“I’ll see you tonight, pretty girl,” he said, getting up from his chair, kissing me on the top of my head. Then, waving to Misty, he said, “Later, Mist.”
“Bye, Zach,” she replied.
“After dinner?” I asked him, looking up into his perfect shade of blue irises. I was asking if we’d have our typical rendezvous as we had for the past two months. I wasn’t sure why I needed to hear it; every night we’d always meet underneath the stars, but something about the way he’d just get up to leave was beginning to get to me.
Nodding with a warm smile, he responded, “Same spot, same time as always, pretty girl.”
As he took off, Misty began talking, but I was still fixated on his every step. “So, Aaron has been telling me how into me he is. He keeps trying to get to the next base with me, but I promised him I would at the party. I mean it’s only two days away. I want it to be perfect.”
Realizing I wasn’t really all there, Misty said, “Hey, Earth to Braelynn… Earth to Braelynn? Please tell me you’re not becoming paranoid on me.”
“Huh?” I asked, snapping out of my daydream.
She was seated across from me in our booth and I saw her shaking her head, while adding some sugar to her second cup of coffee. I honestly didn’t know how she could drink it black; I doubted those two packets of sugar did much.
“You know you’re gonna see him this evening just like every other freakin’ evening… why are you stressing?”
Shrugging, I said, “Because he always goes away for a few hours everyday. Maybe I’m being paranoid or whatever you want to call me, but where does he go? What does he do? It’s not like he has a job. He didn’t mention anything about a job at all. Now that I think about it, he’s always been pretty vague. It’s just that the summer is almost over, I’ll be heading off to college soon, and that’ll probably be the end of us.”
Admitting this truth to myself was difficult. How could I possibly say goodbye to the love I came to crave over this past summer?
“Well, maybe while the two of you are in school, you will still be able to see each other during breaks. Where does he go to school by the way?”
I looked at Misty wide-eyed realizing something incredibly important.
“I… don’t know.” How could I not know what school he went to? Why hadn’t he told me? What else was he hiding from me?
Leaving the diner with Misty, I began to wonder, what do I really know about Zachery Taylor?
I knew he was a local but was staying with his grandmother this summer. Who was his grandmother and how come he hadn’t told me about her yet? I knew he loved working out and was into sports, but what about everything else? What was he really about? I had shared so much of my life with him that I was suddenly beginning to feel cheated on by his lack of sharing with me.
Who was Zachery Taylor?
8
Friday, August 24th, 2018 was a day I would never forget.
What started off as fun and exciting turned out to be a complete fucking nightmare that still haunts me to this day. It set off a damn spiral of events that once they were in motion, would not be able to stop, no matter how hard I tried.
That afternoon, I had found myself on the bleachers watching Zach doing push-ups where I had first met him. I watched his muscular body, stiff as a board, going up and down with each push of his arms. The sweat dripped from his forehead as he continued his reps. It was all I could do not to lick my lips as I stared at the immaculate God before me.
Seeing him sweat right in front of me made me want to take him right then and there. I didn’t care if anyone were to see us, either. I wanted him and I wanted him now.
As he finished his last set, he pushed himself up allowing me to take in more of a visual of him. His leaned out, toned shirtless body called to me. His shorts hugged his hips, revealing just the slightest outline of his length.
Turn away, Braelynn. Turn away now, I thought to myself.
It wasn’t the time to start trouble. We had a big night ahead of us. The party would be starting in less than six hours and I had to admit, I was a bit excited about it.
Zach walked over to me and I handed him his orange hand towel that he used to wipe away the excess sweat.
“Thanks, pretty girl,” he said smiling as he grabbed the towel from my hand.
I smiled back, feeling a bit shy, hoping he couldn’t read my thoughts. I felt as if my face were a dead giveaway, though.
“You’re welcome,” I mumbled.
He chuckled before saying, “Are you alright? You seem a bit… distracted?”
Hmm, that was one way to put it.
“No, I’m totally fine. Just thinking about tonight.”
“What time’s the party again?” he asked as he ran the towel over the back of his neck.
“Starts at nine, but we probably won’t get there till closer to ten.”
“And why’s that?”
I got up standing on top of the second row of the bleachers and pulled him by his neck, closer to me.
“Because,” I began, “you and I are going to be busy in our usual spot making out,” I said slowly, biting his bottom lip.
“Fuck… I love the sound of that,” he replied, sucking on my lip in return.
I suddenly looked away and he grabbed my chin to look back into his eyes.
“What’s the matter, pretty girl?”
A sad smile formed on my face.
“Nothing. Just thinking about how the summer is coming to an end, and then, what’s going to happen to us?”
“Sit down, Rae,” he stated, willing me to take a seat.
As I did, he positioned himself in between my thighs causing my mind to wander to the last time we had been intimate. It was probably close to every single night. The one that stuck out the most had to be our first night together in his grandparents’ old ice cream parlor.
He pushed my long, wavy hair out of my face and smiled lovingly at me.
“Pretty girl, you’re so beautiful,” he began, and then kissed my lips.
Returning his kiss, I immediately got lost in the moment.
When he pulled away, he continued talking.
“You’re perfect, Rae, and you’re mine. You will always be mine. This summer has been nothing less than magical, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything else in this world.”
A small tear escaped my eye as he softly wiped it away.
“Don’t cry, pretty girl. We have so much to be grateful for. We found one another this summer. We found a love that is so damn rare to find these days. Even if we won’t be able to see each other once the summer comes to an end, know that you will always have a place in my heart.”
But why? Why couldn’t we see each other throughout the year, I thought. Granted, I knew with him living in Waverly and me living in New Jersey, it would be hard. But people stayed in long distance relationships all the time, didn’t they?
“Why can’t we be together once the summer ends? Why do we have to say goodbye?” I asked him, longing to hear some words that would bring some type of solace.
He kissed my forehead then and said, “Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay? Let’s not think about the future right now. I love you, Braelynn. Please don’t worry. Let me dry your eyes and let’s just enjoy this day,” he said, kissing my tears.