My guess was a teenager that managed to keep the pregnancy and birth a secret. At least that’s the nicest version I’ve calculated over the years.
I let go of his hand and stepped back to lean against the railing, and he did the same opposite of me.
“I’m not gonna lie and say I haven’t been a little bitter at times. But it is what it is. Come June I’ll be eighteen and I won’t have to deal with most of this anymore.”
“Jenna, you’re always going to have to deal with this.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you can tell me something positive about family that’ll lead me to have some faith in the concept. I know they’re not all bad. Sophie’s parents are really great to her and I can see how much they love her. And they’re incredibly kind to share all their holidays with me so I don’t have to spend them in a cold, empty dorm building. But yeah, sometimes I wish I had my own family to have Christmas dinner with.”
Half way through my eyes diverted to the wood panels beneath our feet. By the time I finished, a tear had managed to slip through and my voice choked a bit. I saw his feet step towards me and felt him pull my body against his. I leaned my head against his shoulder and buried my eyes into his neck. I breathed in the familiar scent of his cologne and it began to calm me from the inside out.
After holding me quietly for a moment, he began with, “My parents are a little outside Hartford, Connecticut. My dad works as one of those high-priced attorneys with a never-ending work load, but he always manages to get home by a decent hour when he needs to. Surprisingly, he made it to most of my swim meets growing up, so at least he believes in family first. My mom stays at home and is definitely what you would call a socialite. And it bugs the crap out of her that I won’t involve myself in all the activities the kids of other socialites do. My brother Reynold graduated from Columbia last year and got married over the summer. And I actually like my new sister-in-law. She’s very down to earth, easy to please and has no problem putting my brother in his place when the situation calls for it.”
I chortled softly. “I think I like her too.”
“You and Julie would get along very well.”
“They sound nice.”
My body lifted a little when he tried to shrug. “We have our fair share of family drama, but yeah, for the most part, it’s pretty nice.” After a moment’s hesitation he asked, “So, are you going to tell me about your families?”
I huffed automatically. Family. I don’t think I’d call anything I had family. “I’m not damaged or anything if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No.”
“I was adopted as a baby but they gave me up when I was three. I don’t know why. I was never told why. Not even when I was old enough to understand it. From there I had a few foster homes but people just weren’t interested in adopting anything but a baby. Guess they wanted to start their family from scratch. I kinda felt like a cat in a pound. Why adopt the older cat when you can have the cute kitten instead? When I got older I was sent to some group homes but I didn’t really like those. Some of those kids were seriously messed up. I guess their roads were a little more rocky than mine.
“But no, my life hasn’t damaged me. No one ever screwed with me emotionally. I was never abused. None of the social workers ever tried to take advantage of me. I just never had a place to call home. Never had a real family.”
When Robert realized I wasn’t gonna say anymore, his body returned to life. He started to rub my back but stopped the moment he started. It had been a week since the last time he really did that and I’m sure the memory of me groaning in pain just shot through his head.
“How’s your back doing?”
“Better. Most of the scabs are gone.” Cause after he snagged me that night, I had Sophie use a freakin’ loofah every night to help flake them off already.
He carefully stroked my back, and when I didn’t wince or complain he became more relaxed with the motion.
“How long do you think they’re gonna take?” I asked.
“Depends on what they’re doing.”
I lifted my head and caught the sinful grin on his face. “You’re not seriously implying they’re ha**ng s*x already?”
“After a week? Not really. But neither of them are virgins either, so…” He shrugged.
“I’m thinking now would be a good time to mention that I am still a virgin, and I plan on staying that way for a little while.” I was so glad my head was buried in his neck cause I don’t think I would’ve found the courage to admit that otherwise.
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “Me too.”
I don’t know why those two little words surprised me. I guess I had envisioned Robert being more experienced than me. I had gone on a few dates over the years but was never serious with anyone. I wasn’t even sure if Robert ever dated anyone here. I certainly hadn’t ever noticed him carrying anyone’s book bag or hanging out in the commons the way he did with me. At least not for the past year, when I really began to pay attention to what he was doing. (No pun intended).
“Just as well. Sophie thinks it’ll be harder to sneak into each other’s room now that a student has gotten pregnant and they’re passing out condoms.”
“You know about the condoms?”
“Everyone knows about the condoms. Seriously, what kind of school organization gives out condoms to students?”
“The ones smart enough to accept that we’re going to have sex no matter what they say or do. They’re going to have to deal with the parents one way or the other, so they’d rather defend their action of supplying protection versus having any more students get pregnant under their watch. If you think about it, they’re not really saying go have sex, they’re just saying protect yourself if you do. But I think Sophie’s right. They’re going to pay a little more attention to where people are going for a while.”
“So now everyone will just go off campus to be alone.”
“That’s right.”
I sighed, and followed it up by breathing in another soothing round of his cologne. “So what did you do with your box?”
“Put it in my bedside table.”
“Didn’t even crack the seal and put one in your wallet?”
“No.” There was something comforting about the way he didn’t hesitate to say that. He gave me another squeeze. “Ready to go back to the car?”
“Please. I’m tired of standing.”
When we got back to his little Infiniti, I slid into the passenger seat instead of the back just to keep my legs from going into shock. Once he found a decent song on the radio, he reached out and played with my hand. After about ten minutes, Sophie and Jhett came around the back corner of the restaurant.
“Should I be offended that you didn’t even try to make out with me in here?”
He licked his lips and pressed them tight, but he couldn’t stop them from curling into a delicious smile. “I lied. This is a horrible car to make out in. Your reason for my parents choosing this model may have been right on target.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him.
“Now don’t be offended by this either, but I’m going to have to put you in the backseat again. If I thought it was at all possible for Jhett to get in and out of that backseat, I would absolutely shove him back there.”
I swayed our hands in the air and narrowed my eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll just start you a tab.”
I stepped out of the car and squeezed myself into the back. And yes, I noticed Robert watch me crawl behind his seat from the rear view mirror, and the little wink he gave when I caught him.
I think my heart just fluttered a bit. In fact, it fluttered a lot during the drive home due to the number of times I caught him gazing at me.
When we got back to the academy, Sophie and Jhett took off the moment she squeezed out. Robert popped his seat forward so I wouldn’t have to crawl to the other side, and cause Sophie was quick to shut that door behind her.
So much for ho’s over bro’s.
I may have been small enough to maneuver my way in and out, but it was still awkward trying to wiggle through a twelve inch berth with a seatbelt strap to fight. I practically fell into his arms. (Alright, I may have purposely lost my balance. Sue me).
He secured me in his arms as he shut the door behind me, then twisted me back against the car. With the same seductive look he kept flashing in the rearview mirror, he pressed into me and my body leaned backwards, following the curves of his car. He followed me all the way, and when we could go no farther, his lips finally pressed on mine.
My body shivered and I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with the cool breeze that just blew by. One of his hands found the small of my back as mine found their way around his neck. One thing I learned this past week when I kissed him goodbye each night: I loved the silky feel of his hair on my fingers as I combed through his brown locks, and tonight was no exception.
We stayed like that until the phone in his pocket began ringing. He grunted and apologized as he pulled it out, but he didn’t release the pressure he used to keep me pinned to the car.
“What?” he whined, annoyed once he saw the name of our interrupter. I gently scratched his scalp with my nails and his face softened again. He said ‘uh-huh’ a few times, followed it up with an ‘alright’ and then snapped the phone shut again. He slipped it back into his pocket and sighed as he gently stroked my cheek.
“Think you can put up with me a little longer?”
Oh, I think I could allow him to bother me with his sweet, sweet kisses just a wee bit longer…“What’s going on?”
“Sophie and Jhett just took over your bedroom for awhile.” I felt an urge to roll my eyes into the back of my head, but then they would’ve lost sight of the way Robert was looking down on me, so I forced them to stay put. “Of course they did. No wonder they took off running. They probably planned that as far back as the restaurant.”
“Well, that leaves us two options. We can either hike into the woods and go to one of our spots, or we can sneak you into my dorm room.”
My dimples made a sudden appearance cause he intentionally left out option number three: we hang out in the common room like we already did every night this week. I was kinda tired of it myself. And if he was thinking the same thing I was right now, we weren’t gonna get the kind of privacy we wanted in any place labeled ‘common’.
I think it actually surprised him when I pushed him off me and led him to the dormitories with nothing but a smile. When we got inside, he left me alone in the commons to check the floors for any roaming teachers that could catch us. In a few minutes he came back to get me.
“We’re good. They haven’t even noticed our camera yet.”
A few people turned their heads with intrigue as he pulled me across the threshold to the male dorm rooms. He had me through his door lickety split and I got a rush the way he immediately picked up where we left off at the car.
He twisted us farther into the room and I almost ate it when I tripped over a shoe. If he hadn’t had such a tight grip on my body I’d be on the floor right now.
“Sorry. Jhett’s a little lazy when it comes to picking up behind himself.”
Laughing between kisses, I added, “So is Sophie.”
He danced me in circles the rest of the way, and once he was backed up to his bed he stroked my cheeks and said, “I have to admit, I didn’t think you were going to choose this option.”
“You thought I’d choose hidden option number three and make us hang out in the commons.”
He managed a straight face but he clearly played dumb. “No, I’m sure I listed that as an option.”
I placed my hands on his shoulders and pushed down until he collapsed to a sitting position. I smoothly slid inside his legs and replied, “Nope. You didn’t.”
His arms swept behind and pressed into the back of my hips, nudging me closer. “I assure you it was purely accidental.”
“Uh-huh.” One after the other, I placed each knee on the bed outside his waist and sat myself on his lap. Before he could attack again, I quickly pressed my index finger against his lips. “Don’t get too excited cause making out with our clothes on is as far as I’m gonna go for awhile. You’re not gonna need to reach into that bedside table any time soon.”
He smiled, leaned in to kiss our noses and replied, “I knew that long before I ever asked you out.”
That bewildered me a little but before I could even form a question, he added, “Last spring you went on a date with Richard Blevins.”
I automatically rolled my eyes and shook my head sideways, which was apparently pretty entertaining. “Let me just say right out the gate that I’m willing to give most people at least one date. Even if it goes against my better judgment, I’m willing to give them one chance to prove I had them pegged wrong. With Richard–”
“You didn’t have him pegged wrong.”
“No-oooo,” I replied quickly, drawing the word out for several seconds. “What exactly did you hear?”
“That he took you out and you couldn’t be bothered to even kiss him goodnight. Then he said some crap about not being interested cause you’d require too much work.”
I burst out laughing, and remembering where I was, I threw my hand over my mouth to quiet the sound. “The extra work would have been convincing me to go out on a second date with him. That loser spent the entire night talking about himself and all the luxury items he owned. Maybe it would’ve impressed some of the wealthier girls in this school but I honestly had no idea what the hell he was talking about. And technically, his daddy owned all those things, not him. I may have been willing to give him three hours but I have way higher standards when it comes to who I’ll actually kiss.”