Benjamin had driven around town now over 30 minutes looking to find a spot to park. He had searched through back alleys and abandoned lots but found nothing to his liking. Every store at the mall had a security camera at their back entrance and someone patrolling around in a car with a flashing yellow light. He thought the city park would be a suitable and private enough space, but soon saw that there were just too many other people there with the same idea that he had in mind.
He left the park and drove towards the less populated west end of town. There was a place there he was familiar with that had previously skipped his mind but now, in a pinch for time, he thought that it just might be able to work.
He had washed the truck, vacuumed it out, and thrown away all the rolled up burger wrappers his dad had let fall under the seats. He then sprayed air freshener between the arm rests and in the air vents. He even had tucked blankets and pillows in the back bed of the truck for foreseen future comfort. The hardest task was done as he already secured a nice secluded spot at Lake Eastman to relax at and look up at the starlit August sky. Everything was going well and as planned, but as he drove to the lake entrance he came upon two local deputies blocking his way.
"Turn this car around! Access to the lake is closed. We've got a fire at a campsite we're trying to get under control. Now move it!" the first cop barked as Benjamin came to a stop.
A look of panic came over Benjamin's face, and he sat frozen with the truck steady idling as the only thing that could escape his lips were the words, "But! But..."
The second cop made his way around the truck, shining his flashlight in the cab and bed of the truck. He smiled and then gave a slight, knowing head nod back to his partner.
"Look, son," the first cop said, now leaning into the driver side door, his voice turning fatherly and sympathetic, "I get it. I was young once, too, but we can't let you in here tonight. Try going back to town."
All of his planning and effort was now in jeopardy because someone had failed, on this night of all nights, at trying to make s'more's. Forced now to wing it, Benjamin was running out of options and ideas if this last place was not available. He looked to his left and then to his right and, now certain that no one had seen or followed, he looked both ways once more for good measure before he finally backed the pickup truck into a hidden space behind the dumpster at Deely's Hardware. He then turned off the lights, sighed a deep breath of relief, and attached his iPod to the radio of the truck and hit play.
Benjamin had put in two days of dedicated work making this mix tape - figuring out the best songs, and then putting each one of them in just the right order for how things would play out in his mind in this here very moment.
Alone at last, he feigned a deep yawn, stretched out his hands and placed his right arm across the shoulder of the girl sitting beside him. He slid his body snugly next to hers, bent his head over, and kept his eyes wide open to make certain not to miss the target of his tongue's intent. He locked his full open mouth sloppily unto hers, started counting numbered beats in his head, and released his lips from hers in time to sing as melodically as his untrained voice would allow, "You're beautiful. You're beautiful," perfectly on beat and in sync with James Blunt's voice and chorus.
"Um, that was kinda nice," the girl giggled, "But what exactly are we doing here behind the store where your dad works?"
"C'mon, don't play coy, you know I'm only allowed to get my dad's truck on a Friday. I told you I was going to make our date unforgettable and I intend to. This is the last weekend we will have together before we both go off to college. I wanna make the most of the little bit of time we still have together and I just sorta figured," Benjamin stammered, "I sort of thought..."
"Yes, go on. You thought what?"
The girl placed her hands up to Benjamin's cheek and started caressing his face. She rubbed her finger back-and-forth across his earlobe and felt his body shudder from her touch. She enjoyed making him squirm.
"You're going to make me say it, aren't you?" he asked shaking his head.
"Uh-huh. You know how much hearing you say it turns me on."
Benjamin rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. He had put a lot of care and effort into coming across on this date as a sincere and thoughtful man and a mature minded lover instead of a hormone driven teen. He especially didn't want this night to go like all the other nights before.
"You know exactly how I feel about you. You know where I would like for us to go. I don't think I've done all that good a job of hiding it these last few weeks of summer."
"Why, Benjamin Tyson Sullivan, I don't know what at all you could possibly be talking about. Are you meaning to tell me that we are not out here to check on rakes and the price of chicken feed?" the girl said, barely being able to hold in her laughter, "Just say what you know I like to hear. That's all I'm asking."
She was deflecting. It was another one of the many tactics she constantly used to regain control of any pressing situation they found themselves in. He was not going to fall for it tonight. A devilish smirk formed on the corner of his lips and he quickly blurted out, "Madelyn Carson! I brought you here cause I like you and I want you and tonight I want to get into your panties and make love to you and drive you crazy and kiss you down there and do all the things to make you feel good and like a woman because we belong together and I know you want me just as bad as I want you! There! I said it!"
"That's not what I wanted to hear!" she laughed, hitting him sharply in the arm, "Say it right! Say it right or I'll squeeze your ear ragged until you do!"
"Okay, ok! You win!" he cried, "Damn, you know you're a lot stronger than how your small body looks!" he said holding his hand over his ear in an attempt to avoid the pain threatened to his head. He straightened himself up and frowned, folding his arms in frustration and looked into her eyes in hopes that she would be sympathetic to him and skip over her request.
"Well? I'm waiting," she smiled, making a pinching motion with her thumb and forefinger.
"Ugh, ok!" he groused, then, as if reading the lines from a worn and tired script for the millionth time, he slowly began reciting in a monotone, "We're just friends and we've always been. We're not only friends, I swear, we're the very best of friends. Best friends forever! That's what we are and that's what we will always be."
