Chapter 21 #2
There was only one thing you could do with someone like James Hunter, I thought.
“Is he still with Amelia?”
My question didn’t throw her off at all.
“No, June. Amelia and James, nothing ever happened between them.”
I knew it. I had a feeling that the girls were messing with me. Why lie about something so inane? What were they hiding behind that lie?
“And why’d Amelia tell me otherwise?”
“They were never . . . never together.” I believed Poppy, and she said it without any hesitation.
All of my assumptions about Brian being overprotective and angry at James for how he’d treated Amelia went up in smoke.
“Amelia’s seeing someone else.”
“Who?”
But that was too much even for Poppy. She shook her head, and I decided to drop it.
“Look, Poppy. Look at him.”
James had just jumped into the pool with his clothes on.
He emerged from under the water a few seconds later and leaned against the edge.
His arm grazed Jackson’s muscular shoulders, and Jackson continued to bite his lip every time his friend came near him.
A little while later, James was flirting with Becky, who couldn’t take her lips from his jaw.
“What the hell did that asshole do to you? Brainwash you?”
Poppy looked at me earnestly. “He just asked me to go with him. There was this race . . .”
I looked askance. “What kind of race?”
“A race, Jesus, June! Why do you want me to tell you?”
“Is it illegal?”
She nodded then covered her mouth. “Oh shit. That was a secret.”
“What race?” I demanded.
“Forget it. All I can tell you is that James wanted to know . . . The last time we saw each other he asked about you.”
“What? What’d he wanna know?”
“He wanted to know how integrated into our group you were, what you knew about us, about him.”
“That’s none of his business. He just wants to ruin my life,” I grumbled, getting irritated.
I looked at him again, and he turned to us at that exact moment, catching us red-handed.
James’s eyes glittered in the dark, and they smashed into me like two rogue meteorites.
I could perfectly describe William’s eyes, but not his.
I gathered all my strength and looked away before getting lost in that dangerous void.
“You know, June, I think he likes you.”
I choked on some saliva and started hacking. I chuckled nervously between strangled whimpers, then pulled myself together. “Look, Poppy, don’t let an asshat use you like that. You deserve so, so much better,” I told her as she put her head on my shoulder, deliberately ignoring that absurd notion.
“I know, but I’ve always liked him. James is James. And everybody acts like I’m crazy because I have this awful tendency to talk too much. He doesn’t act that way. He makes me feel like I can be myself.”
“Yeah, but—” I shook my head.
How could Poppy chase after someone who was incapable of feeling things like decency, common sense, and respect for others?
He was at her home and another girl was following him around right under her nose.
Then she looked at me. Maybe he could play mind games with people, but he couldn’t with me. I wouldn’t let him.
“I did what I could. I got the stains out of the carpet, then we vacuumed it. It should look like new.” William’s melodic voice carried over to us.
“Thanks, Will,” we both said.
“I’m gonna check if there are any stragglers,” added Poppy, getting up.
I understood that she wanted to leave me alone. Finally, a breath of fresh air.
“How’s your evening going?” asked William, sitting next to me.
His actions were jarring. First he kissed me, then he chased me out of his house, then he kissed me again, then he left without any explanation, and now he was acting like nothing had happened.
“Eh, my night’s been weird. How about you?” I looked at our reflections in the water.
William was wearing a gray cardigan over a white linen shirt that was a bit wrinkled, and a pair of dark pants. Being the quintessential essence of elegance, I wore my big hoodie and an old pair of jeans.
“June, if your invitation still stands, I think I should consider it now.”
I was a proud person, and I had a bone to pick with him.
“Oh, so we only talk when you decide to, William Cooper?” I wasn’t mad, but I needed to establish boundaries for an equal relationship. “Will, you told me there were things you needed to tell me, and then you kissed me. Is that how you tell people stuff?”
He hinted at a smile. “I’m embarrassed by how I acted with you, June.”
I stiffened as tight as a drum.
“I was pissed off at James and myself, and I took it out on you. You were so close to each other, how could I not misunderstand?”
He jerked his head at James. His white T-shirt was soaked, almost see-through. I immediately averted my gaze from the scene in front of me; he and Becky were making out particularly passionately.
“So you think we were doing something?” I asked.
“No, I mean . . . I thought you—”
“I what? I was furious with him, Will. I still am. He locked me in your basement to get back at me for punching him. And for that matter, he deserved it.”
William shook his head, fixing his hair. “I’m sorry about what he did to you, but most of all for thinking badly about you.”
“Be honest, you thought badly of him.” I egged him on.
“No. James has a moral code, in his own way.”
“I was in the school bathroom with him because I spilled coffee all over his uniform, and he pulled me in with him. Same thing with the nurse’s office. I just gave him one piece of advice.”
“June, I believe you. You don’t have to explain yourself.”
“I don’t want to explain myself. I want you to trust me.”
William held back a smile as if a pleasant thought had just crossed his mind.
“It really was great this morning. Of course, it would’ve been better without an audience.”
I bit my lip, as if I wanted to feel his lips’ softness again. “When you said you’d never had a girlfriend, is that because of James?” I whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“When tensions got high at the party yesterday, you accused him of never backing off.”
“It’s because he’s stronger. He clearly wants all the attention for himself,” he explained.
“But that has nothing to do with my love life,” William continued.
“It’s my fault. If I’ve never been with anyone, it’s because I’ve been in love with the same girl for years without telling her how I feel.
Without her ever looking my way. We always want something we’ll never have. It’s human nature.”
Hold on, what was he saying? That he was in love with someone else? My hopes of having a serious relationship with him evaporated in an instant.
“June, don’t get me wrong. I often end up going after the wrong people. But for the first time, I feel like there’s something real between you and me. Not just in a one-sided way.”
My vision got blurry.
“Are you still in love with her?”
He shook his head.
“No, that was just the prologue. I want the main part of the story to be about you and me. Together.”
I lit up when I heard William’s words. I flung myself at him, finding his soft lips ready to meet mine.
It was like landing on a bunch of soft clouds.
Our tongues mingled instantly. I didn’t put my hands on him.
They stayed at the pool edge as William caressed my cheekbone with his thumb, sending a chill down my spine.
“Sorry, June. I was so . . .”
“You’re forgiven, Romeo.”