Hooked (25 page)

     “Me too, you were very attentive and sweet.  You made it the best night of my life.”

     “It was the best night of my life too
,
sweetheart.  I’m not
gonna
want to leave you today
,
”
h
e said as he nuzzled my neck.

     “I know
,
but you have to go to work and I have basketball practice later.”

    
Once we got up and around, Chase came over to me as I was rolling up our sleeping bags. 
“Umm, Millie?
  I’m really sorry about last night.  I wasn’t trying to see you naked or anything.  I didn’t realize you’d be changing clothes when I came in there.”

     I looked past him at Cash.  He was so tense
,
but didn’t say anything.  “It’s alright Chase
.
R
eally
,
we’re cool.”  He nodded and turned around and walked off.  I looked at Cash. 

    
“Thank you.”

    
“For what?”

     “Not saying anything, even though
I know you wanted to.”

     “Yeah, it irks me that little
scrota-bag
s
aw
you like that.  I don’t like it.”

     “Cash, it was an accident.  It wasn’t like he knew I was changing and tried to sneak a peek.”

     “I know
,
but now he can think about it anytime he wants to.  I don’t really like the idea of someone else picturing my girlfriend without her shirt.”

   
I laughed out loud.  “I seriously doubt he will be picturing anything
.
I think he was more embarrassed than I was.”

   
“Trust me
,
sweetheart, when a guy sees something as beautiful as you, they never forget it and try to think about it as often as possible.”

     “Well
,
I’m not a guy, but maybe it will help if you think about the fact that you can actually see me anytime you want
,
whereas he will just have his memory to revert to.”  I laughed at him actually being upset by this.

     “That works, but I’m still not happy about him seeing you.  Maybe, I’ll pound him anyway.”

     I raised one eyebrow at him.

    
“Teasing
,
sweetheart
.
”
I smiled at him until he added, “
K
ind of”
.  Th
en we both laughed and I hugged him close to me.

CHAPTER
13

     The next couple of weeks all blurred together because between trying to spend time with Cash, basketball and keeping up with my studies, I literally
didn’t have time for anything else.
  Everyone was preoccupied with
h
omecoming and decorating, plus
,
we really wanted to beat the team we were playing.  They were our school rivals and the last meeting we had with them, they won.

     My dad ended up taking off work so he could take Eli camping with the team this weekend.  Mom had some plans with her girlfriends on Friday night. 
Cash and I d
ecided that we would just hang out at my house Friday because everyone was gone.  He
had to work right after school
,
but he actually made it to my game last night because we played at home.  Around six, he knocked on the door.

    
“Hey
,
handsome.”

    
“Hey yourself
,
beautiful!”

     “So
,
I have a surprise for you.  You get to learn something new about me tonight,” I say grinning from ear to ear because he’s about to find out just how competitive I can be.

     “Is this the same as me learning something new about you last night?”
  He showed me his dimples.

     “I don’t know what you are talking about,” I replied innocently.

     Ugh, I knew exactly what he was talking about…Christie Johnson.  I had to play ball for a
n
hour and try not to pay attention to her flirting with my boyfriend in the stands.  It was making me angry that she was so blatant about it.  Man, some girls have no self respect.  After the game, Cash was waiting for me outside.  When I walked outside, Christie was out there with some of her friends.  I overheard her inviting him to a homecoming party.  I could feel my adrenaline kicking in walking up to them and I was not happy. 

    
When I finally made it to them, she looked at me like she smelled something bad.  “So anyways, Cash
,
stop by if you can get away from you know who.”  She started walking off giggling with her friends.

     “Umm, actually he will be with me that night
,
Christie and it will be by choice.  I’m not like you, trying to force people to date me by coming on so strong they have no choice but to say yes, because they are so uncomfortable they don’t know what else to say.  If Cash wanted to go out with you, he would.  You’ve obviously let him know enough tonight that he could.  And also, you shouldn’t be so
obvious,
desperate doesn’t look good on you.”  With that, I grabbed Cash’s hand and star
t
ed walking to his car.

     “Wow
,
baby, you told her.  I’ve never seen you jealous before.  It kind of turned me on.”

     I stared at him dead pan.  “I can’t stand people like that!  They just go around trying to see who they can piss off or get a reaction out of.  She’s ok
ay
with any kind of attention she can get because she can’t relate to anyone on a personal level
,
so these shallow reactions appease her
,
”
I huffed.

     He chuckled at me as he brought my hand up to his lips, “Sweetheart, you have nothing to worry about
.
”
H
e opened
my side of the door and I got in.  He leaned in the door and kissed my nose, “You are the only one for me, now and forever.”

    
It was still kind of embarrassing to know that I had reacted like that
,
but she made me really angry.  He smiled a sly smile at me as he came in through the door.  I know it really made his day to see me so jealous.  I couldn’t even argue with him because he was right.

     “Mom won’t be home till around
eleven,
but she left us a casserole in the oven.
”
  I went to the oven to get it out and Cash came up behind me. 

     “I’m so glad we are going to be alone tonight
,
because I’m itching to kiss you right now.”

     “Slow your role
.
R
emember
,
you are going to learn something about me tonight
.
”
I laughed as I sat the food on the table.  “I’ll give you a hint…we are going to play tonight.”

    
“Play?
  Baby, I’m down with whatever---
”

    
“Cash!
  Not like that, we are going to play,
”
I walk out of the kitchen and bring my games from the hallway closet,
“
board
games.” I say taking them
to the kitchen table.

     “Millie, I’m not any good at games, I’ve never actually played these games
before
.”

     “You’ve never played
M
onopoly?”

     “No.”

     “Well
,
you’re
gonna
play tonight.  I’m going to teach you.”

     “Alright, as long as I get to be with you, I don’t care what we do.”

     “I’m so excited
,
Cash!  I think you’re going to love LIFE.  You get to have your own little family and pick what kind of future you have and there are different squares that you land on with life’s unexpected experiences.
  It has little cards you draw and everything.”

     “I don’t want to have my own
life,
I want a life with you.”

     “
Aww
, well you can forget about that family for a while.  Listen, I was going to tell you
this a
couple of weeks ago, but there was never a good time…I’m on birth
control now.”

    
“Oh, well good.
  Did your mom take you?”

     “Yes.”

     “Damn.”

     “What?”

     “Well, I’m sure she has already told your dad by now and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like the idea of me having sex with his daughter.”

     “Oh whatever, I needed to be on it so I am.  It’s not that big of a deal
.  Look, I’m sure my dad isn’t thrilled by the idea, but we are going to be safe.  I don’t need or want children while I’m in college.  Speaking of college, where do you want to go?”

     “Mil, I’m not planning on going to college.  I’m going into the Army.  I was actually going to talk to you about it
,
but I didn’t want to ruin what a great time we’ve been having.” 

    
My heart sank.  I guess I figured that he would find out where I wa
s
going and come with me or
vice
versa.  I didn’t really know how to respond to what he was telling me.  Would we stay together?  Did he just want to have fun now and then when he leaves break up?

     “Well, I guess you’ve already got your future planned then,” I say feeling sick at my stomach.  “I don’t want to be without you
,
but I will support you in your decision.”

     “Millie, there’s no way I would ask you to wait on me.”

     “So
,
what are you saying, you just want to be together another couple of months, then break up?”

     “No, I just figured we’d see what happens.  I don’t want you to be off at school and not have fun.”

     “Okay…umm, I guess we’ll just wait then.”

     He hugged me tight.  I felt a little betrayed because he knew this was what he was going to do for a while, yet he didn’t feel the need to talk with me about it.  I’m so deeply in love with him that I know it is going to rip my heart out when he leaves
,
but at least I have months instead of weeks to be with him before that happens and I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not.

     We played the games for the rest of the night.  I was glad Cash got to experience them for the first time
,
but I know he could tell I wasn’t really into it after we had talked.  He went home at eleven and I felt like something had changed between us.  Not a bad change, just us realizing that we were going in different directions.  It was scary for me to think of a life without him.  I had just gotten used to having him with me all the time.  I didn’t want to think of a time when I wouldn’t have him
.  After thinking about it for a while, I decided to be reasonable about
it
.  I couldn’t ask him not to go, that wouldn’t be fair.  I would let him go have the future he wanted and if it was meant to be with us, we will be together in the future.