Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series (14 page)

“Uh…” Jimmy said. He looked like he was answering a life or death question. “Yes?”

She looked in the mirror again. “It’ll have to do. I don’t have time to do it again. Or the patience.”
 

She put away her makeup, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and then pulled some hair back to the front on each shoulder. She had curled her normally straight hair into soft waves.
 

“Okay. I just need to put on my dress—” She began as she looked in the mirror on her dresser.
 

“I’m leaving.” Jimmy walked out and shut the door behind him. She smiled and grabbed the dress from her closet.
 

She hadn’t been able to decide on this dress or another at the store, but looking at the dress now, she knew she had made the right choice. It had an empire waist, was free flowing, and light bubble gum pink. It matched her eye shadow. She hoped Lucas would like it. He had liked her dress from last night, so surely, he’d love this one. He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off of her during the movie at Mayra’s.
 

She grabbed the velvet box from her desk and put it in her purse.

###

Lucas finally pulled into her driveway a few minutes later.

She had been sitting on the sofa with her dad. “Be good, and don’t do anything you’ll regret later. That way, I won’t have to do something I’ll regret later,” he said, his arms crossed, staring at the TV.

She smiled and gave him a hug as she got up to go.

“You can only give that part of yourself one time. Make sure it’s with the right person and later on in your future when you’re ready to get married and have kids.”

Oh gosh. Were they really having this conversation right now?

She looked towards Jimmy’s room. He was still in there doing his hair. And her mom was doing laundry in another part of the house.

She just nodded and tried to leave. “Okay, Dad.”
 

“Jimmy and Mayra are going with you, and I’m trusting that all of you are going to be responsible, stick together, and get home early. Is that understood?” He hadn’t raised his voice at all, but Ariana nodded silently.
 

“Ariana.”

“Yes.” But she looked away. She didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or what.
 

“Manejen con cuidado.” Lucas wasn’t a crazy driver, so no worries there.

She finally walked out the front door and sighed with relief once the door closed behind her. She saw Lucas’s car pull around the corner. She walked down the driveway towards their mailbox and met him there.
 

Lucas stepped out of his car and smiled at her. She went up to him and gave him a hug, putting her bag on top of his car.

“Did you look at your present yet?” he whispered in her ear as he held her at the waist.

“I might have snuck a peek,” she whispered back.
 

She felt his nose and lips roam her neck, and she leaned her head to the opposite side to give him room. She tried not to think about whether her dad was looking out the window or not.

“Do you like it?” he asked as he pulled back.
 

She smiled. “I love it. Thank you.” She got the box out of her purse. “Can you put it on?”

He gathered the bracelet in his hands, and she outstretched her own. She watched his face as he clicked the clasp shut.
 

“It looks beautiful on you, although it can’t compare really,” he said.

She brought her face to his, and their noses touched. She tried not to stare at his lips, but she couldn’t help herself. Apparently, neither could he because he closed his eyes and brushed his slightly wet lips against hers just for a second.

“I love you,” he said.

It took her a few seconds to grasp what he had just said.

“I love you.” The words were out of her mouth before she could even wonder if she should say them out loud.
 

Lucas squeezed her and kissed her.

“I wish we were alone right now,” he said as he kissed her under her chin.

She chuckled.

“I didn’t meant that,” he said with a laugh. “I just wish I didn’t have to worry about your dad, mom, or brother watching me kiss you.”

“Or me,” someone from behind them said.
 

They turned around. Mayra.

She smiled and gave them each a hug. “You guys were taking forever, so I just decided to come on over here.”

“We’re waiting on Jimmy,” she said.
 

Just then, he came out of the house in a dress shirt, dark jeans, and fancy-looking brown shoes.
 

She looked over at Mayra as Jimmy came down the driveway.

“Sorry guys. My shirt was in the dryer. And then, you know, my mom insisted on ironing it real quick.” He came and gave Mayra a hug. Her mouth was still slightly open. Jimmy looked hot.
 

“So where we going?” Jimmy asked, his arm still around Mayra’s shoulders.

###

It had just gotten dark, but they had already had dinner and watched a movie.
 

“That movie sucked,” Mayra said, sipping on her soda as they headed to a local ice cream shop.

“I thought it was good,” Ariana said.
 

“It was so unrealistic,” Mayra continued. “How can one guy, no matter how buff he is, land on the windshield of a car at like fifty miles an hour and walk around like nothing happened?” She rolled her eyes and put her soda in the cup holder beside Ariana.

Lucas chuckled and kept driving. “It was okay. The fight scenes were good.”

“Heck yeah,” Jimmy said from the back. “Especially the one between the two girls. That was epic.”

They laughed.
 

Lucas parked, and they got out. The ice cream shop was in a small shopping center. Each of them ordered and walked out.

Ariana walked with Lucas towards one end of the shopping center. She looked back and saw Jimmy and Mayra walking in the other direction. She checked her phone and stifled a groan.

“What? Your parents call you?”

She shook her head. “No. I can’t believe it’s already nine-thirty.”

“Yeah. That movie was long.”

She kept licking her ice cream cone and leaned her head against Lucas as she walked. He put his arm around her. A few minutes later, they had finished their ice cream cones and thrown away the trash. Hardly anyone was shopping this late, and stores were closing.
 

They stopped at the far end of the stores and walked up a small hill. They sat in the grass.
 

She looked at Lucas and smiled.
 

“What?” he asked, returning her smile.

“You make me happy,” she said, taking his hand. He leaned over and began kissing her, running his hand through her hair. She put her hand on his arm, feeling the tight muscle underneath his sleeve. They kissed harder, and before they knew it, she had leaned back in the grass, and half his body was pressed against hers.
 

His hand went to her waist and began to slide up. Right when she was about to get goosebumps, it slid back down. And further down to her hip. His thumb swept near an area that did make her shiver. Then it was on her thigh.

She pulled back.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, catching her breath.

“Did I go too far?” He pulled his hand back and sat up straight again.

“No,” she said, taking his hand. “It’s just…I don’t want us to get carried away…here.”

They smiled at each other.
 

“Let’s head back,” he said.

They got up and went looking for Jimmy and Mayra.

As they walked closer to the ice cream shop, they noticed two figures leaning against Lucas’s car. Jimmy was pressed up against Mayra, and her arms were around his neck.

She looked at Lucas.
 

“Should have walked slower maybe,” he said with a wink.
 

“Look at those two,” she said as they inched closer. “Supposedly they’re just friends.”

She coughed loudly. Anybody else may or may not have thought she had tuberculosis.
 

She saw Mayra push Jimmy away and pull her fingers though her hair.
 

They walked up to the car, and Jimmy wiped his mouth with his hand,. Mayra looked away and headed to the other side of the car to get in.
 

“We should probably get home, huh?” Jimmy said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
 

Lucas laughed. “Probably.”

Happy three month anniversary. I miss you.
 

Ariana sent the text to Lucas. Then regretted it. Maybe she should have waited and seen if he had remembered. She shrugged and kept walking to her car.
 

Jimmy’s first basketball game of the season was tonight, and she, Lucas, Mayra, and her parents were going to be there to watch him and Ryan play. Jimmy and Ryan had just found out a couple weeks ago that they had both made varsity.
 

She was excited, although she had to admit it was also because she would get to see Lucas. He’d been working a lot lately.

As she put her bag in the backseat of the car and climbed in, her phone buzzed.
 

I promise I didn’t forget. I overslept ;) See you soon.
 

She smiled. Poor Lucas. He’d probably gotten home past ten, had to have a late dinner and shower, and to top it off, do homework before having to get up again at six.
 

She turned on the heater in the car. She liked winter, but it was really cold this morning. She waited for Jimmy to finish getting ready. A few minutes later, Ariana was starting to worry about being late to school when he finally came out the front door with his backpack and gym bag slung over one shoulder, a huge burrito in his hand, and an even bigger smile on his face.
 

He got in and threw his bag in the back along with his gym bag. He took a bite that almost encompassed half the burrito.
 

“Um, please don’t get that on my seat,” Ariana said as a random lump of refried pinto beans slopped onto the seat. Jimmy swiped it up with his pointer finger and put it in his mouth. “No need to worry about that.”

“So mom made you breakfast?”

“Yep. You should have stuck around.”

“No thank you,” she said looking at the overflowing burrito and turning on the car. She backed out, looking through her rearview mirror.

“Completely understandable. Eating beans in the morning gives me gas all day too.”

She stared. “Ew. I promise you. If I catch one whiff—”

“Relax. I’ll open the window. Besides, I’m a gentleman,” Jimmy said, taking another bite. “I would never do such a thing with Mayra in the car.”
 

“Lucky Mayra,” Ariana said to herself as they pulled into her driveway. They noticed a strange car near Mayra’s house. It was burgundy and not too new but not completely crappy either. She noticed the front bumper was missing, and it was just parked in the grass.

Mayra came out of her house. She ran up to the car and got in the back. “Morning, guys. Guess what?”

“What?” Jimmy said with a mouth full of burrito.
 

“You know you’re not supposed to have beans in the morning right? You know what they do to you,” Mayra said.
 

Ariana choked back a laugh as Jimmy turned to her, no longer chewing his food.
 

“I might have already mentioned what happens to you when your body digests beans in the morning,” Ariana said, looking out the window at the car again.
 

“I am going to kill you when we get home,” he said under his breath, putting extra emphasis on “kill.”
 

“Anyways,” Mayra continued. “That’s my new car. Well, not new. But you know, new to me. It’s gonna take a couple of months to fix it, but as soon as it’s ready, I won’t be riding to school with you two anymore. Unless you two want to ride with me.”

“Oh, I want to,” Jimmy said, also looking at the car.

“That’s awesome, Mayra. What all does it need?” Ariana said, getting on the road.
 

“Um, I forgot all the part names. But hopefully, it won’t be too expensive.”

“Maybe our dad can take a look at it. He knows some stuff about cars, and maybe he can help.”

“Okay,” Mayra said with a smile. “I’ll tell my mom.”

“And I can help dad,” Jimmy said, winking at Ariana as he took another bite of his burrito.

###

Friday dragged on, but finally, it was time for the annual basketball pep rally at the end of the day. They all got to skip their last class. Even though they were supposed to sit with their class, Mayra and Ariana sat together on the bleachers. They saw Ryan, Jimmy, and the rest of the varsity and JV basketball teams sitting across the gym and the cheerleaders doing flips and waving pompoms everywhere. The band was playing music, and everyone was chatting. Even some of the really strict teachers seemed to be in a really good mood today.
 

“Remember they got second place in state last year, but they’re hoping for first place this year,” Ariana said.

“With Jimmy, they definitely stand a good chance of that. Really, the whole team is pretty good,” Mayra said, clapping as the school mascot, a bull, ran down the gym with a basketball, jumped on a mini trampoline, and dunked the ball.
 

Everyone shouted, clapped, and stood on their seats. Several people had their phones out, but the teachers weren’t saying anything.
 

“You’re staying for the game, right?” Ariana asked as they sat back down.

“Psheah,” she said. “It’s not like I’d have a ride home anyways.”
 

They smiled.
 

They noticed the basketball team wasn’t in their seats anymore. Suddenly, they ran out into the gym, some members of the team screaming and cheering. Others were just jogging with a smile on their faces. Jimmy was last, and he had a ball in his hand. He turned towards them, and Ariana waved. They caught his eye. He winked at Mayra—there was no confusing it—and then he ran and did a slam dunk, hanging onto the rim for a few seconds.