Will’s POV on Chapter 7
A sort of nervous
excitement coursed through me as I walked to Victoria’s room to get her for our
little family outing today. I was right about my parents insisting she come
with us, just as I was right about her needing to get out of her hotel room.
Seriously, the girl could use a little fun. And I was nothing if not fun.
Except things
never seemed to go right with her. She thwarted every attempt I made at
flirting, called me out on my crap, and would never, under normal
circumstances, go out with me. I could admit I was intrigued. Okay, fine, I was
a little more than intrigued.
I knocked loudly
on her door and listened as she scrambled to answer it. Already amused, I
leaned as casually as I could against the doorframe, willing my face to a
neutral expression. Several moments passed and I found it harder and harder to
wait to see her.
Trying not to
examine why that was, I finally heard her footsteps coming toward the door. I
pushed off the frame and stood up straight just as she opened it. There was no
way to prepare myself for seeing her again.
Her long, brown
hair was loose around her shoulders and I knew from experience it was soft and
silky. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but her beautiful, big brown eyes were
as striking as ever and her full lips had a hint of red.
She had on a
simple t-shirt with skinny jeans, but somehow she managed not to look casual.
She looked radiant and alive.
“Hey,” she said
breathlessly, almost knocking me to the floor.
“Hey,” I replied a
bit more steadily, despite my pounding heart. She seemed flustered by her
reaction to me and I found myself trying not to smile at the thought. I like
her flustered, and I liked it even more when I was the one that caused it.
She quickly spun around
and ran to her room, but not before I caught the attractive blush creeping onto
her face. I followed her inside and closed the door behind me, already
completely comfortable in her space.
I watched her as
inconspicuously as I could as she rushed to gather her things. Disappearing
into her room again, I heard her call out, “I’m sorry, I’m almost ready.” I
smiled to myself already knowing she would be late and not caring a bit.
I sat down on the
couch, but was back on my feet in seconds when I spotted a box with a card next
to it. Luke.
Jealousy, strong
and irrational, spread through my body and I had to swallow down the bitter accusations
I wanted to throw out. It wasn’t Victoria’s fault Luke was a pushy, arrogant
rat, and getting mad at her didn’t work.
I carefully opened
the box of chocolates and pulled one out. I could hear her behind me now and
decided I was okay with being obnoxious this morning.
“Where did you get
these?” I asked. She stopped moving around and looked at me.
“Lucas sent them
yesterday afternoon,” she said with as much attitude and sass as I expected. I
couldn’t help but smirk at her predicted reaction to my question.
I took a bite and
mumbled, “Pretty good.” She continued to watch me so I decided to give in to my
curiosity. “What?”
“That’s it? No,
‘Luke is a bad person who runs over squirrels on purpose’ talk?” she demanded.
I half choked, half laughed. She never failed to surprise me.
I couldn’t contain
the laughter bubbling out of me. Part of it was her ridiculous comment, but an
even bigger part of it was just being around her. I felt lighter, happier. It
was addicting.
The next thing I
knew, she had grabbed my hand and was pulling me out of the room. I didn’t even
try to stop my laughter as we rode down the elevator and my good mood stayed
with me as we crossed the lobby.
Seeing my family
was a relief because it meant I got to pretend to be infatuated with this girl.
Not that I wasn’t interested in her, I could admit that. But she was a mystery
and as soon as I solved it, I would get bored and move on. For now though, the
chase was thrilling.
I slung my arm
over her shoulders and felt her relax as we approached my parents. Last night’s conversation, first with
Victoria, and then with my parents, played through my mind and I was curious to
see how they would reassure her, as promised, of their good opinion.
“Victoria!” Sam
shouted and ran over to meet us. As he usually did when he was around us, he
went for Victoria’s unoccupied hand. I possessively kept my arm around her shoulders
and felt her grip tighten around my waist as we arrived in front of my mom and
dad. I don’t think she even noticed she was doing it.
“Hello, Victoria,”
my dad said to her in a friendly tone. My mom was less inconspicuous and went
right in for a hug, which seemed to startle the ever living daylights out of
Victoria.
Her earlier words
rang through my mind. People won’t
remember me, why should I remember them? It had been obvious from the start
that Victoria didn’t see herself very clearly, but hearing her words sent a
sharp pang through my chest.
I decided I would
just have to hold her more often if I could get away with it. She needed to
learn that she was wanted, loved, even if this was just pretend. She should
know how it could be with someone if she ever opened up.
I knew I was
playing a dangerous game with this whole charade, and while I didn’t want to
hurt her, I needed to prove her own
worth to her. Then she could find someone who actually deserved her. I didn’t want
to dwell on that thought, we’d cross that bridge when it came. As long as it
wasn’t Luke Thompson…
“I’m so glad
you’re coming with us today,” mom said to Victoria, snapping me out of my
thoughts. The talk with my parents had gone rather well and I couldn’t help but
be a little smug about the fact. Unsurprisingly, Victoria noticed.
Ducking out from under my arm, she
pulled on my hand until I obliged and leaned down. Her warm breath tickled my
ear and I had to stop myself from turning my head and stealing a kiss right
then and there.
“What did you do?”
she hissed at me. I smiled.
“What makes you
think I did something?” I whispered back, enjoying the feel of her silky hair
against my cheek. Seriously, hair
shouldn’t be that sexy.
“Because you’re
you. What did you say to them?” I was enjoying her fret over this too much to
give up my secret just yet. Instead, I opened the door of the hotel for
everyone, using it as an excuse to avoid her question for a moment.
Our
car was pulled around and I made sure she was sitting in the middle so both Sam
and I would be satisfied. We started on our journey in comfortable silence, but
I found myself unsettled by her nearness.
Not
that we hadn’t been this near before, but there was something boiling under the
surface of my skin and it came to life every time her body brushed up against
mine. It was maddening and the long ride I had so looked forward to, now seemed
like endless torture.
Oblivious
to my struggle, Victoria leaned toward me and I caught a whiff of her perfume.
Having her this close to me and smelling like the most tempting of forbidden
fruits was a dangerous combination. I reminded myself of her rule over and over
again.
“Tell
me,” she said in a quiet voice that dissolved any reason why I should follow
that stupid rule. I mean, we were supposed to be in love right? People in love
always kissed. And this girl needed to be kissed. Desperately. And I was only
too happy to oblige.
Unable
to help it any longer, I reached over and tucked her into the side of me.
Immediately the volcano under my skin came to life, but it was easier somehow
than the teasing brush of her arm or leg against mine.
“I just told them
you were upset about the way I made you seem at dinner and you were reluctant
to come because of what they might think of you.”
“Oh,”
she said sounding surprised. I let the moment drag on as long as I dared and
then raised my arm to give her the choice of staying where she was or leaving.
She quickly scooted back to her seat and I let the disappointment sober me.
We
were both pretending, not just me, and it wouldn’t do any good to forget that
now. I needed to focus on playing the part without confusing any of the
emotions that normally accompany such a relationship.
I heard her
talking with Sam, but I was too distracted to really hear their conversation
until Victoria asked where we were going. Needing a reason to get out of my
thoughts, I volunteered the answer before Sam could reply.
"Aquarium of
the Bay. It's like this huge underwater exhibit where you can watch animals
swim around."
"And there's
lots of sharks!" Sam piped up excitedly. I was about to remind him that he
couldn’t swim with them when Victoria spoke up.
“What?” she
squeaked out. Thoroughly intrigued at her tone I couldn’t resist the temptation
to goad her.
"Not afraid
of sharks, are you, Victoria?" I asked.
"They're my
favorite animals,” Sam inserted cheerily. As if we were talking about flavors
of soda instead of the powerful, deadly creatures that ruled the ocean.
"Too bad you
can't go swimming with them today," I told Sam, remembering my earlier thought.
I leaned over to playfully mess up his hair, something that drove him crazy, but
that was a mistake. I caught the scent of Victoria again and was immediately
pulled into her force field like a magnet.
"Why
not?" Sam sulked and swatted my hand away. I barely registered his words
or his actions. Victoria was still looking at Sam with a horrified expression
or she would have caught me staring at her.
I heard soft
voices from the front of the car and the spell was momentarily broken. I looked
over to see my parents talking too quietly for us to hear.
I wouldn’t have
thought anything of it, but then my father glanced at me in the rear view
mirror. My curiosity was peaked, but I decided to let it drop for now and
answer Sam’s question.
"For
starters, I'm pretty sure you have to be at least eighteen. Sam's big dream in
life is to go swimming with sharks," I told Victoria who had her mouth
hanging open as she continued to stare at Sam.
"What?
They're cool!" he protested under her incredulous look, which made me
laugh out loud. As if I couldn’t stop myself from touching her, I reached over
and lightly raised her jaw until her mouth was once again closed.
Drop your hand, I commanded my body. But
it wouldn’t listen to me. Instead I found myself turning her head to face me.
Her scared expression at the mention of sharks had me rushing to reassure her,
like a good pretend boyfriend would.
"Don't worry,
I won't let you fall in the shark tank.” It was meant to lighten the mood, but
instead I found myself lost in her beauty. Not just her outward appearance, she
was absolutely gorgeous after all, but her inside beauty as well.
She was witty,
funny, kind, forgiving, and as much as she tried to hide it, she was hurting
for some reason. I wanted to make her pain go away, I wanted to ease all her
worries, but most of all I wanted to make her happy.
That last thought
hit me hard. How could I make her
happy? Having apparently reached our destination I felt the rumble of the car
come to a stop. She was still looking up into my eyes, as confused and
conflicted about our pretend relationship as I was.
The realization
that I was making this harder on her than it needed to be was enough to make me
drop my hand and hop out of the car as quickly as possible. Distance, space. That
was what I needed right now.
I’d never been so
grateful for Sam’s insistence that she hold his hand than I was in that moment.
I needed to think outside of her bewitching presence, so when mom groaned that
she had forgotten the sunscreen, I immediately volunteered to buy some while
they went to get the tickets.
I shopped in a
daze and grabbed the first bottle of sunscreen from the way too expensive gift
shop outside the park entrance. I approached the counter and set the bottle
down in a hurry, knocking over a little stand of chapstick.
Sighing, I started
picking up the tubes and hopelessly stacking them on the counter again. I heard
a small giggle and looked up to see a beautiful blonde girl, the cashier,
watching me.
“In a hurry?” she
asked with a wide smile on her face. I knew that kind of smile and told myself
to smile back. I think it came out more of a grimace.
“Sort of. Sorry
about the mess,” I said still trying, and failing, to stack the annoying things
the way they were before. Another throaty laugh and a small hand shot out to
stop me from doing any more damage. I froze at her touch.
“It’s fine, I’ll
stack them later. I think you’re making it worse by trying to fix them,” she
giggled again. This time I did smile, but it wasn’t the normal, inviting smile
I usually pulled with a girl like her. It was tight and polite and instead of
flirting back, I gently slipped my hand from under hers wondering if I was
broken. This wasn’t like me. I loved to flirt and I was good at it.
She batted her
eyelashes at me before picking up the sunscreen and turning to the register. I
looked at her closer as she worked, trying to figure out why I didn’t seem to
be in the mood to receive her flirtations or return any of my own.
She was pretty. But her short blonde hair
was too short for my taste and her eyes a little too dull to hold me captive.
She was tall and lean, but I wanted someone I could tuck under my arm.
That was it, I decided. She was too tall for me, despite the obvious several inches I still had on her. She handed me the now bagged sunscreen and smiled hugely once more.
That was it, I decided. She was too tall for me, despite the obvious several inches I still had on her. She handed me the now bagged sunscreen and smiled hugely once more.
“Got fun plans
today?” she asked, still trying to get a reaction from me. Dozens of comments
streamed through my head, all leading to her giving me her phone number. And
from the smile still plastered on her face, it would be all too easy.
But
the only smile I wanted to see was waiting with my family.
“I
do, yes. My girlfriend and I are walking around the Aquarium. She just loves watching
the sharks,” I laughed at my own private joke.
The
girl smiled indulgently, effectively taking the hint and my dismissal. I
grabbed the bag and rushed out of there, more confused than before.
*Copyright Jayne L. Bowden*
*Copyright Jayne L. Bowden*
