Senior Year: 1995
It wasn’t until one day when Rosemary drove up to the station and asked Wil to service her Honda that his cockiness changed. It was a fall day, early in his senior year of high school and the weather was beautiful. Wil had figured out how to work the system. He knew what to do to make the ladies swoon, tip well and come back again. He always had been prone to exercise and enjoyed running on the track team in his early teens, but after realizing a tan torso and pumped up biceps could work to his advantage, he made sure his body was in tiptop shape. And he got a little cocky.
In the passenger seat of Rosemary’s glittery green Civic sat Lily, another girl from their school, and one Wil had never really noticed before. Until today, at least. Both girls were in Wil’s senior class and though he knew of them, he never really talked to them. Rosemary had become a regular in his line since she got her own car and spent her afternoons cruising with friends. Wil had wondered if she cruised around just to burn gas so she could frequent the place more often.
Whatever her motives, he didn’t mind.
But this day — the day Rosemary brought her friend riding shotgun — he suddenly started to notice Lily Collins.
“Hi Wil,” Rosemary said as she rolled down her window. “I parked under a shade tree at school today and there are berry stains all over my windshield, do you mind?”
“Sure thing, Rosie,” he said. He had heard others call her Rosie so he just assumed it was fine. She never protested and she always gave him a few extra bucks. As we know, Wil wasn’t above swooning. Today wasn’t the day he wanted to pay attention to Rosie though.
Wil just assumed Lily stayed under the radar so no one really noticed her, teachers and classmates alike. But today, sitting in the passenger seat, Wil definitely noticed Lily. She was wearing what Mrs. G referred to as a peasant top. But Lily was looking far from anything like a peasant.
The light pink garment was wrapped around her, exposing the tops of her shoulders, hugging her curves just right, but wasn’t long enough to fully cover her stomach. Wil noticed she kept tugging at her top trying to stretch it past her bellybutton, which inevitably showed off more of her curves on top and made him stare harder.
Most customers rolled their car windows down when the weather permitted and the crew could talk to them while they serviced their automobiles. Today was no exception. Rosie rolled the car windows down so they could talk to Wil while he washed the berry stains off of her car. Wil could see the girls seemed to be enjoying the show.
“Have you finished the assignment that’s due in English tomorrow, Lily?” Wil asked her trying to start up a conversation.
“Oh, um, yeah, I did…” she spoke softly and seemed nervous that he was actually talking to her, “Have you finished yours?”
“Uh, well, that Sir Green guy isn’t the most exciting fella,” he told her while stretching to wash all the way over to the driver’s side of the windshield from her side. His abs were visible through the windshield and neither girl seemed too shy to stare. Normally, Wil would have turned on the charm, flexed a few muscles and worked for the tip. But today was a different day. Today he really wanted to talk to Lily.
“Wil, you gotta do your homework! Do you need any help?” She asked as if she was offering her tutoring services, but as Wil saw her cheeks brighten, they both knew she realized what she had said and Wil hoped she hadn’t regretted it.
“I sure wouldn’t mind the company while I finish up the project,” Wil told her as he finished the fill-up and replaced the gas pump. He walked over to the passenger side and leaned his forearms on the open window so they were face to face. “I’m done in an hour, I could grab us a pizza? Are you free tonight?” he asked.
“Well the assignment is due tomorrow, Wil, so you better finish it tonight,” Lily said with a chuckle. “Rosie and I will be done shopping soon and no, I’m not busy tonight.”
“I can drop her off here in an hour if that works, Wil?” Rosie said leaning over Lily for Wil’s attention. “Can you give her a ride home when you’re done?”
“Works for me if it works for you, Lily?” Wil said resting his chin on his forearm. She nodded and Wil smiled back at her.
“Fill-up will be $15.25 today, Rosie,” Wil said not breaking eye contact with Lily. Rosie reached over her again to hand Wil a $20 bill and told him to keep the change, as usual.
“We’ll see you soon, then,” Lily said turning her head back to Rosemary. Wil paused before moving away from the car; he was obviously in her personal space, and for some reason they both noticed the electricity between them. It’s like magnetic poles between us had been turned on and I couldn’t get close enough to her.
Rosie and Lily drove off and Wil helped a few more customers before heading into the shop to talk to his mom.
“Ma, I have an assignment due tomorrow that I’m going to work on with a friend when I get done with my shift at 5,” he told her as she sat behind the large wooden desk that had obviously been placed in the office when Raleigh’s Pop originally opened the store. “Would you care to order us a pizza in a little while and we can go up and work on the project upstairs? I need to shower anyway.”
“That’s fine honey, I don’t mind a bit,” she said laying down the parts catalog and looking Wil in the eye. “You know I want your studies to come first, so if you need off, you just have to tell me. You know because I’ve drilled it in your head, but I have to remind you that college is in your future before you plan on taking up residence as a permanent employee at Griffin Gas.”
“I know Ma, I just kind of forgot about this assignment being a group thing and a friend from school just reminded me,” a little white lie to his mother was never something he enjoyed doing, but he was not in the mood to explain a girl coming over, or that he appeared he was slacking on his homework. “They’re gonna meet me here in about 45 minutes and we’ll head upstairs.”
“You’re very mature, my son,” she said leaning over the desk and wiping an oil smudge off of his collarbone. “And you definitely need a shower!”
“Hey, don’t wipe off my dirt smudges, Ma, the ladies love those!” Both laughing, Wil headed back outside to finish working his shift while his Ma called and ordered her son and friend a pizza before closing up the office as usual at 4:30.
Wil and his Ma usually worked at the original location, and Raleigh travelled around and visited his other franchises during the week. The main station housed a small store, with a large office in the back for Dafne, an adjoining garage for repairs. Above the establishment sat a two bedroom apartment that Dafne and Raleigh occupied for a few years after they got married. Business surged after Dafne’s genius idea and franchise locations popped in several spots in their small town. Once those proved successful, Raleigh spread the idea to larger cities in Kentucky and they started showing up all over the southeast United States.
The Griffins had become the Joneses in their little town of Spring City, Kentucky.
Manny, Wil’s younger brother, was only 15, so Dafne tried to lock up the office at a decent time each day to go home and make supper for the family. Manny never really took an interest in the family business and was rarely at the station, but he was usually home for dinner, as was Raleigh. Lately, Wil spent his evenings working.
The stations weren’t staffed outside 24 hours a day, but a couple cashiers worked inside after dark for the late self-service customers.
At about 10 minutes before 5 o’clock, a pizza delivery guy stopped by with the pizza Dafne had ordered for Wil and his classmate. Wil grabbed it, went inside and punched his time card, grabbed a couple chilled drinks, a bag of chocolate chip cookies and went upstairs to the apartment. It was still furnished and could easily be livable if someone needed a place to stay. He glanced out the window long enough to see that Rosie hadn’t yet arrived with Lily, so he decided to go ahead and take a quick shower.
His mom kept the apartment clean and stocked with toiletries in case anyone needed the place, and lately Wil had been staying more on his own there, just because it was close and easy. He had planned on asking his parents if he could have the apartment when he started college, since it was paid for and he planned to commute to the University in Lexington.
Today was the first day he had ever invited anyone over and he suddenly became nervous. Knowing Lily would arrive at any time, he washed himself from head to toe as quickly as possible, taking care to scrub off all of the purposely placed oil smudges. Hopping out of the shower, he wrapped in a towel, brushed his teeth and noticed his watch only showed 5:02. Quickest shower ever.
He headed out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist to go look out the living room window hoping to see if Lily had arrived.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Lily said covering her eyes with her hands sitting on the couch. “The clerk downstairs said you were up here, I didn’t mean to … .”
Wil cut her off in mid-sentence laughing at her embarrassment.
“No worries, Lily! It could be worse right? We might both have red cheeks if I was walking around naked when you got here!” Wil sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He noticed Lily hadn’t taken her eyes off of him after she finally peeled her hands away from her face.
“Sooo, I’mma go put on some basketball shorts and I’ll be right back.” He pointed toward the bedroom. “There’s a pizza in the oven; I just popped it in there literally 10 minutes ago so it should still be hot if you want to get it out for us?”
“Okay, yeah, sure,” Lily said as she got up off of the couch and headed toward the kitchen. The pizza was still warm and she took the box over to the small high top table. She glanced in the fridge only to find a case of bottled waters and two drinks that he had obviously prepared from the convenience store downstairs. She sat the drinks on the table and fiddled around the kitchen for a couple paper plates and napkins.
“Oh, you set the table!” Wil said a little too enthusiastically for his company and she looked up at him and chuckled nervously.
“Yep, I did,” Lily said, “So you want to eat first and then work on your project or work while we eat?”
“Right to the point, huh?” Wil said pulling a chair out so Lily could sit down. “Oh, but you forgot something!”
Wil went back to the kitchen and grabbed the large bag of chocolate chip cookies off of the counter and brought them to the table.
“Can’t forget the cookies!” he said as he sat down next to her at the square table. His hair was still wet and looked like he’d just messily ran his fingers through it. He also smelled of Irish Spring soap and some kind of sport deodorant that piqued Lily’s interest.
“You’re going to eat cookies with your pizza?” Lily’s eyebrows scrunched and her face looked puzzled. “Like as a side dish?”
“Duh, appetizer… why not anyway? I love cookies…” he told her as he opened the bag and put two of the small cookies on each of their plates, prior to the pizza box even being opened.
“You’re something, Wil Griffin,” Lily told him as she took a bite of the treat. “And you smell really good.”
“It’s true, I really am something,” Wil winked at her and then realized what she said, “Wait, I do? I smell good?”
A giggle escaped from Lily’s lips, but she popped a cookie in her mouth and smiled at him, refusing to confirm her statement. Damn, this girl is cute.
Wil’s cheeks almost flushed, but he held back his own blushing redirecting the conversation elsewhere, “Before this goes any farther, I have to tell you something… a confession I suppose.”
The puzzlement returned to Lily’s expression and she gave Wil her undivided attention.
“I just wanted to tell you that I lied today.” If that doesn’t sound f’ing dramatic.
“About what?” she asked.
“I finished my project for English class last week. And I’m not really sure why I lied about it, but I did… I’m actually pretty smart and get my homework done as quickly as possible so I can work longer hours during the week without having to worry about it. I guess I just wanted to hang out with you and that excuse seemed like the best way to get you away from Rosie,” Wil’s honesty took both of them by surprise. He was sincere and appeared to mean what he said to Lily.
“Soooo, what am I doing here then?” Lily said taking a big bite of her pizza this time.
“Eating pizza, duh, and cookies!” they laughed and bantered for a little while before Lily brought the conversation back to Wil’s confessional.
“Why didn’t you just ask me out on a date?” she said to him.
“Nerves, I guess? This is not something I normally do, you know?” Wil paused, “But I’m really glad you’re here.”
“Why not normal? I’m sure the girls flock to you,” she said very openly.
“Oh the girls flock to me here at the station, but they just want to look and go on with their day,” he told her. Well, don’t I sound like a cocky bastard? “That didn’t come out like I had intended it to, I just mean that the ladies like to tip, but I rarely go out on dates with anyone.”
“Well maybe you should go out more, I hear dating is fun,” she said shoving the rest of her pizza in her mouth hoping he didn’t catch her own little confession.
“You hear, eh?” he laughed at her. “You hear dating is fun?”
“Yeahhh, well I don’t date much either… too busy for all that.” We’re a lot more alike than I realized.
Lily broke eye contact with Wil, looking down at her hands.
“Why haven’t we hung out before now?” Wil said trying to get her attention back as he finished his slice of pepperoni pizza.
“We both seem to be loners, in our own way,” she paused, “So why would we have hung out before now?”
The evening continued with their playful conversation. Finishing up the pizza and cookies, they headed over to the couch to watch TV until it was time for Wil to take Lily home. Inching closer to one another on the cushions, the sitcom was receiving little attention and the magnetism between the pair kept pulling them closer together.
“Let’s play truth or dare before you have to take me home in 20 minutes,” Lily said leaning her head over to his shoulder.
Taking her cue he put his arm around her and she nestled into his side, “Oh your shoulders are cold, I’m sorry,” he rubbed her arms to warm her up and reached to the back of the couch and pulled a light quilt over them. “So truth or dare, eh?”
“Yep! Truth or dare, Griffin, which is it gonna be?” she smirked with her head against his chest knowing he couldn’t see her face.
“Why do I have to go first?” He said in protest.
“My idea, so you want a truth or a dare?”
“Dare! I ain't scared of you!” they both laughed.
Lily sat up on the couch and said, “Okay, show me where you put the oil smudges so the ladies think you’re sexy!”
Wil couldn’t hold back his laughter. “What do you mean, show you where I put them?”
“Oh come on, I’ve seen you and you always have grease spots on you, like a baseball player would put under their eyes. I know it’s on purpose!”
She was riled up and on her knees at this point.
“You think I do it on purpose, eh?” Wil said standing up. “Maybe my job just happens to get me dirty, did you ever think about that?”
“Yes and I don’t think it does get you that dirty!” she laughed at him as he squirmed a little standing there before her.
“Fine, but this is two for one — it’s a truth and a dare all in one, so I get two from you when this is over!” he said as he pulled his t-shirt over his head exposing his naked torso. Shirtless, he walked over to Lily and pulled her to her feet standing up in front of him.
“I will tell you the truth, my new friend, but I trust that you will not share this secret…” he reached down and grabbed her hand pulling it to his chest. “It is true that I may place smudges on purpose because it makes me look dirty and sexier, but I have not had the first complaint.” Yet anyway.
“Show me where?” she said with a timid whisper.
He guided her hand ever so slowly up to his left bicep and drew a line with her nail, “Here…”
The trail continued as he pulled her hand up to his neck and drew a line with her finger between the crease of his neckline and his collarbone, “Here…” he said and didn’t stop.
“Another spot here,” he said as he pulled her hand down to his obvious six-pack and across his tight stomach.
She interrupted, “And here,” she said tracing an invisible smudge across his cheekbone.
“Yes, there,” he said, “You noticed.”
“I did notice earlier today, yes,” she confessed.
“Any other smudges just happen naturally as I work,” he told her. They stood still in each other’s arms for what felt like a lifetime. Lily admired his body laid out before her and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. I want to kiss her, but I don’t want to screw this up.
“My turn,” he leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I get a truth and a dare. Which one first?”
“Dare please, and go easy on me!” she told him, still holding onto his arms.
“Nah… Truth first,” he said giggling and going back to her ear. “Will you let me kiss you right now?”
His question caught her a little off guard despite the buildup over the evening they had spent together. “Yes, I will,” she whispered back.
Soft lips slowly pressed against hers and gently explored her pouty mouth. Wil’s mouth tasted sweet, like the chocolate chip cookies he devoured earlier. She’s wearing lip gloss.
She pulled back slightly and Wil assumed he was doing something wrong so he let her go and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry, was that bad? I don’t even know if I’m a good kisser!”
His nervousness showed and she smiled, grabbing his neck and pulling him back to her.
“Kiss me like that again,” she said gripping tightly to him. “Kiss me like that forever.”
Wil spared no hesitation and pulled her closer to him making out like he’d never kissed anyone before. After a few hot and heavy minutes, Lily realized it was time to get home before she missed her curfew.
“I’ll have to take a raincheck on that dare…” she said softly. “What was it going to be anyway?”
Wil pulled her close to him and enjoyed hugging tightly to this new person in his life.
“Oh I was going to dare you to go into the bathroom and come out wearing only a towel, so I could get the same show you got when you arrived,” he said and they both chuckled. “But you said raincheck, so I’m gonna hold you to that.”
They cleaned up the apartment a little bit before heading out to Wil’s truck so he could take her home.
His pickup was a few years old, but well-kept and clean on the inside. Lily figured it was probably his dad’s that he handed down to Wil when he was old enough to drive. Regardless it was anything nicer than Lily’s family had to drive, Wil just didn’t know that yet.
“So where to ma’am?” Wil asked her.
“I actually don’t live too far from here. My place is on the backside of the library and there’s a short trail if you want to drop me off there?” Wil just assumed that she hadn’t told her parents about this evening’s study session either. This was likely an easy drop off so she wouldn’t be questioned. “I study at the library a lot when I’m not at home, so that’s where they think I am anyway.”
Wil backed the truck out of the spot and they headed a few blocks down the street to the parking lot of the library. He reached over and grabbed Lily’s hand without even thinking about it and then gave it a little squeeze when she didn’t let go. They rode hand in hand the few blocks they had to travel.
“Thanks for not helping me with my project tonight, Lily.” Where did these nerves come from all of a sudden?
“You’re welcome,” she said quietly, “Thank you for dinner and for the nice company tonight.” A smile suddenly stretched from ear to ear and Wil knew he wasn’t done with this one yet. Behind the library sat a woody area that stretched in between the property the library occupied and a small subdivision. There was a cleared path with a little bridge that went off into the trees. It even had lamp posts so it was lit at night time.
“I didn’t know this was back here,” he said.
“Yep, this is my little place. It’s a short walk, but I can let my mind wander and pretend I’m headed to Terabithia,” Lily told him.
“Can I park and walk you a little ways?” he offered, squeezing their sweaty palms together once more. She must be nervous too.
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that. I really am just on the other side of this little bridge,” Lily pointed.
“If I give you my number, will you call me?” he asked.
“Yep,” she smirked the sweet smirk that kept Wil writing more. He reached over and wrote his phone number inside the notebook she was carrying as she started to get out of the truck.
“Wait! Let me,” he said as he rushed around to the passenger side to open her door and help her out of the truck. Lily was a small girl and climbing in and out of a big truck might not be her thing. And this would be one more excuse to hold her again.
She slid out of the truck safely in Wil’s arms as he kissed her once more before they parted. She didn’t protest and the newness of this possible relationship left them both with shivers.
“So you’ll call me about 9?” he said as he shut the passenger door and leaned back against his truck.
“9:30 be okay? My siblings will be in bed by then.”
“Talk to you tonight then,” Wil said and she walked down the little path toward her house. “I won’t forget about that rain check…” he shouted off in the distance.
Though she didn’t turn her head, he heard, “Me neither” from the sweet little thing he’d suddenly hoped would be his girlfriend.