Night Sky (14 page)

“Okay, but make sure you put the girl you go
with, first. No matter what.”

“That’s easy.” I’d never do anything to hurt
Sky.

“Good.”

But now I’m nervous about
this stupid double date all over again.
It
shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

“Oh, I’ll be working all night on Friday.
They need someone to cover the shift,” Mom says, walking to her
room.

“Aren’t you tired, Mom?” She’s worked every
day this week and generally doesn’t come home until after seven
o’clock.

“We can’t keep up this house without your
dad’s income, and I have all weekend to sleep.” Her voice snaps, as
she disappears into her room.

I clench my jaw and do my best to hide my
frustration. “Okay.” Once again, I want to scream at my dad. If he
calls me back tonight, we’re going to have words.

***

It feels weird to be doing something so
normal with Sky. I wonder if she’ll like it, or if it’ll feel weird
to her, too. Too bad Dad’s not around so we could take the Porsche.
But I still haven’t spoken to him, and I don’t think calling to
borrow his car is something I should do until we at least try to
patch things up.

“So, are they meeting us here?” Sky asks.
Her skirt is short, as always. Her legs look amazing, as always.
Right now, I’m wishing we didn’t have to go on a double date
because I want her all to myself.

“That’s the plan.” I lean back against my
car, and Sky leans next to me.

“Are you nervous about this?” Her hip bumps
mine.

“I don’t know. It’s weird,
but it’s not weird. The fact that it’s Sarah makes it
more
weird and
less
weird, which makes
no sense. But it feels more and more like she wasn’t the person I
thought she was—and that makes things a lot easier. But she’s still
my friend…sort of…and I think Eric’s a bit of a jerk.”

“So expectations for our evening are low.”
She chuckles.

“Very.” I smile and scoot so our arms touch.
“I bet you’re more excited than ever to be a part of this little
experiment.” My face is so close to hers that she’s all I see.

“I’m honestly curious to learn more about
this girl you’ve been in love with for the past three years.” Her
cheekbones are even higher when she smiles. I love how she looks up
at me—like this is exactly where she wants to be.

I shake my head. “I
thought
I was in love
with her, but I think I was in love with the idea of her. Or I was
in love with who I thought she was. Maybe things just feel
different because of what you and I have.” I lean over and kiss her
soft hair. “You know you smell amazing, right?”

“They’re here.” She laughs before standing
up.

Eric jumps out of his dad’s Mercedes SUV. “I
thought we’d just take this. We can all ride together.” His voice
is short, tense. Sarah probably begged him to do this.

Eric and I aren’t friends,
but we’re not enemies, either—at least we weren’t until he started
dating Sarah
.

“What do you think?” I lean toward Sky and
whisper.

“I think we can take a cab home if we’re
desperate,” she says, taking my hand.

“Good point.” I
laugh.
This is going to be okay.
Even two weeks ago, if someone told me that I
would be on a double date with Sarah and Eric—and that I’d actually
be okay with it—I would never have believed it. But here I
am.

“At least we get to share the backseat,” Sky
whispers.

Wow,
that one hits me in the chest, and the gut, and maybe other
places…in a really good way.

“There is that,” I say, as I open the back
door to let her in.

When I climb in, Eric and Sarah are
silent.

“Hey, guys,” I say.

“I’m glad you two made it.” Sarah turns
around to face us. “Nice to see you again, Sky.”

“You, too.”

“So, Sky?” Eric asks, while pulling out of
my driveway. “Where did you get a name like that?”

“My Mom.” She laughs.

Eric doesn’t look impressed.

“She’s Native Alaskan.
Tlingit.”
And really, that should be
explanation enough.

“But still, bet you took a lot of crap with
a name like Sky.” He glances in the rearview mirror.

“I grew up in a Tlingit village, so it was
no big deal.” Her face is still relaxed. But I’m starting to tense
up.

I reach my hand over and
slide my fingers down her leg. Hopefully, she’ll see it as an
apology. But now that my hand is there…I realize that with her bare
legs…it’s like I’m trying to come on to her…and I don’t mean to…I
mean, I do, but
…crap, I really am a mess
right now, and am wondering why, again, I agreed to
double.

“So, In-N-Out Burger and a movie, right?”
Eric asks.

“Yeah.” Sarah and I say at the same
time.

I know she’s dying to say jinx, because she
always does. But she doesn’t say it, and that makes me a little
sad.

***

“Sky is hot.” Eric leans toward me as the
girls walk to the bathroom.

I start to say something about Sarah, but
realize that probably isn’t a good idea.

“Hmm.” I take a drink.

“And she’s in college, right?” He stuffs
another handful of fries in his mouth. I don’t think he could fit
the jock stereotype better if he tried.

“Yeah, she’s a freshman.” The less I say,
the less likely I am to tell him what a jerk he is and how much he
doesn’t deserve Sarah.

“Way to go for snagging a college girl,
man.” Eric laughs and nods.

I take another long drink
of my soda so I don’t have to talk.
What
does Sarah see in him?
During dinner, Eric
half-clutched Sarah while still making sure to check out every girl
who walked in. I always thought Sarah was too smart to fall for a
guy like this—
apparently not.
Sky catches my eye immediately when she comes
back out. And then I stare at her, like an idiot, as she walks
toward me.

“Ready for a movie?” Sky
stops so close that her bare thighs are against my arm…snugly
against my arm…
like on purpose.

So, this is an invitation
to touch her, right?
I let my arm fall
down and stroke the inside of her calf with my fingers.
Yep.
Our eyes catch and
I stop breathing for a moment. Something’s different between us,
something in her eyes maybe, and I’m not sure what it is. I just
really want to be alone with her so I can find out.

***

I step into the row first.
I don’t want to be put in the position of sitting next to either
Sarah, or Eric
.
So I’m first, then Sky.
Is it rude
to use Sky as a buffer? Maybe we’ll switch later.
Sarah practically elbows her way in to sit next
to Sky. After Eric’s comment about Sky, I’m glad Sarah’s between
them. I’d probably freak out on the guy if he sat between the two
girls. How would he ever decide which one to look at?

I don’t even know what the movie is about
except there’s a girl who hates a guy. But even I know they get
together in the end. If I already know what’s going to happen, it
seems ridiculous to pay attention. That’s good, because I can’t pay
attention.

My hand’s resting on Sky’s
thigh. I know we had this great moment where I realized that us
being together is learning about one another. But her bare skin is
electric, and I can’t get enough.
My
fingers touch her lightly and her head is resting on my shoulder,
completely relaxed. If we weren’t in a movie theater, I don’t think
I could keep myself from reaching up higher. But we are and we’re
in company—which is probably a good thing.

Sarah gets up twice to go to the bathroom.
When she stands up a third time, Sky follows her.

When she looks down at me, her forehead is
pulled together. “I’ll be right back.”

I watch her closely as she carefully
sidesteps Eric, and as Eric watches her slim legs pass in front of
him. I have to remind myself that attacking the guy for looking at
Sky in a movie theater probably isn’t the best idea. Fortunately,
she gets by him fast and disappears up the aisle.

Now it’s Eric and I with two empty seats
between us. I’m glad for the distance. I’m also glad we’re watching
a movie, so I don’t have to try to keep up a conversation with
him.

Sky sits back down next to me, just as the
credits start to roll.

“Everything okay?” I whisper.

“I think Sarah was trying to dodge roaming
hands.” She’s on the edge of her seat, facing me.

I sigh and stare at the floor. “This is not
something I want to know.”

Sarah and Eric stand up.
She smiles up at him in her own adoring way.
I’m not sure if Sky’s right or not.

“Look, Jay, as much as I’m totally
threatened by Sarah, you have to talk to her about him.” She stands
up and turns toward me.

“Yeah, I guess.” I hate that Sky feels
threatened by Sarah, but there’s really no arguing with her
reasoning. I stand up to face her. The lights are up, and it’s nice
to actually see her face again.

“No.” She pushes against my chest. “No, ‘I
guess.’ You have to talk to her about him. It’s not just that. Do
you see the way he checks out every girl?”

“He’s always been that
way, everybody knows it.
She
wanted him.” I shrug. That’s how it is, right?
Everyone knows Eric. Everyone knows his reputation. She knew what
he’s like. She wanted him, not me, and now she has
him
.
At this
point, I feel more resigned than anything else. I can’t even think
about how I’d feel if I didn’t have Sky.

“Just, please?”

There’s no way I can say
no to her, even though I really want to.
“I will, but I don’t think she’ll listen.” I take her
hand.

“She might not, and that’s okay. You
wouldn’t be a good friend if you didn’t at least try.” Sky leads me
out of the row and toward the door.

“Fine, I’ll try,” I
say.
Sky’s so good.

“You wimps calling it a night?” Eric asks,
as we hit the lobby.

“Yes,” we say in unison. I try to hold in a
laugh.

FIFTEEN

Sarah talks about the movie the whole ride
back to my house. My hand is higher on the inside of Sky’s thigh
than it’s ever been. I don’t hear a word anyone says. Sarah’s
becoming more of a memory now than anything else.

When we stop, I can’t believe how short the
drive was. “Thanks.” I smile at Sarah and then at Eric. I barely
make it to Sky’s side of the car before they pull away.

“Whew.” I breathe out.

“Can we swim?” Sky asks, resting her chin on
my shoulder.

“Did you bring a
suit?”
Please say no, please say
no…

“Yeah.”

Crap
. “Great.”

She laughs. “If it’s so great, why do you
look so disappointed?”

“I…”

“You prefer the black panties, I get it.”
She slides her bag further onto her shoulder. “I still can’t
believe I did that.”

“I’m glad you did. It was kind of a high
moment for me,” I admit.

“Well, the night is still young, for a
night-owl like you.”

I choke as she walks into
the backyard.
What does she mean by
that?

“Is your mom here? Is she asleep? Do I need
to be quiet?” she asks, opening my bedroom door.

“No, not ‘til late, or
early…” My heart’s beating fast.
Something
is definitely different. Something in the way she’s moving…or in
her voice…or something.

“Can I change in your bathroom?” she asks,
walking in with her bag over her shoulder.

“Yeah.” As soon as the door closes, I rip
off my clothes and throw on a pair of shorts.

Then suddenly the door
opens and she steps out in the smallest black bikini I’ve ever seen
in my life. I’m sure my jaw drops or I do something equally
embarrassing. She doesn’t make eye contact—just walks past me into
the warm night air.
The tiniest little
strings are keeping that thing on her, one little pull
and…

“You coming, Jay?”

Definitely.
But I’m afraid to use my voice. She walks right
up to the edge and jumps in without pause, like always. I slide
into the water more slowly. Right now I’m just trying to figure out
how I’m going to keep my hands off her. Knowing her past, gives me
something to think about, something to be careful of. It’d kill me
to make her uncomfortable, but she can’t wear something like that
and think it’d have no effect on me.

“What are you
doing
?” She laughs when
she comes up for air and I’m still standing next to the edge of the
pool, arms crossed in front of me.

“Wondering how long I’m going to last with
your no touching rule.”

She laughs again. “Come on out here. I want
to try something.”

“Okay.” I take a deep
breath and swim toward her.
Maybe if I
don’t look at her.

“Stand there, and spread your legs out.” She
looks down into the water.

“Are you serious?” My
heart’s beating a bit frantically.
What’s
she going to do?

“Yes,” she insists, “I haven’t done this
since I was little.”

I let out a slow
breath.
She wants to swim through my
legs.
I do as asked, but my body’s sort of
numb with anticipation. She disappears under the water and swims
around behind me. She dives deeper, swimming underwater toward my
legs. Now, I’ve done this plenty of times with friends and even
with other girls, but never…ever…has it felt like this. The tension
starts in my chest and quickly moves down to my gut.