Page 31 of Never Forever

Which left me with the truth.

“Not really,” I mumbled and sat down across from him.

“Are you having sex?”

“No. I swear.” I said in a rush, feeling the heat surge up my cheeks. “I mean…not really.”

The other night Carrie had asked to see my dick. I showed her and came so hard we had to clean off the windshield. She didn’t even touch me. It was so embarrassing. It didn’t matter how many times I jerked off before I saw her, I was always hard around her.

I was just so fucking into her.

“I assume this is about Carrie?”

“How do you even know that?” I asked.

We’d been so completely under the radar. Even on the ferry, Carrie always made sure to smile and be nice to my dad, while completely ignoring me.

“I’ve got eyes, haven’t I? You’ve been gone for that girl since you were kids. You’re not fooling anyone pretending you don’t see each other on the boat. I may not have a grand job, but I’m not stupid, son.”

“Yes. Okay. Carrie and I are seeing each other. We have been since June.” It was such a relief to tell him. Everything. It had been so hard keeping all this happiness a secret from him.

“So,” he finally said, when I stopped telling him how amazing she was and how we met most nights at the bandshell and how I was so sorry I’d been lying to him. “You’re not having sex. Yet.” He nudged the condom box. “You’re just being prepared.”

I nodded.

“That’s fine, son. Good. A man should be prepared. But it’s the secrecy that’s bothering me. It’s not like you to keep secrets from me. So, I’m thinking it’s her mother you’re hiding this from.”

“Carrie said her mom doesn’t want her to date.”

He snorted. “Cecelia has an agenda for her daughter and she’ll fight anyone who gets in her way. Just know she can be…ruthless.”

That seemed a little dramatic.

Dad pushed the box of condoms toward me. “All right then. Don’t be stupid and wrap it up every time. Every. Time. Carrie’s not the only one with a bright future. Your coach thinks you could get scholarship money. Go to college-”

“Dad, that’s not happening,” I said. Because a scholarship seemed like a pipe dream, and beyond that, I wasn’t leaving Dad the way Mom did.

“Son, you will break my heart if you don’t take every opportunity given to you. There’s no future for a young man driving a ferry boat in Calico Cove.”

I didn’t argue, but that night I started to wonder what life looked like after high school. I knew what was in store for Carrie, and the idea of her going away to make movies or TV shows didn’t bother me. As long as she always came home to me.

But what did I really want? Something away from Calico Cove?

I was a good student. Really good at the decathlon. I didn’t know how far I could go, but maybe it was time to think of places outside of the nine coves I knew.

I was waitingin my usual spot under the huge oak tree across the street from the high school. Carrie and Annie walked to school together from the ferry. Now that Annie was a freshman, I no longer had to worry about her during her lunch time. Carrie would walk her inside the school first, then come out and meet me here in our spot just to say good morning.

And to make out. Of course.

Except today it wasn’t Carrie, but Annie who approached me. She had a weird expression on her face that didn’t bode well.

“Is everything okay? Where’s Carrie?”

“She’s not feeling well so she stayed home. She told me to give you this. She said she didn’t want to just send you a text.”

Annie passed me a note. A fucking note, written on paper.

“She said she’s sorry and please don’t be mad. It’s really not her fault, Matt.”

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