things out about me already. Being a gentleman doesn’t come naturally to me, Ren.”
“Then don’t be one.”
She tosses the words off frivolously. When he grabs her wrist it’s a shock.
“Stop,” he warns. His tone says he’s not kidding anymore.
She’s defiant. “Why?”
He’s closer now. There’s a sweet smell on his breath and she recognizes it. Beer. He must have snagged a can or two from Monty. He’s got her other wrist and if he moves an inch closer their bodies will press together. He’s so much bigger than her, so much stronger. Her head begins to swim.
“Because,” he snarls, “if I kiss you, Loren, there’s no fucking way I’m going to stop.”
He says it like he can’t imagine anything worse.
She shakes her hand loose from his grip and reaches for him, touches his face. He turns his head away and spits a curse, something in another language that she doesn’t recognize. The humiliation stings.
Ren tears away from him and begins stalking back to the house. All their teasing during the long, hot days of the last month and they’ve never fought. They’ve also never kissed. What kind of an idiot is she anyway? They’re not falling in love. They are just two bored kids who can’t find anyone else around worth talking to. Even if they were to mess around it wouldn’t mean shit. Oscar has told her a few things about himself already, about all the girls. To him, she would just be another one. Forgettable.
Oscar doesn’t let her get far. He catches her from behind and his arms wind around her body, holding her tight against his hard chest.
“Let me go.” She kicks at him.
“Why the hell are you acting like this?”
“Look, I feel like enough of a jackass already. Just leave me alone and maybe Monty can find you a friend to help end your fucking drought.”
He spins her around. Roughly. His hands are on her face and then his fingers are all wound up in her long dark hair. He’s forcing her to look at him even though there’s no light in the sky and she can hardly see his face.
“Damn you, Ren! I can’t just treat you like any girl. You know how many there’ve been? You don’t know because I don’t even know. Not one of them has meant a thing to me except a good time. I’ve been bouncing around from place to fucking place since I can remember. I don’t even have real friends and the only family I have is a woman who forgets who I am most of the time.”
He coughs at the end but relaxes his hold on her. Ren reaches up, finds his lips with her fingers, tracing them.
“I’m your friend,” she whispers. “I’m your family.”
A small groan rips out of his throat. He kisses her. He’s not soft or hesitant like the few other boys she’s kissed. All she can think is my god, my god, my god. She would sink right into the desert floor if he wasn’t holding her up. This, she knows, is how a kiss should be. This is the one she’ll compare all others to for the rest of her life.
A sonic boom of thunder cuts loose overhead and the sky opens up. The storm that had seemed to roll back into the Harquehalas has returned with a vengeance. They are soaked to the skin within seconds but their mouths stay glued together. It seems nothing can conquer the power of that kiss. It is cosmic, it is limitless.
Then a streak of lightning lights up a mesquite tree only a few yards away. The feathery branches are briefly lit by a burst of fire and then just as suddenly the flame is drowned by the rain.
The kiss is over. Oscar grabs her hand and they run all the way back to the house. There’s a narrow patio overhang along the south side of the building and they huddle beneath it but everything is all right because she’s in his arms.
“You should go in,” he sighs, running his lips along her neck.
“I will.” It’s a weak promise. She has no desire to go anywhere.
“Loren.” God, her name never sounded as good as it does coming from his mouth. He gently kisses her forehead, her eyelids. “This changes everything you know.”
“I know.”
“There’s no going back. No matter what.”
“I don’t want to go back, Oscar,” she promises, hugging him stubbornly. She doesn’t even know what it means. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She only knows