Notes: This takes place before Ryan leaves for Newport and I'm not sure how long it's going to be yet but knowing my love for Ryan and Theresa it will probably be pretty long. I'll try to give an update every week if not more than that. Also I realize there are things in this story that might confuse people considering their age but what I've come to realize is that kids are growing up faster and faster and as far as we've been told that wasn't any different for Ryan and Theresa.
Thank you Ice Crystals for the beta!
Chapter One
He wasn't exactly sure of how he had gotten there. His hands stuffed in his pockets, cigarette hanging from his lips.
She hadn't noticed him, yet. Her head was tilted down, sucking on a red ice pop. Her lips grew red by the second. He had an urge to say, "My Lolita" but he stayed silent, blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth.
Theresa sat on her front step, painting her toenails. Her long dark hair blew in the wind, a few strands catching on the ice pop.
Ryan couldn't stay silent anymore. He had to see her face.
"Hey," he whispered, drawing the cigarette out of his mouth and stepping close to her.
She could see his shadow on the sidewalk. Her head slanted upwards, her moist lips red, eyelashes dark and her brown eyes looked him over. She watched him drop his cigarette to the ground. She grabbed it, sliding the tip into the cement, and put it out.
"Hey you," Theresa's lips turned into a smile.
He could see her cherry-stained tongue. He pulled up his jeans a little as he sat down beside her. She still held the ice pop stick in between her fingers while using her free hand to paint her toenails.
"I'll do that," he said reaching for the nail polish. She shoved his hand away.
"You always leave lines everywhere," she answered, whirling towards him with her head at an angle; hair thrown back. Theresa pushed the ice pop in his direction. He took a big chunk out of it. She looked at what was left and said, "Well you may as well have the rest, Mr. Greedy." She handed it back to him.
He obliged. "I like when you finish it. You always taste good," his own lips curved into a smile as he watched hers do the same.
"So, are you trying to say I don't taste good all of the time?" Theresa twisted towards him placing, the bottle of nail polish down.
Ryan took another chunk out of the ice. He shook his head no. "No that's not what I was saying. I meant…" he trailed off as her lips pressed against his.
He quickly savored the moment, dropping the Popsicle to the ground beside him. He placed his hands against her face, pulling her closer to him. As they parted lips, Ryan brushed hers with his fingertips, wiping off the saliva that had formed there in the past few seconds.
Ryan often wondered when it was he had fallen for her but there didn't seem to be a precise moment where he could place his feelings.
He remembered her sharing her lunch with him in grade school and the way he often found himself jealous if anyone else was around her. Then at her birthday party in eighth grade he couldn't afford to buy her anything. He took her outside that night in their shared backyard and they lay on a blanket as he pointed out the stars to her and named the galaxies. Theresa leaned over and told him that it was the best birthday present she'd ever gotten.
He felt that he had spent most of his life loving her. He couldn't find a day where that love for her wasn't somewhere inside of him.
For his thirteenth birthday, she slid into his room and they made love for the first time and sometimes what seemed like the only time. As they got older or felt older, sex became something that wasn't love for either of them. There was scratching and biting, most of the time. It was the kind of pain that felt good. There were very few occasions that making love for them didn't contain pushing someone against the wall and tearing their clothes off.
"Here you can paint my fingernails," Theresa said, handing him the polish. She positioned her hands on his knees. He felt the warmth of her palms seep through his jeans and into his skin. "Just don't get distracted," she teased.
He took her hand in his and began to paint her pinky nail.
"Wait, I want a cigarette," she said.
He laughed. "And I'm the one who's distracted," he choked, putting the nail polish bottle down and reaching inside his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. He pulled a cigarette out. Theresa's lips parted a little to let the cigarette settle and then handed her his lighter. "I still don't know why you won't let me light your cigarettes," he said, shaking his head.
Theresa looked up at him, her hair blowing in the wind again while she clutched the lighter, flicking the edge to effect fire. "Because then I owe you ten years of my sex life."
He liked that idea. "Well you do owe me every day of your sex life," he winked.
The screen door opened and Ryan moved backwards, making room for Theresa's brother.
"Ah, look at the little love birds," he cooed annoyingly. Ryan scoffed.
"Arturo shut up," Theresa muttered, blowing smoke up into his face.
Arturo waved the smoke away from his eyes. "Where's Trey?" he asked, shifting his head downwards to look at Ryan. Ryan moved his eyes towards Theresa who was looking out onto the street. Her lips were crimson then, the color of bruises.
Ryan stood up, knocking the bottle of nail polish into the grass.
"Ryan!" she shrieked looking up at him, exasperated. She leaned over her brother's shoes and reached for the nail polish.
"Sorry," Ryan said, bending over to pick it up as well. She heaved his hand away. "Stop." She picked up the bottle and held it tenderly in the palm of her hand.
Theresa blew smoke in the air near Ryan's face.
Arturo laughed. "Calm down. It's just nail polish."
She stood up, flicked the cigarette to the ground and then pulled the screen door open. "I'll be back," she said to Ryan, looking at Arturo as if he had just interrupted some sort of intimate moment. The screen door shut sharply.
"What's up with you two?" Arturo asked, sitting down on the cement steps. Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Are you guys back together now?" Ryan always felt uncomfortable talking about Theresa with her brother even though they had all known each other most of their lives.
"I guess so." Ryan pulled out a cigarette from his pack, stuffing it between his lips. Smoking was the only thing that made sense in moments like that.
"Eddie has a thing for her, you know?" Arturo looked out onto the street and then over at Ryan's house, again wondering where Trey was.
Ryan coughed, choking on the smoke in his lungs. "What?" he questioned, looking inside at Theresa's house. The house he knew better than his own.
"Yea. He wants her," her brother stated simply. He watched Ryan's expression rotate from curiosity to anger.
"Eddie's sixteen. Theresa is fourteen. He's too old for her," he said trying, to convince himself he had no competition.
Arturo laughed. "Don't worry man. She loves you; plus, Eddie doesn't have a shot," he finished.
Ryan nodded his head as Theresa opened the screen door. "Who doesn't have a chance?" Her eyebrows rose, looking from Ryan to her brother.
"Nobody," Ryan answered, giving Arturo a look. Theresa held a wine cooler in her left hand as the screen door closed.
"What are you doing with that?" Arturo reached for it.
"Get off!" She moved away from him and closer to Ryan, pressing the side of her hip against his back. He breathed in, trying to shake off the intense feeling of longing.
"Mom is going to kill me if she sees you with that."
Theresa rolled her eyes. "She just told me to finish them off before tomorrow, jackass." She made a face at him and then handed the bottle over to Ryan who graciously took a sip and held it in between his fingertips. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder.
Arturo rolled his eyes. "Get a room, please." Theresa stuck out her tongue. "So where is Trey?" he asked for the second time.
Ryan shook his head, taking another sip before handing the bottle over to Theresa. She took a nice, long mouthful.
"He left early today. I don't know where he went, work I guess," he answered, wrapping his arm around Theresa's waist and jerking her close to him.
"Oh alright. I'm gonna go over there. I'll see you guys later." Arturo began walking to his car, which was parked in the driveway.
Ryan and Theresa watched him drive off and they both let out a sigh of relief.
"I love him but sometimes he gets on my nerves." She looked over at Ryan and planted a kiss on his cheek.
He turned to look at her and found himself falling in love with her all over again; the way her lips looked a ruby red and her hair blew in the wind, falling against her cheeks. He spun her around with his arm and dragged her closer to him once more.
The screen door opened again and then shut softly. They turned to see Theresa's mom staring at them with a smile.
"I'm going to go to the market. I'll be back later," she said, rushing towards her old, beat-up car. "Theresa, drink that inside!" Eva screamed from her car window, waving goodbye.