Chapter Twenty-Seven
“ D o you need to get home right away? Or do you wanna go down to the river or something?” he asked when the movie ended. My stomach clenched thinking about the last time I’d been at the river. I just shook my head.
“No, you don’t have to be home, or no, you don’t wanna go anywhere else?”
“Can we just pretend the river doesn’t exist for a while?”
“Okay? Am I allowed to take you canoeing on it? Or should I pretend we’re going bobsledding? I don’t know, that’s kind of an odd request.”
“You’re going to take me canoeing?”
“Yeah. I mean, not tonight, though we could go night canoeing sometime if you’re feeling adventurous.
I now know how much you enjoy rule-breaking,” he explained, raising an eyebrow.
“Tonight, I thought we could hang out. It doesn’t have to be at the river if Mother Nature has done something to offend you. ”
“We can hang out,” I affirmed, “just not there. Maybe at the park? I like the merry-go-round.”
“Are you nine?”
“Teen, yes.”
“Merry-go-round it is.”
He was incredibly agreeable that day, and a newly-cynical part of me hoped it wasn’t all some part of a master plan to get me to sleep with him. A convent was sounding more reasonable than having sex again. If I could decorate it.
Once we were back in his truck, Luke plugged in his phone to his stereo and tapped the screen until music filled the car.
I had braced myself for something about “making it rain,” but the tune that surrounded me was by the Backstreet Boys instead—this particular song was our sophomore homecoming theme, from what I could remember.
Almost immediately, some form of teasing began to fly out of my mouth, but thankfully, just as quickly, I realized the playlist was for me.
So, I shut up. At the first stoplight, I leaned over and kissed his cheek.
He then proceeded to sing along to every song that he’d compiled until we reached the park, and I felt very strongly that my eardrums could be ruptured.
“C’mon…put those muscles to good use and spin me on the merry-go-round,” I commanded, pulling my jacket more tightly around me. The rips in my jeans were suddenly very apparent as the breeze nipped my bare skin.
“Yeah, you know I’m not actually going on that thing, right? It was probably built in 1923; it’s a death trap,” Luke explained, meeting me around the side of the vehicle.
“Then why agree to come?” I asked, suddenly a bit more nervous about why we were in a dark parking lot.
“Because I was planning on making an ass out of myself at the river, but that is now forsaken ground, so I agreed to come here.”
“Why would you be making an ass out of yourself?”
“Because I’m going to ask you to dance to some ridiculous song, sung by a bunch of no-talent, sell-out mother—”
“You’re going to ask me to dance?”
“That was the plan, yeah.”
It was so odd to see him look at all vulnerable, though he honestly appeared more annoyed with the whole idea than anything. His green eyes remained in a half-rolled position, and he leaned against the tailgate with his arms crossed.
“Why—no, forget that. Just ask.”
“Can we dance to a really lame song?”
“What a lovely invitation, of course,” I replied with a straight face.
His body finally relaxed with the emergence of his more recognizable grin, and he popped open the passenger door to choose the soundtrack he wanted. The song “I Want It That Way” began to boom through his speakers, and he turned around smiling, very proud of his selection.
God he’s cute .
He held out his hand like fucking prince charming, and I couldn’t help the eye roll that made its way onto my face, though it was more contented than annoyed.
I curtseyed back and placed my hand in his.
Slowly, he pulled me towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck and tilted my chin up to meet his eyes.
Taking advantage of our proximity, Luke gave me a picture-perfect nose graze before kissing me.
It felt like, after this, there was no going back. We couldn’t blame this kiss on the heat of the moment, or an error in judgment, because the whole night was a fire we’d meant to light.
His hands grasped my ribcage under my jacket, and the kiss couldn’t have been more romantic if he’d take notes from Romeo himself.
“This should have been how homecoming went, by the way,” he murmured.
And with that? The lovely moment we were having evaporated into a cloud of you shouldn’t have said that . My hands dropped from his neck to my sides, and the spell was broken.
“Ah, what did I say?”
“Nothing,” I stated coldly and maybe a little passive-aggressively.
“V, I didn’t mean to bring up…I’m sorry.” He looked genuinely apologetic, making my hostility die down a little. It was just the stupid memory of my own stupid stupidity from that whole night. I’d just let Zack treat me like…
Stop thinking about it.
“Just…I can’t think about that right now. Your timing sucks.”
“Not the first time someone has told me that. I didn’t think…”
“Clearly. Whatever, it’s fine. It’s cold anyway, we should probably get going.”
“I totally lost all of my smoothie points for the dancing in the park, huh?”
A small smile returned to my face at that remark. “Not all of them.”
“Good to know.” He opened my door and lingered for a moment while I got in. “So, if you’re already mad at me, does that mean I get to listen to my own music on the way back to your place?”
“Not even the tiniest of possibilities.”
He chuckled and started the car, beginning the whole four-minute journey to my house. Despite his faux pas of mentioning homecoming, I didn’t mind when he reached for my hand.
“Can I walk you to the door?” he asked, seeming unsure of where my head was. I wasn’t entirely sure either.
“Of course. That’s part of the new chivalry thing you have going on, right?”
“Right.”
We sauntered up the front steps and stopped in front of the door, playing out a scene from every chick-flick ever produced.
“How mad at me are you? Should I be afraid to kiss you goodnight?”
“Mildly mad. And no.” The corner of his lips twitched upward before he kissed me squarely on the mouth.
“I am sorry. I wanted tonight to be…well, when you’re happy, I’m, I don’t know. It’s good when you’re happy.”
A sigh escaped me, taking with it most of my mild anger.
Hastily, I stood as tall on my toes as possible and kissed him back in earnest this time.
He still tasted vaguely of licorice, and that almost made me laugh.
He was playing with the ends of my hair while I traced a path down his ridiculously solid arms.
Is he seriously flexing right now? I wondered. Probably.
That kiss turned into many minutes, and I was starting to think we might have to relocate. Then the door opened with a creak and interrupted our goodnight.
“Good evening, Luke,” my mom greeted us dryly .
“Mrs. Roberts, lovely to see you. I was just on my way out. V, I’ll call you.”
“Mhm,” I agreed, humiliated by my mother’s spying.
Much to my surprise, though, she went back to her book on the couch without a lecture.
I scurried upstairs and tried to keep all of my relationship baggage at bay.
Instead, I focused on that kiss—the kind I could still feel tingling in my toes as I fell into my unmade bed and pulled the covers tightly around me.
V : You might have gained some smoothie points back. Thanks for tonight.
LUKE : Thank god. I thought I was going to have to come back with a boom box tomorrow and serenade you from under your window.
You’ve heard me sing, so I’m sure your neighbors thank you for this text :P.
I had fun tonight. Thanks for making me put candy in my pants. It was a new and liberating experience.
V : NO SINGING. You’re welcome. Goodnight.