Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (34 page)

“
You’re so beautiful
Wilson. How did I get so lucky?” He ran his hand down my wrist,
folded his fingers in between mine and pulled my hand to his
lips.

Out of the corner of my eye
I saw the Pepto-Bismol pink shirt Cindy had on heading towards us.
My heart thrust anxiety through my veins as I pulled my hand down
from his. My body stiffened and I turned to look out the
window.
Come on Wilson, don’t make it too
obvious.

“
Okay I’m back. What you
two talk about? Hey Max, you never told us your girlfriend’s name.”
She lowered herself into the seat and looked over at
Max.

“
We just talked about the
huge government test he’s giving tomorrow in class.” I smiled, she
laughed tight.

“
Wilson’s kidding. No test
tomorrow,” he told her. “Cindy please excuse me, I need to get
out.” She pushed herself out into the aisle. He stood up, leaning,
and worked his way out. I took advantage and got up also. If
nothing more than to stretch my legs; I walked down towards the
restrooms following Max.

“
I had a great time this
weekend,” I told him as he stopped to wait for an open lavatory. He
turned to face me, glancing back at Cindy he smiled and answered
me.

“
Me too.”

“
I am really glad you took
me to meet your family. I really like them,” I choked up
slightly.

“
They really liked you too.
Which reminds me, my mom invited you to come out over winter
break.” He leaned back and forth as he shoved his hands down in his
pockets.

“
Do you want me to come
too?” I looked at the brown and blue diamond patterned
carpet.

“
No, actually I don’t. I
said that to torture you, Wilson. Of course I do. But I have to
tell you, my family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, hence my last
name.” His eyes met mine before he dropped his glance. His hair
shifted forward.

“
Well that’s great news for
me, because then I won’t have to compete to celebrate my birthday
with Jesus. It will be a first!” I smiled at him. He looked up
through his jet black hair. His eyes glowed with acceptance and his
lips formed a slight smirk, sparking my sexual desire.
He can’t do that when Cindy is so close. It would
only lead to bad deeds.

“
So we can celebrate you
and only you on December twenty-fifth.” He grabbed my hand and
pulled me a little closer. Good thing there was a partition wall
between us and Cindy. His eyes were fused to mine. He took a deep
breath, exhaling constricted.

“
We can celebrate the new
freedom eighteen gives us.” I glanced towards Cindy and didn’t see
her looking back. I leaned against him sneaking a kiss before the
lavatory door opened. He pulled away, captivated, before he went
into the small room. I stood there, alone waiting for the next one.
I leaned against the wall, thinking about my eighteenth birthday in
less than twenty-eight days. A door swung open, I grabbed it and
went in.

What the hell was
this?
Okay so I’ve never used an airplane
bathroom before, however; this was horrifying. Smaller than a
closet, I was expected to sit on blue water, camper type toilet. No
seat covers. No paper towels to dry my hands. I was surprised there
was toilet paper provided. The instructions explained in English
and showed pictures of how to use it. No thanks, I’ll wait. I
washed my hands, ran them dry on my pants and unhappily slid the
handle on the door to open. I sulked back to my seat. I didn’t have
to go to the bathroom anyway.

“
Cindy, Can I get in?” I
tapped her on the shoulder. She had her earphones plugging her
head. She stood up and let Max out to let me in. He stood right
next to her seat, intentionally leaving just enough room where I
had to push against him to pass by. I have to say, great way to
sneak some touching time. I heard him inhale me and felt his face
close to my hair. His hands wrapped around my waist just enough to
look like he was helping me, his arm brushed me, and his hand
rested over mine as he sat down. Cindy plopped back down and closed
her eyes to listen to her music. I leaned forward and spoke Cindy’s
name. She didn’t flinch.

“
Ladies and gentleman we
are starting our descent into Oakland, California. It is a mild
sixty-five degrees…” The captain’s voice disappeared as I looked
into Max’s eyes.

This was it. True to the end, our
Aspen weekend officially became a memory that we would try and
recall when we’d talk about how we started dating. My heart pounded
fast in my chest. He grabbed my hand and whispered in my
ear.

“
Wilson, think of this as
the beginning. Not the end.” He pressed his lips to the side of my
head. I felt his comforting breath bend and sway across my hair.
Risky what he was doing, but I needed it. He leaned back and the
warmth of his essence across my hair was replaced by the chill of
our reality. He tapped Cindy on the shoulder.

“
Cindy. We are landing.
We’re in Oakland.” Max turned back to me then to her again. Her
eyes gradually opened. She looked around and noticed everyone had
their chairs up and seatbelts fastened.

“
Are we landing already?”
She was unaware of how loud she spoke. Max indicated to her to pull
the plugs out of her ears. She did.

“
Yeah, we are,” he
whispered making a point to talk low.

“
Sorry, didn’t realize I
was talking so loud.” She did her ritual clean up of her iPhone and
pushed her bag back under the seat in front of her. “I am
so
glad to be home. It’s
been a
long
weekend,” she whined.

I couldn’t believe what
came out of her mouth, a long weekend? She partied, raged at dance
clubs, had one night stands, fought with her brother and dad and
totally ignored me most of the weekend. She could call it a fun
weekend or a crazy weekend; even call it a trying weekend, but to
have her call it a
long
weekend well, just wasn’t acceptable. It wasn’t
long enough for me.

One more day would have been perfect.
I would have liked to have gone to brunch with his family today,
spent some more time in their company, especially his mother’s.
There was something magical about her. I didn’t feel so broken
around her. She made me feel accepted and important, even a bit
normal.

The plane landed with a couple of
rough bounces and it became really loud as it slowed towards the
end of the runway. But all in all we landed safe and secure in
Oakland. I looked out the window and caught Max’s reflection
watching me. He smiled watching my expression. Our bodies pulled to
the seats in front of us. He pushed his hand against my shoulder
stopping me. He leaned into me.

“
I miss you already,” he
whispered.

Cindy was already taking off her
seatbelt and getting her backpack ready to go.

“
I’ve got to go to the
restroom. So if we get separated, meet me at baggage claim okay?
Max, Mr. Goldstein, see you tomorrow at school.” She stood up
pushing her way forward. In minutes she was able to work her way
out of the plane. Not without pissing a lot of people off. But that
was Cindy, her way or no way.

I couldn’t believe how lucky we were.
Here I was worried about finding a place to say goodbye to him and
Cindy gave us the perfect spot, right where we were. Max pushed his
lips to my skin. I forced my hands up into his hair. It felt like a
lifetime since I’d touched him. His hands slid up around my neck
and under my ears. His fingers tangled in my hair. He pulled his
lips away smiling, teasing me to push to him, my mouth open, his
breath filled me. We inhaled every moment with each other. Our kiss
danced and tied every memory of our weekend together. Visions of
him flashed vivid across my closed eyes. His taste of the sweetest
milk chocolate, his resonance of untamed desires, and his scent
lured me to visions of a breezy crisp snow white day.

He drew his mouth off mine and stopped
kissing me. His sultry green eyes journeyed up and down my face as
he pulled away. He told my butterflies to stay active and keep
fighting for him. I pressed my body hard against his. My shoulders
rose as I knotted my hands back in his hair. His hands clutched my
arms and pushed me away. His head dropped to see the last people
were leaving the plane.

“
We’d better go before
Cindy comes looking for us.” His hands still held the space between
us.

He stood up and slid to the aisle. He
reached up to the storage above my head. He looked so good. His
dark t-shirt rose to expose his navel, his Calvin’s band showed
just enough to make me want more. The button on his jeans unsnapped
making them just loose enough to fit my hand. It took everything in
my power not to wrap my arms around him and pull his shirt from his
body.

“
I need to take a mental
picture of what I see. Mmm.” I pushed my hands to my face and
clicked my imaginary camera. He dropped his chin to look at me. His
eyes constricted making his brow furrow. God was generous when he
made Max. He was perfect. My butterflies leaned heavy trying to
tilt me to him.

“
Watch yourself.” His jaw
clinched, his muscles strained as he plopped my bag down into the
seat between us. He pulled his small backpack from above and swung
it over his shoulder.

“
Here, let me carry your
bag for you.” He pulled it out of the chair allowing me to slip in
front of him in the aisle. Behind him the attendant waited to make
sure we left the plane.

“
Thank you Max.” My hand
bounced on the top of each seat as I moseyed down the aisle and out
of the plane.

Cindy met us half way down the
walkway.

“
What took you so long?”
She flipped her hair back from across her shoulders. “Oh, Mr.
Goldstein.” She looked at my duffel bag he was carrying.

“
Wilson’s bag was stuck in
the storage compartment. She couldn’t get it out.” He turned to me.
“Here you go.” He handed me my bag. I took it and wedged it across
my shoulder against my neck.

“
Thanks,” I
mumbled.

“
Are you guys the last ones
off the plane?” She looked around noticing there was nobody walking
behind us.

“
Yeah, none of the
attendants would help me. Thanks again Mr. Goldstein.” I glanced at
him before I looked at Cindy. “Did you get your
suitcase?”

“
No, I went to the bathroom
then waited for you to come off the plane.” She studied my
expression then Max’s. I could see the wheels turning in her
head.

“
Let’s go then, before
someone walks off with your suitcase.” I paced ahead of
them.

“
Well Mr. Max Goldstein, it
looks like you are Wilson’s knight in shining armor.” She elbowed
him as she walked next to him. A smirk grew across her
face.

“
No, just her government
teacher that was able to help when she asked.” He looked down at
the ground then back up to her. I slowed my stride and strained to
hear what she was saying.

“
I saw the way she looked
at you. She has
it
for you.” Cindy looked like she just discovered
gold.

“
No, I don’t think so.” He
swallowed hard.

“
Whatever! She likes you.
Her heart must be totally broken knowing you have a girlfriend.
Trust me Max, she’s into you.” She smiled, smug and content. He
smiled back and didn’t say another word.

My heart crashed against my ribcage so
hard, I swear I could see it pounding. She knows. Cindy has figured
it out. It was written all over my face, how could she not see it?
My knees went weak and my hands numb. This meant trouble. She was
like the Santa Ana winds, if even a spark existed, huge wildfires
would ensue, devastating anything in its way, including
Max.

“
I’ll meet you at the
baggage claim,” I told them as I slipped into the restroom. I
grabbed my phone out of my pocket and called Max. He answered it on
the second ring.

“
Hello?”

“
Max, you can’t let her
know about us,” I whispered. I heard him put his hand over the
phone and tell her he had to take the call. He would see her at the
baggage claim.

“
I know. Don’t worry. I’ll
make sure she keeps thinking I have a girlfriend,” his voice was
really low.

“
I don’t think I’ll be able
to meet you tonight. She’ll know something’s up with us if I leave
tonight,” I rambled into the phone. I didn’t know what to think. I
was totally caught off guard with her comments.

“
Hey, don’t say that. I
don’t want to let her win with us. I’ll chalk it up to a student
crush you have on your teacher. Let’s just wait and see,” he
struggled with what he meant to say.

“
You have to leave before I
meet Cindy at the baggage claim. Call me when you’re gone.” I held
the phone tight to my ear. I didn’t want to miss any words he said
to me.

“
I still want to see you
tonight. Don’t let her scare you off. Not now Wilson. We’ll figure
it out. Text me when you get back to the dorms,” his voice became
low and vulnerable, taunting me with my need to see him before he
left the airport.