6. Allie #3
“C’mon, Willow. Let’s go home. We’ll drop you off on the way, Cam.” Leo sighs, heading toward the door. Darby waits for Willow to rise before following her and Cam out.
As she passes us, Willow bends down to hug Allie. “I’ll call you tomorrow so we can debrief. I love you.”
“Love you too,” Allie murmurs.
"Go to bed, Zander.” Mom nods toward the stairs. “We’ll talk in the morning. You two are going to clean all this shit up.” She glances between my brother and me with her you’ll listen to your mother expression as she circles her index finger, referencing the mess that’s been made of our home.
“Willow will be by bright and early to help you with that,” Darby sings as she shuts the door behind her.
Z exhales, clapping me on the back as he stands up. “Good luck, brother.” As he reaches the staircase, he glances back with a wink. “And congrats, you two.”
Unfortunately, I find myself looking at Allie’s parents just as the words leave his mouth. Macie’s nose scrunches and Dom stares blankly at the wall, like he’ll be suffering with some severe PTSD for a long while after this.
My mom drops down to the coffee table, facing Allie and me knee-to-knee. “Did you use protection?”
I nod as Allie says, “Condoms.”
“Was this the first time?” Macie asks.
“Yes,” I say.
All four of our parents are quiet for a moment, glancing amongst each other before my dad softly adds, “Do we need to talk about that? It’s kind of a big deal.”
Discussing my virginity with my parents sounds excruciatingly unpleasant. Doing so with her parents also present? Unbearable.
“Actually—” I begin before Allie cuts me off.
“Do you hate me?” She asks, and I follow her gaze to her father.
His eyes snap to hers as he registers the question, features drawing tight. “I’d never hate you, baby.”
“You won’t look at me.” Her voice is shallow—mousey. So small and sad. Nothing like the burst of light that’s become the North Star of my life.
I’m washed with guilt, realizing I may have stripped her of her innocence in her parents’ eyes, taken away the light they’ve always seen her in. That our actions could disappoint them in a way that upsets her.
I drop my mouth to her ear, and while I’m sure they can all still hear me, I whisper anyway, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Allie.” I squeeze her hand. “It’s okay.”
Dom is glaring at me, but he nods curtly. “He’s right. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s natural, and I know you’re at the age for me to be expecting this. I just didn’t want to see it, that’s all.” Eyes pinned on me, he adds, “I also don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I love her,” I shoot back defensively, skin bristling. “I’d never hurt her.”
“We know,” Mom says calmly, gently placing a hand on my knee. “But the distance…” Her eyes dart between Allie and me. “Are you two…dating? Or…”
Allie glances at me, swallowing. “Doesn’t really make sense to call it that, huh?”
“We—I—don’t want to be with anyone else, though,” I say softly.
Her eyes soften. “Me neither.”
“This sounds like a recipe for heartbreak,” Macie murmurs.
Allie narrows her gaze at her mother. “Well, we didn’t exactly ask for any outside opinions. In fact, we wouldn’t have told you at all if Dad hadn’t…” Her nostrils flare. “Spare us the lecture.”
“We didn’t really have the chance to talk through a lot of this,” I admit, scratching my jaw. “So, maybe you all could give us a moment?”
Dom tilts his head. “Oh? You decided to have sex without talking through potential consequences of your actions first? Almost sounds like maybe you weren’t ready to take that step, huh?”
“Dad, please,” Allie scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You’re annoying me now. We were horny, okay? We had sex. It was great. Spectacular, actually. Ten out of ten, would sit on it again.”
My face is on fucking fire.
“Allie,” her mother growls, as my mom drops her face into her hands and my dad pinches the bridge of his nose.
“And you know what else?” she continues.
“I’m sad every time I leave Pacific Shores because I never want to leave Archer.
Whether he’s my best friend, or my boyfriend, or the keeper of my virtue, it doesn’t matter.
It always hurts. So unless you want to pack up and move, I’m not going to be happy in L.A.
, okay? The least you could do is let me be happy when I’m here. ”
All I can do is kiss the side of her head, and she hides her face in my chest, nuzzling against me.
Dom watches with resigned acceptance, nodding only once before whispering, “We’ll wait outside for you.”
He guides Macie toward the door, and they say a quiet goodbye to my parents before leaving. My mom pats my knee before standing and leading my dad into their bedroom. The minute the door clicks shut behind them, I kiss Allie’s head again.
“You okay?”
She shrugs. “I felt so confident earlier, and now it’s like everyone is disappointed in us, like we did something terrible and wrong.”
I shake my head, cupping her face and tilting it toward mine. “I don’t think we did. It felt right, didn’t it?”
She nods, eyes falling shut as I softly kiss her nose.
“That’s all that matters. How we feel about it. I won’t speak for you, but I feel like it was the best night of my goddamn life.”
“Really?” Allie’s espresso eyes blaze up at me through her long lashes.
I dissolve beneath their enchantment. “Yeah, Allie Cat. You’re the girl of my dreams.”
Her body seems to tremble with the weight of my words, and a smile spreads across her beautiful face as she straightens her spine and aligns her mouth with mine, kissing me softly.
“I’m happy it was you,” she whispers.
“Me too.”
I stand, holding her hand as I lead her out of the house and walk her down the driveway to her parents’ car. I kiss her again in front of the headlights, uncaring if they’re watching from inside. I’m not ready to say goodbye.
I’m never ready to say goodbye to Allie, but sometimes it feels as if that’s all we ever do.
“I really do love you,” I vow against her temple as I pull her into me.
“I really love you too.”
It takes all my strength to let her go, but I do, calling out as she steps toward the car, “I’ve got a game in Long Beach in a few weeks. Maybe you could come watch?”
She nods, unshed tears glistening in her eyes as she offers me a wistful smile. “I’ll see you soon.”