Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (15 page)

Oh man. I was in trouble. I
should probably go home now. That chest was too distracting, and making me
rethink my decision to remain a virgin until I got married. Funny, but no other
chest had done that to me before. I continued to stare at his chest. Wow. Perfect.
Muscular.

“I can put on a shirt. This
is too gross for you.” he said, apologizing as he stepped up from the bed.

I grabbed his hand as he was
about to pass me. That shocked him. I stepped up in front of him. “That’s not
why I’m staring.” I said softly. I stepped up on my toes and kissed him gently
on the lips, making sure that I didn’t hurt his face.

He took a deep breath as he
looked at me. He let it out, then he kissed me. It was a really soft kiss. He
smiled at me, then quit smiling quickly. “Ouch.” He whispered.

“Sorry.” I said, laughing at
him.

We sat on the bed again. He
looked at me. I couldn’t read his face, because I couldn’t see his face through
the bandages. He tried to smile again, but he quickly released it. “I’ve wanted
to kiss you since the first time I saw you.” he confessed.

“Why haven’t you, then?” I
asked.

“When I first saw you, you
were dating Jose.” He explained.

“You saw me last year, and
didn’t say hi to me?” I asked incredulously. “We could have been friends all
this time.”

He laughed. “Then you dated Zane,
and I couldn’t even think about it then.”

“What about after that
fifteen minutes was over?” I teased him.

“I didn’t think you’d be
interested in me.”

“In your first full sentence
to me, you told me that you weren’t even remotely interested in me.” I said
snidely.

“Are you still mad about
that?” he asked. “I was upset. I thought you were being mean to me.”

“By being nice to you?” I
asked.

“It happens. Girls get dared
to ask me out sometimes.”

“Holy shit!” I said. I
couldn’t believe that there were girls out there that could be so cruel. “I
wasn’t dared. For the record.”

“I figured that out after Zane
tore into me that day.” he said. “I was so happy that day. Almost as happy as I
am today.”

“So I cheered you up?” I
asked him, teasing him.

“I am completely cheered up
now.” he returned the teasing as he rubbed my arm. He slid his hand down to my
hand, then latched onto it.

Chills shot through my arm. I
stared at our hands entwined. I loved that sight. I loved it so much that I
raised my head to him and kissed him again. He tried to kiss me better this
time, but it hurt his face. He pulled back.

“Sorry again.” I told him.
“I’ll let you alone now and quit attacking you.”

He rubbed my leg. “Just tell
me I was better than Dwayne.”

I laughed at him. “Way better
than Dwayne.”

Todd walked by and looked in
as he passed, then he took a few steps back and stood in the doorway. “Definitely
not allowing this door to be shut when you two are in here alone.”

I laughed at him. Spencer
tried.

“Do you two want something to
drink?” Todd asked us.

“Sure.” I said. “I have to go
in a little bit though. I have to feed the calves.”

“Cool.” Spencer said as we
walked to the kitchen. “I wish I could help.”

“Sure you do.” I teased him.

“I do. It was fun.”

“You’re such a city boy.” I
teased him again.

Todd laughed at my comments.
We sat in the kitchen with Todd and Janel popping in from time to time. As I
walked out the door, Janel came with me.

“Thanks for coming today. You
really made him feel better.” she confided in me.

“I’ll be back tomorrow.” I
told her as I jumped in my car then left to go feed the calves.

The next day I asked Coach Snideman
about the assignment that he told Spencer to do. He told me to tell him to forget
that one. He thought Spencer was looking for extra credit for some reason. I
texted Spencer from History class to tell him the news.

“Thanks for finding out for
me. Are you coming over tonight? Janel said you were.”

“I am, unless you don’t want
me there. I’m coming right after practice. Do you need anything? I can stop and
get another pizza.”

“How about a Sonic #2
burger?”

“I’ll bring it with me. But
no onion rings, or I’ll be ranking you under Dwayne.”

“Funny!”

That was fun. For some reason,
things with him seemed like a friends with benefits type of relationship. I
liked it. After practice, I ran by Sonic and got us a couple of burgers, and
some fries. He opened the door for me before I could knock. His face was only
half bandaged today. The side that wasn’t bandaged had a few cuts on it, but it
wasn’t too bad.

“You’re looking better.” I
said to him. “Less like a mummy.”

He laughed at me. I could
tell that he wasn’t in as much pain as he was yesterday. “Thanks for the burger
and fries.” He said as he led me to the kitchen. He poured us both a glass of
Coke, and then sat with me at the table.

I smiled as I chowed down on
my burger and fries. “Are you feeling better?” I asked him.

“I am. What do you want to do
today?” he asked.

“Actually, I was hoping we
could do something really wild and crazy.” I teased him.

He laughed. He knew I was
teasing.

Janel walked in the kitchen. “Hi
Taylor. How wild and crazy are we talking? He can’t do too much until he gets
better.”

“I was joking about the wild
and crazy part.” I quickly said. “I really needed some help on that last
Calculus assignment. Zane said he was really good at Calculus.”

“I’ll help you.” Spencer
offered.

“Are you flunking?” Janel
asked.

“No. I’ve got an A, but I
want a higher A to bring up my GPA. Zane said Spencer has a ninety nine in
there.”

“Yes he does. He’s the guy to
help you with Calculus.” Janel bragged.

“I brought my book, but I
left it in the car. I didn’t want to just assume that you’d help me out.”

“I’ve got my book in my room.
You don’t need yours. What are you having trouble with?”

“The special functions. The Gamma
mostly but the hyperbolic one is giving me some grief too.”

“I can help you.” Spencer
said. “No wonder Zane came to me instead of you on those. He usually goes to
you on everything.”

“I let him down this time. I
don’t know why those are so tough for me. Usually I catch on pretty quick, but
I feel like such an idiot when Mister Phillips is trying to teach me these.”

“My teacher in Riverside
taught me some tricks. I’ll teach you.” Spencer said.

Janel left the kitchen, after
she was satisfied that we were actually talking about Calculus, I think.

“Thanks. I appreciate your
help.”

We went to his room and
worked on my Calculus. Spencer really knew how to derive Gamma functions. I was
impressed with him. I sat on the floor by the bed, so I could see the book
better as he explained the function to me. I liked listening to him and being
close to him. I was so glad that we were finally getting together.

“Do you think you have it
now?” Spencer asked as he finished up his tutoring lesson to me.

“I think so. You made it a
lot easier than Mister Phillips did anyway.” I told him.

I stood up to sit on the bed
beside him.

“Do you want to play some
music now? Or watch television?” he offered.

“I probably better go. I’ll
get in trouble if I stay out too late on a school night.” I told him.

“So you just came over to use
me for my brain?” he teased me.

“I brought burgers.” I
defended myself playfully to him. I almost punched him in the stomach, then
decided that wouldn’t be too nice, since he still had stitches. “Oops. Sorry.”

He laughed at me, then leaned
over and kissed me. I’d been waiting on that since I walked in the door. I
started to kiss him back really well, when he pulled back. It hurt him to kiss
me still.

“Sorry.” He apologized. “I
guess I’m not much fun still.”

“You’re fun.” I assured him.
“Do you want me to come over tomorrow after practice?”

“Sure.” He said excitedly.

“What can I bring you
tomorrow to eat?” I asked him.

“Arby’s. Barbecue roast
beef.” He said.

“You got it.” I said. I knew
exactly what he was talking about. We’d eaten lunch several times together and
I was getting to know what he liked and what he didn’t. I walked to the front
door with him right behind me.

At the door, he opened it for
me to let me out, then kissed me again.

I went to bed thinking about Spencer
that night. He was such a nice guy, but I really didn’t know why I was so
totally into him. He was smart, and really good looking, and he treated me so
well. Still, I’d had a few guys who fit that bill. Why did Spencer have me
doing flips for him?

The next day after practice,
I showed up with the barbecue roast beef sandwiches. I knocked on the door, and
Spencer opened it with a smile. We walked to the kitchen together. Janel and
Todd were standing inside the kitchen doorway, about to leave through the
garage. They said hello and goodbye almost in the same sentence. Oh boy. I was
going to be here alone with Spencer. I did that with Jose once, the first and
last time. He’d asked me to sleep with him that night, and I told him no, then
he dumped me the next day.

“You okay?” Spencer asked
suspiciously.

“Of course.”

“You look a little sick. I
put on a shirt so I wouldn’t gross you out.”

“I told you that your chest
wasn’t grossing me out. Your chest is amazing, too amazing for me to look at
without getting weak.”

He laughed, then kissed me. Harder
and longer than he did yesterday.

“It doesn’t hurt as bad
today.” I teased him.

I started feeling a bit
uneasy again. He noticed right away. “What’s going on? You’re acting like
you’re scared of me.”

“It’s not you.” I confessed.
How much could I confess? “I don’t usually stay in a house with guys alone. It
usually turns out bad for me.”

“You lost me. We were alone
in my bedroom yesterday. Do you want to go to the living room?” he asked to
appease me.

I nodded. He led me to the
living room. It was the first time I’d been in their living room. It was
gorgeous. It looked like it belonged in a catalog. “Your mom and dad.” I said
as I looked above the mantle to see a pretty picture of his parents.

He nodded.

“Does it make you sad to see
that picture?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No. It
just makes me think about them.”