Chapter 18 – Chelsea
Muscles, speed, and power, all mixed with a certain kind of grace. Wesley
Reynolds really does seem to have it all. And he’s mine. All mine.
At least I think he is, and hope he is, even though we haven’t had any kind of official “relationship conversation.” And even though my dad will kill him if he finds out, which makes even the possibility of an official relationship rather complicated.
But I want him to be mine. So much so that I’m watching him run practice drills rather than paying attention to training my squad. After returning from the weekend at the lake house I’m back to my daily grind, which includes heading cheerleading practice, but all I really want to do is spend more time with Wesley.
I’ve never really been like this before. I guess you could say I’m the stereotypical overachiever. Focused. Dedicated. Determined. Too busy to lose my head over boys. But then along came Wesley, and his mouth, his tongue, his lips, his fingers…
“Alright, everyone, time for those laps,” shouts my dad, blowing his coach’s whistle at his football players and interrupting my fantasies.
Ugh.
I turn back to my squad, groaning inwardly almost as much as the football players are groaning aloud.
My dad says something to the team, and although they’re too far away for me to hear him clearly, I know he’s reminding them of the laps they have to run every day after training for two weeks, due to their disobedience of his tactical plans during last week’s game.
Wesley doesn’t seem to mind running the laps as much as his teammates do, even though he’s the main reason everyone got into trouble. He has the audacity to wink at me as he turns around the bend, heading in my direction before curving around the other way. I blush, hoping none of the other girls notice.
What a cliché.
The cheerleader and the quarterback.
We’ll be the laughingstock of both of our circles.
If we ever become an item…
I ponder the problem throughout the rest of practice, and as soon as it’s over, Taylor walks up to me. I barely notice because I’m lost in thought.
“Don’t tell me you’re still lost in La La Land over him,” she says, nodding in Wesley’s direction.
I laugh, knowing I can’t lie to her.
“It’s such a quandary,” I tell her. “I really like him, Taylor. Like, for real.”
“I know you do,” she says, sighing.
Good old Taylor. I know she likes Wesley enough too, or she’d never have agreed to let him stay with us for another night at the lake house, during what was supposed to be BFF bonding time. And she’d never have given him the “warning talk” that she doesn’t even know I know about.
“Thank you for being such a good friend,” I tell her. “I know I’ve been really wrapped up in other things lately.”
“You know what?” she says. “I was hesitant at first, but I know you have to know what you’re doing. You’re not one to jump into a relationship. Or to jump into bed with just anyone…”
My instant blush gives me away.
“Did you guys do it?” she asks, “On the second night? I mean, no judgment here. I know I personally couldn’t have resisted that long to begin with…”
“No,” I tell her. “Not exactly. But what we did do was pretty amazing.”
“Wow, you really do take it slow,” she says, shaking her head in amazement.
“Well, it’s not like he pressured me,” I tell her. “Or else I’m not sure I could have held strong. So I’m glad he took it slow.”
“That’s great,” she says. “And it’s another reason I know he’s probably the right guy for you. I really wasn’t sure at first.”
“I know,” I tell her.
And then I brace myself before asking the question I’m not sure I want to know the answer to. The question that’s been on my mind for a while now.
“Taylor, you were telling me back at the lake house that you’d heard some things about Wesley?” I ask her.
“Well, yeah.”
She shrugs, and visibly blushes, before continuing.
“But I don’t know whether…”
“Just tell me,” I say. “Come on. You already started to, so just tell me.”
“I know that people can change though,” she says. “I’ve felt torn between warning you out of protection for your well-being and forgetting about it because you’re so happy.”
“Okay, so what is it?” I demand. “This is driving me crazy. Just tell me.”
“Well, I heard that Wesley’s here because he got kicked out of his old school. Huningdale. He was kicked off the football team and almost lost his scholarship and his ability to play college football at all.”
I clear my throat, not sure what I think about this. I guess I knew there must be some reason Wesley was playing for our dinky football team as a transfer student when he’s such a good player.
I’d figured he could play anywhere— and I didn’t really want to put much thought into where he was playing before or why he’s not playing there anymore— but I’d just told myself that maybe he has family ties here or something.
“And I guess there were a few things he did wrong to be kicked off,” Taylor continues, although I’m not sure I want her to. “Grades and stuff. But one reason was that he would hook up with all the cheerleaders and then just dump them and treat them like trash.”
“Well, shit.”
It’s all I can manage to say in response. I feel like such an idiot.
“But this is all unsubstantiated,” Taylor hurries to add. “We don’t really know what happened.”
“Or how he treated them like trash,” I say.
“Exactly. Maybe they were just mad he dumped them. Which isn’t very nice, but what did they expect, if there were so many of them?”
“Exactly.”
What did they expect? What could I expect?
“This all came from Christian?” I ask her, remembering how eager Christian was to talk with her at the party. I’d thought he liked her, but apparently he just couldn’t wait to spread the latest gossip.
“Yeah,” she says. “He knows some people at Huningdale and even Wesley’s high school back in Piedmont. So although the information seemed kind of credited, it also came from someone who…”
“…is a total douchebag and weirdo,” I finish for her, knowing how Taylor hates to be mean about people.
“Exactly. Chelsea, after thinking it through I decided to just hold off on any judgment.” Taylor nods her head, as if convincing herself. “We don’t know enough and the source is shaky at best. So maybe just keep it in the back of your mind so as not to get hurt. But Wesley does seem to really like you. And he didn’t even pressure you for sex. That has to say something.”
“True,” I agree. “If he’s just in it for sex then he would have moved on to a more willing participant by now.”
Not that I’m unwilling, I think, despite my best intentions.
I know what she means about trying not to get hurt, and I don’t want to. What started out as just a fling has become a lot more to me. And now that my emotions are this involved, I’m definitely more at risk for getting hurt, so I need to be careful. But it’s hard for my head to get its message across to my heart all the time.
“So now you might understand my initial reservations a little bit more. I know I came across a little heavy handed but I’ve decided to ease up,” Taylor declares. “For now, anyway.”
“Thanks,” I tell her. “Now if only my dad could do the same.”
“Yeah.” She lets out a low whistle. “That’s a big problem.”
“I’ve decided I need to talk to Wesley about it,” I tell her.
“Oh whatever,” she laughs. “You probably just want another excuse to see him again.”
“Probably!” I join in with her laughter. “But seriously. I don’t want my dad messing this up for me, like he’s scared away all the other guys in the past.”
“Hopefully he’ll see this one’s different,” Taylor agrees. “I know he does want you to be happy. But it might take a while. He might just see Wesley as some cocky player, both on the field and off…”
…And maybe he is.
I finish her sentence for her in my head, although she doesn’t finish it out loud.
Maybe while I’m talking to him about what we should do about the situation with my dad, I’ll also ask him about these past allegations that Taylor has just passed on. There has to be some plausible explanation.
I look across the field at Wesley’s toned, athletic, tattooed body and I know that I should probably heed common sense and run away as quickly as possible. But I also know I’ll do whatever it takes to be with him. I just hope he feels the same way about me.