Starburst

by Jettie Woodruff

“One down,” he said and she pushed the gear down.

  “This is your throttle, give it a little gas and slowly let out on the clutch.”

  Alley did and took off perfectly without jerking or stalling and he made a surprised expression.

  “One up,” he told her in her ear, and she switched gears. “Again,” he said when the engine was at its peak. “Again.” She got the hang of it rather quickly, again surprising Trevas.

  “Gear down,” he told her when they were nearing a T in the road, and he didn’t have to explain to her how to do it.

  Alley drove him around on the back roads for over an hour, and he relaxed and didn’t even have to help her. They stopped before they got to the main road, and he made her let him take over against her will. His mom was gone when they got back to pick up the car, and he parked the bike back in the garage.

  “We have to do that again before we go home,” she told him in the car.

  “You liked that uh?”

  “I loved it. I think I might need to buy one of those.”

  “Please don’t,” he begged and she laughed. “Do you have your driver’s license?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I got them when I was sixteen.”

  “But you don’t drive?”

  “Yeah I do. Well sort of. I got a new car for my sixteenth birthday, but I kind of drove it into the Pacific Ocean.”

  “You drove it into the ocean?”

  “Yes, I was either going too fast, or the ocean was closer than I thought. I went over this little bank, and it was just there.”

  Trevas shook his head, but wasn’t really surprised.

  They spent the next couple of days together alone at the cabin. Trevas took her fishing, and although he had to do all the work, she did reel in a few nice small mouth bass. She had the time of her life. Trevas also had a great time, watching her enthusiasm when she would get a bite. They built a fire and drank a few beers late at night, and of course she had to roll a joint, and they shared that as well. He made love to her every chance he got and even though he didn’t think it was possible to get more wrapped up in her than he already was, he did and so did she. They did say I love you to each other but never talked about what was to come.

  On Saturday morning, he went outside to find enough service to make a call. Alley came out looking for him as she heard him tell someone thanks and he would see him in an hour.

  “Who was that?” she asked, yawning.

  He met her on the porch and kissed her. “Good morning, beautiful,” he whispered to her lips. “Get dressed. I have to take you to my mom’s for a little while.”

  “Why.”

  “Because, I have to run into town, I won’t be long.”

  “Why?” she asked again.

  “Get dressed,” he demanded.

  Trevas didn’t go in and Kay met Alley on the porch wearing a robe and slippers.

  “I’m going to get dressed, I made coffee and tea. I wasn’t sure which one you would want.”

  “Do you know where Trevas is going?” she called to her as she poured a cup of coffee.

  “Yes,” she called back but didn’t say where.

  “I’m not allowed to tell you,” she told her coming in to sit with her.

  “Oh, great,” she replied. “I’m not riding a horse, or something today, am I?” she asked, and Kay laughed.

  “Something like that,” she said, and Alley groaned. “Oh, I almost forgot, I got you something.”

  “You did?” Alley asked astonished.

  “It’s nothing really. One of the girls I work with makes this really neat jewelry, and she was selling some at work.”

  She gave her the plain white box, and she opened it and pulled out a plain looking thin black leather string. It was long and tied in the back with a small knot. The pendant was silver and black and shaped in an oval about a half an inch in size. In the middle of the pendant was a Chinese symbol. Alley knew that it was a sign for obsession. Because of the A+ she had just gotten in her Chinese foreign language class. She read it easily and thought it was perfect.

  “Pull it apart,” Kay told her.

  Alley pulled the oval, and it was magnetized, and there was a place for two pictures one each side.

  “I love this Kay,” she told her and put it around her neck. It was long and hung half way down her chest. “She makes this stuff?”

  “Yeah, I will give you her website if you want.”

  “Yeah, totally.”

  “You just have to promise me that you won’t put any pictures of Trevas in there, not yet anyway. I wouldn’t want your parents to see that.”

  Alley nodded with a smile. That was exactly what she was going to put in there, the one with him sitting on his bike and the one of the two of them together in front of the big rocks. She wasn’t worried about either of her parents seeing it. She didn’t have those kinds of parents.

  They talked about Trevas being in the army and how scared she was while he was in Afghanistan.

  “What would make him want to join the army?” Alley asked.

  “You better ask him that question. It’s really not my story to tell,” was Kay’s reply and it made Alley even more curious.

  “Where is his dad?” she asked, and then wondered if she was being too nosey when Kay didn’t reply right away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just trying to figure out how to answer it without you thinking ill of me.”

  Alley studied her face as she searched for the right answer.

  “I’m really not sure, and honestly, I’m really not sure who he is myself. I was pretty wild back then. But if it’s any help, I did marry Anna’s dad,” she added, “and divorced the drunken bastard three years later.”

  “I would never think badly of you for that. I couldn’t tell you how many men,” she stopped. “Friends,” she corrected, “that my mother had spend the night when I was growing up. You can’t sell that to the tabloids though,” she joked.

  “I promise,” she smiled, crossing her heart with her index finger.

  “Do you have someone now?” Alley asked, and Kay smiled at her boldness.

  “I can see why my son has fallen in love with you,” she stated, and Alley smiled. “I do have a friend,” she said emphasizing the word friend and using her fingers to make quotation marks in the air. “He is just a convenience if you catch my drift,” she joked with a wink.

  Alley laughed. “I read you loud and clear.”

  They both looked up in awareness when they heard a horn blow.

  “I think your ride is here,” Kay said with a big smile.

  “Oh God,” she exclaimed, and they walked to the front porch.

  Alley screamed, unable to contain her emotions. She put her hand over her mouth, jumped up down, and then fell to the ground and covered her head shaking it in total disbelief. She stood up and walked to Trevas.

  “You are un-fucking- believable,” she told him and kissed him. She didn’t care that his mother was standing in the yard with a bigger smile than hers.

  “Come on, you don’t want to be late now, do you?” he gestured toward the entrance of the big yellow school bus parked on the curb. He got in and sat in the driver’s seat, and she was still unable to climb aboard.

  “Get in here,” he scolded, and she stepped up.

  “My name’s Forest, Forest Gump,” she teased before moving on and he laughed.

  “I love the shit out of you Alley Fletcher,” he replied, and pulled the swinging arm, closing the door.

  “What are you doing way back there?” he asked when she plopped to the very back seat.

  “Isn’t this where all the cool kids sit?” she called up the long isle, and he laughed again.

  “No the cool kids sit up front and flirt with the bus driver.”

  She moved up behind him, and he smiled back at her in the oblong rearview mirror.

  “I can’t believe you did this Trevas,” she said.

  “You told me
you have never ridden a school bus.”

  “I did, but I didn’t think you would remember that, let alone do this,” she replied, still unable to control the ridiculous smile plastered on her face.

  “I remember everything that comes out of your mouth,” he replied, and their eyes lingered full of emotion, through the square mirror, briefly.

  They didn’t go far and only rode around for about half an hour because Trevas’s bus garage mechanic could get into a lot of trouble for letting him take the county vehicle out. Trevas drove it back to the bus garage and backed it into the empty spot that had the bus number painted in white on the blacktop. He stood up and took her hand and walked to the back of the bus. He stopped and let her get in first, and they sat about three rows up from the back. He held her hand, and she kissed him.

  “You do know that you are making me love you don’t you?”

  “I am making you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you are. I’m astounded that you did this for me.”

  He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “I’m glad you liked it.”

  “Tell me why you joined the army,” Alley said, with that still on her mind.

  “You have been talking to my mother too much,” he accused.

  “I love your mom. Look what she got me,” she said and pulled the magnetized locket out of her shirt.

  “Pull it apart,” she told him when he picked up the pendant to investigate.

  “Alley, don’t put our picture in here,” he demanded as the two pieces separated and then snapped back together.

  Alley smiled. “Yes master.”

  “I’m serious, you can’t put our picture in here,” he demanded again, but knew that she would anyway and was mad at his mom for buying it for her because he knew her all too well.

  “Answer my question,” she told him again, not wanting to discuss the pictures that she was going to place in the locket.

  “I had to join the army. It was either that, or go to prison for eighteen months, and have a felony record.”

  “What did you do?” she asked shocked that straight laced Trevas Evans could do any wrong.

  “I got messed up with the wrong crowd and got into drugs. I was with three other guys one night, and they decided that they were going to rob a convenience store. I refused to do it, but because I was in the car, I was an accomplice and went to jail too,” Trevas explained as he traced her fingers with his. “My Aunt Fay worked for the prosecuting attorney and got me a deal and as soon as I was clean enough to pass a drug test, I enlisted. It was the best thing that could have happened to me,” he admitted.

  “Trevas, you should have told me. I wouldn’t have made you smoke pot with me.”

  Trevas laughed. I smoked pot here and there before you. You don’t need to feel guilty for that. I was into things a lot worse than pot, and I haven’t touched any of it since.”

  “Like what?” she wanted to know.

  “Coke, pills, crack, but mostly meth,” he told her honestly.

  “I’m glad you went to the army too.”

  Trevas just smiled a warm smile at her as he reflected on that time of his life.

  “Hey Trevas,” she said with a peculiar look.

  Trevas turned to look at her without speaking.

  Are your grandparents in California your mom’s parents?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You said your aunt Fay right?”

  “Yeah,” he asked not sure where she was going with this.

  “Your grandmother’s name is May, your mom’s name is Kay, and her sister’s name is Fay?”

  Trevas laughed. “Yeah and they have a brother too. Do you know what his name is?”

  Alley thought about it and ran boy names through her mind, trying to come up with something that rhymed with Kay. “JAY!” she yelled excited, knowing that, that had to be it.

  “No, it’s Harold,” he laughed.

  “You fucking idiot,” she said and punched him in the stomach.

  “I’m going to start carrying a bar of soap around with me,” he chastised.

  “Sorry,” she apologized.

  Trevas made Alley give him her phone, and he took a picture of her on the school bus but refused to let her take his. They sat on the empty school bus and talked for over an hour and went back to his moms and had lunch. Alley stared at him with her sexy wicked look the whole time at the table, and it was driving him crazy. She slipped her foot out of her untied high top sneaker at one point and ran her foot up his leg. He moved his hand down and ran his hand up her leg with a seductive glare back.

  When his mom got up to get another glass of tea, Trevas text her, “let’s get out of here.”

  She smiled a small warm smile and nodded.

  His mom hugged them both and then lectured them both.

  “I don’t know who you two think you are fooling, but Trevas you have to drop her off and leave when you take her home. You two cannot be around her parents for two seconds. Neither one of you can go two seconds without looking at each other.”

  “Mom stop, we are fine,” Trevas argued.

  “You are not fine Trevas, and I don’t want this to end badly.”

  “It won’t, we know what is going to happen in another week or so,” he explained, and Alley didn’t like it. She didn’t want to think about the end and as soon as Trevas took her hand in the car she forgot about it, refusing to think about it.

  Chapter 6

  Trevas unlocked the cabin door and attacked her in the door. He kissed her so obsessively and emotionally, she had to remind herself to breathe. They both had their clothes stripped by the time they made it to the bed, leaving a trail along the way. Alley scooted up and he scooted with her not letting her out of his arms. He entered her, and she threw her head back.

  “Awe fuck,” Alley moaned, arching her back as she felt him deep inside of her, and Trevas shook his head with half a smile. He continued to take her quicker, rougher and deeper than he had yet and she was screaming out in profanity in no time.

  “Trevas don’t move for a minute,” she quietly spoke with her head back, exposing her neck, and he kissed it, halting all movement while he waited for her to stop quivering beneath him.

  After a brief moment, he started to move in and out of her again slowly, and she moaned again. The rapture on her face was mind blowing, and he studied every part of it.

  “Get off of me,” she said suddenly, squirming from beneath him. He looked at her puzzled as she came to her knees and then had to turn to look at him.

  “What Trevas, do you need a manual?” she asked, and he shook his head in disbelief before moving behind her, continuing where he left off. He wanted to finish with slow, passionate love making, but she made it impossible with her resisting hips that refused to let him be in control. The noises and her hands sliding down the wall was more than he could handle and as soon as she cried out in pleasure he found his with her. They both fell to the bed and painted like a couple of animals.

  “I love you Trevas,” she said in between rapid breaths.

  “I love you too Alley,” he replied between his own hasty breathing.

  Trevas moved to her side once he was back in control of his emotions and rubbed her back. Her eyes were closed, and her arms were above her head, with her hair covering her face. He stroked the hair from her face and moved back to her back, and he didn’t think he had ever seen anything more beautiful in his life.

  “I swear you faked the whole virgin thing,” Trevas told her and kissed the back of her shoulder. She smiled, not opening her eyes yet.

  “I think that would be kind of hard to fake, but why do you say that?”

  “Because you are damn good at it, except maybe your foul mouth, why do you have to talk like that?”

  Alley rolled over to her back so that she could look at him. “I don’t know. I guess it just became a habit during my rebellious stage.”

  “You’re still in a rebellious stage. You should get a tattoo that
says rebellious,” he teased.

  “Maybe I will. It would go good when I become a biker bitch.”

  “I’m going to get a cuss jar and make you put five bucks in it every time I hear you talk like that,” he threatened after the biker comment.

  “Go ahead, my parents are rich,” she said, not caring.

  The next week went by faster than either of them wanted it too. Fletcher called on Wednesday and told Trevas that he would be home Saturday, and wanted her home before he arrived because he was going to have a little get together at his house. Alley still hadn’t talked to him, and Trevas had to deal with a tantrum when he told her she had to go home Friday because her dad wanted her there for a party. They went to his mother’s one more day but mostly stayed at the cabin loving each other and fearing the days ahead.

  Kay came over on Thursday to say goodbye. She sat on the porch and talked to her alone while Trevas took a shower. She gave Alley her phone number and told her to call if she ever needed anything. She tried to give her the best advice that she could and told her to hang in there and in a few months when she turned eighteen things might be different.

  Alley didn’t say much and was carrying a heavy heart, dreading the following morning. Kay hugged them both and held Alley securely and kissed her on the head before leaving.

  They had hot ham and cheese sandwiches for supper, and Alley hardly touched hers. Trevas held her close to him as they watched one of the older VHS tapes that neither of them paid attention to.

  Once the credits started rolling over the screen, Trevas flipped it off and kissed her on top of the head. “Alley please don’t ever let anyone take anything away from you. You are a very special young lady, and I want you to promise me that you will stay true to yourself, no matter what.”

  Alley looked up from lying on his chest. “Don’t you dare do that Trevas. Don’t you say goodbye.”

  “Alley,” he said softly and pulled her close to him.

  “Trevas I can’t do this. What am I going to do without you?”

  Trevas knew this was coming, and he knew it was going to tear his heart out but never in a million years did he think it would hurt this much. “Baby, please don’t do this,” he whispered to her hair.