by Charity Rose
So, I decided it was a better time than any to explain everything that had been going on, everything but what actually happened at the party or about what Keith had done in the past. I didn’t need them threatening lawsuits, and I didn’t need them having a reason to want to put a restraining order on Keith. I explained to them the bullying, about what Kassie and her friends, including Bradley, had been doing to work against me. My mom and dad listened with rapt interest and nodded their heads now and then. I give them as much detail as I can without totally incriminating either Michael, he should owe me for this, or Keith. My dad had a lot of questions which I answered honestly and sincerely. They agreed that I could transfer back into Preston Preparatory, granted that I was able to pass the driver’s license test this weekend so that I could drive myself. They were upset that I didn’t tell them how I felt sooner. And honestly, I think my dad actually had some tears in his eyes. He even managed to listen to me long enough to know that Keith wasn’t the source of my anxiety, Kassie and her friends where. My dad isn’t entirely keen with me dating, still as long as I promised not to go running off without letting them know or where I’m headed, he can agree to it. But he wants to meet Keith in an official capacity which I gladly agree to, I know Keith would want to.
I still haven’t gotten to my room; I’ve been lost in thought, mid-way up the staircase. I bring myself back to Earth and bolt into my room. I turn on the lights and almost scream when a pair of arms wrap around me. I turn around, ready to throw punches when I realise its Keith.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper making sure no one hears us I close my door behind me.
“Listening in, your dad might get angry but, he’s not that bad,” he says with a shrug. I blanched, my eyes go wide, “Oh my god, Keith. You heard everything?” I ask, and he shakes his head, “Not everything” With a shrug, he waltzes over to my bed and plops down on it. “I felt guilty bringing you back here, I thought you’d end up in more trouble. So, I thought I’d stay the night with you, is that okay?”
“Yes, it’s more than okay. But, what about our mom and where did you leave your car?” I ask, wondering.
“I’m staying with Ashton, Gram and Mom went to a late-night movie. You have a mechanic down the street; he was just about to close when I asked him if I could leave my car so he could change the oil for me in the morning, it needed it anyway. So, I walked here. In the snow. I’m freezing, you should probably warm me up,” he says and throws me a lop-sided grin.
“You’re incredible,” I say and lace my fingers behind his neck.
“So are you,” he says, reaching out for me. I walk into his arms, and he rests his head on my stomach, nuzzling his face into my sweater. “What did your parents say?” he asks. I have to stop myself from giggling, as he pulls me down on my bed and curls up against my side.
“Everything’s okay, actually. We had a good conversation, for once. My dad wants to meet you,” his eyes open wide and he turns his head to look up at me, “You told him?” he asks. I shake my head, “No, my mother did.”
“Oh.”
“And I’m transferring schools,” I say, but then immediately regret it because Keith’s entire demeanour changes. I can see the sadness creeping in his eyes.
“Time for bed,” he whispers in my ear, ignoring what I just said.
“But I haven’t showered yet,” I remark.
“Fine, go take a shower. I’ll warm the bed for you,” I throw a pillow at him playfully. He laughs and throws it back at me; only it misses because I duck on time. I snatch the pillow up and toss it back, running into my bathroom and closing the door I hear the soft thump at it lands against the door. Excited, I start the shower and undress. But, as the warm water passes over me, I realise that transferring schools is going to make it extremely hard for Keith and I to see each other. I hadn’t thought of that before. I hope we can make it work. No, I know we can.
After having a nice warm shower and my teeth neatly brushed, I walk into my bedroom. The perk of having a bathroom in your room is that it saves you a long walk, especially in those moments when you really got to go, or when the floor is cold, or you forgot to bring a change of clothes with you. When I look at Keith, he is already fast asleep.
I gaze at his motionless sleeping body and can’t help but imagine it hovering over mine. His lips pressing against mine as his hands caress my body. Oh god, what am I thinking? I get closer and realise that he isn’t wearing anything, only his underwear, and that’s when I see the bulge in his boxers. I slap a hand over my face to hold back a squeal. My face is on fire, ears burning. I was sure that if I had some ice cubes, I could melt them on my forehead.
I can’t take my eyes away from Keith’s body. Snapping myself out of my daze, I turn off the bedside lamp and crawl into bed next to him, gently sliding beneath the covers. I feel nervous and strange, lying next to him, but I trust him. I close my eyes and drift off.
I wake up in an entanglement of limbs wrapped around me. Keith’s head rests on my shoulder, I can barely move. But I need to get up. I carefully push Keith to the side, luckily, he doesn’t wake up. Instead, he snorts and rolls over, curling up on a ball on the other side of the bed.
I enter the kitchen and am surprised to see my aunt, Indali, sitting in there. She gives me a smile from the counter where she’s leaning with a mug of coffee in her hands, “Morning Vee,” she says and walks up to me. Wrapping an arm around me for a hug, I try to mask my surprise, “Morning, Indali, what are you doing here?” I eye her curiously. She looks right at home.
She flashes me a bright smile and then gives me hug. “So, Parvati called this morning letting me know that today was the only day this week that they can squeeze you in for your driving exam, so she asked me if I could take you there.”
“Oh,” I say, surprised. And it’s always weird to hear my mom’s name, Parvati, I always just call her mom. This is bad. I wasn’t expecting to take the exam today. I wanted to get in at least one more day of practice, Keith had agreed to let me borrow his car for extra practice.
“You should go wake your boy,” she says as she takes a sip of her coffee. My face turned every shade of pink, and I began to fumble with my words.
“W-what did you say?” I asked.
“I said to go wake up your man, Keith’s his name, right?” she asks. I’m speechless, how the hell? As if knowing my unspoken question, she says, “You should really lock your door, sweetie. I went to check on you, seeing as you still hadn’t woken up and your mother told me you usually wake early. I’m sorry, I didn’t see anything,” she adds and then smiles over the lip of her cup. “He’s cute,” she giggles. I can’t help the smile that creeps across my face.
“We didn’t do anything I swear! He just stayed the night because he was worried about me. Wait. You’re okay with this?” I ask in disbelief. If it had been my parents who found Keith in my bed, they would have murdered him and me both by now. They wouldn’t have listened. They would have sent me off to an overseas, all-girl, boarding school. And after finally gaining some traction with them, this would have been a nightmare, and they’d never trust us again.
“Don’t worry your secret is safe with me,” she mimics, zipping her mouth up with her fingers and throwing away the key. “Now go get him before I change my mind.”
Surprisingly my aunt Indali likes Keith, he went to get his car and drive back home to shower and change. Now we’re on our way to pick him up, my aunt pulls up at his house, and we don’t even need to press on the horn. He’s already out the door, he opens the passenger tells my aunt to let me drive if she’s okay with it. I look up at him with killer eyes. “Vee, consider it a practice before your exam. It’ll be okay. I am not your father, I won’t yell,”
“He’s right,” my aunt says, “So, what did my brother in law do to make you guys sneak around?” my aunt groans.
“He made her cry—several times,” Keith says.
“That man,” she shakes her head. “He never learns. You k
now I used to tell your mom that her choice in men was…well, you don’t need to know that,” She places the car on park and steps out the driver’s seat to allow me to take the wheel. My aunt slips into the back seat and Keith takes the passenger seat beside me.
“Okay beautiful, breathe,” I do as he says and takes a deep breath.
I can feel my anxiety melting off.
We arrive safe and sound, and I parked in reverse without crashing into a single car. Keith looks at me like a proud father. “See, I knew you could do it,” he leans in and plants a kiss on my cheek, “Now go prove to them that you’re a good driver.”
Aunt Indali and Keith stay inside the building at a small waiting area, after almost two hours I run towards them screaming, waving a slip of paper in my hand and twenty minutes later I’m being photographed and holding my official driver’s license.
“I knew you could do it,” Keith says as he takes a long look at the shiny plastic card, “You look cute,” he says.
“No, I don’t.”
“Let me see,” says my aunt snatching the license from Keith’s hands. “You do look nice, Vee. And congratulations,”
“You, guys, are blind. Everyone knows that no one ever looks good in their driver’s license photo,” Keith and my aunt both roll their eyes at me.
“So, you’re driving us to the mall, right?” my aunt laughs. I frown, pursing my lips. Keith and Aunt Indali laugh, I don’t think it’s funny at all. But I guess I’ll need all the experience I get since this means I’ll get to transfer schools as well. I smile at Keith; I better not bring that up again just yet. We can hash out the details later.
Chapter 21
The break went by faster than I liked. After getting my license, my parents were more than happy to let me take over my mom old car so that she could get a new one. So long as I paid for my own gas out of my allowance, I could use the car to get to school. Today is my first day at the Preston Prep. Branch academy. All of my records were transferred over and the ones that didn’t I had in a manila folder stuffed inside my bookbag to hand over to records office. I left home pretty early since I know it’s a long drive. I’ll have to get used to getting to bed earlier so that I can wake up earlier. My dad already warned me that he’d pull me back out if my grades faltered because I wasn’t sleeping enough. I feel so foreign driving in my mom’s car; it’s a different scenario from the one I’m used to. I’m now my own driver, and even though the thought alone still frightens me, I can’t help but smile. Keith’s confidence in me made me actually gain that confidence for myself.
I take a left turn upon arriving and the school, which is the direction towards the parking lot. The main building is huge; this looks more like a university campus than a high school. I turn the engine off and collect my bag. I’m glad that I was able to receive my class schedule ahead of time so I’d just need to locate all the classes.
I text both of my parents, letting them know I arrived safely. Once that’s done, I make my way to my first class; I’m nearly ten minutes early. Plenty of time to find my first class. I unfold the map I’d printed and follow the arrows I’d marked it with.
Once outside my classroom door, I take the opportunity to call Keith. “Good morning beautiful, how was the drive?” he asks, he sounds sleepy.
“Good morning handsome, it went pretty well. I miss you already,”
“I miss you too. I hope you have a great day. I know that my days from now on are going to be miserable without you,” he complains. “But I’ll manage.”
“Ashton will keep you company,” I tease.
“Ashton won’t be as good a company as you,”
“True, but it’s still something. I’ll talk to you soon.” I say my goodbye.
“Bye, Beautiful.” We hang up, and my day starts off with English. The day went by pretty smooth; I was able to make a new friend in my English class. Her name’s Kat. She’s super into rock bands and Indie artists, so we bonded over our love for the same music.
A month passes by in what feels like a few days. Yesterday my dad called me downstairs to tell me that he was hoping I’d invite Keith over this weekend for dinner. Considering he still hasn’t met him yet. I’ve only been able to see Keith once since starting at my new school. I’ve been so swamped with school work, and so has he. Last week we set aside a few hours to meet at the Newly Brew and catch up. We still call each other every day and video chat when we can, but it’s not the same. I miss touching him, kissing him; I miss his hugs. I miss every little thing about him.
At least when we studied at the same school, we would always see each other and hang out during lunch. But I try to mature about it. We should consider this practice for when Keith heads to college, which is very soon. Now that I think of it, Keith and I haven’t talked about our plans after graduation. I make a mental note to discuss it shortly with him.
Keith is coming over today, and I’m both happy and frightened. My dad may be in the mood to get to know Keith, but I know it will involve an infinity of questions, and it tends to make everyone really uncomfortable. That night, I walk downstairs to help mom set up the table. I made dinner for today. So, the dish has been happily prepared for him. The doorbell rings and my father answers. Behind the door, he reveals a nervous-looking, but still handsome, Keith Masters. He holds out a box to my father, and he takes it with a smile. “I brought dessert,” Keith finally says.
“Thank you very much,” my father answers taking the box from him and shaking his hand. Keith smiles in greeting and proceeds to introduce himself, as does my father, “My name’s Nigel, but you can call me Mr Fletcher, come inside,” he points towards my mom and me in the kitchen.
I know Keith is desperate to kiss me, to hug me, to sweep me off my feet. But I can see he is nervous and doesn’t want to risk the wrath of my father. I spare him the uncertainty and wrap him into a hug. Our hug lasts longer than I expected, and it’s the sound of my mom’s voice to breaks me from him. She greets him, and he tells her it’s nice to see her again.
Our dinner conversations go on better than I expected. Although dad has asked his fair share of questions, Keith has politely answered them all. He seems surprisingly impressed that Keith wishes to be an English major like me. He gives me a nod, as to say I’ve done an excellent job at picking my boyfriend. Maybe this is his way of finally accepting what I want to do with my life? Keith was even open about talking about how his father is no longer a part of his or his mother’s life. Of course, Keith didn’t give all the brutal details, but he gave enough to make someone understand that his father is no saint.
“So, tell me, Keith, what are your plans after you graduate?” my father asks Keith.
“Well, I’ve already applied to a lot of really great Universities; I don’t want to teach if that’s what you mean. I’d like to go into academic research. But I haven’t decided which program yet, I’d like to complete my BA first and then decide which MA program to apply to, preferably within the same university for ease of transition,” This is news to me. I cock my head and listen, when did he change? He sounds so much more mature than I remember. Why hadn’t I asked those kinds of things when we were together?
“Smart, all in the same country or—”
“No, I applied to a few international schools as well,” Keith beams. I’ve never seen him so happy when talking about his own life. I know it’s his past that rattles him not his future. He seems so confident about his future that I wish I knew more about his history. I wish I knew more about his ex-girlfriend. Vee, you said you wouldn’t go there. Keith will tell me. He will tell me, right? After a while, the University discussion dies down, and we move on to more mundane topics.
After eating our delicious dessert and talking for a while in the living room, Keith has to get home since it is getting pretty late. He says his farewells to both of my parents. “I’ll walk you out,” I say and close the door behind us as we go out.
Keith turns to me as we stand in front of his car, “Vee, I h
ad the best time,”
“You sure,” I cut in. “My father didn’t pry too much?”
“No, the evening was perfect. Except—”
“Except what,” I look up at him.
“Except for the fact that I didn’t get to kiss,” he says. Butterflies fill my stomach, sending me trembling. It’s been far too long.
He steps closer to me, shortening the distance between us. I need to remember that my parents are probably spying on us through the window, but I can’t fully grasp onto that thought right now. Not with Keith standing so close to me. He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and tucks his face between my neck, leaving light feather kisses as he continues kissing me up to my jaw, leaving a small trail until his lips have finally arrived at their destination, my lips.
My hands grip his neck in an attempt to bring him closer to me. His hands move lower on my back, to grip my hips, and he picks me up, setting me down on the rear of his car. My hands find his hair and my fingers tug at his beautiful blonde locks.
The heat rises inside me, and as his kisses come in more aggressive, a few moans escape my lips. “Keith,” I whisper, my breathing ragged. My brain brings me back to my parents, and I push Keith back a little indicating him to stop. Who’s to say we haven’t been already caught, then again if we were caught my parents would have already been outside stopping us. Still, if we had continued with this, I’m confident I’d be losing my virginity on the top of his car.
Chapter 22
It’s Keith’s birthday. I’ve been trying to plan something for weeks now. But, so far, I’ll I’ve gotten him is a present. School hasn’t exactly given me any time off; it’s actually been biting my ass. Keith and I haven’t even had time to be together. Honestly, I’m ready for summer vacation to just get here already; I’m in need of a well-deserved break. Spring is already well underway. The sun is bright and small flowers dot the new, bright green grass, with colours of yellow and pink. Once again, bird song fills the air with their happy calls, welcoming the sun. And because it’s a beautiful spring day I decided to wear my beautiful yellow spring dress.