Forever and Almost Always (2 page)

A little while later, after I had heard footsteps in their backyard, I looked back to see if anyone was there. Wilton stood above the brick wall laughing, as I turned and waved. I wasn't a very modest girl, so I strutted over to him in my tiny lime green bikini to say hello. Wilton was a mix of Tyrese and Idris Elba, but younger. He was definitely something to look at as well, minus the huge afro he was sporting at the moment. When I climbed up on the small retaining wall, he reached across to give me a hug. We exchanged pleasantries, and then he told me about a party that him and his roommate were planning on having tomorrow night. I told him I would be there, and that I would be bringing a friend. After we said our good-byes, I jumped down and pulled my clothes back on. I knew exactly where I needed to go, and I needed to go, like now.

I locked the screen door behind me and made my way down the sidewalk to the driveway. I knew the two of them were outside the minute I walked out. His voice was like sunshine on a cool winter day. It engulfed all of my senses, causing me to become light headed, and leaving me a little off kilter. His voice was deep but melodic, and oh so soothing. That, mixed with his off the charts good looks, and I was a goner.

I could feel his electric blue eyes on me as I made my way to my car. Knowing I affected him, gave me a strange sense of power, so I gave another wave before entering my car. They both stood there, stunned, but waving back.

The drive over to Taylor's house seemed to take extra long, this time. I had made the drive a million and one times and the ten minutes always seemed like seconds, but not today. As I hit the last stop sign before her dirt road, my mind flittered back to thoughts of the delicious looking guy moving in right next door to me.

A honking horn behind me pulled me out of my revelry. I quickly pushed down on the gas pedal and sped down the dirt road. Taylor was waiting outside for me, as I knew she would be. I had told her that I would be back later to pick her up; I just didn't think it would be so soon. I all but jumped out of my car before even putting it in park.

"What the hell, Charlee. My granddad just called to see why you were hauling ass down the road." She looked pissed, but I didn't care. I was always careful not to kick up too much dust when I came down their road, but come on man, pave the damn thing.

"Sorry. You are never going to believe me when I tell you, so I need you to grab your swimsuit and come with me right now." I threw a sly smile in her direction, before walking into her house.

Taylor's family lived on their own private drive in Chandler. It reeked of all the dairy farms around, but the pungent odor was just one you learned to get used to. I still haven't. Taylor, her mom, her step-dad and her little sister all lived in the house at the end. In between them sat her granddad’s house and then her aunt's. Apparently her granddad had purchased all the land back when it cost next to nothing. He built all the houses for his girls, and now that was where they all resided.

Taylor's mom was extremely nice and welcoming. The minute Taylor and I started hanging out when we were seventeen, we became inseparable. She was my sister from another mother, that's for sure. Her mom all but adopted me into their family and now here we were.

"Okay, I'm ready, I think. Where are we going?" I had seen that hesitant look in her eyes before, but I wasn't about to spoil the surprise.

"Not far. Come on let's go." I tugged her arm over to the car and threw her inside.

Of course, the drive back lasted maybe all of five minutes. When I turned onto my street Taylor gave me a quizzical look, but I just laughed. Midway down my street, I caught sight of my mom's car and I almost started choking on my own spit. She wasn't supposed to be home yet, and I sure as shit didn't need her interrogating our new neighbors before, I even got a chance to meet the delicious one.

"What's your mom doing home?"

I slowly turned my head in Taylor's direction before giving her the usual eye roll. "Because my mom loves to be home at the most inopportune times." We both shared a small laugh, as I pulled into the driveway next to my mom's car.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mom very much, but we have always had a tumultuous relationship. We rarely, if ever agreed on anything. We argued to no end, and she just loved to get involved in
everything
I did. The stubbornness runs deep in our blood, is basically what it boils down to.

I noticed that the maroon truck that had been in the other driveway earlier, was now gone. Disappointment fell across my face and my whole demeanor changed faster than lightening. Damn it! We made our way towards the front door of my house and entered, just as my mom was apparently leaving.

"Well hello there, daughter of mine. Where have you been?"

"Hi Mom. I ran to pick up Taylor, we're just going to lay out and swim for a little bit." As I gave her the play-by-play, like she always expected, I silently prepared myself for the inevitable lecture coming my way.

"Maybe you should spend less time "laying out" and more time finding a job, huh?"

My mom ladies and gentleman, Isn't she a gem? My mom and I literally had this conversation on a daily basis. For crying out loud, I was only twenty. I had graduated from high school two years ago, applied to a couple of colleges and when I didn't make it into any of them, I decided to take some time off. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to be just yet anyway, so the time off had been helpful. As far as a job went, I had only just left my most recent job that I had for four years, due to cut backs. This was the time to explore my options and discover myself, wasn't it? I let out a small giggle. When my mom's head shot straight up, I stopped.

"Well have a great day then girls. I'm off to work." Her words dripped with sarcasm and I couldn't help but give her the middle finger as she headed out the front door.

"Man, your mom is on one today. What the hell is her deal?"

"Who knows. Let's grab the stereo and head out back." We both nodded in agreement as we made our way out the back door.

Chapter Three

Dax

Wilton and I stood in a daze for at least five minutes, after she had taken off down the street. This overwhelming feeling I was having, was foreign to me. Don't get me wrong; I'm your typical guy. I could notice a good looking girl from at least a thousand miles away, but this girl was different. She caught me by surprise, and that rarely, if ever happened. If I thought she looked good the first time I saw her, holy hell she looked even better the second time around. Wilton shoved me hard from behind when I still hadn't moved. I spun around and quickly smacked him against the back of his head.

About a half an hour passed, when we were bringing in the last piece of my furniture. I was exhausted and probably could have dropped dead right in my tracks, but I had to return my co-worker's truck to him before six, and it was already five thirty. Man, I needed to get a vehicle, and fast. As soon as the big screen was placed strategically across from my bed, I fell to the floor and laid flat on my back. It only took me a second to realize that Wilton had said he spoke to
her
earlier. Now I was intrigued about what he said to her.

"Hey man, what did you say to her?" I instantly felt like an idiot for asking. What were we in fucking high school?

"Not a whole lot. I just said hey and then invited her to the party we are having tomorrow night."

Before I could totally comprehend what he had just said to me, Wilton was on his feet and running through the house to his room. I clambered to my feet, trying to catch up with him, but he shut and locked his bedroom door.

"Your lucky you sleep on the opposite side of the house, asshole." I shouted into the doorframe. "I have to leave for a bit, but I'll be back. See ya."

I turned, making my way into the kitchen to grab the truck keys off of the counter. I glanced out the kitchen window one last time, before I made my way outside. Leaving right now was the last thing I wanted to do. As pathetic as it sounded, I wanted to wait until she got back from wherever she went. I wanted, no I
needed
, to see her angelic face one last time tonight.

 I made the last minute decision to clean out the cab of Ernesto's truck, hopefully buying myself some time to catch a small glimpse of her. After I discarded all of the non-existent garbage, I sat in the driver's seat and turned the radio up. I glanced down at the clock on the dash and realized I only had fifteen minutes to get to our work, and it was at least a twenty-five minute drive. Shit! I turned the key over, bringing the truck to life. Just as I was pulling out of the driveway, a bright yellow SUV pulled into her driveway. An older lady emerged from the vehicle and I could only assume that it was her mom. She glanced in my direction, so I waved and sped out of there faster than a speeding bullet.

I wasn't really a meet the parents kind of guy. As much as I wanted to get to know this girl, I really didn't know how it was going to go with her living with her mom. I shook my head trying to clear my mind of all thoughts pertaining to my hot ass neighbor, as I pulled into the right hand turn lane to go towards the freeway. My eyes shot wide open and I almost slammed into the car in front of me. Her and another girl drove right past me, going in the opposite direction. My pants grew tighter and my heart noticeably sped up. Damn it, what the hell was she doing to me? For fuck's sake, I didn't even know her name. I ran my hands down my face, trying to compose myself. This girl was going to be the death of me, I swear it.

When I pulled up to the welding yard I worked at, Ernesto was nowhere to be found. I parked so the headlights were facing the yard, but I didn't see anybody around.

"ERNIE!" I waited a second for an answer, before shouting his name again. "ERNIE!"

When he still hadn't answered, I pulled out my cell to try and call him. The only problem was, Ernesto didn't speak very good English and this white boy knew not a lick of Spanish, except for hello and good. Someone answered on the second ring and I was thankful it was his fiancé and not him. She spoke English. "Veronica, hi. Is Ernesto at home with you already? I'm at the shop, but he isn't here."

"Yes, he is here. He said to just pick him up in the morning."

"Okay, tell him I will see him at six tomorrow morning. Thanks."

"Okay."

I silently cursed Ernesto for not picking up his damn phone to tell me he didn't need me to come get him. I knew my reasoning was irrational and completely not thought out, but fuck, I probably could have seen her again. I jumped into the lowered Chevy S10 and slowly made my way back to the house. We didn't have too much going on tonight, but I needed to relax and a beer sounded amazing right about now. I was only nineteen, but that's what was so perfect about living with Wilton, he was already twenty-one.

When I turned the corner onto our street, the first thing I noticed was my buddy Aaron's Trans Am parked along the curb. The next thing I noticed was her teal green Honda Accord parked in her driveway. I did a silent fist pump and pulled into my driveway. Before I got out, I quickly scanned around to see if she was around, but I didn’t see anyone, so I made my way inside of my house.

The minute I opened the door, a group of people sat staring at me in the living room. I just nodded my head and headed down the hallway to my bedroom. I wanted to grab a quick shower before hanging out, but my plans were going to be delayed for a minute, because when I opened my bedroom door, Aaron was perched on the edge of my bed.

"What's up? What are you doing in here?" I didn't really care that he was in my room, but I was curious. He was usually with everyone else.

"Abby is out there and we broke up yesterday."

"Why the fuck is she here then?" Aaron and Abby had only dated for about six months, just long enough for her to turn into a psycho. She was a super cool chick when we first met her, but shortly after her and Aaron started dating, she tried to pull the whole bullshit of telling him who he could and couldn't hang out with. He wasn’t okay with that, so I wasn’t okay with that.

"I don't know. I think she came here with Evan to try and piss me off."

"That sounds about right." I laughed. "Well, I'm going to jump in the shower real quick and then if you want, we can leave and go do something."

"Yeah, okay. I'll just wait for you in the game room."

I slapped him on his shoulder, "Don't worry bro, shit is going to change around here real quick."

"Thanks man."

I closed my door behind me as I headed to the bathroom. Once inside, I turned on the water and let the room get nice and steamy. When I pulled the curtain back to get in the shower, I was almost assaulted by a spider the size of a small island. I quickly jumped back in all my glorified nakedness, trying not to scream like a girl. I could deal with just about any insect, but spiders, I didn't do! Once my heart rate resumed its normal pace, I quickly turned the showerhead so the steady stream of water was now berating down on the spider. It took a few minutes but that fuzzy asshole finally gave up, and made his way down the drain. Once the shower was spider free, I jumped in and washed up like my life depended on it. There was no way I was staying in there longer than needed.

Chapter Four

Charlee

"Taylor, I'm telling you, he was absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen a guy with that amount of muscle look good enough to eat." Taylor and I had been outside swimming and lying out since my mom left. It was a Thursday, so absolutely nothing was going on.

"I know nothing of this mythical man you speak of. For all I know, you just made him up."

I threw my cold unopened soda can at her, hitting her right in the side. "Trust me, I didn't make him up. You'll see." I closed my eyes as I flipped onto my stomach and untied my bikini top.

"Obviously I
won't
see." Her laughter echoed off of the covered patio a few feet away from us.