Page 19 of Somebody To Love

He reached down and helped me up and I hastily tried to pull my skirt down. I hadn’t had a bikini wax in ages. I was so embarrassed. Who knows what he saw?

Instantly, I tensed, but forced myself to apologize as I clumsily pulled my skirt down and bent over to pick up the cooler that had been tossed a few feet away and was lying leaking against the wall. I’d made a huge mess. “I’m such a klutz. And to think I was trying to prevent someone from falling and then I was the one to fall.”

“And you took me down with you. And flashed your panties. I’ve always been a fan of women who appreciate lace, so I’m not complaining. And neon pink is your color, by the way.”

His comment caught me off-guard and I was torn between wanting to run away and hide and wanting to roll my eyes. He sounded so nonchalant and for some reason that bothered me. I felt like he was mocking me.

“Sorry for knocking you over,” I managed to say, still unsure of how to respond.

“You didn’t knock me over. You grabbed me and pulled me down with you.”

I didn’t like the accusation in his tone. I immediately straightened up as I grabbed my cooler and glared at him, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I didn’t say you did.”

“You implied that I did.”

“Nope. Maybe you’re just feeling guilty because you know you’re not exactly the innocent one here.”

“Woah, I didn’t know I was on trial.”

“No trial. No jury. I’m just stating for the record that you didn’t knock me over. You were falling and you grabbed hold of me and pulled me down with you.”

“That’s not what I remember,” I didn’t know why I didn’t just apologize and leave it alone. Wait a minute. I did apologize. He just chose to ignore it. So I was in the right and he was clearly in the wrong! I didn’t normally feel this need to be right, but with this guy, I did. Who did he think he was? Mr. Fantastic? Just because he was hot didn’t make him right. That’s exactly why I never dated his type. No humility. Or maybe I never dated his type because a guy as hot as the one in front of me giving me a disapproving look never asked me out before. Not that this guy was asking me out. He was actually just looking at me with annoyance, which in turn made me even more annoyed.

“Listen, I’m just trying to help—”

“Trying to help? By commenting on the color and fabric of my panties?” I jabbed him with my finger and immediately recoiled.

“I gave you a compliment,” he said looking sheepish.

I narrowed my eyes. “About my undies!”

“Well, they were hard to miss when your legs were up in the air.” He tried to hold back a laugh and failed.

Now I was outraged and embarrassed. He was ruining my day and it was only getting started.

I titled my chin, hoping to keep a bit of my dignity and said, “I have a party to get to, so if you’ll excuse me.”

I walked away as cool as I could, knowing that water was dripping down my legs and my skirt had a huge wet water stain across my tush. And I had a bit of a limp because my knee was a little sore. I awkwardly made my way down the hall with the cooler in my hand.

“Hey, are you really just going to leave me to handle this mess?” the stranger yelled at me.

“Yes, you’re a big boy. You handle it,” I yelled back as I rounded the corner and made my way to Great Room B. I pushed the door open and was instantly greeted by loud chatter. There was a group of moms happily setting up what looked like a buffet table.

“Hi,” said one cheerfully, “Are you Piper, Meredith’s aunt?”

I smiled and tried to not limp too badly as I neared the crowd of moms that waited for me. I could tell that they were puzzled by my appearance. They were all well put together. They had on leggings with tunics and fancy flats. I was the only one wearing a short skirt and thin t-shirt. I was a mess and I didn’t even have kids to blame.

“I’m Danny Schultz’s mom,” she said. I reached out to shake Danny Schultz’s mom’s hand. I guess she didn’t have a first name. Or maybe it was a school mom thing to introduce yourself by your kid’s name.

I had heard of Danny Schultz—he was Meredith’s best friend and sometimes nemesis. They’d been in school together since kindergarten. I’d heard his mom was a bit of a handful, too. But so far she seemed to be just sweet and welcoming.

“Umm… how did you know?”

Mrs. Schultz smiled. “Carter told us the twins were sick so you planned to fill in for Dana. So what did you bring?”

“Nothing with nuts, right? Carter did tell you no nuts?” said a mom who looked really intense. Her eyes seemed to bulge as she interrogated me.