Through a yawn, I said, “I don’t know what happened. I zonked out.”
“Are you gonna invite me in?” He moved his sunglasses to the top of his head.
“Come in.” I crossed my arms over my braless chest and scanned the room for anything that could cause embarrassment. There was a half-eaten turkey sandwich and French fries sitting on the small table near the TV. Jase didn’t bat an eye at it. The room smelled like stale food and bad breath.
He plopped down on the bed. “What have you been doing?”
“Do you mind if I go freshen up for a sec?”
“Go ahead.” At that moment he spotted his book on the floor next to my backpack. He arched his eyebrows. “Well?”
I shook my head.
“Seriously, when did you become such a slow reader? You would have breezed through it when you were twelve.”
“Yeah, but I’m reading every word,” I said as I went into the bathroom. “I’ll be right out.”
I threw on a bra, brushed my teeth, and tried to spin my massive mane into a cute bun on the top of my head.
When I walked out of the bathroom toward the bed, Jase carelessly tossed the book aside, wrapped his arm around the backs of my legs, and pulled me onto his lap.
“Jase!” I shouted.
Our faces were inches apart. He smelled like mint and men’s body wash.
“Why didn’t you stay the other night? Why’d you make me drive all the way to New Clayton to see you?” he asked.
“You were wasted, I have a boyfriend, and I had my own hotel room in Nashville that night. Plus, I didn’t make you come here.” I rolled my eyes at him and he pinched my butt. “Ouch!”
“Answer me. Why didn’t you stay? We’re just friends, remember?” My heart was speeding up. “Don’t tell me it’s just because of Taylor.”
“Trevor.”
“Whatever.”
“Why did you want me to stay?” I said. “You basically passed out while I was taking your clothes off.”
“I would never!” He opened his eyes really wide.
“You did, it’s true!” I said accusingly.
He smiled and then his hand moved up to the back of my neck and then over my shoulder and up to my mouth, where he ran his thumb over my bottom lip. His eyes were fixed on my mouth. “I loved kissing you. I haven’t forgotten what it feels like.”
I sucked in breath. “Jase . . .”
He stood abruptly and gently set me on the floor. “Get your shoes on. I want to take you somewhere.”
“Okay.”
Once we were in the parking lot, he opened the passenger door to a black Mercedes SUV. “It’s a rental,” he answered my unspoken question.
“That’s my rental.” I pointed to the jelly bean.
“Really?” he scowled. “That doesn’t look safe.”
“It’s fine. Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
We drove out of New Clayton. After a while, I realized we were headed toward Neeble, and I wondered if he was taking me to the road.
In the town center, he made a turn in the opposite direction. He was quiet and then he reached over and took my hand in his and held it over the console between us.
“Em, do you remember how badly we wanted to go to the Neeble pool?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Remember how I promised I would take you?”
I got excited. “Yes,” I squeaked.
We pulled into the parking lot of the Neeble community pool, which had been closed down since we had moved away. I felt sad for a moment, but I was happy just to be able to see what we had always dreamed of.
Jase jiggled a lock from the gate of the surrounding fence and then pulled me onto the property. There was nothing, just a few puddles of dirty water covered in leaves. A few rusted pool chairs and a dilapidated lifeguard booth that framed the near-empty hole.
“See? It’s just a hole in the ground, and now it doesn’t even have water in it.”
“Why’d you bring me here?”
“Because I swore that I would.”
“Thank you, I guess.” I walked toward him to hug him, but he reached out and braced the back of my neck and kissed me. It was sweeter than it was passionate.
I didn’t push him away. How could I? “What are you trying to show me with all this? You’re going to fill me with guilt and get me in trouble with my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend, shmoyfriend. You’ll figure it out.”
“No more kissing, okay, Jase?” I poked him in the chest.
“You liked it,” he teased.
I did. That was the problem. “Can we go to the road now?” I asked.
He nodded for a few seconds, like he couldn’t say no to me but wasn’t really sure it was a good idea. I wondered if the pain from losing his brother there was too much for him to bear.
“We don’t have to go to the creek. I just want to see the road while I’m here.”
“Okay.”