Two hours later, I was walking out into the sunshine with a brand new phone. About 30 minutes into standing around and waiting to be helped, I had considered coming back. Saturday afternoon probably wasn’t the best day to go. Especially since I had Tuesdays and Thursdays off, which had to be less busy. But at that point I had already waited a while. Besides, now it was done. And two hours was a short amount of time to waste given the fact that I’d wasted 21 years on my dad. Now I was free. I wasn’t even going to give him my new number. Not that he’d be missing it…he never called me anyway.
I pulled out my phone from the bag and squinted at the screen in the sun. It was an older model than the one I used to have, but it was surely just as good. It’s not like I needed all the new fancy camera functions. I wasn’t exactly the type that was taking selfies for Instagram nonstop like the girls I had just passed on the boardwalk.
The tech guy helping me had tried to transfer all my contacts into my new phone and I practically had to tear it out of his fingers. I didn’t need all my old contacts. All I needed my phone for was communicating with three people – my mom, Kristen, and J.J. That was it. And by communicating, obviously I meant texting because calling people was the worst thing ever. Phone calls should have been un-invented years ago, if un-inventing things was a thing. And voice mails. Don’t even get me started on the demonic ways of voicemails. Anyone who leaves voicemails should be bitch-slapped into next week by the phone they used to commit such a heinous crime.
I pulled out the piece of paper I’d scribbled my important numbers on, which had caused quite the eye roll from the tech guy, and put them into my new phone. And then I shot off three texts, letting the only three nice people in my life know how to contact me now.
Kristen responded immediately. “New phone? Exciting! But do you know what’s more exciting? The package that showed up an hour ago with your name on. Get your ass home before I give in and open it myself!”
I thought about what on earth it could be as I walked down the boardwalk. But it only took me a few seconds to realize what it probably was. Well, there were two options really. Either it was anything I’d left at my dad’s house that he wanted to get rid of, which may have been one book or something else small. I’d never even had my own room at his new house. Whenever I’d visited when I was younger, I was always sent to the guest room. How fitting since that’s how he views me. I was too naïve to realize it at the time. I’d just considered the room temporarily mine since I didn’t live there. For years I’d always given him the benefit of the doubt when I should have been throwing hot coffee in his face on a daily basis.
The other option for a surprise package wasn’t quite as insulting. Maybe it was the stuff I’d asked Aiden to ship back to me. If that was the case, it was good news. It meant I got all my stuff back and that he was most likely done calling me nonstop. I smiled to myself. He couldn’t call me anymore even if he wanted to. I had a new number. Win win all around. And if it was my stuff from his apartment, that meant I could wear that cute dress I’d left in his closet. Otherwise I’d surely be squeezed into God knows what of Kristen’s. Not that she had too much time to torture me. J.J. was supposed to come pick me up in less than an hour.
I walked up the steps to my apartment. As I rummaged around in my purse for my keys, the door flung open.
“You have to see what’s inside before I die!” Kristen said as she thrust the box into my hands.
It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. There was no mailing or return address. And it wasn’t a standard brown shipping box. It looked more like a clothing box but it was wrapped in a sparkly white wrapping paper with a pink satin bow.
“How do you even know it’s for me?” I asked. I had never gotten a present wrapped so elegantly before. Not even for my sweet sixteen. Kristen was probably wrong. It was probably dropped off at the wrong house.
“Oh. That. One sec.” Kristen disappeared into our apartment.
I kicked the door closed and followed her.
“It came with a note.” She handed it to me.
“You read it?”
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not freaking mail fraud, it didn’t even come via the post office. The present was just sitting on the front step when I got back from work. So I had to look. How else would I have known it wasn’t for me?”
Fair point. “So who is it from?”
“See for yourself.”
I opened up the envelope, ignoring the broken seal from my nosy roommate. I smiled as I read the words.
You said you had nowhere to wear it. Now you do.
-Your lifeguard
Your lifeguard. I pulled the note to my chest. I had no idea what the card was referring to, but the butterflies had erupted in my stomach. I felt like I might be flown away with how fast they were flapping. J.J. was the sweetest man on the planet.
“Freaking open it!” Kristen begged.
I laughed and tugged on the satin bow. It felt so expensive between my fingers. He hadn’t started his fancy new job yet, and I hoped he wasn’t spending money he didn’t have. I tore the wrapping paper and lifted the lid to the box.
I could feel tears welling in my eyes. It was the beautiful blue dress I’d been looking at when we’d gone shopping together. It was sexy and over the top and ridiculously expensive and…the nicest thing I would have ever worn. You said you had nowhere to wear it. Now you do. I blinked faster so I wouldn’t start crying. He had said we were just friends when we’d gone shopping. But he remembered the dress I’d been looking at and that I said I had nothing to wear it to. He’d been paying such close attention to me and I’d been completely unaware. I ran my hand across the fabric before lifting the dress out of the box.
“Wow. That color is stunning,” Kristen said.
The same color as his eyes.
“And that dress is sexy as sin. And…” her hand hesitated on the price tag. “Jesus, is he loaded?”
“No. I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I mean…I don’t think so.”
“Well, he has expensive taste.” She winked at me. “It looks like there’s something else in the box.”
I glanced back down. It did look like there was something else beneath the tissue paper. I pushed the paper to the side and looked down at a rolling pin. Oh my God, he really does understand me. I smiled and picked up the second note.
You keep talking about rolling pins and I have no idea if it’s some sexual innuendo I don’t get or if you really want one for actual rolling pin usage. Either way, maybe you can teach me how to use it later.
-Your lifeguard
I could feel my face turning bright red.
Kristen laughed from where she was peering at the note over my shoulder. “What kind of kinky things do you like to do with rolling pins?”
“Nothing!” I slid the note back into its envelope. “I just happened to mention that we didn’t have a rolling pin here. For cooking.”
“It doesn’t seem like that’s what he heard.”
I laughed. “Then he heard wrong.” But my mind was going a mile a minute. I could think of a few sexy things to do with a rolling pin.
“Well I already agreed to give you two the apartment tonight. So you can test out whatever theory you have running around in your head. But…” she drew out the word in a way that I knew she was about to ask for something. And since it was Kristen, I knew it was going to be food related.
“I already made a lasagna this morning. It’s in the fridge, just preheat the oven to…” I stopped talking when she scrunched her nose up. I wasn’t even sure she knew how to turn on the oven.
“I have an idea,” she said. “You pre-heat the oven and all that. And I’ll help you get ready. You actually need to wear makeup with a dress like that. And heels! Heels are a must!” She started rummaging around in my closet before I had time to stop her.
But she was right. I didn’t want the apartment to catch fire and I did want to look my best tonight. I smiled down at the dress and rolling pin. I was pretty sure that was the nicest present anyone had ever bought me.
***
I twirled around in front of the mirror. The fabric was so light and soft. There was a peephole in the front that showed off the perfect amount of cleavage to leave J.J. drooling. The dress crisscrossed at the neckline and the fabric crossed again in the back, leaving most of the back exposed. It was really sexy. Kristen even introduced me to sticky boobs. Which were basically exactly what they sounded like. A bra that just kinda sticks to your chest with tons of adhesive. They were a Godsend and I didn’t know how I had lived without one for so long. Especially since my breasts had never looked better.
Kristen whistled. “You look freaking hot.”
My smile was so big it practically hurt. “It’s not too much?”
“All this,” she waved her hands in front of me, “is perfecto. Tim Gunn would rave. Even Nina Garcia would give you two thumbs up.”
“I can’t imagine her doing that.”
“She would…just once for this ensemble. Swatch would bark in appreciation. The other contestants would swoon.”
“You really know how to build up my confidence.”
She smiled. “And speaking of moving…did you call your dad?”
Kristen was great at a lot of things, but no one was worse at segues than her. I laughed. “I did.”
“And?”
“He doesn’t care where I go.” He doesn’t care about me. Thinking about him slashed that ego boost she had just given me. It was hard to think you were amazing when someone treated you like a literal pile of shit.
“Well…that’s great! Seriously, I can’t imagine going to the University of New Castle without you now.”
I knew what she meant. Just thinking about not going gave me a pit in my stomach.
“So are you going to tell J.J. you applied tonight? The cherry on top of your amazing date?”
“That’s the plan.” We hadn’t really given our relationship a label. He told me I was his. And that was wonderfully romantic. But I was his what exactly? Girlfriend? Greatest love? Fuck buddy? I ignored my last thought. That was definitely not what we were. Part of me wanted to ask about what would happen to us once the summer ended before I told him about possibly transferring. It would give me a better understanding of where his head was at. But I didn’t want to play any more games with him. I’d give him all the information upfront. And hopefully we could agree to not just end this because the seasons changed.
Kristen smiled. “So what else did you and your dad talk about?”
God, I don’t want to talk about the king of the dicks before my date. “Not much. He said he was cutting me off financially…hence the new phone.”
“Oh.” Her smile was gone and it looked like she physically hurt for me. “I thought you just finally bought a new one because the screen was cracked.”
“Nope.” The “p” in nope popped weirdly. I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat.
“I’m sorry. Don’t think about him. Remember your dick diet?”
I laughed, remembering my drunken declaration of avoiding all dicks. “Right. Rule number one, no discussing dicks.”
“I doubt that was rule number one, but yes, enough about him,” she said. “And more about how amazing you look in that dress!”
I laughed at the same time there was a knock on the door. I rushed over, eager to see the one boy that somehow erased all the bad ones from my mind. The sight of him made the butterflies increase tenfold. He was wearing one of the new outfits we’d picked out together. He had left a few buttons open at the collar which made it look a little more casual. And he’d rolled the sleeves up like I’d shown him, showing off his muscular forearms.
“I knew that dress would look great on you.” He stepped forward and kissed my cheek.
I loved the dress. But hearing him say I looked good in it made it my favorite thing ever. I smiled up at him.
“Hey, Kristen,” he said over my shoulder. “I’ll have her back by…” he glanced at me. “Who am I kidding. I’m hoping to have her out all night.”
Kristen laughed. “No need to stay away. I’m heading to Reggie’s right after I dive into this delicious lasagna Mila made me. So you’ll have our apartment all to yourself tonight so you can try out that rolling pin.”
J.J. smiled and looked back at me.
I could feel the heat in his gaze. “Come on,” I said, pulling him to the door before Kristen could embarrass me anymore. She was worse than a parent sometimes. “Bye, Kristen!”
“If you hurt my girl, I’ll kill you in your sleep,” she said as we closed the door.
J.J. laughed again. “She’s intense. And…not serious, right?” He touched his throat like he was actually scared she’d slice it in his sleep.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and gave him what I hoped was an innocent smile. “If you don’t hurt me, you don’t have to find out.” Please don’t hurt me.
He caught my hand, stopping me before I could walk down the steps. “I’m not going to hurt you.” His other hand moved to the back of my neck.
“Okay.” The feeling of his fingers on my skin made it hard to think straight.
He tilted his face closer to mine. “Okay then.”
I wasn’t even sure what we had been talking about when he started kissing me. And when he finished? I wasn’t sure how I was still standing.