“I love my present.” I pulled up my sweater sleeve and brushed my fingers across the amazing Baume & Mercier Swiss watch he’d given me. The soft black leather strap anchored a perfectly set stainless steel casing with a pure white face and silver numbers scattered between coupled lines.
“Now we can make sure you are never late to meet me. I still can’t believe you didn’t wake up this morning when I put the watch on your wrist, or when I kissed up the inside of your arm.” His eyes sparkled with contentment and my butterflies swarmed.
“Yeah, it’s pretty easy to be sneaky with someone who’s exhausted. By the way—you snore.” I grabbed his hand and we locked fingers. I loved the way he smiled at me.
“’Well, the only time I snore is after you and I fool around.” He pulled my hand up to his lips and I felt my cheeks flush red.
“So what you’re saying is that I wear you out? How are you gonna keep up with me when you give me my other birthday present? Don’t think I forgot.”
“I know you haven’t forgotten. So why didn’t you wake me up at 12:01?” He lowered his eyes, snaring me in his look. My heart rolled. God, why didn’t I wake him up again? Oh yeah, Calvin.
“I got up for some water when Calvin came home. He looked like he needed to talk to someone; you were asleep, so I sat down and listened. Oh man, he’s really upset about the fight he had with your dad.” I could feel the corners of my mouth sway south.
Calvin was Max’s younger brother. First impressions left a lot to be desired. Between him getting blasted drunk, screwing up my name, and making a total fool of himself in front of his red-headed one night stand, I didn’t really like him. He didn’t make it easy to see any of his redeeming qualities. But by the end of my first trip to Aspen, several weeks ago, he’d turned it around and started to grow on me. Maybe it was when he’d given me the necklace from Max, or when he covered for Max and me in front of Cindy. Either way, Calvin had found a soft spot to rest in my heart.
“Yeah, when I picked him up he spent the entire ride spewing about all the crap our dad did,” Max said.
“He told me that their argument was pretty gnarly.” I watched Max stare at the blinking ‘fasten seatbelt’ light.
“Yeah, bad enough to get him to jump on a plane and fly out to California,” he mumbled.
Max bounced his hand on my thigh, pulling my thoughts away from the spiraling sadness I felt for Calvin. “I’m sorry I missed you at the winter dance. You looked so hot in the picture you texted me,” he said as he tilted his head and flashed me his crooked smile. I got light-headed.
“Well, it was J’s idea. Thank her. I just sent it to tease you.”
“It worked. I couldn’t stop visualizing you in that dress and fantasizing about how I wanted to kiss you out of it. You’re so beautiful.”
“Yeah, well, you missed the boat on that one, Max. But don’t worry, I know where to find that dress.” I yawned. I couldn’t stop the muscles in my throat from forcing me take a deep breath. My cheeks rose and squeezed my eyes, causing them to water.
“Well maybe you’re going to have to keep up with me now,” Max whispered. His nose pressed just above the curve of my ear; I felt his hot breath tickle down across my earlobe and swim across my neck.
“It was your snoring and Calvin’s need to talk—and maybe us playing a little.”
“Well, it’s your birthday today and it is a short flight; maybe you should close your eyes.” Max brushed my hand. I really wanted to stay awake, but my eyelids floated shut. My eyes rolled back in my head, and my mind slipped into a rerun from several days ago.
****
I was in Max’s classroom and Joanie was sitting next to me, across the aisle. I could smell the lavender wafting into his room from the open window.
“What’s so funny?” Joanie leaned over and whispered.
Her dark brown hair swerved against her milky skin. I didn’t realize I had giggled through my smile.
“Just thinking about my birthday; I can’t wait,” I whispered back.
Joanie was my BFF. She was my family, the only I had. No, we weren’t related by blood or marriage; it was more precise than that. We’d chosen each other on purpose. I never knew my sperm donor (the guy that knocked up my incubator after a one-night stand), and the woman who birthed me decided that being a junkie ho was more important than raising me. So she dropped me off at my grandparents’ and drove away. After my grandparents died, it was just Joanie and me.
“He’s taking you to his cabin in Aspen, right?” she pressed.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t really know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s, like, in less than three days,” she chided. She had a point; my eighteenth birthday was only three days away.
“His parents are going to be at the cabin; that’s going to put a kink in our plans.” I watched the wheels spin in her head. She was always good at figuring out how to work around situations that created problems that needed to be solved. We leaned into the space between our desks.
“What if you got a hotel room?” she whispered.
“Eeww, no, I wanted it to be somewhere special, meaningful.”
“It couldn’t be any worse than a bathroom in Cindy’s cabin.”
Oh man, just stick a knife in the gaping hole and twist it, why don’t you? Cindy was a sore subject for me. It had been almost a month since I’d dropped the F-bomb on her and she was definitely clutching a grudge for me; watering it, making sure to weed and feed it, and pruning it to be the most impressive grudge anyone would ever see. I knew Cindy well enough to know she was waiting for the perfect time to cause collateral damage. The only thing I could do was prepare myself for the worst knockdown, drag-out fight between us. She had the financial backing to go global with her revenge and I had, well, J.
Joanie burst into my thoughts, “I got it! Take him to your grandparents’ house. You’ll definitely get privacy there.”
The pit of my stomach burned with a blistering fire that climbed through my heart and up into the back of my throat. That house was a convenience that was only available because my grandparents were dead and I hadn’t had the gumption to deal with what they’d left behind. I never realized how much red tape and legal crap there was when people died. Wow, salt the knife wound. Go ahead and pour it right in there. Hope it’s kosher.
“I don’t know, J; isn’t that kinda morbid? I’m going to go up there and deal with my dead grandparents’ estate and conveniently use the opportunity to lose my virginity?”
“Just think of it as killing two birds with one stone. Sorry, Wilson, that didn’t come out right. It’s just that the place is vacant and you always told me how much you liked going back there.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I mumbled.
Joanie had a good point. I really loved being at my grandparents’ house, and I was relieved that Max had gone with me this last time. It made it easier to be there, without them. Finally I’d had a chance to say goodbye; but I still didn’t think I could go up there to lose my virginity.
Just then, Jacky Burlington purposely cleared her throat in the next aisle over. I noticed her and Cindy glaring at us. I guess they were really focused on what Max—Mr. Goldstein—was saying. Jacky motioned her head to the front of the class; I turned and saw Max staring right at us.
“Glad you two decided to join the discussion. Wilson, see me after class,” Max demanded. Everyone let out the expected ‘oh, you’re so busted’ hum. His eyes burned through me. He is so hot. I hoped he wasn’t really that mad at me for talking during his lecture.
“Sorry, Mr. Goldstein,” I mumbled.
“Okay, everyone, let’s get back to the topic at hand—governmental spending in times of war.” The room settled down as he walked over to the whiteboard, grabbed the green dry erase marker and began writing words. I liked when he wrote his words in green. They looked so sexy, masculine, and level; I couldn’t wait to erase them today after school.
Max star
ted talking again, and immediately, I tuned him out. My mind tilted and drifted to thoughts about what he was going to do with me after class. In my daydream I imagined him locking the door to his room, his hands strong against the beige metal. I went to him; he tickled his fingers across my thigh and up under my skirt before slipping his fingers behind the front panel of my panties. I widened my stance and my body began to respond to his delicate caress. I was nervous someone might see us, but that faded once he kissed me. His tongue tangled wildly with mine and I tasted his familiar, sweet aroma. I dragged my hand from around his waist and pressed my fingers against the swell in his Levi’s. He was so hard and I could feel the heat exude through his pants. I pulled open the first couple of buttons and slipped my hand down inside. He was blazing hot and unyieldingly rigid. I stroked steadily along his silky length; he growled cavernously as his hips answered, thrusting until he erupted. His fingers still danced relentlessly between my legs and his beastly sounds hurled me over the edge as I swayed my hips to his rhythm; losing my breath I exploded against his fingers. My body vibrated and went weak. He caught me between his strong hands as they cradled either side of my neck, below my ears, warming my cheeks. He kissed me feverishly, as if he couldn’t get enough of me, before he pulled away, slowly opening his eyes as the bell rang.
Chapter Two
The thwack of books closing and the shuffle of chairs pulled me out of my fantasy. I took a huge needed breath as I came back to the room. When I looked up, Joanie was standing over me.
“I’ll wait for you outside.”
“J, it’s better if you just get to class. You know Mr. Swanks.”
Mr. Swanks was our trigonometry teacher, fifth period. He despised people who showed up late to his class. It was better for Joanie to show up on time than to wait for me. Max would give me a pass, so Mr. Swanks would only be half as mad about my tardiness.
Joanie flipped her backpack over her shoulder and gave me a “thumbs up” as she left Max’s class. I smiled and waved her on. Pulling my backpack from the floor, I put it on my chair. I made sure Max looked up from his paperwork before I walked really slowly over to him, swaying my hips. Maybe I should tell him about my fantasy. We stood across from each other, his hands planted strongly into the top of his desk. On the other side, I mirrored his stance.
His eyes studied mine as he spoke softly, “I wanted to tell you I won’t be at the dance tonight. Calvin called me today. He and my dad got into it a huge fight and so Calvin is flying in at six-thirty. I’m really sorry.” His midnight black hair curtained his eyes. I craved it—I wanted to knot my fingers into the stray pieces and drag them back away from his face, but I didn’t.
“Oh that’s a bummer. Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. I guess he bought an open-ended ticket. So who knows how long he’s going to stay?” Max scowled and cocked his head.
“It must’ve been a pretty bad fight,” I told him as the space between us became thin and nonexistent.
“I guess so. But listen, I still want you to go to the dance,” he said.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, and don’t worry, we’ll have your birthday. I promise,” he added.
Call me crazy, but I didn’t think he would want me to go to the dance without him; and maybe it’s selfish, but I was still in the dark about where we were going to spend my birthday. So like always, and before I could filter the words that shot from my mouth, I blurted out my undercooked, raw, thought about spending a couple of days up the coast in my dead grandparents’ house.
“My grandparents’ house is empty. We could go up there for my birthday.” I swallowed; he noticed.
“You want to go there instead of Aspen?” He looked at me, touched with disappointment. What am I doing? I don’t want to go up north for my birthday.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I was just thinking—because I haven’t heard you say anything concrete about going to Colorado,” I backpedaled, trying to keep him from being hurt by my suggestion.
“I’m so sorry, Wilson. I was gonna surprise you that we were flying out on your birthday.” His hands hid into his pockets, his head tilted to one side, gesturing to be forgiven. I couldn’t get mad; this was new for both of us.
“It’s fine.” I slid my hands across the desk and leaned in toward him. Our eyes held each other in a fierce trance. His eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed. I could feel that he wanted to reach over and touch me, but he didn’t.
“So you’re still going to the dance with Brandon, right?” he whispered.
I nodded reluctantly.
The door swung open and voices filled the room again, mingling with the first warning bell. As we leaned away from each other, the butterflies dive-bombed into my gut. He reached into the top drawer of his desk and filled out a hall pass. I had about two minutes to get across campus to trig.
“Here—you’d better get to class, we’ll talk later.” He held out the pass in front of me and I reached for it, rubbing my fingers across the back side of his hand. I wanted him to know I understood his frustration. I shoved the hall pass into my pocket and hustled out the door.
Suddenly my dream morphed and I was lying on my bed in my dorm room with Joanie. She was twisting and turning as she checked herself out in the full-length mirror. Her dress was elegant—a rich red strapless chenille which stopped just at mid thigh. It molded and accentuated her best parts and made her skin look like flawless porcelain. She was nothing less than beautiful.
“Everything okay?” Joanie asked.
“Yeah, I guess; it’s just that I wish I wasn’t going to the dance with Brandon.” I grabbed the dress that hung on the closet door and held it in front of me. “I didn’t even try and coordinate with him. I am so not into this.” I fell back on my bed, taking the emerald green strapless dress down with me.
“Oh, come on, just suck it up and have some fun.” She picked up my dress and unzipped it.
“Why? Max won’t be at the dance. Calvin’s coming into town and he has to pick him up at the airport.”
“I know that really blows. I’m sorry, Wilson.” She shook the dress, waiting for me to put it on.
“J, come on. What’s the point? I can’t sneak off and dance with Max if he isn’t there. Don’t make me go.” I stood up and gave her my best attempt at a pathetic look.
“Wilson, you’ve gotta go. Besides, I’ve got a great idea.” She tossed me the dress.
“What’s that?”
“I want to send a picture of you all dressed up—to Max.” She grabbed her phone.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea tonight.” I dropped the dress on the bed.
“It’s a great idea. Don’t you think he wants to see how beautiful you look? He’d like that. And what better motivation for Saturday?” she argued.
Joanie always made total sense when common sense failed me. When I thought about it, why wouldn’t Max want a picture of me in the sexy dress he would never see?
“Okay, but you have to take it from my waist up. And here, use my phone.” I snatched it from my pocket and tossed it to her. Stretching my top off over my head, I slid the dress down my body, leaving my jeans on underneath. I then magically removed my bra and waited for Joanie to zip me up.
“Suck in,” she grunted and pulled up the zipper. She twirled me around and started knotting my hair.
“J, stop. Just take the picture.” I threw my hands up around my head, trying to protect my hair from the damage her fingers were itching to inflict.
“But wait, just…right…here—let me get this one strand.”
“Joanie!”
Okay, okay; ready…set…smile!” She sang as she held my phone out an arm’s length away from herself. I heard the recorded sound of a camera click before she pulled it to her chest to look at the picture. She looked up smiling.
“Let me see,” I said.
“You look so pretty. He won’t be able to stay home after getting this picture,” Joanie crooned
.
She handed me the phone and of course I didn’t like what I saw.
“J—my hair is way too poufy, my eyes are at half mast and I look so pale. He’ll mistake me for the ghost of Christmas past; and he’s Jewish! How could you think that was a good picture? What am I doing?” It made me wonder if everyone saw me that way. Am I really pretty enough for someone like Max?
“Wilson, just shut up! You are so beautiful, why wouldn’t he be with you? Why can’t you see how amazing you are? You’re the strongest person I know. You’re funny and so smart. Come on, Willie, we know you belong with him.” Joanie shoulder-bumped me, trying to knock me out of my funk.
“You know I hate it when you call me that! But thanks for cheering me on.” I looked back at the picture on my phone. “I could use some color.” I tapped my hands across my cheeks and looked into the mirror. “Retake the picture,” I said as I twisted my shoulders sideways, pushed out my chest, and dropped my chin with my lips plumped. There, now he’ll see what he’s missing.
“Perfect.” Joanie snapped another picture.
Cindy busted in the door then with Jacky Burlington in tow. She huffed over to the closet, the same one that housed all of her clothes, and started to rummage through the huge collection of dresses she had at her disposal. She muttered under her breath as she threw dresses out onto the floor.
“No, won’t work…can’t stand that one…why did I even buy that color? …God, what was I thinking? …Why bother? Okay, here—this is it.” Cindy pulled out a dress and held it up. Jacky clapped her hands like a baby whose mom had just found her favorite doll in the bottom of the toy box. Besides the fact that Cindy used to make fun of Jacky for being chunky, it had always been a well-known fact that she couldn’t stand the immaturity Jacky always seemed to embody. It’s funny how things had changed, especially after I dropped the F-bomb on her. I mean, come on, I’d already tried several times to apologize for my sharp tongue and for cursing at her, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. So now, I guess it’s a battle of wills.
Wilson Mooney Eighteen at Last Page 2