XX - Shiver
1430 Words
Theo
Everybody just kept on pushing anyone into the pool. The cold wind blew into our direction, making us shiver. The moment I rose from the warm water, I felt the sharp breeze on my skin, like I had been thrown in the middle of North Pole.
Damn.
Reaching out for my towel, I heard Shay’s laugh from a distance, seeing her with Kevin again. I felt a tinge of annoyance but kicked myself for it, knowing I had no right to feel that.
Jellaine approached me, fresh from shower, her hair still dripping wet. She had a ghost of smile on her lips, eyes narrowing once again.
“What now, J?” I asked, knowing she caught me looking at Shay again.
She laughed teasingly. “Nothing.”
“Come on,” I said, rubbing the towel on my hair, drying it up. “What’s that for? You’re throwing those looks.”
She feigned innocence. “What look?” she asked. “The look saying I caught you watching her for a hundred times now?”
I smiled, shaking my head. “You’re exaggerating.”
“I don’t think I ever saw you pay attention to a girl before.”
Sandy’s face appeared in my mind but I wasn’t as thrilled as before. Maybe because I got tired for being the only one fighting to keep the relationship.
“I had a girlfriend then, J.”
“Yeah, but now’s different.”
Looking over my shoulder to glimpse at Shay, I murmured, “I don’t think she’s ready for anything serious.”
Jellaine rolled her eyes on me. “We can’t always be prepared for whatever’s life going to hand over us. Love doesn’t knock. It doesn’t ask permission. It goes without a warning. Before you even realize it, you’re already caught in its web and you just have to let it be.”
I felt a shiver again from my wet shorts.
“Ever heard of intuition before, J?” I asked, wrapping myself with the towel. “Sometimes, we know if things will happen or not.”
She leaned closer to me. “Oh, does that mean you have a hunch now that you’re starting to like her more than you admit yourself?”
She got me.
Jellaine beamed. “No need to rush things, Theo.” With that, she walked away.
****
Shay looked lost on a memory in her head.
From where I stood, I could see a small curve gracing her lips yet her eyes seemed to glisten. The others already fell asleep on the couch as the movie continued to play on the 55-inch TV.
I cleared out my throat, getting her attention.
“Hey there,” she acknowledged, turning to me.
She was leaning against the balcony, hugging herself, as if a lone shirt could shield her from the cold.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” I replied, inviting myself to join her in.
She shook her head. “No, you’re not interrupting.”
I walked toward her, breathing the fresh air.
We both fell silent for a moment, watching the dotted lights from the buildings and cars.
“Are we replacing another memory now?” I asked after a while.
She met my gaze, a sad smile on her lips. “My dad bought this place for my eighteenth birthday. He said it was his gift to me. This is where we celebrated my birthday.”
“Wow.”
“He was my first dance that night. We danced here, in this balcony, wearing my designer gown. I stepped on his foot with my high heels. We laughed a lot that night, I remembered.”
Her eyes twinkled as she talked, reliving that moment.
“Shall we dance, then?” I asked.
The smile froze in her lips, eyes wide, obviously surprised. I felt a shiver down my spine, suddenly realizing what I had asked of her.
Waiting for her answer felt like a damn eternity.
“Right here? Right now?” I heard her say, tone unsure.
Relief washed over me. “Yeah, right here, right now.” I extended my hand to her, waiting for her full approval.
Shay looked down on herself, biting her lower lip.
“For new memories, huh?” she mumbled, finally reaching out to my hand.
I placed my right hand on her waist while the other held her small hand. I caught a whiff of her powdery perfume as we closed the gap between us. Carefully, we stepped, basically just taking tiny movements as we circled around.
“This is like from the movie The Notebook. When Noah asked Allie to dance in the streets,” she whispered. I could tell she was trying not to laugh.
“Should I sing too, like what Noah did?”
She smirked, shaking her head. “So you watched that movie huh?”
“Five times with my mother.” I nodded. “Her all time favorite.”
She bowed her head, briefly resting it to my chest, as she hid her laughter.
“For all I know, Theo, it is your favorite, not your mom’s.”
I just smiled, enjoying this little carefree moment. Swallowing, I hushed the demon inside my head, a whisper warning me not to go further, to stop this, but I couldn’t let go.
“And you won’t ever tell anyone, right?” I joked.
Her laugh returned, that familiar rhythm infiltrating my ears.
“Pinky swear, macho guy,” she answered with a wink.
We continued to sway and once in a while, I could feel her shiver, or maybe it was me, it was hard to tell.
“I’m confused now, Theo,” Shay whispered as we stopped dancing. Facing again the wonderful view, she gazed at me, questions in her eyes. “Are you really this nice to all girls?”
I thought about that. I made it a habit to be nice to girls because that was how my mom raised me up. She made me a gentleman, taught me to respect women, protect them and to be careful with them. She taught me the things she wanted to feel, the treatment she deserved before she had been taken in as a human trafficking victim.
“I am nice to girls,” I muttered, watching her reaction. “But not this nice.”
The air went stiffed. The ground seemed to tilt but only I could feel that.
She motioned her hand to me. “So this kind of Theo-nice is my privilege? Exclusive for me?”
Abort mission. Retreat!
But no. I shut off that demon. “Yeah, something like that.”
A contented smile curved her lips.
She rubbed her hands together, trying to get warm from the friction.
“Kevin likes me, you know,” she said, breaking the bubble. “But I told him he’s just a friend.”
My heart began to pump double time, every beat felt heavy on my chest.
“Sandy wanted to get back together,” I whispered, unsure why I felt nervous telling her that.
She stared at me.
“On a condition that we’ll have to hide it from her parents,” I added when Shay said nothing.
“She’s worth the trouble, isn’t she?”
She hugged herself again as the gust of wind rushed toward us.
“I actually told her no.” I sighed, remembering how Sandy insisted that we get back together. It came to her knowledge that I was getting close with Shay and she said it was her first time to feel jealous.
I heard her cleared her throat, looking at me intently. “Why?”
“I don’t want to be somebody’s secret, Shay. I had enough of that crap.”
A genuine smile crossed her face, making me smile too.
“You’re too good to be a girl’s secret.”
I didn’t know what to call this thing between us but I could tell it could lead us to something we hadn’t expected when we first met.
Because in just a short amount of time, Shay became my most familiar warmth.
- Writer
