Him (10 page)

"Shit
, she can cook too? How the hell did Brian get her?"

"Language
, Sarah."

I smirk
. My mother can cuss like a sailor. Chip comes up behind me so I hop on the counter to make room for him to get past. My father comes up behind him, and seeing me on the counter again, throws his hands up. I make a face and slide down off the counter. My mom makes some coffee so I sit with them and have a cup. I can't help but raise an eyebrow at my mother every time she cusses. She looks away like she doesn’t see me. They talk about the trouble we used to get into when we were kids, mainly Brian. He was a prankster and always up to something. Luckily, he never did anything really dangerous. It’s fun hearing all those old stories. There are a couple I have no memory of.

"Yes, you were there
." My mom was adamant.

"Are you sure?" I'm not buying it
. I totally would have remembered Brian covering my bedroom door with cling wrap.

She just s
its there, nodding while I think about it. Shrugging, I finally give it up. I still can’t remember it.

"So what's for lunch?"
My stomach is talking, and if I don’t get anything in it soon, I will probably eat another muffin.

"Your brother and Christine are bringing subs."

"But how do they know what I want?" I whine.

They all turn to look at me
. My mother leans forward and sets her chin in her hand. "Sarah, what is the only sub you have ever ordered since elementary school?"

"Um, a BLT?"
I'm not sure why I say it like a question.

"And if you could have any sandwich on the planet today, what kind would you get?"

She doesn’t have to look so proud of herself. "A BLT," I grumble.

Chip laughs a
nd pats my upper arm. My mother smiles her world famous 'I know everything why do you even argue with me' smile.

I glance at the microwave to check the time when my stomach rumbles again
. "When are they coming?"

"Soon
. Eat a banana if you're starving," my mom says, pushing the bowl towards me.

"I had one with breakfast
." That's a valid argument, right?

"Heaven forbid you eat two bananas in one day
, Sarah."

"Ugh
. I don’t want another banana, Mom." I push up from the table, about to go upstairs when I hear Brian and Christine walk in the front door. I jog over to them, blowing kisses and taking the food bags.

"Hungry?" Brian's shaking his head.

"Did you have a muffin this morning?" Christine asks, following me into the kitchen.

I
’m digging through the bags, looking for my sub as I answer. "Best muffin I've ever had."

"I know
, right?" Brian comes up around her and wraps his arms around her waist.

My Uncle Chip stands up to hug and kiss them. I find my sub
, and even though it might be slightly rude, I dig in. My mouth is full when Will walks in. I put my hand over my mouth and look towards the back door.

"You didn’t wait for me?"
He hugs Chip before sitting next to me.

"Only Sarah couldn’t wait
." My mother smiles at me sweetly as she throws me under the bus.

Now that I've swallowed my bite
, I take a deep, soothing breath and reply, "My mother," shooting her a look, "only mentioned Brian and Christine were coming." I look back at her again. "Thanks, mom. Really, thank you."

"It's cool
. Brian just thought you might need my help with the slideshow."

I glare at Brian
. "What? Why would you think that? I can handle making a slideshow."

"I can go
." Will gets up.

Great
. Now I'm an asshole. I grab his arm and pull him back down into chair. I refuse to look at him, though, because I may not be able to restrain myself from smacking the smirk I am almost certain is on his face. Instead, I glare at Brian. I'm not sure why it makes me feel better, but it does. It also helps that he looks a bit scared of me. Good. He should be. Chip is giving me a concerned look, I give him a half smile and eat my sub. While we eat, I watch my family interact with Will. I can't lie. It makes me feel jealous that he seems so involved in their lives.

After lunch
, Brian, Christine, Will, and I go into the living room to sort through old photos. Christine has brought a bunch of her own that can be used in the slide show. She wants it to start with baby pictures of them and follow them as they grew, ending with pictures of them as a couple. Will brought his laptop and scanner to make the actual file. That bugs me. It seems pretty clear Will can handle making the slideshow on his own. I’m starting to wonder why Brian had even asked for my help. I do my best to put on a happy face, though. I am here for his wedding. There is no way I am going to let my weirdness around Will negatively impact any part of Brian's wedding.

Yes, I
am uncomfortable, and yes, I am saying really rude things to both Will and Brian inside my head. All I need to do is be the bigger person for the next week. Besides, no matter how crazy Brian can drive me, he is still my big brother, and I love him. Settling down on the sofa, I reach for a photo album. As I flip through the pictures, I point out cute or funny ones of Brian to Christine. It takes me back. If I had pouted or rebelled against helping because of Will, I might have missed this. I’m still figuring out the whole maturity thing more than halfway through my twenties.

The album I
’m looking at has pictures from when Brian was in high school. I don’t know why but I hadn’t expected to come across pictures of Will and I. When I turn the page, it’s like I am pulled back in time. The pictures have to be from our freshman year. There is one with Brian, Will, and I around our kitchen table playing Uno. I have a Yoo-hoo in front of me. I can almost hear Will giving me crap for it, saying they taste like watered down milk. I didn’t care. I loved them, still do. I wonder who took the picture, maybe my mom. If my dad had taken it, one of our heads would have been cut off. Thank god for digital cameras. At least my dad could delete the bad shots nowadays. I can't stop looking at the picture. In it, Will and Brian are both smiling straight at the camera. Me, I'm looking at Will like a love sick puppy. It’s hard not to remember how intense my feelings for him were.

It takes me a couple seconds to realize everyone has stopped talking. I look up and feel a tear slide down my cheek
. I had not even known I was crying. I set the album on the coffee table and hurry into the kitchen. My throat feels dry, so I fill a glass with water and gulp it down. I'm standing at the sink, ready to refill my glass when Will walks in.

"Sarah?"

"Please." It's one word, but the way I say it means so much more. Please don’t say anything. Please don’t look at me. Please don’t hurt me. Please just stay away. Please.

He leans against the doorframe
. He never was a good listener. I refill my glass and turn my back to Will before gulping it down. I hear him push off and the sound of his footsteps as he comes to stand right behind me. I can smell his after shave. It’s subtle, but intoxicating. When I just barely feel his breath against the back of my neck, I lean onto the counter to ensure I don’t fall over. It feels like an eternity. I can't move.

"Can we talk?"

I can't handle this right now. I don’t know what to say. Doing nothing, though, seems to work. I hear him swallow before he turns and walks back out of the room. I still can't move. I feel another tear snake down my cheek. I'm not crying because of the picture anymore. Now I'm crying because I know I never stopped loving Will. I'm startled by the noise of the freezer making ice. I turn and almost have a heart attack when I see my uncle Chip sitting at the kitchen table. How the…? I hadn’t even heard him come in. My uncle is not a small man. There is no way I could have missing him walking in.

Using his foot
, he pushes the chair closest to me out. "Why don’t we have a chat, Sarah."

Chapter 10

Past

Our first day back at school
is interesting. It feels like the whole school knows about Will kissing me at the amusement park. I have never felt so evaluated. I can only guess what everyone is thinking. What is Will Price doing with her? I don’t even have any classes with him to see if he's feeling the same thing. We do have the same lunch, so when the weather’s nice we eat outside. I get to our table before him and panic for a moment, wondering if he's changed his mind about me. My fear is short-lived when I see him make his way over to me only moments later. Everyone's eyes follow him as he drops his backpack and leans down to capture my lips. He doesn’t break our kiss as he moves to sit next to me. I lean into him and sigh. He pulls back to look at me, tilting his head to the side to smirk at me.

I bump him with my shoulder
, and he offers me a French fry. I open my mouth. As I go to take a bite, he pulls it away, eating it instead. He laughs when I pout and nicely feeds me a fry. He looks around us, tensing when he notices everyone has been watching us.

He chews on the corner of his mouth
. "How are you doing?"

"It's weird
. People never really noticed me before. I wish they'd stop."

He takes my hand in his and kisses it
. "I'm sorry."

I reach out to touch his cheek with my other hand
. "Don't apologize. You are amazing."

He leans over to kiss my cheek before feeding me another fry.

~*~

At the end of the day, we walk to his car.
He opens my door for me before getting in. Once we're out of the parking lot, his hand rests on my thigh as we drive away. My seat is reclined, and I'm on my side, facing him. It's like I don’t want to take my eyes off of him. I pull his hoodie from the back seat and use it as a pillow. I glance down to his hand as his thumb slowly strokes my leg. I love the freckle on the back of his hand. Feeling impulsive, I pull his hand to my mouth and kiss it. He looks over at me, giving me a lopsided grin. It's still months away, but I cannot imagine how I will function when he goes to Italy. The language CD is going.

He pulls my hand up to his lips
. "Bella ragazza. Wanna go get some ice cream?"

I smile, still not believing William Ethan Price asked me to be his girlfriend. As many times as I had imagined this moment
, none of my dreams could hold a candle to what it's like. He kissed me in front of the senior class and again in the cafeteria today. Now he is taking me for ice cream, and he just called me beautiful in Italian. He shakes my knee as he pulls into the parking lot. I pop my seat back up and look for my sunglasses. Will walks around to my side of the car, opening my door and wrapping his arms around my waist once I step out. I put my hands around his neck and run my fingers through his hair.

He rubs his nose against mine
. "Why didn’t we do this ages ago?"

"You had a girlfriend."

His forehead is pressed to mine. "Why didn’t you ever tell me?"

"Tell you what?" I'm confused.

"That you liked me."

"The whole world likes you
. I'm kind of trying to figure out why you like me."

"I've liked you for a long time
. That’s probably why Jessica has been such a bitch. She could totally tell I'd rather be with you."

I don’t say anything
. I just pull his mouth to mine. He pushes me back, leaning me up against his car.

After a couple moments
, he kisses his way up to my ear. "Want to go to my house?"

I pull back, my mouth open. We never go to his house
. He hates it over there. Why would he even ask? The idea makes me really nervous, and it's clearly written all over my face.

"My mom is still at work
. I thought we could swim in the pool. That way I'm the only one that gets to see you in your bikini."

"Did you still want to get ice cream?"

He gives me a look like, did you really just ask that? Then he kisses me again. The kiss is shorter this time, and holding hands, we walk up together to the parlor. He opens the door for me and comes to stand behind me, his arms around me as we wait to order. There are no other customers in the store, and we both already know what we want. Two scoops of chocolate chip in a chocolate-coated waffle cone for me and one scoop of fudge ripple, one scoop of cherry cordial in a plain waffle cone for Will. We have been coming here together for years and know the owner, Kurt, who is working today.

"You kids finally dating?" he ask
s, looking at Will's arms around me.

I blush and nod as
Will kisses my neck.

"This one is on the house. Think of it as my contribution to young love."

"You don’t have to do that, Kurt," Will argues.