The Best Year - 43. Chapter 43

It was late when we got back, so late that Luke didn’t get to shut the engine off and stay with me for a little longer. We both also knew he had an argument waiting for him back home. It was pretty obvious that Cindy knew that Luke was with me, but I hoped she also thought there was more than just me. The bowling lie Mom told still felt like a stupid one from the start of the night and now that we were back home, I wanted it to be enough.

Every light in the house was off aside from the porch light outside. Glancing at my phone as I watched Luke back out of the driveway I saw that it was just past midnight. I wouldn’t have bothered dragging my ass back home this late if I were out with the guys. Mom knew I would just sleep over and come crawling in sometime the next morning or afternoon if liquor was involved. If my parents only knew, but by now they could probably imagine most of the shit we got up to.

After toeing out of my shoes I gently closed and locked the door behind me, then tiptoed like my ass had a curfew all the way up to the bathroom and brushed my teeth studying my hair in the mirror. I made a mental note to get it trimmed back down before Districts. The thought of that weekend coming up knotted in my stomach more than usual.Tony added extra conditioning outside of the pool. It meant more running than I would have liked. I had improved so much from the beginning of the season, every stroke was worked on, so the knots in my stomach now had more to do with Georgia. It was now about getting out of this town and convincing Luke to come with me. That was the only way Georgia could work for me, but I didn’t think I had sold the idea to him either. He didn’t know how deep I was into this and maybe at the end of the night I shouldn’t have let him leave without knowing.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked then wrinkled my nose at myself in the mirror. I only saw crazy or desperate people talk to themselves and I wonder just how stressed out I really was as I turned and left the bathroom.

Back across the hall to my room I dug my phone out of my pocket and tossed it to the bed, hoping for a text. Stripping out of the clothes that were too dressy for bowling and boardwalks, I made my way to the bed and pulled back the covers too chicken to text Luke, I let the phone lay on the bed beside me.

The text never came though and when I woke up to Mom nudging me awake I rolled to my side, hoping she didn’t notice my morning wood. Opening my eyes I squinted against the brightness of the room and groaned as I curled into a ball.

“Jackson, wake up,” Mom said and reluctantly I slid one eye open and glared at her. That’s when I noticed she was fully dressed with a small bag at her side. She was beaming and too happy for this early in the morning.

“Why?” I asked as I gave up and uncurled myself so that I could sit up on the bed.

“Your father surprised me with a little get away, we’re just about to leave,” she said, her smile widening as I made sure the cover was still covering my lap.

“Really?” I said, blinking away the lingering sleepiness from my eyes.

“Yes,” she answered with a small sigh. “So get dressed and come down and have breakfast with us.”

“Alright,” I groaned, but it seemed to be enough of an answer for her. Dad never really surprised Mom with anything, I thought they were too old for surprises. I didn’t know they could still have babies though, but clearly I was wrong on that one.

Standing up after I was sure my hardon had subsided I walked over to my dresser and pulled out the pair of shorts that happened to be on top. They were red and the fortune teller from last night crossed my mind and I smirked as I slid them on and walked back around my bed grabbing up my phone just before I left the room.

Downstairs I noticed the bags packed neatly just at the front door. Dad was in the kitchen, the soft talking meant they were discussing me, even though I could see them at the table from here.

“Good morning,” Dad said as he cut into what looked like an omlette with a slice of toast on his plate.

“Mornin,” I grunted as I walked to my chair. Mom already had my orange juice poured so I sat down and picked up my fork. “So how long are you going to be gone?”

“Well you are starting Spring Break,” Mom said, cocking an eyebrow. “Can we trust you not to get into any trouble?”

“I’ll be good,” I answered as I grabbed up my fork and looked across the table at both of them. “Districts are this weekend, I have to be.”

“And that’s the only reason,” Dad offered with the smallest of smirks before he took a bite of his toast.

“Well yeah,” I said, shrugging.

“Jackson you’re not very reassuring,” Mom said and I smiled when she rolled her eyes as she started cutting up her omelet into smaller portions before she could eat it. I wondered where she picked the habit up, but I was too young to remember my grandparents before they died.

“Where are you going?” I asked, already wondering what all I could get away with in an empty house, especially during Spring Break.

“A scenic little town with a nice bed and breakfast,” Dad answered with a goofy assed grin on his face. He was proud of the idea, even though I thought it sounded lame. “Not far from the city if we want to do some shopping and stuff.”

“I guess that sounds fun,” I said as I cut into my first bite of my own omelet and watched the cheese and ham spill out. “You will be back for Districts right?”

“Yes,” Mom answered, waving her hand. “Your Dad took the week off so he could come.”

“Really?” I asked, glancing over at him. Dad had missed a lot of my big swims over the years, but I never held it against him. It was hard being one of the most qualified people in a small town. I knew he was important and there was always someone who needed him more than I needed him in the stands. He always made a point to congratulate me the next morning or the days after. Neither of them were into sports, but I saw the other side of the coin with the selfie takers and yelling parents from the stands. As I got older I figured I had lucked out with that a little bit.

“We both needed a bit of a break,” he answered as he reached over and patted me on the shoulder before letting his hand fall back to the table. “How was your date?”

“I’m not talking about that with you two,” I answered, wrinkling my nose as I shoveled another bite into my mouth.

“You did get in kind of late,” Mom said, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re lucky the alley stays open past midnight.”

“Do you really think Henry bought it?” I asked as I grabbed my glass of orange juice and took a few drinks.

“I think my news had him too shocked for much of anything else,” Mom answered as she took another tiny bite. “I guess it was inevitable.”

“Well yeah, unless you told people you were just getting fat,” I said and when her mouth fell open I shrugged and fought the urge to laugh. She let the lecture I knew should have followed go and I stood and grabbed up my empty plate and half-empty glass and walked over to the sink. I downed the rest of the orange juice and rinsed both off before I slid them inside the dishwasher.

“We better get on the road,” Dad said as I dried my hands and turned to see them standing from the kitchen table. Like me, they both rinsed their dishes and put them in the dishwasher.
“Behave and call us about anything, day or night,” Mom said as she wrapped me into a hug. Feeling her rounded belly against mine was unnerving, Mom had always been petite. Her red hair was up in a braided sort of bun and she looked dressed for Easter Sunday service at her church.

“I think I can handle myself,” I countered as she broke the hug and kissed me on the cheek that I didn’t dare wipe off until she turned and stepped aside for Dad to give me a hug.

“Treat the house with respect,” he said, his voice almost a whisper in my ear. “Or at least hire a cleaning service before we’re due back.”

“Dad,” I said as I rolled my eyes.

“And don’t be careless with Cindy,” Mom said as they hovered in the kitchen both looking at me like I was ten years old all over again and they were too scared to leave me behind. I had put my foot down on the idea of church around that time.

“Just leave,” I groaned as I pushed myself off the kitchen counter and followed them out of the kitchen. Mom wrapped me up for another hug as Dad grabbed the last of the bags and I watched them close the door behind them before I bounded back up the stairs with my phone in hand.

I knew everyone would be sleeping off whatever state of a hangover they ended up with. They wouldn’t be up and willing to do anything until well past noon. I was too awake to go back to sleep and the best time to jog was in the mornings, so I ended up sliding a t-shirt over my head and in a pair of socks and running shoes. After I pissed and put deodorant on, I bounded back down the stairs and when I opened the door I jumped backwards at Luke standing at the front door.

“How did you know?” He asked with his hand raised and balled into a fist.

“Jesus,” I hissed, “you scared the hell out of me.”

“Well that would sound like a miracle if I didn’t know you better,” Luke answered as his hand fell back down to his side.

“How did I know what?” I asked as I took a step back to let him into the house.

“That I was here,” he answered as he hovered outside.

“I didn’t,” I said and he smiled as he shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

“I remembered you were planning on going for a run,” he answered and that’s when I noticed that he was dressed up for a run too. “I thought I would tag along.”

“We don’t have to run,” I said, swallowing at the sight of him standing on my front porch with an empty house behind me. Mom and Dad were long gone and with Luke standing here at my front door, pretty much told me Cindy wasn’t nearby either.

“Yeah, we do,” he said as he backed away from the entrance. “I’m not going to be the reason you’re out of shape for Districts.”

“I’m in the best fucking shape of my life,” I hissed patting my stomach feeling the muscles under my shirt.

“Come on, it will be fun,” he said and I watched him grab a hoodie that he draped on the railing of the porch before I sighed and closed the door behind me.

“Fine,” I said as I playfully nudged him as I walked by and bounced down the front steps. He fell in step beside me as I stretched out my legs while he stood and watched.

“I already stretched,” he said when I cocked an eyebrow as he pulled the hoodie over his head and down his stomach.

“How was last night, after you got home?” I asked as I pulled my left leg up behind me and felt the burn in my quads before I released it and did the other leg.

“It was okay,” he answered with a shrug and I knew it wasn’t, but he wasn’t going to talk about it either.

“You can tell me, it won’t annoy me,” I said as I tucked my phone into my pocket after glancing at the clock.

“It wasn’t bad,” he countered, shaking his head, “ready?”

“Yeah,” I said and with a smirk he turned and took off in a steady jog down the paved driveway and out onto the road barely looking to see if there was any traffic.

Catching up to him I fell in step beside him already hating the jarring in my legs, but knew Tony would be happy. At least we weren’t on a track with the same unending scenery, which made running feel more like a chore than exercise. The curve of the road and the fields and forests were better to look at.

“I saw your parents leaving this morning,” Luke breathed and I turned to see his face had already flushed. He was swinging his arms a bit too much for it to really be beneficial, but I also knew this wasn’t about us running, not really.

“Yeah,” I answered, “Dad surprised Mom with a trip, they’ll be gone for a couple of days.”

“Really,” he said as he stopped swinging his arms just long enough to pull up both of his sleeves. The sounds of our shoes scraping pavement made it difficult to hear much of anything, but we had matched our steps so that we sounded like one person instead of two. I wondered how long he would be able to keep this up, but I also remembered how difficult he was to catch that night out in the snow and smiled.

“I’ll have the house to myself,” I said as a bead of sweat ran from my temple down to my jaw as I looked around. We were about to hit a curve, but I wasn’t a good judge of time and distance, so I could only guess how far we had gone. Unless someone was watching me like Coach Tate, I typically just ran until I couldn’t anymore and called it a day.

“Let’s turn down the trail just up ahead,” Luke said as he pointed to what looked like a break in the forest made by an ATV. “It circles around to the pond.”

“How do you know?” I asked as I looked over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t a car coming up behind us.

“Dad and I use that road when we drive the truck back there,” he answered and when we reached the trail I turned with Luke following me, our matched pace broke for the first time since I caught up to him.

The trail was just starting to green in the middle where the tire treads didn’t kill it. It was also a little muddier than my taste. The slapping of our shoes against the soggy ground was louder and Luke’s pace hadn’t returned to match mine and with each step I felt the splatter of mud hit my calves.

“A little wet,” Luke commented and when I looked over at him, his face was wrinkled up into a snarl and his teeth were clenched. He was getting close to his limit and in the mud I wasn’t going to last as long either. “It’s about a half mile or so to the clearing.”

“We can walk it,” I said and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, Luke slowed down to a walk and I jogged a few feet and slowed myself. Hearing his breathing, quick and ragged I turned and waited for him to catch up with my hands on my hips. I tried to steady out my breathing, my heart hammering in my chest, my shirt clinging to me as I sweated. Luke pulled the hoodie back over his head. His t-shirt went with it and I watched unapologetically at his stomach expanding with air, his dusting of darker blond hair sticking to his stomach, his skin glistening in the still subdued light of the early morning.

When he managed to pull the hoodie off, his t-shirt went with it and he had to free it and pull it back over his head. Swallowing I turned and readjusted myself in my shorts as he closed the distance between us and I started walking again.

“Sorry if you wanted a longer run,” he said, still too winded to soften the grimace on his face.

“I hate running,” I answered as I glanced down at my mud streaked calves and ruined sneakers. They were old and in need of replacing anyway, but they were the most comfortable shoes I owned to run in.

“How far do you think we’ve gone?” He asked as his breathing finally slowed and he was taking fuller strides again.

“I don’t know, probably about a mile or a little past,” I answered as I slid in the mud and had to catch myself. Watching me, he laughed and when he held out his hand I took it. The forest covered us on all sides of the trail, the undergrowth, although brown and dead, was still thick. Birds had started to sing now that we weren’t scaring them with our running.

“Your butt looks really good when you run,” he said and I felt my face warm as I shook my head.

“Fuck off,” I groaned glancing over at him.

“Maybe it's the shorts,” he said as he smirked and I watched a drop of sweat fall down his flushed cheek.

“It’s definitely my ass,” I said smiling when he laughed and turned his head to look down at it.

“No, I think it’s the shorts,” he countered and I let go of his hand and stopped walking.

“Luke,” I said, half chewing on my bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Do you doubt my glorious ass?”

“Yeah,” he answered, “I mean, the shorts are nice.”

“Fuck you Clarke,” I growled as I turned my back to him and hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my shorts and boxerbriefs underneath and pulled them both down just past my ass.

“God,” Luke hissed as I looked over my shoulder to see him looking at my bare ass, half surprised, half amused. “Pull your shorts back up.”

“Not until you tell me I have a nice ass,” I said as I pulled them down further. “Go ahead, we got all day.”

“Fine,” he said and I heard the laughter in his voice as I stretched my arms out away from my sides and looked around the still winter-dead forest. “You have a nice butt.”

“I know I do,” I said as I reached down and pulled them back up over me.

“You wouldn’t have done that in public, would you?” Luke asked as we started walking again.

“Probably,” I said, shrugging. “I’m not really bashful.”

“Good to know,” he said and I wondered if he meant that as a challenge for later or not. The smirk hinted at me showing off my ass to a bunch of unsuspecting people sometime in my future and I’ll have to do it now that I said I would. I would be nothing if I didn’t keep my word and I already showed most of the school and Connor’s fucking mother anyway.

We walked until the trees thinned and when we entered the clearing I stopped and took it all in. It was much larger than I thought it would be and the pond was barely visible on the other side of it. Glancing at Luke he was already lost in the scenery and when he turned to see me looking at him he smiled.

“Do you come here a lot?” I asked as we started walking again. Luke seemed to have a destination in mind, not the pond this time as we walked straight towards another treeline.

“When I was younger I used to look for snakes and stuff here,” he answered and smirked when I wrinkled my nose.

“I wish I knew this existed when we were still sneaking around for good party spots,” I said as I looked around. I could already picture a volleyball court, a bonfire across from the pond. It was far enough away that parents and cops wouldn’t be breaking it up and I highly doubted Cindy’s uptight ass had ever stepped foot out here either. Seeing it in the daytime, I could see the draw of the place, the peace and quiet that didn’t seem all that confining, not in the way the dead ass town made everything seem.

“I really don’t want the place covered in beer cans,” he said, shoving my shoulder. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

“If it is a snake, I can go without seeing it,” I said as I shoved him back and watched him take a half step to his side to rebalance himself. Shooting me a glare, I knew I would be paid back for that later.

“You’re a baby sometimes,” he said, shaking his head.

“I am not,” I countered and when he shrugged his shoulders and laughed I figured I somehow proved his point.

“I mean honestly, you’ve lived here your whole life,” he added as we made it to the other treeline after crossing the clearing. I took one last look around before I turned to see Luke ducking inside the dead undergrowth, holding back a tree branch.

“So what if I need to have half a case in me to enjoy nature,” I said as I stepped around the bent back branch and watched it swish back to where it had been. “I’m not you.”

“I found this two years ago, last year I walked it all the way to the river,” he said as we fell into what looked like a trail in the woods. Looking around, I didn’t see much of anything and when I looked up I saw birds fluttering around above us. I didn’t know if Luke meant the trail or if he was still explaining what was still our goal. Falling in step behind him I watched his muscles flex and relax in his shirt. All I thought about was the empty forest and the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere. When a dead briar caught his shirt and raised it up, he came to a stop and froze when my hand beat his to his shirt. I glanced up at him when my finger slid across his bare skin as I broke the dead thorny twig and freed him.

“Thanks,” he offered and I watched him swallow before he nodded and turned back to leading me down the trail.

“Are we about there?” I asked as the undergrowth thickened up to being more than just coverage, but annoying despite being dead. “I’m getting sliced up.”

“Yeah we’re almost there,” he answered, glancing over his shoulder. I didn’t need a lot of tiny scratches on my skin heading into districts. Most of them would have more than enough time to heal by then and I knew I was complaining. Loving Luke meant I would find myself in places like these and maybe it was starting to rub off on me, at least in the daytime. Stumbling over shit in the dark, I probably never will get used to.

When he finally did stop and waved his hand for me to step around him, I pushed a branch out of my way. Looking around, I didn’t see anything that stood out and when I glanced at Luke, he was looking down at the forest floor.

“What is it?” I asked my eyes darting around for any sign of movement thinking he brought me to a snake nest or something.

“An underground spring,” he said, pointing to a small rock formation with a trickle of water spilling out of it.

“What the hell is so special about that?” I asked, turning to look at him. I watched him roll his eyes and sigh before he turned to look at me.

“This spring feeds into the river,” he said and he pointed with his left hand to where the trickle of water expanded to a stream that couldn’t be over four or so inches wide. A small groove cut into the ground with water flowing down it. “Amazing right, that we found the beginning of it.”

“I guess,” I said, offering him a smile.

“It grows to be about six feet wide on down, probably about a mile or two,” he said and I watched him kneel and dip his fingers into the water. His shirt rode up in the back and about an inch of his boxer briefs were visible as his shorts pulled down, his underwear was damp with sweat and I swallowed and looked around us. The forest showed no sign of clearing ahead and I already knew how thick and unwelcoming it was behind us.

“Luke,” I said as I turned back towards him. He was still feeling the water with his finger tips, but hearing me say his name he turned to look up at me.

“Yeah?” He asked as he shook off his fingers and stood. I didn’t answer and reached up with my hand, I let my fingers slide over his bare arm. When he gave an involuntary shudder I smiled and stepped closer to him. Looking at him, I saw him watching my hand continue down his arm to his stomach, I tugged on the bottom of his shirt. Pulling up the fabric I ran my thumb through the light dusting of hair on his stomach leading to the waistband of his shorts.

Not looking at him I knelt in front of him, grimacing when my knee hit a tree root and wet ground. Shuffling I glanced up at him before I reached up with my other hand and ran my hand up his leg to his waist band. When he placed his hand on my shoulder I hooked my fingers into the waistband of his shorts and pulled them down. His navy blue boxer briefs were slightly bunched up around his crotch and when I moved my head forward and opened my mouth I heard him take a deep breath. My lips found his cock through his boxer briefs and I parted my lips and moved along his shaft as it grew. Feeling his fingers dig into my shoulder when I found the head of his cock I reached back up with my hands and pulled down his underwear. When his cock sprang forward and smacked me on the lips I heard him laugh, but when I licked out with my tongue and slid it along the underside of his cock just below the head his laughter cut off.

I continued to lick his cock with the tip of my tongue until his hand left my shoulder and found the back of my head. I heard him sigh as he grabbed hold of my hair, only relaxing when I finally did slide the head of his cock inside my mouth. I tasted more of the salt from his sweat and as I took him deeper his other hand found my shoulder and I felt him shudder again. Hearing him moan I looked up to see his eyes shut tight enough to cause creases at the corners. He tilted his head up towards the canopy when I took more of him in, my tongue sliding along the underside of his cock. When I started to back away I felt his hips follow me and I had to gently hold my hands up to stop him and he groaned when I took him back into my mouth.

“I’m not going to last long,” he hissed as I started moving my head back and forward. I ignored him not really caring and took him as deep into my mouth as I could without gagging. When I pulled back to just holding the head of his cock in my mouth I felt his fist tighten in my hair and when he groaned I tasted the first wave of his cum hit my tongue and I pulled off him and felt it hit my chin and neck. I looked up to see his cheeks flushed and his eyes closed as his knees slightly buckled and he moaned then took a few steadying breaths before he opened his eyes and looked down at me.

Standing back up I took Luke’s hoodie when he offered it to me and started cleaning his cum off my face. His smile had returned as he pulled his underwear and shorts back up over him and after I was sure I got it all I handed it back to him.

“Want to go back home?” I asked and when his eyes found mine he started laughing.

“You missed some,” he answered, holding out his hoodie.

“Where?” I asked, reaching up to feel around for it on my neck. I expected some of it to still be in the collar of my shirt, but I knew the house was empty back home and I could get away with it.

“Your hair,” he answered and before I could take the hoodie back, he reached up with it and I felt him rub the sleeve of it across my temple a few times before his hand dropped to inspect me.

“Get it?” I asked, feeling my face getting warm.

“Probably not,” he answered, his own face flushed still. “That was about a week’s worth.”

“Really?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow and he just nodded as he stepped back up to me. “You can go a whole week?”

“I guess so,” he answered, “now shut up about it.”

“I can’t go two days,” I said and when he laughed I shook my head and wanted to get him out of these woods and back home. When I turned to start back down the trail though Luke grabbed my elbow and I stopped turning. He only hesitated enough for me to notice it before he reached up and grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back in for a kiss.