In Her Eyes (13 page)

Ben laughed. “Girls are so bad at this.”

“Huh? How is that bad?”

Ben leaned in and whispered in her ear. “If a purple car
does
drive down this street by eight
tonight,
then…”

Casey’s eyes opened wide when he finished the sentence. “No way.”

Two more cars passed. One black, one blue, but none of them said anything.

“So, do we have a bet?”

“No way. I can’t do that,” Casey said in a hushed tone.

“Not so confident anymore huh?”

Casey thought about the bet for a moment. It’s not that she didn’t
want
to do what he was suggesting if he won…it’s just, well, it wasn’t something she thought she could do. Nikki on the other hand would do something like this even without a bet. She looked at Ben, still grinning in confidence, but there is no way a purple car was driving by. “Fine,” she said.

Ben held out his hand to shake on it.

“But…not only do you have to clean my garage, but you also have to mow the front lawn, and…give me a foot massage.”

Ben bent over and looked down at her feet tucked inside a pair of brown sandals. “So let me get this straight. If I lose, I have to clean your already clean garage, mow your tiny lawn and then massage your cute feet?

“Yes?”

They shook on it. “Deal,” Ben said.

“Deal,” Casey said. She looked over at Emma who had been strangely quiet for the past few minutes. She was curled up in the chair sound asleep. Casey tapped Ben on the shoulder and he looked over at her and smiled.

They talked quietly for several minutes, watching the stars fill the dusty sky one by one. A light April breeze stirred several fallen leaves from the small Maple tree in her front yard. To the right, just past Archer Road was a line of tall pines and in between them they could see the myriad of oranges and yellows from the setting sun.

“I’m sorry you had to lose the bet,” Ben said.

Casey looked around. “Did I miss the invisible purple car that drove by?”

“No, you just didn’t see the one sitting at the park across the street when we made the bet.”

Casey immediately looked down the street and to the right a bit where there was a small community park, which was more or less a swing set, a jungle gym, and a basketball hoop. She didn’t see a car, though, let alone a purple car. She looked back at Ben, “Good one.”

“Look, here it comes now.”

Casey looked back again, but still didn’t see a purple…wait…on the sidewalk was one of Casey’s neighbors. She was wearing the same cut-off jean shorts, aqua green tank top, and cowboy hat that she wore every single day. And of course she had a glass of wine in her hand. As annoying as she was, though, that wasn’t the problem. Riding in front of her was her three-year-old daughter wearing nothing but her diaper. Again, not a problem. The problem was she was riding in a purple Power Wheels toy car. Casey didn’t take her eyes off the car. “That so does not count.”

“It so does.”

* * *

Casey walked back outside after she got Emma to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.

Ben had stacked the chairs back up in the garage and was closing the tailgate to his truck. He walked around to the front of his truck and leaned against it, looking at Casey as she walked towards him.

She walked right up to him, ran her hands over his stomach lightly tugging on his shirt, leaned up and kissed him. “She loved you,” Casey said, every part of her body smiling. “Only problem is now she wants to know when you’re coming over to play again.”

Before he could respond, Casey went on. “Seriously, though. I can’t believe she kissed a boy! And I can’t believe she told you! Where did you come up with that
tell me a secret
thing?”

Ben hesitated. He thought back to Claire Stewart’s words from a few hours ago.
I want to tell your story.
He wanted to tell Casey…but he couldn’t.

He looked straight into her eyes and his tone was dead serious. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Casey was completely caught off guard by the question, and her mind was suddenly racing. “What do you mean?”

“Last week,” he said. “Did something happen last week?”

She quickly thought back to last week. Her conversation with Candy about what to do about Ben, going to his track practice, their first date. That was it. The rest was all normal everyday stuff. “I…I don’t think so.”

“It’s okay, Casey. It’s not a big deal.”

Did he talk to Candy or Nikki maybe? Did they say something to him?

“Well,” Casey started. But as she began to speak, this huge grin rushed over his face, and she stopped.

“Oh. My. Gosh.”

Ben was laughing now.

“You just made all of that up to see if I would say something? That’s your little trick?”

“Technically I think it belongs to some guy named Forer, but yeah, that’s it.”

“I meant
tell
me how you got her to give up a secret. Not
show
me...”

“Hey, I could have kept going…”

“And you
could
never get a third date…” she teased.

“Speaking of that. What night are you free to fulfill our little bet.”

Casey stepped close to Ben and put her hands on his waist again. This time tucking them just slightly below the top hem of his jeans until her fingers brushed against his skin. She leaned up and kissed him slowly, teasing his lips. She moved down, leaving traces of her lips along his jaw line and neck.

His body tightened against her as both of his hands wrapped around her wrists. “How about,” she said between kisses, “we just…forget…about that.”

For a moment Ben didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond. His entire body felt warm, except for each and every place Casey’s lips touched his neck. He was trying to build his resolve, but the next kiss pushed him over the edge.

Ben moved his hands from her wrists to her waist and stepped closer to her until his body was pressed against hers. He pushed her against the front door and lifted her up as he kissed her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and her hands around the back of his neck.

They kissed for several seconds and then Casey leaned her head back against the door and smiled. Ben let her slide back down to her feet and she looked up at him. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

34

Focused

April 14, 2015

The next day at work Casey found it hard to stay focused. If their first kiss was amazing, then she didn’t think there were words that described how Ben had kissed her last night. Still, she was about to try.

It was just past 9 p.m. when Emma finally fell asleep. After a thirteen hour shift all Casey wanted to do was sleep, but Nikki was sitting excitedly on her couch with a bowl of popcorn and two glasses filled with Twin Springs Sweet Red Wine.

Nikki tapped on the empty couch cushion next to where she was sitting.

Casey rolled her eyes as she grabbed the glass of wine and sat down next to Nikki. She took two sips and rubbed her neck as she curled her legs up under her and leaned back against the couch.

“Okay, spill.”

Casey looked back towards Emma’s room and then over to Nikki. “Let’s go to my room.”

Nikki’s eyes lit up. “Oh my gosh. You didn’t.”

Casey picked up the bowl of popcorn and walked towards her bedroom with Nikki following close behind. “Didn’t what?”

“You slept with him on your second date,” Nikki said.

Casey shut the door to her bedroom behind them. “What! No!”

Nikki looked around confused. “Then why are we in here with the door shut?”

“Did you forget there is a five year old girl asleep in the room down the hall?”

“So, you didn’t sleep with him?”

“No!”

Nikki sat her glass on the nightstand and laid down on Casey’s bed. “Well, that’s a let down.”

Casey bit her bottom lip.

“Wait, did you really, but you just don’t want to say it out loud because of Emma?” Nikki whispered. “Okay, blink twice if you slept with him.”

Casey stared blankly at Nikki.

“You’re killing me,” Nikki said. “Can you just tell me what happened?”

Casey hesitated. “He picked me up.”

“He picked you up? Like in his car?”

“No. Like he physically picked me up.”

“Casey, I love you, but I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Casey sat down on the bed next to Nikki, her left leg folded under her and her right leg hanging off the side. She breathed in deeply. “We were standing at the front door and I was saying goodbye to Ben. We started kissing and the next thing I know my back is against the door, my legs are wrapped around his waist, and his tongue, oh my gosh.” Casey breathed out deeply. “I’ve never been kissed like that in my entire life.”

Nikki looked at Casey, but didn’t say a word.

“What?” Casey said. “Is that bad?”

“That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard.”

35

When He Runs

April 18, 2015

Four days later and Casey still couldn’t stop smiling as she walked up the bleacher stairs, each step echoing through the aluminum truss below her. Emma’s left hand was wrapped around several of Casey’s fingers, while her right was busy holding two scoops of vanilla ice cream in an old-fashioned wafer cone.

This was the last home meet of the season, and the stadium was absolutely packed. It was the only thing Ben had talked about all week long. Next weekend was their last away meet at LSU, three weeks after that were the Southeastern Conference Championships, and four weeks after that was the NCAA Championship. The schedule was pretty much burned into her head considering how long Ben spent talking about each race. At first it seemed as though he may just be talking off his nerves, but then Casey realized this wasn’t nerves at all. This was something that was completely and utterly consuming him, and it kind of scared her in some sense.

Casey and Emma finally found a seat at the top of the bleachers just below a huge banner reading “Tom Jones Memorial Invitational.” Casey had no idea who Tom Jones was, but she assumed pretty much no one else did either.

As they sat down, she scanned the field for Ben. Even though she’d been working twelve to fifteen hour days all week, they still managed to see each other or talk every day except Friday.

On Tuesday Casey got stuck at the hospital because the next shift resident was an hour late. She hadn’t heard from Ben all day, and was surprised when she got in bed to find her phone ringing through with a video call. She was in pajamas with no makeup and bags under eyes, and yet the first thing he said when she accepted the call was, “you’re beautiful.” It wasn’t just what he said though, it was the smile he said it with.

Wednesday night he came over for dinner and she made her world famous macaroni and cheese, which was really just macaroni noodles, cheese, butter, and milk. It was Emma’s favorite though, and the blue flower he brought her made it unforgettable.

They didn’t see each other on Thursday, because she got called back in to the hospital. But he texted her in the middle of the night, which was only a few hours into her shift. Fifteen minutes later she had found herself hiding in the break room, having the hottest text conversation she’d ever had.

Casey started to feel guilty about that night and the thoughts she was having right now. Not counting 8 Seconds, even though he did kiss her that night, they’d only been on three dates and yet she was nervous what might happen when the opportunity came up for more than a kiss. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there hadn’t been a lot of opportunity for them to be alone…yet.

Casey looked down at Emma, who was literally covered in ice cream. Lines of dried vanilla ran down her fingers and around her mouth. There was even some in her hair. Casey grabbed a brown paper napkin from her pocket and wiped away the ice cream clinging to her hair behind her ear.

“Look, Mom.” Emma pointed towards the left side of the infield. “It’s Ben, it’s Ben,” she said, nearly dropping what was left of her ice cream.

Casey looked up to see Ben walking along side Parker. They were both wearing all blue. Blue tank tops with the word “Florida” in white writing on the center, blue breakaway sweat pants half buttoned down the sides, and even blue Nike sandals.

They walked across the infield for a few minutes, talking, and then Ben split away from Parker. He pulled his sweat pants off, revealing a pair of blue nylon shorts that she had seen on him before, and set them on top of a duffel bag. And then he slipped his sandals off and walked along the infield grass flexing his feet and ankles.

After several minutes Ben sat down next to his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of blue Nike shoes. He bent them each twice in his hand revealing a layer of thick black rubber under the minimalist running shoe. Then he slowly slipped them on and laced them up. The way he examined the laces reminded Casey of how she was taught to examine patients, never letting a single detail go unmissed.

She watched him stretch out and loosen up for the next ten minutes, while also trying to will him to look up at her. She had worn a pair of khaki capris with a drawstring at the bottom and a light blue tank top with spaghetti string straps that was probably a little too revealing, but that was the whole point.

He never looked up towards the stands, though. Not once.

The loudspeaker boomed overhead calling attention to all the runners participating in the 5000 meter. Casey watched as all the runners began to line up. Just beyond them she noticed the scoreboard change. In the upper left hand corner it read:

Event: 21 Heat: 1

And just below that:

Lane 1: Collins, UF

Lane 2, Morrie, FAMU

Lane 3: Wilder, UF

Lane 4: Zwiacz, TAMPA

Lane 5: Swartz, TAMPA

Lane 6: Fuentes, FIU

Lane 7: Fellows, N. FLORIDA

Lane 8: Sanders, UF