Double Trouble

Always Last to Know

After fourth block everything started to get back to normal. All day I kept getting comments such as "Good job Ronnie!" And "he deserved it!" Which was pretty cool but the whole thing became old news once a freshman in the cafeteria slipped on some chunky soup and landed on his butt with food all over him.

Fifth block was varsity swim so Mia and I rode with Daniel to practice. The school doesn't have its own swimming pool so we have practice at the country club which is close to the school.

"Coach is going to work us so hard today... I'm certainly not looking forward to it," says Daniel as he pulls up to the country club.

"Tell me about it..." I reply.

"Come on guys, swimming is fun!!" Chimes Mia as she runs to the locker room.

"I'd be that excited too if I got first place in all of my events and made it all the way to nationals" says Daniel through a laugh.

"Yeah well, we weren't all born with her crazy aquatic genes. I'll see you on the deck!" I wave to him.

Swim practice that afternoon was by far the hardest. Long distance is definitely not my forte. By five o'clock we were laying on the bed of Daniel's truck eating fries and drinking milkshakes, courtesy of the country club.

"I think this is the only reason I put up with swim" I reply while sipping through my milkshake.

"You'll put up with anything as long as there's food involved" jokes Daniel as he throws a fry at my face.

"HEY, DON'T WASTE THE FRIES!" I yell back through laughter as we both get into a tickle fight.

Mia looks over at me and smiles and winks after she looks between Daniel and me. I don't quite understand what that meant.

Daniel drops us off at Rich Wood, Mia and I have to wait for Peter, her brother to get out of track practice. We lay on the bleachers and soak up the sun while we wait. We can hear the grunting from the football players as they practice and also the sounds of cleats on the track.

I pull my iPod from my swim bag and start listening to music. The first day of senior year hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I just don't quite understand why Steven decided to act out the way he did. All my life I've done nothing but tried to avoid him. He isn't really the most talkative guy when he's over at our house or when we're out as a group. But the kiss... I can't stop thinking about that kiss. I've never actually been attracted to him before, and I don't think I am now, but there's something about him that just kinda draws me to him. Maybe it's his green eyes or the way he carries himself when he's not being an egotistical jerk.

*THUD*

I fall off the bleachers and hold my head as it starts to throb. I open my eyes and see that there's a football right next to me. I yank my earbuds off and hear laughter, looking over at the stairs I see Steven and a couple of the other guys from the football team laughing their butts off. I grab the ball and go over all of the techniques Zach has gone over with me, and throw the ball aiming at Steven. It hits him right in the stomach. He stops laughing, looks at me with a smirk, and starts to run towards me. I get up and run, I've never ran this much before in my life but I guess instinct kicks in when you need it to. I go into the school and try all the doors to see if they're open. I finally open one of them and go in as quick as I can. It smells stuffy and of cleaning products, I'm guessing it's the janitor's closet. I try to be still as I hear Steven's shoes against the floor. And then silence. I breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly the door opens and closes faster than I thought and a pair of hands grab my hips and hold me against the wall.

"Thought you could outrun me?" Says Steven as he tries to catch his breath.

"Just let me go Steven, I don't have time to deal with your egotistical self."

"Ronnie, I'm sorry."

I catch my breath. Wait... Did Steven really just apologize? Hell must have frozen over. Seconds and minutes go by.

"Say something, please. I feel very awkward right now." I can feel him take his right hand off of my hip to rub the back of his neck like he always does when he's in an uncomfortable situation.

"It's fine."

"Ronnie..." Replies Steven, his voice raspy.

I'm about to reply when he softly pushes himself against me and kisses my neck. My heart starts beating fast. I don't know what's going on but I can't seem to do anything or say anything. It's like his touch paralyzes me. He kisses up my neck and along my jaw. My hands make their way to his hair and I can feel how soft it is regardless of the sweat from practice, I tug at it gently and I can hear him moan softly. He kisses me with eagerness and I let him. I don't know why but something inside of me told me to let him so I did. We kiss and it feels like forever. His hands roam my body while mine run around his back and inside his sweaty workout jersey. The room smells of his sweat and the chlorine from the pool that is still on my skin and hair. I pull away suddenly, our breathing is fast. He tries to go in for another kiss.

"Steven stop" I hold out my hand to his chest to softly push him away. "You can't just kiss me when you want to. I'm not just some girl whom you can play with."

"That's not at all what I wanted you to think."

"Well then please stop, I really don't need this. I can't. It's too sudden."

He drops his hands from my hips and the soft part of him that I just saw changes into his usual self, the egotistical jerk.

"Fine."

"Just stay away from me ok?" I say as I reach for the door knob.

"Well that's going to be hard since I'm basically babysitting you while your parents go on that cruise and Zach goes off with Laura to her beach house for the weekend."

"Wait what?"

He walks right past me and cooly says, "get ready for the best weekend of your life, Ronnie."

My jaw literally hits the ground at his statement. Before he goes through the double doors to head back to the football field he turns to me and winks.