Who He Is
Page 16
“All right,” Cal said into my ear from behind me. “You ready?”
I melted from his voice. He was so close, and it was like he was trying to purposely make it deep and pleasurable. With his hard body near mine, I couldn’t concentrate. When he placed both hands on either side of my waist, all focus had gone down the drain. He inched in closer and then whispered in my ear, telling me it was okay to sit. I sat down hastily, gripping the bar handles on the sides, and he sat behind me.
He moved in closer than expected, but it excited me and my heart raced. Hooking his arms around my middle, he placed his chin on my shoulder and I braced myself, taking in the wide pool at the bottom waiting for me.
“You sure you’re ready?” he asked in my ear. He seemed to be saying it in more ways than one, but I nodded and he gripped me tighter. “Do you want to do a countdown or do you want me to push forward randomly?”
I bit on my lip, debating on the answer. Finally I said, “Randomly. The countdown will kill me.”
Chuckling, his fingers splayed across my middle and I unnoticeably moved back to get between his legs more. I guess it wasn’t as unnoticeable as I thought it would be because he laughed. “Eliza?” he said in my ear.
“Yeah?” I was about to turn and get a glimpse of him through the corner of my eye, but then he pushed forward and the cold water ran beneath my bottom. My heart lurched and I screamed as Cal laughed.
A tunnel appeared ahead and as soon as we were beneath it, it blocked my view of everything and I screamed even louder, ready for the darkness to fade. I guess there was a reason they called it The Tunnel. Cal laughed again as he held on to me, and I begged to the heavens that his grip wouldn’t loosen.
The tunnel finally ended, but the slide looped and continued down. I finally settled a bit, realizing I was actually having fun and that I hadn’t caught a panic attack yet. The slide was exciting and the cool water running beneath us felt good. I was too busy basking in the sun and enjoying the feel of the water that I wasn’t expecting Cal’s grip to slack and for a whole body of water to consume me.
As I hit the pool and sank beneath, I choked and gurgled and pushed my way up to surface, swallowing some of the chlorine-filled water on the way by accident. “Holy shit!” I sputtered, spotting Cal, who was just surfacing with droplets of water running off his blond hair and eyelashes. He met my gaze and laughed before swimming in my direction.
“See, wasn’t too bad, right?” he breathed.
“No. That was fun! We should go again.” I felt like a big-ass kid, but I was so excited and eager for the next. It was a thrill and I hated how I hadn’t experienced it earlier than the age of twenty-one.
“We can go again, if you’d like,” Cal said, pulling me in by my waist. “Did you think I was gonna let you go on the way down?”
I nodded, looking at him beneath my eyelashes bashfully.
“I wouldn’t have let you go, Eliza.” He gave me a crooked, heart-throbbing smile and I grinned, glad the water kept me cool. To avoid his beautiful green eyes, I took a look around to see which slide we could go on next. I pointed out a few in my head, but as I was about to look at Cal again, I caught sight of a pair of narrowed hazel eyes.
I gasped, staring right at Gage as he walked by, a beer in his hand, his eyes still hard on me. He stole glances between Cal and me, but I couldn’t look away. I wanted to ignore him, but when he nodded slowly at me, his eyes still narrowed, I felt guilty. He was nodding as if he knew why I’d rejected him. But I didn’t reject him for Cal. I just couldn’t get caught up with someone like him. I knew he was assuming I’d chosen Cal over him, but I hadn’t chosen either one. I wasn’t about to choose at all.
Cal seemed to notice the frustration taking hold of my features and looked toward Gage, but Gage had turned around, his shoulders slightly hunched, while taking a sip of his beer. He had tattoos on his back as well. More tribal ink and Bible verses, I was sure. I’d even spotted a blue dragon on his right rib cage as he rounded a corner to start a new path. His back was perfectly creased and it was so hard to hate his presence yet feel excited by looking at his body. He wasn’t too stocky or too lean; he was just right. He had the nice, athletic build, which proved he worked out just enough to keep himself in shape.
With a ragged sigh, I looked at Cal, who was already looking at me. “Trouble in paradise, I see,” he said, smiling.
I shook my head quickly. “No. I’ll never understand someone like Gage. He’s his own person.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
I shrugged.
“I think you deserve better anyway,” Cal said.
I didn’t want to talk about Gage at all so I grabbed Cal’s hands beneath the water and grinned at him. “Let’s go find us another slide.” He nodded and we swam toward the ladder to climb out, collect our clothes, and then head to another tall water slide.
Spending time with Cal was pretty cool. Not only was his body pleasant to look at (especially when dripping with water), but also he was a sweet guy and actually made me laugh. It was odd that I was making comparisons between him and Gage and, sad to say, Gage was on the winning side in my mind. Even though we were drunk the night of the party, I had more of a connection with Gage than I had with Cal. As hot as Cal was, he was extremely corny but really sweet. I could only be friends with him. It just seemed like the type of relationship I was supposed to have with someone as kindhearted as he was.
Whenever we would take a break and grab a drink or some ice cream, Cal would always bring up his job for the magazine or how tough it was to get interviews with the boys when they were always on the go. He said his toughest so far was getting one with Roy, but he was determined to do so one way or another. I doubted him highly on that one. He also kept telling me I deserved better than Gage, but I always changed the subject.
We walked around the park for a while, basking in the sun and going from shop to shop. We stopped in a candy shop, a souvenir shop (where I bought a nice “I fucked Orlando good” shirt because Cal dared me to), and we even stopped by the mist zone to allow the soothing spray to cool our hot skin.
A shop was across from us with magazines and a newspaper stand on the outside. Some of the pictures on the magazines were of familiar people, but through the mist I couldn’t make it out clearly. I looked at Cal, who was enjoying his mist, his eyes closed and his head thrown back as droplets dripped and caressed his beautiful body, and then took a step forward, wiping my face.
And then, as I approached the stand, I frowned. The reason the pictures were familiar was because it was a picture of me and Gage on the night of the party. “What the hell?” I hissed beneath my breath, snatching up the magazine. The front cover was a picture of Gage and me at the outlet, shopping for a decent outfit to wear to the house party. His arm was around me and I was smiling at him, but that’s not what struck my nerves. It was the caption beside it.
Is our favorite rocker dating again?
I gritted my teeth, flipping through the pages to find the main topic of the magazine. I couldn’t believe it. There were a whole two pages about Gage’s secret love life and me being his new “girl toy.” How the hell did they print this magazine so fast? And who the fuck said girl toy anyway? Corny-ass magazine.
A few more quotes stuck out at me, making my teeth grit even more:
Will this one last?
Is G.G. finally growing up?
Is she just another loose floosy?
The last line made me shut the magazine furiously and stuff it back onto its stand. I breathed through my nose, trying to calm down, but being called a floosy to a large portion of the world made me upset. Those people were judging me when they knew nothing about me or Gage or our friendship. A loose floosy? Seriously? That killed my joy even more. I was about to turn around, grab Cal, and go for some more fun, but then my eye caught them all.
There were three othermagazines with Gage and me on the front. One with us at the club in the VIP section, another with us
on our way to the hoedown, and the last of Gage and me talking in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel. On the Cracker Barrel cover, it had me flipping my middle finger at him and the line above it read,“Trouble with love already?” I scowled, cringed, and clenched my fist as if the magazine could somehow see my anger and make a run for it before it was too late.
“Hey,” Cal said over my shoulder. I turned quickly, looking into Cal’s soft green eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked, giving me a gentle smile.
“Uh… yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “Yeah.” I took a step forward so he couldn’t see the real reason I was upset. “We should go catch some more slides,” I said, forcing a smile. He agreed, and it was a good thing he didn’t seem to notice my frustration.
After going on four more slides, we finally decided on grabbing some lunch. I was nearly starving, but my starvation seemed to subside as I saw Gage in the restaurant. I couldn’t help but scowl at his back. I wanted to take Cal’s hand and drag him to whatever else was around, but Cal caught sight of Gage before I could make a move and smiled eagerly, stepping inside.
“Gage!” Cal yelled from the door, holding his arms in the air.
Gage turned around slowly, and as the long-legged brunette stepped from in front of him to his side, my heart failed to beat. Gage noticed me pause in my tracks and smirked, completely satisfied with my shock. “S’up, Cal,” Gage said, removing his arm from around Penelope to shake Cal’s hand.
“This was a great idea. The waterpark,” Cal said.
“Yeah, I agree,” Penelope butted in. “Everyone’s having so much fun.” She hooked her arms around Gage’s waist and he pulled her in closer, kissing her forehead twice. Those small forehead kisses were getting to me. I remembered how warm his lips were against my forehead, how he’d stroked the edges of my hair and kissed me so delicately that I could have been considered fragile. To top it all off and make it worse, he was half-naked and looked extremely delicious. Gage Grendel without a shirt would have caused me to salivate had I not been so aggravated by his presence.
“You guys should join us at our pool,” Gage insisted smoothly. “We’ve got drinks and they’ll be bringing food over in just a bit. We’re ordering now.”
I shook my head quickly. “No, thanks.”
“Hold on now,” Cal said, lifting his arm to hook it around my shoulders. I stiffened and if I wasn’t mistaken, Gage did as well.
Penelope noticed and placed her hand on Gage’s chest, looking up at him. “You okay, babe?”
“Fine,” Gage mumbled, his shoulders lacking some of the tension. His eyes flickered to the arm around my shoulder and then back into Cal’s eyes again.
“Eliza and I would love to meet you at the pool. All we have to do is grab our stuff.” I frowned, slipping from beneath Cal’s arm. I hated how he was using “we” and “our” as if we were a couple. It was kind of uncomfortable.
Grudgingly, I turned around and stepped out of the restaurant. I couldn’t go to that damn pool. I didn’t want to be around Gage, who I knew would purposely kiss and lick on his girlfriend in front me. I knew for sure he was planning on getting drunk, and a drunken Gage wasn’t good to be around unless he was with me. While he was with Penelope, I wasn’t too fond of the idea. It was selfish as hell, but what did I care?
Cal came bursting out the doors behind me and smiled, hooking an arm across my shoulders. “I should get a good scoop tonight, don’t ya think?”
“You could.” I sighed. I don’t know why, but seeing Gage made me not want to be around Cal any longer. I didn’t want to be around anyone. I just wanted to be left alone. On top of that, I was starving and almost exhausted. I was going to grow even more exhausted with trying to ignore and avoid Gage at the pool.
Cal and I grabbed our things as the sun was just setting. The sky was filled with splashes of pink, yellow, orange, and even a fierce red. It was a beautiful sight, but it wasn’t the night to enjoy it.
Cal brought up some more small talk (more about the magazine and the band than anything else), and I was half relieved, half upset we’d finally gotten to the pool. Relieved because Cal finally stopped talking and upset because Gage was in the pool, so close to Penelope they could’ve been considered one person.
I kept stealing glances of them and with each one they were closer and closer, if that were even possible. Her back was against the wall and I knew her legs were wrapped around him beneath the water. She ran her fingers through his hair and he placed kisses on her neck, his beer resting on the concrete outside the pool, locked in his right hand. He would place a few kisses on her lips, but I noticed how he didn’t kiss her as much as he’d kissed me last night. These kisses weren’t as passionate or deep. It was kind of strange, seeing as she was his “girlfriend” and all, but I shrugged it off.
Two beers appeared in front of my face and as I looked over my shoulder, I saw nothing beyond Montana’s bright smile. “Come on,” he begged as I scowled at the beers. “You’ve got to. You’re sitting at the edge of this pool all pouty and shit.” He stepped over to sit beside me. “Are you upset about Mr. Grendel?”
“No,” I snapped quickly, looking around, glad no one could hear him. Cal was talking to Deed and the other people around were dancing to the boom box music playing loudly. My feet were in the water as I surveyed everyone from the opposite side of the pool.
“Drink one with me please, Miss Eliza,” he insisted, lifting one of the beer bottles. Sighing, I grabbed it and he chuckled. “Atta girl.”
I popped the cap and took a long draw. Montana did the same and I thought he was going to question my overzealous drinking, but he didn’t. In fact, when we both finished our first bottle, he told me to wait while he went to get a few more. I could have rejected the drinks, but I refused to do so. I wanted to forget about Gage and the night we shared before.
I started thinking maybe that night wasn’t real, but I knew I was to blame for him being with Penelope. I mean, I didn’t want him, but I would much rather him be alone than with any other girl. That seemed so selfish, but it was just too soon for him to be rubbing and kissing another girl after what we shared less than twenty-four hours ago.
“I’m pretty sure you’re upset about seeing him in there with her,” Montana said, as if he’d just read my mind.
I looked at him and he smiled lazily. “I’m not,” I lied.
“You sure?” He grinned, his head tilting.
“I’m…”
He raised an eyebrow, waiting on my response. Why was I being hesitant? Was it because I knew I was upset and would rather it were me he was against? I couldn’t believe how stupid I was being. Why was I getting so upset over it? It was never like me to get upset over guys, but of course Gage was the one who had to be the exception. Gage, my high school crush and the guy that’d always haunted my dreams. Gage, the one I always happened to drool over whenever he made an appearance. Gage…
“Why don’t you just go for something?” Montana inquired.
I looked at him, frowning as he took a sip of his beer. “What do you mean?”
“If you don’t want to see him with her,”—he nearly cringed as he pointed at Penelope—“then why don’t you just take her spot?”
“I don’t wanna be his girlfriend.”
“You don’t have to be his girlfriend.” He laughed. “And besides, Penelope is not his girlfriend. She just believes she is because she’s known him for a while. She thinks after he’s done partying and living life like a star, he’ll finally settle down with her.” Montana laughed again, placing his beer down. “Not likely. Not Gage.”
“But even if that were true, she still allows him to do whatever he wants behind her back?”
“Sometimes he’ll tell her.” He smirked. I gaped. “She’s crazy, I know. It’s exactly what you’re thinking. She’s head over heels for Gage and I’m really not sure why he hasn’t gotten rid of her yet. I’m not sure why he still leads her on. He can’t stand that girl. None of us can.”
“I look at it this way: you both have two months together on this trip and the more you try to avoid each other, the worse it’ll be between you. He told me what happened this morning, and if we’re being frank, it was really fucked up on your behalf.”
I was about to protest, but he shook his head and his voice overpowered mine. “I’m pretty sure after the tour is over, you won’t be seeing much of Gage. You won’t have to worry about him because you’ll be… wherever you are and Gage’ll be too busy doing shit with the band. I say have at it. Have fun. Don’t let any feelings get involved if you don’t want to. I’m all up for having a friend with benefits—a hot friend at that. As long as she doesn’t expect me to change or want to go through with something more, we’re good. As long as she’s all about fun, I can get down with that. Gage is the same way. He just wants some fun.”
I pressed my lips together. “So you’re saying I should have a casual fling with Gage?”
He nodded. “Or casual sex. No feelings, of course. Your choice.” He smirked.
My cheeks sparked. That was going to be hard seeing how I was a virgin and all.
“Just a small fling,” Montana said, placing the palms of his hands on the concrete behind him. “You can’t lie and say you didn’t have fun with him last night.” I laughed as he raised a knowing eyebrow at me. “I saw it clearly and I was high as hell.”
“I did,” I admitted, “but we were drunk—”
“Doesn’t matter. Fun is fun.”
I looked from Montana to Gage, who was now sitting on the edge of the pool like us, his feet in the water. He was bobbing his head to the music and Penelope was still in the water between his legs. He seemed to be thinking about something else as she babbled on. Apparently the music was taking him away. He was staring right at Penelope, but he didn’t seem to be listening to a word she said.