Forever Ours (8 page)

“Remember: You can’t move, even if you get the urge to touch me. You have to stay still.”

I roll my eyes. “Oh, just do it already.”

“Okay, stick your tongue out,” he whispers so softly it sends a shiver over my skin.
 

His voice is closer. I can’t see anything, but I can feel his breath on the tip of my nose. I stick my tongue out again, a little farther this time, my heart racing as I anticipate the moment of contact. Then I feel it. The tip of his tongue is wet and firm on the tip of mine. A flash of pleasure pulses between my legs as he slowly traces his tongue over mine from the tip to the center. As if his tongue is touching places I’ve never been touched.

I push him away as I attempt to catch my breath.

“How did that feel?” he asks eagerly.

“Where did you learn that? Were you with someone else while you were gone?”

“What? No! Of course not. I saw it in a movie.”

“You went to the movies?”

“It was a movie we saw in the hotel.”

“What kind of
movies
were you guys watching?”

“It was just some teen movie from the 80s. I can’t remember the name.”

The pulsing between my legs slowly dies down, but I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have him touch me there right now. Or lick me.
Oh, God.

“I have to go….”

“Where?” he says, standing up after me.

“To the bathroom.”

He smiles then licks his lips. “I’ve missed the taste of your mouth. Hurry up. I want to taste you again.”

Chapter Fifteen

Chris

Forever Jealous

april, 2011

When I pull my motorcycle next to the curb in front of my old high school, the last thing I expect to see is Claire rolling around on the grass with another guy. I feel as if my insides might explode with rage as I watch them untangle themselves from each other and scramble to their feet. He brushes some grass off her back and she laughs and they both reach for something on the grass at the same time. A piece of paper.
 

Claire takes the paper from his hand and gazes at it for a moment with a huge grin on her face. Then she appears to thank him and he nods bashfully. She turns around and her eyes widen when she spots me.
 

She snatches her backpack off the grass and jogs toward me. My heart is pounding as a million thoughts race through my mind. But the most prominent thought is how naive I was. I never thought Claire was the type to even flirt with other guys. And here she is rolling around on the fucking grass.

“What the fuck?” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them.

“What’s wrong?” she asks innocently as she stuffs the piece of paper into her backpack.

She slides her arms through the straps then waits for me to answer her question, or at least get off the bike so we can unlock her helmet.

“What the fuck was that?”

I nod toward the grassy area where she came from.
 

She glances over her shoulder then turns back to me. “That was just Jason. He gave me a stupid drawing of Sailor Moon ‘cause he saw the sticker on my notebook. Can you get off the bike so I can get the helmet?”

“I’m not talking about the drawing. What the fuck were you two doing on the grass?”

“Oh,” she laughs. “He was chasing after me to give me the drawing and when he called my name I stopped suddenly. He ran into me and we fell on the grass.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you mad because we fell on the grass?”

“Does he know you have a boyfriend? Why the fuck he is drawing pictures for you?”

“Are you seriously doing this right now?”

“Answer the fucking question. Does he know you have a boyfriend?”

She glares at me, her nostrils flaring. “You’re not allowed to talk to me like that.”

She turns on her heel and starts walking toward the bus loading zone.

“Claire, come here.” I hop off the bike and quickly catch up to her. “It was a simple question. Why can’t you answer it?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Come on, Claire. You’re not taking the bus over this. Just get on the bike.”

I reach for her hand and she smacks my hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

She climbs the steps onto the bus and I watch as she marches toward the back and plops down on a seat. All the while refusing to look out the window at me.

Fine.
 

She can get pissy if she wants. It was just a simple fucking question.

I speed home on my bike, then I sit idling in the driveway for a moment, contemplating whether I should go to the bus stop around the corner to pick her up. Then the image of her and Jason on the grass flashes in my mind. Her laughter. Her smile. The things I thought were only mine.

I rev the engine loudly to drown out the harsh pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

I pull the bike away from the house, but I don’t head to the bus stop. I go to Tristan’s instead.

Chapter Sixteen

Claire

Forever Forgiven

By the time I step inside the house, I’m sweating profusely from the insane humidity. I close the door then stand completely still for a moment, listening for the sound of a TV or guitar or some type of music. Nothing. The house is cool and silent. Chris is gone.
 

My stomach aches as I think of the way he spoke to me and where he could possibly be. Probably somewhere with Tristan. He wouldn’t cheat on me, would he?

I drop my backpack on the kitchen table and sit down in a chair. I allow myself ten minutes of hyperventilating and worried thoughts, then I pull my books out of my bag and start on my homework. Three hours later, Jackie gets home from work as I’m putting away the last textbook back into my backpack.

“Hey, sweetie. Where’s Chris?”

I shrug as I lift my backpack onto my shoulder and head for the stairs.

“You okay, Claire?” she calls after me.

“I’m fine. Thanks.”

I race up the last few steps and close my bedroom door softly behind me. Collapsing onto my bed, I stare up at the blank ceiling and allow the first tears to fall. I can call or text him, but, for the first time in the two years we’ve been together, I don’t think he’ll respond.

I slide my phone out of my pocket and stare at the screen. I’m about to check for missed calls and texts, when the phone starts ringing. It’s Chris.

“Hello?”

I can hear movement, but he doesn’t answer.

“Chris?”

More movement, then I hear Tristan laughing.
 

He dialed my number on mistake.

I should hang up, but my curiosity gets the better of me. I listen for a few more seconds and Chris’s voice makes my stomach ache again.

“She can sit with me.”

“Aw… Is that your new girlfriend now that you’re kicking Claire to the curb?”

“Fuck — ” There’s a loud rustling then the line goes dead.

I throw the phone across the room and the battery pops off when it hits the wall. Turning over onto my side, I curl up and close my eyes. Jackie will probably come up in a few minutes to call me down for dinner. But she’ll leave me alone if she thinks I’m asleep. Then, when Chris comes home later, she’ll tell him not to disturb me.

Just a few minutes later, Jackie knocks on the door. Then I hear the door squeak as she peeks inside. She softly closes the door and I let out the breath I was holding.

So Chris and Tristan are out with some girls and I’m lying here hiding from him and Jackie. What is wrong with me? I’m not going to lie back and take this.

I sit up and turn on the lamp on my bedside table. I retrieve my phone from the other side of the room, then I dial Chris’s number. The call is immediately routed to voicemail, but I don’t bother leaving a message. I consider texting him, but decide against it. He probably turned his phone off when he realized he had accidentally called me.

I turn my phone off and drop it into the top drawer of my bedside table. Then I turn off the lamp, roll over and go to sleep.

I wake to the sound of Chris’s voice. “Claire.”

Opening my eyes, the room is pitch black, but the soft silver glow of the streetlights illuminates the left side of Chris’s face as he kneels next to my bed.

“Go away.”

“Claire, we need to talk.”

“Why? So you can ‘kick me to the curb’?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Get out!”

“Babe, just calm down.”

I slide out of bed and he stands up. Immediately, I begin pushing him toward the door. “Get out. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I don’t want to look at you. Just get out!”

“What the fuck! You’re the one who couldn’t answer one fucking question and you’re pushing
me
out?”

“It was a stupid question!”

“You think it’s stupid that I want to know about your relationships with other guys?”

“I don’t have relationships with other guys!”
 

I keep pushing him until his back hits the inside of my closed bedroom door.

“Keep your voice down or my mom’s gonna hear us.”

“I don’t care if she hears us arguing. I hope she does. And I hope they send me somewhere else where I don’t have to hear your stupid voice.”

He glares at me through the murky darkness and I can feel the rage building inside him with every heaving breath he takes. “That’s what you want? You want to throw this all away without letting me explain a fucking thing? Fine. Have it your way.”

He opens the door and slips out of my bedroom without another sound.
 

A jolt of blinding pain lights up my chest and I cover my face as I sink to my knees and double over. What have we done?

I look up at the door, half hoping it will open at any moment and Chris will appear to make this right. Instead, all I see is my backpack lying on the floor a few feet away. I crawl to it and hastily slide open the zipper. Then I yank out the crumpled drawing Jason gave me and I rip it up into at least twenty pieces and throw it in the trash.

three weeks later

I step onto the bus and trudge down the aisle to the usual seat in the back. Halfway down the aisle, I look up and my heart stops at the sight of Chris sitting in my usual row of seats. All the pain and misery of the past three weeks floods my veins at once and my breath hitches in my chest. I drag my feet forward until I reach his row and he hands me a folded piece of paper before he scoots over to make room for me.

I take the piece of paper from his hand and sit down next to him, positioning my backpack between us on the seat. I unfold the paper, which has clearly been taped together, and I’m not surprised to see the drawing I threw away in my bedroom three weeks ago. Chris has taped a post-it note with a word bubble saying, “I’m sorry,” to the front of the picture.

But it’s what’s wrapped inside the drawing that makes me want to cry in the middle of a crowded bus. Two tickets to prom.

I didn’t expect Chris to take me to my senior prom now that he’s dropped out. But when we broke up three weeks ago, I knew that there was definitely no chance it would happen. I actually cried to Rachel about it last week when she asked me if Chris and I had gotten back together yet. I didn’t expect her to tell Chris that I was sad about the prom.
 

And I didn’t expect her to tell me the truth about what happened when Chris accidentally called me three weeks ago. Apparently, the girl he was going to sit with was Tristan’s little sister Molly. And they were sitting together in Tristan’s truck on the way to get frozen yogurt. Yes, I felt stupid. But that was six days ago and I still haven’t figured out how to approach Chris.

He leans over to whisper something in my ear, but I honestly don’t care what he has to say. I turn my face toward him and surprise him with a kiss on the cheek. His hands instantly reach up to cradle my face and I let out a deep sigh. How I’ve missed those hands.

I nuzzle my cheek into his palm and he smiles. I don’t care if there are dozens of eyes on us right now.
 

He leans his forehead against mine. “Let’s never break up again, okay?”

I nod and end up banging my forehead on his.

He laughs. “You don’t have to get violent on me. I know I fucked up.”

“We both did.” I fold up the paper and the tickets and tuck them into my backpack.

“Don’t lose those tickets,” he warns me. “Or I’ll have to go to the prom with Joanie Tipton.”

“Ugh. Don’t even joke about that.”

“She was standing in line behind me when I went to buy these right now. Somehow she knew we were broken up and she offered to take me to the prom if you said no.”

“Oh, my God. I hate her.”

He rests his hand on my knee as the bus pulls out of the loading zone. “So do I.”

I slide my hand under his palm, then I lace my fingers through his. And just like that, all is forgiven. Just like that, the world is turned right side up again.

Chapter Seventeen

Chris

Forever Happy

Tristan arrives at our house on the morning of Claire’s senior prom in his shitty Ford pickup truck. Claire and I climb into the front seat with Tristan, with Claire between us. She leans her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes as the truck bumps along down the beltline. She’s still tired from staying up late studying for finals.