Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (32 page)

“
Why are you sorry? I was
fine last night. You’re too sweet.” I stood in front of him and
ruffed up his hair. He caught me around my waist and lifted his
body up against mine, his eyes smoldered. He pushed his hands
against my face, tangling his fingers into my hair, his lips
pressed unyielding against mine. I pushed him away.
Oh God—what just happened? Not a good thing.
Wrong message, total miscommunication here, we were on completely
different pages. I didn’t think of him that way.
I rubbed the back of my hand at my
lips.

“
I’m sorry, I couldn’t help
it.” Nick took a step towards me. His eyes constricted, his face
raced to a light shade of crimson.

“
Nick, please don’t go
there with me,” I whispered, stepping back holding my hand out for
him to stop.

“
I had to see if there was
a chance you’d feel the same.” He lowered his eyes to the floor,
before he sized up my body. “Wilson, tell me I don’t have a chance,
and I will leave you alone.” His eyes met mine. It must have taken
everything inside of him to do what he did.

“
Nick, I really like you,
as a friend. There is no chance for you and me.” I made sure to
keep space between us.
Damn it, I didn’t
want this. I wanted to be his friend. Now everything was awkward
and I had a four hour drive with him.

“
So this thing with
Calvin’s brother is pretty serious?” He shifted his stance and
brought his hands to his waist.

“
Yeah, it is. But I would
appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything to Cindy about
it.”

“
Don’t say anything to me
about what?” Cindy piped up as she closed the door.

My heart dropped to my feet. Every
ounce of blood that flowed through my body drained to my legs.
Chills vibrated across my spine and down through my arms. I kept
looking at Nick, waiting for him to pounce on the opportunity to
expose everything he knew about Max and me to Cindy. Nick took a
breath and started telling her what happened.

“
I kissed Wilson.” He
stepped away from her. She turned really fast towards me. “She
didn’t kiss me back. I guess I’m not the one for her.”

“
Damn straight you’re not.
What the hell were you thinking? Stay away from my friends, Nick.”
Cindy’s face burned dark red as she looked into my eyes. “Don’t
tell me, you’re into
him
.” She flung her thumb over her
shoulder pointing to Nick.

“
No, we’re just friends.
Nothing happened between us.” I felt relief spread throughout my
entire body.

“
Good, because if you were,
I’d have to really rethink our friendship. There’s not one thing
you could say that would make
that
okay.” Cindy twisted her body to stand between
us.

“
Oh come on Cindy, like
you’re this great catch. Give me a break. You can’t even keep
anyone long enough to learn their last name,” Nick spewed as he
headed for the bedroom door.

“
Screw you Nick,” Cindy
blurted out. Her body heaved and waned with such hate, it made me
glad I was an only child.

“
No thanks, I don’t screw
skanks.” He flipped her off and turned to me. “Sorry I can’t drive
you to Denver.” He left.

I had to take a moment. Guilt started
swelling from deep down, bulging and overflowing my conscience.
This whole argument started because of me. I’ve got to fix it. I
can’t have this on my head.

“
Wait, Nick.” I ran after
him. He was already down the stairs and heading out the front
door.

“
No Wilson, I’m not
waiting. I’m done with waiting. All my life, I’ve waited, not
anymore. Go back to your friend.” He turned and walked out the
front door.

I stood unmoved and mortified. He
saved me from the heat by throwing himself in the fire and now
there was nothing I could do to change it. I turned to go back
upstairs to finish packing.

Cindy held her hands tight on her
waist, “If he thinks he can talk to me that way and get away with
it, he is so mistaken.”

“
I’ve got to finish
packing. Give me a couple minutes.” I passed her at the top of the
stairs and closed the door to my room.

I just wanted to throw myself down and
cry, but I only had a couple more minutes before we had to be on
the road. I figured I was the next in line to drive. I was already
beat from staying up all night with Max and now I was going to
drive for four hours. Not my idea of a good start to the day.
Especially, when all I wanted to do was sit in the backseat, close
my eyes and relive my weekend with Max.

“
Come on Wilson, we’ve
gotta go,” Cindy whined as she banged on my door.

I grabbed my duffel bag that was
packed so crappy I could barely zip it closed.

“
Okay, let’s go,” I told
her, struggling and tripping as my duffel bag bounced off my leg.
She rolled her suitcase down the stairs.
Bang, bang, bang.
I wished she would
have just picked it up. Her demeanor was silent and cold. No doubt
it was my punishment for Nick kissing me. She opened the front door
and rolled down the stone steps.
Bang,
bang, bang.
I wasn’t paying attention to
what she was doing so when she stopped, I ran into her.

“
What is he doing in the
car?” She pointed to the Sequoia. Nick was waiting in the driver’s
seat. “I am NOT getting in the car with
him
. You can drive us Wilson.” She
didn’t move.

“
No, I can’t drive. I’m
exhausted and I don’t know my way around. Come on Cindy, give him a
break.” I walked past her and threw my bag in the back. Cindy
followed.

“
I’m only doing this,
because you rejected him.” She tossed her suitcase into the back
and got into the car. I opened my door and slipped in behind Nick.
Not one word was muttered between any of us. He put the car in
gear, Cindy plugged her ears with American Idol music from her
iphone and I pulled the hood up on Max’s sweatshirt, wrapped my
arms around myself and I closed my eyes. Four hours of silence.
Wouldn’t that be nice?

Chapter
Twenty-five:

The sway of the car put me to sleep.
The smell of Max on his sweatshirt as I held the sleeves to my nose
took over my mind. His eyes, filled with lust, we were at school in
his class. Nobody was in the classroom with us; just him and me. He
had on tight black jeans with a black t-shirt that showed every
muscle. He was wearing the sweatshirt I had on and the hood was
over his head. He was standing at the board, wiping them
clean.

“
Hey, that’s my job,” I
told him grabbing for the eraser. He held it in the air, too high
for me to reach.

“
Not anymore,” he whispered
into my ear and wrapped his hand around my waist.

“
Hey, you’re going to get
us in trouble. Remember, no touching.” I pushed him away just
enough to tease him. I had on a very short pleated black skirt with
red stiletto heels and a real low cut, white V neck top.

“
No, I won’t. Not anymore.
I took care of it. Now we don’t have to hide, ever again.” He
pulled me close and I breathed him in.

His lips found my exposed skin right
above my heart. His hand slid soft up the back of my thigh under my
skirt. It was such a turn on to make out with him in his classroom.
He pushed me against his desk. I pulled my hands from his hair and
yanked at his jeans, he didn’t stop me this time. He pulled my legs
apart and lifted me onto his desk. My hands lost his buttons for a
moment until he pushed his body between my knees. His lips pressed,
kissing gentle, against mine. I pushed at his jeans sliding my left
hand down in between his skin and boxers; it caught on the waist
band. Pressure cut across one of my fingers. The more I tried to
push my hand down into his pants the more my finger hurt. I pulled
my hand from the back of his jeans. It was a huge diamond ring set
in a white gold band half as thick as the space between my
knuckles. My mouth dried, my heart galloped and my eyes
flooded.

“
What’s wrong Mrs. Wilson
Goldstein?” He smiled with his smoldering eyes, proud he called me
a name I’ve practiced for months.

My breath caught hard as I swallowed
the images of what I hoped for someday. My eyes sprang open and I
was in the backseat of the Sequoia. It took me a moment to realize
Cindy was asleep with her ears plugged next to me and Nick was
swerving, taking us off the road to a gas station.

My heart pumped blood so fast through
my body I swear I had none in my head when the car rolled to a
stop. Light headed, what did I just see? I thrust my hands in front
of my eyes. I focused, nothing, no ring. A wave of fatigue flooded
my body.

“
I have to stop,” Nick was
short. I kept squeezing my eyes shut and reopening them. “Are you
okay?” He stood between his door and seat looking back at me. The
freezing air replaced the warm as it swirled around us.

“
Yeah, I guess. I think I
should get something to drink.” I still was in the dazed fog of a
dream I wanted to remember.

“
What do you want? I’ll get
it. I’d rather do it so we can get on the road faster,” he came off
bothered.

“
A Coke. Thank you.” He
slammed the door, not asking Cindy if she wanted
anything.

“
Where are we? Why are we
stopped?” Cindy woke up. She pulled her earphones from her
head.

“
I don’t know. Nick needed
to stop and get something to drink,” I told her.

“
What time is it?” She
checked her iphone. “Eleven fifty-five. I’ve been asleep over two
hours?” She stretched her arms above her head.

Great, she is awake now
and we still have another two plus hours to get to Denver. Find the
happy place Max took you to and live there now, Wilson.

“
Is Nick all wigged out? He
can be such an ass.” Cindy wrapped her earphones around the back of
her neck.

“
I don’t know. I was asleep
too.” I pushed the sleeves of Max’s sweatshirt up my forearms. I
didn’t want to be put between Cindy and Nick’s dysfunctional
relationship. My door swung open; startled, I just about jumped out
of my skin.

“
Here Wilson.” He pushed a
Coke at me. I thanked him and he slammed the door. He shuffled to
the front driver’s door slid in and didn’t say another
word.

I looked over at Cindy and mouthed. “I
think he’s still pissed.”

“
Whatever!” she said out
loud.

I looked up into the rearview mirror
to see his reaction. He glanced at me, leaned forward and turned
the Green Day song up on the radio.

“
Do you know your enemy,
your enemy”
, repeated over and over. He
definitely made sure Cindy heard the chorus of the song.

In minutes we were back on the road. I
wish I had my iPod to help me escape the one-sided conversation
Cindy insisted on having.

“
Wilson, where did you
get
that
sweatshirt? I’ve never seen you wear it before.” She stared
at me, almost like she waited for a lame excuse to cross my lips.
“Don’t tell me it’s Nick’s. I know for sure you didn’t have it
before you came to Aspen.” She pushed her earphones into her ears,
not waiting for my answer.

I didn’t even bother speaking. I
turned and looked out my window. The white frosted-whipped
mountains speckled with sharp evergreen pines and earth brown
jagged boulders made me think of my grandparents; I missed them. I
rolled towards the door, wrapped my arm under my head and closed my
eyes. I wanted to think about Max, instead I fell
asleep.

“
Wilson. Hey, wake up,
we’re here.” I felt something tap my leg. I felt the muscles in my
back pull up through my shoulders blades as I stretched.

Cindy grabbed her bag from the floor.
I wanted to be motivated to get to my flight, but something inside
me clicked into slow motion. I guess the fact that as soon as I
left Colorado, the faster my weekend faded into a memory that I
tucked into a corner of my mind. The flutter of the first
butterflies Max freed in my body will become dull reminisces of
empty cocoons and I wasn’t really ready for that.

My phone vibrated with a
message. My heart leapt into my throat. It had to be from
him
. It was about time!
I pulled it from my pocket, my hands shook. Cindy had already
closed the door and was pulling her suitcase from the back of the
Sequoia. I unlocked the keys and waited to see what he texted me. A
flood of disappointment reigned heavy across my body. It wasn’t
from Max, it was from Joanie.

WHEN R U BAK? CAN’T W8 2
HEAR ABOUT UR WKND W/MG! MISSED U
.

Don’t get me wrong, I was glad she was
thinking of me and I was happy she texted me, but it wasn’t
Max.

MISSED U 2 @ AIRPRT NOW-
FLT LEVS @ 3:15. C U ASAP. LOTS 2 TELL
.
I sent back. I went to the rear of
the car where Cindy was still standing and grabbed my duffel bag.
My phone chimed again.

I WANT JOO-C D-TALS-CANT LEV ANY OUT!
K. Another message from Joanie.