14. Teddy
FOURTEEN
TEDDY
As the words leave my mouth, I think maybe I’ve come on too strong. Watching Nellie’s face twist this way and that makes me start to panic. “I mean, ultimately I’d really prefer not to get sick.” I laugh, trying to break the tension.
She finally smiles at me and raises her mug to blow across the top. “Wanna keep watching?”
“Absolutely. I need to know what that cranky lady’s maid is up to.” She probably thinks I’m just placating her, but after three and a half episodes, I am absolutely hooked.
Nellie finishes most of her soup, and I convince her to try a piece of toast. She encourages me to make myself something more substantial so I make a couple of peanut butter and jam sandwiches. When we are done eating, I clean up quickly and get her to put her pillow onto my lap. She manages to keep everything down and within half an hour of her head hitting the pillow and my hand combing through her hair, she’s sound asleep again. I am grateful for the slower pace of the show since I spend half the episode watching the flutter of her eyelids as she dreams, her mouth occasionally turning up in the corners .
She wakes briefly and goes to brush her teeth. When she returns, she is the one who reorganizes our positions on the couch so I’m on my back and she’s wrapped around me, head buried in my chest. I am convinced that when we get up, I’ll have a Nellie-shaped sweat spot. Between how hot she is and my body temperature, I feel a bit like I’m melting. But if melting from our combined heat is how I’m going to go, I’m fine with it.
The next day I wake to a clear sky and Nellie wrapped around me like a sloth. I’m going to be sore from sleeping on the couch, but when Nellie wakes and announces she’s feeling better, I decide the minor aches are worth it. She makes me eggs and toast and just toast for herself, and we have breakfast on the deck next to the pool.
“You don’t have to run off, do you?” she asks, brushing the crumbs off her fingers.
“Nope. All yours for the day, LG.”
“Feel like going for a swim in a bit?”
I’m still desperately trying to take things slowly, and having her pressed against me all night has chipped away at my resolve. “I didn’t bring a suit. I didn’t expect you to be feeling up for a dip.”
“I’m sure I can find something for you,” she says, standing and grabbing our plates. “I’m going to change and see what I can round up.”
“Sounds good,” I lean back in the deck chair and watch her walk into the house. Right before she passes through the patio door, I nearly suggest that we say to hell with suits and just skinny-dip. But I know that will absolutely lead to other things, and she hasn’t even tried to go there yet so I keep my mouth shut.
She comes out a little while later wearing an oversized T- shirt that ends mid-thigh, leaving her long legs on display. I don’t notice at first that she’s carrying a pair of swim trunks.
“These still have the tag on them.” She rolls her eyes. “My dad doesn’t use the pool much, but my mom still buys him a new pair of trunks every summer.”
After changing, giving myself a much-needed pep talk, and brushing my teeth, I rejoin Nellie on the patio. Her eyes sweep over me as I walk towards her, and I see her lips turn up at the corners ever so slightly. She likes what she sees apparently. Next, it’s my turn to appreciate the view as she slips the T-shirt off. She’s in a one-piece, but it’s the kind I’ve only ever seen on vintage pinup posters. If someone had asked me if Nellie had a pinup model body before I would have said no. But goddamn if she doesn’t look incredible.
“I like the polka dots,” I say lamely, pointing at her suit.
“Oh yeah? Like anything else?” She spins slowly giving me the best 360 view I’ve ever seen.
I take a step towards her and when her eyes lock on mine, I move even closer. “There is one thing,” I say, laying my hands on her waist.
“And what’s that?”
“I just think it’s a bit too dry.” And with that, I wrap both my arms around her and launch us into the pool.
When she pops out of the water, she’s laughing, and I’m momentarily frozen in place watching her wipe the water from her face as she treads in place. When she sees me, she smiles sweetly and starts swimming my way. I back up until I’m against the side of the pool but she keeps coming. Her hands land on my shoulders and she wraps her legs around my waist, my hands immediately go to hers.
“How about now? Wet enough?”
“Careful, LG, that sounds like a euphemism. ”
She moves her hands from my shoulders to cup my face. “Answer the question, Enviro Guy.”
I slide my hands up and down her sides, my eyes still on hers. “It’s sufficiently wet,” I answer.
“Good.” She releases my face and waist and pushes off the wall, rocketing away from me. After a couple of deep breaths, I follow her across the pool.
We spend the next half an hour lazily swimming, never touching for more than a couple of seconds at a time.
“If we hadn’t met, what would you be doing this summer?” I ask as we float on our backs.
“Working, mostly. Basically, all of my high school friends moved away for school and spend the summer wherever they went or they travel,” she says, looking over at me.
“Glad I could break up your summer between jobs.”
“What about you?” Her hand brushes mine briefly and I feel it to my toes.
“Probably drinking more, partying, more hungover mornings, and arguments with my brother.”
I hear a thoughtful little hum come from beside me. “So having me around is good for your liver and relationship with your brother.”
Having you around, I think, is better for every part of my life. “It would seem that way.” I smile over at her.
Eventually, Nellie swims to the edge and hoists herself up. But she doesn’t stand and walk away like I expect her to. She turns and sits with her legs dangling in the water, watching me with a flirty little smile. As I swim closer, the smile grows, and when I set my feet down and stand so her knees are framing my sides, she’s got a full-blown grin.
She brushes the hair off my forehead, and I watch her eyes sweep across my face as if she’s mapping every inch. “Hey,” she finally says.
“Hey.” I smile back just as I make a decision. Planting my hands on either side of her hips, I raise myself out of the pool so our faces are level. “I’m going to kiss you now, LG,” I say.
“Yes, please.”
It’s a wonder how I manage to keep myself upright as our lips meet. This woman unbalances me in the best way. Her fingers slide through my hair, her nails scraping deliciously across my scalp. I want to stay like this forever, but my arms betray me, unlocking so I fall away from Nellie and back into the water. Seconds later, she slips back in and closes the space between us. She wraps her entire body around me before her smiling lips meet mine again. I keep my hands at her waist, wanting to slide them lower but knowing that will only lead to frustration later on.
Slow down, slow down, slow down , I chant to myself. Every molecule in my body wants to blow right through taking things slow. It feels almost unnatural, which is why I slow our pace and eventually pull away.
She doesn’t vocalize her question, but I hear it anyway. Why?
I lean forward and peck the tip of her nose. “If we keep that up, going slow is not going to happen.”
“Maybe going slow is overrated,” she says, as if in a trance. She licks her lips, her eyes on where they had just been.
“It’s what you wanted, Nell. It’s what I agreed to, happily. And I’m not going to let this”—I gesture between us—“happen for the first time in a pool.”
She wraps her legs tighter around my hips, causing me to suck in a breath. “We can get out of the pool, you know.” Her smile is a bit wicked as she says it like she’s thinking of all the things we can do once we hit the deck.
I stare at her for a moment, trying to read her expression. It doesn’t take me long before I find what I’m looking for: a touch of doubt sitting at the corner of her lips. I’ve seen it before, I’m realizing. When she told me she had a boyfriend, and when she winked at me in the bookstore. My Library Girl may like the idea of blowing through the yellow light, but she’s still going to treat it like a red.
I reach up and trace those telling lips with my thumb, stopping right where her doubt lives. “I don’t want to rush a single thing with you, Nellie,” I say when her eyes meet mine. “I’ve never wanted to savor anything more.” I watch her lips turn up and the doubt disappears.
“You're very romantic, EG. What twenty-two-year-old guy is this romantic?”
I shrug. “I told you, I’m an old soul.”
“I suppose one of us needs to be the mature one.” Then without warning, she’s pressing down on my shoulders, dunking me, and swimming off towards the side.
I can hear her laughter underwater and don’t give a second thought before I push off the bottom and rocket after her.
We spend the next fifteen minutes acting like children, dunking and splashing before Nellie admits to being exhausted. On the deck, I reach for her towel first and wrap her in it, pulling her towards me as I do. She looks up at me with those big blue eyes before reaching up for a kiss that leaves my legs feeling a bit like my arms. There are promises of things to come in each kiss, and I cannot wait to find out what they are. An involuntary shiver runs through me as the breeze picks up, and she breaks away, reaching for the other towel, which she throws around my shoulders.
“Come on, let’s go change and warm up.” I keep the fact that with her so close I don’t feel the need to warm up to myself, but I nod and follow her lead anyway.
When she comes back downstairs, I can’t help but laugh when I see that she’s wearing the T-shirt version of my sweatshirt.
“Great minds,” she says, stepping into the living room.
“I believe they only let those into the school.” I walk over and wrap my arms around her.
“Mmm,” she murmurs into the fabric of my sweatshirt. “I have heard that. So.” She looks up at me. “What do you want to do now?”
Absolutely everything , I think. If she suggested going for a colonoscopy I think I could get on board. “Do you want to maybe…” I stare down at her and grin. I see her eyes heat thinking I’m about to suggest something else. “Read on the patio with me?”
Her face lights up and she pulls back, her hands landing on my hips. “That may be the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Really?” I ask.
She nods and pulls me down for a kiss. “Really.” I feel her smile against my lips right before she pulls out of my arms. “I’m just going to go grab my book. I’ll meet you outside.”