The Summer of Me & You (24 page)

My head throbbed. Ouch.

When the police got there, I explained to them what happened. Their first suggestion was to remove the key from beneath the pot plant outside so we wouldn't freely give access of our house to criminals. We could be robbed, hurt, anything, and if there wasn't any forced entry, it'd be harder to prove a crime.

“The boy says he and the girl are good friends and the mother gave him permission to stop by. He comes over a lot?” The question was directed at me.

“Sometimes.” The cop scribbled something down.

“He didn't hit you, did he?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Didn't tear your clothes?”

Once again, “No.”

“Okay, well, we're going to escort him out of here, but we can't arrest him. All we have here is some unwanted kissing, and we know how that goes.”

The cop was a jerk! He was implying I'd encouraged all of this myself, then pushed Seth away like a tease.

“He tried to
rape
her,” Gunner said. “He's a predator. Lock him up.” When I heard it out loud, I realized it was a bold statement. He hadn't slapped me or ripped my clothes. Maybe I overreacted.

The cop asked me if I wanted to press charges.

I didn't want to go through the whole scenario of doing that. I wanted the night to end.

“No,” I said. Gunner had punched him in the mouth and kicked him in his groin. “I just don't want him coming back around me.”

“Don't let him away with this, Kayleigh. Press charges. That's why there are so many rapists out there already.” The cop looked at me and Gunner blankly. “He violently gripped her and shoved her into the wall,” Gunner told the cop.

“And who are you again?” The policeman asked. Seth glared at me.

“Her neighbor. I live across the street.”

“You saw this take place?”

Gunner knew he hadn't. He arrived after it'd happened.

“He's lying,” Seth said.

“No he's not,” I found my voice. “You did grip me and shove me into the wall.”

“Look,” the officer closed his notepad. “I have all of this down on paper. It's called a report. If you want to press charges young lady, you can have your mom bring you down to the station in three days to pick it up. Have a great night.” He turned away and told Seth. “Let's go, boy.”

After the cop left, Gunner said, “What an asshole. I should've punched
him
in the face.”

I sighed, trying to pull myself together. Before I could stop it, the tears flowed from my eyes. “Hey, what's wrong?” Gunner asked. “Besides the obvious?”

I sobbed. “Kaleb and I broke up.”

“Oh my God,
why
? What happened? Do I need to punch him, too?”

I explained to him what went wrong, what I'd said and he assured me that Kaleb was just temporarily hurt, that it'd all blow over in the next few days.

“But—” he said opening the freezer and perking up. “Since we've both had one helluva afternoon, it gives us a great excuse to devour this Neapolitan ice cream straight from the cartoon with a spoon.” He grabbed both pints of ice cream and sat them down on the counter. I jerked open the drawer and got two spoons.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

He took the Neapolitan ice cream flavors to a totally different level. “
Vanilla
sex,” he said, scooping the same flavor from the carton.

“What's that?”

“It's horrifying. You don't want to know.”

I scrunched my face, not understanding. “I have no clue what you're talking about. You know that right?”

“Consider yourself lucky. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.”

“Are you talking about Mr. Macon?”

“His name's Ben, and no.” He licked the spoon. “His sex is
definitely
like the flavor of chocolate.” Had he devoted a flavor to everything?

“So what's strawberry?”

He smirked. “I've been trying to find out. I hear it's great.”

“So are you telling me that you had horrifying sex with someone that wasn't Ben?” It was weird calling Mr. Macon Ben. Even weirder that Gunner claimed he was having sexual relations with our teacher.

“You cheated on Mr. Macon?”

“Hey, at least it's a cheat that I
can't
get an F on, unless of course, F stands for f—”

I cut him off. “O
kay
, I get it!” We giggled.

“I'd totally ace that class with F
plus pluses.
” Gunner had no filter in his brain. He was uncensored. He said whatever he thought.

“Hey,” he said, realizing. “Who bought this ice cream?”

“I did,” I told him.

“Girl, you better get to eating some damn ice cream before your mom finds it in the freezer. Go,” he motioned. “—spoon.”

I hadn't even opened it yet.

“On second thought,” I picked it up and took it back to the freezer, replacing it with a different flavor. “I think I'm in the mood for mint chocolate chip. It's my fave.”

“
Ooh,
” Gunner said. “Good one.”

Wow, I never knew he was so strange.

***

It was days later before I saw Kaleb again. He stopped by the daycare center to pick up Alison.

Kaleb saw the faint bruising on my arms. “Kayleigh, what happened?”

“Nothing,” I said. Where Seth had forcefully gripped me, he'd left marks. They were only barely visible though. But Kaleb noticed. I didn't tell him what had happened. I knew he'd go crazy and Gunner had already given Seth what he deserved.

“Did someone hurt you?”

“It's no longer any of your concern, remember? We're not together, and we're not friends, so there's no need for you to worry about me.”

He overlooked my snark.

“Kayleigh, something happened to you and I wasn't there to prevent it.”

“I'm okay, really.” I told him.

“Will
we
ever be okay again? Will we ever get back to being Kaleb and Kayleigh again?”

“I don't know,” I told him. “I asked you that several days ago. You said it was over.”

“Kayleigh, I was mad.” His eyes bore into mine. “Now I'm over it. But, I'm not gonna try to convince you to be with me. I shouldn't have to. If you
do
wanna try to work on this, then meet me at the mid-summer dance tomorrow afternoon.” Before he left, he glanced back, his eyes full of love and passion—for me.
 

I was going to that mid-summer dance tomorrow.

Whether the stubborn side of me wanted to or not.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

I wanna be your boyfriend

*

The mid-summer dance signified that summer was halfway over. Ten years ago, the teenagers in our town had established the dance and it'd caught on. It was something that occurred in our town every summer. Basically, it was a gathering of teens at the park. Garage rock bands came down and played music and we lit up the sky like the fourth of July.

This was our night.

An hour after the event began, Kayleigh arrived.

“You showed,” I said. She just nudged my hip with hers and we watched the band rock out on their make-shift stage. It was a silent understanding, one where I knew she'd forgiven me. I still wanted to keep her on her toes though, never knowing what to expect. I fished into my pocket when she wasn't looking and when she least expected it, I threw down a handful of snap pops. Kayleigh squealed, running away. I laughed at her, hysterically.

“Kaleb!,” she cried. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

I smiled, tossing my head back to dump the package of rock candy into my mouth. Pop rocks sizzled on my tongue. I wondered if I kissed her if they'd pop against both our tongues. “Come here, let me kiss you.”

“No,” she laughed, jumping back as I moved in for her.

“Yes, I bet it'd be electrical.”

The rest of the afternoon was like that. We just joked around with each other. I handed her a blue slushy. “I bet I can get my tongue bluer than yours,” I told her.

“Nuh-uh,” Kayleigh said.

“Uh huh,” I said.

We did things like this. Play-fight and have competitions over the silliest and most childish things. I loved it. With her, things were just simple and amazing. She was unlike any other girl I'd been with. Uncomplicated. I could be me.

Right before the big show, I lit Kayleigh's sparklers with my lighter and watched her twirl around in the summer twilight—the shimmering fire dust swirling and falling down around her under the deep blue sky.

I knew right then, on that night—I was deeply in love with her.

The finale of the evening would be the dance. Before that, a firework show. She and I peered up into the atmosphere. As the fireworks lit up the sky, the colors bursting apart like fire flowers, I said to Kayleigh, “I wanna be your boyfriend.”

Her eyes diverted away from the sky, and landed on me. Time seemed to slow down. The passing seconds were only marked by the popping of the fireworks in the sky above us. I think I died a thousand times just waiting for her answer. My heart rate accelerated.

“What made you change your mind?”

The answer was easy.

“I realized someone else might tell you you're pretty. I'd do anything to keep you away from that person.”

“And why's that?” she asked, smiling.

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Because, he'd be lying and I'd have to kick his ass. You're absolutely beautiful,” I whispered low where only she could hear it.

She smiled.

The last band of the night began to play their music. Kayleigh reached for my hand, pulling me to her for the dance.

I more than had my answer.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Midsummer
 

*

There's an imperfect boy with an upturned grin and his hands around my waist. And there's a perfect song playing that I don't know the lyrics to, but the feelings are just right. A wild look in his eyes—wicked delight. My skin is live wire under his fingertips as his hands coast up and down my lower back—gently and eagerly. He pulls me closer to his body. Our hips meet and something sizzles through me like a voltaic shock. Something about the way he knows I'm untouched and how he badly wants to be the one who touches me. It's how I want to resist him but can't—not when he's gazing at me like that. He's the boy who smokes Marlboro cigarettes and I'm the girl who makes theater puppets. Dreams and ashes—two things in the universe that should never meet because they are opposites, right? Something happens to one that causes the other.

Our eyes shouldn't be gazing. Our hips shouldn't be touching. His hands—his gentle hands—should not be on me, anywhere on me, but they are and I want them to be.

Our lips should not meet.

But none of the should nots matter, not when above us shine the stars. Everything is alit with wonder. He looks at me as if he needs me.

He needs me. He wants me.

I need this—I need him. I want him to want me.

There's a deep burn within me and Kaleb dips his head just enough so that he can press those soft lips of his against mine. I smolder.

We ignite.

I know there will be no going back. I can no longer fight this. I want to be his girlfriend and I want everything that goes with being his, no matter the cost.

“Yes,” I told him. He knew what I meant. Kaleb knew I wanted to be his, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Expand, Implode

*

Where had the days gone? They seemed to have flown by. Kayleigh and I spent every waking moment together, getting the most out of the summer as we could.
She's my girlfriend
, I thought.
My girlfriend
. It was real.

She laid in the grass on a towel, sunbathing. I laid beside her just watching her be. The sun was hot as hell.

I stood up, pulling my shirt over my head, tossing it aside.

“What are you doing, Kaleb?” Kayleigh smiled, peering up at me.

“Do you trust me?”