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The next day, I awoke to darkness and noise. I could hear my mom bustling around in the kitchen, clanging dishes with an occasional plunk of her coffee mug on the counter. I waited for her to leave and then swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Soon I heard her start the car and back out of the driveway. I peeked out the window to catch the tail end of her 1990 green Subaru hatchback as it drove away.
My mom and I had been having an estranged relationship since she and my dad had divorced. I hadn’t seen my dad in four years because he lived in California, and my mom thought the entire state of California would be a bad influence on me if I went there to visit him.
I bit my lip, glancing at the clock. It was still early, six-thirty. I let myself fall back on my pillow and stared up at the ceiling as a rush of memories from the previous night flooded over me. I thought about Jensen’s soft fingers touching my face and his soft lips pressing firmly against mine. I hoped we would do it all again soon.
The phone rang unexpectedly and I sat up, blinking with confusion. I picked up the cordless phone I had left in my room the prior night and punched the talk button with my index finger. It was Jensen. He wanted to know if I had slept well and if I wanted to go hiking with him if I had no other plans for the day besides school. I told him that I didn’t—other than giving Aria and Krissa a full report of yesterday’s events—and that I would love to go hiking with him. Jensen asked me to be ready to go by eight o’clock and I agreed. This guy whom I had gotten to know and spend time with didn’t come across to me as the hiker-type, a term usually reserved for those who liked grunge and didn’t shave their arms or legs. This type of person was aptly called a “greenie.”
I hung up and laid in bed for another half-hour replaying the previous day’s events and thinking about the idea of Jensen and me being an item. Happy and full of excitement, I jumped out of bed and went to my closet to pick out a pair of jeans, a purple long-john type of shirt I adored, and a green, No Fear pullover. From there I grabbed clean socks and underwear from my dresser and ran off down the hall to the bathroom.
After spending a bit too much time in the shower, I rushed downstairs with my wet hair dripping and banged around inside the cupboards until I found two packets of maple and brown sugar oatmeal that I would fix and wolf down before racing upstairs to finish getting ready. Once I was finished eating and had brushed my teeth, I put some light make-up on and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Suddenly thinking it might rain and that a hat might be wise, I went back into my room to find my purple and green plaid No Fear cap. I pulled my brown ponytail through the back and viewed my image in the mirror on the wall. Just the right touch, I thought.
Hearing a car pull up and a short beep sound, I looked out the window to see Jensen leaning against the passenger side of his Jeep with the door open. Seeing me, he motioned to the Jeep’s open door as if he was a chauffeur. I smiled and he laughed, crossing his arms as he waited for me to come outside, lock the front door, and hurry down the front porch stairs.
“Hi there,” was about all I could get out as my heart was racing and my breath was quick.
“Hi,” he said in return, putting his hand on the side of my face and kissing me lightly before helping me into the Jeep.
I could feel the tingling in my stomach as he climbed in beside me, backed the Jeep out of the driveway, and took off in first gear. I reached over to the radio and pushed the round dial to turn it on. Pearl Jam instantly started streaming out of his Fosgates, so I turned it down a tad so we could still carry on a conversation.
“Pearl Jam is cool,” I said, “for grunge.”
Jensen agreed with me and then took my left hand and placed it on top of the gearshift. I wondered what he was doing until he covered my hand with his own, gently but firmly. My heart began to race, and it raced even faster when he asked if I had ever driven a car with a stick-shift. I confessed that I had not done much driving at all, let alone a car with a manual transmission. Jensen chuckled.
“It’s easy,” he said. “When I say when, we’ll shift together.” He then pushed the clutch in and we were ready to take off. Before long we were in fourth gear. There was something definitely erotic about driving a vehicle together.
We continued like that until we reached the trailhead. As we pulled in, I took my hand away as he downshifted and we bounced into an empty, potholed, dirt parking lot. We were the only ones there most likely because it was almost December and snow was midway down the mountain. Actually, it should have been to the bottom already, but the weather had been unseasonably mild thus far.
As I unbuckled myself, Jensen hopped out and rushed around to open my door and help me out. As much as he had done, I still wasn’t used to being treated so well. Before he would let me shut the door, he grabbed me around the waist and held me close. It caught me by surprise and I took in a sharp breath.
“Oops, I’m sorry,” he said, loosening his grip. “I didn’t mean to squeeze you so hard.” Jensen loosened his grip and I in turn encircled my arms around his neck, put my fingers into his hair, and pulled myself closer.
“You didn’t squeeze me hard, you just caught me by surprise,” I whispered as I stood up straight and pulled him closer so that our lips met. His tongue felt frantic as it searched for mine. I parted my lips and felt the immediate spark at our connection. He pulled me closer at the small of my back and I grabbed his hair and pushed my lips more forcefully onto his. My heart raced and I could faintly hear our breathing pick up.
As suddenly as everything had started, it stopped. Jensen pulled himself away, but didn’t take his hands off of me. I looked up at him, confused. His eyes searched mine and he softened his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t mean to get carried away.”
“You didn’t, it was my fault,” I assured him.
He leaned down and kissed my neck, working his way up to my ear.
“You’re just too irresistible,” he murmured, his lips at my ear.
“I’ll have to work on that,” I said, leaning my head back so he could continue to kiss around my neck. I was in heaven and didn’t want to leave.
Jensen stopped and took his hands from around my waist before pulling me away from the door, shutting and locking it. “The sun’s rising finally,” he noted. “Are you ready?” I nodded and followed him, reminded of why we had come there in the first place.
The trail that we took began on the right side of the parking lot and started out as a slow, peaceful incline under the shade of evergreens. Every now and then we would catch a ray of sun peeking through the branches. The quietness of the woods also forced us into a silence that was broken by an occasional intake of breath from either Jensen or me.
As we walked the dirt trail my mind reluctantly thought of Kyle. What is wrong with me? Why do I let that guy into my head? Am I not here with the greatest guy ever?
Jensen picked up a few stones and tossed them into the brush. I watched him while my thoughts went to the McDonald’s run-in with Kyle, and Jensen’s comment about Alyna not making the same mistake twice with him. I was stepping into dangerous territory by asking Jensen about it, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to know.
“Yesterday,” I began, “you mentioned Alyna wasn’t Kyle’s type.”
“Mmm, hmmm,” Jensen murmured, waiting for my point.
