[/>chapter eight<\]
Meeting Again

I sighed when I woke in the morning. Though I had only had roughly two hours of sleep, I was still contented with those two hours. I rolled over to glance at my clock and it read 9:00. I had returned to my house around 6:00 and called Taylor as soon as I was in the comfort of my own room. I was incredibly thankful that my father hadn't awoken early to go for a jog because I knew he would have seen me.

I could smell the scent of pancakes from downstairs. It took me from my bed and led me down the steps. There I saw my mother making the pancakes and Lori was sitting at the table reading the newspaper. I didn't see my father anywhere around. I tried to act as though I were groggy and still tired.

"Did we wake you, sweetie?" my mom asked me as I walked into the kitchen. I yawned and shook my head.

"No, I just woke up on my own but I don't know why I'm still so sleepy," I said. Lori looked up from the paper and gave me a warm smile.

"Do you have anything planned for today?" she asked me. I shook my head, wondering what she was up to.

"No, why?"

"Well, last night I was just thinking about how much fun we used to have with Isaac, Zac, and, ugh, Taylor. Do you think they'd want to hang out with us today?" she suggested. I knew that Taylor would not want to do anything of the sort, but I wasn't sure about the other two. I remembered that Isaac always used to have a "thing" for Lori, so that's why I actually considered it.

"I can call over there and ask," I said tentatively. She smiled.

"Okay. I just think that it would be so much fun," she said.

A little later, I seeked to my room. I picked up the phone and called Taylor. He answered, sounding like I woke him. I apologized quickly. When he heard my voice, I could tell that he didn't mind that I had woken him.

"So, here's a question. Please promise that you'll keep a totally open mind about this, okay?" I said, knowing that he'd at least promise to keep an open mind.

"Okay, promise."

"Lori asked me this morning if the five of us would want to do something later today," I said cautiously, not knowing how he'd react.

"Are you serious?" he asked, his tone sounding annoyed.

"Yeah, she was pretty serious."

"Well, you already know what I think about it ... but I don't know about Ike or Zac. I guess I could ask, but I can't promise you anything other than that."

"If they decide that they want to do something, will you come along, too?" I asked.

It took him a few seconds before answering. "To see you, yes. To please Lori, no."

"Oh thanks! I knew you'd agree!!" I said jubilantly.

"I can't believe I'm doing this for you," he said in a rather flat tone.

"You'll have fun, Mr. Negativitey. And if you do this for me, I'll just have to make it up to you some how. . ." I inticed him. I could tell he was smiling.

"You'll owe me more than you know," he joked.

Apparently Isaac and Zac agreed because a few hours later, Lori and I were waiting at a cafe downtown, which is where we all had agreed on meeting. I knew that Lori wanted to make an exceptional impression on them because she had borrowed a flattering shirt from me that was a little on the revealing side. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she probably dressed that way to catch Taylor's eye. I, on the other hand, didn't really care what I wore. After I had showered that morning, I simply threw on a pair of jeans and a cute shirt. Nothing as spectacualr as the shirt Lori was wearing, but it wasn't just a plain t-shirt, either.

I looked down at my watch. Quarter past three. Where were they? We arranged to meet at three. Leave it to the guys to be late.

They finally showed up, just a little over twenty minutes late. As they approached, I mentally noted that they looked like a commercial in the making. Walking tallest to shortest and with the wind blowing slightly, it looked professional. I couldn't help but smile at them. Taylor was the tallest of the three, and he was looking at me the entire time. I rivited my eyes away from him so that Lori wouldn't pick up anything. That's when I remembered that I had a pair of sunglasses in my purse. I put them on.

"Well, long time no see," Isaac declared as he sat down next to me. "How've the two of you been?"

"Oh, you know, pretty good. Can't really complain," Lori said. "Are you in school?"

"Uh, it's hard to explain. I finished up all of my classes for the year, so I'm done right now, but I still have one more year left to go. But if I want to get my Masters or anything, then I'll have to keep going," Isaac said. "And the two of you?"

"I'm going to be a senior and Brook's gonna be a sophomore in the fall. We dorm together, but I think that we'll have to look into an apartment for this year," Lori rambled on. As she talked, I noticed that she captivated the attention of all three of them, making me a little pissed. Taylor was being absorbed by her every word and he looked as though he was entransed.

"Soo, what are we going to do today?" I asked, changing the subject and taking all of the attention away from Lori. The guys looked blankly at each other and shrugged. "Lori? Since it was your idea, did you have anything specific in mind?"

"We could go to that little amusement park on the other side of town, oh, what's the name of it? I can't remember; it's been so long since I've been there." she said. Yeah, that's great. Let's go to an amusement park with an odd amount of people in the group. That means that someone would always have to be singled out, blah.

"Okay, that'd be cool. Do you guys want to ride with us or us to ride with you?" Lori asked.

"Well, my Tracker will only hold four people, and that's not comfortably at all. We'll have to take two cars anyway," Taylor said. I smiled. "So, who's with who?"

"Let's pull straws," suggested Zac, which was the first thing he said the whole time. We each took a straw from their wrappers and stretched the bendy necks out, but left one of them shorter. Zac held all of the straws in his hand. "Whoever gets the shorter straw will ride with Tay in the Tracker and everyone else will go in a real sized car,"

We all laughed at his comment and then one by one, we all pulled a straw. I was the last to go and as soon as I pulled it, I saw that I had the one with the short neck. I reached into my purse and handed Lori my car keys.

"Looks like I'm stuck in the Tracker," I said, trying to make it sound like I was disappointed.

"We'll follow because I don't remember how to get there," Taylor said, heading down the side walk in the direction of his car. I began to follow him.

"Like I remember how to get there, either!" Lori called after us. I could tell she was mad that she wasn't the one stuck with Tay, hehe. It made me giddily happy and I couldn't tell why.

"Then let Ike drive, I trust him," I called back. We both turned completely around and continued walking to his Tracker. It was black. "So, what is it with you and black cars? You've got a black Jetta and Tracker. And what's the need for two cars in the first place?"

"Ahh, see, this one's four-wheel-drive whereas the Jetta isn't. I didn't know what we'd be doing today, so I just brought this. I mean, for all I knew, we could've decided on going exploring through the woods and my Jetta would not be up for that," he explained and then unlocked the doors. I laughed and got inside. He pulled around to where my car was parked. I saw three heads inside and it looked like Ike was in the drivers seat. Taylor honked his horn lightly to let them know to go ahead and go in front of us.

As we drove, there was silence. It was a comfortable silence though, so I didn't mind it. A few times, we would glance over at one another and smile. Oh, how I wanted him right then and there. He pulled onto the interstate and continued to follow Isaac.

I was glad that the interior of ths Tracker was compact because it made us sitting closer together. I reached over and slid my hand onto his leg and then stroked it over to his inner thigh. "I want you right now," I whispered. I didn't know why I whispered because there was no one else around that could've heard me.

He looked down at my hand, then over at me, and then back to the road. "Brook, don't do this to me, not right here and not right now, please," he appeared to be begging. I smiled. I liked it when he wasn't as smooth as he thought he was.

"Don't do what to you?" I asked innocently as I continued to massage his thigh. He figeted a little.

"You know what I'm talking about," was all he said.

I waited a few seconds before continuing and replying. "No, tell me." That's when I went a little further up his thigh and then back down. Up and down was the game I was playing.

I saw him fumble with some button on the side of the steering wheel. When the light on the dash flashed on, I saw that he set cruise control. Then he slumped down in his seat a little and pulled on my exploring hand and placed it right where he wanted it. At first I was a little surprised when he grabbed my wrist, I thought he was pissed. But I was relieved to know what he wasn't. I continued my massage and I saw his eyes slowly rolling back.

"No, Tay, keep them open!" I laughed. He pointed to the cruise control.

"Cruise is on, though, so I'm okay. As long as there are no extremely sharp turns coming up, then cruise steering can handle it," he said. Hmm, wow, cruise steering, that's one I never heard of before. I slowed down my pace a little, but he placed his hand over mine. "No, oh no. No, don't stop. . ."

I was getting such a thrill out of this. Here we are, traveling at a speed of 75 m.p.h., Taylor has the cruise control and steering on and has a boner while I'm getting him off. Actually quite comical. I unbuttoned his pants to take it to the next level.

When it was over, I retracted back comfortbably back into my own seat and wiped my mouth. Taylor remained still for a few seconds though, not moving, but breathing deeply. I smiled. I knew he liked it.

"Do you know how much I hate you?" he asked me, sounding honestly sincere about hating me. I shook my head.

"You don't hate me," I replied.

"Well, do you know how much I hated that?!"

"You did NOT hate that," I laughed. He laughed along with me.

"I can't believe it," he said, still in awe.

"Oh, I can," I said. He looked over, knowing exactly what I meant. He gave me an almost gratified look. It made me feel really happy and glad. Then he took the cruise control off and situated himself. He also reached over and let his hand rest on my knee. I smiled and placed my hand over his.

"You still owe me for coming with you today," he laughed evily. What a jerk! I thought.


<-- Chapter 6

Chapter 8 -->