Chapter Three
CHARLIE
September 2012
“Okay, so in hindsight, maybe throwing us into the water fully clothed wasn’t the best idea,” Jeremy says with an apologetic smile.
“You think?” I say, sitting on the tailgate of his Bronco, towel-drying my hair with a shirt that was in one of the several gym bags Jeremy has in his car.
I’m trying to act cool. I’m trying to be calm. So… I’m drenched in ocean water on the date I’ve been the most excited about in forever. The Davenport inside of me won’t allow me to make him feel uncomfortable for throwing me into the water. I mean, he doesn’t understand the time and attention that went into the hair and makeup and outfit selection for this date. It’s not like he did it on purpose, and he probably wouldn’t have done it if he knew it would bother me.
I take a breath. In. Then out.
But on the inside, I am so not cool. I feel completely thrown off my game, and incredibly conscious of the fact that I now have raccoon eyes and smell like a wet dog. I mean,come on!I wanted so badly for this date to be perfect and now I feel gross. How am I supposed to make a great impression when I look like a swamp creature!?
So I take another breath.Lighten the mood, Char.
“If I smelled that bad, you could have just taken me to a pharmacy to grab some deodorant or something.” I add a smile to set him at ease.
He chuckles, his muscles flexing under a workout shirt he pulled on after we got back to the car. “If I’d thought far enough ahead, maybe I would have told you to wear a little bikini.” His eyebrows go up and down. “Now that, pretty girl… that’s something I wouldn’t mind seeing any day of the week.”
His eyes linger on my face and I’m suddenly in equal parts hyper-aware of how I look and wanting to hide, as well as dying for him to move closer to me and kiss me againregardlessof how I look.
I shrug, slowly allowing myself a chance to get back into a flirty mood, where I’m far more comfortable. “Well, if you had just asked, I could have stripped down to my panties before you heaved me into the ocean.”
He gives me a roguish grin. “You are such a tease.”
I just shrug and give him a playful look. “Am I teasing?”
He chuckles, then steps into my space, his arms braced on the bed of the truck, his face inches from mine.
“Wanna know why I threw us into the water?” he asks, pressing a small kiss to the side of my neck. Before I can respond, he answers his own question. “Because if I hadn’t, I might have gotten us arrested for public indecency.”
I let out a shaky sigh as he shifts and kisses the other side of my neck.
“Well it’s good you beat me to it. I’m basically a WWE fighter, and I don’t know if your ego could have handled me body slamming you into the water.”
His lips freeze, planted on my collarbone, and then his forehead falls forward onto my shoulder and he starts shaking with silent laughter.
I smile, enjoying that I’ve made him laugh. But I still feel entirely off my game with him. Normally, I go full-on flirt. I don’t know where this goof-ball joke teller came from or why she’s hijacking my date. But I can’t seem to stop beingsillywith him. And if I’m honest, I really like it.
His head finally lifts and the smile there is soft and genuine.
“Like I said. A tease.”
“Well, someone needs to be the comedic relief, so please consider me your jester for the evening.”
“Really?” I nod. “Okay, gimme some one-liners, then.”
I shake my head. “Sorry, Charlie. They come out when the mood strikes. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Charlie isyourname.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s notmyfault the saying sounds weird when coming from someone named Charlie. Like, if someone named Deborah called you a Debbie Downer. Or if someone named Nellie called you a Nervous Nellie.” I put my hands in the air in awhat can you dogesture.
He rolls his eyes playfully, then grabs my jeans off the door of the truck bed and starts wringing the water out of them.
“Thanks for the backup clothes, by the way,” I add, resting my elbows on my criss-crossed legs and my face in my hands, watching him. “I definitely think these gray sweat pants and green shirt that says,” I pull it forward and slowly read it upside down with a giggle, “World’s Okayest Runner,are much sexier and will be much more likely to turn you on than the outfit I was wearing before. Especially since I’ll still be wearing my dope-assboots!”I finish with a flourish by kicking out my legs to show them off. “I mean, they match the shirt, so…”
