Perchance (22 page)

             
I hid the presents and the wrapping paper quickly in the closet and opened the door.

             
“I heard a lot of rustling in there.  Were you hiding your girlfriend
in the closet?”

             
She was giggling and I rolled my eyes at her silliness and dragged her to me.

             
I shut the door behind her and crushed her between it and my weight and kissed her until my weight was the only thing holding her up.
Her fingers had found the belt loops on my jeans.
She had melted into me and the sounds coming from her mouth cued me that it was time to back off.

             
“Can you stand up or should I stay right here?” I laughed as I asked the question with my forehead touching hers.

             
“If I say no will you kiss me again?” She was so bold about our relationship now.  She wasn’t shy about anything around me and I reveled in it.  She trusted me.

             
“You’re killin
’
me woman.” I chuck
led at her and we moved away
even though everything in my body screamed at me to keep her pinned to that door until she told me to stop.

             
She stayed a little bit longer and then I walked her back home.  It was almost a nightly ritual now. 

             
I got back home and pulled everything back out to wrap her present.  Eric came in to help me. 

             
Eric and I had come to have a good relationship. Mom had convinced me that he had changed and said that he had even apologized to her more than once.  I had almost called him Dad several times, but not quite.

             
He saw one of my gifts and picked it up and examined it. 

             
“It’s not what you think it is.” I defended before he got a chance.

             
“It sure looks like it.” He said.  “Son, you know what happened with her parents.  Be careful.”

             
“I am.” 

             
“Well, that’s a nice looking laptop.  How much did it set you back?” He was changing the subject before we argued.  He knew everything about Remi and I because my grandma Edith made me spill my guts about her every time we went to visit and he was always
there.  She always had some wise
advice to give me and it always made Remi and me better. 

             
“It was five hundred.  I’ve been saving my money that you pay me from the flea market and I still had some money in savings for the other present.”

             
“She’s really going to like the computer.  It will be good for her in college.  Has she decided where she’s going?” 

             
I shook my head. “She has applications everywhere.  But I really wish she would just go to Baton Rouge Community Coll
ege until we can get into LSU. It’s closer and cheaper.”

             
“And you would be together.”

             
“And that.” I agreed.  Of course I wanted us to be together.

             
“Ok, I’m going to bed
,
Son.  Have a good night. Get to bed soon, ok?”

             
“Yes sir.  I will.”

             
I finished wrapping the laptop and the other present had its own bag.  They both went back in the closet with the other presents for Eric, Mom, Remi’s aunt and my grandma Edith.  I had already given Troy his gift.  Every DVD which starred Adam Sandler. 

             
The semester was almost over and my grades were good.  I had applied to several colleges both in Louisiana and in Texas.  I didn’t really want to go away, but
I had to do what I had to do.  I had proven to myself this semester that I could get good grades and I could bust my butt at school.  Cooper had been busting his butt too.  He was more determined than ever to be an engineer and I was proud of him.  He had kept his word.  He always made sure that we both got our studying done first and then we could spend time together. 

             
But the sadness in his eyes, when I told him that I had applied to
colleges in
other
places,
ate me up.
 
But I needed backups and if one of those schools offered me a good financial package then I was gonna be on it like a hungry tick on a fat dog.

             
It hurt me, physically, to think about not being near him or not seeing hi
m every day.  But I had to do what I had to do.

             
I had been saving my money from cleaning Edith’s apartment for weeks now saving up for Cooper’s Christmas present.  It was a signed
vintage Journey t shirt and he was going to love it.  I also got him a new comforter set for his bed because I guess boys don’t care, but his was older than dirt.  But that was going to be a present I gave him in private.

             
We had made plans to spend Christmas Eve together and then we would be with our families on Christmas day until the afternoon.  Christmas day afternoon would be our time to celebrate Christmas alone.  After that we had two weeks before school started again.  I couldn’t wait.

             
The last day of the s
emester was a Wednesday.  I
made plans for Remi and
me
and wouldn’t tell her what they were. 
It had pissed her off to no end that I wouldn’t tell her where we were going but I wanted it to be a surprise.  It wasn’t even a big deal.  I had found a local swimming hole and had scoped the place out several times afterwards.  It was perfect.  It had a little rickety dock and there wasn’t much light.  I was glad for that. As much as I wanted to see her standing on that dock wearing…well…not much,
we weren’t there yet
.  I packed drinks and towels and a blanket.  I picked her up from her aunt’
s house at seven.  She and her a
unt had gone to dinner to celebrate the end of the semester and her good grades. 

             
She chattered the whole way.  She never chattered endlessly. 

             
“Are you nervous?” I asked.

             
“More like anxious,” she quipped back at me.

             
“I’m glad.”

             
“Why would you be glad?” She shot at me.

             
“Because I was beginning to think that I had lost my touch.” I joked.

             
“Oh Cooper, trust me, you’ve got the touch down pat.”

             
“Here we are.”

             
“Aww, you’re so sweet.  You brought me…fishing?”

             
I turned the ignition off and leaned over to the passenger seat and whispered right into her ear.

             
“No Pistol, I brought you
swimming
.”

             
“But I didn’t bring my…”

             
I got out of the car as fast as I could after that.  I went over to the passenger side to open her door expecting her to claw my eyes out for even suggesting such a thing. 
Either that or she would pull the silent treatment. 

             
I opened her door and she got out smiling like she was the one doing the planning. 

             
“Did you bring towels Mr. Date Planner?” She asked me with her hands on her hips.

             
“Sure did. I brought a blanket too.”

             
She cocked her left eyebrow at me meeting her snarky comment with one of my own.

             
“Well, let’s go. It’s already dark.”

             
“Ladies first.” I said and waited for whatever stall tactic she could think up next.

             
She didn’t.

             
She walked to the end of the dock and looked over the edge into the water. 

             
She started taking off her flip flops, then her jeans, then her shirt and all I could do was stand there while she faced me with no pretenses.  Just when I thought I had her all figured out, she shocks the hell out of me one more time.  I was the luckiest bastard ever.

             
She jumped in and squealed a little. 

             
“Am I doing this all by myself?” She yelled now in the middle of the pond.

             
I was standing here like a moron letting her show me up.

             
“Hell no.”  I yelled back and stripped down to my boxers and jumped in.

             
I swam over to her and her face had gone from playful to serious in a heartbeat.

             
“How deep is this water?” She sounded worried.

             
“Deep enough to do this.” I stood up and laughed as my toes dug into the slimy bottom of the pond.

             
“Eeeewww, I am not putting my feet down.” She scrunched up her face.

             
“Well then either you keep treading water or you come over here and hold on to me while I stand.”

             
Her face went from innocent to frightened to wanting in a flat second.

             
She swam the small distance to me eyes locked with mine.  Her legs went around my waist and her arms slid around my neck.

             
“You took your glasses off.” She whispered.

             
“Didn’t want to lose them.” I answered.

             
“If I had known we were coming here I would’ve brought a bathing suit.” She said it to me, but her eyes were on my lips.

             
“That wouldn’t have been any fun.  You should’ve seen the look on your face.”

             
She squeezed her legs tighter around my waist and my eyes grew twice their normal size.

             
“My face? You should see your face right now.”

             
“Hmmmm…”

             
I put my hands on her waist and drew her even closer to me so that there was no more water between her torso and mine.  With
her eyes still locked on me
, I ran my hands up her back and let my thumbs run just under the band of her bra. She tightened her grip on my neck and grasped the back of my hair.  I then ran my hands back down and let my hands go all the way down and grabbed her butt and brought her even closer than she had been.  I leaned down, taking adva
ntage of her shock and stupor
and ran kisses down her neck and over her shoulder the back towards her face.
Then
I kissed her jaw
line just to tease her.

             
“Kiss me Cooper.” She whispered breathlessly.

             
And I did.  We kissed until neither of us could tell one mouth from the other.

             
“Did we come to make-out or to swim Mr. Neal?” She smiled as she choked out those words.

             
She swam away from me while I stayed and…um…composed myself.  We spent a few hours swimming and playing and kissing.  I hoped that this was what the rest of our lives would be.  I got out on a small ladder attached to the dock and helped her out.  Our bodies brushed as she rose from the ladder and she gasped.