“Um, okay, so what was that?” she asked me once he was out of earshot. The smile that played on her lips told me that despite the uncertainty in her words, she wasn’t upset by the kiss.
I wasn’t either, but I could hardly admit just how much I’d enjoyed it, or how much I wanted to do it again. At least, not until I knew she wanted it too. If she didn’t, I had no idea where that left us.
“What, you attacking me?” I asked. A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as my stomach clenched at the thought of her lips on mine.
God, I want to do it again.
“I seem to recall that you started it.”
I wasn’t sure that I had, but I couldn’t say for sure that I hadn’t either. True, I’d been the one to pin her to the ground when she’d refused to submit to my tickle torture. But in the seconds before our lips had touched, I’d had no control. It was as if some magnetic force had pulled us together during a brief lull in our laughter.
“That’s not how I remember it,” I said.
“I thought you still had a thing for Darcy?” she teased.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Darcy who?”
Alyssa grinned at me.
Casting a quick glance over at Josh. I leaned closer to her so that my mouth was just centimetres from her ear. “To be honest, I really don’t know who started that, but I’d like to spend a lot more time doing it. If it’s okay with you, that is?”
A shiver raced through her as my breath raised a series of goose bumps on her neck. She grew breathless and nodded. Her voice was a hushed whisper when she said, “It’s okay with me.”
I cupped her chin and guided her lips back to mine. It was almost a chaste kiss—open-mouthed but no tongue. It wasn’t the all-encompassing experience from earlier, but it was still damn good. It was still worth locking into my memories.
“Alyssa, will you be my girlfriend?” I asked when I dropped my hands away.
“Wow,” she breathed.
Josh was starting to get impatient and paced back toward us. I cast him a quick glance, desperate to know what she thought before he was back with us.
“Wow isn’t technically an answer,” I teased, as I stood and offered her my hand. When our palms touched, she looked at me. I could see the same fears I had echoed in her eyes. To proceed would mean the end of our friendship as it had been. Then again, any friendship we’d shared was gone already anyway. It would be impossible to ignore the kiss that changed everything, which still blistered through me even without her lips on mine.
We shared two more shaky breaths before she answered. “Yes, but only on one condition.”
I wondered what it could possibly be. My heart started to race as I imagined the countless demands that she might make in order for me to be with her. Can I meet them? “What condition?”
“That you’ll be my boyfriend,” she said with a teasing grin.
I laughed in relief. “Well, that’s easy.”
“C’mon, kiddo, before Mum starts to worry,” Josh muttered, reaching for Alyssa’s hand.
“One more second,” she said, pulling free of his grip. Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to mine once more. My hand reached for the base of her neck to hold her close while I deepened the kiss. There was nothing chaste about it.
Josh cleared his throat and I reluctantly let go of Alyssa once more.
“Declan, you do know what I’ll do to you if you hurt her.” Even though Josh’s words were designed to be threatening, the smile he wore was anything but.
Keeping my gaze focused on Alyssa, I answered Josh. “I know, man. But I could never hurt her. She’s too important to me.” As I said the words, I traced the curve of her cheek with my knuckles and met her eyes. I may have been answering Josh, but I was also reassuring Alyssa of the way I felt. I planted one more kiss on her lips and then whispered in her ear, “I’ll call you later.”
She smiled and gave me a small wave before following Josh out of the park.
I sat back on the grass, took a deep breath and let my imagination run wild. One thought seemed more important in my mind than any other at that moment: there would never be another girl for me. It seemed like a certainty branded onto every inch of my body.
I glanced in the direction Alyssa had just gone, wondering if her parents would mind one more for dinner again. On any previous evening, I wouldn’t have even hesitated. Given what had just happened though, I decided to give it a miss for one night. Even though I was ready to see Alyssa again, I also wanted to remember the kiss for what it was. Most of all, I didn’t want her to get sick of me just yet.
After cleaning up all of the playing cards I could find, and abandoning them in the park’s rubbish bin because it was nowhere near a full deck any longer, I raced home. When I pushed the door open, I was ready for the lecture that Mum was sure to have prepared for me because I was so late. She would have already checked in with Alyssa’s parents, Curtis and Ruth, and discovered I wasn’t there. I could only hope Alyssa had told her parents that I was on my way home—even if I’d lingered at the park a little longer than I really should have.
“It’s just me, Mum,” I said as I threw my backpack down beside the front door, ready for the next day. There was some homework inside that needed to be done, but it would still be there in the morning. It was pointless trying to drag it out and do it then. After all, there was fat chance of concentrating on anything else as thoughts of Alyssa—of kissing Alyssa—danced in my head.
“Do I even need to ask where you’ve been?” Mum asked as I snatched a piece of carrot from her cutting board. She swatted me away but laughed as she did. After my last growth spurt, she barely came up to my chin, so it was easy to dart out of her reach with my prize still in hand.
“Not really.” I jumped up onto the bench and threw the chunk of carrot in my mouth. With my newfound height, I was getting too tall to fit under the cupboards any more so I had to lean forward a little. The action of hopping up on the bench was habit though, and a bit of a routine for Mum and me. Despite how much she protested me parking my arse on the food-prep surfaces, it was clear she loved it when I sat and talked to her while she was cooking. Especially when Dad came home late from work.
She glanced up from her task. “And how is Alyssa?”
I couldn’t hide the shit-eating grin my lips formed. “She’s good.”
Really good, I added in my head. Especially at kissing.
“What are you hiding?”
My grin stretched even wider. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The corners of her eyes pinched together. “Something’s happened.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why on earth would something have happened?”
Mum reached out and grabbed my chin, turning my head from side to side and assessing me carefully. “Because your darling baby blues are brighter than I’ve ever seen them before. Sparkling even,” she teased, grinning.
After pulling away from her hold, I jumped from the bench. The more she confronted me about my afternoon, the less inclined I was to tell her about it. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She shrugged and shifted her gaze back to the vegetables she was chopping for dinner. “Keep your secrets then, but I need you to go get some milk.”
“Sure. How long’s dinner?”
Her lip pulled up to one side and her eyes—the same unique off blue, almost turquoise, colour as mine—danced toward blue in her amusement. “A metre and a half.”
I snorted. “And you have the nerve to call me a smart-arse.”
She shot me a glare, no doubt for my language—she couldn’t stand the thought that I was getting older and she couldn’t control the words I used anymore—and then glanced at the clock. “Well, if you will insist on using bad grammar, what can you expect? You’ve got about an hour.”
I grabbed a handful of coins from the bowl on the end of the bench. “Okay, back soon.”
After I’d left the kitchen, I heard Mum’s voice calling after m
e. “Declan?”
I backtracked. “Yeah?”
“You know parents have eyes and ears everywhere, right? I’ll find out what it is you don’t want to tell me.” She raised her eyebrow at me in challenge.
I shrugged. “Well, I guess I don’t have to tell you then, do I?”
Her eyes narrowed as she followed my logic. Feeling victorious, I walked away.
“Oh, and Dec,” Mum called out again.
I backtracked again.
“Put your uniform in the laundry.”
I laughed. “Sure thing.”
After dumping my dirty clothes from my hamper into the laundry pile, I stopped back by the kitchen.
“Is Dad going to be home tonight?” I’d half decided to tell them both about Alyssa and me over dinner because there seemed little point having the conversation twice.
Mum jumped at the sound of my voice. “Haven’t you left yet?”
I chuckled. “I’m going now. You didn’t answer my question though.”
“He’ll be home late.” She turned to me with narrowed eyes and her hands on her slender hips. “Why do you want to know?”
I shrugged. “No reason. Back soon.”
Within ten minutes, I was at the small corner shop. Instead of heading straight inside though, I paused at the door. Lining the large window out front was a bank of novelty toy machines that grabbed my attention. Nestled among the modern machines was an ancient gumball-style machine that took twenty-cent pieces. That in particular caught my eye because it held a variety of toys, including hi-bounce balls, figurines, and a number of different-coloured plastic rings, hidden in clear plastic eggs. Near the top, I spotted a purple one and was struck by how perfect it would be for Alyssa. It was meaningless really, a bit of plastic junk, but I wanted to get her something to commemorate the day we’d shared our first kiss, and something to prove that I knew her well enough to know her favourite colour.
I fed the one twenty-cent piece I had into the slot and turned the dial. When the plastic container dropped into the prize shoot, I lifted the flap and checked to see what I’d got. A pink ring. Pretty enough, but not the purple one I wanted. I raced into the shop and changed the three one-dollar coins I had for fifteen twenties.
One after the other, I fed the coins into the machine and turned the dial. Each time, I got something else and not the ring I wanted. A little boy walked past, and I gave him a couple of hi-bounce balls, but I still had an array of them littered all around the area as well as five rings in different colours. With each coin I fed in, I got more frustrated, but also more hopeful. My logic was that the odds were better with every attempt.
Finally, with just two twenty-cent pieces left, I pulled a purple ring from a plastic container. I would have been elated if not for the fact that I had a pile of junk around me and no money left for the milk Mum had wanted. By the time I got home, grabbed more money, and then made it back to the shop, it’d be shut.
With a deep breath and a growing feeling of dread, I figured there wasn’t much I could do but go home and face the music.
I left all the rings and hi-bounce balls that I didn’t want on top of the machines, hoping some kids might grab them and put them to use after I’d gone.
Mum was waiting at the door when I got home. “Where have you been?”
“I went to the shop, remember?”
“Then where’s the milk?”
“Um, well, about that.” I tucked the ring between my fingers so she wouldn’t see it. “I got a little sidetracked.”
“With what, exactly?”
My face burned—I had no doubt I was turning red. “Nothing.”
“Declan Anthony Reede.” She didn’t say more. She didn’t have to. Her tone said everything.
“I just had to get something.” I hung my head. “For Alyssa,” I added almost silently.
“What did you have to get that could possibly be so important and take so long?”
I closed my fingers more tightly around the ring, the edges of the plastic digging into my skin.
“Declan.” Mum’s voice held a clear warning.
Without saying anything, I held out my hand and uncurled my fingers. Mum looked at the ring and then up at my face.
“Why on earth would you get her a toy ring?”
I attempted a smile, but it was hard with the weight of the guilt that I’d spent Mum’s money on something that maybe was a little less important than I’d hoped it would be.
“Because she’s my girlfriend?” I’d hoped the statement would come out assertive and strong, but instead my voice squeaked and I sounded more like I was asking a question.
Mum’s eyes widened and then she chuckled. She shook her head and turned away.
“Finally.”
I frowned. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
She spun back toward me and leaned against the back of the couch. “It means that I’m happy you two have finally woken up to the one thing that has been blindingly obvious to the rest of us for years now. You care about each other, and not just as friends.”
“You didn’t think to fill me in on this apparently obvious secret?”
She lifted one shoulder in a weird half shrug. “You had to come to the conclusion on your own. Both of you did.”
My mouth hung slightly agape as I tried to process the fact that apparently everyone else knew Alyssa and I wanted to be more than friends, even though we’d only just realised it ourselves that afternoon.
“This doesn’t get you off the hook though. Your dad isn’t going to be able to have his coffee in the morning now. He won’t be happy.”
An urge to tell her that he could have juice instead built in me, but I bit my tongue to stop it. I didn’t need to push my luck any further. As it was, I’d probably have my pocket money docked for the money I’d spent.
Luckily, I didn’t have to face the music with Dad before going to bed. Just as Mum had said, he was late home so Mum and I had dinner alone. In fact, Dad still wasn’t home by the time Mum shooed me off to bed.
Before I went to sleep, I put the plastic ring on my bedside table so I wouldn’t forget it in the morning. Even though I knew I’d done something a little stupid, I couldn’t regret the prize I’d won for Alyssa. There was no doubt in my mind that she’d love it. For the first time in ages, I was looking forward to going to school, if only for the chance to announce to our classmates that she was now my girlfriend.
The thought was enough to give me cause to relive the pleasure of her kiss, using the palm of my hand as a substitute for her body beneath me.
CHAPTER TWO: THE END OF AWKWARD
WHEN I WOKE, there was a weight on the end of my bed and someone speaking. Through half-opened bleary-eyes, I saw my father sitting near my feet. I couldn’t believe he’d come into my bedroom uninvited. Mum had stopped doing that after interrupting an incredibly quiet and awkward moment by barging in unannounced.
Between his fingers, Dad held Alyssa’s ring, occasionally twirling it around as if he were lost in concentration over it.
“Your mother told me what happened,” he said when he saw I was awake.
“I told her I was sorry.”
“You didn’t actually.”
“Well, she knows I meant to.”
“I’m sure she does.” He looked down at the ring again. “That’s not really what I wanted to talk to you about though.”
“Well, then what do you want? I’ve got places to be.”
“Declan, I don’t know what has gotten into you lately.”
It was almost impossible to resist the urge to roll my eyes, but I managed somehow. I swear with every passing week Dad spent less time at home but somehow more time making demands of me.
“What exactly is this for?” He held the piece of purple plastic out to me.
Sitting up, I reached forward and snatched it from him. “It’s just a present.”
“Yes, for Alyssa. Your mum told me that. But why?”
My f
ingers traced a path through my hair. I really didn’t need to be dealing with this shit first thing in the morning. “Because I wanted to buy her a present.”
“But what for? You’re not getting serious, are you?”
“Getting serious? Are you serious? I’m fifteen.” Throwing my blankets off, I leapt out of the bed. I moved through my room with the intention of ignoring him while I organised my uniform for the day. I picked up a school shirt, unsure if it was dirty. With a sniff, I decided that clean or not, it was passable. When I saw he wasn’t moving or saying anything further, I spoke again. “We’re together, but God knows what that means.”
He nodded solemnly and considered his hands for a moment. A second later, he spoke again. “Are you two being sexually active?”
“Jesus Christ, Dad.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, I don’t need you to tell me. Just promise me you’ll be careful if you are, or if you do.”
I was struck dumb by my disbelief that I had to have this conversation with him. Especially after he’d come into my bedroom without permission.
Dad took the hint provided by my silence, and moved to leave. He paused at the door. “You don’t want to throw away your life before it’s even begun. Just remember the dream we’ve been working toward. You’ve got a chance to make something of your life. Don’t squander it by settling down too early.”
His words caused me to pause. A girlfriend would put a dampener on my long-term plans for a career in racing. But I was sure Alyssa would be different. She knew my dreams; she wouldn’t stand in the way of them.
DESPITE DAD’S early morning attempt at the talk, his reminder of the potential cost of a girlfriend, and the fact that I had no milk for my cereal, my mood was practically euphoric when I left for school. There was so much for me to look forward to.
The plastic purple ring felt almost heavy in my pocket as I walked to Alyssa’s house.
When I knocked on the door, I was greeted by the normal call of, “Hey, Dec,” from three different voices and took that as a cue to head straight inside. The door was never locked on school mornings because they expected me at some point.
Declan Reede: The Untold Story (Complete Series) Page 2
