The Final Lesson Plan (21 page)

"What do you think?" she asked, spinning around. I knew she liked it; her face was aglow. She was smiling smugly.

"Eh, it'll do," I said laughing, pulling her into my arms. "I think it looked better on my bed. You look better on my bed."

Pulling out of my embrace, angrily, she said, "I've never been on your bed. Don't feed me lines, Leo."

"I wasn't. I'm sorry. I didn't—"

"Gotcha!" she said, giggling. "You were getting a little too cocky. Needed knocked down a few pegs."

With that, I grabbed her and kissed her, loving the feel of her bare back on my hands. Her skin was so soft. Everything about her was so soft and feminine. Janelle was the epitome of what every woman should be, or at least aspire to be. She was strong, smart, confident, beautiful, and feminine. Thinking the word feminine too much was making me effeminate. I should down a beer and punch a wall or something. I felt like Chandler from
Friends
. He was always getting shit for being too girly. I needed to man it up a little more.

I pulled her one leg up around my waist, pinning her against the sliding glass door. She wrapped her other leg around me. I carefully took one hand and pulled down the front of her bathing suit. She was so damn hot, every inch of her. I continued to kiss her as my hands explored her body. I didn't care that she was getting heavy or that my back was beginning to hurt. Nothing mattered to me at the moment other than pleasing this woman, making sure she knew just how sexy and desirable she truly was. Janelle should want for nothing; she should be granted her every wish and dream. I wanted to be her dream maker. Fuck. I just used the word dream maker. I was losing it man.

I walked over to the old picnic table and laid her down on top of it. She sat up quickly and unsnapped her suit, letting it fall to the side. I reached for her bottoms as she lifted her hips, so I could remove them easily. "Too bad you bothered to get dressed," I joked, joining her on the picnic table. "By the way, I'm pretty certain this is going to be the best picnic this table has ever seen," I said, as I started to kiss my way down her chest and stomach.

"Leo? What's going on?" Janelle asked, looking worriedly into my eyes.

"Not a thing, Ma'am," I asked, pretending to tip my nonexistent hat to her.

"Ummm…every time I reach for you…for your…ya know…you stop me." She said.

"It's not about me today. It's all you…all your satisfaction and gratification," I explained.

"Yes, but…you kinda have something that gives me pleasure," she said, grinning.

"Not today it doesn't. Today, it's all about pleasing you without any form of my pleasure. Didn't you know that July 8
th
is official '8 climaxes' day?" I declared. "Anyway, giving you pleasure pleases me."

"Uhhh, No! And I'm pretty certain we're not getting eight out of me today without you participating," she said.

"I'll take that bet, and maybe even raise you two more," I said, grabbing her bathing suit. "Put this back on. It's time for some fun."

"I don't know about you, but I just had a lot of fun. A real lot of fun. Twice," she said.

Janelle stood up; her body was flawless. Her skin was sun-kissed and glowing. (She better be wearing sunscreen.) When she reached around to hook her bathing suit, I could see the muscles in her stomach tighten. Janelle always talked about her flab; the woman obviously didn't know the definition of flab. There was not one bit of flab or fat on her body. If I truly gave her pleasure eight different times today, then I was going to need eight icy cold, frigid fucking showers.

Once she was back in her suit, I said, "Okay walk with me to the other side of the deck." I led her around to the other side.

"Oh did you fix and secure it?' she asked, referring to the zip line that went down into the woods.

"Better," I said, "Wait here." I went around to the water spigot and turned it on. The zip line was showered in water sprinkling from all directions.

"What in the world? How fun!" she said, her face looked like a child's on Christmas morning. "It's like a human car wash. Have you done it yet?"

"I've done the zip line quite a few times to test its security. I haven't done it with the water yet." I started to get the harnesses. "I bought a tandem harness, so we could do it together. I know this sounds strange, but Cliff, Meg's husband, did it with me, yesterday. We wanted to make sure it could hold the weight."

"Oh my God, this is going to be so fun," she said, excitedly, jumping up and down. It was so damn adorable. She was adorable.

I put the harness around my waist, locking it into place and onto the zip line. "Okay Doll, climb on. Face me."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," she said, teasingly. Janelle got onto my lap, her legs sticking out straight on either side of me. "You'll hold on to me, right?" she asked, staring into my eyes.

"I'm never letting you go," I stated, meaning it, meaning much more than just holding her on the zip line.

"Good. You better," she said, wrapping her arms around me, and kissing my cheek. "Let her rip, Leo."

I unhooked the secured latch, and we began soaring through the woods as water soaked us. Janelle squealed like a schoolgirl the entire ride down, gripping me tightly. There was something about flying through the sky, holding her close to me that made me know for sure that this was what life was supposed to be. Life is about taking chances, taking risks, but holding those who mean the most to you close to your heart, keeping them safe as you enjoy the journey, experiencing the adventure together.

Once I felt the earth at my feet, I braced my feet, trying to stop us, but our momentum was too great. Coupled with the wet surface, we went tumbling to the ground, Janelle landing on top of me. Laughing, she said, "Smooth Casanova, bet you planned that suave landing."

"Well. I don't think I could've planned it any better. Some sexy angel just fell out of the sky and landed on top of me," I said, feeding her the cheesiest line I could fathom.

"Oh buddy, you sure know how to make a girl swoon," she said, pinning my arms above my head and kissing me deeply, as her wet hair fell over her shoulders and onto my neck and chest.

She began kissing my neck and chest, "I just wanted to shower you with memories," I confessed. "I want to give you the world, Janelle."

"Now that'd be a good gift," she said, still working her way down my chest. Every fiber of my being begged me to allow her to continue. But my head, the one with a brain, rationalized that I needed to make her love me, want me, and ultimately beg for me. I had to be stronger, better than any other guy she'd ever been with.

"Now, for surprise number two," I said, reluctantly maneuvering out from underneath her. "I'm gonna run back up and get your cover thing." Okay, so, I know it's called a cover up, but guys shouldn't know words like that. I knew too many "girly" phrases and things. I ran up to the deck, put on my shoes, grabbed my shirt, her flip-flops, our phones, and her cover up, and rode back down to Janelle. I put her cover up on her and rubbed my hands up and down her arms, drying her off.

I sent a quick text, and said, "Let's go." We started walking deeper into the woods. "I really love it here. I did a lot of work around here the last few days. It's just so peaceful. Megan fell in love with it."

"Leo?" she stopped abruptly, facing me. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I can't say it," I confessed. "I haven't be able to say it to anyone. When I said melanoma to you the other day, it was the first time I've ever said it aloud." It was true. I've never been more afraid of anything in my entire life. Little brothers aren't supposed to need or idolize their big sisters. They're supposed to tolerate them at best.

The truth was I couldn't imagine a world without Megan. My life was a better place, because of her. My sister taught me so much. She gave me strength that I didn't know I had. She challenged me, held me to higher standard. I didn't know who or what I was if I wasn't "Meg's little brother."

"Honey, you can't hold all that in," she said, brushing my hair from my eye. "I'm here. I'm right here. Whatever you need. Whenever you want to talk…to vent…to cry." She wrapped her arms around me, nestling her head in my chest. I stroked her head, inhaling her scent. "You're not alone, Leo."

"Thank you, Janelle," I said, as tears welled in my eyes. "We'll talk. But today, can today just be about us, about you?" I asked. "It's been a rough few days. I need a break, a getaway from this Hell."

"Absolutely," she said, squeezing me tighter. "Whatever you need."

We walked through the woods, hand-in-hand, both of us silent, a calm, peaceful, comfortable silence. Being alone with Janelle in the woods reconfirmed my decision about choosing this house. It was serene, the type of serenity that people need to unwind and get back to what was really important and integral in life: love, family, and happiness.

Just as we embarked upon our destination, I said, "Okay, hold up." I put my hands over her eyes. "No peeking. I want you to see it all at once."

Yesterday, my dad, my mom and Megan's family came out here. My mom and Megan sat on the deck, enjoying the view as my dad and Cliff helped me prepare for today. Megan was pissy at first about it, but she stopped bitching, beginning to understand how important Janelle was to me. Megan hated the fact that I had to prove myself to Janelle. Being my protective older sister, she wanted to turn the tables. She thought Janelle should be working at winning my heart—not the other way around. I get it. I do. It's just that Megan doesn't know what's in my heart. Megan did promise to trust me. I supposed that was a start.

Once my dad, Cliff, and I got Megan situated on the deck (we had to carry her, which she was even angrier about), we headed out to the woods. Basically, we beat the fuck out of the woods. All the anger that the three of us men have been harboring, not being able to save Megan, was taken out on the woods. Those poor trees and bushes. They didn't stand a chance against the ferocity we had bottled up inside of us. It was the closest three men would ever get to a group therapy session. Once the trees and bushes were cut back and cut down, we sat and drank a few beers, relishing the sight of kicking the woods' ass.

I spent the rest of the day, creating the perfect atmosphere for my date with Janelle. I forced Megan to let Cliff and my dad bring her back. She argued that it was too far and that she was too heavy. Megan was down to 103 pounds; Cliff could've carried her by himself. Once they brought her back here, they put her down on the chaise, gave her a drink, and left us alone to talk. We sat in silence for a while as I tied the remaining branches together and pulled them back.

"I just don't get why you're doing all this for her," Megan said. "Leo, don't you get it? You shouldn't have to go to all of this trouble to make someone fall for you. The falling happens—it's not something you can force."

"You can't force it, but you can guide it," I explained.

"Just tell me why," she said.

"I can't," I said, standing on the ladder to hang the lights, before plugging them into the portable generator.

"Uhhh, it's my dying wish," she said, staring at me.

"Jesus Megan, how long are you gonna keep pulling that card?" I said, not thinking.

"Doc says about another four to six weeks," she said matter-of-factly.

I hated when she talked like that, but she talked like that a lot. Meg was right; if I wanted to talk to her, confide in her, then I needed to do it now. There was no later. "Remember that song you used to listen to?" I asked.