Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
WAYLON
“Here’s something else for the bucket list — a little road trip with another person,” Bianca says, looking at the GPS map to the resort where the family reunion will be.
“It’s a pretty drive too, so it’s perfect,” I say, starting up the car. Duke lays down and puts his head on the console between us. “Too short for good snacks, though.”
“It’s never too short for good snacks.” Bianca snorts. “You’d deny me road trip snacks because it’s only a two-hour drive?”
She pouts, and even though she’s joking, my gut says I couldn’t deny her anything. But my gut can sometimes lead me a little sideways — just because we had a great time at trivia and we have a shit ton of physical chemistry doesn’t mean I should get anything twisted. We’re friends who hook up and pretend to be dating. Which is completely normal.
“Fine, we can stop for snacks.” I pull out of the driveway. “We can always have them on the way back too.”
“Awesome.” She starts messing with the music until she turns on a playlist. “This place we’re going to is a resort?”
“Yeah. It’s not what you’re thinking of, though,” I say. “It’s more like a bunch of cabins and some unsafe water slides that are super fun to go down.”
“You have a lot of vaguely unsafe memories of childhood.” She reaches between her feet and pets Sadie’s head. “The rides at Jepsen Festival. These water slides.”
“You don’t?”
“Nope. My childhood was wrapped in bubble wrap. Though now that I think back on it, I was in a lot of sketch situations as hard as my parents tried to shield me from them.” She winces. “Maybe we can do something to help me relive the part of my childhood that I missed.”
“Except you have adult bones that don’t pop back as fast as kid bones do.” I drum my fingers on the steering wheel. “Unless you want to live on the edge.”
“I’ll live on the edge. I’ve never broken a bone before.” She shrugs.
“Wouldn’t recommend it, but hey, it’s your bucket list,” I say. “I can set a bone if I have to, at least until a human doctor can show up.”
“See? We’re all prepared.” She gives me one of those little smiles of hers, the ones that make me smile wider.
We drive onto the interstate and stop at a gas station. She goes inside while I top off my gas tank and returns with a big bag.
“I got mini Skittles, which are apparently a thing, chips, Sour Patch Kids…” She rifles through the bag. “I got peanut butter cups too, since you like those. And Cheerwine? The guy working there said it was a regional thing, so I wanted to try it.”
“It’s good. It’s like red Dr. Pepper.” I take the peanut butter cups. “And thanks. How’d you know I liked these?”
She gives me a shy glance. “You mentioned you named your favorite kittens after your favorite things at the shelter that day, so I assumed you liked them. With Reese and all.”
“Oh.” A smile touches my lips and I unwrap the cups. It’s been a while since anyone’s remembered that kind of thing about me or even put in the effort. “Thank you.”
I start the car again and pull back onto the route, popping a peanut butter cup into my mouth.
“So you guys do trivia every week?” she asks, popping open the tube of mini Skittles.
“Yep. Well, except for if there are emergencies at work or something,” I say, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. “Did you have a good time? Did they grill the shit out of you when I stepped away?”
“They asked me questions,” she says with a shrug. “They really care about you. It’s very sweet and rare to have true friends like that. Probably. I don’t even know.”
“What do you mean?”
She pours some of the mini Skittles into her mouth and chews for a bit. “I do have — and have had — good friends. Like Kaitlyn, who I’ll be opening the spa with. We’ve been friends since we were freshman in high school, probably because we were both the awkward ones in our class.”
“That’s basically how Jeremiah and I met,” I say. “We were the chubby, nerdy kids and bonded. Then I met Jada later, of course.”
“Yeah. The bond of the awkward kids runs deep.” She laughs. “But once I started modeling and doing some influencer deals, I met a whole bunch of people who came and went at the drop of a hat. If I got cast in a campaign and my ‘friend’ didn’t, we weren’t friends anymore. If someone even heard a rumor that was negative about me, they were gone. If I passed them in followers on Instagram, I got blocked. It was all kind of fleeting, especially since we were competing against each other in a lot of instances.”
“That sounds really shitty,” I say.
“It is.” She lets out a sigh. “But that’s a big reason as to why I want to leave. It’s cutthroat and while that works for some people, I’m just not like that. And I definitely don’t want it as badly as some other girls. They deserve it way more.”
I’m glad she’s getting out of it. She’s pretty down to earth and nice — she doesn’t deserve to be yanked around like that by people.
She takes a sip of the Cheerwine and wrinkles her nose. “What the hell is this?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Definitely not.” She puts the bottle into my side of the cupholder. “Have at it.”
“More for me.” I undo the cap with one hand and take a sip. It’s been a while since I’ve had it.
We eat snacks and talk about all the weird signs we see the rest of the drive to the resort. Mom sent out info on where all of us are staying, so I drive us straight to the parking lot closest to our cabin. My family takes over the entire resort for the weekend, so I wave to a few of my cousins who are in a nearby cabin.
“This place is too cute,” Bianca says once we walk up to the cabin, Duke trailing behind us. “Is it just for us?”
“Yep. I guess as a couple, we get one.” I punch in the key code and push open the door.
Duke rushes in first, sniffing around, and we follow. It’s more or less a studio apartment — one big room with a bed and a bathroom on one side, a little couch, a TV, and a kitchenette. It’s rustic and cozy. And very private.
I bring the rest of our stuff inside and find Bianca sitting on the bed, taking a picture of Sadie and Duke curled up on an armchair together.
“Do you want to go swim?” I ask. “Wes just texted and said that he and Rose are already down by the water.”
“Sure, yeah.”
We take turns changing into our swim gear. When she comes out of the bathroom, I suck in a breath. She’s in a one-piece, but it’s cut high on her legs and dips just low enough to show a tiny bit of cleavage. Somehow having her body not fully exposed by a bikini makes me want to know more about what’s underneath.
“Can you help me with sunscreen on my back?” She asks, pulling a bottle out of her bag.
“Sure, yeah.” I swallow, making sure my hands aren’t too sweaty. Why am I acting as if I haven’t literally eaten her out?
I take her sunscreen and cover her back, making sure to cover every inch of exposed skin of her back and shoulders. Her skin is addictively soft. She does me next, covering me well. Her small hands feel nice against my skin, like she’s soothing it. Whenever we start on the next item on her bucket list, I hope I can feel more of her.
She slips on a beach cover up and we go out to the manmade lake, the dogs walking along in front of us. We spot Rose and Wes, along with their dog, Murphy, stretched out underneath a tree on a blanket. Rose waves to us first, before Wes realizes we’re here and waves too.
“When did y’all get here?” I ask, sitting down. Of course, Murphy, Duke, and Sadie have to greet each other right in the middle of the blanket, managing to hit us all in the face with their tails.
“Not too long ago.” Rose leans back on her hands and adjusts her sunglasses.
“We just got here too.” I pick up Sadie so Bianca has a place to sit, and she gracefully sinks down, cross-legged.
“You want to make bets on who’ll blow up at who first?” Wes asks, scanning our family drifting in the water. “Ten bucks on Aunt Kelly arguing with her husband before dinner. And fifteen on whether Darren and Brett will end up wrestling after dinner.”
“Jesus, Wes, we just got here. We can’t bet on who’s going to fight right now. This is Rose and Bianca’s first time here,” I say, even though I know that Brett will end up kicking Darren’s ass more than once and Aunt Kelly has been on a meditation kick and will hold off until after dinner.
I glance at Bianca, who thankfully looks amused.
“Bro, it’s inevitable. Why not have fun with it?” Wes asks. “Rose, are you in?”
“I’ve never even met your aunt Kelly,” Rose says with a snort. “And I haven’t spoken with Brett or Darren since high school.”
“So you’re fine with losing?” Wes gently squeezes Rose’s leg.
She narrows her eyes at him. “I know what you’re trying to do, babe.”
“What? What am I trying to do?” Wes gives her a smile that’s all innocence.
“See, this is how he roped me,” Rose says to Bianca. “We made one little dumb bet, then another, then another…and here we are.”
They grin at each other like lovesick puppies. It would be annoying if I wasn’t happy for them both and if they weren’t such a good match.
“You want to make another dumb little bet, then?” Wes asks. “C’mon, Rosie. It’ll be fun.”
“Fine!” Rose sighs. “Um…at least I know Darren and Brett, so I bet they’ll wrestle before dinner.”
“I’ll bet that they wrestle before and after dinner,” I say. “And I’m going to have faith in Aunt Kelly’s self-control and say they won’t argue at all.”
Wes writes down our bets in his phone.
“Our family’s mostly civilized, by the way,” Wes says to Bianca, craning his neck to see around Duke, who’s standing in the middle of us all for no good reason. I lightly press on the spot above his tail and he sits. “But the family reunion brings out the worst in a solid chunk of the family.”
“I’ve never been to a family reunion, actually,” Bianca says. “I mean, my family gets along, but we aren’t super close. My dad’s parents passed away before I was born and he’s an only child, so my aunt Gloria was the only living family member I was in regular contact with. But my mom has a few sisters and my cousins are all over the place. I don’t think many of them would get in a fist fight though, but we’ve never gotten that heated before.”
I mentally tuck that information away. I haven’t asked many questions about her family at all, much less her extended family. Then again, who’s really going to ask? But also, I still want to know. I’m just even more curious about her in general.
“You know what to do when you see your cousins next,” Wes says. “Give them some moonshine and see what happens.”
“I’ll report back.” Bianca laughs, a warm and genuine one.
Jeremiah and Jada are my best friends, but Wes is my twin. If a girl I’m with doesn’t click with Wes, then it’s probably a sign that we won’t last.
Wes hated Catherine once she stopped actively trying to stay on his good side, which apparently took a lot of effort on her end. And even before that, Wes had a weird feeling about her, especially our second time around.
Then again, Wes and Bianca’s relationship doesn’t matter at the end of the day since none of this is real. As much as I like that Bianca feels comfortable enough to let down her guard a bit.
“Want to go down the water slide?” Wes asks, nodding toward the slide. A few of our younger cousins are on it already, climbing up the stairs to the top.
“The one that Waylon said is pretty unsafe?” She glances at me with a little smirk.
“That’s the fun part.” Wes stands up and peels off his t-shirt.
“Does everyone in this town have a death wish?” Bianca asks.
“Yep,” Rose says, patting Murphy’s exposed belly. “I’m staying right here with the dogs.”
“I’m going to put you in my lap and go down the slide later.” Wes grins at Rose and she playfully rolls her eyes.
“I know where you sleep.” Rose says.
“I also know where you sleep.” They exchange a look I’d rather not think about too hard.
“Again, does everyone in this town have a death wish? Besides me and Rose?” Bianca takes off her swim coverup, though, and I smile.
“Well, what other thrills are there in Jepsen?” I take off my shirt too. “Besides bonfires in the woods?”
I savor the way that Bianca’s eyes flick over my body before checking that Rose has a handle on Duke — Duke loves to leap into the water after me, usually missing and ending up right on top of my head. Murphy will probably bark at the water and run away if it touches him even a little bit. Sadie, as always, is taking a nap.
Bianca, Wes, and I head to the top of the slide. It really hasn’t changed all that much, except as an adult, I can see even more safety issues. Both the stairs up to the top and the slide itself are rickety and the guard rails aren’t secure. Is the slide even deep enough for us to not go flying over the ledge and into the trees?
“Um, one of you is going to have to go first,” Bianca says. “Because this looks like a death trap.”
“I’ll go.” Wes steps up and slides down like it’s no big deal. We hear him splash into the lake below moments later, waving his hand. “I didn’t die!”
“What a ringing endorsement,” Bianca says, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I’ll go next,” I say. “And I can catch you at the end if you want.”
“If I make it all the way down without flying off and breaking my back against a tree,” she says. “Go ahead.”
I grin and hop on the top of the slide. It feels wobbly as hell under my weight, but it’s still fun and fast, shooting me down and into the lake. I swim a little ways out so I’m close enough to catch Bianca, but not so close that she’ll crash into me. A few of my family members are floating around in donuts, watching people come out of the slide, so they give us space too.
I motion for her to come on, and she hesitates. For a second I think she’s going to back out, but then she sits on the slide and throws herself down it. The ride is short, only a few second, but she makes it, splashing into the water with a squeal. I’m just close enough to grab her.
“Holy shit,” she says, letting me hold onto her. “That definitely felt like a death trap.”
“But it was fun, wasn’t it?” I ask. Her waist feels nice under my hands.
“Okay, yeah, it was,” she says, shivering. “Sorry, the water is a little chilly.”
She scoots closer to me, like she’s trying to absorb my heat. Her breasts brush up against me.
“Is it?” I ask, my voice low as my hands slide down to her hips.
“Yeah.” She swallows, looking at my shoulders, then my lips. “Getting warmer, though.”
We stay there for a moment, like the simple act of me holding her hips has created a spell over us. The overwhelming urge to pull her even closer almost takes over. Do we have to do this? No. But it feels nice just to touch her without thinking about it much more. The water is dripping off her curls, making her exposed skin glisten in a way that makes me want to lick along her collar bone.
One of my uncles comes shooting out of the bottom of the slide shakes me out of my trance. I loosen my grip.
“I’m going to hop out and warm up,” Bianca says, clearing her throat and not looking at me.
“Okay, yeah.” I give her more space. “I’m going to…just hang here.”
I watch her head back to shore and step out of the water, squeezing water from her curls. Her long, shapely frame looks even better now that she’s all wet, her suit clinging to her body in a way it wasn’t before.
Someone taps on the back of my head, pulling my eyes away. It’s my aunt Nadine on a float.
“Sweetheart, did your um, girlfriend forget the rest of her swimsuit?” Aunt Nadine asks in that annoying ‘oh bless her heart’ tone. Nadine is one of my mom’s four sisters, and is by far my least favorite.
“Nope.” I peel my eyes off Bianca. She’s not even in a tiny string bikini. It’s just a swimsuit that shows some skin. Like a fucking swimsuit in the modern era.
But I hold my tongue. Starting shit with Aunt Nadine usually leads to more bullshit but I get the feeling that she’ll keep going.
“We aren’t in LA.” She tsks.
“You’re right. We aren’t. And it doesn’t matter where we are. She’s wearing a swimsuit at the lake.”
Aunt Nadine’s eyes narrow at my tone. I’ve kept it light, but I’m probably pushing it.
“We’ll see how much she fits in with the family over the trip, then. Why did she move to Jepsen? Isn’t she a model? What kind of modeling?”
“Clothes and stuff like that.” I don’t know what the name of the modeling is but I know she looks good doing it. I’ve spent a little too much time looking through her Instagram.
I start to swim toward the shore just slowly enough so she won’t call me out for being rude.
“Does she do risqué photos?” Nadine follows me, of course.
“Depends on your definition of it,” I say. We’ve drifted close enough to the point where Bianca might be able to hear us. She’s standing at the shore, trying to pull a piece of a plant out of her hair.
“Does she want a family and children?” Nadine asks. ”What would they think if they knew she did that?”
“What’s the point of all these questions?” I ask, my tone sharp. Nadine’s eyes widen in surprise — as much as she’s annoyed me over the years, I’ve always been as polite as possible. “Because it doesn’t feel like you’re asking to actually get to know Bianca. You’re asking because you want to start something.”
Aunt Nadine blinks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but yeah, you do,” I say. “And I’m not putting up with it.”
Nadine gapes at me. “I’m just trying to —”
I swim toward the shore before she starts spouting off some dumb excuses for the shit she said. Aunt Nadine and I drifted closer to the shore than I thought, so it doesn’t take me long to reach Bianca. She’s sitting in the sun, where it’s noticeably warmer than it was just a little further away. Her expression is the same calm it usually is, but she nibbles on her bottom lip.
“Hey,” I say. “Did you overhear any of that?”
“Bits and pieces, but I can kind of sense when people are talking about me.” She shrugs, like this is a normal thing. I hate that it is.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “She’s just kind of like that but I know she’ll back off a little now that I’ve called her out.”
“Thank you,” she says softly, squeezing my hand. “You didn’t have to do anything.”
“I had to.” I squeeze her hand back. “Even if you’re not my actual girlfriend, I’m not letting anyone try to shame you.”
She looks at me with a softness in her eyes that I rarely ever see. I want to hold onto the moment for as long as I can, but she looks away.
“Waylon, Waylon, Waylon,” she says with a soft sigh, leaning against me a little.
I’m not entirely sure what she means by that, but will I read into it entirely too much? Probably.
And it’s going to be a problem.