“Well, you know: our parents were best friends, so of course we’re best friends. And we have this vanilla life with vanilla conversations and the occasional vanilla party on the weekends. Nothing crazy. Nothing to rock the boat. I feel like I’ve been doing the same thing for so long I don’t know how to be anything different. Like I said, I’m just so bored. And any time I try to talk to Rache or Danny about it, I just don’t think they hear me. I mean, I feel almost... depressed with it all. I want to feel energized,passionateabout something. Anything.”
Orsomeone, I thought to myself, looking at Clay, who still treaded water a few feet away from me. I had said more to him about my feelings than I had to anyone in a very long time. And Clay didn’t look at me like I was crazy. In fact, he seemed to take my words very seriously. And I swear it was in that moment that I began to fall in love with him.
The way he listened to me and actually heard me. And as if what I was saying wasn’t stupid. At least not to him. He only nodded. “I understand. I do. But trust me, you are anything but boring.”
I harrumphed, not believing him. “Yeah, I’m so interesting. Maggie Young, with her happily married parents and her B+ GPA, ordinary after-school activities, talking about average topics every day with her average friends. How can thatnotbe boring?” I exhaled through my nose in frustration. How could I have thought I had anything to offer this interesting and amazing guy? I was seriously deluded.
Clay swam over to me and sat beside me. Our arms brushed under the water and then stayed like that, touching, like even our skin couldn’t get enough of each other.
“Maggie. What you just described to me sounds perfect.” I rolled my eyes and Clay grabbed my hand. “No, listen to me. You are beautiful and smart and you have this fantastic life all laid out in front of you. You are kind and open-minded, plus you’re sarcastic and sexy as hell.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the girl he was describing. Me, sexy? I had never thought of myself that way.
“I would give anything to have what you have. Parents and friends who love you. Knowing you have that kind of unconditional love is unbelievable. You don’t understand how lucky you are.” He sounded sad and I leaned into his shoulder.
“And you don’t have that, Clay?” I asked him softly.
Clay looked down at me with his deep, dark eyes and all I saw was this aching loneliness that tore at my heart. I knew without his having to answer me that his life had been a hard one. And that whatever was going on with him had forced him to create this giant wall that effectively kept everyone at a distance. As if he couldn’t handle any more personal admissions, Clay suddenly dove back into the water, shutting the door on our confidences.
I was more than a little disappointed. I felt like I was just starting to understand him a little bit and then he had to go and throw the wall back up. But before I could pout or get in a huff, Clay pulled me by my ankle back into the water, starting our water fight all over again. And, after a few moments of his playfulness, I had forgotten why I was irritated.
We must have been there for a while, because I suddenly realized it was getting dark and the air had started to cool. Without thinking about the fact that I was only in my bra and panties, I got out of the water and went to the tree stump where I had left my cell phone. “Crap, it’s six thirty. I’ve got to get home.”
Now that I was out of the water, I was freezing. And, like idiots, we’d gone swimming without towels. I heard Clay get out of the water. I didn’t want to look at him, feeling suddenly embarrassed by the fact that I was practically naked in front of him. I gathered my clothes and held them to my chest.
Suddenly I felt Clay’s hands on my arms, as he rubbed them up and down to try to generate some warmth. I turned and looked up at him. Something flashed in his eyes and I felt like there was a definite moment going on. We had been slowly building toward this all day and I knew that something was about to happen.
He came closer to me and his hands stopped moving but stayed on my bare skin. Slowly he pushed my wet bangs out of my face and looked at me with the most intense expression I had ever seen. I felt rooted to the spot, thinking only of how close our bodies were. He wanted to kiss me, I could tell. His eyes fell to my mouth as I nervously licked my lips.
His expression seemed to heat up and he ran the ball of his thumb along the curve of my bottom lip. The pull between us was tightening and I felt sucked into his orbit.
Then my phone rang.
Talk about a mood killer.
“Sorry,” I murmured, looking down at the display and seeing my mom’s number. I hurriedly answered it. “Hey, Mom.” I looked at Clay, but he had moved away and was putting on his jeans.
“Where are you, Maggie? We’ve had dinner waiting for almost forty-five minutes.”
I couldn’t help but stare as Clay pulled his shirt over his head, his stomach muscles taut. My mouth went dry and I had a hard time swallowing.
“Maggie!” my mom said tersely on the other end, and I realized I hadn’t answered her.
“Sorry, Mom. I met up with a friend. I have to get my car from the school and then I’ll be home,” I told her. I prayed my mom would be cool and save the thousand questions for when I got home.
No such luck. “Friend? What friend?” she asked. I walked a bit away and dropped my voice.
“Clay Reed. I was just showing him around town,” I said quietly into the phone. I heard my mom tapping her fingers on something on the other end. Great, she was pissed.
“I don’t like the idea of you out with some boy we don’t know. I’d like to meet him. Particularly if you’re going to be going out with him.”
I tried not to groan into the phone. “We’re just friends, Mom. Not a big deal.” I tried placating. Well, my mom wasn’t having it.
“Well, regardless. You know how we feel about you getting into cars with boys we don’t know. I want to meet him.” She was going to be unyielding about this. Just fan-fucking-tastic.
“Fine,” I said curtly. I heard my mom sigh. She knew she had made me mad.
“We just worry. It’s a scary, scary world out there for a girl.” I didn’t say anything. “Just get home. But be safe. We’ll talk when you get here,” my mom said, and then hung up.
