Page 98 of My Life with the Walter Boys
Alex wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“I’m fine,” I told him, resting my head on his shoulder. “It’s one of those nice memories. You know, the kind that makes you sad but you smile at the same time?”
I could almost picture my family gliding across the patch of dried-up grass as I stared out at the meadow, and the memory was so captivating that it took me a minute to realize that Alex hadn’t answered me. When I turned to look at him, I found that his eyes were already locked on me.
The first time Alex kissed me, it was so unexpected that it made my stomach jump in excitement. At the time, I hadn’t known what to think because there was so much adrenaline soaring through me. This time as his eyes fluttered closed and he leaned in, I knew what was about to happen and I could feel the steady beat of my heart.
Everything about the way he kissed reminded me specifically of him. First it was a slow, barely there kiss, so if I rejected him he could pull away and pretend it never happened. But then, when he realized that I was in fact kissing him back, it was excited and sporadic. His hands never stayed in one spot. First they would be in my hair, then grasping my arms, and finally moving to my waist before the whole procedure would start over again. It was a little wet, but I didn’t think it was slobbery enough to call it sloppy. At the same time, I didn’t have much to compare it to, so for all I knew, Alex could have been a great kisser.
As weird as it sounded, he reminded me of a puppy. Puppies are good, right? Everyone likes puppies. And just like a dog, he had boundless make-out energy. I needed a breath, to stop and surface, but Alex was pushing me down onto the picnic table.
Just as I was running out of air, a car horn honked from out in the rain and Alex quickly jumped back. Standing up, I tugged down my shirt, which had ridden up while we were kissing, and smoothed out the wrinkles. Alex shot me a cheeky grin before grabbing my hand and pulling me to the edge of the pavilion.
“We can finish this later,” he whispered before stepping out into the rain to grab his bike.
To shield myself from the downpour, I lifted my arms over my head and sprinted to the truck. When I reached the passenger-side door, I yanked on the handle, but it was locked.
“Open up!” I shouted over the rain, pounding my fist against the window. It was coming down so heavily now that I couldn’t even see who was inside. I heard the distinct click of the lock and threw myself into the truck a second later. “God, it’s nasty out there,” I said, patting down my hair. My shirt clung to my skin, and I could feel the crumbs of someone’s morning Pop-Tart sticking to the back of my leg as I sat back.
Nobody answered, and I turned in my seat to find Cole behind the wheel. He was glaring out the windshield so fiercely that I was afraid he would burn a hole through the glass and the storm outside would pour in.
“You okay?” I asked, but there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. When he said nothing, I knew he had seen Alex and me making out.
I waited in awkward silence as Alex threw his bike in the bed of the truck. The air-conditioning hummed softly, drying my damp skin and leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. I could feel the anger pouring off Cole, so I forced myself to concentrate on the radio, repeating the string of lyrics in my head. But he was impossible to ignore, and I found myself wishing I had sat in the backseat. Finally, after three uncomfortable verses, Alex climbed in the back and Cole stepped on the gas, reversing down the gravel path at full speed.
“Whoa!” Alex shouted as he was thrown backward before being able to buckle his seat belt or even breathe. The truck took a sharp left, back onto the main road, and Alex was thrown into the window. “What the hell?”
“Cole, slow down,” I said quietly.
He narrowed his eyes at his brother in the rearview mirror but let up.
The rest of the ride home was completely silent, and an uncomfortable tension filled the small, confined space. It didn’t help when a love song started to trickle out from the radio, its melody sickly sweet. Thirty seconds into the cheesy lyrics, I leaned over and switched it off. Alex heaved a sigh of relief.
When we pulled into the Walters’ driveway, Cole parked at the bottom of the hill. I turned to give him a puzzled look as he yanked the key from the ignition. We were going to get soaked walking all the way up to the house. Why wasn’t he parking in the usual spot underneath the basketball hoop? Cole answered my unasked question by pulling out an umbrella and getting out of the truck. He slammed the door shut, and Alex and I sat in shocked silence, watching him make his way toward the house.
“What’s his problem?” Alex demanded.
Frowning, I told Alex what I had feared since leaving the ice-skating rink. “I think he might have seen us.”
Alex shook his head. “Jackie, I can barely see out the window right now with the rain coming down so hard. How could he possibly have seen us?”
I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing how to answer his question. Even if Cole hadn’t caught us, he was definitely mad about something.
“So what do we do now? I can call my mom again and ask for someone to bring us an umbrella,” he suggested.
I shook my head no. “I’d prefer not to give Cole that satisfaction. It’s only water and we’re halfway wet already. Besides, you still smell. A shower would do you good.”
“But my cell phone.”
“Just leave it in the truck,” I said, opening the door. “You’re not going to die without it.”
As we walked up the driveway toward the house, the rain let up. Giggles filled the air as we approached the front porch, and I looked up to find most of the Walter boys sitting under its shelter.
“What are they doing?” I asked Alex.
“Watching for a thunderstorm,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever sat outside during one? It’s really peaceful.”
“I lived on the top floor of an apartment building,” I told him as water squished inside my flats. I should have taken them off before getting out of the car, since they were ruined for sure, but the gravel on the driveway was sharp and I didn’t want to cut my feet.
