Waiting for You (11 page)

I wanted to say I was
sorry, but I didn’t. Saying sorry seemed like a ridiculous thing to say knowing
this car was the only possession Dylan cared about. So sparing myself any
paltry response, I stared straight ahead, sensing Dylan was staring me as the
bull once again rammed his car, rocking the car from side to side.

We just sat there, him
staring at me, me staring straight ahead.

After the third time, I
felt the need to interject.

“Really?”
I threw my hands up in the air. “We’re just
gonna
sit
here?”

He just shook his head
slowly, glaring, his nostrils flaring out in anger. “Next time, listen to me
when I tell you it’s time to go.”

With one last look at
me, and I’m sure that it was another glare but I refused to look at him, Dylan
put the keys in the ignition and we finally drove away. The bull followed for a
moment but lost interest when gravel sprayed up at him from Dylan’s burnout.

Nothing more was said
until I think fear got the best of him and he had to look at the damage. Along
the road, he once again pulled over and assessed the situation. I noticed we
were now near a sign that said San Luis Reservoir State Park Recreational Area
two miles.

“Oh my god!” he
screamed. “Jesus Christ, look at this fucking dent!”

I didn’t have to look.
I felt horrible and I couldn't look in his direction because I was nearing
tears, knowing that I had caused this.

“It’s not that bad.”

I couldn’t believe I
said that, but I did, still staring straight ahead.

“Not
that bad, eh?”
He slammed the door as he got in. His hand reached up to
aggregately scratch the top of his head. He was beyond angry by that point.
“You’re unbelievable. Do you know how much that is going to cost me?”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“With
what?”
Dylan snorted clearly not amused.
“Daddy’s
money?
He can’t buy his way out of everything and neither can you.”

I wasn’t sure what that
even meant but my mouth had something to say before I had time to process it
completely.

“Okay, don’t be a jerk.
I said I was sorry, I meant it. Let’s move on. Or in our case, let’s drive on.”

“Being sorry has
nothing to do with it. This is a fucking collector’s car, Bailey. Beside a
guitar, it’s the only thing that’s actually mine and I bought it myself.
Believe it or not people have to buy things on their own sometimes without the
help of their parents.”

He was doing this on
purpose and while I understand why, it was unnecessary and mean and it was
pissing me off with each word.

I said nothing. I
wasn’t resorting to childish arguing. I did in fact know that it was my fault
and that it was that bad but I didn’t care to admit right then.

Like the typical girl,
I started crying.

Say a few mean words to
me and the tears flowed.

“Damn it.” His hand
dropped to the wheel with force. “Don’t cry.”

I couldn’t say anything
as tears constricted me.

His hand reached out to
rub my back. “I’m sorry.” His voice told me he was sorry but his eyes said he
was still pissed.

“I know.”

I’m not sure if he
didn’t want to make matters worse or if he didn’t know what to say but instead
of speaking again, he started the car and got back on the road without another
word.

It was nearing sunset, my favorite time of
day, when Dylan finally spoke to me again after the car disaster.

“Have you ever been
skinny dipping?” His eyebrows waggled at the end, his tense mood shifting from
the bull incident. I learned right about then that Dylan’s moods shifted
quickly and usually without much warning. “I need to get my leg cleaned up and
San Luis Reservoir is around here,”

I told him I had never
been skinny-dipping and that I would love to go. I’m not going to lie. His
comment about daddy’s money still stung but I get that he was upset and said
what came to mind. Truth be told, everything I did was with daddy’s money so in
actuality, he wasn’t lying.

We’d been in the car
all day trying to make it to San Jose by sundown. The bull incident set us back
a little. Dylan had to spend an hour just trying to get the door to open—now we
both had to enter on the passenger’s side. I was not about to complain and was
in no position to complain.

I wasn’t sure he was
serious about skinny-dipping or if this was just a topic to pass time, but when
he pulled down the long dirt road, I was sure he wasn’t joking. I was beginning
to understand, Dylan didn’t joke. What he said, he meant, which I found
extremely comforting. Most of my life people treaded around me because I was
the Mayor’s daughter. I wanted to know the truth and Dylan did that for me. He
told me the way it was going to be and I never had to second-guess.

“You said you wanted to
go skinny dipping.” Dylan hollered from the water, his clothes in a trail
leading to the lake. “Get your ass out of the goddamn car.”

Over his shoulder, the
sun was had nearly set, just a sliver remained peeking above the lake like it
would be swallowed by the water any second. Watching him, I smiled at here he
was trying to get me to try new things and be eighteen like I wanted to be and
here I was, fighting it.

While Dylan held no
ounce of modesty, I was suffering from extreme stage fright. Having never been
naked in front of anyone since I was what like, five, I was beginning to doubt
this bucket list already. Shit has changed down there since I was five and
stage fright was with me in full force.

What if I didn’t look
like he expected me to? What if the other girls he had been with had better
bodies? What if their boobs were bigger?

“Fuck Bailey,” his irritation
was much more evident with each word, “today sometime.”

“Make me.” I coaxed
buying myself some time for good measure.

His eyebrow arched.
“You’re really going to challenge me again?”

“Where are your
clothes?” I asked as I finally stepped outside the car, dragging my feet in the
black pebble rocks attempting to stall. I’m not sure why I asked where his
clothes were. I was staring at them in the scattered weeds that broke through
the dirt and gravel.

“
It’s
skinny dipping,” he groaned and threw his arms up as if to say I was taking too
much time deciding on this. “You don’t wear clothes.”

“So I have to take
all
my clothes off?”

“Fuck, have you been
living under a goddamn rock? Just take your clothes off and get in, that’s
skinny-dipping. It shouldn’t be this complicated.”

“Have you done this
before?”

Dylan snorted and ran
his fingers through his wet hair as he stood waist deep in water. “Nope, now
get out here.”

Slowly, and I do mean
slowly, I stripped behind the door of his car. First went my shirt, then my bra
followed by my jean shorts and then underwear.

There. I did it. Well
almost. Now I had to get in.

“Close your eyes!” I
yelled out using the door as a shield. Too bad, I forgot there was a window.

He smiled seeing my
boobs through the glass. I could hear the groan from where I stood and watched
him turn his back to me in the water, grumbling the entire time. “You need to
get over your fears,” he said mostly to himself but I still heard it. “You’re
being ridiculous about this. It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked girl before.”

Oh, way to make me
feel better.

Moving quickly before
he had the chance to look, I was up to my shoulders in the water and facing
him.

Twisting to face me,
his eyes wandered south noticing I was crouching trying not to let my breasts
be seen.

“I hope you know how to
swim,” he warned.

What happened next was
not what I expected. With his hands on my hips, Dylan lifted my bare ass out of
the water and threw me over his shoulder to tread into deeper water.

“Dylan!” I shrieked. My
ass was in the air and Dylan had now seen me completely naked.

Perfect
.

My voice carried
throughout the canyon, as did Dylan’s laughter.

I was thoroughly
mortified to say the least and screamed bloody murder until he put me down, his
eyes tense and for the first time; we were inches from each other and naked,
breathing heavy.

He stared at me. I
stared back, waiting, watching, daring each other to move.

Looking down at me, my
hands rested on his shoulders over the ink I so desperately wanted to explore
and understand the meaning behind each one.

His stare, so serious,
but relaxed, searched mine.
When I closed my eyes, his hand
that was on my waist moved to cradle my face.

“Brown eyes,” he said,
so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it. I heard him swallow and when he pulled
me closer, his heart was pounding in his chest, or maybe it was mine but I
thought it was both of ours.

Hearing that was all
the courage that I needed because for once in my life, I was taking the risk
first. I wanted that kiss. Since I had admitted to him that I had a crush on
him when we were younger and he laughed, I wanted to kiss him and show him what
I meant by that.

Now was that chance.

Standing on my tiptoes,
I wrapped my arms around his neck threading my hands in his hair to pull him
down to me. His mouth found my jaw first, kissing along it until he met my
lips.

When his mouth found
mine, he took my bottom lip between his lips, soft and hesitant like he was
trying me out.

With a jerked motion,
his fingers dove into my hair, winding in the wet stands and he inhaled deeply.
Our lips parted together and he slid one hand around my waist pressing me flush
against his chest. I felt his heart pounding in beat with mine, calling to him.
When I felt his tongue for the first time, I was thankful that he was holding
onto me because I melted, knees weakening.  As pathetic and trite as that
sounded, I felt it.

Dylan shifted his hold
on me, his hands finding my hips again.

No one had ever kissed
me like that, like he wanted to devour me but he was holding back, like he was
memorizing my mouth and the curve of me against him. It felt good to have
someone treat me like this. It felt good to feel like someone couldn’t get
enough of me.

I’d never felt like
that before, so alive with sensations that burst throughout me. I felt it deep
in my bones like a shock wave.

When we finally pulled
apart, needing to breathe, he leaned his forehead against mine, out of breath.

Dylan swallowed, his
eyes remained on mine blinking slowly. My tongue danced behind my lips savoring
the taste of him on me.

“We should probably get
goin
’.” Dylan suggested, still staring at me. It was
like he was waiting for me to react or push him away.

“You know,” I began
trying to catch my breath and not focus on his hard on I could feel in the
water and hoping to god it wasn’t a fucking snake. “You got to see my girly
bits…it’s your turn.”

He laughed just as I
thought, running his hand across the back of his neck and stepping away from
me. “Well I’m pretty sure you just felt mine so I think we might be even.”

“No, we’re not.” I
stepped back about a foot making sure I was covered in the water again. “My
boobs were pressed against your chest. That’s the same thing.”

“No,” he shook his head
still smiling. “It’s not the same at all.”

I knew he saw
everything when I was thrown over his shoulder and tossed in the water. He
wasn’t winning this battle.

“Is this like that game
where you show me yours,” he laughed, “and I’ll show you mine?”

“Exactly sport, now
let’s go but you first.”

His grin was wide as he
shoved me playfully. “You’re sometimes a shithead.”

As we made our way
wading through the water to the shore, I fell behind on purpose and he knew,
walking slowly in front of me.

When he got to waist
deep water and his backside was about to be revealed, he looked over his
shoulder.  “You might want to steady yourself. I have a nice fucking ass.”

I threw my head back
and laughed at quite possibly the cutest ass ever. Perfect, round, bite worthy
even. If I thought his chest and arms were lean, his ass looked like it’d been
carved with a chisel as well. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat on him.

Suddenly
self-conscious, I covered myself as I stumbled to the shore slipping on the
rocks.

My ass was not that
nice. In fact, it was probably bigger than his and definitely had some fat on
it compared to him. I had always had a dancer’s body with an athletic build but
I also carried just a little bit of fat that never seemed to go away. It always
made me hide a little more when around others because Mercedes, who I was
always around, had the best body in our school that most guys dreamed about
including Eric.

Dylan turned once he
got to the car. I glanced between my legs and shook my head, dejected.

“It’s not possible.” I
told myself, suddenly afraid for my vagina’s life when the time came for what
Dylan referred to as my innocence. I knew now that what I felt in the water was
not a snake but might as well have been.

He laughed again and
walked toward me when I got to the edge of the water, my eyes stayed focused
between his legs though he was now wearing his shorts. Pathetic I know, but I
seriously could not divert my eyes.

Look away.

Once standing in front
of me, inches away, his hand ghosted lightly across my bare collarbone and
moved to tilt my head up, a towel in his hand brushed against the side of my
body as he wrapped it around me. “Like what you see?”

“Do you?” When I
glanced into his eyes wrapping the towel around me, I wished that I had half
the confidence in my body that he did in his.