Presently Perfect (Perfect #3) (7 page)

Lightening the mood, I walked closer and nudged her arm with my elbow. “Stop standing there being such a girl,” I teased. “It’s just our regular old table. Sit down.”

“Thank you, Noah. This is… it’s…” She was speechless.

She had gotten her
Sixteen Candles
moment and I was her Jake.

We sat at the table in silence, listening to music and staring at each other. Any nerves I had were gone. This wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable and natural.

“Can I ask you something?” she said, breaking the silence.

“You can ask me anything, Tweet.”

“Do you think it’s weird for us to be best friends?”

Of all the things I thought she would ask that wasn’t even in the ballpark of possibilities. I felt the lump in my throat grow. “What do you mean ‘weird’?”

Shrugging her shoulders, she stated, “Beth thinks it’s weird.”

I wondered if Beth had been filling Tweet’s head with stupid petty girl shit. After years of being compared to her older sister, Emily, it took only a few words from someone to cause her self-esteem to bottom out completely. I hated that she thought so little of herself, that she doubted herself, and was doubting us.

Something inside of me clicked. In that moment all my confusion disappeared. It didn’t feel strange sitting across from Tweet on a date or giving her flowers. I didn’t feel like a pervert for liking the way she looked in her dress. I didn’t know if it was the way the light from the sunset lit up her face or the sweet shy smile she gave me, but something was different. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. My gaze intensified. I wanted her not only to see but feel how serious and confident I felt in what I was about to say.

Reaching across the table, I placed her hand in mine, and laced our fingers together. “It doesn’t feel weird to me. When I’m with you everything feels perfect. I can’t picture anyone else being my best friend and I don’t want to.”

Our eyes stayed focused on each other for a few seconds before hers dropped down to our joined hands. Her fingers began slipping away from mine. I tightened my grip, causing her head to pop up.

“I feel the same way.” Her voice was soft and shaky.

I looked into her beautiful teal eyes filling with water. My throat felt as if it were closing up, causing my chest to pump harder for air. I hated when Tweet cried. Maybe she believed we were
weird. Couldn’t she feel whatever this was between us or was I just being a big pussy?

A deep sigh escaped her lips as a tear spilled over and down her cheek. Raising her hand that I had been holding for the past five minutes, I brought it to my lips and placed a soft kiss on the inside of her palm. My actions were pure instinct. I had no idea what I was doing.

“Don’t cry, Tweet,” I whispered.

The sound of a car horn cut through the thick air that surrounded us, breaking the moment. I needed to get this night back on track and lighten the mood.

Raising my free hand, I pointed my index finger in the air, smirked, and said, “I believe our dinner has arrived.” Then I got up and walked to the waiting car parked at the entrance of the park.

By the time I got back to the table with the pizza, Tweet’s smile had returned. We quickly fell back into
us,
laughing and talking about anything and everything. We ate pizza and then downed a handful of breath mints. Practice time had arrived.

Adrenaline shot through my body as I pounded the table with the palm of my hands, like a drum. I was nervous, but not because I was about to kiss Tweet, my best friend. I was nervous because I was about to kiss my girl for the first time. I’d been calling her my
girl
for a few months, mostly teasing her with the name. I wasn’t teasing anymore. Tweet was
my girl. I stopped drumming and looked at her. Her eyebrows rose up high, she smiled, waiting for me to get the show on the road.

“I guess standing would be the best way to do this,” I said.

She nodded in agreement.

We both swung our legs over the benches and stood. As I rounded the table heading toward Tweet, I noticed her kicking at a few of the small rocks while her eyes shifted between looking at the ground and me. There was so much energy pulsing through me I could feel every muscle twitching as if they wanted to break free from my skin. My mouth was drying up while my hands were sweating so badly, they felt as if I had dunked them in water. I tried to clear my head and remember what coach told us to do when we felt nerves right before a big game.

My shoulders rolled backward and forward while I tilted my head from side to side, stretching my neck. I shook out my arms and then each leg separately, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation that rode up and down each limb. My breaths were coming out in short quick spurts, causing me to feel a little lightheaded. Bending down, I rubbed my wet hands over my shorts a couple of times so I wouldn’t sweat all over Tweet, and inhaled several deep breaths.

With my hands resting flat on my thighs, I looked up at her and announced. “Okay, here it comes.” I straightened.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to slap a warning label on it.”

“I’m not going to say that tomorrow
.”

“Sorry. I thought that might have been one of your moves.” She smirked at me.

I moved in closer to her, leaving very little space between us. Looking down into her eyes caused vibrations to explode throughout me and consume every part of my body. My heart was thumping so loudly that I knew she could hear it and probably even saw it slamming against my chest. Holding her gaze, I brought my hands up and cupped the sides of her face. As one thumb moved over her soft cheek I felt a shiver run through her body. Her reaction made me smile. Being this close to her, touching her, knowing what we were about to do was making my head spin and my legs weak. I needed to go in for the kiss before I passed out. But knowing this could be my only chance made me keep things slow.

I studied every part of her gorgeous face. Her teal eyes looked up at me between each long dark lash, as if I were the only thing that existed on Earth. Her lips were parted slightly with light spurts of breath flowing over them. Her soft skin flushed a deeper pink with each second that passed. Raising my hand, the tips of my fingers lightly touched her jaw. My thumb gently moved toward her mouth, skimming across her lips a couple of times before gliding back to her cheek.

Our chests were pumping faster. The sound of blood surging through my veins got louder. My world felt like it was underwater. Nothing existed except me and Tweet. I barely heard our song, “Everything”, fill the air as I lowered my lips to hers.

During baseball camp this past summer I had heard some of the older guys talking about making out with their girlfriends. I so
wanted to make out with Tweet.
It took every ounce of strength I had not to go full throttle. I wanted to shove my tongue down her throat, grab her ass, and pull her against me.

Jake Ryan. I had to channel my inner Jake Ryan.

As I placed my lips on Tweet’s, her eyes closed and her head tilted back. I applied slow and steady pressure, nibbling along her bottom lip before sucking on it slightly. Her body swayed to one side, both her hands gripping my upper arms in an attempt to brace herself. I read this as a good sign, so I let the tip of my tongue slip out and touch her lips. Her mouth opened. Tongues met. My head and dick were on the verge of detonating. Our tongues spiraled faster and faster around each other’s, deepening the kiss. My fingers twitched. I wanted to touch her everywhere. The reaction my body was having was getting out of control. I had never felt anything this amazing in my life. I needed to step back before I threw her down onto the table and pounced on top of her.

A slight moan from Tweet vibrated across my lips as I slowed down the kiss. Pulling away slightly, I rested my forehead against hers, eyes closed, our lips still connected, and whispered, “You’re perfect.”

We quietly stood in this position for several minutes trying to catch our breath. Simultaneously, her hands loosened their grip on my biceps as mine slid over her shoulders and down her arms, our hands clasping together.

I didn’t want this to end. Finally, once our breathing returned to normal, I slowly opened my eyes but kept my forehead firmly glued to Tweet’s.

“Wow,” I whispered. My voice sounded as if I had just woke up.

“Man,” Tweet said, breathlessly. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before because you have some pretty awesome moves. Where’d you get moves like that?”

The excitement and pride I felt hearing and feeling how much she enjoyed our first kiss was like winning the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, the Stanley Cup, and the World Series all at the same time.

“Wal-Mart,” I answered. A cocky grin crept across my face.

Tweet’s pink lips slowly curled up to form a smile. “How long did it take you to think that one up?”

“It just came to me actually. I thought it was pretty good.”

I wanted to practice some more, lots more in fact, but before I could say anything Tweet stepped away and s cleaned up the trash from dinner. Neither of us said another word while we walked home. An awkward air surrounded us as we stood on the front porch of her house. It didn’t come from me not knowing how to say goodnight. It came from me not wanting to say goodbye. I didn’t have a name for the feelings I was having for Tweet. All I knew for sure was that they were getting stronger and not going away. I didn’t know how to talk to her about what was happening. It was weird because we’d always been able to talk about anything.

Tweet let out a deep sigh, breaking the silence. “Well, goodnight. It sure was fun practicing with you. Brittani is a lucky girl.”

Total shock and disbelief appeared across her face as if some force beyond her control spoke those words.

It pissed me off that she mentioned Brittani. Tonight wasn’t about her. Tonight was just us.

“Don’t bring her up, not now.” My gaze ran from her lips to her eyes. “Thanks for tonight.”

I glanced away for a second, trying to decide whether or not to tell her how I’ve been feeling. I looked back and connected with her beautiful teal eyes. They looked sad or scared, I couldn’t figure out which. I also couldn’t figure out the right words to explain what was happening between us.

“Goodnight, Tweet.”

“Goodnight, Noah.”

I walked backward down the steps, keeping my eyes locked on her until I had to turn away. With each step an empty feeling hit my stomach. The dim light from the porch brightened her eyes. They were full of tears. I didn’t know what the deal was. We’d be seeing each other tomorrow. I mean we saw each other every day. But for some reason leaving her tonight was hard.

Stopping at the bottom of the steps, I said in a low voice, “Tweet.”

“Yeah?” She tried hard to keep her voice steady but I could hear the shakiness.

“Tonight was amaz…” I paused. It wasn’t tonight that was amazing, it was her. “You’re amazing.”

“Noah…” Her voice trailed off.

“I wish you believed it.”

Before she could say anything, I turned and walked away.

Monday morning I was headed down the hall toward my locker. I hadn’t seen or talked to Tweet the entire weekend since we kissed. I left voicemails and sent texts, but she never returned any of them. She was avoiding me for some reason. Could I have misread our kiss? I thought it was awesome, but what the hell did I know? Maybe it sucked and she didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Maybe the sadness and tears in her eyes Friday night were because she knew I was destined for the priesthood.

I couldn’t be a priest. Communion wafers made me gag.

I turned the corner and saw her standing at her locker.

“Mornin’, Tweet.”

She jumped a little when I whispered in her ear.

“Good morning.” She wouldn’t look at me.

I just had to play it cool. All she needed to do was look at me. If she could look me in the eye then chances were the kiss didn’t suck.

Leaning one shoulder against the locker, I stared at her profile, willing her to turn in my direction. “I’ve missed you. I called you all weekend. I saw your mom yesterday. She said you were busy working on a paper?”

“English,” she said into her locker.

I reached out to grab Tweet’s arm, trying to get her attention when one of my teammates, Brad Johnson, slapped me on the back and said, “Hey Stewart, heard you had a great time this weekend. I just got out of class with Brit. She couldn’t stop singing your praises, dude. Way to go.”

As Brad walked off, I turned to Tweet and shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what he was talking about. I barely spent any time with Brittani the other night at the bowling alley. A group of kids from school were there. The guys pretty much hung out and bowled while the girls talked. Brittani and Beth tried to flirt with me a few times, but I was too preoccupied with thoughts of Tweet and the night before. Brittani’s dad dropped me at home around 11:30 p.m. That was all that happened.

Two other teammates, Jeremy and Spencer, were coming down the hall and stopped when they saw me.

Spencer tugged on the back of my neck and announced, “Heard you had a hot date this weekend. How about that, just a freshman and already a player.”