“How was the first day?” Mom greeted me as I came into the family room. I’d just gotten back from my first day of senior year, and she looked eager to hear all about my day…not.
“It was alright. Just like every other year. You sit, listen, and then go on to the next.” I grabbed a handful of M&M’s that were in a bowl on the coffee table.
“Dinner will be in an hour. I think Clarissa is coming by.”
I noticed mom eyeing the candy in my hand. I tossed it back into the bowl. “I think I have work to do. I’ll grab something later.” I turned and walked back to my room.
The automatic light came on as soon as I walked into my bedroom. I dropped my heavy book bag onto the floor then collapsed onto the bed.
Mother never made a verbal comment about me eating junk food, but I could always tell by the look in her eye and the reference of how close the next meal was that I shouldn’t
The next two weeks of school were spent on note-taking and preparation exams. There wasn’t any time for me to even think about Ethan, which was a good thing. In class, we barely got out a hello let alone a full conversation before our instructors started on our test material.Tara and Rynae were really starting to get on my last nerve about what was going on with Ethan.Did he say anything to me?What’s he like?You know questions that someone would ask if they were interested in a certain person.I questioned them if maybe they had a crush on him, but they would always deny that factor and just insist they wanted to know if he was as big of a douchebag on his own as he was when he was around the Hawks.Somehow, I just never believed them.I could see why they would have a crush on him if they did, not that I did or anything, but he was quite the male specimen.&
I tried to keep my concentration on what we were supposed to be doing, but this whole thing with working on the reproductive system and sitting this close to Morgan sort of challenged my ability to focus.She was stunning, but not in an overdramatic way. She wasn’t painted up with makeup like a lot of girls, seemed she had the bare minimum on her face. Her hair was full and shiny, unlike the Hawkettes who always seemed to be highly flammable with a ton of spray, gel, or mousse.Morgan was a little larger than the girls I usually went out with, but not in a repulsive way. She looked like she’d be able to handle herself in a fight and then turn around and be a big turn-on in the bedroom with the large breasts and nice round ass that I could spank all night.I focused back on the hand-out and tried to control the hard-on I was getting from all the images that had just flashed through my mind.There were tons of lines to be filled out on each of t
What the hell did I just say okay whatever too? I didn’t want to go over to his house, and I definitely didn’t want him over mine.My God that would be a wrong choice. My mom, and most likely my sister, would be there acting worse than a peeping Tom. I’d never brought a boy home unless it was just for debate club purposes or they were doing the group dance thing, but never someone who was on the Ethan Lowry level of importance.Maybe I could think of another place to go that would save each of us from having to do the home visit thing.I made it through my next few classes without any issues. Other than Tara, and Rynae being in two of them and their constant harassment of how did Ethan act today, it went fine up until lunchtime.There I was with Tara and Rynae standing in line still listening to them go on about Ethan when the Hawks showed up.Wonder why they didn’t have their little minions getting and delivering? Ethan was
As we made our way up to the lunch line, I saw Morgan standing with her two friends. She looked agitated by whatever the one girl was saying to her.Jason nudged me and nodded towards the three girls I’d already seen. I just waved him off like it was no big deal, but kept her in my side vision just to see what she was doing.Our group sort of cut the line in front of other students who’d probably been standing there awhile, but I wanted to get closer to hear what Morgan and the other girl were talking about. Of course with the guys being obnoxiously loud and Morgan’s friend whispering, I couldn’t really make out too much of the conversation.For the next five minutes, I tried lip-reading and found out my skill wasn’t very good. I could only make out certain words, mainly the word no was used a lot.Morgan knew I was there, she looked right at me. I tried to be as friendly as I could, shit I probably even looked like a total g
Yay, the bell finally rang for us to end the day. I gathered up my stuff and bolted out the door. I had to get down to the lower level and make sure that everything was ready for our meeting.“Morgan, wait up.”I heard my name being called, I knew whose voice it belonged to. Maybe if I got to the room quick enough, I could lock the door and pretend I hadn’t heard him.Okay, that was being a little too immature. I needed to step up and do what I needed to do.I turned around when I got closer to the meeting rooms and saw him. Ethan got a lot of strange stares as he shouted and chased after me. It was kinda weird because usually it was the opposite way around and he’s is the one being hunted and tracked.My eyes traveled from his shoes to the top of his hair taking in every inch of his body along the way. He was well-conditioned, and it showed by the lack of exertion he had to use to catch me walking at a
Ethan was parked two rows away from my car, a newer model Kia that was a dark green color. It was Clarissa’s hand-me-down car that was given to me after she got her convertible.Ethan’s car was an older Mazda. It was a faded blue color with chipped paint all along the sides.Ethan opened the door to his car. “Just follow me, okay.”I nodded and walked over to my own car. As soon as I got in and settled, Ethan spun tire out of the parking lot.I followed behind. He only lived a short distance from the school, so the whole overall drive took less than ten minutes.There were two cars parked in the driveway of the home that I would’ve never thought belonged to his family. It was slightly run down with lots of half-torn apart engines and appliances spread about the side yard.The home itself was a small vinyl-sided one-story that looked like it could use a painting or two. Like Ethan’s car, the color was
I watched as Morgan interacted with Hope. I liked to leave my personal home life out of the spotlight. It was too complicated to try and explain to everyone that came over, which was only a few guys from the team.But I don’t know, Morgan was different.She was a no question just go with the flow type of girl, something the Hawkettes weren’t. Hope seemed to like her, which was a rare event. She was even worse than me when it came to being friends with people. I was friendly, but only on the surface. I never really let anyone get too close. Hope had one friend that she liked to hang around with, but other than that she kept to herself.It was too hard for her to try and explain what the hell was going on at our house on some days, so she opted to keep everyone away like I did. But she seemed to have taken a liking to Morgan, which I couldn’t blame her. I just wish this all could’ve been done under different circumstances and not the reason
After I’d got done talking to Ethan’s adorable little sister, he finally invited me inside. He walked really fast, and I had no idea where he was leading me, but it was evident that Ethan didn’t want to be around his parents right now.It was such a different atmosphere here than at my own house. There weren’t any lights on, no one came to welcome us back home, and it smelled like old beer and cigarette smoke. Not that I’d ever done any of those things, but it was a smell that I couldn’t forget from a party that my aunt had last summer.Ethan opened another door and waved me on through. The light flickered on, and I saw that he had brought me to his bedroom.The well-kept, clean room was not one that I expected to see. The bed was made and had a fresh dark blue comforter nicely folded down to show three large pillows. There was a computer desk off to the side with a wooden chair pushed underneath. A flat-screen TV sat on a bla
There was a straight line in the carpeting from me pacing back and forth between the window and the door. The photographer got pulled away by Hope over an hour ago, which meant I would be front and center in less than thirty minutes. I wasn’t worried or even nervous about getting married, I knew Morgan was the one and only, but I was terrified of making a fool out of myself in front of all those in attendance. Sure, I was a cocky, confident ass in high school, but picturing myself becoming a mumbling idiot in front of five hundred people, some of whom I’ve never met, well, that’s got me anxious as fuck.So far over the past year of all of us living in The Keys, life has been more than great, it’s been the best time of my life. College was going well, my mom finally became the woman I knew that was hiding away from us for so long, Ms. Christine was more than I ever expected in a grandmother and kept all of us in line, Hope had friends, was high honors i
My hand clenched at my stomach. “I don’t know if I can do this.” I was used to being in crowds, like when I was in debate back in high school and with all the reports and public speaking, I had to do with several of my courses, but this, this was totally different.Clarissa smoothed out my veil and gave me a hug. “You’re going to be fine. Just focus on Ethan and don’t worry about the other five hundred people in the church.” And with that comment, she gave me her best non-convincing smile.Five. Hundred. People. And that was the attendance at the marriage ceremony, that wasn’t including all the others who would show up for the reception. It seemed Ethan’s grandmother knew half the population here in the Keys, and according to her, as we made out our guest list, you can’t leave so-and-so out of the invitations, that would be a recipe for disaster.So, since she was footing most of the expenses,
“Ethan, it’s almost dinner time,” I called out from the balcony that looked over our own private section of the beach. I was staying at Christine’s house, Ethan’s grandmother. Like she’d said back in Pennsylvania, she had a big house with a bedroom just for me if I wanted anywhere to stay. What I didn’t know at that time was that Ms. Christine was quite wealthy. It seemed she and her late husband had bought up a lot of oceanfront property way back in the day before Key West became a tourist site. Then, as the years progressed she sold off several plots of land to developers but kept some of it for her own personal oasis. Now, she has a six-bedroom house on five acres that looks out into the deep, dark blue ocean. I’d been in Key West with all of them for over six months now. Clarissa came to help me pack the night before my flight left. We’d put almost all of my summer clothes, laptop, and the basic necessities that I would need into two suitcases. I said goodbye to
It’s been over a month since Ethan and his family made the big move to Florida. We talk every day and video chat at least three times a week. He sent me pictures of him and Hope at the beach. His hair had gotten longer, and the constant sun exposure brought out all kinds of highlights. With his dark tan, good looks, and perfect body he could be a model for some vacation guide or something. I mean really, once someone would see Ethan on the front cover, they would want to go the Keys that minute.He told me Hope has already made some friends, and that he found a new love. But once he saw my hurt expression, he had to backtrack on what he just told me. He loves trying to surf and is even taking lessons from one of their new neighbors.I told him I’m doing well, but that’s a lie, and he probably knew it. I’m sure he could see and hear the pain every time he talked to me.I couldn’t help it, I just wanted him to come back home, but I kn
An hour later, me and Hope packed up two more boxes in her room. I think we spent more time playing around, dancing to her favorite songs than we did any actual work.I heard a soft knock on the door, and Ethan poked his head in. “I have to get Morgan back home.”Really? I didn’t know I had a curfew. Maybe this was his way of getting rid of me?“Aw, c’mon. We were having fun. I won’t get to see Morgan much longer.” Hope flopped down across her bed. She put on her best pouty face, hoping to get her own way.“You’ll see her tomorrow. Maybe.” Ethan would say anything to put a smile on his sister’s face.“Okay.” Hope bounced back up, put her arm around my waist, and led me back down to the living room.I gave her a quick hug and kiss, a promise to come back tomorrow, then followed Ethan out.The ride back home was…quiet. Like Ethan didn’t even turn
I couldn’t believe it had been ten days since we graduated.Ten days since we left it all behind and never looked back. We rode off into the sunset and lived like a king and queen.Okay, not really. We didn’t go anywhere except for a few parties and the special getaway that Ethan had planned for our graduation night. One in which I fell in love with him ten times over.After stopping in at a few get-togethers graduation night, Ethan took me a bed and breakfast a short distance out of town. Without me knowing, he had Clarissa gather up a bag for me so that I would have what I needed for the night and the following day. My sister decided to pack Victoria's Secret negligee, stockings, and stilettos, instead of my usual shorts and t-shirt for nighttime wear.Did I wear them?Hmm, let’s just say they didn’t stay on too long.Anyhow, Ethan had been acting kind of weird the past week. He hasn’t told me anything that wa
After the state final, mine and Morgan’s official we are back together celebration, our graduation rolled around quick.I couldn’t believe that in less than one hour we would all be high school graduates.Morgan bounced out of her house with her graduation robe flowing out behind her. If she didn’t hurry, we were going to be late commencement.I guess that would have to be partly my fault since I kept her a bit longer in my bed than I should’ve.What could I say? This part of the make-up was good…like really, really good. It felt great to have Morgan at my side day and night.The sound of my horn giving a short honk startled her. She jumped and jogged faster to the car.“I’m coming.” Morgan plopped down in the passenger seat and slammed the door closed.I smiled and looked at the clock. “You said those exact words about an hour ago.” My hand skimmed across her arm and gooseb
Two weeks later, I still hadn’t received a full on the mouth kiss from Ethan yet. I could understand wanting to take it slow, but now this was getting kind of ridiculous.Every evening ended with a soft, lingering touch, then just a peck on the cheek.I wasn’t complaining though, it felt great to have him by my side again. There were no more worries about whether he was hiding anything, like another secret bet or something. I had to trust him in order for us to move forward.My family, along with Hope, Ethan’s mom, and grandmother went to the state finals with him for soccer. Even though we were broken up for that time, like for three whole months, I still secretly sneaked to his games and practices. I watched from afar and marveled at his abilities, but I couldn’t let him know that I still cared.That I still wanted him.That I still loved him.But now, I could scream my head off for the man that was running down the
Ethan and I sat in the parking lot for almost an hour. We talked about everything and anything. Even though I really didn’t want to, I just didn’t want to relieve what had happened and wanted to try and move on, but I got to hear Ethan’s side of the story.He started at the beginning of the year before he got to know me and how his past captains of the soccer team had made him the designated person for ‘the challenge.’ I happened to be Clarissa’s little sister, Matt had wanted to take one last jab at her, and I had to suffer the consequences of his desire to torture.It seemed Matt and Ethan never got along, even when they played on the same team. He was as big of a bully as he still was now.Ethan revealed that he was never a fan of the shit that they did to girls, but never gave it a second thought because it never affected him directly.No matter the circumstance, it was still so wrong to do to any girl.Fortu