Chapter Ten
Marla
I held my breath as Amber and I walked upstairs to my room.
A date that was not a date. Sort of. My mind reeled as I tried to come to grips with what had just happened. Tank had just asked me to the movies. Well, he’d agreed that he wouldn’t mind if I tagged along. The same thing, right?
Amanda kept shooting me looks, then trying real hard not to smile like a Cheshire cat.
“What?” I demanded as we went into my room.
“Nothing,” Amber said as she threw her hands up in defense.
I ignored her as I went to my closet to try and figure out something to wear. It couldn’t be too sexy, or Jason would throw a fit. It had to be something that Tank liked. Something that would make him glad to be seen with me in public.
Pulling out tops, I showed them to Amber for her opinion.
“You know,” she said, “Jason asked me the other day if something was going on between you and Tank.”
“What?” I asked, freezing in place, unable to believe what I had just heard. Amber knew about my feelings for Tank. She’d known the first day she moved next door. I was that obvious. But she’d kept my secret. One of the many reasons I loved her.
“What did you tell him?” I asked, holding my breath.
“I told him not to be ridiculous.” She smiled. “It wasn’t a lie. That statement could apply to a great many parts of his life. Besides, as far as I knew. Nothing was going on between you two. Just a sad fixation on your part. But nothing a big brother needed to worry about.”
I tried not to laugh. Amber being Amber.
“But,” she continued, “that was before I saw what I think I just saw.”
My stomach fell. I knew we hadn’t gotten away with it. “How’d you know?”
“Unless I’m wrong,” she said, “Tank doesn’t wear lipstick. At least not the same shade as yours.”
My heart sank to my stomach as my chin dropped to my chest. What an idiot I could be. How had Jason missed it?
Amber smiled as her head tilted to one side and she raised an eyebrow. She held that pose for a long minute. Waiting for me to tell everything.
The silence built up between us. The pressure to tell kept growing and growing inside of me. I had to tell someone, or I would burst.
I thought of what it felt like to be in Tank’s arms, and a smile a mile wide broke out on my face.
“I knew it,” Amber squealed. “Tell me everything. Was that the first time you guys kissed? Did we break up a beautiful moment?”
I slowly shook my head. “It wasn’t our first time kissing.”
“What? When? Come on, tell me.”
So, I did. The relief was immediate. Letting loose of this secret was cathartic. I hadn’t realized how much it hurt to keep it bottled up inside of me. Besides, I got to brag about being kissed by Tank Gunderson. The hottest guy, and sweetest soul in the universe.
Amber squealed with me at all the appropriate moments. I could tell she was happy about it. And, what was most important. She didn’t think I was stupid for thinking a guy like Tank could like someone like me. She just accepted it as quite obvious. Like I said, Amber is the best of people.
“Come on,” she said as she pulled me back to the closet. “We’ve got to find the perfect outfit.”
“Why? It’s not a date,” I said. “As far as everyone else knows. I’m just tagging along.”
She laughed. “Believe me, the rest of the world can think what it wants. The important thing is that both you and Tank think it’s a date. That makes it a date.”
Like I said, Amber is the best of people.
.o0o.
My stomach was tied up in a knot tighter than a four-year-old’s shoe lace.
Mom had let us borrow her car instead of Jason’s truck. She gave me a curious frown when she found out I was going. But didn’t say anything. I thought for sure she’d make some comment about me thinking I was older than I was, but she held it to herself. However, I could tell something was percolating in her brain.
The ride to the movies was as tense as anything I’d ever experienced before. Tank looked big and strong in a blue flannel shirt and perfect jeans. The man was like an advertisement for manliness and all its deliciousness. The bruises and cuts had disappeared. I’d been right, he did have a small scar at the top of his forehead.
We sat in the back, neither of us talking. About a mile of seat between the two of us.
I wondered what he thought about. What did he think of what I was wearing? Was it okay enough for him?
After a long afternoon of pure angst, I’d settled on a peasant blouse and my best jeans. The ones that made me look older.
He’d smiled when I came downstairs, and for just an instant I thought I saw a look of lust in his eyes. The kind of look that could make a girl’s knees grow weak and wobbly.
Then it was gone, and I couldn’t tell if it had been a phantom or if he was hiding it from Jason. For the briefest of minutes, I wanted to grab him by the collar and make him look at me like that again. I didn’t care who knew, not if Tank Gunderson looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Nick and Jenny met us outside the movies. He was holding her hand. Like they’d been boyfriend and girlfriend for two years instead of two weeks. I shook my head. This was Nick Parsons we were talking about. I had always thought that there wasn’t a girl in the world who could make him do all that romantic stuff.
But here he was, gaga over the preacher’s daughter.
When he saw me with the rest of them, Nick’s eyebrow shot up for a quick moment. I braced myself for some snide comment about Jason having to babysit his little sister.
Jenny shot him a quick look, and he bit off what he was going to say.
I quickly glanced at Amber. Had she told Jenny? A guilty look shot across her face. The thought scared me for a moment. The more people who knew, the more chance of it getting out. On the other hand, it sure looked like Jenny had just saved me from an awkward moment.
“The line’s a mile long,” Jason said. “I don’t know if we will find six seats together. Not in a good spot anyway.”
Amber slipped her arm through his and whispered something in his ear. Probably something about being alone in a dark movie theater with him.
He blushed for just a moment then shrugged his shoulders. “If we don’t. We’ll just meet up here later. I feel Sam’s banana cream pie calling me.”
“You haven’t even filled up on popcorn and candy, and you’re already thinking about pie?” Amber said.
He laughed and slipped his arm around her.
The casual tenderness between my brother and his girlfriend. The way Nick held Jenny’s hand. Openly declaring their togetherness. All of it was enough to make me ache inside. I wanted the same thing. I wanted the world to know that Tank liked me. Me, Marla Turner. Out of all the girls in the world. He liked me. Or at least that was what he said.
Instead, I would have to stand there like a lump on a log and pretend like we were just two people who had been roped into coming along.
When we reached the ticket counter, I started to pull out some money from my back pocket, but Tank scowled at me and bent down to whisper, “not on your life.”
I don’t know why, but the idea of Tank paying for my ticket sent a warm thrill through me. It was silly really and about as far from what I was supposed to feel. But still, it was there, and I couldn’t deny it.
He paid for the popcorn and drinks. Not even asking if I wanted butter. The man knew me, popcorn without butter was like air without oxygen. Useless.
The six of us made our way to the theater, each couple in their own little world.
“I was right,” Jason said as we stepped in.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tank said as he held the door for me. “Just grab some seats. We’ll find something and meet up afterwards.”
Jason shrugged his shoulders. Already trying to pick out the best seats remaining.
I glanced up at Tank, he just smiled back down at me. Sometimes the man was a genius.
We found two seats, Tank liked the end seat so he could stretch out. Fitting his long frame into those tiny seats had to be constricting. I wondered if we would be sitting on the end of the row for the rest of our lives.
The thought pushed my heart into hyperspace. What was I thinking? We couldn’t even tell anyone that we might like each other, and here I was, thinking about the rest of our lives.
I held my breath and tried to force my heart back to a semi-normal rate.
Tank purposely bumped my shoulder and held the popcorn out to me. A simple, silent gesture that for some reason calmed my soul.
This was Tank, I reminded myself. I knew him. He knew me. We’d kissed three times. Three glorious times. There was absolutely no reason to feel nervous.
Smiling to him, I tried to relax and focused on the pure pleasure of sitting next to him. He smelled of sandalwood and leather. A warm, comforting smell that pulled at my heart. The same cologne he had been wearing since he was fifteen.
His wide shoulders took up half the room, and his smile could turn a girl’s heart to pure mush.
Jason, who was about five rows in front of us shot us a look. Obviously to make sure his little sister wasn't a pest.
Amber leaned into him and pulled him back to focusing on her. The girl was the best friend ever.
Tank chuckled to himself and shook his head.
“Amber knows? Doesn’t she?”
I nodded, afraid to say the words.
“You told her?” he asked, his voice gentle, not accusing, just asking.
Again, I nodded. “She guessed,” I managed to get out.
He paused for a long moment then shrugged his shoulders. “She’ll keep it a secret.”
I decided not to tell him about Jenny. I wasn’t lying, just not informing him. There is a difference.
Tank took a deep breath, and I felt him tense up for a moment. Then he seemed to come to some kind of decision as he moved the popcorn over to his far hand, away from me.
“Why did you do that?” I asked.
He smiled down at me as he wiped his hand on his jeans. “So I could do this,” he said, taking my hand in his.
A simple gesture that sent my heart to the moon.
A strong warm tingle traveled up my arm to my very soul. Tank was holding my hand. In public. Granted, it was a darkened theater. But still. I was going to claim it as one of the best moments in my life.
His hand engulfed mine. Making me feel small and feminine. A feeling I thoroughly enjoyed. It was the kind of feeling that justified the entire romantic tradition of holding hands.
He had thick calluses, the same kind that my dad had from swinging a hammer all day. I ran my fingers over them. Learning every detail, unable to believe how special I felt. I desperately wondered what he was thinking.
Tank ran his thumb over the back of my hand. A soft caress that pulled at me, sending a shiver through my whole body.
He leaned down and whispered. “Yeah, me too.”
I smiled to myself and relaxed for the first time that night. This was Tank. We might be at the beginning. But we knew each other. Knew what the other was feeling without being told.
There is something to be said for falling in love with your brother’s best friend.