Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen (35 page)

“
Max, she will ruin
everything. Is that a chance you want to take?”
It killed me to tell him I couldn’t see him
tonight.

“
Yes it’s a chance I want
to take. Hey, I understand your hesitation. So I’ll tell you what—I
will wait for you,” he growled slowly as his breath pulled me in.
“If you text me I will come get you and if you don’t, I will see
you Monday fourth period. Fair enough?” he waited for me to answer.
It took a moment.

“
Fair enough. Max?” I heard
him release his breath into the phone.

“
Yeah,” his voice bounced
light with hope.

“
Don’t forget to text me
when you leave. Okay?” I whispered.

“
I won’t. Bye Wilson,” he
answered taking a deep, heart wrenching breath.

“
Bye Max.” I pulled the
phone from my ear. This bathroom was much nicer than the
airplane’s. I used it, washed my hands and pulled the door open.
Maybe there was a way to sneak a peek of Max before he left. I just
had to make sure I wouldn’t get caught.

Chapter
Twenty-seven:

I got to see Max grab his duffel bag
from the baggage claim. He tossed a wave to Cindy and I watched him
pull his phone out of his pocket as he left out the sliding doors.
Just outside he stopped. His head hung down, focused on his phone
and I watched him text me. My phone chimed with a message as he
turned and disappeared.

I’M GONE. PLSE THINK ABOUT 2-NITE. I
WANT 2 C U. W8 2 HEAR FROM U. THNKN ABOUT U. I read it twice. He’s
thinking about me.

THANX. IM THNKN ABOUT U2! WANT 2 C U2.
WE’LL C ABOUT 2NITE. MISS U ALREDY.

I walked up on Cindy getting her bag
from the luggage corral, she was cursing under her
breath.

“
There you are. You totally
missed Max. He left in a hurry. So sad for you.” Her body jerked
forward as her suitcase fell to the floor. A twinge of regret
fluttered through my chest. Maybe I shouldn’t have over reacted
about Cindy.

“
You’re so ice cold about
Mr. Goldstein. I don’t have
it
bad for him.” I started for the sliding doors.
The same ones Max left out of ten minutes earlier.

“
You heard me telling him?
Well you can thank me later. I totally planted the seed for you.”
She wheeled her suitcase behind her as she caught up to me. My
blood began to boil. I didn’t want her to even consider Max and me
an option. I needed to get her off the idea that she was going to
set us up. Besides, with her vindictive personality, she would do
it, then turn around and destroy us.

“
Cindy there is nothing to
thank you for and I can plant my own seeds. I really don’t need
your help.” I stopped and waited to cross the road.

“
So you admit that if you
had seeds, you would plant them in his garden?” She nudged me with
her elbow.

“
No, I don’t need to plant
any seeds in any garden. Mr. Goldstein has a gardener. Didn’t you
hear him? He has a
girlfriend
.” I crossed as the man in
a uniform covered with an orange mesh vest blew his whistle and
motioned for us to cross.

“
Leave it to me, I know how
to turn the dirt and pull the weeds. He’s gonna be rototilled and
ready when I’m done working my magic.” She snapped a Z pattern out
in front of her. I actually felt throw-up burn the back of my
throat. Now I understood what that saying, ‘She leaves a bad taste
in my mouth,’ really meant.

“
Okay,
David Blaine.
We’ve gotta get going.
Remember the summary that’s due on the first half of Romeo and
Juliet? I was so busy checking out the guy’s tights, I didn’t
really follow the story much. It could be the fact that it was
older than dirt. I think it was filmed in the sixties.” I stopped
and looked for her car.

“
I know, totally ancient.”
Cindy answered as she dug out her keys and pressed the locator
button. Her car horn beeped and its lights flashed. We were
actually not too far off. “I couldn’t even hang with the special
effects. I thought I was going to throw up when they started
dancing. She should have rented the one with Leonardo DiCaprio. Now
I would love to cultivate
his
garden.” She continued as she pushed another
button on her car and the trunk popped open.

I wish she would stop about
the freaking gardens. It’s played out.
She
struggled with her suitcase, loading it into the back. No room left
for my duffel bag, so I put it down by my feet and let it lean
heavy against my shins.

The drive back to Wesley was
uneventful. We made small talk about homework. Most teachers didn’t
assign any over the weekend. But the ones that did—really stuck it
to us. Mrs. Clouser, gave us the summary of the crappy sixties
movie, Romeo and Juliet. But we only have to summarize half of the
movie, because that was all we saw. Mr. Swanks, our trigonometry
teacher, assigned all the odd problems from three pages in our math
book. And Mr. Kemp, well he didn’t really assign homework, just an
extra credit lab if we needed it. Of course, I could’ve used the
extra points.

I couldn’t stop thinking about
sneaking away to see Max. I had no idea where we would go, but just
the fact that I could see him tonight started to win the argument
in my head. Cindy has no idea Max and I are involved with each
other. If she did, she would be all over it. Maybe I could get
Joanie to take me to meet him. Or, I could catch the bus and ride
it out a couple of stops until I got far enough away to call
him.

I could do my summary when I got back
to the dorms today and since trigonometry was fifth period I could
spend my lunch in the library tomorrow. Totally forget the lab for
chemistry. I’ll have to ace the next couple of tests to keep my
B+.

Chemistry—now that was something I
could relate to and I’m not talking about my class. Max and I had
it. I could feel it. He made things mix and bubble in my body, even
explode. Not to mention the butterflies he trained to send me
reeling when I was around him.

That was it, I was going to see him
tonight, but only if I got most of my summary done. There, that was
my compromise. Not bad, I could do it. I felt better now that I
made up my mind and just in time. Cindy pulled into the driveway of
our dorms. The swirling knots that overtook my stomach and started
surging up my throat were unexpected. My hands tingled and became
damp. The muscles in my back tightened, rippling up through my
shoulders and across my neck. Wait a minute, I made up my mind.
There was no reason to start freaking out. It was the same old
place where I’ve spent three years of my life. It was where I got
my first B in science, where I found out Jasmine Cushing liked the
same boy as me. She ended up dating him and telling me later that
he was a jerk. It’s where I met Max and fell in love with
him.

Yeah, I said it, the ‘L’ word. Does it
feel a little too soon? Sure, but I have a real connection with
him. He could finish my sentences or jump in front of me if a tiger
escaped in the zoo. He had this way about him that reassured me of
his desires for me. Just me, the way I was, tattered, bruised, and
alone, he saw past all the bullshit.

I loved that. I wasn’t going to
lie.

“
Wilson, come on. Don’t
want to hang in the parking lot,” Cindy yelled from the back of the
car as she slammed the trunk. I caught my breath as it jarred me
from a suspended state of Max On My Mind. I pushed my bag out from
by my feet and climbed out of her car.

That is when I realized I forgot to
text Joanie and tell her I was on my way home. She was going to be
mad, hurt, and disappointed in me. I think that was what would
stress Joanie and my relationship the most. It wasn’t guys or other
friends. It was the fact that I would forget to do things normal
family members did.

I wish my excuses were
sufficient, but they never were. The fact that I was never taught
or I wasn’t
wired
to be that way wouldn’t fly with her. She has been my best
friend for nine years. And for those nine years she has tried to
get me to be more responsive to the common courtesy of a phone call
or note. Neither of which I’ve been able to master.

But on the other hand, maybe that was
what balanced us so much. She did enough for both of us. She was
rock solid, a predictable constant, and the refuge I could seek
anytime I needed it. She knew what it took to keep me grounded. I
gave her the excuse to cut loose and show the side of her only a
few people really knew. I also gave her the perfect friendship of
forgetfulness. Events never really stuck with me. I’ve always been
that way. It was easier to let it go than to catalogue everything
that happened in my life. If something pissed me off, I dealt with
it and let it go. I didn’t harbor anger or let resentment fester
into a gnarly mass of hate. I will say, Cindy has pushed me further
than most.

I pulled out my cell phone and called
Joanie. It only rang once.

“
Hey J,”I said
fast.

“
Hi Wilson. Where are you?”
she sounded excited.

“
Here in the parking lot. I
forgot to call you from Denver. Sorry,” I apologized.

“
Why are you sorry? I’ll be
right there.” The phone went silent.

“
J? Joanie?” She hung
up.

I kept walking behind Cindy. I figured
at some point she was going to need my help picking up her brick
filled suitcase.

Joanie met us on the path. She was
smiling so wide it caused her eyes to squint.

“
Hi Cindy.” Joanie gave her
a hug and Cindy answered back with a slight one arm hug and a pat
on the back.

“
Hi Joanie. I am so
exhausted. Glad to be back.” She let go and started rolling past
her.

I stood there. We both flung our arms
around each other. She was taller than me so her arms wrapped
around my neck. I squeezed her around her ribcage. I knew I missed
her, but didn’t realize just how much until now.

“
Wilson, I missed you,”
Joanie whined.

“
I missed you too. There’s
so much to tell you,” I said low enough so Cindy wouldn’t
hear.

She tightened her arms around my neck
and squealed before she let go and pulled me along.

Cindy was already in our room and
putting her clothes away when J and I came in. Our dorm building
was two levels. Lucky for us our room was on the first floor. I
have to say there was something comforting about being back. Three
years at this place, it starts to grow on you—it’s home. Joanie
plopped on my bed, wedging her hand against her ear waiting to hear
what happened.

“
So, how was the weekend?”
she asked both of us. I looked at Cindy and she looked at
Joanie.

“
Well, it was really
awesome. Right when we got there I called all my besties and told
them that I was there, they all came over that night for a ragin’
party.” She smiled at me as she winked and tossed her hair back
from her face. I looked at Joanie, then back at Cindy.

“
I thought they were called
your seasonals?” I snapped.

“
Seasonals
?” Joanie looked at me and
Cindy.

“
Well, yeah they are known
in Aspen as seasonals, because they are only there during ski
season. Anyway, you’ll never guess who showed up to
my
party.” She pressed
her hands to her chest as she twisted into an excited
dance.

“
Do you need to go the
bathroom?” Joanie asked as she looked at Cindy then me and back to
Cindy.

“
No Joan-ee. Mr. Goldstein
came to my house and partied with us,” she spat. “But you can’t
tell anyone, Wilson’s all paranoid that he’ll lose his job or
something. Whatever!” She kept putting away her clothes.

“
Well Cindy, that’s because
it’s true. It would be on your shoulders if he lost his job because
you told the wrong person about him
unintentionally
coming to
your
cabin in Aspen and
drinking with under-age students.” My breath shortened and the
muscles in my back tightened, rippling up through my neck and down
my arms.

“
See, I knew you had
the
hots
for him.
You’ve never given a rat’s ass about any of our teacher’s before.
Why him? Why now?” she taunted me as she snapped a red and white
striped shirt in front of me to fold it.

She’s baiting me to talk.
Don’t listen. Just stay calm and tell her what any other person
would say. Hold it together Wilson, come on.
I had to talk myself down from the frenzy swirling in my
body. My butterflies, protective and strong, swarmed heavy around
my body, working to find a way to bring Cindy down.

“
I don’t like him
that
way. Why are you
doing this? He’s a good teacher that’s all!” We were standing
toe-to-toe with each other. My eyes narrowed and my face was stoic.
Her smug smile and arrogant stance, as she shifted her body, was
proof enough that she believed she was right.

“
Oh come on you guys.
What-ever!” Joanie tried to change the dynamics of our
argument.