What a Boy Needs (18 page)

"
What are they doing up there?
"
I ask as I fall back onto the couch.

"
Who knows
,
man? I try
to
stay as far away from them as I can when they get like this.
"

For once I think he might know what he
'
s talking about. I
'
m seriously tired and I just want to go to dinner and come back and chill.

When I hear noise on the stairs
,
I open my eyes
,
not even realize they fell closed.
Holy shit.
My body lurches into a sitting position and I
'
m suddenly not tired anymore. She
'
s seriously trying to kill me here.

My eyes start at the sandals on her feet and travel upward to the skirt she
'
s wearing.
Up further to her purple shirt.
It hangs off her shoulder and a strap from her tank top shows. She
'
s dressed like that before. She
'
s always been more
girlie
than Aspen
,
but this outfit? I think it
'
s going to be imprinted into my brain.

"
'
Bout time
,"
Sebastian mumbles before getting off the couch like he
'
s somehow not seeing the same thing I am. I follow because I don
'
t want to be the only one losing it here. I always notice her
,
always see her
,
but I swear she wore this for me. Or maybe it
'
s wishful thinking because she already admitted to being over me.

"
Yeah.
We
'
re starving here
,"
I throw in so it
'
s not obvious I might swallow my tongue.

We go outside and jump into the Explorer. Priscilla reads off the address and Sebastian puts it into the GPS. A few seconds later we
'
re driving down the road and I
'
m hoping my body doesn
'
t start to react to Priscilla
'
s legs and how one of them is right up against mine. Nothing says lame like a surprise woody over something you shouldn
'
t get
that
excited about.

The drive isn
'
t too long and I manage to keep myself in check. A few minutes later
,
we
'
re piling out of the car. There
'
s a bit of a line
,
but we knew there would be so we chill in line for about twenty minutes before they let us in.

I collapse in a chair when I notice Sebastian pulling one out for Aspen. Yeah they
'
re together and Priscilla and I aren
'
t
,
but I suddenly feel like an ass for not thinking of it.

"
Such a gentleman
.”
She gives
me the eye. I
'
m about to come up with some excuse to defend myself
,
but then she says
,
"
But then if that makes you like Bastian
...
I
'
m not sure.
"

"
Hey! What do you mean? I
'
m the shi
t.”
Bastian replies
and
everyone
at the table rolls their eyes because
,
half the time, that’s
all you can do when it comes to him. Granted
,
I
'
m
usually involved
,
but whatever.

"
Please
,
you have nothing on me
.”
I dust off my shoulder even though that
'
s old as hell.
"
One of these days you
'
ll catch up
,
man. Don
'
t worry too much.
"

Sebastian doesn
'
t have time to answer because the waitress comes up to
ask
if we want anything to drink. The place is packed and loud just like Priscilla told us it would be.

I order my Cherry Pepsi
,
Priscilla gets water. I don
'
t get how she can drink so much of it. I mean
,
it
'
s
water. It
'
s not like it tastes good
,
but it
'
s always what she picks.

After a few minutes she comes back to take our order. Priscilla and I are on one side of the table and Sebastian and Aspen on the other. Bastian orders
,
then Aspen
,
and when they get to our side I tell Pris to order first. It
'
s such a little thing. Half the reason I did it was just to show Sebastian up
,
but the smile she offers me gives the gesture a whole new meaning.

It
'
s stupid but I wonder if Bastian feels like this when Aspen smiles at him. If it makes other guys feel almost
...
I don
'
t know
...
high when they make a girl happy. Does it make them feel invincible? Like they can take on the freaking world or something? Make their blood run hot and their body tense everywhere?

"
Show off
,"
Sebastian sneezes and says at the same time. I hold up one hand to shield the other while I flip him off.

"
Maybe you should take some lessons.
"
Aspen tells him.

Sebastian
'
s eyes get all wide.
"
What? I got your chair. That
'
s way sweeter.
"

By the way the waitress is looking at
us
,
I can tell she
'
s getting annoyed. Whatever
,
though. This is our epic trip and I
'
m going to take every laugh where I can get it.

***

We
'
re walking back into the house when Aspen looks over her shoulder and says
,
"
Hey
,
Jaden. The portable DVD player isn
'
t working. You want to look at it for us?
"

I shrug because it
'
s no biggie. I like taking things apart and putting them back together again.
Any kind of electronics.
"
Sure. I can
'
t promise anything
,
but I
'
ll check it out.
"

Priscilla
'
s hip bumps mine and I really wonder if
she's
trying to kill me.
"
Whatever. You
'
ll fix it. You always do.
"

Okay
,
okay.
I have the bizarre urge
to thump my chest and tell her
damn right
. I
'
m the man and I can do anything
.
Really
,
I'm
just in awe she has that kind of faith in me.
Which makes me feel like a loser.
I mean
,
it
'
s a cheap
,
little
DVD
player probably anyone
could
fix
...
or no one. I don
'
t know yet
,
but I like that she thinks I can do it.

But the guy in me wins. Not sure if it
'
s because he really won or because he
'
s easier to let out.
"
Well
,
yeah. I mean
,
I know I
'
m good
,
but—
"

This time she punches me.
"
You have such a big head.
"

"
So I
'
ve been told
,"
I tell her
,
biting back my laugh
.
W
hen she swings at me again
,
this time I
'
m ready. I grab her wrist
,
and damn is her skin soft. How do girls have such soft skin?

We
'
re sort of wrestling around
,
her trying to pull her hand free and me holding on when I forget there
'
s a step behind us. I trip
,
going down fast and taking her
along
. Priscilla falls on top of me as I hit the hardwood floor. I half try to catch her
,
one of my hands ending up on her waist and somehow under her shirt a little bit.

Talk about soft
.
Holy crap.
I groan because
,
yeah
,
she feels good.

"
Serves you right if I
'
m too heavy.
"

She tries to pull away again
,
but I don
'
t let her. I use the excuse we
'
re wrestling and I want to win and I feel like an idiot for falling
,
but really
,
it
'
s the way she
'
s laying across me.
The vanilla scent and the smooth skin.

"
Let me go!
"
she says
,
but seriously
,
she
'
s not fighting me that hard. Or maybe I just want that to be true.

Get it together
,
Sinclair
,
I keep telling myself.

"
Why? I thought you were tough? You tried to be a few minutes ago.
"
It
'
s hard to keep the laugh out of my voice. If there
'
s one thing she doesn
'
t like it
'
s for someone to get the best of her. She
'
s strong like that.

"
I can kick your ass!
"
She
'
s really trying
,
now. I
'
m laughing my butt off as we roll around on the floor.
It
'
s
way too hard
,
but I don
'
t care. She
'
s pulling away from me and I
'
m holding her tight and I don
'
t know or care where Sebastian and Aspen are.

Somehow we scoot over so my ass is on the step and when I fall down it
,
she does too
,
and her knee comes down hard in my crotch.

"
Oh shit!
"
I let go of her now. My hands are needed somewhere else. It hurts and that
'
s the last place I want any serious damage done.

I
'
m on my side
,
away from her.

"
Holy crap!
I
'
m sorry
!
"
She
rolls me over so I
'
m facing her. She looks down where my hands are cupping myself before her eyes shoot back to mine.
"
Umm
...
are you
...
?
"