Obscured (The Obscured Series Book 1)

by C. M. Boers

  “Hey guys, how was shopping?” she asked. We both gushed about the perfect dresses we found.

  “That’s wonderful! You guys will have to put them on and show me tonight,” she said.

  Once we were home, Bailey and I put on our own fashion show to show off our new dresses to my mom.

  “Wow, you two look terrific!” she exclaimed.

  The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of our Chinese food order, so we ran upstairs to change our clothes for dinner. We were back in a flash, and mom was already waiting at the table with plates, napkins and sodas.

  We devoured all of the delicious Chinese food before bringing Bailey home. She thanked us both for the ride and dinner before she went inside.

  By Friday our little foursome was bursting with excitement for the dance. We were greeted by even more excitement from our other friends, who seemed to be only able to talk about the dance. The ladies had the lowdown on every girl at our tables’ dresses, and the guys were discussing who they were bringing and all of the detailing they planned to do on their cars the next morning.

  When Saturday rolled around, I spent the morning being lazy. I utilized the entire afternoon getting ready as slowly as I wanted. I accentuated my already curly hair with a curling iron until the curls cascaded down my shoulders. Then I pinned my hair halfway up with bobby pins and checked it in the mirror before spraying it with hairspray. I was having a fantastic hair day. The type where the first time you pull your hair back it laid exactly how it was supposed to and looked amazing.

  I did my makeup a little heavier than I normally would have going for an evening look, and put on a pearl necklace on loan from my mom. She said it would make the dress. I couldn’t say that I disagreed; it looked stunning in contrast to my dress.

  As planned, Eli came to pick me up at precisely 6:30, exactly 30 minutes until the dance started. Eli looked great in a button-up, red, short-sleeved shirt and black jeans. The red shirt brought out his eyes brilliantly. His shoes didn’t stand out much because they weren’t shiny, but they still looked presentable. Eli didn’t comment on how I looked, but I could tell by the way he looked at me that he was impressed. It almost seemed like he was embarrassed by how much he was impressed. My mom was not home to see me off, which I was grateful for because I didn’t want to explain to her why Eli was driving me. Not to mention I didn’t want to do the half-hour photo shoot.

  We went into the dance separately. I went inside first and immediately found Pete standing close to the door waiting for me. He looked striking in dark blue jeans and a blue collared shirt. He really did have impeccable taste in clothes. He slid his arm around my waist and it felt so good to be in his arms.

  “Wow, you look gorgeous.” His lips lightly brushed my ear as he spoke, and I felt a rush flood through my body.

  “Thanks, you look good too.” I blushed.

  “Thirsty?” he asked.

  “Not right now.”

  We headed to the dance floor to dance to a slow song when Eli walked in holding Bailey’s hand. They came right up next to us and started dancing. I smiled at them without saying a word. Bailey looked amazing; she had straightened her hair and left it down. It was a good look for her.

  After dancing to a few more songs, fast and slow, we were sweating and decided to grab a table and drink some punch to cool off. The four of us chatted for awhile about nothing in particular, and then Pete asked if I’d like to take a walk outside and get some fresh air. I agreed and off we went.

  Leaning against the wall outside, I suddenly felt nervous. I thought Pete looked nervous too. He was looking off into the distance, and then he slowly turned and kissed me. His tongue pushed my lips open and I let them part. The kiss was sweet and lasted only a moment, but when he pulled away I could see compassion in his eyes. It was a passionate and sensual moment between us, and was definitely towards the top of my list as far as good kisses went. I could feel my face flushing with color. I looked at the ground, smiling until I felt it had passed.

  Silently, Pete took my hand and led me back into the crowded room where we were instantly engulfed by blaring music and strobe lights. I had to blink my eyes to readjust them, but before that happened, Bailey was grabbing my arm and pulling me in the direction of the bathroom. She pulled me all the way inside and shut the door behind us. As soon as we were alone, she began giving me the third degree.

  “I saw you guys kissing!” she squealed.

  “Shh...Yeah.” I tried to sound nonchalant even though it was far from no big deal to me—my heart was still racing. I looked in the mirror and checked my makeup and lip gloss to make it seem more believable that I didn’t find it too out of the ordinary.

  “Well?” she said expectantly.

  “Well what?” I asked, casually trying to conceal my grin.

  “Are you kidding? You kiss him for the first time and you aren’t gushing?! I would be floating on a cloud!”

  “Well, it was nice,” I grinned. “But it wasn’t my first kiss.”

  “Wow, I didn't know you kissed a boy before. I haven’t,” she admitted sadly, looking at her feet. “But I am hoping Eli will kiss me. Do you think he will?”

  “I am sure he will at some point. Maybe even tonight,” I said encouragingly.

  “You really think so?” she asked, suddenly more enthusiastic. She smiled absently, and then touched up her lip gloss while I used the restroom. I washed my hands and we left the bathroom together.

  By the end of the night we had spent the majority of the time dancing. I even danced with Eli and Bailey with Pete. We were so close that it was just fun spending time together. Pete and I walked out hand-in-hand when the dance ended, right next to Eli and Bailey. Eli told me earlier in the night that he was going to drop off Bailey and then go straight to my house, and would call me if I wasn’t there yet. It was the first time he was okay with me being alone with Pete, and I could tell he was extremely nervous. He seemed almost as if he was second-guessing his decision as we were parting ways. I mouthed “it’s fine” to him and he seemed to relax a little. As Pete held the door open for me, I noticed that there was no indication of it being in an accident. I felt surprisingly at ease when I slid into the passenger seat.

  “Well, do you want to go straight home or would you like to go to the park and walk around or something?” he asked once he had climbed into the driver’s seat.

  I looked at my watch. It was already 11 p.m., and even though I didn’t have a definite curfew my mom expected me home before 11:30 unless I called to checked in. I knew that Eli was expecting me home pretty soon as well. I couldn’t say that it wasn’t a tempting offer.

  “Actually I am kind of tired. It’s been a long, exciting day. I think I need to go home. I'm sorry,” I said sounding sad. I really wanted to spend more time alone with him, but that was against our agreement. I was beginning to get pretty fed up with the fact that I couldn’t be alone with him for very long, if ever. How was I ever going to get to know him better if we were never alone?

  “Don’t be sorry—I understand,” he smiled encouragingly, putting his hand on my leg.

  I smiled back and felt the tingle of excitement in my stomach. Such a small gesture went so far with me, as I suppose it did with a lot of girls.

  We pulled up in front of my house. I could tell that my mom was already in bed, but she was probably reading while she waited for me to get home. Pete walked around the car and opened my door for me. What a gentleman he was! Not many guys still had the class to open doors for ladies anymore. He walked me to the front door of the house, and we stood there for a few minutes holding each other’s hands and staring into each other’s eyes. It wasn’t awkward like I would expect it to be; it was comfortable. Finally he leaned in and kissed me again, and our tongues tangled as our bodies melted together. When I finally felt myself coming back to reality it seemed like it had been an eternity. I saw headlights in the distance before the kiss ended, and when it got close could see Eli's beauty came into view
. He gunned it right before he passed the house.

  “I should go. Tonight was great. Thanks for the second chance.” He leaned in and hugged me before giving me one last quick kiss. I noticed that he didn’t drive away until I was safely inside. I closed the door and I watched out the window as his car drove away, and out of the corner of my eyes I saw another set of taillights flicker on and a car engine start just before it aggressively sped away. I knew it had to be Eli. I hadn’t seen him park, and I wasn’t quite sure why he seemed upset in the way he was driving, but maybe that was just my imagination. I couldn’t help but wonder if it made him mad that I was getting so close to Pete. I hadn’t realized until that very moment that I had forgiven Pete.

  CHAPTER Seven

  I was super excited when I woke up the next morning. A great night, followed by a deep, dreamless sleep was a rarity for me. I threw on my fuzzy white bathrobe and matching slippers and headed downstairs. A morning spent being lazy and enjoying some TV on the couch in my PJ’s sounded awesome.

  “How was the dance last night?” Mom asked during breakfast.

  “It was good.”

  “Did all of your friends go?” she asked.

  “Yeah, but mostly I was with Eli, Bailey and Pete,” I answered. Mom still didn’t know that Pete was my date. Fortunately, she seemed content for the moment that I was out doing things with new friends.

  “You guys seem to be close. I am glad you have been able to find good friends so quickly.”

  “Me too, how was your night?” I quickly changed the subject.

  “It was fun. We played Bunco at one of our co-workers houses and had a few drinks. It is nice that we both are able to get out with other people so soon after moving here. I was worried it might be hard to find friends.”

  “Yeah it is.”

  There was an awkward silence that seemed to last longer than usual. It was rare that anything was awkward between mom and I so I knew something was up. Mom was radiating tension and I couldn’t understand why.

  “Umm... Abby... I am not sure how to bring this up, so I’m just going to say it. How would you feel about me dating?”

  “Dating? Dating who?” I had been so caught up with the move and divorce that it hadn’t even occurred to me that my mom would be ready to date so soon—or that she would even date at all.

  “Someone at work introduced me to one of their friends. He seems really nice,” she replied timidly.

  “You’ve already found someone?” My voice raised several octaves.

  “Well, he asked me out last night. I told him I had to make sure that it was okay with you before I answered him. I know it’s really soon, but I think it is better to be out there moving on with my life, rather than sitting around here sulking because my marriage failed. I really would like to do this Abby, but I need your support.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want her to be dating anyone except my dad. In fact, I still secretly hoped that they would come to their senses and get back together. If she started dating someone else and fell in love there would be no way that that could happen. Or maybe it would make my dad want her more. It was something to consider. To be honest, what I truly wanted was for my parents to be happy and if that meant for my mom had to date I guess that would be okay. It’s not like this person would be around forever; not like dad.

  “I guess if that is what you really want to do I will support you,” I said grudgingly through gritted teeth.

  “Really?”

  “Yep. Whatever makes you happy.” I smiled, trying to seem happy even though I was totally bummed.

  “Great! I am so glad you are being so mature about this. Do you want to meet him before we go out?” she asked cautiously.

  “No, I don’t need to. If you really like him and you guys hit it off then I can meet him… unless you really want me to beforehand.” I hoped she wouldn’t want me to. It was something I doubted I could take.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I’m really nervous about it, it’s been like 20 years since I have dated anyone other than your dad.” She stared off into space for a minute before she spoke again. She seemed like a giddy teenager, not unlike how Bailey and I acted only a week before. I had never seen her that way before. “Well, enough about that. I’ll get this cleaned up and then what do you say we go shopping?”

  “Sounds good to me!”

  There went my plans of being lazy, but it would be nice to get out of the house and my mind off the conversation we just had. I hopped up to go shower and get dressed. By the time I was ready, the kitchen was clean and Mom was ready.

  We shopped for hours before we realized that we’d skipped lunch and it was time for dinner. Mom suggested we grab dinner at a Mexican food restaurant.

  There was one that we had both wanted to try, so we headed straight there. As soon as we walked in I spotted Pete with his family. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and walk out. I wasn’t ready for my mom to meet him; I wasn’t even sure how to introduce him. He didn't have a clue that I hadn’t yet told my mom we were dating. Maybe we could get through dinner without him seeing us.

  But that wasn’t in the cards, because the hostess sat us at a table almost directly across from his. He spotted us almost immediately, and hopped up from his seat to come say hello.

  “Hey Abby!” he said cheerfully as he gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. I held my breath to make sure my mom hadn’t seen, and was relieved when I saw she was speaking to the waiter. He slid his arm around my waist and I quickly pushed it off of me. I whispered in Pete’s ear that I didn’t want my mom to know we were dating just yet, but I didn’t have time to explain why before she was finished talking to the waiter.

  “Well hello,” she said greeting Pete.

  “Hi,” he replied, reaching his hand out to politely shake hers.

  “Mom, this is Pete, one of my friends I was telling you about.”

  “Oh, it’s nice to finally meet you. Abby was telling me how nice it’s been having such welcoming friends.” She smiled warmly.

  He looked at me slightly confused, but played along. “It’s been nice having her here,” he commented back and smiled at me. “I should get back to my parents. It was nice meeting you and I’ll see you tomorrow Abby.”

  He turned around, still looking confused as he walked back to his table.

  “Wow, he is cute Abby,” she said encouragingly. “You should go out with him!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh knowing I was already technically dating him. The rest of our meal went on without another interruption, including when Pete left. A small wave to say goodbye was our only exchange, and Mom didn’t even see.

  We walked out of the restaurant feeling as if our stomachs would burst an hour and a half after sitting down. Later that night when our stomachs had recovered from the tremendous amount of Mexican food, we made hot fudge sundaes heaping with whipped cream for dessert before bed.

  My mom never brought up Pete again. I could only guess how excited she would be to learn that we were in fact dating. On the other hand, I knew she would be shocked if she ever learned of the questionable events that had already taken place with him. She would definitely not approve of any of it. She probably would have me committed for insanity for choosing to be so reckless, but it didn’t stop me.

  Monday morning came much too quickly; the night before I dreamt happy dreams about my night at the dance with Pete. That was a dream I wouldn’t mind have repeatedly. It had been such an amazing night.

  The dream started with us walking into the dance, though it seemed different in my dream, almost like we were alone. We danced, drank punch, and finally we were kissing. That’s when I awoke, of course—during the best part in the dream! It took longer to get going than it normal would have after that letdown. My mind was running the dream on repeat; I wanted to feel his lips on mine again.

  I dragged myself out the door when I heard Eli honk. He was running late and instead of making it to school on time we e
nded up having to go to Sweep. I wasn’t upset to be there, I didn’t feel like going to math that day even though I was missing out on my opportunity to see Pete. At least I would see him at lunch. I ended up falling asleep and was surprised when I woke up to Eli shaking my shoulder. The bell had rung and almost everyone had already cleared out of the large cafeteria except us. Oops.

  We made it through the next two classes and I was excited to see Pete, but when we got to the cafeteria he wasn’t waiting for us like usual. He didn’t show up the entire lunch period, and I began to wonder where he was. I knew something had to have happened or he was sick, otherwise he would have been there. The night before he had told me that he would see me at school the next day. I felt a prick of sadness that I wouldn’t get to see him.

  I didn’t get to speak to Pete until the next day, even though I had tried to call him. His excuse was that he was sick, but he seemed fine. And why didn’t he call me back? I thought it was a bit weird. I decided to express my concerns with Eli but when I did he didn’t seem concerned. I felt like I must have been reading too much into it.

  Since the ice was broken so to speak, we felt free to kiss each other every chance we had. I could tell that Eli and Bailey hadn’t gotten to that point yet because they sat in silence. We unsuccessfully tried to hide our stolen kisses, as we didn’t want to make them uncomfortable. We would laugh together when we were caught making it our own inside joke. As Eli, Pete and I were walking to my fourth hour class, I told them my dad was coming to town the next week. I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. I didn’t want to introduce Pete to him as my boyfriend, even though I knew it would be hard to conceal at this point. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining my decision to Pete, and I was actually surprised he hadn’t yet asked about being introduced to my mom as only a friend. How could I delicately bring it up to him? Eli, I knew, wouldn’t object to me introducing him as only a friend, even though surprisingly he didn’t seem to be as concerned about Pete as he had been in the beginning.