Page 7 of The Reunion
About two steps away from him, I finally remembered that his hoodie was sitting on the dryer. “Darn it.” Moving away just enough that his eyes could fall between us, he backed me toward the seat as I tugged at the front of his shirt. “I washed your sweatshirt and everything. Remind me to give it to you when you bring me home.”
Using the bar over the doorframe, I lifted myself onto the seat, his eyes drifting down the front of my shirt when I leaned forward. “It’s okay. You can keep it.” Ducking his head so it didn’t whack the ceiling, he slid in next to me, softly laughing at himself. “I guarantee it looks better on you.”
With the four of us wedged in that way, I could hardly breathe until Dominic turned the truck around and laid his arm on the seatback behind me to give me more room.
Once he got us onto the main road, the wind coming through the windows started blowing my hair around. Little by little, his arm bent until his fingers were moving through it, grazing the back of my neck every now and then.
I was so confused about what was happening between us, like his affection was only some joke he was playing on me. But at the same time, I wanted it to be true more than anything.
Whenever he took away his attention for a second, I searched for a way to tell him I wanted it back without saying it. I must have lifted my hand to set it on his knee a dozen times, but that voice inside me telling me I’d never be enough for him made me ball my fist again.
When we got to the stop sign at the road leading out of town, though, he took his arm away and reached across me to turn up the volume on the stereo. Dragging his fingers over my leg on the way back, he snatched up my hand under his and moved it to his thigh.
A hundred not-so-subtle hints he gave me all week were obvious to me for once, and I felt my fingers bouncing off his jeans from how much they trembled. He took the turn for River Road and tilted his chin down to me as he straightened the wheel again, squeezing my hand tighter. “Is this okay with you?”
Dying of embarrassment and too terrified to look at him, I only nodded and laid my head on his shoulder.
Between the balmy afternoon heat of late August, Dominic’s death metal music, and us packed in like sardines, it was probably the most uncomfortable ride any of us had ever taken. I still never wanted it to end, though.
6
Official
Dominic
The longer we sat in the parking lot by the boat launch, the more people showed up to hang out for the night. But all I wanted was to be alone with Faith for five minutes.
Staring off into space, she swayed beside me with the music blaring out of someone’s stereo across the bonfire. Every time she rocked into me, she gave me a dose of her perfume, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
The next time she moved in my direction, I slid my finger into her sleeve to hold her still and leaned into her ear. “You want to go for a walk with me?”
Sliding down from the truck’s gate, she set the bottle of soda I bought her on top and wiggled her hips as she pulled her shorts back in place. “Sure.” Nodding at a cleared-off space in the tree line, she pushed her fingers into her back pockets. “There’s a trail right over there that leads all the way around to the other side of the field.”
I lifted my toes to get Jason’s attention and told him we were leaving with a wave. “Sorry. I thought it would be more private here.”
Her cheek puffed back at me as she shook her head. “Nope. Sorry. If you want a quieter fishing hole, you’ll have to go to the lake like Dad does.” Wrinkling her nose at herself, she tossed her head back and forth as she hummed. “Hmm. It’s like five bucks a day per person to hunt and camp and fish on top of the license, so it’s pretty dead most of the time.”
I laid my hand on her back, sliding it up and down to see how she responded as I clicked my tongue. “Ten dollars to have you all to myself for the day. That sounds like a hell of a deal if you ask me.” Holding back a branch that blocked the path she stopped at, I waited for her to go underneath before following her in. “I’m just not much for crowds of people.”
Once we got through the thicket of trees, she crossed her arms as her face scrunched back at me. “Really? You seem so comfortable all the time, though.” Taking a deep breath through her nose, she playfully rolled her eyes away as she tossed me more compliments. “And super smart, and funny, and a way better running back than anyone on Varsity.”
All week, she sat in the bleachers after school during practice. But unlike all the cheerleaders and girlfriends who did the same thing, she spent the rest of the evening on the phone with me, dissecting each play.
Brushing against me with every other step, she finally bumped my shoulder with hers. “You smoked everyone on that last forty, so I bet they move you up any day now. “
I squeaked a laugh back at her as I flipped my hat around. “I’m glad you think so well of me, but…” Talking about my feelings is what you’d call frowned upon in my house, and how easy it was for me to spill my guts to her only made that bond between us stronger. I was becoming completely dependent on her as my support system. “My brain is always buzzing with all these ideas. So the extra noise from everyone is just too much, and I have to, I don’t know, escape.”
Turning toward me, she laid her hand on my arm. “Well, I’ll try not to talk too much if it helps.”
Smiling at my feet, I bent my arm to grab her fingers before she got away. “No, don’t do that. You’re one voice that doesn’t bother me at all.”
A few seconds went by before she got her courage back. “Um, so, I love your truck. How long have you had it?”
“Dad surprised me with it for my birthday, and my mother about keeled over.” Clenching my jaw from the stress of them arguing every time the topic of me came up, I rolled my eyes at myself and sighed. “They’re probably still fighting about it right now.”
Bringing me to a stop, she cocked her head toward her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at me as what I said caught up with her. “Wait a minute. When was your birthday?”
This girl was everything I didn’t know I wanted until I found her, but I understood how unequal our positions in life were and how it embarrassed her.