Till Summer Do Us Part(86)
Doesn’t she want more?
“Well, I guess I’ll lead the conversation since you seem a little stumped.” She taps her chin with her finger and says, “Hmm, you know, I think I’ll have to go with an Arnold Palmer. There’s something about the iced tea, lemonade combination that gets me every time. But it has to be a good ratio, you know? It can’t be too sweet with the lemonade, and the iced tea has to be unsweetened.”
So she’s just going to act like everything is normal and talk about iced tea to lemonade ratios? How?
How is she not inwardly panting?
How does she not look dazed and confused?
How is she not on the verge of licking me all over like I want to lick her?
Claim her.
“What about you?” she asks.
I scratch the back of my head and say, “Uh, I don’t know…Dr Pepper.”
“Really? Kind of thought you would say Coke because of your soda app.”
Shit, she’s right. I can’t even think of my favorite drink, that’s how out of sorts I am.
“Are we talking your main love? Like that’s what you need in order to live? I mean, I guess I don’t need an Arnold Palmer to live, but that wasn’t the question either. Just our favorite drink, so I think I’ll stick with my answer. You sticking with Dr Pepper?”
I stare at her.
Blink.
Grow annoyed with her easygoing attitude.
“Yeah. Sticking with Dr Pepper,” I answer, even though inwardly, I’m screaming Coke. I love Coke!
“Great.”
“Time’s up,” Sanders says.
“Well, this was fun,” Scottie says as she gets off my lap.
“Yeah,” I say, still confused by her change of attitude.
“I actually think I have to go to the bathroom. Excuse me.” She pats my chest and then takes off as if everything in the world is fine.
Meanwhile, I’m over here reeling.
Fucking reeling.
Because I just made out with Scottie, and I more than liked it. I loved it.
I want to do it again.
And again.
But this time, with her shirt off.
This time, with her bra off.
This time…in fucking private. With every article of clothing off our bodies.
Chapter Twenty
SCOTTIE
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh my fucking God!
I slip into the main building of Camp Haven and right up to the front desk, where I speak to one of the camp counselors…or whatever they’re called.
“I need to make a phone call. It’s urgent. Like, really urgent. Could you please give me a quarter so I can make said phone call?” When the girl doesn’t answer the second I’m done talking, I slam my hand on the counter and say, “Please. I need to make this phone call. Like right now. Right this very instant.”
“Okay,” she says, looking terrified.
I don’t blame her; I’m giving off irrational energy, because that’s exactly how I feel.
Irrational.
Terrified.
Confused.
She hands me a quarter, and I run over to the godforsaken red phone booth, slam the door behind me, and dial Denise’s number. If she doesn’t answer, I’m going to scream, because I need someone to talk to…stat.
The phone rings.
And rings.
And rings…
My stomach bottoms out, and then, “Hello?”
“Oh my God, Denise, I have to talk to you, or I might burst into nothing. Thank God you answered, because if you didn’t, I would have one hundred percent turned into dust, and I don’t want to be dust, because holy shit, oh my God, and what the fuck!”
“Umm…Scottie?”
“Yes, it’s Scottie. My God, who else would it be?”
“Okay, you just caught me off guard—”
“There’s no time for pleasantries. I’m on a freaking pay phone, and I’m unsure of how much time I have here. So I’m just going to tell it to you straight. I just made out with Wilder. Like tongue action and all, and not because we wanted to but because it was part of an exercise we had to do, but Jesus, was I into it. I mean, I got lost in the feel of his mouth, the way his tongue pressed against mine, his light moans. It was visceral. I felt that kiss all the way to my freaking loins, Denise. My loins!”
“Dear God,” she whispers. “Not the loins.”
“The loins!” I shout, and then realize the receptionist is looking at me. I turn away from her and lower my voice. “And he was kissing me back. Like desperately. I tried to play it cool, like ‘Oh, ain’t no big thing, I kiss people all the time,’ but I throbbed, Denise. I throbbed in places I don’t think I’ve throbbed in a long time. If I were to be honest, the last time I throbbed like that, I stumbled across True Lies with Jamie Lee Curtis, when she’s trying to seduce Arnold in the bedroom.”
“Why is that the example you gave me?”
“It’s not an example. It’s the truth! There was throbbing.”
“Okay, enough with the throbbing. There are things I don’t need to hear.”
“I need to tell you about the throbbing so you can understand where I’m coming from. And I mean, I’ve throbbed a little. I had to share a tent with him, but this was like…things are moving around down there.”