For Crying Out Loud by J. Preston
6In Need Of Divine Intervention
I’m not saying I’m Batman. I’m just saying no one has ever seen Batman and me in the same room together.
- Carter
Jenny
I breathe deeply, trying to compose myself. How did I go from hating the guy to wanting to smell him until the end of days?
I sit on the sun lounger and put my head in my hands just as my phone buzzes. I reach for it, and a smile instantly spreads across my face when I see the name on the display. Then I burst out with laughter when I tap on the message.
CARTER: HEY GRGS! WHATCHA WEARING?
ME:Hey there Casanova, how was surfing and lunch?
CARTER:BORING ENOUGH 4 ME TO ENQUIRE ABOUT UR OUTFIT. I BET UR IN A HOT RED BIKINI!
I look up. What the hell? How did he know? I tentatively look around and then behind me. My phone buzzes again.
CARTER: I KNOW EVERYTHING HOT STUFF! LIKE THAT UR BLUSHING RIGHT NOW. SOO MUCH RED MAKES LITTLE CARTER HAPPY
ME: You’re disgusting. Do you have cameras in here or sthg? Oh God! If the answer is yes, you need serious help!
I put my phone down and stand up just as the patio door slides open, and out comes Carter, grinning from ear to ear. He runs over to me and picks me up, twirling me around. And I can’t help but laugh.
“I don’t have cameras…yet!” Carter says, still holding me tight. “But I have to admit you’ve got some fantastic ideas and I shall look into that!” I shake my head; I should have known better, and try to pry myself out of his grasp to no avail. When my bare feet connect with his legs, I push as hard as I can. He finally lets go and I find myself propelled into the air and straight into the swimming pool, falling into it as gracefully as a sack of potatoes would. I stay under water devising my plan. When I resurface, my face is arranged into a painful grimace.
“Shit babe, are you ok?” I can hear the panic in his voice. Ha, sucker!
“Carter…” I moan in pain. His eyes are big and concerned as he runs over to the edge of the pool. “My leg.” I whimper. He is now crouching by the edge, holding out his hand for me. I grasp it and pull it with all my might. Carter falls into the water with a loud splash and fairly loud roar. I laugh like a deranged psychopath when he emerges with a pissed off look on his face. Then, he slowly smiles at me.
“You know, if I was a chick, I’d have so many comebacks right now.” He says, swimming over to me.
“What would Little C say if he heard all this blasphemy,” I gasp.
“Little C?” He cocks his head to the side and his brown eyes look at me questioningly.
“Little Carter…” I say, not sure I should be having this conversation with Carter at all. He grins at me and, exasperated, I swim to the edge of the pool and propel myself out. Carter is right on my heels and jumps up, trapping me between his arms.
“I like the nickname you gave him, although I should probably warn you, Little Carter is anything but little.” His voice is husky and his eyes are smouldering, and I sigh.
“Kennedy… We had this conversation. I mean, you’re like a gay friend to me.”
“I know, Cowley, but let’s just get something straight. I am as far from gay as possible,” he says while his face inches closer to mine. My heart hammers in my chest so loud I am sure the entire neighborhood can hear it. When I feel his minty breath on my lips, I decide enough is enough and take action by swiftly moving my right arm to the side and knocking his grip off balance, causing him to fall back into the water and bang his chin on my knee.
“Ouch!” I whimper, holding onto my knee as Carter comes back up from underwater gasping for air.
“Jesus, woman, be careful! This face is precious. You mess with the face, you mess with my chick magnet powers!” I get up, rub my knee, and walk over to the lounger, grabbing my towel and wrapping myself in it.
“Get over yourself, princess,” I retort, sticking my tongue out at him. “You hurt my knee. It will bruise. In my book, we’re even.” Carter pouts, then flings himself out of the pool and onto the ground in one swift motion. How do guys do that? Make it so freaking graceful and easy looking…
“Gimme.” He says, strolling my way.
“Huh?”
He sighs and rips the towel off of me in one quick motion, making me twirl out of it. My jaw drops. How the hell?
“I live to please. Those skills are essential in the bedroom, Grasshopper,” he says knowingly while towelling himself off. “You’re lucky only my wallet was in my pocket. If my phone was there I’d have to commandeer yours for entertainment.”
“Oooh, he knows big words,” I gasp mockingly. Carter just laughs and plops onto a lounger. “So how was lunch and the fake waves?” I ask.
“Okay, I guess… It got boring though, so I came here so you could entertain me instead, but you and I have different definitions of entertainment it appears,” he says, winking. I sit down next to him and roll my eyes. I’m about to reply when Aiden comes back outside with two glasses in his hands. At the sight of Carter, his jaw tightens, but he keeps a pleasant expression and comes over to us, handing me a lemonade. I smile up at him and get a tight smile in return. At least he’s trying to be nice…
“What are you doing here?” Aiden asks, sitting down on the lounger next to Carter.
“I was bored. Jason left with some chick soon after we sat down to eat, and I was left alone, so I decided to come join you guys rather than eat alone. Oh, thanks!” Carter replies, grabbing the glass from Aiden’s hand. “Yum! Awesome work, Jen!”
“Errr, I didn’t make it…” I replied quietly. Please don’t bring the bet up, please don’t!
“Aide?” Carter raises his brow. “I thought she was your slave cook at the moment…. I mean, if she was mine she’d be in a little French maid outfit,” Carter says thoughtfully as I grow a deeper shade of red. “Little C would like that…” he mutters under his breath, and I kick him in the shin aghast!
“Dude!” I say. “Not cool!”
“Sorry,” he grins. “You know I’m only messing with you, hot stuff.” He pulls himself closer to me and messes my hair up. I groan.
“I’m gonna head out then.” Aiden stands up, his fists in tight balls, and the muscle in his jaw pulsating, making the dimple in his right cheek appear and disappear.
“Oh… Really?” I say, getting up as well. Aiden nods, then turns around without saying goodbye and stomps off. I follow him tentatively for a few steps before stopping in my tracks. “Bye,” I say quietly, waving at his retreating figure.
“Daaaamn girl, you’ve got it bad!” I hear Carter from behind me putting on his best gay-friend voice, but it ends up sounding more like Queen Latifah in The Beauty Shop. The guy needs to work on his impressions…
“Thanks for stating the obvious, Shaniqua,” I say, dropping my head.
“All right little one, how about we go inside and watch some sports on ESPN, would that cheer you up?” He looks at me hopefully. I sigh, nod, and reach out for the two empty lemonade glasses. I hear the front door shut and my shoulders sag a little lower. “Fine, fine. We can watch Love Actually or something equally disgusting. Now put that frown upside down and let’s go get us some Hugh Grant.” This time his accent is spot on, and I smile a little. “That’s it, babe.” He beams at me, grabbing the towels from the loungers and wrapping his arm around me, guiding us back to the house.
“Right,” Carter says as we get to the middle of the living room. “You choose the movie and I’ll put these bad boys in the dryer and get some popcorn.” I nod and look at him walking away as I find my shorts and t-shirt on the chair next to the patio door. Then I walk to my room, where I change out of my wet bikini.
By the time I’m back in the living room and on the sofa flipping through available movies, I can smell the popcorn and hear it cheerfully popping in the microwave. My mouth is watering well before I hear the ‘ding’. Carter comes behind me and jumps over the back of the sofa, sliding into the seat next to me. He hands me a soda and the bowl full of popcorn, which I dive into instantly. If the world was ending now, I’d die a happy woman. No joke. Carter looks at me, hoovering up the popcorn like a cocaine addict getting his first fix in a month, and shakes his head slowly.
“What?” I exclaim, popcorn bits flying out of my mouth. I chew a bit more as Carter’s jaw drops in disbelief. “What?” I repeat myself. “I’ve got an unhealthy relationship with popcorn,” I say. “It’s all take! Take! Take! Take!” I grin mischievously, then look over at Carter, scanning his face and hugging the bowl to my chest. “You want some?” I ask quietly, not really wanting to hear the response if it’s a ‘yes’.
“No,” he shakes his head. “I wouldn’t want to separate you two. You look like freaking Gollum…”
“My precioussss,” I hiss, grinning a grin that is sure to have popcorn bits in my teeth, but who cares?
“Yup, definitely friends.” Carter says.
“Hey! Are you saying that this is not attractive?” I enquire, stuffing an entire handful of popcorn in my face.
“Soo attractive Jen, so attractive…” He shakes his head, then grins at me. “Anyway Gollum, what are we watching?”
I swallow the half chewed popcorn in my mouth and press play on the tv. “The Notebook.” I say in a hushed voice. “Have you seen it?”
“No,” he whispers back. “And why are we whispering?”
“Shhhhh, you’ll see. Just watch.”
Two hours and four minutes later, we’re both crying our eyes out. Carter’s t-shirt is soggy with my tears and some of the soda I spilled while I wailed at the end of the movie.
“He reads to her every day…” Carter sniffles. “Even though she doesn’t know…” He sniffles again. “I want to love someone like that!”
“I know! I want Ryan Gosling,” I whine.
“Who doesn’t, girlfriend?” Carter puts on a Southern accent and suddenly he is a lot more handsome than he was previously. “Who doesn’t?”
* * *
I spend the rest of the weekend getting ready for the first day of school and hoping to bump into Aiden, even if that means being his cook, but to my dismay, he is MIA. On Sunday evening, I give up and decide to suck it up and knock on his door. I stand there, like an idiot, raising my hand to knock, then lowering it with a sigh at least fifteen times.
“Are you having fun, over there?” I jump at the sound of Aiden’s voice, embarrassment washing over me.
“Yeah…” I reply, turning to face him. “I was just exercising my arm, you know?” I say, making circles with my right arm. His green eyes are playful and a small smile dances across his face, making the dimples come out as if on cue. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.” He chuckles, walking over to me. Closer and closer. I take a step back until my back hits the doorframe and I have nowhere else to go. Aiden is so close the scent of soap and citrus and something earthy engulfs me and, no joke, my freaking knees wobble. Aiden leans down and reaches out with his hands, putting them on the wall on either side of my head. My breath wavers and that enticing scent is now filling my lungs. He smells wonderful. I try focusing on pinpointing what is the earthy part of it rather than on the proximity of Aiden’s face.
“I… I just…” I stutter like a schoolgirl. “Wanted… Erm, wanted to know…” God, this will take me all day.
“Wanted to know what?” He asks, leaning closer into me, his nose in my neck. I stop breathing. Heat pools in my belly, and suddenly I’m aware of every single inch of my body. His left arm moves, and the door to his room opens. He leans away, a triumphant half-smile on his face, and I blush. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing.
“If you want anything to eat,” I finish, crossing my arms and keeping my head high.
“Hmmmm…” The sound he makes is rough and low, and a shiver travels up and down my spine. He rakes his hand through his hair, his green eyes hungrily boring into mine. “I am hungry…”
“Great.” I squeak out cheerfully, my voice high and raspy. “I’ll be back in a second!” I walk out of that damn hallway as fast as I can. Who the hell turned the thermostat all the way up? Freaking goblins and fairies!
Too soon, I’m back in front of his door, which is now ajar, stepping from one foot to another trying to remember how did ‘Hail Mary’ go. I’ll need divine intervention to survive this.
“Exercising your arm again?” Aiden’s soft, deep voice comes from inside the room. How the hell did he—? I push the door open, my face a mask of indifference to his alluring presence and the power he clearly has over me. “Sit down,” he says. And I sit. On the floor. Right on the spot I was standing. As if hypnotised. Way to keep it cool, Jenny.
“I meant here.” He laughs, pointing at the spot on his bed next to where he’s sitting, and I grow hot again, thinking of being in bed with Aiden. He stands up, pulls me up, and sits me on the bed, then sits right next to me.
I am yet to utter a word for fear of looking like an idiot. I mutter, “I brought you strawberries.” Throwing the bowl filled with fresh strawberries at him. He looks at the strawberries, then at me, then back at the strawberries, licking his lips. I wriggle in my spot as he takes the bowl from me, looking up at my face. His emerald green eyes are on fire. Since when are strawberries sexual? Oh right, since always. Brilliant move, Jen…
“I haven’t touched strawberries in six years…” Aiden says quietly, still staring at me.
“Why?” I ask, surprised.
“They reminded me of someone I wanted to forget.”
“Oh.”
“But.” He pauses and licks his lips again as I fight the urge to bite mine. “I think I’ve waited long enough. I think I’d really like a strawberry.” He says, picking one up and slowly bringing it to his mouth. I lose the battle and bite down on my lower lip to stop myself from drooling just as the strawberry reaches his lips. He bites it, closes his eyes, and hums with approval. “Delicious,” he says, opening his eyes and looking straight at me. “Just as I remembered.” For some reason, I feel like he’s trying to say something else, but for the love of God, the meaning between the lines is lost on me as I’m trying not to pant like a dog in heat. “In fact,” he continues, oblivious to the state he has me in. “I think you’ve convinced me. I think next, I might give bubblegum another try.”