Thirteen>>>Make Good Decisions
“Taylor some girl is here to see you!” Avery yells up the stairs to me. I jump up from my bed, set my coke on my nightstand and flick off the TV in my room. I come down the stairs and smile at Harper. “Hey.”
“She says she’s a friend of yours. I asked her if she was sure she was at the right house because the Taylor who lives here doesn’t have any friends but she’s convinced she’s at the right address.” Avery raises an eyebrow at me and walks off. That’s the best thing about Avery. She never laughs at her own insults until she’s alone. It makes them all the more offensive, really.
Harper laughs. “This is true. She did.”
“God, I love sisters.” I remember my conversation with Estelle # 2 at the Starbucks about girls and decide to change the topic quickly. “Hey let me just tell my parents I’m heading out okay?”
“I don’t know if it’s sweet or weird that you’re a grown boy and still live with your parents.”
I ignore the abusive comment and walk into the kitchen. My parents, Mackie, and Zoe are all leaning over the table watching my dad carve a face into a pumpkin.
“Look Tay! It’s a Harry Potter pumpkin!” Zoe points to the lightening bolt on the pumpkins forehead and grins.
“Wow…neat.” I tell her. Did I mention I despise children and I can barely stand my own siblings?
“Who’s your friend?” Mackie asks, peeling his eyes off of Dad’s carving.
“Guys, this is a friend from the college, Harper. Harper, these are my parents and brother and sister, Mackenzie and Zoe.”
They exchange friendly hellos.
“Mom, we’re going out so don’t hold dinner for me okay?”
“Alright, have fun. Walker, careful you’re going to get cut. Grab a coat, Taylor.”
I nod and go to the coat closet, taking out an older leather jacket of Zac’s that he never wears anymore and put it on. “Ready?” I look at Harper.
“Yep. Nice meeting you all!” She calls to my family.
I open the door for her and grin, “Told you I held doors.”
She laughs and steps out. As I’m leaving Mom yells, “Make good decisions!!!”
I think till the day I die, or she dies, whichever comes first, she will yell that to me and my siblings when we leave the house. Ever since Isaac got arrested when he was 15 for loitering in a Denny’s restaurant with his friends and refusing to leave (he’s proud of this too by the way) she’s taken it upon herself to remind us to make good decisions. For the past 8 years, every time we leave the house. She’s gone so far as to yell it to previous girlfriends. I blush at Harper and follow her to her car. Thanks Mom. I will.
Dinner at Taco Bueno, a really stupid movie, and my stomachs bad reaction to Taco Bueno later, Harper and I are standing on the edge of the river down the street from my house.
“We’re crazy you know that?!” She laughs.
So I’ve suggested we go swimming in the middle of September at 11 o clock at night in a random creek. I’ve done crazier things, I promise you.
I take my pants off and toss them into a pile with my shirts. I can feel her eyes on me and turn around to look at her. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you mind if I go naked?”
She looks at me for a moment. “Why don’t you keep those boxers on. They look good on you.”
This is kind of funny. I know a thousand girls who would kill to see me naked. “What? YOU’RE uncomfortable about ME being naked? You’re uncomfortable about my body?”
She walks over to the edge of the water in her jeans and tee shirt, her sweatshirt discarded with my clothes. I walk over with her. “Are you really going to swim in your jeans?”
“Why not?” She asks.
What kind of a question is that? Why not? Because you’ll be soaked! I dive into the water and come up, wincing at how cold it is.
“Is it cold?” She asks, stepping into the water slowly.
“No,” I lie and swim around a bit, trying to keep warm.
She steps in to her knees. “You’ve got to be shitting me! This is freezing!”
“Stop being a baby and come in!” I go under and smooth my hair.
She looks at the water nervously. This girl is nervous about everything, I swear. I splash icy cold water at her and laugh as she screams.
“Okay I’ll come in! Stop!”
I stop. I watch her squeeze her eyes closed tensely, take a big breath, and dive into the water. She comes up screaming.
“It’s not that bad!” I laugh. “You’re just being dramatic!”
“It’s terrible! It’s freezing!” She laughs though and swims around a bit.
We move around in the water for a couple seconds silently. She’s watching the moon and I’m looking for little minnows in the water but it’s too dark to see them.
“Handstand time!” I announce. I dive under the water headfirst and grip my hands onto the rocky bottom. I wonder how stupid my feet look poking out of the water as I wobble back and forth. Probably pretty stupid, huh? Regretting handstand time completely, I surface and look at her.
“I’m freezing.” She says. She’s got those jeans on too to insulate her! Picture how I feet! “I feel like Rose on The Titanic in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean freezing to death.”
“Well if you’re Rose, then I guess that makes me Leonardo Dicaprio huh?” I ask, grinning.
She smiles and lays on her back in the water. “I guess so.”
“Which means we just had sex hours before in that car huh?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at her. Platonic. Someone quick, look up the definition of platonic for me and drill it into my head over and over again.
“Yeah. It was good.” She smirks. I laugh with her and float on my back too.
“It’s unfortunate. I’m probably going to have to die of hypothermia pretty soon though.”
I swim over to her and sit up in the water, putting my hands under her back to help her float. “Rose,” I whisper to her. “You’re gonna live. And you’re going to get married.”
She’s laughing.
“And you’re going to make babies Rose.”
She laughs and swats me away from her. I swim away and do a little semi-summersault in the water, except it didn’t really turn out too good. It’s too cold for perfect summersaults. I look at her seriously. “Do you just want to skinny dip or something?”
She looks at me with a 30 percent confused expression and a 70 percent offended expression on her face. “Okay, Taylor. If I didn’t want to see you naked, what makes you think I want to see you naked and be naked myself?”
I shrug. “I dunno. It was just a suggestion.”
She laughs and swims over to the pebbly shore. “Actually, I’m freezing. C’mon.”
I’m standing outside her car while she sits inside. She’s taking off her jeans and putting her sweatshirt around her waist as a skirt-type contraption. Don’t ask. Her idea. I’m outside the car in the pitch black taking off my boxers and putting my jeans on without them. Hey! At least it’s dry! Besides, Ike’s worn jeans without underwear before by choice. I can sport the style for one night.
While I’m standing in the middle of the road in the black night naked as can be, I notice lights coming from the distance. I frown trying to make sense of them. The lights are coming closer. Car headlights! I’m disappointed with my stupidity but get over it quickly in panic. I yelp and scramble for my jeans. As the car approaches I yank them to my waist and do them up. The car slows down and the driver rolls his window down looking at me.
“You broken down?” He asks, leaning out the window towards me.
“No we’re fine. Thanks though.”
He looks me over and nods. “Alright, well goodnight to you.”
I open the car door as he pulls away and look at Harper, laughing. “Definitely naked seconds before he showed up. That was close.”
She laughs and then pauses, focusing on my crotch. Oh I love it when girls can’t help themselves to look.
“Taylor?”
“Huh?”
“Your fly is down.”