“What are you talking about?” he asked as he placed one hand on the edge of the open window, but I was too angry to reply, so Isabelle cut in.
“Chris, after you left school, Brooke found Allie in the parking lot and told her that all of you had gone to Sonic instead, so we went there looking for everyone. Of course, nobody was there. She did that intentionally to get rid of Allie so that Amy could spend time with you. Don’t you get it? Brooke is trying to help Amy sabotage your relationship with Allie.”
I grabbed the steering wheel, gripping it tightly as I rolled my hands forward on the grey leather wheel and stared holes through the windshield ahead of me. Chris reached a hand through the open window and gently squeezed my shoulder.
“This stops now. I’ll be right back,” he said with a serious tone, then he headed back into the restaurant. I kept looking forward in a silent rage until Isabelle spoke again.
“He’s going to fix this, Allie,” she said, trying to comfort me.
I snapped out of my trance and turned to her.
“He shouldn’t be the one to fix my problems,” I said, as I got out of my Jeep and made my way across the parking lot with Isabelle right behind me.
Just then, Brooke and Amy came storming through the restaurant door with Chris, Watson, and Griffin following closely behind. Amy saw me coming and stopped dead in her tracks on the sidewalk. Clearly, Chris had already spoken to her.
“Amy! I yelled as I continued to walk towards her. I’m done giving in to your demands! I’m done being nice! I’m not going to give Chris up! Got it?” Then, without giving her the chance to reply, I kept walking to Chris, grabbed him by the hand, looked at the rest of his friends, and spoke to all of them as a group.
“Y’all coming?” I asked, and they all followed me to my Jeep with impressed smiles.
“Holy shit, Allie!” Chris said, once we were out of Amy’s earshot. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I looked back up at him, smiled, and reached a hand up to move a wave of hair behind his ear. He grabbed my wrist, and I smiled, but this time he just kissed my wrist and let go.
“That was bad ass, Allie,” Griffin said as we got to my Jeep. “Where are we headed?” Watson asked.
“Let’s go to the river,” I said. “You all down for that?” I asked
“Hell yeah,” said Griffin.
“Let’s roll,” said Watson, as they all piled into the back seat of my Jeep. Chris climbed into the front seat next to me so Isabelle would have to sit in the back, smooshed next to Watson. I turned to look back at her, and she smiled shyly back at me, nervously knowing that this was a chance to be close to him.
When we hit the gravel road to the river, everyone rolled down the windows, and I turned on the radio. Phish’s Bouncing Around the Room played through the speakers, I turned it up and we all threw our arms out the window to feel the breeze.
When the road ended at the river, I parked in the grass below the shade of the large oak where we used to set up picnics on a red plaid blanket when I was young. Now the space was scarred with dirt tire tracks. We all got out and headed down to the dock, and the guys peeled off their shirts and stretched their arms in the sun. I headed right for the swim ladder to tighten it, a force of habit. Chris walked up behind me and put a hand gently on my upper back as I knelt on the dock. I turned to look over my shoulder as I lashed the rope around the piling and returned a small smile to him. Without speaking, he understood what this dock represented to my life. I stood up and headed back to the car and called for Isabelle to follow.
“Do you want to borrow a swimsuit?” I asked.
“Sure!” she said. “That’s convenient that you keep them in your car.”
I dug through a canvas L.L.Bean tote bag to find a light pink tube top bikini with a tie bottom and handed it to her.
“Okay, this is pretty skimpy, Allie.”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that small. It will fit you, go put it on,” I said, as Isabelle walked away to hide behind the trunk of the large tree, and looked back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed by any of the guys. I kept digging through my bag as Chris walked over.
“What are you looking for?”
“A swimsuit,” I replied, as I pulled one from my bag. It was a solid black triangle-style top with a skimpy thong bottom.
“Are you seriously wearing that in front of these guys?” he asked, with suddenly wide eyes.
“It’s just a swimsuit. I wear it to lie out in the sun. Who cares?” I said, as I walked away to join Isabelle behind the tree. When I turned to look back at him, he was still standing there, mouth open wide.
“Suddenly, you don’t care what people think? Who is this Allie? Rawr!”
“I think Chris is freaking out,” I said, as I joined Isabelle behind the tree and peeled my jeans off. They stuck to my legs from the heat of the afternoon. Once I got my swimsuit on, I turned to see Isabelle just staring. “What?”
“That swimsuit is so hot, Allie,” Isabelle said.
