She spun around, nearly losing her drink. Her expression went immediately from startled to pleased. “Yeah, they cancelled.”
Angel couldn’t get over how amazing she looked. If he gazed at her all night long, it wouldn’t be long enough. “I almost didn’t recognize you with your hair down.
She hesitated for a second. “Thank you.” He noticed she avoided his eyes again.
He didn’t want to, but he decided it would be better to change the subject before she got uncomfortable and made an exit. He had no intentions of letting her run away again. Not this time. He glanced at her cup. “What are you drinking?"
She smiled timidly. “Wine.”
“Wine?”
She laughed. “Why does everybody say it like that?”
Her smile somehow had a calming effect on him. “Out of a cup though? You can’t drink it straight out of the bottle?”
“It’s not a cooler.” Her expression challenged him. “It’s the good stuff.”
She turned to her friend, and then glanced into her cup. It was almost empty. “As a matter of fact,” she said, “I need more.”
She bent over to a medium sized ice chest and pulled out a small jug of wine.
“Nooo,” Angel put his hand over his mouth in disbelief. “Oh, you’re sick. You come to a party with a jug of wine in an ice chest?”
She laughed even more now. Her friend laughed with her. Sarah caressed the jug lovingly. “How else am I supposed to keep my little Precious cold?”
Her demeanor was refreshing, especially since she had seemed so apprehensive at school. Maybe it was the wine. Whatever it was, he loved it. He watched as she poured the wine in her cup, noticing how little she poured in before stopping. She put the jug back in the ice chest and pointed at her friend. “She brings one too.”
Her friend opened her mouth wide, as if Sarah had just snitched on her. Angel raised his eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief. “You too? But you’re drinking beer, you don‘t need an ice chest.”
Her friend smiled and tapped her bottle. “I can’t drink beer unless it’s ice cold.”
“By the way, Angel, this is my cousin, Valerie,” Sarah said.
Angel nodded. “Yeah, I know Valerie.”
He saw Valerie’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“Sure,” he acknowledged her surprise. Glad that Sarah had said her name. That, he would’ve never remembered.
“So, why don’t you just put your drinks in the same ice chest?”
Valerie rolled her eyes at Sarah. “Sarah doesn’t like her Precious to be disturbed.”
“She’s very fragile,” Sarah held her cup close to her.
Angel nodded, and then put his hand up. “It’s a she? Okay, well, now that makes sense.”
Sarah smiled, as she took another quick sip of her wine. Valerie got pulled away by another girl.
Angel took his last swig of beer and threw the empty bottle in a trash can near by.
“Are you out?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, that was my last one.”
“Well, here,” Sarah bent over to Valerie’s ice chest. She giggled pretending to be sneaky, “let’s steal one of Valerie’s.”
Angel turned to see if Valerie was watching. “No, it’s cool. I don’t wanna take her beer.”
Sarah shook her head. “She’s not gonna finish all this. She never does, and then we’re gonna end up throwing it out later tonight.”
“Throw out beer? Are you nuts?”
“Well, we can’t take it home, my aunt would kill us.”
“Oh, well,in that case, let me help the cause,” He held out his hand.
Her finger brushed his hand as she passed him the bottle. That’s all it took to ignite him. His hand trembled, as he took a swig of his beer. He watched her the whole time. Her eyes were so big, her lashes so dark and heavy; everything seemed to slow down when she blinked. His insides smoldered and he gulped his beer hard.
“So, are you here alone?” She asked.
He looked around. He had to; if he stared at her any longer he was afraid he’d freak her out.
“Nah, my friends are here somewhere, we just got split up.” He turned back to her. “How ‘bout you? Is it just you and Valerie tonight?”
She sipped on her wine again. “Yeah, well, I came here with just Val, but we’re supposed to meet up with friends later.”
Angel took another swig of his beer and looked around casually, “Guys?”
“No. Some of her girlfriends; they’re not here yet though. That’s why I’m here. I really don’t like these kinds of parties, but none of her friends could get here until later, so she talked me into coming with her.”
Angel smiled, gazing in her eyes. “I’ll have to thank her later for that. So, where do you like to go?”
She held his gaze for a moment and then smiled, making Angel’s legs weak. “I love the beach,” She sighed. “I just moved out here a few months ago, from Arizona, so the beach is new to me. I could spend every night there watching the sunset. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the sunsets in Arizona are just as beautiful. It’s just the newness of the cool salty air, and watching while listening to waves crash, and the birds…quack?”
Angel was puzzled. “Quack?”
She burst into laughter. “Squawk? You know what I mean!”
“God, you were doing so well,” he teased, pretending to gaze out into the sky. “I mean, I could almost hear the waves crashing and everything.”
Sarah continued to laugh. Angel wondered if she was getting tipsy but he continued to tease her. He loved hearing her laugh. “I mean peep would’ve been closer, but quack? Really?”
Sarah’s hand was over her mouth, but there was no muffling her laughter. “I got the point across, didn’t I?”
“I’m just saying. The wind was blowing in my hair and everything, look.” He pretended to hold his hair down.
“Stop!” she squealed.
He couldn’t help laughing with her. It was such a cute laugh and so contagious. She was refreshing. It wasn’t just that she was enjoying his jokes, but that she didn’t mind laughing at herself. So many other girls would’ve been too busy trying to be seductive. She didn’t even have to try. He could tell being seductive was the last thing on her mind.
She wiped the corners of her eyes. She’d literally laughed that hard. “Is my mascara all messed up?” She opened her eyes wide.
He stepped forward to get a better look. Her makeup had smeared slightly on the bottom corner of her right eye. “Hold still,” he moved closer to her.
He wiped the bottom of her eye very slowly and gently with his pinky. He was so close to her face, he could smell the wine on her breath. She held her cup right in front of her, and he felt her tense up when his body touched her hand. He examined her other eye.
“Your eyes are amazing,” he said without moving back.
She held his gaze for just a second, and then backed up slightly. “Thanks.”
She turned away and Angel watched as she took a very long sip of her wine. It surprised him how uncomfortable compliments made her. With eyes like those, you’d think she’d be used to them. Still, she broke the silence as only she could.
“Where’s my Precious?” She said, in a coddling voice. She bent over and opened her ice chest. Angel watched as she poured herself less than a quarter of a cup.
He enjoyed teasing her. “Maybe if you’d fill the cup, you wouldn’t have to refill so often.”
“Ah, to deal with lower society,” she smirked. “This isn’t beer, Angel. You sip, so if I fill it, by the time I’m half way through, it’ll be warm. I don’t like warm wine, okay?”
“Oh no, you didn’t just call me lower society!”
“Oh, yes, I did.”
Angel held his pointer finger up in front of her, and she began to giggle again. “One word.”
“Bring it,” She took a sip.
“Quack!”
She covered h
er mouth with the cup to avoid spitting and turned her back on him so he couldn’t see it leak out the side of her mouth. She turned back to face him and kept laughing. “You had to go there.” She wiped around her cleavage.
His eyes were fixated on her hands. “I had to.” Gulping hard, he watched her continue to wipe the wine from the front of her blouse. “I can help you with that.”
She smiled at him half rolling her eyes. “That’s okay.” She returned her attention to her blouse, and he couldn’t look away.
He was still standing there gaping, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Eric. “Hey, dude, you ready?”
Angel turned around. Eric was holding Romero up. “Damn, is he that wasted?”
Eric shot him a sarcastic look. Angel turned to Sarah. “This is my ride.”
She glanced over at Eric holding Romero up, and chuckled a little. Angel could see she was lightheaded from the wine. She seemed so small and delicate and incredibly vulnerable, “I won’t leave though. Where’s Valerie?”
She smiled at him. “Go ahead, I’m fine.”
Like hell. “Yeah, you are fine. But I’m not leaving you until Valerie gets back.”
The party was beginning to end and Valerie, Sarah’s ride, was nowhere in sight. Sarah tried calling her several times on her cell, but the call wouldn’t go through. Angel grabbed Sarah’s hand in his, and both their ice chests in his other. “Come on, let’s go look for Valerie.”
As they walked through the party, one of Dana’s friends tried to stop him. “Hey, Angel, where’s Dana?” Her eyebrows were arched and she peered at Sarah. Angel kept walking, pretending not to hear.
“Is Dana your girlfriend?” He could feel Sarah try to let go of his hand but he only tightened the grip.
Angel pressed his lips for a second, “Nope.”
Eric was right outside looking a little irritated. Angel knew how Romero could get when he was drunk, and Eric had been on his own with him now all night, so he understood his frustration.
“Dude, are you ready to go?” Eric asked.
Sarah was still holding Angel’s hand. Angel looked at him apologetically. “Give me a sec. She needs to find her friend.”
Sarah was calling Valerie on her cell again but she wasn’t answering. When they got to the car, she looked at him. “I can’t leave Valerie.”
“Okay.” He pulled her closer to him, out of the way of oncoming cars that still cruised past the party. She leaned against him and he put his arm around her waist. All night long he’d burned to touch her and now all he wanted was to take care of her. He examined her face, smiling tenderly. “How you feeling?”
She smiled, finally looking in his eyes. “Better now.”
It took all his willpower to not lean over and kiss her, but the last thing he wanted was for anything to happen tonight that she could dismiss tomorrow and blame on the wine.
He turned to see Eric adjusting Romero in the front seat. Romero was totally out. Angel motioned toward him. “By the way, meet my friend Romero.”
Sarah laughed. “Is that really his name?”
“Well, his last name. His first name is Ramon, but he doesn’t like it.”
Eric walked over and leaned on the car next to Angel and Sarah. He looked exhausted. Sarah rested her head on Angel’s shoulder.
“Oh, hey,” Angel said looking at Eric. “This is Sarah. Sarah, this is my friend, Eric.”
Sarah held her head up just long enough to say hello. Angel knew Eric assumed she was just another girl he’d picked up. Sarah moved off of Angel and leaned against the car now, but he still held her hand. “Where could she be?” Sarah grimaced.
They all stood there watching the driveway of the house where the party had been. There were people still walking out, and standing around the front of the house. A car pulled up and let someone out of the back seat. It was Jesse Strickland. The car that dropped him off drove right past them and up the street.
Sarah didn’t see him at first but when she did, she straightened out. Angel noticed and his muscles tensed. “Something wrong?”
“Can we leave?” Her eyes were still on Jesse.
Jesse walked in a hurry to the back yard. Eric and Angel exchanged glances.
“What about Valerie?” Angel asked.
“We’ll come back for her,” she said, “I just don’t wanna be here right this minute.”
Angel stared at her for a second. “Sure.”
He let go of her hand to gather up the ice chests. Sarah tried Valerie again on her phone. For whatever reason, Jesse made Sarah nervous and Angel didn’t like it. He grabbed the ice chests and threw them in the trunk, then walked Sarah around and into the car. He sat down next to her and reached for her hand immediately. Eric eyed him through the rearview mirror.
“Let’s drop off this guy first,” Eric said motioning toward Romero. “Then if you want, you can drop me off and take my car. I’ll pick it up in the morning.”
Angel smiled. Suddenly he was relieved he’d only had two beers. He wasn’t ready to say goodnight to Sarah yet. He could always count on Eric to understand.
***
Minutes passed, while she sat in the passenger seat, heart pounding, waiting for Valerie to answer her phone.
“Hello?”
“Valerie?”
“Sarah, I’ve been so worried. Where are you?”
“I’m with Angel. We’re dropping off his friend. Are you on your way home?”
“Home? It’s still early, there’s another party we’re going to. Do you need me to come get you?” Valerie asked.
“No, I think I’m good for now.”
“Oh, my God, are you and Angel gonna hang out?” Valerie gushed.
The thought of what Valerie meant by hang out, made Sarah’s heart beat even harder. She bit her lip.
“I’m not sure,” Sarah said. “I’ll call you and let you know where to meet me.”
“Is he right there next to you?” Valerie whispered, as if he might hear her.
Sarah giggled. “No, he’s outside with his friend. I’m in the car.”
“You have to make out with him Sarah, so, you can tell me all about it.”
Sarah laughed nervously, her face suddenly warm. “Valerie!” she gasped, “I hardly know him.”
“He’s totally hot. What more do you need to know?”
Sarah's body heat went up. Valerie wasn’t helping her already strained nerves. “I gotta go. He’s on his way back,” she lied.
“Okay, okay, bye.”
Her cousin was so different than Sarah when it came to guys. Valerie was commitment-phobic. She’d had one serious relationship, and she said it nearly suffocated her. She could easily just make out with someone without giving it a second thought.
Sarah didn’t think any less of Valerie for enjoying her freedom. She just couldn’t understand how Valerie could turn off the emotions just like that. To Sarah, even holding hands inevitably meant feelings were involved. It wasn’t something she could do and not feel anything, just the thought that Angel might kiss her tonight had her in knots.
She studied the guys standing outside, face to face. Eric stood a few inches shorter than Angel. His hair was a lot lighter and curlier too. He didn’t have Angel’s pretty boy good looks, but still his rugged good looks of his own, and he was so nice it made him attractive.
She'd watched them as they carefully helped Romero from the car, genuinely concerned that he got home safe. Albeit they did it with a lot of laughing and repartee, it was obvious they were very good friends.
Angel walked back toward the car. That smile. It was unreal. She shifted in her seat, trying not to look like a goofball but her own smile was so big and hard to hold back. She’d been talking to him most of the night and been doing pretty well. Except for spitting up her wine and her miserable attempt to be deep about loving the beach, she’d managed to keep the blundering to a minimum. Why was she having such a hard time breathing now?
/> She took a long deep breath as he opened the door and climbed in the car. His eyes were immediately on her, making her insides into mush.
“Are you hungry?”
She let out her breath and nodded.
“Good, ‘cause I’m starving.” He pulled out of the drive way.
They picked up some food at a drive-thru and headed to the beach, eating along the way. After driving up a winding road to the top of a cliff, he turned into a dead end, and parked. The moon was bright, and the ocean went on as far as she could see. They were high above the ocean, and the view was breathtaking.
Sarah stared out the window in amazement. Her thoughts were muddled when her phone rang and she went still. She had a feeling who it might be, and she didn’t want to answer it. One look at the caller ID and her suspicions were confirmed, Jesse. Angel was eyeing her. “You gonna answer that?”
She shook her head.
Glancing at Angel, she noticed his eyebrows narrow, and she turned away biting her lip. Her phone rang one last time.
“Where are we?” She turned back to face him.
He still had the same expression on his face, but he didn’t say anything He opened the door. “Follow me.” He got out of the car.
Sarah got out, and he came around and held his hand out. She put her hand in his and they walked toward the dead end. There was a rock trail off to the side, behind the homes that faced the ocean.
They headed to the edge of the trail where there was a wrought iron fence. She looked down as they walked along the side of the fence, and could see the waves crashing into the rocks below. When they turned the corner, she saw the trail stretched across the cliff. There were benches and grassy sitting areas with flowering tropical plants, and an endless trail of palm trees. Sarah took it all in with awe. She turned back to him.
“I love it,” she whispered.
“This is my favorite place.”
“I can see why.” She stepped closer to the fence and gazed out into the ocean. The lights on a couple of ships and some small sail boats still out there shined brightly. Angel stood behind her, and he grasped the top of the iron rail, enclosing her body between his arms. His warm body against her back felt good, especially since it was getting cold. His face came over her shoulder next to her ear, and she felt him take a deep breath. She closed her eyes and her body tingled all over. It was still unbelievable to Sarah that she was here, doing this, with him.
“You smell good,” he murmured.