Hoax Read Free

boy. 
                 
                 

Abel
                  I got into my grand-dad’s old pickup after throwing some supplies and a ladder in the back and headed towards the Stephenson’s place.   Every summer my dad found a job for me that he thought would teach me a life lesson.  What life lesson could be learned from painting, scraping and sanding, I didn’t know.  But I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.  And I had three months to paint a house, a small barn, and a storage building.  And the barn? Give me a break.  I’d seen the Stephenson’s house before.  The only animals they had that even came close to needing a barn were guinea pigs.
                  I pulled up in the driveway, eager to get started.  After all, there was nothing else to do.  My friends’ idea of a good time during the summer was riding in shopping carts down the hills and putting paper bags of dog crap on peoples’ doors.  It was funny when we were twelve but now it was just a good way for me to spend the summer grounded and without a car.  So I used these jobs as an out from hanging out with them.  Even when I wasn’t working, I said I was.
                  I remembered that Phil mentioned a girl would be house-sitting for the summer.  I didn’t know who she was.  She certainly wasn’t any of the girls I knew if she had a job.  The girls I knew didn’t work on anything other than their nails, their tans and my nerves.  But she had to be old enough to stay by herself in a house.  So I must know her. 
                  I put the truck in park and got out to knock and introduce myself.  I didn’t really need to but my curiosity was getting the best of me.  I caught a glance of her coming out of the side door through my side mirror but then she rushed back inside and slammed the door.  It was too quick for me to get a good look at her.
                  I brought my fist up to knock on the door and before I knew it she opened the door.  They had lied to me.  This was no mere girl.  This was a—I don’t know.  But she sure as hell wasn’t a girl.  Woman? Young woman?  One thing I did know?  She was a fox.  Shiny sand colored hair, not curly exactly but not straight.  And she smelled like pears.  Shampoo? Perfume?  Hell, I didn’t care if she rubbed peeled pears behind her ears, it smelled like heaven to me. 
                  She looked me straight in the eyes when I introduced myself.  She had eyes the color of a chocolate bar, warm, shiny, melted chocolate.  And her blush?  I could imagine the heat of her pinked skin against my lips—and her lips against my lips. 
                  Abel, get a hold of yourself.
                  She said to let her know if she could help and I couldn’t help but chuckle.  What kind of girl offers to paint in one hundred degree weather?  Again, not any girl I know.  I shrugged it off as her simply being polite and went to get scrapers and sandpaper from the truck.  After leaning over the back for a few seconds I realized that I never heard the door shut.  So I glanced back and she was staring straight at me.  Her eyes widened the tiniest instant before she ducked her head and went back inside the house. 
                  Certainly a girl like that wasn’t checking me out.
                  I went out to the barn which looked like it hadn’t been used or painted in centuries.  And whoever painted it before didn’t do that great of a job.  I scraped old paint chips off of the window sills and eventually decided to pressure wash the entire thing to prep it for paint.  By the time I finished it was nearly one o’clock and I was starving.
                  I walked back towards my truck to drive into town for some lunch when the side door opened and caught my attention.  Corinne hopped down the stairs two