“Nothing, nothing. I’m just surprised,” he said. “I’m sorry.” She was right, even if he did not like the fact that she carried a condom around in her purse. He wasn’t even quite sure what he was apologizing for, but he had seen his father do it with his mother and it always helped to back down.
“We cannot do this.” His voice was emphatic. He unconsciously stroked her left breast with his hand as he said it and Brielle caught his hand in hers and tossed it away. She struggled to get away from him but the quarters were tight and he was stronger.
“You don’t want me?” her voice was small and dejected. He could see the sheen of tears in her eyes before she looked away.
“Of course.”
“Then, what?” She turned to look at him.
“I love you,” he said, firm and clear, meeting her eyes.
“You do?” she was wide eyed and stunned.
He nodded and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
“So why not?” she asked, clearly confused. “You did it with that Sasha girl and you said you didn’t even love her.”
“I know,” he said. “And that’s why we need to stop.”
“I don’t get it,” she said. “You have sex with the girl you don’t care about but me, who you say you love, you don’t want to touch me.”
“It’s not like that.” He reached for her and she slung his hand away.
“Get off me.” Her voice was tight and angry. She looked away in embarrassment.
“No,” he protested. “Don’t be mad.” He grabbed both of her hands in his and leaned in to kiss her. She snatched her head to the side.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just want to kiss you. I lost my head for a second, but we are not doing the rest.”
“I thought that you love me,” said Brielle, snatching her hands back. She was struggling to pull her straps back up, fluffing her hair into place and glaring at him all at one time.
“And I respect you,” he said. “And I want to be with you more than anything. We just need to wait.” He leaned over to kiss her. At first stiff and unresponsive, she softened and let him kiss her. He was back on top of her. Bad idea.
“We are not ready,” he said, backing off again. “We gotta finish high school and college and get jobs and stuff. We don’t want to wreck things by going too fast, okay? You don’t want to get pregnant.”
“Condom,” she said.
“They don’t always work.” He was still aching and Brielle was back looking at him as if he was something sticking on the side of her shoe. He rested his forehead on hers for a long moment.
“Okay, we stop because I love you and I’m older and I want us to be careful. And I want it to be better than it was with Sasha, okay?”
She was still puzzled but no longer looked as though she wanted to kill him.
He sighed, shifted, and pulled them both into a sitting position to try to give himself some relief. Dress pants were too danged tight. He tried to focus on getting her dress back in order. He wouldn’t let her re-button his shirt.
“Don’t touch me, okay?” he asked. Brielle dropped her hands.
“Let’s go back inside.” She nodded.
“Are you mad at me?”
She shook her head.
“Are you mad at me?” She returned the volley. “You look like you’re in pain.”
“Naw,” he said, “Just uncomfortable. You pack some powerful juju, girl. I need a minute to get back some control.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. “I want to wait for you. For when it’s right, okay?”
She still looked a little hurt, but kept silent.
“The back seat of my car in the school parking lot is not the right place for your first time,” he said.
She looked around at the steamy windows. She could just make out other kids milling in the parking lot. Her expression cleared and she smiled at him.
“Oh,” she said.
Damon shook his head to clear the lust from his brain. He held out his hand to pull her out of the back seat. She nodded and put her hand in his, uncertain.
“What?”
“I couldn’t stop,” she confessed, and bit her bottom lip. “I wanted-,”
“I know,” he said. “Me, too.”
He took another deep breath, breathing in her scent. He wanted to dive right back into the back seat.
Then he grinned, full of mischief. He grabbed her hands, yanked her upright into his arms and gave her an affectionate kiss on the lips.
“And if we don’t get out of this car and get me away from temptation, we’ll both be in trouble,” he growled playfully into her neck. He released her and spun her around slowly so that he could make sure her dress was in order.
“Anyway, I’m kinda young to die,” he said. He leaned into the car and searched the front seat for his glasses. He stood up and perched them on this nose.
“What?” She straightened his tie. He wrapped his jacket around her shoulders and slung one arm around her to pull her close.
“I just remembered that your dad told me to bring you back in the same condition I took you out in,” he said with a grin. “I’m not trying to get killed tonight.”
Brielle burst into laughter. He released her, held open the door and followed her back into the building.
She hesitated.
“What?”
“Thank you,” she said, biting her bottom lip. Damon squeezed her hand
“I love you,” he said. “It’s cool.”
“I love you, too.”
“Let’s go dance.”
November
Sasha
“What are you going to do?” asked Gail. They had left the doctor’s a few minutes before.
“I’ve grown to really love you, honey, but you know you cannot stay here and the trip to the hospital just underscores that you are going to have to make some plans.”
“I know,” said Sasha in a tiny voice.
Sasha glanced out the car window on the way back to the
