Through The Lens (21 page)

“So really no,” he said calling me out.

“Um, well, almost,” I confessed.

“Can you come over?” he asked.

Now curiosity dictated I say yes,
immediately.  But pride said that I should drag it out a bit. “Why?”

“Because I have something to show you,”
he said.

Okay, yes, I was truly intrigued. “Sure,
when?”

“Soon, if you can,” he said.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a bit,” I
said.

Since Jenna had the car yesterday, I was
easily able to commandeer it today.  Parking, I walked to the door with ease.
I’d just been here last night.  His house was fast becoming a familiar territory.

After I rang the doorbell, I waited a
beat before he opened the door.  There was no denying my gawking it when he
did.  He knew, I knew, heck the whole world would know it if they saw him.  His
hair was damp, his bare chest rosy against the golden tones of his skin.  He
recently left the shower and the clean woodsy scent of pine of something
permeated the space between us.  His grey sweats were loose on his hips.  My
throat was dry. I didn’t even bother to speak when he smiled at me. Scowling at
him in order to hide my ogling, he stepped back.  Feeling less like a stranger,
I walked into his kitchen and grabbed a glass.  Opening the fridge, I pulled
out a pitcher of something and poured it in.

“Wait,” he said.

But I drank deep before I sputtered.
“What the hell is this?” I complained.  My mouth no longer dry but burned
instead.

“All in punch,” he said.

“What?” I croaked while he reached in
the fridge and handed me a water bottle. Cracking it open, I drained the bottle
hoping to take some of the sting out of my throat.

Shaking his head, he said, “Someone
brought it over.”

“Who?” I asked, wondering who made
something that tasted like it could take paint off the walls.

“You don’t want to know,” he said
looking away.

Well, that explained it.  One of his fan
club, because despite Lucy’s claim on him at school, there were other girls
making themselves available.  The shamelessness of some people, I thought. 
“Look, I’m going to go get dressed,” he said. That brought my attention back to
his body.  Giving me a grin, he headed out of the kitchen.

Sighing, I didn’t need this torture.  My
phone buzzed and I looked down to see that Josh was calling. I sent the call to
voicemail.  I wanted to turn the ringing off, but didn’t. 

A few minutes later, Ethan walked back
in covered with a tee shirt and jeans.  I was ready for him with my camera
pointing.  Click, Click, Click.  Sighing, I almost thought about Josh and his
beautiful body but remembered he was on my shit list. Instead, I watched
Ethan’s dismay. “What,” I said. “I told you I was almost done with the roll.”

Expertly, he plucked the camera from my
hand.  Then, holding out his hand to me, I said, “Where are you taking me?”

Taking hold of me and leading me down
the hall, I wasn’t so concerned about the location but rather how my heart
felt.  I knew better to fall for him.  He was taken.  He was cheating on Allie,
although he claimed not to be.  And well, I hadn’t exactly broken up with
Josh.  Ethan had been correct about one thing, every guy was probably going to
try.  So maybe I shouldn’t be so pissed with my would be boyfriend. 
Furthermore, I shouldn’t be thinking about what it would be like to kiss Ethan
again.

We passed the darkroom where we’d
developed film the last time.  We walked through a back door and out past the pool,
then we went by the tennis and basketball courts.  When we passed through a
line of trees into a field of gold, I stopped.  The grass or stalks were about
waist high.

Stopping, he turned back and aimed my
camera at me. Before I could mutter a protest, he said, “Done.”  Stepping to
me, I watched wondering what he would do next.

“Come on,” he said tugging me forward
after he handed my camera back.   We walked until we stepped into a little
clearing.  Looking down, I saw a door in the ground.  It appeared to be a hatch
of some sort.  Ethan bent down and spun the wheel of a handle until we heard an
audible click.  Flipping the door over, he rested it on the ground.  Moving a
bit forward, I leaned over the hole to see nothing but darkness.

“You first,” he said.

Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t think
so. I’ll follow you.”

He looked amused and stepped down on the
ladder I spied.  After a few minutes, he said, “Come down princess.”

It looked spooky, but for whatever
reason, I trusted Ethan.  Rung by rung, I descended deeper in the hole. 
Ethan’s hands found their way around my waist and hoisted me to my feet.  When
he flipped on the lights, I found myself peering into his electric blue eyes. 
And I swear I saw flame in them.

Biting my lip, I hesitated before his
hands fell away from me.  Pointing behind me, I turned to see a counter with
bottles of chemicals, trays and other equipment I’d seen in the darkroom of his
house.  Walking down further to one side of the bunker we were in, I saw on
closer inspection the set up to develop film down here. Turning, I rammed into
his chest.  Chuckling, he stepped back.  Flippantly, I said, “So, you’ve got me
in your bat cave, what next?”

Licking his lips, he said, “This isn’t
the bat cave.  Batman was a solitary guy. I’m sharing this with you.”

Cocking my head to the side, I said, “Does
that mean I can come down here when I want?” He surprised me by nodding. So I couldn’t
resist asking, “Can I bring someone with me?”

“Who?” he asked, frowning at me.

Raising my shoulders, I said, “Josh,
maybe?”

“I thought you were done with him?” he
asked.

“You convinced me to give him another
chance,” I said.

“Did I now,” he said. “Now why would I
do that?”

Turning away, I realized we were going
down a slippery slope and needed to stop.  “So, are you going to show me how to
develop this film,” I said, holding out the camera out in front of me trying to
divert the conversation.

Taking it from me, he brushed by me and
over in front of the far end of the counter near the wall. I walked over
surveying everything.

Giving me directions, he explained the
process pointing to things before we actually did it.  It was surprisingly
easy.  Getting the film out, putting it onto a reel, dipping it in chemicals,
rinse, a few other things but that was basically it.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

I said yes, but when the lights went out
and he stood behind me, I knew I wasn’t.  He was so close we might have well
been touching.  And the darkness was so intimate. I could hear everything he
did, his movement, his breathing. I just didn’t know whether that loud
heartbeat I heard pounding in my ears was his or mine. When the light came up,
I wasn’t ready.  When the film was hanging to dry, I turned it him. “I did it,”
I squealed.

“You did,” he said.

Then I looked over to where he’d closed
the hatch to keep the light out. Spying what I was looking at with a quick turn
of his head, he said, “Don’t worry.  It only locks from the inside.  This was
an old bomb shelter.”

Looking down at the other end of the
bunker, I saw cots or bunks attached and folded up against the wall. There was
a door at that end. Before it were shelves on the right and a makeshift kitchen
sink combo on the left. “What’s through the door?” I asked.

“A bathroom,” he said.

“Why don’t we go topside and give the
film a chance to dry?”

I nodded and followed him up.  When I
got to the top, he held out a hand to me and lifted me up like I weighted
nothing. “Thanks,” I said feeling a blush.

We sat in the small clearing obscured
from sight. “What is this?” I asked pointing to the grass or whatever it was.

Following my finger with his eyes, he
said, “Weeds, grass or whatever other wild things grow here.”

“Have you always known this was here?” I
asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “My dad showed it to
me.”

I wasn’t sure he would want to talk
about it, but I took the chance. “You sound like you were close with him. It
must be hard.”

Looking away and out into the sky, he
said, “My dad was really cool. I just can’t believe that he did those things
they accused him of.” Not wanting to state the obvious that his father
committing suicide suggested he was guilty, I kept quiet. “It’s okay. I know what
you’re thinking,” he said a bit later.

Not agreeing, I boldly said, “You were
there.”

Clasping his hand, he looked at them.
“Yeah.”

Unable to think of anything to say, I
reached out and place my hand on his. He unclasped his hand and took mine in
one of his.  He interlocked our fingers and held on. We may not be together,
but I never felt closer to anyone including my siblings.

When he let go and stretched out with
his hands folded behind his head, I followed suit.  We stayed silent so long, I
didn’t know I dozed off until he was gently waking me up. “Wake up Princess.”

Wiping at my face, my hand made contact
with his chest.  Lifting up, I realized my head had been resting there.  Then I
became aware of his hand on my hip.  Looking at it, I turned to meet his gaze.
“Sorry,” he said, moving his hand. “You feel asleep and I thought you’d been
more comfortable.”

Well, that answered one question. I
hadn’t molested him in my sleep. “Oh, I guess I should be going,” I said
quickly.

“You don’t have to go,” he said and
there was something in his look that said he was just as happy to have me in
his arms as I had being there.

Needing to escape a line I couldn’t
cross, I scrambled to my feet. “Thanks for having me and this,” I said pointing
to the hole. “I’ll come back and finish it up another day.”

He nodded before his face lit up with
realization, “Wait,” he said. And he went back in the hole.  Coming up, he had
my camera.  Handing it to me, I took it. “You’re welcome to the lair anytime.
And I loaded you up with more film.”

“Thanks,” I said, and left before
anything could happen we would regret.

Monday morning brought sunshine and
flowers.  And I mean that literally.  Josh cornered me at my locker and handed
me a rose.

“I’m sorry, Jess. I
came back, and you were gone.  I called, but you didn’t answer.”

He had called like over
twenty times.  But I wasn’t giving in. “Josh, just go,” I said and stalked off
with Madison in tow.  Bradley had to be restrained by Madison from jumping in.

“Let her handle it,”
Madison said to him as she dragged him along.  I was poised to toss the flower
in the trash when Madison grabbed it from me. “Don’t do that.”  Breaking the
stem, leaving about two inches only, she pushed the flower in her hair and
smiled.

By lunch, Josh gave me
an incredibly cute teddy bear that I couldn’t possibly throw away.  Putting it
in my locker, I planned to stop by the hospital and donate it to one of the
sick kids there.  But for now, it took residence in my locker, which didn’t
help.  The thing had the cutest face, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of
Josh’s pleas for forgiveness.

Thankfully, I managed
to dodge him the rest of the day.  After school during the Yearbook Club
meeting, Ethan and I decided to take another crack at the Debate Team.

Winking at me, Ethan
said, “Let me give it a shot.”  Opening the door to the classroom, over a dozen
students stopped and looked at us. “Sorry to bother you guys, but we’re with
the yearbook, and we would like to do an exposé on the team.”

His smile was radiant,
grabbing the girls’ attention, and his words seemed to get the attention of the
guys as well.  I recognized some of the faces in the room.  These were some of
the brightest people in school.  A lot of them were destined to go to MIT after
graduation or a school like that. 

“Fine,” a girl with
straight brown hair and black frame glasses said, standing in our line of
sight.  “You need something, and so do we.  We don’t have a judge for our mock
debate this afternoon.  You guys can help decide the winner.”

Being considered smart
didn’t mean you were good at everything.  I knew a little about debating, but
my concern was I wouldn’t be up to speed with whatever topic they were
discussing. “Okay,” Ethan said brightly, taking a seat.  With no other choice,
I sat at a desk next to him. “So what’s the topic?”

The brown-haired girl,
who wasn’t a senior, yet appeared to be in charge in the absence of the
teacher. With a smug expression, she said, “We are debating the opposing sides
of whether or not teens should have sex while still in high school.”

Holding my mouth shut
from opening wide, I didn’t manage to keep my eyes from widening.  “I know what
you’re thinking,” she said.  “This would be too easy.  So the girls have to
argue for and the guys against.”