Page 21 of From the Ashes
“Will you kiss me again?”
“I’d love to.”
I fell back into his arms, our lips meeting once more. A bottle of amber liquid lay forgotten at our feet and the campfire crackled. What had started out as a simple celebration quickly turned into the best night of my life. I wished it could last forever, that I could remain in Charlie’s arms until the end of time.
But all moments, no matter how devastatingly beautiful they might be, come to an end eventually.
CHAPTER 7
Charlie
“Aren’t you excited to go pick out your dorm room supplies?” Mom asked as we thundered down the freeway in our old rusty SUV.
“Yeah,” I grumbled, rubbing my eyes as I stared out at the passing trees. “But why did we have to leave soearly?”
“It takes a long time to get up to Portland,” she laughed. “Duh.”
The landscape whizzed by, the trees giving way to rocky cliffs dropping away on either side of the vehicle. We were crossing through the mountains, trying to get over to the main highway in Eugene that would lead us all the way to Portland at the north end of the state. It was a ridiculously long drive from Creekside, and I wasn’t excited about spending that much time in the car.
“We can just go to a regular store, Mom. We don’t have to go all the way up there.”
“This is a big deal, Charlie! You’re going to college! You only get to do that once.” She glanced over at me, a mischievous grin on her lips. “Unless you want to get a graduate degree as well. You know, I wouldn’t mind bragging to everyone in town that my son is smarter than all their kids combined. Not that I would brag openly, of course. Just insinuate.”
I rolled my eyes with a sigh. “You’ve already told everyone who stands still for more than three seconds that I got a full ride. How much more bragging do you need to do?”
“You’re my son! And you’re smart as hell! Everyone needs to know how good of a job I did raising you. Obviously.”
“Ah. So it’s aboutyou.”
“Isn’t everything?” She gave me a wink. “I’m just messing with you.”
“But youarebragging to everyone.”
“That part is true.”
Another sigh. “You know I just graduated two days ago, right? Why are we buying all this now? I don’t even know what kind of room I’m gonna have yet.”
“It’s better to be prepared, right?” She gave me a nudge. “And stop whining! This is my graduation gift to you!”
“You don’t have to do that…”
“I want to,” she replied. Her tone had an edge of seriousness to it. “With your father gone and the two of us on our own… well… I know things haven’t been easy. Money’s been tight a lot, and you didn’t have everything you should’ve growing up.”
“Things were fine,” I began.
“Yeah, but they could’ve been better.” A pained expression came over her face as she glanced at me again. “I can’t help feeling like it’s my fault that you’re so introverted. I coddled you a lot after your fatherdied and I was so afraid you might get hurt that I barely let you leave the backyard for almost two years.”
“Mom,” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You didn’t make me introverted. I promise. I just am and I like it anyway.”
“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay at college all by yourself?”
“Nix is going with me. I’ll be fine.”
“I can’t imagine he’ll be a good influence.” She pointed a finger at me, her eyes still on the road. “Don’t you let that boy mess up your shot at getting a good job, okay? I know he can be a little…”
“Mischievous? Wild? An idiot?”
“Yeah that,” she nodded. “So as much as I want you two to look out for each other, I don’t want you to lose sight of why you’re there.” Her threatening finger relaxed into a hand on the top of my head. “You’re a good boy and I want you to have a better life than I did. You can do great things, I just know it. And when you’re rich, you can build me a little hut out back and I’ll cook you dinner whenever you want.”