“No glove, no love,” Ridge’s muffled voice came outside of the car window, sending Wes and me immediately into our places as far away from each other as possible.
Wes rolled down his window while I pulled out my compact. “Real funny, dude.”
“Good morning, Miss Capri.” Ridge ignored Wes and stuck his head into the car.
“Good morning, Ridge.” I smiled zipping up my purse.
“Go inside. We’ll be there in a few.” Wes put his hand flat on Ridge’s face and pushed him out of the car.
“I can’t,” Ridge muffled, and Wes dropped his hand. “August and Miss Kensie are in there making out, too.”
“We’re awful role models,” I grumbled to Wes, who tossed his head back in a laugh.
“When I grow up, I want to work here, too.” Ridge waggled his eyebrows at us. Clearly, he’d spent too much time with Wes.
“Inside,” Wes said, rolling his window up. “Just cover your eyes.”
“I repeat. We’re awful role models.” I laughed, opening my door.
“Me, yes. You? You’re the kind of woman every girl should aspire to become, and the kind of lady every boy should hope to bone.” He leaned over giving me a quick kiss before he climbed out. What a romantic.
“Can you believe it’s done?” Kensie asked. She’d come by after her dance class was over to check out the nearly finished wall. Ridge, Jordan, and Wes were just doing a few extra highlights and lowlights on the mural. “It turned out beautifully.”
I couldn’t agree more. Everything about that huge gym wall from the smears of paint creating a representation of the kids who find a niche in this place, to the stories hidden within the brushstrokes permanently etching the turns our lives have taken while creating the mural. It was beautiful.
“How are things going with Wes?” she asked tying her hair up into a knot on her head.
“Really, really well.” I smiled, watching him with the boys. He peered back over his shoulder checking on me and then stood up stretching his arms. Slowly, and oh so purposefully, he bent them into a perfect flex. “Oh, okay,” I mumbled making Kensie laugh. Then he propped his arms up on the wall in front of him and bent over, sticking his butt out at us.
“Wow. You’re a lucky woman,” Kensie teased as his butt shifted from side to side.
“Ridge!” I hollered across the gym. All three boys stopped and turned. “Why don’t you show Wes what real muscles look like.”
“Ohhh,” the boys chanted. Wes folded his arms over his chest and shook his head chuckling.
“These here are Grade A all-American muscles,” Wes shouted back at me with his arms flexed on either side. “I could bench press you with these guns.”
“Yeah, of course.” I smiled and rolled my eyes.
“That’s it,” Wes said charging toward me with his dimples on full display.
“No.” I stuck my hands out in front of me and shuffled back. “Wes, no.” I couldn’t help the giggled squeal that echoed in the gym when he swept me off my feet and lifted me to his chest. I wiggled in his arms, and he let me drop to my feet again.
“All right, maybe later,” he said kissing me on the cheek before going back to the boys.
“Okay, so it’s going really, really well,” Kensie said coming up next to me. “Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so—”
“Myself,” I finished her thought.
“I was going to say happy, but yeah, that works, too.”
“I’m colorblind, by the way,” I blurted out still a little out of breath.
“What?” Kensie turned her entire body toward me. “You’re what?”
“Colorblind?” I looked at her with a shrug. “Figured while we are on the topic of me being myself, I should put it out there.”
“Holy shit. Why haven’t you ever said anything before?” Kensie grabbed me by the elbows.
“Said what?” August came in through the side doors next to us. Kensie released my arms and went to August.
“That she’s colorblind,” she said stepping up on her toes to kiss him. When she pulled away, he looked at me with raised eyebrows
“What are you talking about?” He ran his hands up and down Kensie’s arms.
“I’m colorblind.” I grimaced a smile at him and waited for him to say something, but he stared at me in confusion. “I have been my whole life; I just never talk about it.”
“What the hell? You’re serious right now?” he said dropping his arms from Kensie.
“I am.”
“How? I mean, why haven’t you ever said anything? Or Mom and Dad? Mom and Dad have to know, right?”
“They know.” I nodded. “But obviously they took protecting me a bit too far. I think they thought they were saving me from unnecessary judgment by never mentioning it.”
“Capri, that’s so wrong. They kept it a secret?” August’s voice rose with his bewilderment.
“They let me be the one to decide if and when I wanted people to know,” I explained to him. The time of me being upset with them over their decision to keep quiet about my colorblindness had already come and gone. “Once I was old enough to realize there was something different in the way I saw things, I’m the one who made it a secret.”
I remembered the exact moment all my friends in elementary school commented on my mismatched outfit. When I’d left that morning, I’d seen something entirely different. Regardless of what my mom told me that night about being unique and special, I felt like a freak.
“What about your art, though? You took all those classes in high school. You were always drawing, or coloring, or painting something.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I painted my way. I drew my way, and when I was criticized for it, I stopped.” Except for when I painted Wes, but those pieces were not anything I thought I’d ever share.
“What the hell?” August said rubbing his hand down his face. “I can’t believe I never realized.”
“August,” I said not wanting him to feel bad about it, “you had so much going on in your life. You had Ella so young, and then you grew up faster than any teenager should. I wouldn’t have expected you to notice. In fact, it made it easier for me to fade into the background.”
“Why, though? Why would you want that? You deserve to stand out,” he said.
“If no one noticed me, no one would figure it out. I liked hiding away, but I wasn’t ever fulfilled.”
“That’s crazy,” August said watching me closely. “So, why now? Why tell us now about this?”
I looked over at Wes, who was now engaged in an arm wrestling match with Jordan on one of the storage bins we were packing supplies into. “I’ve had some help in seeing that there isn’t anything wrong with me.” I looked back at my brother who hadn’t missed the direction of my stare. “And that I can still practice art like I’ve always dreamed of.”
“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with you.” August released Kensie and pulled me into a hug. “I’m glad you’ve found someone who believes in you that much,” he whispered causing my eyes to mist.
I pulled away and sighed. “So, who’s telling Lennon?”
“I just texted her. Your phone should be blowing up any minute.” Kensie smiled and stepped to me for her own hug. I saw Wes watching over her shoulder. He gave me a wink seeming to know exactly what was going on. Then he showed me his biceps.
I smacked my arm around on my nightstand with my eyes still closed.
“Who is it?” Capri’s sleepy and seriously sexy middle of the night voice rasped.