Resplendent (15 page)

Adam, with his buzz haircut, wore a faded American Flag T-shirt proudly. He placed his arm around Carmin, who stood next to him.

“Thanks, guys. I’ll miss your sorry asses.” He grinned.

“How long will you be?” Carmin asked, looking up at Adam all goofy-eyed. She always seemed to have a thing for him, so I never understood why even after all these years, they never made it official.

Adam had shaped up nicely and joined the U.S Coast Guard right after we graduated from high school.

“Twelve months,” he told her and beamed. So he’d be back next May. Carmin didn’t say anything but didn’t seem happy about his answer. When she stepped back from his hold, his arm dropped to his side and he shrugged.

Turning back around to the rest of us, he winked. “I’ll be back to visit.”

Carmin scoffed and walked away, annoying little thing that she was.

“And we’ll be here with another celebration when you get back!” Tony, one of Adam’s good friends, chimed in.

I watched my buddy tell us about his upcoming deployment to Bahrain, a special assignment called PATFORSWA.

I had debated that morning whether or not I should even show up. After the little incident last weekend at the club, I wasn’t sure if coming here would be a good idea. But spending time with old friends — even if certain people were here that I
didn’t
want to see — was worth it all. I tuned the guys out and looked at my phone to check the time. Okay, let’s be real, I checked to see if Peach had called me.

She hadn’t.

She’d been short with me whenever I had called her this week, and all I could think about was trying to make it right. I wasn’t sure where she was staying or I would have gone over to her place and forced her to face me. We needed to talk. I didn’t want her to think I was playing her.

I knew that she’d be coming to Adam’s farewell picnic. Eddy told me she said she would, but she was running late and that worried me. Peach wasn’t one to be late to anything, so either she was really ticked off at me and stalling, or had decided not to come at all, which went back to her being really ticked at me. She’d just moved back to town and hadn’t seen some of our friends in years. I knew she’d want to see everyone just as much as I did, if not more.

I placed my empty beer bottle on the table next to the cooler and filled up a plastic cup with ice and soda. I didn’t want to be even slightly buzzed when she came over. The one beer was for the toast.

Walking away from the grill and over to the picnic tables, I found an empty spot a couple feet away from my friends and the food.

I sat back and watched as they interacted with one another. Eddy threw a Frisbee to his three-year-old, Angela. She was a cute kid with hair in a mess of curls. Eddy’s wife, Veronica, and her best friend, Marisol, sat on a blanket on the grass and chatted quietly amongst themselves.

Adam was with Tony, Rick, Bobby, and Mark horsing around and talking about Tony’s new private investigator business. They joked about being careful around him so he wouldn’t go spying on them.

I smiled internally and wished more than anything that Peach was here. I wondered if she’d sit down with me and watch our friends mingle and enjoy the day. Would she be talking to the other girls about chick stuff or throw a Frisbee around? Regardless, I wanted her here.

Watching my thoughts play out right in front of me, I suddenly heard Peach’s laughter, and when I looked past the boys, there she was.

She walked over to Adam with a brilliant smile on her face. Her hair was twisted to the side and she held it so that the wind wouldn’t blow it in her face. I sat on the table with my feet on the bench and watched as she moved around the crowd. The curves of her body teased me, and I imagined the smoothness of her skin that was now hidden behind those tight skinny jeans. Her blue polka dot tank top showed off her slim shoulders and she looked adorable in Toms. She’d look good in anything.

“It’s always about Savannah, huh?” I heard Carmin’s voice next to me, and it snapped me out of my thoughts.

“What’s that?” I asked, not sure what she meant.

She ran her tongue over her teeth and stood in front of me. “It’s high school all over again. Perfect Savannah walks into the room and your world becomes all about her. It’s pathetic.”

I let her ramble on. I didn’t care what she thought about Savannah and me, as long as she didn’t get in my way — again.

“Tell me, Andres. Does she know about -”

“No,” I cut her off and then took a sip of my drink. I shook my cup and heard the ice rattle. “And she won’t. Right?” I asked and looked up at her then, wanting to be sure she understood what I meant.

“When I saw you at the club with that girl -” Carmin started to say.

I gave her a death glare and leaned forward. “I don’t care, Carmin. Stop talking,” I told her coldly. I didn’t care if she thought she was like a sister to Savannah, I didn’t want her coming here and stirring shit up with Peach only ten feet away from us!

Carmin narrowed her dark eyes, the wind swirling her long thick hair across her neck.

“I’m sick of you always being a fucking
chismosa,”
I muttered, calling her a gossip queen.

“Things have a way of coming back around, Andres.” With that she turned around and left.

Fucking nosy bitch.

“Everything okay?” Savannah said, walking cautiously in my direction with a smug-looking shmuck standing behind her, his hand on her waist. A waist that should only be touched by one man, and that man would be me. He was a little preppy guy with beige khaki shorts and a green and white striped polo shirt. Who wears that to a fucking casual barbeque? I clenched and unclenched my fist again. This guy sure as hell was
not
in my thoughts earlier when I wished Peach would show up.

I forced a smile and walked over to her, encasing her in a hug and purposely nudging the loser a few inches away.
Get off my girl.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I said in her ear but loud enough where I knew he could hear it. She smelled delicious, and I squeezed her waist before she pulled away and gave me The Look.

She gestured with her hand between the two of us. “Dre, this is Sebastian. Sebastian, this is Dre.”

Sebastian, the schmuck.

His eyes narrowed for a split second, but then the fake mask appeared and he smiled at me with an extended hand.

“Good to finally meet you. Savannah’s told me a lot about you.”

I shook his hand and returned a smile, my phony one for schmucks that I didn’t give a fuck about. “Can’t say the same about you, I’m afraid,” I said in response.

His eyes narrowed again, but I didn’t give a shit.
Why is he here
? I had only wanted a few minutes with Peach — alone. Now, that plan went to shit, seeing as how I couldn’t be asking Peach to be with me in front of him. Or maybe I could ... no, she’d kill me and then it’d
really
be over. I took a step back and sat down on the table.

“Dre, this is my boyfriend. I wanted him to meet my old friends.” With that, it was as if she’d punched me in the gut. I knew I was being an ass with my comment, but that hurt. Here I was,
the old friend
, meeting the boyfriend? I’ve known her for ten years! I knew we’d hit bumps in the road during that time, but that didn’t mean I knew her any less than this guy. In fact, I was sure I still knew her
best
.

“I’m just surprised to see him, Peach. I thought you’d be coming alone.”

She blinked, but her expression was blank — I knew what that look meant — she was silently considering what she was going to say to me. Slowly, she turned to the dickface and looked up at him with the sweetest smile. It made me want to grab her by the arm and take her back to my place so she could give me that look while I fucked her hard … until her smile was replaced by her moaning MY name.

“Are you hungry?” he asked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Peach hated when people did that because it tugged on her long hair, and she wasn’t able to move her head.
Doesn’t this fool know anything?
Sure enough, she moved his arm so that she could pull her hair out of his grip.

“Yeah, you want to eat now? I can fix you a plate,” she said.

I rolled my eyes and glanced between the two of them. I was itching for him to make some smart comment, so I could kick him in the ass and show him that she was all mine.

Instead, he did worse. He rubbed his fingers gently down her cheek and said, “Well, aren’t you so sweet? Sweet as a peach.”

WHAT?
I looked at him and took a step forward, as my hands clenched again. That was the name
I
had come up with! She was
my
peach!

“What’d you say?” I asked him.

Sebastian’s forehead creased and Savannah smiled nervously. She placed a hand on my chest.

“He didn’t say anything. Come on, Seb, let’s see what’s on the grill.” Turning her body away from me, she grabbed his hand and started walking away.

He gave me a once over and then turned to face her.

“Sure thing, babe.” He leaned over to kiss her, and I knew he was putting on a show for me.
All right, dipshit, enjoy those lips while you still can because they will be mine again soon. I’ll be sure of it.

I was done. I couldn’t see them together, now or ever. I’d been here long enough. I had to get the hell out of here.

I’d have to find a way to keep her in my life more permanently, and it wasn’t going to happen right now, so I figured it would be best that I leave before I did or said something I’d regret. I walked over to the guys and said my goodbyes. Leaving Adam for last.

“All right, bro, I’m out of here. Take care, okay?” I pulled him in for a quick hug and patted his back.

“Leaving already?” His eyes quizzed me, and he glanced over to where I was sure Savannah was sitting with her little boy toy and Carmin. I didn’t look back to find out.

“Yeah, have to get back to the office and take care of some things,” I lied. “Let me know when you come back into town?”

“I will, man. I’ll probably be back in about six months. Thanks for coming.”

I waved at everyone one last time and stared as Sebastian leaned over to Peach and whispered in her ear. I silently promised myself that I’d do whatever I had to do to win her over again.

Five weeks after that disaster of a weekend, I’d managed to convince Peach to meet me at our favorite Starbucks. Well, favorite of mine, because I’d taken her to this particular location a few times after school during her senior year. I had on dark jeans — the kind that I knew she loved — a casual T-shirt, and her favorite Dolce & Gabbana cologne. I know it’s her favorite because she’s bought me two bottles in the past and now it always makes me think of her. As I got out of the car, I cracked my knuckles, trying to calm my nerves.

Was she going to bring it up, the phone call? Had she heard any rumors? I hated to think about Carmin, but I had to admit the thought of her blabbing her big mouth had crossed my mind a few times. I really didn’t want to fuck this up and have her believing something she shouldn’t even be thinking about. After running into her at the club, I knew one thing was for sure: there was no way that any other girl was as important to me as Peach was. I had let her walk away once. I wasn’t going to watch that happen again.

She was an important part of my past, and I wanted her to play an even bigger role in my future. Before today, she had kept me at arm’s length. Meeting her here, today, gave me hope and the push I needed to fight for us. I was going to set things in motion.
No more bullshit
. I hoped.

Five weeks seemed like plenty of time to map this out, but truthfully, my major plan was no plan at all. I had thought about it. Damn, all I did was think about it. But it was hard to come up with something when others’ feelings were involved. I had no idea how serious she was about
The Dickhead
, and I planned to find out. Then, when I got him out of the way, we were going to talk, and I was going to casually bring up our next date. That’s it. That’s all I had. My master plan.

I pulled my sunglasses to the top of my head and walked the few steps to the entrance. I couldn’t mess this up. If that girl was perfect at anything, it was making me wait.

I spotted her as soon as I opened the door and walked into the coffee shop. Standing tall in heeled shoes — I think she called them wedges once, but I could be wrong about that, when you tell me wedge I picture a tool not a shoe — and a light blue summer dress. Thank God she had a white, thin top that covered up those shoulders. She was next in line, looking up at the menu, and I wondered what type of coffee she liked now. Was it the same as it always had been?

Her hair was completely put up in a bun with a clip holding it together. A short curled strand rested on her neck. I fought the urge to push the strand aside and lick her bronze skin.

I stood behind her and whispered in her ear, “Good morning, beautiful.”

She turned and smiled, her cheeks slightly pink from the sun. She’d been to the beach. Images of Savannah in a bikini popped into my head, and I imagined my lips on hers when she greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. How juvenile would it have been if I had turned my head slightly so her lips landed on mine? I guess I’d have to plan that out better next time.