Play With Me

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    1
     
     
    HE’D NEVER TRIED
to kiss me, even when we practically shared the same bed half of the summer.
And then he was gone. For five tormenting weeks. I thought I was going to die
after day two.
    But today, my
torture was over. Today, Anthony Mitchell returned. My best friend and future
husband.
    Not like I had
informed him about that yet, but it wasn’t necessary. Everyone knew it, and I
couldn’t wait to trade my last name, Matthews, for his. Tony and I had been
hanging out since kindergarten. We were inseparable, except for the few hours
every day when he had soccer training and I had—well some time to write how
much I loved him in my diary for the sixteen millionth time.
    Liza and Tony,
that went like Bonnie&Clyde. Like Lois&Clark. We were M&M, really.
    The door bell
chimed.
    My heart banged
against my throat as I tossed my diary to the side, struggling to disentangle the
quilt from around my legs. I finally flopped off the bed together with the
comforter.
    “I’m coming!” On
the way down the winding stairs, I raked my fingers through my long, brown hair
to give it the last bit of oomph before I rushed to open the door. A sunbeam
hit me first, then Tony’s long missed prettiness followed. His blond hair,
tousled over his forehead, almost touched his pretty blue eyes. He wore the white
shirt half open, and I always had to fight really hard not to drool over his
naked skin.
    Hands shoved
into the pockets of his shorts, he just stood there and looked at me. Then his
mouth curled into his typical sly grin. “What is it, Liz? I know you’re dying
to hug me.”
    Gee! I flashed
my teeth, which now were perfectly straight after two years of wearing braces,
in a broad smile and gave him the bear hug he expected. He dragged me outside
and twirled me under the warm sun with my face buried in the crook of his neck.
Ah, he smelled so good, sun-kissed and all Tony. I never got enough of that
special brand.
    “How was camp?”
I asked after he set me down.
    He mocked me by
wrinkling his nose. “Boring as hell without you, what else?”
    “Yeah, right. As
if.”
    To fully
understand him, one had to know that apart from the one obsession we shared
about Spielberg-movies, soccer was Tony’s greatest passion in the world. But I
appreciated his lie and stuck my tongue out at him.
    Tony tsked at
that. “Manners, girl. If you want to kiss me, just say so.” His face was close
enough that his nose brushed mine. I swallowed the urge to tilt my head and really
do that. But I knew he was teasing me again. So far, we’d never kissed. In
regular intervals, I fell asleep in his bedroom when we did a Jaws -marathon,
or he would crash at mine when his parents were out on business trips around
the state. He let me rest my head on his shoulder, even played absently with my
hair. But a kiss? Nah.
    I was going to
be seventeen at the end of this summer and started feeling a little weird
because I hadn’t been kissed yet. But no one other than Tony would touch my
lips, and if he needed a few more months to realize he wanted me, too, I could
wait.
    “Hey, want to go
down to the beach? I got this pretty new swimsuit and haven’t tried it out yet.”
In anticipation of our reunion, I had put on the neon green bikini in the
morning, and now pulled down the collar of my pink tee to tease him with a
glimpse. Green was his favorite color.
    He snarled like
a jaguar, with one corner of his mouth lifted. “I’d love to see you half naked,
Matthews.” Just another tease, but it didn’t matter. Goose bumps shot up on my
skin. “Unfortunately, I have to pass. I’m going to see some friends from the
team down at Charlie’s.”
    My shoulders
slumped. “Seriously? You just got back, what, ten minutes ago? Didn’t you see
the guys enough at camp?”
    “Hunter wants to
discuss tomorrow’s qualifications.”
    I pouted. Ever
since Ryan Hunter had become the new captain of Grover Beach’s high school
soccer team, Tony’s training time had doubled. And more training meant less
time for him to hang out with me. I hated Hunter.
    “Cheer up, girl.
Why don’t you come along? You know most of the guys anyway, and I’ll introduce
you to the rest. I’m sure Hunter won’t mind.” He gave me no chance to argue, or
even trade my flip-flops for decent shoes. My hand in a tight grip, he hauled
me down the path through our front yard.
    “Wait! I have no
money on me.”
    “Don’t need it.
That single soda you’ll