The Crush (5 page)

“Oh that’s old, don’t worry about it,” I shoved a few tissues from my purse at him to wipe up the mess. They were unused for the most part, I think. “Are you sure you want to follow me home, I’m sure it’ll be ok.”

“Not a problem,” he said running a hand through his hair that constantly looked a mess but a good kind of mess. “You’re on my way anyways.”

I made my way slowly home without losing any parts and pulled into the driveway where Grier slowed down idling his oversized truck that looked to be brand new. He rolled down his window, throwing his arm out and leaning against it.

“The damage doesn’t look to bad, Ms. Betsy shouldn’t be too hot atch ya. See you tomorrow Wynn.”

I waved back at him, “Thanks Grier,” and turned to the front door where Collins was waiting for me with her lip gloss covered mouth hanging wide open.

“I know, I know my mom is gonna kill me for this one. I know granddaddy took good care of his truck.”

“What happened to the truck? I didn’t see anything. I’m just shocked that Grier Daniels followed a girl home that wasn’t Lexie Brockett
and
spoke to her without permission, what did you do to that boy?”

“Nothing,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders as Collins trailed me back to our room so I could change from my school clothes into the diners uniform which basically consisted of a short sleeve faded blue shirt with the logo in the corner that I paired with jeans and a long sleeve shirt underneath it.

“Do you think Grams’ll kill me from doing some damage to the truck?”

“Wynn how in the world did you mess up grandaddys truck, there’s barely any traffic around this town besides those damn golf carts, did some old geezer whip out in front of ya?”

“No I just got distracted leaving my appointment. Did you know that Griers mom was going to be my therapist?”

Collins pursed her lips like she was thinking it over and shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.

“I guess that makes sense there’s not many doctors around here, I’m sure she’s probably the only one within a two hour drive. Is that why Grier followed you home?”

“Yeah,” I replied as Collins followed me out the front door and we headed in the direction of the diner. “Apparently he works there.”

“Jeez that boy sure does keep busy with football and all. That’s sweet he helps his mama out and all.”

Yeah sweet I guess, hopefully that boy knows how to keep his mouth shut since there were no other doctors in the area and I knew seeing Dr. Snyde would be good for me in the long run.

Grier

“Hi baby,” Lexie squealed out, jumping from the last step of her house that was basically a mansion with its three stories, ten bedrooms, five bathrooms, home theater and even a freaking elevator. Who really needs an elevator? She wrapped her tan legs around my waist and I breathed in the scent of her familiar perfume.

“What took you so long, you kept me waitin’ forever,” she asked as I set her down and grabbed her hand to tug her along as she followed me back to my truck.

“Just had to help mama out with a few things at the office.”

She huffed out a breath through her pretty lips. “Really Grier I do not know why you need to help out, your mama can afford to hire some help when that old bat Ms. Shirley needs to leave to take care of those little brats. If Mary Ellen can’t handle them herself, she shouldn’t have gotten knocked up when she was still in high school.”

“Princess,” I answered back as I opened up the door for her and boosted her into the truck. “You know I just like to go there after school and practice, gives me a little bit of quiet time.”

 Between football, which practically took up all of my free time, keeping up my grades, my dad constantly on my ass about my game play, and Lexie I barely got any free time and my moms office had a serene feeling to it which I’m sure helped with the clientele she had.

I walked over to my side of the truck but not before seeing the roll of Lexies made up eyes through the windshield. Lexie Brockett had never worked a day in her life with the money her daddy basically rolled around in and I don’t think she was planning on doing much after our senior year besides following me around wherever I landed. She just didn’t understand why I actually
liked
working.

“I know Grier,” she rested her blonde curls on my shoulder and ran her small hand up my leg.

“But wouldn’t it be so much more fun to spend some quiet time with your girlfriend,” she asked in a sugary voice with her lip pouted out and I couldn’t help myself but lean down and take a nip of that sweet lip.

“Of course princess but we have plenty of time together, like right now. Where did you want to go?”

“Let’s go over to the Wakefield Diner, sound good?”

“Sure thing.”

 I pulled out of the gated driveway and turned in that direction. Normally the diner wasn’t Lexies kind of place. We tended to go a couple towns over where her daddy owned a few swanky restaurants, where I could never figure out which silverware to use and didn’t know what half the stuff on the menu was.

 I figured it had something to do with Wynn. The moment that girl showed up with her long honey colored hair, innocent green eyes, and modest clothing she landed on Lexies radar and that is not a good place to be. I don’t know if Lexie saw her as competition or what. It was definitely one of those girl things.

I wedged my truck into the full parking lot between a row of golf carts and we made our way to the front entrance. It looked like both Wynn and Collins were working tonight and they had quite a crowd keeping ‘em good and busy. I gave a nod to each of them while Lexie put on her fake airy voice. “Hi girls.” She never used it when we were alone but she seemed to think she needed to put on a show when other people were around.

Lexie dragged me over to the counter and we found two empty seats where Wynn set down menus in front of us.

“What can I get you two?” She asked in that soft voice of hers.

I still couldn’t get over how much her and Hallie basically looked liked twins, probably due to the fact that there mamas were twins. I had never been attracted much to Hallie before even though she was pretty easy on the eyes. There was just something about this girl with her slightly fuller lips and much quieter demeanor than her bubbly cousin.

 “I’ll take an ice water with lemon and Grier here will have a pb &j shake, right baby?” Lexie asked with a wide smile and I gave Wynn a small nod before glancing back down at the menu even though I already knew what I wanted.

 Ms. Betsy made the best fried chicken in these parts and anyone in their right mind had to get it whenever they came in. Except for Lexie of course, she always ordered a salad without the dressing everywhere we went even though I told her time and time again she didn’t have an ounce of fat on her slender figure.

“Why is she always wearin’ those long sleeves when it’s so hot out? Its like she’s a nun or somethin’.” Lexie whispered in my ear and I answered her with a shrug of my shoulders. I tried not to notice Wynn but the first day I had seen her at the beach I instantly knew she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen but she didn’t seem to have a clue about it.

We placed our orders with Wynn and Lexie made small chit chat with her and Collins while we ate and finished up with me paying the bill.

“Hey Grier,” Collins called out as she set down a sweating pitcher of iced tea and tucked a strand of hair that matched Wynns so perfectly behind her ear.

“I just wanted to tell you thanks for helping Wynn out today.” She nudged her hip into Wynn who was looking away with a deep pink blush to her cheeks. “Apparently this girl is accident prone.”

“Not a problem,” I replied, standing up and grabbing Lexies hand who gave me a questioning look. I’m sure as soon as we were alone I would be getting hitting up with twenty questions from her.

“See you two tomorrow.”

“What was that all about?” Lexie asked as we headed back to her house. “How did you help that girl out?” Bingo.

“She backed into a telephone pole and did some damage to her truck, I just made sure she got home alright.”

“Oh.” She simply answered back but I could see the wheels turning in her head when I gave her a sideways glance. “Oh my god, shes a patient of your moms isn’t she?”

“Now Lexie,” I started but she quickly interrupted me with an excited tone to her voice.

“I knew it! She’s totally weird with those clothes she wears, she barely talks and she always looks uncomfortable around people. So what happened, whys she seeing your mama?”

“Lexie,” I answered back in a tight voice. “You know I can’t talk about that kind of stuff, its none of our business anyways.”

“Aha,” she jabbed a finger in to my chest. “But you didn’t deny that she’s a patient, now I just need to dig up some dirt.”

“Princess just leave the girl alone, obviously she went through somethin’ back home and she doesn’t need you gettin’ involved, alright?” We pulled into her driveway and I put the truck into park, hoping she would take me seriously for once.

“Alright baby, I’ll leave it alone for now.” She gave me one of those sweet innocent looks but I knew her better than that, she didn’t let things go and seemed to enjoy making people’s lives miserable. Her nose was always was stuck in someone else’s business.

“You wanna come inside, no one’s home,” she whispered in my ear, placing light kisses against my jaw while running her nails up and down my back.

“Naw I really need to get home. I have some homework that needs finished.”

She rolled her eyes before placing a swift kiss on my lips. “Always so busy Grier Daniels, you need to have some fun. Can’t use that excuse after the game tomorrow.”

“Well I need to keep up my grades if I want any of those schools to stay interested in me.”

“I know, I know. See you tomorrow baby,” she huffed out before hopping out of the truck and giving me a quick wave.

                                                             ********************************

“Dude, where have you been?” Vance asked, standing in my driveway with a football in his hand. “Wait, let me guess. Out with the queen? Did she finally let you off your leash?”

I ignored him, shoving past with my shoulder and turned to catch the football that I knew was about to nail me in the head. “Nice. Maybe we should swap positions, that was a pretty awesome catch Daniels.”

“We’ll leave that to you Vance. Besides I don’t think you could keep up with the pressure of QB, you’re too easily distracted by the girls on the sidelines.” He huffed out a breath like he was pissed I was telling the truth before jogging alongside me to the deserted beach in front of my house. We met up almost every night to toss the football back and forth or take a run down the beach.

“Well if they didn’t wear those skirts so damn short I wouldn’t have to look. Besides I have my eye on another girl and she ain’t no cheerleader.”

I knew exactly who he was talking about. As soon as Vance laid eyes on Wynn at the beach I knew that girl was in trouble. Me and Vance have been friends practically since we were born and he’s always been a bit of a player, running and repeating often through the handful of girls at school. Every girl thought they could change him and be the one he would fall in love with but that was not gonna happen.

“Good luck with that one bud, I think she’s going to be a bit of a challenge for you.” I placed my fingers on the football laces and threw a perfect spiral towards his waiting hands which he caught effortlessly.

“I hope your right Daniels, I like a challenge. Remember we’ve witnessed the hot as sin body beneath all those clothes she covers it up with at school. I swear I almost pulled a Bucky Larson at the sight of her sweet ass. I guarantee those legs will be wrapped around me and my face will be buried in those big titties in two weeks tops.”

“Dude you should probably just leave her alone. Hasn’t Miranda been wanting to get back together with you, you had some fun times with her, right?”

 I don’t know why but I felt this protective urge come over me whenever it came to Wynn. My mama had raised me to be a gentleman when it came to girls but it was like I felt this pull to her that I had never felt before. And I currently wanted to punch Vance in that mouth of his the way he was talking about her.

“Daniels you just need to shut your mouth and watch me work my magic. You act like your interested in her or somethin’,” he pauses and sets the football down, coming to stand in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. “Your not are you?”

“What? Of course not, I have Lex.”

Vance let out a snort before shoving me in the chest. “Yeah I’m sure she gets to be pretty borin’ with that chastity belt her daddy has her in.”

And he was definitely right about that. Although I tried quite often, Lexie and I hadn’t really done much together after dating for about the past two years besides the heavy makeout sessions when her parents were gone.

Apparently she was waitin’ till marriage to give away her virginity which is probably why she was so set on us getting married straight out of highschool. I still wasn’t sure what my plans were after school, it kind of all depended on what college recruited me.

“If you really want something with Wynn then go for it buddy. You could try to actually date her though, she seems a little different than the normal girls you go for. And by the way who in the hell is Bucky Larson?”

He gave me a look like I was the stupidest person around. “Seriously you don’t know Bucky Larson? I’ll let you borrow the movie sometime, it is most definitely one of the most underrated classics ever. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about with Wynn after you watch it.”

                                                                *********************************

Fridays were always the day I looked forward to most during the football season. Playing was my biggest passion and even though my dad was always pushing me about my game, it was something that I truly loved. It also didn’t hurt that all the cheerleaders wore their uniforms to school and I got to watch Lexie sashay her hips around all day in that short skirt. God I had to take so many cold showers after being around her and constantly being denied.