Another peek...
Shooting
hoops later that night with Joey helped keep his thoughts under control. Joe
was working for a landscaper that summer and trying to save up for a car he
fantasized and talked about constantly. Matt listened for the millionth time
about how great it would be when they turned sixteen and could drive and go to
parties, pick up chicks.
“What do
you think?” Joe asked, catching Matt off guard.
“Huh, oh
sorry, dude. I missed that last bit.”
“Or all
of it. What gives?”
“Nothing,
tired I guess. Work is hard, but you know…good.”
“Sure.”
Matt
couldn’t talk to Joey about Jackie; he just didn’t understand. Since she wasn’t
covered in lipstick and mascara and her clothes weren’t painted on, she failed
to register on Joey’s radar. Even Matt didn’t fully comprehend his attraction
to her, but he could deny it no longer.
Feeling
like he might explode and say something he might regret, Matt decided it best
to call it a night with Joey. He told him he was going to see if there was any
pizza left from dinner and catch some sports on television.
“Okay,
you’re on for the pool tomorrow, right?”
“Oh
yeah, don’t leave without me. Wake me if you have to,” Matt called back as he
walked toward his back door.
“Dude,
we’re not going until like two in the afternoon. You’ll be up.”
Matt
spun the basketball on his forefinger. “Ya never know.”
They
rode their bikes and met up with Dave and Brian at the entrance to the town
pool. Hot from the ride, they threw their towels, shirts, sneakers, and balled-up
socks in a heap by a chair and noisily jumped in. Jackie and her friends
couldn’t help but notice the raucous foursome.
“God,
those guys are obnoxious!”
“They
must be from the town high school,” Tiffany snorted from behind her gossip
magazine.
“Oh, for
sure. In fact, I think a couple of them are supposed to be ‘stars’ on the
football team or something.” Morgan had pulled up her sunglasses to get a
better look.
“Basketball,”
Jackie added meekly, glad that Brianna was at Sydney’s Cape Cod house for the
weekend.
“Oh,
that’s right. Jackie knows them. Family friends or something, right?”
“Something
like that,” she answered. “Hey, who wants a coke?” Jackie stood up, trying to
cause a diversion before the conversation about Matt went any further.
Matt
still had no idea the girls were there and continued to horse around. He tried
to pull down Brian’s trunks while also avoiding getting drowned by Joey. Dave
performed cannonballs until one got too close to some little kids.
A
whistle blew.
“Okay, tough
guys, out for rough-housing,” the tan, preppy-looking lifeguard yelled while
giving the “ejected” sign with his thumb to Matt and his friends.
“We were
just leaving anyway. This pool is lame,” Joey announced, clearly humiliated but
trying to act tough. They heaved themselves out of the water and toward their
belongings piled near the entrance.
Jackie
was still over at the snack stand finishing her drink. She was unavoidable, but
she tried to make herself invisible behind an umbrella. She tried to divert her
friends’ attention by pointing out someone’s cute shirt, but it was hopeless.
It always was.
Without
any forethought or inner censor, Matt blurted out what his hormones were
screaming when he spotted her.
“Jackie!”
They
both stared at each other in surprise at his yelling, neither knowing what to
say in front of everyone. Matt wanted to reach out and embrace her; she wanted
to turn invisible.“Um, hi, Matthew. Nice to see you,” she managed. What else
could she do? Her friends’ stares were
boring holes through her terrycloth cover-up. The lifeguard was watching, too,
waiting for the boys to leave. He was a senior at her high school; Jackie knew
him vaguely.
“Hey,
what a coincidence. Do you girls want to come with us? We were just on our way
out,” Matt asked innocently. He immediately became excited at the thought of
all of them going back to Joey’s house to hang out. He was picturing it
perfectly. However, the girls from Crestwood Prep could not.
“I think
you mean you were just asked to leave,” Tiffany corrected.
“Whatever,”
Joey interjected quickly.
“Well,
anyway, how about it, Jac. Wanna come with us?” Matt asked as if not recently
burned by her friends.
“Uh, I
can’t, Matt. I uh, um…”
“What
Jackie is trying to say is that she doesn’t have to leave. She is still welcome
here, unlike you and your hoodlums. I mean friends, of course,” Morgan
announced smugly.
“No,
Matt, it’s just that, well…” Jackie kept her eyes on the concrete ground.
“No,
Jackie, I got it. See ya around.” Matt threw his damp towel around his neck and
headed out through the gate.
