UGH! Friday before spring break and this guy just wants to give us homework! Dustin looked up at the clock again. T minus 3 minutes and counting. He came out of his daydream when Mike kicked the back of his chair.
He looked over his shoulder and grabbed the note being passed to him.
"El and Max are meeting Lucas, Will and I at the Arcade after school. You coming?"
Normally Dustin would jump at the chance to go to the Arcade but he just couldn't hang with the lovey-doveys and Will this afternoon. His big secret was going to be waiting for him at home and after a day like today, he needed to be there instead of at the arcade. A big smile crossed his face as he thought about his tree house. He grabbed his pencil and scratched an answer on the paper, tossing it back at Mike as he faked a yawn. "Not today. Going to do this damn homework before Mom makes me clean my room. Tomorrow?" Mike angrily kicked his chair as the bell finally rang.
"Are you seriously going home to do homework?" Mike asked as Lucas and Will joined them at Dustin's locker.
Dustin put his cap on as he shut the door. "Yeah, guys, I am. I don't want to make all of you look bad at all of those video games in front of your girls." He smirked at them as he continued, "and you know I am terrible at math so working on this now gives me the whole week to not worry about it. If I get it finished today, I can probably get Steve to look over it before he leaves for the lake in the morning." He looked at them as they just gave him a look trying to figure out if he was lying or not. "Look, we can meet up at the Arcade tomorrow after we mow grass and get a little more change to feed those monsters. I am mowing three houses plus mine in the morning just to get extra playing money. I plan on winning back all of my first places from Maxine so I need more quarters!" He smiled at Lucas who just shook his head as they started to walk out to their bikes. "You boys have fun and call me when you get home so we can coordinate a time on Saturday."
Lucas hopped on his bike. "All I can say is this is lame and you should come with us now."
"Aww you really love me, don't you, Luke! I knew I was your favorite." Lucas tried to knock Dustin off his bike as the other guys laughed.
"You suck hard, Henderson!" He laughed as they started to split off with three of them heading to the Arcade and Dustin heading home.
"Love you too, Lucas! Miss you already!" Dustin made a kissing sound as the other guys just howled in laughter. He pedaled a little faster as soon as he knew they were out of sight. He smiled as he saw that his mother's car was not at home. He dropped his bike and let himself into the house. He looked out the kitchen window glancing at his tree house as he picked up the phone to call his mom. He continued to stare out at the tree house noticing the edge of a blanket swaying in the breeze as he waited for his mom to answer the phone.
After three rings, he heard, "Helena Laboratories, Claudia speaking. How can I help you?"
"Mom, I'm home." Dustin leaned closer to the window hoping to see more.
"Oh good, sweetie. Any of your little friends over with you?"
"No, they went to the Arcade and I left my money here so I'm just going to play video games here until you get home." He wasn't trying to make it obvious that he was hurrying her but he was.
"Dusty, I have to work until 7 tonight. Is it ok if I just pick up pizza tonight?"
"Of course, Mom! Pizza sounds wonderful! See you after 7. Love you."
"Love you, too." As he hung up the phone, he looked back out at the tree house. The edge of the blanket was no longer visible. He snuck out the back door and as quietly as he could climbed the ladder to the door. She was sitting on a bright blue blanket with some old throw pillows thrown all over the inside of the house. He noticed she was twirling a piece of her brown curly hair around her finger as she was lost in the book she was reading, The Outsiders. She still had on her uniform from St. Anthony's Catholic School but she had kicked off her shoes and he noticed she must be deep in thought because she was rubbing her feet together one on top the other.
He heard her take a deep breath as she turned the page. "You know if you would have made me wait any longer, I was going to run off with Pony Boy." Bowie looked over the top of the book at Dustin who was smiling at her. He could see the smile in her lavender eyes as she put her bookmark in the book, setting it on one of the pillows. She pulled out two Coke and crawled over towards him handing him one. "How was your day, cowboy?" She giggled as she took her first drink of the cold drink and stole his hat putting on her head as he smiled at her.
"I could have ended hours ago but it was ok. We got to watch shows in a couple of classes but," he paused to take a drink from his bottle. "We got math homework over spring break. I lied to the guys and told them I was coming home to do my homework rather than meet up with them and their girlfriends at the Arcade. How was yours?"
"Mine was life as usual at the Catholic school but …" she gave him a sly look. "You lied to your friends about why you came home? Are you ashamed of me, Dustin Henderson?"
He laughed, "No, I'm not but I ...well… they won't believe me that you are really my girlfriend." He got fake serious as he turned to look at her straight on. "You see, I'm not what they call smooth with the ladies. I know hard to believe but I am taking lessons from Steve." He leaned in a little closer as she laughed under the bill of his hat.
She looked up at him. "Are you ever going to kiss me, Dustin, or does this Catholic girl need to make the first move?"
He smiled as he scooted close enough to notice the flecks of blue deep in her eyes. "I have never done this before so…" before he could finish she put her lips on his pulling him in a little closer to her body. He felt like his mind was going to explode with all of the things going on in there. Before he knew it his hands were around her trying to get her closer. When they finally broke the kiss, he looked at her not moving from their positions. "I guess the Catholic girl made the first move." She giggled slyly. "And I liked it." He smiled at her as he moved his hat off her head pulling her in closer.
"Dustin, can I do something? It might seem a little weird but …"
"Are you going to like drink my blood or tell me your from the planet Jupiter or something?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, stupid! Just kiss me again and this time not so tight lipped. I'll show you what I want to do."
He moved in and kissed her leaving his lips a little loose. All of a sudden he felt the tip of her tongue slip into his mouth and lightly run over his new teeth. Keep it cool, Dustin! She is just checking out the new pearls and I think she likes what she feels. Now hands in her curls and let's deepen this kiss. He lightly tangled his hands into her hair attempting to see if she would let his tongue into her mouth. He felt her giggle a little as he licked her lips lightly tasting her cherry lip gloss and Coke.
When they broke the kiss again, they both sat back a little bit breathing a little heavier. Dustin took a deep drink from his bottle as Bowie closed her eyes. She heard it. Her dad was yelling for her to come home. She had hoped it was just voice in her head but no. She looked at Dustin and smiled. "You know you are the only reason I even like living in this damn town."
"You know you are the only reason I would lie to my friends and miss out on playing video games until my IQ fell in the shitter, right?" He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips again. He didn't want her to know how much he was wanting to just stay with her in the treehouse kissing her until the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Trying to play it cool right now was so hard. "He doesn't like me much, does he?"
Bowie reached over and grabbed her book. "He likes you. You're considerate and in front of him you have manners. You cut the grass for quarters and you seem to be pretty smart for a kid who goes to public school. He just doesn't like that his little girl would rather spend time in your treehouse than go hang out with his boss's son." She made a face and rolled her eyes. "That guy is a neanderthal and that is insulting to the neanderthal." He helped her up as they started for the ladder. "After you mow the grass in the morning, do you have plans?"
"I told the guys I would meet them at the Arcade after we all finished getting some extra loot for the machines. Why? Did you want to meet here again?"
Once their feet hit the ground she turned and smiled at him. "No, I think we'll go to the Arcade and you can teach me how to play one of those games you love." She smiled as she got on her tiptoes to kiss him deeply one more time. "Just a little something for you to remember me by." She laughed as he looked at her shocked. "See you tomorrow, Dustin Henderson!" She yelled back as she trotted off towards her dad's growing voice leaving him to dream about her and wondering how he was going to explain her to his friends.