Page 38 of Never Forever

She smiled. “What if I want you to lose control?”

Yeah. That wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t survive hurting her again.

We cleaned ourselves up and got back to the ferry. We were a solid twenty minutes late for the last ferry run, but no one was waiting. Carrie was the only one who needed to be taken home.

I drove us across the open water and she stood behind me with her arms around my waist, her head pressed to my back.

“I feel different,” she said.

“Me too,” I said.

“How?” she asked.

I took a deep breath. Tried to think about how other people talked about love. All the ways the books I’d read described it.

“I feel whole.”

“Yeah. That’s how I feel, too.”

It didn’t matter what happened, I decided. What her mother did or didn’t do. What my dad thought or not.

Carrie was mine and I was hers. This wasn’t just some high school romance. This was it for me. I knew it deep in my soul.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to change that.

9

When It All Started to Fall Apart

Senior Year

Matt

“You won!” Carrie cried directly into my ear. “You freaking won, Matt!”

I was dimly aware of some pictures being taken.

But most of my attention was on Carrie’s legs wrapped around my waist and trying to get my breath back. The 1500 was my strongest event, but I’d run it like I wasn’t already ten points ahead of the guy behind me. I was shooting for a personal best.

“That’s a new state record!” The announcer cried, his voice crackling over the PA. “Matt Sullivan of Calico Cove just set a new state record in the decathlon, thanks to that epic run. With his time he would have placed in the top three for that single event. For his senior year, Matt Sullivan is really going out with a bang. I can’t wait to see what he does at Boston University ”

Carrie dropped her legs from around my waist and would have stepped back, but I hung onto her.

“Just…give me a second,” I whispered into her hair. Just a second to catch my breath and get a handle on my emotions. Holding her helped.

“Oh, Matt,” she sighed and hugged me tight.

My event had been the last of the day so the meet was officially over.

Much of the crowd had already left and it was just the friends and family of the athletes left. The giant stadium was quiet. Almost peaceful.

I was kind of floating above my body, the pain in my hips and calves were distant. Something I’d deal with later. For now it was just me and Carrie and a really big victory.

“Matt!”

Carrie stepped back only so my dad could come up and bear hug us both. “What a run, boyo!”

“Thanks Dad,” I said. Wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing the top of his head. “Means a lot.”

---