by Jason Zandri
with stuff like that, and what we figured out is that the career is in a decline.
So … I guess I’ll have to look into something else.” Matthew took a few steps backward toward the water and looked over at Donna. “Of course, I have all of senior year to think about it. Right now?” He smiled at her. “I’m just looking forward to tomorrow, the warm weather, the beach, and the company.”
Lesley tugged at Michael and the two of them walked away and toward the parking area in the direction of the ice-cream trucks.
***
Donna focused on Matthew as he turned and headed over to the water.
She watched him jog away, hoping he’d turn around to look at her one more time. He slowed and turned his head part way, but never turned around fully.
That was good enough for Donna.
Melissa watched Matthew head away as well.
Donna spoke up, “What the hell, Liz?” Donna moved closer to her.
“What?” Liz asked, looking all innocent with wide eyes.
Carrie and Alecia stopped what they were doing to pay attention, as now just the five girls occupied the blankets.
“Robert and Stan aren’t enough? Matthew shows some interest in me, and you have to twat block me?” Donna said with a set jaw and narrowed eyes.
“Wow,” Melissa whispered to Carrie and Alecia, and all of them leaned in further. “A second ago I was pissed at Donna for getting Matthew’s attention, and now I’m on her side.” Melissa leaned back and watched Matthew enter the water at the shoreline as light waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashed in.
“You know what, Donna?” Liz stood quickly. “If he had a solid interest in you, I wouldn’t be able to pull his attention. Clearly it’s equal or at least divided.” She tugged down on her top. “The question you need to ask yourself is ‘how far am I able to go to get and keep his attention’?”
Donna couldn’t respond more than just opening her mouth. Liz smirked, turned, and followed Matthew’s path to the water.
Marie touched Donna’s shoulder while Carrie moved over to close up a tighter circle.
“You know what?” Marie said. “If Matthew is that easily swayed by her, you don’t want to waste your time with him.”
“Oh,” Donna said. “Yes, I do. He’s a nice guy … mostly. He’s like everyone else when it comes to Liz. She’s like this siren that none of them can resist.”
“That’s because she’s a huge slut whore,” Alecia said and adjusted her sunglasses.
“She’s going to go out there now and just pull him into her web, you watch,” Donna said, somewhat upset. “By the time she’s done with him, he’ll take her to the beach tomorrow and won’t even remember to call me back.”
She looked at his business card.
“Look,” Melissa said, and a conflict of emotions crossed her face.
“Matthew tends to ‘walk the walk’ as they say. He showed an interest in you; he’s going to follow up. Liz is going to be a challenge for him; he’s been infatuated with her since the first day he ever laid eyes on her, but that infatuation is the only power she has on him. He’s otherwise level-headed.”
“Ah …” Carrie said, flipping her short brown hair. “But which head is more level!”
The girls were quiet for a second, and then they all screamed and giggled at the comment.
***
Matthew swam out deeper into the ocean to a point where he stood upper chest deep in the water. He turned to look back to the shore and saw Liz coming out toward him.
He stared at her wet, slicked-back red hair, and then looked into her eyes, which mesmerized him. She stopped a little further back from him so she could stand in the shallower water.
“Are you going to come back in a little?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes and with her back to the shore.
“I guess I could,” Matthew said, and then looked around. “Other than the jet skiers way out there—” He pointed across the way. “—and the ones on the boogie boards, we’re the farthest out.”
Liz looked pleased when he came in somewhat, and she took two steps toward him.
Matthew looked back over to where the girls all sat together. They’d huddled up and looked to be deep in conversation. Liz glanced back at them.
“They’re talking amongst themselves.” She reached under the water and touched Matthew on both hips. “I’m right here, and you have my full attention.”
Matthew flinched at her touch. Despite the fact that they had been familiar and friendly with one another—innocently—over the years, each time Liz touched him it felt like a static shock, and he never could prepare himself for
it.
“I’ve always meant to tell you—” she said with a slight tone of mischief in her voice. “—that I am always turned on by your response to my touch.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Matthew said.
“All of you boys … well … I guess you’re all men now that you’re over eighteen … you all collapse when I touch you. You come at me and take me.
You think I’m all yours but, when it comes down to it, you’re all mine.” She smiled at him. “Not you, though. Oh, you want to give in,” she said and lowered her hand across the outside front of his bathing suit and felt exactly how excited he was. “But you resist. Why?”
“I’m not like all the others,” Matthew said, doing his best to maintain his composure. “I won’t be put into a box with everyone else.”
“No, you’re not like everyone else,” Liz said, still in her playfully-evil tone. “Still …” She loosened his drawstring and slipped her hand inside his suit. “You’re only so far removed.”
Liz wrapped her hand tight around him and played. She used her other hand to part her two-piece top and expose herself.
Matthew grunted and took a small step backward, but Liz matched with a forward step.
“It’s clear you’re excited,” she said. “You’re underwater. To the whole beach, it looks like we are two people out here talking.”
Liz sped up her movements, and Matthew’s resistance failed completely.
What she did to him captivated him. Matthew tried to look back at Donna, but Liz moved back into his view.
“You want her?” she said, still playful. “She wants you; you can have her tomorrow. Right this moment, you’re all mine. I will have you.”
Matthew couldn’t look away anymore. His attraction to Liz had always been strong, and with her right in front of him, doing what she was doing, he couldn’t break away. Even if he could, he didn’t want to. Her ministrations felt so wonderful and way more than he’d ever imagined he’d have with her.
He swallowed hard and his breathing became short and shallow. Liz curled up her lips more at his response. She stepped forward and kissed him, still moving her right hand rapidly. When she pulled her top left and away with her free hand, and then touched her chest to his, it was more than Matthew could stand. He lost control and let go. Liz stopped kissing him and touched her forehead to his; she looked down into the water and squeezed her right hand in response and rhythm to him. He huffed a couple of times and
groaned. Then he reached out with his hands and pulled her in from her hips.
“You can go now,” she whispered. “All I wanted was your response …
today. I have it. You can go back to Donna now.”
Matthew drew back when Liz let go of him. “I love and hate the way you make me feel … you know that, right?” Matthew said, and irritation showed in his voice.
“I know,” she said. “And right back at you.”
Matthew backed away and looked at her. “I don’t do what you do. The taunting and teasing. You do that intentionally.”
Liz said nothing and only smiled. She drew her right hand up, out of the ocean, and over her tight belly.
Matthew stopped walking away. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
Liz stopped and lowered her hand into the water and stared at him blankly.
�
�What you do to me intentionally … you do that ‘back’ to me. There’s something I do, or it’s just me in general, that evokes an emotional response from you.” Matthew took half a step forward. “Look, I didn’t mean to … I mean … we’ve known each other forever. Some feelings are tough to get away from. However, I never abuse it. I know what we mean to one another
—friendship-wise—and then some.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with an irritated frown. “I enjoy exciting you and getting a response from you … and other men. Beyond that, it’s mainly meaningless.”
Matthew studied her. She’d never confess or own up to anything more.
“Of course,” he said with a smile. “And my response was—”
“A handful,” she said, with some of her earlier emotional response returning. “Luckily …” She traced both hands across the ocean surface. “I didn’t have to go far to wash off my handful.”
Matthew smiled at her, and she returned it.
“Shall we meet out here again, tomorrow?” she said.
Matthew dropped his playful look. “As much as I enjoyed your attention, if I’m formally here with Donna tomorrow, then no.”
“You can say no to me?” she said, still with that playful smile.
“Honestly?” Matthew watched Liz. “Probably not. Given that, I’ll have no choice but to keep my distance.”
Initially, Liz frowned and looked confused at how to take his comments and how to respond, but then a slow and sly smile crept across her face.
Matthew smiled, turned away, and headed back to shore.
CHAPTER THREE
Matthew pulled away from Tim’s place on Valley Street and turned left up the steep hill to West Side Field. He took the right turn onto East Street and looked at Melissa in the mirror. Usually, she came up front once Tim got out, but not today.
Matthew flicked his gaze down and checked the time on the clock, which read a little past nine. Then he turned into the parking lot.
Melissa barely looked out of the window and grabbed at her things around her seat. “Are you planning to make me walk down to Carlton Street from here?”
“Of course not,” Matthew said and shut off the van. Then he turned to the side in his captain chair to look at her directly. “What’s going on with you today? You’ve been bi-polar all day. Happy half the time and upset the other half.”
Melissa fidgeted and tugged at her pullover, fussed with her hair, and then tried to look in the rearview mirror, and finally fished through her bag for her brush.
“I presume you’re coming tomorrow and not seeing Paul tonight,”
Matthew said, looking at her affectionately and watching her comb out her hair.
“No, I’m not seeing him tonight. I have to comb out this rat’s nest of sand and salt water, or I’ll look like hell tomorrow too.” She sounded agitated.
Matthew looked at her hair. “I get it, I suppose. You look fine. At least, I think you do.”
“Ugh.” Melissa huffed and pulled more of her hair with the brush.
“What?” Matthew asked. “I meant that.”
“Of course you did; Matthew can do no wrong.”
“What the hell is going on with you?” Matthew said.
***
Melissa looked up at him, half mad and half upset. She dialed it back because she knew she was out of line. “Forget it. I’m sorry. Long day. I had fun, and I want to go tomorrow, but I’m tired a little and cranky. Too much sun and then too much pizza …”
“Anything else?” Matthew asked quietly.
A small grin stretched her lips. “Well, I’m feeling a little crampy ahead of my monthly visitor …”
Matthew winced. “I have to be the only male that gets subjected to this.
Alecia and Carrie are getting to be TMI with me, too.”
“What can we say,” she said in a soft voice and moved up to the front seat. “We trust you. You’re a nice guy. You defend us. You never judge any of us.” She sat in the passenger captain-chair sideways to face him and dropped her bag forward.
Matthew looked at her and stared.
“Nothing to say?” Melissa asked. “I figured you’d chime in with one of your pearls of wisdom. We’ll have to start writing them down. Sanfordisms or something like that.”
Matthew shook his head. “No, I was waiting to see what you were going to say next.”
“You’re humble, generally,” she said. “Did I miss something pertinent?”
“No,” he said and leaned backward.
“Oh, no,” she said in a mischievous tone and raised an eyebrow upwards.
“Okay, I’m invoking friendship rules. You have to come clean with what you’re thinking.”
“You have to know the rule number,” Matthew said with a grin.
Melissa scrunched up her nose, and then rested her hands on her knees.
“Four,” she said. “Unless divulging would break a trust, friends must speak what’s on their mind.”
“That rule can only be invoked once a day,” Matthew said with a glance at the clock. “Time limit?”
“Next five minutes,” she said, feeling bold. “Communication. Just the facts and no hurt feelings—go!”
“Okay,” Matthew said, and then gave a slight sigh. “I got to thinking about the way you and the girls—”
“The guys do too; you’re like their rock,” Melissa said.
Matthew held up his hand, “Okay.” He shifted in his seat. “I was thinking about just the girls, and two things dawned on me.”
“Go on,” Melissa said, anxious to hear the rest.
“I realized that as nice as it was to hear, that you and the girls appreciate me, and how and where I stand, it dawned on me that your opinions of me were the ones that mattered the most.”
Melissa smiled warmly. She started to reach over but then hesitated when she thought of Paul.
“Paul,” Matthew said, noticing her aborted movement. He looked deep into her eyes. “It’s okay, I understand.” Matthew looked to his left, out
through the windshield, and then back to her. “So, what were you so miffed about today?”
Melissa breathed in to respond, but Matthew jumped back. “And you can’t simply say, ‘dumb bitch Liz’ like you always do. I want you to tell me specifically what about her tagging along pissed you off today because I know that’s what it was in general.”
Melissa deflated her lungful of air and mulled over what she wanted to say. “Okay. Honestly? No holds barred? No guilt involved? I speak my free mind and, … you keep me as your best friend?”
“Yes,” Matthew said without hesitation.
Melissa flinched a little. She had tossed in the last part of her comment on a lark, and it didn’t faze Matthew at all; he answered it wholeheartedly.
“Okay,” she said and sat upright. “It pisses me off the way Liz is. Donna and Marie go to school with her at Lyman Hall, and they hate how she is.
She’s conceited and inconsiderate. You made plans with Donna for tomorrow
—”
“I made plans with everyone,” Matthew said.
“Yes.” Melissa tipped her head. “But you asked her in the vein of having her come specifically. Yes, you’d go if she couldn’t, and she could have tagged along with Liz, but you asked her specifically, so it’s sort of like a public date.”
“I wouldn’t presume to debate your point,” he said, and a smug grin stretched his lips.
“You would lose,” Melissa said with a smile. “I mean, you’d only just finished asking her to go, and Liz had to follow you all the way out to the water. Good thing when you came back out and cozied up to Donna. You scored back lost points …”
A brief, unsettled look crossed Matthew’s face. Melissa asked, “What happened out there anyway?”
“Oh, you know, just chit chat; you know Liz,” Matthew said a bit too quickly.
Melissa pointed to the clock. “It’s never just chit chat w
ith her; not since seventh grade when she got kicked out of Dag Hammarskjold Middle School for making out in the stairwell. You’re inside the five minutes.”
“No holds barred? No guilt involved? I speak my free mind, and you keep me as your best friend?”
“Yes,” she said, nervous. “Of course … to the end of our days.”
“She made a pass at me,” Matthew said all in a rush.
Melissa could only give him a blank stare. She didn’t want to hear the rest. Still, she had to ask, “How?”
“Are you sure—”
“How?” she said.
“Under the water …” Matthew looked down and then away. He looked embarrassed. “I wanted to stop her and say ‘no’ but the second she touched me ...”
“You had sex with her in the ocean? In plain sight of everyone?” Melissa said with a roar.
“No, no, no!” Matthew held his hands up. “No.” He squirmed in his seat.
“Firstly, I’ve never done that … I’m still … well … you know.”
A look of relief washed over Melissa’s face.
Matthew rubbed his chin. “She reached for my swim trunks under the water and touched me. It excited me. As much as I wanted her to stop, I wanted her to keep going. And she did. She reached inside.”
“And?” Melissa asked.
“And eventually I couldn’t take what she was doing anymore and I …
well … you know.” Matthew said with a slight smile.
“Eeeww. In the water?” Melissa said and puckered up her face.
“What?” Matthew said. “It’s the Atlantic Ocean, not a pool. There’s a ton of salt in the water already, and all the marine life, large and small, do far more than what I did in there.”
Melissa burst out laughing, and Matthew looked happy to have the tension broken, then he laughed along with her.
He glanced over at the clock, and Melissa followed his gaze. It went past the five-minute mark.
