Every Girl Does It (26 page)

“What
'
s not fair?” I ask
,
totally lost
;
yet still doubting my outfit
,
because his look is sending me red flags.

“You look so cute and…well
...
”
He
pushes the dog and cat off and takes two long strides toward me.

“Well
,
what?”
Seriously
,
I
’
m dying with anticipation.

“I’m going to ruin it.”

“What? Ruin what? What are you talking about?”

He smiles mischievously
,
then tightens his grip around my waist
and pull
s
me into his arms. He brushes his lips against my mouth
,
and I feel like attacking him.
Back down
,
girl,
I tell myself as I struggle to keep my hands firmly placed by my sides.

“We
'
re going to the sand dunes
.
Y
ou
'
r
e
going to get dirty
,” he
whispers into my ear
. It
tickles my sense
s,
making me want to agree with whatever he says.

I laugh weakly
.
“Oh
,
I’m sure
I’ll
be fine
.
I mean
,
how dirty could a person get?”

How dirty indeed
,
I say to myself
and
yet again taste sand in my mouth. Sand is in places I didn’t know sand could
access
, yet I am having the time of my life watching my
soon-to-
be husband (I know
,
I caved), drive like a madman down sandy dunes.

He looks like a little boy who just discovered a sandbox for the first time. I
’
ll admit this
is
fun
,
minus the sand in every crevice of my body. I get back in my dune buggy and drive as fast as I can
in his direction
. He laughs as he aims his buggy toward mine then veers off at the last second. Note to self, when you
'
r
e
hot and sweaty
,
don’t go to the sand dunes
.
Preston
doesn’t even lo
ok of American descent anymore.

Luckily
,
we packed food and water and decided to lay down on a blanket for a short picnic. I yawned loudly before taking a long swig of the co
ol liquid. “We should head back,
” I say
,
only my voice sounds slightly cracked from the dry air.

“Probably
,
”
h
e says smiling, only he doesn’t seem present
. Something
must be bothering him.

“Are you okay?” I ask
,
trying to play the sweet
,
understanding girlfriend role. I even lean over and start caressing his hand.

He pulls it back instantly and looks down
.
“I have to tell you something.”

I’m frozen
.
I can’t breathe
;
I can’t move
.
S
omething
’
s wrong. My eyes widen as I wait for hi
m to spill it all
. Maybe
this i
s a big joke
.
M
aybe he is getting his reveng
e
, maybe
—

“—I’ve always wanted to kiss Princess Leah.”

Not what I was expecting
. I stare at him and am sorely tempted to punch him in the face, but he
’
s acting serious
,
so I feel like I need to somehow tell him
it’s
okay to have weird fantasies.

“Um
,
okay, that’s, well
,
good for you
,”
I say
,
patting his hand and looking away. Everything in me screams
Laugh
.
Laugh at him
.
B
ut I can’t do it, not again
.
I
t would feel like the choir concert
,
only this time it would really hurt him.

“Sometimes
...
”

O
h no
.
H
e’s talking again
.

“
S
ometimes I imagine what it would be like to be Luke Skywalker, to have a light saber that
glows
, you know?”

O
h
my
gosh
,
he has tears in his eyes
.
H
e’s getting teary
-
eyed over Star Wars
.
I knew this was too good to be true. He’s still a nerd
. Only
this time
,
I love him. God, if you’re listening, you
'
r
e
cruel
.
T
his is a mean joke. I may d
eserve it, but I don’t like it.

He’s now full on sobbing
. Or
at least it looks like it
,
because his head is moving and his hands are covering his face.

“There, there
,
” I
whisper
as I pat his back with the only ounce of sympathy I can muster. “It
’
ll be okay.”

“No
,
it
won’t
!”
H
e yells through sobs
.
“I
won’t
ever get a chance to be Luke Skywalker
,
and I didn’t even know my father!” He’s full on yelling. “Curse you
,
George Lucas!” His fist to the sky.

My eyes are so wide right now that I swear people can see the whites of them from the mainland. My mouth is also
hanging
open in a
frightfully
unattractive way
,
and I
’
m stunned into silence. Just as I was about to say
,
“
Y
ou’re
crazy
,
”
h
e turns to me.

“That
..
.”
h
e says
with his
voice back to normal
,
“was for turning me down for prom.” He puts his hands behind his head and leans back
o
nto the blanket
.
“
R
evenge is sooooo sweet.”

I’m
staggered to mere speechlessness. I can’t say anything
.
N
othing could make this moment of his revenge any sweeter, I already fell for it. I fell for it hook
,
line
,
and sinker. I thought he was being serious, that he
had
snapped
.
N
o
,
instead he was playing me for an absolute fool. And
to that
there
'
s only one way to respond.

I take out my water bottle and pour it over his head before making a run for it back to my
buggy. I feel him hot on my hee
ls and leap towards the buggy before he tackles me into the sand.

“I can’t believe you actually fell for that
,
”
h
e said
,
breathless.

I struggle to get free from his
grasp,
then give up,
feeli
ng th
e
sand is
,
yet again
,
in places it should
n’
t be. “How was I supposed to know
?
” I yell
.
“Get off of me!” I
'
m laughing
,
but
it's
an angry
I’m-going-to-get-you-
back laugh.

“I hate that you
honestly
think I’m that obsessed with Star Wars.” He looks absolutely astonished at my behavior.

I stick my tongue out and grimace as his sandy hands grasp it
.
“I’m not letting go unless you make me a promise.”

I shake my head no
,
but whimper as his grip tightens
.

“Promise you’ll say yes.”

My eyes are now watering,
so
what choice
do
I
have
?
I nod my head yes and bite him when he releases my hand.

Luckily
,
down where we had parked our rental car, there were showers,
so
we were able to get at least a pound of sand out of our clothes and other unmentionable places.

I was the first back to the car and squashed down into the seat. Preston soon followed but decided against full clothing. His abs were in full view of my face
,
making me suddenly feel light headed in the heat.

“Shouldn’t you
put on clothes or something?
” My shaky voice betrays me yet again as he notices the emotion that runs thick in my vocal strain. I feel defenseless against his physical beauty. It’s not rational
,
but then again
,
nobody’s ever tagged me as being a rational person.

He puts on his aviator sunglasses
,
making my heart leap that much more and smiles
.
“I want to get a good tan.”

Never
mind that we aren’t in a convertible. He just likes making people suffer.
It’s working
,
I say to myself as I buckle my seatbelt.

The rest of
the day was a blur, before I knew it we were flying back to the mainland.
We were
greeted
by a smiling Kristin and Brad. Apparently
,
the kids
were fine and asked them for pres
ents the s
econd they got to the hospital.

"
Guess what
?" Kristin says practically flying out of the car.
I suddenly remember how much I miss her energy when she isn’t around.

"
What
?" Preston asks trying to act just as excited. Go
t
ta
love a guy
who plays along even when he knows it
’
ll be a huge let down.

"I just heard that Brad and Angelina
are
visiting
Boise this week!
Isn't that amazing?" She looks at both of us not understanding the
expression on my face at all.

"Oh wow, you don't say?" I make eye contact with Preston
, but
he just
smiles back as if to say
,
“
Ha, Ha
.
J
oke
'
s on you
”
.

"Anyway
,
I just thought it was cool
. You
guys ready?" Kristin asks
,
grabbing one of our bags.

We follow her for a few minutes before I turn to Preston and ask
,
"
What’s
the plan?"

He winks and smiles
,
"
O
h
,
just a quiet dinner downtown
. Nothing
huge."

I nod my head
.

"Oh
,
" he interjects quickly
.
"
A
nd your Angelina dress for the evening is
already picked out.
I went for black again
. Hope
you don't mind."

I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"Challenge accepted
,"
I find myself saying as I grab his hand and head
for
the car.