First Kiss (Heavy Influence) (6 page)

             
“She’s only fourteen,”
she said dryly.
“She doesn’t look fourteen.”

             
“Well, she is. She’s gonna be a freshman this year.”

             
“Great,”
The sarcastic tone continued.

             
“Look, Rachel, I don’t know what else to say.”

             
“You could tell her to go home. We were supposed to be hangin’ today.”

             
“Her parents aren’t home. I’d feel better if she stayed here until she felt better.”

             
There was another long silence and the girl (Rachel, I guess) spoke.

             
“Rachel, you’re outta control. Let’s go.”

Rachel laughed
.

“Jake, we’ll see you later. Don’t forget Dump’s expecting you, you might
wanna call him. Call me when she leaves,”
She added, clearly agitated.

             
I didn’t hear anything else. I took a drink of water and stared at the posters of the hot chicks stuck to his wall. Those are the kinda chicks Jake likes. Rachel was probably as hot as these girls hanging on his wall. I laughed to myself, shaking my head.

             
“Why you shaking your head?” Jake’s voice took me by surprise and I jumped.

             
“I didn’t realize I was.” I stared back at him sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you and your girlfriend to fight because of me.”

             
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said firmly.

             
“Sounds like she thinks she is.”

“Well, she wants to be, but I don’t feel the same way. Besides—”

              “So you don’t like her?” I interrupted, surprised at my boldness.  But I wanted to know, and now. I wanted to know him, every little thing I’d missed after all this time.

             
“Kind of….” He trailed off. Then he laughed. “Only sometimes, after I’ve had a few beers. No, just kidding. I kinda dig her, yeah, but she’s a little hard to handle. She’s a spoiled brat and I don’t know if I can deal with that.” He sat down next to me.

             
“What’s going on with you, Alyssa?” he probed.

             
“Well, obviously not too much, since I’m only fourteen.” I blurted it out without wanting to, like vomit.

             
He was silent and I couldn’t look at him. I was embarrassed. I could feel him staring at me, burning a hole into my head. I heard him breathe deeply and felt his bed move. He tipped back, lying flat. I glanced over and his hands were over his face, covering his eyes. His shirt came up, exposing his stomach, and all I could do was stare at his smooth skin. I wanted to touch him. He looked through his hands and caught me staring at him. I didn’t move. Reaching over he touched my arm, tracing it with the tips of his fingers all the way to my hand and held it. I was frozen. My heart raced and tunnel vision took over. The lump in my throat almost choked me. I was worried he’d feel my hand starting to sweat.

             
“Look, I only said that to calm her down.” He let go of my hand and sat up. “Alyssa, you’re like family to me, I mean come on, what’s going on here?”

             
Did he really want to know that this morning he kick started something in me I’d never felt before and I wanted him to explain to me what it was? Did “family” members do that to each other? I was grossed out at the thought.

             
“Jake,” I said, standing up, “It’s nothing, I just felt a little stupid – like I was a kid or something when you said that. I’m not a child. You know, I have feelings too. I’d better go. This was obviously a bad idea, me coming over here and hanging out. I didn’t mean to cause problems.”

             
What the hell was I doing? Fuck, I just kept puking all over the place.

             
“Alyssa, I don’t want you to leave, I really want you to stay.” He stood up, towering over me. His strong arms embraced me in a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It was unintentional.”

             
“But I heard you tell Rachel that you’d call her after I left. So she’s probably waiting to hear from you soon…”

             
“Alyssa, I don’t wanna see her.” He sat down at his desk, facing the screen. “She just rubbed me the wrong way. I’ll call her in a little bit to tell her it’s a no go.”

             
He banged at the keys and brought up some music; it filled the air and took the edge off.

             
“The cool thing about you is I know where you stand. You were always very open and opinionated, even if the timing was inappropriate.” He smiled broadly at me with his perfectly white straight teeth.

             
“You’re teeth are so white.” I marveled.

             
“Oh, yeah, my mom makes me use those white strips,” he said rolling his eyes.

             
“Well, it makes you that much more
sexy
,” I said, laughing at myself for emphasizing the word “sexy” with hand quotations as I mocked Rachel. Jake face bent with amusement. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t make fun.”

             
He shook his head. “A little fire in you, I see. I can never underestimate you, can I?"

6

Alyssa

              Jake and I sat in his room for hours talking about music and his past tours. When I expressed interest in playing the guitar he insisted on teaching me. I was energized when I got it pretty quickly. When I finally looked over at the clock it was 5:30 p.m.

             
“Shit, the time!” I panicked. “Um, I should probably get going. I left my phone at home in my bag. The units are probably wondering where I’m at.”

             
“Shit! And I forgot to call Rachel. Great. She’s really gonna be happy now. Guess we’re both in trouble, huh?” He slumped. “Now, don’t get pissed, but I don’t wanna hear it from her, so I’m not gonna tell her you stayed here the whole time. It’s just easier.”

             
He walked out of the room. I could hear his voice but couldn’t decipher his words with the music playing in the background. Then his voice grew louder. Were they fighting? I wanted to know more about this Rachel. I was gonna ask my sister if she knew who she was and I was gonna break out the yearbook so I could see what she looked like. Staring at the snapshots with the two girls again, I wondered which one she was.

             
Jake walked back in agitated. He threw his phone hard at the bed.

             
“You know, it’s probably better it happened like this.” He shut his door. He stood there shaking his head “Fuck, what a bitch. Oh, by the way, my mom’s home now. I don’t need her poking around here, that’s why I shut the door.”

             
“Why’s your mom’s a bitch?” I asked shocked.

             
“No! Duh, Rachel.” He plopped onto the bed. “She’s too much. I’m glad it’s out in the open, how lame she is, no matter what I told her, she still thought you were here.”

             
“Well, I was...am….you know what they say about women’s intuition.”

             
He lifted his head from the pillow and leered at me. “Don’t be a smart ass. It’s not like she’s my girlfriend. She’s been my friend for a long time and helps out with the band stuff a lot. We hang, but not like we’re together.”

             
“So, you don’t think you could be leading her on? I mean, sorry to point it out, but you kinda acted like you cared when she came over earlier. You know, making excuses and trying to make her feel better about me being here.”

             
His arms fell heavy against the mattress; “I see why she would think I like her like that then. I mean I do, but not like that. That was a long time ago, when I thought I was interested. Then with her freaking out about you and acting all territorial n’shit? I mean, she doesn’t even fucking know you!” He gestured his hand at me. “She’s lame.”

             
“Tell her to beat it then.”

             
“Yeah, right, it’s not gonna be that easy.”

             
I looked out the back door and walked over to it. I stared at the far end of the backyard. I wondered if the gate still worked. My dad had installed a gate so we could easily go from yard to yard when we were younger.

             
“Hey, is that gate still working?” I walked out the door. There were a couple of palm trees and other plants that blocked the path.

             
“I’m sure it does, we didn’t do anything to it. I forgot it was there.” He walked in front of me, rooting through the palms and unlatched it, pushing on it. He struggled with it a bit, and it finally opened.

             
I eked with excitement, jumping up and down, “Yay,” I smiled. Jake raised his hand for me to give him a high-five. I squeezed through and was wedged against him for a moment. I felt that shock again when we touched and I loved it.

             
“Well, this is gonna make things interesting,” he whispered.

             
“
This is gonna make this interesting.
” – I heard it, like he shouted it out loud. What was that supposed to mean? My head spun. I turned back and hugged him, I couldn’t help myself.

             
“Jake, thanks so much, fun times.” I took a deep breath through my nose to smell him one last time. His face pressed against my hair and neck, I could have stayed frozen there forever.

             
“Mmm, you smell good. Your hair smells like strawberries.” He let me go and I almost passed out after hearing his words.

             
“I was just thinking the same thing. You smell good too. I’ll talk to you later,” I whispered loudly. I was numb from my excitement.

             
“Hey, if you’re not doing anything later, you wanna come back and watch a movie?”

             
“Sure, if I’m not in trouble for something.” I waved goodbye. “Probably sometime after nine.”

             
I opened the back door and my mom smiled. “Well, hello.” She came out from behind the counter to hug me, and then grabbed my shoulders, holding me at arm’s length. “You have a nice glow, what have you been up to?”

             
She went back to chopping veggies and my dad brushed by me with a beer in hand without a word.

             
“Hi, Dad,” I waved with false excitement.

             
“Hello my dear.” He collapsed into his chair and turned on the TV. That was the extent of our relationship.

             
“I’ve actually been hanging out with Jake today.” I beamed.

             
“Is that right? And what’s Jake been up to these days,” my mom asked, carefully placing each foil wrapped potato in the oven.

             
“You know he has a band, right?” I said. “He practices every day, you must hear it.”

             
“Yes, I hear it on the weekends. I suppose he plays before we get home from work.” She turned, grabbing a bottle of red wine, filling her glass. I wondered what wine tasted like. I remembered Jake saying that he drank beer. I hadn’t tasted any alcohol yet.

             
“Mom, can I have a taste of that? I’m just curious what the big deal is, I mean you drink it every night.”

             
With a wary eye, she handed her glass to me without saying a word. I smelled it and took a sip and gagged. “Uh, thanks but no thanks, it’s like fire going down my throat. Why do you drink that?”

             
I walked to the sink, sticking my mouth under the faucet.

             
“I drink because I like it; it’s an acquired taste. All wines taste differently. It relaxes me after a long day of work, and it’s good for my heart. That is why I drink it, in moderation.”

             
“Including moderation itself,” my father weaseled in and my mom rolled her eyes.

             
“What does beer taste like then? I hate the smell of beer.”

             
“I don’t like it either. Go ask your father for a sip. Frank, give Aly a sip of your beer, she’s curious.”

             
My father held up the bottle of beer over his head, without a word, no fight, nothing. I walked over and took a sip just as my brother rounded the corner coming down the stairs.

             
“What, you let her drink, but not me?” he grabbed the beer from my hand and took a long swig.