Lingering Touch - A Story of Young Love (7 page)

"Take a seat. Your teacher is sick or something, I don't know. I'm your sub, Mr. Johnson. Open your books to page 102 and copy the questions, and do them. Don't bother me. You," he jabs his finger at some poor kid near the front, "take roll on this and take it to the office." He handed the kid a clipboard and swiveled in his chair to face away from the class, opening a magazine that I really hope wasn't what I think it was.

The class went silent for a moment, and then we all started talking. Some of the nerdy people started copying questions in their books, but most of us ignored that completely. In fact, I'm pretty sure we did all of those problems yesterday.

"Where are we going on Friday?" Trevor turned and asked me. He stood up and sat on his desk, facing me, and leaned forward to put his face in his hands.

I pulled out my iPod, unraveling the earphones to give myself something to do while I tried to think of an answer. Where
were
we going?

"Not sure exactly, I was thinking Copper Steer, what do you think?" Copper Steer Steakhouse was one of the fancier places in town, and the shrimp was to die for.

"Never heard of it, is it good?"

"Well, it has four stars, and the steak is pretty good. It's not so bad, and if all else fails we can go to the kissing rock and have some real fun," I winked at him.

"Not bloody likely," he attempted a British accent, and failed miserably.

"Eh, keep to the Yorkie accent, it fits you better," I said, trying not to laugh too loud. He made a face and crossed his arms. Then he smiled and leaned forward again.

We talked some about the restaurant, and he finally agreed to let me drag him to the mall to get a new outfit. Then we made fun of the sub and laugh about all the annoying people in the class. Too soon the class is over and we parted ways.

After school I got a text, all it says was
Sure
. It's from Austin, great! Now I could actually go on this date with Trevor. I texted him back the details, and told him just to meet us there because I didn't know where he lives and he didn't know where I live. I drove home singing along to Red Hot Chili Peppers, smiling to myself because tomorrow Friday.

I told Casey at school on Friday that we're going to Copper Steer and that I would be picking her and Trevor up because my car is the coolest. She shook her head at my strange car obsession, but agreed to let me pick them up. She looked extra pretty today. Huh.
I wonder why
.

Trevor hopped in my car after school wearing his hat. We got to my house first and I tossed my bag into my room. Trevor followed me into my dad's room where I tracked down a credit card in his sock drawer and we got back in the car.

"Won't your dad notice that's gone?" He asked once we were on the road. I realized he hadn't said a thing since we got in the car after school.

"Nah, he never notices things like that. Half the time he's too drunk to even remember my name. Don't worry about it," I said nonchalantly to hide the bitterness in my voice.

He didn't reply, he just took one more nervous glance at my purse and turned to look straight forward. He still didn't say anything when we got to the mall, and he just shrugged when I asked him where he thought we should go first. What was up with him?

We went into Hollister first, and the cute guy working there tells us we're a cute couple, which made me suddenly very grateful it's so dark in there, because my face was probably bright red. Trevor looked so uncomfortable I decided we better find something quick and get out of there. We found him some dark jeans with subtle designs on the pockets, which he didn't even comment on. Then we got him a cute dark gray button down shirt with the little logo on the front pocket. It was a really stylish outfit, and I was pretty freaking proud of myself for finding it in the dark in less than half an hour.

I bought the clothes and told him I had enough clothes to last me the night, so we started towards the exit. It was astounding, really, because we didn't even stop at Macy's or Bath and Body Works or even Buckle, which are my all time favorite stores that I
always
go to. But then, we couldn't just go to one store. That almost defeats the whole purpose of coming to the mall in the first place. So we made a stop at Cold Stone and I got us some ice cream. I got a coconut mango with gummy bears mixed in, Trevor just got plain vanilla.

"Ok, what is up with you?" I asked when his barely touched ice cream dripped on his pants.

"Me? Oh, nothing…"

"Well, obviously something's wrong, you haven't even touched your ice cream." He picked up his spoon and played with his ice cream. "Hey, we still got a while before we have to pick up Casey. Let's do something? There's laser tag on Main, wanna go?"

He actually glanced up from looking sullenly at his ice cream. I took that as confirmation, and I drove us to the little place on the corner. It's one of those cool glow-in-the-dark laser tag places, but I still had to drag Trevor out of the car and take his ice cream from his hand and throw it away. But once we were inside, he started acting like himself again, flirting a little (or a lot) with the girl working the counter, and tapping his foot anxiously while we waited for the group in there to finish up.

Finally we were let in to the darkened room to collect our gear. The room was eerily silent because it was just Trevor and me. We stalked into the black room on opposite sides, and the game began. I sneaked around corners, lurking in windows and checking for Trevor, the place was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then I heard a wild battle cry and Trevor leapt from the shadows making me scream bloody murder. He would shoot me right in the heart, and then disappear again. It continued like this for a while, until someone on the intercom beeped in and asked if it would be okay if another group joined us, making me jump ten feet in the air. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to give away my location, but apparently Trevor had the same idea. I called yes to the ceiling, figuring they'd probably hear me, and soon two loud groups crashed through the doors, and Trevor poked my shoulder from behind.

"We're on the same team now," he gestured to our matching vests. We spent the rest of the time in there back to back, taking down each person in the other groups, one by one and laughing the whole time.

Chapter 6 - First Kiss

"You guys are late!" Casey shouted from the door and stalked out to my car. She was wearing a flashy little white dress with hot pink pumps. She glanced between Trevor and me, taking in both of our sweaty clothes and messed up hair.

"It's only 7:30, chill." Trevor said, getting out and opening the door for her.

She smiled in spite of herself and stepped gingerly in. Trevor scooted in next to her and threw an arm over her shoulder. Ugh I felt like some lame chauffeur, but at least they weren't kissing or anything. We arrived at the restaurant and found Austin waiting outside, pulling out his phone and checking the time.

"Hey, sorry we're late. I'm glad you waited, shall we?" I breathed and linked my arm with his.

He laughed and put his arm around me in one of those awkward half hugs, only it wasn't awkward with him because he was just… Austin. "You're just as beautiful as I remember. I'm surprised it took you so long to break up with that jerk." He pulled away and took my hand easily.

We walked in and I gave the waiter my name. Of course I made reservations, because waiting around to get a table would be so super boring and awkward. Besides, sometimes this place is so packed you have to wait hours to get a spot.

Our booth was tucked away in a corner of the restaurant, giving us the illusion of privacy without completely exiling us. Austin and Trevor stood aside to let Casey and me in first, watching each other warily. For a terribly awkward moment we all just sat there silently, not making eye contact with anyone. This was not what I had in mind.

"OMG, what is that, Trevor?!" Casey suddenly exclaimed, making us all jump. She was pointing to Trevor's arm.

"Oh, uh, yeah, that – that's uh, nothing," Trevor stammers, blushing and pulling his arm under the table quickly. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out at him. After we won at laser tag, Trevor flirted with the counter girl more, and she, thinking she had a chance, wrote her number on his arm and covered it in hearts. On the way to Casey's house Trevor had tried to smear the hearts with his spit, and ended up with black blotches everywhere.

"Obviously." She spat and glared at me.

I held my hands up in surrender, confused at her hostility. "Whoa, Casey, we were just having a little fun, is all."

"Yeah, I can tell. If you two just wanted to
'
have a little fun' why did you invite me and Austin anyway?" She stopped glaring at me for a moment to bat her lashes and smile sweetly at Austin, to which he grinned goofily back, oblivious to her attempt to be flirty.

What? Oh, duh! I had to physically stop myself from slapping my forehead. Of course Casey assumed Trevor and I were… doing something. We show up half an hour late to her house all hot and sweaty and a random number written on Trevor's arm, and then I tell her we were "having a little fun," I am an
idiot
! "No, Casey, it isn't like that. Trevor and I are just friends, trust me. He really wanted to go out with you tonight, and I wanted to go out with Austin, he was just nervous is all. We did laser tag, that's
all
."

Casey looked confused for a moment, but then smiled and laughed, throwing her head back. On any other girl, that would have looked really weird, but somehow she pulled it off as cute, even if it was a little overdone.

She grabbed Trevor's arm and pulled him right up next to her. Her eyes got huge and innocent-looking and she looked into his eyes. "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to blow up, I just really like you."

"Oh, well that's fine because I'm starting to like you more and more." He smiled back at her. I glanced away, praying he didn't see the hurt that flashed across my features.

The waitress showed up then, saving us from any further awkwardness. "Hi, I'm Sandy, and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get for you today, sir?" She smiled flirtatiously at Austin and from the way she said server, I'd say she was willing to be a lot more for him
. So much for saving us
.

"Hi, I'll take the grilled shrimp." I said, taking Austin's hand and pulling him closer to me. He turned and grinned at me, smiling stupidly.

"Yeah me too," he mumbled without even looking in dejected-looking waitress's direction and wrapped his arms around me. I smiled and leaned close to his face, willing him to take the hint. For a minute he just smiled back, then a greedy glint took over his eyes. I don't think he realized that I was asking him to kiss me, and by the mischievous way his lips curled up, I don't think he realized I knew what he was going to do, so I played along and sighed dreamily at him.

We were so close to each other already that when my lips moved to breath, they brushed against his slightly, and that totally set him off. He closed the distance between us and sealed it with a big, wet kiss.

Ha! Take that, waitress lady!

Normally this was just whatever, just something to get at the obnoxious man-stealing waitress. A kiss is just a kiss, right? But holy crap, Austin was a good kisser! I almost forgot where I was, I was so distracted by his lips and the taste of mint lingering on them. But then my subconscious heard Trevor and Casey declare their orders, then someone cleared their throat loudly and we broke apart, panting and grinning at each other.

"I said, what would you like to drink?" The waitress now just looked irritated. Austin told her he wanted a coke, and I asked for a water with lemon.

Once she was out of earshot I cracked up. Casey looked like she was missing something and Trevor looked a little pissed, but before too long he smiled and laughed along with us, even if it sounded a little forced.

"Okay, what is so funny?" Casey demanded, Austin just smiled at me and took my hand under the table.

"Did you not see what just happened?" Trevor asked.

"Yeah, I saw Austin and Ariana randomly start sucking faces, what's so funny about that?"

"No, did you see the waitress? She was totally pissed! I bet she's wondering right now how good of a kisser Austin is," I mused, "I mean, I could tell her he's freaking fantastic, but I don't think she really wants to hear that from me." Austin laughed at the praise, and squeezed my hand. He wasn't super bright, but I was starting to like him.

Casey finally got it and started laughing with us, smiling obnoxiously big and rubbing against Trevor. Was it a bad idea to set these two up? My nauseated stomach obviously thought so. I quickly changed the subject.

When the food arrived we all ate happily and made small talk. Thankfully, it wasn't awkward at all, it was like we'd all been best friends forever. Afterwards I dropped Casey off and it was just Trevor and me in the car, driving around aimlessly. It was still early, and I didn't want to be home alone, so I purposely took a long time getting him home.

"You know, we still have time to go to the kissing rock," Trevor grinned at me mischievously and did his trademark eyebrow thing. I shrugged and turned the car around, trying to hide my smirk. I wondered what he'd do when he thought I was taking him seriously. His face froze mid-laugh and he looked shocked, then a little bit nervous, and did he look pleased? But his face turned neutral before I could tell for sure.

I laughed out loud at his reaction and told him I'm joking, "That wouldn't be fair to Casey, now would it?" I giggled, and then turned thoughtful. "How do you like Casey, anyway?"

He hesitated for a moment, rubbing his arm thoughtfully. "She's… cool. I thought she'd just be a stereotype cheerleader chick, like your friend Alyssa." He winked playfully, which I took as 'no offense'. "But she's actually pretty cool, and she's nice and kinda funny. I'd be ok going out with her again." He bit his lip and glanced in the rearview mirror.