American Honey

“Yeah, it does.” Tanner responds from somewhere near.

Knowing Tanner is distracted by looking up at the sky I right myself in the water and splash him, hitting him right in the face. “Sorry, you looked hot.” I giggle. Paybacks suck sometimes.

He wipes the water out of his eyes and smiles. Then a splashing war breaks out. Tanner picks me up and throws me into the air. I come up for air and try with all my might to push his shoulders down to dunk him but it’s no use; he’s double my size. My hand reaches out to the side of the pool, “Alright, I win.”

Tanner flashes me his smile, letting that right dimple show, “How do you figure?”

“Cause I said so.” I splash him once more.

“Alright, Honey Bee, you win.” I asked him one day why he called me that, his response was I was sweet like honey but stung like a bee. Tanner goes under the water and comes up a little further away. Tanner will tell me just about anything I want to hear and I’m not about to stop him now.

We’re swimming around just relaxing without a care in the world on this hot summer day. “So, where’s Susie at?” I ask Tanner.

He brought a girl over to his house last week and they came over for a swim while I was on the deck reading. As soon as Dad opens the pool for the year, normally sometime in May, Tanner and I always somehow manage to end up in the pool by the end of the day. After school we did our homework first and then went for a swim. So when he showed up with Susie, I was surprised and a little hurt. Susie giggled at everything Tanner said and was batting her eyelashes every time he looked her way. Tanner caught me one time sticking my finger in my mouth and making gagging noises. He laughed but Susie didn’t find it very funny.

Tanner goes under the water for a minute and then comes back up on the other side of me. “I don’t know.”

“That’s nice that you don’t know where your girlfriend is.” I turn my back to him so he doesn’t see the smile that’s playing on my lips.

Tanner grabs my arm, “She’s not my girlfriend, Rhea

.”

I look down to where his hand is holding on to my arm. I get these butterflies in my stomach. It’s been happening more and more lately. I don’t know what it means but I can’t help these feelings, all I know is that I like it. The older Tanner gets the more handsome he becomes. His dark hair is longer than it normally is; he has the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen with the brightest green eyes. Now that he’s playing football for the high school his body is getting muscular and I see all the girls noticing him, although Tanner doesn’t act like he sees it. We used to be close in height but over the last few years he’s grown a lot and now towers over me.

Rolling my eyes I say, “You could’ve fooled me, Tan. Why else was she over at your house, to play in the dirt with you?”

Tanner looks down to his hand that is still holding onto my arm. He lets go but comes closer to me. “She’s just a friend who wanted to hang out.”

I shrug and swim away. He really doesn’t notice the way the girls act around him and I’m not the one who is going to point it out to him. I like that he doesn’t see. I like that he still wants to hang out with me. I’ll admit though, I’m worried that once he notices his fan club he’ll forget all about me. I don’t fool myself into thinking that that time isn’t just around the corner though.

I start to climb up the ladder but Tanner grabs me by the waist and pulls me back in the water. I turn in his arms and go to push him away but he grabs my hand and holds it to his chest.

Tanner smirks and says, “When you gonna be my girl, Honey Bee?”

My cheeks instantly flush and my body starts to shake. If Tanner notices he doesn’t say anything. “Stop messing around, Tanner.” I push a little harder on his shoulder and he falls back, letting go of me.

Tanner starts laughing. “I’m gonna marry you someday, you wait and see.”

I climb the ladder with the biggest smile on my face.

Chapter Two

~ Age 15 ~

Tanner

School just let out a few weeks ago for Rhea and I and our parents decided to do a camping trip before our first annual trip to Myrtle Beach with the Mitchell’s. We weren’t going far, just twenty minutes away from our houses in Fayetteville, but it was enough to get us out of our neighborhood.

“Tanner,” Mama called from the kitchen. “Can you please put this cooler in the RV for me?”

Grumbling, I pause my Xbox game and stomp off towards the kitchen. Rhea’s dad, Eddie, was over helping my mom get things packed because Dad had to finish some last minute things in the office before we took off. My dad always had things to do at the office; I think he spent more time there than anywhere at all.

I pick up the red cooler and carry it out the back door and down the steps to the RV. I don’t know why mama always insists on taking this damn thing anyway; we have a fridge in the camper. The door to the camper opens and Rhea’s mom, Daisy, comes out.

“Morning, Tanner.” She sings; way too chipper for this early in the morning.

“Morning,” I mumble as I step up into the RV.