Chapter 5

Chapter 5 ~

It started off as watching the movie we didn't get to finish yesterday. The movie actually got cheesier. When we got back to his truck from the movies, I stared at him, waiting to hear the next part of today.

“What? Oh you want to know what it is we are going to do today.” I nodded kind of excited for today. “Cook some food for us, and go to the beach” and instantly my excitement left. His big plans… were cooking me food and going to the beach? Really!

“So wait, we are going to spend today with you cooking and then us going to the beach?” He nodded and smiled as though the answer was obvious. “It’s just a beach.” He sighed, furrowing his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes, still in disbelief.

“Its not just any beach”, he sighs again as he starts the truck. I've learned how to get in his truck without his help. I climb on the tire, from there step on the side step, and then get in.

“Well what makes this one so different?” I ask beginning to get frustrated.

“Ill be there? But first I'm hungry. Are you hungry Monkey?” he asked and I narrowed my eyes when he said Monkey.

“Yeah. I guess” I say as he drives out the parking lot. “There's a McDonalds” I point but he only drives by it. “Where are you going?” I ask this frustrated as we drive past more and more places.

“Home. Duh.” I was about to ask why but he cut me off. “Why spend money when I can make perfectly good food at the house?” I nodded a little surprised but I didn't object.

“So wait, you were serious about cooking me food?” He rolls his eyes and laughs, nodding. Ten minutes later, we arrived at a two story house. It was in the middle of a suburban neighborhood where you’d expect lots of soccer moms, newlyweds, or mothers to be there. His house was light blue with white shutters. He had a huge fenced in porch. He had one of the biggest houses of the neighborhood and there were big houses here. He unlocked the door while I gawked.

“You done yet?” he asked with his infamous smirk plastered on his face. I walked to the house, climbed up the steps onto the hardwood floor of the porch. He had the door open for me and I was immediately impressed. It was nice and spacious; the kitchen was to the right of the entrance. To the left, a few feet ahead of me, against the wall, were the stairs that led upstairs.  Directly ahead of me were the dining room and the living room. Some walls were tan/light brown and others were an off white color. It reminded me of a white chocolate. “Would you like a tour?” I shrugged; I wouldn’t care whether or not I got one. “Well you see the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. You're standing next to the closet.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up the stairs. All the hairs on my body stood up from the touch. He dragged me to the first room at the top of the stairs. “This is mine.” He pushed the door open to reveal a messy room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, except in the basket. His computer desk was in the corner covered with papers and cups filled with various amounts of drinks. His bed sheets hung mostly off the bed. His pillows were on the floor and at the foot of the bed. DVD and DVD cases were everywhere on the floor. Hangers lied in various places. Towels, probably still slightly damp, were in heaps everywhere. There were more things around the room, and I could spend all day describing the things wrong with the room but Id rather not. “It’s a little messy; I'm not going to lie.” I stare in horror at his room.

“A little messy? Just a little?” I ask this in shock he could understate so much. He laughs at my reaction and smiles again.

“Okay, you're right. It’s a lot messy. Ill eventually get around to cleaning it.” I pick up a receipt and read the date.

“This was from two years ago.” I pick up another. “Four years ago. That's really disgusting.” I reach for another one and he stops me.

“Alright, alright. I get the point. I don't think you need to continue. It works for me. I know where everything is.” I roll my eyes at this.

“Where’s the shirt from yesterday?”

“Um…” He looks around like he will find it. I scoff and roll my eyes. “Okay, so I don't know, but I can find it. Give me a few.”

“No, no. I'm hungry. Lets just hope that your cooking skills are ‘a little’ better than your cleaning skills”, I say as I hold my stomach hoping he wont hear it growl. But he does, my stomach growls and loudly. He raises an eyebrow at me and laughs. I feel my face heating up.

“Apparently you really are hungry”, he says and my face gets even more red. “Come on, I would hate for you to get any more hungry.” He walks down the stairs, a loud plop with every step he takes; the thumps seeming to fill the house, or at least the silence. I follow him afraid of another monstrous growl to erupt from my stomach. When I get downstairs, he is already heating up a pot.

“What are you cooking?” I ask and he doesn’t turn around. He's mixing the contents of whatever is in the pot. He removes the spoon and taps it on the pot. He covers it and puts the spoon to the side. He pushes a few buttons on the timer. For a second I begin to believe he didn't hear me. I was about to repeat myself but he turns around and leans against the counter next to the stove.

“I'm making my famous pasta.” I raise my eyebrow at him and he smiles crookedly at me.

“I've never heard of it.” I cross my arms and he rolls his eyes playfully.

“If you stay around long enough, you will.”

I roll my eyes at him; “you're so cocky.” He steps closer to me; we are an arms distance apart.

“One, you’ve never had my pasta. Two, my pasta is amazing.” He gets closer again and goose bumps immediately cover my body. “If I didn't have my good looks, irrestible charm, or amazing personality, I would be able to win over girls just as easily, if not easier with my pasta.” He takes a step closer and looms over me. Chills go down my spine as I look at him. He begins to smile as he leans in; I freeze and I have no idea what to do. Part of me is screaming to lean in and another part is screaming to move away, but for some reason I can’t move for either option. His smile gets a little bigger and out of nowhere the timer goes off. He turns around quickly like nothing and I'm frozen still looking at where he just was. I shake myself from what happened, and I go over to the stools, which are in the dining room, on the other side of the kitchen counters. There is a little bar where the counter continues long enough for people to sit and eat at, although the dining table is only a few feet behind it. I watch as he adds several, and I am understating, spices, stirs it again, and then lets it cook some more. He presses the buttons on the timer again. It’s silent for what seems like forever. Again the timer beeped and he drained the food. He pulls two plates out a cabinet and then serves some of the contents into both the plates.

“You want something to drink?” He asks as he heads towards the fridge.

“Just a soda” and he nods with his back to me. Its quiet and I begin to get uncomfortable with it. He moves, on the counter, my soda with, I guess, my plate towards me. He grabs his soda and his plate and sits on the stool next to me. I pick up the soda getting ready to open it but he takes it out my hand and opens it for me, shortly followed by him opening his. I stare at him and try to figure out what happened, what was going to happen, I could guess… I started to imagine him leaning in and wrapping his hand in my hair pushing my head to his and… “You going to eat or not” he growls, the original Cael I met, returning. I stab my pasta mindlessly and shove the pasta into my mouth. Instantly my taste buds are on a rollercoaster. I can taste every spice separately then all at once, my eyes widen, and I swallow what’s in my mouth. My body is screaming for another bite and my mouth waters at the taste still in my mouth. I take another bite and my stomach growls less fierce, but just as loud, and he chokes on his food laughing at my reaction, or mostly at my stomach’s constant attempt at making it known. He coughs and tries to play it off still being grumpy. I know that out of the corner of his eye, he's watching me and normally I would get self conscious and stop eating but it’s so good, I can’t stop eating it. I see the corners of his mouth twitch up as he drinks his soda. Soon my food is all gone, and I frown at the sight of the empty plate. I scrape the plate trying to get anything else. He sneezes and turns to the side as he does. I take advantage of this and lick the plate, getting the rest of the spices my fork may have missed. As he turns back to his original position he sees me with the plate in front of my face my mouth slightly open and a little in my hair. He raises both of his eyebrows at me and I remove my mouth from the plate. Not a second later, he bursts into laughter.

“I…” I start and I try to think of a lie.

“Don't bother; you so can’t play this off.” He grins and shakes his head, returning back to his playful self. “But I take it, you like my pasta” I say nothing as he takes my plate from my hand. “You wanna lick the fork too?” He holds the fork in my face and I crinkle my face. “You got some drool on your chin” he points and I roll my eyes at him, pretending not to buy it. When he enters the kitchen and has his back to me, I rub my chin quickly. No drool, thank god.

“So can I ask a question? And don't take it the wrong way” he says slowly. He bites his lip and rubs his neck thinking.

“Sure” I say slowly thinking the question must be bad.

“Do you have a bathing suit?” I say nothing and inside I'm laughing at how ridiculous the question is. I thought he was going to say something more, personal? I don't know what I thought he was going to ask but he made it sound worse than it was. He apparently thinks my pause to think is me trying to figure out what a bathing suit is, or else he wouldn’t have asked such stupid questions afterwards. “You know like a bikini? You know what girls wear in the water?”

“Yes I know what it is. And no, I don't have one” I snap as he talks to me like I'm stupid.

“Guess that means I have to buy you one.” He grins and rubs his chin thinking. He grabs his keys off the counter and opens the door for me. Locking the door behind me he unlocks the truck. I get in quicker than the last time. He smiles impressed and gets in with such ease and grace, mostly due to his height.

He starts his truck immediately and then we're off before I have a chance to buckle up. We drive for thirty or so minutes to a store right by the beach. He is about to turn off the truck and get out the car but I stop him. “Nope” and I pop the P. He groans and I crinkle my nose at him.

“Why not?” he whines at me and I smile a little.

“Because… its bathing suit shopping?”

“So? You're taste in clothes suck hence the reason why Tiffany refuses to let you dress yourself” he snaps whining some more.

I ignore his comment but respond to the ‘so’ part. “Because I said so” I say this firmly but he doesn’t bite.

“And I care because?” he responds jokingly and I crinkle my nose again.

“Because if you don't stay in the truck, I won’t hang out with you ever again.” He blinks at me, a little surprised, probably because I basically said I would hang out with him again if he stayed in the truck. My stupid mouth. Before I have a chance to take back what I said or change it he sighs.

“Fine. Get several bathing suits.” He hands me his card and I smile in response. I hop out the car painfully landing on my feet. Pain shoots up my legs but I ignore it and step inside the store. There's dozens of rows of bathing suits, each row going from one side to the other, giving enough room at the end for walking and the dressing room. There were also bathing suits on the walls. I went to one of the back rows going to go from the back rows to the front. I picked up a bright blue bikini. They looked like lingerie made from bikini material. The top looked like a strapless push up bra with ruffles and a bright pink outline and the bottom was a bright blue panty like with ruffles on the side and the bright pink outline. The pink outline on both the top and bottom seemed like it was made out of lace. It was something you’d expect a model to wear… In fact I think they looked like some of the clothing the girls on the Victoria’s Secret models were wearing on the posters. This is something Barbie would pick out. I narrowed my eyes as the words he said in the car about my lack of style repeated itself again in my head. I found the exact same one in different colors with an outline that contrasted with the color of the bathing suit. I kept looking and I found a purple shimmer bikini, just like any other bikini, but this one was a thinner material. I found a few more ones, in various places in the store, that looked like lingerie from Victoria’s secret, but were still made of the bikini material and I grabbed them heading towards the dressing room. I tried on the bright blue ruffle bathing suit and I had to admit I didn't look that bad. Then my eyes rested on my scars. I felt nauseous at the sight. They weren't gruesome, they were just there. Id hear his mouth if I didn't buy the bikinis, plus, I might not even have to change into my bikini. I quickly tried on the others and they all fit. I got dressed back into my yellow halter and white short shorts.

I took all the bikinis to the cashier and she rung me out. I handed her his card and he was tapping his hand on the steering wheel staring into space. She handed me the receipt and I raced back to his truck. He smiled when I entered the truck. “So let me see” he said, and I shook my head playfully. “Fine. But you are wearing them.” I roll my eyes and attempt to push the vision of my scars out my head. It takes us another five minutes to get to the beach since parking was so hard to get. “You wearing the bathing suit now?” he asked and I shook my head. “Get in the truck and change into them.”

“No.”

“Why not”, he asks with frustration growing in his voice. I looked around and then pull my shirt up enough to reveal my scars. He clicks his tongue at first, and then smiles. “Scars are sexy, especially on a chick. Guys around here love it. Trust me.” He winks and I bite my lip. “Oh just have a little faith in me.” I sigh giving up and climb back into his truck but in the back seat. I slip on the bright blue bathing suit. The top is definitely like a strapless push up bra, because it’s shaped like one, and fits like one… Let’s just say even in the dark of the backseat of his truck, I can tell they're more noticeable. I grab the bag of beach stuff with all the towels, the sun lotion, etc, he forgot in the truck. I slip my outfit I had on before, above my bathing suit and hop out. “You're going to strip down to the bathing suit when we get on the beach right?” I nod and then I catch him noticing the twins, even though it’s for a second he looks, I know he stared for a little bit.

“Stop it” I warn and he smiles at me sheepishly.

“They're D’s?” he asks and I gasp at how open he is about it.

“No they're C’s.” He scoffs at my response. “What” I snap at him and he smiles.

“Not for long, I bet before the end of the school year, they’ll be D’s.” He smiles again looking and I smack him. “Hey, they're nothing to be ashamed of. They aren’t huge, but they are a nice size. You shouldn’t be ashamed; you should take it as a compliment. When a guy stares, take it as flattery. When a chick stares at my eight-pack, I feel flattered.” I smack him again, harder.

“Just when I think you're decent…” I growl at him walking off �" no storming off with my fists balled.

“I am decent, but I'm still a guy. I'm a gentleman, really I am, doesn’t mean I can’t admire a work of art when I see it. It doesn’t mean I have weak moments. It definitely doesn’t mean I like sleazy girls who dress like trash and shove their b***s in my face and think that's appealing. Like Eden.” He tries to make me smile but I'm so disgusted of being around him I don't even acknowledge it. I'm not listening at this point. “I only stare at the ones who belong to the girls who mean something to me. I don't stare at just anybody’s. I stare at the ones who are a part of the girl I like. And there's only one girl I like, she's the only girl I've liked in a while.” The words seem like a line he uses when he gets caught by girls so I ignore them. “Monkey!” My fists ball even tighter. “Monkey! Would you stop and just listen to me” he asks running to keep up. I sigh and stop giving up. “Look, I like b***s, Ill look at them but I won’t stare. I know I sound like a d********g. All guys stare regardless, and I'm sorry I offended you and made you upset. I won’t look again, I swear Ill be the perfect gentleman, one who won’t look.” He looked like he was being honest and I could tell he felt bad about staring. All guys do stare though, he was right there.

“You're terrible with your words” I say and he nods. He stares at my face and smiles. “Why do you stare at me like that?” I turn my head crooked like a dog and look at him. He smiles at me and takes the bag from my hand.

“Same reason why I stared at your b***s.” I crinkle my nose and try to understand. “You’ll get it eventually, but I am sorry for making you upset Monkey” he says smiling and turns heading towards the beach. I groan following him. When I finally get to the beach he's already being swarmed by people who I assume go to our school. A few guys turn their head at me but the one who has the most attention on me is Cael. He leaves his group of friends and heads towards me. A few guys are still eying me and I fake a smile which they buy. “So strip down and we’ll head to the water.” I kneel somewhat searching through the bag for sun block when I feel myself falling. Cael had pushed me over. He laughs and then looks at the ocean. I get up, run towards him and tackle him to the ground. He laughs, rolling over, and pins me to the ground. He's sitting on my chest and I groan trying to escape his clutches. Unfortunately, not happening. I reach over and slap him, leaving a red mark on his face. He narrows his eyes and starts tickling me. I instantly start laughing as he tickles my sides and I gasp for air as he tickles me everywhere.

“You surrender?” I shook my head, oxygen, like words, was unable to be used. I continued laughing and squirming. He squeezed my side and I started laughing harder, more like giggling, but still harder. “Do you surrender now?” I shook my head again feeling lightheaded from all the laughing and then he pins me down with his arms and moves blowing onto my stomach. Even though I'm not five, it still works the same and he keeps doing it again; I feel like I'm going to die from laughter.

“I surrender!” I scream out and he stops satisfied. With a smug smirk on his face he releases his grip on me. I'm almost tempted to slap him again but I just know I’ll be tickled again.

“Hey Cael! Come here” The guys who were staring at me earlier are now calling him over. I groan; buzz kills. I jump at that thought; where did that come from? Better yet, why? I ignore it and remove my shorts and shirt to reveal my lingerie like bikini. Now I feel foolish, why did I buy it again? I hear a ‘whoa’ from where the group of people were. I look up to see guys nudging each other and nodding in my direction. Everyone turns towards me, their mouth slightly agape. Cael is the last one to turn, and he smiles at the sight. Not in a sexual way or in a smug way, but a way that I cant describe. But that smile, it was incredible.

The rest of the day passed by with us playing in the water, which was basically him throwing me around in the water, going back and laying down together, talking about random subjects, him tickling me, and then watching the sunset. An hour or so after the sunset, he propped himself on his elbow and looking at me.

“Yes?” I asked.

“You ready to go home?” he asked and I frowned. He wiped a hair from my face, the slight touch sending chills down my spine. “You have home sometime.” I bit my lip and nodded. We walked back to his truck with him bumping once and sending me stumbling in the other direction. He laughed as he climbed in the truck. I scrambled in the truck and pushed the bag in the middle accidentally turning on his radio. Country music started playing. A deep voiced man was singing.

He was about to turn it off but I stopped him. “Wait, who is this” he thought and rubbed his chin.

“Uh... Josh Turner. The song is called is ‘your man’ in case you wanted to know that too.” He looked quizzically at me.

“Your voice sounds exactly like his. It’s smooth and deep and has a little of an accent, just like his. But you're voice is smoother, huskier, deeper, and sexier.” The word flew out my mouth before I had a chance to stop it. My face instantly turned red.

“Yeah I suppose my voice sounds like his but yeah its deeper, and smoother. Yeah I guess my voice is huskier. But sexier huh?” He looks over at me. I was never going to live this down. “I'm glad to know my voice turns you on.” I groan and sink my head into my hands. He starts the truck and continues to grin that smug grin of his. All I wanted to do was smack it off.

We drive back to my house, well technically not my house, but the house I'm staying at, and the entire time he's smiling. He occasionally looks over but never stops smiling. Country music filled the silence. He gets to my house and puts in park.

He looks at me again and his smile changes. He smiles the same smile at the beach, the indescribable one, the one that gave my stomach butterflies, the one that made me feel like I was going to melt where I had stood. Finally I understand the smile enough to describe what the smile was. It was like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, the most special sight he's ever seen, scars and all, and that's when I remembered, why I had bought the bikini in the first place. He leans in towards me and smiling as he does; time seems to slow down, all I can hear is my heart thumping. I am almost certain of what is going to happen, what didn't happen at his house, but rather, what I had imagined happening in my head at his house when our moment was interrupted, and I smile bashfully. I feel like my chest was going to erupt. Instead I hear a snap, followed by a few beeps and light filling the truck. He had opened the door.

“See you Monday” he says and goes back to his chair. I blink and it takes a few seconds before I can say anything. He takes my silence as a question of why not tomorrow. “I work tomorrow.” I nod and I turn towards the door. “I had a great time today” he says as I get out. Instead of saying something evil, I just close the door and walk off. I can feel his confusion of my speechlessness, I can feel his eyes on the back of my head as I walk to my head, but I don't care. I get to the house, unlock the door and close it behind me, never looking back. I lean against the door until I hear the hum of his truck disappear. I go upstairs without saying anything to anyone and I close the door to my room. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep, so I decided to work on my homework. I knew it was a crappy distraction but I needed something to distract me from what just happened, or better yet, what didn't happen. Then I remembered Stars words “he never asks girls on dates or even goes on them.” Running to the nearby bathroom, I raced to the toilet, and threw up.