Thinking Of You

Chapter Seven

July 1, 2012

You never forget your first time. At least, I’ll never forget mine. It was July, hot as fuck. I was working at the 4-H fair. Me and a couple friends were trying to raise money so we could run our haunted house at the American legion for the third year in a row. We had a small booth with just the basics. Cotton candy, cans of pop, and we were right next to the dunk tank so there was usually a crowd. Calling what we had a booth was being extremely generous. We had five foldable camping chairs and a fold out card table as a set up. We didn’t even have a tent to cover us or a sign to let people know we were open. And with having to be at the very edge of the fair, away from literally everything else besides the animal trailers, things weren’t looking good for us.

Me and my friend Destiny were in charge of selling the pop, one dollar per can. I couldn’t tell you how long we had sat there that first day with absolutely no customers. We sat in our chairs, baking in the sun, waiting for literally anyone to take pity on us. Even being in between two trees and covered by their shade, it felt like we were sitting in an inferno. “It’s too fucking hot for this nonsense”, she said. “I agree completely”, I tell her, “But we don’t have anything else to do. It’s either sit here or go help the guys unload their horses and shit, and I’m so not in the mood for Bens bullshit”. Destiny didn’t argue, but she had to ask, “then why did you wear your bikini top under your tank top today?”. I smiled at her and she started laughing, already knowing exactly why. “Because he deserves to stare at what he gave up the entire time we have to be here”, I tell her.

Just as those words left my mouth we heard the boys coming around the corner of the livestock building. As soon as I see them out of the corner of my eye, I stood up and took my shirt off. Between my pink bikini top and my short shorts, I knew they were staring at me. And that’s exactly what I wanted. I even flipped my hair a little bit just to amp it up again. Destiny decided to make it ridiculous by whistling at me. “Take it off, baby!”, she yelled laughing. She even made the motion like she was throwing singles at me in a strip club. I couldn’t help but laugh too. I knew how dumb I probably looked, but I didn’t care. It got the job done. Ben was looking me up and down, basically undressing me with his eyes. The only downside was so were Otis and Travis. “Hey Faye, you hot out here or just thinking about me too much?”, Travis asked licking his lips. I tossed my shirt by my bag and stretched back out in my chair. “You wouldn’t know what to do with it if you had it little boy”, I tell him.

Hours went by with very little happening down by us. Everyone kept gravitating towards the dunk tank then moving on past us. We had even tried to ask people if they wanted to buy anything as they walked by, and we still ended up empty handed. I finally got hungry enough and annoyed enough to drag myself from my chair to go find food. I told Destiny and the guys I’d be back and walked to the nearest elephant ear stand. I knew I’d probably regret eating it in the heat we were having, but I was too hungry to care. I had eaten almost half my elephant ear on my way back alone. Right as I was coming back around the corner I noticed the guys had started playing football in the yard across the road from us. I sat my food down and plopped back into my chair. “Don’t they have something better to do besides chase a damn ball around?”, I ask Destiny. She shrugged and hands me a pop, “I guess not. We’re not getting much business anyway. I sold two pops while you were getting food and I’m really hoping they don’t come back”. That threw me off, “why? What happened?”. “Nothing”, she said, “it’s just that I know one of them from a while back. We dated a little, if you wanna call it dating. But he was so…..I don’t even know how to describe it. He just got too attached too fast for me. But he’s here today, and he stopped and we talked for a couple minutes. He’ll probably come back around at some point too. He’s kinda obsessed with me”. That made me laugh, “I think someone’s a little full of herself”. We sat back down and she warned me, “just wait. He’ll be back, and then he’ll never leave”. I just laid my head back and closed my eyes, “whatever you say”. I couldn’t help but ask one more question, “so what’s his name anyway?”. She rolled her eyes, “his name is Nick”.

*

The sun finally let up the heat when the afternoon shifted into the evening. I knew I would definitely have a sunburn by the next morning thanks to my bikini plan, which didn’t even work. Ben only looked at me once the entire day. Every move I made while packing up our equipment made me cringe, especially on my shoulders. Destiny told me a couple times how stupid of an idea it was to go without sunscreen, and I told her I knew that, even though I knew I completely forgot about it. “Are you guys staying in the campers tonight or going home? Cause I still need a ride home otherwise”, I tell Destiny. “I can still drive you. I’m going home because the boys are taking over the camper for the night and I don’t have the patience to deal with them all night long”, she assured me, “I’m gonna start the car and make sure the guys feed the horses. I’ll help you with the chairs in a few minutes”.

I shut the trunk of her car and walked back to grab the chairs. I rounded the corner and saw some guy standing next to our stuff. He was tall, dark hair, and built. Really built. I couldn’t help but think he was hot, even from behind. Good thing I still had my bikini top on. “Excuse me, I’m trying to clean this shit up for the night”, I told him. I came off more bitchy then I wanted to, but it got him to turn around really quick. And I was right, he was completely hot. I practically fell into his big blue eyes. And with a jawline for days and very, very kissable lips, suddenly I was at a loss for words. I just stood there smiling like an idiot. “Sorry, I was just waiting for someone. You probably know her, her name’s Destiny. She was working here earlier”, he said. ‘Oh god’, I thought, ‘is this who she was talking about?’. I hadn’t realized that we had been standing in silence for a good thirty seconds. He broke it first with a smile. “Do you know when she’ll be back?”, he asked, smiling at me. I could have melted into a puddle at that point. His smile was so sexy.

I finally remembered how to speak when Destiny walked up to us. “Hey Nick. We’re getting ready to leave for the night, so…”, she said grabbing two of the chairs. “Are you guys coming back tomorrow?”, he asked. “Obviously, considering I just told you that earlier. We’re here all week for the fair idiot”, she told him as she started walking away, “but you can’t just hang around us, we are working here you know”. Now she was the one coming off bitchier then she should. He didn’t seem to notice, “well I’ll probably come by anyway, see some old faces”, he said. Then he turned towards me, grinning, “and maybe some new ones”. I smirked at him, “in your dreams”. And, god help me, probably in mine. He laughed at my comment, “yeah, maybe”. Destiny interjected before I could give a come back. “Okay, we gotta go”, she said, “good bye Nick”, and she motioned me to follow.  I started to, but turned to look at him one more time. When I did, he was staring right back at me, smiling. “I’ll see you tomorrow”, he said, and walked off in the opposite direction.

Destiny and I climbed into her car to go home. I was so exhausted, but couldn’t stop thinking about Nick and his smile. Couldn’t stop thinking about what his arms would feel like around me, his hands sliding up and down my body. Destiny was quick to destroy my fantasy. “Don’t even think about it”, she said. I tried to play dumb, “what are you talking about?”. She wasn’t having it, “you’re blushing. You never do that. I’m telling you this won’t end well if you crawl into bed with him. Trust me, I’ve got first hand experience”. As she put the car into gear and pointed it towards my house, I knew I wanted to see him again. And I was pretty sure I didn’t have a choice.