One Shots

Tim and Tara

"Oh no, we're not together. Tara is my best friend." I'd heard Tim say those words all my life and they'd never bothered me...until today...and it was all Tim's fault.

We were one month into our summer after graduating high school. We hadn't discussed the changes coming. In August I'd be leaving for college and Tim...well, Tim still had no plans. We'd been best friend since the first grade and had kind of silently agreed to not talk about how different it would be not seeing each other every day. I knew that day would come and I was content to not think about it for now. So we'd set out to have the best summer ever. We'd gone swimming earlier today and...that's when something changed for me.

We'd been climbing up the rocks, heading back to Tim's truck, after swimming, and my foot had slipped out from under me. I'd flailed, trying to get my grip, but ended up sliding down the hill, right into Tim. He'd been up on all fours and I'd kind of just slid under him, in an intimate position foreign to us. His hand had come to my waist, I'm sure in an effort to keep me from slipping further, but my momentum caused his hand to slip under my tank top, to my bare skin. He'd kind of rubbed me there, while I'd attempted to laugh it off, but then Tim said, in wonder, "Has your skin always been so soft?"

An innocent enough question, I suppose, but the way his fingers kept rubbing back and forth across my stomach, just above my waist line had me blushing and my temperature spiking. I'd scrambled out from under him and up the hill. That's when Tim noticed I'd scraped my elbow during my fall, which is what brought us to Elder's Pharmacy for antiseptic cream. As Tim declared, once again, that we were just friends, I got mad for some reason and stormed outside.

I'd just reached the passenger side of Tim's truck when he ran up behind me, "Hey, where's the fire? Don't think you can get out of me tending to your elbow."

Without waiting for a response from me, he opened the passenger door and then motioned for me to hop up, which I did with a sigh. That's when my predicament got worse. The way Tim scrunched up his nose as he concentrated on my elbow. The way his brown hair was just a little too long and unbrushed, but somehow managed to look good. The way his dark brown eyes grew dilated the longer he focused on his task. Taking it a step further, I let my eyes take in his tank top, which displayed his tan, toned arms. The way his swim trunks hung loosely on his lean hips. Hell, even his tanned feet appealed to me, displayed in his Adidas flip flops. Oh boy, what the hell was wrong with me?

"Um, Tara?" Tim asked, causing my eyes to snap back to his face and I was horrified to find him watching me with a frown.

I blushed but tried to cover it up with a nonchalant, "Yea, what's up?"

Tim cocked his head to the side, which I found ridiculously adorable, as he asked, "Were you just checking me out?"

"What? No. I mean, that's crazy. What?" Oh yea, real smooth Tara, I thought.

Tim smirked, "You totally were."

"Don't be stupid." I said, pushing at his shoulder, which just made him laugh.

Then he did something I REALLY wasn't expecting. He leaned in and whispered against my ear, "It's fine, Tara. I check you out all the time."

"Bullshit!" Was my immediate response.

Tim laughed and moved back, but only a little. He was still totally in my personal space. He ran his hands up my legs, but before I could ask what he thought he was doing, he moved my legs around and shut the door in my face. Then he rounded the truck. That's when I looked down at my elbow. I'd been too busy checking him out to notice he'd cleaned and bandaged my scrapes.

When he got behind the wheel he said, "I want to show you something."

Tim didn't bother waiting for my agreement. He just started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. Ten minutes later, he pulled up at the tower hill. It overlooked town and had a phone tower on top. Rumor had it that people had climbed it and written messages up there somewhere. I say rumors because no way would I ever climb up there. Too steep.