Chapter 13
“I missed you,” I say as I get into Kai's car.
He leans in and kisses me on the lips, and my stomach flutters with butterflies.
“I missed you too.”
We drive to our usual spot in the park. It’s becoming a nightly ritual for us. Although, we should probably stop since it’s affecting both of our sleep.
There is an electric pull that keeps pulling me toward him. Every day, I tell myself we have to stop sneaking around, but then I get a text from him, and I can’t help but repeat the cycle.
Every. Single. Time.
I know sneaking out is wrong and I shouldn’t do it. But how else are we going to spend time together? Nighttime is the only time that works with school and Kai’s work schedule.
The night sky twinkles with stars. The moon casts a soft glow of light around us.
We cuddle up against each other, the same way we do every night.
What would it be like if we could do this every night without having to sneak out?
Go to bed every night with each other and wake up with each other every morning. Married people are lucky to have this.
Kai yawns.
“Are you tired?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you take a nap, and I’ll wake you up when we have to go?”
“Won’t you be bored?”
“As long as I’m in your arms, I’ll be fine.”
“Talk to me, and I’ll stay up.” He places one arm behind his head as a headrest.
I swallow the lump in my throat and ask what I’ve been dying to know. I hope it doesn’t sound too immature of me to ask this. Do older people still ask each other to be boyfriend/girlfriend?
“So, are we, like, official?”
He lifts his head and looks down at me.
I gaze into his eyes, waiting for the answer.
“You’ve been mine the second I laid eyes on you.”
I look at him wide-eyed. “What does that mean?”
“I knew we were going to be together when I first saw you.”
I turn onto my stomach and rest my body on my arms. “What! How could you have possibly known that?”
“I just know these things.” He chuckles.
“Uh huh, sure.”
“It’s true.”
“Sure, sure” I say, fluttering my eyelashes at him.
He reaches down and starts tickling me, making me kick my legs back and forth.
“You know I’m telling the truth.”
“Stop,” I say between each burst of laughter.
“Then admit it.”
“Fine. I was yours the minute you saw me,” I say through my laughter. He stops tickling me. My chest rises and falls, trying to catch my breath. “You still didn’t answer the question.”
He shifts to his side, and I do the same. We lock eyes.
With a slight smile, he asks, “Blakely, will you be my girlfriend?”
My lips widen from ear to ear, making it hard for me to form any words.
All I do is nod.
“Yes or no?” he beckons.
“Yes,” I whisper, and he pulls me into a kiss.
My whole body feels light and content. It’s as if nothing in the world can change how I feel right now.
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest. His arms make me feel so safe.
Safer than I’ve ever felt before. Like nothing in this world can tear us apart.
“You kids need to wake up.” I squint through a light flashing my way. “Wake up,” another man says.
Kai jerks back and looks up at the light. “What the fuck?”
“What the fuck is right. What are you kids doing out here so late?”
A sense of fear creeps in.
Shit.
It’s the cops.
All I can think about is my mom.
She’s going to kill me. Ugh. Maybe they will let us go. We were just sleeping; we weren’t doing anything wrong.
Kai reaches down and hands me my shoes. “What do you guys want?”
“We ask the questions around here.”
We’re both standing now. Kai is almost the same height as these men. I feel small. Smaller than I’ve ever felt before.
“What are you guys doing out so late?” the officer standing closest to me asks. He doesn’t look so mean. More worried than mean.
“We were hanging out. We must have fallen asleep and lost track of time,” Kai says.
“It’s three in the morning. Do your parents know you’re out here?”
“Yeah, they do. Like I said, we were hanging out. They probably fell asleep, thinking we had already come home. I should take her home. Thanks for waking us up.” Kai grabs my hand and takes a few steps away from the cops.
One officer puts a hand in the way of our path. “No. That’s not how this works.”
“Miss, do you know this guy?" he asks as creases pop up on his forehead.
My brows furrow. I’m honestly confused by his question.
“Yes,” I mumble.
“And do your parents know you’re out?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Yes,” I say, although it’s probably less confident than necessary.
“I’m going to need both of your names and date of birth.”
We watch as one officer writes our information down on a pocket-sized notepad and walks to his car. I’m assuming he’s going to look us up. Can they even find information on minors?
“What were you guys doing?” the officer asks again, this time staring right at me.
I’m trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
It’s a worse feeling to get caught by cops when you’re sober.
I was nervous the first time when we ran from the cops, but now that they’re right in front of my face, questioning us like we murdered someone, it’s hard to contain my anxiety.
“I already told you. We were hanging out and—”
“I’m asking her,” the cop says, cutting off Kai.
“He’s telling you the truth. We were hanging out and must have fallen asleep.”
“Your parents haven’t called you?”
We both pull our phones out and act as if they should have. Both of us nod our heads.
“Since you kids are underage, we’re going to have to call your parents,” the cop who ran our names says.
A sense of uneasiness settles over me.
My mom is going to kill me.
A cold sweat breaks out all over my body the second I see my mom’s headlights pull up next to the cop car. Only one cop stayed with us, the others left.
My mom rushes toward us with a worried look on her face.
“What’s going on?” she asks, throwing her hands up in the air as she looks from me to Kai to the cop.
“Is this your daughter?” the cop asks.
“Yes.”
“And you know this boy right here?” he asks, pointing to Kai.
“Yes.”
“We found the two of them sleeping on the grass,” the cop says. “Since they’re underage, we had to call their guardians.”
Another set of headlights appears from a distance as a car parks. All of us glance toward Kevin as he gets out of the car.
“Hey, Kai, what’s going on?” he asks. Only this time, he doesn’t seem as worried and shocked as my mom. Kai told the cops that Kevin was his guardian. Luckily for Kai, I doubt Kevin is going to say much to him.
My mom looks at me with a stern jaw. “How did you two get together tonight? You didn’t tell me you were going out. When did you leave? Did you sneak out?” my mom asks one question after the other, her voice shaking.
Kevin is now standing next to Kai, waiting for my answer.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” my mom asks sternly.
“I snuck out,” I say, breaking eye contact with her and staring down at my feet.
“Why? So you can see Kai? You see each other during the day. Isn’t that enough?”
I slump over.
My mom turns to Kai. “Kai, this is not the kind of person I want my daughter to be around. I didn’t think you were like this.”
Kevin sits there with a smirk on his face, waiting for Kai to answer.
“Sorry Ma’am. We just wanted to see each other, and we fell asleep.”
“Sir, are you his guardian?” the cop asks Kevin.
“Yes, I am.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty. I’ll be twenty-one next month,” he says, crossing both his arms.
At this moment, I envy Kai so much more.
“I assume you guys can take it from here.”
“Yes. Thank you, Officer,” my mom says.
"Thanks, Officer,” Kevin says.
He nods his head and walks away.
What an asshole. He gets us in trouble and then leaves. Was that his mission, to find underage kids to get them in trouble? They could have just let us leave without causing all of this.
“We need to talk alone,” my mom grits out, and I tremble. I haven’t seen her this mad in…maybe forever.
I turn to Kai and hug him. The look on both of our faces says more than words can say. We don’t want to part ways. We can tell this is going to make it harder for us to spend time together.
My mom waits for Kevin and Kai to get into their car. “What the hell were you thinking, Blakely?”
“I wasn’t,” I admit, slowly letting my tears start to fall.
“You’re right. You weren’t.”
I glance over to the parking lot, watching Kai and Kevin drive away.
“Look at me,” Mom says, and I do.
“This is not fair. I should not be woken up by a cop saying they have my daughter. Do you know how awful that felt? My whole heart dropped. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I had to drag your sister out of bed just to come pick you up. And do you know what happened the second she saw the cops?” She pauses for my answer but I don’t reply. “She started crying and asked if you were going to jail.”
My stomach spins. I never even thought about what Brynlee would think.
I’m so damn selfish.
“What did you tell Brynlee?”
“I didn’t have time to explain anything to your sister. I told her everything was okay and came here as quickly as I could.” We walk toward the car. No one else is in sight but us. I look back at the spot I’ve come to love, feeling some kind of comfort. It’s still mine and Kai's spot.
“You’re grounded. Give me your phone.”
With trembling hands, I do as she says.
There’s no other option.