That Boy (9 page)

Lisa shows up with Katie. The two of them are dressed like they are going to some posh ski resort in Aspen or somewhere. Katie has on trendy furry boots, and Lisa has some sort of sparkly stuff on her cheeks. I swear they are such girly girls! It cracks me up! They keep working on making me that way, and apparently they've had some success because just the other day, I bought a pair of jeans with rhinestones on the pockets.

Mom loves them!

They also tell me that I
must
wear at
least
mascara and lip-gloss everyday.

So I do. And I am getting pretty proficient at eyeshadow, as well.

Did I mention that both of them decided to try out for cheerleading last year and made it?

Of course, I don't hold that against them. They both tried basketball with me as freshman, and it was kinda sad. I would much rather be a cheerleader than a benchwarmer too.

And they feel it has definitely raised their popularity factor.

They have Lisa's trunk open and are getting out what, upon first glance, appears to be full tailgating paraphernalia, but is really just two lounge chairs, a table, and a couple thermoses full of hot chocolate and, knowing them, a little peppermint schnapps.

Which will earn them bonus points with the boys.

I politely ask them if they would like to play with us, knowing full well, there's literally a snowball's chance in hell that they will. This is when Danny, for no apparent reason, starts purposely picking on me.

Well, actually there is a reason.

Lisa drives him nuts.

She really hoped once she became a cheerleader, she would have a shot at dating Danny, but it hasn't happened so far. And between you and me, I don't think it ever will. Even though she's now a cheerleader, she's still not Danny's type. But Lisa is an eternal optimist, and Danny is currently girlfriendless.

Stranger things have happened.

So Danny starts throwing the ball to Dillon, who I'm guarding, and shhhh, sorta crushing on right now. He is soooo cute!

Oh, sorry.

So I'm a tall girl, but Dillon is about 6'4”.

Yes, Mom was right. The boys finally caught up. Anyway, he's a full six inches taller than me so, aside from my being distracted by his cuteness, Danny's passing the ball so far above my head that I have no chance to defend it.

And it's really pissing me off.

Soon, we are losing by a score of 21 - 28, and I'm left with just my socks and boots, snow pants, and swimsuit top.

Danny throws a great pass to Dillon in the end zone.

And well, you know what they say. Desperate times call for desperate measures, or maybe a little creativeness.

Dillon jumps up and catches the ball, but he lands
just
outside
the out of bounds line.

Really! I swear.

Okay
.

So my fingers might be crossed behind my back, but whatever.

I say, “No good. Out of bounds.”

“NO WAY!” Danny raises both of his arms straight up in the air, signaling and saying, “Touchdown.”

I shake my head at him. Dillon isn't exactly sure where he landed. I was really the only one who saw.

Danny comes bounding down toward me, looking for Dillon's boot prints, which I have already
conveniently
obscured.

“TD.” Danny smirks. “What's it gonna be this time, Jay? How about the swimsuit top?” he teases, daring me to take off my top.

Like that would ever happen, other than maybe in his dreams.

I walk up to him and hand him the football. “In your dreams,
sweetie
. He was out of bounds. No touchdown.”

“Prove it, because the field judge,
me
,” he smiles a fake smile, “saw him land
in bounds
.”

He is so competitive and a liar, I am sure. He couldn't have seen.

“
Oh yeah?
Well the line judge didn't have a clear view,” I say, nodding toward Phillip. “The side judge over there was watching the cheerleaders.” I point at Neil, who's flirting with Lisa and Katie. “And since there is
no
instant replay,” I smile an eat shit grin, “I'm just gonna have to call a DO OVER.”

“It's only fair,” I add.

“
You're a cheater
,” Danny says, squinting his eyes at me.

I raise my eyebrows at that boy and say, “
Yeah, well that's better than being a liar
.”

I mean, really, it is.

Phillip finally comes over to intervene, and I get my way.
Yes!

We do the down over, and Danny does the exact same play.

I told you! He's after me!

But this time I'm expecting it, and I jump up as high as I can in front of Dillon and manage to
just
tip the ball away from him.

“That wasn't your fault, Dillon,” I tell him. “Danny loses something on that one. It was a terrible throw.”

Dillon is on my side instead of his teammate's on this one because all he has left on are his jeans and his boots, and he really doesn't want to give up a boot. I jog back up to mid field and tease Danny, “That didn't work out quite the way you planned, did it, Danny boy?” He hates to be called that, his mom called him that when he was little. “So what's it gonna be, Danny? Your shirt or a shoe?”

That boy gets a nasty look on his face, but then the look changes and he smiles a wide, slightly evil smile at me.

Devil Danny is back, I think, and he's standing right in front of me.

I glance at Lisa. She can barely contain her excitement. I mean this is what she has been out here braving the cold for. Danny stands in front of me and very,
very
slowly pulls his T-shirt up over his chest. He is doing a strip tease act just for my benefit. Although I'm willing to bet, Lisa will warp things in her mind and be convinced that he was showing off for her.

Most of me wants to collapse in a fit of giggles, when he gets the shirt off and swings it above his head like a lasso. But I have to admit, when he takes his shirt off, even though I have seen it a million times, it kinda takes my breath away.

Just for a minute.

Somehow, he is still tan and the sweat on his naked chest glitters in the sun, just like it glitters in the snow all around him. Which shouldn't be that much of a surprise, really. I mean Danny pretty much glitters all the time. His last name is really quite appropriate.

God, he has a great chest!

I know Lisa, Katie, and I will discuss it in excruciating detail later. It's not even that Danny's all that big, but the muscles in his arms and shoulders are
just perfect
, his body is lean in
just the right places
. Which brings us to that faint little line of blonde hair running from his chest, down through that beautiful six-pack of abs, and God knows where else.

Don't even want to think about that.

I realize that Danny has tossed his sweaty shirt on my head. I take it off and fling it over to Lisa, who catches it and cuddles it with affection.

I stand there and grin at that boy. “Chilly,
honey
?”

“Absolutely not,
Darling
. You?”

We always pretend to love each other after a fight because it makes Phillip happy. In these games, it seems that Danny and I always argue until we are cold enough to call a truce and gang up on Phillip.

Later in the game, Danny hands off the ball to Brandon, who promptly fumbles it. With this fumble, he is down to only his jeans and one wet sock. I'm sure his feet are quite cold.

Brandon wants to call the game, but Danny fervently tries to talk him out of it because their team is winning. If a player bails out, that team automatically forfeits the game.

Regardless of the score.

I just smile, watching him trying to convince a freezing and shaking Brandon that he's not really cold. He tells him that it's
all mental
and to
tough it out
.

“No way, man. I can't take it any longer,” Brandon finally says.

Yay! We win!

Our team huddles up and we hoot, holler, and high five each other.

“Do you see my sweatshirt?” I ask Phillip.

My teeth are chattering now that I'm not running, and I realize how cold I am. Phillip bends down and lifts my sweatshirt up out of the snow, where Dillon had carelessly flung it. It's all wet and cold.

We both look sadly at it.

Then he does the sweetest thing.

He says, “Here, Princess,” and takes his own warm sweatshirt off and pulls it over my head.

Now I know everyone gets all hyped up over Danny, but Phillip, who is his workout partner, is a few inches taller than Danny and carries more weight. Quite honestly, Phillip's muscles are bigger, and I kinda like them even better. I get a little peek at his abs because when he pulls up his sweatshirt to take it off, his T-shirt rides up with it.

Yummy. Very yummy.

You know, being friends with cute boys does have its benefits.

Phillip wraps those muscular arms around me and rubs his hands up and down the sides of my arms, trying to warm me up. He's saying something to me about a great team, but he's standing so close to me, that for a minute, I kind of get lost in his eyes.

I swear, he's so sweet, that if he wasn't my friend, I think I might have kissed him. “Thanks, Phillip,” I say, blinking away that thought. “I think we need to hit the hot tub!”

“Come on.” He grabs my hand and drags me behind him. “Let's get a head start.”

When we're halfway to my house, he yells. “
Last one in the hot tub is a loser
.”

Then he looks back at Danny and his team and says, “Oh sorry,
I forgot.
You already are!”

I grab my phone and am just getting ready to call Phillip for our nightly phone call, when the phone rings in my hand and startles me. I look at the caller ID expecting to see Phillip's number, but instead I see Renner, David.

Who the heck is David Renner?

Was that the name of the hot guy Lisa and I met at the sporting goods store the other day? She used to detest going to the sporting goods store with me. But she's recently discovered that it's one of the few place GUYS actually LIKE to shop at. I mean how many guys has she ever met in her girly stores?

EXACTLY NONE!

So while I was trying on jogging shorts, she was trying on boys. Well not literally, but she did get herself a date and well, supposedly one for me too, with this guy's friend. Who I might add, is clearly not capable of getting his own dates. I mean, he is not very fortunate in the looks department. So aside from the fact that I already have a boyfriend, I'm sure I will be coming down with something highly contagious this Friday.

Then it hits me.

Renner.

Allison Renner
. Phillip's girlfriend, right?

Is he calling me from her house? No, it's past ten, his school night curfew.

As if he needs one. I swear he's the only person I know, and quite possibly the only teen in the entire universe, who
prides
himself on being home
before
curfew.

I look across the street and see his bedroom light's on.

I answer with a polite, “Hello.”

“JJ this is Allie,” Allison says, using the name her friends call her.

No shit.

“Hey Allison, what's up?” I answer, trying to sound pleasant, but purposely NOT using the name her friends call her.

Cuz this is weird. I mean she and I aren't good friends. Honestly, we're not friends at all. In fact, I really don't care for her much. She's very annoying and talks a mile a minute. It's like she hardly needs to breathe. The boys at school make crass remarks about what else that would make her good at. Boys are sick. Anyway, she acts like she owns Phillip, and they've only been dating for like three weeks. I don't think she'll last much longer though.

I've never spoken to her on the phone before, so naturally I get the feeling I'm being set up. You know, like when your friends call you on a three-way call, but pretend that only one of them is there and she tries to get you to say bad stuff about the other friend, who is secretly listening, and then they
both
get mad at you?