He puts us in gear as I settle between his legs. We jerk forward, both of us laughing. He drives us down the asphalt slowly, the neighbors gawking. Some shake their heads while others smile. My hands rest on his knees as he steers with his arms caging me against his chest.
“This week without you sucked,” he says against the shell of my ear making me shiver even though the sun is still blazing down on us. Tennessee summers are brutal.
We round the corner turning down the street Josh lives on. He is shooting hoops in his driveway with some of his butthole friends that he never wants to allow to see him with me. He sees us and hollers at Jameson to stop.
“Wanna play, man?” He looks over me like I’m not even here.
Jameson is right, Josh is a jerk, but he is one of my only other friends. And at the end of summer Josh will still be here while Jameson won’t be.
“You can play if you want, I can walk back home. No big deal.” I shrug my shoulders secretly hoping Josh invites me to stay.
Jameson tenses, his body going rigid against my back. “Nah, thanks though.”
“Guess I will see you guys this weekend for the campout?” Josh says.
My brows go up. I didn’t invite him.
“Yeah, see ya,” Jameson says gruffly, irritation lacing his voice.
We take off rougher than before, and I nearly bust his nose with the back of my hard head. He drives us to the park in silence. He cuts through the playground, driving to my favorite spot in the trees. I pry the back of my dress that clings to his sweaty chest from him as I get off the mower.
“You invited Josh to go for my birthday?” I am shocked really. I don’t get the vibe that Jameson even likes him.
He removes his sunglasses, resting them on his backward turned ball cap. His eyes slant in my direction as his pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t get mad, but while you were away, I went swimming at Karson’s with her and Josh. I may have mentioned we needed two more to go camping, and Karson invited herself, so Josh said he wanted to come too.”
“Do you want Karson there? She totally hates the ground I walk on.” I cast my eyes away from him. Does he like her? She must like him. Why else would she want to go? And for my birthday!
“I’m sorry, Fancy. I didn’t know how to tell them no. But I will go over and tell her right now that she can’t come, if that’s what you want.” He takes my hand stroking his thumb over my knuckle.
How can I be mad at a face like his? Jameson is totally adorable. I hate seeing him pout at me. I pinch his lip. “Stop pouting. We needed them so we can go anyway.”
He grins at me and pinches my lip back between his rough fingers. “Okay. Wanna watch a movie?”
“Nope.” I pop the P. “I wanna go swing.” I take off through the trees back to the park with Jameson running after me.
I glance back at him as he closes in on me, hooking me around my waist and swinging me around. I knock his sunglasses off and steal his hat.
He lets go to pick his sunglasses up, so they don’t get crunched under our feet. He laughs as I strike a pose with his cap on my head, rocking it sideways. I throw up a peace sign and he loses it, cackling like a hyena, holding his ribs.
“What, I don’t look good?” I pucker my lips.
He snatches his hat back. “Don’t ever turn into one of those girls. I love you just the way you are.”
My cheeks flame at the word love. No one ever loves anything about me. There goes the Pop Rocks bursting in my tummy. Jameson takes a seat on the tire swing and I straddle his lap, facing him so we can swing together. He puts his ball cap back on my head before pushing off with his feet.
“I take that back. My hat looks perfect on you,” he says softly, staring at me with a goofy expression on his face. He’s smiling crookedly.
Our fingers are pressing into the chain-link that suspends the seat as Jameson pumps us higher. I throw my head back, my hair grazes the dirt, and I lose his hat, but he doesn’t say anything.
When we come to a stop, I am dizzy, and I lay my head on his shoulder waiting for my brain to stop spinning.
“I wonder how many people have died from a swing set,” Jameson murmurs into my hair.
I giggle.
And then he kisses me.
The world stops.