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I pulled my coat on and tried to make it to the door before Mom heard. I wasn’t successful.
“Where are you going?” Mom asked.
“Out,” I said.
Her lips pursed. “Where are you going?” In two weeks my mother had gone from easygoing to being…well...Richard.
“I’m going to see Kristy, okay?” I said.
Mom blew impatient air through her lips. “I don’t want you to see her anymore,” she said.
“Too bad,” I answered without thinking.
Mom moved in front of the door. “You’re not going.”
“I’m sixteen,” I countered. I stepped around Mom and pushed my way out of the house. She slammed the door behind me.
I stepped onto the porch. My chest hurt. I thought about going back inside and explaining things, but I’d been explaining and pleading for two weeks. And I wanted to see Kristy. So I took a deep breath and walked to the car.
I drove quickly. It had been awhile since I’d been to Kristy’s, and I got lost along the way, but eventually, I reached the mansion and parked in the large driveway. I slowly got out of the car. Both of the family cars were parked in the drive, and I wondered what kind of reception I’d get inside. I missed Kristy, though, enough to deal with almost whatever recpetion I was going to get, and walked to the door. After another deep breath, I knocked.
It took a fidgety moment, but the door swung open, revealing Kristy’s mother. “Dawn!” she exclaimed, and pulled me into a hug. “I’m so glad you stopped by. Kristy will be thrilled; she’s been pining for weeks. But don’t tell her I said that.” She tugged me into the house and shut the door behind her. “KRISTY!” she bellowed up the stairs.
“WHAT?” Kristy screamed back.
“DAWN’S HERE!” she yelled, and winked at me.
There was a long pause. Then, “I’LL BE RIGHT DOWN. HI, DAWN!”
There was nothing to do but join in. “HI, KRISTY!”
Kristy’s mom showed me into the family room. ‘Have a seat,” she said. “You want something to drink?”
“I’m fine,” I told her, still a little dazed. Kristy’s mom nodded and left the room. I took a seat on their couch.
Karen wandered in with Andrew trailing behind. She had Battleship under one arm. They sat near the fireplace and began to set up the game. Karen stared at me more than at what she was doing. When her eyes caught mine, she said, “So you’re dating Kristy, huh?”
“Huh,” I echoed.
“Is she the first girl you’ve dated?” she asked, gaze unflinching. Andrew was sitting back, watching both of us with wide eyes.
“Um…that’s kind of personal,” I said. I wasn’t going to fidget over a little girl, damnit.
“You’re not using her, are you?” Karen asked, squinting at me like she could read my mind. “Her last girlfriend did that. She was a bitch.”
“Yeah,” Andrew echoed.
“That’s enough, you two,” Kristy said. I jumped off the couch.
“Kristy!” I exclaimed. I walked over to her, and she gave me a big hug. “I missed you,” I whispered.
“Me too,” she said, and gave me a quick kiss. “We need to talk.” She looked behind me, where Andrew and Karen were staring. “But not here,” she amended. “Let’s go upstairs.”
She grabbed my hand and I followed her into the kitchen. She snagged a diet coke for herself and tossed me a water bottle, then led me up the stairs. We passed her mother on the way. Kristy dropped my hand.
“Leave the door open,” she reminded Kristy. Kristy nodded, and I followed her into the bedroom. She crawled up onto her bed against the headboard, and patted the mattress next to her. I hesitated, but joined her. She slung an arm around my shoulders, intertwining her fingers in mine, and I leaned against her shoulder.
“I missed you,” I said again. It wasn’t quite what I wanted to say, but I didn’t know how to get the other words out.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Mom freaked,” I said. “Well, everyone freaked. Richard wants to send me home. Mary Anne still isn’t talking to me, and I found some ex-gay shit on my bed last week. Don’t know which one of those twerps put it there, but my bet’s on Richard. He’s such an asshole.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. She kissed my forehead. I tilted my head up and kissed her lips. It was soft and closed-mouthed until Kristy cupped my face in her hands and deepened the contact. We kissed pleasantly for a few minutes, until she shifted onto me and started to move her hands under my shirt, and I remembered the door was open. “Kristy.”
“Oh. Sorry.” She blushed and moved away. “I…sorry.”
“No problem,” I said. I tried to return my breathing to normal, tried to keep from moving over and kissing her again. I held her hand instead.
She looked at me. “Two weeks is a long time,” she said.
“Yeah.”
We sat in silence. It was weird. It had been two weeks, but I couldn’t think of something to say to her.
“Is this too much?” she asked, finally.
“What?”
“Does this…I don’t know, freak you out? Am I being to intense? We haven’t really talked about any of the ramifications of being Stonybrook's out and proud couple, and I can understand if you don’t want all the shit that comes along with it. I really like you, Dawn, but I like being your friend more, and I don’t want to push you away…”
“Kristy,” I interrupted. She stopped talking, mircle of mircles, and looked up at me. She looked…oh my god, she looked scared. “Kristy,” I said again. I had more to say, but I couldn’t get my lips to form the words. I kissed her instead. “I don’t care about that stuff,” I told her.
“You will,” she said, but kissed me back.
I sighed, and rested my forehead against hers. “Yeah,” I said. “I will. But I care about you more.”
Kristy put her arm around my shoulder and I snuggled into the curve of her arm and torso. “I care about you, too,” she told me.
“I kinda figured,” I said.
More silence, but it wasn’t as stiff as before.
“Kristy,” I started.
“Hmmm?”
Just say it, I berated myself. Finally, I took a deep breath and said, “Kristy…I think…I love you.”
There was a pause. “You think?”
I felt like fainting, but managed to pinch her. “I love you,” I said, my voice stronger. I braved a look at her face.
She was beaming, but rolled her eyes at me. “About time you figured it out,” she said.
Kristy didn’t say anything more, so I cleared my throat. “And?” I prompted.
“I love you, too,” she said, her tone long-suffering. “You’re such a girl.”