MikasBlackCougar

by Marisa Chenery

“Sure.”

  After Trent left, I looked out the kitchen window. I saw his mom outside in the backyard, working in a large flower garden. She looked to be pulling weeds. The garden had a bunch of roses, lilies and some other flowers I didn’t know the names of. They looked healthy and well cared for.

  I turned back to the kitchen when I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Thinking it was Trent back already, I said, “That didn’t take you very…” My words fell away when I saw it wasn’t Trent, after all.

  A man, who I assumed was Trent’s dad, stood just inside the kitchen. He looked like an older version of Trent, right down to the long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. And he was tall. He had to be close to six and a half feet. I had to crane my neck to look up at him. He definitely made me feel short.

  He smiled, the same crooked smile Trent made. “Hello.”

  With one hand, I pushed my sweat-dampened hair out of my eyes. “Hi. I’m just waiting for Trent.”

  He moved farther into the room. “You must be Mika. I’m Trent’s dad, Travis. I see you survived your workout.”

  “Yeah.”

  At that point, Trent returned. He came to stand beside his dad. Their similar features were quite easy to see when they stood side by side.

  “I see you met, Mika, Dad.”

  Travis nodded. “Yes. She told me she was waiting for you. Are you taking her home now?”

  “I just have to go ask for Mom’s car keys.”

  “Here,” Travis pulled a set out of his pants front pocket and handed them to Trent. “Take my car. Your mom’s is in the garage and I’m parked behind it. And you can take your time.”

  “All right.”

  Trent turned and motioned with his head for me to follow. I said a quick goodbye to his dad before I walked out of the kitchen with Trent.

  Chapter Ten

  Trent unlocked the passenger’s side door of his dad’s late-model red Pontiac Grand Prix. He then went around to the driver’s as I got in. Before he started the car, Trent turned in my direction. “Do you want to go to the lake, or do you have to go home right now?”

  I knew which lake Trent meant—Okanagan Lake. I had at least a couple of hours still before Mom wanted me home for dinner. “I have time.”

  “Good.”

  It didn’t take Trent long to drive to one of the parks along the shore of the lake. After he parked the car, we got out and headed for the interlocking brick walkway that wound around the shore. Trent took my hand and led me to one of the docks jutting out into the water. We leaned against the railing as the cool air from the water blew over us.

  After being overheated from our workout, the cool breeze felt good against my skin. I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sun. I opened them to find Trent staring at me. “What?”

  “Nothing. I’m just watching you soak up the sun.”

  “Unlike you, I have to work at getting a tan.

  Trent held up our clasped hands and looked down at our arms. “You don’t look that pale.”

  I still had the tan I’d worked on over the summer holidays, but Trent’s skin was still darker than mine. “Once winter arrives I’ll lose the tan. When spring comes and it warms up enough to wear shorts, I can blind people with my glow-in-the-dark white legs.”

  Trent chuckled. “It can’t be that bad.”

  I nodded. “Yup, it is. Seriously.”

  He shook his head as he turned and looked out over the water. “It’s nice here, but I prefer to go to the reservation instead. The place I go is closer to nature, if you know what I mean?”

  “As in it doesn’t have manmade pathways to stroll along.”

  “Exactly. I’d rather go for a hike through the bush any day. How about you? Do you like to go on nature hikes?”

  I grimaced. “I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if I had someone to go with me who knew where they were going. My sense of direction is terrible. If I had to go by myself I’d end up lost and going in circles for days.”

  Trent let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as he pulled me close. “I wouldn’t let you get lost, Mika. I have an excellent sense of direction.”

  I gazed into Trent’s eyes. Will he kiss me again? There were a few other people around, but no one happened to be too close to us.

  “Well, in that case, if you were the one I went on the nature hike with, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad.” My breath caught as Trent leaned closer.

  He rubbed the tip of his nose against mine. “I’ll have to take you sometime, before it gets cold.”

  Not wanting to spoil the moment, I nodded. I pushed myself closer and lifted my face higher in the hopes he would take it as a sign I wouldn’t mind if he kissed me. My heart raced as he closed his eyes and pressed his nose to mine. He was so close I could smell his scent each time I took a breath. It wasn’t an unpleasant odor. For someone who’d worked up a sweat earlier, he didn’t smell bad, by any means. His scent smelled musky, manly. I groaned to myself when that thought entered my head. It must be a side effect from reading too many romance novels—they now had me thinking like one of the heroines.

  Trent sighed as he kissed the tip of my nose before he pulled back. “I guess I should take you home before I decide to keep you.” He smiled crookedly.

  I gulped. “That would be no hardship. I mean, you keeping me.”

  He continued to smile as he shook his head. “Don’t tempt me.” Trent’s face turned serious. “I like being around you, Mika. Makes me wish I had gotten to know you sooner.”

  “I like being around you too.” My voice sounded too breathy for my liking. I cleared my throat. “I wouldn’t mind if we hung out more often.”

  With his arm still around my shoulders, Trent turned away from the railing. I put my arm around his waist as we walked back toward his dad’s car. Right now, it wouldn’t have been too hard to convince myself that Trent actually liked me, and that maybe I stood a chance with him. Silvia and her crew weren’t around to see us or hear what he said so it wasn’t as if he did it for their benefit. Maybe things weren’t so one-sided, after all.

  Trent kept me held to his side as he unlocked the car door. He let go once he pulled it open. I got inside and quickly reached across the seat to unlock his.

  Once Trent had the car started, he picked up my hand and placed it on his thigh just above his knee. After he backed the car from the parking spot and headed out of the park, he placed his hand on top of mine. I felt the hard muscle of his leg under my hand through his sweat pants. His thigh muscles bunched when he moved his foot off the gas and onto the brake. It made me long to reach across the seat and touch the rest of him, to test to see if all his muscles felt as hard.

  Focused completely on Trent, I didn’t realize we’d arrived at my house until he stopped at the curb and put the car in park. Before I could say anything, he cupped the back of my head with his hand, leaned across his seat and kissed me. His lips moved over mine as I squeezed his thigh. By the time he pulled away I felt as if all the air had left my lungs.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, Mika.”

  I sucked in a big breath of air. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

  My legs shook as I opened the car door and got out. The shaking had more to do with Trent’s kiss than the workout. I stood on the boulevard and waved as he put the car back in gear and drove away. This weekend had turned out to be better than I’d hoped for. As for what had happened at the tree fort, I decided to let it go for now. Whatever I thought I’d seen hadn’t happened today while I’d been around Trent. Did I really want to screw things up with him by questioning him about it? Not in this life time.

  * * * *

  The sound of my alarm clock going off the next morning woke me. Still half-asleep, I reached for it where it sat on the small table next to my bed. The movement caused me to groan in pain. My arms, chest and shoulders ached as I switched it off and stretched. I tested out my legs and found they hurt just as much as my arms did. My whole body seemed t
o be one big ache. Trent hadn’t been kidding when he said I’d feel it more the next day.

  Painfully, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Ow. That didn’t feel good at all. It made me wonder if I’d be able to stand up, let alone be able to walk. Knowing I’d see Trent that day in school was enough motivation to get me up on my feet. My muscles seemed to shriek in protest as I slowly walked over to my dresser.

  Barely making it through the painful process of getting dressed, I then headed downstairs. The steps presented a bit of a problem at first, but I managed to make my way down them as I leaned on the railing for support.

  Mom watched me limp my way into the kitchen. She put her hand over her mouth. I still could see the laughter lurking in her eyes. I did my best rendition of how a person would look with a pickle stuck up their butt as I walked over to the kitchen table and, with care, sat. The only good thing was Jared had yet to come downstairs.

  “Are you really sore?” Mom asked as she handed me the box of cereal.

  “You could say that. My body feels as if I’ve been run over by a very large truck.” With gritted teeth against the pain, I reached for the container of milk and poured some into my cereal.

  This time Mom didn’t hold back her laughter. I furrowed my brows. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but you have no idea how funny it was to watch you walk into the kitchen. How are you going to manage at school?”

  “Thanks, Mom. That’s what I really needed this morning, to have my own mother laughing at me. I’ll manage somehow. I’m not taking the day off school just because I can’t walk without being in pain.”

  “Poor Mika.” Mom bit back a laugh. “I feel for you. I really do.”

  Jared came into the kitchen and sat at the table across from me. I felt his stare on me as I lifted a spoonful of cereal to my mouth. I groaned quietly.

  “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

  “I’m a bit sore from working out.”

  “Oh.” He reached for the box of cereal. “Are you going to see Trent today?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is he coming over again this weekend?”

  “I’m not sure. Why do you want to know?”

  He shrugged. “I was just interested. I think Trent’s cool.”

  “He’s mine. If you want him for a boyfriend you have to go find someone else.”

  “Eww, gross.” Jared pretended to throw up. “And for your information, I’m not gay, dumbass. I just thought it would be cool to hang out with him.”

  “Forget it.”

  “When I go to Vernon next year, I could always hang out with Trent then.”

  “Don’t count on it. Next year both Trent and I’ll be seniors. And they usually won’t be caught dead hanging out with a little kid in grade eight.”

  “Maybe I should ask Trent and see what he says. Maybe he wouldn’t mind.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “No, you won’t. If you’re going to be a pain in the butt when Trent’s around I won’t ask him to come over anymore.”

  “Enough you two.” Mom put my lunch bag on the table next to me. “You’d better hurry up, Mika. It’s getting late.”

  Ignoring Jared, I quickly finished the cereal in my bowl before I grabbed my lunch bag. Since my legs had stiffened from sitting, I had to pull myself up using the table. Jared snickered, but I didn’t bother to tell him to shut up.

  * * * *

  I arrived at school and parked as close to the school entrance as I could get. Today, I’d rather put up with waiting in a long line-up of cars to get out of the parking lot at the end of the day than have to walk a long distance to get to the school. With my backpack slung over my shoulder, I headed for the school’s entrance. I forced myself to walk as normally as possible, even though it hurt more to do it.

  I was opening my locker when Trent came up behind me, and asked, “Sore?”

  I turned around to face him. “More than you can possibly know.”

  Trent chuckled. “I thought as much. I watched you walk down the hall and couldn’t miss how you had your jaw clenched as if you were in pain.”

  “I have to stop myself from whimpering when I do.”

  He chuckled again. “I’m sorry, Mika. I guess I worked you out too hard. I didn’t think you would be this sore.”

  “I’m partly to blame as well. I’ve never lifted a weight in my life before yesterday. I should have known I’d have to take it easy.” I turned back to my locker and put the books I needed for the morning inside my backpack.

  “Here, let me make it up to you. It’s the least I can do.” Trent took my backpack and swung it onto his free shoulder. “Come on, cripple. I’ll help you to homeroom.”

  “Just don’t walk too fast.”

  Trent wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me up against his side. He gave me a squeeze, which caused me to suck in my breath. He quickly loosened his hold. “Sorry. I forgot you’d be sore in other places besides your legs.”

  With my arm around his waist, Trent walked at a slow pace. I leaned against him for support. “If you wanted to apply for the job of torturer, you’d easily get it. All you’d have to do is force your poor victims to work out until they collapsed. The real torture, though, wouldn’t begin until the next day when they woke up with all their muscles screaming in pain.”

  “It doesn’t last, you know. You’re only this sore because it’s the first time you’ve lifted weights. Once you get used to it, it isn’t so bad.”

  I gave him a stare that said I thought he was full of crap. “From my standpoint, I really can’t picture that happening. I don’t know if I’ll even survive this day, let alone be able to lift a weight again.”

  Trent bent and kissed the top of my head, one place where I didn’t hurt. “You’ll feel better once you’ve had a chance to walk around. The muscles just need to be stretched to loosen up.” He massaged my shoulder as we walked.

  “Ow, ow. Stop it. That isn’t helping it feel better.”

  “Okay, I’ll stop. Maybe I should kiss it better instead.”

  I felt my face grow warm when I thought of all the places where my body hurt, and how I would love for Trent to kiss them better. Swallowing as I licked my suddenly dry lips, I looked at him and nodded. He sucked in a breath as his eyes lightened for a split second. His gaze seemed to latch on to my lips.

  He groaned. “You’re killing me, Mika.”

  I would have asked him if it was in a good or bad way, but we’d arrived at our homeroom. Inside the classroom, Trent gave me my backpack before he took a seat at the desk beside mine. When the teacher arrived and started the lesson, I couldn’t stop thinking of what it would have been like to have Trent kiss my shoulder better. As if he knew what I thought, he sent me more than one look of longing. By the end of the class I’d no idea what Mr. Morrison had tried to teach. I was in trouble. At the rate I was going I’d be lucky to pass math this semester.

  Chapter Eleven

  The rest of the week passed pretty much the same as the week before. Trent and I spent each lunch period together. He still amazed me by how much food he could consume in such a short amount of time. I even asked Mom to pack extra so I could give him some when he ate all his so I wouldn’t end up finishing after he did.

  By the middle of the week my muscles no longer hurt. Plus, I no longer walked as if I had a pickle shoved up my butt. And much to my surprise, I felt ready to go for another round of weightlifting. Even though I’d only worked out the one time, I liked how I felt after I no longer had to put up with the pain. My muscles didn’t feel quite as soft as they had before. With just that one workout that led to very small results, I could now easily see how people became addicted to working out. I wanted to torture myself again.

  Not that Trent had asked me over to his place for another workout. I really didn’t need that much help with my math so I hadn’t asked Trent over to mine. After Monday I forced myself to pay attention, and since it wasn’t that m
uch different from the work Trent had helped me with, I found I understood it. Since I didn’t have that as an excuse to ask him over, I didn’t want to be pushy and invite myself to his house.

  The last day of the school week, Trent still hadn’t mentioned anything about getting together for another workout during the weekend. He also hadn’t tried to kiss me again. I’d thought for sure after the one he’d laid on me this past Sunday we were headed down the road to becoming a couple. But the closest he came all week was when he’d offered to kiss my shoulder better. Being unsure of what his true feelings really were, I didn’t take things past the hand-holding we’d been doing.

  At the end of lunch on Friday Trent couldn’t walk me to my locker before the next class as he usually did. His teacher wanted him and the other kids in his class to arrive before the bell rang since he had a movie he wanted them to watch, taking up the whole period. Must be nice. I said bye to him outside the cafeteria doors still half-expecting him to mention something about getting together this weekend. Instead, he said bye back and left for his class.

  With only a couple minutes left before the next class started, I hurried to my locker. I undid the lock and reached inside for the books I needed for the rest of the day. As I grabbed them off the top shelf I saw a small folded piece of paper lying on the bottom of my locker. I picked it up and unfolded it. A smile spread across my face as I read what had been scrawled across it.

  Trent must have managed to slip the note inside my locker when I wasn’t looking. It also explained why he hadn’t said anything about seeing me on the weekend. In the note, he asked me to meet him on Saturday afternoon at Okanagan Lake at the reservation. On the bottom of the sheet of paper, he’d even drawn a rough map where he wanted to meet. I bit my bottom lip when I saw I’d have to do some hiking through a few bushy areas.

  I quickly shoved my books and Trent’s note into my backpack before I closed my locker. On my way to class, I couldn’t stop thinking about Saturday. One part of me was pleased he had invited me, but another felt a little unsure. Trent knows about my crappy sense of direction. Why would he ask me to meet him in a place where I’ve never been before? Maybe he thought even I could follow his map, but I wasn’t so sure. My map-reading skills ranked up there with my sense of direction—both sucked on a big scale.