Back to You (12 page)

I cut him off with my lips on his, slipping
my tongue ever so lightly into his mouth and playfully rubbing his
tongue. He grazes his hands up and down my back which sends a
shockwave through my entire system. I can’t get enough of him. I
almost want to tell him that I want him here and now in his car,
like I did in my dream. But that is not appealing to me. Actually
that’s a lie; it’s more than appealing to me. But I really want our
first time to be special. I feel his hands slide under my shirt and
lightly stroke below my bra strap. I moan and kiss his stomach,
sending trails of kisses from his neck down to his navel. His jeans
are inviting, practically begging me to snap open the buttons. But
that will have to wait for another day. I lean back trying to slow
my breathing. Lucas leans against me and grabs my face kissing me
tenderly. I melt into his touch, like butter on toasted bread.

“
Hey, we should stop.” I
maneuver my way back to my seat.

“
Are you okay? Was that
too much?” Hardly.

“
No not at all. I just
don’t want to end up having our first time in your car, because
believe me I would not have been able to contain my desires if we
kept on going like that.” I grin wide still trying to catch my
breath.

This satisfies him and he turns the car on.
“Well, before we get you home and we have to go back to pretending
to just be friends until we tell everyone, I just want to say this
was the best night of my life. Thank you Abby, for everything. It
means a lot to me that you, you know came forward with your
feelings and such. I know it must have been hard keeping them
hidden all this time, but it’s better to tell someone.”

“
I told my mom. And guess
what?” He gives me a dubious look.

“
So enlighten me, what did
she say?” I buckle my seatbelt and we start out of the parking lot,
onto the road. “She gave me a spiel about making sure that when the
time is right that I be prepared and be safe. Even if it’s with
you.” A shocked expression crosses his features. “Are you serious?
So she already knows about us?”

“
Not exactly, she knows
about my dream and about my feelings. I told her I wasn’t sure what
I was going to do yet. But she said she wanted me to be careful and
that if I chose you, then she would support it either way.” He
pulls to the side of the road and puts the car in park, looking
straight at me. I glance behind us for any passing cars, and become
frantic. “Why are we stopped on the side of the road
Lucas?”

“
Abby, why can’t you just
tell your mom about us now? What’s stopping you?” The urge to get
out of the car and walk home at this point is pretty great. “Lucas,
I told you I don’t want to hurt Brady. And I know I am already
cheating or whatever, but I’m not ready to make us public yet. Can
you just please respect my needs and wants?” He looks away, then
nods and carefully merges back on the road. We drive the whole way
in silence.

We pull up in front of my house. I don’t
want to get out of the car yet but the tension around us is a
little too much for me to bear. I didn’t want our perfect evening
to be ruined. “Hey, are you mad at me now?” I ask taking my seat
belt off.

“
No, I’m just thinking at
the moment.”

“
Don’t lie to me Lucas.
You wouldn’t be this quiet if nothing was wrong.” The air shifts
and I feel stifled, almost unable to breathe. “You need to go
inside. I’ll call you tomorrow, or later today actually.” I’m sick
of hearing everything’s fine or we’ll talk later, it’s
ridiculous.

“
No, you need to talk to
me right now. I’m not going to have a perfectly wonderful evening
with you then have it ruined because you can’t fucking be patient
with me. I told you this wouldn’t work because we can’t get along
long enough to have a passionate loving relationship. This is bull
shit Lucas.” I don’t mean to yell or hurt him to the point of
cursing at him, but things have to be said and once I start I can’t
shut the fuck up.

I reach for the door handle, “Wait, I’m
sorry Abby. I know I shouldn’t have forced the issue. Please forget
I said anything.” I let go of the door and get face to face with
him, nostrils flaring. “Call me when you can be an adult. I’m tired
of this childish act Lucas. I’m tired.” I storm out of the car,
slamming the door. I watch him speed away and drop to my knees in
sobs.

Chapter 13

“Hey, Abby. Wake up.” I feel a shake and
think I’m dreaming. I squint my eye open and stare into my mother’s
face. I bury my head under my pillow. “Wake up honey. I want to
know how the party went last night. You didn’t come home until
late.” I lifted my head and looked at her. “Jesus, Abby. What the
Hell happened to you?”

“
Huh?” Suddenly my head is
pounding with a dull ache, and flashes of last night came back to
me. “How do I look?” I ask my mom, trying to figure out what she
means.

“
Honey, you look like
shit. Mark my words.” Gee thanks, she could have been a little
softer about it considering it’s-wow, I slept till 2 pm. I thrash
the covers off of me and head to the bathroom. I take one look at
myself and feel the need to vomit. My hair is a matted mess and my
face looks like I’ve been on a hayride with a tractor. My face is
sagging, eyes are red and makeup is smeared everywhere. I look like
a freak show. “Hey, is everything okay?” My mother peeks her head
in, concerned.

“
Yea, I just had a lot to
drink and don’t remember much. But it was fun.” I fake smile to
keep her from second guessing me. I’m not usually good at lying
because, well quite frankly I never really do. I feel horrible for
starting it now. “I’m going to take a shower; God only knows what I
got on me.” She gives me a smile and kisses the top of my head.
Standing there in the shower, water hits my body and it’s hard to
distinguish between my tears and the water. I slide down until I’m
sitting in the tub, knees up to my chin. I put my head in-between
my knees and let the tears consume me until I have nothing left.
How did I let everything fall apart so quickly? Maybe I’m the
reason we could never work it out in the past. After throwing
myself a pity party and sobbing until I can no longer make a sound
come out, I clean my body and wash my hair. I grab a towel, dry off
and escape to my room which doesn’t last long when Sarah barges
in.

“
So how was the party
lovely sister?” I need a lock on my door. I wrap the towel tightly
around my body as I sit on my bed. “You mean the awesome party you
missed?” I smile smugly.

“
It’s your fault I missed
it. I could have gone with my friends and Lucas. He said he had the
best night of his life, if I were there I would have shown him the
best night of his life.” I smile and clench my teeth to keep from
screaming at her. She doesn’t give a shit about him or anyone else.
It excites me to know that he said he had the best night of his
life, despite my attitude. I need to go fix things between
us.

I ignore her presence and sift through my
closet for some clothes and find a nice black and purple dress and
some leggings to go with it. I hear Sarah still flapping her mouth
but I don’t pay attention to what comes out. I grab my clothes and
vacate back to the bathroom. Once I have my clothes on, I blow dry
my long blonde hair and apply my make up.

Okay, you can do this
Abby
I tell my reflection. Phew. I let out
a huge breath before heading out the door.

“
Honey, where are you
going?” My mother stops me in time to see me dressed up. She looks
me up and down and smiles. “There’s my Abigail. You clean up
nicely. Where are you off to?”

“
I’ve got some errands to
run. I’ll see you later.” I get in and shut the door before she has
a chance to stop me again.

I almost miss my exit,
while I drive and try and rehearse what I’m going to say. I get off
the highway when I hear my phone going off.
Shit

I forget I told Brady I’d call him. When I
glance at the number, sure enough I am right. I sigh and call him
back before I get to Lucas’s house.

“
Hey baby. I was just
calling to see how you’re doing.”

“
I’m fine, just taking
care of some stuff. How are you feeling today?” I ask even though
his health is the furthest thing from my mind. When did I stop
caring about people? It’s a weird feeling and I can’t tell if I
like it or not.

“
Oh I’m doing better now.
The party was pretty wild after you left. But I’m just glad it’s
over. Are you doing anything tonight?” I think about my plans and
since I’m not sure how things will go with Lucas, I can’t really
say I’m free yet.

“
Um, actually I may need
to take a rain check. But I will call you if I can hang out. Hey I
gotta go Brady. Talk to you later.”

“
But-“

Click

I pull up to Lucas’s
house, staring at it a few seconds. I will myself to get out of the
car.
Come on Abby you can do this, it’s
Lucas

I shut the door and head up the driveway,
seeing Ashton in his car. I walk up and greet him. “Hey, long time
no see.” He smiles at me and turns down his stereo. “Well, look
what the cat dragged in. How the Hell have you been? Well besides
looking hot, damn girl.” I laugh, and blush a slight shade of
pink.

“
Thanks. You don’t look so
bad yourself. Where are you off to?”

“
Oh I’m going to my friend
Jesse’s for some R&R. Actually, I don’t live here anymore
remember? I just had to get some old stuff I left in the garage
when I moved. You should come by the new place sometime. We are
jazzing it up pretty nice.” So yeah, being invited to his place
would have been quite a really big deal, way back when. I’d had a
crush on Ashton, when I was younger, and when he first moved in
with Lucas and his family. “That sounds like fun! I will have to
check it out.” I smile at him and he looks at the house then back
at me. “So you here to see Lucas, huh?” I nod, not saying a
word.

“
Um, what the Hell is up
with him dating your younger sister?” He asks as I cringe. “Yeah,
don’t ask about that. I’m totally against it but whatever. My
sister is using him just to piss me off.”

He gestures to the seat next to him. “Come
here, let’s talk.” I hesitate at first, and then think what the
Hell. Maybe he can give me useful advice. I walk over to the
passenger side and get in. His truck reminds me of Lucas’s car,
very neat and tidy. “What is up with you guys and clean vehicles? I
swear it must run in the family.” He laughs. “You know you love a
clean guy, it’s what makes us sexy.” We both laugh until it lulls
out to silence. “So spill.”

“
Excuse me?” I’m not sure
what I’m supposed to be spilling but I wait for him to ask specific
questions before laying it all out there. I may have said to Lucas
that we needed to keep our relationship private, but I have a good
feeling that telling Ash won’t hurt.

“
Ha ha, I mean what’s
going on with you and my brother. I’m not an idiot, I may not live
here anymore but I know my brother and he’s definitely got it bad
for you.” This makes my heart swell a little.

“
Yeah, I’ve got it bad for
him too. Actually, we kind of decided to secretly see each other.”
He looks astonished for a minute and then raises his hand for a
high five. I stare at his hand before slapping it. “Really? Abby is
sneaking around? No way.” God, it’s not like I’ve never done
anything risky before. I roll my eyes at him. “Well, if you don’t
mind I’d like for you to keep it between us. I’m not ready to tell
anyone yet.” He nods as if understanding and agreement.

“
Of course, no problem. So
have you guys, you know-“ I stare at him blankly, then shake my
head slowly. “No, we have not. I’d like that to be a special
occasion.”

“
Cool. That’s really great
Abby. I hope it works out for you two.” He smiles and pats me on
the shoulder, like I’m just one of the guys hanging out.

“
Thanks, me too. I
actually need to talk to him; we kind of had a fight last night.”
He shakes his head then looks up as if he’s talking to the roof.
“Teenagers.” I slap him before getting out. “Hey Abby!” He calls
out as I step up on the porch. I turn around, “What?”

“
Enjoy being seventeen;
the rest will work itself out.” I smile and wave. I turn and knock
on the door.

I stand silent, for what seemed like an
eternity, then the door swings open and Lucas’s mother is standing
there, with a bemused expression. She takes one look at me and her
face lights up.

“
Oh my God, it’s Abby back
from the dead. Well come here you!!” She grabs me in a hug and I
try not to act spooked. “Hi Lana, it’s nice to see you too. Is
Lucas home?” We walk in and she gestures to the staircase. “Yes,
he’s in his room. Go ahead up there; I’m sure he’d love to see
you.”

“
Thanks.” I say and slowly
start up the stairs with my heart pounding in my ears, anxiety
kicking in. I knock on the door and hear

“
Come in” so I open it and
see Lucas sitting at his desk, reading. That’s a surprise. He looks
up and sees me. “Hey, can I come in?” I ask hoping he doesn’t turn
me away. “Hey! Come in, of course.” I shut the door behind me and
stand awkwardly, almost feeling out of place. Lucas moves over to
his bed and sits down patting the space next to him.