“Um, well, Laney is four years older than me and she is all girl. She is a very social person whereas I am not. So, we didn’t really fight but we didn’t hang out either. She would bring her friends over and they would do their giggling and I spent all of my time working the ranch with my dad. Am I boring you yet?” He looks up at me, squinting in the sunlight.
Boring? I’m watching him chew on another grape and every once in a while, some of the juice will escape his mouth and his tongue darts out to lick his lip. I can watch that all day.
“No. Not at all.” I bet all of Laney’s girlfriends had crushes on Dillon even though he was younger. How could they not. “Did you have a lot of girlfriends?”
“No. None actually.” He sucks his plump bottom lip into his mouth and I can tell he’s thinking. “Well, in college I met this girl. Her name is Candice. I don’t consider her my girlfriend though.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy. I was just curious. I saw you with her. She’s pretty.”
“Yeah, I saw you there that day. Candice and I …..it’s hard to explain. I met her at my first college party about three years ago. We had a lot to drink and things happened. We’ve kind of been together since but…..it’s kind of complicated.”
“Oh.” I fiddle with my hands; unable to look at him. I want to ask him if he loves her. If he plans to marry her one day. I can literally feel my heart breaking. I need to change the topic.
“So that’s what happens at college parties? You get drunk and have sex?” He looks a little surprised by my bluntness. “Your sister’s books are mostly about college kids.” I laugh.
“Yeah well, you’re right, that about sums it up.”
“I’ve never had alcohol….or sex.” I say as I pick at the lint on the blanket. I can’t believe I just said that out loud.
“Well, you’re not missing much. I mean, as far as college parties go.” There is an awkward silence.
“What else do you like to do besides work? Do you like to watch TV or go to the movies?”
“Nah. Candice watches a bunch of shit on TV. Reality TV, it’s called. They film real people and their lives. It’s not my thing. I’m simple. I like to ride the horses. I go fishing sometimes or four-wheeling. I like the outdoors. Most of all, I love just relaxing by the lake after a long day of work watching the sunset.”
“That sounds nice.”
“Well, if we stick around for another thirty minutes, we’ll see it. This is a great spot too. You’ll see it go down right behind those mountains,” he says, pointing to the horizon. The sky is already turning several shades of orange. “Do you listen to music?”
“We had a radio but my mom didn’t like it. I guess she thought we’d get brainwashed by some cryptic messages in the music.” I laugh but I’m dead serious.
“I brought my iPod.” He pulls out this little device from his pocket. “It plays music through these earpieces. You want to listen? My sister likes Maroon 5. I’ll play you a song.” He fidgets with it for a minute and then scoots really close to me and places one of the speakers in my ear.
“Did you go to dances at school?” I turn my head to look at him but our faces are too close, I have to turn away.
“No. I can’t dance,” he replies.
“Sing or dance? You answered dance.”
“Yeah.” He laughs. “I had to think about that one but I’m a much better dancer than a singer so I went with dance.”
“I always wondered what it would be like to have a boy ask me to dance at prom,” I accidentally say out loud. Again.
“Yeah?” He pauses. “So, bear with me a minute okay?” He gives me both speakers and stands. I watch him walk a few feet away and pluck a purple flower from the ground. I feel absolutely giddy and can’t hold back my smile. He stands in front of me with his hand out to me. I give him my hand and he pulls me to my feet in front of him.
“Amy? Will you dance with me?”
I nod my head as he slides the flower into my hair. “I don’t know how to dance either.”
“It’s okay,” he says glancing all around us. “No one’s looking.” He smiles down at me, his dimples prominent.
He places his hands loosely on my hips and I put mine on his shoulders. He doesn’t pull me close. There is a good six inches of space between our bodies, but I’m still shaking with nerves. We awkwardly scoot around the grass laughing at ourselves. I’ve never laughed like this. Ever. I feel like I’m dreaming. He twirls me around and we stumble all over and then we start to belt out the lyrics to the songs on his iPod, which he admits are all songs Laney put on there for him, so we have no idea what we’re singing. Our words are probably so wrong, but we sing them to the tune anyway.