Читать книгу Dandelions - Darby Jr. Rae - Страница 7

Since we left the beach I had changed my mind several dozen times about going to the bonfire. The benefit of having a break from Jon enormously outweighed my fears of what could go wrong tonight. Jon came and knocked on my bedroom door. “Are you ready, Tessa? It’s ten ‘til seven.”

“Just about,” I said with a pleasant voice, even though his interruption was irritating. If I was ready, I’d be out of my room and I am perfectly capable of telling time. I opened my door and smiled sweetly at him. “I just have to grab a sweatshirt.”

“Tessa, you look like you’re going to the gym instead of a date. Are you sure that’s what you want to wear?” The waistband of my shorts peeked out over the top of my oversized sweatpants.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t a date. I’m just hanging out with them; I’ll bet you all the girls will be dressed like this.” My statement was more confident than I felt. They would be here any time now. I was at the point of no return. I was going.

“Maybe the styles are different here.”

Ugh. I hated having these conversations with him. Just because he dragged us to another state for his work, again, doesn’t mean the people my age are going to be any different here. “I’ll ask Cole when he gets here what the other girls are wearing.” Having a debate over proper attire did help distract me from my nervousness.

“I doubt that boy would be rude and tell you to change.”

“I’ll tell him I want to be sure to fit in, which I do. He’ll be honest.”

Jon gave me another look of disapproval.

“Ah…Jon?” My face softened. “Thank you for letting me go but, if I need you to come and get me, will you?” He didn’t ask any questions. I’m sure my expression said it all.

“Of course, honey. If the evening doesn’t go the way you want it to, or if there is any funny business going on, just call me.”

I think Jon added the ‘funny business’ so I wouldn’t feel like such a loser. I was still puzzled that he was letting me go.

“Thanks.” I sighed still feeling pessimistic about the evening.

Cole and Luke came to pick me up at 7 o’clock sharp, but only Cole came to the door. Jon was impressed with his punctuality. He was still unimpressed with what I was wearing.

“Hi, Cole.”

“Ready to go?”

“Sure, but first, now be honest, is this what the girls wear here or should I change?”

“Pretty much. Do you have a sweatshirt?”

I smiled over at Jon taking my sweatshirt off the kitchen table. “Sorry to disappoint you.” Not really. “I’ll dress up for church tomorrow.”

Cole opened the door for me, scoring more points with Jon and we were out the door.

Jon walked us out and provided the parental warning. “Drive safely, Cole.”

Cole stopped short and I almost tripped over him.

“I’m not driving tonight, sir. Luke is. Do you want to meet him?” He pointed to the car. I envisioned that encounter and choked back the laughter.

“No, but I am going to take down the license plate number.”

I closed my eyes and willed myself invisible.

Jon made a show of writing down the license plate number and other details about the car while Cole opened the door and shut it for me. His manners were perfect, not that I really cared. I was praying for a lightning bolt to strike my head and take me out of my misery.

Evidently having changed his mind about meeting my company for the evening, Jon came to Luke’s window and asked for everyone’s first and last names.

I sat next to Luke in the front seat, dying a thousand deaths of embarrassment. Cole was in the back seat with a girl who had just finished giving Jon her first and last name. I was feeling like my ‘non-date’ was, in fact, a double date and that my understanding stepdad, who I thought was trying to let me have some fun, was instead effectively killing any opportunity I may have had of having friends.

Cole reviewed names, as though the last five minutes weren’t burned into my memory for eternity. “Tessa, you remember Luke?”

“How could I forget him?” They all laughed, even Luke.

“And this is Lauren…Lauren, this is Tessa.”

“Nice to meet you, Tessa.”

“You too, Lauren, and my friends call me Tess.” Not really a true statement, since I didn’t have any friends.

“Her dad calls her Tessa.”

“He’s my stepdad.” At this point I had to put some distance between Jon and myself. “And speaking of Jon, you put on a good show for him again, Cole. Bravo.”

“It really isn’t a show. I live with my Grandma, and she pretty much hounds me about having good manners. I guess some of it sunk in.”

“She’s still working on me,” Luke laughed.

“I wish her luck with that; quite a challenge,” I muttered. Luke was a good sport. He laughed louder than the rest of us. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be completely unbearable.

Cole did the rest of the talking in the car. Almost as though he was afraid to let Luke speak. Worried he would stick his foot in his mouth again, or both feet. Maybe Cole did all of Luke’s talking when they were around girls. That’s what I thought until we arrived at the bonfire.

Luke barely got out of the car and he was greeted by a fan club of girls, or harem; all pretty and petite, beautifully-styled hair, white teeth, fake tans and makeup. I can see why he has no concept of personal space. The girls that surrounded him had no concept of it either. As soon as he sat down, one of them plopped in his lap and two others flanked either side of him. I pretended not to notice, though I felt a stab of jealousy.

Cole and Lauren towed me around introducing me to everyone, except Luke’s entourage. It wasn’t long before I lost sight of him entirely in the sea of girls that surrounded him. I was busy trying to figure out if Lauren was Cole’s girlfriend. He didn’t seem too affectionate toward her. He put his arm around her and held her hand on and off, but he was doing the same to me. Weird. He seemed to be close to all the girls we met.

Soon I was tired of the same questions over and over. Where are you from? What grade are you in? What neighborhood do you live in now? I begged Cole and Lauren not to introduce me anymore. The last couple of people I met, Lauren introduced me including all my basic information. All I had to do was smile and nod.

“Have you ever played Frisbee football?” Lauren asked, noting I had met enough new people for one night and was obviously excited about playing.

“No, but I can throw and catch one if that helps.” My enthusiasm mirrored hers, but for a different reason. I had some nervous energy to burn off.

“That’s all you really need to do, and run of course. Cole, I’ll see who else wants to play. Be right back.”

Lauren came back with about a dozen teens. Most of them I had met, including Luke.

“Lauren and I are captains,” Cole announced. “Ladies first,” he added.

Please God, I thought. Don’t make me last pick!

“Luke, you’re on my team.” Lauren smiled as he walked over. That was an easy pick; he was the biggest guy there and looked very athletic.

“Tess, you’re on my team.” Cole gave me a wink. I’m sure he noticed the look of relief on my face.

Lauren and Cole went back and forth picking two more rounds. Then they stopped and talked between the two of them for a few minutes. “Ellie, Brendan, Sonya…you’re on my team.” Three other kids went to Lauren’s team and one kid stood alone – unpicked. That was cruel.

“What about that kid?” I whispered to Brendan, my newest teammate.

“That’s Wes. He likes to be the ref; only child, you know. He likes to be the enforcer of the rules.

Almost on cue, Wes stood in the middle of the ‘playing field’ pointing out the boundaries and citing rules for a few minutes. I think I was the only one listening, like on the airplane when nobody pays attention to the flight attendant’s instructions except for people flying for the first time. Wes enjoyed the spotlight, regardless.

The sidelines filled with spectators, Luke’s fan club included. There were easily ten girls gawking at him. It was embarrassing to watch. He seemed unaffected by all the attention but that didn’t stop the girls from cheering him on. He shot them an occasional smile.

Cole put us in a huddle and told us who to cover. Ellie and I had double coverage on Luke. Now I was disappointed this wasn’t tackle-Frisbee. I would have enjoyed knocking Luke and his ego to the ground. Cole covered two of the girls. There was more running than I had expected, but I kept up. Luke enjoyed taunting me while we played. I didn’t want to show off, but I knew I was as fast as he was, maybe faster.

“How are you holding up cupcake?” He prodded. “Careful or you might get dirty and sweaty.”

“Careful or you might end up losing,” I said wanting to provoke him. “What would your fan club think of that?”

“Not going to happen,” he laughed arrogantly.

The game continued, each team having the lead on and off. Finally, the score was tied. Wes announced there were 47 seconds left, and Luke’s team had the Frisbee. We couldn’t call a timeout to strategize. I didn’t know why. I didn’t catch all the little rules. Ellie and I chatted quickly. We knew Brad or Troy would make a long pass to Luke. They threw the farthest, and he could catch about anything. Ellie stayed in front of Luke so he would have to reach over her to make his catch. I stayed just past Luke’s peripheral view.

Wes blew the whistle and I started to run full speed toward Luke. He had his attention on Ellie and the pass from Troy. He didn’t even see me coming. It was great. Ellie did her best to block him from moving forward too quickly and I came from the side. I planned to snag the Frisbee just before Luke caught it and fire it off to Cole. Great plan; poor execution. Luke jumped higher than I expected. We crashed in midair and tumbled to the ground. Luke landed first. I landed ungracefully on top of him. My reward for showing off was humiliation.

There was a cheer from our goal line. “Did we score?” I asked pushing my sweaty body off Luke’s. I hoped nobody saw us. Luke wasn’t so eager to let me go. His arms wound around me and with a slight tug he eliminated the space I had put between us.