Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (36 page)

“
I just want Wilson to
admit she has the hots for Mr. Goldstein and I’ll leave it alone.”
She flipped her hair back and bounced her hand towards
me.

Lava of hate bubbled in my stomach. It
was beyond the abilities of my butterflies.

“
Fuck you Cindy. It isn’t
always about
you
and what
you
can figure out. Not everything has to do with sex. Oh wait, I
forgot it’s you I was talking to. Why don’t we tell Joanie about
the guy you slept with last night. What was his last name Cindy?
Huh? Oh you don’t remember? Or maybe it was that you never knew! So
don’t stand there and tell me to admit to something you have no
clue about. You are so tainted. Poison, that’s what you are,
poison.” I looked at Joanie and left. Now it was war. Truth be
told, it was my perfect excuse to get out of there and be with Max.
I just took it to another level and I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t
follow me.

I was fuming. Why did I let Cindy get
me? My lungs ached from my shallow breathing. My throat stung from
the words that scuffed and cut their way out in the desperate
attempt to keep my secret. My eyes burned; I hated losing it like
that.

“
Wilson! Hey wait up,”
Joanie was screaming. I didn’t stop. I wanted to be far enough away
before I stopped walking. All I wanted was to get to Max. He could
calm the madness that fluxed through my body.

“
Sorry J. I just needed to
get away from her,” I told her as she bumped into my
side.

“
Don’t worry. Are you okay?
Wilson, I’ve never seen you so pissed. I was waiting for you to
clock her upside the head.” She swung her arm around my back;
catching my shoulder, she pulled me against her side.

“
I’m fine. I just couldn’t
take it anymore. She is such a bitch!” I took a deep breath, trying
to clear all the negative energy seeping into my heart. “I can’t
believe I dropped the F-bomb on Cindy,” I continued.

“
I know,” she
barked.

“
I’ve never said that to
anyone before.” I felt my insides shaking.

“
I know,” she repeated. I
took another deep breath.

I wanted to ask Joanie if what I was
doing with Max was wrong. Was it really that bad to want someone
who made me feel whole again? He made me feel so safe I could be
myself with him. When I was with him I didn’t feel seventeen and he
wasn’t twenty-two. We were two people who belonged together. I
decided not to ask. I just didn’t want to know if she had some
doubts.

“
Where are you planning to
go? Because if you just plan on walking around I need to change my
shoes.” Joanie stopped me and pointed to her slippers. We laughed.
“J, I want to see him one more time before school tomorrow. After
that, it’s going to be different. I just know it.” I stared up at
her with my puppy eyes. She stared back for a moment before she
broke away.

“
What do you need me to
do?” she asked as she looked down at the sidewalk.

“
I need you to be okay with
what I’m doing. That’s all.” I looked down at the sidewalk
too.

“
I’m okay with it. You’re
my best friend and I want you to be happy—always.” She pulled me
into a hug. She always hugged the best; strong, tight and
comforting.

“
Thanks J.” Relief flooded
my soul.

Chapter
Twenty-eight:

Joanie gave me a ride to Peet’s Coffee
and waited with me while Max came to pick me up. It gave us a
moment to talk about my weekend with him.

“
Okay, so what happened?
Details please.” Joanie turned off her car and faced me with
anticipation of what I was going to say.

“
Well, Max showed up at a
party Cindy had the first night we were there. He showed up with
his brother, Calvin. Anyway, we ended up in this huge bathroom
across from the room I was staying in. I thought he was going to
kiss me, but he didn’t. He left and I was devastated.” I took off
my seatbelt and adjusted to sit facing her.

“
Oh My God. He was being a
total tease.” She smiled and pushed me.

“
Yeah, I guess. He did
leave his number in my pocket.” I pushed her back.

“
Get Out!” Joanie hit me
again.

“
No, really he told me to
call him that night. So I did. We were talking and getting along
great when he said he couldn’t be with me. So I broke down crying,
and he showed up.” I was bursting inside with excitement. It was
like reliving it all over again.

“
He showed up?” Joanie
adjusted her body and got real comfortable.

“
Ah, yeah—he showed up.”
The butterflies woke up.

“
Did you guys do anything?”
She licked her lips. She wanted all the juicy details.

“
He kissed me right there
in the bathroom, against the sinks. Mmm J, he was really good too.
Like your favorite piece of chocolate cake good.” I could feel my
face heat and my cheeks tighten above my smile.

“
You kissed him back,
right? What did you do with your hands? Tell me you kissed him
back.” She swallowed hard leaning towards me.

“
Oh, heck yeah I kissed him
back. My hands were up in his hair, of course. You know how I feel
about his hair.” I laughed.

“
Wilson’s first kiss! And
by an older, hot, smart guy. What happened after the kiss?” she
squealed.

“
Okay, ready for this? He
spent the night with me. He slept with his body against mine. Oh My
God Joanie, he was so sweet and a total gentleman. Didn’t try
anything with me.” My eyes glossed with the thoughts of us together
that night.

“
Un-frickin-believable! You
are so frickin lucky, Wilson.” She pulled me across and hugged me
tight.

“
Thanks J, I appreciate
it,” I whispered.

“
Well, you deserve to be
happy!” she sounded like she was going to cry.

“
I am happy.” I pulled away
to see him drive up in a black Mustang. “What is he doing in that
car?” I pointed to him across the parking lot. My phone chimed with
a text from him.

“
I’m here, where are you?”
I read out loud to Joanie.

I’M N THE WHITE DURANGO N FRONT OF
PEETS W/JO-NEE. WATS UP W/MUSTANG? I sent it back to
him.

I watched him lower his head to read
what I sent. He looked so good. He had a navy blue hoodie pulled up
over his head. I saw him smile as he looked around and spotted us.
I waved across to him. He moved his car closer before he got out
and came to my side of the Durango. He tapped the window with his
finger. I pushed it down.

“
Hi Wilson,” he
smirked.

“
Hi.” I answered before I
smiled. I was so nervous. I wanted him to be okay with Joanie
seeing us together. “Joanie gave me a ride here,” I justified her
presence.

“
Joanie.” He looked across
to my best friend. “How are you?” He raised his hand from the door
of her car and gave a small wave. His eyes narrowed as he looked
back at me.

“
Fine thanks, and you?”
Joanie grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it back and
forth.

“
Good, thank you.” He
looked at her. “J, do you mind if Wilson comes over to my place for
a little while tonight?” he asked her for permission. My
butterflies begged her to let me go.
How
honorable was he.
I looked over at her,
she looked at me.

“
No, Mr.— Max, I don’t mind
at all,” she told him. “Just don’t stay out too late, young lady!”
she scolded me before she smiled and gave me a hug
goodbye.

“
Thanks Joanie,” he told
her as he pulled the handle on the Durango, opening my door for
me.

“
See you J. I’ll call you
later,” I said as I shut the door and looked in at her from outside
the car.

“
You better. And don’t
forget the paper that’s due for Mrs. Clouser tomorrow,” she shouted
as she started her car and put it into gear. She rolled her window
up and drove away.

He held the door open of the black
Mustang. He sped around the car and hopped in. Immediately he
started questioning me.

“
So what is this about a
paper due for Clouser’s class?” He started the car to a loud
rumble.

“
Wait.” I pushed across the
car to him, wrapping my hand around the back of his neck, his
hoodie still covering his head. I kissed him. His lips were warm,
inviting and tasty. I wanted to touch his hair so bad. “Hi,” I
whispered.

“
Mmm, hi, nice try Wilson.
What paper is due tomorrow?” he growled low. His words, no matter
what he said, teased my butterflies.

“
Joanie! She snitched on
me. It’s a paper about the first half of the movie Romeo and Juliet
from the sixties. Not hard at all. I could write it in my sleep.”
He grabbed my hand and drove to his house without saying another
word about Mrs. Clouser’s crappy homework.

He literally lived five minutes away.
When he pulled into his complex my stomach did somersaults. My
butterflies loved it.

“
My roommate won’t be back
until tomorrow. We have the place to ourselves.” He parked in a
covered carport.

“
Whose car is this?” I
asked as he came around and opened my door.

“
It’s my roommate’s. He let
me borrow it.” He crouched down helping me out of the car. His hand
wrapped tight around my waist as he shut my door and led me to the
stairs that took me up to his condo.

“
I can help you with your
paper, if you would like me to,” he breathed into my ear across my
hair. His body pushed against mine from behind.

“
I didn’t come to work on
my paper.” I leaned back against him. He grabbed me around the
shoulders and pushed me up the last couple of stairs.

“
Yeah, but what kind of
influence would I be if I let you get away with that?” He pulled my
hair away from the side of my neck and warmed my skin with his
lips. I shuddered and tweaked my head back. Chills forced their way
up my scalp and across my shoulders.

“
Hey, how about a ticklish
influence.” I spun to face him.

He had pulled off his hoodie. His hair
was disheveled and called to my butterflies, of course my hands got
there first. I loved to tangle my fingers until they got lost in
it. His perfect hands pressed hot against either side of my face.
His stare seductively climbed from my lips up to my eyes and back
to my lips again. His shoulders high against his ears, I closed my
eyes and his lips pressed unyielding against mine. His fingers were
firm against the back of my head before they wrapped around my back
pulling me tight against him. He was so warm and pleasing. Our
moans and breaths caught low in our bodies. He pulled away just
enough to push back against my lips with fierce lust.

He started moving me to the door. I
shuffled, he wasn’t letting up. He kissed me like he hadn’t seen me
in days. He backed me up against the door to his condo. He twisted
the knob and we went in.

I wish I could tell you
what color the walls were or what type of furniture he had, but I
couldn’t. He was determined to get me straight to his room. And to
be honest, I was so wrapped up in
him
my eyes never opened and my lips
never left his. It was just like the movies. We kissed our way to
his room. We just didn’t strip on the way. As a matter of fact when
the back of my legs hit his bed, he stopped kissing me and pushed
me down onto the bed. His legs pushed between mine as they dangled
down the side, he stood looking at me for a moment.

“
I’ll be right back,” he
whispered, low and bothered.

“
Okay,” I
projected.

He left the room. I pushed
up on my elbows.
Where was he going? Last
time he did that to me he came back with something to eat.
My stomach growled excitedly. But this time he
came back with paper and a pencil. He had a book under his arm and
suddenly it hit what he was going to make me do.

“
Okay, so what’s all this?”
I sat up.

“
Well, you have a paper due
tomorrow and I happen to have paper. I also found a pencil. What
are the odds?” He held up the paper and a pencil.

“
What makes you think I
will cooperate?” I teased.

“
I have an incentive for
you.” He pushed his legs between mine tossing the paper and pencil
on the bed. “For every paragraph you get done you can choose your
prize.” He smiled, it caught his eyes. He pushed his hands into the
pockets of his Levi’s.

“
What’s the catch? Do the
prizes start small then get bigger as we go?” I breathed as I slid
my hands up under his t-shirt and hoodie.

“
Nope. You choose. But it
might make for better sport if you
find
your way to the big prize.” He
pulled his hands from his pockets and grabbed my arms out from
under his shirt.

“
Okay, I’ll play. What’s
that about?” I pointed to the book he had flung onto the nightstand
next to his bed.

“
Cliff notes. In case you
get stuck coming up with ideas.” He leaned against me, pushing me
onto my back. His face was so close to mine I felt the heat of his
breath warm my lips. His eyes fixed on mine as his hands slid
across the bed and grabbed the paper and pencil.