A/N: Yayness! Chapter 2 is finished! Aren't you all just so proud? I've been a busy little writer lately! (you can tell by the dark circles I now have under my eyes…I'm such an odd writer, for some reason I can only write at night! And like late at night too, I'm talking starting at like 1 AM and finished at like 230 AM. And then getting up at like 7 or 8 to go babysit…I was pretty tired this past week. But I finished Eyes the Color of Ireland, and I got a new chapter done on this story. And I didn't have to babysit this morning so I definitely slept till like 1245. I love summer…anyways, I'm sure you don't care about my sleep habits, so I'll just stop now so you can read the story, what you actually wanted to read about! I hope everyone likes it. I'm pretty satisfied with the length, it's a LOT longer than the last chapter I posted (which isn't saying much, but…) so here you go, hope everyone likes it---be sure to REVIEW, por favor!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, except for my new character and the plot. But everything else—Margaret Mitchell.
Chapter 2 of Georgia Rain: I really can't think of a chapter title!
Leif Calvert felt like he was the luckiest seventeen year old in all of Georgia. He was feeling so good that he was willing to venture a guess that he was the luckiest seventeen year old in the entire world.
He was in love with the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.
And she loved him back. Scarlett O'Hara loved him. She was enough to take his breath away, and she often did. He was the middle child of the Calvert family; his older brother Cade and his younger sister Cathleen usually bore most of the attention. Although Leif and Scarlett had grown up together, he had never paid much attention to her before. But one day…his eyes had miraculously been opened and it had been love at first…or closer to seventy-first…sight. He and Scarlett had been meeting each other secretly for close to three weeks. His family expected him to marry a friend of the family from Virginia—but he was entirely besotted with Scarlett. The three weeks the two had been meeting had been the happiest of his life.
If he told his family now that he was breaking off an engagement that had been arranged practically since the young woman's birth, they would be furious. They would be angrier still when he told them that it was because he was in love with the beautiful, proud, flirtatious, and tempestuous Scarlett O'Hara. It was all they could do to accept that Scarlett was their baby Cathleen's best friend. They did not understand or know Scarlett like he did. They could never understand.
But he was going to have to tell them eventually. He wanted to marry Scarlett, and he couldn't very well do that whilst he was betrothed to another. He would tell them soon, but for now he was satisfied with the secrecy of their romance. He loved the feeling it gave him, as if he and Scarlett were the only beings on Earth and no one else truly existed but were just dreams. He could hardly wait until he saw her again tonight.
He quietly slipped out of the house and stepped onto the porch, grimacing when he heard the boards groan beneath him. He started down the steps, but only got halfway down before he was stopped cold.
"I thought I heard the door last night. Leif, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cathleen whispered into the still night.
"Shit, Cathleen, you scared me. Don't let mother catch you saying hell, either. She'll be bound to know who you heard it from." Realizing the word choice he had used in front of his younger sister he hastily went for the damage control. "Cathleen, sweetheart, don't repeat the word, er, words, I just said. Mother'd skin me alive if she ever heard you use a word like that. Like those." Taking on a high and mimicking voice he said, "'Cathleen Calvert! That simply is not ladylike! What am I going to do with you?'"
Letting out a laugh, Cathleen had to admit that he sounded exactly like their mother. "You're avoiding the question. Besides, you know I don't care about being a lady. What are you doing out so late?"
"The question is better when directed at you, little sister. Now, go back to bed and I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from telling Mother you saw me out at this time of night."
Stomping her little foot impatiently, Cathleen replied, "You know I'd never tell Mother," she pouted, still not moving from the porch.
"Fine. Stay there. I'll be back later. Cathleen, go back to bed. I'll see you in the morning.
Leaving his sister standing on the porch, hands on her hips, Leif turned and walked down the drive. Heading towards Tara he couldn't decide whether or not to tell Cathleen about his relationship with Scarlett.
It would be nice to share the story of his love for Scarlett, and he did love talking to his sister. Perhaps he talked a little too much to her, or too freely anyway, listening to her word choice of earlier.
However, he selfishly wanted, somehow, for it always to be their little secret. Deep in thought, he looked up from the dirt path and saw Tara. It really was a beautiful house. Looking into the dark windows from so far away, he wondered which room was Scarlett's.
As he saw the front door begin to open slowly, his heart began to beat with the intensity it always did when he was with Scarlett. She made him feel so utterly…alive, reckless, daring…she made him feel wonderful. She made him feel love. His body surged with it, and when she was very close to him, his body surged with something else: desire. Conceivably, that was another part of her appeal. He was desirous of her. She came closer and then they were at the barn again. She smiled at him and his heart filled. He couldn't resist kissing her…and somehow they were up in the hayloft, lying on the straw looking at the starry night sky through the holes in the roof of the barn. He was too busy gazing at the person next to him to even worry about the hayloft being stable enough to hold them. Hopefully it wouldn't fall. It would just stay as it was. Hopefully, everything could just stay as it was.
Scarlett moved closer to him, pressing her body against his tightly. She kissed him softly and he sighed and ran his fingers through her cascading locks of raven hair. She moved closer still and he realized then what she was doing as she kissed him harder. He couldn't help but let out a little, barely audible moan. Mustering all his strength of character he broke away from her.
"Scarlett." The word came out rough and his breathing was ragged. "We can't do this here. We shouldn't do that at all yet, love."
"Leif, why not? I love you so much, sweetheart."
"I love you too, but Scarlett, it isn't right. You'd hate me if I took your…" he blushed, feeling a little uncomfortable that he was actually having this conversation. Most of his friends would have jumped with glee at Scarlett O'Hara's clear intentions. So why did he have such a nagging feeling that they shouldn't? Damn his stupid sense of honor. Finishing his sentence quietly, yet strongly, "If I took you here. Scarlett, this is hardly the place. You deserve more than a run-down barn. You deserve a castle…you deserve more than this," he gestured at the ramshackle surroundings.
"But Leif, I don't want a castle. I just want you. And if we've got a barn, and if that's all, I don't care. Kiss me, Leif. Please?"
Discomforted by her words, he did kiss her. She looked oddly sad at her own words and he wanted more than anything to make her happy. If this was what she wanted, well…it wasn't as if she were asking him anything extremely difficult. After all, this is something he wanted to do. He'd just never pictured it happening in a barn of all places. Although it could be worse. It was a beautiful night. The moon was full, the stars were shining, and the crickets were chirping outside. He kissed her again and again and again…
-------------------------------------------------------
Startled, Scarlett O'Hara woke up in the arms of Leif Calvert. What time was it? Looking up to the sky above she was shocked to see the night beginning to fade away. How long had they been asleep? Shaking Leif awake, she hurriedly began to redress herself, afraid she would get home and find Mother and Pa sitting at the table. She was going to walk in the house with straw in her hair and her dress thrown haphazardly on her body. They'd know for sure what she had been doing. Oh…Mother would never look at her the same again, and Pa….Pa would kill Leif! She knew he would. They mustn't ever find out! What had she done?
But then she looked over at Leif buttoning his shirt, and realized it was all worth it. Rushing to him and throwing her arms around him, she kissed him. "I love you, Leif."
"I love you too, Scarlett," he told her, looking into her sea of sparkling green eyes. "Now run home, sweetheart. If you're caught, it'll be the death of me," he said, winking at her. He knew Gerald O'Hara's temper, especially when things came to his oldest daughter. "I'll see you at the Wilkes' barbeque this afternoon."
Heading for the steps that led down from the hayloft, she stopped quickly and walked back to Leif. "Aren't you going to kiss me good nigh—morning?" she said, laughing.
"Scarlett, love, aren't you all kissed-out?"
"I'll never tire of your kisses," she called, as she headed down the steps. "See you at Twelve Oaks!"
Scarlett and Leif ran all the way to their respective houses and, luckily enough, neither was caught.
However, maybe if had been caught, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.
Another A/N: so what'd you think? Everyone like? I hope so. Sorry I haven't updated this story in such a long time. I had like the first paragraph written, but then the rest of this chapter just took me a while to figure out what I wanted to happen. Okay, I can't think of anything else ramble-worthy, so I'm just gonna go and submit this new little chappie, and I hope everyone, everyone who reads this little story here reviews! Please, seriously though, review. Gracias to everyone who reviews! WHOA, I just looked to see when I last updated and it was in MAY! Sorry I made you all wait so long…oops!