The Art of Life (70 page)

               
“You were the sassy one.
 
So lippy all of a sudden, what has gotten
into you?” Jeremy asks, with a huge smile.

               
“Maybe you are bringing out the
naughty side of me,” I reply, laughing.

               
Jeremy’s eyebrows shoot up.
 
“The naughty side, really?
 
I didn’t know you had a naughty side.
 
Does this go with any naughty lingerie?”

               
My mood suddenly shifts.
 
I am sitting on Jeremy and we are kind of
wrestling around.
 
Memories come shooting
back, especially, the feel of his touch on my skin.
 
I want to bend over and kiss him.
 
Kiss him with a passion that he has never
seen before.
 
That makes me falter.
 
I quickly spin and get off of him.
 
“There is no naughty lingerie.
 
I have never been in a situation where I
needed to have lingerie.
 
I need to get
my coat on.”

               
Propping himself up on his
elbows, Jeremy asks, “What is wrong?
 
You
have been acting weird and different all day.
 
I really think that something is amiss.
 
It’s about Kaitlin, isn’t it?”

               
“No!” I exclaim.
 
“She doesn’t have anything to do with it!”

               
“See, there is something!
 
What is going on with you?
 
You are acting so peculiar.”

               
I turn around.
 
“You are acting just as weird.
 
One minute you are joking around and the next
you are all
pissy
.”

               
“I am hung over, what’s your
excuse?” Jeremy retorts.

               
Standing up, I straighten my
skirt.
 
“Nothing is wrong.
 
I am just nervous about going out with Eric.”

               
Jeremy looks at me
thoughtfully.
 
“I don’t believe you.”

               
“Please……just let it go.
 
I am fine.
 
There is nothing wrong between you and me.”

               
“I think you are lying,” Jeremy
mumbles, as he rolls over to get up, “but I will leave it alone.”

               
There is suddenly a honk from
outside.
 
“Oh!” I squeak.
 
“That’s Eric!
 
How do I look!?”

               
With a deep sigh, Jeremy
replies, “You look fabulous.
 
Have fun,
but be careful okay?”

               
“Yeah,” I say, going over to
him.
 
I wrap my arms around his waist and
hug him.
 
Jeremy just pulls me
close.
 
He gently kisses me on the
head.
 
“Alright,” I say, backing up.
 
“I will see you later.”

               
“I will be here.
 
No going out tonight, need… rest…lots of rest.
 
Here actually looks good,” he mumbles,
falling over onto my bed.

               
I laugh and turn to leave the
room.
 
With
a quickness
,
I run and get my coat.
 
I yell,
“BYE!”
 
The only response I get is some
grumbling.
 
I open the door and tear down
the steps.
 
When I actually get to the
bottom, I slow down so I don’t look like an idiot.
 

               
Eric is sitting in his car
tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to music.
 
I walk over to the car and open the
door.
 
He turns and smiles, “Hey Isabelle.”
             

               
“Hi,” I reply, sitting
down.
 
I shut the door and take a deep
breath.
 
“Are we the only ones in your
car?”

               
“Yup, I told Jack he had to ride
with someone else.
 
I was afraid he
wouldn’t leave until he got to talk to Jeremy about that stupid car.”

               
That makes me giggle.
 
“He is up now.
 
Not feeling so well, but he is alive.”

               
“Flu?”
Eric asks, as he pulls away from the curb.

               
Slightly snorting, I say, “Sort
of.”

               
“So, have you been to Legend’s
before?”
 
Eric asks.

               
“Umm, maybe when I was seven…..I
think,” I reply, giving him a shy look.

               
With a grin, Eric says, “We kind
of do this a lot.
 
It sounds corny I
know, but it’s actually fun.”

               
“No, it sounds great.
 
I have never played mini golf though.
 
I am probably horrible at it.”

               
“Everyone is horrible, except
for Jack.
 
He is just ridiculous.
 
You can be my partner.
 
So if we embarrass ourselves, we do it with
each other.
 
Jack is merciless,” Eric
declares.
 

               
I roll my eyes.
 
“Maybe he would get along with Jeremy.”
 
Suddenly, my phone goes off.
 
“What in the world?” I mutter, pulling it
out.
 
                                      

               
There is a text.
 
It reads: Remember your promise.
 
Tell your boy Eric my message.

               
“Really
Jeremy!?”
I hiss.

               
Looking at me from the corner of
his eye, Eric says, “What’s up?”

               
“I am going to kill him,” I groan.
 
My eyes turn to Eric and he gives me a
confused look.
 
Wanting to cry, I
whisper, “Jeremy wanted me to warn you that if anything happened to me, you
would have to answer to him.
 
Please,
just choose to ignore him.
 
I do.”

               
Eric just chuckles.
 
“I will make extra sure that you are safe
playing mini golf tonight.”

               
“He is ridiculous
sometimes.
 
There is no excuse for him.”

               
“Jeremy is protective of
you.
 
That is a good thing.
 
Everyone needs someone looking out for them,”
Eric notes.

               
It is a quiet for a little
while.
 
I finally say, “I am not really
close to anyone.
 
I am close to Jeremy.
 
That is about it.”

               
“Kind of like having a big
brother,” Eric retorts cautiously.

               
“Eek,” I squeak.
 
“I sure hope not.
 
I kiss him.
 
Eww
,
weird and a whole lot of shades of nasty.”

               
Nodding his head, Eric replies,
“That is probably true.
 
So…do you
guys….kiss each other a lot?
 
I mean,
it’s really none of my business.”

               
“We do actually,” I laugh.
 
“We are extremely affectionate but it’s not
what you think.
 
We aren’t involved or
anything.
 
Jeremy and I are just close.”

               
“I do not go around kissing my
friends,” Eric says slowly.
 
“Though I do
hug, but kissing sounds so much more fun.
 
Well, maybe not with Jack.”

               
Giggling, I reply, “No, I didn’t
think Jack was your type.”

               
“But Jeremy is yours?”

               
“Jeremy?
 
My type of what?
 
Boyfriend?
 
I don’t know.
 
I have never had a boyfriend, so I don’t even know what my type would
be.
 
What is your type of girl?” I
inquire.

               
Eric shrugs his shoulders.
 
“She HAS to have a sense of humor.
 
That is a definite attribute she has to
have.
 
I have dated girls that wouldn’t
laugh at anything.
 
It was horrible.”

               
“May I ask how many girlfriends
you have had, or is that over stepping my bounds?
 
I am new at this having friends thing.
 
Jeremy and I will say anything to each other,
so that’s a little different.”

               
“I have dated my share of
girls,
I have had two serious girlfriends.
 
None this year yet.
 
Some of the girls we go to school with are
really shallow, and I find that unattractive.
 
Maybe I am growing up and they are somewhat behind me.”

               
Looking out the window, I say,
“I had to grow up a long time ago.
 
My
mom didn’t take care of me.
 
I had no
one.
 
So, I learned to do everything on
my own.
 
Then when I got older, my mom
started to rely on me.
 
I had to clean up
her vomit. I had to do all the cooking and cleaning.
 
Maybe you can understand why I hid away from
everyone.”

               
“My family is crazy,” Eric
sighs, “but we love each other.
 
Thanksgiving and Christmas are off the charts nuts.”

               
“We celebrated those when I was
younger.
 
My mom gives me money at
Christmas now, to buy things for myself.
 
Which is usually a year’s worth of art supplies.
 
I honestly used to dream of having the huge
Christmas morning: coming down with beautifully wrapped presents under the
tree, making cocoa, have everyone laughing.”

               
With a chuckle, Eric replies,
“It can be that way, but it also can be: kids fighting over presents, paper
everywhere, the noise level being so loud you can’t hear anyone.
 
Then the presents are done with, and you have
to proceed with the craziness that is Christmas Day.
  
It’s not exactly how you probably pictured
it.”

               
“I would have rather had that
then nothing,” I reply.
 
“I am going to
give my kids the best holidays ever.
 
I
don’t mean I am going to spoil them rotten, but we are going to do all the fun
stuff.”

               
“You are more than welcome to
come spend the holidays with us.
 
My mom
loves having more people.
 
She cooks like
a banshee and the more people, means more food.”

               
My jaw drops a little.
 
Did he just say what I think he said, and I
am not talking about the cooking part?
 
“Well, thank you for the invite, but I will probably spend it with
Jeremy.”

               
“
You going
to Texas to visit his family?” Eric asks.

               
“Probably not,” I reply.
 
What do I even say?
 
“It will probably be the two of us.
 
I think I am going to make him get a tree
though.
 
I haven’t had a tree since I was
a kid.”

               
Eric sighs.
 
“I love the smell of pine trees but my mom is
allergic, so we have a fake one.”

               
“That kind of sucks,” I retort.
 
“I want a real one.
 
Though I doubt Jeremy has any ornaments or
anything.
 
It may turn into a pricey
undertaking.”
 
My mind turns to what he
told me about the trust fund.
 
I guess to
him it won’t be anything, but I don’t know if I feel comfortable with him
spending money on me anymore.
 
I mean,
it’s
Kaitlin’s money.
 
I don’t know what I feel.
 
It’s so
confusing.