“I know, I know, Em,” she sighed. “We’re kinda stuck in this awkward limbo thing right now. I’m just a little scared. Like, what if I kiss him and he freaks out for whatever reason or I freak out after… There’s no going back after that. We can’t all have perfect beach make out sessions with rainbows and butterflies, you know,” she finished jokingly.
“No, we can’t,” I laughed. “But seriously, you guys seem to have reconnected really well. Things are evidently very different, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy with each other like before. That doesn’t mean there’s no passion left or that you won’t have amazing kisses.”
“I know,” she said quietly. I knew she knew. She was still terrified – my words couldn’t take that fear away. I needed to stop acting like a fearless expert because of one kiss that I’d somehow grown the balls to make happen.
I toyed with the envelope, deciding on whether or not to rip it open.
“It’s the warmth I miss the most,” she said suddenly, “Like when he held my hand or when he put his arm around me. The comfort was so reassuring… whenever we walked together or sat together I felt like he was always there, and forever would be, you know? Yeah all the physical stuff was nice too but, the feeling of just having him there… it’s almost indescribable how amazing it was.”
I marveled at the idea of having Fox wrap his arm around me; of being able to call him mine. At times I did feel his warmth, like Lily had described. I definitely felt it in that kiss and I definitely dying for more of it.
I tore the en
velope open, pulling the papers out and unfolding the crisp white letter that was stamped with the Northeastern seal and littered with orderly typed words.
I screamed and dropped the phone.
“Emery? Emery, what’s wrong? What happened?” Lily was frantically asked when I found the phone under the dining room table and picked it back up.
“I got in!”
“What?”
“Northeastern. I got in,” I breathed, reading the letter again to make sure I had read correctly.
“OH MY GOD, congratulations smartie!” Lily laughed, “Way to scare the shit out of me.”
“Sorry,” I laughed, ready to scream all over again. “Have you gotten any letters yet?”
“Uh, yeah, actually,” she said, “I got UCON.”
“What? And you didn’t tell me?” I shrieked, “Holy cow, Lily! You’re so taking me to the basketball games.”
“For sure,” she agreed, “And you’re so taking me to Boston. Just ‘cause.”
“But of course.”
“You know what we need to do, right?” she asked.
“What?”
“Celebrate.”
“Okay, I’m down,” I smiled, placing the coveted letter on the kitchen table for my parents to see when they got home. I jotted down a quick note saying I was with friends and let it bask in Northeastern glory.
“I’ll call our boys,” she giggled. “We’ll be there in like ten minutes tops. I saw Fox’s car in Nick’s driveway.”
Call our boys…
“’Kay,” I said, looking down at my attire and dashing to my room to change.
***
Where are we going?
“Where are we going?” Lily asked, sticking her head between the driver and passenger seats to ask the boys.
“Patience is a virtue, Lily,” Fox smirked, looking into the rearview mirror and catching me staring at him. I held his gaze.
“And I’ve accepted that I don’t have it,” she laughed.
“We’re almost there,” Nick informed her, and she reluctantly settled back in her seat next to me.
We finally came to a grassy section of town and parked on a hill that overlooked the city. With the sun going down it was a scene straight out of a movie.
“Ladies,” Fox said, spreading a blanket on the grass that he’d gotten from his trunk. The very same one that he’d had at the beach.
“We brought champagne,” Nick said devilishly, pulling out the bottle and four glasses. “Nonalcoholic, of course, because it’d be unfair to Fox,” he added. We all laughed and held out our half full glasses of sparkling cider.
“To getting into college,” Nick said, holding up his glass.
“And to staying in it,” Fox added.
We all chuckled.
“To leaving high school,” I groaned, “finally.”
“To remaining friends,” Lily said solemnly.
“Cheers!” everyone said in unison before clanking our glasses and chugging our drinks.
“That’s disgusting,” I coughed. Everyone made gross faces in agreement.
“So Emery’s going to Boston, huh?” Nick spoke randomly, tossing the drink into the grass.
“Lily didn’t tell you?” I asked.
The boys shook their heads.
“Don’t tell me you got into Harvard,” Fox smirked.
“Northeastern,” I shrugged, “not as prestigious, but it’s pretty up there.”
Nick and Fox clapped and I covered my face shyly.
“What a coincidence,” Nick said, “Fox got accepted there, too.”
“Nuh uh.”
“What?” Fox interjected, “You didn’t expect me to get in?”
“No, I mean, that’s great,” I smiled. “Of course you got in; what’re you going for?”
“Engineering,” he said straight away, “Maybe minoring in music.”
“Sweet,” Lily nodded.
“How ‘bout you, Ms. UCON?” I asked her.
“Pediatrics,” she said instantly.
“Nick?” I inquired, moving down the line.
“I’m thinking business,” he said, “what about you, Ms. Price?”
I paused, thinking of an answer. “I really don’t know, actually…” I admitted.
“What?” Fox gasped dramatically, “Emery doesn’t have a plan?”
I smacked his arm. “I don’t wanna limit myself just yet.”
Fox smirked, shaking his head. “You just have a hard time figuring out what you want.”
We silently watched as Nick took Lily’s hand and lead her down the bike path surrounded by willow trees on either side. How romantic.
“You wanna go follow them?” Fox asked mischievously. He had a sly grin on his face that probably mirrored my own.
I nodded and we silently stalked after them. About a quarter of a mile down the sinuous, lightly lit path there came a clearing with scattered benches and a small, man-made pond. By the pond there was a gazebo in which Nick and Lily stood. Fox and I squeezed together behind a tree and peeked over at them.
“…with me?” I heard Nick ask faintly as I tried to listen in.
Lily only nodded and grinned. I gasped as Nick closed in on her, cupping her cheeks; even more so when he finally kissed her and she responded readily in anticipation.
Fox turned me around so I was pressed against the tree and away from them. He placed a hand over my mouth.
“Shhh,” he whisper-laughed. “You suck at eavesdropping, you know that?”
I nodded, giggling and peeking at my two friends again. They were still enveloped in their kiss, in their little gazebo world. I wanted to run and get the rest of the nasty non-alcoholic champagne.
“Finally,” I whispered, looking over at Fox.
“I know, right?” he agreed, taking my hand and pulling me back toward the car and the blanket. I relished at the warmth his hand emitted.
“Why are we leaving?” I asked.
“Because if they suddenly decide to come back they’ll expect us to be on the blanket, not behind that tree watching them,” he explained.
“Oh, right. Stupid question.”
He stopped and looked at me. “It wasn’t stupid,” he said, stepping closer to me.
“No?” I asked, cocking my head and looking up into his dreamy eyes.
He shook his head, keeping our fingers intertwined but placing his other hand on my hip. I was hoping for a kiss
. I was prepared for a kiss. I was ready to beg for one if it didn’t come.
Boy did it come, though.
The feel of his lips was familiar, yet completely different. For one they were warm, despite the dropping evening temperature. They applied a different kind of pressure to mine this time – not light and feathery as the Christmas and beach kisses started out. This one began where the beach kiss ended. I placed my hands on his upper arms and slid them to his chest as his warm tongue found mine. My hands slid up to his neck and he wrapped his arm around my waist as we quickly rid the space between our bodies. I reveled at the warmth of being wrapped up in him, of feeling his lips on mine, of his minty taste and lovely smell.
“Woooooo!” two all too familiar voices cheered from further back down the path.
Fox and I broke apart and I sheepishly buried my face in his chest before turning to spot Nick and Lily. Lily winked at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.
“Hey! We didn’t interrupt your kiss!” Fox called with a smirk evident in his voice.
That shut them up. It wasn’t long before we all burst out in sheepish laughter all over again, though.
***
Two weeks later I was trying to focus on Mrs. Sawyer’s lecture. Keyword: trying.
What I really had on my mind was Fox, and the fact that he was sitting right behind me. The past couple of days had been spent as usual – we still went to the center, we still visited Clara and played with Holly, we were still looking for Carlos, and of course, still enjoying getting each other riled up and arguing over everything. Only we had added stolen kisses into the mix. Whether it was doing inventory or driving me home, Fox kept finding ways to steal a couple of quick pecks or an extended kiss from me within the week. I couldn’t think of a day in the past week where we went without kissing at least once.
He was driving me and my hormones crazy – an obsessive kisser had been unleashed. He had invaded my mind even more than I thought possible.
Suddenly a folded piece of paper flew out from behind me and landed on my desk. I turned around slightly and shot Fox a confused glance – we rarely sent notes to each other.
I took the paper in my lap and focused on the notes I’d jotted down in my notebook while I worked to unfold his note beneath the desk.
Suddenly a hand appeared before my eyes making me jump in my chair.
Shit.
“Ms. Price?” Mrs. Sawyer asked with a light but demanding tone. I looked up at her, and from her gaze I could tell there was no way I could get out of this one.
I handed the paper over and bit my lip as a burning blush settled over my cheeks. I watched as her eyes scanned the contents of the note.
She finally looked back at me. “So? What do you have to say?”
I shrugged. “I’m sorry for not paying attention in class…?”
She smirked. “No, I mean in response, Ms. Price. To the note.”
“I haven’t read the note,” I admitted, now completely curious as to what Fox had written.
Mrs. Sawyer looked from me, then to Fox, and back several times. She finally cleared her throat and read, “‘Considering the past few weeks, there’s no doubt in my mind of your answer to this question. However, because you women like to have your freedoms of speech and of choice, I’m going to ask you and give you the option of saying either yes or no… Emery Price, will you do me the honor of being my prom date?’”
The whole class began to buzz and a chorus of ‘oooooh’s strung up. I placed my head in my hands to cover the enormous grin that had engulfed my face.
“So, Ms. Price, because the gentleman sitting behind you graciously gave you a choice,” Mrs. Sawyer said with a hint of humor in her voice, folding the piece of paper back up and placing it on my desk, “and because it’s safe to say the entire class is waiting for your answer… what’ll it be?”
“I think it’ll be a…” I started, nervously turning around. I faced Fox, who had taken on the lightest tinge of a blush himself, and stared into his seemingly unsure eyes.
“Yes,” I said, breaking out into a smile. I could’ve sworn I saw him exhale as everyone applauded and cheered. We grinned nervously at each other.
“Let this be a lesson to all you young gentleman; don’t wait until last minute to ask a girl to the promenade,” Mrs. Sawyer announced, “because ‘us women like to have our freedoms of speech and of choice’, as Mr. Evans so wonderfully worded it, and we have the option to turn you down.”
The entire broke out in laughter and I could’ve sworn I saw Mrs. Sawyer smile as she tried to settle everyone down and return to the lesson.
There was no way in hell I was ever going to focus.
Chapter 34
My cheeks hurt from the overwhelming amount of smiling I had been doing the past week. Despite the rumors going around that Fox and I had “done the dirty” in every possible way in every crevice of every hallway at school and he had taken it upon himself to ask me to prom, I could not, for the life of me, stop smiling.
For once, I didn’t really care about the fact that people were talking about me. All I could focus on was how happy I was with Fox in my life – with no longer having to hold back. We’d still banter and have our little teasing arguments for the sake of opposing one another’s opinion, which I loved. We’d still study and make sure we didn’t let “Senioritis” stop us from graduating. But the hormones were building up. I sensed it every time we kissed. The urge to just keep going and the need to never stop was consuming me.
It freaked me out.
You have to play at least a little hard to get, Emery! Lily’s scolding advice from earlier at lunch was stuck in my head as I walked around the RCC building and headed for the back entrance. It was a warm Friday afternoon and I was on the edge – anxious to see Fox.
When I entered the building, I was surprised to find I was the first to arrive. I stopped by Nina’s office to see how she was. She’d really blown up in the last few weeks and she seemed about ready to pop from both a mental and physical standpoint.
“Hey Nina,” I smiled, leaning on the doorframe of her office entrance. She looked up from her computer and smiled back, returning my greeting.
“How are you?”
“Same as yesterday,” she chuckled, returning to her typing. This was her usual response when I asked how she was doing. It really shut down my small talk efforts. Indirectly, she was saying she felt like shit. I was sure a huge part of her was excited for the baby, though; excited to see him and hold him, and have him off her bladder, for sure.
“Do you ever think about him?” I asked her, as if it was a part of our regular everyday conversation. By ‘him’ I assumed she knew who I meant. There weren’t that many ‘him’s available for reference. She was under the impression that I still didn’t know Carlos was the father.
“Emery we already had this dis–” she started.
White is for Virgins Page 35
