“Not a single one. There are a few in my soccer bag. You can throw them out yourself if you want.”
She continued to stare up into my eyes, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was she was seeking. I just looked back at her because her eyes were just really, really pretty and I found it hard to look away from them.
“Would you really do that?” she asked. “No more?”
“No more.”
“For…for me?”
“In a heartbeat,” I replied.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why does it matter to you?” she asked. She seemed somewhat irritated…or maybe just confused.
“That’s a very good question,” I replied. I gave her a half smile. “I guess it just does.”
“You hardly know me,” she informed me, refusing to just let it go. “Why would you agree to do something like that for me? It doesn’t make any sense.”
As I thought about my response, I reached up and laid my hand on her cheek. I leaned forward and looked deeper into her eyes.
“I do desire we may be better strangers,” I whispered to her. Her eyes widened a bit.
“More Shakespeare?” she said in a breathless whisper.
“As You Like It,” I replied, “Act three.”
Nicole’s lips pushed together as the corners turned up.
“I guess we’ll just have to work on that,” she replied.
“I guess we will.”
She looked at me again for along moment then took a deep breath and sighed.
“Sorry I was such a bitch,” she said sheepishly. “It really didn’t have anything to do with either of you, just my foul mood. Maybe I can make you both dinner this weekend. Kind of…make up for it?”
“Well, I don’t know about the sheriff,” I said, “but that would definitely work for me.”
Nicole smiled brightly up at me, and my heart began to beat faster. Unfortunately, it was getting a little late, so after Nicole made nice with her dad and said goodbye to me, I headed home.
Sheriff Skye shook my hand as I left.
“Thanks for the entertainment,” he said with a goofy smile, which was made even goofier by the way his moustache jumped around.
“Thanks for the pizza, Sheriff Skye,” I replied as I headed off the porch and toward my car.
“Hey, Thomas!” he called after me.
“Yeah?”
“Call me Greg.”
I think I was smiling all the way home.
Dad’s car was there when I pulled in the driveway, but when I got inside, he was in the living room and on the phone. His eyes met mine for a moment, and I gave him a slight wave. He just looked back to some notepad he had on his lap and kept talking.
I went up to my room, closed the door, and locked it. I looked around quickly, but everything was in place, so I could breathe again. I pulled my T-shirt up over my head, dropped my jeans to the floor, and pulled a pair of soft flannel pants out of the drawer. I picked up the dirty clothes, folded them, and placed them inside the hamper. It was getting full; I needed to do some laundry.
“Thomas!”
“Yeah, Dad?” I opened up my door and peered down the stairs.
“Where’s the garment bag and the bigger suitcase?”
“Down in the basement,” I said. “Do you want me to find them?”
“Yeah.”
I went all the way down and poked around the closets in the lower level until I came up with the two pieces of luggage he wanted. I hauled them back up the stairs and into his room. He was pulling clothes out of drawers and laying them out on top of his bedspread.
“Are you going somewhere?” I asked.
“Chicago,” he replied. He got down on his hands and knees and peered underneath his bed. “I’ll be leaving right after the game tomorrow.”
“Conference?”
“Hospital administration consortium,” he replied.
I wasn’t really sure how that was different, but I didn’t press for an answer, either.
“When will you be back?”
“Saturday,” he said. He stuck his hand far back underneath the bed and started feeling around.
“Just an overnight trip? To Chicago?”
“No—a week from this Saturday,” he corrected me. “Why would I fly all the way to fucking Chicago for a day, and who would hold a fucking consortium meeting on a weekend?”
I shrugged.
“So…you’re gone a week?”
“Didn’t I just fucking tell you that?” he snapped. He dragged a pair of dress shoes out from under the bed and smacked my foot with the heel of one of them. I jumped back as he stood up with it and shook it at me. “Don’t be so fucking stupid.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled and quickly got myself out of there. I sat down on my bed once the door was locked again and rubbed at my toe. It was all right. I looked at the clock, seeing that it was still about an hour before I usually went to bed, and I looked at my nightstand out of habit. I took a big breath—maybe I could replace my sketchbook while he was gone and find a better place to hide it.
A week with Dad out of town actually sounded pretty good.
“Thomas, get back in here!” I heard him yell from his room. I got back up and made my way over there.
“Is this the red garment bag?” He stood there, glaring at me.
Well, considering the luggage in his hand was blue, I kind of doubted I was supposed to answer the question. I just shook my head a little.
“I wanted the red bag, Thomas—the red one. This one is too small! Now find me the one I want!”
“I’ll find it,” I said quietly and ran back down to the basement.
I knew my dad was only trying to do what was best and only wanted to make sure I was always on top of my game no matter what I was doing. I wasn’t just making excuses for him in my head. There was a lot more to it than what was outwardly visible. He couldn’t do everything he did and not be the very best at it without focus, and I’d dropped my focus. He said red the first time—anyway, that’s what I told myself.
The question was—did we even own any red luggage?
Friday morning.
I fucking love Fridays.
Fridays with Rumple walking into school at my side were ten fucking times better than any other Friday that had ever occurred before.
I tossed my arm around her shoulders after she got out of my car and smirked at her sideways as I led her into the building. A bunch of people came up to me and wished me luck in the game tonight, and it felt as if the giant number one on my chest was shining like a freaking lighthouse beam. You would think it was, the way it drew people over to me. It made my skin tingle with warmth, and something about having Rumple there sharing it with me just made it that much more fucking awesome.
People crowded around my locker as we stopped there, and I pulled Nicole close to me as they chattered about the last time we played Preston High, squashing them two-to-zero. Nicole just kind of pushed her body against mine and didn’t really say anything. Well, to be honest, no one really said anything to her either.
Finally, people walked off, and we were able to move on to her post-apocalyptic locker and then to her first class. I stopped outside the door and leaned back against the hallway wall. I placed my hands on her hips and brought her close to me. She glanced up and caught her lip in her teeth.
“You still gonna make me dinner tomorrow, baby?” I asked her.
“Yeah…I thought I would,” she responded. “I was thinking about making something Italian since it’s Dad’s favorite. Do you like Italian?”
“Love it,” I told her. I let my hands slide up her sides, then over her shoulders, and then all the way down her arms. Once I reached her hands, I wrapped my fingers around them and held them both next to her sides. Behind her, I saw Jeremy’s sly look as he walked by and wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I leaned forward and placed my lips against her forehead. I’d done that a couple of times at school, but it was honestl
y starting to feel like it wasn’t enough—like it wasn’t something a real boyfriend would find satisfying enough. I still hadn’t really kissed her in public…
…and I wanted to.
I tilted my head to the side and slowly inhaled the scent of her hair.
“What are you doing?” she asked quietly.
I held my arms out and behind me a little, but kept my hold on her hands at the same time, which brought her body up against mine. I rubbed the back of her knuckles with my thumbs.
“I’m just playing a pilgrim,” I said softly as I leaned in closer to her. My lips touched the side of her chin lightly, and then I nipped at her jaw with my lips as I moved up closer to her ear.
“Playing pilgrim?” she questioned. I felt her shiver.
“Mmhmm,” I hummed against her ear. “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”
I gripped her hands a little tighter and then brought them up against my chest before I moved my arms back around her.
“Dear saint, let lips do what hands do,” I whispered as I brought my lips to hers.
Warm again…
Soft again…
Mmmm…
I could have lost all semblance of consciousness when my mouth made contact with hers. Her fingers crawled up my chest and landed on top of my shoulders as she kissed me back, matching my light pressure and tilting her head to receive me. I moved one arm around her waist so I could hold her tight against me, and the other moved back up her arm and rested against the side of her face.
“Ahem! Mister Malone…”
I opened my eyes and glanced sideways. I recognized the short, squat man with the short, squat tie standing near us, but I couldn’t remember the douche bag’s name. Malcom, maybe?
“I’m busy,” I growled at him,
“Thomas…” Nicole murmured. She pulled back a little, but I kept her held tight. “We’re going to get in trouble.”
“No, we aren’t,” I replied as I kissed her again. My hand moved to the back of her neck and I pulled her closer as I tilted my head in the other direction. Her mouth was so warm and felt so good against mine. I completed the kiss, blinked my eyes, and saw that Malcom guy was still gawking at us. I spoke a little louder. “Because if he says a damn word, I’ll have his balls wrapped in a pink slip before the end of the day.”
He coughed into his hand a few times but then moved away without saying anything else. I wrapped both of my lips around Nicole’s lower one and sucked it into my mouth a little. At first, Nicole’s head tilted and her mouth pressed harder against mine as a soft little moan escaped from her. But then I felt Nicole’s hands pushing against my chest. She wasn’t pushing hard, but I got the idea and backed off a bit though not very much because I really didn’t want to stop. She tasted too good…and she was soft.
“You can’t just threaten some poor guy’s job just because you got caught in a PDA violation!” Her words and tone were harsh, but her eyes were wide, and she was still breathing a little harder than normal. I smiled.
“Yeah,” I corrected her, “I can. Just did, actually.”
The bell rang, and Nicole growled again. I couldn’t help but smile because she was so fucking cute that way. I touched her lips softly with mine again.
“We are not done talking about this,” she said as she turned away from me and went into the classroom.
I chuckled under my breath, arrived late to my Shakespeare class, answered the teacher’s questions without opening my book, and finally went back to pick up Nicole again. She already seemed to have calmed down a bit or was at least most interested in the homework assignment she had forgotten in her locker. I steered her over that way and tried not to get physically ill at the sight when she opened up the door.
“Couldn’t you at least throw out the papers you don’t need?” I asked her.
“I need them all,” she replied as she knelt in front of her locker.
“How can you even tell what you fucking need in that mess?”
She looked up at me from the floor and scowled.
“I’ve got my own ways,” she insisted, but that was obviously bullshit, and I told her so. I walked her to her next class and decided I wasn’t going to the practice field. I had something else to do.
I went to the office and conned the master key out of Mrs. Hope by telling her I couldn’t get my locker open. The woman was way beyond cougar-ish with her batting eyelashes and near-retiree status. I smiled warmly, winked at her, and then rolled my eyes as I turned away and headed back to Nicole’s locker.
I opened up her locker door and started going through all the stuff in there. Most of it was pretty current, at least, but it was only the beginning of October. If I didn’t do something, what would it look like next semester? I shuddered at the thought. I sorted through the papers, lined up the books, and then went back to Mrs. Hope to convince her to loan me a few school supplies.
Once the period was about over, and I was about done, Nicole’s locker looked almost as good as mine.
“Only one thing missing,” I said to myself and then ran back to my own locker to get one of my soccer pictures from the top shelf. I taped it to the back of her locker and sat back on my heels with a smile. “Fucking perfect.”
I was definitely going to have to get a picture of her for the inside of my locker and one for my wallet, too...or maybe for my car. I was also going to have to have someone take a picture of Nicole and me together to add to both of our lockers—I hated selfies. Maybe someone could get a good one of us at the game tonight.
I got a few looks from people as I headed down the hall to the front office. I figured it was because I couldn’t stop smiling, but I really didn’t give a shit. Hell, any of the guys who had seen my Rumple had to know why I was smiling—she was just too fucking fine, and she was mine. Nothing they could do about it.
Ha!
Fuckers.
I knew she would really appreciate the organization I had imparted and would be glad I spent the time to make it that way. I quickly took the key back to the office and headed back to Nicole’s classroom. I poked my head around the doorway and smiled at her. She gathered up her stuff and walked out to meet me, and I grabbed her hand as she approached. I reached over and kissed her cheek lightly.
“How was trig?”
“Awful,” she replied. “I hate it. How is anyone supposed to remember all those formulas? And if you get one of them just a little bit wrong, all your answers are wrong.”
“That sucks,” I said, trying to sound sympathetic. It was hard to do because I was just about as excited as I could be about Nicole seeing her locker. I swung her hand between us and started heading in that direction so she could put her stuff inside before we went to lunch.
We rounded the corner, and I put my hands on Nicole's waist as I stood behind her and watched her fiddle with the combination lock. I still couldn't stop smiling. She lifted the latch and opened the door, and I felt her stiffen under my hands. She looked up to the locker next to her—probably checking the number to see if she was at the right one.
“What do you think?” I asked, unable to contain myself any longer.
“Do you do this?” she asked. Her voice was just barely loud enough to hear over the other students in the hallway.
“Uh huh,” I replied. I leaned over and placed my lips against her neck. “You like it?”
“Holy shit, Thomas!” she yelled. “What the fuck did you do?”
She turned and pushed at my chest, knocking me backwards a little. I ran smack into some kid with glasses, who ran into a girl coming from the other direction, and books scattered all over the place. The girl started screaming at the other kid, but I ignored them both.
“What was that for?” I asked. My heart was starting to beat faster. This was not how I envisioned this going down. “It looks great!”
“Where is all of my stuff?” she screeched at me.
“In the folders,” I told he
r, and I pointed down to the bottom shelf. “Red is trig, green is biology—of course—and the blue one is for homework before it's graded. The left side has the ones that aren't done yet, and the right side has the ones ready to turn in. The purple one is…”
“Thomas! How could you do that?” Her eyes were intense, and her hands were balled up into fists. My kitten had turned lioness-mad.
My phone went off with a new text message, meowing loudly and echoing down the hallway.
“Are you seriously keeping that as your ringtone?” Nicole snapped.
“I like it,” I said with a shrug.
She glared at me, forgetting the noise from my pocket.
“What the fuck did you do?” she said again as she gestured toward the locker.
“What do you mean?” I was still completely astonished by her reaction. She had to see how much better organized it was. I didn't know how she could have even found today's biology homework at all before I put it in the homework folder. It was at the bottom of a stack of literature notes.
“How the hell did you even get into my locker?”
“I...um…borrowed the key,” I stammered. Okay, I didn't really think about her going in that direction, but really, what was the big deal?
“Borrowed the key?” she yelled. Damn, she could yell when she wanted to. “Borrowed what key?”
“There's a master key…” I said. “I got it from the office so I could…um…fix your locker up…”
Suddenly, the whole thing didn’t sound like the great idea it did initially.
“Oh my GOD!” Nicole's hands went up into her hair. “I cannot believe you did that. How could you, Thomas? How could you go through all my stuff like that? Without even asking? Seriously?”
My body went cold, and I started getting that creepy, tingling feeling I sometimes got when Dad was in one of his moods. A shiver ran through me. I feared whatever I said now wouldn't make any difference.
I couldn't seem to pull in a breath. I could still see Nicole, and I knew she was yelling, but her words were lost to me. She threw her hands up in the air and then backed up against the locker next to hers. With her hands over her face, she slowly sank to the floor where she sat with her knees bent.