We laid there on our respective sides of the bed. Both equally as shocked. "I hope your dad didn't hear that... I think I'm bleeding." He put his hand to the base of his neck and then inspected it. "I didn't bite you that hard," I insisted. He looked over at me with one eye scrunched. All I could do was smile.
"Lucas?" He hummed, and I went on, "when I tried to get your attention, I never thought..." "You regret it," he stated simply. "No! I just didn't mean for it to happen and, I mean, I had no intention of... and then you just looked so... and I..." I exhaled and looked over at him. "No, it's OK, I get it." "No, you don't. I don't regret it, Lucas." "You don't?" I stared at him looking for any type of reaction or indication. "I only regret it if you do..." He shook his head defiantly, "No, definitely not. Can we just not tell anyone yet?" I couldn't say anything because I agreed that we shouldn't tell anyone, but I didn't understand why he wouldn't want anyone to know. "I still have to go out with Meagan." And there was my answer. "Of course," I realized in a small voice. Without looking at me, he instinctively grabbed my hand and held it silently. "I love you," he whispered. I curled my body over next to his. "I know."
o o o o o o o o o
A few hours had passed and I hadn't moved an inch, nor had I slept a wink. "You awake?" I asked. I felt the bottom of his abdomen lift then quickly fall as an amused puff of air came out his nose. "Can't sleep either?" he purred, his chest vibrating. "I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. Tomorrow is going to be hell." "Tell me about it," he started, "All day I'm going to have to see you sitting across the room in class and all I will be able to think about is how good it felt being inside of you. " My face grew crimson and I buried it in Lucas' chest. "Oh, now you're being modest," he taunted. "Remember that on Friday," I mumbled, though secretly hoping he'd hear me. "What?" "Nothing," I repositioned my head snuggling closer to him, aware of the summer heat. "I'm going to put my clothes back on," I said, motionless. After a few moments, Lucas questioned, "Well?" "You were supposed to protest," I pouted. "Ohh," he realized, making patterns on my arm with the tips of his fingers, "Forgive me. Peyt, I'm a 17-year-old male, of course I don't want you to put your pajamas back on." I smiled and draped my leg over his, "Not that I don't enjoy laying here with you, but I'm bored again." "Well, I'm sure I can find something to write about in my journal, if you want to turn on the light and draw for a bit?" "You won't mind?" Lucas reached over and turned on the bedside lamp, then leaned down towards the floor by the edge of the bed grabbing his journal out of his backpack. "I need to get up and get my sketchbook." "OK." "Um, can you maybe cover your eyes?" "What!" he burst, smiling. "I'm serious. It's too light in here." "Peyt, you have the absolute, most perfect body I've ever seen, what are you worried about?" I shrugged, "Please?" He shielded his eyes with his hand, pretending to peek through his fingers, "Hurry up." I padded over to the window, opening it praying for a cool breeze. "I see you're taking your time." I quickly looked over at him and giggled, "You better not be seeing anything, Lucas Scott. In fact, while I'm up, I might as well put my pajamas back on." "Peyt," he voiced his disapproval. Giddily I clapped lightly, "You're learning!" I finished dressing, "OK, you can open your eyes now." I grabbed my sketchbook and returned to the bed sitting with my back against the headboard.
o o o o o o o o o
In the morning, it was especially hard to wake up. Lucas and I finally made our way downstairs for breakfast finding my father standing in the kitchen. "Morning you two! Get a good night sleep?" I remained silent and Lucas grunted. "Using my caveman-language decoding powers, I've translated that to 'no,' am I right?" my father laughed. Silence again. "Alright well, Peyton, we need to talk after school," I looked up at him, "You need to start thinking about what colleges you're going to apply to." I groaned. This was too serious of a talk to be thinking about so early. I looked back down to the comics page of the newspaper. "OK, kids, I'm off to run some errands. I trust that you'll make it to school on time?" I finally spoke up, "Mmhmm, bye daddy." Lucas just nodded, enjoying his cereal.
Once daddy had left I started massaging my inner thigh. "My leg hurts. I didn't even know I had muscles there." Lucas just smirked. "You're quiet," I said noticing his lack of speech even after my father had left. "Sorry, I was just thinking about Friday night." I bumped his arm playfully making the orange juice splash in his mouth quicker than he'd anticipated, "Well, now you'll be ready for whatever happens." He shot me a look; I couldn't tell if it was a reaction to my comment or the juice. "I need a good reason to be busy on Friday..." "Trade?" When Lucas and I were younger, we'd eat two different kinds of cereal in the mornings, then halfway through we'd switch. He finished up one last bite, before pushing his bowl towards me and replacing the empty spot in front of him with my bowl. "Why do you need to be busy? I thought you wanted to go out with her?" He shrugged and poured some more milk in his cereal. "You almost done with those?" He signaled towards the comics section, but instead of handing them over I folded them back up, "We should get going." "But I'm not done with my cereal..." I rolled my eyes, "Then eat a snack on the walk." "A pudding cup?" he perked up. "For breakfast?" I laughed. "Technically, you said 'snack'..." "Fine, just make sure to grab a chocolate one because I might want some." "OK, I'll bring two just in case." "I don't want a whole one!" "Please! You always say that, then you devour it and I'm left with nothing." I feigned annoyance even though I knew he was right. "Go grab your bag and let's go."
o o o o o o o o o
I got home that afternoon to an empty house, and barely noticed the note scribbled in my father's handwriting sitting on the kitchen counter.
Hey Chicken, I hate to leave so soon, but I only took a short job on a local dredging boat. I'll be back in a week and a half, so don't get into too much trouble. In case you get time this weekend, I set up a tour for you and Lucas at the University of North Carolina. There's money in the cookie jar in case you want to spend the night near the campus. Call grandma if there are any emergencies and tell Lucas to watch out for you.
Love and tickles, Daddy
I slumped down in the nearest chair. "Great," I said to myself, "He didn't even stay home a full week this time."