I did not expect to hear from Beau, so when my phone started ringing, I got startled. I stared at it for a long moment before I realized I was supposed to answer it.

“H-hello?” I said with a dry mouth.

“Hey, I just checked if you still remember our date. I’ll pick you up at six at the store, okay?” Beau spoke like he hadn’t spent the day ignoring me.

“O-okay,” I muttered, not able to think of what else to say.

“You sound hesitant?” Beau said, and I could almost hear him frowning.

“N-no! I was just surprised… I thought… You… You ignored me… And I thought… I thought you were mad at me…” I stammered and trailed off.

“What? Of course not,” Beau said. “Look, I need to go now. I’ll pick you up in half an hour and I’ll explain everything. See you soon!”

And then he hung up. I lifted the phone from my ear and stared at the screen. Then I almost panicked when I realized I had only thirty minutes left before he would come pick me up. I rushed to take the quickest shower ever and then tried to find clean clothes. I hadn’t washed the laundry in ages, so it took me almost too long to find a clean pair of black jeans – which were torn a little due to old age – a gray T-shirt and a black hoodie with a zipper.

Then I tried to comb my hair and cursed the gray roots that were already showing almost by an inch. My acne had grown worse too since I hadn’t cared about treating it. It still wasn’t too bad, but I scolded myself, nevertheless.

When I was finally ready, I had only five minutes left, but the small convenience store was close by. I dashed downstairs and out from the door before my dad or Allen could stop me, and ran all the way to the meeting point.

Once I was there, I leaned against the white wall to catch my breath. I started to feel dizzy again, and I broke into a sweat. My knees were shaking, my throat was burning, and I started coughing. I had forgotten that I was still sick.

Thankfully, Beau was running late, so I had time to recollect myself. The nauseous feeling subsided after ten or so minutes, and I could breathe again without coughing my lungs out. I felt weak, but if Beau really wanted to see me, I couldn’t let it bother me.

I waited for almost ten more minutes, starting to fear he wasn’t going to show up after all, but then I saw his white car stopping at the other side of the road. I waited for two seconds, but since he wasn’t going to turn to the parking lot, I ran to him. I opened the door of the passenger’s seat and sat down, and the second I was in the car, Beau started driving.

“Hey,” I said shyly.

“Hey, babe,” he smiled at me and sped up. “I have to be back home by eight, but I know just the spot where we can go.”

“Okay,” I smiled and pushed my bangs away from my eyes.

I didn’t pay much attention to where we were going. I just stared at Beau, his amazing, chocolate-brown hair, his piercing blue eyes and flawless skin. He was wearing a sky-blue hoodie and dark jeans, and his body looked stronger than I remembered. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen him so close in a few months.

He looked good. He looked really good.

When he stopped the car, I managed to tear my eyes off him and looked around. We were in an abandoned parking lot right between the park and the cemetery where my mom was buried. Beau and I had spent hours and hours in that place with our friends, back when everything was still fine in my life.

“Remember this place?” Beau asked.

“Uh-huh,” I nodded and turned to look at him. “Why are we here?”

Beau didn’t answer me. Instead, he suddenly pulled me into a deep kiss. He didn’t give me much time to recover from the surprise, before he pressed his tongue against my lips, pushing it through into my mouth as soon as I parted them.

His hand was on the back of my neck, pressing our lips harder together, and sending me high above the clouds. His other hand landed on my leg, and he squeezed my thigh hard. I slowly relaxed and gave him the lead, trying to match his hungry kiss.

“I missed you,” Beau breathed out. “You turned out to be so hot…”

I felt happy shivers going through me when he said that. In my hazy mind I wondered why I had felt so bad the first time he kissed me, because at that moment it felt so divine.

Then, all of a sudden, he pulled away and moved his seat all the way back. Then he grabbed my hand and yanked it, gesturing for me to climb onto his lap. It was really hard in the small car, but I somehow managed to crawl my way on top of him.

He pulled me into another heated kiss, and his hands roamed my body wildly, touching me demandingly everywhere he could reach. I jumped a little in surprise and parted our lips when he squeezed my butt harshly, but he gave me a reassuring smile.

“You are so hot,” he cooed and grabbed my hair, pulling me close enough to kiss me again.

I never thought he could be so eager, but he had his reputation with the girls. I’d seen him making out with a few of them, but I never believed he would treat me the way he treated them – like I wasn’t a boy. It warmed my heart even more to see he had no problem making out with a guy.

I had never done anything like that before, and I truly loved it. Being so close to Beau, being so intimate with him, was better than anything I had ever experienced before. I really, really loved it.

And my feelings for him grew even stronger.

 

*****

 

When Beau dropped me off close to my home, I was still so amazed and mesmerized by him that I had completely forgotten I was supposed to wait for Deon. Once I had managed to sneak inside and into my room without getting yelled at by my dad, I closed the door and tossed myself on the bed.

I stared at the ceiling for a very long time with a wide smile on my burning lips. The evening had been so wonderful. Beau had promised to call me the next day, and I was anxiously waiting for it. I wasn’t sure if I could get any sleep in that happy state of mind.

It was really weird to be feeling like that – to be happy. I couldn’t even put it into words how happy I was. Beau and I were dating! My deepest wish had come true! Beau, the guy I’d been in love with for so long, the guy who I thought hated me, was now my boyfriend! At last! My life had turned upside down in a matter of days, and I was finally happy.

I let out a short laugh with all those great feelings inside me. I almost couldn’t believe it. I had to believe it since my lips were sore from all that kissing. It really happened.

“Beau…” I whispered his name and turned on my side, curling into a small ball of pure happiness.

It took me a long while before I finally remembered Deon. My mood dropped a little because I believed he would just ruin my happiness with his grumpiness. But a deal was a deal, so I stood up and went to make a bed for him. I wished he’d find a girl to stay with, but lately he hadn’t had much luck with the girls. I guess the rumors about him cheating on his girlfriends had finally spread throughout the school.

That last girl who dated him had treated him like garbage ever since their breakup. She was probably making sure the rest of them wouldn’t go out with him. Although, I had seen plenty of them batting their eyelashes at him, so maybe he would find someone to screw.

Of course, I didn’t have such luxury. He called a minute after midnight, and I went to open the door for him. My dad was, as usual, passed out on the cough, but I had no idea if Allen was at home or not.

“Just don’t make any noises,” I hissed to him once I had swung the door open.

Deon put his hands up, took a step back, and smiled.

“You’re in a good mood,” he muttered sarcastically, stepping inside.

“And you’re drunk,” I said angrily. “I can smell alcohol all over you.”

“Well that was the whole point for me to go out,” Deon replied and started to climb upstairs. He was wobbling more than the last time, so I assumed he was really drunk. He was making an excessive amount of noises too.

“Hurry up!” I told him with a whisper.

“I’m going, I’m going… Geez…” he replied.

Seconds later, I had managed to hide him in my room without my dad waking up. I watched Deon by the door when he tried to take his jacket off, but it seemed to be too hard for him. He couldn’t even stand up straight!

“You shouldn’t be drinking that much,” I grunted.

“I know, Mom,” Deon chuckled. “This jacket needs his ass kicked…”

I shook my head and sighed. I took a firm grip on the back of his jacket and helped him take it off. Next he tried to undress his shirts, and it didn’t go any better, so I had to help him with them too.

“You’re like a big baby…” I muttered angrily once his shirts were off.

“Shut up…” he murmured and sat down on the bed I had prepared for him.

I took a deep breath while he lay down, and only a couple of seconds later he was snoring.

“Great,” I sighed and grabbed his duvet and placed it on him. “You’re going to be so pissed in the morning.”

If the old signs were accurate, he would have a major hangover next morning. I sneaked out of my room to get some painkillers and a bottle of water for him. When I returned, he was snoring even louder, and I feared the sound would alert my dad. Then again, my dad was just as drunk as Deon, so he probably wouldn’t wake up even if there was an explosion in our house.

I placed the painkillers and the water next to Deon’s bed, and then I climbed onto my own. I listened to Deon’s snoring for a while, but then my thoughts trailed back to Beau.

The thought of him brought a smile to my lips, and suddenly I was feeling a lot better.