Chapter Thirteen #5
“For sure.” She bent her head and fanned the back of her neck with her fingers. “Your face is all flushed. You weren’t even dancing.” Ariana laid an innuendo-heavy look on Lulu. “What’s going on with you and Hot Pocket?”
Despite her mood, Lulu grinned at her friend. “I don’t know. It’s so confusing.”
Ariana’s wry smile softened. “Why? You just found out the guy’s not married. He’s clearly into you. What’s stopping you?”
Her clothes felt damp and cool from the rain, but here was Ariana, seeking her out and offering a chance to unload. Between caring for Zoe and keeping on top of teaching, she had scant time to share her feelings, and then it was usually Laverne’s good counsel she sought.
Lulu hesitated. She didn’t want to burden Ariana with these concerns that objectively were decidedly unimportant.
Whether to like a boy. Or not like a boy.
But here was a friend standing out in the rain for her.
And she knew making a friend and being a friend meant allowing the mask to drop and baring her vulnerabilities.
So she let it drop.
Once she got rolling, she could feel her tension unspooling.
She was a parent and she was on the cusp of losing her job, and Tyler’s antics, although occasionally adorable, were more often irresponsible, like juggling fire, for example, or not being there for her after her parents’ accident, which, to be honest, still felt a little raw now that she was missing her own daughter, even though it had only been a few days.
And she was afraid that when push came to shove, it was going to end up being Tyler’s needs over everybody else’s.
“What do you think?” Lulu asked at last when she had run out of air.
Ariana assessed her, taking a moment to absorb and respond. “I think you like him.”
Lulu laughed. That part she knew.
“And if you like him, you should not get ahead of yourself here. One step at a time. See what happens. It doesn’t all have to be figured out right now.”
Not having to figure it all out right now was kind of antithetical to the experience of being Lulu. But she would consider it.
“Then again,” Ariana continued. “I might not be the best person to ask. I already have one guy I’m trying to figure out.”
“A boyfriend?”
“Kinda.” Ariana shrugged. “I’ve been dating him for two years, and I still haven’t got his social-emotional side worked out.
He’s sort of…distant. Hard to get to know.
But I guess that says more about me. Maybe I like a guy who I can break up with without hurting his feelings.
” She nodded to herself. “Guys without feelings. That’s what I’m into. ”
Lulu laughed. “Is he waiting for you back in Philadelphia?”
Ariana tipped her head slowly from side to side, noncommittal. “Sort of. Not in Philly. He’s got an apprenticeship in construction. He’s on a job in Texas where his parents live. I haven’t seen him in a few months. And having a relationship over texts and phone calls sucks, I can tell you that.”
“What kind of construction?”
“Exteriors—like porches, patios, that kind of thing.” Ariana raised her eyebrows, giving Lulu an opening.
“Does he send you a lot of deck pics?”
Ariana laughed. “Oh, Lulu. And I was worried you’d be too serious for us to get along. I’m so glad you did not disappoint me there.”
And even though it was kind of a backhanded compliment, Lulu was happy to have the friendship confirmed. An instant later, her gaze flitted to the side and her thoughts shifted. She pictured Tyler’s body moving on the dance floor, and a heavy sigh blew out of her lips.
“Wow!” Ariana smirked, guessing Lulu’s thoughts from the look on her face. “You really like him!”
“Shut up.”
The two grinned at each other. “I think it’s okay, Lulu. Just…like him. You’re on vacay in Costa Rica with a hot guy who wants you. I mean, duh.”
Lulu tucked herself under the narrow awning and peered out at the dark sky. A thin backbeat vibrated through the walls of the disco. The air smelled of wet pavement.
Ariana leaned against the building beside her.
They stood, listening to the rain and the cars splashing along the road.
“I hope this isn’t building into that big storm Alejandro has been talking about.
I’d really like to get some clear weather tomorrow,” Ariana said.
“It’s amazing to see the volcano.” The rain tick-ticked against the pavement.
“My dad used to bring us here to La Fortuna when he and Mom were still together. Some days you can’t see it at all with the cloud cover, and then suddenly, boom, there it is.
This huge, beautiful presence that was waiting there all along.
” She slitted her eyes toward Lulu, making a point with her words. “All along.”
“Are you actually talking about the volcano now or is that metaphoric?”
Ariana’s slow, close-lipped smile eased up her cheeks.
“You know how after the waterfall rappel, you told me you wanted this trip to be a chance for you to stretch out of your usual routine? I think, if you don’t mind me saying, that the only thing holding you back…
is you.” Lulu’s lips parted in anticipation of defending herself.
“Not in a bad way. You just seem a little bottled up.”
Bottled up? Lulu thought, offended. Well.
Maybe a little. But Ariana couldn’t understand how scary it was to dive into a new pursuit with no security of a regular paycheck when she had a toddler to feed.
Or dive into a relationship when there was a very good chance that the other half of said relationship would decide, at the drop of a hat, that his priorities were not in line with the needs of a partnership.
“You just seem like you could loosen up. Like…when I feel tense or worried about something,” Ariana said, “sometimes, I’ll do something just for a laugh.
It’s like adding gas to the tank. Funny fuels me.
Like last night, I stuck this fake spider into the thatch in Tyler’s cabin before he got in there.
You should have heard him! This high-pitched, wild scream.
I could hear it from the other side of the camp. ”
Lulu glared. “That was my cabin.”
Ariana’s eyes opened wide. “What? Oops!” She giggled. “Wow, did you scream,” Ariana stated.
Lulu shook her head. “You got me, though.” Thinking back to her reaction, Lulu couldn’t help but laugh, and Ariana joined in.
This is fun, Lulu thought, standing outside in the rain laughing with a new friend.
How odd it seemed to her, all of a sudden, to have enjoyed, in retrospect, being the recipient of a prank.
Even if she hadn’t been the intended target.
“I got you good,” Ariana said, her eyes still glinting. “Hey, I have an idea.” Ariana reached into her purse and pulled out a little bottle with a stopper. She passed it to Lulu, who read the label. “I reprinted that label myself. It looks believable, doesn’t it?”
Shrugging, Lulu said, “Yeah. Sure. It’s not cologne?”
Ariana raised a conspiratorial eyebrow. “Let’s just say I think I managed to bottle one of my best pranks ever…if it works. I was going to give it to Tyler myself. But I think it would work much better coming from you. Will you give it to him?”
Hesitating, Lulu nodded. Maybe she would. Maybe she wouldn’t. Despite the kick she got out of the fake spider. In retrospect.
“Okay. It’s up to you. Pranking someone is…well, it’s a real rush if you can pull it off. Sometimes, you just have to take the risk and do something that’s way out there. You might find yourself doing something you love.” She lifted a brow. “Or someone.”
Ariana pressed the bottle into her palm, and Lulu, looking out in the drizzle, felt the rain uplift her as it often did.
She thought of home and how much she loved living in a climate just as rainy and beautiful as where she stood now.
She grinned at Ariana. “I think I’d like to go dance now.
” Her friend’s eyes twinkled in agreement.
This time when Lulu went back inside, the music and the lights, like the rain, had an effect on her mood, too.
The dance music hit her like sparks of energy, and she felt a turning inside, like her body was making the music and her eyes were beaming with light.
It was not the chiliguaro talking; she was pumped up with possibility and ready to reach for it.
Risk? Risk was her middle name. Actually, it was Gabrielle. But tonight…
Lulu sashayed onto the floor and spotted Tyler dancing alone. He bounced to the rhythm like he and the music were made for each other. When he spotted her, his face opened with welcome.
Lulu swayed closer. Eagerly, he reached out and closed the space between them, his fingers tugging her hips toward his.
His hair, slick with sweat, clung to his neck.
His cheeks were flushed, and his pupils, huge and blazing, took her in.
The scent coming off him was dizzying: pure masculine heat.
She flung one arm lazily over his shoulder and let her hips drive her motion, let her shoulders follow.
Lulu felt it through her thin bra, his chest bumping against hers, the hardness of his pecs as they grazed her nipples.
His hand on the small of her back moved her like he was a snake charmer.
And as she danced, there was nothing else but the thrusting beat of the music, the heat of his body, the swaying of his hips, the press of his hand.
His thigh between her legs, grazing her each time he lifted his hips.
Lulu was ten feet under water and would have given up breathing altogether if it meant she could drown in Tyler Demming.
The percussive rhythm rocked her. The guiding press of his hand soaked her through and through. Her mind, half drugged with lust, only caught snippets of the Spanish words: An opening in the jungle. Step inside. Be brave. Her brain, however, supplied a different translation.
Want me, it sang. Take me. Have me. Now.