“Okay,” he said sleepily. We lay down and he cuddled up against me. About twenty minutes later, he fell asleep. I lay with him an extra five minutes just to be safe. I got up and went back to my room.
Emily was sitting Indian style when I walked in. “Everything okay?” She asked as I close the door.
“Yeah, Drake had a nightmare so I lay with him until he fell asleep.”
“That’s sweet,” she said as I sat down beside her. I nodded. “So where are we going on this date? I need to know what to wear,” she said.
I was planning on going bowling and then walking on the beach since we would be close. “Flip-flops will work, but bring a pair of socks.”
“What?”
I smiled. “Just do it.” Emily covered up a yawn and lay down, tugging me down with her. She snuggled up to me and laid her head on my chest. “If you’re sleepy, then I should probably take you home.”
“I don’t want to go home just yet.”
My fingers trailed up and down her back. With her warm body laying up against me, I realized I didn’t want her to go home.
She looked up at me with her brown eyes and long eyelashes. “What are you thinking about?”
“Why don’t you sleep here tonight? I can wake up early enough to get you home.”
“I don’t know, Jake.” She bit her lip while she thought about it. She laid her head back down.
For some reason, I thought of her boyfriends. “Hey, earlier when we were eating ice cream, you seemed like you were in another world,” I commented.
“I was,” she said softly. Should I ask her about it? She answered the question for me. “I was thinking about Conrad and our break up.”
“What happened?” I asked.
She sighed. “I don’t know. We were fantastic together and we were in love. My mom was just starting with her comments and I was spending almost all my time with him. Then one day, after a perfect day together, he showed up at my house and broke up with me. I was devastated. After that and my mom pounding me for a week, I just gave in. I started believing what she said. I mean, it had to be true if Conrad broke up with me. He didn’t explain. He just left. Now he’s away at college. I haven’t talked to him since.”
The fact that she was in love with this guy really bothered me. He was part of the reason she allowed herself to believe what her mom said!
“But it doesn’t matter now. Let’s not talk about it anymore.” She ended the conversation with that and began to trail her fingers over my stomach, which tensed from the sensation. After a few minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore and I grabbed her hand. “What?” She giggled.
I intertwined our hands and told her, “You keep doing that and you will definitely not go home.”
She looked up at me and I kissed her. My hands glided down her body until I reached her hips. I pulled her closer to me as her fingers raked through my hair. Her skin felt unbearably hot under her shirt.
Abruptly she stopped and looked at me. Our breathing was slightly heavy. She looked at me for a minute before she rolled over and started staring at the ceiling.
I rolled onto my side and looked at her. “What’s the matter?”
She sighed. “Nothing. I just…I should probably head home.”
“You sure?”
She looked over at me and nodded. I stood up and held my hand out to her. She grasped it and stood up. We quietly made our way downstairs and outside. Emily shivered and I pulled her closer to me.
The walk to her house was filled with silence until I decided to break it. “Hey, why so quiet?” I asked, bumping her shoulder.
She looked at me and smiled. All my uneasiness fades away. “Just thinking.”
“About?” I asked.
She wrapped an arm around my waist and said, “About how I can’t wait for our date.” I’m not completely sure I believed her, but I didn’t say so. Soon we were at her house and she was standing in front of me. I leaned down and gave her a short and sweet kiss. “I’ll see you later, Jake,” she said, and then she was gone.
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