did. Then the next person in line, a rather large woman with a Bubba Ho-Tep t-shirt on, asked us, “Do you want a picture with both of you?”
“Sure,” Leo answered before I could decide for myself. When the moment was over, Leo and I reviewed the picture. We stood on either side of Bruce, smiling like dorks, while Bruce produced bunny ears behind our heads. Classic.
If it were possible for me to feel jubilant, that’s how I felt as Leo and I walked back to my car. For two seconds I forgot about my dad and Becca and just reveled in the primo evening.
Leo was bubbly, too, and quoted moments from Bruce’s Q&A verbatim. “Remember when…?” “And then he said…” It was funny how cute and sweet such a big, supposedly scary guy could look. I started the car, and the clock read 10:45. “What time do you have to be home?” I asked.
“One,” he answered.
“Midnight for me. But you can have my glass slipper.” He smiled, illuminated by the parking lot lights. “What do you want to do?” I asked. I knew the question was too open, too obvious. At that time of night, we could go back to someone’s house and worry about waiting parents, go to Denny’s for coffee, which I had previously offered to cover, or find somewhere to park the car.
“How about the Halloween store?” Leo suggested. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Is there one up yet?” The phenomenon of pop-up Halloween stores was always exciting and depressing at the same time. Anything huge and Halloweeny meant awesomeness in my book, but they were always thrown into some giant, dead store space that would become empty again once the holiday ended. Or at least until the pop-up Christmas store took its place.
“Sure,” I agreed. “Where is it?”
“Where the Borders used to be,” he directed.
I drove to the strip mall parking lot and parked in the vast emptiness. We unclicked our seat belts and walked up to the blackened windows. Leo cupped his hands around his eyes and peered in. “I guess we’re a little late,” Leo noticed as we surveyed the dark store.
“They stay open later when Halloween gets closer,” I mentioned.
“Next time,” he suggested.
I mulled over the idea of a next time as we returned to the car. “So,” I asked as Leo hopped in and shut the door. “What now?” I started the car and turned on WVVX, a local station that turned from Spanish to metal at 8:00 p.m.
As I attempted to tug on my seat belt, Leo slid toward me and ran his hand up my arm. At that moment, the streetlight above the car flickered off. “I planned that,” he said. He leaned over and kissed me, his position awkward and sideways, the steering wheel preventing us from getting comfortably close. I gently pushed his chest away from me and crawled my way over the armrest and into the backseat. Leo followed, less gracefully, and stumbled until we were next to each other.
Our hands were everywhere. He pulled my shirt over my head, and I did the same to his. Or was it the other way around? He leaned back onto the leather bench seat, and I rested on top of him. Without taking my bra off, Leo slid his hand inside it and drove me to an embarrassing squeak.
“What was that?” He laughed quietly, as if talking loudly would alert someone outside to our presence.
I bit his lip slightly harder than playfully, which he took to mean I wanted more. I did.
Somehow my hand found its way down to the buttons of Leo’s jeans, and I undid them one by one before fitting my hand inside and feeling him against me. He responded with a moan, and dug around until my jeans were unbuttoned, too. We slithered out of our pants and rubbed our barely dressed bodies together, kissing, grinding, gripping. He hooked his finger onto the top of my undies and started to pull them off.
“Wait,” I breathed. “We’re not going to have sex,” I told him.
“Why is it you keep saying that?” He didn’t sound annoyed, just curious.
“I’ve said it twice.” His finger remained on my undies, which were now halfway down one side of my leg.
“Does that mean third time’s a charm?” He smiled. I smacked his freckled shoulder and shifted onto my knees to pull on my undies. “Wait,” he stopped me. “We don’t have to have sex. I don’t have a condom anyway. Unless you do.”
“Even if I did, I said no.” My undies were back in place, and I was sitting up. Leo pushed himself up next to me and began kissing my ear.
“Can I still take your panties off if I promise we won’t have sex tonight?”
His hands didn’t give me time to answer, and he felt so good I wouldn’t have said no anyway. After my undies were somewhere on the floor of the car, Leo took my hips and turned me so I was reclining on the seat. He slithered down to where my underwear used to be and placed his hands on either thigh, separating them. I grabbed onto his hair, not hard enough to pull him away from what he was doing but enough to steady myself. Even lying down, I felt like I could fall at any moment. He was masterful at what he did, and I squirmed in painful ecstasy. My head started going to that place where I wondered how he got so skilled, but I willed myself to drown in the moment. I gasped and palmed the car seat, reaching for anything I could before I completely succumbed. When it was over, I released my grip and my hands cramped. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t think. That must be what heaven is like.
I heard Leo groping around for his clothes, and I opened my eyes. He had a, well, me-eating grin on his face, and I was embarrassed to look at him after how I completely let go. When we were both dressed, I noticed the clock. “Shit. I have to get home,” I said. We climbed into the front seat, a Megadeth song playing as I drove Leo back to his house. When we got there, Leo unclicked his seat belt. I thought he’d slide over for a good-night kiss, but he just said, “I had a good night.”
“Me, too,” I answered, rushing home in my head so my mom wasn’t worried. I never wanted to call her when I was late, in case she was asleep and my call woke her up. Better to be late without her knowing if at all possible.
There was a pause, both of us wondering what to do. Leo’s mom helped us out, calling from the front door. “Leo? Is that you?”
“And that’s why we didn’t go back to my house,” Leo said. “See you Monday.” He got out, and I drove away without looking back.
When I got home, Mom was asleep in her room, and the house was quiet.
I went to my room and dug out my jeans pockets and threw keys, cash, and phone on my desk. There was a text I must have missed during the movie. Or something else. It was from Becca.
I’m dying, was all it said.
CHAPTER 17
I CHECKED THE TIME Becca’s message was sent: 9:14. It was currently 12:17. If I texted her back, would I awaken her from a pain-free slumber? What if she were back in the hospital? I had to try.
Are U OK? Are U dead?
After I sent the text, I turned on my computer and logged onto Skype. Chances were slim that Aunt Judy was still up and waiting for a midnight chat unless she had some seedy secret life I didn’t know about. Maybe I would like her better if that were true. Like a Mullets Anonymous group or something.
Hello? Come in, Becca. Do you read me, Becca? I typed.
Nothing from either phone or computer.
To calm my nerves I played a video of Troll I downloaded last week. It was such a crappy movie, but the guy who played Atreyu from The NeverEnding Story was in it. And a weird plant lady.
I wished I could talk to Becca about what happened with Leo. It was exactly the kind of story my sex- obsessed bestie would have been dying to hear every drippy detail of. But instead she was just dying. For a second, I almost felt angry at her, which made me feel like the biggest dick in the world. How could I possibly be
