Different Roads (8 page)

"See ya later, Jaq," he said.
He brushed his lips quickly across mine and winked, "I'll make it up to
you next time. We'll go on a
real
date."

I laughed and said, "Don't worry
about it."

All the while thinking,
and
if
by real date you mean getting naked in my bed, how's tomorrow night sound?

Sunday
I awoke early and in a good mood. I could hardly remember the last time I felt
like this. Last night had been good. Four-wheelin' had been good. Kissing Seth
had been a thousand times better than good. I knew I couldn't wait to see him
again and hoped it would be soon. "Way to keep hold of your heart Jaq,"
I chastised myself.

            "Must've
been a good date?" Shelley smiled up at me from the table when I walked
through the kitchen with the last of the empty boxes from my move.

            "What
makes you say that?" I smirked.

            "Oh
I don't know. Maybe because you're up before noon? Or because you're grinning
like a lunatic?" She teased.

            I
pulled a bottle of soda from the fridge and leaned against the counter. Shelley
was right. I couldn't seem to wipe the stupid grin off my face.
"A-maz-ing," I admitted. "We went to Cemetery Hill Road and his
truck broke down. Then we had to be towed back in to town."

            Shelley
rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Sounds like a blast," she said
sarcastically. "Tell me he at least sprang for dinner?"

            I
pushed away from the counter and snickered, "Yep. Drive-thru. And he got
me my very own fries. How's
that
for consideration?" I said and started
to walk back to my room so I could get showered and dressed for the day.

            "Oh,
I like that in a man. Big spender, too," she called after me.

After my shower, I was looking through
some of the school work I'd missed and was answering some of my emails when
Seth called. I guess that
three day rule
didn't apply to him, and I was
glad. I didn't think I could stand waiting three days before seeing him again
considering it hadn't even been twenty-four hours, and I was already anxious to
spend some more quality face time with him.

            He
told me he was going to be at the shop working on his truck all day and invited
me to come over and hang out with him later if I wanted.

            "Sure,"
I said into the phone, hopeful that I didn't sound as though I'd just been
offered an all expense paid cruise to some place tropical. "That sounds fun.
I'll come over later."

             Once
we disconnected the call I did a fist pump in the air and gave a hearty,
"Hell yeah!"            Shelley walked into the room and cocked an
eyebrow at me, "That was Seth I take it?"

            "Yeah,
he's working on his truck and asked me to stop by," I told her.

            She
patted her chest, "Be still my heart. What excitement. How can you even
stand it?"

            "Shut
up! Don't piss in my cereal, I like him," I frowned at her.

            She
crossed over to where I stood and hugged me tight, "I'm only giving you a
hard time. I know you like him. Just be careful Jaq. You're vulnerable right
now and I don't want to see you to get hurt."

            "I
know Shell, but there's just something about this guy, he's different. There
has to be some reason why we keep crossing paths. Something bigger than
coincidence, I mean," I said as I gathered up some clean clothes to wear.
"It's almost like he's my guardian angel or something."

            "Pfft,"
Shelley snorted. "Right. Come on Jaq. I'm pretty sure guardian angels
don't drive broken down Chevy 4x4's.  I think they're supposed to have wings
and halos and shit."

            I
stuck my lower lip out into an exaggerated pout and said, "Hey, it's my
fantasy, and
my
fantasy says my guardian angel can drive any damn thing
he pleases, okay?"

            Shelley
held up her hands in surrender, "Okay, okay. But you've told me about some
of your fantasies and I don't remember any of them involving halos or
wings," she chuckled as she turned to leave, "Feathers maybe."

            Since
Seth hadn't really specified a time for me to come over, other than "later",
I tried to take my time so it didn't come across as me being overly eager when
I showed up. Just because I was dying to see him again didn't mean I wanted him
to think I was desperate.

            Seth
sat on the radiator support leaning under the hood of his truck when I got to
the shop. In spite of the cool temperature inside the garage, the back of his
t-shirt was darkened with sweat in a trail which led down the middle of his
back to the band of underwear just peeking out the top of his jeans.
Tighty
whities today
, I noted to myself with a grin.

            When
he saw me walk up, he rubbed his face on the shoulder of his shirt, and a sexy
smile carved deep dimples into his cheeks, "There you are," he said.

            I
returned his smile, "Here I am."

            He
hopped down from the pickup and used an already filthy grease rag to wipe his
hands on, all the while making me fidget with the heat from his gaze. His eyes
twinkled in amusement about something I wasn't yet made privy to as though he
were undressing me in his mind. "You hungry?" he asked.

            I
chewed on my bottom lip and nodded, "A little," I replied. I hoped
the chaos taking place in the depths of my stomach wouldn't give him a clue as
to what I hungered for.

            He
dipped his head and peered out at me from under his baseball cap. That
trademark move of his which guaranteed to turn my legs into putty every time,
"What're you hungry for?"

            Momentarily,
my eyes widened before flickering away from his face. Talk about loaded
questions. My inner nympho whispered,
Seth. With no dressing
. But the
more reserved side of my personality decided not to go there. Not just yet.
"Pizza?" I managed to squeak out.

            "Pizza
sounds good," he nodded. Inner nympho said,
Damn straight it does. A
piece
of
that fine ass sounds mighty tasty.
He tossed the grease rag onto the
bench and sighed, "Let's get out of here. I've had enough turning wrenches
for one day."

After
class, I decided to swing by the shop to surprise Seth with food. He'd assured
me last night that the truck was nearly road-worthy and I knew he was just
itching to feel mud beneath the tires again. I walked inside the dimly lit shop
and crossed over to where a pair of boots poked out from beneath the Chevy.

            He
must've heard me come in and slid out to beam up at me. I laughed at the streak
of grease covering one of his dimpled cheeks. He narrowed his eyes at me and
sat up on the creeper, "What's so funny?"

            I
snatched a half-clean rag from the bench and started to wipe off his cheek,
"You look kind of hot all covered with oil and grime," I snickered.

            "That
right?" he asked. Before I could answer, he jumped to his feet lightning
fast and backed me against the work bench. He smirked, his eyes darting between
his filthy mechanic's hands hovering over the front of my Aces and Eights
t-shirt and the look of horror on my face.

            "You
wouldn't dare!" I squealed, trying to twist away from him.

            "Yeah,
you're right. I'd hate to ruin such a kick-ass shirt," he said. He leaned
in and softly kissed my lips When he pulled away I spotted the devilish glimmer
in his blue eyes, I knew he wasn't going to let me off that easy. He grinned
and gently swiped his hands across my cheeks. "Now we're twins," he
declared triumphantly.

            My
eyes widened and I shook my head, "Thanks. For not ruining my favorite
t-shirt."

            He
laughed, "Aces and Eights just saved your ass from having to explain two
greasy palm prints strategically located on the front of your chest. Which is a
very nice chest, by the way."

            I
swatted at him playfully, "You hungry?" I asked. He glanced sideways
at me and quirked an eyebrow. I shook my head and said, "For food. I
brought food. You goof."

            "Like
you can't even imagine," his blue eyes darkened for a split second before
I shoved the sandwich and fries under his nose. "Yeah, um, food is
good," he whispered.

            We
both washed up and he turned over a plastic five-gallon bucket for me to sit on
and he hopped up beside me onto the workbench. "So, is it running
yet?" I asked, nodding toward the truck.

            "I
was just about to try it when you got here," he said. He blew out a deep
breath and I glanced up at him. He smiled but there was a barely perceptible
sadness in his eyes. "I should just get rid of the damn thing and get
something more reliable, but I made a promise, you know?"

            I
nodded, "I get that," I said, thinking about my own car. There were
hundreds of times I would have much rather had something newer to drive, but
the Charger had been my dad's car and the thought of anyone else driving it
made my stomach turn. I didn't know what Seth's attachment was, but I sensed
there was a story behind it. "Have you had the truck awhile?"

            He
didn't answer right away and I almost thought he hadn't heard me. When I got up
to throw away our fast food wrappers, he started to talk about it. "It
belonged to my best friend Ed," he said quietly. I sat back down and
tucked my arm around his leg. I rested my cheek against his knee and searched
his face, urging him to continue.

            Seth
drew in a ragged breath and raked his fingers gently through my hair while he
talked, "Ed, everyone else called him Edsel because he was built like a
goddamn tank. Anyway, Ed decided to join the army and one night right before he
shipped out, we were propped up, drunk, in the back of that truck," Seth
nodded towards the pickup and gave a little laugh. "We were drunker than
ten-hundred Indians when Ed turns to me all serious-like and says, 'if anything
happens to me and I don't come home, take good care of my truck, okay?' Well
fuck, what could I say to
that
?"

            I
squeezed his leg, "Oh wow. I'm so sorry."

            He
glanced down at me and shook his head, "Yeah. Ed never made it out of
Afghanistan alive and now I sort of feel obligated to keep my word, ya know? I
never in a million years figured I'd actually have to do it," he snorted.
"I mean, Christ, it's about the ugliest, most unreliable damn thing I've
ever owned."

            "So,
the Camaro you drive? Is that yours then?" I asked, trying to ease the
topic into something lighter.

            "Yeah,
that's my baby," he grinned, all proud-like.

            "For
the record?" I said, meeting his eyes. "Your Camaro reeks like
ass."

            He
threw back his head and laughter rumbled from his belly, the corners of his
eyes crinkled with a big smile, "That right? Well come on then." He
hopped off the bench and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. "Let's
get this piece of shit running so you don't have to ride around in something
that smells like ass. I don't want my girl to be uncomfortable."

           
My
girl? Holy shit sticks, had he just called me his girl?

After
Seth confided in me about the promise he'd made to his friend Ed, a big chunk
of my frozen heart melted into a puddle, endearing me to him more and more.
Each minute spent with Seth caused the wall around my heart to begin crumbling
slowly into oblivion.

            Though
we spent a lot of time together, quality one-on-one
alone
time was a
rare commodity. If we were at Seth's house, his nerdy roommate Tanner lurked
constantly and always managed to barge in at the most inopportune moment. Unfortunately,
most of the time spent at my apartment also included the company of Shelley, or
Shelley
and
Tim.

I was pretty stoked when Shelley informed
me that some relative of Tim's was getting married in Columbia and they would
be traveling out of town for the weekend. I spent part of the day cleaning and the
rest I spent in the kitchen making my world-famous Twenty-Pound Lasagna.
Shelley had dubbed it Twenty-Pound Lasagna because a full pan weighed around
twenty pounds.

Seth had to work all day, but promised
as soon as he got off he would shower and come right over. I hoped he was as
excited about not having to share me with anyone else as I was about being
alone with him.

I was surprisingly relaxed and strangely
calm even though I was pretty sure I was going to sleep with the sexiest guy
alive for the first time. I guess that was my rational side, the keep it
together side of me. Because the other side? The borderline nymphomaniac side?
Yeah she was going crazy with anticipation doing handsprings and somersaults
inside my stomach.

I reached into the cupboard above the
sink and pushed the bottles around until I spotted the one I was looking for,
"Ah there you are. My good old friend José," I sighed. "Long
time no see." I decided that just one shot would help take the edge off
without making me want to take my clothes off. I did my one shot and tucked the
bottle back up where it belonged as the warmth spread through my veins like a
long lost amigo.