A Dozen Dates (9 page)

Gemma walked to the edge and jumped in. She slid down to the bottom, enjoying the coolness of the water as it caressed every inch of her body, before floating back up and breaking the surface with her slightly sunburned face. “Nice?” asked Michael.

“Beautiful..!” she exuded pleasure and Michael smiled, contented with her satisfaction.

After five minutes Nathan emerged, announcing he was going to prepare lunch, leaving Gemma to swim alone with Michael. She perched herself on one of the steps, which left her submerged to just above her navel, and Michael leaned his arms on the step beside her, allowing his body to float front down. They chatted for a couple of minutes and then Michael moved, placing a hand either side of her and instantly, Gemma felt the return of that infernal flutter. Oh, why did he have to be so appealing..?

Michael looked up at her with his sensitive blue eyes... If only he had been a bastard – then he would have been easy to dislike... easy to resist... He smiled at her and asked, “You want to go out for pizza tonight?”

She was so incredible, with her half worn off sunscreen surrounded by slightly pinking skin, and unpretentious plats which had bunched up in the water making them short and fat and even cuter.

“I can’t sorry, I have class tonight.” Thank God!

“Well, I can wait until tomorrow night... I’m not that hungry,” Michael stated and then chuckled at his own joke.

“No!” Gemma blurted out suddenly and Michael briefly froze.

“No?” he inquired, confused by the sudden but spectacular change in her energy.

“No, I don’t want to,” Gemma stated concisely, her cheeks flushing, her heart pounding fretfully, her eyes unable to cope with his stare any longer... She turned her head to look down to her side...

“Do you not like pizza? We can do...”

“No..! No more dates...” Gemma’s eyes stayed down as she tried to occupy her mind by trying to guess how many centimetres her hand rested under the water.

“But I still owe you seven,” Michael informed her, confused by her sudden about-face.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said and she finally braved lifting her head and faced him with determined eyes.

“Yes I do...”

“No Michael, you don’t!” her tone was brash. “I wanted to lose my virginity, and you just happened to be there. You don’t need to feel like you owe me anything.”

“I still
owe
you seven dates...” Michael was insistent on pleading his case.

“
No!
You don’t
owe
me anything. I
wanted
to get laid... Having virginity at age twenty was a hassle – I was glad to get rid of it,” she said and she sighed theatrically before continuing, “
Relieved,
even...”

“That is beside the point...”

“Listen... Being a virgin was a hassle for me... Please don’t make losing it a bigger hassle.”

“A hassle..?” Michael stood up in the water and clasped her face in both of his hands. He looked at her lips and brushed them slowly with his thumb before staring into her eyes, baffled, desperately trying to read her soul for answers. Gemma’s chest began to rise and fall with his touch, and Michael was sure he didn’t imagine how she reacted around him... to him. What on Earth was going on in that pretty head?

Gemma couldn’t do this again... every encounter with him made her ache for him more. To walk away now was going to hurt... a lot... but not nearly as much as it would after seven more dates. She quickly turned her head, ripping it from his hands and raised herself up to a standing position.

Michael knew instinctively to step back and give her the space she needed... For whatever reason she needed it..? Oh, he just wished he knew what that reason was...

She had to get rid of him now, once and for all... “I wish..! I wish I would have had my damn cherry
popped
by someone who just
nicked
off before breakfast...” she claimed before turning and stepping up out of the pool.

Chapter Four

A lump rose up into Michael’s throat as he contemplated what went wrong; and when... Had he misread something..?

Gemma trembled as she struggled to pull her shorts up over her wet skin and then peeled on her tight pink t-shirt. She picked up her boots and placed them near the patio, before heading inside to give Nathan a hand to transport the plates of heated frozen lasagne and a bit of tossed lettuce, tomato and onion. She skilfully lifted all three and carried them out to the patio and placed them on the table before heading back in to grab cutlery.

Michael watched her, perplexed, as she headed back into the house. Why had she pulled away? All of her signals were positive – he couldn’t recollect a single one that wasn’t... Perhaps she was just confused..? Had he pressured her too much? She was after all, relatively new to... most things social. Maybe he had pushed her too quickly, though he didn’t think so - part of her seemed to crave so much more than he was delivering. But Michael began to wonder if perhaps there was another part of her that wasn’t ready for any of it..?

Michael was concerned – had he hurt her that badly? Hurting Gemma was the last thing in the world he wanted to do. His mind was searching for something... anything, to let him know what was wrong.

It was kind of a strange way for a girl to choose to be rid of her virginity... Whatever..! He liked her, he knew that much; and he was fairly certain she liked him – he could fix this. Whatever it was... He could be patient, loving, understanding – whatever it took to bring her back to him. It would be of a great help though, Michael deliberated, if he knew what the heck he was fixing.

When she walked back out her face drained of all colour at the sight of him, so he just smiled... God damn him. He should be angry and hateful towards her after the awful things she just minutes ago said, instead he smiles compassionately. Oh great! Now she’s the one that feels guilty.

Lunch was uncomfortable for Gemma... Her stomach was in awful knots and it was making her squeamish. She picked at her food and took tiny bites, struggling to get them down past the protuberance that seemed to be lodged firmly in her throat. “You’re not fond of lasagne?” Nathan asked her.

“No, I love it. I’m just feeling a bit ill. I think I got a bit much sun,” Gemma falsely claimed, looking at the negligible rosy tint on her shoulders. “Excuse me,” she said as she got up from the table and exited for the bathroom.

Nathan looked at Michael inquisitively and his brother enlightened him in a low voice, “She said she doesn’t want to date me anymore...”

“What? You didn’t listen did you?” Nathan whispered back.

“No, not really... I’m not quite sure what to make of it,” Michael stated, the concern in his tone, unmistakable.

“Brother, don’t make anything of it...” Nathan instructed him.

“No, I was going to try not to...” which was true, but still Michael was glad to receive a second, less invested and more objective opinion.

“Good,” Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. “I like her for you... It’s a good match,” he nodded as he revealed his opinion.

“I will just have to be a bit more... creative...”

“Good man... You know she’s crazy about you...” Nathan avowed, happily relaying his outsider observation.

Gemma washed the chlorine form her face and patted it dry with the towel. Damn it! She could smell him on it, and for a moment just held it against her face and pined. Then, she shook herself back to reality and decided to get out and just get on with her job.

When Gemma walked outside, Nathan excused himself and walked in. “Are you going to finish your lunch, Gem?” Michael asked her.

“No, I have to get the yard marked out,” she excused herself, affording him only brief eye contact.

“Stop!” he ordered, raising his leg up in front of her. Gemma froze, unable to move lest the lump in her throat might spill out and reveal her severely frayed and vulnerable emotions. Michael looked at her as he leaned back with one arm casually hanging over the back of the plastic furniture, and though pained, he spoke to her with assertive offhandedness. “We are still friends, right..?” Gemma looked at him – how could he want to be friends with her after she insulted him like she did – telling him that she wished her virginity was taken by another; how cruel... Why was he being so generous..?

“If you want to... That would make me happy,” Gemma told him and swallowed back the lump which was threatening to erupt from her throat, and tears began to well. Being his friend was better than having no relationship with him at all. And maybe in time, he could even grow to like her... Stop! What was she thinking..? She can’t afford to be thinking like that. Michael had offered his friendship, and she should just be grateful. “Thank you.”

“It’s okay...” Michael wished he knew what was going on in her mind, what caused such pain and turmoil in her sweet face, but he knew for now she needed breathing space... and time, so he lowered his leg and let her pass.

Gemma spent the next few hours with a tape-measure, string and chalk, marking her design out in the yard. Then she packed up, said goodbye to Michael and Nathan and went home to get changed for a few hours of Night College. By the time she got home she was exhausted, physically and emotionally, so after greeting and having a quick chat with her housemate, she climbed into a hot bath with Epsom salts and lavender, and soaked away some of her aches. She slid down the tub and submerged her face, surrendering to the healing qualities of the concoction, but unfortunately there were some ailments that her bath tonic could not cure. Perhaps a good night’s sleep would help..?

When Gemma awoke early the next morning, she felt brighter than she had anticipated. The heaviness she felt the night before had left her, and she looked forward to the day ahead and simply working within her chosen career. She ate her standard healthy breakfast, got dressed, platted her hair and raced out the door with her knapsack and hat. She jumped into her utility vehicle and ventured out to an equipment hire centre to hire a rotary hoe and then called into a petrol station to fill a couple of gerry cans with fuel.

She pulled up outside the house and went around the back to get the rotary hoe out of her vehicle when she heard Michael’s voice booming out the window, “Don’t you dare!” Gemma turned to him, and then looked back at the hoe, “Uh!” he warned, “Wait there...”

Michael came out and Gemma watched mesmerised as all his muscles flexed and twitched as he lifted the hoe to the ground. “I could have managed Michael, but thank you...”

Michael smiled at her, “Good morning. You should get a ramp for your ute so you don’t injure yourself when there is no one around to help.”

“That’s a very good idea.” Oh how she loved it when he smiled at her in the morning...

Gemma spent the morning turning all the soil in the areas where she had gardens marked out. It was a hard slug, but she was enjoying it. The load of soil arrived just before lunch and Gemma and Michael directed them to unload it in the middle of the front yard. “Smells good, doesn’t it?” she asked Michael, as she picked up a handful and squashed it in her palm, feeling the texture and smelling it.

“Sure Gem... For dirt, it smells okay...” Michael snickered.

“It’s not dirt, it’s organic soil...” Gemma pledged.

Michael chuckled, “Well, after lunch you can play in your big pile of... organic soil... until your heart’s content.” How refreshing to know a girl who gets excited about dirt!

“I will,” she declared as she proudly stuck out her chin.

“But for now, let’s go for a dip!” and with that he picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and carried her around to the pool. Gemma laughed, enjoying their play and their new... friendship, although feeling his strength as he carted her was a forbidden tease, one which she should restrain herself from partaking in.

Gemma climbed into the pool after the men and held herself to the opposite side to Michael. She caught herself a couple of times gazing at him and indomitably tried to focus on other things – a bird on the fence, a blade of grass, but this was made considerably harder by the fact that the three of them were engaging in conversation.

Suddenly there was a hello and a holler... “Around the back,” Michael called out to the individual, instructing her to walk around to the pool.

“I thought you boys were supposed to be working..?” jovially reprimanded the attractive young woman. She wore a trendy fuchsia suit – a medium length skirt and a matching short sleeved jacket, and neutral coloured low heels. Her hair was short and brunette with purplish tinted highlights, and fashionably styled. Her face was pixie like with minimal but striking make-up, or was that just her eyes – light bluey-mauve with long black lashes. This was their interior decorator? Gemma suddenly felt... strange. Hot and panicked even... Oh no... Was she jealous?

“Hey Sam!” Michael greeted her, but to Gemma’s dismay, excitedly.

“Sammy, how are you?” inquired Nathan as he began to lift himself up out of the pool.

Michael too, pulled himself up onto the side, his back muscles and loins sculpturing alluring contours with his exertion and then he stood up as well. “Sam, this is Gemma...” he gestured his hand towards Gemma and then back to the other woman as he introduced, “Gem... Samantha!” The two girls said a polite hello to each other and then Michael asked, “Are you going to join us for lunch?”