“Touché. Now, how about some more of this.” He cupped both of her cheeks this time, pulling her lips to his for a gentle kiss.
She didn’t argue or try to stop him. Instead, she lost herself in the moment and kissed her boyfriend until they were too cold to stay outside any longer.
***
The next morning was Christmas. It didn’t matter that she was a teenager and way too old to believe anymore, she still got so excited she couldn’t sleep past six a.m. Reed had already started sneaking down the stairs when she came out of her room. She laughed to herself, tiptoeing up behind him.
“Going somewhere?” Arielle yelled.
Reed snapped around, placing his hand over his heart. “Oh, um, just getting a glass of water.”
Arielle took her time nodding her head. “Uh-huh. Sure. You’re excited…like I am. So let’s quit playing games and go wake Mom and Dad.”
He turned and ran down the rest of the stairs. “Beat you there.”
At the bottom of the stairs, Arielle grabbed Reed by the arms and pulled him behind her with all her might. “Not if I beat you first.”
“What are you two doing?” Dad asked, already rocking in his chair. He brought his white coffee mug to his lips, took a sip, and set it down with a grin plastered on his face.
Mom came through the kitchen with a plate of muffins in her hand, kissing Reed’s cheek and then Arielle’s. “Merry Christmas, you two.”
“What are you two doing up already?” Arielle asked.
“Well, it’s pretty normal since we’ve been doing this for, what…seventeen years now? We know you guys never sleep in on Christmas morning, so we started setting the alarm.”
“But if you guys want to head on back to bed, go ahead…” Dad said.
Arielle put her hands up. “No, no, no. I’m up now.”
Reed ran a hand through his hair, gazing at all the presents under the multicolored Christmas tree. “Yeah, we’re up now, Dad. Might as well open presents.”
He chuckled. “I figured you wouldn’t argue. Sit down in front of the tree, then.”
For the next half hour, Arielle and Reed, along with her parents, opened all their presents. Arielle got a new journal, which her mom got her every year. She got a new Samsung phone, a Galaxy, which she’d wanted forever. And she got some of her favorite perfume, the perfect smell of citrus. It was the best Christmas she could have asked for.
After all the gifts had been opened, her eyes met Reed’s and she raised her brows. “We have one more.”
Reed stood and went to the closet in the middle of the room. He pulled out a long, rectangular wrapped present, giving it to Dad and Mom, who were sitting on the two-seater couch. “This is for you guys, from us. I did the artwork and Ari wrote the poem.”
Tears filled Mom’s eyes and Dad swallowed hard, even his eyes watery.
“This is the most beautiful present you’ve ever given us.” Mom placed a hand on her chest.
Dad cleared his throat. “This is pretty special, you two.”
The poem was about life, with a picture of Arielle and Reed with their arms around each other in the background.
Trust me when I say we love you,
Trust me when I say we care.
Trust me when I say we wouldn’t want
To ever have Dad’s long hair.
The two of you are special,
There’s nothing else to say.
We wanted something even more special
For you on Christmas Day.
So we wrote this poem,
That way you’ll always have
A poem and a picture
Of our never-ending love.
Merry Christmas!
Arielle smiled as her Dad and Mom came over and wrapped her and Reed up in a big group hug.
“Dad, did I ever tell you we have the best kids in the whole world?” Mom asked.
“I don’t think you have, Mom, but I have to tell ya, I agree with ya.” Dad chuckled.
“All right. Hug time’s over,” Reed said, a corner of his lip tilting toward the ceiling.
As their parents pulled back, Arielle watched as her mom wiped tears from her cheeks. She’d always wanted to do something special for her parents. They were incredible and she was so lucky to have them, but she didn’t always show it.
The poem she’d written might not have the best words ever written, but the meaning behind them made it the perfect gift for her parents.
***
The rest of the morning passed as fast as a turtle walking on land. Arielle went upstairs and laid all of her presents in her room, then she went downstairs and grabbed a blueberry muffin. Her favorite. Later on, Dad and Mom lay down to take a nap and she hiked back upstairs to her room.
She grabbed her new journal out of the present pile and opened it to the first page, then she started writing. She wrote about Blake and everything that had happened last night. She wrote about her mom and dad and the present Reed and she had made for them, their reactions, and how much it meant to her. She just wrote.
After she finished, she stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She hadn’t realized how tired she was, but as she laid her head on her pillow, her eyes closed and that was it.
Chapter 14
New Friends
Blake arrived around four in the evening, which surprised Arielle because she hadn’t expected him. When she saw his face at her door, her heart dropped. “What’s wrong?”
Blake signaled for her to step outside. Arielle wrapped her arms around herself, hoping to stave off the chill from the cold winter air.
Blake frowned at her. “I can’t be there anymore.”
“Where? At your house?”
He nodded, turned, and walked to the top step of her porch. “I have to get out of here for a while.”
“Is it your dad?”
His shoulders tensed, but he didn’t say anything. Arielle guessed she’d been right by his reaction.
She rubbed his shoulders. “I’m sorry.” After about thirty seconds, she stopped rubbing. “Okay, wait here. I’ll tell my mom I’m leaving.”
Arielle went inside and found her mom in the kitchen, sitting at the table smoking a cigarette. “Mom, can I head out with Blake for a little while?”
Mom smiled up at her, the dark circles under her eyes easy to see. “Sure, honey. Be home by ten, okay?”
Arielle raised her eyebrows. “Where’s Dad at?”
“Out back, playing with his tools.”
Arielle laughed. “I should have guessed.” She waved. “I’ll see you later.”
Her mom nodded.
Arielle grabbed her jean jacket, which was coated with a warm red and black flannel, then she met Blake outside. “All right, Mom says I can go. Where to?”
“I was going to go see a friend of mine. You okay with coming along?”
Arielle nodded, opening the passenger door and slipping inside. She shook herself out, shivering. “Gosh, it’s cold out there.” Slamming her door, she cranked the heat up as soon as Blake started the car. “Who’s this friend of yours?”
“His name’s Jack. He’s from a different school, so you might not know him, but he’s pretty cool.”
Arielle shrugged. “If you think he’s cool, I guess I will too.”
She couldn’t believe she’d said that, like she couldn’t think for herself anymore, instead liking whatever her boyfriend liked without trying to formulate her own opinions based on how someone acted. She never wanted to be that girl, so she added, “And if I don’t, you will hear all about it.”
Blake smiled, pulling out of her driveway. “I’m sure I will.”
She slapped his arm, but not hard enough to leave a mark. “Oh, you will. Trust me. With you, I don’t have to hold my tongue anymore.”
He mimed locking his lips and throwing the key away. She shook her head and looked out the window. Small snowflakes spiraled through the sky. Arielle doubted the little flurries would stick to the ground bec
ause there weren’t enough of them, plus it hadn’t been snowing a lot yet.
“It’s snowing,” she said.
“I can kind of see it happening since I’m driving and all,” Blake replied.
“Okay, smart butt…”
“Ha. I just realized you never swear, do you?”
“Not so much. I do sometimes, but mostly in my head.”
“How come?”
“Um…my dad would kill me…plus I don’t think it makes anyone sound any cooler. Quite the opposite actually.”
“Yeah, I know you’re right, but most people think they’re cool for doing it anyway, which makes me sure there was a reason I fell for you. You march to your own beat and you aren’t afraid to be yourself. I wish I could say the same.”
Arielle folded her hands in her lap. “Why can’t you? I think you’re different from most of the guys I know, so if you are trying to be the same, you aren’t doing a good job of it at all.”
He reached over and folded his hand in hers, pulling it to hang over the center console. “Thanks. Sometimes I feel the same as everyone else, like nothing about me stands out against all the others, and I never hear any different from my parents. My dad has a problem with me and my mom is scared to ever go against him about anything.”
Arielle sighed. “It doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship.”
Blake shook his head. “It isn’t. At all. I don’t think they will be together much longer. If it wasn’t for me, they probably would have divorced already.”
Arielle squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry, Blake. But maybe getting out of the house with me and seeing your friend will help you forget about it. At least for a little while.
“Sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all day.”
***
Blake pulled into a driveway filled with gravel. The tires crunched the rocks as they moved to the side of the brown house with white shutters.
A guy came out the side door. He was tall with brown hair and a goofy smile. He had a little belly that jiggled when he walked, but Arielle would still call him lean for a guy.
Blake hopped out and Arielle followed. She stuck her hand out to him. “You must be Jack.”
He grinned, taking her hand in his and bringing it up to his lips instead of shaking it. “And you must be Arielle. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“I’m pretty sure everyone in Blake’s life has…” Arielle mumbled.
Blake chuckled, but more to stop the conversation than a need to laugh at something funny. His cheeks turned rosy. “All right, man. How about we kill the small talk and go in, maybe play some PlayStation?”
“Yes! I thought you’d never ask.”
Arielle followed the guys to a small upstairs bedroom with brown shaggy carpet and brown paneled walls, something she hadn’t seen in a long time. In fact, she could see why people stopped decorating with paneling. Ugly didn’t begin to cover it. And the smell…musty, like in a basement. She held her hands at her side to keep from pinching her nostrils closed. Must have been a pretty old house.
She stepped inside the bedroom and sat at a small black desk chair. “Your parents aren’t going to be mad you have a girl in your room, are they?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean, it’s not like you’re my girlfriend…but as long as we keep the door open, I’m sure it will be fine.” He peeked at Blake, who had sat on the bed, finding his feet the most interesting thing to stare at in the whole room.
“Oh, well, whose girlfriend am I, then?” Arielle asked, loving the experience of embarrassing Blake. It was fun teasing him. Last night, she thought he’d called her his girlfriend, but everything had happened so fast she couldn’t remember all the details.
Blake met her eyes. “You’re my girlfriend.” He said it in a way nobody could argue with, making Arielle’s heart swell with happiness.
She grinned. “Good to know.”
For the next few hours Arielle watched the boys play some shooter game. They yelled and screamed and cheered and were…boys. She wasn’t bored though. She kind of enjoyed watching them, and even though she hadn’t ever wanted to play a game like this, she found she kind of liked watching it being played.
When they were done, Blake grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the chair. “You ready to go?”
She wrapped her arms around him. “Whenever you are.”
He nodded, turned to Jack, and said, “All right, man. Catch you later.”
Jack winked at him. “Mmm-hmm. Have fun.”
Jack’s tone of voice indicated a hidden innuendo, one Arielle didn’t know a thing about, so she shrugged it off and followed Blake to his car, hopping in fast since it had turned even colder than when they’d left.
“Feel better?” Arielle asked, touching his arm.
He nodded. “Shooter games help get some of the anger out, at least for me.”
“Good. I’m glad,” she said.
“Thanks for coming tonight,” he said a few minutes later when they were on the road.
“I was glad to come, Blake. Any excuse to spend time with you is perfect for me.”
He glanced over at her, a twinkle lighting up his eyes. “Most girls would get mad watching their boyfriend and his friend playing a game for hours while they sat there, bored, but not you.”
Arielle laughed. “I kind of liked watching you guys play, and I wasn’t bored at all.”
He grabbed her hand, holding it close to him. “Thank you for being you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a questioning tone, not sure who else she would ever presume to be.
When they arrived back at her house, Blake walked her in at nine o’clock. “Since we’re early, you think your parents will mind if I come in for a little while?”
Arielle chuckled. “Of course they won’t. They love you, maybe more than they love me.”
He wrapped his arm around her inside the front door. “I doubt it…because you are way too loveable.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and she swooned.
A throat cleared and Arielle jumped away from him.
“I don’t mind you comin’ in for a bit, Blake, but try to keep your hands off my girl, okay?” Dad said.
Arielle sighed. “Hey, Dad. Nice to see you up this late.”
“Arielle, it’s nine at night. I’m not that old yet.”
Blake laughed. He moved toward the couch with her hand in his and they sat down together. The rest of the night they watched some old movie her dad put on until Blake went home.
All in all, their first day back together had been pretty amazing.
***
The next day, Arielle woke up to the most annoying high-pitched sound. It had to be her rooster crowing in the backyard. She’d been neglecting the chickens for a while since she’d been so busy, so she crawled out of bed and threw a pair of black sweats on with a hot pink fleece hoodie. When she walked downstairs, the TV was off and nobody sat in the living room, but she found her mom and dad at the kitchen table, sipping on a cup of coffee.
“Morning,” she said.
Dad looked at her over the rim of his glasses. “Mornin’, sweetheart. What’re you doin’?”
Arielle went to the kitchen door and pulled her black rubber boots on. “Heading out to collect the eggs and see what the chickens are up to.”
Mom smiled. “Great. Can you feed the cat while you’re at it?”
Arielle nodded. “Sure, anything else you need done?”
Mom leaned back in her chair, but Dad laughed. “If you manage to find a tree out back growin’ money leaves, could ya pick some for me?”
Arielle pressed her lips together, shaking her head as she walked out the side door. She went out front first and scooped out some Friskies cat food, plopping it into the dish on the porch. Then she made her way out back, grabbing a scoop of chicken feed and sprinkling it all along the ground. The chickens started pecking at the muddy ground as she made her way inside the coop, collecting about a dozen eggs
.
Of course she’d forgotten to grab a basket from the house, so she made a bowl with her hoodie and plopped the eggs inside, carrying them with extra care until she got them in the house and placed them in an egg carton, then tucked them in the fridge. After that, she grabbed the phone.
She called Jess. “Hey. What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Waiting for Damien to come over.”
“Boo! I feel like I never see you anymore.”
“Well, I’ve got Damien and you’ve got Blake, or do you?”
“Yeah, we got back together last night.”
“Good! It’s about time. Since we’ve both been pretty busy, maybe we should plan another double date soon?” Jess asked.
“Yes! Let’s go see a movie over the weekend. I’ll run it by Blake and you run it by Damien, okay?”
“Okay, I will! But trust me when I tell you he’ll say yes.”
Arielle laughed. “I’m sure he will if you have anything to say about it. Call me later, after you talk to him.”
“’Kay. Talk to you later, then.”
She was sure Blake wouldn’t mind if Arielle made plans for him as long as she would be there with him. She also had a feeling he would understand her need to see Jess since she hadn’t in a while. Plus, she was sure Blake would love to go to a movie. The dark theater in the back row…oh yeah, Arielle would make sure he enjoyed the movie.
As long as he said yes.
Chapter 15
It’s a Date
Blake came over at five o’clock, on the dot. Arielle had been sitting on her floor, writing in her journal, when the sound of a car door closing drew her gaze outside. She saw his tall frame walking toward the house, so she hightailed it downstairs and answered the door before he even knocked.
“What’s up?” She was a bit out of breath from running so fast, but she managed to guide Blake backward so she could step outside. “Do you have any plans Saturday?”
Crush: A YA Romance Collection Page 85