Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole, #3) (38 page)

As the five of us walked over to Tristan and Camie, I was speechless.

Gina is, or,
was
one of Mia’s friends in college before they had a major falling out which was related to Gary, and Tristan
never
liked her and I knew she and Gary weren’t necessarily livin’ the dream…I mean, Gina, who’s like six years younger than he is for one thing, seriously went after Gary and she got pregnant on the sly to trap him, from what Wayne had said anyway, and they agreed to get married shortly after Joey was born, but once he was and she got what she wanted, Gina didn’t stop being the party girl. I never realized the extent of it though or that Gary was actually unhappy. Every time I ever saw them, they looked like an honest to God happy little family. How a person could trap another into marriage by getting pregnant, I don’t get, but how a
mother
could put her child’s life in jeopardy and do drugs right in front of him like that?

I just don’t have the words…

And looking at my best friend subconsciously swaying gently from side to side with Joey’s head on his shoulder as Tristan soothed and comforted him by rubbing his back, I realized I also don’t have the words to describe the overwhelming bleakness I feel when I think about my best friend’s future life. I know in my heart it’ll be a horrific mistake if Tristan goes through with that vasectomy. Leaving his parents and whoever he ends up with out of it, he’ll be robbing himself of something I believe his life will be incomplete without. He’ll live a barren existence. And it’s not that I think there’re a lot of guys our age who walk around knowing what they’re meant to do with their lives, or are already thinking about starting a family like I am or anything like that, but similar to so many other aspects of life, it was apparent early on that Tristan has a natural gift with children, plus, he truly does love them. I mean, if you look at him with a one-year-old in his arms like this, like it’s the most natural thing in the world and the inner peace he exhibits, and then try to picture him without one, you can’t do it. I mean you completely and utterly fail. Seeing him like this, you
know
he should be a father. Plain and simple.

However, Pete is right. It’s not my life and he’ll do it anyway. True, it would be easy to tell Tristan’s parents what he’s planning and let them handle it. I could do it tonight as a matter of fact. They’re on their way over to him and Camie like I am and all I’d have to do is pull his dad aside and let him know I needed to talk to him in private. Stan would think it would be in regard to my personal grief and it would suck to blindside him, but I could do it. The only thing that would accomplish though is that my friendship with Tristan would dissolve into nothing more than bitter resentment…and uh, hello, been there, done that, even got the fuckin’ t-shirt…because ultimately and even though they’ll most likely be crushed and probably even blame themselves for his decision, his parents won’t be able to stop him. So, with my hands being tied the way they are, my only hope is that he’ll realize what I’ve known for years before it’s too late, or, that he’ll chicken out.

I know, right? Fat chance…

We walked up just as Tristan’s mom asked why they hadn’t seen Camie at the house lately and before it had a chance to get even a little awkward, Tristan replied with, “Because the handbook says I’m a d-i-c-k and she’s mad at me.” Then he stuck his tongue out at Camie who just rolled her eyes and giggled at him.

“Bacon, Son, try bacon,” Stan told him and winked at Camie.

“Yeah, don’t think bacon’s gonna cut it this time, Dad, but thanks.”

“I don’t know about that…I really heart me some bacon,” Camie said somewhat seriously and beamed a smile at Tristan’s dad who winked at her again in return.

“Hi all, sorry to barge in here,” Gary said and reached for Joey. “C’mon, little man, Daddy’s gotta go to work…”

Joey pulled away from his dad and clinging to Tristan like a drowning man would cling to a life preserver, he said, “Noooo my go tootoo, Dada…my wan stay wif Twisan ‘n Belle!”

“No, you can’t, buddy…c’mon, let go,” Gary said and tried to pry Joey’s little hands apart without hurting him.

“Gary man, why don’t you let me keep him tonight…he’s had a rough evening as it is and you know he won’t sleep for s-h-i-t at the shop,” Tristan offered.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Well, I’d really appreciate it, but I don’t wanna take advantage or ruin your plans…”

“Don’t worry about it…with all you did earlier today, keepin’ your kid for a night on short notice is nothin’. Besides, all I had planned was goin’ home and goin’ to bed which I can still do with Joey, the only difference will be that I won’t be alone when I do it,” Tristan said and directed a look at Camie whose answering eye-roll and lip quirk implied she understood what he was telling her.

“Well, okay then.”

“My gun sweep wif Twisan ‘n Belle?!”

“Uh Joey, buddy, you’re gonna have a sleepover with just me, okay?”

“No Belle?” Joey asked with a frown and the beginnings of what looked like would end up being some monster crocodile tears.

“Mm-mm,” Tristan answered quietly, shaking his head. “Belle doesn’t sleep at my house.”

“Um, who’s Belle?” Sasha asked, looking baffled. She’s really not very bright…

“I am,” Camie answered with a laugh, “But um, if it’ll make things
easier
,” she said, with “easier” meaning if it’ll keep Joey from throwing a tantrum the scope and scale of Napoleon’s Waterloo, “I can hang out with you guys until bedtime. Only, Jillian and I swapped nights off so she can go to the movies with Melissa and a bunch of other people, so you’d have to come to my house…”

“My wan go Belle’s house!” Joey clapped and bounced and practically bounced himself out of Tristan’s arms and into Bel—I mean Camie’s.

I don’t know about the rest of the people standing there, but I suddenly felt like a voyeur again. It wasn’t that the looks passing between them were erotic or sexual in nature at all; they weren’t; it was more that they were communicating, telling each other how much they’ve missed this. Missed being them and just spending time together.

Grinning at his son’s spectacular manipulation of two people who want to be together but apparently need an excuse to be, Gary said, “Sounds like a plan. Belle’s got the kid so you get this…” Then draping a diaper bag on Tristan’s bare shoulder Gary continued, “And I have a pack-n-play in my truck with some toys…oh and you’ll need his car seat.”

“Oh, right. Okay, well I gotta throw a shirt on and grab some stuff from backstage, so I’ll just meet you at my car…”

As he turned to go backstage, Tristan’s mom called out, “Please tell me all that isn’t real…”

He turned back around, looking confused and not understanding for a second but when she pointed, he looked down at the huge Batman tattoo on his chest, somehow looking completely normal being shirtless, tattooed and weighed down with a bag full of Pampers hanging over his shoulder like a purse by the way, and then turning back around, he answered over his shoulder, “She straight up called me a chicken and dared me, Mom, what else was I gonna do?”

His mom looked at Camie and me and asked, “They’re not real, right?”

I was shaking my head but Camie answered by saying, “Just the important one.”

“So, um, why are you Belle? Is that your middle name or something?” Sasha asked Camie. Everyone aside from the two of them was rolling their eyes.

“No,” Camie chuckled, swaying with Joey. “He thought I was
the
Belle from Beauty and the Beast but when we told him my real name's Cameron, he couldn’t pronounce it and he doesn’t wanna call me Camie, so, now I’m Belle.”

“Oh. That’s really sweet,” Sasha said and tried to smile at Joey who frowned, grunted, and turned his head away from her with a jerk.

“Oh Stan…I—I think I just remembered something. We need to go home,” Tristan’s mom said out of blue, looking at Camie and Joey.

“But, date night!” Tristan’s dad whined.

“Just a pit-stop, we’ll still have our date…I just want to check something. Besides, you’re not getting out of the symphony that easy,” she told him as she dug in her purse and he pulled out his keys from his pocket.

“Oooh. Forgot it was a symphony date…damn.”

“Camie dear, I promised your parents we’d take pictures, here’s the memory card. Tell our son we love him and if we don’t see him tomorrow, we’ll see him sometime next week. Oh! You all were wonderful tonight,” Trinity said as she and Stan left us, arguing about whether it really is a symphony night or not as well as what time the flight they’re taking this weekend is.

When Tristan came back and collected Camie and Joey, we were all sorta standing around still, watching them as they left, when Zack said a version of what we were all thinking, “Wow...look at ‘em. You know, it’s hard to believe they broke up…er, that they’re not really together, or I mean that she—
ugh
, you know what I mean...”

“Um, Belle and Tristan broke up? When did that happen?” Sasha asked, causing all of us, including her dim-witted boyfriend, to look at her in incredulous disbelief.

I told you. Nice, but dumber than a box of sticks…

A victory is declared and the spoils of war awarded ~ Tristan

“Twisan, you kiss Belle?” Joey asked me in his sleepy little voice and yawning as I tucked him into his pack-n-play I’d just finished setting up in my room.

“Mm-hm, I did,” I whispered and pulled the blanket over him and his stuffed elephant as he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

I stood there, watching his chest steadily rising and falling, and silently gloried in the feel of her lips on mine. As if mine believed they were still intertwined with hers, wholly reluctant to let the sensation fade into memory even a little.

It happened when I was leaving her house, more than thirty minutes ago. We’d spent a perfect night together, playing with Joey and with each other. I didn’t even mind that she whooped my ass in every Duck Hunt and Mario Cart game we played on the Wii. And I didn’t “let” her win either. She won every round fair and square, even when it was her turn to let Joey “drive.” Okay, so maybe I was distracted by watching her with him on her lap, helping him steer and push the buttons and laughing every time their King Boo car plowed into a cow. The fact remains, she’s got some mad Wii skills…

I sighed and climbed into my empty bed, feeling the cold sheets begin to heat as I pulled them tighter around me and got comfy with my pillow.

Being there tonight, being back in her house with her and being the “us” I’ve missed so much, wasn’t something I’d planned to win in tonight’s war, nor was it something she’d thought was up for grabs either, but, when it was time to go and I was standing under the awning of her porch holding a drowsy Joey, I couldn’t help but claim the prize that was offered.

We’d cleaned up the mess of toddler paraphernalia and every time I was almost out the door, she’d find something we’d forgotten and I’d stand there while she shoved whatever it was into the diaper bag…

“Is that it? I really gotta get him to bed,” I told her and then finally made it outside.

“Let me just take one last quick look around…” Camie said and then she darted back into the house, reappearing seconds later with Joey’s sippy cup. “You know, Tristan, it’s really not all that cold out…I mean, he’s a baby, not an Eskimo,” she giggled at me.

I frowned and looked at Joey whom I’d bundled up all tight and snug and then I started to laugh with her when I realized only his nose and mouth were visible in the cocoon I’d created. Yeah alright, so I might’ve overdone it with the bundling, but I didn’t want him to catch a cold or anything! And so what if the temperature was probably in the mid-seventies? It was nighttime and it’s February! Plus, the wind was kicking up… Anyway, I was still chuckling when she pulled the blanket down so she could kiss Joey on the head, gently smoothing his hair afterwards, but when she lifted her face to mine and our eyes met, I felt myself falling. I didn’t even try to pull the chute. I just stared into her eyes and let myself free-fall through the heavens.

I bent my head to her and when she raised herself on her tiptoes, our lips met. Soft, warm, and
right.
And just like every other time we’ve come together, every sound faded until there was nothing but us and our shared breath, and like eagles under a setting summer sun, we were buoyed as we flew and circled on the exhilarating updraft of wind and warmth. We didn’t kiss with reckless abandon though; I wouldn’t even say there was very much of our telltale electricity in that kiss, if anything it was just tender and simple. But, it
was
full of promises for another time. It was like our lips were saying, “It’s been far too long, but, later. This…we’ll definitely do this again, just, later… We promise. Yeah, we promise we will.”

“Jesus, Camie, I miss you…” I whispered across her lips, mine burning impatiently for that later to be now. For my lips to keep their promise to hers right this very second.

She brushed her lips ever so lightly across mine once more and breathed a single word. Then, our flight over, we came back to earth. Our blended breath untangled and sounds became distinguishable again when she stepped back and with one last, lingering look, she went inside and closed the door.

I closed my eyes and cuddled my pillow, thinking about that word.

“Good.”
That’s what she’d said. And I know what she meant; that I
should
miss her, but, lying in my bed, listening to the quiet sounds of Joey sleeping and still tasting her on my lips, if I only had breath for just one word tonight, I’d say…

…Perfect.

Seventeen
 

Saturday, Week Three

Our way and our girl ~ Jeff

“Jesus, what is with this wind?” I asked no one in particular as the swim team and I were blasted with a typhoon-strength gust when we walked out of the locker room on our way to the pool. Okay, so maybe not a full-fledged typhoon, but it’s some pretty strong-ass wind. Plus, the air is really warm, like the winds during a Santa Ana, even though we usually only get those during the fall.