Wednesday Romance

I hope everyone is gearing up for the holidays!! I know I am! I'm almost ready for Christmas!!!! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!

Chapter 13
That evening, I found myself bouncing down the mountain road in the front seat of one of the camp’s jeeps. The top was down, and the breeze whipped my hair around like a mermaid goddess surrounded by a school of angry fish. I wish I felt as beautiful as a mermaid goddess. As it was, I gripped the edge of my seat, praying that my seat belt would hold against the turbulence of the dirt road and I would not be ejected like a popping kernel of popcorn.
The drive into town wasn’t long, but the roads off the mountain were winding and narrow enough to make any girl cower in fear. I think I may have handled it better if Wes had been driving but not much. I had driven with him for years and felt comfortable with him. Driving with Vernaun felt like I was in some action movie where the scenes kept flashing between action and more action.
By the time we arrived at the movie palace, my breath was coming in short gasps, and I had to consciously pry my fingers from the permanent grooves they had created in the cushion of the seat.
I looked to Vernaun when he let out a burst of whooping laughter.
“Wasn’t that fun?”
My eyes widened in horror at the word ‘fun’ being used to describe our ride. Still, I found myself nodding to appease him.
“I love that drive!” He hopped out of the jeep and came around to open my door.
I stepped out of the jeep on unsteady legs. I’m not sure that I would have fallen, but Vernaun put his hands around my waist anyway. I smiled up at him, he put his arm around me, and we walked into the theater together.
“How did you get away with bringing me here?”
His eyes twinkled with a secret delight. “I do it all the time.”
“I know. But how do you get away with it? No one else does.”
When his smile widened, I wondered if I really wanted to know the answer. Knowing who I was going out with, he probably charmed the favor out of Meghan or something. A little voice in my head tried to place doubt mind, but I shoved it away.
Vernaun paid for the movie, and as we walked through the lobby, hand in hand, I heard a familiar squeal of laughter. I turned my head and saw Aubrey and a couple other camp leaders standing in the line for popcorn. They waved us over. I fought the groan that welled in my chest. The last person I wanted to see while on my date was Aubrey.
As we neared, her eyes twinkled when she looked at Vernaun. She ignored me entirely.
She slapped an affectionate hand onto his chest and snuggled close to him. “I can’t believe we ran into you here!”
I glared at her and stepped closer to him. This was my date. I wanted to yell at her to get her grubby hands off my man!
He looked down at me and smiled. “I wanted to do something fun with Andy.”
I watched Aubrey take a small step back as though she were shocked he would mention another girl to her. Her eyes dart toward me with malice before shining back up at Vernaun. “Why don’t you guys sit with us?”
I looked to the other leaders who grinned and batted their lashes in silly seduction. Was that the sort of thing that actually swayed guys to do a girls’ bidding? Probably not. None of these girls had many relationships, and not from a lack of trying.
I wrapped my arms around Vernaun and attempted a sweet voice. “Actually, I was thinking we’d probably sit in the back so we wouldn’t disturb anyone.” I could feel Vernaun’s heart pound beneath my hand. I looked up and he smiled down at me. Nervousness washed over me as I realized what I’d just committed myself to.
Aubrey’s lips pierced together in an unattractive frown. It looked like she might say something else, but Vernaun cut her off with a pat on the head. “Thanks for the offer, Aubrey, but I think Andy’s right. We’d just like to be alone tonight.”
The heat that suffused Aubrey’s face made her head look like it might explode. I tried not to gloat as Vernaun led me toward the end of the lobby.
“I guess we won’t need popcorn after all,” he said with a chuckle.
I gulped the lump that had formed in the back of my throat. I’d seen couples sit in the back of the theater kissing throughout the entire movie before and always thought it a waste of money. After all, if you wanted a make out session, why pay for it? Why not go to a park or something. Oh well. It was too late now. I was the one who made this bed; I deserved to sleep in it.
The movie theater was packed. The only seats available in groups were a couple on the far side in the very back or a few in the front row. There were also a few single seats sprinkled throughout the middle. I gripped Vernaun’s hand as he led me to the back row. My heart sputtered in my chest like a car threatening to flood the engine. Could a person die from such erratic heart beats? They were making me short of breath. I prayed Vernaun wouldn’t turn around and think that I was becoming light headed by his presence; or maybe worse, take me home.
When we arrived at our seats, he grinned at me and moved the arm rest up. He pulled me close and put his arm around me and laced our fingers together. I leaned into him and hoped that this was all the more that would happen during the movie.
Neither of us said anything during the previews and as the movie came on. I saw Aubrey walk in with her friends and saw her search for us. I sunk a little lower in my seat but I don’t think she saw us anyway. Well, perhaps she did, but there were no seats near us. She looked reluctant to sit in the front, but there were not a lot of other options open to her.
I found that I had a hard time focusing on the movie. The thought that Vernaun probably wanted to spend the entire time kissing kept my attention on the heat and tension building between our bodies as opposed to the tension developing on the movie.
As the movie progressed, his hands started caressing my arms, sending chills down my spine. Of course, this just caused him to wrap his arms more tightly around me. “Are you cold?” His whisper tickled my ear.
“A little.” I shrugged.
He rubbed his hands up and down my arms more quickly, and I found that it did help to warm me, although I wasn’t really that cold, despite the air conditioned room.
About half way through the movie, he chuckled and my head bounced as his chest vibrated with the sound. I looked closely at the screen, but the fist fight did not seem like a likely reason for a laugh. So I looked up at him to question his thoughts. He returned my gaze, and the desire in his eyes startled me.
I almost looked away, but his hand cupped my face and caressed my cheek. I was a little surprised by my growing desire to kiss him. It was strange to think that a couple hours earlier I had been standing in the dark of the forest with Wes and Stacie being tutored in the art of kissing. Even stranger was remembering the desire I had felt for my best friend. I now seemed to be feeling a similar rush of adrenaline toward Vernaun.
Could I really feel so much excitement and exhilaration from being kissed by two different guys? And if so, what did that mean? Every girl loved Vernaun. He was ‘The Wall.’ He was the guy every parent wanted their little girl to fall in love with; kind, polite, handsome, athletic. What better icon could a girl ask for? Thinking of him in this manner made my sight a little fuzzy. Apparently I was every bit as smitten with him as any other girl.
But Wes?
I blinked, trying to focus on Vernaun instead. Unfortunately, my mind wouldn’t cooperate.
My feelings for Wes were something I could not explain. Yes, I did love him. He had been my best friend for longer than I could remember. But I had never thought about him romantically. I didn’t even know if it was possible for me to feel that way toward him – until today when he had kissed me. Remembering his kiss shot sparks of heat down my spine, and I closed my eyes to collect myself.
When Vernaun’s lips crushed mine with a surprising amount of force, my eyes shot open. With my mind on my jumbled up emotions, I hadn’t realized that his kiss would come so suddenly. As his lips coaxed mine into a seductive dance, I relaxed into him, my eyes drifting closed once more. His touch was pleasant and his lips worked soothing magic over mine. The fluttering butterflies in my stomach twirled and then settled in a warm blanket over my heart. Kissing Vernaun was a pleasant experience, though I couldn’t help but be aware of the sudden bursts of sound from the movie and the side of the arm rest that had slipped and now dug into my arm.
He pulled away with a smile on his face, his eyes wandering over my face. I could tell he was trying to gauge my reaction to him, so I tried to smile. Before today, it had been a long time since I had been kissed, but I still remembered that a guy liked to receive that instant gratification that their affection was well received. The look on my face must have pleased him because his smile widened, and he leaned in and kissed me again.
I didn’t know if I was grateful or not that Vernaun continued to kiss me for the remainder of the movie. While I enjoyed his affections, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss at having paid for the movie and not watching it. On the other hand, I knew that if Aubrey were to look back, she would see us making out and would no longer question Vernaun’s loyalty to me. Then again, he had so many girlfriends so often that maybe that wasn’t a very good determinant in the matter. I had seen him kissing any number of girls; just because this was my week did not make me any more or less special than any other girl who had captured his eye.
So perhaps the real question was not his loyalty to me, but mine to him. What was it about me that attracted him in the first place? He had sought me out because I had bested him in a competition. For some reason, I didn’t think that doing that all the time would endear me to him. But perhaps it was the adventure that held the allure for him.
I mulled that in my head for a bit. Because of his history of girlfriends, he knew what girls liked. But had any of them ever taken the time to know what he liked? After all, there was only so much romance guys could endure at a time. Maybe the secret to keeping Vernaun interested wasn’t to allow him to do all the work, but too feed some of his interests as well.
If I could find something to do that could fan the flame of his interest, he wouldn’t become bored with me as he had with so many other girls. So it was up to me to decide if I wanted to stick by his side long term or not.