Lingering Touch - A Story of Young Love (3 page)

"I'm not, I was just wondering." I said, brushing her off. "Jeez, girl, calm down!"

In math that day, while Miss Carmandy was lecturing, I tapped his shoulder. We sat in the back, so I was fairly certain no one would notice me talking to the new kid. He didn't react, so I tapped it again. He finished writing something and turned around.

Wow. His eyes were even bluer up close.

"So you're the new kid?" I ask/whisper.

"Yeah, so? Are you going to tell me I can't sit here? Because I don't really have a choice." He turned back around and started writing again. Some way to thank me.

Whatever. I didn't talk to him the rest of class and he didn't talk to me. Until Miss Carmandy announced near the end that we both have to stay after class because she needed to talk to us. I suppressed a groan as people turned in their seats to glance between new kid and me, confusion on all of their faces. I shrug nonchalantly and examine my nails, uncomfortable under their stares.

After class, Miss Carmandy walked to the back of the classroom and stood before us.

"Trevor, I understand you just moved here, but you were in Calculus at you're old school, too." Miss Carmandy admonished to the new kid. Trevor, apparently.

"Well yeah, but I wasn't so good at it then either." He shrugged, looking down.

"Well you won't be failing my class if I can help it." She said. "Ariana here is the smartest girl in class, surprisingly enough," she added under her breath and Trevor didn't even try to hide his smirk. "So I'm going to ask her to tutor you until your grade improves." She looks at my down her nose. "If that's all right with you, Miss Luke?"

All the amusement was wiped from our faces. Me tutor new kid? Not in this lifetime, lady! I was about to protest but Trevor beat me to it.

"But Miss Carmandy, I can try to work harder, really! I don't need a tutor…" He didn't want me to be his tutor? Fine. Two could play at that game.

"I'd be happy to do it, Miss Carmandy." I smiled brightly at her, delighted to get back at Trevor, even if it meant I'd have to tutor him. It just gave me another thing to make fun of him for!

"Splendid!" She clapped her hands and beamed at me. That was a look I would never get used to as long as I lived.

"But I don't need—" Trevor began. Miss Carmandy kept talking like he'd never even spoken.

"I want you to meet every Tuesday and Thursday, unless you have previous engagements."

"I work those days," Trevor said, finally giving up. "but I'm free Wednesdays and Fridays."

"Fine, then you'll meet on Wednesdays and Fridays during lunch or after school, I don't mind which, as long as it gets done. Clear?" She effectively cut off any protests we might have had.

"Lunch." He says at the same time I say, "After school."

"Well, why don't you talk about it now? I just have a planning period next, but I was thinking on going to the teacher's lounge anyway. I'll write you notes for your next class, but please try not to take too long. I'll be back shortly." She abruptly left the room, leaving me alone with Trevor.

"Why not lunch?" He asked, flicking his hair. It looked
really
soft.

"Why not after school?" I countered. Ok, so it wasn't the wittiest of comebacks. Bite me.

"Fine, whatever. After works, I guess."

"Ok fine. Whatever," I mimicked him in an awfully whiney voice. Why was I acting so childish? "After school then, at my house." I paused. "Umm, do you want to just ride with me?" I said after a minute.

"Yeah, whatever." Does he know how to say anything else? Jeez.

"Ok, meet me by the front doors." I said.

"Whatever."

After school, I had my pack over my shoulder, laughing with the girls. I had just told some cheerleader that a football player liked her, and I told him the same. We found them making out under the bleachers half an hour later. We walked out the doors together. I was headed for my car when I noticed him standing right outside the doors.

"Ugh," I slap my hand on my forehead. "Sorry guys, I can't hang out. Miss Carmandy is making me tutor the new kid." I fake shudder and they gave me words of sympathy.

"How about you just don't and say you did?" Alyssa laughed at her awful joke. But the truth is I kind of wanted to do this, strange as it was. The kid interested me, he wasn't like the other boys here who'd practically faint if I turned my charm on them, not that I
did
that to Trevor or anything, but still.

"So are we gonna do this or what?" he said to me, looking me squarely in the eye. I was about to retort with something mean but Amber saw it coming, and she stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm.

"We were just leaving, Trevor. You guys have fun." Dang, why does she have to be so polite all the time?

I stalked off without checking to see if he was following. He'd better be. When I got to my car I deftly jumped in and stuck the key in the ignition. It purred to life. Trevor walked up wearing a black Yankees hat and looking nervous, he opened the door and sat too, closing the door very gently. He carefully placed his skateboard and backpack in the back seat beside mine.

"Relax," I said, "you're not going to scratch anything." I turned up the radio so I wouldn't hear him answer—if he gave one—and so I wouldn't feel pressured to talk on the drive to my house. I hoped the maid had already cleaned the house.

Trevor looked up in awe at my house when we got there. Sure it's big and fancy, but so are all the other houses in my neighborhood. It's no better than any of them. I got out and slammed the door for effect. Luckily, I remembered my key so I don't have to tell him to turn around while I got the spare.

The maid had—thankfully—already come and gone and the house looked normal. We kicked off our shoes and headed up the stairs to my room.

"Uh, don't you wanna do this somewhere else…?" He asked uncomfortably when we walked in. Of course. The new kid is scared of being alone in my room.

"What, you don't like it in here? You know, they say a girl's room is like a window to her soul." I said dramatically, laying across my bed in a 'seductive' manner.

"No, their eyes are the windows to the soul." He said dryly.

"Fine whatever. We can go downstairs to the kitchen table," I said in my best imitation of his accent.

He scoffed at my pathetic attempt and left the room, headed downstairs, I'm sure. I followed after a moment, surprised at his casual wandering of my house. Some of my friends got lost in here. I really hoped he wouldn't.

When we got into the kitchen he was already sitting down, so I sat next to him. I pulled out my book and opened it to the correct page, but Trevor just got out that notebook and started scribbling. "Why do you do that all the time?" I asked, trying to read over his shoulder.

"Nothing," He said, and slammed it shut. Ok, that was weird.

"Okay, well, let's get to work." I started reading the chapter, reviewing so I wouldn't mess up in front of him. He sighed very audibly and yanked his book out of his bag as well, flipping through the page lazily. "Listen," I said. "If you want me to help you, you actually have to try. Alright?"

"Well I don't want your help." He rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just do what your friend said?" he asked after a minute, studying me like it was the most important question in the universe.

I couldn't tell him I thought he was interesting, then he'd think I'm completely psycho! Then again, I pretty much was. "'Cuz I'm an amazingly generous person. Here, look at this." I pointed to something in my book. He leaned over to look in my book, non-purposely getting in my way and putting his hair right in my face. It smelled fantastic. Like fall. Like the crisp, clear air and golden leaves. I paused. Was I seriously
smelling
him?

"Want a drink?" I stood up abruptly and walked over to the fridge, and pulled out a Dr. Pepper. He shook his head without even looking at me, staring intently at my book.

"Ha, who's R.J.?" He finally looked up at me, smirking.

I had forgotten that I'd scribbled Ryan's initials all over my book at the beginning of the year. I totally thought that I loved him, before I realized there was no such thing as love.

"Nobody!" I snapped at him, and snatched the book away, shutting it tightly and hugging it to my chest. He laughed at me, but then his face suddenly sobered and he looked away. Weird.

"So let's do it," I say, plopping down next to him and opening my book—carefully—again.

"I didn't know you wanted to," He wagged his eyebrows at me and grinned. Boys. Wasn't he the one who was nervous to step foot in my room?

"You're worse than Collin." I muttered and looked down at my book. Why was I blushing? Guys said stuff like that to me all the time, and I never reacted like this.

I tried for the next hour to teach him the basics of roots and ratios. How he got into Calculus I'll never know. Finally he groaned and shoved his book across the table.

"I give up." He stated.

I sighed, too. He was right. This was pointless.

"Yeah, ok, fine. You got somewhere to be?" He kept checking his watch. It was kind of getting annoying. I wondered idly if he has a girlfriend. I didn't really pay attention to the twinge of emotion I felt because of that thought.

"No." He scowled and crosses his arms.

"Then let's do something," I said before thinking about it. Smart.

He looked at me like I just spoke Latin, which I can, by the way. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Funny."

"I'm serious. We can like, go to a movie or... The mall or something. Or we could just hang out here." I wasn't so keen on everyone seeing me in public with him.

Again he looks at me like I'm delirious. "Okay..."

"Okay."

"Good."

"Cool."

"Whatever."

We were acting like two year olds. What is wrong with us?

"Umm, okay. So what do you wanna do?"

"Umm, okay," he mocked me in a high voice "I don't care." He shrugged. "Whatever." Typical answer.

"Well we could go to my arcade, if you want." He perked up at the suggestion, and looked at me curiously.

"You have your own arcade?" He seriously looked surprised, even though he'd seen how big my house is and my freaking
amazing
car.

"No shit, Sherlock. Down in the basement. Oh, and a bowling alley, but I'm not in the mood for that." I rolled my eyes. "So, you wanna?"

He grinned at my cussing, surprised. "Sure," He chucked his books into his bag with more enthusiasm than I'd ever seen him have. Soon we were sitting on plastic motorcycles racing each other, and of course I was winning. I played these all the time, please excuse my nerdiness.

"No fair, you've had practice!" He complained when I beat him for the third time and took off his shirt. I tried
not
to stare at his well-defined abs.

"Okay, fine. Let's play air hockey, loser has to take off their pants." We're playing strip-arcade. It's like strip-poker, except we weren't playing poker—obviously—and we weren't planning on stripping all the way, or even getting close. Playing just to play was getting boring, and we had nothing exciting to bet, so we were doing this instead. He was down to his pants, and all I'd taken off so far were my shoes and my jacket.

"You're on!" He said, smiling, and jogged over to the table. His abs constricted involuntarily, and I couldn't help but ogle a little, cuz they
were
pretty hot, and I'm just a teenage girl. Bite me.

He won, but I called a technicality because I was wearing a skirt, so I couldn't actually take off my pants. Score one (or twenty) for me.

"Fine, shirt it is." He winked at me, and I shrugged and took off my sparkly tank top, revealing my lacy pink Victoria's Secret bra. I'd been dressed in less in front of a guy before, and he obviously had a girlfriend, but I didn't miss the double take he did as I threw the shirt at him playfully.

Then we heard the door slam upstairs. Crap, that's Dad. Trevor must have seen my terrified glance at the door because he didn't say anything, and I stayed silent. Heavy footsteps thudded across the floor, and I was immensely grateful we brought all our stuff down here instead of leaving them in the kitchen. I heard him stop in front of the door that led to the basement. I held my breath. Then, thankfully, he changed his mind and trudged up the stairs, and slammed his door shut.

"Who's that?" Trevor stage whispered.

I shuddered involuntarily and turned to face him, trying to relax my face. "My dad. He isn't exactly...
friendly
toward visitors." Where did that come from? I wasn't planning on telling him that. Or anything for that matter.

"Oh," he hadn't been expecting a real answer, either. There was an awkward silence. "So I should probably go, then?" He sounded reluctant.

"Yeah, I guess so," I was suddenly hyper-aware that neither of us were wearing a shirt and our hair was all mussed from playing and my father was right upstairs, so close to walking in on us. Even though we technically weren't even doing anything.

He gathered his stuff, slipping his black t-shirt back on. I hastily followed suit and we walked quietly back upstairs.

The fun, care-free Trevor I had just hung out with was gone, and he was now back to silent and brooding. I offer to give him a ride home—partly just because I didn't want to be home right now—but he tells me he'll just skate. I wondered where he lived, and if he even lived close enough to skate or if he's being nice.

Once he was gone, I wandered around the house, checking all the usual places for hints of destruction. Dad didn't seem to have done any damage, so I guess that's good, maybe he wasn't even drunk! But it seemed like too much to hope for. I snuck into my room without making a noise, grabbed my iPod, slipped into more comfortable clothes, and put on my sneakers, I didn't care that I already ran today, I needed to let off some steam.

Chapter 3 - Coconut Shampoo

Thursday passed slowly. I was looking forward to Friday for some odd reason. Collin texted me once I got home, asking if I wanted to come over to his place, but I just wasn't in the mood for him. I give him some lame excuse about volleyball practice, even though tryouts haven't started yet. He didn't even question it.