First Kiss (Heavy Influence)

by Frohoff, Ann Marie

  I sat back down on the bed just as Jake came through the door. My insides were tense and it made me fidgety. He was carrying a bag and some water.

  “You thirsty?”

  I nodded my head yes. Why was I speechless? Come on Aly, it’s only Jake, I reminded myself. Get over it. He tossed me a small bottle of water and sat down next to me. He placed the bag on the floor at his feet. I nearly drank the whole bottle of water in one gulp.

  “Shit, you were thirsty! You want more?” he said, pulling what appeared to be t-shirts out of the bag.

  I licked my lips. “No thanks, this is good. I didn’t realize how parched I was.”

  Jake stopped and stared at me with a crooked grin and my heart skipped. We were only inches apart and his blue eyes took my breath away. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I swear I must have been drooling.

  “Parched huh? Who says that?” he teased. “That’s a word my grandma uses.” I was ok with him teasing me. It pulled any weirdness out of the room.

  “I read a lot, for your information. English literature is my fave.” I tried to think of something else to add, but nothing came to mind. I leaned into him with my shoulder. “So there.”

  That same scent from earlier caught my attention, the scent that was on his shirt. God that smell was gonna be the death of me, none of the guys we hung out with smelled as good.

  “I wanted to give you some merch,” he said holding up a black t-shirt with the words – Rita’s Revolt – printed in white bold letters. That must be his band name. “And some CD’s, you can pass these singles out to your friends, and you can have these,” he said holding up hard CD cases.

  I grabbed the t-shirt and held it up, staring at it more closely.

  “Jake, I’m super impressed, I really had no idea. I know I keep sayin’ that, but geez.” I smiled at the t-shirt. Then instantly melted from the shock of electricity I felt when he touched my knee and thanked me.

  “So Alyssa, tell me more about what you’ve been up to.” His hand remained on my knee. “You say you read English literature, like what?”

  This time he wasn’t being a smart ass. I leaned back against the pile of pillows, putting my arms behind my head. This prompted him to pull his hand away. I was relieved.

  “Well, I really like Jane Austin. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I really like those old-time, long ago romance novels.” I paused, “The kind where the guy is chivalrous. Guys seem to be such jerks these days. You know, our friend Greg, Greg Santana, the bigger one? The stories he shares with us about his brothers – it’s like shock factor or something.”

  “Oh, I know exactly who you’re talking about and yeah, I agree. Those guys are idiots and they think their shit doesn’t stink, a bunch of jock dorks.” He shook his head. “Not sure what’s up with Greg being so fat knowing how his sporto brothers are built. I fucking hate sportos. So, what kind of stories has Greg told you?”

  I pondered for a moment if I should tell him. What the heck, I thought; it would be nice to have someone other than a bunch of 14 year olds to give perspective. I mean, Greg could be lying for all I knew.

  “Well,” I started laughing nervously. “I don’t know,” I squirmed, and his smile grew bigger.

  “Look at you, you’re blushing!” He grabbed my shoulder and his face fell flat. He leaned in closer. “What’s tubby telling you anyway? I wanna know if he’s feeding you a bunch of bullshit.” His intensity surprised me. He got up and sat back at his desk. He leaned way back in his chair and stared at me, waiting for my answer.

  “Jake, don’t embarrass me. I feel silly even talking about it with you.” I looked down at my feet. “I mean, he just tells us stories about how they bet on how many blow jobs they can get—”

  Jake interrupted me right away.

  “Ok, so this is really what you talk about with the guys you hang out with? Blow jobs?” Jake was aghast. “Do you even know what that is? I’m no expert on when chicks start learning this shit. I never talked about this stuff with girls.”

  “Yes. I know what it is.”

  “OK, well let’s hear it.” He didn’t smile or flinch.

  I stared at Jake, completely horrified. I couldn’t believe the direction our conversation had gone. My face must have said it all. We sat there in silence for what seemed like forever, and then he spun around to face his computer.

  “Alyssa, don’t always believe what you hear. Guys talk shit, they make stuff up and they lie,” he said while he typed. “Trust me. I used to make shit up all the time. I know it was only a few years ago.”

  “You mean you lie, about what?”

  “No, not anymore, but when I was your age, I did, to make me seem cooler. It’s stupid, but whatevs.” He spun back around to face me. “But this is just between you and me, of course. Your brother and I use to make shit up all the time.”

  “You’re kidding!” I laughed out loud, relief flooding me. “My nerd brother, come on you have to tell me, what did you guys used to say?”

  “Dude, your brother isn’t that big of a nerd, and I’m not telling you anything,” he said, waving the palms of his hands at me. “I plead the fifth”

  I was lost in his eyes again, along with his brilliant white smile. Contemplating his words, I plead the fifth. I tried to remember where I’d heard that and what it meant. “Plead the fifth?”

  “What?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you aren’t going to say anything because it might incriminate you, or be used against you at a later date.” He nodded his head and his eyes narrowed.

  Just as he was about to go on, we heard Jake’s name being shouted in the distance. Jake hung his head. “Looks like the guys are here to rehearse,” he said jumping up, “Don’t forget the bag.”

  He waited for me to grab the bag and followed me out the door. As we rounded the hallway a group of almost equally good-looking guys stood staring back at us. They had bags of fast food in their hands.

  “Sup bro,” piped one with brown hair and intense blue eyes. He stuffed French fries in his mouth as he eyeballed me with a stupid smirk. I could only imagine what I looked like with my hair all rumbled and matted to my head.

  “Alyssa, this is Mike,” he said pointing at smirk boy. “And that’s Bobby, and Victor, but we call Vic Dumpster or Dump.” Jake laughed. “But don’t ask why we call him that.”

  “Sup Alyssa,” Mike nodded as he chewed opened mouthed, looking me up and down.

  I could tell right away that Mike was a force.

  “Hi,” I squeaked out. I stood unmoving like a statue. I didn’t know how to act. I felt the heat begin to rise in my face. I knew if I didn’t get out of there they would all notice I was blushing. What the fuck, why was this happening?

  “Uh…ok…Jake,” I said nervously. “Later. Nice meeting you guys.” I waved, walking toward the door. “Oh, I left my phone in your room.” Of course I did, I thought, mortified that I had to be there even a second longer.

  I quickly walked past everyone, practically running down the hallway into his room. The smell of him hit me like a baseball bat. What was that scent? I grabbed my phone and looked around for anything to give me a clue. I saw a bottle of whatever it was, but I couldn’t read it. The writing was all in French. I sniffed the bottle. That was it. God it smelled good. Taking in one last big breath, I walked out as calm as possible. I was probably as red as a tomato.

  Walking down the hall I could hear them talking and it was about me. I stopped to eavesdrop.

  “So dude, ya doin’ them younger these days I see.”

  “Shut the fuck up Mike, she’s my next-door neighbor,” Jake bit back.

  “That makes it convenient,” Mike laughed, “Yeah, clearly virgin territory.”

  “I’m not doin’ her you fuck, get your mind outta the gutter.”

  I was even more mortified now. I came out swiftly, not looking at anyone “Alright, later,” I waved. As soon as the door shut behind m
e I sprinted across our front lawns and into my house. My sister was sitting on the sofa watching TV. She didn’t look in my direction. I ran up the stairs, nearly colliding with my brother as he came out of the bathroom.

  “Wow man, slow down,” Kyle said holding me by the shoulders. “Where’s the fire?”

  “Sorry Kyle, I’m supposed to be at Nicole’s right now. I got side tracked,” I explained hastily, trying to squirm away.

  “Hmm, what’s in the bag,” he asked, letting me out of his tight grip. He grabbed the bag out of my hand and pulled out a t-shirt. “Ah, Jake’s band…these are cool. Is there one for me?”

  Kyle placed the bag back on the hallway floor and started pulling everything out.

  “I’m sure there’s one in there,” I growled, stalking off to my room. I slammed the door. He irritated me.

  I rummaged through my drawers until I found my bathing suit and gathered my stuff together. Taking off my shorts Jake’s shirt fell to the ground. I picked it up and stuffed my face into it. Gah, that smell, I plopped down on my bed and firmly held it to my face as if my life depended on it. Kyle barged in, throwing the bag onto my bed and startling me.

  “What are you doing?” he snickered.

  “Nothing, just wiping my nose,” I said lying. My heart sprung outta my throat.

  Oh my God! What did it look like I was doing?

  “Ugh, stay away from me!” he said, swiftly shutting the door.

  I put on my bathing suit and stuffed my things in a bag along with Jake’s shirt. I wanted Nicole to smell how yummy he was. Grabbing the bag of Jake’s promo stuff I bound down the stairs. I abruptly stopped before the door to stare at myself in the foyer mirror one last time. I didn’t have a shirt on, only a bikini top. Should I put a shirt on? Ugh, why should I care? We live at the beach and normally I wouldn’t put one on. I reminded myself to do what I normally would do.

  My heart stopped. I felt light headed as soon as I saw Jake standing near the sidewalk next to his truck. I didn’t think I’d see him again so soon. Mike spotted me first and whistled. Jake turned to face me and watched me walk toward him.

  Why now? Why didn’t I ever notice Jake like this before? I thought of Nadine. I could never admit that I was now crushing on Jake Masters. Nadine would beat my ass and I would be labeled as one of those girls who backstabbed her friends. She had first dibs. She saw him first. That was the rule. This was easy though, because my dad would never approve of a senior, and me even if it was Jake. I laughed at how quickly the fantasy rushed through my head. As if. I walked closer to Jake and his smile burned into me like a red-hot poker.

  “Well, well, well, you comin’ over to go swimmin’?” he asked playfully, holding his hands out at me. “Just another reason your father has become more of a hard ass.”

  He made my knees go weak and my throat go dry. The cat calling continued as I passed by. All I wanted to do was run screaming down the street. I could still feel Jake staring at me the further away I walked. It was like an invisible string pulling at me. I didn’t dare to turn around. Don’t do it, I told myself – but I couldn’t help it. I turned around, looking back at him. He gave me one last wave.

  “Hey, I really want to know what you think of that music, come by later,” he shouted, giving me his heart stopping smile.

  What the hell was I going to tell Nadine?

  As soon as I turned the corner and was out of Jake’s sight I sped up my pace. My heart raced and my thoughts swirled uncontrollably. The thought of him asking me to come back over sent my mind reeling. Why would he ask me that if he didn’t want me around, right? Whatever it was, I could never admit to Nadine or any of the others my feelings; first because of Matt and second because all the others had big mouths and Nadine would find out in no time.

  I didn’t notice that my pace had slowed to a near standstill as I daydreamed about Jake in front of Nicole’s house. This was the day my new crush began to consume every ounce of my being, and there was no turning back.

  4

  Alyssa

  I finally cleared my head enough to walk into Nicole’s house. Nicole Hamilton and I had been best friends since the 4th grade. She was my complete opposite in every way, petite with blue-eyes and long flowing blond hair. Her delicate doll-like features and saucer wide eyes were a contrast to my tall thin build, brown hair and eyes. I opened the front door and a blast of cool air slapped me in the face. I loved the air-conditioning. We didn’t turn ours on throughout the day; it’s too expensive, my mother would say. One time our electric bill was over $800 bucks for the month and my dad almost had a heart attack, so no more running the air all day long. Nicole’s family had lots of money. I had to admit, I was jealous. She got whatever she wanted.

  Nadine wasn’t there yet. Nicole’s brothers, Stephen and Chris, were hanging out in the family room, watching TV. I crawled up onto the stairs, which gave me a clear view of them and of the backyard too. It was around 11:30 in the morning and it was 90 degrees already. This was not normal Southern California beach weather. I was fidgety. I so badly wanted to share my newfound feelings. I looked through the sliding glass door and Greg was chasing Grant and squirting him with the hose. I could see Nicole lying out, getting a tan.

  “Hey Alyssa” Stephen said. Chris didn’t look at me. Chris was the best looking brother, and he knew it too. Stephen had an offbeat good look. He wore his hair longer and dressed like those eclectic hot Euro boys. Chris was sporty, the jock, and it was all about him.

  “Hi” I smiled, holding the banister with both hands. I leaned my head through. “It’s so effing hot outside and I’m not ready to go melt again. Do you mind if I sit here for a minute?”

  “Nope, feel free to sit as long as you’d like.” Stephen got up and walked into the kitchen. My mother would sell her soul for their kitchen, with its black granite counters and one of those industrial looking stoves. The fridge was one that looked like cabinets, and it was doublewide. “You want something to drink?” Stephen offered. “Cut the dust?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “What’s your vice?”

  “Vice?” I tilted my head.

  “Vice means – Hmm, how do I explain this?” He placed both hands on the counter looking down. “It means what’s your weakness, or what is it that you like the most. I think.” He stared up at me smiling.

  “Ok, good enough,” I laughed, “I’ll take a Coke if you’ve got it”.

  “Yep.” He walked over to the fridge.

  I was now looking at guys in a new light. I noticed how muscular Stephen’s arms were and compared him to Jake. His t-shirt fit nicely over his biceps and chest – something I would have never noticed before. I admired his face as he turned around. He was handsome in every sense of the word. I smiled at him when he reached up to hand me the soda. Our eyes locked for a second and my stomach flipped. What the heck?

  “Thanks, Stephen.” I was lost for any other words.

  “Uh, yeah, of course,” his lips curled slightly upward. He stared at me for a moment longer before he turned around.

  I became self-conscious, a totally weird moment. What the hell was going on? Was I emitting some new vibe? I sat there drinking my soda, looking over the can, now focusing on Chris. Nadine crushed hard on Chris too. I wondered how the Jake thing would play out because of that. Come to think about it, Nadine crushed on all the hot guys. She was completely boy crazy.

  I never gave it too much thought until today; until the electricity surged through me when Jake bear hugged me during our water fight. Why was I noticing guys in a different light now than I had before? It’s like I’d been bitten. I couldn’t wait for Nadine to show up. I wanted to know when she first felt that intense attraction for a guy, if she ever felt what I was feeling. I ran through our fake conversation in my head. I’d play it off like I was envious of her ways.

  I hopped down the stairs and through their family room. Chris finally noticed me and nodded, his silent way of saying hello. I slid open the door lead
ing to the backyard. Nicole lay across a lounge with her bathing suit pulled up her butt and her top untied.

  “So, since when do you pull your bathing suit up your ass?” I asked playfully as I approached.

  She lifted her head squinting. “Since Stacey was over here laying out, and I saw what she did. She didn’t have a lame big butt tan line or any lines on her back.” Nicole said, and buried her face back down in her towel.

  “Shit it’s hot out here.” I pulled my towel out of my bag and Jake’s shirt came out with it. “Oh my God, dude, you have to smell this.” I was giddy. I tossed the shirt near her head. She looked up. “Guess whose shirt that is?”

  Taking a little sniff. “Uh, Yum!” she smiled and took another whiff. “This is yummy. Ok I’m gonna gross out if it’s your brother’s. Whose is it?”

  “You know my next door neighbor?”

  “Uh, yeah, how could I not notice Rocker Abercrombie,” she said

  Was I stuck in some sort of a bubble? I watched Nicole rub her face all over Jake’s shirt again.

  “Well, you won’t be surprised, but Nadine is totally crushing on him.” I reached over and grabbed the shirt out of her hands, stuffing it back into my bag. She gave me her pouty face. “Sorry, I’ll have to give it back.”

  “Ok, spit it out, all the juicy details, how’d you get his shirt?” Her eyes went wide with intrigue.

  I sat and told the story, giving her a play by play of every moment, with the exception of my feelings for Jake. I painted a vivid picture of how hot he looked dripping wet. I hedged a bit, not knowing if I should continue.