was interested in him.
“You’ve really never driven before?” he asked.
“Nope. I passed the written test but never got behind the wheel. So, how do we get started?”
“Key in the ignition,” he instructed.
I did as I was told. The dashboard controls lit up.
“Step one.” He held up a cassette. “The right soundtrack.”
He popped Nevermind into the tape deck. Watery guitars washed over us.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s step two?”
Sam slowly and deliberately looked me up and down. I didn’t experience the overwhelming urge to cover up as I had when Slade or Sonny ogled me. Just the opposite. I wanted Sam to keep looking. I wanted Sam to see more. I wanted to reveal, not conceal.
“Your feet aren’t touching the pedals,” Sam said. “You need to move the seat up.”
“Oh,” I said, trying not to sound as deflated as I felt. “Okay.”
He wasn’t objectifying me after all. He was just crossing off all the boxes on the pre-drive safety checklist. I felt underneath for the seat adjuster. I pulled the lever and I thrust my pelvis to make the seat move forward. It stayed put. After a few jerky attempts, Sam offered to help.
“Do you mind?”
I shook my head. No, I don’t mind. I don’t mind this one bit.
He leaned across my lap, reached down between my legs and pulled.
“Ohhhh!”
I bucked as if we’d gone from zero-to-sixty in under a second.
“Sorry!” He lurched backward. “Was that too much?”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said with a slight catch in my voice.
“Oh,” Sam Goody said with a slight catch in his voice.
And in the next instant, our chests crashed and our mouths mashed over the center console.
We kissed to tortured and distorted, melodic and melancholic music unlike anything I’d ever heard before. As Sam Goody kissed me—eagerly, hungrily—I had an acute awareness of what I can only describe of anticipatory nostalgia. For the rest of my life, I knew I’d always remember kissing Sam Goody whenever I heard this song, these words.
“Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be.”
“Can I have another lesson tomorrow?” I murmured dreamily.
“I wish I could,” Sam said, kissing me again. Only this time sweetly, softly, tenderly. “But I’m taking a road trip. I’ll be gone for a week.”
He explained that he was taking time off to spend with his younger brother before driving him to college for freshman orientation.
“I didn’t know you had a brother my age,” I said.
“He graduated from Eastland this year,” he replied. “Do you have any siblings?”
“Nope.”
Yep, we’d totally made out before exchanging even the most basic biographical details.
“Where’s he going to school?”
I was curious, of course, but also more than slightly concerned that the Chevette might not make it to whatever campus and back.
“Harvard.”
We both winced as he said it.
“So much for ‘life beyond the Ivy League’ in your family, huh?”
“Well.” Sam smiled ruefully, adorably. “At least it takes the pressure off me to be the successful son.”
And before I knew it, we were going at it all over again. I didn’t learn the first thing about driving that night. But I finally, finally, oh my God finally understood what the fuss over kissing was all about.
32
BOO
“Did you get the map?” Drea asked before I’d even slipped into the passenger seat the next morning. “Why didn’t you call me back?”
Sam Goody had left me too dazed to return any of her phone calls.
“Cassie! This is Drea! Did you get the map? Call me back!”
“Cassie! This is Drea! You better have that map. Call me back!”
“Cassie! This is Drea! You better call me back! Call me back!”
So, the immediacy of her interrogation came as no surprise. I didn’t look forward to telling Drea about the outcome of my date-like transaction with my ex. But maybe I could cheer her up with the news that Sam and I hooked up?
“I made out with Sam Goody!” I gushed.
Drea tapped the brakes. “You did?”
“I did!” I bounced up and down like a candy-addled toddler.
“Congratulations! It’s about time you got some!” Drea double high-fived me. “He’s cute!”
“He is cute!” My voice was all squeaky in a way I was unused to hearing. “And he loved my new look.”
“Sam is the anti-Troy. Of course he loved it as much as your ex hated it.”
Then Drea literally and figuratively shifted gears.
“So. Did you hook up with Sam Goody before or after you got the map?”
I fiddled with the silver hoop in my ear instead of answering right away.
“About that…”
Drea snorted and took a speed bump about