Hope's Chance

by Jennifer Foor

  It didn’t matter though, because all I wanted to do was be with him. There were times after running around with Buffy that I would be in the same room as Chance and still miss him. It was something about him that just drew me in. There had been quite a few guys in my classes to ask me out, but none of them compared to my boyfriend. Sure, some of them were good looking, but none held a candle to Chance.

  Day after day, we would sneak passionate kisses in the yard behind bushes, or wherever we could. When my father would leave the house for meetings, we would spend the afternoon in the pool house. At least three nights a week, I would either sneak out to be able to sleep next to Chance, or he would sneak in to be with me. There were many times that we weren’t even intimate with each other; we just wanted the closeness. No matter what time of day it was, I was thinking of Chance Avery.

  When I turned eighteen, in one month, everyone would finally know our true feelings for one another. Most of them would assume I was too young to know what I wanted, and probably even feel the same way about Chances true intentions, but they would be wrong. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that our future held butterflies and rainbows, but I did know that Chance was as in love with me as I was him. We had never really had a sit down discussion about our marriage, but both of us mentioned how much we wanted to always be together.

  Today was no different from the rest. I had a math class in the morning and afterwards Buffy and I were going for our dress fittings. I was all too thrilled when she picked out a pink colored dress for me to wear during the ceremony. Even my father and Chance had to wear matching bow ties and vests. Chance thought it was hysterical, saying it was exactly how he envisioned Buffy’s big day. One day he teased me about wearing pink so much that I nudged him unexpectantly in the gut. After he finally stood back up from being hunched over, he promised to leave me alone about it.

  I don’t even know why I hated the color so much, but all I knew is that if I ever had a child, who happened to be a girl, she would not be wearing that color.

  When class was over, Buff and I headed out to the next town over to the dress shop. She hadn’t picked anything expensive, and I was getting to realize that she was always modest with her spending. Chance told me that she was an excellent money manager and never overspent for anything. He said that Hope had actually found our house behind my dad’s back. He had been looking at newer homes in normal communities, but for what they were asking, my father was able to get double the house and have an extra pool house attached.

  When I met her, I assumed she was this stereotypical blonde, hungry for my father’s money and someone to take care of her. After knowing her for a while now, I had found that it was the exact opposite. Buffy took care of my father. She cooked him gourmet meals and managed his finances and always made sure his clothes were in pristine condition. She entertained him, and filled him with laughter every time they were close to each other. Most of all, she was kind and loyal to him and to me. I appreciated her so much and I knew for a fact that she was the best friend I had ever had in my life.

  Buffy tried to stay out of mine and Chances relationship. It wasn’t because she wanted to, but because she didn’t want to be involved if my father ever found out.

  He and Chance started doing more together. At night, they would have a few beers and watch sport highlights on television. Some days when it was nice, my father would stop Chance from working on the house and take him golfing. I think Chance would have enjoyed it more if he wasn’t always having to look over his back for the idiot Trevor, every time he was at the Country Club.

  As he and my father continued to bond, we struggled with the certainty that my dad finding out about our relationship was not going to go over well. We had even had several arguments about that such topic.

  I hated fighting with him, but I knew that the closer it came to me being eighteen, the closer I was to possibly losing either my dad or my boyfriend.

  Both of those concepts were hard for me to bear.

  Chance

  Things had really changed in the last two months for me. Mark had been a completely different person. He not only included me in some of his outings with his friends, but he wanted us all to be a family more around the house. Hope and I both took advantage of the situation, knowing we could be together all of the time. The hardest things were not being able to touch each other. Some nights after dinner, we would sit around for hours shooting the shit. It was never that our conversations were boring, but it was hard knowing that we could be somewhere else alone.

  Hope was my girlfriend, no matter if we had to hide it or not. She knew how important she was to me and that was as good as things could be for the time being.

  The wedding was fast approaching and Buffy seemed to be freaking out on more of a daily basis. Her newest conquest was to have Hope involved with everything possible. Part of me was happy that they were so close, but I felt like she was keeping me away from alone time with Hope.

  Buffy made it her life mission to save money, so traveling to several towns away for something cheaper was always what she ended up doing. She would tote Hope around with her for the company and they wouldn’t get back until late in the evening.

  Mark didn’t seem to mind. Some days we would both take off early and go to the golf course, or sit around watching football and drinking beer. The subject of Hope and I never came up and I wasn’t even sure what I would say if it did.

  I still had no idea how we were going to confess to our relationship. Since we had been together for so many months now, it was harder than at first. Sometimes I regretted prolonging the inevitable.

  Hope seemed to be content with our situation. Sure, we both wanted to be able to be out in public without wondering who would see us, but we also appreciated the time we did get to spend together and it made it even better.

  She had adjusted well to her first semester of school and I made it a point to help her study whenever we got the opportunity. Mark encouraged it, so it was necessary that we did what he asked.

  We had about one more month of walking on eggshells and then we could come clean about our relationship. I had already registered for classes for the next semester and made sure to take as many classes with Hope as I could. I already had taken most of her normal classes, but we chose several that we could take together.

  I figured that Hope would complain about school, but she never seemed to struggle. My plan was that once she turned eighteen and college started back up after the New Year, we could come out of hiding our relationship and live together. I hadn’t really mentioned it to her yet, but I planned on doing it the next time we were alone.

  Again, everything depended on how her father took the news. At this point in our relationship, I knew that if he went off the deep end and kicked me out of the pool house, Hope would come with me wherever I went. I hated the idea of that, but the truth was Mark had told me to stay away from his daughter, after we had already been together.

  I hadn’t heard from Hope all morning, since she went out for her fitting with my sister. I had been out at the hardware store with Mark picking up some new windows for the front of the house. He and Buffy decided to replace them all at the same time.

  We rented a trailer and piled them all up on it to get them back to the house, then we had to return the trailer that same day or we would be charged for another day.

  I had been busy this morning and it kept my mind off of the little amount of time I had seen her this week. There was something that I needed to talk to her about before she heard it from my sister. I didn’t think it would be a big deal as long as Hope knew ahead of time.

  My sister had decided on the New Years Eve wedding knowing that all of her friends from back home would be off for the holiday and be able to make it. The only problem that I had with that was her one friend Susan.

  Susan had been a friend of my sisters ever since they were in kindergarten. She used to spend the night with us every weekend and she even went on family trips
. When I became a teenager and started noticing girls, she was the first crush I ever had. I used to try to sit close to her just to get a whiff of her shampooed hair. At first she thought of me as the creepy kid brother to her best friend, but as my body started to change, so did her opinion of me.

  One night after a football game, I tagged along with my sister to a party a senior was throwing. I didn’t know anyone except Buffy and Susan, and my sister was already up some guy’s ass as soon as we got there. Susan stayed back with me and fed me beer after beer. Finally, after a few hours, she asked if I wanted to go upstairs and lay down. I agreed and headed up there thinking she was just being nice, while my sister was being with herself.

  I was wrong.

  Susan threw herself on me, and I wanted it even more than she did. After that first time, we continued to sleep together until I left for college. We never were a couple, but when my sister finally found out she flipped. She didn’t talk to Susan for months, saying she deflowered her brother. It wasn’t like that, but Buffy never got over it. When I had gotten into all the trouble, Susan came back into our lives saying she knew I could never do something so horrible.

  Buffy begged me not to get involved with her, and honestly, I never wanted to, but Susan never stopped trying.

  I needed to tell Hope about it before Susan came to stay. Hope’s birthday was one day before the wedding and I couldn’t let something from my past ruin it. If Hope heard it from anyone else, she would think I was hiding something. Finding the time alone with Hope was becoming scarce and every time she was with Buffy, I feared she would find out.

  Chapter 41

  Hope

  For the past two weeks, I had been alone with Chance only three times. We saw each other daily, but alone time was just not happening. Our quick kisses and sneaky embraces continued, even though our late night cuddling seemed non-existent.

  It wasn’t that either of us didn’t want to. Chance begged me most nights to come to bed with him, but school had me so overwhelmed. Chance was such a smart person and he loved school. I was determined not to disappoint him. The problem was that it took all of my extra time, even after my study sessions with him, to understand anything I was supposed to know already.

  This morning was seemingly like all the other mornings, except Chance was already in the kitchen. His ornery smile was flashing across his face, making me want to burst out in laughter. “Good morning Sunshine.” He said while still grinning.

  “What’s with you and where is everyone else?” I asked.

  Chance leaned into me and gently rubbed his nose against mine, before pressing his lips on my lips. “They had to go Christmas shopping baby. We are all alone.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again. “Well I wonder what we should do all day.” I joked.

  Chance picked me up and sat me on top of the counter. He moved toward the fridge and started gathering items. “I am going to make you breakfast first. Then I plan on spending the rest of our day helping you study, in bed of course.”

  “I don’t know how much I can learn if we are laying in bed Chance. To be perfectly honest with you I don’t think I can concentrate on anything other than you.” I confessed.

  He continued to gather ingredients for our breakfast. “Oh we will study. I promise you will be fully prepared for those finals. I have a study plan.” He admitted.

  “A study plan? You have really thought about this haven’t you?” I asked.

  “Buffy sent me a text this morning saying that she and Mark decided to go out shopping last minute. I knew you had to study, but I miss you, so I implemented a plan that we could be together and study at the same time. Aren’t you curious about the plan?” He asked.

  I started swinging my feet while sitting on the countertop. Chance did not have his face to me, but I knew he was smiling. He was dancing around as something fried in the pan in front of him.

  “Okay fine! What is the plan, since I can tell that you are busting to tell me?” I laughed.

  Chance turned around and caged me in with his hands on the countertop on either side of me. “So this is how it works. You will be thoroughly quizzed on all courses. When you pass all of the questions on each subject, I will remove one article of clothing. If you fail a topic, the clothes go back on. So, in order for you to have some of me today, you have to be prepared for all of your finals.” Chance had a huge grin on his face. He bit down on his lip while he waited for my response, still only inches from my face.

  “What if I cheat?” I joked.

  “Not possible! This study proposition is full proof. When you get your answers right you can have me, otherwise you gets none of this.” He joked as he pointed from his head to his feet.

  I rolled my eyes. It sounded like a good plan and it was possible it would motivate me to try hard. I was in. “Okay fine. We can study your way.”

  “Perfect.” Chance said as he turned around and put two pieces of toast and some eggs on a plate. “Here, you need to eat before we get started.”

  I took a fork and put my eggs inside of the toast and made a sandwich. I loved watching the yolk run out of the sides then later dipping it back into my sandwich. Chance curled his lip up as he held his toast up and gently dipped it into his egg.

  “You do realize that mine tastes exactly the same as yours does?” I asked.

  “Whatever. It’s just weird. I prefer to dip. It seems more classy.” He joked.

  I laughed. “Oh yeah, because eating an egg with toast is so classy. You are ridiculous.”

  “You love me anyway Hope.” He said as he stuck out his tongue at me. He stuck his plate in the dishwasher and headed toward the door. “When you are ready to be schooled by all of my wisdom, head on over baby.”

  “Maybe I will, or maybe I won’t.” I teased.

  “Oh, I know you will Hope. You can’t resist this.” He lifted his shirt revealing his rock hard abdomen. I felt like licking my lips. It would have only let him know he was right about me not resisting, so I held my mouth shut.

  “See you soon.” He said as I watched him walk toward the pool house.

  I grabbed my plate and cleaned it before heading up to my room to change my clothes. Because Chance had acted so cocky about me not being able to resist, I decided to get a shower. The longer I took, the more impatient he would become. I knew that he was ultimately helping me, but I wanted to be the one who was irresistible.

  When I got out of the shower, I looked out of the window toward the pool house. I could see Chance standing at the door. Just as I went to turn away, he waved to me.

  “Son of a bitch! How did he know?” I said to myself.

  Obviously, he knew me too well. I took the towel off of my head and brushed my hair, before heading in my room and putting on a cotton sweat suit. By the time I finally made it to the pool house, Chance was sprawled out on the couch. The textbooks were in front of him with paper surrounding them.

  “There she is….Mrs. I always know what Chance is thinking and there is no way he has the upper hand on me.” He said.

  “Shut up!” I said as I ran over and jumped on top of him. “You still love me, so who cares?”

  “True. How about you hop off of me so we can get serious up in here.” He joked.

  I rolled my eyes again. “Fine.” I removed myself from Chances magnificent body and sat down next to him. He pointed to the chair across from him. The chair where it all started.

  “Get over there and do not get up until we are finished. Got it?” He ordered.

  I shook my head and laughed as I headed over to the chair.

  Chance

  A friend of mine at Penn state used to use this study plan with his girlfriend, except she was the one testing him. He said she never let him tease his way out of studying. Hope hated to study, and she would be the first person to admit it.

  Once she sat down and stopped trying to argue her way out of studying, I grabbed the first book and started with the questions.

/>   For her math class, she did alright, but did not answer enough questions correctly on the first time around. She got mad, but only for a few minutes. I grabbed the notes that she had taken and taught her little things to remember the answers easier. When she seemed like she understood things better, I quizzed her again. She only missed one question, which in turn required me to remove one article of clothing. It was a wise choice for me to layer up too. When I removed the t-shirt to show that I had an undershirt underneath, she wasn’t too pleased.

  “Seriously? When have you ever worn one of those? Did you steal that from my father’s laundry basket?” She said frustrated.

  When we got to her next course, which happened to be chemistry, she tried to distract me. She unzipped her sweat jacket revealing only a bra underneath. “It is really hot in here today.” She said as she fanned herself.

  I stared into the book and refused to look at her. Finally, after a few minutes she focused her attention on me only being one shirt away from a naked chest.

  Hope must have enjoyed Chemistry class because she did well on my quiz the first time around. I stood up and acted like a sexy male stripper, as I removed my undershirt.

  Before I could turn around, I heard catcalls coming from Hopes chair. I turned around and sat down on the couch, like it never happened.

  “There should be a rule that states you can’t act all sexy when removing your clothes. That is so not fair!” She said.

  I held the next textbook high enough that Hope could not see me smiling from behind it. I love when she got frustrated. Her face became red and she gritted her teeth when she spoke.