Chapter 31 - Becca - Pool Party
“Well, well, well,” Alex says. “What’s going on over here?”
I’m sitting in a lounge chair with Johnny behind me, rubbing lotion on my arms, when Alex and Connor walk over to join us. I’m sure Alex is in a state of shock over this, because she’s never seen me allow anyone to touch me this much. She’s the one who bought me the lotion applicator I normally use, after she my old application method of using a long strip of plastic wrap covered in lotion and rubbing it over my back like one would normally use a towel to dry off.
“Nothing,” I say, gathering the courage to look at her. “I forgot my applicator and since I trusted Johnny enough to tattoo me, I figured he might be my shot at getting sunscreen on with me freaking out about being touched.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes sense, I gue—Wait! Johnny tattooed you? Did I know about this? Where I have been?”
Connor coughs meaningfully while pretending to look off into the distance, and Johnny and I burst into laughter.
“Oh,” Alex says, her cheeks flaming.
“Connor, come grab a drink with me,” Johnny says, sliding out from behind me. “It sounds like Alex and Becca have some catching up to do.”
Connor nods before giving a kiss bordering on inappropriate for public consumption. I was just about to yell at them to get a room before they separated, and Connor and Johnny left in search of drinks.
“Alright, spill,” Alex says the second the guys are out of earshot. “And let me have a look at that tattoo while you’re at it.”
Alex waits for me to stretch out my left leg for her inspection. I love that even though she just watched Johnny rub lotion all over me, she doesn’t assume everything is just fine for her to grab and touch me without express permission. She’s hugged me hundreds of times, but she’s always waited for my signal that it’s okay before she does.
“Oh, wow. Becca, that’s really good.” She gets closer to my leg to look at Johnny’s work. “Johnny did this? He bakes the best cookiesanddoes amazing tattoos?” She shakes her head in disbelief. “Didn’t he think he should maybe leave some talent for the rest of us?”
“It really is great, isn’t it? When he showed me the different designs he’d drawn up for me, I knew right away that it had to be this one. He said he thought of it when he saw my Freddy tattoo for the first time.”
“When did he see your Freddy tattoo? You mean the one on your right thigh, right? When could he possibly have had the opportunity to see it? Hmmm?” Alex smirks at me, and adds, “I didn’t realize you were seeing so much of each other that he’d get to see you in so little clothes that your Freddy tattoo was on display.”
I cover my face with my hands. “Ugh, I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“Well, now you have to tell me. I can’t believe you’re keeping secrets from me.” Alex laughs. “Now tell me why you guys came here together today.”
I huff out a breath. “Fine. But I don’t want any shit from you about this, okay?”
Alex marks an X over her heart with her finger. “Promise.”
“Remember the day you moved in here? When you found out that you were working for Connor and you called and begged me to come for dinner?”
“Yeah,” she says, confused. “You finally agreed to come when I said I was making lasagna. You love my lasagna. No one can turn down fresh noodles.”
“Right. That’s right. And I do love your lasagna. But that’s not really why I came that night.”
I hear her sharp intake of breath. “You didn’t come for my lasagna? I think I might be offended,” she says in mock outrage. “I thought I knew you.”
“Haha, very funny. No need to be so dramatic.” I look around to see if anyone is close enough to hear me. “The night of the show, Johnny looked at me from the stage and I felt something. I wanted to see if we could make anything of it. So I invited him over after dinner that night.”
Alex’s eyes widen, and she shakes her finger at me. “You slept with him! I knew it. You gave him your one night, andthat’show he saw Freddy.”
“No, that’s not what happened. He wanted more than one night, so we decided to just be friends. But I was wearing my pajama shorts when he came by, so that’s when he saw Freddy. He said he came up with the idea for this new tattoo as soon as he saw it.”
“That’s still pretty amazing. But it doesn’t quite explain why you’re so comfortable with him touching you.”
“Maybe I should tell you why I dislike being touched in the first place? So you know where I’m coming from.”
After making room for Alex to sit down beside me, I get into the story. I spend the next few minutes filling Alex in on the details of my accident, my scars, what Milo did to me, and how I came to get my first tattoo. Even though I tell her all of that, I still don’t say anything about my mom blaming me for my dad leaving, or for how disgusted she’s been with me since the accident. That’s something that I keep locked away. If I think about it too much, it gets overwhelming.
As a proper best friend should be, she’s immediately outraged on my behalf.
“That dirty fucker. How dare he do that to you? Why didn’t you tell me this when we were in school? I would have destroyed him. I would have brought him to Pops’ gym and had the fighters there give him some ‘training’.” She’s pacing the length of my lunge chair now, indignation rolling off her in waves. “We need to find that guy. Did he stay here after school? I know! I’m going to add him on Facebook. I’ll befriend him, make him trust me, and then BAM! I’ll meet him in a parking lot with my baseball bat.”
