Three Years Later

by Casey McMillin

  "Get dressed, Blake. You’re our ride."

  I opened the door, squinting at the light coming in from the hallway. "I'm up. I'm gonna need a few minutes."

  "Okay, we'll watch TV," Calvin said, making the move to push past me. Mark followed right behind him without skipping a beat.

  "Okay, come in, I guess? I'll be in the shower so I guess it doesn't matter if you—" my words trailed off because they weren't listening to me anyway. They were digging into the half-eaten snacks laying on my nightstand and already changing the channel a mile a minute.

  Even in my drowsy state, I gave some serious thought to sitting in the lobby until I found Gypsy today. I ultimately decided against it. For one, I already told the guys I was going to Disney, and two, I knew my chances were slim for seeing her in the lobby again.

  By the time I made it out of my shower and got dressed, there were four other guys in my room.

  "Took you long enough Collinda."

  I knew exactly who'd said it even though I hadn't been looking up. Brett Nye loved to call us girl names when we did anything he deemed worthy of it.

  The other day he called me Collette just for having my duffel bag strapped on my shoulder. "I like how you carry your bag Collette," he'd said. I had to ask how he recommended I carry my bag. "By the handles like a man, obviously," he'd told me. He seemed completely serious. None of us knew if was joking half the time, but it was harmless and hilarious.

  "At least I bother to shower," I said as I grabbed my wallet and keys off the desk.

  "Who needs showers when you live in a pool? My skin has soaked in so much chlorine, I'm like a walking germ killer. They die as soon as they hit me."

  "Okay, so I just like the hot water."

  "Girliest thing I've ever heard you say."

  I huffed out a breath. "Are you gonna make me kick your a—"

  "Much better." Brett gave me a half-smile for passing his man test.

  Everyone was still laughing about the exchange when I told all of them to quit being lazy bums so we could get over to Disney.

  The park was packed, as it always was this time of year. That was the whole point in the NCAA choosing this week for the Showcase. Of course they'd want to capitalize on the thousands of families vacationing.

  Along with our season passes, Disney gave us two free rides on a specialty ride. These included but were not limited to: bungee jumping, zip lining, and this sling shot thing that looked sketchy, even to me.

  After lunch, we broke up into groups based on what we wanted to do. I went bungee jumping with Mark, Calvin, Ethan and Mike, while the rest of the guys went off to meet certain death by slingshot.

  On our way across the park, I glanced into one of those huts where you can view the picture they just snapped of you on a ride. Without breaking stride, I let my gaze sweep over some of the faces in the pictures, hoping to spot a funny one.

  I saw her.

  The girl in this picture was, without a doubt, my little gypsy girl. I knew if her face was on the screen, she couldn't be far. They only showed each image for so long after you got off the ride. There was absolutely no way I was leaving this area until I found her.

  "Hey."

  Ethan turned around. Noticing I'd quit walking, he said, "What's up?"

  "I changed my mind. You guys go ahead. I'm staying here."

  "What do you mean? You need us to wait?" The other guys had already stopped and were walking back to where Ethan and I stood.

  "No, God no, I'm hoping I'm gonna be busy for the rest of the day, but if I'm wrong, I'll call you and meet up with you somewhere."

  "What?" He looked down at his watch. "It's only two o'clock."

  "He saw a girl he knows," Calvin said, obviously able to pick up the clues.

  "I didn't really see her, and I don't know her… yet. Never mind. I gotta go." I looked at the group and said, "I'll see you later, okay?"

  Confused, but accepting of my sudden change of plans, they said goodbye and turned, heading for the bungee and whatever else they could get themselves into. I turned and bolted straight back for the photo booth where I'd seen her face.

  The image of her face was still there.

  Knowing she had to be close, I spun around and began searching faces in the crowd. My body hummed with tension and excitement. I couldn't believe the amount of importance I was suddenly placing on being able to find this girl. I scanned face after face, trying to make my eyes focus on each of them without getting careless.

  I was starting to feel like my window of opportunity was closing when I saw her walking past the booth like she wasn't planning on stopping to look at the photo.

  I didn’t even allow myself a few seconds to think of a plan that would make bumping into her seem accidental. I weaved through the crowd of people like my life depended on it and planted myself in her path, causing her to run straight into me just like she did the night we met.

  "Oh God, I'm sorry," she said, by instinct.

  The amount of relief I felt at having her in my arms again could only be classified as unnatural. I looked down at her face to make sure it was the right girl. When her impossibly dark brown eyes met mine, I had to stifle a sudden urge to throw her over my shoulder and cart her off to my room.

  Chapter 5

  Rachel

  I was walking, thinking there was plenty of open space in front of me, when out of nowhere, I ran into a brick wall. Granted, I'd glanced over to talk to Lucy, but I had pretty good periphery vision, and this wall of a person had seriously come out of thin air. I apologized even though I was pretty sure they were in the wrong.

  I could tell the person was a he when two massive hands reached out and wrapped around my shoulders. I wouldn't call it a hug, more like I had walked into a human trap.

  The close quarters to a total stranger made my temper rise a little, and I snapped my head up to see who my captor was.

  My irritation turned to… what? An explosion of adrenaline hit me when I saw the stormy blue eyes I'd stared into at the resort two days ago.

  Collin.

  I turned to my new friend Lucy who was also seventeen, but because she was short for her age, looked more like fourteen. She must get that a lot, because at one point in the day, she randomly took out her driver's license and showed it to me.

  I didn't care how old she was. She was a cool girl and we liked all the same rides. We'd met this morning, and our parents seemed content to let us go off together. So here we were, just off Splash Mountain, when I literally ran into my swimmer again. Lucy's eyes were round as she looked Collin over from head to toe.

  "I'm Lucy." She stuck out her hand. "I'm seventeen, almost eighteen." She looked over at me before saying, "You two know each other?"

  "Yes." Collin said, with no hesitation whatsoever. He looked at me. "I've been looking for you." He reached down and kissed me on the cheek with all the familiarity in the world. "I'm glad you found somebody to hang out with while I was busy, but I finished up early, so I'm off for the rest of the afternoon."

  What is he talking about? I wondered. He gave me a pleading look, wanting me to play along.

  Maybe I went for it because he was so hot. Maybe I couldn't resist a guy with the confidence to walk up to me and expect me to go along with a lie. I'm not sure why I played along, but I did.

  I looked at him and said, "How'd you find me? My cell died an hour ago."

  "I know. I've been trying to call."

  "I'm sorry."

  "No worries, I'm just glad I found you."

  Lucy's head was bouncing back and forth between the two of us as we play-acted. Where did he get the nerve to try something like this? I thought to myself, she could've been my sister or best friend for all he knew.

  "I'm glad you found me too." I stood on my tiptoes and put a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry Lucy, I didn't know Collin would be done so quick."

  He was standing so close to me that I could feel him stiffen when I said his name, but his facial expression rem
ained unreadable.

  "Yep, all done," he said. He looked at Lucy (for the first time). "Can we walk you anywhere before we take off?" he asked her.

  "No, that's okay. I'll find my family, no problem." Lucy looked at me and said, "Let me give you my number in case you want to meet up again. You're here for a few more days, right?"

  "Yeah, that'd be great," I said, and I meant it. I'd had fun these last few hours with her.

  I almost pulled my phone out of my bag to program her number before remembering the lie I told about it being out of battery.

  "Let me write my number down for you and you can text to let me know where you are. If we're in the same park we'll meet up for sure."

  I dug for a pen and a scrap piece of paper. A gum wrapper was the best I could come up with. Collin tried to sneak a peek at what I was writing, but for some reason I thought it'd be funny to torture him. I wrote my name and number on the wrapper, shielding it casually, and handed it to Lucy.

  I could sense Collin's growing frustration with how long these goodbyes were taking, so I sped things up by saying, "Sure you'll be all right finding your family?"

  "Oh yeah, no problem." Lucy held up the gum wrapper I'd just put in her hand. "I'll talk to you later."

  My nerves were already going a mile a minute, but at least Lucy's presence had been a little bit of a distraction. Now that she was gone, it started to sink in that I would actually have to have a conversation with Collin. The adrenaline I had been experiencing on the roller coasters all morning was nothing compared to the flips my insides were doing right now.

  I tried desperately to think of something to say that wouldn't make me seem like a nervous idiot. Collin spoke up before I could get my tongue untied.

  "You wouldn't let me look at what you were writing. If you get to know my name, it's only fair that I get to know yours."

  "Rachel." I did have to clear my throat when I said it, but I thought I did a fair job of hiding how flustered I was. He had on jeans and a faded San Diego Padres T-shirt. He was big, bigger than I remembered the other night, and definitely bigger than all the guys at my school. I felt a surge of hopelessness, remembering he was a college guy, and older guys were scared of girls who are under eighteen.

  All my uncertainty left as quickly as it came when he smiled down at me like I was some sort of prize. "I seriously have been looking for you, Rachel, I wasn't lying about that."

  "Why?" I asked. I wasn't trying to play dumb or be cute. I honestly couldn't figure out why someone like him would be saying something like that to me. He laughed, and the sight of it made that jolt of anticipation hit me again.

  "Do I need a reason to look for you?" he asked. "Maybe I just like you running into me."

  Part of me wanted to believe he was interested in me. You know, like a guy would be interested in a girl. But the bigger part of me thought this was all just a big joke. A guy who looks like this, a guy who could get any girl he wanted, would not just come pour his heart out to a total stranger like this. Especially when that stranger was just a regular high school girl like me. A tiny little flame of anger kindled inside of me at the thought of dismissing Lucy for his little game.

  "Very cute," I said. "Was that some sort of challenge to see if you could get a stranger to play along with your lie? Well, congratulations. I played along. And now I don't have anyone to ride with."

  His stunned, almost hurt expression took me off guard. It made me wonder if he could've actually been telling the truth.

  "I hope you'll be riding with me. Not that we have to ride anything, or even stay at the park for that matter. I'm up for anything."

  I wanted so badly to believe him, but it really did seem too good to be true. There was no way I was going to tell this big, beautiful boy to get lost, so my only option was to go along with it. I was still a bit guarded when I said, "You remembered me from the other night?"

  "Yes, and the night after that. I saw you at the showcase, but you left before I could talk to you."

  His expression was so sincere, making me actually think he was as into me as he claimed to be. He must have sensed my internal struggle, because he added, "You know I'm serious, right? I mean, you know what you look like. I'm surprised there's not a line of guys following you like baby ducks."

  That made me laugh. I was still skeptical of his intentions, but no part of me was able to resist his charms. My body hummed with sensations I wasn't quite familiar with. I was already getting a little too attached to the feelings I got when he was around. If I was going to lose him at some point, I wanted to do it quick, like ripping off a band-aid.

  "I'm seventeen," I said, thinking that would send him running for the hills.

  "I'm twenty, does that make you uncomfortable?"

  "No, I thought you'd be uncomfortable." He gave a little laugh at that.

  "Why?"

  "I'm in high school, I'm here with my parents, and I'm jail bait, as they say."

  He laughed again, and I smiled too. Not because I was trying to be funny, it was more that I couldn't help it at the sight of his laugh. He was the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen.

  "I'm not trying to jump in the sack with you." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me a step closer to him, helping me avoid a collision with a kid in mouse ears who was all hopped up on cotton candy. He didn't pay the kid or the close call any attention. He just used the opportunity to whisper in my ear. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say no if you wanted to, but I'm okay with just hanging out."

  My insides fluttered at the feeling of his breath on my ear, and a teeny tiny part of me wanted to say sure, I'm up for jumping in the sack. The fact that I even thought of saying that made me realize just how dangerous this boy could be.

  "We better start by getting out of the way. I think we're causing a traffic jam," I said, hoping to distract him from the blush that was making its way up my neck and into my face. He put his arm around my shoulders and we started walking, in no particular direction.

  ****

  Collin and I spent the rest of the afternoon together. We talked, walked, and rode rides until we were both tired and hungry. I really enjoyed hanging out with him even though I couldn't quite shake the underlying feeling of skepticism I felt about the whole scenario.

  "You wanna grab a bite to eat?" Collin's question made me remember I was supposed to meet my parents for dinner.

  "Oh, crap, what time is it?" He looked at his watch.

  "Six fifteen."

  "Hang on, I need to call my mom, I'm supposed to meet my parents in fifteen minutes."

  "I could go with you," he said, with no apparent reservations about meeting my parents.

  I entertained the idea of dragging him along to dinner, but ultimately decided I wanted Collin to myself. It was his last day here, after all. He had a few teammates riding home with him and they had plans to leave at ten in the morning.

  "I think I'd rather blow them off if it's all the same to you. You're a refreshing change of scenery after two days straight with just me and my parents."

  That made him bend over and kiss me on the cheek. The simple gesture took my already heightened awareness of him to a whole new level.

  "You want to go back to the resort and get some dinner there? We could even get takeout, if you want." His invitation made me excited and scared all at the same time.

  What was he expecting exactly? He would either want something to happen between us or he wouldn't. Those were the only two options and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about either one. I sort of wanted them both.

  I wore a small hobo bag strapped across my chest. I fished for my cell phone (which I hadn't paid attention to all afternoon). Of course, it was in the very bottom. I had four missed calls and eight texts. Almost all of them were from my mom.

  "Yeah, let me call her real qui—" but my phone began ringing, even as I said it. "Hey Mom… I'm sorry… I know… We're just having fun and I lost track of time… (a long pause) Well, I'm feeling pretty tired already. If you
and dad are staying for the fireworks and everything I think I'll head back to the resort… Yeah, we'll stay together… I promise we'll be fine… Yeah, she's staying at the same resort."

  The conversation went on for another minute, but as I finally hung up, I cringed at misleading my parents. I hated to do it, but I knew there was no way they'd let me take off with some guy. Maybe I should've been worried, but I wasn't. I felt like I knew Collin, or better yet, like I was meant to.

  It was easy enough to convince them I'd be fine. Collin and I got on the tram, headed back for the resort.

  "My roommate left early so there's nothing going on in my room. If you want, we could go there and look through the menus before we decide what we want to eat."

  It sounded like a reasonable enough plan so I said, "Good. Even though I'm starving, I'm not sure what I'm hungry for."

  "I'm starving too. Why'd we forget to eat?"

  "It may just be me, but funnel cakes and roller coasters don’t seem like a good match."

  "Yeah, you're right." He laughed and shook his head, remembering some of the rides we rode. "I still can't believe you talked me in to the slingshot thing."

  That reminded me. "Oh, you need to let me pay you for that pass."

  "I'd be offended Rachel. Seriously, they give us those things. I'm glad you talked me in to it, actually. It wasn't that bad."

  "You were totally scared. You had to hold my hand."

  "I was not scared. I just held your hand because I wanted to."

  We were sitting next to each other on the tram and his words made me take a quick glance down at the hands in question. They were resting in my lap.

  Collin noticed me looking and reached over to grab one of them. His touch was soft, almost tentative, but he was getting nothing but cooperation from me. My hand clung to his without hesitation.

  His big hand cupped under mine and his gentle fingers closed over the top of it. His warm grip caused me to feel like I'd just jumped from a plane, and was free falling.

  ****

  We shared easy conversation in the tram and on the walk to his room. We talked about everything from swimming to summer camp to sushi. He hadn't learned about sushi until he went to college, but I'd been weaned on the stuff. He was amazed at some of the foods I'd tried. He kept asking questions that started with, have you ever eaten...