I hugged him, just looking for any excuse to get out of the room. “It’s okay. I love you too. I should probably go, but Sunday, okay?”
Val leaned back, a small smile on his face. “Okay.”
I allowed him to kiss me briefly and then I gathered my things and left. I felt compelled to run as fast as I could, but I held back and walked at a normal pace down the empty after school hallways and eventually out through the front door. My heart was still pounding and I wished that Colin was there to walk with me home. It wasn’t just that I’d grown used to having him by my side on walks to and from school, I always wanted to see him most after I had to deal with Val. I assumed that things with Val had to feel good at some point, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. Was I just that blinded by my heartache with Colin even years later? Now when Val touched me, it felt like a sickly, slow spreading illness. I felt compelled to retch back from it whenever it was near me for fear it would encapsulate so much of my body that I’d never recover. When Colin touched me, it was like he had the antidote. Whatever of Val’s germs still clung to my body were slowly peeled away with each passing moment I spent with his hands on mine. Val was the darkness and Colin was a long awaited dawn.
I’d have to wait hours to see him or my parents, so I’d have to settle for a shower to try and get Val off of me. As I walked down the sunny lane towards my house, I let my mind drift to what I should get Colin for his birthday. He was a difficult person to shop for. He didn’t ask for things often, and when he made the mistake of doing so, my parents bought whatever he requested for him on the spot. I considered trying to find another football locket, but the concept seemed tainted now. I was still giving myself mental lashes daily for misconstruing Colin’s behavior and letting it cost us time together. A locket that reminded us of that might not be the best idea, but even as I thought it, I touched the spot on my neck where mine used to hang and wished that it was there. Curse younger me for ending things in as dramatic a fashion as possible. I could have ripped it off and hung onto it at least. It was in a landfill somewhere for sure.
I rounded the corner onto my block and when I looked up at my house, I noticed someone sitting on the front stairs. My heart leapt as I got closer and realized who it was, but my brain was concerned with the reasoning.
“Colin?”
Colin’s face shot up and a brilliant smile curved across his jaw. “Hey, beautiful.”
My face was warming already. “What are you doing here?”
He blinked plainly at me like it should have been obvious. “Waiting for you.”
I bent over and smacked a quick kiss on his forehead. “That’s not what I mean.” I unlocked the front door and held it open for Colin to walk through. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to an away game right now?”
When the door was safely closed, Colin’s palms taped to the sides of my neck and pushed me back against it. He dropped his lips to mine, and unlike the trapped and helpless way I felt when Val pushed me against his door, having Colin do it lit me on fire.
“I didn’t want to do that,” he huffed, not five centimeters from my face. “I wanted to see you.”
Joy whipped around me like a torrential wind. “I wanted to see you too.”
My arms coiled around Colin’s body and took hold on his back. His lips returned to mine, this time armed with his tongue and I twirled us into the living room and down onto the couch. Our noses flicked against one another as we seeded deeper into one another. I was fighting for air in no time. I took my mouth from Colin’s for a brief moment.
“If you skip games, you’ll get kicked off the team,” I warned.
Colin raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you’re worried about right now?”
I thought about it. Why was I worried about that right now? “I’m not.”
Colin kissed my cheek and then trailed lower. He stamped his lips over the side of my neck and down to my collarbone. When he got to where my shirt interfered with his adventure, he grabbed the edges of it with his hands.
Just as Colin was lifting my shirt over my head, we heard the sound of simultaneous cars pulling into the driveway. I looked over my shoulder, seeing the shadows of my parents climbing out of their cars through the light blocking curtains in the living room.
I looked back at Colin. “Shouldn’t they at least be headed to your away game right now?”
Colin looked like he was ready to kill himself. “They would be if I hadn’t responsibly texted them to tell them I was skipping it.”
I groaned. “God dammit, Undinger.”
Colin chuckled. “I’m sorry.” He returned my shirt to its natural position and then we sat up on the couch and put a suspicious amount of space between us. I quickly pulled out my phone and started up some music as if that’s what we’d been doing the whole time. Colin looked at me. “I don’t want to wait anymore.”
“Well, whose fault is that?”
“I’m serious,” Colin continued. “Can we finish later?”
My whole body started to tingle wildly. I wanted that too. “If we can sneak down to the basement, we should be okay.”
Colin grinned and nodded. “After they go to sleep?”
I was certain if I could see my heart, I’d see it just bat-shit crazy throwing itself against all the walls in my chest. “After they go to sleep. I’ll text you.”
Colin sat back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling, a look of excitement and anticipation on his face that gave me chills. “Can’t wait.”
21
Colin
Every time I checked the time on my phone, I was certain an hour had passed, but it had only been a couple of minutes. It was after 11, and I was expecting to hear from Tatiana much sooner, but she still hadn’t texted me. I didn’t want to text her; didn’t want to be too eager or desperate, but what was she doing? Had she fallen asleep by accident? Did she forget? Or was she just flat out standing me up?
As the clock ticked towards midnight, I decided I would text her. I picked up my phone and started to type a message, when I saw the three dots on her side of the message feed, indicating she was typing to me. I waited, and eventually a message popped up.
Okay. Come Down.
On my way.
It was simple, but it did things to my body I didn’t know were possible. There was no reason that less than ten words exchanged between us should be shooting down south and tightening my pants already. I wasn’t even downstairs yet. I tried to shake my head free of the excitement so that I didn’t seem purely sex-motivated. It was going to be amazing to be with her again, this time with no regrets, but it wasn’t just that I was going to get to have her again. It was Tatiana. Finally accepting our relationship to this degree meant that an actual relationship was the next natural step, right? I was that much closer to being able to finally call her mine and mine alone, and that thought shot me above cloud nine to clouds twenty or twenty-one.
I grabbed my backpack and pulled it over my shoulder. It no longer had my books in it, but the whole host of supplies I’d snuck out to buy before dinner. I told the Marquettes I just wanted some fresh air and that I was going to sit at a park and do some homework. None of it was true, and I don’t think they believed me, but it didn’t matter to me. If I could get out to grab the things I wanted to grab, that’s what counted. I snuck out of my room as quietly as I could, tiptoed away from the Marquettes’ bedroom at the end of the hallway, and started down the stairs.