by Sam Crescent
“You want me to show you how to party?”
“Why not? It could be fun.”
“No, today you’re not getting drunk. You’re going to remember every single moment of your eighteenth.” He grabbed her ass and kissed her hard, taking her breath away.
He slid his tongue into her mouth and she moaned against him, feeling an answering heat within her body. She knew what she wanted. Their time together was destined to end. They had put a time limit on it themselves, and she didn’t want to waste a single moment of it.
“First, I’m going to take you for breakfast,” Drake said, breaking the kiss. She didn’t want him to ever stop kissing her or wanting her.
“Breakfast?”
“Yes. I’m not going to cook for you and you’re not going to be cooking today either.” He took hold of her hand and they started to walk along the sea front.
“Breakfast is our first stop?” she asked.
“Yes. Then I think we can go for a walk before heading back home for the evening. I’ll be ordering takeout.”
“Did you buy me any presents?”
“Yes. I have one I want you to have.” He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “What did you get from Sean?”
“Do you really want me to tell you? I know you hate talking about him.”
“It’s your day and I can handle hearing his name or what it is he thought was appropriate to get you.”
“He didn’t get me anything,” she said. “I got a text this morning. That was pretty much all I got.” She shrugged. “I imagine there will be something when I get back.”
“Or he’s being an asshole and you’re finally seeing it. That’s the only comment I’m going to make. Don’t you worry about him or your parents. I’ve got this covered. You’re going to have the best time with me. I promise.” He pulled her close and kissed her again.
She didn’t care about Sean forgetting a present.
Even though she had asked Drake if he’d gotten her anything, she didn’t actually expect anything from him. She didn’t need gifts to have a good day. Having him for her birthday was all she needed.
Last night, they had slept together in bed, and it had been … surreal. At first, she’d been a little uncomfortable as they had been together all night without any fears of their parents walking in. She didn’t realize how much of a strain it was trying to keep everything a secret. It was exhausting in more ways than she had ever realized.
Anyone who looked at them or watched them would see there was no hatred or animosity. She didn’t want to go back to what they were. More than anything, she loved who they had become.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she instead focused on the day. Looking to the future was too painful. They both wanted the same thing but had to go about it differently.
The scents of fried foods filled the air as they neared the pier at the edge of the beach. A small café with a broken neon sign filled the spot. She saw only a couple of people were inside.
Drake opened the door and she smiled at him. They found a small booth near the window.
“This is nice,” she said.
It wasn’t overly fancy, which part of her was afraid of. Drake’s need for money kind of made her nervous most of the time.
“You can order whatever you want.”
“Are you after my heart?” she asked, jokingly.
He didn’t respond and she looked up to see him staring at her.
“You’ve got to stop taking things so … personally. It was just a joke.”
“I know. Can’t a guy just like looking at you?” He winked at her.
“You do?”
“Of course. You’ve got beautiful eyes and a nice pair of tits. What’s not to like?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, you’re a guy. You’d go toward the guy things.”
“Hey, I’m keeping it real.”
She laughed, loving this banter between them. It was moments like these that made their arguing so … frustrating. Neither of them should be arguing about anything and yet, they always found themselves back to that.
No! She wasn’t going to allow herself to do that.
Today was her birthday. She would enjoy it with Drake. Not thinking about their problems or what they had to face. That would all come very soon.
“What are you looking at?” he asked, nodding toward the menu.
“I’m thinking waffles. I haven’t had them in a long time. At least ones I didn’t make myself.”
“Get them. Lots of waffles and coffee sounds good to me.”
The waitress came over and Drake ordered them a lot of waffles with syrup.
“You think I can eat all that?” she asked, smiling.
“They’re not all for you. A man is starving here.” He patted his stomach.
“You see, I didn’t think you ate.”
“Please, you’ve seen me eat lots.”
She smiled. She had. They just rarely got to eat together like this. “This is fun.”
“It is.” He took her hands once again and ran his thumb across the back of her knuckles. “I want today to be really special for you.”
“Drake, it is. I’m with you.” She held his hands a little tighter.
Neither of them spoke for several moments. Neither of them wanted to ruin the peace they had found together. She licked her suddenly dry lips and wished they were alone. At least she could kiss him. While they were kissing, she couldn’t think about all the things they couldn’t have together.
“So, how are you doing at school?” she asked, breaking the silence. Even though they spent as much time as possible together, she never really got to ask how he was doing in classes. They shared a couple and the teachers rarely asked him to answer any questions as most of the time they would get a joke or a witty comeback. It was his thing, and she didn’t mind. At the end of the day, it was his life and he could do with it what he wanted.
She let go of his hands to push some of her hair off her shoulder.
“You want to talk about school?”
“It’s a safe topic. Besides, I don’t recall you doing any homework. You watch me do mine and I’m a little worried I’m turning into some kind of bad thing for you.”
He stroked her cheek. “One, you’d never be bad for me. Two, I do my homework. Don’t worry.”
She tilted her head to the side, trying to think about it. “When?”
“When I get home. I’m not much of a sleeper. Never have been. So when you’re asleep and I’ve got to sneak out, or just head home, I do all my homework then, and I don’t carry it around with me. I simply email it to the teacher. Easy.”
“So all this time, you’ve been a good guy?”
“I wouldn’t call it being a good guy.”
“Then what would you call it?”
“Doing what I had to do.”
She giggled. “Look at you, being the good guy.”
“I’m not.”
“Come on, you email the teacher homework, but you’re too afraid it’ll damage your rep. Oh my, I can’t even … this is really good.”
“Really good?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Who are you going to tell about it?” he asked, brow raised. “I don’t see anyone paying much attention to you.”
“Damn, you’re right. I’m going to have to catch you in the act. I didn’t ever think of you conforming to anything, and now look at you. Conforming. Being the good guy.”
“How do you think I kept up in grades?” he asked. “I never flunked a class.”
She winced. “Can I be honest with you?”
“I don’t see why not. I know this is going to hurt my feelings, though. Isn’t it?”
“Little bit. I thought your parents paid for your grades.”
Drake put a hand over his heart. “Now you really do hurt me. You’re not wrong, though.”
“I’m confused. Your parents do pay for you?”
“No. They don’t pay. What I mean is, if I was flunki
ng and giving them a bad name, they’d pay to move me up and have someone do all my homework.”
“You were never tempted to make them do that so you could have fun partying or whatnot?”
“Yeah, I was tempted but why make it easy for them, you know?”
“I wish there was something I could do to make your life easier.”
He laughed. “My life is easy.”
“Is it? You try hard at school to spite your parents. I…”
“Neither of us have great parents, Pru.”
She winced. “You’re wrong about that.”
“I am?”
“My parents. They’re not the best, but I know they love me and want what is best for me.” She felt a little guilty because she knew deep down her parents loved her more than anything. Yes, they were working, but that was because they needed the money for rent and to live. They didn’t have it easy like Drake’s family.
Drake once again took her hand. “Look, I’m not denying that your parents care. I bet they do. Think about the last thirteen years.”
“Why?”
“Think about them. They’ve been called to the school because of what I’ve done to you, and not once did they stand up for you. Not once did they fight me or my parents.”
“We know why.”
“Yeah, well, some people would still fight. My parents have a lot to protect and their reputation is one of them. Believe me, if your parents had any kind of backbone, they would have seen that.”
She didn’t pull away from him.
There were times over the years she had been so angry with the way they treated her. How afraid they seemed to go against his family. She, to a point, understood it, but they should have loved her, trusted her. They hadn’t fought for her. They had simply wanted her to forget and to pretend it didn’t happen.
The waitress brought their breakfast. The mood was broken.
“Thank you,” she said, speaking to the waitress.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. I should have kept my stupid mouth shut. I wanted today to be perfect for you.”
She picked up her knife and fork and took a bite of delicious, syrup-soaked waffle. Closing her eyes, she let out a moan. “It is perfect,” she said after finishing.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be. You’re right. I don’t have to like it, do I?”
“I don’t want you to be upset.”
She chuckled. “Drake, we’re both free and clear to be upset about something.” She shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do about the past or the future. Let’s enjoy today. Take it one day at a time. It’s all we can do.” She took another bite of her food. “Now, please, just take a bite and enjoy. Share this day with me. All horrible and shitty truths aside.”
He stared at her and she smiled.
There wasn’t going to be anything to spoil their day. Too much time had already been taken from them. No more.
At least not today.
****
After nearly fucking up breakfast, Drake vowed not to bring up their rocky past or what little hope they had of a future. It wasn’t going to help either of them anyway, so he wasn’t going to do anything to hurt her.
He knew he was right, though. Her parents could have forced his parents’ hands. They were too afraid.
When he had kids, no one was going to hurt them. If he had a little girl and there was a punk-ass kid like him hurting her, he would destroy him.
Taking Pru’s hand, they walked through the town, looking through the market stalls. He offered to buy her anything, but in true Pru style, there was nothing she wanted. She simply liked to look and move on.
He wanted to give her a day to remember but it would seem he couldn’t even do that. They walked around the town together and had another meal, one she didn’t have to cook, before returning to the beach house.
Pru pulled away from him and went to have a shower while he found her gift. He sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her to return.
Twirling the box between his fingers, he couldn’t help but smile. This was the first time he’d ever given some real thought to a gift for a girl. He hadn’t cared about anyone else in his life to ever put in this much effort.
Most of the time, gifts were items they got PAs or secretaries, or even nannies to buy. With this, he wanted to give Pru something with meaning, something he’d taken the time to think about.
It wasn’t long before she finished in the shower and entered the bedroom, wrapped in a towel, looking sexy and innocent all at the same time.
“Drake,” she said. “You look … serious.”
“I didn’t mean to mess up your day.”
She laughed. “There’s no way you could do something like that. I had a lot of fun today.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Couldn’t you tell?”
“I don’t know. You’ve wanted to leave and you looked like you wanted to kill me.”
“We’re still new at this.”
“We’ve been dating for months and we spend a great deal of time either making out or fighting.”
She stepped up to him. “I don’t want to fight tonight.”
“I don’t want to fight either.” He never did but they were always pushed into the tight corner and he was getting ever increasingly tired of it.
“Drake, I know we don’t make the best of our situation sometimes, but our relationship is different than others.”
“How is it different?”
“For one, how many people do you think enter a relationship knowing it wasn’t going to last? We’ve done that.”
He stared at her hands, knowing deep down he didn’t want to lose her. Not even for a second. They were not, nor would they ever be coming to an end.
“It’s why I can’t walk away. Even when we both say mean things to each other. I don’t mean half of them. We’ve spent so much of our time hating each other, I truly believe we don’t know how else to be.”
He stood up and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “You’re amazing. You know that, right?”
“Not really.” She tilted her head up to smile at him. “I just know we’re doing the best with what we know, and what we know isn’t a whole lot.”
He chuckled, stroking her cheek. “I got you a present.” He’d put it on the bed so he could hold her.
“You really didn’t need to buy me anything. I’ve had so much today already. You, the beach house. Falling asleep with you. I don’t need anything more.”
“And I get to spoil you this one day of the year. You can say a relative bought it for you.” He held out the box. “Please, take it.”
“It’s expensive, isn’t it?” She looked nervous.
“I took my time and the moment I saw it, I thought of you.”
She opened the wrapping and he saw her hands shake a little. “When it’s your birthday, I won’t be able to get you something like this, Drake.”
“I didn’t buy this for you to buy me something. Let me have some credit.”
“It’s not that, I want to be able to get you nice things as well.” She’d stopped unwrapping to kiss him. He loved her kisses, but he wanted to put his present on her.
“You give me more than enough nice things. You don’t have to ever worry about that. Besides, you may hate what I got you.” He kissed her again.
Taking her hand, he made her sit beside him. He was a little nervous, but he wanted her to like it. This was one of the many reasons he never picked out gifts. Not that it mattered to anyone else. Their feelings meant nothing to him. Pru, she wasn’t just anyone, at least, not anymore. She was someone.
She glanced at him. The velvet box wasn’t a wedding ring size or anything. He’d seen a couple of engagement rings and they’d taunted him. He wasn’t going to marry Pru, not yet, at least.
Opening the box, she let out a little gasp. “Drake, it’s beautiful. It looks like a teardrop
.”
“I know. It’s what I thought when I saw it. I … I didn’t want you to cry any more tears. It’s a symbol. This is my way of telling you I’ll never be the cause of any more of them. I stopped hurting you and I started loving you.”
She looked up at him and much to his surprise, she had tears in her eyes.
“You shouldn’t be crying. This isn’t what it’s about. I don’t want you to be sad. Shit.” He got to his feet, rushing to the bathroom to grab some tissues. Why couldn’t he have gotten this right?
Returning to the room, he quickly pressed the tissue to her eyes, trying to capture them.
“They are not bad or sad tears, Drake.”
“They’re not?”
“No. I’m happy.”
“You’re crying but happy?”
She nodded.
“That makes no fucking sense.” He had bought her the necklace because it felt to him like it had so much more meaning.
“I don’t care. I’m telling you the truth. You’ve made me so happy.” She pulled him close and he felt her soft body against his.
Since the summer, he hadn’t been with anyone else. There had been so many offers and he’d turned them all down. The only person he wanted was right here, next to him. The girl he really shouldn’t have but one he couldn’t walk away from.
Pushing some of her hair off her shoulder, he stroked her cheek. She smiled up at him. The tears had faded and she had this amazing smile.
“Let me put this on you.” He took the necklace from the box and put it around her neck. His fingers were shaking a little as he fixed the clasp.
“It really is beautiful,” she said.
With it in place, he stepped in front of her and she took his hands, going to her tiptoes to kiss him. Something changed in the air. He didn’t know what it was, only there was something happening between them. She pressed her head against his. Neither of them spoke for several seconds, or maybe even minutes. He didn’t care about the ticking of time. All he cared about was Pru.
“Drake,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Make love to me.”
Her words took him completely by surprise. “Pru, are you … ready?”
“Yes. I know I want you to be my first.”
Her first.
For Drake, he’d be her fucking only. He couldn’t even stand to have Sean touching her, let alone another man. It wasn’t possible. He didn’t share and never would.