The Best Year - 24. Chapter 24

The next morning I rolled over, scratching my stomach, slightly itchy from the hairs starting to poke through from my last shaving. Knowing I would be back on the grind next week, I’d have to shave soon. I liked the feeling of smooth skin or fully grown hair, not the in-between. Smiling, I got up, adjusted my morning wood to a more comfortable and less revealing angle in my shorts then walked out of the room and down the hall to the guest room.

I expected Luke to still be in bed, we didn’t feel right sleeping in the same room, not after the run-in with Cindy at the football game. Stepping into the room though, the bed was nicely made and I glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand and saw that it was approaching noon. Sighing, I walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower knowing it was likely that the house would be stormed by Derek or Toby any minute now.

When I got out of the shower and dried off, I smelled food cooking and when I stepped across the hall to my room I heard Dad grabbing his coffee and walking to the front door.

“See you later, Jackson,” Dad yelled and I heard the click of the door opening, “have fun tonight.”

Smiling as the door closed, I dressed into a pair of boxer briefs, shorts, and a t-shirt wanting to crawl back into bed and have a lazy day in before paint wars tonight. With Dad and Luke both out of the house though, I expected Mom any second.

“Breakfast, Jackson,” Mom announced from the bottom of the stairs. Smirking despite my sudden humming heartbeat in my ears I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen. She was seated at the table, three plates were out, but Dad had already used one. Seeing it still on the table she rolled her eyes and quickly plucked it up from the table and walked over to the sink.

“Good morning,” I said, smoothing out my t-shirt.

“Your father is worse about dishes than you are,” she said shaking her head. “Good morning, Luke left hours ago.”

“Why didn’t he wake me?” I asked as I looked at the scrambled eggs, whites only, that I knew had to come from some sort of carton, two pieces of wheat toast, and sugar free jelly. Grimacing, I sat down in my usual seat and grabbed my glass of orange juice.

“Don’t make that face at me,” Mom said smiling as she took an exploratory bite out of her own scrambled eggs. “You broke your diet all to hell last night.”

“Worth every greasy fry,” I said patting my stomach, even though after not having that kind of food in my system, it didn’t really agree with me.

“You aren’t dressed though?” Mom said, a question furrowed in her forehead. “Luke said something about coming to get you soon, I was just about to yell for you before I heard you get up.”

“Really?” I asked, turning to glance at the digital clock on the stove. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, shrugging as she took another exploratory bite of her eggs before placing her fork on her plate. “These eggs are terrible.”

“Mom,” I said ignoring the food on my plate. I held my cool glass of orange juice in my hands, the condensation from the warmth of my hands made my palms wet. “About last night…”

“I know, Jackson,” she said, offering me a small smile as a tear fell down her cheek. She reached across the corner of the table grabbing my wrist, she gave it a gentle squeeze. “I can’t say I begin to understand, but I can see what is happening.”

“Sorry,” I said, feeling my face flush. Despite her smile, the tears unnerved me and threatened to push me over the edge of my own stinging eyes. I didn’t like feeling like this, like I was held by her eyes and the soft touch of her hand still on my wrist. I would rather have bolted from the house, no one, I thought, liked to see their mothers cry.

“For what?” she said, her smile deepening slightly.

“Well I don’t know,” I said shaking my head. “I don’t really know myself.”

“It isn’t difficult to see,” Mom said, giving my wrist another gentle squeeze as my eyes widened. It was almost like she reacted to the racing of my pulse. “If they know you, I mean, it is easy to see. I saw it before.”

“Before?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. “I’ve never…”

“With girls,” she said blinking. “But this is different, too, more mature, careful.”

“I don’t really want to talk about this,” I groaned grimacing. She let go of my wrist laughing as she wiped her tears away with her napkin.

“Just be careful, Jackson,” she said, placing her napkin on the table.

“I know,” I said and she leaned slightly forward in her seat.

“Cindy can’t find out,” Mom warned, “I suspect she can already see that something is going on, but for Luke’s sake, be careful.”

“We are,” I countered hearing the hum of my racing heart in my ears. “Does Dad know?”

“Yes, he does,” she answered smiling. “He wants to give you the talk again and a lecture about this house not being the best place for teenage shenanigans.”

“Mom,” I groaned pushing my chair away from the table. “I hope you told him not to do that.”

“I did,” she said, waving her hand trying not to laugh. “And about catching you two grinning at one another like love struck puppies.”

“You’re terrible,” I hissed feeling my face flush as I frowned. “Mom, what if things change?”

“What do you mean?” She asked standing from the table herself. I wanted to sit back down, I wanted to sort some things out inside my head. She felt like the safest person to talk to now, since I wasn’t scared of how she reacted and she wasn’t Luke. I didn’t know how Luke would react if he knew everything I was thinking.

“What if I’m not, you know, and Luke,” I stammered not wanting to say the words. “I’m not even sure what this even makes me.”

“Do you like him?” She asked as she raked our barely touched food into the trash. She wasn’t looking at me any longer and that seemed to take some of the edge off my nerves.

“Yes,” I answered, swallowing. “I like him a lot.”

“Then what does it matter?” She asked peeking over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen sink to run water over the plates before sticking them into the dishwasher. “You won’t wake up and all of what you feel being changed overnight, Jackson, just like it didn’t when you first met him. I may not understand how, but I do know that won’t happen.”

“Down the road then,” I said leaning against the wall.

“Then it just happens, honey,” she countered as she grabbed a hand towel and dried her hands. “But it will happen naturally, either way. And you must really like him, because usually you’d just tell me to mind my own business.”

“Well you usually didn’t like the girls I dated,” I countered cocking an eyebrow. “What makes Luke different?”

“Besides the fact that I don’t have to worry about you getting him pregnant?” Mom asked laughing when I stumbled away from the wall trying to escape the room. I definitely didn’t want to talk about that. “I liked Lily, but you didn’t like her.”

“I did,” I said, trying to remember.

“Some of the time,” Mom said smiling. “When she wasn’t talking endlessly about science projects and scrapbooking, and all of that. Luke has just been good for you and I see you happy and I see him happy. You’ve grown up.”

“Okay,” I said nodding as I swallowed.

Mom looked like she was about to walk across the tile kitchen floor to wrap me in a hug, but a soft knocking on the front door caused me to jump. Hearing her snicker, I rolled my eyes and walked the short distance to the front door. By the sound of the knock, I knew it wasn’t Derek or Toby, and since I already knew Luke was on his way, I tried to hide the conversation as I opened the door.

“Hey,” he greeted stepping inside the house. “You’re not dressed.”

“Dressed for what?” I asked my eyebrows raised as Mom came around the corner.

“Good morning again, Luke,” Mom greeted and I shot her a glare over my shoulder.

“For Connor’s homecoming game,” Luke said smiling. “Hi Grace.”

“Don’t call her Grace,” I groaned, my face flushing. “Why are we going to Connor’s homecoming game, soccer sucks and they suck at it.”

“Jackson,” Mom said from somewhere behind me.

“Just come on,” he said and I looked to see that he was wearing the football homecoming shirt and a pair of jeans and sneakers. “We have a lot of time to kill before paint wars anyway.”

“That reminds me,” Mom said, stepping around to the front of the couch. She looked like she was about to settle in to watch some television or do some reading. It was odd not seeing her dressed in her work clothes on a Saturday. What we talked about last night probably had something to do with that, but I didn’t want to ask. “I’m one of the chaperones for the evening.”

“Why would you do something like that?” I asked, crossing my arms as the cold morning air blew through the open door.

“Because I wanted to,” Mom answered, offering both of us a smile. “And to make sure you’re on your best behavior.”

“God,” I swore looking over at Luke. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “She’s not my mother, so.”

“I’ll go get ready,” I said shaking my head.

“Oh and boys,” Mom said and I cringed at the word, ‘boy,’ as I started up the stairs and stopped. “Be careful.”

After getting dressed, regrettably leaving Luke downstairs with Mom, I came back down to find them talking about Cindy. Mom wasn’t giving him any warnings, by the look on their faces, they were just making small talk while waiting for me. I hoped she kept the warnings and all the other things to herself.

“Ready?” I asked as they both hushed now that I was gathering my keys and making sure I had my cell in my pocket.

“Yeah,” Luke answered, standing from Dad’s chair offering Mom a short wave and a smile before walking around the couch.

“Have fun,” she said as I opened the door and let Luke walk out ahead of me. It was odd leaving her alone in the house, she usually would be at work. It would probably be one of those days she would probably call up Cindy to gossip or invite out shopping.

When we arrived at the soccer at the Middle School on down the road a couple of miles past the High School heading into town. By the look of the field, it had been quickly converted from their football field to a soccer pitch. The track and cross country team was just finishing up practice as the soccer teams stretched and did some drills before the game. It looked like only parents were in the stands, no one our age. Spotting Connor stretching near mid-field I glanced over at Luke to see him smiling and watching the guys on the field.

“I don’t know anything about soccer,” he said, turning to glance at me.

“Don’t ask me, I don’t either,” I countered and smiled when he laughed and led me to the ticket gate. It was only two dollars to get in, but seniors didn’t get in free like the football game. There wasn’t a shirt, no music playing anywhere. The quiet atmosphere didn’t seem to dull Luke’s enthusiasm as he finally picked a spot to start climbing the bleachers. When I looked up, I was surprised to see Olivia sitting there wearing a hoodie and sweats. There was a sheen to the field and tracks where people had walked, it was too cold and the sun too late to dry the morning dew.

“Hey guys,” she greeted closing further in on herself. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and she looked like she just rolled out of bed.

“How did you get here?” Luke asked, smirking as he sat down beside her. She immediately looped her arm with his and leaned against him.

“He came and got me this morning,” she grumbled sniffling. “I couldn’t exactly tell him to go away, we’re dating.”

“Do you even like him?” I asked as I stood at the end of the row at mid-field. The parents around us seemed to give Olivia a wide berth, there were tons of prime seats left, it wasn’t crowded at all.

“Yes,” she answered snarling her nose at me before she stuck out her tongue. “He’s so cute and so nice, I just wished he left my ass in bed this morning.”

Laughing I made a move to shuffle around Olivia to go sit on the other side of Luke. When her leg shot out, I cocked an eyebrow and she sniffled again and patted the space on the end of the row next to her. Her teeth were chattering and when I glanced at Luke he seemed amused, when he shrugged I sighed and sat down on the other side of her.

“Better?” I asked, smelling her perfume as she looped her other arm with mine. I wanted to pull away, we would have to seem odd sitting like this.

“Yes,” she answered her voice still shaky from the cold. Minutes later the soccer teams lined up on the field and it was quiet enough to hear birds chirping and cars driving by on the road yards behind us. There also wasn’t a promenad made by seniors, when the announcer called their name, they stepped out of line and pounded their fist on their chest touching the small blue emblem of an M on their jerseys. No one really clapped, but a few proud parents took photographs.

Then Connor’s name, as team captain was announced. When he stepped out of line Olivia suddenly squealed and pulled her hands free of Luke and I to clap. It was so loud in the quiet of the small gathering that a few people jumped and muttered under their breaths. Connor easily heard her and broke from the stoic stance to find her in the crowd. He shook his head, not able to hide the smile on his face.

“What is this a golf game?” Olivia asked, sliding her arms back into the warm spot she found between my arm and my side. Having someone I didn’t know well so close to me unnerved me a little. I would have liked being on the other side of Luke, but I had to admit the way Olivia squeezed herself against us, did help against the cold and the unforgiving hardness of the metal bleachers.

After the announcements, the commentary guy told everyone to stand for the National Anthem, it was a gravely recording that skipped every so often. Olivia had groaned loud enough to be heard over the noise and I looked over to see Luke tense and shoot her a glare. She never really cared what people thought about her, not Heather and her nasty looks, or even Cindy when she stormed through the tents looking for her. Like always she shrugged off Luke and shot me a smile as the song ended.

“When did they record that?” Olivia asked, pulling me back down with her. “The eighties?”

“Can’t you shut up?” Luke asked and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I knew if I did, he wouldn’t like it as I looked over and saw his cheeks flushed and I didn’t think it was because of the cold. The only person that seemed to be suffering from that was Olivia and I thought she was just doing it to annoy the people around her and I wondered if anything had happened before we got here. Turning to look around as the players took the field, the huddle of parents, and other people were still giving us some space, but I saw more than a few of them turning away when I caught them looking.

An echoing whistle started the match and when the scoreboard lit up to show the time Olivia groaned throwing herself back against the bleacher behind us. More muttering erupted from the parents closest to us and I tried to keep my face forward, but swore when a hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back as well.

“Forty minutes,” Olivia hissed, “are you kidding me?”

“Forty minutes until half-time,” Luke answered, frowning as she and him began a small hand slapping match as she tried to pull him down to recline next to her.

“How can anyone sit here for forty minutes?” She asked as an unmistakable shushing noise came from somewhere behind us.

As the game went on, Olivia cheered every time Connor touched the ball. A couple of times loud enough for him to hear and look our way after passing it. Other times, I bit my lip to keep from laughing when she snickered whenever a player was tripped or fell to the ground. By the time the first half ended I noticed that there was even more space between us and some of the crowd. She only seemed to notice after the whistle blew and she straightened up and stretched swearing under her breath as she twisted her back.

“So, guys,” Olivia said as she sat back down beside us. The sun had finally started feeling warm against my skin, but Olivia was still huddling close to the two of us sniffling every so often. “Why are you two here?”

“To try and watch a soccer game,” Luke answered rolling his eyes. “But now, I think we’re here to keep you from getting thrown out of the place.”

“They act like this is a church service, all the old people shushing,” she countered pulling her hoodie down over her knees. “And it isn’t like they’re doing anything but kick the ball all the way down the field just to turn around and kick it all the way back.”
“That’s soccer,” I said smirking when she wiped her nose on the sleeve of her hoodie. The score was still tied at zero and neither team had come close to scoring yet.

“My next boyfriend is going to have to play a more exciting sport,” Olivia added sliding out her cell phone from the front pocket of her hoodie.

“And you said you liked him, remember?” I said glancing around the now empty center of the field. The players were huddled at benches about twenty feet from one another. They were quiet, their faces flushed by exertion. A few of them had grass stains and some wiped sweat from their foreheads and arms as the coach talked to them. It was all so calm compared to all the screaming chaos from last night and I even saw Luke yawn a couple of times as he stretched out some of the stiffness. My ass was numb against the hard bleachers and I would have given anything to be walking down the path back to the parking lot and going anywhere else, but here.

“Soccer may be the end of us,” she said feigning sadness as she continued to text. “I do like him, I can fake other things with him.”

“You better only mean soccer,” Luke groaned standing up completely.

“Why aren’t you two on a hot date?” She asked smiling when Luke nearly fell over trying to sit back down.

“Shut up,” he hissed looking around.

“The old bats are long gone,” she said waving her hand. “And I thought soccer moms were supposed to be vicious.”

“Still,” Luke countered and I glanced around her. Something in Luke’s voice sounded sad and when I saw him, he was looking straight ahead not really caring about Olivia talking loud. Last night I had joked about dates. That I thought every time we were alone together from the first time we kissed to now had been dates. That they had somehow counted and meant something more than stolen kisses at the pool or in the cover of darkness. They had felt so big to me, but now sitting here I couldn’t help thinking that we hadn’t had a real date. Part of me knew it should be like any other date with any other person, but I didn’t really know how to go about doing a date with Luke. I was no longer thinking of some way to entertain a girl, a sappy movie I didn’t really like, or paying for an over priced dry steak just because McDonald’s isn’t special enough. I knew if Luke was out there playing instead of Connor, that I wouldn’t be cheering so loud that it would annoy everyone around me who were just trying to get to the end of a boring soccer match and go home for the rest of their Saturday.

When Olivia looked up and caught me staring at him, she glanced over to Luke and back to me rolling her eyes. Sighing she put her phone back into her pocket and huddled back between the two of us for warmth. I wanted to shrug away from her, but her trembling like a wet kitten kept me from doing so.

“Luke, I’m hungry, go get me a hotdog,” Olivia ordered, turning slightly to face him.

“Go get your own hotdog,” Luke countered, shaking his head.

“No, please,” Olivia pleaded and I leaned forward to see her bottom lip pouting and Luke’s eyes narrow suspiciously.

“You don’t even like hotdogs,” he countered, still studying her.

“I do so,” she argued and I sighed, making to stand and go get her a damn hotdog just to shut her up for a few minutes.

“No,” Olivia said, pulling me back down. “You’re warmer than he is.”

“Just let me go get the damn hotdog,” I said, noticing Luke’s obvious confusion with his eyebrow furrowed, still glaring at the back of Olivia’s head. We heard another shush behind us and Olivia smiled not looking at Luke when he sighed.

“What do you want on it?” He asked fumbling for his wallet as he disentangled himself from her.

“Ketchup,” she answered, waving her hand. “And a bottle of water.”

“Fine, you owe me,” he said and I saw years of comfort and annoyance all wrapped up into years of knowing one another as family on both their faces as Luke stormed down the metal bleachers to the concession stands.

“Well now that he is gone,” Olivia said, leaning closer to me lowering her voice for the first time since we got here. “What is your problem?”

“What?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“This,” she said, waving her hand towards the soccer field. “Why are you here, you could be anywhere.”

“This is where Luke wanted to come,” I answered shrugging.

“You have hours of daylight to kill and you’re here at this snorefest with cranky assed soccer moms shushing me,” she said her voice rising slightly towards the end. I heard movement somewhere behind us and hushed whispers. This was probably the last soccer game Olivia would ever attend. I half expected someone to come usher us off the grounds, but even I didn’t understand the subdued environment. I always thought soccer was supposed to be a loud and euphoric event, at least in the stands. Not here though, not in this dull assed town when even sports are quiet and inconsequential.

“Look, I saw you staring at him earlier,” she said glancing around, I guessed, to make sure Luke wasn’t around. “You could be having a Cindy and Henry Clarke free day, you could go anywhere.”

“Yeah?” I asked, wanting to roll my eyes and pull out of her grip. The thought had crossed my mind, but I honestly didn’t know what we could do. “What about homecoming?”

“Homecoming?” Olivia said, snorting. “They’ll understand, and if they don’t I’ll quietly tell one of the guys that you took the opportunity to have some alone time.”

“No,” I groaned, my face flushing.

“Think about it for a second, idiot,” she said shaking her head. “Cindy will show up tonight, count on that. Even if she doesn’t, my dear Uncle owns the place and even though he is the funnest one of our entire boring assed family, he is still Cindy’s little brother.”

“How do you know she’ll come?” I asked grimacing at the thought of Cindy showing up. It would be bad enough with my Mom, but at least she knew and probably wouldn’t embarrass me too much.

“Because Luke is practically still on the tit,” Olivia answered, glancing behind her once more. “Or at least Cindy still wants him to be.”

“Gross,” I countered slumping, but what she was saying made my heart race. Everyone I knew would be going to paint wars, Luke was expected to be there. This was also a rare weekend that I didn’t have swimming or a football game, or anything. Cindy couldn’t be everywhere and when I glanced back at Olivia she offered me a smile.

“I’d make the best of a good opportunity if I was you, especially before the shit hits the fan,” she said reaching up to pat my shoulder.

“Is it about to?” I asked, my heart still racing.

“Yeah,” she answered, “I say it is, you two are just too obvious. Cindy would have to be an idiot not to see it. It never made any sense, the biggest most spoiled ass in school suddenly best friends with a newbie church school kid.”

“Spoiled ass?” I asked trying not to smile despite everything that she was saying scared the fuck out of me. “Thanks for that.”

“Well, still,” she said, not sounding a bit sorry for what she said. “When he gets back, get the hell out of here, have fun.”

“And do what?” I asked as the bottom bleacher banged and I looked down to see Luke carrying a hotdog and a bottle of water still looking annoyed.

“Anything but this,” she said rolling her eyes. “Surely you’re not completely boring.”

“Fine,” I hissed. “Now shut up.”

“Here’s your hotdog princess,” Luke said practically shoving the hotdog in her face.

“Oh,” Olivia said, smiling as she winked at me. “I don’t think I want it anymore, could you throw it away?”

“For crying out loud,” Luke hissed as I stood.

“Yeah we can toss it,” I said as Olivia settled back down on the bleachers. Glancing around, for a moment I saw a few parents seem relieved for us to be leaving, until they saw Olivia getting comfortable.

“We’re leaving?” Luke asked as the players started breaking from their huddles. There was only a couple of minutes left in halftime.

“Do you want to?” I asked and felt a sharp pain right below my knee. “I mean, yeah, let’s go do something fun.”

“Well okay,” Luke said, cocking an eyebrow between Olivia and I before turning and leading us back down the metal bleachers. We both gave Connor a quick wave goodbye as we left. Instead of tossing the hotdog Luke offered it to me before taking a bite after I shook my head. I still wasn’t feeling up to eating too much after the greasy food last night.

We walked in silence all the way to the car. I let him finish his hotdog on the way and by the time we were back in the car he finished and was now looking at me as he unscrewed the sealed cap on the bottle of water. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do now so I just sat there, my seat belt buckled and my keys in the ignition, my hands still on them ready to turn and start the car.

“What’s going on?” Luke asked, still holding his untouched bottle of water. He had a little bit of ketchup on the corner of his mouth and I smiled, not able to look away from it. Feeling self conscious he licked his lips until he found it. “This has Olivia written all over it.”

“She made a good point,” I answered, my face flushing. “She said we were idiots for wasting our day here when we could be out on our own doing anything we wanted.”

“Oh,” he said, raising the bottle to his lips. I watched him take a few drinks before he lowered it and screwed the cap back on. “Do we have time to do anything before homecoming?”

“Do you want to skip homecoming tonight?” I asked my heart racing and I couldn’t help thinking that I was asking more than I wanted to. I couldn’t get the thought of complete freedom out of my head and I hoped it didn’t register on my face. I didn’t even know if I was ready for something like that to happen, that, and I couldn’t get what Dad told Mom out of my head about shenanigans either.

“No,” he said smiling. “I want to pelt the girls with as much paint as I can tonight.”

“Alright,” I said, sighing feeling like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

“Alright,” He repeated, placing the bottle of water in the cup holder in my console. Still looking at me he reached behind him and found the seat belt. Pulling it over his shoulder he fastened it and when I heard the click I started the car. I quickly thought back to that night when Luke told me about all the things he wanted to do before college. A lot of them were out of the realm of possibilities, like seeing the Grand Canyon, getting a tattoo, and definitely swimming with sharks. Out of all of them, I doubted I’d even be up to doing that, sharks are scary.

“We’ll need to stop by the house though,” I said as I backed out of my parking space as a thought formed in my head. Finally decided, my nerves settled in my stomach as I drove around to the front of the Middle School to the front exit.

“What for?” Luke asked, cocking an eyebrow as he slid his hand across the console to rest waiting for mine.

“Surprise,” I answered, trying not to laugh at his sudden frown as I took his hand and turned towards home.

After I pulled into the driveway, Mom’s car was still parked just outside the garage where all of our junk from every holiday we used to decorate for filled it to the ceiling. The only thing we dug out every year were the Christmas decorations and even then, Mom frets over having to do that knowing the only people that would see it was her sister and she nitpicked everything.

Entering the house with Luke behind me she turned away from the television looking surprised to see us both back so soon. Turning the television off, my face blushing when I realized it was the George Clooney movie Luke and I were watching the other day, I ignored both of them, turning the corner into the kitchen.

“Why are you two back?” I heard Mom ask from the couch. I could hear the couch squeak slightly as she stood then I heard both of their footsteps coming into the kitchen.

“I don’t know,” Luke answered as I rummaged through the fridge looking for what I would be needing.

“Jackson?” Mom questioned appearing over the side of the refrigerator door.

“Just packing up some stuff to eat,” I answered nodding my head for her to come around the door. After picking out a few deli meats and some of the low fat mayo Mom bought specifically for my diet, I closed the door with my foot.

“You are in a hurry,” she said as Luke hovered by the kitchen table looking completely confused and out of place.

“Don’t have a lot of time,” I said as I grabbed the bread and spread everything out on the counter. “Luke do you want chicken, turkey, what?”

“Chicken,” he answered, “do you need anything?”

“No,” I answered, turning to Mom as she stood beside me grabbing a butter knife to spread the mayo on a piece of bread. I slung some meat on top of the other slice and Mom grimaced and straightened them before sliding the top piece of bread over it knowing that I didn’t like cheese or anything else on my sandwiches. Glancing over my shoulder, I wanted to talk to Mom without Luke overhearing, but he was still too close. Seeing me looking over my shoulder at him, Mom smiled.

“Are you having a picnic?” Mom asked and I turned back to her frowning.

“No,” I answered, “picnics are lame.”

“I have a picnic basket…” she started, but then fell quiet trying not to laugh. “Well okay, I’ll get a lunchbox.”

“Mom,” I said, feeling my face flush. It was bad enough that she was here helping me pack lunch for a date with Luke. It was worse knowing that she knew why I was packing a lunch in the first place. It wasn’t something I ever thought I would have to deal with, not with either of my parents.

“What?” She asked and I sighed looking between Luke and her in the kitchen.

“Luke could you go upstairs and dump my backpack out on my bed and bring it back?” I asked and looked away and tried to pretend I didn’t see Mom’s, ‘that’s not a very polite thing to ask of a guest,’ look.

“You’re running around all crazy, you do know that,” Mom said as soon as we heard Luke bounding up the stairs.

“Do you know where I can take him for a horse ride?” I asked walking over to the fridge again this time to get us some bottled water.

“Not off the top of my head,” she answered, grabbing her cell phone. I watched impatiently with my hands full and the refrigerator door open for her to find anywhere close. “Why?”

“It’s on a list,” I answered, closing the door with my foot then walking over to where the sandwiches were. As Mom continued to look I wrapped the sandwiches in paper towels then I stuffed them in ziplock bags to hopefully keep them from getting soggy.

“A list?” Mom asked, cocking an eyebrow as her finger scrolled the pages on her screen.

“A list of things Luke wants to do before college,” I answered shrugging.

“Awe, how cute,” Mom beamed continuing her search. My face was probably the reddest it had ever been in my life by the time Luke came back into the kitchen.

“Here you go,” Luke said, offering my backpack to me. “It was full of empty bags of cheetos.”

“Jackson,” Mom hissed cocking an eyebrow. “Those are definitely not on your diet sheet.”

“They’re fine,” I shrugged as I carefully packed everything into my backpack then slipped it over my shoulders to rest on my back. “Have you found anything?”

“Yeah, I’m sending you the directions in a text right now,” she answered smiling and a couple of moments later my phone buzzed and dinged in my pocket. I quickly kissed her on the cheek before I darted around her, ushering a still confused Luke out of the kitchen and out the front door.

“Directions to where?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow as he fell into step beside me.

“Surprise,” I grunted sliding out of my backpack before I opened my door and slid in, carefully laying it in the back seat as Luke walked around to the passenger side and got in.

“Fine,” he said and I bit the inside of my bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“I think you’ll like it,” I said as I pulled my cell phone out quickly reading over Mom’s text. Then I put the information into my own phone’s GPS so I could follow them better.

Confused and trying to sneak a peek at my phone, distracted Luke enough for him to forget to slide his hand across to the console until we were well out of town and halfway to where we were going. Getting out of town and not heading towards any of the larger towns nearby, I hoped didn’t give him any hints to where we were headed. I just hoped it wasn’t something closed for the season or rundown. I trusted Mom’s judgement not to make this a complete bust, but I honestly didn’t know what would be waiting for us either.

“I can’t stand this,” Luke said, finally breaking the silence as another mile clicked off on my direction map. We were less than ten minutes away now and only farmland and barns made up most of the scenery, I was surprised I still even had signal on my phone by the remoteness of the place. It made our small town seem large anyway.

“You’re doing good,” I offered as he squeezed my hand. “We’re about there.”

“Where are we?” He asked and I glanced over to see him looking out at the fields and passing blur of trees. “All I’ve seen are cows, horses, and barns.”

“Yeah,” I answered as I turned to scan the horizon for any sign that would pinpoint where the turn-off was. When I saw an advertisement sign for the ranch Mom found, I glanced over to see Luke studying it as well and when he looked at me I turned to look straight ahead.

“Really?” Luke asked perking up in the passenger seat when I clicked the turn signal at the ranch. It had a metal sign over the entrance, ‘Meadowbrook,’ and the road turned to a soft gravel. Not having rained for a while, there was a small dust cloud billowing behind us and I felt Luke release my hand as we approached the barn where there were already cars parked outside. There was a bustling of people around, some in cowboy hats, flannel shirts, and blue jeans. It was something I never saw myself doing, the thought of climbing up on an animal’s back didn’t seem very sane to me now that I was here.

“Ready?” I asked as I killed the engine when one of the guys bustling around stopped long enough to wave us over. They looked to be getting horses out of the stables and leading them to the saddles and stuff stacked along the outside corral. The man was young, probably a few years older than me and Luke. He had on jeans that looked like they had been painted on.

“I can’t believe you remembered,” Luke countered as he quickly unbuckled his seatbelt. I had to rush to keep up with him and by the time I was out of the car he was already walking around to shake the person’s hand.

“Looks like two more!” The guy yelled towards the stables as he gently laid a blanket over the back of a large brown horse tied to the corral fence. “Hey guys.”

“Hey,” I greeted shaking his hand when he offered it to me. I watched him shake Luke’s hand before going back to tacking up his horse. He had a friendly smile though and everyone else seemed to be milling around, one lady not far from us was snapping pictures at the ass end of a horse looking excited. She didn’t look dressed for a ride though, a soft pink wispy little dress and a pair of cowboy boots. At least Luke and I both were wearing jeans, but that was more or less due to the chilly morning. Right now it was pretty warm, sunny, and still. The weaker sun didn’t hurt my eyes as I tried to scan the place taking everything in.

“So have you guys rode before?” The guy asked, “I’m Ash, by the way.”

“No,” I answered, “Is that a problem?”

“Nope,” he answered as he walked around to the fence and lifted a saddle off it and placed it gently on the horse. Then he cinched it up around the belly, the horse barely even taking notice to what was happening to it. “Y’all got here just in time, too.”

“Good,” I said, glancing over to just see Luke’s head on the other side of the horse. He had stepped around to the front of the horse. Ash was busy getting ready and was scratching it on the neck smiling as the horse lazily stood there not even swishing its tail.

A little while later two more horses were led from the stalls and tied to the fence. In all there looked to be about eight riders waiting for horses. Stepping around the other side of the horse to stand by Luke, I reached up and touched a horse for the first time. I expected the hair to be bristly or rough, but there was a shaggy feeling to the hair.

“Here you go,” Ash said and from under the neck of the horse a chunk of carrot came into view. Luke took it and the horse perked up smelling the carrot. “Put it in your palm and hold your hand flat.”

“Okay,” Luke said and I watched as the horse sniffed the air then turned his head towards the carrot then scooped it out of Luke’s hand with its lips leaving a greenish drool behind. Grimacing for only a moment, Luke wiped the mess off on his pant leg before smiling again.

“They’re just now starting to grow out their winter coats, that’s why they’re looking a little fluffy,” Ash explained when he stepped around to our side. “This is Faith, she’s a chestnut mare easy with beginners, but I’ll put you two look on some that have a bit more spunk.”

“Thanks,” Luke said as we stepped out of the way so that Ash could continue to get Faith ready to go. I would have been more than willing to ride her, I wasn’t really looking for anything with more spunk and when I looked around I saw that the other horses were stepping around with their ears cocked while Faith just stood there like she did this every day of her life and had seen it all.

“Okay, looks like everyone is ready,” Ash said, waving for everyone to gather around. He was the only one that lingered with us after the horses were saddled. Everyone else waved quick goodbyes and wished us a good ride before disappearing around the corner back into the barn. “You are all beginners, so we’ll be taking it easy, just keep a nice and gentle pressure on the reins and let me lead for a while until you get used to things, if you have anything you want to take with you, I would get it and put it in the saddle bags.”

Remembering the sandwiches I broke from the crowd and quickly retrieved my pack. Instead of putting it into the saddle bags though, I slid the backpack on my back and returned to the crowd just as Ash was telling everyone to turn off cell phones and to enjoy nature. I saw the only girl in the group wrinkle her nose as she pushed the power button before handing it to her boyfriend to put into his pocket, he seemed relieved to finally get her attention away from it.

“There are step stools for you all if you don’t think you can manage the step up,” Ash continued to explain as he walked up to a large and stocky looking black and white horse. Unlike the rest, his horse stomped, its nose flared, and looked wide awake compared to even the more lively horses still tied. “Gently tug the reins until they come loose from the fence, then slowly pull it up over the neck of the horse and around the saddle horn, then step one foot into the stirrup, and pull yourself up until you’re standing straight, hold that for a moment and it will tell you if your saddle is tight enough, then swing your other leg around. Remember, use the step stool if you’re unsure.”

“Ready?” I asked as I watched Ash lift his leg, which I didn’t think he could manage in his tight jeans, but he made it look easy as he climbed up on the large spotted horse. It immediately backed away from the corral fence and he tugged on the reins gently to stop him, but the horse took a few impatient steps sideways and back seeming to want to get started.

“Miss, you’ll be riding the light red mare, her name is Faith, the gentleman with you can ride the large grey guy on the end there, his name is Slade,” Ash said as he directed people to horses. I watched as the guy had trouble hoisting the girl up onto the saddle and she had trouble keeping the gentle breeze with having to spread her legs to keep her dress from flying up. Glancing over at Luke he chewed on his bottom lip as the boyfriend finally had enough and gave her butt a not so gentle push onto the saddle. Luckily for her, the dress was just long enough to hide her underwear, but she looked completely uncomfortable. Faith though, didn’t move a muscle through the entire experience and barely lifted her head when the boyfriend handed the girl the reins.

“You guys can ride the two black horses on the end there, they’re the youngest, their names are Midnight and Whiskey,” Ash said pointing to us and then to the two tallest horses still left on tied to the corral.

Not wasting any time, Luke started walking to Midnight. Unlike Faith he turned his head and watched Luke untie the reins. My heart was racing and I had to wipe my palms on my pants before I took hold of Whiskey’s reins. Neither horse looked as relaxed as the others and no one else, aside from the couple, had any trouble getting on, but as soon as I untied Whiskey’s reins he took a step back and I shuffled my foot just out of the way of his. Looking over at Luke, he was already sliding on the back of Midnight and was stroking his fingers along the horse’s neck looking down at me. Swallowing hard, I sighed and slowly slid the reins over Whiskey’s neck as he shifted impatiently from putting weight on one foot to the other. Still watching me, I slowly put my foot in the stirrup and grabbed the saddle horn. Getting on him wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be though and I sighed heavily when I slid my other foot into the other stirrup and held onto the reins. Luke tried not to laugh as he smiled at me and I wondered just how scared I looked.

“Why do you call him Whiskey?” I asked as all the horses still mingled around the corral Midnight and Whiskey the only horses that backed away from the fence after we got on them. It was an odd sensation as my body tried to adjust to the quick weight adjustments the horses made as they walked. There was also a soft jarring in my stomach with each step.

“Because sometimes you’d swear he was drunk,” Ash answered and a few people laughed as I glanced down at the back of my horse’s head. “Okay, no one got bucked off, that’s good, now you want to relax your stomachs and your legs, if you don’t you’ll be too sore to move later. Like I said, we’ll be taking it slow for a while until everyone feels comfortable, then we’ll start seeing what these horses can do. We’ll be stopping at the halfway point, just past a small brook to let you guys rest, y’all ready to go?”

I didn’t say anything as everyone else answered and Ash didn’t waste any time as he made a clicking sound with his mouth and his horse took a few quick steps before settling down into a slow walk with every horse falling in behind. Holding on so tight my knuckles turned white, I looked ahead to see Luke already comfortable and glancing around at the scenery. When he turned to look at me, he pulled up and stopped Midnight and waited for my horse to walk up beside him.

“You look like Mom when someone brings their glass of wine into the living room on her white carpet,” Luke said, offering me a smile. “Just relax.”

“Like hell,” I hissed trying to breathe deeper than I was. It automatically loosened some of the tension in my stomach and shoulders and I already felt like I had done more than a couple of crunches and my abs were straining.

“Just let the horse walk,” he said shrugging, “you’re not going to fall.”

“You’re not on a horse named Whiskey either,” I countered smiling when he laughed and rolled his eyes.

“I can’t wait until we go faster,” he said and I grimaced as I forced my thighs to relax and as I did, I couldn’t help thinking that the horse relaxed under me as well and his steps seemed smoother against my ass.

I couldn’t see how anyone got a rush giving total control to something with its own mind. Looking between Whiskey’s ears, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, what he saw. Hopefully it was the ass of the large grey horse in front of me and nothing else. As the day passed and the miles ticked by slowly, I did find myself relaxing though. Only a few times did Whiskey stray from a straight line, but I wondered if he wasn’t falling asleep on his feet. This definitely wasn’t the funnest thing to do, walking in a straight line looking around at trees, even if the autumn foliage did make things pretty. Even Luke sighed and seemed to settle into the saddle, losing some of his earlier excitement as he continued to walk his horse beside me.

“Alright y’all,” Ash announced and I saw Whiskey’s ears perk up and turn towards the sound of his voice. He already sensed what I dreaded, that we were about to go faster. Glancing at Luke, he had already gathered up the reins and looked primed to explode and when he caught my eyes, he shook his head still trying not to laugh. My face hadn’t really stopped flushing since I got on this big assed animal and I hated that I was scared. “Ready to step it up a gear?”

“Yeah!” Everyone said in unison while I stayed quiet and clenched my legs tighter around the sides of the horse, so much so that I could feel him taking breaths. As soon as he got the answer though, Ash took off and I heard a thudding of hooves that sounded like distant thunder from a weak storm. The line seemed to spread out as horses fell into a gaited trot in front of me, every horse doing a different speed. This is what Whiskey seemed to have been waiting for though and he jolted me suddenly forward with Luke riding slightly slower. Then as I left the big gray horse and Faith and the girl behind, the two horses I would have loved to have followed all day as they seemed to both still be half asleep, even in their faster trot. Whiskey saw Ash’s horse in the distance and I pulled on the reins, but only received a dissatisfied head shake in return, but he slowed and I was about to relax again until a black blur shot around my other side.

“Go, boy,” Luke said smiling broadly at me over his shoulder. He was quickly closing the distance between the group and Ash who looked calm, and I had to admit it, hot, as he rode steadily along at a pace that disturbed the dust and made it billow slightly behind him. Being left behind by the black horse didn’t make Whiskey happy either and I jumped in the saddle when he gave an impatience nicker, his ears straight ahead and his head raised watching his buddy with Luke getting smaller and smaller.

“Oh for fuck sakes,” I groaned as I relaxed the reins. To my surprise though, the faster speed felt just as smooth as the dead walk we were doing earlier. I expected to be jostled completely off the saddle when I let go, I even clenched my legs even tighter to make sure I stayed on. The last thing I wanted to do was fall from a horse, I didn’t think that would be a good story to tell Tony Monday morning while I was in a body cast or something. Although, the Townson boys probably wouldn’t have minded.

Whiskey was at a near gallop when he caught up with Luke and when Luke glanced over to see me riding beside him, he looked surprised to see me, but smiled. The horses were going too fast and their footfalls and breathing was too loud for us to talk so we just settled in beside one another our horses side by side where they wanted to be as well.

“I’m going to go round up the others,” Ash said, glancing over his shoulder. I didn’t dare turn my head to look, but I watched Luke turn his head and then raise his eyebrows. We had just gone around a bend in the road and I couldn’t hear anything but the sound the three horses made, but there definitely didn’t seem to be anyone too close behind us. “Just keep the horses forward and steady, slow them down if you need to.”

“Alright,” Luke said, sounding more excited now that we were being left alone. Neither of our horses made a move to follow the big spotted horse when it wheeled out of our way and started back down the road we just covered. “Want to see what these guys can do?”

“I thought we already are?” I asked feeling the ache in my muscles again, this time my whole body hurt. This was definitely worse than anything Rick put me through in the weight room and I didn’t understand how Luke could look so relaxed.

“Ready?” He asked, smiling wickedly at me.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked as he dug his heels into Midnight and they seemed to shoot out of an invisible cannon down the road. Whiskey, not wanting to be left behind shot after them dust flying from both horses on the gravel road. I could hear pebbles flying as their feet hit the ground despite the wind muffling my hearing. Luke didn’t run them very long though and when he pulled up Midnight, Whiskey fell in step beside him after a few jarring paces as he slowed down.

We rode in silence until a couple of picnic benches came into view with a tie out rope spread and tethered to two trees for the horses. It was just before a small bend in the road where a creek cut through the clearing of a field. There was a small outcrop of trees behind the picnic benches and when I finally felt brave enough, I turned my head to see if anyone had caught up to us. Not seeing anyone I turned back around and saw Luke watching me.

“I think we should stop,” he said as the horses approached the picnic area. “I doubt they’d want us going too far by ourselves.”

“Yeah, I need a break anyway,” I added as Luke pulled Midnight to an easy stop. I didn’t even have to pull on the reins to stop my horse. Now that I was up here, I honestly didn’t know how the hell I was going to get down. For the first time I allowed myself to look down and see, now that we were standing still, just how far off the ground I was. The horses’ backs had to be nearly five feet tall and it would have hurt like hell if any of us hit the ground, especially after we sped up.

Luke made getting off look easy, just reversing the steps he made getting on. Grimacing through the pain I slowly slid my leg back over the back of Whiskey to where I stood on one stirrup, then stepped down with one jarring step to the ground. I quickly wrenched my other foot from the saddle and took three unsteady steps back on solid ground. Every muscle seemed to seize up and I groaned as Luke laughed loud enough to flush birds from the trees just behind the picnic table.

“You look like you’re trying not to poop yourself,” he said, still laughing as he gently pulled the reins over Midnight’s head. Forgetting all about Whiskey, I turned to grab for his reins, but he took off walking beside the other horse as Luke led him to the tie out rope. Swearing, I tried to straighten my legs and back and when every bone in my back and hips popped and my muscles started to relax I sighed smiling as I began walking towards the picnic table hoping that feeling returned to my ass before I had to get back on the horse and finish the trip.

“You hungry?” I asked, reaching to slide my backpack off my shoulders.

“No,” he answered and I whirled to see him standing right behind me. “Come on.”

“What?” I asked as he took my hand and I looked around to see that no one else was coming up the road as he led me quickly around the picnic tables and into the trees. We kept walking, the dry leaves crunching under our feet, until he came to a stop right behind a large tree with a trunk as wide as a barrel. “Do you have to go or something?”

“No,” he hissed as he pushed me against the smooth bark. My backpack, still on my back, but forgotten completely when his body pressed firmly against me. I let out a sound somewhere between a groan and a hiss as the stiffness of my body sent small shockwaves of pain through me. His lips found mine easily and unlike all of his other tentative kisses, this one was different. There was an impatience and a fervent feel to them as I struggled to kiss him back, my arms coming up to rest on either side of his waist. My eyes shot open when his teeth grazed my bottom lip, nipping it as his fingertips dug a little uncomfortably into my skin. I couldn’t help noticing the growing erection in my jeans and I grunted nearly falling forward when Luke broke the kiss to smile at me.

“Damn,” I breathed, feeling my face flushing when he smiled. “If I get…”

“Shut up,” he said pushing me back against the tree, but this time we both jumped when two muffled pops shattered the silence between us. He was laughing as he stepped back and I pushed myself off the tree.

“I think we ruined our lunch,” he said, still smiling as I slid my bag off my shoulder blades and put it on the ground. We both knelt as I unzipped it and inspected the damage. The bottles were off to the side unharmed, but both plastic ziplock bags had popped and I could smell mayo and chicken as I reached inside and pulled one out to inspect the damage.

“It was worth it,” I said looking at the flattened sandwich that oozed mayo from the bottom corner. Shoving it back in we heard the others arrive at the picnic area so we separated and I quickly zipped my bag back up and pulled it over my shoulder.

“If they ask, we had to pee,” he said and then thought better of it. “Or went exploring.”

“Exploring,” I said, trying not to laugh as I let him lead me out of the woods back to where everyone else waited. Even if I had to eat a warm, flat, mayo smeared sandwich and then get back on a horse, I knew what I would remember this day forever. I would relive everything, just for another stolen moment with Luke surrounded by trees.