Perfect Summer by Bethany Lopez
Faith
My stomach was full, and I had a little buzz from the wine, so staying awake during the ride home was a struggle.
Mitch singing I Kissed a Girl at the top of his lungs helped.
By the time his truck parked at the curb of my parents’ house, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
“Your Katy Perry impression is pretty good,” I told him as I took my seatbelt off and shifted to face him.
“Thanks, my girlfriend in high school was a big fan, so I got a lot of practice,” he joked, turning toward me.
“I had a really great time tonight.”
“Me, too. Thanks for agreeing to go out with me. I honestly wasn’t sure you ever would,” Mitch said, shifting a little closer.
“Neither was I,” I admitted, leaning in slightly.
Mitch lifted his hand slowly, as if giving me time to tell him to stop. When I didn’t, he caressed my cheek with his thumb and cupped my chin. Then, still moving ever so slowly, his eyes watching my expression, he dipped his head down and brushed his lips over mine.
The first touch was magnetic. My entire body seemed to hum and come to life from that simple connection.
His scent unfurled around me, all spicy and subtle, and I found myself inching even closer and tilting my head to deepen the kiss. Mitch caught my drift, because his arms came around me and he held me tight as his tongue delved between my lips.
It was glorious.
Sexy, and getting more heated with each second, yet familiar.
I pushed my hand into his hair while winding the other around to grab on to the back of his shirt.
Someone moaned, I think it was Mitch, and we began making out with everything we had. Our hands and mouths seemed to be everywhere at once, exploring once-familiar landscape. I don’t know how much time passed, that’s how caught up in each other we were, but eventually a tapping sound broke through our lust-filled haze, and we pulled apart.
“Did you hear something?” Mitch asked.
“Mm, I think so,” I replied through swollen lips.
“Shit … it’s your dad.”
“What?” I cried, turning my head to see the outline of a large man through the window.
I rolled it down and lamely said, “Hey, Dad.”
“I appreciate your quick work, Mitch, but we’ve got neighbors and neighbors talk, so I’m gonna have to ask you to move along,” he said, his voice tinged with humor. “Come on, Faith, stop fogging up the windows and get inside before you give Hope ideas.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered, wishing I could disappear. I quickly rolled up the window and said, “I’ll be right out,” before turning to Mitch with wide eyes.
He looked like he was choking back laughter.
“Are you laughing right now?” I asked, slapping him on the arm. “I feel like a teenager again getting caught by my dad. This is so humiliating. I’d better get out of the car before someone does see. I don’t want to be in the Scoop tomorrow.”
Some laughter escaped his lips and that was all it took, Mitch started laughing so hard he had tears beading up at the corner of his eyes.
His laughter was contagious, and a giggle escaped me against my will, but I got a handle on it before I could end up in a fit like Mitch.
“Get a hold of yourself,” I said lightly, leaning in to kiss his cheek before saying, “Call me and drive safe.”
Mitch could only nod, so I gave him a small wave and opened the door to join my father, who was still waiting on the curb.
“Did you have a good time?” my dad asked when I hooked my arm through his and we started up the walkway.
“Yeah. Dinner was delicious and Mitch and I got on great. It was as if we’d never been apart.”
“Where did you end up going?”
“Walkers in Billings, have you been? You and Mom would love it.”
He opened the door and held it so I could walk in.
“Not yet, but I’ve heard good things. Maybe I should make a reservation for her birthday.”
“You totally should,” I agreed.
“You may as well crash in your old room tonight. Hope has been dead to the world for hours now, no use disrupting her sleep.”
“Sounds good,” I replied, thinking how much nicer it would be to climb upstairs and crawl in bed than get Hope to go to our house. “Thanks, Dad. Good night.”
“Night, princess.”
Once I was in my childhood bedroom, I closed the door and moved to the dresser. Both Hope and I kept clothes here just in case, so I pulled out a nightdress and changed into it, before hanging the dress I’d been wearing in the closet.
I walked around the room, my gaze going from the pictures I’d taped to my vanity, to the trophies and certificates lining the shelves. The room was pretty much how I’d left it after graduation, right down to the poster of Robert Pattinson I had hanging on the back of my door.
I’d been a huge Twilight fan.
I turned on the lamp on my side table before turning off the light, then put my phone on the charger and got into bed.
Before putting the room into complete darkness to go to sleep, I glanced at the framed photo of Mitch and me at prom. We looked so innocent and happy. Mitch had no idea in a few short weeks I’d leave him. Heck, at that point, I hadn’t even known.
Leave the past in the past, I thought, then switched off the light and turned my thoughts to everything that had transpired that night.
It really had been perfect, and I was happy to realize that thought didn’t scare me.