Page 38 of Old Acquaintances

My mother piped up, “Whatishe doing?”

The adults stared at us with differing degrees of concern and amusement.

Jake snorted a laugh.

“It’s kind of a Room 1011, Room 1012 inside joke,” Gavin answered.

Lori nodded slowly, watching me flinch when Tucker’s hand landed on my knee. She said, “Okay…just, um, keep an ear out for thoseuh-ohwords.”

I peeled Tucker’s hand off of me, pushed my chair back, and announced, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Me, too,” he said.

I glowered at him when he stood up beside me.

“Separate bathrooms,” my mother reminded. “Be back infive minutes or I’m sending someone to look in all the broom closets.”

Gracie laughed, and I groaned, “Mom.”

On the walk to the bathroom, as we passed the table next door, Tucker put his hand on my lower back. I hurried out of his touch, thinking of what Hattie said about the plethora of girls at home who would die to have Elijah Tucker’s hands on them. I thought about the girls who already had.

As always, I was nothing but a joke to him. He made a show out of pretending to be my boyfriend, just because I had the boldness to like a boy on a summer vacation. Tucker couldn’t even give me one harmless night of flirtation with someone I’d never see again, all because he liked messing with me, making fun of me.

We walked down the long, wide hallway from the restaurant.

“Ella, wait,” Tucker called from behind me.

“Leave me alone.”

I heard him jog up behind me. Suddenly, his hand wrapped around mine and before I could shake him off, he tugged me with him through a door onto the nearest deck. It was empty, the sun was setting behind lifeboats. He took me with him across shuffleboard lines painted onto the wood and we paused on the side of the boat.

The pink sky reflected on his nervous face. “Wait,” he said. He spun me around. His hand on my shoulders, I silently obeyed his guidance when he set me against the wall.

My mouth went dry.

Tucker leaned down, his voice shaky, and said, “Just once. Okay? Push me off if you don’t want me to and I’ll never do it again. Okay?”

Before I could speak, his mouth landed on mine.

My eyes were wide open, staring at his eyelashes. His handsmoved down my arms, pinning them to my sides. Then, they moved further, to my hands. He hovered over me, his fingers twisted with mine, and his mouth opened, pulling me closer to him.

Surprisingly, no thoughts came to mind. I didn’t think what he was doing or how I felt about it, I just…gave in.

I closed my eyes and freed my fingers, gliding them to his elbows. Tucker moved his hands to my hips and kept kissing me, long and slow, until his tongue plunged into my mouth, and I gasped.

He pulled away. I blinked my eyes open, both of us wide-eyed and terrified, and I bit my bottom lip. He looked at it.

“One more time,” he muttered.

This time, he came at me fast. My arms wrapped around his neck and my mouth fell open to him. He pushed me up against the wall, one hand coming to my leg. He stroked my tongue with his and his hand moved up to my butt, squeezing the side of it. He sighed against my mouth. My chest pressed against him, and Tucker took my hips, pushing them away from him.

“Eli,” I whimpered when his lips ripped from mine.

He breathed heavily, running his hands down my sides, staring at my blue dress. His eyes darted back and forth, not able to meet mine. Then, he reached back for my wrists and pulled them from his neck, stepping back. “You go first.”

My face burned with mortification when he turned around and pulled on his pant leg. I covered my mouth, walking slowly back to the dining room, my sandals smacking against the deck,

Tucker had just kissed me, and I never saw it coming.One time,he had said. I imagine his brothers might have had the same conversation with him that Hattie did me, urging him to kiss me just to try it.

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