“I was going to say for lounging around… I didn’t know you had a dirty mind. I’ll
store that bit of information.”
Her eyes open wide and I know she’s embarrassed. It’s cute. “No, that’s not what…” my
laughter makes her stop talking. “Jerk!”
“You made me sweat earlier.”
“Yeah yeah…”
“Let’s go inside,” I tell her, walking past her and toward the door.
I feel her hand touch my shoulder and I instantly turn around, which causes her to run into me. “Wow there,” I tell her, not stepping away but looking at her diamond-shaped eyes looking up at me.
“Sorry,” she replies, her voice low. “Are your parents’ home?” she asks.
“Why? What’d you have in mind?” I tell her and wink. She tries to push me back for the second time tonight, without any success. “I thought you had learned your lesson… pushing me is pointless.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to see that.”
“So, why’d you want to know if my parents are home?”
“Maybe because you’re walking in shirtless, and I’m wearing underwear and your blanket.”
“My blanket looks good on you,” I tell her, wishing it were my arms wrapped around her instead.
“Be serious!” she yells and then lowers her voice when she remembers she’s trying to figure out if someone is home.
I smile at her. “No one is home. My dad is away for work this weekend.”
ARI COLE
“And your mom?” I ask, and the moment the question leaves my mouth I realized I messed up. I can see it in the way his smile vanishes. The light in his eyes disappear.
“She’s not here either,” he says, then turns around and opens a door.
I stay behind, not knowing whether I should be following or turning around and heading home.
“What are you doing?” he asks when he notices.
I rock back and forth. “I put my foot in my mouth.”
“Why do you think that?” he asks.
“Because, the moment I mentioned your mom… I saw the light in your eyes disappear.”
He nods, leaning against the door. “So what, now you’re just going to stand in my garage?”
“I’m debating my options.”
He crosses his arms. “And what are your options?”
“Well, I could stand here.”
“Interesting.”
“Or, I could turn around and go home.”
“And would you be taking my blanket with you or walking home in your underwear?” he asks then cracks a smile, which makes me feel so relieved. I hated the thought of hurting his feelings. The fact that I feel better knowing he’s okay is unsettling though.
“Smartass,” I tell him.
“Have you made up your mind?”
“Why are you making this harder than it should be?!”
He steps closer to me. “What do you want to do, Ari?”
“Well, I don’t want to go home in my underwear,” I tell him, crossing my arms.
“So, I guess you’re stuck with me, huh?”
“Only if you’re still okay with me staying.”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay with that? I brought you here, right?” he takes another step toward me.
“Because,” I start but am afraid of screwing it up again.
He extends his hand to me once again and I grab it. I’m shocked at how natural it feels. “Just come inside. If you don’t annoy me, maybe I’ll tell you about my mom.” He says jokingly, but there’s still no light in his eyes. I hope that he does talk to me about it. There’s clearly something there.
“Wait, I think I left my phone in your car. I need to call my mom!” I tell him, turning toward the car.
He pulls me toward him. “Did you have your phone on you when you jumped off the rock?” he asks.
I shake my head then a realization hits me. “It was in the pocket of my pants!” I shout.
“That’s my bad,” he says, looking sheepish.
“You’re the worst! Literally the worst!”
“I was trying to save your life,” he says, leading me inside his house.
“Well, the only thing that drowned was my phone,” I tell him.
“That’s a good thing,” he says, his smile finally reaching his eyes. I can’t be mad at him for ruining my phone, at least not tonight.
We reach the living room. “Wait, did your phone also end up in the lake?” I ask, feeling terrible that his phone could be messed up too all because he felt he needed to jump in after me.
He laughs. “I told you I plan ahead. I left my phone in the car.”
“Of course you did. Well, can I borrow it to call home? If I don’t, my parents will be searching everywhere for me.”
“We don’t want that,” he says, his hand still holding on to my own