Sliding (The Stone Series) (4 page)

I decide to throw rocks at his window to see if he’s in his room. When I
see the light go on I don’t know if I should be happy or scared. He is not
going to like these turn of events. Tate comes to the window looking very
confused but his face changes when he sees me. First I think he might be
excited, no maybe pissed off but when he opens the window I realize he’s
worried.

“Brook, what the hell? What are you doing? Are you alright? Why are you
throwing shit at my window? I thought you were at Annie’s.”

I ask Tate to come outside so I can explain. He does wearing torn in the
knees grey sweatpants and a worn red t-shirt. His black silky hair is all messy
and I don’t think I have ever seen him look better. I explain what happened and
he gets quiet. I know he wants to explode but is trying not to do so in front
of Asia.

“Does Bobby know about this?” he asks her and Asia just shakes her head. As
Tate takes my hand and leads us back in the direction we came he barks through
gritted teeth, “Come on, I’ll walk you guys back to Annie’s house, you should
not be out walking the streets alone late at night. When we get back there you
call your parent’s and have them pick you up. Tell them you’re sick or make up
some shit, I don’t give a fuck what you tell them but you go home and call me
when you get there. Understand?”

I nod, not knowing what else to do and we walk back to Annie’s the rest
of the way in silence, Tate and I holding hands and Asia next to me. When we get
to Annie’s Tate whispers, “Good girl” into my ear then says, “Call me when you
get home, I don’t care what time it is I will turn the ringers off on all the
phones except the one in my room.”

He looks at Asia and says, “You did the right thing staying with Brook, you’re
a good friend.” Then he turns and leaves us as we are climbing up the ladder
into Annie’s bedroom. I call my house and tell my parents that I’m sick and ask
to come home. Asia calls her parents and says the same. We both wait outside until
we see Asia’s mom and then my dad. Neither one asks us why the other is leaving
and we’re both glad we don’t have to explain.

I call Tate the minute I get in my room and he picks up on the first
ring.

“Do you believe me now about them, Brook?” is how he answers and I start
to cry. I tell Tate I was scared walking around at night going to meet strange
guys to do God knows what with and he says that rumor has it Annie and Missy
have been drinking and sleeping with the guys they went to meet all summer. We
talk for a while about nothing and after he tells me he was glad that I didn’t
try to hide what was going on from him he chuckles and says, “I’m glad you were
a good girl and didn’t go hang out with those guys but I wish you’d be naughty
for me. Good night baby, sleep with me.” And as Chicago’s “Hard Habit to Break”
comes on I close my eyes and fall asleep safe in my bed on the phone with Tate.

At the start of summer Brook and I
have been going out for nine months and I hate when she does things without me.
When I get this phone call from Jeff I know why. He tells me that Missy broke
up with him because she met some guy at the carnival. I know she was at the
carnival with Brook and I am out of my mind thinking that Brook fucked some guy
too and she’s going to call and dump me next.

“Jeff man, screw her, she’s
nothing. I don’t even think she’s that hot. I know she’s cool and all but
really you can do much better than her. I’m sorry man, I got to go and call
Brook. I’ll call you back if I can get anything out of her.”
 

I call Brook and I want to reach
through the phone and strangle her when she acts dumb about what went down at
the carnival. I’m scared and angry all rolled up together and it comes out in
my words and I hang up on her and take my phone off the hook. I feel better
knowing that I am the one in control now. I know she’ll be trying to call me
and won’t be able to get through. She’ll have to wait till I call her back.
That should show her who has the power in this relationship unless of course
she won’t take my call. Or if she’s just been waiting for an excuse to break up
with me, if she is I just gave it to her.

When I finally call her she answers
on the first ring and I don’t recognize her voice. She sounds like she’s been
crying for hours. If anyone else made her cry I would kill them but because I
know she’s been crying over me I kind of like it. It lets me know that she does
care. But Brook continues to try to test my limits, see how far she can push me
with shit. It would be so much easier if she would just do what I ask and not
hang out with Missy and Annie. I know they’re trying to get her to hook up with
other guys and I have to find a way to get her away from them.

I finally get my chance when she
shows up at my house one night. I hear rocks hitting my window and when I look
out I find Brook standing there. I’m wearing torn sweatpants and a worn t-shirt,
my hair is messy and I could kill her for making me come out like this. And
Asia is with her to boot!

She tells me what happened and I
can feel the blood in my body start to overheat. I have the urge to punch
something but I manage to keep myself under control. I take her hand and lead
us back in the direction she came from. I never let the death grip on her hand
go. I think she’s finally seeing the light and I sense things between us are
changing for the better. I don’t want to control her for my own good, I want to
keep her safe and with me. I think she sees that now. Her friends were bringing
her into God only knows what and she came to me to keep her safe. That’s
progress and it shows great promise.

She calls me when she gets home and
I try my best to reiterate my point about her friends. She starts crying
because she was scared so I use this as the perfect opportunity to tell her
that Missy and Annie have been fucking these guys. I figure that will really
scare her away from those dudes and their friends, she’s like a deer in
headlights when I kiss her, I can only imagine what she’d be like if some dude
tried to fuck her.

Jeff moved on to another girl at school quickly after his break up, David
started going out with a girl who worships the ground he walks on and they
forgot all about Missy and Annie. Missy and Annie moved on from the carnival guys
to some other guys. Bobby finally got the courage to ask Asia out and they hang
out with Tate and me a lot. We go to the movies and the mall together every
weekend. Sometimes Jeff and David come too either alone or with their
girlfriends.

We take a trip to New York City with
the theater club. Every day we go to attractions like the musical Cats or the
Empire State Building but at night we find a way to be together. I room with
Asia and Tate rooms with Bobby. The first night there we are too afraid to try
to sneak into each other’s rooms but after that we figured out it won’t be a
problem.

The second night Tate and Bobby wait
until midnight to come to our room. They can be so funny sometimes; they come
in wearing sunglasses like they were in disguise. Tate pops a tape into our
boom box and “Sunglasses At Night”
by
Corey Hart comes on while they
dance around the room. Tate has become a great dancer and I love when he dances
for me. He moves so smoothly now and he says he has learned all his moves from
me. We hang out together listening to music, dancing and talking. After an hour
or so the guys thought they should get back to their room just in case anyone
came looking for them so we kiss good night and they go back to their rooms.

I lay awake in bed just thinking about Tate’s lips and how soft they felt.
Tate has full pink lips that just make me want to kiss him, I mean really kiss
him.

My hotel room phone rings and I jump to pick it up before Asia wakes up.
I’m convinced it’s my parents calling to yell at me because they know Tate and
Bobby were just here. I’m relieved when I hear Tate’s voice.

“Hey, Brook. Were you sleeping yet?” This has become our little joke from
that first night he called me and so I respond as I always do, “No, were you?”

He laughs at me as always, “No, want to listen to music together? I left
you a tape in the boom box that I made for you. Press play.”

“I’ll have to put it on really soft, Asia’s asleep and I don’t want to
wake her up” I tell him.

“Yeah, Bobby fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow too but I
couldn’t fall asleep without talking to you. Press play” he demands.

I get up out of bed and hit the play button.

We stay on the phone together listening to the mixed tape he made me with
songs that remind him of us.
We talk about our
day at the Museum of Natural History and how excited I am about going to see
Cats tomorrow. Tate tells me I will be a “cat” one day and he can’t wait to
come and watch me on Broadway.

The next night Asia and I sneak into Tate and Bobby’s room and we lay on
their beds with them and listen to music together. Bobby and Asia are under the
covers on Bobby’s bed and I cannot believe my eyes but they are making out
right in front of us while Pat Benatar is singing about
l
ove being a battlefield.
 

Tate is on his side facing me and he pushes a strand of my hair behind my
ear and asks me how I got so pretty. He does this to me all the time,
embarrasses me with talk like that. Tate sees me completely different then I
see myself, I guess that’s what they mean when they say love is blind. I mean
don’t get me wrong I know I’m not ugly but Tate seems to think I could have a
career as a model. I tell him he’s prettier than I am and it’s true. Tate has
this perfect black silky hair that flops into his face at just the right angle.
He has these piercing blue eyes and if you look really closely into them you’ll
see that his right eye has a little slice of gray in it. Even at fifteen you
can tell he’s going to have a body to die for. He has a long torso and flat stomach
with the beginnings of a six pack. He has broad shoulders and a slim waist. His
arms are beginning to have a hard round muscle in them and when he tickles me
on the bed I can tell how strong he’s getting. If he wanted to hold me down
there would be nothing I could do about it.

“Tate, stop! Bobby and Asia are right there and they’ll hear us” I plead
as I playfully smack his bicep.

Tate stops and looks deep into my eyes and before I know what’s about to
happen he takes my face in his hands and kisses me right on the mouth with
those soft pink
 
lips of his and I turn
to liquid right there on that bed. My stomach feels like I have just been
basket tossed into the air by my cheer team but so high that I am turning
around and around over and over again before I start my decent. And just as I
think I am descending, Tate’s tongue gently eases my lips open and it’s in my
mouth searching for mine.

It makes me think of the video from school where the baby giraffe is born
and somehow just knows how to stand up and walk. I don’t know how but I am like
that baby giraffe and I just know what to do. I meet his tongue with mine and
we simultaneously moan quietly into each other’s mouths. Tate takes one of his
hands from my face and wraps it into my hair and I do the same in his with both
of my hands. His hair is so soft I could run my hands through it all day but as
fast as we started Tate pulls away and looks into my eyes again.

“I love you, Brooklynn. I love you like no one else ever can or ever
will. You will always be mine and if the day ever comes that I can’t have you,
know that no one else can either. Remember that, Brook, no one else can ever
have you.”

Tate is so serious that it takes my breath away to hear him say these
words and it scares me a little if truth be told. He must see the fear in my
eyes and a smile slowly crosses his face and it makes me smile.

“Did you like doing that?” Tate shyly asks. “Can we do it again?”

I nod yes and once again his lips are like magnets drawn to mine, his right
hand is on my face and this time his left hand is around my back pulling me
closer to him. I lose myself in the contact from his body, I feel the warmth of
him pressed against me and it’s soothing. His kisses taste like the minty gum
he is always chewing, that I think he must have swallowed before kissing me and
now I’m pissed that I wasn’t chewing gum too. What do my kisses taste like? I’m
trying to remember what I ate or drank last, and did I brush my teeth before I
went to his room? Yes, now I remember I did brush my teeth... good… my breath
must be minty fresh too. Then another thought comes to mind, thank God I got my
braces off last month or this could be ugly.