My Wish for You (20 page)

Without breaking
the kiss, we slid as one onto the blankets left from the picnic, which seemed
like so long ago. His hands moved up and down my body, searching for a place to
rest. Eventually, they ended up at the top button of my shirt. When I made no
move to stop him, as I had done before, he unlocked his lips from mine and
bowed his head towards my ear.

“Are you sure?”
he whispered into my ear, breath shaking slightly. I was lost for words. I had
never been so sure of anything else. I wanted him more than anything.

At my silence,
he raised his head up to look in my eyes. I don’t know what he saw in them, but
his were filled with uncertainty and worry. Not able to answer him with words,
I gave him a look of reassurance and lifted my lips to his once again.

***

“Sam. Sammy,
wake up sleepy head.”

I felt a slight
nudging at my shoulder. Groggily, I opened my eyes and found that I was alone
on the cold ground. I realized that I had fallen asleep and quickly grew
alarmed. I tightened the old quilt around my body and looked around for my
clothes. It had grown colder while I was asleep, making the air frigid and
thin.

“What time is
it?” I asked, looking up at Sean. He was already dressed, folding blankets,
looking at ease.

“Three. We need
to be heading back soon.”

I groaned and
covered my head with the quilt. There were no words to describe our night. Everything
just seemed so perfect.

“Can you hand me
my clothes?” I muttered, head still under the blanket. I heard him walk over,
pick up my clothes, and start to walk towards me, but then he stopped. I poked
my head out from under the quilt.

“You know, I’m
at an advantage here. I think that you should come get them yourself,” he
smiled, smugly. I made a face. His smug smile turned into a full grin and he
put the hand holding my clothes behind his back. I rolled my eyes and wrapped
the quilt around me.

Shivering
slightly, I stood up and walked over to him. When I reached him, he pulled me
in and kissed me in a way that made me dizzy. I reached my hand behind his back
and tried to get my clothes from his clutch, but he pulled away. I tried to
grab the clothes again and snagged them successfully.

“Jerk.” I
muttered.

I turned and
started to walk away, but he grabbed me from behind and dragged me back toward
him. His breath was hot on my neck and sent chills down my spine. His hands
slipped down my hips. Playfully, I tried to get away from him.

He snickered at
me as I tripped, bringing us both down. He rolled me over on my back so I was
facing him and kissed me seductively. He pulled back and looked at me.

“I’m sorry I’m
such a jerk,” he murmured against my lips, kissing me again. I smiled against
his lips, wrapping my arms around him.

“You know, we
still have a few hours before we need to be back. No one will be up for a
while,” he implied, rubbing my sides.

He was making it
really hard to say no while he was kissing my neck up and down, but I was
really tired and did want to get some sleep. I took a deep breath and shook my
head slightly.

“As much as I’d
love to, I’m tired. I wanna sleep.”

“Okay. It is
your birthday. I guess I can give you what you want.” Sean kissed me once more
on the top of my head and turned to go gather things up. I pulled on my
swimsuit, then my clothes, and turned to look at him. He looked like he was in
his own world.

“What does this
mean?” I asked, tugging on my new bracelet.

His eyes were
distant as he folded up the blanket. My heart stopped in fear for a moment. I
wanted him to say that this meant we were together. That was what this all
meant, wasn’t it?

“Sean, what does
this mean?”

“I’m not sure,”
his voice was distant and came out distorted. My heart dropped.

“What do you
mean, you’re not sure? What we did, that was a sure thing. I didn’t just give
myself to you on a whim. I was sure! And, you seemed pretty sure of yourself
when you were undoing your—”

He covered my
mouth with his hand and pulled me closer to him. I tried to pull away, but
failed miserably to his strength. He uncovered my mouth and wrapped his arms
around me tighter. I thrashed in his arms and slipped out a few choice words.
He tightened his grip around me and eventually, I gave up. He lifted my chin
with his finger and looked in my eyes.

“Are you quite
finished yet?”

I felt my jaw
tighten shut and I nodded.

“Good. Now, it’s
not that I’m not sure about us Samantha, because I am. I want you. I want to be
with only you, for as long as the world is spinning.” My heart thumped against
my chest involuntarily. “I meant that I’m not sure what I’m going to do about
Tasha, and Cassie, and just, everything. But, it’s you I want, without a doubt.”

I smiled.
Despite worrying that that should have bothered me, happiness seeped through
me. He said exactly what I wanted to hear in the first place. “Why couldn’t you
just have said that to begin with? You scared me.”

“I was off with
the thoughts running through my head.”

I laughed
softly.

“Apparently.”

He smiled and
put his lips to my forehead.

“Please, don’t
make me regret this,” I whispered. He looked down in my eyes and answered me
with a single kiss.

“Come on, let’s
get going. You look like you’re going to fall over right here,” he chuckled as
he scooped me up into his arms and walked over to the quad, where everything
was already strapped in. He stood me up right, climbed on and beckoned me to
sit. I hopped on clumsily, wrapping my arms around his waist and leaning my
head against his shoulder. He started the quad and began to drive off. Happily,
I closed my eyes and sighed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz.

Sleepily, my
hand searched for my phone. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I knew I wasn’t
ready to wake up yet. Finding my phone, I unplugged it and pulled it over to
me, opening the text.

Good morning
beautiful. Happy birthday. :]

I smiled
groggily and warmth spread through me as I remembered everything from the past
night. It was amazing, everything that I had ever imagined and more. In high
school, I had heard stories about girls’ first times being horrible, not ever
how they pictured it in the movies, but this, this was just spectacular.

Morning :]
I
replied, closing my eyes and drifting back to sleep. I peeked at my phone as it
vibrated again.

What are you
up to?

Kinda
sleeping. I may go get ready. But idk
.

Well, sleep
as long as you want, take a shower, then come find me.

Mmkay
.

I fell back
asleep for another hour or so before waking up and getting ready for the day.
Bright eyed and perky, I made my way down the hall to Sean’s room. Easing the
door open, I knocked on it gently. Sean was lying on his bed, reading a book.
Brian walked out of the bathroom and looked at me weirdly when he saw me.

“What?” I asked,
looking down at myself to make sure I looked alright.

“Nothing, you
just look…different.”

“Okay freako.” I
laughed at him. “Happy birthday.”

“You too,” he
returned.

“You going over
to Alisha’s?”

“Yeah,” he said,
picking up his keys and his wallet and sticking them in his pocket. “I’m gonna
bring Cara over too when I come home.”

“Okay. Cool.”

With a short “later,”
Brian departed, leaving Sean and me sitting on his bed. I scooted over to him
and picked up the book he was reading.

“So, you
finished
The Notebook
?” I asked, smirking slightly.

“Yeah.”

“How was it?
Since, you know, I didn’t actually get to finish it.”

“Eh. It was
alright; the ending wasn’t as good as the movie,” he said absentmindedly.

I stared at him
in shock.

“What?” he
looked up at me.

“You saw
The
Notebook
?”

Blushing, he
looked back down at his book.

“Um…no, of
course not!” he denied too quickly.

“Wow. You’re way
more of a girl than I thought,” I teased, nudging him in the ribs.

He raised his
eyebrow at me.

“You better take
that back,” he threatened.

“Never!” I
giggled, getting off the bed, retreating from him.

“Take it back
Samantha,” he growled playfully, sliding off the bed too, towering over me.

“No. You can’t
make me,” I proclaimed, standing my ground.

“You wanna bet?”
He took another step towards me.

“No,” I laughed,
turning and running from him. He followed, but wasn’t quick enough to catch me
before I made it into the bathroom, slamming the door and pushing up against
it.

“Open the door,
Samantha,” Sean demanded.

“Nope. Never.” I
tried locking the door, but Sean pushed it in time, creating a small gap. I
tried pushing against it again, but slowly felt my advantage slipping as my
feet slid against the tile floor.

Sean rammed
through the door and into the bathroom quickly. He grabbed me around the waist
as I tried to escape.

“Take it back.”

I shook my head,
still trying to break loose. “Nuh-uh.”

“Then you leave
me no choice.” He pressed me up against the wall, interlocking my fingers with
his and putting them next to my head. Affectionately, he leaned in and pressed
his lips tenderly against my neck. Closing my eyes, I felt him trail kisses up
my neck and jaw to my lips. Resting against me, Sean kissed me gracefully,
breathing coolly on my lips, barely touching them, and leaving me wanting more.
When I tilted my head up to him, he pulled back slightly.

“Take it back,”
he whispered, leaning in to kiss me more passionately. I slid my hands from his
and up around his neck, holding him to me while we kissed. Overpowering me, he
kissed me more seductively. “Do it. Take it back, Sammy,” he murmured.

I sighed in
blissful defeat. “Okay,” I mumbled against his lips. “I take it back.”

He smiled and
gave me one quick kiss before pulling back.

“I win.”

“Hmph,” I
snorted, smiling back at him.

“So, what do you
want to do today, Birthday Girl?”

“I don’t know.
Not much. Let’s just go swimming down at the lake or something.”

“Okay,” he
kissed me again, “Swimming it is.”

***

We came back a
couple of hours before dinner to find that chaos had ensued.

Sean was
carrying me on his back when we heard the yelling from inside. I patted him on
the shoulder to let me down at the sound of my mom’s astonished voice shrieking
in the family room.

“So, you’re
what? Just going to leave?!”

Sean sat me
down, took my hand, and followed me as I proceeded into the cabin with caution.

“Sharon, I have
to. It’s an emergency meeting. I can’t miss it. It is
my
practice.”

“This is your
vacation with your
family
Charles, and your children’s eighteenth
birthday! You can’t just leave.”

“Wait,” I
interjected, taking a step away from Sean and towards Charles. “You’re leaving?”

There were
footsteps from the hallway and Brian and Alisha came in, followed shortly by
Cara and Sarah. All four of them stopped at the scene in front of them. Sarah’s
eyes, full of horror, were locked on her father.

“You wouldn’t
understand, Samantha.”

“Oh, really?” I
took another step forward, challenging him. “Try me.”

“It’s an
emergency meeting to discuss the financial status of a high profile client.”

“Here’s the
kicker though: that seems like something they can do without you, or put off
for a week or so.”

“Well, Ms.
Know-it-all. You go to school for countless years and you get a degree and pass
the BAR exam. After that, you intern and practice and open your own firm. Maybe
then, but still, probably not, I’ll take your advice. That isn’t going to
happen, though, because you won’t. You don’t have the drive or dedication it
takes to amount to what I have, to succeed and to have what I have, be what I
am. You don’t have what it takes.”

“Sam doesn’t
have what it takes?” Brian said, stepping into the boxing ring, getting closer
and closer to Charles with each step he took. “Really Mr. Hotshot? Mr. ‘I’m-A-Family-Oriented-Man-But-Will-Drop-Them-For-Work-In-A-New-York-Second’?
Sam has gotten straight A’s for all four years of high school, and even before
that. She was accepted into three Ivy League schools and given high honors. She
created her own clubs and got countless awards. And you don’t think she’ll make
it? She’ll make it. And she’ll make it bigger than you ever will.”

He was in
Charles’s face at this point and everyone in the room was still around them.
Charles didn’t break Brian’s glare as he took a step, pushing him back. “You
better watch who you’re talking to.” He smirked slightly at Brian’s step back,
before disturbingly addressing him pompously. “Well, since she is
so…talented…she can do it all on her own, and she can say goodbye to her
college fund.”

“What?!” I
gasped, almost losing my balance. I looked over to my mom for some kind of reassurance,
some kind of back up, only to find her staring at him with a confused, angry
look. Brian was shocked, obviously feeling as if it was his fault.

“Since you’re so
smart, you can figure it out, right?”

“So, what? You’re
gonna take my money and run back home to Becky for an ‘emergency meeting’?”

“Samantha. That’s
enough!”

I turned to my
mother, stunned at her scolding. She had on her lawyer, poker face. Unsure of
what to do next and filled with anger and fear, I looked around at the people
in the room. Sean took a step forward and put his hands on my shoulders,
steadying my shaking arms. Charles looked from me, back to my brother.