here. You know how he can be. If I were you, I’d consider this a friendly warning. I doubt the next time he calls will be as cordial.”
“Yes, sir.” I do my best to not appear downtrodden.
“You don’t need any distractions right now, Drew,” he reminds me. I meet his eyes. “Focus on your training. And that means getting enough sleep.” He looks to the clock on the wall and I follow his line of sight to see it’s nearly midnight. “We’re leaving for the rink at six tomorrow morning.”
I hang my head. “Yes, sir.” All the excitement has disappeared at the reminder of what’s at stake if I pursue something with Brooklyn. It doesn’t matter that I’ve never felt so happy as when she lay secure beneath me, our lips close. For that brief moment, I felt like I was flying. The talk with my dad forces me to come crashing back down to earth.
Chapter Five
BROOKLYN
The next few weeks are much more uneventful than the start of summer vacation. Just as I suspected, no other boys from school even try to hit on me when Molly and I hang out at the beach. I’m unsure whether to find it endearing or annoying. This is my summer vacation. I’m supposed to be having fun. Instead, part of me thinks I’d have more fun if I were to join a convent, particularly with my father’s strict curfew.
As a firefighter, he works twenty-four-hour shifts, then has three days off, so I could easily stay out past my curfew during the times he’s on duty. We have a security system, complete with cameras that record all the comings and goings outside my house, but that’s not what keeps me from breaking his rules. Every morning before he leaves, he kisses my cheek and reminds me not to do anything that would betray his trust. So I don’t.
Instead, I’ve been relegated to being the token single girl during every group outing. I try not to let it get to me. Still, I do get a little jealous whenever I see Molly and Brody kiss, wishing I knew what that felt like. At the start of the summer, I thought this would finally be the year I’d experience my first kiss. Now, I’m beginning to think it’s never going to happen.
I haven’t spoken to Drew since our little incident. I’m not sure if he’s avoiding me because he’s embarrassed we got caught or because he almost kissed me. Even on the rare occasions Molly’s lips aren’t attached to Brody’s and I hang out over at her house, Drew’s either not there or locks himself in his room. It’s almost like, in his eyes, I don’t exist. I wish I could feel the same way about him.
Feeling as if I’ve been labeled a social outcast, I’ve begun picking up extra hours at the movie theater where I got a job once I obtained my work permit. Dad’s rules. If I want to drive when I turn sixteen, I have to pay for my own gas and car insurance. We aren’t so hard off that he can’t help with those things, but he wants to teach me responsibility. Plus, having a job looks good on college applications.
“Pearl Harbor,” Spencer says on a Monday evening in early August as a couple I estimate to be in their early twenties enters and makes their way through the queue toward the ticket counter.
“Nah,” I respond, studying them. It’s a game we play during our shifts where we try to guess what movie each person or couple is going to see. It makes the slow nights go by much quicker. “That’s already been out a few months.” I pinch my lips together. “I’m going with America’s Sweethearts.”
“Care to put a wager on it?”
“What did you have in mind?” I waggle my brows, grinning deviously. Spencer’s not bad looking. Actually, I think he’s kind of cute in a nerdy way. He’s thin and brainy, but has this aloofness to him that makes him attractive.
“Loser has to clean winner’s children’s movies for a month.”
I whistle. These are some very high stakes. Everyone who’s ever worked in a movie theater knows the theater after a kid’s movie lets out is akin to the remnants of a massive tornado. The floor will be covered in popcorn, candy stuck to the back of chairs. If you’re lucky, you won’t reach under the seat to find some parent decided to leave a dirty diaper under there instead