I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 53
Manning
If someone had asked me a week ago what a typical Saturday night looked like for me, it wouldn’t have involved anything. A Ferris wheel, pink cotton candy, and a pair of girls, one of whom was only sixteen years old.
The wheel wiggled forward and stopped several times. Tiffany ate some cotton candy and put it in her mouth. I didn’t know what to expect for twenty minutes alone with her, but already she would become more shy without an audience.
an get a job, it’s just that nothing really interests me so far. »
didn’t say that.” »
ng and she always annoys me. »
use to describe Lake, who was rel
like she thinks she’s better than me. ” Just the way she talks or the things she does. »
oing ? »
oy my life. »
ter loves life?” »
did. »
ments. “I’m sure that’s not true. »
he shuffled her feet
higher.
ink Lake admires yo
wo
to be nice to her.”
. “Nice?”
e. It was nice.
“Oh.” Her expression relaxed as she twisted her lips. “Yeah. Okay. Maybe.
iled.
’t that attracted to her. His attitude put me off the first day.
ed with had seen the shit, too. Some of them were ex-convicts, and others probably should have been behind bars – I’d almost gotten into a fight with some of them on Friday when I warned them not to hit on girls. Then I would spend my nights either at the community college with other overworked and tired classmates, at a bar drinking by myself, or at home. I preferred it that way, I guess. I wanted to focus on getting my degree so that I would be able to help others like they had helped me when I needed it, even if I didn’t deserve it.
feel it just by being near her. Not yet jaded. She had dreams, and she believed they would come true. She was easy-going, ambitious, thoughtful
be wanting that in my life, someone to watch over, to protect from bad things, was a mistake, considering she was sixteen. But then again, if I had done a better job with Madison, maybe she would still be here doing things like this, admiring the night sky from the top of a Ferris wheel. To taste melted pink sugar on her tongue. To ask his big brother for advice.
er this?” Tiffany asked.
ing now, going in circles, the breeze was warm on my face. “I’ll take you home,” I said.
s one.”
.”
lights reflected orange, purple, green and red on the water near the dock. But there was nothing but black beyond.
ft it there, as if deciding what she was going to do. “Take a drive for a while.
or a while.”
f refusing s*x from pretty girls. And Tiffany was pretty. A California beach girl, the kind men dream of. No doubt she also had experience. I wouldn’t have to go easy on her. Not that I minded taking it easy sometimes. I would have liked to be with a woman for more than s*x, if I had found that. Had Tiffany ever experienced this? Did she want it?
tions either. Maybe it was good. I was pretty sure if I tried to hold Lake’s hand I would feel something. We’d both be worse off for
want your father to worry.”
y. That his bravado was a front for insecurities that probably came from his father. She needed someone in her corner. “Do you really think that?”
don’t get al
a shame.”
w beautiful the stars are,” she said.
It was a place reserved for Maddy. I didn’t want to go there. “What’s beautiful about them?”
estion? They sparkle. They are…” She couldn’t think of anything else. “They’re just pretty. Have you looked?
n them.”
op me off early… when will I see you again?”
an invitation to sit next to me. “I will be back on the field on Monday.”
st say no. I didn’t want to lead her on. But there was no reason, not one, for me to see Lake again if his sister wasn’t there.
As the Ferris wheel turned, the silen
’t tell Tiffany I’d see her again.