by Niles, Naomi
“Okay, calm down, boys,” Coach said quickly. “You’re down five seconds compared with yesterday. We can work on that tomorrow. Now get yours butts out of that pool and dry yourselves off. We’re done for the day.”
He walked away without a backward glance and we were left in the pool, staring daggers at Patrick.
“What is your problem, man?” I asked.
“My problem is that you losers don’t have your head in the game,” Patrick retorted. “That’s the reason our time is suffering.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said sarcastically. “I bet it has nothing to do with your attitude.”
“Alan, just leave it,” Langdon insisted as he grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me away from Patrick. “Let’s just get home and get some dinner.”
We moved ourselves to the locker room and changed into dry clothes. I was grabbing my bag from the locker when Patrick walked in with the rest of the guys trailing behind him. Everyone looked deflated.
“Look at him,” I whispered to Langdon. “He’s bringing the whole team down.”
“Don’t let him get to you,” Langdon warned.
“I’m not,” I said defensively. “I’m just pointing out a fact.”
“Yeah, well… all the same, let’s wait outside while the others get ready.”
The bus was parked out front, waiting for us. We waved hello to Mort, our driver, before we noticed the small group of girls standing some distance away, waiting for their own bus. Winnie caught sight of us and waved. Then she grabbed Jessica by the arm and came over to say hi.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Langdon said, meeting her halfway.
“How was training today?” Winnie asked, sidling up close to Langdon.
“A pain in my ass, to be frank,” Langdon replied honestly.
I left them to their customary banter and turned to Jessica, who was giving me her slow, shy smile. We spoke often now, and she was loosening up to me. I could already tell she was much less conscious of herself around me than she used to be.
“I was meaning to tell you,” I said. “I finally finished Wuthering Heights yesterday.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I wanted to discuss it with you over lunch, but we missed each other today.”
“It was a busy day in the pool,” Jessica said. “How did you like the book?”
“I think I can understand the charm now,” I admitted. “It is the kind of story that draws you in. It’s sad though. I didn’t expect Cathy to die so early on.”
“If she didn’t die early, we wouldn’t have been able to see how deeply Heathcliff loved her,” Jessica pointed out. “His love for her persisted even after all that time.”
“As nice as the book was… I think I prefer stories with happy endings,” I told her.
Jessica smiled. “Don’t we all?” Her dirty-blonde hair fanned around her face from the wind, and I had to resist the temptation to reach out and draw her hair back.
“Jess, the rest of the girls are here,” Winnie said. “Our bus is ready to go.”
“Oh,” Jessica said. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
I wrinkled my eyebrows at her. “You’re not getting on the bus?”
“I don’t live in the house with the rest of the team,” Jessica admitted self-consciously.
“Oh… how come?”
“I live ten minutes away,” Jessica replied.
I felt as though there was more to the story, but Jessica didn’t seem to be in the mood to share that with me. “You have a car?”
“Yup.” She nodded. “I park in the lot where the coaches park. Good night, Alan.”
“Good night, Jessica,” I said.
Langdon stood beside me as I watched Jessica disappear around the corner. “Man, you’ve got it bad,” Langdon said, eyeing me.
I turned to him in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t know you liked Jessica that much.”
“I don’t,” I said. “I mean... obviously, I like her, but… a normal amount.”
“Come on, man,” Langdon said, shaking his head at me. “You read a freaking novel for her. I haven’t seen you pick up a book in the eight years I’ve known you.”
“Well… there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?” I said. “Maybe I actually enjoyed reading this book.”
“The only reason you enjoyed the book was because you knew Jessica loved it,” Langdon said shrewdly. “Without her… there would have been no interest.”
“Oh, look, the guys are here,” I said innocently. “Let’s get going.”
Langdon smirked at me as he followed me onto the bus. A few minutes later, the bus came to a stop in front of the house and I got out gratefully. I went straight up to the room and collapsed onto my bed. I was hungry, but I craved sleep more. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the silence I wanted, because Langdon banged into the room.
“I thought you were going to eat first?”
“I’ll go down in a bit,” Langdon replied. “I just wanted to lie down first.”
“Lying down is good,” I agreed. “Silence is even better though.”
“I’m going stir crazy, man!” Langdon said emphatically, completely ignoring what I’d just said. “Seriously… I need to do something wild. I need to do something fun! I haven’t had alcohol in a month. I haven’t even had sex for a month.”
“I thought you and Winnie were getting it on frequently?”
Langdon shot me a look. “If I was getting some, don’t you think I would have told you… frequently and in detail?”
“Fair point,” I agreed.
“We never have any time,” Langdon went on with frustration. “The most we’ve done is make out like teenagers. If I’m lucky, I have a few minutes to feel her, but that’s it. I need to fuck her! A girl like that deserves to be fucked!”
“So romantic,” I laughed.
Langdon rolled his eyes. “Oh sure… go ahead and make fun while your best friend wastes away. You’re going to be sorry you laughed when my penis turns blue and falls off.”
“That doesn’t happen.”
“It does,” Langdon said confidently. “It’s a scientific fact.”
I laughed. “Listen, it’s not that bad, okay? We get the Fourth of July weekend off, and Coach is heading out early on Friday.”
“He is?” Langdon said, shooting upright on his bed.
“I… yeah.”
“Who told you that?” Langdon demanded.
“I heard him talking to the other coaches,” I replied. “He’s going to be leaving Friday at around seven o’clock, right after we finish practice.”
“Fuck, that is brilliant!”
“See?” I said. “You’ll get your down time.”
“We can have a party!” Langdon said enthusiastically.
“Whoa, what?”
“You said it yourself,” Langdon said, clapping his hands together. “Coach isn’t going to be here Friday night. We have no supervision, and we owe it to ourselves to take advantage of that.”
“Langdon…”
“Come on, it’s perfect.”
“We’ll need everyone to keep this quiet,” I pointed out.
“Of course they will.”
“You’re forgetting Patrick.”
“Oh.” Langdon shrugged carelessly. “It’s us against him… there’s no way he’s going to run the risk of pissing the whole team off. We’ll just threaten to kill him if he opens his mouth.”
I sighed. “You’re really going to go through with this.”
“Fuck yeah,” Langdon said. “Are you with me?”
I shook my head. “If you can’t beat ‘em… join ‘em, I guess.”
Langdon whooped with glee and jumped off his bed to pat me hard on the back. “That’s my boy,” he practically yelled. “I’m going to go downstairs and run this by the team. Are you coming down?”
“In a minute,” I said, still craving some silence.
“Oh, and, Langdon?”
“Yeah?” he said, turning at the door.
“Since we’re doing this, we may as well do it right,” I said. “Let’s invite the girls over, too.”
Langdon gave me a proud smile. “Now you’re taking. This party’s gonna be epic!”
Chapter Fourteen
Jessica
I tried not to make it too obvious that I was looking around for Alan to show up, but Winnie’s eagle eyes caught everything.
“Don’t worry; they’ll show up,” she said with a knowing smile.
“I wasn’t looking for them.”
“Sure, you weren’t,” Winnie said sarcastically.
“I wasn’t,” I insisted.
Winnie rolled her eyes at me. “When will you learn, Jessica? Why do you feel the need to deny and apologize for what you want? There’s no shame in it.”
I looked down at my plate. “I’m not as confident as you are.”
“I don’t know why you aren’t more confident,” Winnie said, shaking her head. “You’re a stone-cold fox. You do realize that out of the two of us, you are the more attractive one.”
I looked at her as though she had just lost her mind. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not,” Winnie said in her direct and abrupt manner. “I’m being serious. The fact is you have all the raw material. You’re tall; you’ve got perky breasts, great legs, and an even greater ass. You’ve got the dirty-blonde hair and full lips that men fantasize about all the time, and you have those timeless green eyes that belong in a fairy tale.
“Now, take me. I have thin lips, thick eyebrows, a line of freckles running across the bridge of my nose, and big, curly hair that can sometimes make me look crazy. Now I know I’m not unattractive; it’s just that I know how to play up my good features, and I’m confident enough that I can pull it off. And when you have that kind of confidence, men tend not to see the flaws. They see only the confidence. My point is that you don’t even need to try that hard. You don’t need to play up anything. You just need to… get out of your shell a little.”
“Easier said than done,” I sighed.
“You may say that, but look at the progress you’ve made with Alan over the last few weeks,” Winnie pointed out. “You haven’t knocked anything over in days.”
I shot her a look. “Thanks for that.”
“It’s pretty obvious by now that the guy is totally into you… so you should take advantage of that interest. Ah… here they come now.”
Langdon and Alan approached with their trays. Then, at the last second, they veered off course and sat at the table adjoining ours. Winnie looked at them in surprise and then Langdon and Alan laughed and got up to join us.
“Good one, huh?” Langdon said as he slipped into the seat next to Winnie’s. “You should have seen the look on your face.”
Winnie rolled her eyes at him. “I take it that was your idea?”
“Of course,” Langdon said. “Alan’s not quite as funny.”
“You can have funny,” Alan said calmly. “I prefer to be witty.”
“Will it bother you much if I say you’re neither?”
“I think he’s very witty,” I said, forcing myself to speak up.
Alan turned to me and gave me a sweet smile. “Why, thank you, Jessica. At least one person here appreciates me.”
It had become easier for me to talk to Alan over the last few weeks. I had actually started to feel comfortable around him, and that was saying something. I still couldn’t get over how good-looking he was, but I could compartmentalize now so that his looks weren’t as distracting as they used to be.
“I thought I was going to win at rock, paper, scissors today,” Alan said, leaning in toward me a little. Those light-blue eyes of his were intoxicating. I felt like if I looked directly into them, I would be lost forever.
“Sorry,” I replied. “I had scissors ready to go.”
We both laughed at the silliness of our little ritual. No one else really understood it, but somehow that made it special. It was something that only Alan and I shared. Sometimes I liked to think that those three words were just symbols for longer, silent conversations. Like that first time when Alan had written ‘paper’ on the glass, what he was actually saying was ‘I really like you, maybe we could see more of each other.’ And when I had responded with ‘rock,’ I had really meant ‘I would really, really like that.’
“Got any plans for the Fourth of July weekend?” Alan asked.
“Not really,” I replied. “What about you?”
“My home town is about an hour and a half’s drive from here actually,” Alan replied. “Me and my brothers always try and meet up on the Fourth.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Four.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “Your mother had to raise five boys?”
“Actually… it was my dad who raised us,” Alan said, his tone changing slightly. “But yes… it was a house full of noise and chaos.”
“It must have been nice though,” I said. “Growing up with siblings. I wish I had a few.”
“We had our fun,” Alan agreed. “But there were moments there when I wished I was an only child.”
“Trust me, you don’t,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s lonely… painfully lonely. You don’t have anyone to talk to. You don’t have anyone to share with. You have your parents’ complete and undivided attention, and sometimes that can be stifling.”
Alan raised his eyebrows. “Was it stifling?” he asked curiously.
I colored a little, but I felt comfortable enough to speak up. “It was. Actually, it still is sometimes.”
“It’s only because they love you.”
“That’s what I tell myself on the hard days.”
Alan smiled and he looked at me tenderly, in a way that made me feel both special and insecure. “So,” I said, trying to distract him with conversation. “What are your brothers like?”
“Well, JJ’s, quiet and introspective. He’s the oldest of the five of us,” Alan explained. “Peter’s a police officer; he’s the stoic, responsible type. Then there’s Sam who’s bold and cocky, and finally there’s Talen. Talen’s the baby of the family; maybe that’s why he’s as aggressive and rebellious as he is.”
“And you’re older than Talen?”
“Talen and Sam,” Alan corrected me. “JJ and Pete are older than me. I’m right in the middle.”
“Sounds like an interesting bunch.” I smiled.
“Oh, they are.” Alan nodded. “Maybe one day you’ll meet them.”
His bold statement made the assumption that our friendship would continue far enough that it would merit meeting his family. I slowed down my beating heart. He might have meant it innocently, but I was still touched.
“I would really like that,” I said. “When’s the last time you saw them?”
“Recently,” Alan replied. “But it’s been a while since we’ve all been in the same place at the same time. It’s always been a ritual for us to come together on the Fourth of July.”
“Speaking of the Fourth,” Langdon said, jumping into our conversation. “We have some exciting news for you ladies.”
“Really?” Winnie said, pricking up her ears excitedly. “Do tell.”
“Our coach is leaving early on the Fourth weekend, and we were thinking of breaking convention and having a party.”
Winnie’s eyes lit up immediately. “That’s a fantastic fucking idea.”
My heart sank a little, knowing that my father would not be happy with the idea of a party. The moment Langdon mentioned it, I knew I wanted to go, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to extract permission from my father. I glanced over at Alan, and my desire to attend the party only increased.
“I had a feeling you’d like it,” Langdon said. “So, can I count you ladies in? The whole team is invited, by the way.”
“I’ll speak to the girls,�
� Winnie said. “But you can count us in. I wouldn’t miss a party for the world, especially not one you’re throwing.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Winnie’s eyes got suddenly mischievous. “Actually, I have a condition.”
“A condition?” Langdon repeated.
“Yup,” Winnie said. “If you want me to come, then you’ll have to meet this condition.”
Langdon smiled challengingly. “Hit me.”
“You have to wear a Speedo for the entire night.”
Langdon raised his eyebrows. “A Speedo?”
“Yup.” Winnie grinned. “I want you in a Speedo or I’m not coming.”
Langdon pretended to consider that for a moment before he finally nodded. “Done deal. You come to the party, and I will wear a Speedo for the whole night… Well, hopefully not the whole night,” Langdon said with a suggestive wink.
“Sure,” Winnie said. “I’m happy to compromise.”
“Man, this is going to be a wild night,” Langdon said, without taking his eyes of Winnie.
She leaned in toward him. “The wilder, the better,” she said pointedly.
Alan and I exchanged a glance and a smile. By now, I was used to their aggressive flirting and sexually explicit innuendos. It had helped considerably with my blushing. I was developing a tolerance for that kind of talk, which meant I blushed much less than I used to.
The moment we said goodbye to the boys and left for the pool, I turned to Winnie desperately. “I don’t know if I can come for the party.”
Winnie fixed me with a stern look. “Of course, you’re coming. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“My dad’s not going to agree to this.”
“So, sneak out.”
“I’d much rather not though,” I said meekly.
Winnie looked at me for a second and then her expression changed.
“What?” I asked, seeing the glint in her eye.
“I just had an idea.”
“Which is?”
“Don’t worry,” she replied. “You’ll see.”
“Winnie…”
“Leave everything to me,” Winnie said calmly. “I’ll handle your father.”
“What?” I asked in alarm. “How?”
“Do you trust me?” Winnie demanded.
