Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole, #3) (21 page)

“No possible way…she’s gonna make it with a slam dunk! She’s far and away the best so seriously, who’s gonna vote against her?” Jillian and I shared a quick look, but MaryAnn hurried on before either of us could answer. “Oh hey, I gotta catch up with Mrs. Kingston and make sure the ballots and everything are taken care of… Pete, I’ll see you in about an hour, Jillian, I’ll see you tonight, okay?” She asked and walked off, leaving me standing there with my girlfriend who didn’t look all that happy to be left standing there with her boyfriend.

“I don’t like this,” Jillian told me as we walked to my truck and I put the boxes inside.

I waited until the doors were shut, we were both buckled in our seats and the engine was running before I started defending myself. “What was I gonna say? Uh, no, I really shouldn’t drive Jillian home and pick her up for Camie’s surprise party because she’s my girlfriend only because I agreed to do things her furtive way and God forbid people actually see us together and get the right idea because if they do I’m totally fucked? Yeah, no, because I’m thinking that’d be a dead giveaway. If not, then she certainly would’ve known something’s goin’ on when I tossed Camie’s cheer skirt in the air with the rest of her shit so I could use both hands to grab you and kiss you, so you’re welcome.”

Her eyes got as wide as saucers when she heard what I would’ve said and done had I not controlled my impulses and done some spur of the moment editing, and then with an amused expression she said, “Uh, that’s not what I meant, you goose, I was talking about this whole party for Camie, but thanks all the same.”

Oh. Well, that has nothing to do with me. Jesus; I think I’ve moved right past becoming paranoid to being full-blown manic.

If this is what Tristan deals with on a day-to-day basis then I think I owe him an apology. Or maybe a new surfboard. I dunno, he deserves something, though, because this sucks. “What don’t you like?”

“What if she
doesn’t
make it, Pete? She’ll be completely mortified and then feel really awful that they already bought her uniform and everything. Plus the party… It just feels like she’s being set up.” Huh. Maybe I’m picking up the paranoia from her.

“Jillian, she’s gonna have to seriously choke and nothing happened today to make her
that
nervous, besides, Kate and Melissa have kept her practically sequestered all day so she wouldn’t even hear about the party, so there’s no pressure there.”

“What about Tristan? He’s been good today so far but he can still get to her, not to mention the other judges, and it’s no secret that he didn’t want her to cheer in the first place.” Then again, she does make a valid point.

“Quit worrying, sabotage isn’t exactly his style.” Not that he hasn’t done it before or is above doing it again. I’m just saying, it’s not “exactly” his style.

“Because you know with one comment or look from him she’ll freeze, and he could very easily sway a few of the judges to vote against her and with his two, that could make it really close.”

“He’ll play fair.” I hope.

“Are you sure?”

I pulled up to her house; I left the truck running so I could make a quick getaway, I took a shallow breath because a deep one would be indicative of preparation, then I looked my keenly perceptive and observant girlfriend in the eyes and lied through my teeth. “Absolutley.”

 
By the time I got back onto campus, though, I was seriously contemplating rounding up the rest of the judges so I could bribe them myself. Then I saw Tristan and Jeff walking towards Camie and Kate and I swore. I also jogged over to join them just in case. Being that he and Jeff are back in the saddle, if Tristan is planning on saying something to intimidate Camie, no way in hell is Jeff gonna do anything except back him up. I don’t know what I was thinking I could’ve done though. Jump on Tristan’s back like a chimpanzee and throw my hand over his mouth while screaming for Camie to flee for the sake of her pom poms?

I missed the pleasantries but caught up to them in time to hear Camie’s question that she hesitantly put forth to Tristan. “Do you get to vote now?”

I pinned him with my eyes and mentally begged him to not say anything to upset her, because honestly, I don’t have a lot of faith in the chimp maneuver.

“Mm-hm,” he answered her while looking at me with what I
swear
was a subversive glint in his eyes, and no I’m
not
being paranoid about this…it was there! Then his expression sobered, he looked at her, gave her a cocky grin and a wink and sincerely said, “You’ll do great.”

I breathed out the breath I was holding while Camie beamed a great big smile at him and said thanks, then she walked away with Kate and before Jeff followed them, he turned and met Tristan’s eyes that were now what you might call shadowed, and then Jeff raised his eyebrows and resignedly said, “The high road it is then.”

You see?!
I
knew
he had something treacherous in mind! Not that I had any kind of Plan B after going ape on his ass and failing miserably at it, but still, I knew it.

“You ready to do this?” I asked him.

“No,” he answered like a spoiled baby, even if it was honestly.

“Are you at least gonna play fair?”

“We’ll see, but I wouldn’t hold your breath again if I were you.”

Aw goddamnit…

Stalking something ~ Tristan

“Hey, what’re you doin’ out here?”

Breathing the same air as Camie.

“Nothin’…just gettin’ some air,” I told Brandon when he showed up Friday night and caught me across the street from MaryAnn’s, leaning against my car and staring at the house and the party that was going on inside.

“Are you comin’ or goin’?” Good question.

“Neither.”

“Huh. So level with me, how much does it bug the fuckin’ shit outta you now that Camie’s a cheerleader?” He asked and leaned against my car and stared at the house with me.

“You have no idea.” And she’s not just “a” cheerleader…she’s one of “my” cheerleaders. Aside from football which all the girls cheer, every Varsity sport has a cheerleader assigned to it who’s responsible for making spirit posters and going to the all the games to show support and other shit like that. Candace was my swim team’s cheerleader so now…I have Camie. And it was within my power to prevent…

But, I didn’t. I also did not, however, cast either of my votes for her. I just couldn’t. Shit, I couldn’t even bring myself to actually watch the tryouts. I have no fuckin’ clue how any of the chicks did. And there were only
three
of them! I simply rocked back in my chair and stared vacantly at the A/C vent on the wall above their heads and had myself a mental concert the likes of which has never before been heard.

Limp Bizkit and Eric Clapton were there, Fuel, Zac Brown Band, Journey…the original with Steve Perry singing…Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd…I really should thank the three deceased members for making the trip, so, thanks guys, you rock…Tim McGraw and Faith Hill made an appearance, and I’m not entirely sure why they showed up, but Abba put in a solid performance of “Dancing Queen.” Oh, and I think I might’ve found a suitable ringtone for Camie when Shinedown hit the stage and rocked the house with “If You Only Knew.” I’m not sure though…Theory of a Deadman’s “Bad Girlfriend” and George Jones with Pattly Loveless’s “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me” are still contenders.

It wasn’t until I had to actually vote that I started to feel like shit. And I can’t believe I actually did it, but I did and I split my two votes up between the other two girls so they cancelled each other out. The only problem—well, not counting not supporting the girl I love, was that one of my votes went to her archenemy, Teresa. Jesus, I’m such a tool. But in my defense, I didn’t even realize that vapid bitch was one of the chicks trying out until after I voted! Yeah yeah, I know, weak defense…I’m still a tool. And you know, somehow someway, I think that might come back to bite me in the ass one day.

“Yeah, I kinda do…except I’m still with my insomnia inducing ball and chain.”

“
Humph.
Yeah, and there’s my point. How’s that goin’?” I guess I’m not the only guy I know who has a hard time sleeping at night because of a girl. Huh. Good to know.

“Eh, you know…you were there,” he answered with a slight edge to his voice that I heard clear as crystal, regardless of my absorption with pretending like I have x-ray vision that allows me to see my baby inside those four stone walls.

I didn’t turn my head but I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and saw that he’d just put his phone in his pocket and was glaring at the house. “No, I really wasn’t, man…three dates. Very preliminary dates at that…nothin’ more.”

“Oh fuck, no…I know that…I just meant you know what she’s like. That was the fourth fuckin’ text of the night asking me where I am. Seriously, dude, it’s gotten so bad that I changed her fuckin’ ringtone when I was at the gas station tonight to Hinder’s ‘Get Stoned.’ You know, don’t get me wrong here, I like that she wants to see me and everything, but Jesus Christ she’s insecure. I mean, how’d you put up with it?”

“I didn’t…thus only three dates.”

Melissa and I just did
not
work. Right from jump she expected one hundred and ten percent of my attention and I flat out couldn’t give it to her. Did I like her? Yeah. Did I find her attractive? Of course. I mean she’s undeniably gorgeous. Did I imagine what she’d be like in bed? You bet your ass I did. Did I wanna spend every single fucking moment of my life with her and be held accountable to her for every goddamned thing I did if I didn’t? Not a solitary fucking chance in hell. So, in my opinion, Brandon hit the nail squarely on the head with his newly applied ringtone, and I’m sure if Melissa and I had gone out longer, I would’ve been hearing Hinder constantly too.

I’m just glad I picked up on it as early as I did. I even put her through a little test to see if my initial appraisal of her personality was right. She failed it miserably and proved I was spot on. It probably wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but I was kind of in a shitty mood that night and Mia was there and had already offered anyway, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone. I let Melissa see me with Mia and then I let Mia cheer me up. We had sex a couple times and then she took me out for ice cream…I had chocolate peanut butter. It was pretty good. Anyway, I asked Melissa out the next weekend and when she got all possessive like she had something to prove and I was a trophy of some kind, the fact that we would never work became even more glaring. Because in all seriousness, I pictured it like I had with every single other girl I’d ever gone out with or been interested in and discovered I couldn’t have cared
less
if she’d even banged some other guy right in front of me…the chemistry just wasn’t there.

“Oh, yeah, but I meant Camie…how’d you put up with Camie’s bullshit?”

“What bullshit?” Honestly, his question caught me off guard. I don’t really think I put up with a whole hell of a lot with her. I think she did more putting up with bullshit than I did.

“Well, it’s obvious to me you still have a pretty serious thing for her so don’t take this the wrong way, but she’s kinda whiny and needy. Because believe me, I’ve been with Melissa longer than I’ve been with any other chick now and I’m tellin’ ya, I know from needy and insecure,” I was shaking my head as I thought back over the last couple of months and I gotta say, I was comin’ up with a big bunch of nothin’ that really bugged me about Camie’s personality. I mean there was her massive fear of touching my rod in any way and her lack of initiating anything physical that got to me after a while, and there were a couple specific incidents that really fucking pissed me off, but once we talked ‘em out and I understood where she was coming from, we were cool. “You don’t see it, do you?”

“Uh-uh, I guess not.” I guess since she was up front with me in the very beginning about her inexperience I knew I was gonna be dealing with a little insecurity, which was completely understandable and fine, but really, I never felt like she was demanding of me or my time. If anything, I was the one who soldered myself to her like a fucking piece of sheet metal and when we were together, we were both genuinely just happy to spend time with each other.

“But you broke up with her…”

I like Brandon, I do. He’s a lot like me in certain ways, and plus, I trust him. He comes off as being insensitive and kind of a prick, and he sort of is in some ways I guess, but he’s also sharp. I picked up on that when we were at the desert and he asked me why I wouldn’t try persuading Camie to pitch something I could hit out of the ball park. She took it as him being an asshole who doesn’t see anything wrong with manipulating girls to get them in the sack, but that’s not what he meant. He was evaluating me and my character. So knowing that was what he was doing, I gave him honesty and after reading between the lines, he identified with and approved of what my answer told him about me. And I know he wasn’t prying tonight either. He was just trying to be a friend and wrap his head around all this shit at the same time, because I think, although I’m failing to see them, he’s finding some similarities in our relationships with our respective cheerleaders.

Fuck
.

My girlfriend is a cheerleader. I feel like crying again…

“Brandon man, I trust you and I think you know how to keep your mouth shut when it matters so, I’ll let you in on a very little known secret…I didn’t actually break up with her…sooo,
technically
, she’s still my girlfriend,” I admitted and glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes again.

He took a moment and then nodded his head in acceptance. “Huh. So why are you standing out here instead of being inside with her?”

He handled that pretty well; so let’s see…how can I put this?

“You ever love something so much that it caused you physical pain when it’s gone?”

“Yeah, actually, I have,” he answered automatically and subconsciously rubbed at the tattoo on his neck.

Hm…
“Melissa?”
Personally I don’t see it, but hey, to each his own…

He laughed and then floored me. “Nah, dude…my mom. My dad didn’t treat her right and she felt trapped. Plus, she really didn’t like bein’ a mom, but, she was good at it, you know? At least I remember her being good at it, and most of the pictures I have agree. But then one day she decided she was done pretending to be someone she wasn’t and wanted a life that she chose for herself so, she flew the coop, so to speak. She left my brothers and me each a note telling us it wasn’t our fault and that she did love us but she never wanted to be a mother and couldn’t do it anymore. She told us that no one else is responsible for our happiness but us and to go after our dreams and follow our hearts no matter what…so, I try to do that. But I know that’s not what you were gettin’ at so you wanna try again?”