead. She looks up at me, trying to blink away threatening tears.
“You are not plain. You are beautiful, Sarah, inside and out. She only says those things because she’s a jealous cunt.” I wish she could see herself the way I do.
She gives me a half smile, and we walk over to the wave pool. Usually I grab a board and she watches me while I try not fall off it. This time, after we lay out our towels, I pull her in with me. She bumps my hip with hers and tilts her head over to where they keep the boards stacked. I shake my head and pull her in deeper. This is the perfect time to tell her how I feel about her.