When we get close you can see how unkempt the yard is now. I wonder how long it’s been since the yard has been mowed. It makes me sad.
“Hey um…your neighbors aren’t still here are they?” Eddie asks me.
“No. My dad brought them to our farm and we cremated them.”
“It looks so deserted. I mean I guess it should…but it looks like it’s been sitting here empty for years, not like two months,” he says.
He’s right…it does.
He walks over to the truck…then the car. I guess seeing if the keys are in either of them.
I head over to the orchard. There are still a lot of apples in the trees. Enough to keep the pig and goats happy for a long time…if we can get them to the farm.
I see Amanda and Spencer go inside the house. I want to go in there too, but I feel weird about it. I don’t know why I know they aren’t here and won’t be coming back.
Eddie is walking over to me…he meets me when I’m nearly to the house.
“I think the car and truck both have gas if we can find the keys. You don’t happen to know…or remember if he had his keys in his pockets do you?” he asks me.
I shake my head. “He didn’t. I guess we can look in their bedroom. Maybe in her purse, if we can find it.”
He holds the front door open for me. I go inside first, he follows me.
It’s so stuffy in here. I put something in front of the door to hold it open.
“We really need to open windows, get some air in here,” I say.
Eddie helps me open the windows in the living room, then we go into the kitchen. Amanda and Spencer are in there.
They’re looking through the cabinets, setting cans on the table.
Eddie starts looking around, he walks over to the back door. “Holy shit…Look.”
I look over at him, he’s holding up keys.
“Do you think they’re for the car or truck?” I ask hoping they are so we don’t have to walk home.
“I guess I’ll go try,” he says and goes outside.
We all follow him out there. He looks at the keys, then gets in the truck. It doesn’t want to start at first, but then it does. He lets it run for a minute, then turns it off.
“Looks like we have a truck. Almost a full tank of gas too. We need to find more gas, but for now let’s load up what we need, take it back to the farm,” he says.
“I want to take a bunch of apples back, there should be buckets in the barn,” I tell him.
“Okay. Let’s check the house first, then we can all pick apples. Or even pick some today, come back tomorrow,” Eddie says.
I nod my head. He’s right, there are some things we need to find…food is the main thing.
Spencer and Amanda go back to work in the kitchen, so I go into the bathroom to see what we can use in there.
I get all of the toilet paper, the pads she had, all the women’s hygiene stuff she had under the sink. I look in the medicine cabinet in there, not really much of anything. Some band-aids, Neosporin, I take it.
I take everything into the kitchen and put it on the table.
“I wonder if there are boxes or something somewhere…or something we can pack all of this in,” Amanda says.
“Maybe upstairs?” I say. “I’ll go check.”
I wander upstairs. It’s weird to be here in their house and they aren’t here. I didn’t know Tim and Rachel very well, they had only lived here for about a year. When they were alive, and just getting started, we were over a lot trying to help them out, and then when they both got sick we were over a lot then too.
I go into their bedroom first. The bed is stripped, how we left it when we were last over.
I open the closet and look around in it a bit, trying to see what we might be able to use. Clothes probably, Eddie and Spencer can check for boots.
I walk over to the dresser and look at their wedding picture sitting on it. I’m sad they’re gone. They had only been married about six months before they moved here. They were wanting to start a family…and now they’re gone.
I open the top drawer, looks like a catch-all drawer. Papers, gloves, hats, a hairbrush, just odds and ends.
The next drawer has socks in it. I might take all of them.
The next drawer is Rachel’s underwear. I start to shut that drawer, I feel weird looking at her underwear, but then I see some pretty bras. I open the drawer and get one out. I look at it, then check the size. Just a little bigger than what I wear now. I look for more that I like. I find three, decide I want to take them. I look in the drawer again and find a nightie. It’s cute, but nothing my parents would have let me wear.
I take it over to the mirror and hold it up to me. It’s really cute. Black soft fabric, trimmed in red. Thin straps, I doubt my boobs would fill the cups out, and it’s so short my butt would stick out. But I like it for some reason.
“Try it on,” I hear Eddie say.
I turn around and look at him.
“Try it on…I’ll turn around,” he says.
I take my shirt off and drop it on the floor. I put the short nightie on. I look at myself and am surprised my boobs fill out the top.
Eddie is standing behind me, looking in the mirror at me.
He reaches around me and unfastens my jeans. He pushes them down to my feet.
He stands back up, looks at me again in the mirror.
“It’s ridiculous isn’t it,” I say.
He shakes his head.
“It is…and I have no reason to wear it,” I say.
“You could wear it for me…”
I look in the mirror…I look at him…in his eyes. The way he’s looking at me is kind of scary. A look I haven’t seen from him before.
“Take it…please,” he says.
We can hear Amanda and Spencer coming upstairs.
“Get dressed,” he says and leaves shutting the bedroom door.
I take one last look at myself in this nightie. I shake my head. My parents would be so upset.
I pull my jeans back up, take off the nightie and put my shirt back on. I toss it in the pile of clothes to take with me, who knows…maybe I will wear it some day.
Someone knocks on the door, then opens it. Amanda sticks her head in.
“Are you dressed? Eddie said you were trying some clothes on,” she says.
“Yeah. Come in.”
“Find anything cute?” she asks.
“I guess,” I say smiling.
“We should probably bring most of the clothes, we’ll probably eventually use it. Tim’s stuff too,” she says.
“Yeah. Luckily Rachel wore a lot of cute stuff.”
“Hey, I wanted to tell you about Spencer. I really like him,” she says.
I don’t know what to say.
“He’s really nice. We talk…a lot in the mornings when we’re alone,” she tells me.
“You really like him? Like this is a thing?” I ask her.
She smiles and nods her head.
“And last night…?” I ask.
“We just kissed a little…messed around a bit…that’s it. We didn’t do it,” she says.
“But you might?” I ask.
She nods her head again.
“So you guys are going to move to the guest room for good?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“That leaves me and Eddie alone…that’s going to be awkward.”
“You could move back to your room, he can stay in your parent’s room if you really feel awkward.”
“Maybe. I don’t know if I want to sleep alone though, I’m scared,” I tell her.
“Then stay with him tonight…see how it goes.”
We find suitcases in the closet so we pack as much of the clothes as we can in them. We figure we can unpack at home and bring back the empty suitcases.
Eddie and Spencer bring up boxes from the basement and we pack the bathroom and kitchen stuff in them.
We take everything from all three bathrooms. Well, almost everything, we do take some soaps, but not the bubble baths and stuff like that.
Amanda even found a box of condoms in the master bath. I wonder if they’ll use them? I wonder if I will ever have a chance to need one. Will I ever find someone? Love someone enough to do that? Such a personal act…I don’t think it will happen for me…I don’t think there’s anyone left for me to fall in love with.
As we get boxes packed full, Eddie and Spencer take them out to the truck.
“I’ll be back…I’m going to go outside for a minute…” I tell them.
“For what?” Eddie asks.
“Um…I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”
“You’re not going alone,” he says.
I look at him for a minute. I don’t really want him to come outside with me while I pee.
“Ok great…Amanda can come with me.”
“She doesn’t have a gun,” he says.
“Oh my god…fine…come on,” I say to him and go outside.
My little puppy follows me out there. “Sorry I’m not trying to be an asshole or anything…it’s just not safe for you to be out here alone, especially in such an um…compromising position.”
“Fine…it’s just fine,” I say walking over to some trees.
I stop by a tree, I start to unfasten my jeans, he’s just standing there looking at me. I stand there looking at him until he gets the idea that I don’t want him watching me.
“I’m going to turn around now,” he says.
“Thanks…”
I push my jeans and underwear down and squat down.
He has his back to me like I had mine to him this morning when he was peeing. Such a private thing, or it used to be, but now it can’t be.
He’s so small, only a couple inches taller than me. And he’s thin. I wonder if he was always this thin or he lost weight recently after everything happened. And it’s so strange that he is so thin because he has a nice round butt. I smile thinking about him standing in front of me now…but naked.
When I’m finished I stand up, pull my clothes back up.
“I was thinking, the truck is pretty full, we should go back, unload everything then come back and pick apples for like an hour, then call it a day for today. Probably come back in a few days to get more stuff,” he says as we’re walking back to the house.
I nod my head.
“Sorry I was kind of a jerk earlier today…when we were walking here,” he says.
I smile, shake my head. “I was a bitch. A complete bitch, taking it out on everyone. So I’m sorry.”
“Yes you were,” he says and laughs.
I look over at him. He really is cute. So many things about him that are so pretty, and all put together makes him beautiful.
The pig is so happy when I give him an apple, then another one. I give him one more, too many at once after he hasn’t had any in a long time will make him sick.
The goats are in heaven too.
We put one bucket of apples in the barn and take the rest to the basement. Well except for a smallish basket that we saved for us to eat.
I am so excited that they had twelve cans of tuna. Eddie kind of makes a face, but he knows he can’t be picky now. We brought all of the canned food they had. All the packaged stuff that still looked edible. It’s all scattered across the kitchen table.
“What are we eating tonight?” Eddie asks.
“Let’s order pizza,” I say.
“Sure…I’ll call it in,” he replies.
“Ok, really guys…what are we eating because I’m starving,” Spencer says.
“There’s a bunch of soup and canned chili, I say for tonight we each make our own dinner,” I say.
“Just for tonight, then tomorrow everything goes towards the stockpile. And maybe we should make some sort of menu. Check everything we have. Do an inventory, then make up a menu, using fresh stuff first obviously,” Eddie says.
“We really need to go to the little store near here. There may be nothing left, but there could be some stuff. I hope at least seeds and bulbs for next year,” I tell them.
“How far is it?” Eddie asks.
“Like twenty miles. It’s close. But like I said before, they don’t have a lot of stuff, but if no one has been there yet we’ll be able to get a lot of stuff we need.”
“We could go tomorrow, but I’m not sure all of us should be gone at the same time now. What if someone comes here, no one is here. They would take everything,” Eddie says.
“I guess we could go, then Amanda and Spencer,” I suggest.
“That works,” Spencer says.
“Can you shoot?” Eddie asks me.
I look at him. Shrug my shoulders. “Sorta…”
“What about you Amanda?” he asks.
She shakes her head.
“Do they have bullets there?” he asks me.
I nod my head. “It’s like a general store. Feed for animals, some basic grocery and household stuff. Even some clothes. And yes bullets.”
“We’ll go after breakfast,” he says.
I’m almost asleep when Eddie gets in bed with me.
I yawn and roll over to my side.
“Tired?” he asks me.
“Yeah. And my back is killing me.”
“Yeah? Let me rub it a bit for you. I have been told that I give a good back rub,” he says.
I feel one of his hands on my shoulder.
“Is this where it hurts?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, lower, the middle of my back. My spine is kinda messed up there.”
“Down here,” he says and pushes his fist into the small of my back.
I moan. “Yes…there.”
He pushes hard rubbing my back there. Then his hand moves down a little lower, pushing my underwear down.
“You’re tense,” he mumbles.
“Yeah…uh…life has been a little stressful lately. You know…just things going on,” I say sarcastically.
“Really? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Life has been so easy lately.”
I start crying. Sobbing. And I feel stupid.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
I don’t answer, I just cry.
He climbs over me. He takes my face in his hands. “Mara…look at me, You have done so good. Look at you. You and Amanda were here doing amazing before we came. You had food and water. You two were surviving and doing so good.”
“Yeah…but it’s stupid.”
He looks at me confused. “Stupid? What do you mean?”
“There’s no reason to survive.”
“I told you before…there is. I don’t know what yet…but there is a reason you were immune. Things are shitty right now…but we’ll get through it…” he starts to say.
“But I don’t want to. There is no point to wake up in the morning. I’m done. I’m just done.”
I try to push him away. He pulls me to him, wraps his arms around me. He holds me tight, then moves one hand up and runs his fingers through my hair.
“Mara…yeah things are bad…seems like there is no point…but we’ll figure it out. Try to hold on. Let’s take it day by day. Today was an amazing day. We have a truck. We found so much food. We got so many apples for the animals. Things are going to be okay.”
He holds me against his chest. It’s very comforting hearing his heartbeat. For the first time in a long time…I feel safe.
Eddie and I do go to the store the next day, right after breakfast. He says he needs to get a lot of bullets because he wants to teach me and Amanda to shoot. He says we need to know how…just in case. And yeah sadly he’s right.
When we get there it’s obvious we aren’t the first to come here looking for supplies. There is no fresh food left, well hardly any, and what is left is beyond rotten. Luckily we already knew this so we weren’t even planning on expecting any.
I just wish people hadn’t made it such a mess. Why destroy things while looking for useful stuff?
Eddie empties a box so we can load it with stuff we need. I tell him to take all the canning jars because we can use them, so he starts loading the truck with all the cases he can find while I start looking for other stuff.
I get a bunch of spices and put them in the box, then get the few bottles of detergent that are left. I feel bad for taking the rest, but we’ll need them.
I start looking through the shelves and even what has been thrown on the floor for any food that is still good and I pack it in the box.
Eddie brings me a few more empty boxes. “We can’t get much more than this. The jars took up a bunch of space, and we need to get the feed if they have it. We’ll just have to tell Amanda and Spencer what to get when they come.”
“Ok. I’ll get what food I can find first.”
“Where’s the feed? I can start loading it,” he says.
I take him to the back, to the storage room, and show him where the animal feed is.
“I’ll load what I can…we’ll have to come back to get the rest.”
I nod my head. I go back into the store to see what else I should take now. Medicines. I get all the pain meds and band-aids I can get.
Eddie comes back in there a few minutes later. “Where are the bullets? And guns?”
I take him to the room where they kept all of that. I go back to start looking for seeds for next year. After a few minutes, I hear banging that only gets louder.
“Eddie?” I yell back at him.
Nothing…just more banging.
I’m worried.
“Eddie?” I yell again.
Nothing…again. Still just banging…then glass breaking.
“Fuck!” I hear Eddie say.
I slowly walk back there. I’m scared someone broke in and now Eddie could be hurt…or even dead.
I’m afraid to look but I know I have to. I take a deep breath and look around the corner. Eddie is standing by one of the display cases…broken glass everywhere…and blood at his feet.
“What happened?” I ask him.
“I cut myself. The cabinet was locked. I tried to break the lock but broke the glass instead.”
I walk over to him. “What did you cut?”
He holds one of his hands up to me. He has a long deep gash across his thumb, up his wrist, and it’s bleeding badly.
I look around the room for something to stop the bleeding. I see a t shirt laying on a chair, I grab it and wrap it around his hand. I hold his hand up almost over his head. I can feel his pulse in his hand…it feels weird…but in an odd way, it’s comforting.
I was hoping this would stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down, but soon he has blood running down his arm.
I start to unwrap the tee shirt from his hand.
“Can I sit down?” he asks.
I look at him, he’s pale and sweating. Shit…what if he passes out?
I pull the chair over to him and he sits down.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
He sort of nods his head. Smiles…sort of.
I didn’t even bring any water today. Was there any in the store? I don’t remember. I need to get the bleeding to stop. I grab his hand and hold it above his head. I dropped the shirt and refuse to let go of his hand to pick it up, so I take my shirt off with my empty hand. I don’t even care right now that I don’t have a bra on. It doesn’t matter anyway, he has his eyes closed.
I wrap my tee shirt tightly around his hand. “Don’t you fucking pass out on me.”
He tries to smile, shakes his head.
“Just relax. Concentrate on breathing,” I tell him.
There’s no more blood running down his arm so hopefully the bleeding is going to stop soon.
I need to distract him…distract myself.
“Did I ever tell you how I met Amanda? It was the first day of my seventh grade. We were in gym class and on the first day every year they take our height and weight. So me being me and always worried about how much I weigh, I decided to take off one of my tee shirts. I was wearing two tee shirts that day because one was too see through, at least that’s what my mom said, so I put on another one over it. I had planned on taking the top one off anyway once I got to school, you know I was only going to wear it until I was away from my mom. Anyway so we’re in the gym, boys and girls, and I’m taking my tee shirt off and I didn’t realize it until too late that when I pulled off my top tee shirt, my other tee shirt was stuck to it so I was standing in the gym in front of everyone with my shirts over my head, and everyone could see my bra. I didn’t even know what was going on until I felt someone pull my bottom tee shirt down. She helped me get my top tee shirt off then said ‘Hi I’m Amanda and you have really great boobs’. We’ve been friends ever since then.”
“You do have really great boobs,” he says.
I look at him and see he has his eyes open now.
“I would call you a jerk, but it’s not your fault you can see my boobs right now. Well, I guess it sort of is since you’re the one that cut your hand.”
“I think the bleeding has stopped, should we check?” he asks.
I nod my head. I unwrap my tee shirt from his hand and look at it.
“A lot better. I think I can go get some gauze and wrap it…and find me something to wear,” I tell him.
“I can wrap it probably,” he says.
“You just stay there for right now…I’ll go get the stuff, wrap it, and then we can see how you feel.”
I start to walk back into the other room.
“Hey…thanks,” he says.
I look for a shirt…or something. I find a tee shirt and put it on. It’s big…like really big. It doesn’t matter, we’re leaving soon anyway, and it’s not like anyone will see me.
I go dig around in the box I packed with the band-aids and medicines. I get some gauze and tape. I go back in the room. He’s sitting there quietly, head back, eyes closed.
I kneel on the floor in front of him. I pick up his cut hand. He opens his eyes and looks at me.
“Are you alright?” I ask him.
“Yeah. It really hurts, but at least the bleeding has pretty much stopped.”
“I can’t really clean it here, we’ll wrap it and I can clean it when we get home. I guess we’ll go now, take what we have,” I tell him.
“Can you drive?” he asks.
“Yeah, my dad taught me years ago. I’ll drive home.”
“I just think it would be better if I don’t drive right now,” he says.
“It’s fine…really. I can drive. Let me put the rest of the stuff I packed into the truck and we can go. Why don’t I help you get in the truck and I’ll get the rest of the stuff.”
He stands up. I just stand there and watch making sure he doesn’t seem dizzy or anything.
“Are you okay?” I ask him after a minute or so.
He nods his head yes…but has his eyes closed.
“Do you think you can walk out to the truck?”
“Yeah. I’ll be ok after I sit awhile. Did you bring water?” he asks.
“No. I can’t believe I forgot it. I can look around for something for you to drink if you want.”
“I’ll be okay…just let me sit,” he says again.
Dammit, I need to get him home. Amanda and Spencer can get the rest of the stuff we boxed up later.
“Are you ready? I think we should just go now,” I tell him.
He opens his eyes and looks at me for a minute…he seems like he isn’t sure what to do.
“Eddie?”
“Yeah…sorry…I feel a little sick.”
“You should sit back down for a while then. We’re in no hurry. You sit and I’ll go finish loading the truck, then we can go if you feel up to it,” I tell him.
He nods his head and sits back down. I start to leave the room but look back to see if he’s going to be okay. I wish there were still phones so I could call Amanda and tell her what happened, maybe they could figure out some way to come and help me.
I load the last couple of boxes that will fit and am about to go get Eddie when he comes out where I am, carrying a few boxes of bullets in his uninjured hand.
“We need to get all we can, but these will work for now,” he says.
“Feeling better?”
He nods his head. “I think once I can get a drink, and lay down for a while I’ll be fine. Just lost too much blood too fast.”
“Yeah probably.”
“Oh here,” he says and hands me something. “I grabbed your shirt.”
“Thanks,” I say…but am so embarrassed. I had hoped he had forgotten or been so out of it he didn’t remember I was shirtless for a few minutes…and that he said I have great boobs.
I open the passenger door of the truck so he can get in. Once he’s in I shut the door and go get in on the other side.
He left the keys in the ignition so I start the truck.
I haven’t driven in months, and never driven this truck, so I sit for a couple minutes trying to find where everything is.
Eddie looks over at me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I look over at him and smile. “Yes. It’s just been a while, and I’ve never driven this truck, so give me a minute.”
“Hey…thanks for everything back there. Taking care of me. Taking your shirt off. I appreciate it. Really. What we saw in the city…nothing like you’ve been. You’re sweet…and I just want to say thanks for all you’ve done.”
I look over at him, this asshole that is taking food from me, water, who knows what else, but he has also been a huge help too. Coming here to get feed for the animals, bullets, food for us, helping me in the garden, with the animals, he really has been a lot of help for me too.
“Well…thanks to you too…for helping me out,” I tell him.
“We can make a good team. I’m glad we found you and Amanda. And no not just for a place to stay, and for the food, I think me and you could be good together…um…you know…like together…”
Is he awkwardly saying he likes me? Is it because he saw my boobs? Does he think something is going to happen now?
I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah…”
He looks over at me…smiles…then looks away. I think he’s blushing. Weird. I swear he is really weird.
We make it home fine. It’s so strange that now I can drive whenever and wherever with no license since no is going to care. For the most part, no one really cared before as long as I was just driving locally. I always just drove to the store, or to neighbors and it didn’t matter if I had my license or not.
Maybe I should find a car somewhere…but where would I even go?
Amanda and Spencer come outside.
“I thought you would be gone longer, was there not much left?” Amanda asks.
Eddie gets out and holds his hand up. “I cut my hand so we came back.”
“How the fuck did you cut your hand?” Spencer asks him.
Amanda comes over to my side of the truck. “You drove?”
I nod my head and get out. “Yeah his hand is all fucked up, and he lost a lot of blood. There was no way he could drive back.”
“What happened to your shirt?” she asks.
I reach in the truck and grab my shirt and hold it up so she can see. “It got blood on it.”
“He cut his hand that bad? What did he do?”
“I’m not sure, I was in another room. Trying to open the case with the bullets he broke the glass. We got a bunch of stuff, but there’s more we need to get before someone else does. Are you guys going to go?” I ask her.
“That was the plan,” Spencer says.
“We can get all of this unloaded, then you guys can go,” Eddie says.
“You go lay down, I’ll bring you some water, and we’ll unload the truck,” I tell him.
I go inside with Eddie while Amanda and Spencer start unloading the truck.
I take him into the living room. “I’ll go get a pillow and blanket. You can lay down here for a while.”
I run upstairs, get a pillow and blanket off my bed, and take them back down to him.
When I get to the living room he has his shoes and socks off already. I put the pillow on the sofa, and he lays down. I cover him up with my blanket.
“I’ll get some water, and stuff to clean your hand, wrap it up better.”
I go into the kitchen to get him a glass of water and get something wet to clean his hand.
“Where do you want us to put everything?” Amanda asks me.
“I guess the animal feed just put in the barn and I can take care of it later, everything else in here, or the living room so we can go through it when you guys get back.”
“Did you get a lot of good stuff?” she asks.
“Yeah, some good stuff. We need all we can get though. Someone had already been there, the place was a mess, most of the food was gone, but we got some stuff we can use. I started packing seeds, that’s what we need for next year or we won’t be eating, but that’s when Eddie cut his hand so I didn’t bring very many. You guys need to get the seeds and bulbs when you go. And more bullets. Eddie grabbed some, but not many.”
“Ok we’ll grab what you had boxed, and see what else we can find that looks good,” she says.
I dig around in a drawer to find a towel, then I get it damp. I look in the box we brought yesterday from the neighbor’s that has the band-aids and stuff in it, and get some hydrogen peroxide, band-aids and Neosporin to fix his hand.
When I go back into the living room it’s quiet. I think he’s asleep. I stand and look at him for a minute. His breathing is steady so I’m pretty sure he’s asleep.
I kneel down by him. I gently pick up his hand. He stirs a little bit but stays asleep. I unwrap the gauze and drop it on the floor. It doesn’t look good.
I wipe the dried blood off his hand as much as I can. Then I pour some peroxide on it. He doesn’t even flinch. He must really be tired.
I dry his hand off. I consider putting some Neosporin on the cut but it’s really deep and I don’t think I should be sticking my finger in it.
I don’t know if I should cover it or leave it open to dry out better. I just leave it for now. I’ll check it again in about an hour and figure it out then.
I take all the stuff back into the kitchen. While I’m putting it away, Amanda comes in.
“We unloaded everything so we’re going to go,” she says.
“Alright. Grab as much seeds as you can so we can have a nice garden next year.”
After they leave I start sorting through the food we got yesterday and today. I keep some stuff out to make dinner later and put everything else away.
I check on Eddie a couple times, he stays asleep.
Spencer and Amanda come back maybe an hour later. It’s so hard to figure out time now.
I help them unload everything. They decide to go back and get more stuff so I stay and sort everything again.
When I’m finished I go check on Eddie. He’s awake and sitting up. I go sit next to him.
“Are you feeling better?” I ask him.
He nods his head. “Tired for some reason.”
“Well sleep as much as you need, I’m just going through stuff, putting it all where it goes.”
“They haven’t been back yet?” he asks.
“They came back once, dropped stuff off and left again to get more.”
He leans his head back against the sofa. “I suck. I should be up helping you guys.”
“You’re fine. You can take a day off,” I tell him.
He sits back up, he turns and looks at me. Smiles. “Thanks.”
He reaches over and pushes my hair back, then his hand moves to the back of my neck, he leans closer and kisses me on the lips. I don’t know what to do. Kiss back?
I do. Well, I try. I’ve never kissed anyone before…not like this.
He stops kissing me. Pulls away slightly. He looks at me, runs a finger across my lips and smiles at me. “Thanks, Mara.” He nuzzles against my ear, my neck. I feel him softly kiss my neck.
I don’t know what to do. I feel really stupid…I’m eighteen but was never allowed to date so I’ve never been in a situation like this. And really do I want to kiss him? Do I want him kissing me?
He kisses my neck, then up behind my ear. Then his lips are on mine again. I try kissing him back…again…but don’t know how to kiss.
He stops kissing me…looks at me.
“Remember what I said earlier? On the way here?” he asks me.
I try to remember. I was just worried about getting him back here before he passed out, or threw up or maybe something worse, so I don’t really remember much of what we talked about…or even if we talked.
He looks at me. “Um…I like you…” he says and quickly looks away.
What? He likes me? Are we eight years old out on the playground?
“I like you too. You’ve been a lot of help here with the animals…and well a lot of stuff. I know I complain about you guys using my family’s stuff, but you’ve earned it.”
“Thanks but um…that’s not what I meant. I like you…like um…you know” he says and looks at me.
“Um…”
He leans over and kisses me again. I kiss back. I’m starting to enjoy this.
“I might need to drink those beers tonight,” he says.
“Why?”
“I want to confess a whole bunch of stuff to you…so I might need to be a little drunk,” he says.
I look at him…at this beautiful boy…well man…and think there is no way this beautiful man likes me. You know, like really likes me.
He looks at me with his beautiful blue eyes. I want him to kiss me. I smile at him…reach up and caress his cheek.
He reaches up and holds my hand…moves it to his mouth and kisses it.