Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (22 page)

I tried not to take offense at what he
was saying. It wasn’t like he was talking about me. He was a guy
and that was what he thought. That could have been how most guys
thought. Give her some attention and she’ll fall into your lap. But
it was my roommate and his half sister, he was talking about. I had
to say something.

“
Most girls are hopeless
romantic creatures when it comes to guys that only exist in their
heads. Cindy’s no different. So when someone shows up that even
comes marginally close to her
perfect
guy, she gets hooked. Just
like most girls.” I clicked on my seatbelt and waited for Cindy to
get in. Nick looked at me in the mirror, waiting for my eyes to
catch him.

“
Are you one of those
girls, Wilson?”

“
What, a hopeless romantic
that is after a guy that really doesn’t exist?” He shook his head
as I asked.

“
No. I’m not.”
My guy really does exist
.

He twisted to look out the window. He
tapped the horn a couple of times to get Cindy’s attention. Nick
held his arm in the air and pointed to his wrist. It was getting
late and I still needed to ask Nick if he would cover for
me.

“
Cindy, I’ve gotta go. I
have dinner plans tonight,” Nick yelled as he swirled his hand in
the air indicating for her to wrap up her goodbye.

She gave her ski stud a quick peck on
the cheek and ran over to us. She glanced back waving at him. He
waved and watched her get into the car.

“
Geez Nick, you don’t have
to be such a rude ass clown. I was just saying goodbye to him.” She
pulled her door closed and ran the seatbelt across her chest before
she turned to me.

“
And where were you
Wilson?” She stared at me. Her eyes widened when I didn’t answer
right away. My throat sped dry. My skin rushed with panic
abandoning any sense of security. Her expression told me she knew
more than she was asking. Maybe it was my own conscience that drew
that look from her. Maybe she didn’t expect anything and I’m just
thinking she knows something. Nick glanced back at me in the
mirror.

Appear innocent, profess
nothing and deny everything
.

“
I was here.” I pushed my
hand through my hair catching my fingers in a knot behind my ear. I
bent and pulled my fingers apart trying to untangle the twisted
intricate mess created by the environment.

“
Funny, I went to where you
were sitting around a quarter to four, and you weren’t there. I
waited til’ four o’clock, and you still didn’t come back. So I
packed our bags.” She bounced her back against her seat and lowered
her chin looking at me. Her eyes shrank and her brows dropped with
her familiar cindy’ism likeness. It was the same look she gave me
when she thought I was the one that broke her favorite pair of Vera
Wang heels.

I tried not to swallow hard. I wasn’t
caught by any means. I just had to make sure I came up with a
plausible excuse, that’s all.

“
Yeah, thanks for doing
that.”

“
So where were
you?”

“
I was probably in the
restroom,” I told her. It was my attempt to throw her a bone and
come up with the easiest place she might have found me, if she was
looking.

“
No, nope, I looked in the
restrooms, restaurant and ski shops. I even went down to the rental
area. You weren’t anywhere.” She held her fingers in the air
pushing them down as she named the places she nosed around to find
me.

“
Well, I don’t know what to
tell you. I was hanging out with Wayne in the lodge. When he got
called for a lesson, I walked around the shops, ate lunch and went
to the restroom. Met up with you guys here. Maybe we just missed
each other.” Nick and I met eyes in the rearview mirror. He was
nodding so slight I almost didn’t catch it.

“
Maybe—Nick, who are you
going to dinner with?” She switched her attention to him, a small
reprieve from her accusations.

“
A friend.” He turned and
looked back across to her.

“
Where are you and a friend
going?” She dropped her eyes and looked at the tips of her
fingernails. I could see she was trying to come across like she
really didn’t care, far from it. She always needed to know
everything everyone else was doing. Especially if it meant she was
going to be alone.

“
We’re going to his
family’s cabin. I guess his mom’s making this huge spread and is
having some dinner party for friends. He has to be there, so we’ll
eat before we hit the clubs,” he told her like it was no big deal.
My heart was racing.

“
Where are you guys gonna
go?”

“
Studio Works first then I
don’t know from there,” he said.

“
Studio is so weak. You
guys should go to Polaris, that’s the place to be. Anyone who’s
anybody goes there.” She leaned forward and slapped his
shoulder.

I wanted to go back to the part of the
conversation where he talked about whose cabin he was going
to.

“
Polaris, isn’t that the
one that lets eighteen year olds in?”

“
Yeah,” Cindy
said.

“
No thanks, we want to hit
the clubs where the youngest person is twenty-one. Besides too much
jailbait there.” He turned down the road to their cabin.

“
Your loss. Everyone who’s
anybody goes there,” she rubbed her words in. (Just a little
dig.)

He turned down the driveway
and had to slam on his brakes. Stopped in front of the gate was a
black BMW Z4. I leaned forward towards the center of the car. The
wind was knocked out of me. I was twisting and knotting
inside.
What was he doing here? Did he
lose his mind?
Different excuses flooded
my head. How was I going to explain that nothing was going on
between Max and me? I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart thumped so
heavy and quick, I started feeling light headed.

Please, please, please just
stay in the car.
I requested in my head as
the door to the Z4 swung open.

Don’t get out, stay in the
car.
One leg stretched out then the other.
He paused before I saw the tilt of his hair peek out from behind
the shadow of his door. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut as he
leaned out, but I couldn’t. I wanted to see him. I had fireworks
going off in my body and it was because of him.

He leaned out of the car, a mix of
pure relief and clouded disappointment splashed down across my
body. It was Calvin, Max’s younger brother. He walked back to us,
Nick lowered his window.

“
Hey Calvin. How long
you’ve been waiting?” Nick asked as he shook his hand.

“
Not long, just thought I
would pick you up early.” Calvin grabbed the door and leaned in. He
shifted to make eye contact with Cindy and me.

“
Hi ladies.” He smiled.
Amazing how much he looked like his brother.

“
So you’re the one taking
Nick out tonight huh?” Cindy asked him. He shifted his stance
locking his hands to the roof.

“
I’m not taking him out.
We’re going to go to the clubs together.” He turned a little red.
His eyes glistened with the same heart robbing appeal as his
brother.

“
Let me open the gate so
you can come down to the house,” Nick told him. Calvin strutted
down to his car and slipped in.

I watched the Z4 as it turned and sped
down to the cabin. It was a very sexy car, especially when I
thought of Max driving it.

He parked; we pulled up next to him. I
looked into the passenger’s seat, shivers paced down through my
body. I was sitting in that seat less than an hour ago.

Nick hopped out of the Sequoia and
opened my door. I got out and stretched. He shuffled over to
Cindy’s door and opened it. She monopolized him in a conversation
about where he was going tonight. Calvin had already slipped out of
the BMW and walked over.

“
Wilson, right?” he asked
holding out his hand to me.

“
Yes, that’s me. Thanks for
remembering.” He snatched my hand drowning it between
his.

“
Nice to see you again.”
His eyes clung to mine; I felt a small piece of paper drop and rest
in the palm of my hand. He formed his lips to mouth his brother’s
name as he pulled away, I closed my hand and shoved it into my
pocket. My heart leapt into my throat. What I really wanted to do
was run into the guest’s bedroom lock the door and read what Max
wrote.

“
You too, thanks,” I said
with my fingers around the note and didn’t let it go.

“
Calvin, I’m gonna get
ready, then we’ll take off,” Nick told him. We shuffled through the
grand entry and past the kitchen. Nick broke off and climbed
upstairs.

Cindy was following us glued to her
iPhone. I was surprised she didn’t trip over the steps coming into
the house. She tossed her head back and laughed loud echoing
through the whole house.

“
Oh My God, Chase is
actually in town and he’s going to Polaris with Mike and
Drew.”

Now I know Chase, Cindy has been
crushin’ on him since the ninth grade, but I have no idea who Mike
and Drew were. I guess it really didn’t matter because Cindy knew.
She texted back to whoever was sending her the information, her
smile was almost contagious.

“
Wilson, you are going to
Polaris tonight with me. You would really like Drew. He is really
cute and well, just your type.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me
upstairs. I glanced back at Calvin. His eyes narrowed and he pulled
his phone from his pocket as he watched me disappear upstairs. I
wasn’t ready for this. I needed time to think. I had a date to
spend the evening with Max and his family.

Hanging out with Cindy
while she tried and hook up with Chase was not on my agenda. And
what was this, ‘he’s just your type’ comment? Like she really knows
my ‘type’; I can tell her a lot about my type and he doesn’t hang
out with guys like Chase Romero. My ‘type’ actually has brains. He
isn’t selfish and really cares about my feelings. He’s sensitive,
kind and gentle. He oozes chivalry when most guys these days
couldn’t even tell you what it was. He is drop dead gorgeous and
makes my heart stop when he walks into the room.

My phone rang loud in the little
pocket of my blue ski suit. All I wanted to do was change and get
to Max’s house. Cindy was still pulling me along.

“
Cindy, I need to take this
call.” I slipped my arm out from her grip and went into my guest
room.

“
Fine, get ready while
you’re in there,” she yelled as I shut the door.

I pulled the phone from my pocket and
noticed it was a 970 area code. My skin rushed cold.

“
Hello?” I paced the room
waiting to hear the voice on the other end.

“
Wilson?” My heart dropped.
“Do you miss me?” his voice caressed its way down my body and drove
my butterflies to move.

“
Yeah,” my mouth watered
and I choked on my words, “I really do.”

“
Calvin gave you a folded
piece of paper right?” his voice tickled me.

“
Yeah, I haven’t had a
chance to read it yet,” I hesitated telling him. I heard him take a
deep breath and slowly exhale a low guttural moan through his nose.
I could almost picture his eyes low and disappointed. His mouth
curved to a slight smile, playing with my emotions, pulling me
in.

“
Well that just won’t do…
Do you have it right now?” he asked. I pushed my hand into my
pocket and caught it between my fingers.

“
Yeah, I do.” I pulled it
out. My hand was shaking. I didn’t want to disappoint
him.

“
In your hand?” I could
hear him speak through his smile.

“
Um-hum,” I answered down
in my throat. I held the note tight in my fingers, almost until
they ached.

“
Open it real slow,” his
voice was so incredibly hot.

I visualized him grabbing my hand and
holding it shut. His eyes grazing across mine, just enough to make
me want to kiss him. I wish he was here.

“
Right now?” I
whispered.

“
Yes, right now,” he told
me. I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear.

It was folded to the size of a pack of
matches you’d get at a restaurant. I pulled the small piece of tape
holding it shut. The paper released its pinned tension and I could
feel something shift inside. I pulled up the top fold and then the
others, words in his writing spoke to me on the page.

“
Read it, out loud. So I
can hear what you’re thinking,” his voice stroked the hopeless
romantic deep within me.

“
You hold the key. Keep it
close to your heart.” Words circled the small piece of foam
covering in the middle of the page. His words, his handwriting,
dissolved me into a place I’ve never been. I pulled the soft, thin
foam cover from the middle of the paper. My breath left me. A pile
of delicate gold linked chain circled intricately around a dainty
thin open gold heart pendant with a tiny key dangling in the
middle. It was so beautiful. I couldn’t breathe.