Shifting Gears: The Complete Series (Sports Bad Boy Romance) (42 page)

“No offense to Suzie, but don’t you find
it colder on her?”

He laughed. “I’m sure she would take
none,” he said. “She likes you, and that can’t be said of most women. But I do
see your point. I have to go that way anyways, for class. Will you at least
wait and walk with me?”

“That sounds good,” I told him, honestly.

While he was gone getting dressed, I
picked up one of his bottles of medications. I didn’t mean to snoop, I was just
curious if it was one they had tried on me. Brock said it was to shrink the
tumor. I wondered if it had to be only tumors in your brain, or perhaps it
could work for a kidney or two. I put the bottle back before he came back out.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

BROCK

When I got home from school that day I was
still smiling. My class had been boring, but I had smiled straight through it.
As I was walking back to the apartment, I got a text from Jake telling me that
he and Megan were driving out to see his parents for the day and night. I
smiled even broader, hoping that meant Molly and I could spend some more time
together tonight.

I stopped at the sandwich shop before I
got home and got myself a sandwich for lunch. As I turned to leave with it, I
literally bumped into Tammy.

“Well hello there,” she said. “Long time
no see.”

Yes, stalking someone else? “Yeah, I’ve
been busy. How are you, Tammy?”

“I’m just peachy,” she said. “I’m getting
ready to go home for winter break. I was thinking about one last big hurrah
before I do. Are you busy this weekend?”

Busy staying as far away from you as I can
get. “Actually, yes,” I said. “My girlfriend and I already made plans.”

She raised a freshly waxed eyebrow as she
said, “Your girlfriend? The little brunette I’ve seen you with?”

I really hope that Molly won’t mind. I
actually really hoped she would never meet Tammy, just for her own sake. “Yep,
that’s the one.”

“I thought you said she was just a
friend.” Jeez this woman should be a cop. She’s practiced at the art of
interrogation.

“It turned into more,” I told her. “Take
care Tammy, okay? I have to run.” She stood looking after me as I went out the
door. I was still smiling.

When I got to the apartment it was only
one o’clock. Molly was still in class so I didn’t want to call or text and
bother her, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I decided I could kill two
birds with one stone and got out my guitar. As I worked on writing some new
songs to add to my portfolio I thought back to the first day I met Molly. I
hadn’t let myself admit it right away, but I think as they said on
Jerry Maguire
, she had me at hello.

It’s not often that you meet someone who
makes you happy by just thinking about them. I get a warm feeling throughout my
body when I just picture her smiling face. It’s not a sexual thing, although I
couldn’t wait to do that again, it was more spiritual I guess. I felt like we
were connected somehow, even before I really knew her.

The night at the haunted train ride was
when I knew that I was probably going to fall in love with her. I didn’t say it
out loud, not even to myself but in my heart I knew. Dancing in the rain with
her was the most romantic thing I had ever done with a girl. It’s going to be a
memory that I have and treasure for the rest of my life.

I loved talking to her. I felt like I
could tell her anything. I never told any of the other girls that I dated about
Paul, my little brother. I was super proud of what a great kid he turned out to
be, and I liked talking about him, but not to just anybody. I watched the
animation in Molly’s face this morning when I was telling her about him. She
genuinely cared what I was saying about him, and before we left the apartment
she actually asked to see a picture of him. I had one in my wallet that I
showed her and she smiled and said, “Lucky guy, he looks just like you.” That
had made me feel good because Molly was saying that I looked good, and because
I liked the idea of my little brother looking like me. I said something about
maybe Molly going out with me the next summer to visit him. She had actually
seemed enthusiastic about that. If she was just faking it for my benefit, then
she was pretty darn good.

I strummed my guitar and wrote down a few
notes as I thought about her. She was good for my music, shaping it without even
being aware that was what she was doing.

I looked at the clock again…only one more
hour until she’s out of class.

I killed some more time cleaning up the
apartment and changing my sheets. Just in case she stayed with me again
tonight, I didn’t want her to think I was a slob. When my phone finally rang
before I even looked at it I thought, “If this isn’t her, I’m not even going to
answer it.” It was her.

“Hey,” was how I answered. It’s no wonder
women want me.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m out of class and on
my way home. I just called to see how your day was.”

“Productive,” I told her. “How was yours?”

“It was long and excruciating, and I’m
glad it’s over,” she said.

“Oh…but it’s not, even close,” I said.
While I was cleaning house, I’d had a brilliant idea.

“Oh it’s not?”

 
I
could see her smiling, and even over the phone it gave me chills.

“Nope, I have big plans for you. That’s if
you can stand another evening with me, and a little bit of cold.”

“The evening with you sounds great…but,
the cold, not so much. What do you have in mind?”

“They have an outdoor skating rink set up
in the park in town. I thought I would make us a picnic and we could go skating
and have a picnic dinner under the stars. What do you think?”

“I think the cold can be damned,” she
said. “I’m there.”

I arranged to pick her up in a few hours.
She wanted to shower and change and I still had to plan a picnic for two people
on a strange diet, and I realized I would have to run down and buy a picnic
basket since I didn’t have one of those either.

I went to the super center in town and
picked up things to make a Caesar salad, some fruit cups, some yogurt covered
strawberries and some organic juices in plastic containers. I got two bottles
of water too. I had become obsessed with her drinking enough water. I couldn’t
stand the thought of her getting sick again. When it was time, I had Suzie’s
saddlebags all packed up and ready to go.

Molly’s dorm mother Debbie called up for
her and then sat and waited with me until she came down. That was fun. She kind
of reminds me of the talk show hostess Ellen, only on steroids. Debbie is a big
girl, and by big, I don’t mean fat. I mean she could probably bench press me.
She cross-examined me while we waited, “Where are you from? How do you know
Molly? How old are you? Have you met her grandmother?” Like I said, it was fun,
and when my beautiful Molly came down the stairs I was sad that it had to come
to an end…Not at all.

We said good-night to Debbie…I think.
Molly mesmerized me with her beauty. I know that sounds clichéd or
over-the-top, but it’s true. She had on another one of those cute little knit
hats like she wore to the football game, only this one was white. She also had
on a fuzzy white sweater and a pair of jeans that looked like they had been
made just for her…I swear. She put on her coat and gloves before we got on
Suzie, and I think I may have glanced around to make sure Debbie wasn’t
watching, and then I kissed her. She kissed me back, and I hope I’m right, but
she seemed to be as happy to see me as I was her.

I drove slow, knowing she was cold. I was
thinking I might have to get a car for the winter months. Not that I’d ever
give Suzie up, but a car for when I had Molly with me, to keep her comfortable
and warm, would definitely be worth the investment. Well, okay my dad’s
investment until I started making a little more money. But Dad was cool like
that, I knew he’s help me out.

When we got to the park, I parked Suzie in
a well-lighted lot, right underneath a lamppost. Molly got off and as she was taking
off her helmet, she said, “Is Suzie afraid of the dark?” She smirked when she
said it. She’s lucky she’s her because no one else gets away with making fun of
my Suzie.

“Let’s put it this way,” I told her. “I
would never leave you standing in a completely dark place for hours. I would be
afraid someone would take you, or at the very least, touch you against your
will…am I right?”

She wrinkled her nose and said, “Which one
of us do you like best?”

I pled the fifth, and she laughed. I like
her best, of course. I was just afraid if I opened my mouth about it, the big
“L” word would come out. I had just got her comfortable enough to go out with
me. I wasn’t going to risk scaring her away already.

We walked across the park hand in hand. It
was a little cold, but overall a really nice night for early December. The pond
was easy to find. They had it decorated for Christmas with a big tree in the
middle and twinkling fairy lights were strung overhead. We rented our skates,
but decided to eat first so we found a nice little semi-secluded spot under a
big tree. It was close enough to the lights that we could see what we were
eating, but far enough away to give us some ambiance.

“So what were you and Debbie talking about
earlier?” she said with a grin.

“She was getting my life story,” I told
her. “If you hadn’t come down when you did, she may have brought out the
torture devices.”

Molly laughed. “My grandmother left me in
her care and right before she left me there for the first time, she gave Debbie
her scariest look and said, “I’m counting on you.” I know, looking at Debbie
it’s hard to imagine, but I think Gran scared her.”

“I wasn’t scared…much,” I told her,
honestly. “I wrote a song for you today. Do you want to hear it?”

“I’d love to,” she said.

“You have to dance with me,” I said. She
looked around at all of the people in the park and said, “How about we eat, and
while we skate you can sing it to me. We won’t stand out so much, dancing on
the ice.”

“You don’t like to be the center of
attention?” I asked her.

“Not at all,” she said. “Do you?”

I had to be honest here, but without
coming off like I thought I was some kind of stud or something. “Well, I
wouldn’t say being the center of attention so much as center stage, if you know
what I mean?”

She laughed and said, “No, I have no
clue.”

“Okay,” I told her. “I’m a musician and I
like to entertain people with my music. I feel like center stage means you’re
giving something back in return for the attention.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she said. “Are
we going to eat? I’m starving.”

I opened up the basket and started taking
things out. I handed her a bottle of water as I did. “My kidney thanks you,”
she said with a smile before drinking it. Then she looked at all the food and
said, “Wow! My stomach and taste buds are going to be indebted to you too. I
can’t believe you did all of this. Thank you.”

“It was fun,” I told her, honestly. “I
like it that we’re both kind of on the same diet. I used to feel so left out
when everyone was eating and I had my little healthy portions.”

“Aw,” she said. It was cute, she wasn’t
being sarcastic or anything as she said, “I don’t like thinking of you feeling
left out.” I had to lean in for another kiss. She met me halfway. We kissed
until we both needed to breathe and then she cleared her throat and said, “Can
we eat now?”

I laughed, “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “I want to do
that some more. I just want to do it on a full stomach.”

After we ate and cleaned up our mess, I
told Molly, “If you want to put on your skates, I’m going to take the basket
back and put it in Suzie’s bag.”

She grinned and said, “You’re just going
back to check on her, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” I said, “are you jealous?”

“Maybe,” she said, with another grin. I
kind of liked that idea.

When I got back, she had her skates on and
she was waiting for me on a wooden bench next to the pond. Her little nose was
all red from the cold, but her eyes were bright and shiny. I could tell she was
having fun. I sat down and put on my skates too and we hobbled the two feet to
the entrance, clutching onto each other for dear life.

Once we were out on the ice though, I
realized that in a competition, Molly would have beaten me, hands down. Her
moves were so graceful that I was tempted to just sit down and watch her.
Instead, I turned her so that her back was against me and I let her lead us
across the ice as I sang the silly little song I wrote for her. Last night,
while we made love, I thought I was falling in love with her, but sometimes in
a man’s brain, love and lust get mixed up. Tonight after I finished singing to
her and she turned back towards me and I wrapped my arms tight around her, I
knew the difference. I was falling in love with this girl, and I was falling
hard.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE