Stupid Preston and his dares. He knows how much I hate water, yet here I am, standing on what I would like to refer to as the “plank of death”, waiting to jump into the dark abyss. “Jump! Jump! Jump!” I hear the voices chant, but all I feel like doing is passing out. Heights and water do not mix. This is at least thirty feet, and I feel like I might be sick.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” Preston teases and leans over the edge next to me.
“Shut up!” I squeak. “I’m doing this.”
“Smart girl.” He jumps in before me.
You see, it happened like this. Preston dared me to fit a whole chip into my mouth at the snack bar, which, let’s be honest, was a stupid dare. I did it, then proceeded to dare him to take a swig of Tabasco sauce. We went around the boat daring each other to do things until we reached the top, where he noticed the high dive. He immediately suckered me into it before I had the chance to say no. I mean, I was winning the game. It was Preston who didn’t’ have enough guts to down the whole bottle of Tabasco. I’m the one who proved it and did it myself. I was winning… until the high dive incident. Now here I am, shaking at the top of this giant boat, listening to complete strangers chant my name.
Far below me, I can see Preston treading water and joining in the chant. I immediately start to pray for a thunderstorm. Maybe lightning will strike his smug little face. The visual brings a smile to my lips. Okay, I can do this. I can do this. I close my eyes and jump. I feel my stomach heave as I hit the water, forgetting to pencil my legs and making a big slap. The sting runs all the way down my now throbbing red legs. I swim up gasping for air and see Preston swimming toward me like he’s fighting for a role in Bay Watch.
“Nice,” he says breathlessly, as he notes my shaking body.
“I—”
“Hate me, I know. Save it for later though. We should get you and your bruised body back on the boat. I thought I told you to pencil it?” He laughs and swims ahead so he can pull me onto the back of the boat.
“I think you’re hazardous to her health, buddy,” Brad says while Preston pulls me onto the boat. I feel like a beached whale.
My legs aren’t just red anymore. They’re now swelling to the size of…well, I don’t want to give you that visual. It’s too depressing.
“Hey, at least you did it!” Preston tries to sound encouraging. I give him the look of death reserved for only the worst of mankind.
“So not the point,” I say, teeth chattering. Suddenly, I don’t feel so well.
“Let’s go inside and get you dry.” He helps me to my feet. We move inside to the covered part of the boat and sit. I watch in awe as Preston winks at the snack bar lady who then brings us free snacks.
“Sure you aren’t a wizard?” I ask. Must be the trauma of the fall talking.
“A wizard? As in Harry Potter? I feel like I should be offended.” He hands me my drink.
“You could be, but he is the best magician at Hogwarts,” I say defensively.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve read the entire series of Harry Potter.” He laughs and shoots me a look reserved for small children who’ve been naughty.
“Fine, I have not read the entire series…only parts.” I sip my ginger ale. At least he had enough common sense to bring me something to calm my stomach.
“So, why would I be a wizard anyway?”
“The magical powers you have over people. It’s wizardy,” I say.
“Wizardy is not a word.”
“It’s in my dictionary.”
“Doubtful you’ve ever even seen one,” he counters.
“Whatever.” I cross my arms.
“What are you? Five?” he says, noticing my body language.
“Six, now go away.”
“Is that any way to treat your future husband?” He leans closer, and I fight to quiet my thumping heart as his breath caresses my face. Like a moth to the flame, I lean in before answering.
“I’d never marry you.” I look down at my hands. My voice sounds surprisingly convincing.
“But you’d at least go out with me?” He leans closer to my lips.
“When pigs fly.” I say, glaring at him.
“Good to know.” He gets up from his seat and clasps his hands together. “Now for our plan.”
I’m confused. I look around as if to ask “What exactly is our plan?” But he’s already digging through my bag.
“Ah ha!” He pulls out a black bathing suit with rhinestones. “Go put this on, with the sunglasses and high heels, and meet me out here.”
“We’re not doing this now,” I say flatly and stare at the gorgeous swimsuit.
“Yes we are. Remember? You promised? Plus, Brad and Angelina are staying the whole week. I figure we can change quick, then make an appearance as we’re leaving the boat in about ten minutes.” He checks his watch. “Make that nine minutes. You in?”
I bite my lip. He’s right. It was fun last night. “Fine.” I snatch the swimsuit out of his hand. “But no kissing this time.”
He pulls my body back toward his and whispers into my hair, “I won’t kiss you unless you ask.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” I pull away and walk off to the girls’ bathroom acutely aware of his gaze on my form as I feel my body burning from his momentary touch.
Chapter Thirteen
Our boat arrives within the next nine minutes. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this again. I don’t know what it is about Preston, but I can’t bring myself to say no to him. And the more I get to know him, the more I think he might actually be just a good guy with a bad guy habit. I look in the mirror and smile. Okay, so maybe I won’t marry him, but one date won’t hurt.
I open up the bathroom door and scurry to the meeting place to find Brad Pitt—I mean, Preston waiting for me. We link arms and traipse off the boat as if we own the place. People are watching and taking pictures. Then I see Kristin squint at me questioningly as if to ask, “Do I know you?” I quickly duck my head into Preston’s arm and walk faster toward the other side of the dock.
“Did you tell them?” I ask Preston as we near the next corner.
He’s still smiling. “Of course. They think you weren’t feeling well, and we’re going to stay behind to talk with the on-call doctor. They have no idea. Trust me.”
I nod my head and smile as we pass a few more star struck teenagers on the dock. “Beach?” He asks leading me down to the docks. My stomach growls in complaint.
“Actually?” I say stopping him. “I want food.”
“A girl after my own heart,” he teases and he pulls me back from the dock and into the first restaurant on the boardwalk. It’s one of those little restaurants with sand as a floor, and I love it.
“Spill,” I say, taking a sip of water. I;m actually enjoying all the weird stares and camera phones pointed our way. I think I could get used to this.
“What?” He asks confused.
“Why are you being nice to me when all you actually want to do is get back at me for what I did to you in high school?” There. I said it.
“Wow. You still thinking about that? Because it was such a long time ago.” He smiles.
“Ha-ha. Very funny,” I mock.
“Amanda, you need to learn how to trust people. My plan is not to date you then dump you in front of the entire school. That would just be weird. Plus, we aren’t even in school anymore, and it would be a lot of work to get all of those people together again for a reunion.”
The man has a point. “Sure. Okay, if you say so.” I grab a tortilla chip from the basket. Mexican food in Hawaii? That’s just weird. As I dip into the salsa, the table begins to vibrate strangely. “Oh my gosh! It’s an earthquake!” I shriek.
His look is anything but panicked. “Um, try a cell phone?” He picks up his phone and waves it in the air at me.
“Oh, right.” I sit back in my seat.
“Decaf, Amanda. You should try it. Might change your life,” he smirks and checks his phon
e. His look turns dark as he tosses it back onto the table.
“What?” I ask curiously
“Nothing. Just work.”
“What? They have a fire they can’t put out without you?” I tease.
“Something like that,” he looks away and stuffs a chip into his mouth.
Okay, I know I’m not supposed to like him or anything, but I can tell something is bothering him; although, he won’t tell me anything. I mean, I don’t know. It just seems like he’s totally bummed out all of a sudden, so I decide to do something about it.
“Follow me,” I say, holding out my hand after he pays the check. Okay, and here’s the other thing, he always pays. Even if I have money, he pulls out his wallet and pays for it. Derek never paid. In fact, he would take out his cell phone and use the calculator app to make sure I was paying my fair share. The jerk.
“Where we going?” Preston asks as he falls into step beside me. People aren’t staring nearly as much now, which is what makes this all the more fun.
“You’ll see,” I reply. “But we have to be quiet, because we’re sneaking in.” I slip my finger to my lips to shush him.
“O-kay,” he whispers cautiously, raising one eyebrow at me. I can just see the hint of a smirk playing around his lips. I pull him into the theater next door and tell him to close his eyes while I pay for a couple tickets. I lead him into the back row hardly able to control my smile and guide him into a seat.
“Surprise,” I whisper.
He opens his eyes and his mouth drops open.
“It’s Star Wars,” he says in disbelief.
“Aw, I knew the little nerd was in there somewhere.” I pat him on the head. Instead of a smug remark like I’m expecting, Preston has this look of complete awe as he turns to face me.
“How did you remember? No, wait. How did you even know? Do I want to know how you know?” He asks leaning in towards me.
“Senior year. You had a Star Wars t-shirt on underneath your sweater-vest. I did some investigating later when I was planning to apologize and found out that you were the president of the fan club for our school.” I’m now beaming. I’ve finally one-upped him, and it feels awesome.
“I hate you for remembering that.” He looks down at his hands. He almost looks embarrassed. “You were going to apologize?” He meets my eyes again.
“Of course,” I shrug. “I felt terrible, plus the guy I went with ended up cheating on me with Betsy Lou,” I say with venom tipped words.
“Dang that Betsy Lou always stealing boyfriends,” he agrees as he pulls my hand into his lap.
“She was my nemesis back in the day,” I say matter of factly.
“She couldn’t hold a candle to you if she wanted to,” Preston replies as he pushes his fingers through my still damp hair.
“This is what we would have done,” I say breaking the moment.
“What do you mean?” He gets the picture, because in that instant he backs away from me.
“Our date. Had I said yes to prom, I’m sure you would have taken me on a date, and I would have wanted to do this.” I lean in close and kiss him on the cheek.
“Does that mean we can make out now?” Preston asks huskily.
“Um no, this means I’m sorry.” I laugh and punch his arm.
“Shoot, I always wanted to make out at the movies, especially in the back row.” He crosses his arms completely dejected. I, however, don’t want to lose. Therefore, I decide not to lean in and kiss him, even though the tension is so thick between us you can cut it with a knife.
I finally look around to see who else is joining us in the theatre and notice several curious glances pointed our way. It dawns on me that we’re still in our “costumes”, making us look ridiculous. I mean, I highly doubt Brad and Angelina go to Star Wars while vacationing in Hawaii.
We both smile and wave as we excuse ourselves into the lobby and back out onto the street feeling, I might add, extremely light footed and fancy free.
“Where to?” I ask then hear my cell phone go off.
“Where are you guys?” The voice on the other end is Kristin and the only reason I know is because of caller ID. Other than that, she sounds like a mental hospital escapee.
“Whoa,” I respond.
“Do not ‘whoa’ me. We’ve been looking for you forever. Did Preston kidnap you or something? And why do you disappear every time we see celebrities?” Her voice has now returned to normal.
“Bad luck?” I answer innocently.
“Well...maybe…Look, Brad got kind of sea sick. We’re back at the room now. We’re probably going to call it a day and hang out, so you and Preston are on your own again.” Her words immediately cause my heart to flutter. What’s wrong with me?
“Okay,” I answer, trying to hide excitement from my voice. “We’ll manage I’m sure—”
“Panda,” she interrupts. “I know you're mad because I keep forcing you and Preston together, and I promise I wouldn’t have done it except…well except…” She pauses on the other end of the phone.
“Except what?” I ask, curious. I stop in my tracks.
“Except, well, Brad made me promise not to tell. And he only just found out, and now I feel like a terrible friend. And I promise Preston’s safe and all, I just didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“About what?” I ask again, frustrated.
“Ask him about his ex-wife.”
Chapter Fourteen
And then she said she had to go, leaving me totally dizzy with rage. “Your wife!” I shout at Preston as I throw my phone at his head.
“What?” he asks totally stunned by my revelation.
“When were you going to tell me, huh? Do you just run around and propose to every girl you meet? Get them trapped in that little fireman web of love then tell them you believe in polygamy!” My voice is so loud that people are staring.
Preston is still gaping at me with registered shock on his face “We need to talk,” He says as he pulls me underneath the waterfall.
I begin to talk again before he covers my mouth with his hand.
“I don’t even want to know how you got such information, but I can tell you one thing. Before you jump to conclusions, you should just ask.” He releases his hand from my mouth as I start to protest.
“But that isn’t something I think about asking when you don’t wear a ring and when you kiss me at every chance you get.” My voice rises as the emotion becomes unbearable.
Preston’s eyes light up with fire before his lips crush down hard on mine. His warmth cascades over my body in waves, making me melt into his arms all the more. I wrap my arms around his neck as he pulls me closer and let out a small moan as he releases me.
“Stop talking so much,” he says breathless as he pushes me against the rock wall and kisses me again. I want to scream assault, but again I’m betrayed by my body as my arms wrap around his neck. The pressure from his lips sets me into a daze as I hungrily push for more.
“You’re not forgiven.” I manage to say as I push him away and begin to walk anywhere I can to remove myself from his intoxicating presence.
“Not so fast.” He pulls my arm, stopping me in my tracks.
“I was married,” he says, but he holds up a finger in protest. “She cheated on me.” He leans casually against the rocks. “Actually, it was more of a mutual cheating, but we can talk about that later.” He wraps his hand around mine and leads me silently back to our hut.
“She was always selfish, but then again, I always was, too,” he says, sitting on the couch, while I take a seat in the fluffy chair. “She wanted things I couldn’t give her. I started working at the fire department about two years ago, when I finally found out.” He gives me a smirk then continues, “Never trust your best friends. Especially around your pretty wife.”
I want to ask him who he’s referring to, but it's none of my business. “She left me for him, not that he married her or anything. I tried to fix things, but we had grown apart in more ways than one. It's
actually what turned me to God. And in an odd way, it brought me back to Him.” He stands up to get a drink of water.
“But you said you cheated, too?” I ask shyly.
“I did, in my heart. I never really loved and cherished her. I just liked what I saw on the outside and the pleasure she brought me. I sure didn’t honor her with my actions or my thoughts, nor did I fight for her when she chose to go the other way. I should have fought.” He looks down at the sink and shrugs as he fills up his glass with water.
“She finalized the divorce, and I did nothing. Once I got my life back on track, I tried to make things right. It doesn’t help that my ex-best friend still works at the same station. I’ve been trying to get on at other ones, but it’s kinda hard with how competitive my job is.”
I look at him and try not to cry, but it's hard. I feel so sorry for him. And yes, I still want to kill Kristin for setting me up with a broken man, but I can’t blame her for thinking we could help each other. I still can’t help but think she knows more than she’s willing to say. I’ll have to ask her later but for now…
“I owe you an apology,” I say quietly.
“No, you don’t. I should’ve said something about the ex-wife to the new wife. It only makes sense.” He smiles widely at me, while I roll my eyes.
“I’m not marrying you,” I say again, this time even more unconvincingly.
“You will, we’re perfect for each other.” He then leans in and plants a soft and gentle kiss on my forehead.
“So who’s the ex best friend?” I ask curiously. “Anyone I know?”
Preston’s jaw clenches, he shakes his head, and abrubtly looks away, clearly giving the message that he doesn’t want to talk about it. “Don’t worry about it, panda.”
“Stupid fat bears,” I say, punching the pillow next to me.
“You’re not stupid and you’re not fat, we’ve been over this. Pandas are cute. Have you ever heard the panda story?” He asks curiously
“It makes me cry, so if you tell it, I’ll have to punch you in the face,” I say, smiling back at him.