“Hi, Tay, how did the practice go?” Heidi was watching TV.
“Okay, I guess. Everyone was either totally gone, or on their way there, but we got it done.”
“That’s good. Your mother went to sleep. She says she has to leave early tomorrow morning, and so if you need her to give you a ride anywhere, you should leave a note on the fridge.”
“Okay.”
“Where are your crutches?” she asked.
“Dammit!” I hit my forehead.
“What?”
“I left them in the car.”
“That sucks.”
“Do you think you can get them from Alise tomorrow?”
“Yes, actually, she’s picking me up for class.”
“Early?”
“Kind of.”
“I want to go to Tay’s house... what time is she picking you up?”
“Eight-ish.”
“I’ll be back by then.”
“And if you’re not, I will leave them here for you.”
“Thanks.”
Since I was afraid my leg would spaz, I hopped up the stairs on one foot. So far, so good. I dialed the Hanson’s number from my room.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Robinson.”
“Hi, it’s Ike.”
“Hi.”
“What’s up?”
“You guys doing anything?”
“Not particularly. We were practicing before, and then we started fighting, and then we stopped.”
“Okay...”
“You can come over if you want... I know Tay wants you,” he paused, “to come over, I mean.”
I shook my head and laughed, “Shut up. I’ll be over in a little.”
“All right.”
I was able to walk the whole way, and I was very proud of myself. Knocking on the back door, I leaned on my good foot, not wanting to jinx my good luck so far.
“Hi,” Zac opened the door.
“Hi.”
“Come on in.” I follwed him into the living room where Ike was on the computer and Tay was laying on the couch.
“Hey,” I waved.
“Hey,” they waved back.
“How was practice?” Tay asked, sitting up and patting the couch next to him.
“Useless,” I plopped down in front of him and leaned back on his shoulder.
“Why?”
“They were all stoned.”
“On what?”
“Pot,” Tay said, scrunching up his nose.
“How do you know?”
“Cuz you reek of it,” he informed me, pushing me off his shoulder.
“Thanks, I love you too...”
“It’s not my fault your friends are stoners.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “It’s not my fault they are either.”
“You know what else isn’t my fault?” he asked.
“What?” I asked, giving him attitude.
“That you look so damn sexy, but my family members are present.”
“Whoa, Tay, calm down,” Zac laughed.
I picked up a pilow from the couch and threw it at him.
“I’m only kidding,” he laughed.
“So are we going to do something or what?” I asked.
“Well we all know what Tay wants to do...” Zac teased.
“Shut up.”
“For real, you guys,” I said.
“Hey, where are your crutches?” Ike spoke up.
“In Alise’s car.”
“Good place for them.”
“I forgot them...”
“Let’s do something,” Zac insisted.
“Something like what?”
“Something like... I dunno,” Zac shrugged.
“Let’s go swimming,” Ike spoke up, spinning in the computer chair.
“Where?”
“The lake,” he replied.
“What lake?” I laughed.
“By Frank’s house.”
“There’s a lake by Frank’s house?” I was confused.
“Yea, in the woods.”
“Yea, let’s go,” Zac agreed.
“Sounds cool to me.”
“You wanna go get a bathing suit?” Zac asked.
“You could borrow my sister’s clothes again,” Tay laughed.
“Nah,” I shrugged, “I guess I’ll just swim in my clothes.”
“Let’s go then before I dies of boredom,” Ike hung back over his chair and spun in circles.
“Is this a long walk?” I asked.
“Oh yea, I forgot you’re crippled.”
“We can take turns carrying you.”
“All right.”
Ike, Tay, and Zac got some towels or something, and we started to walk. I rode on Ike’s back for a while. We cut through some woods that I never knew existed a couple blocks down from my street. I changed onto Tay’s back somewhere in the middle of the woods. By the time we got to this little lake, the moon was shining brightly, throwing sparkles in the ripples caused by the breeze. Zac ran ahead, kicked off his shoes, grabbed a rope which hung from a nearby tree, and swung himslef into the water, fully clad.
Tay let me down and he and Ike followed suit. I sat in the ground to remove my shoes as they swam around, making a whole lot of noise. They each took turns swinging from the rope again. “Dammit,” I spoke to myself, “These pants are brand new, too.”
“Come on!” Zac waved at me.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I waded into the water.
“Stop worrying about your pants,” Tay said, noticing I was trying to keep them dry.
“But this is a new outfit...”
“You’re such a girl sometimes,” he laughed at me.
“The only reason I’m not going to kill you is becuase you’re cute,” I called out. I decided my clothes were worth more than my dignity, and so I took them off and hung them up on a branch. I It was pretty dark, and so none of them noticed. I put my good foot into the loop of the rope swing and splashed into the water nest to them.
“Are you not wearing clothes?” Ike asked when I surfaced. He was the first one to notice I was only wearing my black bra and a pair of black bikini underwear.
“No,” I wrapped my arms around Tay’s neck and climbed onto his back.
“Not like I mind,” Tay laughed.
“Oh, come on, I’m wearing the same amount of clothing I’d be wearing if I was in a bathing suit...”
“Yea, but your underwear don’t constitute a bathing suit,” Ike laughed.
“I’ll go put my clothes back on if it bothers you that much,” I tried to get off Tay’s back, but he slid his hands up the back of my thigh to keep me there.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Zac smirked.
“You’re all way too horny for your own good. I’m the girl next door, leave me alone.”
“Yea, the girl next door who’s not wearing any clothes,” Zac added. “The point is that you’re a girl with her pants off, not that you happen to live-”
“Get over it,” I kicked him under the water.
“Wanna play Marco Polo?” Zac totally changed the subject.
“No,” I laughed.
Tay squeezed my thigh.
“What?” I asked.
“I want to play,” he repeated.
“If you think I’m going to close my eyes and try to find you in the middle of a lake at like one in the morning, you’re wrong.”
Tay squeezed me again.
I hopped off his back. “What?!”
“Play,” he said through his teeth.
“Umm... okay,” I looked at him weirdly. He nodded his head toward the trees, and I started to get the picture.
“I’ll be It,” Zac volunteered. He closed his eyes and started to count.
As soon as Zac’s eyes closed, Tay grabbed my arm, and we dashed out of the water. Ike almost called out after us, but I put my finger to my lips as Tay pulled me into the woods. I’m not going to go into graphic detail regarding what followed that. I’ll just let you use your imagination. Anyway, after a few moments, I heard Zac yelling something about cheating.
“You guys suck! I don’t care what you’re doing. I’m coming in there!” Zac yelled angrily.
It was hard- I mean, uh, difficult- to do so, but we were both decent by the time Zac reached us. “You guys suck, you know that?”
“Sorry, Zac,” I covered the smile on my face.
“It’s not funny. I hate you,” he stomped away.
Tay started to follow him, but I grabbed his arm, “Tay,” I whispered, smirking, “your pants are on inside out.”
“I could have told you that would happen,” Ike said when I went back to the lake to put my clothes on.
“What did he say to you?” I asked.
“Nothing. When he realized you guys weren’t there, he just went to find you.”
“Do you think he’s really pissed?” I asked as I zipped up my pants.
“I dunno. Where’s Tay? Did he go after him?”
“No,” I couldn’t help smiling, “he’s um...” I pointed into the trees.
“Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know,” Ike laughed.
“He doesn’t really hate me, does he?”
“Probably not.”
“I hope not.”
Taylor emerged from the woods to get his shirt. “Was he serious?” he asked.
“I guess so.”
“I feel bad, Tay,” I hopped on Tay’s back to go home.
“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t really that big of a deal.”
“He was pissed though.”
“He’ll get over it.”
We walked home basically in silence. I felt bad partially because I didn’t really feel that bad about Zac. I mean, sorry if we weren’t into his game... Sorry if we are never able to spend time together. Sorry if his brother gets some and he doesn’t. I feel bad the Zac’s feeling were hurt, but it wasn’t like it was a logical reason.
“What are you thinking?” Tay asked as he set me down when we reached the back door.
“Zac’s going to yell at me. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He’s not going to yell at you.”
“It’s so dumb, and he’s just going to make me upset.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Taylor opened the door for me. I followed Ike upstairs to the linen closet where he handed me a towel. Taylor went into the basement where we could tell Zac was becuase of the sounds of Playstation we could hear.
“You can take a shower if you want,” Ike pointed to the bathroom.
“Okay, thanks,” I replied. While I showered, I hoped Zac wasn’t really upset. Hopefully he was just being silly or something. I hate when people are mad at me, especially Zac.
When I finished my shower, I realized that I hadn’t bought any clean clothes with me. I almost curse out loud, but then I remembered that there were little children sleeping not too far away. I wrapped my towel around me, opened the bathroom door, and peered into the hallway. Zac was coming up the stairs. I stepped out into the hallway. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“Are you naked under there?”
“I’m being serious.”
“So am I.”
“Zac...”
“No, I’m not mad. I was just pissed cuz you guys are always together now, and you never hang out with me anymore.”
“I’m sorry. I promise we’ll do more things together,” I smiled. I went over to him and gave him a hug with one arm while holding my towel on with the other. “You dork!” I gasped as Zac tried to pull my towel off.
“Where are your clothes, anyway?”
“I didn’t bring any.”
“My brother is a lucky guy...”
“Shut up,” I hit him.
Laughing, he pointed to Tay’s room. “Go in there. Tay should be up in a minute. He’ll find you something. I’m going to sleep.”
“Good night.”
“You too,” he smirked.
I went into Taylor’s room. I was dripping on the carpet. I heard Taylor come up the stairs and Zac say, “I left you a present in your room.”
Taylor opened his door with a confused look on his face. When he saw me, he started to laugh. “Thanks, Zac,” he called into the hall as he closed the door.
“I didn’t bring any clothes.”
“What a dilemma,” he said evilly, flopping down on his bed.
“It’s not funny.”
“Yes it is.”
“No it’s not.”
“Oh yes it is,” he laughed.
“Okay, maybe it is.” Tay got up off his bed and started to shuffle through a drawer in his dresser.
“You know, just about any other guy your age would be taking advantage of the situation,” I sat down on his bed.
He stopped rummaging through things, “Do you want me to take advantage of this situation?”
“Dave thinks that's why you’re going out with me.”
“It is.”
“No, really, he lectures me on how you-”
He interrupted me by saying, “Since when do I care what Dave thinks?”
I didn’t know what to say about that. I guess he still had some type of animosity for Dave. Not that I blame him. Dave could act like somewhat of an ass. Okay, he could be a big ass.
“You don’t think I’m just going out with you to get a piece, do you?”
“Are you?”
“Are you serious, Robinson?” he seemed disappointed.
“Well, he put all these ideas into my head, and... I dunno...”
Tay sat down next to me, “No, I’m not going out with you just to get some. I’d hoped you would know that, but-”
I turned to him and put my hand on his shoulder, “It’s not like I don’t believe that... It’s just that, well... Dave acts like I’m so dumb and innocent.”
“Why do you hang out with him then?”
“I guess... cuz I get lonely...” I looked away from him.
He sighed and turned my face toward his. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me. I wished I never listened to Dave. He made me feel like he knew so much more than I. He wasn’t that much older, but he always treated me like a kid. I guess that’s why I’d actually took what he said to heart. That made me pretty angry. He didn’t know anything about Taylor. I was like, in love with Tay. Dave had no idea what he was talking about.
“I’m sorry,” I said, resting my forehead against Taylor’s.
“For what?” Without answering, I leaned back on the bed, pulling him with me. I felt my towel slide off onto the floor, but I didn’t really care. “Robinson-” Tay began.
I didn’t let him continue. I pulled his mouth to mine again. There was a knock at the door. “Don’t answer it,” I whispered.
“What if it’s my parents?” he tried to get up, but I wouldn’t let him. “Robinson, I have to,” he said under his breath.
“You don’t really want to, do you?”
“No,” he let me pull him back and he kissed me again.
The knock came again. Tay grumbled, but got up, tossing me my towel. I jumped off the bed and hidin the corner by the closet. Taylor opened the door.
“Sorry if I... um... interrupted you,” it was Ike at the door, “I just wanted to tell you I’m going to sleep.”
“Thanks, Ike,” Tay was far less than enthusiastic.
I couldn’t help laughing as Tay closed the door. “Shut up, it’s not funny,” he frowned.
“Yes it is,” I assured him.
“I hate you,” he smiled, throwing a t-shirt at me and flopping down on his bed.
