by Amy Steele
“That Mrs. Bennett will get on your nerves sooner or later,” I finally said.
Allison slammed her book close and jumped as I bent down next to her. She looked so beautiful. She reminded me of Snow White. Her skin was as flawless as porcelain framed with dark, almost-black hair. Allison’s big brown eyes were wide with surprise as she turned around to look at me. I took my sunglasses off and shifted my weight to kneel in the sand.
“I finished Dracula just like I said I would,” she said quickly. Her warm breath touched my face, and I realized the close proximity of our lips. I blinked a couple of times, trying to form my next thought.
“And what did you think?” I asked, moving to sit beside her on the beach blanket. I hoped she wasn’t upset at how I kept moving closer and closer—I couldn’t seem to help myself.
Allison swallowed before she answered. “I liked it better than the movie.” She shrugged but didn’t move away
“Good,” I laughed, “now I can go on respecting you.” Stupid! She just finished one of your favorite books, and you insult her. Real smooth.
Ali let out a hard laugh. “Well, I’m so glad I can meet your expectations,” she said defiantly and crossed her arms over her chest—the universal symbol of personal closure. Instinctively, I reached and touched her arm lightly. I had to ignore how soft her skin was and apologize.
“Now don’t get me wrong, Ali. It’s just that I find people usually cop out and don’t finish the book if they can just watch the movie.” My fingers made a path down her arm to the hand that was holding her forearm in hopes that she’ll look at me. “All I’m saying is that I am impressed.” Our fingers were now touching, and I was having a hard time focusing. “I mean you read, what, like 250 pages just last night alone. That is persistence.” My fingers lingered over her hand, and I found myself taking note of the contrast of our skin. I was spending too much time under the sun.
“I am a fast reader,” she mumbled, and I realized she was staring at my mouth, “and persistent.” I looked from our hands to her mouth. Allison’s lips were the color of pale coral petals and parted slightly when she realized I was staring at her. I needed to stay focused.
“Very impressive,” I added, hoping she knew I was talking about the reading and not her lips. Okay, a little about her lips too.
I forced myself to lean back when what I really wanted to do was hold her soft cheek in my hand and press my lips to hers. My hand was still on Ali’s, and she didn’t seem to mind. All I could concentrate on was our touch. It felt comfortable and easy, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I looked up from our hands to find her staring at me. A short second later, I leaned back. I couldn’t focus while I was so close to her. I shook my head, and my thoughts slowly came back to the reason I was there.
“No surfing today?” she asked, breaking the silence. I looked to the ocean, then back to her.
“Waves are crappy today,” I said out loud. And I have to work, then take you out on a date, I added in my mind. When I spoke again, I lowered my voice, and she leaned toward me. “And I was hoping to do something different today.”
Allison arched a dark eyebrow. “And what would that be?” I could feel my face get hot, embarrassed. I bent down to her eye level again. Just say it, I commanded myself.
“Allison, will you go out with me tonight?” I spoke so quickly I almost didn’t understand what I said.
“You want to go out with me?” she asked, her voice sounding shocked. Both of her dark eyebrows arched on her forehead.
Oh. Crap. How arrogant am I? Allison must have a boyfriend. Wouldn’t Trudy have told me? Maybe he is a tool, and she wants me to swoop in and sweep Ali off her feet. Play it cool. I can sweep.
I forced out a hard laugh. “Of course I do,” I said, taking her hand easily. “I have never surfed a beach so many days in a row, but after seeing you that first day, I had to keep coming back.” I had laid it all out on the line. Silence.
Allison’s dark brown eyes rounded in surprise. She broke eye contact with me and looked down at my hand on top of hers. I thought she was going to shake my hand off, but instead, she laced the tips of our fingers together. My heartbeat quickened.
“So,” she said, her voice low, “a date?” Her hand was warm around mine, and I couldn’t help but move my thumb back and forth over her soft skin.
“How about I pick you up at your aunt Trudy’s at six?” Her cheeks flushed, and she looked even more beautiful.
“Okay,” Ali whispered. I moved closer to speak directly into her ear. She smelled like coconut and citrus.
“I don’t think you know how adorable you are when you get embarrassed,” I whispered. I didn’t move: I was stuck in a limbo under her trance. “See you at six sharp.” I stood quickly and left before I could say anything else or act on my impulses.
Work was a blur. I remember telling Sean, my best friend, about Allison. I am pretty sure that’s all I could talk about. He remembered her from the night before and had pretty much stalked her from the shadows. At one point, he had threatened to ask her out if I didn’t. I thought I might be annoying him with how much I was talking about her, but I didn’t care.
“So,” Sean said. I turned toward him as he continued, “You going to bring this Book Girl to the bonfire tonight?” Dang it. I forgot all about that.
“I don’t know . . .” I let my sentence trail off. Sean knew me well.
“You forgot,” he accused. No, I just didn’t remember.
“I just don’t think that is a first date kind of—”
“No way,” Sean cut me off. “You will be there. It’s our traditional end-of-the-year party, our last one.” He was right.
Since we were in grade school, we always celebrated the summer with a bonfire—a way to welcome the carefree months of surf and sun. First it was with our families, then extended to our friends, and now it was just a huge group of people. With me going through college at an accelerated rate, this would probably be our last bash together. Sean still had two years left in college, and I’d been applying for jobs all over California, so who knows where I would end up?
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised. Sean didn’t look happy but knew me well enough to know that trying to change my mind was useless. I didn’t care about the bonfire tonight. I had a date with Allison.
***
Before I left the house, my mother gave me some sound advice: take Trudy some flowers; it would win me some points. My mom is always saying stuff like that, teaching me the finer points on how to treat women. So on my way home, I stopped at the farmer’s market and picked up a bouquet of wildflowers for Trudy and a single sunflower for Allison. They seemed fitting for both women.
When I got there, I stood at the door, waiting to knock. It was two minutes to six. I could hear them inside giggling, but it sounded like it was mostly Trudy. I was excited and nervous. I shifted the flowers to one hand and knocked. The laughing stopped, and a moment later, Trudy opened the door with a huge smile.
“Good evening, Trudy,” I said, holding the wild bouquet toward her. “These are for you.” I smiled as Trudy’s mouth formed an O, and she took them from me.
“Ryan,” she cooed, “you are such a charmer.” She stepped back and waved an arm in. “Come in, please.” I did. Trudy’s place was what I would call “eclectic,” but I didn’t care about her paintings and furniture. I scanned the room for Allison. Just as I was thinking her name, she appeared from the kitchen.
Time stopped. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. She was wearing a long flowing white skirt and a pale yellow tank top; her dark hair was pulled up high. I wanted to drop the flower I was holding and run my fingers over her skin, from the base of her neck down to her shoulder.
“I’ll just put these in some water,” Trudy said, breaking my Allison trance. I noticed she was blushing at my stare and took a few steps toward me. I closed the distance between us and extended the sunflower to her.
“This made
me think of you,” I said quietly. Ali reached for it, and our fingers brushed again. It felt differently than it had earlier that day. It was more powerful, like it was backed with electricity. Our gazes met, and I knew we both felt it.
“It is beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.” I smiled at how something so simple could make her happy.
“Of course,” I answered. Trudy came back into the room, and I took an unwilling step back. She had a sprig of what looked like lavender in her hand. She made her way to Ali and said something quietly to her, which made her blush. Ali shifted, and Trudy began to weave the lavender into Allison’s dark hair. When she was done and Ali wasn’t looking, she winked at me.
“Let me put that gorgeous sunflower into a big vase for you, Ali,” Trudy said and took it from her. “Now get going, you two. The night is young, and so are you.” And with that, we were on our date.
The night air was warm as the sun hung lazily in the sky. I wanted to hold Ali’s hand as we walked to the truck but decided I didn’t want to push it. I opened the door for her and helped her into the cab. Once I was inside, I turned to look at her. The setting sun made her look radiant. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and then turned to face me. She looked down at her skirt, then touched her thin top.
“What is it?” she asked, alarmed. I reached out and took her hand, not caring if it seemed forward.
“You are stunning,” I told her. We just stared at each other, and I felt gravity pulling me closer to her.
“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” she said back with a smile. I had to laugh at her assessment. I like a girl with a quick wit.
“I was going to wear board shorts and style my hair with surfboard wax. But then I thought, nah, I’d fancy it up for you.” Ali started laughing, and I was lost in the sound of it. I cranked the engine and pulled away from the curb, not releasing her hand, letting them rest on the seat between us.
“So,” she said after a few minutes of comfortable silence, “where are we going?”
“I hope you like Italian.” I smiled. I was taking her to this little place that few people knew about. They served the best meatballs and garlic bread.
“Who doesn’t?” she answered with a grin.
I liked her. “I think we are going to get along just fine.” And I was right.
Dinner was great. No, “great” doesn’t seem to describe it. We just clicked. We ate, talked, and laughed for almost three hours. We discussed our likes and dislikes, our goals and dreams, family and futures. We had so much in common that it was unreal, almost serendipitous. The more we talked, the more I felt connected with her. Ali loved books and English as much as I did, and she wanted to be a professor or a writer. She wasn’t only incredibly beautiful—she was incredibly smart as well. I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. As I did this, she moved closer to me in the round booth. Once again, I wanted to take her delicate face in my hands and press my lips to hers. I leaned toward her.
“Hey, Coop,” an irritatingly familiar voice said from behind me. Allison looked past me, and I turned to see Sean. He looked back and forth between us. “So are you going to introduce me?” I wanted to say, “No, I’m not going to introduce you. I’m going to kill you.”
I cleared my throat. “Hey, Sean.” I turned to face Ali, her cheeks adorably pink, and squeezed her fingers. “Allison, this is Sean—Sean, this is—”
“Book Girl,” he cut me off, smiling. Ali’s eyes grew, and then she nodded and smiled, looking at Sean.
“Hello, Sean,” she started. “You are the guy who was at the restaurant last night, hiding in the shadows, right?” She pointed her finger at him and tipped her head to the side. Our jaws dropped open, and then Sean and I laughed. “Well, I’ll let you boys chat, and I’ll just . . . you know.” Then she scooted out of the booth.
Sean turned to face me. “I think I’m in love,” he said dreamily as he dropped into the booth, and I mock punched his arm.
“What are you doing here?” I was annoyed. He knew about this date. He shrugged and picked up a breadstick and took a bite.
“I’m not letting you get out of the bonfire, my friend.” He chewed with his mouth open. “You need to be there. Bring Book Girl . . . Ali,” he said, shrugging.
“Come on, Sean, this is our first date,” I pleaded, willing him to understand.
“Dude, I said to bring her.” He looked at me, frustrated for not getting what I was saying. “She is so hot, man. If you don’t ask her, maybe I—” I didn’t let him finish. I smacked the back of his head.
“Ask me what?” Ali asked as she slid in easily next to me.
“There is this bonfire tonight,” I said quietly, turning to face her and block Sean’s view. I hadn’t realized how close she was and became immediately distracted by her petal-soft lips.
“It’s tradition,” Sean interrupted, but it didn’t make us break eye contact.
Ali blinked and smiled, glancing quickly down toward my lips, then back up to meet my eyes. “Do you want to go to the bonfire?”
“I . . .” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t focus on anything. Ali smiled and winked.
“I guess we will see you later, Sean,” she said past me. “It was nice meeting you.” She turned back to me. I don’t know how long we sat there, but at some point, Sean left.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone silence Sean—ever,” I told her, impressed. She bit her lip and looked down.
“So your friends call you Coop, huh?” she asked with a smile.
Three
Allison
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to go to this bonfire,” Cooper told me when we got back into his truck. At this point, I would have gone anywhere with him.
“Your friend said it was tradition.” I shrugged. “And traditions shouldn’t be broken.” I felt nervous, but conflicted. It was peaceful being with Cooper. He turned toward me as we approached the stoplight and studied my face for a moment.
“We won’t stay long, I promise,” he told me quietly, looking like he was lost in a different thought. I smiled at him. The air had gone cold with the setting sun, and I rubbed my arms to warm myself. Cooper parked and turned to look for something behind the seat. A minute later, he held out a sweatshirt for me.
“Thank you,” I said, taking it from him. I was thankful that in the darkness, he couldn’t see the blush of my cheeks.
“Hey,” Cooper said, reaching across the seat and taking my hand in his. “Don’t be nervous,” he said as he squeezed my fingers. “I won’t leave your side.” I smiled faintly at his reassurance. He turned to face me, his expression a cross between serious and nervous.
“Are you okay?” I asked, covering his hand with my free hand. He nodded slowly but didn’t speak for what seemed like a full minute. My heart and head went into overdrive, trying to process what he could possibly be thinking.
“You are making me nervous,” I finally blurted out.
“That is not my intention,” he said. “I was just thinking how surreal all this is.” He shifted and was now literally sitting on the edge of his seat. “I mean, when I first saw you on the beach, my initial thought was how cute you were.” I had to look down as he said this. “And then the more I saw you, the more I had to know you. It was little things like how you would sit in the shade at the beach or the way you’d hold your bottle of water and try to balance your book.” His voice dropped. “Then when you finally spoke to me, I knew I would just need more, and then tonight . . .” I looked back up to him as his voice trailed off.
“Tonight was surreal,” I offered. Cooper let out a short laugh.
“To say the least.” His free hand moved to my face, and my vision blurred. Coop’s thumb traced my cheek, and my breath caught in my throat. “I don’t know about you, but I have never been this comfortable with another person, let alone on a first date.” His hand was warm on my skin, and I tried to regulate my heart rate so I could speak.
�
�I know what you mean,” I said slowly. Not that I’d had a lot of dating experience, but I knew that I had never had this much fun with anyone before or felt this comfortable. It did feel incredibly natural. I wanted to tell him this, but instead, all that came out of my mouth was, “Natural.”
“Exactly,” he agreed, moving closer. I could almost feel his lips on mine. I had never wanted anything more.
Suddenly, the truck started shaking, and we both jumped back. Earthquake, was my first thought. I didn’t understand that the shaking was linked with the loud shouts outside the cab. A couple of guys were rocking the truck back and forth and calling Cooper’s name. They hadn’t realized someone else was inside the truck with him until my back pressed against the passenger side window.
Cooper sighed. “Sorry about them,” he said, sounding frustrated and a little embarrassed. “We don’t have to do this,” he added, almost hopefully. He nodded toward the beach, and I looked over his shoulder. I was surprised to see forty to fifty people around a huge fire.
I swallowed and smiled as best I could. “Come on, Sean said it was tradition.” Cooper smiled, and my heart melted. I can do this.
We sat quietly in the cab of the truck for just another minute before we got out. Cooper took my hand back in his and pressed his lips very quickly to it. This replaced the intimate moment we lost to the rowdy boys.
“You ready for this?” he asked. I didn’t answer. Instead, I just smiled and opened the door of the truck. I silently told myself, Be brave and act confident. Cooper came around the truck and slipped his hand back into mine.
This was one serious bonfire. The blaze of flames jumped ten feet into the sky throughout the night. Sean seemed stunned when he saw us arrive. He took it upon himself to lead me around and introduce me to as many people as he could. Even though people kept coming up to Cooper, he stayed close to me throughout the introductions. At one point, Sean looped his arm around me.
“Sean,” Coop said, his voice sharp. Sean put his hands up in a surrender position and smiled crookedly. I reached until I found Cooper’s hand and held it tightly in mine; our fingers laced together. The rest of the night, I was more than content to stay close to Cooper. Occasionally, he would slip his arm around my waist. It was like a fairy tale.