The Art of Life

by Carter, Sarah

  “I do not go around kissing my friends,” Eric says slowly. “Though I do hug, but kissing sounds so much more fun. Well, maybe not with Jack.”

  Giggling, I reply, “No, I didn’t think Jack was your type.”

  “But Jeremy is yours?”

  “Jeremy? My type of what? Boyfriend? I don’t know. I have never had a boyfriend, so I don’t even know what my type would be. What is your type of girl?” I inquire.

  Eric shrugs his shoulders. “She HAS to have a sense of humor. That is a definite attribute she has to have. I have dated girls that wouldn’t laugh at anything. It was horrible.”

  “May I ask how many girlfriends you have had, or is that over stepping my bounds? I am new at this having friends thing. Jeremy and I will say anything to each other, so that’s a little different.”

  “I have dated my share of girls, I have had two serious girlfriends. None this year yet. Some of the girls we go to school with are really shallow, and I find that unattractive. Maybe I am growing up and they are somewhat behind me.”

  Looking out the window, I say, “I had to grow up a long time ago. My mom didn’t take care of me. I had no one. So, I learned to do everything on my own. Then when I got older, my mom started to rely on me. I had to clean up her vomit. I had to do all the cooking and cleaning. Maybe you can understand why I hid away from everyone.”

  “My family is crazy,” Eric sighs, “but we love each other. Thanksgiving and Christmas are off the charts nuts.”

  “We celebrated those when I was younger. My mom gives me money at Christmas now, to buy things for myself. Which is usually a year’s worth of art supplies. I honestly used to dream of having the huge Christmas morning: coming down with beautifully wrapped presents under the tree, making cocoa, have everyone laughing.”

  With a chuckle, Eric replies, “It can be that way, but it also can be: kids fighting over presents, paper everywhere, the noise level being so loud you can’t hear anyone. Then the presents are done with, and you have to proceed with the craziness that is Christmas Day. It’s not exactly how you probably pictured it.”

  “I would have rather had that then nothing,” I reply. “I am going to give my kids the best holidays ever. I don’t mean I am going to spoil them rotten, but we are going to do all the fun stuff.”

  “You are more than welcome to come spend the holidays with us. My mom loves having more people. She cooks like a banshee and the more people, means more food.”

  My jaw drops a little. Did he just say what I think he said, and I am not talking about the cooking part? “Well, thank you for the invite, but I will probably spend it with Jeremy.”

  “You going to Texas to visit his family?” Eric asks.

  “Probably not,” I reply. What do I even say? “It will probably be the two of us. I think I am going to make him get a tree though. I haven’t had a tree since I was a kid.”

  Eric sighs. “I love the smell of pine trees but my mom is allergic, so we have a fake one.”

  “That kind of sucks,” I retort. “I want a real one. Though I doubt Jeremy has any ornaments or anything. It may turn into a pricey undertaking.” My mind turns to what he told me about the trust fund. I guess to him it won’t be anything, but I don’t know if I feel comfortable with him spending money on me anymore. I mean, it’s Kaitlin’s money. I don’t know what I feel. It’s so confusing.

  A little while later, we pull into the parking lot. It’s actually busy. “It looks like everyone else is here already,” Eric says.

  “Who is all here?” I ask.

  “Holly and her boyfriend Greg, Ashley, Rose, Jeff, Walt and Jack,” Eric answers. “You know everyone but Greg.”

  Smiling, I exhale, “Good, I would be nervous if it was a bunch of people I didn’t know.”

  “Nope, just our little group, no one you need to be afraid of,” Eric reassures me.

  We get out of the car, and it is a little chilly. I shiver. Maybe next time I won’t listen to Cassandra about what I am supposed to wear. Cold! I follow Eric to the building. It is kind of weird. I just realized how much Jeremy and I touch each other. He holds my hand or puts his hand on my back, when we walk somewhere. I am not saying that Eric should do that, it just dawned on me that is what Jeremy does.

  It is nice and warm inside the building, so I take my jacket off. Eric looks at me and smiles. My cheeks blush. We find everyone sitting at a large table. “Hey guys,” Eric says cheerfully. “Everyone remembers Isabelle?”

  “Yeah, hey,” Holly chimes. “I love your outfit, totally cute!”

  “Thanks,” I whisper.

  Jack sarcastically exclaims, “I wasn’t allowed to come pick you up.”

  “Yeah, I was told,” I giggle.

  “Well, you two need to get a club and ball, so that we can start. I am ready to woop some butt,” Jack declares, rubbing his hands together.

  Eric nudges his head. “Come on.” We walk over to the gaming booth. “Mini golf for two, please,” he tells the attendant.

  “That’s twelve dollars,” she replies.

  He takes money out and hands it to her. “Thanks,” I say. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Not a problem,” Eric retorts. The attendant hands us our stuff.

  When we get back to the group, Jack is quick up on his feet. “Isabelle is my partner.”

  “Oh,” I start, looking at Eric. “I think Eric was going to be my partner. So when we were both horrible, at least we did it together.”

  “Eric isn’t horrible at this,” Jack says, obviously confused.

  My eyes turn to Eric. He groans. “Okay, I was going to teach her how to do it, not make her feel awkward. Geez, Jack, do you not think?”

  He grins. “Nope, it’s Saturday. Fine, be her partner. I will just beat both of you. You should have been my partner Izzy, you could have actually won.”

  That makes me laugh. Eric rolls his eyes and we all walk over to the course. “Why doesn’t everyone else go first,” Eric suggests. “I will take my time with Isabelle.”

  “I am up for that!” Jack exclaims. He goes first and makes it in two strokes.

  I look at Eric and he shrugs. Everyone goes and I am happy that not everyone is as good as Jack. Finally, it’s my turn. Eric shows me how to stand. “Now, tap it.”

  Bringing my club back I hit the ball. It goes sailing, bouncing off of one of the little buildings, and into the next course. Jack is standing there and my ball rolls past him and into the other’s courses cup. He throws his hands up in the air and yells, “SCORE!”

  Everyone starts cheering. I cover my face in mortification. Eric doubles over laughing. “That is awesome!”

  “Shut up,” I mumble.

  “Dude, that is like trick shot points!” Jack yells.

  Eric grabs my hand away from my face. “No need to be embarrassed. That was the coolest thing I have seen in a while. I think we will count it as one stroke for the first two courses. I mean, way to just get it out of the way.”

  “I am humiliated,” I groan.

  “No, look everyone is cheering because it was a good thing. No one is laughing at you Isabelle. What would Jeremy say to you right now to make you not embarrassed?”

  My eyes nearly roll in the back of my head. “Are you kidding me? He would give his best effort to embarrass me even more. It’s what he does, but it helps me get over my shyness.”

  “Well, I won’t do that, but I will go, so we don’t fall too far behind.” He sets his ball down. “Now, I will LIGHTLY tap it.” He does and it goes down the little ramp.

  The rest of the mini golf courses go without any more trick shots. I am actually not too bad at it. We laugh and have a really, really good time. It is different than being with Jeremy. I just can’t put my finger on it. I am still super bashful around Eric, but that isn’t a surprise.

  When we all sit down for pizza, Eric takes the seat next to me. I nervously fidget with my fingers. “Who wants what?” Jack asks. “I will eat anything.”

&n
bsp; “We know that,” Holly retorts. “I have seen some of the stuff you eat at lunch time.”

  “Whatever,” Jack groans sarcastically.

  Eric looks at me. “What do you like on your pizza?”

  “Anything really,” I reply.

  “Then we should get one supreme, one pepperoni and one sausage,” Ashley says decisively.

  I nod. “Sounds good.”

  Everyone talks a mile a minute. I am kind of reserved and quiet. It’s different with these guys. I am reverting back to being super shy. I don’t understand why. Eric finally looks at me and whispers, “Are you having fun.”

  “Yeah,” I answer. “I just like listening to everyone else.”

  “They will talk your head off if you let them,” he states. “Jack is the worst.”

  That makes me giggle. “Everyone is great.”

  “What do you do with Jeremy?” Eric asks.

  Shrugging, I reply, “We go out to eat, watch movies, spar….”

  “Spar?” Eric inquires with a slightly confused expression.

  “Umm, they are teaching me some martial art moves to better protect myself.”

  “Really?” Eric says, looking surprised. “That is awesome.”

  Jack interrupts, “What’s awesome?”

  “Jeremy is teaching Isabelle martial arts,” Eric replies.

  “Oh! Not Jeremy, Kent, our friend Kent. I mean, Jeremy knows a lot, but Kent is like a millionth degree black belt. He is teaching me. Jeremy just spars with me. Really, it usually ends up with Jeremy pinning me on the ground, tickling me until I scream,” I sigh.

  Ashley looks at me wistfully. “He could pin me down anytime he wants.” I laugh and shake my head. “What? He is gorgeous.”

  “He is ridiculously good looking,” Rose quips.

  Snorting, I say, “He knows it, too. No, really, the girls he dates are really pretty, beautiful even.”

  “So, you and he aren’t an item?” Ashley asks. “Like you don’t go on dates or anything?”

  “Well, we’ve gone on dates. He took me to this fantastic dinner at this expensive steak house. It was nice. We dressed up. The waiter was in a tux. There was actual dancing there. The whole thing was great.”

  Everyone at the table kind of sits there and stares at me. Finally, Eric says, “Wow, I guess that puts this to shame.”

  “What?” I gasp. “No, this is awesome. Please, no, I didn’t mean for you to think that.”

  “They do have excellent pizza here,” Jack says, taking another bite.

  “Enough about Jeremy,” I state. “Let’s talk about something else.” So, we do. It is a great evening and I have a lot of fun.

  On the ride home, I am a little nervous again. I had a great time with Eric, and now it’s coming to an end. Interacting with Jeremy is a lot different than interacting with other boys. I am not sure what to do. We pull up to the house and Eric parks the car. He turns to me, “So, did you have a good time?”

  “Yeah, it was so much fun. Thank you so much for inviting me and taking me and, well, paying for me. That was really nice of you. Maybe next time I will treat,” I say. “I mean, if you want to hang out again. You don’t have to. I was presuming that you would.” My face is on fire, I am blushing so hard.

  He just laughs and shakes his head. “You are so cute. We had a lot of fun with you. I think we will definitely get together again.”

  “That sounds nice,” I shyly whisper and look away.

  There is silence and then I hear, “Is that Jeremy?”

  I look up to see someone jogging up the block. My eyes roll and then close. “Yup,” is all that I can say. When I look back out the window, Jeremy stops next to the car. I am going to kill him. He looks at me and tilts his head. I just glare and mouth, go away. With a devilish smirk, he saunters over to the car and opens the door.

  “Hello kids,” he quips.

  “Hey,” Eric replies, hesitantly.

  Jeremy smiles. “Did you have fun?”

  There is nothing amusing about this. “Yes,” I hiss. “I was just saying good bye to Eric.”

  “Well, don’t let me interrupt you,” Jeremy says, grinning even bigger. He shuts the door, and we watch him walk back to the house. Then for no apparent reason, he takes his shirt off and drapes it over his shoulder.

  “I feel very inadequate suddenly,” Eric chuckles.

  I just place my face into my hands. “There is no excuse for him. I am sorry.”

  “No, I mean, I should work out with him sometime. I would get more dates if I looked like that.”

  Pulling my hands away, I look at Eric. “Please, you do not have a hard time getting dates. I have a hard time getting dates, actually have never had one.” As the words come out of my mouth, horrification takes over. “I mean….I have to go,” I say abruptly, grabbing the door handle.

  “Hey,” Eric says, grabbing my arm. “Why are you running off? It’s alright. You don’t need to be shy with me, Isabelle.”

  “I just……I am not used to being around guys. The only experience is with Jeremy and his friends. Kent and Josh are like older brothers and Jeremy….is well Jeremy. So, I guess what I am saying is that I don’t know how to act around you.”

  Eric gives me a soft smile. “You just need to act like you. Don’t be someone you aren’t.”

  “I know,” I whisper. “I did have a really fun time. Thank you so much.”

  He smiles in return. “It was my pleasure. We will have to do it again sometime.”

  “Definitely,” I reply, returning his smile. “I had better get in before Jeremy comes out to check on me. He is a little over protective and obnoxious.”

  Nodding his head, Eric says, “Alright, but what are you doing tomorrow?”

  My heart stops. “I have no idea. Why?”

  “We are going to a car show up on the bluff. Would you like to come?”

  “Sure,” I answer. “Though if it’s a car show, Jeremy will probably want to come.”

  With a slight grin, Eric retorts, “I figured as much. He is more than welcome to join us. Actually, Jack may actually wet himself if Jeremy picks him up in his GTO.”

  “Ugh,” I slowly let out. “He really isn’t too keen on the idea of taking it to a car show, but I can ask him.”

  A slightly confused look passes over Eric’s face. “Okay, well text me and let me know. We are going up there at 11. I am supposed to pick up Jack at 10:30.”

  “Well, if Jeremy is driving I will have him pick you guys up around then.”

  “Sounds good,” Eric states. “Just let me know tonight or in the morning. Don’t tell Jack though if he does bring the car.”

  That makes me laugh. “I won’t. Thanks again for tonight.”

  “Not a problem. Talk to you later,” he says.

  “Night,” I reply, getting out of the car. As I walk up to the house, I can help but giggle. When I turn around as I get to the staircase, Eric waves and then pulls away.

  I nearly sprint up the stairs. When I open the door, I yell, “Jeremy!” There is no response but I hear the shower going. I go over to the door and knock on it.

  “Yes?” I get as a response.

  “Are you in the shower, like IN the shower?” I shout.

  “Yeah, why?”

  Opening the door, I walk in. “Oh my gosh! I could kill you. Why did you take your shirt off!? Was that really necessary?”

  “What? I was hot,” Jeremy laughs.

  “You were not!” I growl. “You were just trying to show off and make me uncomfortable.”

  There is a snicker. “Did it work?”

  “Yes, you jerk! Anyway, that’s not what I came in here to talk to you about.”

  Jeremy sighs, “I am surprised you even came in here. It’s nice to know you are more comfortable. Now, you just have to get used to seeing me naked.”

  “Shut up! Don’t you dare!” I snap.

  “Ffffiinnnnneee,” he draws out. “What did you want to talk about?”

&nb
sp; Shuffling my feet, I reply, “Eric asked me to do something tomorrow.”

  After a pause, Jeremy says, “Okay, like a date?”

  “Unless you and Jack are our chaperones, no.”

  “What are WE doing tomorrow then?” Jeremy asks.

  I bite my lip. “Eric wants to take me to the car show, and……he was wondering if we could take….your…car.” There is just dead silence as I hear the water run. “I told him that you won’t take it to car shows, so I don’t think he will be surprised by your answer.”

  “Mmmm, well, no I don’t take it to car shows, but…..if it helps you I will.”

  My jaw drops a little. “I don’t know if it will help me, but it would probably make their day.”

  With a heavy sigh, Jeremy mumbles, “I thought about a lot when I was running. What you said about Kaitlin earlier, that she wouldn’t want me celebrating her life by getting wasted. You made a really good point. She wanted me to live my life for both of us, and I haven’t been doing that. I have been hiding in a hole.”

  “You haven’t been hiding in a hole, but you really haven’t been putting yourself out there either. I mean, I am the only one you have been remotely close to since her death, right?”

  “Pretty much,” he retorts. “You are good for me Isabelle. I think you are going to breathe some life back into me.”

  Putting my hand on my chest, I just stare at the curtain. “That is really sweet.”

  “Well, it’s true,” he states. I hear the water shut off, and see his hand grab his towel. “Now, I need to get out of here. I do have a towel on, but that usually makes you freak.”

  My heart jumps a little. “It’s fine.”

  He pulls the curtain back and says, “See, covered, no need to worry.”

  “Thanks,” I whisper, blushing hard. “Anyway, you have everything you need to live a fabulous life. You should do everything you can.”

  “Yeah, once you finish school, we will be on our way,” Jeremy replies with a smile. “And I mean college.”

  Rolling my eyes, I groan, “Don’t be ridiculous, you will probably have a wife by then.”

  “Well, we will see about that,” he quietly laughs. “So, you want to take the GTO to the show then?”