Drive Me Crazy (4 page)

Alexis shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. And you know what? If things don’t work out with Kevin, I’ll find another guy. I always do.” Then she smiled brightly, prompting Kate and Sierra to both crack up laughing. “Now, who’s up for another ride?”

The interstate stretched out in front of them, semis whizzing by with a loud
fwump
every few minutes. Kate had taken over in the driver’s seat when Adam had picked them up at the amusement park, and Adam had insisted that he should sit in the navigation seat to prove that he wasn’t an idiot with the map. Kate had relented, but only after both Alexis and Sierra had begged to take the backseat so they could nap.

Now her best friends were soundly asleep, awash in slanted early-evening sunlight, and Kate was stuck with only Adam to keep her company. In an unfortunate case of bad luck, the AC in Alexis’s car had decided to take a siesta of its own shortly after they’d left the amusement park, so all the windows in the car were down. The temperature had crept up to near ninety, so they were all sweating and miserable. But at least the open windows provided enough noise that she and Adam didn’t really need to have a conversation. They sort of had to yell over the noise of the wind and the highway to hear each other.

Adam was playing basketball with a tiny suction cup net and foam ball he had bought at the mall that afternoon. He had the net affixed to the dashboard, and was throwing the ball from a semi-reclined position in the front passenger seat. He was about 0 and 60, since the wind whooshing through the car was blowing most of his shots off track. Kate was mildly amused, watching him struggle to land a single shot. But Adam didn’t seem fazed by his lack of skills…. He just kept trying, clearly enjoying the little game he’d devised for himself.

Finally his shot went straight into the net, and Adam lifted his arms into the air. “That was hot. Snap!”

“Snap?” Kate mocked loudly. A truck whizzed by, its giant tires roaring next to their window. “Seriously? Snap.”

“What?” Adam asked, leaning toward Kate so she could hear him. “I can’t say ‘snap’?”

“You can. If you want to sound like a freak.”

“Why is ‘snap’ freaky?”

“It’s not. It’s just out of place on you.” Kate thought for a second. “It’s a little like you saying something’s hot, unless it’s a direct comment about a girl. And since you just called
yourself
hot, I guess you’re oh-and-two in the normal department.”

“Hold on,” Adam said, and fiddled with the glove compartment, opening and closing the latch, making his net flip up and down. “You think I’m abnormal?”

Kate shrugged. She could see Alexis stir in the backseat, but she stayed asleep. “I think you’re sort of a jerk, but I guess that’s still considered normal, right?”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Adam replied. “So I’m a jerk, and you’re a real delight? A lovely girl with absolutely no inner bitch, right?”

“Did I say that?” Adam was totally right, and she was willing to admit it. “I have plenty of inner bitch. And you’re adept at bringing her out to play.”

“Well, aren’t I a lucky guy?” Adam said sarcastically. “A special part of you is reserved just for me? That’s awfully romantic.”

Kate looked over at him, disgusted. “I’m not trying to be romantic, so if you’re getting romance vibes from me, your intuition is in serious need of repair.”

Adam flopped back in his seat, grinning. “Aren’t you glad I’m on this road trip?”

“No.”

“Admit it,” Adam encouraged. “I amuse you.”

“Um, no.”

“Then I’ll keep trying,” Adam said seriously. “It might take time, but I’ll crack through.” Kate ignored him. It was easy to do.

They sat without talking. Adam studied the road atlas while Kate memorized highway signs advertising IHOP and gas stations. “I’m dying,” Kate declared suddenly. The sun had gone down, but still there was no relief from the heat. Kate’s hair was in two braids going down either side of her neck, and little beads of sweat were traveling down her exposed skin. “No AC is torture.”

“Take this exit,” Adam announced, grinning mischievously. Kate looked at him quizzically. “Just take it. There’s a pretty big town near this exit. Let’s go swimming.”

“Where?”

“We need to find a country club,” Adam answered. “They have the best pools.”

“How are we going to get into a country club? They’re members only.”

Adam grinned mischievously. “You’re so focused on the rules all the time, Kate. You’re missing out on all the fun in life. We’ll figure out a way in.”

“Where are we?” Sierra mumbled sleepily from the backseat about twenty minutes later. “How long did I sleep?”

They had just pulled into the parking lot at a super-ritzy country club that Adam had located on Alexis’s iPhone. He’d stolen it out of her purse while she slept, Googled “country clubs” in the area they were driving through, and successfully navigated to a wealthy-looking town about fifteen miles off the interstate. Kate couldn’t deny the fact that she was impressed.

“Oy,” Alexis groaned crabbily. “I’m hot.”

“Kate and I have masterminded a very clever plan to remedy that,” Adam bragged. “Who wants to go swimming?”

“Nuh-uh,” Alexis said, and shook her head. “These roadside motel pools are nast. I wouldn’t put my foot in, even if I already had a toe fungus.”

Adam tsk-tsked at her. “You are such a snob, Lex. What would you say if I told you we were going swimming at a country club?”

“And how are you going to swing that?”

“Like this.” Adam hopped out of the car and walked toward the gate that led into the club. It was just after nine, and the sign said the country club had closed at eight. They all followed Adam as he moved alongside the fence that divided the interior of the club from the parking lot, and down into a little marshy area that took them back out along the main road.

Silently they walked along the road for about a hundred yards. There were no cars, and it was getting dark, so Kate started getting freaked out. They could go missing, and no one would even know where to find them. “I don’t think this is a great idea,” Kate said finally. “You don’t even know where you’re going, Adam.”

In response Adam just held a finger to his lips and cut back in from the road, leading them through a thick patch of trees. The branches and pine needles bit into Kate’s arms, and just when she thought she could go no farther, the trees opened up onto a grassy golf course. Off to their left they could see the big clubhouse, its exterior lamps lighting up the night sky. They walked up the fairway together.

“If I were a betting guy, I’d put money on the pool being in there,” Adam said as they got close to the clubhouse. He was pointing to a rectangular area that was closed in with wide-plank wooden fencing. The top of a lifeguard chair was poking up over the top of one section of the fence.

Kate pulled her flip-flops off her feet and carried them as they walked toward the pool. Her feet were sore from their day at the amusement park, and the cool grass felt amazing. Her whole body was sticky and hot, and she was momentarily tempted to lie on the grass to cool off.

As they approached the pool, Kate’s hopes fell. She could see no obvious way to get inside the fence. Alexis slid down on the grass to rest while Adam scoped out the perimeter. Sierra and Kate both watched nervously for any signs of authority. Neither of them was particularly good at breaking the rules, and—to Kate at least—all of this felt a little risky.

“The gate is locked,” Adam declared.

Kate stared at him, dumbfounded. “Did you think it would be open?” she asked. “That was your plan?” She was no expert at sneaking in, but even she could have told him the gate would be locked.

“
No
, that wasn’t my
plan
. But I figured it couldn’t hurt to check.” He fixed Kate with a frustrated look, then his face broke into a goofy grin.

Why does he stare at me like that?
Kate wondered.
It’s like he’s trying to annoy me and knows his stupid grinning makes me want to slap him.
But the way Adam made Kate’s blood boil was invigorating, and she had to admit that she sort of enjoyed sparring with him.

There was a golf cart parked next to the fence. Adam climbed onto the hood. He lifted one leg up onto the roof of the cart and hoisted his other up onto the top of the fence. He dangled there for a minute, then flipped his other foot effortlessly over the edge and lowered himself down so only his fingers were in view over the top of the fence.

Kate, Sierra, and Alexis watched from the ground, listening for a deadly thud on the other side. Adam’s whoop of success told them he had landed in one piece. Finally Sierra vocalized the thing they were all thinking: “How are
we
supposed to get over?”

“Sierra, you could make it…but there’s no way I’m tall enough,” said Alexis.

“Quit your nay-saying, Cousin,” Adam said, as his head poked over the top of the fence. “We’re all going swimming.” He lifted a lifeguard’s rescue ladder over his head and twisted it in midair to lower it down on their side of the fence. “Thanks be to lifeguards. Who wants to go first?”

Kate bravely stepped forward to the ladder. Her foot touched the bottom rung, and she got a shiver of excitement. She’d never really broken the rules before, and she was in the process of breaking and entering. She realized it was the most harmless kind of trespassing, but still…they could get caught!

Another foot, then another, and suddenly she was at the top. Adam was smiling at her, and when he grabbed her arm, she felt incredibly safe. He held her hand to help her over the top of the fence, then guided her hips as she settled her feet onto the ladder he was standing upon on the other side of the fence.

Kate tensed up. There was something in his touch that was so reckless, yet so gentle, that she shivered in the hot night. It was a momentary thing, but Kate was shaken by it nonetheless. Adam usually made her boil with frustration, but this time the feeling was different. When she hopped off the last rung of the ladder on the pool deck, Adam lifted his hand to give her five.

“Nice effort, princess! Good to see you’re able to have a little fun, even though we don’t have an instruction manual.” Then he winked, and climbed back up the ladder to help Sierra over.

Kate instantly hated him again. She couldn’t believe she’d started to warm up to him just because he’d helped her over a freakin’ fence! As though he was some sort of Prince Charming, coming to rescue her.
Whatever
. They didn’t need him to have fun, and they didn’t need his help to break into the pool. They could totally have done this without him.
Just because he wrapped his hands around my hips, I don’t need to be all charmed by him
, Kate reminded herself.

“I’m so glad Adam is here,” Sierra said breathlessly when she stepped off the ladder. “This is exciting!”

Kate pretended she hadn’t heard her, because she didn’t want to acknowledge that Sierra was right. They would, of course, have been having fun, but they probably wouldn’t have been sneaking into a country club pool to cool off. Adam did bring a level of excitement to their trip that she wasn’t sure they would have achieved without him.

Kate surveyed the pool area. There were two separate swimming spots: one that was shallow for little kids to wade in, and another that was deep and dark and refreshing-looking. There were padded lounge chairs all around the edge of the pool, and little cabanas in each of the corners. A concession stand stood next to the entrance gate and was stocked with sodas (behind locked refrigerator doors) and boxes of candy bars.

As soon as Alexis had been safely shepherded down the lifeguard’s ladder, Adam grabbed the ladder he had propped on the exterior of the fence and secured it back on its stand alongside the interior wall. No one would ever know it had been moved. Then he plunged, fully clothed, into the deepest part of the big pool. He pulled off his wet shirt and whipped it onto the pool deck, narrowly missing Kate. She, Alexis, and Sierra sat together on the edge of the pool, dangling their feet in the water.

“Ohhhh.” Alexis sighed. “This feels amazing. I’m going in.” Then, with her tiny little shorts and T-shirt still on, she lowered herself down into the pool and dog-paddled around before finally submerging to swim the rest of the width of the pool underwater.

Sierra was next. She pulled her skirt off (it was from Anthropologie, and probably wouldn’t have fared well in chlorine) and wore just the bike shorts she had on underneath and her tank top. She eased herself into the water and dipped under.

“You’re all alone out there,” Adam said to Kate, paddling over to her on the edge of the pool. “After all the hard work of busting in, don’t you want to swim?” She did, but she didn’t have bike shorts on like Sierra, and she wasn’t wearing short shorts like Alexis. Ridiculously, she was wearing jeans—which helped explain why she had been so hot all day. If it had been just her girlfriends, she’d have happily gone in the water in just her skivvies, but with him there—not so much.

“I do, but…” Kate didn’t really want to tell Adam why she hadn’t yet joined them in the pool. He’d already made fun of her for being such a priss, and she didn’t really feel like ruining the evening by fighting with him again. But if he started teasing her, she knew she’d be pissed, and that would be the end of the fight-free period.

“But what? You don’t want to come in naked, eh?” Adam was smirking again, which started Kate’s blood boiling. “Oh, don’t get feisty. I’m just teasing you. I bet you look great naked.”

Before Kate could get mad, Adam splashed her, which cooled her off tremendously. Then he grabbed his wet T-shirt off the pool deck and set it next to her on the edge of the pool. “Wear this,” he suggested. “It will be like a dress on you. Then you can come in and play with the rest of us.”

“Okay,” Kate agreed. She slipped inside one of the cabanas and pulled her hot jeans and tank top off. Adam’s shirt was soaked and chilly, but it felt great against her toasty skin. The T-shirt hung down to Kate’s midthigh—perfect. She ran out of the cabana and jumped straight into the pool. “Ayeee!” The water was colder than she’d thought it would be, and it felt amazing.

They bobbed around in the pool for a long time. Kate and Sierra easily beat Alexis and Adam at a game of chicken, knocking Alexis off Adam’s shoulders in about five seconds flat. Alexis and Sierra settled into padded lounge chairs on the side of the pool, watching Adam and Kate do flips into the water. Kate had mastered the art of flips during their summers at the lake. Her little sister had taught Kate all her figure skating jumps and spins. Kate couldn’t stay upright on skates to save her life, but she could execute all the moves perfectly when she did them off the dock.