Rejected Kiss (Sweet N' Sour Kisses Page 5

  “I just wanted you to know that I will drive safely. It has started to sleet, so I will reduce my speed accordingly.”

  My mom had her I'm-caught-off-guard face and said, “I'd appreciate that, Cal.”

  He moved toward her. “I wrote my name and number at the bottom for you. Also, I printed off the information about where we're going for you in case you needed it.” He winked at me-the mystery was killing me.

  I crossed my eyes.

  My mom reached for it and said, “Thanks.”

  “Uh, Mom, could I see that for a second?”

  Cal stepped between my mom and me. “I don't think so, you little sneak. You get to wait just like everyone else.” He raised an eyebrow.

  I huffed.

  “I'd stay longer and chat with you, but we're on a time crunch.” He looked genuinely sad about it.

  “No problem. Have fun.” My mom's eyes twinkled.

  “We will.”

  He not only opened the Suburban door for me, he helped me in, shutting the door behind me. Music played, but the sound was way down.

  “Hey, Brooklyn,” was repeated by everyone in the truck.

  “Hi!” This was going to be a blast, I could tell already.

  As soon as we were on the road, Cal called to the people in the back, “Get out the grub, I'm starving.”

  We got handed napkins, then came donuts and our choice of OJ, chocolate milk, or milk.

  The entire way there, the truck rocked with conversations overlapping other conversations. The girls were demanding to know where we were going, and the boys were having fun at our expense.

  “We're taking you to the Hogle Zoo to swim with penguins!”

  “No, don't lie to them, dude. We're going to Robert Redford's mansion to swim in his underground infinity pool.”

  “Come on, man, you know Bobby's pool is closed for maintenance right now. Naw, ladies, today's plan is to go swimming in the Great Salt Lake-you know you can't sink in it cuz the water is so salty?”

  “Or is it because it's covered in ice?”

  The suggestions got more and more ridiculous, until finally we pulled up to our destination, and all the girls gasped. Just a few yards away from where we parked was a small lake, completely surrounded by snow.

  “You want us to swim in that?!” Haley exclaimed. “It's freezing out there!”

  The guys exploded with laughter.

  “It's the Bonneville Seabase,” Cal grinned. “Don't worry-it's geothermally heated. We're going to go get wetsuits and snorkeling gear in there first.” He pointed to a small building next to the pool.

  When we stepped out of the Suburban, we were blasted with cold air. This place was a good ten degrees colder than at our houses. Mother nature was having no mercy on us.

  The attendant set us all up with wet suits and gear, and we headed off to the unisex bathrooms to put them on. I ducked into a stall and pulled off the jeans and hoodie I had on over my swimsuit. I looked at the floppy, rubbery suit and tried to figure out exactly how to get it on.

  The suit was tighter than I'd expected, but we'd been warned that the suits were supposed to fit snugly. I crammed my left leg through the tight tube, then tried the right one-it was impossible to get it on from a standing position, so I lay down on the floor and tugged as hard as I could until both legs were fully in the suit. Outside the stall door, I could hear the other members of my group zipping up their suits. Some of them were heading out the door. I desperately didn't want to be the last one and hold anyone back. I quickly rammed my arms through the arm holes. It was so tight I could feel my pulse hammering in my biceps. If this was how it felt to wear a wetsuit, how could anyone stand it?

  I couldn't zip it lying down, so I sat up-or tried to anyway. I couldn't bend my body! I tried in vain a few more times to sit up, then to turn, but nothing worked. Finally, I decided I'd just have to take the thing off. I tugged my arm toward my body-the suit came with it. I tried to pull my leg free, but the wetsuit was now a second skin: it wouldn't budge. I gritted my teeth and had I been able, I would have pulled my knees to my chest and cried into my hands.

  Afraid I'd be left behind for the rest of the morning, I finally called out, “Uh, some help here.”

  Much to my relief, Melissa knocked on my stall door.

  “Brooklyn, you okay?”

  “I'm stuck. Can you help me?”

  She tried the door. It was locked, of course. “Can you open the door?”

  “Uh, no.” Heat rushed up my neck.

  “Do you want me to go get a key?”

  “That would be marvelous, really.” I tried to tell myself I wasn't embarrassed, but my face soon burned along with my neck.

  When she returned, she opened the door and, seeing me on the floor, said, “What happened?” She reached down to help me up, stifling a laugh. I raised my hand as high as I could, which wasn't very high, and she grabbed it, trying to get me to stand, but she couldn't. I was stiff as a board and way heavier than one. “Let me go get someone to help us.” She covered her mouth, eyes glinting with mirth.

  I sighed. “I don't care what you do, just get me out of this.” My embarrassment had vanished. I was getting desperate. I flopped on the floor, trying in vain to free myself while she was gone.

  Next thing I knew, the entire party was staring in at me from the open door, alternating between laughing and expressing concern.

  I thought Cal might explode with laughter, but he kept it inside. He was able to pull me up, stiff as a board, into a standing position.

  Everyone clapped and slowly broke away. One of the girls, Amy, stayed behind to help me out of the suit.

  “Guess it was too small, eh?” Tiny bursts of laughter rang out all around us.

  I had to laugh, too. It was too darn funny. Amy tugged down on one arm, and Cal pulled up on the suit on my other arm to hopefully give some slack to Amy. She had to work her fingers under the suit at my shoulder and then pull back that way. The pressure dug into my skin, but I wasn't about to complain. I needed to be free. Cal moved over to help her.

  “I bet if we free this one arm, the rest will go really quickly,” Cal said. “We just need a bit of slack.” Together they slowly peeled the suit off my arm.

  I sighed with relief, then noticed the strain on my swimming suit. It looked like my chest was about to explode out of it. Cal handed me my towel, which was hanging on a hook and said, “You might want to hold this in front of you while we work on the other side.”

  He had noticed, too. I didn't know whether to be aghast that he knew what could happen or grateful that he wanted me to stay modest.

  “Just please don't expose me.”

  “In all honesty, I'd not be able to live with myself if I did.” There was no joke in his voice.

  It was a good thing I hadn't been wearing a bikini. It wouldn't have survived.

  Cal pulled with all his might, and the wetsuit snapped off my arm. My arm throbbed and immediately the sensation of pins and needles covered it.

  “Owie!” I said, wishing I could rub it. Like he'd read my mind, Cal ran his hands up and down my arm.

  “Amy, why don't you try to get it down past, uh, I mean, further.” He continued to rub my arm, but faced away from me. Amy went under the towel, which I now held between my teeth, and she tugged down while I held onto the sliver of fabric that had already been exposed. She stretched it until it slipped over. My fingers weren't strong enough to hold onto the top, and it went down with it. I snatched at it, freeing it from the wetsuit fabric as fast as I could. I couldn't hold the heat from hitting my face. Once my swimsuit was back where it was supposed to be, I set the towel down.

  “Uh, You might want to hang onto that.” He raised his eyebrows.

  He was right. They now had to pull the wetsuit over the biggest part of my body. This was not going to be fun. I shook out my arms and wrapped the towel around my middle so that it hung to my knees, covering all the parts I didn't want to expose when my swim bottoms slid to
my knees with the wetsuit if they ever got it over my gigantic rump.

  They tugged and tugged, but the suit would not budge. My skin started chafing, and I couldn't feel my feet.

  “How did you get into this?” He put his hand up to his mouth. Both he and Amy were breathing hard.

  “With much difficulty.”

  “Maybe we should lay you down and have you hold onto that pole there. Then, we'll yank it off you. I just don't want to hurt you.”

  “I think my feet are going numb from lack of blood. You'll be saving me, not hurting me.” I tried to kick up my feet to emphasize the point, but since my hips and knees couldn't bend, I ended up almost falling backwards.

  “Ack!” I yelled, my arms windmilling around and my towel falling to the ground. Cal ran behind me and caught me just before I hit into the metal stall wall.

  “I gotcha. You're safe.” A bit of laughter escaped him before he helped me to the floor, and I lay down. Amy helped me position the towel, and they started tugging again.

  “We may have to cut you out of this,” Amy said. “Let me go ask for some scissors.”

  “Kill me now. This is awful.” I covered my face with my hands and screamed out in frustration.

  “It'll be okay.”

  Cal and I started laughing hysterically. My feet were really starting to hurt. Amy was gone.

  She came back with a round container of goo.

  “What is that?” I said, disgust rolling over me.

  “Apparently, you're not the only one this has ever happened to. There's a goo that we can rub on you to get you out.”

  “Seriously? Wish we would have discovered that earlier.”

  “I think it was threatening to cut the suit that made him ante up.”

  She handed it to me and while she pulled the suit away from my skin, I gooed my hips up. Once again, they pulled and tugged. It suddenly took, and it slid with a vengeance over my butt and off my legs. Both Amy and Cal went sailing back into the stall wall with a bang. The wall shuddered.

  I was free.

  We laughed hysterically for at least five minutes before we could pull ourselves together. This was one date none of us was ever going to forget. When he'd finally caught his breath, Cal stood and walked over to me, holding out a hand to help me to my feet.

  “Thanks,” I said sheepishly.

  “Well, I'll just wait outside while you, um, clean up,” he said between stifled laughter. He left, but Amy stayed to help me get all the goo off.

  “I'm never going to live this down, am I?” I laughed. She grinned back. Somehow, it was more funny than embarrassing.

  I walked out of the changing room, red-faced, but finally able to breathe. Cal was waiting on me and took me straight to the cold pool. No one was in it.

  “Where is everyone?”

  He pointed to the other side of the building. “The warmer water.”

  “Oh, and we get the colder water because…”

  “Because,” he said, lengthening out the word, “it's where all the coolest fish are.”

  We put our snorkel gear on and walked out into the water. I could feel the chill of the water, but thought it tolerable so far. We put our faces in, and that's when I realized just how cold the water was, but the freezing cold seemed to dissipate as I saw the amazing bright blues, reds, and yellows of the fish surrounding me. I took in a deep breath and turned to see Cal, moving beside me. His eyes sparkled even with the goggles on. He pointed somewhere past us, and I saw a bright green, long, skinny fish swimming our way. I opened my mouth a little too wide, and I sucked in some salt water. Sputtering, I went to the top. Cal joined me.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I just sucked in some water. Nasty.”

  “This place is more amazing than I thought it would be.”

  “I totally agree. I've only been snorkeling in Hawaii and while this pond is small, the fish are just as extraordinary.”

  We swam around for a little while longer until I thought my face might fall off from the cold. I brought Cal to the surface.

  “I think I need to head for warmer water, Cal. I'm sorry.”

  “Don't be sorry. I'm sure there'll be even more amazing fish in the warm pool.”

  He put his arm around me and said, “Thanks for coming with me. Let's go get warm.”

  We paddled around, getting into every nook and cranny of the warm pond. The fish and coral were amazing. We'd entered a different world.

  While this pond was a ton warmer than the other, the cold had been seeping through my suit with a fury the last five minutes, and I resisted a shiver that threatened. I stood up. Cal was a good twenty feet further into the pool and if there was anything I knew about boys, it was that their temperatures were much warmer than mine, and I knew he could last longer than I could without freezing to death. I wanted him to get as much as he could out of this place, so I put my snorkel gear back in my mouth and slid into the water. I swam hard out to him in hopes of raising my temperature. We pointed out different colored fish and even saw an eel.

  I started to shiver in earnest and headed back to the shore. I flipped off my goggles, and Cal pulled himself out beside me. I shivered violently just as he looked my way.

  “Let's get you out of here.” He stood up and took my hand. “I can't have you freeze to death on my account. I need you alive for tonight. Besides, I promised your mom I'd keep you safe.”

  “I hate my traitorous body. This place is amazing, and I don't want to miss anything.”

  “Well, we can't stay out here if you're shivering. That's not good. Let's get out.”

  I gave him a sad look, but he didn't look disappointed, he just grabbed my hand and led me to the dressing room.

  “You think you can undress yourself this time? I can always call the fire department.”

  I gave him an exasperated look. “I think I'll manage, thank you very much.” I popped the ch sound to emphasize my resolve. As I shut the dressing room door, I hoped I could. A lingering claustrophobic fear gripped me until I easily slid my arm out.

  After dressing, we met up with the other couples in the reception area. The boys handed us a deck of Phase 10 card and left to set up lunch.

  The boys had brought everything we'd need. And everything was hot: hot chocolate, hot cider, and hot sloppy joes. We even had warm peach cobbler for dessert.

  “And who do we need to thank for this awesome cobbler?” Melissa asked.

  “Jim's mom made that,” Xander said.

  “And what about the rest of the food?” I asked.

  “All the moms pitched in,” Cal said.

  “If they were here, we'd have to kiss their feet,” Liz said. “It was fab.”

  The sleet had stopped tapping on the windows as we ate, but Cal still took it easy on the way back. I had a hair appointment in one hour, and we were a good half hour away from my house.

  “You know, Cal, it takes time to get glamorous,” I said nervously, eyeing the speedometer.

  “You? Nah. You'll look amazing no matter how much time you have. In fact, you already look great. Maybe we should buck tradition and go as we are.”

  “You're not messing with my night are you?” I raised one eyebrow.

  “Never. You will make your hair appointment.” Then he lowered his voice and said, “You may be late, but you'll get there.” His eyes squinted, lit with an inner twinkle of mischief.

  Chapter 5

  By the time we got home, I had no time at all to shower. I hoped the salt water didn't leave a stinky smell on my skin. I barely made it to my hair appointment at Texie's. I gave Texie a picture of an updo where my hair was knotted on the left side with dainty curls hanging down, finishing the fancy effect. She had the magic touch. She made it better than the photo.

  Back at home, Hannah helped me get into a gorgeous, navy blue, form-fitting gown. Beading and sequins made it shimmer in the light. Even without my makeup on, I felt like a princess. While I did my makeup, my mom put a shimmery, faux diamo
nd necklace on me and finished it with matching earrings. Hannah helped me into my shoes.

  “I don't know why you insist on wearing flats.” Hannah put a hand on her hip. “Seriously, Brooke, you should have heels on. It's a dance.”

  “That's exactly why I like these shoes. I want to actually be able to dance-not limp around the floor all night. Besides, don't you love the bling?”

  I'd finished applying my makeup and pulled up on the dress, my sparkly Converse glittering up at me. “I love them. Thanks for making them all sparkly, Mom.”

  “No problem. In any case, no one would have been able to see any heels you wore under this dress. No one will even see the shoes.”

  “Oh, I'll show people the shoes, Mom. Everyone's going to be so jealous.”

  My mom smiled and I said, “Well?” rubbing my hands down the fluffy skirt.

  They both stood back. “You look amazing.”

  “Let's hurry and take some pictures before he gets here.” My mom hurried out the door. “We've only got about five minutes, and I bet this guy's right on time.”

  Cal rang the doorbell exactly on time. My mom answered it.

  “Hi, Cal.”

  Cal shook her hand and said, “Thank you so much for letting me take your daughter out. She's great.” As Cal stepped inside, my mom moved to close the door, and he took another step in and caught sight of me.

  He put his hand up to his heart. “Wow! You look stunning.”

  My heart hammered, and my mom seemed to disappear at that moment. Without taking his eyes off me, he walked up the stairs to me. He took one of my hands in his and said, “Ah, beautiful face, beautiful hair, beautiful dress.”

  A flash of excitement burst through me. His comment touched me. He genuinely believed what he just said. I looked at my feet, unable to take his bold staring. “Thanks. You look amazing in that tux. You clean up nicely.” I glanced up at him. He was smiling.

  “I'm not the one everyone will be looking at tonight.” One of his eyebrows shot up.

  Fear skittered through me, and I took an involuntary step back. I may have even grimaced. I didn't want everyone to notice me. Did I? I dared to look at him again and thought, yes. I do want everyone to notice me tonight. I was going to prom with one of the most amazing guys at school. I should be proud and hold my head up.