Page 86 of The Summer of ’98

“My, my, Leroy Lahey, what do we have here?” An older woman with thick dark waves and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses wandered toward us with a couple of menus in hand. “Is this the Ellie that I’ve been hearing about?”

“Hi, Helen.” Leroy’s greeting was warm and familiar. “This is Ellie. Els, this is Helen. A friend of Mom’s.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I shook her hand before she handed us a menu each.

“You too, sugar.” She wiggled her finger and gestured for us to follow her. “She’s a pretty one, Leroy. You tell that mother of yours to give me a call. We need to get together.”

She stopped when she’d led us to a private booth with a window. It was intimate and we grinned at each other across the table as we slid into our seats. Helen gave Leroy a pat on the shoulder and smiled. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thanks, Helen,” Leroy smiled up at her. “I’ll get Mom to phone.”

“Good boy. I’ll be back to get your order in a few.”

Once she was gone, Leroy reached across the table and picked up my hand, pressing a soft kiss on the top of it. “How’s this?”

“Perfect,” I said. “This place is gorgeous.”

“Yeah, we’ve been coming for a while,” Leroy said and read his menu. “Helen likes to let us eat for free, so we leave her an extra-large tip.”

The food was exquisite; I would have paid for that meal and left a big tip. It was a bit of a shame that the taste of meat had been off-putting for the last couple of weeks, otherwise I would have ordered the steak like Leroy. Instead, I had fries and a salad, which was still delectable. After we’d eaten, he told me that our night wasn’t over and there was another surprise in store for me.

“A drive-in movie?” I almost squealed with excitement as Leroy drove the car down the designated road, past all of the idle vehicles that were stopped and waiting for the movie to begin. “What are we seeing?”

“Armageddon,” he said, turning the wheel into the very last row of vehicles. “You mentioned that you hadn’t seen it before, and I knew it would be on tonight.”

Leroy stopped and switched off the car beside a pickup truck that didn’t appear to be occupied. The truck bed faced the projector and on the back of it was a mattress and a couple of thick warm blankets. We were right at the back and tucked away from the view of others. My stomach turned over on itself.

“Is this where we’re watching from?” I asked.

Leroy jumped up on the tray and held a hand out for me. “It sure is. This is Robbie’s.” I remembered that he was the one Cass had salivated over during practice. Leroy hoisted me onto the pickup and we both snuggled into the makeshift bed, covering ourselves with the comforters.

“This is so nice,” I said. I hadn’t been to a drive-in for quite some time. There was something authentic about watching a movie like this.

Leroy reached down beside him as the shorts before the film began. He revealed a few bags of sour candies and cola bottle candies as well as a bottle of water each and a bag of potato chips. “I know that you said you were full from dinner but—”

“Stop,” I interrupted and grabbed the sour candies. “There’s this second stomach that we have for after-dinner treats. It’s starving.”

I opened the packet and popped a few in my mouth, immediately wincing as the sourness hit me in full force. My eyes began to water, and I took a few deep breaths, willing myself not to cave and spit them out.

“You okay there?” Leroy laughed as I battled through the pain, rolling onto my side and burying my face in his chest. “I should have warned you just how sour these are.”

It took me a moment, but I recovered, leaning back so that I could exhale and wipe my watering eyes.

“You good, babe?”

“Yep,” I smacked my lips. “I’m good.”

“Can I have a taste?”

Before I could reach into the bag and hand him a sour candy, he cupped my jaw, angled my face upward, and kissed me, not hesitating to meet his tongue with mine.

“Oh shit,” he pulled back, still holding my face while his eyes watered. “Whoa, those are so damn sour! You do taste delicious, though.”

He dipped his head again and pried my mouth open, sucking my bottom lip in between his teeth. My stomach immediately turned over; my thighs clenched at how erotic it felt. It started off slow and sensual, tasting each other, licking, nipping, pushing our tongues together and panting as the feeling became overwhelming. Leroy shifted, throwing his legs over mine so that I was encased beneath him and then our kiss picked up pace, becoming frantic. We grabbed at each other, his hands sliding up underneath my thighs so that he could hook them around his waist while my fingers slid into the strands of his hair and pulled.

I threw my head back and gasped when Leroy thrust his hips down, grinding against me. My dress had slid up around my hips and only my underwear served as a barrier against the strain on his jeans. A low groan erupted from the back of his throat whenever I whimpered, so he kept doing it, lowering his hips to mine, thrusting, causing a friction that was leaving me breathless while he grabbed my hair in his fist and kissed my throat.

We were alone for the most part, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be loud enough for the nearest cars to hear my cries. It was hard to contain, though; I was thrashing, desperate for the release that was building in my core. Leroy leaned up on one arm, his hair a mess from my fingers clutching and pulling it. He slipped his other hand between us and unbuttoned his jeans, lowering them just enough so that he was freed.

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