Take My Dress Off

by S. Gilmour

  I tried to process what she had said. “That doesn’t mean anything. Dillon hangs out with Chaz and he’s definitely not like that.”

  “Dillon tolerates Chaz because he’s Donny’s friend.”

  “Danielle, I’m not having this ridiculous conversation with you.” I slid off the couch and stormed into the kitchen. The phone started ringing and I tossed my cup into the trash.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” greeted Chaz.

  “Hi Chaz,” I glared over to Danielle putting emphasis on his name. “Danielle and I are hanging out but she was just leaving,” I smirked over to Danielle. She responded by flipping me off. I turned into the wood paneled wall, twirling the orange plastic phone cord in my fingers as I discretely finished my phone call.

  “He’s coming over, he’s bored.”

  “Alone or with someone?” Danielle asked, her eyebrows raised.

  “He didn’t say. Alone I guess. Who would he bring?”

  “I don’t know. Donny?”

  “Don’t you need to be somewhere?”

  “Well then. I’ll be moseying along, don’t want to ruin your date,” she smirked as she pushed off the sofa. “Besides, I have to get to work.”

  “It’s not a date, we’re just hanging out.”

  “I’m sure in your mind it is,” she chewed on her straw and walked to the door. “You’ll turn this into something it isn’t, blow it out of proportion, call me crying about it as you write in your Precious Moments diary.”

  “Please leave.” I held open the door.

  “Bring him by the store later, we can watch him shop.”

  “Piss off.” I flipped her off as she walked to her car. “My new car’s better than yours, bitch,” I called after her.

  “Duh,” snorted Danielle as she climbed into her pea green Comet. It belched smoke as she backed down the driveway.

  Twenty minutes later Chaz was standing in Maddie’s formal living room. “Nice house.” He turned around taking it in. He was wearing a bright green polo, collar up, brown braided leather belt, Levi’s 501 jeans and topsiders. He was a total Adonis.

  “Not as nice as yours,” I said as I led him through the kitchen to the family room.

  “It’s okay.” He sat right where Danielle had been. The seat was probably still warm from her fat ass.

  “You live on an estate in Fallbrook, you have a pool, shut up.”

  “I’d hardly call it an estate, more like a ranch I guess,” he blushed. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on Maddie’s red velvet sofa watching old reruns and eating dry Captain Crunch out of the box.

  “The Brady Bunch is so lame,” he commented. “No one really wore those clothes in the seventies.”

  “I bet you did,” I chided. “I’m sure there are pictures of you somewhere in a butterfly collared shirt and bell bottoms.”

  “As if!” He reached into the cereal box, picked through the cereal and lifted out a handful.

  “Hey, don’t eat all the crunch berries,” I whined and plucked the box out of his hands.

  “If you had to pick one Brady boy to go out with which one would you pick?” he crunched.

  “Are you serious?” I asked digging through the cereal for the remaining berries.

  “Yeah. C’mon, who?”

  I found the prize and tossed it to Chaz. “I guess, Greg.”

  “So typical,” Chaz sang. He tore open the envelope concealing the prize. It was one of those plastic glow-in-the-dark rings.

  “Why?” I asked. “Greg seems nice and he can sing. Peter is whiny and selfish and Bobby is, of course, too young.”

  Chaz leaned back into the pillows and slipped the plastic ring onto his pinky finger. “They’re like the Hunter brothers. Donny is Greg, Dillon is Peter, and Davy is Bobby,” he laughed.

  “Davy? They have another brother?”

  “Yeah, he’s younger and looks just like them.”

  “That’s right,” I nodded, the image of their family portrait in the hall coming back to me. “Jesus, they’re like Russian nesting dolls,” I muttered as I sat back against the sofa.

  “I’m sorry.” Chaz rolled toward me and took my hands into his. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. You won’t be seeing Davy anytime soon, he’s with their parents in New Zealand.”

  “New Zealand? Are you kidding me?” Dr. Hunter was a professor at San Diego State. He was probably writing another book.

  “Donny said his parents left last week on a sabbatical. They won’t be back until May. Donny and Dillon are watching the house.”

  “Oh my God, that’s a terrible idea! That house is fantastic and they will trash it!”

  “You’ve been in it?” asked Chaz.

  I had never actually walked through the main part of the home, only glanced in awe before Dillon led me down the stairs to his lair.

  “Sure,” I replied. “Have you?”

  “Yep,” he said and turned his attention back to the Brady Bunch.

  Dillon’s father had designed the house himself. It was up in the hills and was very well known, a modern, Frank Lloyd Wright style of house with three stories and the entire back walls were made of glass. It had a spiral Plexiglass staircase that went straight through the middle of the house and wrapped almost invisibly around a floor to ceiling chandelier made of hanging metal bars and glass. Everything was white, metal, or glass from the marble tile to the thick shag carpet and the furniture. The boys shared the first floor. It was essentially a basement and more traditional with three bedrooms, a large recreation room with wood paneled walls, a small kitchen, and a bathroom.

  I sat up and went over to the built-in book shelves. I searched the spines of books before finding what I was looking for.

  “What’s that?”

  “Vista Elementary yearbook.” I carried it to the breakfast bar and flipped through the glossy black and white pages. “How old is the little Hunter brother?”

  “They’re all three years apart.” Chaz came up and glanced at the book over my shoulder. He smelled delicious, a mixture of Ivory soap and Polo cologne. I felt that familiar heat rising up my neck and leaned back against him.

  “There’s Donny,” I giggled as we looked at his sixth grade class. His bangs were really short and he was looking to the side. He looked retarded.

  “You and Dillon would have been in third grade so that would have put Davy in kindergarten.” He flipped through the kindergarten pages. “Ha-ha! Look, there he is,” pointed Chaz. He did look like a mini-Dillon-mini-Donny. Well I’ll be damned, there was another one coming up to rip out the hearts of unassuming girls.

  “Let’s find you.” He reached for the book but I held my hands firmly over the pages, pressing the book to the counter.

  “No way, I look as retarded as Donny.”

  “I’m sure you don’t,” said Chaz sincerely. “C’mon, I bet you were adorable in third grade.” He popped the book open and I waited as he scanned the little freckled faces, waiting for him to find me. He brought one hand to his face, shielding his smile as he pointed at my picture with the other.

  “You’re so mean, Chaz, stop.”

  “Aw, you’re cute with those pigtails.” He leaned into my back. “You’re still cute.” I turned and glared at him over my shoulder. “Especially when you’re mad,” he added and pinched my sides. “Where’s Dillon?” he asked as he scanned the pictures.

  “How long have you been friends with Dillon?” I asked.

  “I’m friends with Donny, not Dillon.”

  “Oh, well he was in a different class.” I flipped to Mrs. Philo’s page, Dillon’s third grade teacher. Dillon smiled back with that casual confidence through long bangs all dark and brooding. Even in third grade he had it.

  Chaz closed the book. “Want to go to the mall?” he asked still leaning against my back.

  “Chaz?” I looked up to his chin.

  “Paige?”

  “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

  Chaz was silent for a moment t
hen ran his hands over my shoulders and down to my wrists. “Because she would be jealous of you,” he whispered into my ear. I froze as he nuzzled his cheek against mine, soft stubble scratching my delicate skin.

  “Do you want to be my girlfriend, Paige?” he whispered. He was breathing as heavily I was. I could feel the heat transferring from him onto my back. My heart pounded and adrenaline surged through my body. I was so surprised, I had dreamed about it for hours on end, but now that it was happening, I didn’t know what to do. Chaz was touching me and I couldn’t move. He raked his hands through my hair and pulled my head back. “Well?”

  “Yes!”

  Chaz slipped the Captain Crunch ring onto my finger and I giggled.

  He softly kissed down my exposed neck. I reached up for him but he backed away. “C’mon, let’s go to the mall and cool off. It’s hotter than hell in here and I could use some new school clothes.”

  And that was it. I had a boyfriend.

  ***

  While Chaz browsed through jeans in Miller’s Outpost I chatted with Danielle about my new status as Chaz Serna’s girlfriend.

  “I don’t know, Paige. I get this vibe, there’s something about him...” We stood at a round metal clothing rack and she pretended to straighten shirts.

  “Like what?” I asked and held up a shirt, feigning interest.

  She looked over at Chaz as he dug through a pile of Levi’s, her eyes narrowing. “He’s too…perfect.”

  I shook my head and put the shirt back on the rack. She was so cynical at times.

  “What in the hell is that on your hand?” she asked.

  I blushed as I looked down at the plastic ring. “Chaz put it on my finger when he asked me to be his girlfriend.”

  “How romantic. So are you, like, going steady?” she asked in a valley girl voice.

  “Like, for sure,” I replied. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

  Chaz followed two sales girls over to the dressing room as they subtly competed for his attention.

  “He’s too nice and too pretty,” Danielle scowled, her dark eyebrows knotting together.

  “He’s not pretty,” I scoffed. “He’s beautiful, but not pretty. I think you don’t like him because he went to Fallbrook High…”

  “Ugh, Gaybrook High.”

  ***

  After Chaz’s shopping spree we went to his house to swim. I grabbed some shopping bags from the back seat of his car and headed up the path to the front porch.

  “C’mon, this way,” Chaz called heading to the side of the house.

  “Back door?” I asked.

  “No, I live in the guest house ‘round back.” I followed him through a black wrought iron gate to a large back yard. The main house had a long tiled porch with Spanish arches that spanned the length of the house. There were several seating groups of heavy iron chairs housed on the porch. Parallel to the porch was a huge rectangular pool. The same iron chairs clustered around the pool. The guest house was on the opposite side of the pool and reflected the Spanish style of the main house. I followed Chaz through a single French door into the guest house.

  “Your parents let you live out here by yourself?”

  “Yup,” he said, leading me past a small sofa.

  “This is seriously cool,” I said spinning slowly, taking it all in. There was a small living room with a stone fireplace, a galley kitchen, a bedroom with a queen size bed, and a rustic wooden door opened to a small bathroom.

  “My oldest sister, Sandy, got married and lived here for a couple of years until they had the twins. Then I moved in.”

  “What about your other sister?”

  “Kelly?” He chuckled. “She’s too scared to live back here. She thinks it’s haunted.”

  “Seriously?”

  “My grandmother lived here until she died. She had a stroke and the cleaning lady found her in the bathroom.”

  “Oh, that’s awful,” I cried. “I’m very sorry.”

  “I never knew her. She died way before I was born.” He motioned for me to follow him into the bedroom. “Kelly swears her ghost is lurking around.” He dumped out his purchases onto the bed and began pulling off the tags with his teeth. “Kelly graduated from State two years ago and works at the store with Mom.”

  “Your mom has a store?”

  “The Hallmark store in Vista. Kelly has no intentions of moving out of the main house either.”

  “Don’t your parents want her out?”

  “Nah. The house is so big they really don’t mind.” He slipped a teal polo shirt onto a hanger. “Mom and Kelly are really close, she’d probably freak if Kelly moved out.”

  “Well it’s going to happen eventually,” I handed him a pink button down oxford.

  “I guess…” He studied his closet and rearranged some shirts.

  “There’s a big age difference between you and your sisters.”

  “I’m what you call a “surprise” baby. There are six years between me and Kelly and Sandy is two years older than her. My parents thought their family was complete after the girls. Then I came along,” he chuckled. He refolded a red sweater and tucked it into the heavy wood dresser drawer.

  “You definitely don’t need any more clothes. I think you have more polo shirts than anyone I know,” I smirked and sat on his bed. I felt a little tingle shoot through me to think that this is where he slept. I imagined myself lying on his bed.

  “Bite your tongue,” he hissed and swatted me with a shopping bag. “You can never have too many clothes. That’s like saying you can have too much money.”

  “You probably don’t have much money now after that spending spree you went on today.”

  He patted his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “It’s pretty light now.” He smiled down to me. “Good thing I have a famous model girlfriend to keep me in the style I’ve grown accustomed to,” he grinned and leaned down to kiss me. “Want to swim?” he asked.

  Chaz in a swimsuit? I couldn’t turn that down. “I thought you’d never ask. After Jen leaves for college I’ll lose my pool connection.”

  “I’ll be your pool connection,” he grinned. “Get your suit on.”

  I reached into my bag and grabbed my new neon pink string bikini. It was a great bargain since it was on sale and Danielle gave me her employee discount. I didn’t have Chaz’s unlimited funds for shopping.

  “What do you think?” I asked, holding it up.

  “I think I can’t wait for you to be in that.” He motioned to the bathroom with his hand. “What are you waiting for?”

  When I returned Chaz was wearing peach board shorts in all his golden glory. My eyes raked over his muscled chest, down his well-toned abs to the cut definition that rested over his low slung shorts.

  I raised my eyes up to his. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smooth smile. “Why Miss Hanson, I do believe you’re checking me out.” I grinned and tightened my beach towel around my chest. “Oh no, you don’t…” he said and tugged at the towel. “My turn, it’s only fair.” I released the towel and he nodded in approval. “Turn around,” he ordered twirling his finger. I obeyed and blushed from the intensity of his stare.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon floating lazily in the pool and sipping on bottles of Corona. Every now and then the housemaid, Yoli, would come out (which made me feel a little awkward) but Chaz continued talking like she wasn’t there as she picked up empty bottles or brought over towels. Our conversation eventually turned to the models we worked with and finally the Hunter brothers.

  “How long have you known Dillon?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. We went to school together but I didn’t really start hanging out with him until Donny brought him to work with us,” I said into the hot inflated plastic of the float.

  “Did you ever go out with him?”

  “Sort of…” I carefully maneuvered myself onto my stomach to get some sun on my back.

  “Is that a yes or a no?” He used his hands to paddle h
imself closer to me.

  “It’s complicated. It’s also over, whatever it was, so you don’t need to worry.”

  “I’m not worried, just curious.”

  “What about you?” I asked without raising my head.

  “I never went out with Dillon, he’s not my type.”

  “No silly. Girlfriends?” I flipped off the float and sunk into the water.

  “I’ve had a few,” he plunged in next to me.

  “How many is a few?” I splashed at him.

  “It’s complicated,” he mocked and splashed back.

  When it started to cool off we wrapped ourselves in towels and trotted back to the guest house. “Ooh, I’m cold,” I said feeling the cool tile beneath my feet. I gripped the towel around my dripping wet body as I padded to the bedroom.

  “That damp towel isn’t helping,” he said and tugged it away from me. He tossed the towel onto the floor, along with his, and pulled me onto his bed. “I’ll warm you up,” he offered and wrapped himself around me.

  “You’re not doing a very good job.” I clung to him, shivering.

  “Is that so?” he said and teased my lips with his. He held me tighter against his cool skin.

  Goosebumps pebbled over every inch of my flesh. I breathed in his scent as he rolled on top of me and covered his body with mine. My kisses became more passionate, more desperate, and I quickly forgot that I was freezing in a wet swimsuit.

  He rolled back over and pulled me on top of him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands roamed over my lower back, playing with the ties on my bikini top. My body warmed to his touch as he fingered the strings behind my neck. Rising up on my hands I inched closer to his mouth, pressing into him as I kissed up his neck. I waited for him to untie the knots, eagerly anticipating the pressure of his bare chest pressed to mine.

  His fingers froze.

  He rolled me to the side and sat up, his back to me as I lay frustrated and panting on the bed.

  “Chaz?”

  “Paige?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Every time things start getting serious between us you pull away. Am I doing something wrong?”

  He turned to me. “No. Everything is fine. Fantastic, actually.” His eyes brightened as his gaze fixated on me. “Things just move so fast with you. I don’t want to rush you into anything.”