Chapter 20 – Vale
A PICTURE’S WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
VALE
Istretch out on the bed as I wake up. If I get to spend time with him every night, I’ll always wake up smiling.
I think we finally figured out things between us.
We’re not a couple, but that wasn’t my expectation.
We’re going to let things happen naturally, organically.
That’s the right call, honestly. As much as I can picture a future with him, I’m leaving at the end of the summer.
Even though it hurts to think about it, I’m going back home, wherever that may be.
I’m not going to be here and he will, so I can’t put any more pressure on him than I already have.
Vale: Gramps new neighbor is super HOT! What do you think? I’ve got a crush!!!
I start laughing hysterically. I’m going to have to set up a passcode to protect my phone if Oliver’s going to do things like this. As funny as it is, I can’t imagine the trouble he’s going to get me into. I need to check if he sent stuff to other people . . . not that I know many other people.
I scroll down the messages. The next one Oliver sent says:
Vale: I kissed him last night. I think I’m in love. He’s so fucking HOT! KAT HELP ME!!!
I snicker at that one. He’s telling her the truth, though I don’t know if I’m in love or lust with him, probably both.
He really is so hot. He added a picture we didn’t take together.
He’s sitting on my bed, his shirt off, his head in his palm, his back bent like he’d just woken up, and his long hair coming down in dark waves.
The sunlight is barely coming through the blinds.
How did he take that? He’s not holding my phone.
I look in the direction where the camera would be and figure he must have propped it up on my dresser.
I close the text messages, not looking at Kat’s replies.
I check my pictures. Oh, my God. There are at least twenty new pictures of us from last night.
I’m asleep on his chest in a few, my cheek down, my palm over his heart.
In some, he looks asleep with me, while in the others he’s smiling while he kisses my forehead or stares at my face.
There are some where he’s standing in front of the phone, his shirt in his hand, his pants slung low on his hips like he’s about to leave. Oliver does have that sexy V I’ve only ever read about in dirty romance novels from the local library.
There’s a picture where his hand looks like it’s about to go down the front of his pants, where there’s a bulge.
He’s smiling at the camera like he knows I’m looking.
He winks in another one, and it makes my heart pound because his hand is down over his cock.
It makes my entire body flush. Holy shit!
Oliver looks like a damn supermodel who’s gracing the shoddy room behind him.
In every picture he’s either with me, next to me, or in front of my bed where I’m sleeping.
It’s like he left proof he was here with me, that he stayed while I slept soundly beside him.
So I’d know it wasn’t a dream. That it was real.
The last one was taken outside in the early morning light, and I can’t help myself, I go outside.
He’s being cute as he smiles with those perfectly straight white teeth, though somehow his canines aren’t showing.
But that little dimple is. He’s in front of the window that overlooks my bed.
I’m asleep in the bed behind him, my legs spread.
My shirt had ridden up and I could see my black panties.
I don’t remember putting them on. Did he put them on me?
As I study the picture, I think he was sending me a message.
He’d had to leave because my clothes rode up, and he wanted to do more than watch me sleep.
Oh, my God, what if he took pictures of me on his phone?
Did he have his phone last night? I don’t know.
But it doesn’t really matter, I wouldn’t care if he did.
I race back into my bedroom when I hear my phone chime. I’ve completely ignored Kat’s messages, but I don’t have a chance to answer as my phone starts ringing.
“Hello,” I say with a yawn. I look at the black cat clock on my nightstand, and it reads half past eleven. I can’t believe I slept so long.
“Who’s that guy?” Kat asks, demanding information.
“Gramps’s new neighbor, Oliver. He’s so hot, right?” I giggle as I jump onto the end of my bed and lay back with my legs propped up on the giant purple teddy bear.
“Is he the one who bought the house? Is he, like, living there, next to you, all the time?” She sounds a bit in awe of me at the moment, which is a rare sentiment from her.
“Yes, he’s the guy who owns it.”
“He’s rich too? You better snap him up Vale because if you don’t, I’m coming back and I’m going to steal him from you.” She sounds like she’s joking, but my hackles rise anyway.
“Off limits,” I demand, way too loud. “Not yours, Kat. You’re the one who went away on an adventure. You could’ve called dibs if you were here, but he’s mine now.” I’m drawing the line in the sand. She better respect this girl code I’m putting down.
“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a twist. He’s yours. You can tell he’s into you in those pics. But aren’t you leaving again in August?”
“Don’t remind me.”
I hear her tell someone she’ll be right back and there’s a second when she’s silent. I hear something rubbing against the speaker and wonder if she put the phone in her pocket. When she comes back to the phone she asks, “So you kissed him already? How was it?”
I smile, understanding why she stepped away to chat. She probably didn’t want to talk about this in front of Clark’s parents.
“Yeah, I did. It was wonderful. I’m glad I waited.” The memory from two nights ago is now playing through my head. How he’d held me as we talked about that dream.
“He did a number on you, didn’t he. What is it? I can tell you're not telling me something, woman.” She’s dying to know what we did.
“It’s kind of embarrassing actually. I had an orgasm when he kissed me. I don’t know how. It was amazing, wonderful, sexy. It was all the things. Perfect.”
“Aw! My best bud’s in love! If you’re impressed, then he sounds like a keeper.
How did he make you come when you kissed him?
Was he doing more than kissing you? Did you fuck him, Vale?
I was wondering because that last pic was in your bedroom.
” She seems so excited by it all, and I wonder if she’s jumping up and down.
She’s always been a supporter of female pleasure.
She’s tried to find guys for me to lose my virginity with, so we could compare notes.
Sometimes I don’t think she has any other female friends.
Not real ones anyway. She’s popular, so she knows a lot of people, but I don’t think they really know her.
I’d like to think that I know her though.
“We didn’t, I promise. We haven’t had sex. Yet. He kissed me so good, I got off. That’s the ongoing theory at least. He’s perfect, Kat. He’s making dinner for me and Gramps tonight. He’s so different. I can’t wait to introduce you.”
“Gramps knows you two are dating? I never thought he’d let you date, like, ever. Not in a million years. Especially not an older man. How old is he?”
I let out a long breath. “Oliver’s twenty-five and no, Gramps doesn’t know. We aren’t dating. But if he asked me, I’d say yes. We’re just hanging out, feeling this whole thing out between us.”
“You sound like you’re quoting directly from the fuck-boy playbook.
I think Brandon said that exact same thing to me, ‘We’re feeling it out, babe,’” she says in a snarky tone.
Kat hates Brandon, and rightfully so. “Don’t set yourself up for heartache or get attached to someone who isn’t gonna be there in the end.
Please. I did it, it sucks. You deserve better. Learn from my mistakes, sister.”
Kat thought she was in love with Brandon, but he basically fake-dated her to get in her pants, and she fell for it.
She told him she loved him and thought they were together, but he was only using her.
She lost her virginity to him, then he never spoke to her again.
Well, that’s not exactly true. She threw a lab chair through his windshield at school.
I’m not saying she was right—the stool should have been aimed at his dick, obviously. No wonder she’s worried about me.
I can’t tell Kat what happened before we kissed, how I’d seen him with another woman. And if I tell her he didn’t want to deflower me because he’d ignore me afterward, she’d think he’s just like Brandon and therefore hate him. I don’t think he’d do that to me, yet I’m afraid he’ll break my heart.
“Listen, I’ll admit it, I want him to be my first, but I don’t know if he does.
We don’t have to be together to have sex though.
I’m okay with that. If we’re meant to be, we will be, if we’re not, I’m going to have the best time with him that I can.
He’s a good guy, Kat. He didn’t make me promises.
We’re just going to hang out with each other for a while.
I can’t make him any promises either, you know. ”
“I know you don’t have experience with guys and how stupid they act sometimes. I don’t want to see you get hurt. You need to make him understand that if he hurts you, I’ll kill him.”
There’s a pause in the conversation when we’re both quiet. I wish she hadn’t gone out west for the summer. “Kat, I really miss you. I wish you were here. If I leave before you get back, it’s going to suck so much,” I tell her. “I need my best friend.”
“I miss you too. Colorado sucks. It smells like weed, even in public. I don’t like it. We gave up hiking the mountains. Now we’ve got a yurt near Estes Park. It’s camping in style. There’s a toilet!” she screams excitedly, like a toilet means more to her than anything in the world right now.