Through The Lens (14 page)

“Is there anything you
want to do?” he asked looking amused.

It was late and the
shops were closed, and most families had gone home, but the place was still
filled with other couples and giggling girls on the lookout for available guys.
“The carousel,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t think I was silly or young for
wanting to ride it.

He smiled and hand in
hand, we walked over the bridge that would lead us there.   Halfway there, we
both noticed the complete darkness that surrounded the fair-like area that held
the rides.  “Sorry, Jessa.”

“It’s okay,” I said. 
It wasn’t like it was his fault.

Tugging me to a bench,
we sat to finish our ice cream in the heat of the night.  “I didn’t see you
around much this summer, what did you do?” he said, trying to make conversation
out of the empty silence. His hand casually stroked up and down my arm.  His
touch thrilled and scared me at the same time.  Would he kiss me?  That thought
kept running through my mind.

Well, let’s see, not a
lot had gone on until I met Ethan and Allie.  “Nothing really until I got a job
downtown,” I said.

“Working, I guess that
explains it,” he said.

“Were you like in
football camp all summer?” I asked.

“Yeah, and it sucked,”
he claimed. “It would have been better if you were there cheering me on.”

Time slowed when I saw
the change in his eyes.  It said he was about to lean in and kiss me.  I’m not
sure how I knew, but I did.  Licking my lips, I moved the remains of my ice
cream away from my mouth in anticipation.  My heart raced more than it did in
the movie. Leaning over to me, he brushed my hair over my shoulder.

He whispered in my ear,
“You look better than that ice cream.”

Giggling from his words,
I realized too late that I’d inadvertently moved my ice cream just in time to
meet his chest when he was making his way to my lips.  Pulling back, I nearly
died in embarrassment when I saw the huge stain on his shirt.  His laughter
helped ease some of my mortification.

“I guess I’ll take you
home,” he said, glancing at his shirt.  We’d tried to get the wet marks to stop
spreading with the few napkins we had, but it was no use.  His shirt needed to
meet a washer soon.

On the ride home, I
decided not to let silence take us there.  I’d already ruined my almost first
kiss. “Have you decided what colleges you are applying to?” I asked.

He gave me an
impressive list of schools that made my own feel boring.  When he turned the
tables on me, I shyly gave him mine.

“I thought about St.
Mary’s,” he said, wistfully.  “But my parents don’t think the school is big
enough.”

“That’s what I like
about it,” I said.  “Plus it’s by the water.”

“Yeah, I know,” he
said.  The somber timbre of his voice made me think his parents were the
driving force behind his choices. “It doesn’t have football.”

“Speaking of which, are
you ready for the game tomorrow?” I asked.

Perking up, he said,
“Yeah, it should be a good one.” The rejuvenation of the conversation seemed to
die at the end of his sentence.

“You don’t seem all
that excited,” I mused.

Glancing at me, he
said, “I don’t know. I like football and all, but I don’t really see myself
playing the game in the pros.  My father has other ideas.”

“What would you rather
do?” I asked.

Fidgeting, I could see
him trying to decide whether or not he could tell me. “I like to write,” he
said.  Trying to hide the shock on my face, he continued. “I hope to publish a
novel one day.  Maybe a spy series like
The Bourne Identity
.”

“You should do it,” I
said, excitedly.

“If I did, would you
read it?” he said with a genuine grin. 

We’d found that common
thread between us.  “Absolutely,” I said. “I love to read.”

We talked a bit more
about the authors we liked finding. We both liked Stephen King. “He’s the
best,” he proclaimed.

“Definitely a master,”
I said.

When he pulled up in
front of my house, I hoped that he would try one more time to kiss me.  It had
nearly been a perfect night.

“I had a really good
time,” he said, looking into my eyes.

“Me, too.”

Taking my hand, he used
his other hand to reach up, cupping the back of my neck and drawing me near. 
When he kissed my cheek, I thought it was a prelude to what was to come next
only to find that it was the finale.

“Night, Jessa.”

Giving him a smile, I
said, “Night.” Getting out of the car, I played it cool until my front door
closed behind me.  Leaning on it, I wondered what the heck that meant.  A kiss
on the cheek.  I’d never been out on a date before, but with Madison and Jenna,
I’d heard enough to know that this seemed odd.  It was too late to call
Madison.  As much as I loved my sister, I wanted to share my humiliation first
with my best friend.

Saturday thundered in with heavy cloud
cover that did nothing for the heat and humidity.  The house was empty with
only my dad in his office and me lying on my bed talking to Madison. 

“When are we going to
hang out?” I asked.

Madison said, “You are
forever trying to change the subject when you don’t want to talk about
something.  It may mean nothing that he didn’t kiss you, Jess.  I wouldn’t
worry about it.”

“What if he only asked
me out to try to make my sister jealous?  He had to know we would run into them
at the movies,” I complained. 

Her voice was clear as
it came through, “Stop being cynical. You and Jenna are nothing alike.” A hmph
sound escaped my voice. “Okay, besides that you are identical twins.”

“My point, I’m a great
substitute,” I said.

“Give the poor guy a
chance,” she said.

“Are you working
tonight?” I asked.

“Okay, I leave it be
for now.  But you called me,” she said. “And yes, I’m working tonight.”

“It feels like forever
since we’ve done anything together,” I said.

“Okay, how about next
Friday, you, me and Bradley, do a movie night?”

“Cool,” I said.  The
door bell rang.  “Hey, I’ve got to go.  Allie’s here.”

“Okay, talk to you
later,” she said. 

Already dressed to go
out in nothing special, I headed to meet Allie to go shopping.  I had a feeling
it was going to be just as adventurous as the last time. Riding in the car with
Allie to a store, we easily slipped back into a comfortable friendship that
felt like years had gone into the making.  Shops lined the streets in this part
of town.  Big name places and exclusive boutiques called this part of town
their own. As she took an available parallel parking spot, which was amazing to
find on such a day, we headed into one of those exclusive boutiques. I didn’t
recognize the store name.

Inside it was filled to
the brim with an all-around colorful palette of merchandise. It was hard to
imagine that the place would be easy to find items.  I followed in the wake of
hurricane Allie as she gathered garments like a pro.  In the fitting room, I
found Allie had picked items for me in my size.  The girl was good.

“I didn’t want you to
feel weird by sitting and watching me,” she said, grinning.  Again, Allie
surprised me.  She made shopping fun.  My Mom, my sister, nor Madison had been
able to do it.  Maybe it was her sincere approach.  She didn’t hold out on the
comments if something didn’t look good with comment like
Shank
if
something was a little too tight and
That makes you look like a Nun
if
something was to baggy.  Add to that, her way of making the silliest faces, no
wonder she was an actress.

We were a giggling mess
when we came out of the dressing rooms in suitable outfits for each of us. 
These fitting rooms were small, and Allie insisted we needed to look in a
three-way to make sure our asses didn’t look big, as she put it.

The mirrors were just outside
of the fitting rooms in full view of the picture frame window in front of the
stores.  The rows and rows of racks hid the lower section of our bodies, but
our faces were in full view.  Allie froze, and I bumped into her not paying
attention.  Peeking around, I saw what I already knew.  The clicking of the
camera was really loud especially with the sheer number of them.

“How is that possible?’
I murmured.  Looking up, I saw that the carefree girl was gone.  The tight
smile on her face said control.  She must been taught that with the flashing
going she had to keep up her celebrity persona.  With a quick wave, she turned
and went back into the dressing room, and I followed.

Her hands were shaking
when she dialed.  The conversation was short but clear.  Someone was on their
way to retrieve us.  I said nothing not knowing what to say.  Getting to my
feet, I prepared to take off the outfit that cost a king’s ransom. 

“Don’t,” she said.
“It’s most likely someone in the store tipped them.”

Allie was clearly
upset.  And I felt for the girl not to be able to go anywhere.  I’d never had
dreams of being famous, and this only confirmed it for me.  But I changed out
of the outfit anyway.

Twenty minutes later a
clerk came knocking on our door.  Now dressed in her own clothes, Allie managed
a half smile for the girl as she led us to the back.  Standing in the doorway
was Ethan.  Not expecting him at all, my breath left my chest like I’d been punched. 
He held the door open for us.  Somehow, he’d gotten Allie’s car without the
notice of the paparazzi.

Oddly, he handed me the
keys.  Leaning down, he whispered in my ear, “Take her to my place.”

Nodding, I couldn’t
shake the electric sparks that popped off my skin when he was so friggin’ close. 
So different was the feeling than it had been with Josh last night.   Before I
walked out of the store, the clerk stopped me and handed me a couple of
shopping bags.  Frowning, I didn’t know when Allie had made a purchase.

“The manager said that
this was on us for all the trouble,” the clerk said before disappearing. 

Ethan’s hand on my
back, guiding me to the car, didn’t give me the option to protest.  Taking the
packages from my hand, he dumped them in the back seat before holding the
driver’s side door so I could get in.  His face held a grimace.  This time I
didn’t get the feeling it was directed at me.

Driving a sports car
makes Jenna’s and my Ford Focus seem like a toy.  I tried to hide my delight at
being behind the wheel in light that Allie was still clearly upset.  After we
were on the highway, I saw Allie relax a little.  “Are you okay?” I asked. 

Just as the words
escaped my lips, a motorcycle zoomed past us.  Allie’s face lit up. “He’s such
a show off,” she said.

At Ethan’s house, he
waited outside.  Allie hopped out of the car and into Ethan’s arms before I had
the car in park.  Taking the bags out of the car, I followed them inside.

Handing the bags to
Allie, “The store gave me this.”

She took it and set
them down on the kitchen table after I followed her in.  The first item she
pulled out looked like something I tried on and so did a few other things.  She
looked in the other bag, and they were the clothes she’d tried on.  “It looks
like these are for you,” she said.

A gasp. I shook my head
in bewilderment.  “It’s not like you can return them.”  Her face was bright
again.  The brush of the invasion of her privacy was no longer affecting her.

“I’ll be right back,”
she said, taking her bag to head upstairs.

I turned around, unsure
of what to do and came face-to-face with Ethan.  I didn’t hear him follow us in
the kitchen, so I jumped, clutching my heart as it flipped in shock.

“Didn’t mean to scare
you. Or maybe I did,” he said, slightly amused. “So what happened?”

Not meaning to pause,
but unable not to because our relationship had been strained at best for a
while, I waited a second more.  This was the most words he’d said to me since
that night I left him in fear.  Getting it together, I recounted the story for
him. Giving him all the details, I found myself rambling.

“Well, you got some
free clothes out of it,” he said, getting to his feet.

“It doesn’t seem
right,” I said honestly.

“Don’t sweat it.  Do
you know how much free publicity they got? People will flock to the store just
to see if Allie or any other celebrity shows up.  They will probably buy
something, too, just because.  They will make the money they lost on giving you
guys those clothes in no time.”  I nearly gaped.  He hadn’t spoken this much to
me in such a long time.

“Are you still mad at
me?” I asked boldly.  This was my shot, and I had to get it out before I lost
the opportunity again.

“It depends,” he said.
“Are you still afraid of me?”  He stepped closer to me like he wanted me to flinch
or shy away from him.  But I surprised him.  I held my ground.