On the Plus Side (17 page)

His girl.

He jumped into my car and shut the door. I watched as he pulled it into the garage and started jacking it up. I couldn’t say or do anything. I was his girl. What the hell does that mean anyway? Shannon’s my girl, but that doesn’t mean I want have sex with her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty and all, but she’s not really my type.

His comment left me even more confused than I was before. Damn him and his confusing everything! That and his sexy everything and damn his seductive everything. Just damn him!

I followed him into the garage. I couldn’t very well bring up the whole “what the hell are we?” subject now that he called me his girl. That could mean anything. I could be his female friend that he’d hook up with his fat buddy named, Bubba, or I could be his girlfriend that he’d do naughty things with at night and daydream about all day.

I’d prefer the latter.

I watched as he worked on my car. He had on greasy jeans with an even greasier red rag hanging out of his back pocket. The black tank top shirt he was wearing was so wet with sweat that it was sticking to every cut and corner of his body. I couldn’t help but stare. His tanned arms were flexing and stretching and the shiny oil on his skin made his tattoos look extra sharp. One day I’d get a better look at those tattoos. One day I’ll outline those babies with my tongue.

He was so fine and I was getting so very hot and bothered.

He climbed under the car and grabbed at different tools. It was like watching an artist at work and I could tell that he truly loved what he was doing.

“So, what did you
wanna talk about?” he asked from under the car.

“Huh? Oh, um—I don’t remember. I’m sure it was nothing important.”

He pulled himself from under the car, the little rolling bed thingy made a creaking noise. I watched him stretch his perfectly shaped body as he got comfortable.

“You OK, Lil? You look funny. Are you feeling OK?”

It took me a minute to peel my eyes of off his chest and dirty jeans to look at his face.

“Huh? Oh, I think I’m coming down with something. I feel like I might have a fever.”

My face had to be bright red. I couldn’t think about anything but him and those thoughts weren’t very pure. At night I had dreams of him doing and saying things to me. During the day I had daydreams about him touching me certain ways and making me feel things I’ve never felt before. I couldn’t focus on anything at work. Even Shannon commented on how out of whack I was lately.

He jumped up from the rolling bed thingy and walked over to me. He pulled the red rag from his back pocket and wiped the grease from his hands before softly laying the back of his right hand to my forehead. Chills went through my entire body, yet I felt hot all over.

“You don’t feel warm, but you do look a little flushed. Stay here, I’m gonna run in the house and get you a soda, OK?”

“OK.”

I watched him run across the yard and into the back door, the screened door slamming loudly. I sat down onto a fold out chair next to my car and waited for him to come back. I heard a car pull up and then watched as a young boy in a baseball hat jumped out and headed toward the garage. He was half way to me before he noticed I was sitting here.

“Hey, is anyone here to help you?” he asked as he pulled off his hat and a mess of a brown ponytail was revealed.

I suddenly realized that it was a young girl, not a young boy, and I knew right away that it was Jenny, Devin’s little sister.

“Yeah, I’m actually waiting on Devin to come back. He went to get me a soda.”

Her eyes lit up.

“Are you Devin’s new friend? The one he’s always on the phone with?”

“Um—I think so? My name’s Lilly. You must be Jenny?”

First of all, Jenny was the cutest little thing I’d seen in forever. Yeah, she was dressed like a boy and yeah, her hair was a hot mess all pulled up in a low ponytail, but other than that, she was gorgeous. She had Devin’s pretty green eyes and a tan that girls pay good money for.

Her smile was wide and white and her face was unblemished. She had the flawless skin of a girl who didn’t contaminate her face with makeup every day. She was short with a small frame, so absolutely adorable.

I had to smile at the torn up jeans and big black
ACDC
t-shirt, but I could tell that beneath it all there was a beautiful young girl.

“That’s me! It’s so nice to meet you. You’re so much prettier than Renee!” She blurted out.

“Renee?”

“Yeah, she was a major bitch. He didn’t tell you about Renee? Oh well, I don’t blame him.” She waved it off. “No one likes her. I don’t even think he liked her very much. She was just a piece of ass. You know how those things go. ”

I didn’t, not really, but apparently this teenage girl did. Not to mention the awful sinking feeling that attacked my stomach at just the mention of Devin with this girl Renee. Was Renee his girl, too?

I was about to ask more about this Renee person when I heard the screened door slam again and I knew he was coming back.

He walked up to me with a huge smile on his face and a coke in his hand. Looking at them, I could say that if there weren’t an age gap between the two, they could pass as twins, other than the fact that he’s tall, dark and handsome and she’s petite, tan, and gorgeous.

I watched his smile disappear when he saw his little sister was standing next to me.

“Jenny. You’re home early,” he suddenly looked nervous as he handed me my coke.

“Yeah, today was an early out day. Remember? I told you that last night. I told you that I’d help you out at the shop today. What’s up with this Honda? Is this your car, Lilly?” She turned her attention back to me before walking over to the car and looking under the hood.

“Yep, that’s my baby. I haven’t named her like your brother named his, but I will at some point. I was thinking something along the lines of Barbara or Bertha.”

Jenny laughed with me. Devin still didn’t say anything; he just kind of walked back over to the car and started working on it again.

The next thirty minutes were awkward. Jenny and I sat and talked the whole time. We laughed and giggled about school and a few girlie things. For someone who was such a tomboy, she still had a hint of teenage girl in there somewhere. Throughout all the talking and car work, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet Devin was being.

After my oil was changed and the tune up was complete, Jenny invited me to dinner the following Saturday at their house with her, Devin, and their dad. I looked to Devin for a response, but when he didn’t look my way I decided to make the decision for myself.

“Sure that sounds fun. Should I bring something?”

“Just yourself,” she smiled.

Not long after that Jenny went inside and left me and Devin all alone.

“Is everything OK?” I asked.

“Everything’s cool. Well, your car’s all better now. You’ll need another oil change in about three thousand miles. I’m going to go inside and get a shower, I’m covered in grease. I’ll see you at dinner this weekend?”

He wasn’t looking me in my face at all. Something was wrong.

“If you don’t want me to come, I won’t. I wasn’t, like, plotting and planning to meet your family or anything. I should’ve called before I came. I’m sorry for intruding, and I understand if you don’t want to do the whole meet the family thing. Call me later.”

I tried to sound as if the fact that he may not want me to be around his family didn’t bother me. Plus, there was all this stupid Renee talk. How would she feel knowing that there was another chick coming to dinner at his house?

There was no way he knew how heartbroken I felt by the tone of my voice or the expression on my face. I turned and started to get into my car when he grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me to him. The next thing I knew his warm mouth was moving against mine.

I responded immediately and threw my arms around his neck. He began backing me up until I felt my back against my car. He pulled away a bit and nipped at my bottom lip before moving to my neck.

“You always smell so good,” he whispered against my neck.

A deep moan was my answer. Words were beyond me at this point. I pulled him closer to me and tilted my head to the side to give him more space to work. His mouth felt so amazing. He felt so amazing. The car was pretty much holding me up. My legs sure as Hell weren’t holding me up anymore.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made us jump apart from each other. My legs still felt like rubber, yet somehow I managed to stand.

“Dad, this is Lilly. Lilly, this is my dad,” Devin sounded out of breath.

The older man standing across from us smiled back at me like we shared some great secret. He was just as greasy as Devin, except he wore an old, light blue workman’s shirt with a name patch sewed on and dirty, old, navy blue pants.

He was an older Devin with a scraggly beard and a twinkle in his eye. He radiated calm and warmth and I instantly felt comfortable around him.

“Nice to meet ya, little lady. So, you’re the one taking up all my boy’s time.”

He pointed to Devin using the fishing pole in his hand. The other hand carried a case of beer. I could feel the burn in my face and all I really wanted to do was jump in my car and haul ass.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Ah, hell honey, don’t be sorry. It
ain’t a bad thing. I’m glad he finally got him a real woman. That one gal, what was her name again? Oh yeah, Renee. She was a snooty little thing. She wasn’t nothin’ but a little rack of bones. Good to see ya got yourself a lady with some meat on her,” he said to Devin. Devin’s face turned seven shades of red. “Don’t you be a stranger, ya hear? And don’t you be calling me Mr. Michaels, either. Around here, it’s either Harold the Handsome or Dad.” He winked at me as he walked by.

I stood there a minute trying to figure out if that had really just happened or if I was having a horrible nightmare. There is no way that I just met my Devin’s dad for the first time, after he busted us making out up against my car.

Well, that was a just a great first impression.  I’m sure he thinks I’m just another one of Devin’s little sluts. Hell, I guess technically I
am
just another one of Devin’s little sluts. I’m surely acting like one.

“Oh. My.
God. That was so embarrassing,” I said.

My voice was shaking.

“Lilly, about Renee—I’m sorry I didn’t…” I cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it; you don’t have to tell me everything about your life, Devin. It’s not like we’re getting married or anything like that. You’re free to do whatever you want. I’m not your warden.” I tried to act like the mystery of Renee wasn’t bothering me.

“We’re not together anymore…I mean, we kind of never were. It doesn’t matter… we don’t anymore. We don’t do
anything
anymore.”

I knew what he was trying to tell me and I’m glad he did. Nothing else was said about it even though I wanted to ask a million questions. I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to seem like a psycho girl, but I suppose now I know who got the really great necklace I picked out at Franklin’s Jewelry store the first day I met him.

When I got back to my apartment, Shannon was lounging on the couch. The moment I walked by her she began laughing hysterically.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Somebody had a good day.” She continued to laugh.

I stared back at her, confused.

“As a matter of fact I did, but how do you know?”

She busted out laughing one more time before pointing at my pants.

“There are big black greasy handprints all over your butt, Lil.” She laughed harder.

“OK, so I had a great day.” I stuck my tongue out at her as I made my way to bedroom.

That Saturday was the day of the dinner with Devin’s family. I got to Devin’s house early and we hung out in his room while his dad put the finishing touches on dinner. I picked up a box of pictures that he had sitting on his dresser and started picking through them.

There were pictures of Devin and Jenny when they were just kids that we laughed at. He was such a cute kid. There were family pictures of cousins, aunts, and uncles. There were pictures of Devin at his high school prom and pictures of him and his friends. Suddenly, I came across a picture that made me gasp.

Staring back at me was a picture of Renee Roberts, the ring leader of the twelve girls who had kicked and beat me. She was a viscous girl who cared for nothing or no one but herself. She had ruined my life and laughed about it.

I silently prayed that this wasn’t Devin’s Renee. I begged God to make it not so. Could he have been sleeping with the girl who single-handedly plotted the high school attack on me? Was it the same bitch
who left me in the woods bleeding internally?

I could still hear their laughter. Years of therapy got me through it, but there were still occasional nights when I’d wake up with the sheets stuck to me and a scream for help on my lips. I never wanted to feel that helpless again. Seeing her face brought back those terrible feelings.

I dropped the picture quickly and went to put the lid on the box, but Devin must have seen my response to her picture. He picked it up and looked at me kind of strange.