“You don’t really think that,” he said with a self-assured grin.
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t,” he said and he lightly touched the side of my face. My skin tingled under his fingertips and all I could think was, “Oh shit, what does he know?”
“I do,” I squeaked out and he laughed, a long lazy laugh, his eyes boring into mine with amusement.
“You know how I know you don’t think that?” he asked softly and leaned forward, his lips close to mine as he continued gazing at me.
“How?” I said and I swallowed hard as I felt his breath against me. If I leaned forward, even an inch, we would be kissing. OMG, I could be kissing TJ Walker if I wanted to. My heart was about to jump out of my chest as my brain screamed at me.
“Mila?” I heard Sally’s voice calling out into the midnight air and I wanted to groan. Why did she have to choose now to come looking for me?
“I’m here,” I shouted back, though my mind was racing in confusion. Was TJ flirting with me? And if he was, why? What about Barbie? Why weren’t they back in his bedroom, fucking each other’s brains out? Not that I was complaining, of course. The last thing I wanted was for them to be all over each other.
“What are you doing?” She walked towards TJ and me, and I saw her eyes widen as she took us both in. “I was worried about you when I woke up and saw that your bed was empty.”
“I just came out to speak to Nonno on the phone and TJ happened upon me,” I explained before she jumped to conclusions and said something stupid like, “I’m glad your seduction plan worked already, Mila.”
“He happened upon you?” Sally asked, grinning as she yawned. “What’s that? Old English or something?”
“Sally, are you sleepwalking?” I asked her, starting to feel a panic in my bones. Oh, God, what was Sally going to let slip?
“No.” She moved closer to me. “I woke up and I noticed you weren’t there, so I came out to make sure you were okay and not moping.”
“I’m fine.” I gulped.
“Why would Mila be moping?” TJ decided to join the conversation.
“I’m not moping.” I glared at Sally, whose face was looking like she was now realizing what she’d said.
“I gather that,” TJ said. “But why would she think you were moping? Moping about what?”
“I think Sally is just sleep-deprived. We should go back to bed.”
“No, no.” Sally shook her head and faked a big yawn. “You stay here for a few minutes and enjoy the lake. I know you like to be here under the stars and moonlight.”
“Sally.” I growled at her and she laughed.
“Night guys,” she said and turned away. I could hear her singing “Moon River” as she walked away.
“Is everything okay, Mila?” TJ said after a few seconds.
“Yes, of course.”
“Are you upset that your Troy couldn’t make it up here after all?” he said softly. “I know how badly you wanted to drive in his Lamborghini.”
“I never said he had a Lamborghini.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, his sports car, then.”
“I’m not sad that Troy couldn’t make it,” I said and felt proud of myself for not extending the Troy lie any further. “Why are you up so late and outside?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said with a wry grin.
“Even after Barbie wore you out?” I asked, my voice tight as I subtly tried to find out if they had had sex.
“Barbie wore me out with her mouth and that was it.” He looked at me and winked. “No need to worry.”
“I’m not worrying about anything,” I said, trying to figure out how to ask him exactly what he meant. Did he mean she wore him out by talking so much, or something else, like a blowjob? Ugh, I didn’t want to know, but I really wanted to know. I felt like I was going to throw up thinking about TJ and Barbie being physical.
“Okay, that’s good, then,” he said and motioned to the rocking swing a few yards away. “Shall we have a seat?”
“Sure.” I nodded and we walked over to the chair swing in silence.
“It’s a beautiful night,” he said as we sat down, and I looked over at his face. He was staring out at the lake and his face looked thoughtful. My eyes ran over his jaw, so strong and stubborn, and then to his lips and chin.
“Yes, it is,” I answered as I looked away from him and back out at the lake. I could see the flickering lights of someone’s yacht in the distance and I sat back and looked up at the sky. The stars sparkled their radiance to us in the darkness of the night and I let out a small sigh.
“You sound like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.” I could tell from the sound of his voice that he was now looking at me.
“No,” I said, but didn’t look at him. “I was just thinking of Nonna and wondering if she was looking down at me from Heaven.”
“Of course she is,” he said as he moved closer to me. “Give me your hand,” he said as he grabbed my arm, and his fingers grabbed onto my hand and grabbed my fingers and pointed them up in the air. “Do you see those rings?”
“What rings?” I said, trying to concentrate on the sky and not his touch.
“Look here.” He moved even closer and I looked over to see his eyes gazing at me. “Follow the direction that I put your finger in,” he said and I concentrated on staring up in the exact spot he was pointing me towards. “Do you see that bright mass of light?”
“Uh huh.” I nodded.
“That’s Saturn,” he said. “And the rings around it are the rings of Saturn.”
“Oh,” I said and squinted. “I can’t really see any rings.”
“Yeah, me neither.” He laughed. “But if I had my telescope, we’d be able to see.”
“Wow, I never thought we’d be able to see the rings of Saturn from Earth,” I said, awestruck. “I wish you had your telescope now.”
“That’s a first.” He laughed. “You never hoped for that before.”
“Well, you never showed me the rings of Saturn before.” I laughed. “All you showed me before was the moon and told me I should go and live there.”
“That wasn’t me. That was Cody.” He laughed. “And I think I remember you telling him that he should go and join his friends on Mars. And told me to go there as well.”
“Yeah, well, I was young.” I laughed. “Now that we’re older, I wish I’d have a chance to look at Saturn and her rings. Or his rings.” I laughed.
“Maybe I’ll bring it next year.”
“Yeah, that would be cool.” I nodded.
“And even if we don’t get to view the stars here, we can view them somewhere else.”
“Huh?” I turned to look at him. “What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t we get to view the stars here?”
“Nothing,” he said gruffly and then jumped up. “Want to go for a swim?”
“I don’t have on my bathing suit, so no.” I shook my head.
“Be adventurous, Mila. Let’s skinny-dip.”
“Ah, yeah, no.” I shook my head again and laughed, though my heart was racing. Should I do it? Should I go skinny-dipping with him? Why would he even ask me to go skinny-dipping if he wasn’t interested in me? Was he just trying to shock me? There was no way he was being serious, was he?
“That’s what I thought.” He laughed as he stood there staring at me with a huge grin. “All talk and no actual game.”
“Um, I never talked about going skinny-dipping,” I said with a frown. “So that’s not exactly true.”
“Five years ago you said that you secretly wanted to go skinny-dipping, but you were scared that people would see you, so you’d only go late at night. However, the caveat was that there would have to be one person there with you, so that you wouldn’t feel alone and you’d have someone to cover you if someone else happened to come out while you were in the lake.”
“How do you remember that?” I asked, looking at him in surprise. “I barely remember saying that.”
“Ha.” He winked at me. “I never forget when a girl tells me she wants to go skinny-dipping.”
“You’re a pervert.”
“Not quite.” He stared at me for a few seconds and my heart stilled as his face turned serious. He opened his mouth and I waited to hear what he was going to say next. It looked like it was something important. “We should go to bed,” he said finally and reached out for my hands to pull me up.
“I’m not ready for bed.” I shook my head, disappointed. Unless you want me in your bed. Of course I didn’t say that out loud, even though I wanted to.
“Mila Kunis, it’s time for bed.” He grinned at me and I punched him in the arm.
“You’re a jerk,” I said as I jumped up and then yawned. I ignored the knowing look on his face as he stared at my mouth. “And that Barbie isn’t the brightest bulb in the shed, either.”
“Now now, Miley, no need to be rude.”
“You love it, don’t you?” I glared at him. “You won’t be loving it if she screams out ‘Brad Pitt’ or ‘Ashton Kutcher’ in bed.”