Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (30 page)

“Spencer.” She
said. Her voice was saturated with pity. “You’re falling for this girl too
hard. I was so anxious for you to start dating, but you’re really going
overboard with this girl.”

“I love her, Aunt
Janel. She means the world to me. I want to buy her a ring to show her. Tell me
what kind.”

“How about a
key
ring?” she suggested. “A nice one. You can have it engraved. And, it won’t get
her hopes up nearly as much as a ring would.”

“Get her hopes
up?” I asked for clarification.

“She’ll think
she’s a step away from getting you down the aisle if you buy her a ring. Trust
me. A ring is the last thing you want to buy her.”

“A bracelet?” I
asked her. “Is that too much? What kind of message would that send?”

“A perfect one.
She’d love that.” Janel said.

I made my way to
the living room and asked Todd for his car. I called Zane and we made a day of
going to the mall in Phoenix. With his help, I picked out a bracelet that we
were sure she’d love. It was an ID bracelet that I had engraved special for
her. I thought it was perfect now. I showed it to Aunt Janel. She thought it
was perfect too.

I borrowed Todd’s
car again and made a real date with Taylor. I took her out to eat in Phoenix.
She loved doing that. While we were there, I gave her the bracelet over the
table. You would have thought I spent thousands of dollars on it. She loved it.
And, she loved the engraving on it. It said, “Spencer’s Girl”, and had a heart
stamped on it. I branded all of my music equipment with a heart. She thought it
was perfect and put it on immediately. I rarely saw her without it from then
on.

Halloween came
and went with the two of us closer than ever. My aunt and uncle were getting
worried that my first crush would never end. They fully expected Taylor to dump
me and move on. They’d never said that openly, but I could tell they thought it
by the questions they’d ask. They were already worrying what I would do if
Taylor dumped me. I tried to assure them that I’d be fine. I wasn’t sure I
would be fine though. I loved this girl with everything I had inside me.

My aunt and uncle
kept telling me that if we spent too much time together, we’d burn out and
start fighting. We didn’t. In fact, it went the opposite way. The more time we
spent together, the closer we became. There was almost nothing that I didn’t
know about Taylor, and vice versa. She knew more about my room than I did. We
never did go to her house though. I think she was embarrassed because her
family wasn’t very well off. I’d never seen her bedroom.

We would sometimes
run into her two sisters that went to high school. We’d say hi to them in
passing. Occasionally we would have to swing back by and drive them to school
when they needed to go in early. She seemed close to her sisters, like she’d do
anything in the world for them.

I finished a few
more songs and sent them in. Taylor helped me. She even recorded one with me as
a duet. It was so much fun just being with her. We loved to swim in the pool,
and play. We loved lying out in the sun. We loved watching movies in front of
the television in the living room. Aunt Janel and Uncle Todd seemed to like
her, but they were very protective of me. Any play argument that we had, they’d
always side with me. Taylor was joking with me constantly.

The football
season ended, because we didn’t make state championships this year. I started
catching a ride home with Zane because Taylor stayed later and practiced really
hard with the other cheerleaders. They started practicing on Saturdays and
Sundays too. After practice, she was too tired to even come over for a visit. I
felt like we were pulling apart because we weren’t seeing a lot of each other.

Sex was only once
a day, in the morning, for us. In the morning, we were having sex regularly.
We’d run out to the desert after Taylor picked me up for school. After sex,
we’d drive on to school.

One morning as we
were walking onto school property from the parking lot, we spotted Jim leaning
against the gym wall. He looked over at Taylor. She looked at him. He stood
there staring at her for a minute. He never waved, or anything. He just kept
staring. I wasn’t sure what was up.

“I need to go
talk to him. I’ll meet you at Senior Pole in a few minutes.” She told me, then
let go of my hand.

Damn, I hated to
let her go, especially to talk to him. I knew she was hung up on him in a big
way a year or so ago. I had to let her go though. I didn’t want to be the
overprotective boyfriend, but this guy worried me. I watched her walk closer to
him, then stop to talk to him. I walked on to Senior Pole, but I positioned
myself so that I could keep an eye on her. I tried not to make it too obvious
though.

“Hey, where’s
Taylor this morning?” Zane asked me.

I pointed with my
chin toward Jim and Taylor.

Zane looked over
to where I was looking. “Oh boy!” he said, as if something was about to happen,
and he was warning me.

“What?” I asked
him to explain immediately.

“That’s always
bad when they start talking. They usually end up back together when they start
talking like that.”

“Don’t say that!”
I told Zane. Damn. I hated hearing that. I couldn’t lose Taylor now.

Taylor talked to
him for a while. It looked pretty intense. He hugged her. I watched her even
closer, as she laid her head on his shoulder. I wasn’t sure what was going on
between the two of them. I didn’t know Jim in the slightest. I’d only heard
rumors about him. All the girls liked him, but he got into a lot of fights with
the guys. He’d been suspended several times for fighting. The guys all thought
he was bad news, but the girls did double takes every time he walked by. And,
they practically fell on the ground when he smiled at them.

Jim released
Taylor, then gave her a big smile. He turned toward me, then gave me a slight
wave. I gave him an upwards nod. Taylor turned to look at me. She smiled, then
walked toward me. I met her halfway. I didn’t want to be in the group of our
friends if she was going to give me bad news.

“Is everything
okay?” I asked her. I was doing my best to act genuinely concerned. I wasn’t
sure if she was buying it though.

“He was saying
goodbye.” She told me, then pulled me close.

“Goodbye? Is he
moving?” I asked.

“He’s running
away from home again. He didn’t want me to worry about him. His mom usually calls
me when they find out that he’s gone.”

“What do you tell
her?” I asked.

“I tell her that
I don’t know where he’s at. I lie for him basically.” she said.

“Should you be
doing that? What if something happens to him?” I asked her.

“He has it really
rough at home. I’d run away too.”

I pulled her
closer, and then we walked to our classes. I was kind of glad to hear that Jim
would be leaving though. Maybe that was awful of me.

The next morning,
I waited for Taylor to pick me up for school. When her car pulled into our
driveway, I noticed that she didn’t jump out and come around to the passenger
side. I usually drove, so she could be ready for sex when we arrived at our
special spot in the desert. I stepped into her car on the passenger’s side. Maybe
she didn’t want sex this morning for some reason.

“What’s up? Why aren’t
you over here pulling your panties…” I stopped. Oh shit. Jim was in the back
seat. He was completely beaten up. He had two black eyes that were almost
swollen shut, and his cheeks were swollen and busted. He had tape on them.
“What the hell?”

“Taylor’s giving
me a ride to the bus station.” He said then turned away.

“He called me
late last night. I went to pick him up.” Taylor explained.

Damn. I didn’t
know what was going on, but I didn’t like it that Taylor was this close to Jim
still. Apparently he did have it rough at home. “Is there anything I can do?” I
asked Jim.

He shook his head
in embarrassment. I could tell he was tired and upset. I probably wasn’t
helping matters much. I kept quiet while we drove to Buckeye, to the bus
station. Once there, Taylor stepped out and lifted the seat so Jim could get
out. Once he was out, she put her arm around him. At first I was really
jealous, but then I realized that Jim needed help walking. I ran around to
their side of the car and put my arm around him on the other side.

“Thanks.” he said
weakly.

We made our way
inside and helped Jim sit down on a bench. Taylor went to buy him a ticket.

“Do you have
somewhere to go?” I asked him.

“I’m going to
meet my cousin in Boulder. We’ll work on a construction crew for a while until
we can afford a place.”

“I’ve got about
sixty dollars I can loan you.” I told him as I pulled out my wallet.

He shook his
head. “I don’t even know you. But thanks anyway. Take care of Taylor while I’m
gone. You’re a lucky guy.”

“You don’t have
to tell me that. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

“Can I ask you
something?” he asked in a whisper, after checking to see that Taylor wasn’t
anywhere near us.

“Sure.” I said. I
wasn’t sure I was going to answer his question, but he could ask.

“Is she great?
She’s so brutally honest that I’ve always thought she’d be really sincere in
sex.”

“I don’t have
anyone to compare her to, like you do. But she’s all there, every second, every
touch. She lays it all on the line, no holds barred, nothing left covered or
hidden. I never have to wonder what she’s feeling or what she wants next.” I
told him honestly. I refused to talk about specifics, but I don’t think he was
asking specifics, or for anything that might be considered adults only.

“You are just
about the luckiest guy alive.” He said to me, as he took an uneasy breath and
shifted in his seat. I think he had some broken ribs.

“You’ve had lots
of sex.” I told him.

“Yes, I’ve had
lots of sex, but I’ve never made love to a girl. The only girl I’ve ever loved
didn’t love me enough to let me make love to her.” he explained.

I didn’t have to
ask. I knew he was talking about Taylor. He was watching her the entire time he
spoke.

“I don’t know why
she chose me still, but I’m sure glad that she did.” I confided in him.

“Taylor doesn’t
look at the outside. If she did, she would have slept with me.” he laughed,
then grabbed his stomach to stop the pain.

I laughed at his
joke. Maybe it was candor. The girls at school really thought highly of his
looks and his body. If they could see him now, I wondered what they’d be
thinking. Taylor was seeing him now, and she was by his side, helping him out
every way she could.

“I hope this
doesn’t cause problems between you two. I didn’t have anyone else to call.
Taylor told me that no matter what, I could always call her. Even when we’re
old and gray.”

“No problems.” I
assured him. “I’m glad you’re getting away from that situation.”

Taylor came back
with his ticket and handed it to him. It was in an envelope. He opened it
quickly, then tossed her a look.

“Take it.” she
insisted.

I looked at the
envelope. It had some cash in it.

“Four hundred
dollars?” he asked.

“It’s all I could
get, or it would have been more. Just promise me you won’t buy drugs with it.”

“I promise. And,
you know I could really use some good drugs right now.” he teased her. “I’ll
send this back to you after I get a job.”