Something About Us

Part Seven

Part Seven

       I laid in my bed. No, not my bed because my bed was a simple queen-sized bed. Not a king-sized bed with four tall posts and elaborate drapery that shut me off from the rest of the world.
       The curtains on the bed were a deep burgundy and they were drawn shut, so I couldn't see outside of them. And with a dramatic flourish they parted and there was Seven. I wasn't surprised. I felt like I had almost been expecting him.
       He looked so good my heart hammered against my ribcage. His dark hair fell into his brown eyes which seemed to glow in the dim light. He was shirtless and his chest was as freckled as I had imagined it. The button on his pants were undone. I couldn't help myself from staring. My eyes played over the contour lines of his chest and down his taut stomach.
       He smirked at me from the end of the bed and crawled up onto it. He shut the drapes behind him so no one would see either of us. He crawled up over to me and suspended himself over top of me. Those brown eyes were burning with such a desire it felt like flames were licking me up and down my body.
       I was naked. I wanted to hide. No one aside from my parents had never really seen me naked and even then that was when I was a baby. I had never been naked like this. Ever. Not even in the locker room. Not even in front of Holiday. What if he found me disgusting? What if there was something wrong? I tried to draw up the sheets over my bare chest but Seven whipped them off with a grin.
        He started to kiss me, but I didn't feel it. I didn't feel his warmth on my lips and I didn't feel his bare chest which was pressed against mine. I reached up and tried to pull him into me more because I wanted to feel it. I wanted to feel the passion that coursed through him, but I couldn't. He seemed to feel it, but why couldn't I? He pulled away from me so he could take off his pants. And once he was bare like I was, he lay himself down on me completely and I felt waves of pleasure wash over me.
       My eyes fluttered open the same way the curtains were blowing in the breeze. I was back in my bedroom. Back in reality. The window was open and the breeze coming through was cold. It blew through my blankets and made me realize I was wet. It was even worse than before.
       Embarrassment stained my cheeks. I put my hands over my eyes and groaned. Maybe Hunter was right. Maybe I did have subconscious feelings for Seven I refused to acknowledge.

*

      October brought his drum set and set it up in our garage so now my house became Band Practice Central. We would all gather in the garage and produce terrible covers of songs. We were jamming out to a cover of Green Day’s Holiday when my sister made an appearance.
       Amelie looks exactly like my mom with blond hair and blue eyes only Amelie had been trying to achieve a tan that would rival the ones the other kids had earned going to Mexico, Hawaii or the Dominican Republic. She was wearing a blue-bikini triangle top and a pair of jean shorts. When she saw us, she laughed. “That’s what that noise is,” She said with a grin.
       “You’re going to be sorry when we’re rock stars,” TJ stuck his tongue out at her. “Now run along and go get skin cancer. We’re working on our performance skills.”
        Amelie rolled her eyes. “Can one of you grab me one of those lawn chairs in the back?” She didn’t have to ask twice. Hunter and October were climbing over each other trying to get one of the fold-up chairs. Each wanted to be the first to hand the chair to Amelie. Hunter handed the chair to Amelie with a smile so wide it split his face.
       They watched her walk away until TJ cleared his throat. “Dude, your sister is a dime. She doesn’t have a boyfriend or anything like that?” Hunter asked with a wiggle of his brows. TJ threw his guitar pick at Hunter who ducked out of the way and laughed.
        “Forget about, it Weaver. Let’s get back to Holiday.” We got through the first chorus when October stopped playing. The drums fell out from beneath us and we all turned to glare at him.
       He was tying his long coffee-dark hair nonchalantly into a ponytail when he realized we were glaring at him. “Oh. . . ah, I wanted to tell you guys that we need another guitarist. Obviously we’re not going to find one on short notice but I just needed to remind you guys. TJ, your sister doesn’t play guitar by any chance.”
       “NO!” TJ and I hollered in unison.
       Hunter stroked his chin. His sixteenth birthday was rapidly approaching and he said he was trying to grow a goatee to match. “Hey, doesn’t Seven play a ukulele?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.
       TJ snorted a giggle. “What good is that?” Since we had stopped playing anyway he made his way over to October and sat in his lap. October put his arms around TJ and whispered things in his ear that made him shriek with giggles.
    “Maybe he’s got a guitar or something,” Hunter guessed. “Gimme your phone, Ryan. It’s worth a try.” I tossed my cell phone at Hunter and prayed Seven didn’t play guitar. I don’t think I could face him after the dirty dream I had about him. No way I could look in his eyes when I dreamt things about him, things that made me . . .
        I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hands. Maybe it wasn’t Seven? No, it was Seven. I didn’t know anyone else so freckly. How could I have dreamt about him like that!?! Dreams like that were reserved for Holiday and him alone. Not, Seven.
        “Good news!” Hunter cheered. “Seven does play. We’ve got another guitarist!” No one cheered. I certainly wasn’t about to rejoice. TJ was busy playing with October’s silken ponytail and October looked skeptical.
        “Is it an electric?” October asked.
         Hunter nodded happily. “He’s on his way right now.”
        They tuned their instruments and my gut churned.
         Seven arrived within ten minutes of Hunter’s call. His guitar was on his back. At the sight of us his face lit up with a grin. “Hey guys. Hi, TJ, Hunter, Ryan, and random new-guy. I’m Seven.”
         “I am nawt the random new-guy. You are!” October cried.
         “Naw, I’ve known ‘em longer. Anyways, this is awesome! You guys actually look like a band. Do you guys have a name?” Seven asked as he plugged his guitar into the amplifier TJ and Hunter were using.
          “Yeah we do. It’s called Hunter and Those Other Ones,” Hunter said sticking out his tongue. He took his hat and put it on backwards so his bangs stuck out of the snap-closure space.
           October scoffed. “You wish. TJ suggested Electric Bitches and I liked that name.”
          “Jesus, no,” I protested. “Maybe Ryan, Hunter, Seven and the Electric Bitches.”
          “NO! We’re all supposed to be Electric Bitches together!” TJ whined, stomping a foot.
          “It doesn’t even matter. Seven, do you know Holiday by Green Day?” Hunter asked.
          “Dude, what sort of question is that? You know I know Holiday by Green Day,” Seven said. October counted us in and then they all started playing. The music sounded good. I looked back at all the others and they were actually enjoying themselves. I joined in when the timing was right and realized this was some of the most fun I had ever had in my life.
         A few hours later we had to quit because October said his stomach was going to go concave for lack of food. TJ and I scrambled to find something to feed to the others but TJ suggested burgers pressed on the George Foreman grill.
        “Why don’t you do it on the barbeque?” October asked, pointing at the black barbeque outside on the deck. He could see it through the glass sliding doors that lead to the backyard. We had shut the garage and moved into the kitchen. Now October, Seven and TJ sat at the round table in the kitchen I stood over the kitchen island and TJ was taking out the burgers, condiments and paper plates.
       “Because Satan claimed that Barbeque a long time ago. That’s the barbeque right from the bowels of Hell,” TJ babbled. Seven and Hunter laughed. “You think it’s funny? One of y’all go outside and try to start it without getting flayed alive. My dad made me start it last week and that barbeque almost scorched my face off.”
        “Give me the bloody lighter, TJ. We’ve having hamburgers by the barbeque. Give it here,” October said, standing up and holding out his hand. Hunter and Seven smiled nervously while TJ and I exchanged weary looks.
        TJ surrendered the lighter. We all moved outside onto the deck. I uncovered the barbeque and pried it open. TJ scraped off the char and gave October looks out of the corner of his eye. “I hope you understand none of us here can drive. So when your suffering from fourth degree burns ain’t no one taking you to the hospital.”
        “Are fourth degree burns even a thing?” Hunter asked. Seven nodded and said; “It’s when the fire burns off your skin and muscle and all that’s left is bone.” I think we all imagined October with  skeletal face, a black scalp and a few pieces of hair in the back of his head because we all laughed.
       “I’m sixteen and I’ve got my G1. So technically I could drive you if there was a car to drive,” Seven said afterward. It was then I noticed how naturally Seven and October fit into the group. How they conversed well with Hunter and TJ.
        “Don’t worry about that, Seven. Clear the way, TJ, love. Why don’t you get us some lemonade? It’s a more womanly job, since you’re afraid of a little barbeque.” October said with a devilish grin in his blue eyes. TJ looked like he needed to scrape his jaw off of the floor.
         “Oh, I’ll get you all some lemonade. Don’t start ‘til I get back. I want to be able to describe what happened in detail to the ER staff,” TJ trilled. He stomped back into the house, sliding the door shut behind him.
         “Who’s the man in your relationship?” Seven asked once TJ was out of ear shot. It was a question I had wondered myself but never found the nerve to ask. Seven had no filter, whatever he thought just came out of his mouth.
          “Me of course,” October said with a toss of his ponytail. We all laughed. TJ came back out carrying mason jar glasses filled with lemonade. He handed us the glasses and we all sipped the icey sweet liquid. “Thank you, love. The lighter please?”
          TJ handed October the lighter. He twirled the red, long-reach lighter around his finger like it was a gun. He put it into the side of the barbeque to set the coals ablaze. Fear gripped my bones. I had seen what that barbeque was capable off. “Everyone stand back,” I stammered nervously. I took two steps back and Seven followed me.
        “Ryan, don’t be a woman like your brother.” October pulled the trigger. All we heard was a soft whoosh and then the largest fire ball I had ever seen the barbeque give up emerged from the bowels of the coal. October couldn’t step back fast enough to avoid the flames.
         The tips of his bangs had caught fire. He screamed like a woman for a guy with such a deep voice. TJ tossed his lemonade onto October and effectively doused the flames. “Good for you. Barbeque should’ve snatched your face off.” And then he went back into the house to grab the burgers.