Page 10 of Trading Paint
“Jesus Sway,” Emma balked peering down at my legs. “Put some lotion on those lizard legs. They look like sand paper!”
“It’s just dry skin.” I defended examining them. They did appear a little dry but I hardly thought comparing them to a lizard was necessary.
“It’s disgusting.”
“Not everyone is obsessed with lotionEm.” Jameson defended stepping from the pool to join us in the lounge chairs. “Her legs look fine.” He glanced down at them and then averted his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
Girls had been following him all day and now wasn’t any different. He had a constant following of pit lizards on and off the track. A tall brunette without lizard legs walked up to Emma and I when he sauntered to the bathroom.
“Is he your boyfriend?” she gestured to Jameson walking into the men’s restroom.
“He’s my brother.” Emma said making a retching sound in the back of her throat.
The girl’s eyes focused on me.
“Me?” I pointed to myself. “No, he’s not my boyfriend.”
Not that I would be opposed to that with him but he was my best friend. I didn’t see him in that light.
He was also a moody perfectionist asshole so how anyone could stand him was beyond me but he was my best friend. If I needed a shoulder to cry on, he was there. He may be working on his race car at the same time but he made sure I had company.
The girl, who looked about sixteen, maybe even seventeen smiled and strutted toward Jameson, who was now approaching us, his shirt slung over his shoulder.
Manhandling sprint cars around a track for years provided him with a honed physique that most men would kill for let alone fifteen-year old boys.
Jameson smiled at her but his smile faded when she began to speak. I had a feeling the dim-witted brunette didn’t have much going for her besides looks.
It took all of two minutes for him to finally get away from her and when he did, he glared at me. “Do me a favor,” he huffed throwing himself into the lounge chair next to me. “Tell them you’re my girlfriend.” He kicked his long legs up. “That was ridiculous.”
“So...no date for you tonight?”I snickered.
“No, it’s hard to believe some guys fall for girls like that.” He sighed looking back at her. “She should be embarrassed for herself.”
He ended up laughing with me after a few minutes but it took some convincing. This wasn’t the first time this happened to him and wouldn’t be the last. He’d never showed interest in girls but I also knew he had other priorities.
Jameson was all about racing and nothing else mattered to him.
I admired that about him.
As a teenager’s we struggled to find our identities and to live up to the expectations that our parents and teachers put upon us.
Jameson didn’t. He knew who he was inside and knew exactly what he wanted. I couldn’t decide on shit and I was lucky if I managed to pick out what CD I was going to listen to that day in under an hour. I also for the life of me could never manage to wear matching socks.
Expecting any of us to act normal on the plane ride home was downright absurd. Here you had Emma at fourteen, Jameson and me being fifteen, Spencer and his friend Colby at seventeen...we were hardly in any position to conduct ourselves in a manner that was acceptable for society.
Nancy and Jimi were good sports until around hour three of the six-hour ride when Jameson and me decided it was time to up the larking around.
While most of the trip was spent annoying Emma, we turned to Spencer and Colby when Emma burst into tears because we had replaced her lotion with glue again. No matter how many times we did that, we still found it entertaining and we did this at least once a week. It was funny.
Spencer, being a prankster himself, made it difficult for us to pull one over on him. This took dedication and research. His only weaknesses were girls and food.
We decided to knock off two with one prank.
When he went to the bathroom, we added a few drops of pink food coloring to hisPepsiand then convinced the girl next to us to come on to him. We were succeeding until it all turned on us.
Alley, a tall beautiful blonde, who sat on the other side of Jameson, was our decoy. Alley was awesome, witty, humorous, and could roll out the insults with the best of them. I knew I liked her when Jameson was fidgeting beside us and she turned to him.
“Will you stop fucking moving?”
