Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) (2 page)

Once practice was over, Marissa Lou saw Daniel come into the gym through the corner of her eye, although she purposely didn’t acknowledge his presence. Just like she knew he climbed to the top row of the bleacher in his loud cleats and was watching her. It was just them because the other girls had left the gym a few minutes before he came in since cheerleading practice was over. She stayed longer knowing he would be back after his own practice was over and she wanted some alone time to practice a little more and to taunt her boyfriend. She spread her long lean legs as wide as they would reach and gracefully fell down on the polished hardwood gymnasium floor into a frontward split. She leaned over and stretched her arms as far as she could in front of her over her outstretched leg, increasing the stretch, her long blonde ponytail falling forward with her. He always said he liked the athletic type, which was perfect for Marissa Lou being as she was Miss. Pamlico High School Athletic victor. Best of all, no one in their school could stretch as deep as she could, and she was proud of that fact, as was he.

“WHEWWW,” Daniel whistled.

She slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder, looking up at him with an innocent stare as if seeing him for the first time, her blue eyes round and sparkling, then gave him a sly smile. Of course, she knew he was watching her. She always knew how hot she was and used it at every advantage and she loved driving him crazy, which was pretty easy. She continued her stretch, ignoring his obvious request for her attention, before getting up. She’ll let him sweat for a few more minutes by continuing to take her time pulling her arms behind her back and rolling her neck from side to side.

“Hey girl!” he yelled at her somewhat dismayed.

Feeling satisfied, she turned and slowly sauntered up the bleachers toward him, like climbing up a mountain one sultry step at a time, until she was standing directly in front of him; sweat from her earlier cheerleading practice was still glistening on her skin. She put her hands on both of his knees and bent over exposing the curves of what was under her tight sports bra as she did and gave him another sly smile before planting her glossy lips on his.

“Come here,” he whispered pulling her closer to him by her waist making her sit down on his lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked laughing playfully.

He grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her head down to his and whispered in her lips as he continued to smile, “Nothing. I just want you closer.” He kissed her again, this time hungrily, their tongues doing a warm, moist dance. He let go of her neck and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her even closer.

“Alright, slow down, playa,” she said into his lips. When he didn’t stop, Marissa Lou pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes. Her big blue eyes a mix of shock, fear and annoyance because they were at school, even if it were after hours, but he didn’t acknowledge her request to slow down. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

He tried to pull her back close to him, but she put a hand on his chest to stop him. “But we're at school, what if we get caught? The other guys will probably be walking in at any moment.” Marissa liked being a tease, but times like these, it tended to get her into trouble.

“Just relax, don’t you love me?”

Her body relaxed and she nodded her head, because God did she ever love that boy.

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded her head again.

He lifted her off his lap, placed her on the bleacher seat beside him, then stood up. She stared up at him taken aback until he reached a hand out to her to help her up. She put her hand in his, but stared up at him half smiling and half curiously.

“Come on, I want to take you somewhere,” he said pulling her to her feet.

Marissa Lou giggled as they ran out of the gym hand in hand, skidding by a group of football players when they passed through the exit door leading into the back parking lot behind the gym where they park the school buses. They rounded the side of the gym that connected to the rest of the school and stopped.

Marissa Lou looked around, curious again of what they were doing.

“Can you climb?” he asked turning to her.

Marissa Lou looked at Daniel even more confused. “Climb? What are you talking about?”

“Up there,” he said pointing to a thick metal pipe stretched from the ground up to the top of the building. “You wanna?”

Marissa Lou was always up for an adventure, even when she was secretly scared, but even then she would never admit it. She averted her eyes from him and stared up at the pipe with wide eyes. It had to be a good twenty feet high. She took a deep breath to compose her nervous and looked back at Daniel and said nonchalantly, “Yeah, you want to go first?”

“It may be easier if I give you a boost up.” He clamped his hands together as tight as he could and bent down. She took another deep breath and put one foot in his hands and grabbed the pipe with both hands. As he hoisted her up she climbed upward using the clamps on the side that fastened it to the building as steps to help her along the way.

Once at the top she heaved herself up, feeling happy that she made it unscathed, then looked down over the side and whispered, “Come on.”

Using the walls on both sides of the pipe he climbed up the pipe like she did, except he did it with ease.

“What are you, part monkey?” she asked giggling once he was safely on the roof.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said smiling and grabbing her hand. “Come on. Stay down so we don't get caught,” he said, bending over and walking along the top of the old roof until he found a spot just right. “I'm sure we'd get into some serious trouble if someone caught us up here.” He laid down on his back on the warm metal roof and stared up at her. “Come on, lay down with me.”

She did as he said and stared up at the expansive sky above her. The late August sky was so blue with hardly a cloud in sight. The slight wind blew through nearby trees and prickled her skin, but she didn't seem to notice, or care. She turned to him smiling. “This just might be the coolest thing I have ever done.”

He rolled over on his side and brushed a long strand of blonde hair back from her face then brought her chin toward his and softly kissed her lips. He inched closer to her, grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her hungrily with a need coursing through him; a need that always seemed to find him whenever he was with her. She closed her eyes and moaned as jolts of electricity fired through her. He wasn’t the first boy to ever kiss her like that, but no one had ever been able to make her heart quake and her nerves stand on end the way that he could.

He pulled back and delicately brushed the side of her cheek with the back of his hand and kissed her tenderly on the lips one last time.

“I love you, you know that?” he said and she knew he meant it.

Unable to speak from the building emotions being lodged into her throat, she nodded her head ‘yes.’ Of course she knew.

With his words she was struck for the second time in one day that as long as she was wrapped in his arms, the boy she loved more than anything in the world, all would be right in her little world, no matter what.

She stared up at him with so many emotions coursing through her. She knew with definite certainty that she would never love anyone as much as she loved him, not now or ever.

The next day at school Katie hurried into Spanish class and sat in the desk beside Daniel before anyone else could.

“Hey Daniel,” she whispered.

“Hey right back at ya,” he said without even looking at her, too focused on whatever it was he was writing.

“I was wondering, you still work at the Dairy Freeze don’t you?”

This got his attention. He looked at her curiously. “Yeah, why?”

“Would y’all happen to be hiring?”

Mrs. Ruiz, the Spanish teacher, walked through their row of desks causing them both to jerk up straight.

“Good morning, class. I expect you to be in your seats with your mouths closed and listening to me only, because from here on out every word spoken in my class will be spoken in Spanish. Comprende?” She was a known stickler for order once her class began, but it didn’t deter Katie.

When she was gone, Daniel leaned over and whispered, “I’m not sure if we are or not. I can talk to my manager today when I go in.”

She smiled and nodded her head.

He sat up straight and thought about it for a minute. “Hey, if you want, you can give me your phone number and I’ll call you or have him call you.”

“Thank you. That’ll be great,” she said and wrote her number down on a piece of paper then handed it to him. She sat up in her desk, smiling, and feeling hopeful.

Daniel was true to his word and talked to his manager, Chris, as soon as he got to work and called Katie with the news right away.

“Hi, can I speak to Katie?” he asked into the phone.

After a little pause Katie’s throaty voice floated over the line. “Hello?”

“Hey Katie, it’s Daniel.”

“Hey Daniel, what’s up?”

“I just talked to my manager and he asked if you could come in for an interview?”

“Seriously?”

“As a heart attack.”

“Of course I can. When?”

“Umm, is now too soon?” he asked with a nervous chuckle because if dating Marissa Lou taught him anything, it was that girls took a long time to get ready for anything.

“Now!”Katie asked panicked. “Let me freshen up a bit. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Awesome, I’ll let him know.”

“K’,bye.”

“Bye.”

Katie, having changed into a comfy pair of cotton shorts and a tank top when she got home from school, quickly changed into a pair of black pants like she’d seen other employees at the Dairy Freeze wear, and a solid white t-shirt, and hurried out the door.

The Dairy Freeze was a few miles away from her house in the middle of town. It was a popular hangout for teenagers. Any day, especially on the weekend, you could find the parking lot full of cars and teenagers mingling in groups. Leave it to a little town like Bayboro to have such an old time hangout spot be popular. She was sure if she asked her parents they would say they went there as kids as well. The thought made her groan. Country life was the perfect way to grow up, but she wanted bigger and better things; tall buildings, bustling sidewalks. She was a country girl at heart, but her soul craved the city life. So much so, all the colleges she had on her list to apply for this year were in big cities. This job would help with that dream.

When she reached the parking lot, she parked in the lot beside it. It was designated for the bank, but it was closed at that time of day so no one ever said anything when people did it. She waved to a few people she knew while hurrying inside.

She spotted Daniel at the counter immediately and rushed up to him. “Heya, Daniel. I hope I’m not too late. I tried to hurry and…”

He held up a hand. “Woo, hold up. It’s okay.”

“Oh good. I really need this job and would hate to screw it up before I even get a chance to call it mine,” she rambled on with hyper, nervous energy.

“Again, relax, you’re fine.”

She smiled at him nervously and took a deep breath to calm her racing nerves.

“You good now?” he asked, watching her amused.

She shook her head ‘yes’ and gave him a thumbs up and a wide cheesy smile.

“Okay, good. I’ll let Chris know you’re here.”

“Thanks,” she said and turned around to see who all was there. It seemed like everyone from school was outside in the parking lot, surprisingly, including Becca. As if reading her mind, which was completely possible with Becca because let’s face it, anything was possible with her, she turned in Katie’s direction, smiled big and waved. She waved back before turning around toward the register just in time to watch Daniel and his manager, whom she assumed was Chris, reemerge.

“Hey, Katie?”

“Yes,” she said nervously.

“I’m Chris. It’s nice to meet you,” he said holding his hand out for her to shake, which she did. “Come on, let’s go over there to talk where it is quieter.”

“Okay,” she said and when Chris turned to walk away she quickly turned to Daniel with a panicked look on her face.

“You’ll do fine,” he mouthed encouragingly.

She nodded and turned around to follow Chris to a corner booth, far enough away from the chatty kids, even though most people normally opted to hang outside in the parking lot rather than inside.

“So, Katie, Daniel tells me you are looking for a job,” he said as soon as he sat down.

“Yes, sir.”

Chris laughed and instantly she felt offended. “Please, just call me Chris. I’m too young to be a sir.”

She quietly nodded her head. He did look young, maybe in his early twenties.

“Have you ever worked before?”

“No, I’m in high school and that has kept me pretty busy, but I have more free time this year.”

He tapped his ink pen on the note pad in front of him and stared at her curiously.“So what makes you think you could do the job here?”

Katie thought about the question for a minute. “Well, I learn fast and I’m a hard worker.” With confidence she placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. “Besides that, I have gone to school with most of your customers since I was little. I’m one of them. I know what to expect and what they want.”

He stared at her, pondering what she said. “Tell me, Katie, why do you want this job? It’s your senior year of high school. Why not just hang out and have fun with your friends?”

His words stung and broke her confidence. She leaned back in the booth and she looked down at her lap. “Chris, I know I don’t have any experience working and I know I should be having fun and enjoying my last year with my friends, but I really need this job. College is just around the corner and I want to get out. The only way I’ll be able to do that is if I save extra money.” She looked up at him sadly. “Please, I really need this job.”

Chris quietly stared at her for what seemed to her like a lifetime. “I guess it’s your lucky day then because I just so happen to need someone.”

“Oh my God, really?”

He held up a hand like Daniel did when she first got there. “Not so fast. The hours are going to suck and it won’t leave much time for you to see your friends.”

She waved her hand at him. “They all come here anyway. I promise, you won’t be sorry,” she said jumping up out of the booth. She began to walk away but stopped and turned around. “I forgot to ask, when do I start?”

“Enjoy your night tonight. Kiss your childhood good-bye and be here by five tomorrow to start training.”

“I will. Thank you again,” she said and squealed as she rushed up to Daniel, grabbed him by the shirt across the counter, pulled him toward her and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I got the job. Thank you so much for helping me,” she said into his ear before releasing him and rushing out of the restaurant to tell Becca the good news.

“Anytime, Katie,” he said to her disappearing back, a wide smile plastered on his face.