Wilson Mooney Eighteen at Last (25 page)

I figured I could give Joanie a quick
call, tell her what was going on with Max’s dad, and I would be
back downstairs before he missed me.

When I opened his bedroom door I was
thrust right back in the memory of us together last night—how he
felt as he pressed against me, how he made me feel like I was the
only person in the world, our bodies molding into one as he
electrified every cell of my being. I pushed the door shut, brushed
the memories of us together last night to the back of my mind, and
dialed J’s number.

Joanie’s phone didn’t seem to ring
even once before she answered it.

“
Hi, Wilson,” she answered
out of breath.

“
Hi, J. You
okay?”

“
Yeah, just got back from
jogging with my sister,” she panted.

“
How’s So-Cal?” I
asked.

“
Oh, well you know my
parents—same old, same old. What the heck have you been up to? I’m
sorry I didn’t call you on your birthday; I assumed Max was giving
you your birthday present? I want details. Wait, not too many
details,” Joanie rambled and chuckled.

“
Oh my God, J, it has been
one hell of a rollercoaster ride out here—”

“
Rollercoaster? What’s
going on?” Joanie interrupted.

“
J, I’ve wanted to call
you—Max’s dad died yesterday,” I said quietly to avoid
crying.

“
Holy shit—on your
birthday—what happened?” Joanie interjected.

“
He had a heart attack,” I
said.

“
Oh God, I am so sorry—how
are you holding up?” Joanie murmured.

“
I’m okay, but everything
has happened so fast—with the helicopter ride from hell, the limo
make-out session, and Frank’s heart attack—I can’t believe we did
it
twice
. I don’t
know, maybe we shouldn’t have…” I rambled as the pressure built in
the empty cavity of my chest.

“
Wait! Hold on, back it
up—did I hear what I think I heard?” Joanie rapidly fired her words
at me.

“
Max’s dad having a heart
attack on my birthday? Of all days…”

“
No—I’m sorry to hear
about his dad, but that wasn’t it,” Joanie said.

“
The helicopter ride from
hell?” I asked.

“
No, and it wasn’t the
make-out limo ride either,” Joanie stated.

“
Oh, you’re talking about
Max and me, uh—being together,” I whispered, as my cheeks flushed
beet red.

“
Yeah, that’s it. Oh my
God, Wilson, you guys did it!” Joanie screeched.

“
Ssshhh. Hey, let’s keep
it on the
down-low
. I don’t want your family to know about it.”

“
Don’t worry, Wilson, I’m
alone. Everyone’s downstairs playing Pictionary.”

“
Oh, I miss playing
Pictionary with your family.” I felt my heart twinge with
sadness.

“
Oh for Christ’s sake,
Wilson, come on—I’d give up
my
family
to be with the guy of my dreams.
So? Come on, I need details,” Joanie pushed.

“
Well…it didn’t hurt as
bad as I thought it was going to. And the second time in the
shower—”

Joanie squealed.

I continued, “At first I was nervous,
so I was tense, but as soon as he—you know—and we started to—you
know, I relaxed and it was totally amazing.”

“
Oh my God, Wilson, oh my
God—and in the
shower
,” Joanie kept repeating.

“
I KNOW, I KNOW,” I said
as my excitement built on hers.

“
Was it perfect or what?”
Joanie said.

“
Oh, J, it was more than
perfect. He was unbelievable. And oh my God, I just gotta say,
today in the shower, was incredible. But, J, I’m totally starting
to feel like crap. His dad just died and I’m all happy—something in
me says maybe we should have waited for a better time.” I felt the
excitement simmer to disappointment.

“
Wilson, come on. You and
Max shared something so special and intimate. If you waited for the
perfect time it would have never happened. It was the right time.
Don’t ever second guess that.”

“
But—”

“
Did you want to be with
him?”

“
Yes.”

“
And did he want to be
with you?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Then it was the perfect
time.”

“
I know, but his dad
just
died
,” I
whispered insistently

“
Don’t you dare
I know—but
this
situation. He loves you; you love him. It was right,” Joanie
lectured me.

“
Okay,” I
answered.

“
How is he doing?” Joanie
asked.

“
He’s doing the best he
knows how to. Gosh, being Jewish he has a ton of things his family
must do. He’s a bit overwhelmed, but holding it together—somewhat,”
I volunteered.

“
Wilson, how are
you
?” Joanie
asked.

“
I’m super tired but I’m
doing okay. Wait, Max is coming up the stairs. Let me call ya back
later?” I said.

“
No problem. Please tell
Max I’m thinking about him. And Wilson? You’d better call me
back—tonight,” Joanie ordered.

“
I will, I promise—love
ya, J,” I said.

“
Love ya too. Hang in
there,” Joanie sang as she hung up the phone right away, leaving me
waiting to hear her tell me to stay strong. I slipped my phone in
my pocket and busied myself with putting my clothes away in Max’s
dresser.

The bedroom door crept open and Max
slipped into his room. He looked dog tired and done. His eyes were
red and glossy and the muscles in his jaw kept flexing
sporadically. His demeanor was heavy and I could tell he just
needed to take a nap. I stopped folding one of my shirts and
watched him meander across the room.

“
I’m sorry but I need to
lie down—just for twenty minutes or so. The Vaughn’s are
downstairs; I just couldn’t stay down there,” Max mumbled as he
wandered to the bed and fell back. He rolled to his side, pulled
his feet up off the floor, and stretched his arm out toward
me.

I put my shirt in his drawer before I
leaned onto the bed and reached out to him. As I lay next to him,
staring into his eyes, I saw a smile begin to creep across his
face.

“
You finished putting your
clothes in my dresser?”

“
Yeah, I hope that’s
okay.”

“
It’s good,” he
mumbled.

“
Are you okay?” I
asked.

“
Now I am,” he whispered
as he inched his body closer to mine.

“
I’m sorry I left you
downstairs.”

“
That’s okay, I knew you
needed a moment. How’s Joanie?”

“
She texted me like three
times; I was worried it was serious. She just wanted to know how my
birthday went. I told her about us—you know,” I said as my cheeks
flushed red.

“
Did you tell her
everything?” Max adjusted and rested his head on the heel of his
hand.

“
Well, not
every little
detail, but
she knows we did it twice, and I kinda told her
where
we did it,” I murmured.
“You’re not mad, are you?” I sighed. I gave him my best puppy dog
eyes, trying to make what I did okay.

“
No, I’m not mad. Come on,
Wilson, she’s your best friend and I know better than to believe
girls don’t kiss and tell,” he said before he smiled and leaned
over, bonking his forehead against mine.

“
But you really told her
about us doing it in the shower?” His face flushed red right below
his eyes, as his lips curved slightly north.

“
Yeah, I did.”

“
Well, you told her how
good I was, right?”

“
Sure,” I
mused.

“
And how much you love me,
right?” he smiled.

“
Absolutely,” I
answered.

“
And how we just can’t get
enough of each other?”

“
Max—I think she knows
that already.”

“
Okay,” he said before
kissing me delicately on the lips. “Then I won’t be mad,” he
continued as he inhaled a huge yawn.

“
You’re tired. You should
be taking a nap,” I tapped my finger between his eyes.

“
If I could just get my
brain to stop swirling and thinking about things, maybe I’d fall
asleep,” he sighed.

“
Would it help if we
talked about it?” I adjusted my body and propped myself up with my
elbow, wedging the heel of my hand behind my ear.

“
I don’t know. I’m just so
confused, like this whole thing is a dream; that my dad isn’t
really—gone, he’s just on a business trip or something. Does that
make sense? I want him to come barreling through the door and tell
me it was all just a fucked-up joke. But he isn’t going to, and
tomorrow, when Calvin gets here, I’m going to have to relive
everything all over again. I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.”
Max’s face became stoic as his eyes glossed.

I slid my free hand up around his ear,
and with my thumb, dried the tears that had begun to puddle against
the curve of his nose. I felt my heart gallop and my own eyes
dampen as he turned and pressed his lips into the palm of my
hand.

“
I totally understand how
you feel. Believe me, it’s hard—maybe one of the hardest things
you’ll ever do in your life. But you’ll get through it. For your
mom and your sister, and for Calvin.” I felt a tear tickle and roll
down my cheek.

“
And I’ll make it through
because you’re here with me,” he whispered.

I nodded. I couldn’t speak and my face
began to tighten. Max noticed and pulled me against his chest. He
pressed his lips to my cheek before he closed his eyes. I tightened
my arms around him, lowered my head under his chin, and listened to
his heartbeat lull me to sleep.

****

I sat up so fast my head spun. My mind
was fuzzy, and for a fleeting moment, I didn’t realize where I was
or that it was even morning. I remember tucking my head under Max’s
chin last night and then I was out. I must have slept like a
rock.

My diaphragm forced me to take a deep,
wobbly breath before I noticed the only company I had was the gleam
of the sun’s rays illuminating the dust particles dancing across
the room. Max must have gone downstairs to be with his family. I
flipped the brown throw blanket down off my body—I’d slept in my
clothes. Funny, nothing was unbuttoned or out of place; what a
gentleman.

I inhaled, closed my eyes, and leaned
back on the bed, replaying in my mind every memorable moment with
Max. How delicately he brushed his fingers across my skin, how
softly his lips consumed my entire body, how his tongue pulsated
against every sensual space of my body, and how he made love to me.
I thought about his passionate emerald eyes and how wickedly hot he
made me feel when he studied me. I felt every moment of us smolder
under my skin, rekindling the desire I had to be with him over and
over again. It was like, no matter how much he’d possess of me, I
could always find room to give him more.

I leaned over and looked at the
clock—it was 9:55, almost 10:00. I’d never slept in that late,
ever. I twisted and kicked my legs to get up, feeling the need to
change my stale clothes and head downstairs; I’d lingered in Max’s
room long enough. He was already downstairs, probably dealing with
some heavy emotional stuff from his mom and sister. I pulled off
the shirt and jeans I had on and snagged the black Hollister
button-up sweater and beige jeans that Max had bought me a couple
weeks ago. I liked the way he couldn’t keep his eyes off me when I
wore them.

I was pulling on my second black poufy
sock when I heard the front door slam and then a scramble of loud
voices in an elevated banter. I heard Nancy start crying and Max
call out Calvin’s name. Thank God, Calvin had arrived and the
family was finally together.

I scurried into the bathroom, ran a
toothbrush over my teeth, and combed my hair back into a loose
ponytail. I figured I could at least freshen up a bit by getting
the hair out of my eyes and keeping my morning dragon-breath at
bay.

I hurried downstairs, wanting to join
Max and his family, when I was stopped in my tracks; I started to
realize the conversations between Calvin and his brother weren’t an
exchange of happiness or comfort. I froze on the stairs and
listened, hearing harsh words filled with anger and pain. Calvin’s
voice scraped heavily against the walls as he spoke and I heard Max
trying to collect Calvin’s vitriol and shape it into something
comforting.

“
I’m so sorry, Calvin,”
Max said.

“
Yeah? A bit fucking late
for that. It doesn’t feel very good being a God-damned afterthought
in this family. Why is that? Why am I always the afterthought?”
Calvin’s voice rose.