A Life More Complete(47)
“You were the only reason I was there. God, you were so beautiful. Not like anyone else.”
“Why because I was drunk off of Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers? I ask jokingly.
“Well, yes and no. You didn’t look like any of the girls there. They were all in halter tops with too much makeup.”
“Ah, yes. Makeup in the sweltering heat. A great combo. And halter tops? That wasn’t really me. I couldn’t be bothered. I wasn’t there to pick up guys. I just wanted to get drunk and possibly smoke a joint.”
“You need to teach a class to teenage girls on how to not give a shit. Really, you made it look effortless.” It was anything but effortless, but it was definitely easier than pretending to be someone I wasn’t. “I remember you wore the same thing to school that whole week and you had it on at the party, too.”
“Tyler, what the hell were you thinking talking to me at that party? I’d worn the same clothes for a week. You probably thought I was homeless. If my memory serves I was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt, a pair of cut off jean shorts and turquoise Vans.”
“Yep and you looked amazing. You were dancing with your sister to “Jessie’s Girl.” It was hard not to stare at you. I remember Rachel lifted the back of your shirt and I could see your tan lines. I almost came in my pants.”
“Tyler! You’re disgusting!” I admonish him, but enjoy his take on this memory. “Oh yeah, Rachel was trying to get some douche bag’s attention, so she made me dance with her. She whispered something to me along the lines of, “If you dance with me all slutty, he’s totally gonna think we go home and make out.” It worked because she ended up in Gia’s bedroom with him ten minutes later.”
“I hate to break it to you and Rach, but the fact that she looked like a porn star was enough. And even worse when the three of you ended up in high school together. You could have brought the entire male student body to their knees. Just think of the fantasies that a fifteen year old boy could spin from imagining the three of you.” I can’t even begin to comment, so I just shake my head at him. “Why did you wear the same clothes all week anyway?”
I giggle as I recall my reasoning for being so disgustingly unkempt. “My mom wanted me to go buy new school clothes and I wouldn’t, so she took away all the clothes I had and hid them. That was what I had on when she hid my clothes.”
“I knew the explanation would be that simple. Not a care in the world,” he says.
We spend the rest of the night reliving our misspent youth and laughing, my coffee table lined with beer bottles. We laugh about the Halloween that we dressed up as the leg lamp and Ralphie from A Christmas Story and how halfway through the party we switched costumes after making out in someone’s parents bedroom.
“Oh my God! You put your foot through the bottom of the fishnets!” I say through hiccupping laughs.
By this point we are laughing so hard tears are streaming down our faces. It used to be like this. The negative memories overshadowed the good times we had, but right now all we have are good memories. We reminisce some more, each memory more vivid than the last; kissing at the zoo, making out in the boys locker room after Tyler’s soccer practices, cheating off each other during our Bio tests, being pulled on a snow tube by his car and smoking pot on the roof of my mom’s house.
“I was terrified of your stepdad,” he says.
“Tom?” I question. “Why?”
“He was a cop and he was scary as hell. You were never scared he was going to catch you smoking up on the roof?”
“He did. I thought I was going to shit my pants, but he just told Rachel and me to go to bed. Rachel couldn’t stop laughing. His stance on drugs was very liberal, especially on weed.”
“How you turned out so normal is beyond me,” he says patting my butt. I am now lying completely on top of him, my chin on his chest.
“I think your view of normal is a tad off. It’s all relative.” I smile at him and rest my ear against his chest. I can hear his heart beating steadily and I love it. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
“Absolutely,” he says.
I know what you’re thinking, “Geez, she really is easy.” But I didn’t sleep with him, well I slept with him, but I didn’t sleep with him. At this point it’s impossible to send him back to his hotel. I look at it like sharing a bed with Melinda or Gia, but I never would have had such impure thoughts about them while they slept next to me.