The Art of Life (88 page)

               
He
smiles, “
No, that
is good.
 
Ugh Isabelle, you sure keep me on my toes.”

               
That
makes me smirk.
 
“Someone has to.”

               
“By
the way, I am going to sternly talk to Josh,” Jeremy states, grabbing his cell
phone.

               
“No!”
I exclaim.
 
“You promised!”

               
Jeremy
looks at me.
 
“So, I am not allowed to
say anything to him?”

               
“Nope,”
I reply.
 
“Just leave it be.”
 
Suddenly, my cell phone rings.
 
With a quizzical look, I say, “I wonder who
that is.”
 
I go over, pick it up and
smile.
  
“It’s Cassandra.”
 
I quickly answer it.
 
“Hello.”

               
Then
there is just high pitched squealing on the other end.
 
“GUESS WHAT!?”
 
She yells.

               
“What?”
I ask, a little bit dumbfounded.

               
“Guess
who is engaged!?”

               
My
jaw drops.
 
“No way!
 
Kent proposed?”

               
There
is more squealing.
 
“Yup!
 
He took me out to a park for a picnic and
then asked me.
 
It was great!”

               
Holding
the phone to the side, I tell Jeremy, “Kent proposed to Cassandra.”

               
“I
know,” Jeremy chimes back with a grin.
 
“He told me he was going to.”

               
“And
you didn’t tell me!” I gasp.

               
He
shakes his head.
 
“I didn’t know if you
could keep a secret, and REMEMBER we can omit things.”

               
“Funny,”
I retort.
 
Putting the phone back to my
face, I say, “I am so unbelievably happy for you two!”

               
“Thanks!”
She replies.
 
“Now, the question comes
up, will you and Jeremy stand up in the wedding?”

               
The
silence is deafening because I can’t talk.
 
“Me?
 
Jeremy I understand, but me?

               
“Yeah,
you are like a little sister to us, and we need someone to stand up with
Jeremy.
 
Will you do it?”

               
“Of
course I will,” I reply.
 
“I mean, yes,
what an incredible honor.”
 
My eyes drift
to Jeremy.
 
“Cassandra wants US to stand
up in the wedding.”

               
With
a smirk, Jeremy says, “Sounds good to me.”

               
Cassandra
sighs on the other end.
 
“Okay, I have
more people to call.
 
Will you help me
look through magazines this week?
 
I want
to get started.”

               
“Sure,”
I reply.
 
“Just let me know when.”

               
“Alright!”
She chirps.
 
“Talk to you later.”

               
One
more time I say, “Congratulations.”

               
“Thanks,
bye!”

               
“Bye.”
 
I hang up and look at Jeremy.
 
“That is awesome for them!
 
Wow, she sounds so happy.”

               
Jeremy
comes over and ruffles my hair.
 
“You
will be too when your future husband proposes.”

               
“I
sure hope so,” I reply.

               
“By
the
wwwaaayyyy
,” Jeremy draws out.
 
“You have your driver’s test on Wednesday.”

               
“What!?!?”
I scream.

               
A
horribly devious grin passes over Jeremy’s face.
 
“Yup, you are more than ready.
 
I set it up.”

               
“Oh
my gosh
, oh my gosh, I am so nervous!”

               
“You
will be fine,” Jeremy reassures me.
 
“Now, let’s make dinner my little tattoo queen, I am starving.”

               
With
a huge smile, I say, “Want some more great news?
 
Let me tell you what I did at school today……”

               
“I
think I am going to hurl…..”

               
Jeremy
takes my hand.
 
“You are going to be
fine.
 
Just remember, to breathe and
think.”

               
I
turn and look at him.
 
“Easier
said than done.
 
What if I fail?”

               
“Isabelle,
you are not going to fail.
 
This is
easy.
 
You have been driving great and
you can parallel park like a master.
 
Just take it slow and easy.
 
Don’t
overthink things.”

               
Without
moving my gaze from him, I just nod my head.
 
“Okay.”

               
“Now,
the test instructor needs to get in.
 
You
will do fine.
 
Good luck.”
 
With that Jeremy gets out of the car.

               
The
instructor gets into the car.
 
It’s a
guy.
 
“You are a lucky girl to be taking
your driver’s test in this.
 
Make sure
you don’t peel out though, that docks points.”
 
I take a deep breath and nod.
 
“Okay,” he says, “let’s get started.”

               
It
isn’t that hard, the driver’s test.
 
After a little bit, I calm down and I think it goes well.
 
When we are all done, the instructor looks at
me.
 
“Well, Miss.
Nimon
,
you are now a licensed driver.”

               
That
makes me squeal and jump up and down.
 
We
quickly get out of the car and run up to Jeremy, jumping into his arms.
 
“I did it!”

               
“Good
job!” He exclaims.
 
“I am proud of you.”
 
Bouncing, I just smile.
 
Jeremy laughs.
 
“Go finish up the paperwork.
 
We are meeting Cassandra and Josh at the
restaurant and Kent is going to try and eat with us.”

               
“Awesome!”
I yell.
 
Out of the corner of my eye, I
see the test instructor waiting for me.
 
“Be right back!”

               
Afterwards,
we go out and everyone congratulates me.
 
They even give me a cake, which I just shake my head at.
 
When we get home, I do the little bit of homework
I have.
 
Jeremy comes up to the door as I
am finishing up.
 
“Hey, do you want to do
lunch tomorrow?”

               
“I
have school,” I retort.

               
“I
meant at school.
 
I will bring
something.”

               
Shrugging
my shoulders, I say, “Sure.”

               
Jeremy
smirks.
 
“Don’t be too over enthusiastic
about it, you may hurt yourself.”

               
“No,”
I laugh.
 
“I would LOVE for you to come
and have lunch with me.”

               
“Good,”
he replies.
 
There is a sudden twitch to
his smile.

               
Narrowing
my eyes, “What’s with the goofy grin?”

               
“No,
goofy grin,” Jeremy sighs.
 
“None at all.”
 
With
that, he turns and walks away.
 
I watch
him go skeptically.

               
The
next day, I am on cloud nine all morning.
 
Life couldn’t be going any better.
 
While I am putting my books away at the beginning of lunch, Holly comes
running up to me.
 
“Jeremy is here!”

               
“I
know,” I say slowly.
 
“We are having
lunch.”

               
“Yeah…..I
mean…..you just need to go outside,” she states with a stupid smile on her
face.

               
My
eyes close and I take a deep breath.
 
Part of me doesn’t want to know what’s outside.
 
I know I had better get it over with.
 
There is a stream of people going
outside.
 
I think I am going to end up
murdering someone.
 
When I get out there,
I look at the street and just stop.
 
Jeremy is there……without his shirt on, leaning against a car that is
covered by a sheet.
 
He looks extremely
hot.
 
His pants are riding low on his
waist, showing off his chiseled stomach.
 
I look and notice I am not the only girl recognizing it.

               
With
a lot of hesitation, I walk over to him.
 
“What are you doing!?” I hiss loudly.

               
“Payback,”
Jeremy chirps, crossing his arms.
 
“You
embarrass me in front of my coworkers, I return the favor.”

               
“Don’t
you think I have enough problems at school?” I snap.

               
With
a raised eyebrow, Jeremy retorts, “I don’t think this is bringing you bad
attention.”

               
“Why
is your car covered?” I ask, looking next to him.
 
Then I look carefully.
 
“This isn’t your car.
 
This is too small to be your car.”

               
“It
isn’t my car,” Jeremy says.
 
“See, this
is the thing.
 
Hot cars usually have hot
girls that sit on it.
 
Well, in this
case, the girl would make no sense, so here I am.”

               
I
give him the most dumbfounded look.
 
“What are you babbling on about?”

               
“You
need a hot guy…..to go along with your hot new car.”
 
Jeremy rips the cover off the car, and my
world stops.

               
“You
are joking right,” I whisper.

               
“Nope,
congrats on your license, toots,” Jeremy chirps.
 

               
Sitting
in front of us is a
very
decked out import car.
 
“What is it?” I ask.

               
“A Jetta.
 
It has a
killer engine in it.
 
Won’t put it up
against my baby, but it will get you from point A to B in a hurry.
 
Now,
it’s
daylight
so you can’t see, but it has lighting under the car, purple to be exact.
 
Get in and I will show you the rest,” he
instructs.
 
“Driver’s
side.”

               
I
stand there and stare at him.
 
“Jeremy…..
have
you lost your mind?”

               
“What?”
He says, with the biggest grin.
 
“I can’t
drive my motorcycle come bad weather, so we need two cars.”

               
“Jeremy,”
I say again.
 
“I could take the bus.”

               
Dramatically
rolling his eyes, Jeremy groans, “Just get in the car.
 
It’s yours, so either
use
it or it’s going to sit on the street all winter.”

               
Looking
back at the car, I murmur, “So, this is mine?”

               
“Yup,”
Jeremy answers seriously.
 
With that I
jump and put my arms around his neck.
 
“Well, that’s the best thank you I could get,” he chuckles against my
neck.
  
Pulling back, I just look at
him.
 
Then slowly I lean forward and kiss
him ever so gently.
 
He kisses me
back.
 
When we separate, he sighs, “
Nope, that
was definitely the best thank you.”

               
“This
is too much,” I whisper.
 
“I can’t even
show you how thankful I am.”

               
A
glint forms in Jeremy’s eyes.
 
“I think
you could if you wanted to.”

               
That
makes my jaw drop and I smack him on the shoulder.
 
“You are horrible.”

               
“Just
get in the car Isabelle.”

               
So,
I quickly sprint around to the other side.
 
When I open the door to get in, I actually take a look at the decaling
on the side.
  
Narrowing my eyes, I
whisper, “Oh
my gosh
.
 
That’s my dragonfly.
 
Jeremy!
 
My dragonfly is on the side of the car.”

“Yup,” he retorts.
 
“I was going to see how long it took you to
notice that.”

I bend over to run my hand
across it.
 
“How did you even do this?”

“I took your picture and
had them scan it and then they put it on the side of the car.”

My hand goes over my heart
and I fight back tears.
 
“That is
amazing.”

“Get in the car and I will
show you more amazing,” he instructs.

 
Still in awe, I climb into the driver’s side,
and Jeremy gets in the passenger seat.
 
“Alright, you have a top notch stereo system, since you like to listen to
your music at ear piercing levels.”

               
“I
do not,” I gasp.

               
“Isabelle,
I have put your headphones on at numerous times and I think my ears bled each
time.
 
So,
either you
like loud music or you’re deaf, either way, the stereo system will do.
 
Now, to go with the neon lighting you have
ambient lighting, but you can change the color on that.
 
You have tinted windows obviously.
 
Do you want me to go over the engine?”

               
Frowning,
I say, “Not particularly.”

               
Jeremy
sighs, “I figured as much.
 
I will talk
to the guys about it.
 
So, what do you
think?”

               
“It’s
incredible,” I sniffle, and then I start crying.

               
“Why in the world are you crying!?”
Jeremy yells.

               
Waving
my hands, I stutter, “No, no, no, happy tears, no one has ever done anything
this nice for me.
 
I feel like I
shouldn’t accept, but….
I
 
REALLY
want it.”

               
“Well,
that’s good, because it’s yours,” Jeremy declares.
 
“Now, you need to take this puppy for a test
drive.
 
It’s stick because anything with
a powerful engine needs to be stick.”

               
“I
don’t really like automatic anyway,” I retort.
 
Getting a huge smile, I ask, “Are you ready?”
 
Jeremy returns the grin.

               
It
is by far the most awesome thing ever.
 
We kind of….blow off school.
 
I honestly don’t care.
 
It’s
one day.
 
Jeremy
makes me get out on an old highway and shows me what the car can really do.
 
Yeah, I realize we shouldn’t be doing that,
but……

               
Finally,
Jeremy drives to a park and pulls into a spot.
 
“So, are you happy?”

               
“Yeah,”
I reply, leaning my head on the back of the seat.
 
“You have no idea.
 
I feel like you are going over the top a
little bit.
 
You could have got me a
beater of a car and I would have been happy.”

               
Looking
at me with a very gentle smile, Jeremy says, “Isabelle, I have a boatload of
money.
 
I have never used it for
anything, and I WANT to use it for you.
 
I would do anything for you.”
 
As
those words come out, he glances back out the front window.