Every Little Piece (7 page)

I neighed again. Then kicked up my feet and jogged faster. Haley’s boobs pressed against my back and moved up and down as I jogged. And she thought this was nothing but an innocent pony ride. But this pony started staggering and struggled to stay upright. The beer was going to my head and it was getting harder to keep a straight line.

“You can barely walk. Put me down.”

“Insulted!” I cried. But ten feet from where the woods met the backyard, I stumbled and we pitched forward.

She screamed.

I twisted my body to catch her and we landed hard, our breath gone for a moment. Then she started laughing. She covered her mouth with her hand but the giggles escaped out the sides.

“I’m okay!” she called.

“Shh,” I hushed. “This is our hiding spot. We don’t want any other ponies finding the green pasture.” I spread the blanket down. “To protect you from the itchy grass, my lady.”

Then she jumped on top of me. I didn’t complain.

She parted my mouth with her tongue. I touched the sides of her face, then let my hands drop lower. She wiggled her butt, which meant, hands to yourself. I obeyed for the moment, enjoying her lips on mine. The kiss deepened and everything else faded. A groan rattled in my throat, and I pressed my hips up against hers. She trailed kisses down my neck.

I breathed in the smell of her perfume, intoxicated by her. I moved slowly, teasing the bare skin at her waist first. She pressed into me harder. Bit by bit, I moved my hands higher toward my ultimate goal. Her boobs are always my point of destination. I circled my hands around the back, skimming my fingertips over her skin. With a quick flick, I unhooked her bra.

“Seth,” she hissed.

“We’re in the backyard. No one will see us.” I moved my hands to the front and gently cupped her boobs.

“Ack! That’s what you think until someone turns on the spotlight, just for a joke.”

I was just about to use my magic fingers to convince her otherwise when something ran across the limb above us.

She startled. “What was that?”

I yanked down my shirt. “We’re going end up on Facebook or something.”

“It’s nothin’, Hales. Swear. We’re alone out here. It’s probably a chipmunk.” He entwined his fingers in my hair and pulled me closer.

I gave in to it. We kissed for a long time. His lips played with mine, and I teased the skin on his neck with gentle kisses. Time stood still, but the noise from the party spilled into the yard, closer than before and invaded our bubble. I pulled away, signaling that make-out time was over.

“Haley!” He groaned and rolled over. “I can only handle so much of this.”

His words caught me off guard. This was the first time he’d ever hinted about this. Then I thought about all the times we’d made out. The heavy kissing. Somehow I always found a reason for it not to go farther. I thought he was okay with that. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe tonight’s the night he was waiting to have the “let’s have sex or break up” talk. But he wouldn’t, not the night before graduation. Right?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying to hide my annoyance.

He pulled down his shirt and tucked me into his side again, but the ease and comfort disappeared. Our bodies no longer fit, and arms and legs poked awkwardly.

“You scared?”

“Of what?” I asked, hesitating. He changed the subject, and I wasn’t sure of his purpose.

We lay on our backs, the grass tickling our necks, staring up through the branches into the dark sky. A flurry of clouds hid the bright moon, with only a few rays peeking out.

“You tell me,” he said.

I wondered where the conversation was heading. It was like he was trying to get me to admit something. I turned and kissed his cheek. “I’m scared of falling without knowing where I’m going to land.”

“What else?” His lips grazed my cheek. I guess my anger and knee-jerk reaction was forgiven.

“Um.” It was hard to concentrate when his fingers were tracing the skin above my jeans. I pushed them away. “I don’t know. Lots of things: bugs, bats, snakes. Normal stuff.”

“What are you really scared of?” he asked.

He meant more than the silly fears of the dark or being home alone at night. That was what happened when you watched too many horror movies with your older brother. “What do you want to know?”

He sighed and ruffled the ends of my hair. “I want to know why every time we get hot and heavy you find some reason to stop. I want to know why you have to turn every serious conversation we have into a joke.”

Huh? I was shocked into silence. Not about the sex part, that didn’t surprise me one bit. But the joking part. He’d said that was the part he loved about me. But maybe that had grown old. For the first time I was speechless. I was the one always hinting around about the future, wasn’t I? He was the one who avoided the conversations.

The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Ya know, babe. If you wanted to head to Vegas after graduation all you had to do was ask.”

I knew it was a mistake as soon I said the words. Seth stiffened and pulled away. He sat up and put his head into his hands. I ran my hands across his back, trying to soften his mood.

He grabbed my wrist and put it aside. “Not now, Haley.”

I sat up next to him. “What, Seth? What do you want? What’s wrong?” Something had to be wrong. This wasn’t Seth. He would never act like this unless he’d had more to drink than I thought.

He turned and the shadows on his face made him real sexy but any heat had been sapped from the night. “It’s graduation tomorrow.”

“I know that.” Now I was annoyed. He made me feel like I was three years old and he was walking me through the alphabet.

“Do you?”

I breathed deep several times because I didn’t want to fight on this night. “Yes, Seth. I know that.” My sarcasm slipped in. “I know that two plus two equals four and five plus five equals ten.”

Seth stood and paced. “This is exactly what I mean. I’m trying to talk to you and all you can do is crack jokes.”

“What do you expect me to do? You’re attacking me because I don’t want to do more than make out in someone’s backyard.” My voice cracked. “You’ve always been fine with that.”

“What choice do I have?” He shook his head and then grabbed for my hand. “I am fine with that, but every once in a while it’s nice to be needed. To know I’m loved.”

Then it hit me. “Is this about graduation and not sex?”

“Not really. It’s about everything. We’ve been together for years.” He let go of my hand and an invisible wall dropped between us. I shivered. “At first I liked that you didn’t pressure me about the future. But after years and it getting closer to graduation, I wonder why you don’t. I need to know you’re not going to up and leave one day when you’re tired of me.”

Seth was much more than some fling to me but I couldn’t find the words to tell him. Saying I love you now would sound like a cop-out.

“Maybe we should talk about this when you’re not drunk,” I said.

Seth reached for me then dropped his hand. “I gotta take a piss.”

“Sure,” I mumbled, wondering how I messed up so bad when I thought we were great. How in one night our relationship started unraveling. Or maybe it was always frayed at the edges.

Then he headed inside without looking back once.

I grabbed the blanket in my hands and squeezed. My heart was breaking, slowly but surely. I refused to let tonight go bad. It would be fun. It would be the best night of my life. I glanced across the darkened yard and became aware of the crickets and the rustle in the nearby woods.

He was coming back, right?

I stumbled away from Haley, my heart racing and my hands curled into fists. I wanted a fight. But I didn’t want to fight with her. I tripped on the stairs and slammed my shin into the edge of the wood. Searing pain shot through to the bone. I was probably bleeding and would have a massive bruise, but I didn’t care.

Curses flew from my mouth as I stumbled across the deck. A couple making out on the porch swing grunted then went back at it.

Some party.

Three doors blurred in front of me. I chose the center one and crashed into the room. The party had gone on without me. I joined in on a game of quarters. I missed the cup every single time and drank more. Until my fight with Haley was just a blur.

But that didn’t last long. A few minutes later she walked in, took one look at me, then whooshed right past. Shit.

I played a few more rounds. More drinks. Haley and Kama passed by and headed onto the back porch. I laughed extra loud just to show how fucking fun of a time I was having. Finally, Troy, one of my soccer teammates, shut me down and kicked me out of the game.

“Asshole!” I muttered.

I spotted Carter in a chair in the corner. I double blinked to make sure I was seeing right. Was he making out with Brin? I pushed back from the table, not caring that the chair knocked over. I ignored the complaints. “Sorry,” I held up a finger, “I’m a detective and on the case.”

I wove in and out of the clusters of bodies. At the chair, I dropped to my knees and studied the evidence. A black curtain of hair hid the crime but every detective does his homework and investigates the crime scene. I proceeded with extreme caution. Using two fingers, I separated the curtain and saw two pairs of lips going at it.

Carter pushed me away. “Leave us alone. You’re drunk, man.”

Brin lifted her head and flashed me a sly smile. “Yeah, go find your own girl.” They went back to it.

I slumped against the couch. Haley. What happened out there? What had I said to her? I had the vague impression that we didn’t leave on a good note. She was probably pissed that I tried to go to second base. Figures. The room spun and the conversations that I’d been holding back all night crashed through now that I wasn’t on guard. Dad’s face and his lies as he only told me half-truths. Mom not saying anything. Maybe for some crazy reason, Carly was wrong. If I was playing detective I should probably gather evidence before making the final verdict.

Across the room, Carly chatted away, but her words were stilted and her laughter forced. Eventually, she glanced my way with eyes that would melt even the hardest of hearts. She hugged her friends goodbye and left through the front door. I pushed up onto my feet. I couldn’t let the evidence get away. If she told me that she didn’t know for sure our parents were doing the nasty, this night might not turn out so bad.

Girls took one look at my face and turned away. They never truly wanted me. They wanted Seth, the boy they could never have. Forbidden fruit. Grass was greener on the other side. That pissed me off. None of them knew me. None of them saw the real me. At the door, I turned and held up both middle fingers.

“Fuck all of you!”

I didn’t even make it to the top steps before Jamie grabbed the back of my shirt. “No way, man. Don’t even think about driving.”

The fact that he didn’t trust me not to do something stupid even though I did plan on driving pissed me off. I whirled around and my fist caught his face.

“Serves you right!” I blurted.

But he didn’t stop. He wrapped his arms around me, and we tumbled down the steps and wrestled in the gravel walkway. I grunted and tried to push him off, but I was having a hard time controlling my arms. If I were sober he’d have no chance against me.