Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (9 page)

“
Nick, nice to finally meet
you,” Max said as he shook his hand. Our eyes met, he reached out
and gently grabbed my hand. “My pleasure.” I stared at him, and
didn’t say a word.

Calvin shrugged and interrupted, “I
didn’t grab a drink, so I’m going downstairs and getting something.
Introduce me to the red head hanging out by the kitchen.” Calvin
slapped Nick across the shoulder. Max watched them leave. He turned
slow as his earth green eyes traced the ground to me. I almost
couldn’t breathe.

“
Wow, I can’t believe
you’re here. I had no idea that Calvin was taking me to Cindy
Browler’s place.” He looked at me, I still stood tongue tied. What
was I going to say? All the words I practiced evaporated in his
eyes. He smelled so good. All I wanted to do was touch
him.

“
Hi, Mr. Goldstein.”
Come on Wilson, hold it together. Do not lose it,
not in front of him. I had that Naked, Go drink in my hand. Crap,
totally hope he will over look the underage thing.

“
Wilson—please call me Max.
We’re not at school.”

He smiled his half crooked smile his
eyes twinkled. “Besides, it makes me feel old. Are you going to
drink that?” His hand reached for the long slender glass filled
with the Skip and Go Naked I hadn’t even tasted yet. His fingers
brushed and touched mine as they landed in between. He stared into
my eyes.

“
No, I wasn’t, someone just
handed it to me, I swear.” I blinked and looked away.

I was such a baby. What a
square. Busted from a government teacher I had the total hots for.
Prepare for the lecture, it’s coming, wait, wait, here it
comes.

“
What’s it called?” He took
the glass from my hand.

“
Skip and Go Naked.” He
looked at me, smiled, put it to his nose and inhaled.

“
May I taste
it?”

“
Sure. I couldn’t tell you
what it tasted like. I haven’t even put it to my mouth.”

I watched him press the drink to his
pouty, wet, inviting bottom lip, and tilt the glass as the Naked
went Skipping down his throat. Holy crap for the sake of Pete, I
wanted to be that drink. His shirt pulled at his bicep as he held
the glass to his mouth, his neck exposed, I could swear he was
inviting me to press my lips to his throat. I swallowed hard and
smacked my lips.

“
Not bad. Thanks.” He
handed it back to me. He took his hand and ran it through his hair.
It fell perfect across his forehead.
Frickin kill me now, hello, stimulus overload.

“
You’re
welcome.”

He stared at me, and for a moment,
time froze. An exchange of pure magnetism forced its way between
us, enchanting me with the possibility of being with him beyond my
fanciful thoughts.

“
I’d better get back to my
brother before I—before
he
gets into any trouble.” He walked out of the room
leaving me with my half swallowed Skippin’ Naked.

I wasn’t going to take a
drink of the Going Naked Skippin’ but at this point, I needed
something to cool the raging desires that kept catching my breath
low in my throat and ripping it out. By the time I looked down at
my glass it was empty and I was feeling numb. I went downstairs to
the kitchen and asked the person making the mixed drinks for
another Naked Skipper.
Funny they seemed
to know exactly what I was asking for
.
Pretty fast, I had another drink in my hand.

I couldn’t help but look
for him. God, he was so everything to me. I would give up food for
him. If he told me that I couldn’t eat pizza anymore, I would stop.
He had no idea how much power he had over me. That was a scary
thought. I was
never
one of
those
girls before him. You know the kind. They can’t talk about
anything but the guy their crushing on. They become obsessed with
getting close to them. Holy cow that was me! I was the freaky
stalker girl. That was the one thing I
never
wanted to become; obsessed
with a guy. I never wanted to let someone hold that type of power
over me. Well, I’ve blown that deal. Good thing I didn’t make it
with the devil because he would have cashed in and I would be
perspiring in hell right now.

“
Oh My God Wilson, did you
see who was here?” Cindy staggered over to me.

“
Yeah, Mr.
Goldstein.”

“
How did you know? And
where have you been?” she slurred her words.

I hate to assume but I was going to do
it anyway. She had to be on her third or fourth
margarita.

“
I went upstairs to call
Joanie.”
Which I got side tracked and
didn’t do.

“
I hope she’s not too upset
that you’re here with me and she’s not.”

“
I didn’t get through to
her. I’ll try tomorrow.” I looked past her trying to find
him.

“
I can’t wait to tell
everyone back in Cali, that Mr. Goldstein came to my house to
party.” She flipped her hair and swung around.

“
Cindy! Wait. You can’t do
that.” The pores of my skin opened and I began to perspire. OK, I
was sweating. If she told anyone he was here, then he would lose
his job and I would lose my one good reason to stay at
Wesley.

“
What the hell. Why not?
Don’t you see the advantage I have now? No more B’s in his class. I
have to say, my ‘keeping quiet’ should be worth a solid A in his
class. Maybe even a letter of recommendation to Stanford. What cha
think?”

I couldn’t tell her what I really
thought, because if I did, she would kick me to the snowy curb. But
before I could stop myself the words came shooting from my mouth
and the couple of I’m Running Naked drinks didn’t help.

“
You’re such a bitch.” She
leaned back her face white as a ghost. “What the hell did you think
I was going to say? Go for it. Nick was right. You are the most
self-absorbed, conniving, heartless, demon of a person I
have
ever
met. I
don’t think you’re even capable of having a shred of common
decency. The fact you’re willing to blackmail Mr. Goldstein is so
frickin twisted and pathetic. I can’t stand here and look at your
face any longer. I’m out.” I walked away feeling pretty good that I
released all the angst that has been bubbling in my gut the entire
day. I glanced back and she hadn’t moved. She stood there, struck
by my words that were as sharp as daggers that sliced her down to
the bone.

I had to find Max and tell him what
Cindy was planning. I had to protect him. I couldn’t lose him to
her petty stupid games. I scanned the living room thinking maybe he
was hanging with Nick; but no. I kept walking the entire main floor
of the house. I couldn’t find him anywhere; no Nick or Calvin
either. I ended up at the bottom of the stairs. Upstairs were all
bedrooms and bathrooms. My heart fell into my gut. There were a lot
of really pretty girls here—I didn’t want to think about it. I
didn’t want to think he was so shallow that he would’ve hooked up
with a girl he just met. My feet took my body up the stairs, my
heart pounded loud with each step. I could feel it aching while my
mind kept recycling a forged vision of pushing open Nick’s bedroom
door and finding Max with another girl that wasn’t me. I didn’t
want to do this, but I had to find him. I reached for the first
door knob, twisted it and pushed the door open.

“
Sorry, didn’t know someone
was in here.” I looked to see it wasn’t him then shut the door. One
down, three more to go, I twisted the knob on the second door, but
it was locked. I knocked but nobody answered. Great, that was easy
and less embarrassing. Third door, it wasn’t closed all the way and
I could hear voices. They sounded like they were talking so I
pushed the door open. It was Calvin with the red head he was trying
to hook up with earlier. They were sitting on Cindy’s bed looking
at a photo album.

“
Oh sorry.” I started to
pull the door closed.

“
HEY YOU, WAIT! It’s Wilma
right? Remember me, I’m Calvin, we met earlier— you were with Nick
and my brother,” he slurred his words and was way too loud. He
obviously had too much to drink.

“
Yeah, that’s me, but it’s
Wilson.” I kept pulling the door shut.

“
No hold on wait, did you
see what you did with my brother; because I can’t find him,
anywhere?” He stumbled forward and threw his hands in the air and
looked around at the ground. What a shining example of the
privileged elite of our society. I just hope he doesn’t puke on my
shoes.

“
No, I didn’t see
where
I
put him.
But if I stumble across him I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.”
I was losing my patience with this guy. He did the,
I’m totally wasted stagger dance
before he tried to open his eyes to look at
me.

“
Well, if you happen to
remember where you hid him, tell him he’s gonna need to find
another ride home tonight. OK Wanda.” By this time the red headed,
one night stand, girl was over grabbing him, helping him stand
up.

“
No problem
Carson
and my name is
not Wilma, Wanda or any other lame W name you come up with. It’s
Wilson, W-I-L-S-O-N. Like the frickin sports balls you play with.”
Calvin looked at me and stumbled back laughing. I slammed the door.
If he was going to be my future brother-in-law he’d better learn my
name, damn-it. He was such a tool.

I’ve struck out with the first three
rooms. I was relieved and anxious at the same time. Relieved
because I didn’t find him in a room with another girl, but anxious
because he was nowhere to be found. I stopped in front of Nick’s
bedroom door. It was shut but I could hear a group of people
laughing and talking over each other. I would have knocked but they
were so loud I doubt they would’ve heard me anyway. So I invited
myself in, nobody even noticed. There was a group of guys
surrounding Nick’s computer.

Holy Mary Mother of God,
there he was.
Smiling and leaning back
laughing. His black hair motioning for me to come closer with every
movement he made. His hand owned the beer he held, his Levi’s tight
and snug exactly where I liked them to be. His shirt clung tight on
his biceps and wrinkled at his waist. Yummy, my mouth watered.
Endorphins crawled up my throat and waited to take him down. I felt
like I was going to burst.
Breathe,
breathe, inhale now exhale.
I guess I was
kinda loud catching my breath, because he turned and looked at me.
His face went blank as he set down his beer. Now I don’t know what
was on that computer screen, and quite frankly I could give a rat’s
ass, because at that moment—I had the attention of the most
gorgeous guy in the room.

Chapter
Seven:

I inched towards the throng of guys,
hovering around the computer. I didn’t want any of them to turn
around but I guess it was too late, they saw Max turn and every
head spun to look at me. I froze thinking if I didn’t move they
wouldn’t see me, like I could really blend into the surroundings. I
must’ve looked like a total jack-ass.

“
Wilson! What’s up? Lookin’
for Cindy? Cuz she’s not here.” Nick intercepted me and turned me
towards the door.

“
No actually I was coming
up here to—.” I stopped.
Did I really want
to tell him who I came up to see? No, so I lied
, “I thought I left my drink up here.” I looked around the
room, haphazard as possible.

“
I didn’t see it. Why don’t
you head downstairs and get another one. It was a Skip and Go
Naked, right?” Nick talked fast trying to convince me to leave. He
didn’t want me to see what was on the computer screen. Funny, I
didn’t even look over at it. My eyes were focused on Max and the
space that surrounded him. I turned towards the door to
leave.

“
Appreciate the beers, nice
party but I’ve gotta go; getting up early to hit the slopes. Thanks
man.” I heard Max tell Nick. Their hands clasp into a firm
handshake and Nick mumbled something back to him. I could feel
Max’s energy behind me as I walked down the hall. I wanted to look
back so bad, see if he was following me. A ball of anticipation
spiraled in the back of my throat. I felt him hurry to catch
up.

“
Wilson, wait up. Are you
going home? I could give you a ride.” He stopped me on the balcony
between the staircases that circled down to the entry. He scratched
at his head, pushed his hair away from his eyes, and shoved his
hands in his pockets glimpsing to see my reaction.
He can’t do that to me. How am I supposed to
concentrate on his question?
He continued
talking, “I mean, I don’t think it’s a good idea you driving after
having some drinks.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cindy below.
I swallowed real hard, cleared my mind, and grabbed his
arm.

“
Mr. Gol— Max, there is
something I’ve gotta tell you.” I dragged him to the door across
the hall. I didn’t know if it was a closet, or what, I didn’t
care.
Well truthfully, I wouldn’t have
been able to handle being in a closet with him, being that close,
smelling him? My head swam just thinking about it.
Fortunately it was a super humungous bathroom. I
pushed him in and locked the door. Fifty people could have hung out
in the bathroom and there still would’ve been room enough for a
dance floor. Four sinks across the wall, each with its own heated
towel rack. An oversized leather sofa you would find in a normal
person’s living room sat across from the sinks. There was a door
separating us from a bathtub the size of a Smart car and the rest
of the bathroom.