I smiled, my body still shaking. “I love you too.”
Robert
“I’m heading upstairs to finish up my homework.”
My mom raised an eyebrow at me. “I thought you finished that hours ago.”
“Uh…I did, but I have this paper due next week. I just want to get a head start on it.”
She didn’t believe me, and the way she was pursing her lips together told me she knew exactly what I was doing. I headed for the stairs when my dad called out to me from the living room.
“Yeah?” I asked, taking a step toward him.
“Come sit down.”
Shit. I walked over and sat across from him on the couch. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Anna Richards.”
“Yeah, we’re friends.”
He nodded as he set his book down on the table. “You know, I remember what it was like when I met your mother. I couldn’t stay away from her. I had to be around her all the time. We were inseparable.”
I shrugged, acting like it wasn’t a big deal. “We’re just good friends.”
He nodded again. “You know that her family isn’t like ours.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You think she’s not good enough for me?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that you should be careful. You’re in high school. You have this whole world waiting for you, but I want you to realize that your lives may not be heading in the same direction. Just be sure she’s the one you want before you toss in everything to be with her.”
I wasn’t sure what he was saying, but I nodded anyway. Anything to end this conversation. “Right, well, I have homework to do.”
“Just be careful, son. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
I couldn’t think of anything that I could possibly do with Anna that I would regret. She was everything to me. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. A girl like her, someone with so much love in her heart, beautiful, smart, and thoughtful…that was all I really wanted or needed. She was always thinking about others. Everything revolved around making others happy. I’d never met someone like her before, and I never wanted to let her go.
I went upstairs and waited the dreaded hour for everyone to go to bed. Then I waited another half hour before I climbed out my window and ran across the fields to get to her house. All the lights were off, but I knew she was awake. She always waited up for me. Out of breath, I ran up to her window and tapped gently, waiting for her to come to the window. When she appeared, a brilliant smile filled her face and she gave me the usual signal to wait. I hated that she had to sneak around her mom so much. I did it too, but she did it because her mom was an angry drunk. We were lucky that she hadn’t caught us yet.
Three minutes later, her front door opened and she ran down the steps, throwing herself in my arms. I kissed her hard, feeling rejuvenated just from that one kiss. I took her hand in mine, and together, we ran off to our spot under the stars. Once we were in our spot, my hands started tearing at her clothes, desperate to feel her body against mine. I was just a kid. I wasn’t as smooth as I hoped I looked, but she didn’t seem to care. She just wanted me.
We fell down to the grass where we kissed and touched. Everything was perfect. It had been for the last two months since I first made love to her. We laid in the grass, panting heavily as we held each other.
“What are we going to do after the summer?” she asked quietly.
I swallowed hard. I had plans, but those plans included her. I just hoped we were still on the same page with that. “I’m going to the University of Chicago, so I won’t be far.”
She couldn’t afford to go to a big school, so she was going to a community college. I knew it would be hard on us, but we’d make it work. There was nothing that could keep me from my girl.
“I’ve been saving up to get a car,” I told her. “Then I can come home every weekend and see you.”
She smiled, but it was forced. I could tell she didn’t believe me. “Things are gonna