Dream Chaser

Dream Chaser
By Angie Stanton
Saturday night. Talk about awkward. I knew we both want to get to that magic
place our director, Tyson, keeps lecturing about. It’s just really hard to let your guard
down when so much hurt has been passed back and forth. But we bit the bullet, and
here we were in Eli’s mom’s spacious Cadillac.
“Okay, so this is insane, right?” I tucked my hands between my legs for warmth.
“Yup.” Eli drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and looked out over the
landing strip before us.
I followed his gaze. Eli had driven us to Messerschmidt Road. I’d never been here
before, but I knew a bunch of kids who had. It was a pretty spot on a hill that
overlooked the airport. The runways were lit up with yellow, blue and green lights.
Their reflection on the icy snow gave a festive air to the night. I shivered despite the fact
I wore my wool peacoat, a thick scarf, and warm gloves.
“You cold? I can turn up the heat.”
He adjusted the controls and turned on the radio, but I doubted it would help. I’d
been a wreck since he set up this date. Okay, not a real date, a make-out date. No dinner,
no movie, just a lip-locking, body-groping romp. Eli was determined we make our
performance perfect, and we had to figure out how to sell it on stage.
I couldn’t agree more. I hate to do anything halfway when other people are
involved. I don’t like to let them down. I’d grown to trust and admire Tyson and I
wanted to do everything in my power to make sure it was a success.
But that’s easier in concept than reality. I looked out the windows. Somehow the
confines of the car made sitting near Eli more intimidating. At rehearsal, a huge stage
and auditorium gave us space, and even though we danced close and touched, it wasn’t
so dang personal.
Silence hung over us like the lowering of a casket at a burial.
Eli gripped the steering wheel with both hands as if bracing for a root canal. “This is
insane,” he said. “It’s not that big a deal, we can do this.”
“Yeah, totally.” I wished I had his confidence.
“It would help if you didn’t look so scared.”
“I’m not scared, I’m just nervous,” I said. ‘This whole ‘perform on command’ is a
little warped. I’m just trying to get my head around it.
“Actors do it all the time. We can too.”
“I know, and we will. We just have to figure out how.”
“Okay, enough talking. Let’s get this thing started.” He turned off the engine but
left the heat and the radio on. “I don’t want us to asphyxiate ourselves.” Eli unbuckled
his seatbelt and pushed his seat back.
Oh boy! So this was it. My palms turned sweaty. Relax, I told myself. Deep breath,
let the tensions go. Find your Zen place.
Eli turned toward me so serious and determined. I couldn’t help but look at his
mouth. His very sexy mouth. But this was Eli, and my feelings about him were so
jumbled. The last time he kissed me was before freshman year outside of Miss Ginny’s
while waiting for my dad.
It had been a warm fall night and we’d finished a full schedule of classes. I still
remembered the full moon and the fireflies floating in the air. We’d been totally relaxed,
sharing a bag of cheetos.
Suddenly, he’d leaned over, wiped some crumbs from my cheek, and kissed me. I’d
been so shocked, especially when our eyes met and his were filled with so much more
than friendship. I’d panicked. There was no other way to say it. My best friend for
practically my whole life had suddenly changed the rules.
Thank God my dad chose that moment to arrive, so I had a quick getaway. Now,
more than three years later, here we were again, only this time locked in his mom’s car,
watching planes land, and getting ready for a repeat kiss. This time there was no
running away. I chose to be here.
“All right,” I answered and licked my lips. Oh, was that wrong? I shouldn’t kiss him
with a wet mouth. I swiped my mitten across my mouth.
We leaned forward and touched lips. It felt strange.
So this was me kissing Eli. His mouth was firm and warm. It was sort of an out-ofbody experience. He leaned forward, and our noses bumped. We repositioned, and I
ended up kissing the side of his mouth in a tight closed-mouth kiss. Eli reached for me,
but grabbed only my thick coat and scarf. We pulled apart.
“This isn’t working.” He pushed at his hair, which made it tousled in a cute sort of
way.
“Nope. Felt like kissing a brother, if I had one, or a best friend.” Deep down I
thought his kisses would be great. I guess it was better this way.
“Well, I thought we were friends again,” he said with an honesty I hadn’t seen in a
while.
“Are we?” It sure was hard to tell with his standoffish behavior.
“Yeah, I think so.” He appeared to have just made that decision.
“Good,” I said. Maybe we were finally making progress. It would be a lot easier to
try to kiss now that I knew he wasn’t mad.
“I think I know the problem. You’ve got too many clothes on. I can’t even get to
you.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re wrapped up like an Eskimo. Could you lose the coat and scarf?”
“Sure.” I removed my outer layer and stuffed it on the floor.
We faced each other over the front seat console and leaned in.
“Wait a minute, this thing is screwing us up.” He slapped the console.
“Back seat?” I offered, not believing I actually spoke the words out loud. I sounded
like such a ho’.
“Yeah.”
We both turned to crawl over. I realized my shoes might scratch the leather seats.
“Shoes off?”
“Good idea,” he agreed, kicking his shoes off.
At least we were working together. I slipped my shoes off and crawled over the top
of the seats. I’m sure it didn’t look too graceful with my butt up in the air. Eli didn’t
comment, he just followed me over, fell onto the back seat, and we rolled around trying
to get situated. I laughed nervously. It felt cooler in the back seat, and we had a lot more
space.
With one foot tucked under me I turned sideways so I could face him. He did the
same. A few seconds ticked by.
“I think we need to go to Plan B. We need a little help,” Eli said.
“What’s that?”
Eli reached down, rifled around in a bag and pulled out a couple of bottles. “Liquid
courage,” he said with a grin, holding up brandy and Grape Power Aid. “It’s not the
greatest combination, but it’s the best I could find.”
I chewed the side of my lip, embarrassed at my relief. “Good idea.” Drinking wasn’t
usually my thing, but we needed all the help we could get.
“Here, hold these.” He handed over the bottles, dug through the bag and pulled out
a couple of plastic tumblers with melting ice. Together we mixed our concoction like two
co-conspirators. I poured the purple stuff, and he poured the brandy.
“More?” he asked holding the bottle ready.
“More,” I answered.
He poured a couple more glugs of the amber liquid.
“A little more.” I grinned and crinkled up my nose. “No inhibitions. If we’re gonna
do this, let’s do it right.”
Eli winked in response, and my heart did a little flip. He added more to each cup,
then capped the bottle and put it away. We swirled our cups.
“Here’s to going for it.” Eli raised his glass.
I bumped my tumbler to his, and we drank. I shivered as the strong liquid burned. I
took a breath and began to cough. I exhaled as much air as possible to cool my throat
then tried to take smaller breaths so I wouldn’t choke on the fumes.
“I think it needs to be mixed up a little more,” I coughed.
Eli cleared his throat. “I’d say.” He stuck his finger in his cup, stirred and took
another sip. “Much better.”
I did the same and raised my cup for another toast. “Here’s to living life on the wild
side.”
“Here’s to taking chances.” We drank.
“Here’s to what happens in the back seat, stays in the back seat,” I said.
“I’ll drink to that.”
And we did.
“And no judging,” I added.
“What?”
“No judging. I mean, I don’t want you to judge my kissing skills. I haven’t had a lot
of experience in this department.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You are bent, you know that?”
“I’m just saying.”
“I thought you and that Rick guy were a thing.”
“Yeah, but it hasn’t been for very long.” What a total liar I am! Girls always loved
Eli. He had girls trailing after him all the time. I just couldn’t admit my love life was less
than awesome.
“So, are you two going out?”
“Ah, yeah. We go out with the squad all the time. Or I guess I should say we used
to.”
I got quiet knowing how pathetic that sounded.
“That must be really hard, having them all pissed off at you. Especially after all you
did for them.”
We sipped again.
“What’d I do for them?” It was more like what I did to them.
“You are clueless sometimes, you know that?” he said with a laugh. “They never
would have gotten to Nationals last year without you, let alone won it.” He leaned back
and took another drink.
“How do you know about Nationals?” I asked.
“I know things,” he said with a sly glance. I chose to ignore his comment.
“I would hardly say that. I’m just one cog in the wheel of that team. We worked our
asses off to get there.”
“Yeah, and who worked the hardest? Who did the hardest tricks and the highest
flips? Who was always first to practice and last to leave? Hmm?” He knew me so well.
“How did you know I did the hardest tricks?” Eli had been pushed so far out of my
life, I hadn’t even thought about him much during that time, or at least I tried not to
think about him. Yet he knew all about me.
“How could I not know? You guys were plastered all over the news. You performed
at every possible sports event. I saw you perform during halftime of the Wisconsin Ohio
college football game last fall. Your flips in the air were insane. You must have been
twenty-five feet high. Plus, I spent most of my life dancing with you. You don’t do
anything halfway. Look at this show. You’ve had to catch up on weeks of missed
rehearsals with almost no help. I know a lot of the girls have been giving you a hard
time.” His voice softened with that comment.
“That’s an understatement. They hate me.”
“True.” He grinned.
“Thanks!”
“Well, it is true. You walked in and got the lead. They don’t think you deserve it,
but they’re wrong.”
“How’s that?”
“You’re better. You always were. It doesn’t matter that you stopped dancing for a
while. You have more talent in your little finger than they’ll ever have, and you keep
getting better.”
What was he talking about, and why was he saying such nice things? He was
wrong. I didn’t have that much talent. That’s why I kept working so hard. But I
wouldn’t turn away a rare compliment from Eli. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he said matter of fact. “I can’t imagine having to walk around
with all your old friends mad at you and the cast, who should be your new friends, mad
you too.”
“It sucks, but I’ll live.” I hadn’t realized how much the girls’ animosity hurt. I tried
to let it roll off, but after a while they had really gotten under my skin.
Silence filled the car as I took another sip and contemplated his words.
“So what happened with us?” he asked, his eyes filled with the pain of what I’d
done.
I’d hurt him bad and he wanted to know why. I didn’t blame him. I took a gulp
from the tumbler, then gripped it like a lifeline in a turbulent sea.
“I got scared,” I said softly and looked him in the eye. All my memories of fear and
regret flooded back.
“Of what?” he asked, confused.
“Of losing your friendship. That day you kissed me was so out of left field. You
were my best friend in the world. I didn’t want to lose that. I’d never thought of you in
any other way.”
I saw the hurt in his eyes and why shouldn’t he be? What was wrong with me? He
was totally gorgeous and the nicest guy on the planet. Girls always wanted him, but he
and I had been glued at the hip, which I guess affected my perception. I just didn’t see
him the way they did. “Sorry, I just didn’t. I trusted you. You were my everything, and
then you changed the rules.”
“You were afraid of losing our friendship, so you shut me out, and ended it
yourself? Doesn’t make a lot of sense.” He looked so vulnerable and tortured.
“No it doesn’t, but who says I ever made much sense?” My words slurred a bit and
my head started to fuzz from the booze.
“This is true.” He held up his cup in toast.
A plane roared overhead and came into view as it approached the airport. Its lights
filled the windshield. We watched it land and make its way to the other end of the
runway.
“So now you’re in a car with me, back at square one.”
“Pretty much. How did I let that happen?” We laughed at the irony.
“Only this time you have to let me kiss you.” He flashed his eyes at me.
“Lucky me.” I drank, my throat now numb from the booze. “So what’s with Tyson
and all the making out in the show?”
“He does seem a bit obsessed with it.”
“Do you think he’s gay? Cause why would a gay guy want all the kissing?” I asked.
“He’s not gay,” Eli said with certainty.
“How do you know? He’s totally hot, he dresses great, and he’s a dancer.”
“I’m totally hot, I’m a dancer and I’m not gay.” He said.
“Are you sure?” I giggled.
“Want me to prove it?” His eyes sparkled in the dim light.
“Yeah, I do.” My heart began to pound.
Enjoying my buzz, I sank into the buttery soft leather seat, and lolled my head to the
side. I watched Eli. I’d forgotten how good looking he was. He must be the nicest guy on
the planet; and he had the greatest smile.
Eli leaned forward; his warm breath caressed my cheek. He placed his parted lips
on mine. I thought maybe he forgot why we were here, but apparently not. This time it
didn’t feel like kissing a brother. It was all Eli. He took my face in his hands and kissed
me, his moves slow and gentle. He tasted like citrus and booze. I turned my body to
him. I couldn’t believe I’d been so nervous.
We parted and gazed at each other. We’d figured it out. The alcohol took our
inhibitions away. He took me in his arms and kissed me again. His fingers trailed up my
back and into my hair, mussing it to his liking. I sighed. His other hand moved down
over my hips to my lower back. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I let his hands
roam and had never been so turned on in my life.
“We’re pretty good at this,” I murmured.
“Yeah, I’d say. Still think I’m gay?” His breath tickled my neck.
“Not so much.”
I played with his sun-touched hair. I’d wanted to know how it felt since we started
dancing together again, but never had the nerve. Its rumpled perfection created a golden
halo. With alcohol-induced bravery, I combed my fingers through the thick strands.
They were silky soft.
I looked into his eyes, and he smiled with a sexy twist at the side of his mouth.
Never had anything felt so perfect. I leaned down and met his lips again. I ran my hand
over his shirt, feeling his solid chest. He felt firm and strong. No wonder he could lift me
with such ease.
“Do you think Tyson would approve of this for a stage kiss?” he murmured in my
ear, sending tingles down my back.
“Yeah, pretty sure,” I breathed.
“I think we can do better.”
“You think?” I turned my head to expose my neck.
“Only if you’re game,” he whispered and nuzzled. Warm trills danced upon my
skin.
“You jump, I jump,” I said and moved my hand from his lean hip, to his waist and
the bend of his back.
Without another word, he leaned back on the seat and pulled me with. My body
rested on top of him, connecting our bodies from hip to breast. I sighed. His right leg
rested against the back seat. His other foot stayed on the floor. Between the angle of the
seat and our position, my body nestled close to his.
My body flexed against him, revealing a hunger I’d never known before.
I looked at his face in the moonlit backseat. Deep pools of desire met mine. I leaned
forward and kissed him; my tongue peeked out and he welcomed it.
His hands roamed my back and traveled low over my hips. I couldn’t get enough of
him. His touch, his taste. I felt like I’d been living in a cocoon and was now transforming
and finally coming out of my chrysalis to a brand new world. Heaven, better than
heaven.
Eli’s hands caressed my bottom, my thighs and everywhere. I was afraid to breathe
and ruin the moment. We lost ourselves in hot hungry kisses that explored our new
connection. His kisses tasted so good I didn’t want it to end. I never knew making out
could be so addictive. So we kept going.