Rewired

Chapter 5: Well That Escalated Quickly

     By the time I pulled into the long, sloping field next to Layla's house out in Colerain, it was already 9:00 and there was a heck of a fire going in the backyard. I could see the glow before I even rounded the corner to the backyard.
Layla's house was a one story, dark brick house, with a few stray white or gray bricks mixed within the red. I had always loved the look of the multicolored face of the house, but what was more impressive was the view from her backyard. Layla's family owned the large field behind the house, which stretched out into the rolling hills where her neighbors kept their horses.
Occasionally, they had let us ride them when we were younger, but after being bucked off of a large, brown horse named Shadow when I was thirteen, we hadn't been allowed back over. I had broken my arm from the fall, and after that both my mother and Layla's were adamant that we weren't getting back on those horses, I hadn't disagreed one bit.
As I neared the fire pit, I noticed a few groups of people standing around nearby, some from track, but a few others, as well. I caught a glimpse of Sammy standing by the fire with a Vanilla Coke and instinctively ran a hand through my hair to re-adjust my long, brown curls. He was wearing a Space Jam t-shirt underneath of a navy blue hoodie and a pair of dark, denim jeans. The arms of his hoodie had been pushed up, revealing his muscular forearms. Damn, he looked good. My first instinct was to go over and say hi. On second thought, though, since we hadn't really ever talked much, I realized I wasn't quite sure what to say to him outside of the context of track.
After deciding that it was better to be quiet than awkward, I headed over to where Layla was sitting on one of the wooden benches her dad had built for the fire pit with her boyfriend, Zeke.
     Zeke was pretty much super hot. Six pack abs, baby face hidden under a short, brown, scruffy beard. His eyes were some sort of hazel color peeking out from under bangs that had gone just a little to long without a cut. While he frequently came to our meets when he could, Zeke played third base on the baseball team and played soccer in the fall.
He and Layla had actually met sophomore year when we went to one of his games. At the time, I'd had a crush on a senior named Bobby Bishop, and it had been my bright idea to watch him play, never mind the fact that I knew next to nothing about him. Long story short, we got there just in time to find out that Bobby had a girlfriend. While I was kicking myself for being stupid enough not to find that out before I stalked the poor guy's career in a sport I didn't even care about, Zeke accidentally kicked a warm up ball right into Layla's shoulder. Two and a half years later, and those two were definitely my relationship goals. They were too cute. Zeke was a year younger than us, but if there was a couple who was going to survive a long distance relationship, it was them.
Currently, Zeke's arm was around Layla's waist while she "roasted" a marshmallow on a stick, her head resting on his shoulder, a waterfall of straightened, blonde hair obscuring her face. I say "roasted" because by her definition, that appeared to mean catching it on fire and blowing it out several times in a row before finally eating something that was charred on the outside and completely uncooked in the middle.
"Do you want me to do that right?", I teased her, plopping down on her other side. I knew the two lovebirds had looked pretty cuddled up, but if she hadn't wanted me to stay, she'd usually have made that clear. After six years of being friends we were pretty straight with each other about stuff.
"I've got it, I've got it", she insisted. Just as she said that, though, the marshmallow ignited yet again, this time sliding off of the stick and into the red, smoldering coals and remnants of cherry wood.
Cherry was the best. It burned with kind of a sweet aroma to add to the typical campfire odor. I absolutely adored smelling like campfire the next day after these things, or even just catching a whiff of it from the car window on a summer night. Hands  down, best smell ever.
     I grabbed a stick and started roasting two marshmallows, figuring that Layla's current attempt would soon join the first one in the fire. As I watched the glow of the fire, slowly rotating the small, crooked twig I had found in the yard, I started thinking about prom. I still didn't have a date yet. Not that it mattered. A couple of my friends were going on their own, so it wasn't like I wouldn't have anyone to hang out with. Still, though, I wondered if I would end up finding someone to go with me.
At some point, my eyes had drifted off into Sammy's direction without my even realizing it until Layla's voice broke through my train of thought.
"Are you going to drool at him all night or are you going to go talk to him?"
"What?", I snapped back to reality, probably with a dumbfounded look on my face.
"You're staring at Sammy?" she said, like it should have been obvious. "I don't know if you're trying to be flirty or what, but you look like a total weirdo right now"
Great, just great. He probably wouldn't find that weird at all.
"I was just zoned out", I told her. "And I'm not drooling over him!"
      Noticing that the marshmallows were just about perfect, I pulled them out of the fire and started searching around for the necessary s'mores supplies. Layla had apparently gotten up and made hers at some point. Wandering over toward a small white table, I noticed chips, pop, and, there we go! Graham crackers and chocolate.
     After assembling two of the most delectable things I'd seen all day, I figured now was as good a time as any to go talk to Sammy. I mean, there was really nothing stopping me, right? Besides, the extra s'more gave me at least some kind of excuse to start a conversation.
     I scanned the groups of kids from my school hanging around, some coupled up, some just having fun. Brooke and her date were making out, gross, by the way, a few of our distance guys were tossing a football around. My eyes finally settled on Sammy, and, oh shit. Crystal. Crystal Johnson was talking to him, hand all over his arm, giggling about something as she tossed her jet-black, curly hair over her shoulder. Crystal was definitely known for her gorgeous, exotic looks. The girl seriously could make a career out of modeling if she wanted to. She was also known as one of the biggest flirts in our grade, and I was no expert, but it looked like Sammy might be enjoying the attention.
     Not wanting to interrupt, I headed back over to where Layla was sitting, plopped down with my paper plate, and promptly shoved a s'more into my mouth.
"Is someone salty?", Carlie asked me. Sometime during my search for campfire treats, she had taken Zeke's seat, and he had joined the ongoing football game.
"I'm not salty, I'm starving!" I insisted. I didn't know why my stomach had sunk like it did when I saw Crystal and Sammy together. It's not like we were dating. We hadn't even really reached the point of friends yet. Still, I had finally decided that I might want to see where things would go, and apparently now that was going to be nowhere. For now, I decided my best option here was to just hang out with Layla and Carlie and have fun. This really wasn't that big of a deal, and I reasoned that I'd be over it in about 10 minutes anyway.
The three of us, and occasionally Zeke, spent the rest of the evening watching the fire die down. We joked around and made fun of each other. In particular, I took a lot of heat about the nacho cheese incident. I was honestly pretty surprised when I looked at my iPhone and saw that it was quarter till 12- just fifteen minutes until my curfew. I only lived about two miles down the same road, but I figured that is better get going.
"See you guys Monday!", I called over my shoulder. I dug through the pockets of my jeans on the way to my black Chevy Cavalier, looking for my keys. Where the hell were they? I could've sworn that I'd had them. I was about to call up the hill and ask if anyone had seen them, but I pretty quickly found my answer. Placing my hand on the door handle, just in case I had left the keys in the car, I noticed two things. Number one, the car was locked, and number two, my keys were on the passenger seat. Shit.
Making matters worse, I heard a voice behind me that I was getting to know pretty well.
"Locked the keys in the car, didn't you?", Sammy teased.
"Why are you always here when I'm awkward?" I groaned, "I thought you were hanging out with Crystal."
"By hanging out, I think you mean she was hanging all over me.", he answered, sounding annoyed. A wave of happiness that I shouldn't have happened washed over me. Come on, Marielle, get a grip.
"Oh, please," I said, grabbing his arm now for dramatic effect, "you didn't look like someone who didn't want I be flirted with".
He seemed to flush a little at that, making me literally feel like a pile of mush. "Do you want a ride to your spare keys or not?"
"If you don't mind", I said with a sheepish smile.
I climbed into the passenger side of his blue pickup truck, and we took the quick ride to my house. Most of the conversation involved my giving him directions, interspersed with random talk of music and track. To his surprise, Heavy by Linkin Park was currently my favorite. Apparently I struck him as more of a Taylor Swift type of girl. After grabbing the spare key and letting my parents know I had to go get the car, the ride back to Layla's was a little quiet.
"Is someone sleepy?" I teased from the passenger side.
"A little bit.", Sammy replied, "you?"
"Not really", I answered, honestly. I was a bit of a night owl, which probably contributed to my incessant need for caffeine in the mornings, as well as my chronic tardiness to anywhere before 10 am.
"Thanks for riding me to my car", I told him again.
"Always there to help a damsel in distress", he joked back, his sly smile working its way back onto his face.
"I could've run, you know." I pointed out.
"Please," he responded, "just one howl from a coyote and you'd have been terrified".
"Oh, and I suppose you'd just save me from that, too, huh?"
"Unless you want to take it on yourself".
Now back at Layla's house, Sammy parked the truck next to my little Cavalier.
"See you Monday!" I said, grabbing the door handle, but it didn't budge. I pushed my shoulder into the door and tried again, but still no luck.
"Sometimes it sticks from the inside," Sammy pointed out, as he got out of the truck. "I'll have to get it for you."
"I guess chivalry really isn't dead", I responded. I cringed a little at how corny that had sounded. If I was going to flirt, I could at least try not to be eight kinds of awkward about it.
Sammy walked around the truck, and the door popped right open. As I stepped down toward the ground, Sammy grabbed my waist and lowered me to the soft grass, looking straight into my plain brown eyes. Out of nowhere, I felt his lips soft against mine, his arms still around my waist, pulling me in closer toward his chest. It came out of nowhere, but it was enough to send a thousand chills down my spine. I could have stood there for a year, surrounded by moonlight and fireflies, and I swear nothing could have convinced me that there was a need to ever stop kissing him, but eventually, Sammy broke away from me.
"I've been wanting to do that all day" he said, all traces of humor now absent from his face. The seriousness in his features was new to me, but still absolutely beautiful. He looked lovingly down at me, still playing with the ends of my hair.
"I'm glad you did", I whispered quietly, still trying to bring myself down out of the butterflies.
"You look amazing tonight, you know that?"
"You too", was all that I could come up with. All I knew was that kiss was amazing, and I hoped that there would be many more to follow.

    I was SO EXCITED for this chapter!!! Votes and comments appreciated! I hope you loved this chapter as much as I did!