I stand up and smooth down my t-shirt, which is also covered in fur now, too. "I'll get you one of those lint roller things if you don't have one."
"I've been using masking tape and went through a roll already. Pick me up a bunch of those lint things," he reaches into his wallet and hands me a fifty-dollar bill. "You're still going to clean and stuff, right?"
I nod, taking the bill from him. "Yes, and make you dinner."
"Wicked cool. That's the best news I've heard in a long time." We watch as Diogee grabs a big white bone off the floor and carts it over to a dog bed in the corner of the living room to chew on.
"He seems really happy, Tor. I'm so glad you kept him. I'm looking forward to seeing him now when I come over. I could brush him for you, too, if you want."
"That would be awesome, and he obviously loves you. He's a little high maintenance so I'll take all the help you want to give."
"I don't mind at all. I asked Dad for a dog again but he said no, and I can basically come over here and hang out with yours."
"I'm good with that. Anytime you want to come over is fine. You know that by now. Since he's all settled on his bed, you want to see what I've done to the back yard?"
"Of course." A few weeks ago he told me he wanted to do some landscaping in his yard and plant some new flowers and shrubs because he was sick of looking at nothing but grass and rocks. When we step outside the sliding glass doors to his patio, I'm completely unprepared to see what he's done. He fenced in the entire yard with white fencing and planted different shaped shrubs, a myriad of colorful flowers that I can't even name, a bird bath, and a hummingbird feeder along with various birdhouses nailed into the trees. But the part that blows me away is a stone walkway that leads to a tiny pond with an old wrought iron bench nearby. He's watching me with a grin on his face, waiting for my reaction.
"A pond?" I exclaim. "You did this?"
We walk over to it and I'm shocked again when I see three koi swimming in the clear water that's being circulated by a small waterfall.
"Yeah, Tanner helped, though. We watched about fifty YouTube videos. It took a few days just to do the pond but it came out pretty cool. We used rock from the river down in the woods. Tanner power washed everything, then we arranged it all in here. It's almost three feet deep."
"Are you kidding? This is amazing."
"Thanks. The dog keeps trying to stick his head in it, but I think he'll get bored of it. Tristan gave me some training tips to work with him."
"Tor, it's all beautiful. My Dad's going to be jealous of this, though," I tease. "This is kinda better than his water fountain. I mean, there's fish."
He winks at me. "We won't tell him."
"Can we sit?" I ask. "I want to watch the fish swim around. They're so pretty and peaceful looking."
"Sure. I haven't sat back here at all, actually. Just been busy working on it but not really enjoying it yet."
"Well then it's time you did."
We sit on the bench together, he stretches his long legs out and proudly looks around his beautiful new yard.
"It's seriously amazing, Tor. So much better than just all that boring grass you had before. And the fence is a good idea."
"Yeah I was afraid the dog would wander off and get lost again," he stares around the yard some more. "I really like it. It feels more like home now, ya know? I should have done this years ago."
"I think so, too. I love everything you did. This is what I want when I get my own house someday. I could sit back here all day."
We share a smile and my heart dances. I've missed him and our talks, and now as my eyes discreetly take in his muscular jean-clad legs, flashbacks of my dream make my heart beat even faster. I wonder if he's thought about me differently at all, like I've been thinking about him.
"How have you been feeling?" He asks.
"Huh?"
"You were sick. And had four teeth ripped out of your head. Your dad said you were in a lot of pain."
"Oh. Yeah, it hurt a lot afterwards. My face got all swollen and I looked like a chipmunk."
He laughs. "Aww...I'm sure you looked adorable."
I shake my head. "I don't think so. I was all bruised, too."
"It's better now, though, right?"
Yes. It's much better because you just pretty much called me adorable.
"Yeah. I can open my mouth all the way now." I demonstrate by opening my mouth wide and snapping it closed several times.
"Please don't do that," he sits forward and leans his elbows on his knees.
"Okay..." Hmm. Is it possible he has been thinking about me?
He clears his throat and points over to the fountain. "Did you see that? I left a surprise there for you."
I follow his finger to a small glass painted mason jar on the edge of the pond that's filled with pennies.
"Hey," I say excitedly. "Is that for our wishes?"
"Of course. I don't sit here and make wishes alone."
I jump up and run over to grab the bottle. "Can we throw pennies in the pond? Or will it hurt the fish?"
"We can. I washed them all first to make sure there was nothin' on them."
"You're awesome." I shake out two pennies, put the jar back, and join him on the bench again, handing him one of the copper coins.
"You go first," he says. "You've been sick."
I laugh at him. "It was just a cold."
"You called it the worst friggin’ cold ever."
"It felt pretty bad at the time."
"They always do."
I hang onto my penny for a second and then toss it in the water, making sure it doesn't bonk one of the fish in the head. We're quiet for a few minutes as I think about my wish and how best to word it. I knew what I was going to wish for long before I threw my penny in, but now I'm not sure I have the courage to say it out loud.
"So?" He urges. "What did you wish for this time? It should be a big one, you just graduated high school and have a whole new slate in front of you."
I take a deep breath and watch the koi circle slowly over my penny as if they know what's about to happen.
"I wish you'd kiss me again." I say softly, grateful for the breeze blowing my hair across my face at that exact moment, hopefully hiding the yearning that I'm sure is overly evident in my eyes.
He doesn't look at me. In fact, he goes completely still and I'm not even sure he's breathing, to be honest. My pulse quickens as I wait and a swirling warmth manifests in the pit of my stomach.
"I didn't kiss you, Kenzi." He finally says. I can't see his eyes, because he's still leaning on his knees with his chin resting on his hands, so I'm left staring at the back of his head.
"Yes, you did." Does he think I imagined the most epic kiss of my life thus far?
"It was an accident." Again, with the emotionless tone that's totally foreign to me.
"Are you kidding?" I say, my voice rising slightly.
"No," he says simply. "I'm not."
No way. I'm not going to let him put himself into denial over this.
"How do you accidentally kiss someone, exactly?"
Now I can hear him breathing, and he lets out a deep sigh. "I don't want to talk about this." He moves to stand but I quickly grab his arm and pull him back down on the bench.
"Please don't walk away."
He turns his face up to the sky and takes another deep breath, shaking his head. "Fine, Kenzi. It never should have happened. It was a fucked up, spur-of-the moment thing because we were both all ramped up about saving the dog and we just kinda...collided."
"Collided?" I repeat. Is he serious?
"Yeah, and I'm sorry it happened. My mind was just fucked for a few seconds. I would never touch you, Kenzi. Not like that. You know that, right?" He turns sideways to look at me and his eyes are troubled, searching mine like he's lost and confused and needs me to set him back straight again.
I swallow hard over the lump growing in my throat. "Of course I know that, but I don't want it to be a mistake. I liked it."
His eyes close for a long moment before he opens them to meet mine again. "Kenzi, no. It was wrong on about a thousand levels. It didn't mean anything."
I slowly shake my head, refusing to let that be true. "No. I thought it meant a lot, actually."
He stands up and hurls his penny into the woods, and that just deepens the blow of what he's saying to me. Our little wish moments have always been special to us and he just threw one away like it meant nothing.
"We're not talking about this, Kenzi. This subject is over, you got it? Just drop it."
I stand and grab his arm again, forcing him to look at me, and he glares down, his dark eyes narrowing at me.
"No, Tor. I don't got it. What if I don't want to drop it? You going to spank me and take me home like a little baby? I'm a little old for that now, don't ya think? Can't we sit here and talk about our collision like adults?"
"Stop taunting me," he says through clenched teeth. "We're done with this. I want you to forget it happened."
"I want to talk about it."
His eyes flash at me, his mouth set in a tight line. "Did you tell anyone?"
"No, of course not. I'm not stupid."
"I hope not. This isn't funny, Kenzi. It's serious. I'm not some fucking high school kid. You're a teenager and I'm an adult. I own a respectable business in this town, I can't have people spreading rumors about me."
"Don't you think I know all that? Why are you acting like this? We didn't do anything wrong. Please stop being so mad at me and talk to me."
He shakes his head vigorously. "No. I want you to forget it happened. That's exactly what I'm doing."