Why did I feel so self-conscious around him?
"Well, you seemed to be pretty excited about pancakes this morning." He chuckled.
Oh God, please don’t revisit what he said this morning. I am begging the lord above that he doesn’t bring up what he said.
"What can I say, your Mom makes the best pancakes ever." I smiled.
"That is very true." He agreed with a nod.
I looked back out the window.
Thank you God, we were almost there.
"Chloe?" I turned to him again.
Shit! Keep your face forward Chloe.
"When is your birthday?"
Huh? Why would he…?
"September, why?" He shrugged. I sucked in a breath and found my inner confidence. "What’s with the interrogation, Leo?"
"I asked if it was bothering you. Did you lie to me?" He smiled at me.
Damn him and that smile! Suck it up, Chloe, this is Mina’s brother, the same guy you grew up around. He is the same guy that has never looked at you twice and who sees you as his sister, so quit acting so weird about this.
"No I didn’t lie. It’s not bothering me." lie "I just don’t get what all the questions are about? It’s not like we are close or hang out or anything." I furrowed my brow and turned to see we had arrived at our destination.
Yes!
As soon as he stopped, I got out of the car. Heading to the truck, I felt a hand wrap around my wrist. I turned and Leo’s face was much closer than I expected. I hadn’t even heard him get out of the car. I took a step back to put space between us.
"I was going to get the door for you, you know?" He took a step, bringing himself back to being only about three inches from my body.
"That’s okay, I got it, but thanks." I started to take another step back but Leo still held my wrist, stepping with me as I moved.
"Um, Leo, can you let go of my wrist?" I looked down to my wrist and saw his thumb start to rub over my skin.
"Leo…" I looked back up to ask him again to let go, but his face was intense with indecision written all over it.
"Chloe," he finally spoke. "We could change that, you know?"
I bit my lip and looked confused.
"Being close, you know, like you and Mina are?"
"Yeah, okay. Umm…I need to get back." I slid my arm free and climbed into my dad’s truck. Once I pulled out of Leo’s sight, I exhaled a large breath.
What the hell was that?
Leo
I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking when I offered to drive her to get her car, but it was clear on her face that she wasn’t into the idea. I tried to make conversation, just to ease the tension, but all the questions that I wanted answers to were personal. I couldn’t help but find myself wanting to get to know her. She was clearly uncomfortable and I was making it worse.
When she got out of the car the urge to go after her was ridiculous. It was like there was a chain binding me to her. I had quickly grabbed her wrist and brought myself close to her. I could smell her, she smelled like flowers. The feel of her skin was like buttery silk, it’s the only way to describe it.
"I was going to get the door for you, you know?" I had felt her move back, but the damn electricity humming between us pulled me with her. I had no control.
"That’s okay, I got it, but thanks." She started to take another step back.
"Um, Leo, can you let go of my wrist?" I couldn’t stop touching her skin. I heard what she was saying but the smell and feel of her so close was overwhelming.
"Leo…" She looked back up to my face and stopped what she was saying. She studied my face. I wanted to bring her perfect lips to mine. I wanted to know if she tasted as good as she felt and smelled. Fighting an internal battle to actually let her go, I said the first thing that came to my mind.
"Chloe," I looked into her eyes, "we could change that, you know?" She looked confused and she bit her lip.
Christ, that lip biting thing is hot.
I continued.
"Being close, you know, like you and Mina are?” I was serious. I wanted to get to know her. I had to. There was something that pulled me to her and didn’t allow me to walk away.
"Yeah, okay. Umm…I need to get back."
Shit!
I had definitely come on too strong as I felt her pull her wrist out of my hand and hurry into the truck. I walked back to the car, watching her drive away. I leaned back against the car and sighed, running my hand through my hair.
"What the hell is the matter with me?" I shouted at myself aloud and rubbed my hands over my face. I knew what was wrong with me. Chloe.
Chloe
I parked my car at my house and went inside. My mind was still turning over everything that had happened.
He said to get close like I am with Mina. I am close to Mina like a sister, so he wants to be close to me like a sister. If that’s the case, then what was up with the looks, the remarks this morning and the whole wrist thing. Jesus Christ!
Given all my confusion with all things that were Leo, I was suddenly relieved when I remembered the he was leaving today. I only had to hang at my house until after lunch. That would be easy. Hanging out at my house instead of Mina’s, easy peasy.
I entered my room to Roni lying on her bed with her laptop. Max was lying next to her. She turned when I walked into the room and smiled.
"So, did you get the truck?" She giggled lightly.
"Hey, Chloe." Max raised his hand to wave and then placed it back onto Roni’s back.
"Yes," I hissed. "I got my truck. Where is Mina?"
"Oh, she was making a ‘call’ so I came over here." She winked at me.
I shook my head.
"Well I hope she had a good phone call! The evil little trouble maker." I plopped down on my bed.
"Well I’m sure that Oliver appreciated getting to talk to her if that makes you feel any better." I shot my head over to look at Max. Roni was staring at him too. "What? You think that I didn’t figure that shit out? Please! Dude looks at her like he’s going to eat her." He laughed. "The same way that Leo looks like he wants to devour…" He stopped.
"Hey. I should’ve known this is where you would be." Leo spoke as he walked in off the balcony.
Shit, shit, shit! My fortress of solitude has been compromised. There goes my plan.
Max rolled over and wrapped himself around Roni.
"Um, let me see…sit over at your house, alone, or lie around with this hot lady right here? I think that the decision would have been easy for you too dude." He smiled large as he squeezed Roni. It was kind of sweet and I saw Roni shove him a little as she smiled.
"Did you at least pack up all your stuff?" Max nodded that he had. Leo wasn’t looking at me at all. I was thankful, but at the same time it kind of bothered me.
I turned my head back to the ceiling and threw my arm over my face.
I’ll just lie here till they, or at least he, leaves.
Then I felt my bed dip. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I finally opened my eyes, it was Mina. She lay down next to me, on her back, putting her head on my thigh.
"So, Leo, when exactly are you guys planning to get the fuck out?" She laughed. "Or have you decided to stay a little longer?" I could hear the innuendo in her voice. I jerked my thigh so that her head was jolted and she giggled.
"Why, Mina? Do you have plans hidden from me?" He eyed her suspiciously.
"Of course not, Leonard." She laughed as his face contorted.
"You know I hate that, Mina." He scowled at her.
"Sorry, Leonard. I’ll try not to let it happen again." This time we all laughed with her.
Leo quickly jumped onto my bed and started to tickle Mina. I shifted quickly to move away from the chaos. We were all still laughing and I was pinned against my wall waiting for them to calm down. Leo grabbed Mina into a hug, kissed her head and just laid there with her. It was cute. I moved to get up when I felt a hand around my calf. I knew by the ele
ctric pulse that it was Leo. He caressed my leg before I shook it off and got up from the bed. I sat at my computers to distract myself.
"Oh my God. You know what we need to do?" Mina sat up quickly.
"If you say go shopping, so help me God, Mina, I will throw this laptop at you." I threatened from behind my desk. Roni laughed.
"No...well, we will need to do that eventually, though." I sighed at her response. "We need to plan the Halloween party."
"Mina, you always plan the Halloween party," Roni rebutted her idea.
Mina shook her head.
"Just listen. This year will be different. We are going to do costumes!" She was bouncing excitedly. "Don’t worry, I will plan out ours! Maybe we will do Alice in Wonderland! I’ll be Alice, of course. Roni, you, can be the Queen of Hearts and Chloe…" She stopped when she saw the look on my face. "Oh, suck it up, Chloe. You will definitely be the Mad Hatter." She giggled. I rolled my eyes.
Roni changed the subject, thankfully.
"Why don’t we worry about our camping trip for the time being?"
"You guys are going camping?" Leo was stifling laughter and Max was chuckling.
Mina turned to Leo.
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"Well, there are no closets," he looked at Mina. "No computers," he looked at me. "And there isn’t really anywhere to do your hair or make up," he looked at Roni. Then he and Max started laughing again.
"Zip it, Leonard!" Mina smiled largely. "It’s not going to be just us. There is a group of us going."
Leo sat up quickly.
"A group?"
"Yeah. Carrie, Brent, the three of us, of course, Calvin, Will, Lu…." She stopped and looked at me. I didn’t move or flinch. I heard her, but screw it. I’m not getting upset over it.
"So it’s a coed thing?" Leo asked her.
"Calm down, Leo." Max said as he sat up. "I think it’s about time for us to take off, don’t you?" He said as he looked at a watch that didn’t exist on his wrist. I laughed and Leo shot a look at me.
"Yeah, I guess." He was hesitant but he got up and headed back over to his house. I took a deep breath when he left.
Once they were gone, Mina was on me with a thousand questions.
"So, what happened in the car? Did you talk? What did he say? Oohh, did you kiss him?"
"Mina!" I shouted. "Stop it, nothing happened." He just wouldn’t let me leave and felt up my leg before he left just now. Ugh! "We went and got the truck and then drove back separately."
"Yeah right, then why do you look like you are hiding something?" Roni eyed me as she spoke. Damn her!
"Okay, he asked me questions about computers and some other stuff, but it wasn’t a big deal." I shrugged and continued to type away on my laptop.
Before I saw it coming, Roni’s hand snapped my laptop shut.
"Spill it, Chloe." She smirked at me with Mina standing next to her. I sighed in defeat.
I told them everything thing that happened, every single detail. I hated bringing it all back up. The only thing that I left out was the leg thing before I got off the bed.
"Chloe, I think that my brother is completely into you." Mina said with a slightly dazed look on her face.
"I have to agree. I mean, he wouldn’t let you leave?"
I shook my head.
"Hmm."
I didn’t like where their minds may be going.
"Look, it’s not a big deal. He’s leaving today and I’m sure that by the next time he is around, it will be long forgotten." I opened my laptop back up and returned to what I was working on.
Realizing that it was eerily quiet in this room, I looked over my laptop to see Mina and Roni talking in hushed tones on her bed. I didn’t like the look of that.
Chapter Eleven
Pitching A Tent
Chloe
For the past two weeks, Mina had done nothing but talk about Halloween. Roni and I were about to stuff a pumpkin in her mouth to shut her up. Thankfully, the camping trip was tomorrow and would last for the entire weekend, so Mina’s mind had switched into camping gear.
Currently, Mina had us shopping for ‘camping gear’. Now Mina’s ‘camping gear’ consisted of cute outfits that could be worn while camping. Roni and she both had about four bags full of new clothes to go camping. I didn’t quite understand. I mean, wouldn’t you be out in the woods getting dirty? Why would you wear new clothes? Mina forced a couple of new pairs of shorts and pants into my arms and I had grabbed a couple hooded sweatshirts.
After finishing shopping at the mall, I made them stop at Wal-Mart so we could pick up things that would actually be needed for camping. We grabbed two tents, sleeping bags, bug repellent and other various camping necessities.
The camping trip arrived quickly. Roni and I were loading up the truck with all of our things, waiting on Mina. After Mina’s stuff was loaded, we climbed into the truck together and headed to the beach to meet with the entire group.
When we arrived, we noticed a large group had already formed. Lauren and Lucas were attached at the hip. Gag!
Will and Calvin were tossing a football back and forth. Christy and Randy were leaning against their car with Jay standing in front of them. Jessica and Reagan were sitting in a car and then there was Clint and Kevan along with Amelia and Claire. Once everyone was packed into their cars we all headed toward the campground that was about twenty minutes past the beach.
Arriving at the campsite, you could see where other’s had been there not too long ago. There was still wood piled up near the large fire pit and large stones that circled around for seating. Everyone started grabbing their things and claiming their camping spots. Mina, Roni, and I began building the two tents that we had brought with us.
"You need some help?" I turned my head to see Jay reaching over to help with the tent pole.
"Thanks Jay, but you don’t have…"
"It’s not a problem." He smiled a large, bright, white smile that seemed to make his skin look even darker. "I already helped Randy get his tent up and you guys look like you could use some assistance."
"Umm…thanks." I turned back around and we started getting the first tent up, quickly moving on to the second one.
"These are nice. You guys did a good job picking them out." Jay stood observing the two tents that were now fully erect and secure.
"Thanks!" Mina said bubbly. "Roni and Chloe are the two who picked them out, though."
After all the tents were put up, everyone started situating bags of clothes and sleeping bags into their tents, then moved on to folding chairs, a radio and coolers. Calvin had brought a grill that would fit over the fire and brought a small gas stove that he set up on a picnic table. The guys grabbed more picnic tables and situated them around the campsite better.
Once everything was set up, music was playing and a small fire was started, everyone seemed to go off to do their own thing. Christy and Randy headed over to the woods to get more wood. Calvin, Jessica and Will went down to the water with fishing poles and Lucas and Lauren seemed to be ‘busy’ in their tent. Mina, Roni and I decided to go for a hike.
"Do you mind if we tag along?" Jay caught up to us with Clint and Kevan.
"Sure, no problem." Mina smiled to them.
We all walked for a while, Jay catching me by my arm a few times when I slipped. When there was very little sunlight left in the sky, we decided to head back to camp. Luckily, Kevan was with us. He knew his way around the woods and we were back at camp before it got too dark to see.
You could see the campfire from the edge of the woods. It lit the site up brilliantly. We all headed over and saw that there were hamburgers and hotdogs already done. Grabbing a plate of food each, we sat around the fire eating, talking and laughing with everyone.
Waking the next morning was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Luckily, I could smell coffee. I was more than thankful to whoever brought and got up early to make it. I climbed out of my tent, completely sure that my hair was a tan
gled, frizzy mess. I slid my sweatshirt on over my head and walked towards the smell of coffee.
Jessica, Calvin, Jay and Will were all sitting at a picnic table looking as rough as I probably did.
"Morning guys," I yawned out, stumbling to the coffee.
"Morning," the guys said in unison.
"Please tell me why I agreed to go camping of all Godforsaken things?" Jessica said out loud to anyone that would listen, while she shook her head in her hands.
"Oh, come on. The fresh air is good for the soul." Will took a deep breath in and exhaled into her face.
"Eww, Will! Coffee and morning breath. Yeah, not a good combination." She shrieked.
I couldn’t hold back the laughter as I sat down between Jay and Will. Jessica glared at me but I just shrugged and kept laughing.
Mina and Roni appeared about fifteen minutes later and they looked just as haggard as everyone else. As more people began to wake up, I got up and helped Calvin start breakfast. Jay and Roni decided to help as well.
After breakfast we saw that some other campers had started a basketball game on the camp’s court. We decided to get dressed and walk over. I liked to watch but wasn’t coordinated enough to play. When the game had finished, Roni pulled me out to shoot some baskets.
I reluctantly got up and started shooting around with her and Mina. We grew bored of that quickly and started goofing around instead. We were trying to steal the ball from each other, when my incredible coordination decided to rear its ugly head. I tripped over Mina’s tiny foot. Before I could kiss the pavement, I was grabbed and pulled upright. Flipping my hair out of my face, I saw Jay smirking down at me.
"Thanks," I blushed. "I’m always tripping over nothing."
He laughed.
"No problem." I went to walk away but he still had a grip on my arm. I turned back to him with my eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Wanna walk down to the water with me?"
"Uh…" I hesitated and his face dropped. It was like looking at a little five year old boy having his toy swiped away from him. "Sure, Jay." His face quickly pulled up into a smile.
All Grown Up Page 9
