“Sam?”
Drew! I turned around. His blond hair was rumpled and his cheeks were windburned. I wanted to run into his arms and have him scoop me up into the air. But then again, knowing me, I’d probably knock us both over.
“Eric, right?” said Drew.
“Yeah. Hey,” said Eric, throwing the stick out again.
“Did I … interrupt something?” Drew asked carefully.
Oh, no. How had he gotten here? How much had he heard? I looked around to see if I could find his car. He must have come around back from the parking lot. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to leave now.
“No! Not at all! Let’s go!” And I grabbed his hand. It was big and warm.
“That guy lives there, right?” Drew asked as we got into his black Jetta. The heat went on full blast and I wanted so badly to just have the hot air blow away all the clouds that were fogging up my head.
“Yeah, I guess.” I said.
“Was he bugging you?” Drew asked.
“No. Did you hear —?”
Drew shook his head before I could finish. “I was too busy staring at your hair.”
Yay, electric socket dance! “It’s usually really flat. But I have this trick,” I started. But Drew cut me off again, this time with his lips. I could smell his cherry ChapStick, could feel his cold nose on my skin. And it felt great. I closed my eyes and tried to shut out the past ten minutes with Eric. What did he know anyway? And who cared what Drew had done in the past? Or how many girls he had dated? He was with me now.
By the time we got to the Fondue Pot, there was already a table set up in the back for us. I recognized some of the people from his lunchtime crowd. Honey Braids was there, still in her lavender sweater.
“Hey, y’all!” she called when she saw us.
I squeezed Drew’s hand and gave her a huge smile as we sat down.
There were a couple of other people from their class, too. I saw two of the girls look at my hand in Drew’s and then lean in to each other and whisper something. It felt good. Liz and Dina were there, too. Liz looked really disappointed when she saw that Jeremy wasn’t with me.
“He has a bad cold, I think from being out in the hot tub,” I told her. I didn’t want to lie, but I thought it was nicer than saying he and Aaron were watching wrestling matches on pay-per-view.
The waitress came around and everybody dug into their pockets and bags. I took a deep breath. It was the first time that I was using my fake ID. Phoebe and Rachel and I had gotten them as a dare last year when we turned fifteen. My name was Anne Susan Spencer, which made me laugh because my initials spelled “ass.” I never used it because we never went to bars, anyway. But it was fun to pull it out of my wallet. I saw Drew look at me and grin. We all ordered hot toddies; Drew explained that they were whiskey with honey and lemon. Yeesh. More whiskey. I knew I had to take it slower with the drinking tonight. Then we decided on one cheese pot and one chocolate pot for the table. Everybody started talking about the snow and which trails were the best to go on.
Honey Braids turned to me and said, “Hey, I’m Ashley.” She had warm brown eyes and a mess of freckles on her nose and cheeks.
“I’m Sam.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m really glad you decided to come. Drew was talking about how much fun you are!”
I felt a smile sneak across my lips.
“Really?”
See? What did Eric know? I wasn’t just some girl. I watched Drew as he talked with some of his students. They were asking him about the Olympics. Of course, I had heard it before, but I loved to listen to his voice and have an excuse to just gaze at him.
Then our drinks came. Liz stood up and tapped on one of the water glasses.
“Excuse me! Excuse me! I would like to make a toast. To an awesome week in Vermont. To making new friends. And to Drew for teaching us to tackle the slopes and to leave your behind — behind!” Good for her. Conquer the cheese factor. Everybody laughed and tipped their glasses back. The drink was lemony and sweet. Then I felt Drew’s hand inch across my thigh and give me a gentle squeeze. Oops. I forgot to swallow and instead sputtered and coughed.
Smooth, Levy, real smooth.
Drew laughed quietly and patted me on the back. “Easy, rock star,” he whispered.
I definitely needed to loosen up. I picked up my glass and took another big gulp. So much for taking it slow. Tonight was going to be all about having fun.
“You taste like chocolate and cheese and marshmallows,” I murmured, giggling.
Drew and I were parked somewhere between the Fondue Pot and the inn. He had turned off the headlights and made the front car seats lean all the way back. The sky was dancing around again from the two and a half hot toddies I’d had. The stars looked like they were being swallowed up by the inky night.
“Don’t forget the bread and apples. Mmm, I could kiss you all night,” he said, leaning in again.
His hands were big and strong, and he was running them through my hair, up along my neck, and — eek! — really close to my ears! I guided his hands back down to my shoulders. He didn’t seem to notice. Just kept kissing me, down one cheek and across my chin. And then he was unzipping my jacket and moving his hands up under my sweater. I was kind of ticklish and definitely nervous, but I tried not to flinch.
Stay calm, Levy. Stay calm. This is what normal people do. Sara Spencer and Kevin Mallon are probably doing it right now. Pretend this is health class. It’s natural.
I felt the cold air hit my bare stomach. I couldn’t take it.
“Hey, Drew?” I said timidly.
“Don’t worry, Sammy,” he whispered. “I have a condom.” His lips were inching down to my chest. His fingers were on my top jeans button. I moved my hands and held his firmly. Then I took in a deep breath and summoned up my fifteen and a half years of virginal courage.
“Drew? I don’t think I can do this right now.” My words tumbled out and it felt like my teeth were too big for my mouth.
He stopped. “I thought you were having fun,” he said.
“I was. I am. I just — I’m not quite ready to do all that, you know. Right now. I’m … I’m …”
Drew fell back in his seat and blew out a long sigh. “Wow,” he said. His face was hidden in shadow. But that was okay — I didn’t think I could look at it anyway.
“I mean, I still want to kiss you and do all that other stuff, I just don’t know if I’m ready for sex right now. Is all.”
He was still just lying there, looking at the ceiling of the car. Everything was incredibly still now. Too still. I waited, but, of course, my mind was racing. Pretty soon more thoughts came spilling out.
“I mean, I’m really having fun. I just thought, maybe we could get to know each other first. I mean, I know you, but I don’t really know you, you know? Like, I know you ski and you like reading Sports Illustrated, which is cool, but do you do other things, like play an instrument or go camping, or … I don’t know. Are you allergic to anything I should know about?”
It was meant to be a joke, sort of, but it wasn’t funny. I kept going.
“Like, here’s a couple of things you might not know about me. I do the school newspaper and last year I was in this play, but whatever. My friends Phoebe and Rachel and I volunteer sometimes at this nursing home and I mean it’s kinda boring but they’re really sweet and this one guy named Mr. Keys thinks he’s still a general in the army and he calls us to attention — it’s pretty funny, but I mean, when I get that old I’m sure I’ll be wandering around in a shower cap getting lost in the frozen food section of the grocery store, or I think I may move to Utah. But blah, blah, blah. Tell me about you! What are you thinking? And what do you like? And yeah, what are you thinking? Let’s just talk some more.”