Love Bites

Breathless

"This is the part where you tell me your name," he said.

"Oh," I responded, finally snapping out of my daze. "Kim, my name is Kim."

"Kim," Conner said smiling as he tested how my name sounded on his tongue. "I like it."

"Um, thanks," I said. Not knowing exactly how to respond to his comment I added, "I like yours too?" It came out sounding more like a question. It wasn't like me to get tongue-tied since I was normally a very witty person, but this boy caught me off guard.

I expected Conner to leave after his hands were clean, considering that if I had been in his position I would have run out mortified, but he leaned against the counter and continued to talk to me. "So are you staying here for the weekend?" he asked.

"Yeah, until next Wednesday. My family always stays up here for a full week during the summer," I told him, not really sure why I had. This guy was weird and I had just made a fool out of myself. Maybe I felt okay because he had too?

"Cool," he said pushing away from the counter. "I'll be here through Sunday. We should hang out."

"Okay," I said feeling slightly stunned.

"Great. So I guess I'll see you around," he said smiling, "Oh, and by the way, you dropped your toothbrush." Then he strolled out, as if using the girls restroom was something he did on a regular basis. Maybe it was his way of picking up girls. He did after all ask me if I wanted to hang out.

I stood rooted in my spot, watching the door swing back and forth. When I let out a breath in surprise, I realized that I had been holding it in. Swearing at my stupidity, I reached down and grabbed my toothbrush before chucking it into the garbage.

"Is he still in here?" The woman called from the stall. Nodding my head in response, not even realizing that she couldn't see me.

I was stumped, dazed, and completely puzzled. Connor had left me feeling breathless.

*****

The nice thing about Silver River was that it wasn't a normal campground. There was a pool, an arcade, a mini golf course, a huge playground, and volleyball courts. I had promised my younger sister Kelsey that we would go mini golfing sometime during the week. So, after our family had finished a lunch of hotdogs roasted over the campfire, we got on our bikes and headed down to the lodge.

When we arrived, Kelsey dropped her helmet and skipped over to the golf course and almost tripped on the crack in the sidewalk that had been there since I was her age.

"Wait right there," I yelled to Kelsey as I put down my kickstand. "I'm going to pay and get the equipment."

"I want a pink ball," she yelled back at me as I opened the door to the lodge.

"Only if it doesn't cost extra," I yelled, turning around to look at her. When she nodded her head okay, I spun back around, stepped inside, and crashed right into someone who was leaving.

"Ah cold!" Connor shouted as the slushy he had bought spilt down his bare chest.

"Oh crap, I'm really sorry," I said, looking down at the mess I'd caused. Besides being the campgrounds headquarters, the lodge was a restaurant, which sold a wide variety of fruity slushy's during the summer.

"It's fine," he grunted wiping the blue slush off his chest and swim trunks. Then he looked up at me. "Oh hey Kim," he said when he realized it was me. His frown was replaced with a smile.

"Do you want me to get you some napkins?" I asked feeling bad that I had spilt his entire drink.

"Nah, don't worry about it. It will wash right off when I jump back in the pool." He tossed the empty cup into the trash.