Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen by Gretchen de la O Read Free Book Online Page A

small part of me that
believed my mother wanted me. Up until I turned twelve, I believed
she was doing everything in her power to get me back. After that I
gave up on believing. Cindy and I had more in common than I wanted
to admit. We both had really screwed up life donors.
    The Sequoia swerved to the right
enough to wake me up from my cat-nap.
    “ What the hell is going
on?” Cindy screamed with her earphones still plugged into the sides
of her head.
    “ Nothin’,” Nick
mumbled.
    “ It’s so obvious I’m not
talking about the space between your ears. I’m talking about your
crazy driving.” She pulled the earphones out and waited for his
explanation.
    “ I need to take a break. Go
to the bathroom.” His face blushed, I saw him glance at me in the
mirror.
    “ Fine, I could use the
break to stretch my legs. Next time, warn me.” She leaned back and
wrapped the earphone wires around her iPhone. She cursed him under
her breath.
    He swerved onto the exit and found the
first gas station across the street. I was never one that liked to
pee in a gas station bathroom, but when you gotta go, you have to
deal with the filthy, oil stained fixtures and urine caked
toilets.
    I followed Cindy to the restroom. I
looked at the door, just my luck; it was a male and female
restroom. They were the worst. You didn’t get a choice on which
toilet to use. If someone didn’t flush, you were S.O.L. The door
behind me swung open and there stood Nick. He used the other
restroom across the hall. I didn’t feel like following him, but I
had to go, so I slipped in behind him and into the restroom without
touching the door.
    Fifteen minutes later we were back on
the highway and heading to beautiful Aspen. I wanted to forget
about Cindy’s screwed up relationship with her mother. I didn’t
have room in my head to sort the memories of Max, Wayne, and the
artificial memories I created of her mother slamming the door in
her face at eight years old. All I wanted to do was close my eyes
and see Wayne in the airport—put him into social situations I
projected in my mind; ski slopes and lodges with cozy fires filling
huge stone fireplaces, see myself laughing at his jokes as he
rubbed my sore feet.
    Then just as Wayne was about to pull
off my other sock Max showed up in my fantasy. I didn’t even know
how he got there. He just appeared in front of us.
    “ What is going on here?”
Max asked Wayne. Those familiar fluttering butterflies decided to
show up in my stomach.
    “ I’m rubbing my
girlfriend’s feet,” Wayne told him. The butterflies burst from my
gut and flew up and out to the open air.
    “ Who are you?” Wayne put my
foot down on the cushion of the chair and stood up. They faced each
other with barreled chests and eyes that stared each other down.
Wow, I’d never imagined two hot guys fighting over me
before.
    “ I’m her husband.”
    My eyes flew open and my heart pounded
so hard it was about to come bursting from my chest. I sat up
pulling the seatbelt tight across my neck. I felt the pressure as
it rose in the back of my throat, the excitement of a daydream that
was too much.
    “ What’s wrong? Are you OK?”
Cindy blurted out. I couldn’t answer her at first. My voice was
caught in the huge bubble of shock that wedged itself above my
larynx. There was no way I was going to tell her what had just
happened in my fantasy. I would have to come up with something
else. I wished Joanie was there. I scanned my mind for some lame
excuse for my jerking awake.
    “ I was falling, in my
dream. Guess it’s the motion of the car.” G ood cover up. Way to think fast. I
took a deep breath and thought about what I had just witnessed in
my dream.
    “ You need to drive better!”
She stared Nick down. I waited for her to pop him upside the head,
but she didn’t.
    “ No, his driving is fine.”
The guilt for even mentioning his driving swelled in my
gut.
    “ Sorry about that.” He
looked at me in the rearview mirror and flared