Chapter Five
Thirty minutes later, Jordana found herself seated next to Ben at the front of the Kane family speedboat. She zipped her windbreaker up, so that it covered the lower half of her face. Her head was facing toward her dad, who was standing at the wheel, obviously in his element. The wind blew around her, so that all she could hear was the roaring in her ears, and she shivered slightly as the lake’s spray hit the back of her.
Glancing over at Ben, she couldn’t help but laugh. The guy was sitting, facing forward, with a huge grin on his face, as droplets of water streamed down his face. He had borrowed one of her dad’s jackets, since he hadn’t been wearing one suitable for boating weather, and was practically swimming in it.
And yet, he still looks disturbingly hot, Jordana thought as she watched him.
“Woo hoo!” Ben screamed into the wind. He glanced back at Jordana’s dad and gave him the thumbs up sign.
“You want to go faster?” Jordana’s dad yelled to them.
Ben nodded his head and then turned back to face front. Jordana shook her head. He was like a puppy with his head hanging out the car window. After a few minutes of high-speed action, Jordana’s dad slowed the boat down, until they were coasting along.
“Man! If I lived here, I think I’d probably be on a boat every day,” Ben said, his eyes sparkling.
“Yeah, I guess,” Jordana said, not nearly as impressed as him. “So, you never get to do this in the city?”
“No way!” he exclaimed. “I mean, where would I go? Out on the Hudson River? With all the dead bodies?”
“There are dead bodies?” Jordana asked, with a shocked look on her face.
“No. But the water there’s pretty nasty,” he answered. “I mean, if you fell in there, you’d have to douse yourself in Clorox or something just to get the stink off you.”
Jordana made a face.
“Yeah, but you get to live in New York City!” Jordana said, amazedly. “I mean, that’s gotta trump sitting on a boat any day, right?”
Ben shrugged. “It’s pretty cool,” Ben agreed. “But after a while, you sort long for a small-town feel, you know? That’s why I love coming back here to visit my grandma.”
“Did you grow up in New York?” she asked.
“Nah. I grew up in Alabama. Just moved over to the city about a year ago,” Ben said, quickly.
“Oh,” Jordana said. She got the feeling he didn’t want to talk about why he moved to the city.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the scenery on the shore change as they cruised by.
“Enough about me, what about you, Miss Jordana?” Ben said, changing the subject easily.
“What about me?” she asked, feeling a bit shy to have the focus turned on her.
Ben turned his body to face hers and placed his chin on his fist like the famous The Thinker statue. He squinted his eyes at her mischievously.
“Have you always lived here?” he asked, firing the question at her.
“Yep. Born and raised.”
“What’s your favorite subject in school?”
“Does lunch count?”
“No.”
“OK. Then psychology, I guess.”
“Interesting,” Ben said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “What’s your favorite meal?”
“Cinnamon rolls,” she answered without hesitation.
“Cinnamon rolls isn’t a meal,” Ben accused her.
“They are too!” Jordana exclaimed, sitting up straighter in her seat. “I can polish off a plate of cinnamon rolls and a glass of milk anytime of the day.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re a weird girl, you know that right?” he asked her.
“Am not!” Jordana said, socking his arm playfully.
“Whatever you say,” Ben said, putting his arms up in the air in mock defeat. “OK. If you’re eating plates of cinnamon rolls all the time, how are you so tiny?”
“I don’t eat them for every meal,” Jordana said. “I just said it’s my favorite meal. The rest of the time I eat pretty healthily—like tofu and salads and stuff.”
Ben shook his head, while smiling at her.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, casually and looked away from her to stare at the shore.
Unless you count yourself, then no, I don’t have a boyfriend. But I’m taking applications if you’re interested, Jordana thought.
“Nope,” she answered, instead.
“How is that possible?” Ben asked, looking back at her. “I mean, despite the weird eating habits, you’re a pretty cool girl. I would have thought some guy would’ve snatched you up by now.”
“Thanks,” Jordana said, sarcastically. “If only guys at my school felt the same way.”
When Ben didn’t answer her, she continued.
“I mean, it’s not like I haven’t liked anyone or anything,” she added. “See, there was this guy—a friend of mine actually—who I kind of, sort of, had a thing for, but according to my best friend, Desi, he made out with our other friend last night at the movies, when he was so supposed to be there with me. So, now I think they’re dating, which I’m not sure how I feel about yet, but leaves me single now, for sure,” Jordana said, sounding a lot like a motor mouth auctioneer.
She looked up at Ben as she took a long breath, and noticed that his mouth was hanging open.
“Too much information?” she asked, laughing nervously.
“Not at all,” Ben said, coughing dramatically.
“Sorry,” Jordana said. “Not exactly used to being in the spotlight and all.”
“Ah, it gets easier,” Ben answered, waving his hand nonchalantly. “And about the boy situation? If you ask me, the guy’s a tool for choosing your so-called-friend over you. I may not know the girl, but trust me, the loser will kick himself when he realizes what he’s given up.”
“Thanks,” Jordana said, sheepishly.
“No prob,” Ben said, coolly. “Just calling it how I see it. And I’m older than you, and therefore, wiser, so you have to listen to me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jordana asked him sarcastically.
“Yep.”
“Hey, Ben!” Jordana’s dad yelled to them.
“Yeah?” Ben yelled back, still staring at Jordana.
“You wanna try steering for a bit?” her dad asked.
“Heck yeah!” Ben shouted and jumped up from his seat. He turned back to Jordana and added, “We can talk more about this later, right?”
“Sure,” Jordana said, quietly.
She watched as Ben took hold of the wheel and began to turn the boat around. He looked up and caught her eye, winking at her before turning his focus back on steering.
“We can definitely talk later,” she said, smiling back at him.
* * *
By the time they all got back to the Kane house, it was already beginning to get dark.
“You wanna come in for a little bit?” Jordana asked Ben as they got out of her parents’ Pathfinder.
“I’d really like to, but I should probably get back,” Ben said, apologetically. “I should probably spend at least a little time with my grandma.”
“Sure. I totally understand,” Jordana said, hiding her disappointment with a smile. “Well, maybe we can hang out tomorrow or something.”
“Hey, Ben,” her dad piped up from his place on the porch. “You should come over tomorrow and we’ll barbeque.”
“That sounds great! Thanks, Mr. Kane,” Ben said, politely. Then he turned back to Jordana.
“Or you could come over to hang out some more with my dad,” Jordana said, laughingly.
“Don’t worry, slick—I’m coming over to hang out with you,” Ben said and poked her stomach lightly. “And because I can never turn down free food!”
“Hey!” Jordana said.
“Kidding, kidding,” Ben said with a smile.
“OK, so we’ll see you tomorrow?” Jordana asked.
“Yep. But it’ll have to be later in the afternoon, because I’ve got something to take care of for work in the morning,” he said, walking backward toward his own car.
“Man, they better be paying you well to be working on your vacation,” Jordana said.
“I’m not complaining,” Ben said, waving to her before getting into his car.
She watched him drive away and then turned to go into the house. Her parents were still standing on the porch, staring at her with goofy grins on their faces.
“What?” she asked them, as she moved past them and into the house.
Her parents followed her silently, and closed the front door behind them. Then, they sat down in the living room where Jordana had plopped down onto the couch a few seconds earlier.
“I like that Ben,” The Judge said finally. “He’s such a polite and upstanding boy.”
“Gee, I couldn’t tell by the way you practically gave him a key to our house,” Jordana said sarcastically. “I mean, could you have a bigger boy-crush on him?”
“I do not have a boy-crush, whatever that means, on him. I’m just saying that he’s a good kid,” The Judge said. “And it’s OK with me if you want to date the boy.”
“Dad!” Jordana exclaimed, her mouth falling open. “First of all, thanks for telling me who I can and can’t date, but I think I can take it from here. And secondly, Ben doesn’t even like me like that.”
“Sweetie, I think Ben’s definitely crushing on you,” her mom said.
“Crushing on me?” Jordana asked, her face blank. “When did you start saying things like ‘crushing on?’ And he SO is not crushing on me.”
“Some teens taught me that term last week at the shop,” her mom said, proudly. “And I think you’re wrong about his not liking you. I mean, he’s been hanging out with you a lot lately.”
“Duh. He doesn’t know anyone else in this town, so he has to hang out with me,” Jordana said, although she didn’t entirely believe what she was saying.
“Well, I guess we’ll see tomorrow—when he comes to our barbeque,” The Judge said, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.
Jordana got up from the couch and headed toward the stairs. She couldn’t handle anymore parent-daughter together time. “Just don’t embarrass me, OK?”
“When have we ever embarrassed you?” her dad asked, looking back at her.
Jordana just stared at him, before running up the stairs and escaping into her bedroom.
__________________________________________________________________________
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:)
Britt