Arizona Allspice (52 page)

“
Ooo
, no,” Denise waves her pointer finger, “I am not going to lose that boy to the other team.” She steps down from the bar stool and straightens her mini skirt.

“Not if I get to him first,” Marisol laughs. The two girls rush over to the pool table. “Wait up!” Tia giggles, close behind them. I roll my eyes and leave the bar Cesar’s dad built in the game room. As I walk over to Jacob who is surrounded by my nosy friends, I hear heavy footsteps on the stairway.

“Look what the cat dragged in, guys!” Cesar laughs as he comes down the stairs to his basement with his arm hooked around Joey’s neck.

Jacob is startled as the three beautiful girls that took such an interest in him forget he exists once Joey walks into the room. They greet Joey with the usual inappropriate hugs and Joey grants them the usual indecent kisses on the cheek or on the forehead.

“Great to see you again, dude,” Jacob slaps hands with Joey. “Your skills on the field and how you basically cheated death is legendary in Dewitt.”

Joey can only chuckle.

“You look good as new. When do my buddies and I get to see you in action at the finals?” Jacob asks.

“Yeah!
What are you waiting for?” everyone barrages him.

Both Joey and I know that his eyesight isn’t ideal yet. He’s having the most trouble with the vision exercises in therapy and it’s the one thing holding him back from throwing himself into soccer again. “I know as much about when I’ll come back as you do. Sorry guys,” Joey smiles politely. 

Once the mob of his faithful fans disperses, the girls remembering their goal of snagging Jacob for themselves and Jacob remembering he could have three girlfriends if he juggled them right, Joey turns his attention to me. He nears me with a guarded smile. When he puts out his arm to hug me, I extend my arm for a handshake. Offended, his radiant blue eyes darken. He stares down at my hand and glares. I chuckle, making light of it. Though clearly irritated, he gives in and we bump fists like bros.

“What brings you here?” he asks.

I don’t think he’s realized yet that I don’t need him to be my secure base anymore. “The same thing that brings you here,” I smile. I walk away from him to give him time to understand that without his help I am capable of interacting quite well with other people. I can even join Denise, Marisol and Tia as they pry into Jacob’s personal life. As I suspected, his interests are smoking, partying, and smoking at parties. Bored, I found myself getting into a surprisingly deep conversation with
Niko
. Ten minutes into it, I glance around the room and realize Joey is missing. I chew on my bottom lip. “Did Joey go home?”

“No, he just went upstairs,”
Niko
says. “He’s probably raiding the cupboards.”

“I’m a little hungry myself. I’ll be right back. You want anything?”

“You.”
He wags his jet black eyebrows above sparkling brown eyes. We both laugh.

“Oh please,” I brush him off in jest.

Jacob’s and Joey’s deep voices become louder and clearer as I quietly make my way up the stairs.

I hear Jacob say, “Those chicks forgot all about me when you showed up.” I pause on the top step and eavesdrop, curious to hear what Joey will say.

“They didn’t forget about you. I’m just really close with them. I’ve known them for years.”

“I can tell that you know them very well,” Jacob replies suggestively. “Dude, you have all these girls hanging off of you. What’s your secret?”

“There’s no secret to tell.”

“Okay, but just tell me one thing. Are you sleeping with all of them or just some of them?”

“Um…That’s for me to know and you to be jealous about.”

“You dog!” Jacob laughs. “You are a
legend
, man! That’s awesome.”

I loudly clear my throat, startling the two buffoons. “I’d like to have a word with Joey,” I command. “Alone.”

Joey crosses his arms and frowns.

“Uh, no prob.”
Jacob grabs a bag of trail mix and darts back down the stairs to the game room.

“I was just joking,” Joey says once we’re alone.

“Well, I don’t think it’s funny, Joey. You’re insinuating that I’m loose.”

“I never said that,” he lies to my face.

“That’s what insinuating
means
, smart guy,” I almost growl. “You didn’t have to say anything outright. How could you talk about me like that when you know that’s what Raul did to me? And you know what? This isn’t just about me. You’ve been doing this shit since high school, leading your stupid friends to believe you’re Don Juan and that the girls who you claim to care so much about are just part of your private harem.”

“You are taking this way too seriously. The girls know I’m just kidding. They even play along with it sometimes. They don’t mind.”

“They say they don’t mind, but I know that’s not how they feel. Of course they’re going to tell the guy who’s practically their knight in shining armor whatever he wants to hear!” My voice cracks at the end of my sentence. I’m mortified. How’d I let myself get so emotional?

Joey stares at me, silent. His blue eyes always see more of me than I want to reveal.

“I have somewhere else to be,” I whip at him before I leave Cesar’s house and speed home in my truck.

******

I saw something in her eyes yesterday. So, I invited her over for lunch. First off, I owe her an apology, but I also want to see if I can get the old Elaine to make an appearance; The Elaine who drives me crazy in a good way. I keep taking a peek out the window, waiting for her black truck to appear. Just as I notice how a blanket of dark clouds is rolling in from the east, Elaine arrives. Her tight jeans hug the curves of her long legs and shapely behind as she steps down from her truck. As she adjusts the straps of her vest I catch a glimpse of her flat brown stomach. Her expressive brown eyes behind her glasses search the darkening sky and her pouty lips part as she mutters something to herself. It’s hard for me to stop spying on her this way, but she’s gorgeous. Even her elbows are beautiful and for the life of me I can’t explain why.

“Hey,” I greet her at the door and then wrap her up in a hug before she can step away from me.

“Joey. Stop,” she protests, but I feel her relax into my body. I continue to embrace her until she uses her hands to pull my arms away. She steps around me and heads towards the dining room. “Where’s the food you promised me?”

I grin and follow her to the table to watch her reaction.

She looks down at her plate and smiles slightly. “Caribbean Jerk Chicken Salad. You remembered.”

Success!
“Of course I remembered your favorite meal. I’ll never forget how you wolfed it down the first time you ate it.”

Elaine rolls her eyes at me before seating herself around the table. It’s not long before she forks a piece of chicken and mango. I follow her lead. She might have her guard up, but her enjoyment of the salad is apparent. The way she holds the food in her mouth, the food I cooked with my own hands, and savors it is sensual. Somehow, I refocus on my goal: baiting the true Elaine and making her stay for good.

“Hey, remember our acting skills that night I woke up at the hospital?” I smile. “It’s kind of funny, looking back at it.”

Elaine shrugs her shoulders and continues chewing.

“Think about it. I wake up out of a coma. How soap opera is that? I open my eyes and I’m like ‘…Huh?’ Mom was crying, ‘My son. Are you okay?’ ‘I, uh, I think so, Mama.’
‘
Boohoohoo
!
I’m so happy you’re alive. Now tell me why the hell I didn’t know Elaine was your girlfriend!’ ‘She isn’t my girlfriend!’ You give me some desperate, guilt-inducing puppy dog eyes. ‘You’re my girlfriend? Oh yeah! I remember. Uh huh, we’re a couple and stuff. Yeah, Elaine and I make out pretty hard, Mom.’”

Elaine shakes her head and chuckles lightly.
“Where are you going with this, you
perv
?”

“Nowhere in particular.”
I say innocently and bite into a juicy slice of mango. “I’ve just been thinking about the interesting moments we’ve shared. Like my first day of therapy when you helped me get dressed.”

 “I recall it as the time you almost went to therapy shirtless and barefoot,” she smirks.  

“But I wasn’t shirtless and barefoot.” I smile.
“Because you’re a kind-hearted person who helped me when I was in need.”

“Didn’t you notice what I dressed you in? You looked homeless,” she laughs at me. She pauses to eat more salad and then continues laughing.

I frown at being the subject of her joke. “Why’d you let me leave the house looking like that?”

“
‘Cause
you were annoying me.” She pierces a lettuce leaf with her fork.

Wait a minute! She’s distracting me from remembering the nice things she did. Oh, she’s
good
. She almost led me completely off course.

“That’s not what happened. I had to wear that shirt because it was the only button-down I had.
And
you weren’t embarrassed to be out in public with me. You invited me out to the restaurant for lunch.”

She shrugs and chews. “I was hungry.”

“Okay, well, what about that time you went all Mama Bear at Mr. Jeremy’s store?”

Elaine laughs aloud and gives me a beautiful smile.
Success again!
“Mama Bear?” She arches an eyebrow.

 “Don’t deny it! People were crowded around the truck like I was part of a freak show and you scared them all off. I thank you.”

“I did it because I wanted to pump my gas in peace.” Her tone is unassertive. I watch as she
rakes
her fork across the dusting of spices on the surface of her chicken. To my delight, she adds to the conversation with her own reminiscence. “Remember when you conned me into snuggling on the couch with you in front of your mother?”

I flash a wicked smile.
“Very fondly.”

“Let me remind you of the punishment you received that day: my fingers digging into your flesh.”  

I hiss. “Hey. You hurt me pretty bad. I still have a mark on my side.”

Surprise widens her guilty eyes. “You do?”

“No.”

She glares at me, but I can tell her heart isn’t in it. Her heart still yearns for our friendship, I think.

Elaine lays her fork down and crosses her arms. “So, we take a trip down Memory Boulevard and then I’m supposed to forget how you disrespected me yesterday?”

 
Foiled!
“No, I was going to wrap by apologizing for that. I shouldn’t have brushed your feelings off just because the other girls don’t seem to mind my jokes. You are not other girls.”