Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (13 page)

“
Hey Wilson, Is he still
sleeping?” He looked me dead in the eyes. My heart sank. I couldn’t
even act like I didn’t know who he was talking about. I wanted to
ask who he was referring to, but it would be a waste of my breath.
He knew Max was with me last night. It must have been because we
carried him to bed.

“
No,” I answered automatic.
Huge beads of sweat pushed through my skin. My throat went dry and
my heart pounded marathon speed.

“
I won’t tell. Your
secret’s safe with me.” He winked and his eyes
glistened.

The need to explain swamped me in
total guilt. There was nothing I could do to change the fact, Nick
knew about Max spending the night.

“
Nothing happened. He fell
asleep on the sofa. That’s it.” I stepped up towards
him.

He pushed his hands against his chest.
“You don’t have to convince me. I’m not a snitch.” Maybe it was out
of desperation or the fact that there was nothing I could do to
change his mind, but somehow, I believed him.

“
Thanks.” I made sure to
look at him square in the eyes before I started back
downstairs.

I had to believe he was being truthful
with me. What other choice did I have? He had me by the short hairs
(Another one of my grandpa’s sayings). He saw us together last
night and whether he could prove it or not, rumors tend to spread
like wildfire around our school. The truth always gets twisted into
a lie and people always get hurt.

I turned the corner, still not dressed
in the clothes I was holding. Cindy stared at me. I thought she was
going to blow a gasket, daggers flew from her eyes.

“
Wilson. Why aren’t you
dressed? We’ve gotta go.” She paced over to me. I didn’t even
realize I still had my PJ’s on and my clothes twisted in my hands.
I had to think fast with some lame excuse of why I still wasn’t
dressed.

“
I didn’t know if these
were okay to wear skiing?” I held up the pants and
shirt.

“
They’re completely hideous
and totally wrong. You can’t ski in those.” She grabbed them and
tossed them on a chair that looked like it belonged in a museum.
“Let me get you one of my last year’s outfits.” She climbed the
stairs and yelled back, “Go eat the breakfast Lupita
made.”

This was bad. Not where I needed Cindy
to go right now. Tongue tied I couldn’t think of anything to get
her to come back downstairs.

“
Wait! I’ll come with you,”
I screamed and booked up the stairs after her.

“
Whatever; hurry up. We
don’t have all day.” She passed the closed door I stayed behind
last night with Max. She didn’t even give it a second look. Good
sign, she must not have thought there was anything there she needed
to investigate. She pulled open a door across from Nick’s room. It
was a walk-in closet filled with ski gear. Everything you needed
from the skis down to the thermal underwear people wear when
they’re cold. The entire back wall was a shelving unit with wire
baskets overflowing with all types of sunglasses, boots, goggles,
gloves and miscellaneous hats. I guess that was the type of closet
people had when you lived at the bottom of a ski resort. She spun
around looked at me then started rummaging through the
baskets.

“
You’ll need sunglasses,
gloves, and a headband. Socks are a must,” she stated going over a
check list in her head. She flung items at me as she named them
off. She shuffled her way to the clothes rack. She pushed and
pulled outfit after outfit; all hung perfectly on hangers; all
sorted by brand and color.

“
You’ll definitely need an
outfit. Let’s see—yeah, that one won’t fit. That’s the one I’m
wearing. I wore that one last month. This is SO NOT YOU! Hmm—let’s
see. Here, it is. This is the one you should wear.” She held up a
one-piece baby blue suit that had a zipper from the crotch to the
chin and a built-in hood. It looked like something you’d wear as
you stepped out of the space shuttle onto the moon.
Hell no!

One small step forward for fashion and
one huge step back for me wearing that! I couldn’t believe she
pulled that thing out for me.

“
Is there something a
little less—blue?”

“
Christ, Wilson, this is a
five hundred dollar Shugga suit by Northface. Get with the times.
Just go try it on!” She flung it across the pile of things I
already had in my hands and stared at me. I turned and walked to my
room.

“
Come out and show me,” she
howled as I heard the hangers scrape across the bar. It was as if
we were shopping and she was throwing clothes at me she didn’t want
to waste time trying on.

I know why she chose that snowsuit for
me. Less attention on me meant more for her. Who in their right
mind would wear something so hideous? I reached for the knob when
the door flew open. It was Nick. My heart dropped.

“
What are you doing in my
bedroom?”

“
I was helping Max—out.” He
shoved his hands into his pockets as he rocked back and
forth.

“
Out?”

“
How else was he going to
get out with Cindy coming upstairs?” He pulled his hands from his
pockets and pointed to the open window.

“
Holy shit, isn’t that
pretty far down?” I tossed the crap in my hands on the floor and
ran to the window. He wasn’t out there.

“
Relax, he only fell down
the last ten feet.” He pushed the window closed and smiled. I could
only hope he was kidding.

“
Thanks.”

“
You’re welcome.” He turned
and walked out closing the door. I still couldn’t believe he and
Cindy had the same dad.

I opened the window and
looked down. I saw the impression of his body where he fell but no
other sign of him. He was gone. I knew the faster I would get ready
to go the sooner we could be together. I hurried to the powder blue
baby vomit of a spacesuit, unzipped it and threw it on the bed. I
pulled off my top and slid off my pajama bottoms. As ugly as that
thing looked lying there, I hoped it clung and hung in all the
right places. If I was going to be looking like I belonged in a
seventies space movie, I wanted to make sure I was the sexiest
seventies space babe around. I grabbed the suit and slid one leg
in, then the next. It actually felt silky smooth against my skin. I
pulled it up and over my hips—it was really comfortable. Pushed one
arm through than the next; I grabbed the zipper and pulled it up to
my navel. I caught myself in reflection of the window. The suit was
actually really cute. I pulled the zipper up to just cover my
bra.
Hello cleavage!
I turned and spun to see how I looked from all angles. I
pushed my arms against my body making my breasts to look bigger
than they really were.

“
Wow, wouldn’t Max like to
see that,” I mumbled to myself. I bent down grabbed the white
fluffy headband out of the pile of stuff Cindy gave me and flipped
my hair back pulling it onto my head.

“
Yeah, I would.”

I spun around quick. He was crouched
on the windowsill holding onto the glass for balance.

“
Oh my God! You scared me.
What are you doing here?”

“
I’m sorry. I got down to
my car and realized my keys were still here. I thought you would
have left already.” He hopped into the room. His nose wrinkled and
he winced as he landed.

“
Are you okay?”

He was still bent low.

“
I’m fine, just landed
wrong when I left the first time.” He stood up, his eyes traveled
across my body as he smiled and bit his lower lip. I grabbed the
zipper on the snowsuit and pulled it up to the bottom of my
chin.

“
How long were you there in
the window?” I pulled the headband off. My face burned red, I
totally couldn’t believe he saw what I was doing.

“
I wasn’t there long; just
enough to hear you say something about
me
— liking
this
.” He shook his head, his hands
pushed up and down through the air pointing at the moon suit I had
on. He couldn’t stop staring at me. I had to feel good about that.
I guess it clung and hung exactly where it should. My body
temperature rose and I was getting real hot.

“
You really like it?” I
grabbed the zipper and lowered it without thinking, just enough to
make his mouth open.

“
Absolutely,” he said
losing his breath. He nudged super close. His eyes fixed, his aroma
swarmed my body as his hand slid around to the small of my back and
his other caught the handle of the zipper. I lost my
breath.

“
You see this spot,” he
said as his lips kissed low on my neck. “And this spot here.” He
kissed low enough on my chest to send shivers down my
body.

“
You have to keep them
protected from the cold.” He tenderly pulled up on the zipper until
I was completely covered.

“
That’s better,” he
exhaled.

“
Thanks,” I could barely
talk. My bones were shaking. I really liked him kissing my exposed
skin. He slid his other arm around me and pulled me to his
chest.

“
You might have to change
out of this outfit. I don’t know if I can keep away from
you.”

“
Really? Baby Blue and
all?” I couldn’t believe he liked the outfit that much.

“
It isn’t the color; it’s
the woman wearing it. And she is irresistibly sexy in it.” His
words brushed across my ear while his lips found their way to the
curve where my jaw met my neck. Mmm, he was so good at that. He
navigated across my cheek to my mouth. He caught my lower lip and
gently pushed my mouth open for our last kiss before we had to go
our separate ways today. I didn’t want to pull away, but if I
didn’t get back in that hallway, Cindy would come looking for me. I
pulled my lower body away from him hoping my lips would
follow.

“
I gotta get back to
Cindy,” I spoke softly to him.

“
I know. I’ll see you
later,” he said as I pulled away.

I walked away only glancing back to
see him still standing, waiting for me to come back. I walked out
the door.

Chapter Ten:

It was good I left Max when I did,
Cindy was heading to my room with her arms full of more ski
gear.

“
Oh, you’ve decided to come
back. What the hell took you so long? I don’t know if I like that
suit on you. It’s a bit too blue.” Cindy would always make up an
excuse why she didn’t like something; especially if she thought it
made you look better than her.

“
I’m fine with it. Blue is
okay I guess. Let’s get going so we can make sure you get there
before the Vaughn’s. Hey, what’s going on with Chase Ramero?” I had
to get her mind off me wearing the baby blue suit.

“
Nothing, he’s not in town
this weekend. He’s made the football team and he’s tied up with
some practice squad thing. But you’re right; I gotta beat the
Vaughn’s. They are such douches. Total mouth breathers, I swear
something is wrong with that entire family.” She rummaged through
the pile she tossed in the hall and pulled out a couple of things
she needed.

“
I need to go grab the
stuff you gave me and I’ll meet you downstairs,” I told her,
waiting to see her roll her eyes at me.

“
Fine, hurry up.” She
walked down the hall, leaving the pile of ski stuff in the middle
of the floor. She bounced down the stairs, I watched until her head
sank below the top step. I heard her gripe something about cleaning
up the pile in the hall and making something to eat.

I turned and ran to my room. I took a
deep breath before I opened the door. I had a feeling he might not
be there, but what if he didn’t sneak out yet? What a bonus. Bad
for me, there lay my pile of ski paraphernalia in the middle of the
room, but no Max. I swiped it up, shut the door and left behind
some of the best memories in my entire life.

“
Nick, you promised you
would drive me around this weekend. You know how I hate to drive in
the snow.” Cindy was slamming things around the kitchen.

“
Something came up. I can’t
take you,” Nick told her. His eyes followed me walking
in.

“
I’ll drive,” I spoke up,
piling the stuff in my hands on the stool next to me.

“
You’re not driving. Nick’s
going to drive us. That’s why my dad is
paying
him this weekend.” She poured
a glass of orange juice and slid it across the slippery rock
counter to me.

“
I don’t mind.” I took a
swig.

“
I do! He’s going to drop
us off on the way to whereever he’s going, right Nick?” She picked
up a glass of orange juice and sipped without making any slurping
noises. Her eyes fixed on his, almost like she was holding
something over his head. A personal conversation I wasn’t privy to.
It must’ve been something real bad because he shook his head and
started for the front door.

“
I’m leaving in five
minutes. You better be ready,” he grumbled and walked out. I turned
and looked at Cindy to see what she might say—nothing. She just
looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and grabbed an apple from the
gigantic fruit bowl on the counter.