My Wish for You (15 page)

“Cassie, don’t.”
Mrs. W warned. Cassie merely rolled her eyes.

“Well?”

“I don’t know
actually.” Sean’s voice was polite, yet steely. I sat my hand on his thigh and
Cassie’s eyes narrowed.

“And why is that
Sean? I mean, she is your girlfriend, right?”

“We’re taking a
break. I haven’t talked to her all week.”

“Cassandra,”
Mrs. W began.

“Oh. Well, I
talked to her today, and she seems really torn up.” She glared straight at me. “She’s
been crying and—”

“Cassandra, that
is quite enough.” Mr. W cut her off sternly, leaving the table quiet. Suddenly
having lost my appetite, I looked down at my plate and set my hands in my lap.
At least I knew what Cassie’s problem with me was now. The awkward tension was
thick in the air when Dad’s phone rang.

“You said that
you wouldn’t bring that stupid phone to the dinner table anymore.”

“It’s work; I
have to take it.”

And with that,
he departed the table, leaving his napkin sitting on his plate. Fearing some
kind of breakdown, I played with my own napkin nervously.

“Who was that?”
Sean asked quietly.

I glanced up at
Brian, whose face bore the same worries mine did.

“I’ll give you
three guesses,” I started.

“She’s got long
legs.” Brian rolled his eyes.

“She’s blonde,”
I offered.

“And she’s got
fake boobs,” Brian finished.

“Your dad’s
secretary?” Sean speculated.

“The one and
only,” I muttered sarcastically.

Sean put his
hand on my back and rubbed it lightly. Gently, I shrugged it off and subtly
shook my head. Smugly, Cassie watched quietly with a smirk on her face.

“Okay. So,
Brian, Sam,” Mrs. W cheerily said. “What do the two of you want for your
birthday dinner?”

Brian and I
glanced at each other and almost laughed out loud at the twisted humor that we
were being asked what we wanted for dinner for our birthday, an occasion we
would probably ignore, especially in the middle of a potential family crisis.

“Umm….” I
started. Looking over to Brian, I shrugged, letting him know that I didn’t care
and it was up to him.

“Can we do, like,
hamburgers and hot dogs? Is that alright? I don’t really want anything too
fancy.”

“Is that okay
with you, Sam?”

“Oh yeah, sure.
Maybe some mac n’ cheese and corn too?”

“Well, that
sounds extremely reasonable. You kids feel like making a trip to the store?”

“Yeah, sure Mom,”
Sean jumped in. Slightly startled, I looked up at him quizzically. Under his
breath he said, “Jonathon and I were planning on it anyway.” Then he looked up.
“Just make a list Mom.”

After dinner we
all changed and waited for Jonathon. From behind closed doors, it sounded like
a war was raging.

“Does she not
understand that you have a family Charles? That you have a life outside of the
office?!”

“You’re
threatened by her, aren’t you? That’s what this is about.”

My mother
snorted, “It most definitely is not.”

“Then what is
it?”

“You don’t have
time for your family anymore! You’re on vacation for Christ’s sake! And what
are you doing? Answering phone calls from her like she’s your mother.”

Jonathon came up
then and we headed toward Sean’s truck. Brian ended up coming along with us.
So, we sat in the back and I listened to all their boy talk. I hadn’t gotten a
chance to talk to Sean alone since dinner. The drive was extremely boring and
Sean kept glancing back at me. He could probably tell I was not enjoying
myself. He looked worried. My attitude probably didn’t help, but I just rolled
my eyes and looked out the window. The twenty-minute drive to the store felt
like hours rather than minutes. Silently, I wished to myself that I had just
stayed home.

“Why don’t you
guys go ahead and get started? We’ll meet you inside in just a minute,” Sean
suggested as he pulled into an open spot. I looked up to see who he was talking
to, but before I could make any conclusions he was in the back of the truck
with me. We stared at each other in silence, waiting for the other to break it.

“What’s wrong
Sammy?” he asked after I pulled away from his hand sweeping a strand of fallen
hair out of my face.

“You’re gonna
pick her,” I concluded.

“What?”

“Tasha. You’re
going to pick her.”

He chuckled and
I glared at him incredulously.

“Sammy, Sammy,
Sammy.”

He pulled me
close, put his hand on the side of my face, and kissed me sweetly. “Samantha.
Do you realize how very wonderful you are, and how much I adore you? You’ve
really made me think about what I truly want. You’re making me rethink
everything.”

“Yeah, and how’s
that coming for you?” I asked bitterly.

“I don’t exactly
have it all figured out yet,” he admitted.

My heart sank
and I felt deflated, my head drooping slightly.

“But right now,”
he tilted my chin up. “I’m here with you. Only you. And I only want to be right
here, right now, with you. And Samantha, no matter what, I adore you, and I
would really like us to be more than friends. And I would really,
really
like
to kiss you.”

I gazed up at
him and feared for my lovesick heart. I wanted to hold back, to run the other
way, but I knew that I wouldn’t, that I couldn’t.

“So, kiss me,” I
conceded, sighing.

We met each
other’s lips quickly and everything was suddenly a little brighter. It was as
if we were the sun in each other’s universe and that we fed off of each other’s
energy. Each other’s feelings. Each other’s passion.

Holding me so I
was laying on top of his chest, Sean stretched us out across the back seat of
the truck. We were lost in the moment; that is, until Sean’s phone vibrated.

“How long have
we been missing?” I asked, slightly out of breath.

“Does it matter?”

“Mm. No? But
they seem to be missing us,” I mumbled against his lips as his phone vibrated
again. “Should we go find them?”

“Most definitely
not. They’re big boys. They can take care of themselves.” He wrapped his hand
around the back of my neck and pulled me close so I couldn’t pull away from
him. Then he kissed me in a way that made me speechless and made me lose any
will power I had against him.

Relaxing, we
ignored the next vibration, and the next. But then they wouldn’t stop and they
were getting more frequent.

“Sean?”

“Hmm.”

“Your phone.”

“What about it?”
he asked between kisses.

“It’s bugging
me. Check it.”

He sighed.

“Fine.”

Continuing to
kiss me, Sean pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it out of the
corner of his eye for a second. Confusion, then anger, crossed his face as he
pulled away from my lips.

“Oh. You have
got to be kidding me.”

Chapter Twenty

“What?”

I was playing
with his hair absentmindedly. When he didn’t answer, I tried to look at the
screen. He had already hit reply though.

“Tasha’s here,”
Sean grumbled. I felt my jaw drop. Despite my attempt to keep it together, I
was shocked. I watched him as he typed.

Tell her I’m
not here
.

He looked at my
face and tried to give me a reassuring smile. When that didn’t work, he just
gave me a light kiss. “It’s alright Sammy.”

His phone
vibrated again and I watched as he slid it open. I guiltlessly leaned over and
read his conversation.

She saw your
truck–Jonboy.

So?

I slid away from
him so I wasn’t lying on top of him anymore, more for the simple fact that, if
he wasn’t holding onto me, he couldn’t kiss any reason out of me. I knew
eventually she would run into him, or us. Better now than later, right?

“What did he
say?” I asked, slightly apathetically, as he slid his phone open again.

“That ‘she isn’t
backing down,’” he quoted.

“Come on, Sean.
Let’s go.”

“Sam. I don’t
want to see her. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want anything to do with
her right now.”

“She’s not going
to drop it, Sean. We both know that. Might as well get it over with,” I
reasoned.

“Yeah….”

I leaned over,
kissed him, and returned his words of comfort. “It’ll be alright Sean.”

Interlocking our
fingers, I grabbed his hand and pulled him from the car. We walked silently
down the lane of the parking lot. I didn’t have a good feeling about this, but
I could do nothing to prevent it.

As we walked
through the doors, I took a deep breath and sighed. Gently, I pulled my hand
from Sean’s when we saw Tasha talking to Jonathon. I peered up at Sean only to
see his jaw clenched tightly.

“Samantha, it’s
good to see you. It’s been so long,” Tasha chorused like we were the best of
friends. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I
said coldly.

Tasha smirked at
me and looked up at Sean as if she had just noticed his appearance. “Hey you,”
she cooed before going up and kissing him fully on the lips. Despite him not
kissing her back, jealously coursed through my blood.

“Sammy. Jonny.
Why don’t you two help Brian finish the grocery shopping? Tasha and I need to
have a talk.”

“Uhh…yeah. Sure.
C’mon Sam.” I followed his lead as he turned and walked away from them. I
glanced back a few times before Jonathon noticed.

“Cut it out Sam,”
he said bluntly.

“What?” I looked
up at Jonathon innocently.

“Quit creepin’
kid. You don’t wanna watch anyway.”

“And you know
this how?”

“Because I know
how he feels about you and I know how you feel about him. You’re just going to
make it harder.”

“How does he
feel about me?” I prodded, ignoring the rest.

“Sam, do you
really have to ask me that? He’s like head over heels for you, and you know
that. You don’t want to watch.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re
right.”

By this point we
had caught up with Brian, who was silently observing our conversation. Half-heartedly,
we found everything on the list. We were strolling through the meat section
when Brian approached me.

“He’s right, you
know.”

“About what?”

“About the way
he feels about you. And the fact that you’d be driving yourself crazy if you
were watching.”

“Yeah I know.
Are we done yet?”

“Almost,”
Jonathon answered. “I just need to get some refreshments for the party.”

Downtrodden, I followed
the two of them as they made their way through the alcoholic beverages,
searching for the substances of their choice. I wandered through the aisles
glancing at the many colored glass bottles, varying in shapes and sizes. Trying
to distract myself, I stood at the end of the row studying the vodka display
intently. Glancing up, I saw Sean motion to Jonathon and Brian.

Curious as to
what was going on, I watched them intently. They seemed to be having a somewhat
heated discussion. I saw all three of them turn towards me, then to Tasha.
Turning my attention to her, I was surprised and slightly relieved to see her
talking to three considerably shady looking guys. Turning back to the display,
I avoided any chance of looking like a creep.

“Hey little
lady.” I peeked up, dumbfounded. One of the three shady looking guys was
standing to my left, then, another came up to my right. He was the shortest of
the three, barely my height.

“Uh…hi?” I
hesitated.

“How you doin’?”
the one to my right asked.

“Umm…good?”

“Lookin’ for a
good time?”

“No…I’m okay,” I
said quietly.

Looking over to
where Sean was standing for help, I found the space empty. My eyes frantically
darted around searching for him, only to find him walking through the doors
with Tasha, his hand on the small of her back. With a new chip on my shoulder,
I turned around to walk away and found myself boxed in by the tall one.

“Excuse me,” I
said harshly.

“Come on
mamacita
.
I bet you could show us a good time.”

Who did this guy
think he was?

“And I bet you could
get the hell out of my way before I kick your ass.”

The three of
them laughed at me while I tried to think of different self-defense moves.

“We got a feisty
one tonight guys. Come on baby. Let’s go have a good time.” He went to grab my
arm and I flinched back from it.

“I am
not
your
baby.”

“What?”

“You heard her.”

“What?” he said
again stupidly, turning around to face Jonathon, who was standing there with
his arms crossed, Brian standing just behind him.

“Either you show
yourselves out, or we will.”

Until then, I
had never noticed how scary Jonathon or my brother could be. I most definitely
would not want to be on the receiving end of one of their threats, or be on the
receiving end of the carrying out of a threat. They took a step closer when
none of the guys moved away from me. “You fucking heard me. You have three
seconds to get away from her before we knock your heads in.”

They all looked
at one another, dumbly waiting for the other to do something.

“One.”

The two shorter
ones looked at the tall guy.

“Two.”

He looked at the
door and shrugged.

“Let’s get out
of here.”

And with that,
they turned and walked away. I saw the empty area where Sean had been standing.
Despite foreseeing this happening, my heart felt like it had shattered into a
million little pieces. I sighed and looked up to Brian and Jonathon, who were
both watching me. I could see the pity in their eyes.

“Thanks guys,” I
said dejectedly.

“Not a problem,”
they chorused.