28. Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Eight
Tyler
“You know Dad expects you to come home for break,” Maddy says as she loads her bags into the trunk of my car.
“I know.” He also expects Seth to break up with me. “I don’t care what he expects. I’m not a little kid and he doesn’t get to decide. Besides, I have a date.”
“Ooh with Seth?” Maddy’s eyes practically light up. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. All he said is he wanted to take me for a date before he goes home to visit his parents.”
“Fine, I’ll bug him for details later.” With that, Maddy opens the passenger door and climbs in. I shake my head and get in the car. She’s probably right that Father expects me to go home for the holidays. I know it’ll likely start an argument, but I don’t see the point of going home if he’s going to go behind my back to tell my boyfriend to break up with me. Fuck , that still sounds weird. I have a boyfriend, and now that finals are over, I can’t wait to spend some time with him. Maddy hums along with the radio while I drive.
“We still on for shopping?” she asks as we pull into the driveway.
The question makes me pause. “Yeah. I’ll, uh, pick you up Monday and we can hit a few stores.” It’s probably a good thing Maddy brought it up. I would’ve forgotten, but I probably should buy a gift for Seth.
“Sounds good. You sticking around for dinner?” she asks as I help unload her bags.
“Nah, just helping with your stuff.”
We run into Taylor on the way to Maddy’s room. “Hey you two. Ty, are your bags still in the car? I’ll help with these if you want to go grab yours.” She moves to take Maddy’s bags from me and I shift out of the way.
“I’ve got it, besides this is it. I’m not staying, just helping Maddy.”
Taylor’s eyes go wide before she catches herself. “Well, alright. I hope we’ll see you for Christmas dinner still.”
“Of course,” I answer, giving Taylor a quick hug. As far as stepmoms go, she’s pretty cool, and it’s not her fault Dad is being a dick. “See ya.” I’m out the door again before I can run into anyone else. Pulling out my phone along the way, I send a quick message to Seth.
Me: Heading back to campus now, once I get there, I’m all yours.
I’ve had enough of this waiting and sneaking around. Not that we were ever that great at it, but now that the semester is over, there’s no reason for us to hide our relationship. Which means I have a bunch of terrible ideas floating around in my head that range from typical holding hands and kissing stuff to full on indecent exposure and letting Seth fuck me over the library study table. Probably best if we skip that fantasy.
My phone chimes with a message as I’m driving, but I ignore it, keeping my eyes on the road. It’s not until I pull into student parking and put the car in park that I get a chance to read his response.
Seth: Meet you there. I’ll be in the parking lot.
My eyes look up from my phone and sure enough, it’s easy to spot Seth nearby, walking in my direction. “What’s the plan?” I ask. “I mean, shouldn’t I get a chance to plan a date? This makes two for you,” I tease.
“The other didn’t count,” Seth tells me with a smirk. “We weren’t actually dating at the time. Anyway, I was thinking we could hit up this winter square thing.”
“You want to take me to the holiday square?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yeah, unless that feels too high school.”
“No, it’s cool. Just wasn’t expecting that. Sounds fun. I haven’t gone in years.”
“Great, let’s take my car.” Seth walks further in the parking lot to his beat-up truck, but I grab his wrist before he can open the door.
“Wait, I just want to do one thing first.” With that, I press my lips to his and pin him against the driver’s side door as we kiss. Seth’s hands go to my hips, holding me in place as we make out.
“Damn,” he says under his breath as we pull apart. “Keep that up, and I won’t want to bother with the date.”
“Just giving you a taste of what you have to look forward to when the date’s over,” I tell him.
We pile into his car and Seth talks, easing my mood from the anxiety of the situation with my dad. “All but one of my professors posted grades. I’ve got two Bs and a C.”
“I’m still waiting on my Bio teacher. I got a solid B in my history class though and an A in music appreciation.” I look out the window, taking in the different decorations people have up for Christmas. It’s not quite dark enough, but some people already have their lights on. It’s a nice change of pace to focus on things like holidays and Christmas lights. Seth parks near the frozen ice rink and kills the engine, before he turns in his chair to look at me.
“Well? Come on, we didn’t come all this way just to look at it. Let’s go check it out.” He reaches over to unbuckle my seat belt, and I let him. My dick tries to get excited, but it’s already freezing outside. Seth walks next to me and when an idea pops in my head, I just go for it, sliding my hand into his and lacing our fingers together. He looks over at me with a soft smile. “What do you want to check out first?”
There’s an area with vendor booths, a few arts and crafts stations for young kids, a booth where we can vote for the best Christmas decorations, and an ice-skating rink. “I wanna try ice skating,” I answer. “Then we can grab hot chocolate or something to warm up afterward.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Seth tightens his grip on my hand, leading me over to the ice rink, and we line up behind the families there with their young children. A few of the moms give us weird looks as their eyes focus in on our intertwined fingers. “Hey, focus on me,” Seth tells me. “Don’t bother with wondering what other people think. Just enjoy being on a date with me.” He lifts our shared hands to his face, looking into my eyes as he presses a kiss to the back of my hand.
Butterflies. My gut is fucking jumpy at how sappy Seth is being right now. “Come on,” I pull my hand from his and shove his shoulder playfully. The line moves and we’re almost at the front. “Bet I can skate faster than you.” The words leave my lips almost without a thought. Falling into the old familiar routine of one upping each other.
“You’re so on,” Seth says with a grin. “What do I get when I win?”
“Loser buys drinks afterward?” I offer. It’s been years since I’ve skated and I’m not as confident as I’m pretending to be.
“Sure.” The family in front of us finishes up and Seth turns to the attendant with skate rentals. “Two,” he says. We lace up our skates and my legs wobble as I stand up on the ice. “You sure you want to race?” Seth asks as he smoothly stands in a far more graceful manner.
“I got this. Just need a warmup lap,” I say. Pushing my legs, I glide across the ice, getting my footing as I complete my first lap. Seth easily keeps pace, matching my stride. “Ready?” I ask as we pass the attendant.
“Go,” he says.
We break into a sprint, pumping our legs as we speed down the straightaway portion of the frozen lake. Seth passes me, and I push myself harder. Even if losing just means I have to buy him hot chocolate, I’m not about to give up. My skates catch something, and I fumble, landing with a heavy thump on my knees. It’s all I can do not to cuss as Seth notices and skates back to where I’m sitting. “You okay?” he asks.
“Fine,” I say as I take Seth’s outstretched hand for him to help me up. “My knee just hurts a little.”
He helps me over to the bench we sat on to get our skates laced and helps me sit. “It’s nothing really,” I protest as Seth sinks to the snow on his knees. He pulls my injured leg up and undoes the skate, sliding his hands up the leg of my jeans. The fabric is too tight for him to get to my knee. “Seth, stop. I’m fine. It’s okay. It was just a fall.” I place my hand on Seth’s shoulder, pushing him back slightly and he looks up at me.
I’m not worrying about my knee anymore as I look into his warm amber eyes. I’m thinking about what he could be doing while he’s down on his knees like this. From the way he bites his lower lip, I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing. “I’ll go switch out our skates and get our shoes. You stay put.”
I wait at the bench, looking at my now soaked jeans, wet from the fall. Seth’s pants aren’t any better with how he kneeled in the snow. “Did I ruin the date?” I ask when he gets closer enough. “We can’t stay outside for long in wet clothes.”
“Nothing is ruined. It just means a change of plans. Come on, let’s get to the car. I know somewhere we can dry off and change into clean clothes.”