Trouble From the Start Read online

I just didn’t know if they would be.

  When we were finished with lunch, Fletcher excused himself. I got ready for work. I halfway thought he might come by the Shrimp Hut but he didn’t. I tried not to be disappointed. I’d gotten so used to having him around while Mom and Dad were gone that I was really missing him.

  It was after one when I got home, nearly one-thirty when my phone chirped. I smiled when I saw the caller’s name. “Hey,” I said in a low, what I hoped was sexy, voice.

  “What are you doing?” Fletcher asked.

  “I’m in bed.”

  “Come over.”

  I got up, walked to the window, pulled back the curtain, and looked out. Fletcher stood in the doorway, backlit by one of the lights in the apartment. Since it wasn’t very bright, I figured it was a lamp. “You know I can’t.”

  “I’ll answer a question,” he said softly.

  I released a light laugh. “Are you bribing me?”

  “If that’s what it takes.”

  Oh, I was tempted, so tempted. But one of us had to stay rational. “Fletcher, if my dad discovered me over there, he’d kick you out.” Not to mention that he’d be disappointed in me.

  “It’d be worth it,” Fletcher said.

  My heart did this quick little flutter with his willingness to risk so much. Why was I so afraid of taking a chance? I wanted to be with him. I just had this crazy idea that my parents would be able to sense if I were in the FROG. I’d always been the good, obedient daughter. Tonight I wanted to be with Fletcher more than I wanted to be good. I just didn’t want to get caught. “What if we went to the beach?”

  “Now?” he asked.

  I nodded, realized he probably couldn’t see subtle movements in the shadows. “Yes.” Did I have to sound so breathless when I said it? Was this any different than Kendall telling her mom she was spending the night here when she wasn’t? When you loved someone you took risks. I didn’t know if I loved Fletcher but I did know that I wanted to explore these feelings I had for him. I wanted to know more about his feelings for me.

  “Okay,” he said. “Meet me down here. I’ll push my bike to the end of the street so we don’t disturb anyone. I’ll have you home before dawn, before they wake up.”

  “I’ll be down in ten.”

  My nerves were so jittery that my hands barely cooperated as I changed into a pair of black shorts, a pink tank, and pink sneakers. I couldn’t believe I was doing this, risking my parents’ wrath. They’d eased up on the curfews in anticipation of my going off to college—but I couldn’t tell them where I was going without telling them who I was going with. I just didn’t know how they would feel about that. They’d blame Fletcher, but as long as we didn’t get caught, who were we hurting?

  I braided my hair so it would get less tangled during the ride. I slipped my keys into one pocket, my cell phone into another. I stuffed an old blanket into a tote bag.

  Then I eased my door open, crept out, closed it behind me. I stood still, listened to the creak of the house and the air conditioner coming on. I slowly tiptoed down the stairs. No TV sounds coming from the den. The only light was the one coming from over the stove that Mom left on to serve as a night-light. The alarm was the tricky thing. It beeped when I turned it off, beeped again when I reset it and closed the door behind me.

  I scrambled quickly over the front yard to where Fletcher was already waiting on the street. He flashed a quick grin. My chest tightened. I didn’t know exactly where we were going in our relationship. I just knew we were getting there fast.

  When I reached him, he held out his helmet to me. I took it, then realized it wasn’t his. His was black. This one—I held it up to a streetlight—was red. I looked at him. “Where did you get this?”

  “A store. Figured you should have your own, you know, if we’re going to be doing more things together.”

  Deeply touched, I said, “Thank you.”

  “So what’s your question?” he asked as he began guiding the bike down the street.

  “It’ll keep,” I said. “Until we get where we’re going.”

  “What are your plans for the future?” I asked.

  We were lying on our sides, facing each other, on the blanket on the beach. Fletcher had built a fire with driftwood that he’d gathered up. As far as I could see there was no one else out here. The stars were diamonds on velvet. The moon was a slender crescent. The tide lulled us as it rolled in and out.

  “I thought you’d ask a question about my past,” he said.

  “Is there something you want to share?” I asked.

  “Ah, trying to get two answers out of me tonight, huh?” Leaning in, he kissed the tip of my nose, my chin.

  “I wouldn’t be that deceptive.” I wondered if a time would ever come when we discussed movies, music, TV shows. When we talked about other people. When we speculated about the royal family or the Hollywood elite. Right now it seemed like I could fill a lifetime just getting to know Fletcher.

  “My immediate future involves kissing you,” he said.

  It was like he couldn’t go two minutes without kissing me, which was good because two was a stretch for me.

  “Seriously, Fletcher. When I asked you about your future before, you said you were going to get a haircut after graduation. Which I assume you’ll do as soon as you pass this summer class and officially graduate. But what are you going to do after that?”

  He laughed. I loved his laugh. I wanted to hear it every hour of every day. Then he sobered. “I don’t know, Avery. God, I miss you.” He rolled over until he was half covering me and started nibbling on my neck. “Which is silly because I see you every day.”

  I wound my arms around him. “I miss you, too.”

  He rose up slightly, brushed strands of hair from my face. The braid could only hold so many captive for so long. “What am I going to do when you go to school?”

  “You could go, too.”

  He scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  “You’re smart, Fletcher. Lots of people who don’t do well in high school succeed in college.”

  “I hate studying.”

  “Maybe you’re studying the wrong thing. What interests you?”

  He grinned. “You.”

  He kissed me again, only this time he was slow and deliberate. He really didn’t like it when the conversation turned to the future. Not that I blamed him. I thought I wouldn’t fall in love until I went to college and here I was beginning to do it way ahead of schedule. I couldn’t imagine leaving him. But then neither could I imagine not going to school the way I’d always planned.

  Time was running out. I knew I needed to get home before the sun was peering over the horizon, before anyone saw me arrive, could report that I’d been out all night.

  “We need to go,” I said, not bothering to hide my disappointment.

  Fletcher got up. I folded up the blanket, stuffed it into the tote. When I looked over, he was crouched at the water’s edge, stick in hand.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as I walked over.

  “Giving you something.”

  I looked down. Within a heart, he’d written:

  Avery

  +

  Fletcher

  “Oh, Fletcher.” Tears stung my eyes.

  “I’ve never done that for anyone,” he said. “I want you to know that you’re different, that what I feel for you is different.”

  As he stood up, he pulled me near. He folded his hands around my shoulders, held my gaze. “With the helmet and the sand . . . I’m trying to let you know that I’m committed to you. I want to be your boyfriend.”

  I smiled so brightly that I figured they could see it from the space station. “Oh, Fletcher, I want that so much.”

  Rising up on my toes, I kissed him, putting everything I felt into it. He made me so happy. He pulled me closer, his arms enveloping me. His mouth moved over mine, taking the kiss deeper. I warmed with the pleasure sweeping through me like the waves sweeping over the shore.