On the Plus Side
Page 45

I’d prefer the latter.
I watched as he worked on my car. He had on greasy jeans with an even greasier red rag hanging out of his back pocket. The black tank top shirt he was wearing was so wet with sweat that it was sticking to every cut and corner of his body. I couldn’t help but stare. His tanned arms were flexing and stretching and the shiny oil on his skin made his tattoos look extra sharp. One day I’d get a better look at those tattoos. One day I’ll outline those babies with my tongue.
He was so fine and I was getting so very hot and bothered.
He climbed under the car and grabbed at different tools. It was like watching an artist at work and I could tell that he truly loved what he was doing.
“So, what did you wanna talk about?” he asked from under the car.
“Huh? Oh, um—I don’t remember. I’m sure it was nothing important.”
He pulled himself from under the car, the little rolling bed thingy made a creaking noise. I watched him stretch his perfectly shaped body as he got comfortable.
“You OK, Lil? You look funny. Are you feeling OK?”
It took me a minute to peel my eyes of off his chest and dirty jeans to look at his face.
“Huh? Oh, I think I’m coming down with something. I feel like I might have a fever.”
My face had to be bright red. I couldn’t think about anything but him and those thoughts weren’t very pure. At night I had dreams of him doing and saying things to me. During the day I had daydreams about him touching me certain ways and making me feel things I’ve never felt before. I couldn’t focus on anything at work. Even Shannon commented on how out of whack I was lately.
He jumped up from the rolling bed thingy and walked over to me. He pulled the red rag from his back pocket and wiped the grease from his hands before softly laying the back of his right hand to my forehead. Chills went through my entire body, yet I felt hot all over.
“You don’t feel warm, but you do look a little flushed. Stay here, I’m gonna run in the house and get you a soda, OK?”
“OK.”
I watched him run across the yard and into the back door, the screened door slamming loudly. I sat down onto a fold out chair next to my car and waited for him to come back. I heard a car pull up and then watched as a young boy in a baseball hat jumped out and headed toward the garage. He was half way to me before he noticed I was sitting here.
“Hey, is anyone here to help you?” he asked as he pulled off his hat and a mess of a brown ponytail was revealed.
I suddenly realized that it was a young girl, not a young boy, and I knew right away that it was Jenny, Devin’s little sister.
“Yeah, I’m actually waiting on Devin to come back. He went to get me a soda.”
Her eyes lit up.
“Are you Devin’s new friend? The one he’s always on the phone with?”
“Um—I think so? My name’s Lilly. You must be Jenny?”
First of all, Jenny was the cutest little thing I’d seen in forever. Yeah, she was dressed like a boy and yeah, her hair was a hot mess all pulled up in a low ponytail, but other than that, she was gorgeous. She had Devin’s pretty green eyes and a tan that girls pay good money for.
Her smile was wide and white and her face was unblemished. She had the flawless skin of a girl who didn’t contaminate her face with makeup every day. She was short with a small frame, so absolutely adorable.
I had to smile at the torn up jeans and big black ACDC t-shirt, but I could tell that beneath it all there was a beautiful young girl.
“That’s me! It’s so nice to meet you. You’re so much prettier than Renee!” She blurted out.
“Renee?”
“Yeah, she was a major bitch. He didn’t tell you about Renee? Oh well, I don’t blame him.” She waved it off. “No one likes her. I don’t even think he liked her very much. She was just a piece of ass. You know how those things go. ”
I didn’t, not really, but apparently this teenage girl did. Not to mention the awful sinking feeling that attacked my stomach at just the mention of Devin with this girl Renee. Was Renee his girl, too?
I was about to ask more about this Renee person when I heard the screened door slam again and I knew he was coming back.
He walked up to me with a huge smile on his face and a coke in his hand. Looking at them, I could say that if there weren’t an age gap between the two, they could pass as twins, other than the fact that he’s tall, dark and handsome and she’s petite, tan, and gorgeous.
I watched his smile disappear when he saw his little sister was standing next to me.