Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) (22 page)

“You got it. Since I don’t play any of these sports and it doesn’t fit, I don’t think it’d be an appropriate addition to my wardrobe.” After having pulled it on, though, I looked down at myself and groaned at my fashion statement.

“What?”

“I’m a fashion nightmare. I look like a seven year old playing dress up
and
I clash,” I said, referring to the red sweat pants with the orange logo—of which the ankles are rolled
several
times over so they don’t drag on the ground—my purple and white striped t-shirt, and his blue and gold jacket which I’m swimming in. Really, it’s quite disturbing.

“I think you look cute,” he said and kissed me once sweetly.

“Whatever. I think you’re biased…they’re
your
clothes after all,” I pouted and took the blanket he handed me to carry.

“You see my point then.” Ha! Kate was right! He’s making me into a walking poster board that says “Back off, I’m with Tristan tonight.” Pretty cool, huh? “Okay, you’ve got that, I have the cooler…I think that’s it…let’s go.” Tristan locked the bus and then giving me another quick kiss, he took my hand and we left.

We made our way to where a lifted, extra-cab truck filled with firewood was backed into a cul-de-sac, and met up with Jeff, Mike, and my not-stalker, Pete. Really, there’s been absolutely nothing to indicate that Pete’s been spying on me for Tristan. I know that Kate said he’s really dialed in and everything, but, I hardly ever see him around school and I practically never hear his name mentioned by anyone—I mean I don’t even know what the guy’s last name is for crying out loud! He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but he’s almost always so quiet you don’t even notice him, and although he appears to be a really close friend of Tristan’s and Jeff’s, my conclusion is that he’s clueless in regards to Tristan and me and, that the three of us girls have just been paranoid in that respect.

As Tristan let go of my hand and jumped into the bed of the truck to start unloading wood, I deduced that the truck must be Pete’s because Mike was locking up a BMW, and as we now know, Jeff drives an old Jeep CJ7.

Mike told me that Kristen was holding the fire-ring down on the beach, so I headed off to find her while the guys did the manual labor of unloading and carrying the wood to the beach. By the time the fire was getting started, Kate showed up, Melissa and Keith following soon after. Since it was still sort of early and everyone aside from Pete was coupled up, the environment was nice and mellow. Pete didn’t appear bothered by the fact that he was odd man out, but instead it seemed like this is typical.

He did, however, along with pretty much everyone else, lift an interested eyebrow at how Tristan and I were sitting; making me think
this
sight isn’t so typical. Forming the mirror image of Jeff and Kate, I was sitting in front of Tristan with my back against his chest; he had his chin on my shoulder and his arms were wrapped around my waist, like it was the most natural thing in the world. As atypical as it might be and being the object of undisguised interest as we were right then, I didn’t care. I was totally
loving
it!

The intimacy didn’t last very long though, as kids started trickling in to join us. With the appearance of others, our little group abandoned sitting on blankets to mingle with those who were standing, and what had began as a gathering, started to become a shindig. I’m hoping that with the entire beach surrounding us, I won’t feel so claustrophobic if it progresses to be a hootenanny. Oh and the fire is more closely related to Hell than being a little cousin, so I ended up taking Tristan’s jacket off too.

“Hey, you guys want a beer?” Jeff asked Tristan and me as he dug through a cooler.

“No, but grab a Gatorade out of my cooler,” Tristan answered over his shoulder as he pulled his phone out to presumably read a text.

“You’re not drinking?” Jeff asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

“No, I’m driving Camie home tonight.” Aw, staying sober just for me.

“Oh, okay. What about you, Camie? Want a beer?” He asked and handed Tristan the fruit punch flavored sports drink.

“Uh-uh, nope, negatory, no way, no.” I actually shivered at the thought.

“What was that little shaking thing about?” Jeff asked, having noticed my minor epileptic fit.

“She doesn’t want anything, so drop it,” Tristan snapped, sticking his cell phone back in his pocket and valiantly rescuing me from having to divulge my dirty little secret to anyone else. Then he cracked open the Gatorade and handed it to me before meandering away to talk to some other people.

“Jesus...you’re being a moody son of bitch tonight,” Jeff called out to Tristan’s departing back.

In answer, without looking back and still walking away, Tristan raised his arm and flipped Jeff off.

About midway through the evening, I was chatting with a group of people a little ways from the fire when I started to get cold, so rubbing my arms again; I left them and headed over to the other side of the fire and Tristan’s cooler where I’d left his jacket. Halfway there, I was waylaid by she who must not be named. However, instead of snickering behind my back, this time she opted to taunt me to my face.

“That’s a stunning outfit. What did you do, get dressed in the dark?”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously, my six year old cousin could’ve come up with something much more original.

“Teresa, you know…I’d tell you to bite me but I don’t want rabies or any of the other various strains of disease common in your species,” I said, not quite politely. Although I did say it with a smile, so that has to count for something, right?

“Did you just call me a
dog
?” She asked, sounding as if she were unsure of my meaning.

“That’s amazing. You lack the ability to use the English language to any degree aside from the most vulgar yet you understand it sufficiently well. I’ll admit I find that to be quite the conundrum.” I had to stifle a little giggle when I noticed Tristan standing behind her, fighting his own laughter.

Looking really confused, she made another attempt at degrading me. “Whatever. Really though, who in the hell dressed you? Helen Kel—”

“I did,” Tristan said, cutting her off mid-sophomoric insult and stepping around her to my side to hand me his jacket.

Teresa was just standing there, her mouth hanging open,
finally
at a loss for words. Oh and did I mention that I’m picturing Tristan astride a magnificent white stallion while wearing chain mail right now? Well I am. Join me, won’t you?

I put his jacket on then smacked his arm. “See? I told you I clash.”

He chuckled and loud enough to be overheard he whispered, “Fight fair, Camie. You know she’s unarmed without a dictionary.”

“I know, but she started it.”

“I bet. Now come on…you two should be separated,” he pronounced in a very parental manner. Then he picked me up in a big, bear hug and turned to carry me away, my feet dangling well of the ground. “
You
need to learn how to avoid your enemies.”

As Tristan bodily removed me from Teresa’s presence, I stuck my tongue out at her over his shoulder. I was a little disappointed though; I don’t think she actually saw me do it.

Tristan however, did see my childlike “last word” and he chuckled again. “Don’t be a tease, put that away.”

When I looked at his face in question, he flashed me one of my favorite lopsided, yet cocky grins and then gave me a lightning quick kiss. I didn’t even get a chance to pucker for this one.

“Here, you like Kate. Now be a good girl and play nice.” Tristan deposited me on the ground in front of Kate who’d witnessed the whole scene and was laughing, and then without another word, he walked off.

While Kate and I wandered up to the bathroom together, I quickly and quietly filled her in on the details of the day and evening. She teased me about my apparel, congratulated me on my upcoming date and finally getting to partake in the much desirous smooching. In turn, I thanked her for her perseverance in trying to reach me, because that was what really started the whole thing off in the first place. She got a kick out of how he asked me out too. I mean I couldn’t have asked for a better way for him to do it, although I guess it’s not something he usually does. From what Kate said, he’s always just asked girls out the normal way. And yeah, having never been asked out before, I don’t really know what the “normal way” is, but whatever.

The rest of the evening passed by in a blur as, excepting that first party, I’m finding this type of merriment is wont to do. And once again before I knew it, my alarm went off, announcing midnight had arrived and the time to leave lest Tristan’s bus turn into a pumpkin and I end up in rags on the side of the road. However, not being able to locate Tristan in the rumpus the bonfire had become, I was thinking I’d have to extricate Kate from her blanket in front of the fire where she and Jeff were cuddled up together. So by now, I’m sure you can imagine how startled I was—yes, I think I even squeaked—when Tristan came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck all too briefly before asking if I was ready to go. We gathered up his bonfire paraphernalia, said goodbye to those within hearing range, and then left. Actually, there wasn’t that much stuff really, only the blanket and cooler…I just like the word “paraphernalia.” It’s fun to say and it sounds better than stuff or gear.

On the drive home, Tristan and I exchanged cell numbers so we could coordinate for Friday and since he was driving, I got to do all the programming. However in doing so, I inadvertently invaded Tristan’s privacy. Well, sort of. See, here’s what happened; Tristan had handed me his phone and when I hit the button to “wake” it up, part of a text conversation was on the screen.

G:
just bring him back in the am.

Tristan:
4get it. if u want him back, u come get him.

G:
ok but fyi…im sleepin in

See? It was a complete accident and I don’t know if it really counts as an invasion of privacy because the whole thing was so ambiguous, I have no clue what it means. I mean the person doesn’t even have a name! And it’s not like I’m gonna ask, you know? So instead, I immediately closed the message screen so Tristan wouldn’t see that I’d read it. Yeah, I know… I felt
totally
guilty. Plus, how embarrassing would it be for me to actually admit that even though I didn’t mean to, I’d just done something that could be considered equal to reading a diary?!
Especially
knowing how much he likes to keep what he does outside of school private. I know, right? Also, I really don’t want to screw up my chances with him and I think saying anything could be potentially problematic. I mean I’d probably do a lot of embarrassing stuttering…he’d probably get pissed at me…yada yada yada. Ugh, no thanks.

Erasing the text from my mind and pretending like I hadn’t ever seen it, I found Tristan’s address book and typed out my number on his phone with the name “WHTC PREZ.” He’s pretty quick so I’m sure he’ll figure it out. Nevertheless, I did control my impulses by not assigning myself a specific ringtone. I was thinking it might not go over so well at this point if I made it the “Wedding March” like I was tempted to do. Although I think I’m gonna download Faith Hill’s “This Kiss” or “The Way You Love Me” for his ringtone on my phone. I’ll have to look up the lyrics and see which one fits best. I’d use the
JAWS
theme song, but that’s my ringtone on Kate’s phone.

The rest of the drive passed without incident but unlike the last time he took me home, the gentleman lurking under Tristan’s surface walked me to my door and kissed me goodnight for several earth shaking minutes. Truthfully, I don’t know if kissing is always like this, but my head was literally buzzing when we stopped. And actually, stopping seemed kind of hard to do. There wasn’t anything specific that makes me say that, but I felt a definite reluctance to part come from both of us. We eventually did part, though, and looking back at each other over our shoulders once, we went our separate ways.

All in all, I’ve had what I’ll think of fondly as my own version of
The Little Mermaid
fairytale today. It even had an evil witch from whom my prince rescued me. Oh, I should mention that I returned Tristan’s jacket to him but I’m seriously considering holding his pants hostage until he gives me my shirt and bra back. And speaking of my bra and trophies, my perfect day was topped off when I went to climb in bed and found
the
best souvenir of my day waiting for me under the covers.

Apparently Jillian hadn’t been as innocent as she’d led me to believe. I pulled back my blankets and saw a little homemade scrapbook decorated with sand and seashells; it was filled with pictures of Tristan and me playing in the ocean. She’d even captured the two of us just talking on the beach and the whole struggle of getting me in the water. See? When she uses her powers for good, it can have quite an impact. So becoming a little teary with sentiment and appreciation, I flipped through it several times before turning my light out and whispering a prayer of gratitude for all of the many gifts this day held.

And let me tell you, if I’d known what was coming, I might’ve appreciated those gifts even more…

12.

Why In God’s Name Is There So Much Glitter In Here?

Sunday morning dawned fine and clear. So much so that from my bedroom window, I could see the quilting on the toilet paper that was hanging in the uppermost branches of the trees.

Hearing the frown in my voice, Kate asked, “What’s wrong? I would’ve thought that after yesterday you’d be totally thrilled…”

“Oh, I’m filled with exuberance about all of that, it’s just that my house was gift wrapped in Charmin some time during the night,” I told her and shifted my phone to my other hand so I could pour some milk over my Grape Nuts cereal.

“Oh, that sucks. How’d your parents take it?”

“Not too bad…my dad is making Jill and me clean it up though. Jillian let her age kids take the wrap for it but we both think it was Teresa and the trampy twosome she leads around by the nose.”

“Yeah, that fits, especially considering that little scene at the bonfire. Seeing it was funny enough but I wish I could’ve heard it too,” she said and giggled at her memories of it.