Discovering April (22 page)

“Aw, you guys make me want to puke. Then eat it, only to puke it up again!” Mack announces.

“Mack, it’s okay… it never would have worked between us!” I over-dramatically blow him a kiss.

The laughter rises up again as Eric makes his way back to his seat. Stacey pats his arm and he smiles at her. Wow, it is just me he hates!

“Oh, Jared – April has to come on the camping trip!” Stacey yells.

“What camping trip?” I peek up to look at him.

“We’re all going camping next weekend,” he whispers to me.

“Like legit, hide the food from bears and piss in the woods, camping?” I pull an arm’s distance away to look at his face.

“Yea…” he tells me hesitantly, feeling my disapproval coming.

“That sounds cool!” I respond, cuddling back into the nook of his neck.

“AWESOME!” Stacey hollers. “It’s going to be so awesome not being the only girl this year!”

“On one condition!” I whip back up. I feel all the eyes flick back to me, interested in the one condition that comes to my drunken mind. “We have to have s’mores!”

The laugher ensues, but ends in total agreement—well, all but Eric, whose face is stoic, as usual.

The hours pass on, and we’ve reached the part of the night where we share embarrassing, drunken stories. Jared is the current victim. “Remember, that first time Jared tried whiskey?” Mack’s deep voice barely keeps out the laughter.

“Oh, that’s a good one for April!” Stacey starts to giggle with her cup against her lips.

“Oh really?” I poke Jared in the chest.

“So, we pull up to the house like right between your two driveways and he stumbles out and heads towards your door!” Zach spurts beer out of his mouth in laughter before Mack continues. “He was trying to get his key in your door when we finally ran up and grabbed him. That’s when he started screaming, ‘April!’ we tried covering his mouth but he struggled free and shrieked even louder, ‘April Landau—I am in—’ We shut him up and threw him onto his own pathway. We were cracking up, filing back into the car when he disappeared around the back of the house. When we came to check on him the next day, he was facedown in a pile of daisies.”

The laughter that ensues echoes in the silent night. “Okay, okay, April, tell us about little Jared!” Stacey yells a little too loudly.

“There’s not much to tell…” I make eye contact with Jared to try and gauge his reaction.

“Liessss! I heard you two were quite a team growing up!” This time, it’s Mack trying to convince me.

“They aren’t going to let up ‘til you do,” Jared whispers in my ear.

“Well, despite his tough physique now, he was actually quite a skinny, nerdy kid. He watched Star Wars way too often. He even had sheets – did he tell you?”

“Uh, no!”

“Well, he did, and let me tell you, they were sexy! All the ladies wanted a peek!”

“They don’t wanna hear about that!” Jared interrupts. “Well, how about those stupid green overalls you used to wear?”

“Okay, truce! He taught me how to rollerblade! Do you remember that?”

“Ha! Yea, tried teaching her how to stop and she smacked right into me—knocked the wind out of me, too!”

“What about that time we were waiting for your mom and you tried to walk across the bicycle rack at school and slipped? It got you right in the junk! He made the funniest face I’ve ever seen. It was like an O-face mixed with the most awkward kind of pain.”

“That’s actually not funny—I couldn’t walk straight for like a week!”

“Okay, your turn! She was in detention more times than she could count!”

“Me & Mr. Scott had a good thing going!”

“She broke her arm on a dare!”

“No! She didn’t! April?” Stacey finds this new piece of information fascinating. I guess I would, too if I had seen me fly off the handle at a lame haunted house.

“Yea, a bully in school said she couldn’t climb the big oak in the school yard. She almost made it to the top branch too, when it broke. She fell all the way to the ground.” I hear a gasp but my eyes are locked on Jared’s. “I’ll never forget I went to her side and she groaned, rolling over off her shoulder. But then she pushed me aside and walked up to that bully and punched him with her other arm. She was grounded for like a month. But I think your parents went easy on you because you broke your arm.”

I feel the smile forming on my face. I like hearing these stories from Jared’s point of view. I can’t believe he remembers all this. It seems like so long ago. I mean, I remember it, but I thought it was a girl thing. We are worse than elephants – we probably remember things from a past life or something. When we finally break eye contact, I glance about to see that they are all staring at us with this look on their faces.

Only Stacey’s is transparent; her whole face screams “Aw!” The boys just look a version of surprised. Even Eric has a strange look on his face. I say strange because it’s different from his normal, brooding, anger-at-the-world appearance.

I glance back to Jared, who doesn’t seem to notice the gleaming looks on his friends’ faces; either that, or he doesn’t care. He seems more sure of himself than Hunter ever was. As I watch Jared stare into the fire, glassy-eyed, I think that if I were here with Hunter, this would be about the time we would break into some epic fight of ours.

Is it crazy that I miss it? The drama, the yelling, the passion. It’s like I’m addicted.

The moon is high in the sky before Jared slurs, “Well, I s’think we should get go-ing,”

I climb to my feet and help him up. He stumbles onto his feet before wobbling slightly.

“You’re drunk as a skunk! You’re not going anywhere!” Mack hollers. “That goes for the rest of you as well. I got four bedrooms in that house – you do the math. Someone put this fire out! Let’s go!”

Eric dumps the remainder of the cooler over the sizzling coals and we all drunkenly trek inside together. Stacey begins a giggle that echoes up through all of us until we reach the living room inside.

“Now, Eric and Stace, you get the room next to the bathroom, Zachy, you get the tiny one behind the kitchen—Jared and April, you follow me!”

I glance back at Jared, whose eyes are slightly glazed over as we follow Mack up the stairs that look like they are suspended in air. I glance down but it makes me slightly sick so I immediately look back up. Mack turns to his right before opening a door and waving us in.

“The second largest room for you two!” He winks at me, before I turn to look inside.

The entire room is a right triangle. The high-pitched roof dissects the room almost in half and the two sides are solid glass. The whole room is a right triangle block; it’s quite architecturally beautiful.

Jared walks inside and places his hands on one of the glass windows as he peers out into the dark night.

“You know I’m really glad you two are here… together,” Mack says. There’s alcohol on his breath, but even my fuzzy eyes can make out the seriousness behind his clear ones, and the sincerity in his tone.

“Me, too,” I whisper back with a smile.

He glances over at Jared’s back before nodding and closing the door behind him. I don’t know if it’s the angle of the room or the fact that my blood is flammable at the moment, but I get a wave of dizziness. I take a seat on the edge of the bed to stop the room from spinning.

When my vision becomes clear again, I look up to see Jared is leaning his back against the glass wall, eyeing me deeply.

“I think I could just watch you all day.”

“That’s not creepy or anything,” I mutter, kicking my shoes off before a thought hits me. “Did you? Did you used to watch me?”

“Not like a stalker or anything!” he blurts out, trying to clarify things. “I would just catch you through the window or something and I’d look at you … just being you. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”

I peel my sweatshirt over my head. To be honest, I don’t mind. The truth of the matter is, I would kind of watch him, too. Slipping out of my jeans, I drunkenly fold them so that I can wear them again tomorrow. Jared kicks off the wall and comes to kneel on the floor in front of me as I sit there in my tee shirt and cheekini panties (as Ro graciously informed me they were called). He pulls my franken-leg into his hands, lightly tracing the scar. It’s healing over and my gait has returned to normal, but it looks like I will always have a mark. Part of me likes it; it’s like my own personal tattoo that reminds me of the day things turned around for me, the day Jared and I confessed our feelings.

Jared leans down and gently kisses the scar. Before his lips break contact, his eyes lock with mine. It’s a look that stops my heart and wets my panties all at the same time. Slowly, he begins to pull his lips away and gently traces his finger over the scar again. Gently his hands wrap around the back of my calf and he begins to rub my leg. He works his way down to my foot and continues to give me a much needed foot massage. I don’t hear myself moan in appreciation until I feel his hands pause slightly before they start up again and I have to wonder if it was my imagination. This time, they trace their way up my calf and then my thigh, working expertly in a circular motion, relaxing my sore muscles. Higher and higher, his hands trail until his fingers slightly graze the hem of my panties. Opening my eyes, they immediately meet his and I feel all the air leave the room. My eyes call him in, my lips purse in response and my legs automatically widen as they tremble slightly.

Jared pounces on me, forcing me back onto the bed. The rest is a blur of kisses and clothing. My teeth lightly graze his bottom lip as he pulls away from our kiss, shaking his head. Thinking something is wrong, I feel my eyebrows meet in the center of my forehead.

“I just can’t believe you’re here.” He finally stops shaking his head to meet my eyes. “Sometimes I still can’t believe it.”

My hands find their way to his face when I try to call him. Only it comes out in a mix between Jare and Babe, “Bear… I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?” His eyes practically plead with me.

It tears my heart up inside when I think about his family history. The moon is still streaming through the walls on either side with the bluish hue playing in between the shadows on his face, his lips. I want them on mine, crave them. Hunter’s drama was addicting, but Jared gives me so much more. It’s a connection that I can’t put into words. It’s a feeling of security and loyalty; it’s a crazy attachment I don’t ever want to be rid of. I think maybe I’ve finally switched addictions.

“Promise,” I state with certainty.

At the sound of my words he enters me like he can’t stand to be apart from me any longer, and all else is forgotten.

HIS WARM SKIN is the only thing keeping me from shivering as we lay next to each other, his front to my back against the sheets. Our heartbeats have since returned to normal and I’m on the verge of unconsciousness when I feel him pull me closer to him. Placing his face by my ear, he begins to trace a finger from my neck to my shoulder and circle it back again.

“I’m going to make you so happy,” I hear him vaguely whisper to me. “So so so so happy. You will never cry again.”

THE SUN IS HIGH and bright, beaming through the sides of the room when I awake. Why does a house with no walls not have blinds or curtains?! I throw the covers over my head as I fantasize about punching Mack in the face for the early wake-up call. I’m slightly distracted by the image of tiny blonde me punching huge old Mack until I hear a noise coming from the bathroom. Pulling the blanket back down, I realize Jared isn’t beside me any longer. The sound comes again; this time it’s louder and sounds like that of a dying water buffalo.

Reaching to the floor, I pull Jared’s shirt over my head before climbing to my feet. I have a slight headache but for the amount I drank, I’m pretty well off. Jared on the other hand…

“Jared?” I knock on the bathroom. No response. “Jare Bear?” I try again; still no response.

Turning the doorknob, I open the door and step inside. “Bear?”

Jared’s head is deep in the toilet bowl and his hands grip the sides for dear life. Walking up to him, I place my hand on his back as I sit on the ledge of the tub beside him.