Shifting Gears: The Complete Series (Sports Bad Boy Romance) (32 page)

The car was small, so we were sitting
really close. No one sat opposite us, so we also had it all to ourselves. As
the train began chugging along I had to think that Megan had been right…again.
This was really romantic.

Just as I had that thought, Michael Myers
and his trusty, sister-killing bloody knife stepped out of the corn and waved
at me. I wanted to scream, but thought maybe etiquette dictated it was too
soon, so I waved instead. I did grab Brock’s jacket and I didn’t let go of it
either. If Michael was there, Jason and Freddy were sure to follow.

“You okay?” Brock asked when he felt me
jump and grab onto him.

“I’m fine,” I said with a smile. “I should
have brought dry pants though.” He cracked up at that. How did he know I was
kidding?

All in all, the ride was a blast. The best
part was, and I don’t plan on telling Megan this when I see her and having to
look at the smug smile, that it was really romantic. I liked being close to
him, and I was starting to realize more each time that I was with him, just how
far things had gotten.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

BROCK

Sometimes I look at her and think I would
pay money just to know what she’s thinking. She sits there quietly a lot and I
can almost see the wheels turning in her head. A girl who thinks is a precious
animal as far as I’m concerned. It’s one of the things that attracts me to her
the most. That, and her incredible smile, and her sense of humor, and the fact
that she always smells good, and her eyes. Okay, there’s a whole list, and the
more we hang out, the more things I find to like about her.

I haven’t asked her out on an official
date since that night at the club. I’ve discovered that she seems so much more
comfortable when we both act like we’re just hanging out. It’s been a great
month. I’ve had a lot of fun with her, and she’s actually the best math tutor I
ever had. I’m not just saying that because the last one had a booger that stuck
out of his left nostril…all the time. She’s really smart, and she’s patient
with me. If I don’t get it, she explains it again. Sometimes she has to lean
across me to show me something and then I get to smell her, and I also get a
clear shot of her nostrils…no boogers.

The problem with all of this hanging out
is that now we’ve gotten into the friend zone. It’s not a bad thing. As a
matter of fact it’s been great. I can talk to her about almost anything. I say
almost, because I haven’t told her about the cancer yet. It’s too soon for all
that. But everything else, we’ve talked about. But now we’re in this friend
kind of place and I still want to kiss her so flipping bad that sometimes it
feels like there’s this hot fire burning in my chest. The rules are pretty
clear though. When you are friends with a girl, and hanging out and not dating,
kissing is not completely acceptable.

I held her hand tonight. That was nice. I
took hers, to help her down the dirt ramp, and I thought she’d pull it back
right away. She didn’t, so I didn’t let go either. We walked through most of
the tree farm, hand in hand. For some reason when we were in the pumpkin patch,
talking about carving jack o’ lanterns, the desire to kiss her became almost
overwhelming. I’m not sure why. She had this look on her face that made me
wonder so much what she was thinking, I almost asked. I didn’t though. I just
enjoyed the look. She’s so pretty and damn, I really want to kiss her.

I considered giving it a shot on the
train. We were alone, except for the walking dead guys that kept popping out of
the corn field. It was dark and romantic and every time one of the guys popped
out, she’d grab on to my jacket. I envisioned being brave enough to throw my
arm around her protectively, and while I had her there I could cover her lips
with mine, and finally taste her kiss. I thought about it, but again I didn’t
do it.

It’s so strange, because I’ve always been
able to tell when a girl liked me and wanted me to kiss her. I think Molly
likes me, maybe just a little more than a friend. But she protests a lot about
not wanting to date, and not wanting a boyfriend, so I have to ask myself why
would she be receptive to a kiss?

Last week we watched a movie together. It
was one with Johnny Depp that I had seen a bunch of times. I like Johnny Depp,
and when I was sick my dad used to buy me all of his movies and I’d watch them
over and over in the hospital when Dad wasn’t watching football.
 
I quoted this one part, before the girl on
the screen said it. This may sound weird, but at that moment I thought she was
going to actually kiss me. If I were smarter, I would have gone in for it right
there. I don’t claim to be all that bright though, so here I am looking at her hair
shine in the moonlight and her pretty dark eyes looking at me…still wanting to
kiss her, so very badly.

We had done pretty much everything there
was to do, and it was getting colder and the wind looked like it was blowing in
some dark clouds. I asked her if she was ready to go. I wanted to get her home
on the bike without getting soaked. She said yes, and then I remembered the
pumpkins.

“Damn, I never saw Jake and Megan. Did
they show up?” I said. Molly looked at her phone and said, “It’s only nine-thirty;
they’re probably just on their way. We can get pumpkins anywhere though.” She
was always so...flexible.

I smiled at her and said, “Okay, we better
get going then before that black cloud up there opens up and we drown on the
way home.” This was the sad part about having a Harley instead of a car. I
can’t honestly say I can think of many others.

I took her hand again, feeling brave now
and helped her up the dirt ramp to the parking lot. Just as we got there I
heard a roll of thunder and then a clap of lightning. I looked up again and
that black cloud was moving fast. “Maybe we should wait and have you ride home
with Jake and Molly. I don’t want you to get sick or something from being
soaked.”

She laughed and said, “That’s nice of you
to worry, but I’m no wimp. I’ll be fine.”

You already are…fine. I think I stared at
her too long after I thought that. What the hell were we talking about? Oh
yeah, going home. I felt a fat drop of rain on my head, and then another and
another. Suddenly it was like standing under a solid shower. We were a ways
away from any shelter, and sitting on Suzie wasn’t going to help, so I did what
any guy would do…I took her hand in mine and said, “May I have this dance?” I
thought she would tell me I was crazy, or run for the corn shack. Instead, she
smiled through the rain that was now beating against her pretty face and said,
“Why certainly.” There was, of course, no music so I had to improvise. Now, I’m
a musician. I should have a thousand or more songs in my head at any given time
and be able to sing them all on demand. I usually do. But tonight, the only
song I could recall the words and the tune to was by Aerosmith. I have no
reason to lay here, scouts honor and all of that; it was the only song I could
recall.

I used the hand I still had ahold of, and
I pulled her close. I was trying to block some of the rain, but I also just
really wanted to feel her close to me. It gave me kind of a light-headed
feeling. I tilted my head down and put my lips close to her ear and sang, “I
don’t want to close my eyes. I don’t want to fall asleep because I’ll miss you
babe and I don’t want to miss a thing.”

I wasn’t sure what she thought about my
song choice, but at this point I was into it and she hadn’t kneed me in the
gonads so it was all good. I had one of her hands in mine and the other one on
the lower part of her back as we moved our bodies together to the tune. My
pulse was racing and every time I opened my eyes and looked at her I shuddered.
I don’t think it was from the cold. I had never done this before, singing to a
girl without any music at all while we danced, in a dirt parking lot next to a
pumpkin patch. Okay if I had billed it that way to begin with, she probably
would have said no. The spontaneity of it had made it that much more exciting,
and I had never wanted to kiss her more than I did now.

I looked down at her face when I got to
the part that says, “Even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do
and I miss you babe and I don’t want to miss a thing…” I wanted to tell her
that was true. I had never even dreamt of a woman like her. As I looked at her,
I saw and felt her take a deep breath and I could feel a little tremble in her
hand that I wasn’t sure if it was for me or because she was cold and soaking
wet. I liked thinking it was for me. My hands were shaking, and I knew it was
because of her.

She had a smudge of mascara under her
eyes, and her hair was now plastered to her head and I swear to God at that
moment she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I couldn’t talk myself
out of it anymore. If she objected, I would just shoulder the consequences. I
was finally going to do it. I was going to kiss her.

As I finished the chorus of the song once
more, I pulled my head up again slightly from where it was at next to her ear
along the side of her cheek. This time, instead of rising up to look at her, I
let it linger there. Our mouths were so close that all it would take was one
gentle motion by either of us for our lips to meet. I took another deep breath
and…

Just then, there was a flash of headlights
and a honk of a car horn. I squinted through the rain and saw that it was Megan
and Jake. I told myself that I was getting new friends the first thing in the
morning. The friends that I have right now seriously suck. At this very moment
I should be feeling Molly’s warm, sweet lips on mine. I despise them.

Molly looked at me and grinned. I think
she knew I was going to kiss her. I think she wanted me too, maybe as much as I
wanted to. Or maybe it was my imagination. Now I would never know.

I took her hand and we walked over to
where Jake had his big head sticking out of the car window.

“What are you guys doing?” he said with a
big, stupid grin.

I’ll remember this next time he wants me
to leave so he can have a “romantic” evening with Megan. I’m going to sit on
the couch in my SpongeBob boxers and play video games all night. I’m going to
pass gas and scratch myself and leave my dirty socks in the living room. Oh!
And…I’m going to leave the toilet seat up every time I went to the bathroom.
That’ll teach him.

“We were going to leave, but it started
raining…” Molly said. I wondered if she was thinking revenge too when Megan
interrupted her with, “So you stopped in the dirt and danced?” Then she and
Jake laughed like they were so proud of themselves for setting us up. Molly
looked at me and rolled her eyes. Then back at Megan and said, “It was mud,
which we are still standing in by the way. Now are you going to invite us in,
or do you enjoy seeing us out here getting drenched?”

“Oh shoot!” Megan said, unlocking the back
doors of her car. We got in, both of us shivering now and Megan said, “There’s
a coffee shop in town about five miles back. You guys want to go there and warm
up and see if it’s going to stop raining? I don’t want to ride a haunted train
in this mess, and I’m sure you don’t want to ride that bike right now.”

I looked at Molly and she said, “Coffee
sounds really good right now, I’m freezing.”

“Oh!” Megan said. “There’s a blanket in my
trunk. Jake, will you get it for them please?”

Jake looked like he wanted to do anything
but get out in the rain. It made me happy. His punishment was only just
beginning…

He jumped out and literally ran to the
trunk Megan had popped open and back to the car. The blanket he threw back to
us was soaked just from those few seconds. I looked at Molly and said, “You
take it, I’m fine.”

She surprised, and delighted me by saying,
“No, you’re as cold and wet as I am. Scoot over here, we’ll both use it.”

I didn’t argue with that. I scooted close
to her and she spread the blanket out across both of our laps. We snuggled
together, and it was almost as good as our dance. Except that the moment for
the kiss was over and I would have to find another. I looked up and saw Megan
looking at us in the rearview mirror. I didn’t want to share our first kiss
with anyone but Molly, so for now it could wait.

CHAPTER
NINE

MOLLY

I hadn’t seen Brock since the night of the
haunted train ride. It had been two days, twenty-two hours and thirty-six
minutes…give or take. Not that I was counting. I do have to wonder what would
have happened that night if Jake and Megan hadn’t pulled up when they did.

It was all so romantic that it had gone
straight to my head. The fun we had at the pumpkin patch and tree farm, and
then the moonlight and the rain, and then dancing in a parking lot of all
things. I can’t believe he sang that song. He’s so talented. I love the way his
voice sounds, even a-cappella. I also love Steven Tyler. He’s my absolute
favorite. I know that I’m young and I hear it all the time, “Aero—who?” But
come on, classic is classic and obviously Brock understands.

“Oh my God, Molly! I said this out loud to
myself in an empty room. What the heck is wrong with me? I’m counting the hours
since I saw this guy last. I’m humming, “Don’t want to miss a thing”, in my
head, and I’m saying that he understands me. What happened to the girl who
didn’t want a boyfriend?