Spencer's Face (Buckeye Hawks) (31 page)

“I know you will.
I’ll let your mom know you’re alright, when she calls. I wish you would have
left last night.”

“Me too!” he
laughed.

“Be careful out
there.” Taylor told him as she hugged him carefully.

“Good luck with
everything Jim.” I told him.

We left after helping
him step onto the bus headed to Boulder. I drove us to school.

“So, why didn’t
you call me?” I asked Taylor.

“I told you. It
was late. I didn’t want to wake you up.” She answered quickly.

“So, he stayed
the night at your house?” I asked. I had to ask. I’d only been inside her house
once other than picking her up for dates, and she takes him over to spend the
night. What was up with that?

She nodded slowly.
She knew I wouldn’t like that answer.

“Where did he
sleep, Taylor?” I asked her. I knew I sounded like a jealous boyfriend, but I
was jealous right now. There was no way I could hide it.

She paused too
long.

“I want an answer
to that, Taylor.”

“First, let me
tell you where I slept. I slept on the couch. He slept in my bed. The couch is
really hard, and I didn’t think he could handle it as bad as he was hurt this
time. Plus, I couldn’t chance my dad seeing him in the middle of the night.”

“So, nothing
happened? Not even a kiss?”

“I helped fix his
cheeks up, and gave him an ice pack. That was it. I promise. I don’t cheat, Spencer.
Ever.” She looked straight in my eyes.

I knew she was
telling the truth. She’d never lied to me.

“Why does he call
you? Doesn’t he have any guy friends?” I asked her.

“No. Guys don’t
like him much. And, girls just want one thing from him.”

I looked at her
funny. “But you don’t?”

She shook her
head.

“You honestly
don’t want to have sex with him? I hear the girls talking about him. They all
want to have sex with him. I’ve heard about parties where he had girls in line
waiting for their turn.” I told her.

“Not me. I’ve
never wanted to sleep with him. I only wanted to make out with him when we were
dating.”

“Zane said you
were really hung up on him.” I told her.

“It probably
looked that way, but I wasn’t. We’re good friends. I’m probably his only friend
that will help him out when he gets in these messes. And, I’m the only one that
he’ll show his face to, when his step dad beats the crap out of him. He’s kind
of vain.”

“Are you friends
with all of your ex-boyfriends?” I asked her.

“Not Jose.” She
said quickly. “But everyone else, yes.”

“Will we be
friends if we ever break up?” I asked her.

“Break up?” she
asked. “You can’t dump me for not putting out. You don’t have that excuse.”

We pulled into
the school parking lot, and stepped out of the car. I wrapped my arm around her
waist as we walked onto school property. “I wouldn’t have used that one
anyway.”

“I guess we’ll be
together forever then.” She laughed.

“Sounds good to
me.” I told her.

“Thanks for your
help this morning.”

“I’ll do anything
for you, Taylor.” I kissed her on the neck as we parted ways.

That night, Zane
came to the house to play some music. We were spending more time together now
that Taylor was practicing so hard with the other cheerleaders. Janel and Todd
hated it when we played music. They always made an excuse to leave so they
didn’t have to hear Zane sing off key. He didn’t notice. He thought he could
sing pretty well.

“Is this the
latest? Does Taylor know this one’s about her?” Zane asked me as he warmed up
on the guitar.

“She helped me
write it.” I told him.

Zane laughed.
“That’s a bit conceited.”

“She didn’t help
with the part about how good she looks, just the part where she finally noticed
me.” I laughed with him.

“You two are
still going strong.” He commented.

“We are.” I told
him. “She said it’s the longest she’s ever been with anyone.”

“It is. Just
don’t push it when it comes to sex.” Zane advised me.

I laughed. “I
won’t.” I didn’t want to tell him that ship already sailed and I didn’t have to
push it in the slightest.

We played my new
song for a while. Zane was a terrible singer. I’d never record with him, but he
was fun to jam around with. He broke his pick, and went to get another one. I kept
them under my keyboard in the cabinet. “Dude!” he yelled out. “I thought we
talked about this.” he said as held up a box of rubbers.

Damn. If I would
have thought about that, I could have stopped him. I didn’t know what to say.

“I told you
Taylor won’t have sex with you.” He preached.

I stuttered. I
couldn’t think of anything to say. “A guy can hope.” I said finally.

“Damn. You’re
having sex with Taylor. Aren’t you?” he asked me. He staggered back to the bed
and sat down on it, as if he was having trouble believing it.

I didn’t answer
him. I felt like apologizing for some reason. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was
the sad expression on his face. Maybe he thought he still had a shot with her.
I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Is she good?” he
asked quietly.

“I…” I stopped. I
really didn’t want to talk about our sex life.

“I guess I know
the answer to that one.” he said.

“I love her.” I
tried to ease his pain.

He nodded. He was
taking the news hard for some reason. He sat on the bed staring at the floor.

“What’s going on,
Zane? Were you still hoping you had a shot with her?” I asked him. I knew I was
skating on thin ice asking him about his feelings for Taylor.

“No. I just
didn’t think she’d…” his voice dropped off.

“Sleep with
me
.”
I finished his sentence for him. That had to be what he was thinking. Why me,
when she had so many other choices, including him? I wondered that myself,
often.

“No. Not just
you. With anyone. I thought Taylor would hold onto it until the day she married
someone.”

“I’m glad she
didn’t make me wait that long.” I laughed, trying to make light of the
situation.

--

Taylor’s
competition was in December, so she got ready for her trip to Boston. It was
her first plane ride and she was excited about that. I wasn’t excited to see
her go. I had to do without her for a week. We texted often, and she called
often. But the week was miserable for me. It was hard because Taylor was having
so much fun in Boston without me. When she called, she wanted to tell me how
much fun she was having. And I wanted to tell her how much I missed her. We
were in exact opposite moods. Her team actually placed in nationals when it was
all over. I knew they would. And, the entire town celebrated to see them on
television.

Taylor answered
interview questions to the news crew. She even told the entire world that I was
her boyfriend. She tossed it in at the end of the interview. The other girls
started saying hi to their boyfriends, but they were cut off. The television cameras
caught several really good shots of Taylor in their routines. I taped the whole
thing and watched it a few times. She was amazing on the mat. Her whole team
was amazing, but she was definitely the best one on the team.

The cheerleading
squad was definitely the big deal on campus when they returned. A few freshman
girls even asked for autographs. The school had a big assembly for them and
presented them with a trophy of their own, and the businesses around town gave
them some cards they could use for free food and stuff like that. Taylor took
it all in stride though. It never went to her head. The good part of her
competition being over was that she was free all the time now.

We went back to
spending every waking minute together. It was like we never missed a beat. She
had missed me as much as I missed her, I think. A new guy started to school
after she returned from her cheerleading competition. I was sure that Taylor
loved me, but it seemed to me that she liked this new guy too. She was in the
office when he checked into school. She walked out with him and introduced him
to the group. She seemed eager to please him and impress him. That pissed me
off.

When Taylor came
walking up to Senior Pole with the new guy to introduce him, she was bubblier
than usual. “Hey guys. This is Ryan. He just started school here today.”

Ryan was tall and
blonde. I could see the girls’ heads turning already. They had to check out the
new guy. I was jealous to say the least. Last year, when I’d started school
here, I’d gotten the same first looks. But that’s all I’d received. I didn’t
get all the second looks he was getting right now. At least not in the same
way. Everyone looked my way to check out my birthmark. Everyone was looking his
way to check out his body.

Everyone said hi
to him and welcomed him to our school. The girls had to find out all about him.
He came from New York. He played football and basketball. Damn. That meant he’d
be going out for the basketball team. Taylor would be cheering. I needed to
sign up to try out too. This guy was being way too nice to Taylor.

“Taylor, can you
tell me where History is?” he asked her, being overly polite.

I knew it was a
ploy. I could always tell when a guy wanted more than directions. Taylor still
hadn’t introduced me as her boyfriend yet. I wondered what she was waiting on.
Was she falling for this guy? Was I about to lose her?

“Zane has that
first period.” She said, then pointed at Zane to introduce him.

“I’ll show you
where it is.” Zane offered.

Taylor grabbed my
hand, then led me away. We walked to our make out hole where I kissed her for a
minute.

“So…Ryan seems
like a nice guy.” I said to her. I wanted to get her take on him. I’d heard too
many comments on his physique already.

“It’s hard being
the new guy. You remember how it was. Don’t you?” she chastised me, then kissed
me.

She went to
History, while I went to Calculus. I worried about her the entire hour she was
in History. I wondered if she was sitting next to Ryan, helping him out with
his work. I walked over to History after class. Sure enough, she was walking
out with him and Zane. They were laughing and talking. That didn’t upset me,
but the way he was looking at her, did upset me. He was checking out her body
and making it way too obvious.

I walked up and
put my arm around Taylor. She kissed me on the lips as we turned toward my
English class. “Hey, I told Ryan that you’d show him the way to English.”

“Sure thing.” I
told Taylor.

She was making an
effort to tell me that she still loved me and mostly that she wasn’t interested
in Ryan. I led Ryan to English class, even though usually I walked with Taylor
since her Shorthand class was right next to my English class. She must have
gone to the bathroom. I’d meet her after class.

“So, you sure
have a hot girlfriend.” Ryan said to me as we walked to class together.