A Day at the Park
"Ew."
Georgie Jones looked at her sister and Kyle Radcliffe making out under a tree. When she and Maxie had convinced Mac to let them spend the day at the park, get some fresh air, she did not expect Kyle and his butthead friends to be waiting for them by the basketball courts. Then again, maybe she had given Maxie too much credit. Maxie probably had this whole thing planned.
Georgie picked up her book and tried to ignore her sister and Kyle.
"Psst…"
Georgie turned her head at the sound, but she was no one there.
"Up here."
She looked up and saw a blonde head pop out of the tree she was sitting under.
Dillon Quatermaine dropped out of the branches with a grin on his face. He placed himself next to her and glanced at her book cover.
"It's summer," he said.
"So?" said Georgie.
"No one actually reads during the summer," he said.
"Well, I do." Georgie opened her book back up.
Dillon grabbed it out of her hands. "Not today." He stood up, slipping the paperback in his back pocket.
"Hey!" Georgie got on her feet, reaching behind him to retrieve her book. "Give it back!"
Dillon moved out of her way. "I didn't hear you say please," he said with a smirk.
Georgie stopped and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You are so annoying."
"It's what I do best," he said. The smirk was still there. "Let's go have some real fun."
Georgie raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry," Dillon said. "It's nothing illegal."
"Sure, to you," she said.
Dillon chuckled. "I promise you, nothing illegal."
Georgie looked over Dillon's shoulder at Maxie. "I don't know---"
Dillon turned and sighed. "What? Are you babysitting or something?"
"No," Georgie said with a frown.
"Then, what are you worried about?" Dillon moved closer to her. "I won't tell if you won't."
Georgie tilted her head to one side. "Okay, let's go."
"Great!" Dillon put his hands together. "I saw this really nice motorcycle in the parking lot---"
"Dillon!"
He looked at her with a smile. "Kidding."
**
"Vanilla?" Dillon shook his head and paid the vendor for the two ice cream cones. "Live a little, Georgie. Try something like Chocolate Chip Mint, or Raspberry Almond Pecan, or my personal favorite, Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow."
Georige made a face of disgust. "I don't want my teeth rotting away before I get my driver's license."
Dillon licked the chocolate ice cream off his cone. "Suit yourself." He looked at Georgie as she started to giggle. "What?"
She pointed to her noise, amused to see the dab of ice cream on the tip of Dillon's nose.
Dillon rubbed his nose with a napkin. "Thanks."
"So, this is what you had in mind for a fun time?" Georgie said. "Ice cream?"
"Well, we could have mugged the vendor---"
Georgie glared at him.
"But, I promised you nothing illegal, right?" Dillon said. He laughed at her expression. "Really, Georgie, you have to learn how to take a joke."
"From you?" she said. "Half the time I don't even know if you're joking."
"I'll send you a memo the next time I'm about to then," he said.
"See?" Georgie said as they sat down on a bench. "That's what I mean. Was that a joke, or were you serious?"
"I guess you didn't get the memo then," Dillon said.
"Can we just eat our ice cream in silence please?" Georgie said, all of a sudden in a bad mood.
Dillon shrugged and leaned his back against the bench. Today was a going to be quite interesting.
**
"Hey, mister." A boy about seven or eight approached Dillon as he and Georgie walked past the playground. "Can you help me find my ball?"
Dillon knelt down beside him. "Sure. What did it look like?"
"It was round," the boy said.
Dillon and Georgie shared a smile.
"What else?" Georgie asked.
"Um, it was red," the boy said. "It had stars on it."
Dillon pointed to a row of bushes. "Like that one?"
They turned to see a red ball with white stars hidden under the bushes.
"Thanks, mister!" The boy ran to his toy, glad to have it back.
"You're such a sweetheart," Georgie said.
Dillon stood back up and smiled. "What can I say? It's in my nature."
"Well, I guess you didn't get my memo then," Georgie said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dillon asked. He laughed, finally understanding. "Wow, Georgie, I guess you do have a sense of humor."
**
"Let's go to the docks," Dillon said.
"I can't leave the park," Georgie said.
They sat under the gazebo and watched the people in the park.
"You're not going to get in trouble," Dillon said.
"I don't want to just disappear," said Georgie.
"Wouldn't that be cool?" Dillon asked.
"What?"
He looked at Georgie. "If we could just disappear."
"I feel like I'm already invisible," she said.
"Yeah, same here," he said softly.
They went back to watching the people around them.
"See that man reading the newspaper?" Dillon asked.
Georgie followed his eyes. "Yeah?"
"He's waiting for his mistress," he said. "They've been hot and heavy for almost a year and today he's going to tell her that he's leaving his wife for her."
Georgie smiled. "See that couple holding hands, by the drinking fountain?"
Dillon nodded.
"What she doesn't know is that he's waiting for the right moment to ask her to marry her," she said.
They laughed at their imagination.
"What about us?" Dillon said. "What's our story?"
Georgie thought about it and said, "The poor little rich boy---"
"And the poor little girl who doesn't get enough attention," Dillon finished.
"Sounds about right," Georgie said.
**
"I should be heading back to Maxie," Georgie said. "It's getting late."
Dillon checked his watch. "It's still early."
"Mac's going to be worried," she said. "I don't want to be anymore trouble this summer."
Dillon shrugged. "Alright, but you have to tell me one thing."
"What's that?"
"Did you have fun today or what?" he said.
Georgie liked the sparkle she saw in his eyes. She wondered is she was the cause of it. "Yeah, I did."
"And we didn't break any laws," Dillon said. "See, I kept my promise."
"You're such a sweetheart," she said.
Dillon smiled.
She put her hand on the side of his neck, gently touching his skin. "And I mean it. No memo this time." She pulled her hand away. "See you later, Dillon."
Dillon watched her walk away from the gazebo before realizing he still had her book in his back pocket. He pulled it out and ran after her.
"Georgie!"
She stopped and turned back to him.
He handed her back the book. Their fingers touched as she grabbed the book from his hand.
"Thanks," Georgie said blushing.
**
"Where were you?" Maxie came storming up to her younger sister. "Mac's here."
"I was around," Georgie said. "What happened to Kyle?"
"Shh…" Maxie turned to look if Mac was nearby. "He left already."
Just then, Mac approached them. "You girls have fun today?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks for letting us out of the house," Maxie said. "I caught up on a lot of reading."
Georgie rolled her eyes at her sister's innocent act.
"Let's get some ice cream," Mac said. "My treat."
They went to the ice cream vendor near the park's entrance.
"We'll have one strawberry, one chocolate chip, and one vanilla please," Mac said opening up his wallet.
"Wait," Georgie said. "I don't want vanilla."
"Well, what do you want?" Mac asked.
Someone caught Georgie's attention from behind Mac and Maxie. She saw Dillon waving at her with a smile as he left the park. She smiled back at him before answering Mac.
"Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow," she said.
END
