“Is the roof sealed? Does it leak?”
“It’s completely sealed. I promise.”
He looked over his shoulder at the tree house and stood up. “Okay…On the count of three.”
“Why do you get to count?”
“Because I didn’t lock the keys in the house!” he shouted.
Oh…
“One,” he led me over to the steps, “two…three!”
We jumped off the porch and ran around the side of the house, letting the merciless raindrops drench our clothes.
I took my time climbing up the ladder, making sure my hands completely grasped the slippery metal rungs. Once I made it inside, I grabbed a blanket from the corner and wrapped it around myself.
“Here you go,” I handed Ethan a quilt once he shut the door.
I set my cell phone down on the dresser and he slammed his next to mine. I moved away from him and sat quietly in the corner, wondering how long he would be mad at me.
“I need to get out of these wet clothes,” he sounded annoyed. “Could you turn around please?”
“Why?”
“Selena…”
“Fine,” I took another blanket from my pile and draped it over my head.
Of course, I knew where all the holes in my old blankets were and watched him the entire time.
I already knew he had amazing upper body, but the sight of him peeling out his wet shirt still made me blush. I’d run my hands against his sculpted abs and playfully nuzzled his chiseled chest while we watched movies together, but I’d never seen him completely naked before.
As he turned around to take off his boxers and jeans, I stifled a gasp with both my hands. I immediately felt foolish for making that “measure up” comment weeks ago. That was definitely a huge mistake.
Jesus!
Once he wrapped himself in a blanket he walked over to me and tapped my head. “Did you enjoy the show, Miss Beauregard?”
Yes…
“What are you talking about?” I pulled the blanket off my head. “I wasn’t watching you…”
“Of course you weren’t. Your turn,” he actually went to the other side of the tree-house and turned his back.
I peeled out of my jeans and tank top, but decided to leave my bra and panties on—they were only slightly dampened by the rain, and I knew being naked around Ethan wasn’t a good idea.
“I’m done now Ethan,” I adjusted my blanket wrap. “Are you mad at me?”
“No…even though I think I should be,” he turned around and laughed. “I take it you used to come out here a lot?”
“Yeah, I practically lived in here when I was a teenager. I had a mattress pad and everything.”
“Did you have invisible friends too?”
I stood up and hit a few tap lights. “No. I had real friends.”
“Have you hung out with them since you’ve been back?”
I didn’t answer him. I hit another tap light and pulled all the quilts from the plastic bin. I unfolded them one by one and made a large pallet before sitting down.
He sat down beside me. “What did I say?”
“Nothing,” I could feel tears welling in my eyes. “I only had two friends here, two best friends... One was my first love and one was my BFF since like first grade…We were all considered “the three weirdos” in middle and high school so we stuck together through everything…The day I left for New York, to go to this modeling competition, I caught both of them making out…I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t interrupted they would’ve had sex right then and there. Actually, they’d been hooking up behind my back for four months so they probably did have sex before then…”
“I’m sorry,” he rubbed my back. “I wouldn’t have brought that up if I knew.”
“I saw them the day I poured that coffee on you…She’s pregnant by him now and I guess I shouldn’t be upset. I left and didn’t talk to either of them again, but it still hurts, you know? They were the closest people in my life next to my mom…Maybe that’s why I’m so screwed up when it comes to relationships.”
“You’re not screwed up, Selena.”
I lay back into his arms and sighed. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Outside of my mother, I’d never told anyone else that story and it still drained me to think about it.
The thunder and rain were the only noises between us for a while—save for the soft kisses he gave me every few minutes.
I sat up and faced him. “Did your phone get soaked?”
“Probably. Why?”
“I wanted to know what time it was.”
He stood up and grabbed his watch from the dresser. He sat back down and waited for me to take my place in his arms. “It’s twelve thirty three.”
“Thanks. You know, I always thought turning twenty five would feel a lot different…Every birthday feels the same to me.”
“I thought your birthday was Tuesday…You gave people a fake birthday?”
“Don’t judge me,” I laughed. “I gave them the right year, just the wrong date. I knew no one from Fayetteville would go to the press about anything out of respect for my mom. I wasn’t joking when I said I completely started a new identity…”
“So, today is your birthday?”
I nodded.
He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Selena? I could’ve taken you out somewhere. We could’ve gone to—”