8. Ben
“Well,okay, there was that time I pissed my pants in the Taco Bell drive-thru,” she immediately says, shrugging as she hits me with a playful grin.
I almost choke on my mouthful of margarita as a laugh bursts out of me. “You did what?!”
“Pissed my pants in the Taco Bell drive-thru,” she repeats like it’s no big deal.
“Okay, I’m assuming that is the embarrassing part and if you were older than five years old when this happened, then you’d be correct. Aida, it is embarrassing. But I need details here. Context and shit,” I say, swinging my legs around so I’m sitting sideways on the lounge chair facing her.
Aida laughs, taking another sip of her drink. “You really do make a good margarita, you know,” she says, holding her glass out to me.
“Yeah, I know,” I reply, rolling my eyes. “Details, woman, come on,” I add, rolling my hand at her as if to say, hurry up.
Aida swings her legs off the lounge chair too, pushing her sunglasses up and mirroring my position as we sit facing each other, only a foot or so of space between us. We’re close enough that I can see those amazing blue eyes of hers and I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to lean in and kiss her.
But I also really want to hear this story and I know if I kiss her, I’m likely to get a kick in the balls and no satisfaction in my curiosity as to how she came to piss her pants in a Taco Bell drive-thru. So I lift my drink to my mouth, forcing myself not to think about Aida’s lips or tongue or her mouth in general as I wait for the details on her embarrassing story.
“Okay, so obviously I was older than five and actually, it happened because I was laughing so hard about a story I was telling, so it’s not like I just randomly pissed myself.”
“Good to know,” I say with a smile. “But again, details, Aida.”
She laughs now, shaking her head a little as she says, “See, persistent.”
“And charming,” I reply quickly with a grin as I once again roll my hand to get her talking.
Aida smiles, turning to lie back on her lounge chair as she finally starts her story. “Okay, so the reason I was laughing so hard was because I was telling the story of my high school economics class. Not my favorite course, but one I had to take,” she quickly adds, as though that part is important. “Anyway, my best friend and I were put in this group with the class nerd who seriously had the worst haircut in the world. It was like someone had put a mixing bowl on her head and just cut around the edges, you know.”
I laugh. “You’re really big on the details, aren’t you?” I tease.
She shifts, kicking my leg gently with her foot. “Law student, remember? It’s all about the details.” I roll my eyes at that, and it only makes her laugh again as she continues. “Anyway, they gave us these charts and some questions and basically the nerd reads the first question out loud, which was something along the lines of ‘What do you notice about the rise in pork prices and the influx of aliens?’” I let out a loud laugh, not expecting that and Aida smiles, nodding as she says, “I know, weird, right?”
“Um yeah,” I say. “What the fuck do pork prices have to do with aliens?”
“Ugh, see, you get it,” she says, throwing an arm up. “That’s exactly what I said when I told the nerd with the sketchy haircut, ‘We don’t even know if aliens are real so why would pork prices go up?’”
“Right,” I say, nodding in agreement. “What was the nerd’s response to that?”
Aida chuckles, taking another sip of her drink as she says, “Well, she looked me right in the eye and said, ‘They mean illegal aliens, immigrants, you moron not ET.’”
I burst out laughing, falling back on my lounge chair. “Jesus, yeah okay, I get it,” I reply, tears now streaming down my cheeks. “But seriously, what the fuck do illegal aliens have to do with pork prices either?”
“Who knows,” Aida says with a laugh. “I literally learned nothing from that class.”
“Well, you officially win,” I concede. “Not only is the original story funny as hell, but pissing yourself at, what…?”
“Twenty,” Aida sheepishly admits.
“Twenty,” I repeat with a laugh. “And in a Taco Bell drive-thru no less, yeah, that is way more embarrassing than a shitty acapella group.”
Aida smiles, finishing off her drink. “Glad I could amuse you and win our competition. Again, I might add.”
I stand, reaching for her now empty cup. “Please, we have all summer, Aida. Maybe I’m just lulling you into a false sense of security. Another margarita?”
She laughs. “If you say so. And sure, why not.”
I take our cups and head inside to the kitchen, unable to wipe the grin off my face. I have to admit, I am really liking hanging out with Aida. Aside from the obvious, she is hella funny and just great company. It’s going to be fun living next door to her for the summer, especially with Troy and Jason now out of town.
After I top up our drinks, I grab a couple of bags of chips and head back outside to find Aida lying on one of the pool floats.
“Thought I’d jump in, if that’s okay?” she asks.
“Of course,” I reply, holding up her drink. “Come closer, the float has a cup holder.”
She gives me a skeptical look as she slowly paddles closer. “You aren’t gonna try anything are you?”
“Do you want me to try something, Aida?” I ask with a grin, confident we are not talking about the same thing here.
She pushes her sunglasses up onto her head, hitting me with a look that only makes me laugh harder, because she knows exactly what I’m thinking. “Not if it involves you tipping me into the water, no.”
With a wink, I crouch down, drink outstretched as I wait for her. “Now would I do something like that?” I ask, all mock innocence.
“Ah yes, you would totally do something like that!”
I put my drink down beside me, before placing my hand over my heart. “Aida, please, don’t wound me with your cruelty.”
She laughs, reaching out to snatch her fresh drink from my hand before she pushes off the side of the pool with her foot so she’s out of reach. “Whatever, I know how you think.”
I stand, grabbing another pool float and dropping it into the water, before sliding onto it. Then I grab my drink and join her in the middle of the pool. “Only because you think exactly the same way,” I tell her, pulling my sunglasses down.
She lets out another one of those laugh-snort combos that is seriously adorable as she reaches a leg out, her foot casually playing with the end of my float as though she’s contemplating trying to tip me in. “Is that so?” she asks.
“Yep,” I reply with a nod. “I told you, I think you and I are more alike than you think.”
“Maybe,” she says with a smirk, but something about the way she says it has me thinking she thinks the same thing.
We spend the next hour or so lying on our floats, talking occasionally, but not about anything serious. She tells me about her younger sister Amanda, and I tell her about my sister, Anna. Thankfully she doesn’t ask me any more questions about my parents or our relationship and by the time the sun is high in the sky, I’ve got a nice little margarita buzz going and I’m starving.
“You hungry?” I ask, glancing over at her.
“Ugh, yes!” she groans.
Laughing, I finish off the last of my drink as I say, “I’ve got stuff for burgers. How does that sound?”
“Amazing,” she says, paddling toward the edge of the pool. “I’ll help, I should probably get out of the sun for a bit.”
“Sure thing, I say, but first…” Before she has a chance to realize what I’m about to do, I lean over and grab the edge of her pool float, yanking it hard so it tips her into the water.
There’s just enough time for her to yell, “BEN!” before she goes under, and I’m left floating on the surface, laughing my ass off.
Not for long though, because of course she’s now under my pool float, pushing it up and tipping me into the water, the two of us going all out as we attempt to splash each other, even as we are both laughing.
“Help cool you off?” I ask with a smirk when we both finally surface.
Aida rolls her eyes. “Oh, that’s why you did it, huh?”
“Well, that and I wanted to see you all wet again,” I say with a grin, my eyes dropping to her bikini top. The water is up to her neck, so I’m not seeing a whole lot, but I am kind of, sort of, secretly hoping that when she gets out of the pool, the change in temperature causes a certain body reaction.
I mean yeah, the pool is heated, but it’s hot in the sun, so…
Aida splashes another bunch of water at me before she moves to the side of the pool, pushing up on the edge as she hauls herself out of the water. I don’t bother looking away, my mouth going dry and my dick hardening at the sight of her lean frame as she gets out.
She doesn’t look back, walking over to where her towel lies on the lounge chair as I continue to check her out. This girl has a fucking killer body and I suddenly have an intense desire to worship every single inch of it. Repeatedly.
“Coming?” she asks, glancing back over her shoulder at me.
Fuuuuckkkk.
“If you play your cards right,” I throw back at her, quickly adjusting myself below the water, before I jump out of the pool. I dry off, throwing the towel back on the lounge chair before heading inside to the kitchen, Aida right behind me.
“This really is an amazing house,” she comments. “Even nicer than the Henderson’s.”
“Yeah,” I reply, opening the fridge. “Dad spared no expense on this one, which is ironic given he hardly comes here.”
I pull the burgers and salad ingredients from the fridge along with the second batch of margaritas I made, waiting for Aida to ask about why my dad never comes here. She doesn’t though, surprising me when she asks, “Do you come here a lot?”
I glance over to find her standing at the counter, wearing nothing but her wet bikini, her hair pulled back into a messy knot at the back of her head. “Every summer,” I tell her. “I’d come more if I could.”
“You like it out here?”
Nodding, I gesture toward a cabinet that has plates and watch as Aida grabs some. “I love it. Even though I’m from New York, I just kinda prefer this place. Quieter, by the ocean and just more chill, you know?”
We carry the food outside, and I fire up the grill as Aida refills our drinks. “Yeah, I get it. I mean, I’m from Wisconsin, which is like, the Arctic tundra in winter, so all this sun and beach is definitely appealing. I can see why you love the place.”
I take the margarita she hands me, tapping my glass against hers. “See, we do have shit in common.”
Aida laughs, her head falling back a little, revealing a long, slim neck that I desperately want to lick and kiss and suck. Mark in a way that tells anyone else who comes close enough to keep their hands off. I have no idea where the fuck these thoughts are coming from, especially about a girl I’ve only just met and who has already called the cops on me.
“Hmmm, maybe,” she says, smiling.
I swallow a large mouthful of my margarita, trying to block all these weird thoughts from invading my brain. I don’t do relationships, I do hook-ups, and while something tells me Aida isn’t a hook-up kind of girl, it’s not going to stop me from giving it a shot.
We could do a summer-long hook-up even.
“Maybe,” I tease as I turn back to the grill to start cooking the burgers.
“What can I do to help?” Aida now asks, moving to stand beside me.
I don’t know if it’s the warmth from the grill or her body, but I suddenly feel like mine is on fucking fire. My hands are itching to reach out and touch her, to grab those hips of hers and yank her against me so I can kiss the shit out of her.
What the hell is going on with me right now?
“You wanna watch these, while I go and grab some more stuff?” I ask, handing her the tongs, knowing I need to get inside for a second if only so I can cool down.
I can already feel my dick getting hard in my shorts, hell maybe it never even went down after it got hard in the pool. I’m almost too scared to look down at the tent I’m invariably pitching and I’m half hoping the fact that my shorts are wet is helping to contain it.
“Yeah, sure thing,” she says, taking the tongs and apparently oblivious to my internal torment.
“Thanks,” I reply, before stepping back. But as I turn to go, my shoulder brushes against hers and almost immediately an electric current shoots through me like I’ve been struck by lightning.
And by the way Aida’s body jumps, I have to believe she felt it too.
Maybe this thing, whatever it is, isn’t just one-sided.