As I kill the engine on my dirt bike, I look around Belle and Beau’s yard for them. It doesn’t take long to discover where they are as the sound of an acoustic guitar whispers in the hot summer breeze, the cotton field in full bloom in the background.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I hop off my bike and walk toward the most angelic voice that is singing along to the strum of a guitar.
As I round the back of the barn, Beau and his sister Belle, or Bella Blu as I’ve called her since we were knee-high to a grasshopper, come into view. I’m trying my best not to stare at how her golden hair falls perfectly in her face or how with those cutoffs, her legs go on for days. Instead, I remember the little girl with pigtails and overalls that has been one of my best friends since I moved to this little town in first grade. Too bad those thoughts don’t do anything to help me with how I feel about her these days.
Propping myself up on the side of the barn, I steal a few moments and listen before they notice me, and when Bella Blu smiles in my direction, there are nothing but inappropriate thoughts that enter my mind about what I’d love to do to those plump and kissable lips. She’s beautiful inside and out, but won’t give me a chancel. Go figure.
“‘Bout time you showed up. Beau and I were starting to think you ditched us,” Belle says with a smile. Can’t she quit that crap? Well, the smile isn’t crap; it’s the fact I can’t claim those lips as mine.
“Sorry, Dad had me picking green beans this mornin’. I swear I didn’t think those rows were ever gonna end. Not to mention, I had to go with him to the new site and line it off.”
“I feel ya. Dad had us out checking watermelons before the sun came up then wanted us to check the cotton fields. Hey, I’m gonna go grab something to drink. Y’all want something?” Bella Blu asks as we both nod and she vanishes toward the house. Dang, I could watch her walk away any day of the week.
“Seriously, are you going to ask her to the Harvest Festival dance or what? Better yet, might as well wait until prom the way you’re ogling her. You’re lucky I haven’t beat you already.”
Oh crap. Here we go. Beau is always trying to start something when it comes to Belle. He knows I’ve got it bad for her, but we’re just friends, or that’s what she keeps saying anyways.
“Prom? Are you kiddin’ me? I’m not askin’ her to prom…I’m gonna marry that girl.”
“You’re gonna what?” I hear a sweet voice behind me say as Beau starts to belly laugh. Bella Blu is clueless as she hands me a mason jar full of fresh-squeezed lemonade. My face turns a hundred shades of red and if I could strangle Beau right now, I would. Oh, just wait. Payback’s coming.
“Nothing. Beau was giving me crap about that stupid Harvest Festival dance. He was telling me that I couldn’t find a date in this town if I paid someone.”
Placing her hands on her hips, I see her eyes dart to her brother. “Why you gotta be an jerk? Any girl would be lucky to have Chase as their date.”
“Oh, really?” Beau says with an underlying tone.
“Really. He’s an awesome catch. Far better than you, Beau Bear. Any girl would be lucky to go with him. Besides, you know you don’t have a date either.”
“What about you, Belle? You got a date? Has that dumb as a rock Tucker Jones asked you yet?” Beau baits her.
“Um, no,” and she begins to blush. All the girls in Lattimore think that there’s no one better than Tucker Jones. Something about abs for days and what they’d do to lick them or something like that. We’ve heard her and Laurel talk about him since we got into high school. “You know he’s going with his flavor of the week. Besides, he’s pretty to look at, but there’s no light on upstairs. I want someone who can actually carry on a conversation about something other than football and working out.”
Beau gives me a nudge as he walks by to grab his drink and as his phone rings, he leaves us alone. My insides begin to get all out of whack and I can’t even believe I’m about to