I winced at the memory.
Shoot me now.
Audrey looked as embarrassed as I felt. “Hi, Mrs. Sanchez.”
“It’s very good to see you. Are you looking forward to graduation?” she asked us, a curious expression on her face, like she didn’t know she’d just interrupted the most important moment of my life. Like I wasn’t about to kiss the only girl I’ve ever loved, and she ruined it.
Not that I was bitter.
“Yeah, um,” I said.
“You have to enjoy the last of these high school days before they’re gone.” She squeezed the hand of her wife. “But this place is wonderful. Jennie and I like to come here often for the exhibits.”
“Us too. Or, that’s why we’re here.”
One of the reasons.
Mrs. Sanchez said, “Plus, we’re members of their wine club. You should tell your parents to check it out.”
The grin on my face turned manic.
Audrey saved the day. “I’m sure Lemieux Catering has been here plenty.”
“True, true.” Mrs. Sanchez kept beaming at us.
“Well, it’s been nice to see you. Will we be seeing you at graduation?” Audrey asked.
“Absolutely. It’s always bittersweet because you are going away to college, but I’m proud of both of you and your accomplishments. Where are you headed?”
I itched to leave, recalibrating my plans, so I blurted out, “Columbia. Audrey’s going to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. We both got into our first choice schools.” Audrey crossed her arms over her chest, her lips pressed tight for some reason. “But right now, I was just going to go show Audrey the view.”
“That sounds wonderful. You’re going to have the best time. Well, we must be off,” Mrs. Sanchez said. “Lovely to see you both.”
She turned, and I exhaled, then tugged Audrey with me further down the garden, away from the tasting room and art exhibit and our health teacher and her wife.
“God, that was embarrassing,” I muttered.
“No kidding,” Audrey agreed, and I squeezed her hand.
Her getting me on a deep level was one of the myriad reasons why I liked her and why nothing was going to change after I kissed her.
We looked at the world the same way.
I could do this.
I swiveled my head around searching for lurking parents, teachers, administrators, coaches, or classmates. “Anyone else going to sneak up on us?”
She chuckled. “I don’t think so.”
“Good,” I said, and crashed my mouth to hers.
Seven
Game Changer
Audrey
On a normal day when I sucked on my usual blow pop, I put off getting to the center because I loved the anticipation. The waiting. While the bubblegum flavor didn’t last long, and it was a lot of work for little reward, each time I’d work for that magical moment when I broke through to the drool-inducing gum.
With bigger events in my life like Christmas or birthdays, I’d almost set myself afire with excitement as the dates got closer and closer and the delicious tension mounted. I’d count down the days on my Cillian Murphy calendar. When the event finally came, I often mused afterwards that the waiting had been so much better than the real thing.
Perhaps I lived too much in my imagination. I often found it hard to stay in the moment and really enjoy whatever it was I’d been desperately waiting for.
But I’d been waiting for Tate Lemieux to kiss me like this—a real, passionate kiss, with tongue and feeling—for years, and unlike an event on my calendar or the gum in the middle of the blow pop, there’d never been any reasonable certainty it’d happen. I couldn’t count on it like my birthday. It was just a dream in the middle of the night, or something to imagine while reading very dirty things in Cosmo.
At least I’d had no hope until he’d pecked me on the lips a few days ago. After that, I’d allowed wings to flutter in my chest.
But the experience of receiving a real kiss from Tate? Feeling his soft lips pressed to mine? Overwhelming me? Cradling me?
I combusted.
Tate’s kiss was exponentially better than I’d ever imagined—and I’d imagined it quite a bit, in vivid detail. Whatever the opposite of disappointed was, I was that. Buzzing, elated, turned on.
Seconds ago, with a gentle groan, Tate had urged my lips apart, his tongue touched mine, and I tasted the spearmint on his breath. I loved his taste. I loved the sexy feel of his wet tongue inside my mouth. I adored everything about him.
I felt alive.
And I wanted to pinch myself because we were finally kissing.
How did I ever get so lucky?
My body trembled as he held me and while I, well, sucked his face back.
Because he was Tate—the most romantic guy, the consummate planner, the supremely thoughtful person—he’d taken me to the best view in the valley, on the prettiest day of the year, and kissed me passionately in a gorgeous garden after feeding me my favorite lunch and giving me the gift of a day of art.
Oh, and he gave me the gift of possibility, by taking me to get passport photos.
It couldn’t get any better than this.
Here, right now, was my birthday wish come true.
But as he kissed me, my knees gave way and he held me up tighter, clutching me while our surroundings swirled about us—or at least it felt that way.
Tate gave me a game changer kiss. One that turned us from dancing around each other to dancing with each other. One that changed us from being friends to being a couple. A pair.
True boyfriend and girlfriend.
Finally.
My arms wrapped around his neck as I gave him back everything he gave me and more, which was hard to match since he was damn good at kissing. His hands clutched my waist tight. I expected him to move them down to my butt and do sexy-naughty moves from Cosmo, but he didn’t.
Because he was Tate.
Sweet and hot and sensitive to my needs. Not one to press to his advantage. The best boy I’d ever known.
But maybe a little too sweet.
I wanted him to touch me, squeeze my ass, do something, so I wiggled into him, and he smiled against my mouth, and I loved that too.
We broke apart for a moment and panted, staring at each other with matching goofy grins on our faces.
“Wow,” I whispered, and I chided myself for not coming up with something more memorable to say.
“I could kiss you again,” he said quietly, and I nodded and tilted my lips up to meet his.
Then our mouths found each other once more, this time more careful and exploratory. He smelled like Tate, the tall, handsome boy he was, and tasted minty fresh, and his presence assaulted my senses—his body was so alive, and his warmth enveloped me. And I didn’t think I’d ever stop kissing him. I’d never want to.
Forget Cosmo’s tips. Tate knew what he was doing, which surprised me. I thought he didn’t have much experience. Maybe he was a natural.
But the kiss turned into a bruising ache for me because at this moment, even if I hadn’t said anything to my parents about their request, I had to stay home. And this boy who I’ve wanted to kiss forever wasn’t gonna be mine forever, because the right thing to do was to let him go to college without me. I couldn’t hold him back from his dreams.