Hoax (9 page)

             
I heard the back door shut but I was still enjoying the cold floors and didn’t have the energy or the will to get up. 

             
“What I wouldn’t give to be that floor right now.”  I barely heard him mumble and then he went to the fridge and got something out.  I contained my giggle at his moaning and turned my face so the other side could be chilled as well. 

             
“I need a cold shower and dinner.” My mouth moved but my cheek was stuck to the floor.  I probably looked like a fish out of water gasping for air. 

             
His back was turned to the sink as he washed his hands.  “Cold shower, pshh, I need a cold waterfall with you around.”  He mumbled again. 

             
“I can hear all of your little comments.”  I made my voice a pitiful mimic of his, low and grumbly. 

             
“If you’re going to make dirty comments, at least make them louder so I can respond.”  I turned to let my other cheek have a turn, faced away from him.

             
“Oh yeah?  And how would you respond?  Eeeww?  Or gross?”  He did all of this in a girly voice.  I could almost imagine him popping his hip out and displaying hand motions to match.

             
“You’ll never know, will you?”  I got up wearily and yelled out as I took the stairs two at a time.  “I’m going to shower and then I’m cooking for you again.”  I didn’t wait for his answer.  It was probably another groaning innuendo. 

             
When I came back down, the house was empty.  A piece of paper on the counter blew in the wind of the ceiling fan, held down by a coffee cup. I picked it up to read it.

Went home to shower and change. 
Be back soon. 

A

              I smiled, folded the note up and slipped it into my pocket.  As I cooked a small dinner for two I wondered why Abel didn’t have a girlfriend, or hung out with his friends or even talked about them much. I also wondered about the comments.  Surely he couldn’t be
that
attracted to me.  I’ve been the target of a lewd look or two in my lifetime but the heat he turned on me with sideways glances and open stares was something I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to.

Abel

             
The girl was amazing.  I’ve never in my life seen someone have so much fun driving a damned lawnmower, but then again she made everything good, made everything fun.  When it started up and she drove it, after riding with me for quite a while, I didn’t have to look at her mouth to know that she was smiling.  That was the great thing about Corinne.  Everything about her could be told by just looking into her eyes.  The way the almond shapes crinkled in the corners closest to her nose.  Sometimes when she thought I was bullshitting her or didn’t believe what I said she blinked and kept her eyes closed a few seconds longer than necessary.  And when she knew for sure that I was full of crap, her left eyebrow would curve upwards almost as if raising its hand in a classroom. 
“Teacher, teacher, that Abel kid is bat crap crazy.”

             
And if it was possible, if I was lucky enough for it to be true, the last few times I’ve gotten close to her the brown pools of her eyes darkened slightly, like brewed coffee rippling in a white cup with new emotion.  She looked to the side and tried to hide the heat she felt between us but I saw that glimpse of lust, that moment of seduction.  And in that moment, our relationship evolved, changed from a purely innocent dating scenario to something a whole lot more edgy.  My gaze on her changed from the initial doe eyed infatuation to a burning glare more lust than crush, more desire than I ever expected to have to contain.  It was unnerving and addictive at once.

             
So that’s when my mouth decided to release some of this newfound attraction with words.  I walked in after her and not because I watched her while I stalked through the backyard while she removed her shoes and socks at the backdoor while bending over.  No, it had nothing to do with that.  I closed the door and had no choice but to take in the scene before me.  She lay face down on the shiny wood floors.  I’m sure she had some motive other than torturing me but I couldn’t figure one out. 

             
And here she was sprawled out on the floor moaning and sighing every time she turned her face one side or the other.   I wanted to pull her up by the belt loops of her pants and tell her to never ever do that again in front of any specimen of the male species, again, ever, never. 

             
“What I wouldn’t give to be that floor right now.” I grumbled to myself and simultaneously I saw her hands clench into fists.  There’s no way she heard that. 

             
I walked around her, so tempted to flop down on the floor next to her, got a bottle of water and washed my hands in the sink.  She said something about getting a cold shower and eating dinner.  I needed a shower too but I didn’t restock my truck with extra clothes.  She made her way up the stairs and I took my cue to high tail it out of there and get myself ready. 

             
I went home, showered, changed and went back to the house.  As soon as I opened the side door my stomach jumped up at the smells that permeated the house.  After enduring the heat all day my stomach didn’t even register hunger until the aromas from her cooking infiltrated my nose. 

             
I turned the corner into the kitchen and she perched on the counter, head leaning back on the cabinets behind her and revealing the length of her glorious tanned throat.  It glistened a bit in the remaining sunlight that casted down through the over-sink window.  I leaned against the door jamb, content to take her in like this.  My lust and desire calmed by her pure and serene beauty.  I vowed to myself right then and there not to let my hormones get ahead of giving her all the love she deserved.  My priorities shifted like tectonic plates within me.  But that also didn’t mean I wanted to kiss her senseless any less. 

             
I walked over to her, unable to stay that far away from her for too long.  I put my hands on either side of her waist and she came to life again, smiling at me like I was everything she wanted.  Her feet rubbed along the sides of my thighs playfully. 

             
“Hi,” she said as she combed her fingers through my still damp hair.

             
“Hi.  Something smells great.” 

             
“Chicken.” She said and moved to get off of the counter but I didn’t move quick enough.  She slid, feet to chest, down to a standing position, every part of her touching every part of me.  I bit the inside of my cheek so hard that I tasted blood.  Her eyes widened for the briefest moment before she cleared her throat and moved towards the stove.  I broke away from the counter and sat at the island. 

             
“Anything I can do,” I asked.

             
“Yeah, you can fix the drinks.  I made some raspberry lemonade earlier.” 

             
I did her bidding.  How could I not? We ate in almost constant silence.  We moved together to clean up and did so quickly.  We faced each other, no blaring reasons for me to stay but I was desperate to find one. 

             
“Can you stay a while or do you need to go?” She looked at the floor. 

             
I closed chasm between us and took her hands in mine and said, “I will stay as long as you will let me.”

             
“Okay,” She said.  We went outside and lay in the lounge chairs around the pool listening to music coming from her iPod.  One of my favorite bands, Silent Film, came on and I remembered that I had bought two tickets for the show in Shreveport on July fourth weekend. 

             
“You like them?” I nodded my head towards the speakers.

             
“Silent Film?  Yeah, I’ve liked them forever.” 

             
“What if I told you that I’ve got tickets for their concert in Shreveport in two weeks?”

             
She nearly jumped off of the lounge chair.  “Don’t tease.”

             
“I never tease,” She blinked her eyes slowly, a sign that she knew I was full of it. “Ok, sometimes I tease, but not this time.”

             
“How many tickets?”

             
“Two,” I wanted to hear her say it.

             
“Who is the other one for,” She squinted her eyes, daring me to drag it out more.

             
“Well, there’s this great girl I know.  She’s unbelievably gorgeous and when she smiles her eyes light up.” 

             
“Well, I hope you two have a good time.” She slunk back down into her lounge chair and smirked.

             
“Ok, but I might get so caught up in the music that I just may kiss her.  You never know with those sorts of things.”

             
“Ugh…stop picking on me already.”  I let her squirm for a few more seconds before I answered. 

             
“Come on Corinne, you know you want to go with me and you also know there’s no one else I’d rather take but you.”

             
“Ok, on one condition. This weekend, you let me take you somewhere.”

             
My mind flooded with scenarios that revolved around her taking me somewhere in town and running into my jerks/friends.  Blood pumped in my temples thinking about it.  I got a grip on myself, enough to answer her.

             
“Where?”

             
“Maybe Ruston?  They have a drive in movie theatre that plays horror movies all Saturday night.”

             
My heart and stomach dropped back down into their rightful places, relieved at her prospects.

             
“Oh, so, you want to get me into the drive-in and have your way with me?  I get it.”

             
I expected the slap on the leg or the eye-roll or something from her.  That’s what most guys got when they made devious comments like that one.  I should’ve known better.

             
“No denying that.”

             
She got up and said, “It’s late.  I’m going to go to bed now.  I’ll see you tomorrow?”

             
I nodded, still stunned, got up and then walked to my truck. 
Did she just say what I think she said?

Corinne

             
I needed my head checked, and my mouth checked.  Those two were like the devil incarnate.  My brain thought it and my mouth circumvented its filter and just blurted crap out. No shame at all. And I was usually able to control my mouth like a ninja.  I mean seriously, if you didn’t control your mouth at Wellsley, it was your ass—literally.  Until you were out of the fifth grade you were liable to get popped with the paddle which perched behind Headmistress Ingrams on the wall like the eyes of God.  But in front of Abel I had no restraint.  None. 

             
I basically just told him that I wanted to go to the movies and make out with him.  How did that happen?  One minute we’re planning a date all innocent and sweet and the next minute, BAM!  Not that it wasn’t true.  And call me crazy, but the boy had some kind of throat fetish.  Every time I leaned back or looked up his eyes planted firmly on my neck. 

             
The rest of the week went by fast, probably because I worked my butt off painting the laundry room at Angela’s request.  She picked out the color and the rest of the house was awesome but the color she picked for the laundry room was brown. Not a fashionable brown, more like Snuffaluffagus brown. Abel walked in while I painted the last stroke of the last coat and his snicker slowly turned into a full blown, doubled over laugh. 

             
“Please tell me you didn’t pick this color out.  It looks like sh—crap.” 

             
“No, Angela picked it out online.  I just picked it up last night. Seriously, you should’ve seen the lady’s face.  She kept looking from the paint to the computer screen and then she put the top back on and ran it through the shaker again. It didn’t help.”

             
I put the lid back on the paint and washed the brushes out.  Abel stood in the laundry room still.