Page 45 of Absorbed

Murphy followed Stacey down the hall and jumped up onto her bed.

Stacey’s hair was still damp, so she sat on her bed and blew it dry, smooth and straight. She changed into a strappy, lace-edged white tank top and a pair of 501s that made her butt look great. “Look good, feel good,” she recited, taking long, slow breaths to calm her nerves as she applied black mascara. She lined her lips with rum raisin and added pink gloss that she hoped shouted soft and kissable. The makeup complimented her tan skin and long, sun-bleached hair.

“I could have been a stand-in for Alicia Silverstone on the ‘Crazy’ road trip, right Murph?”

Murphy kept her gaze on Stacey with her muzzle on her paws. After a spritz of Guess perfume, Stacey blew a kiss at the dog, and pulled open her bedroom door. “Wish me luck!”

The clock on her nightstand glowed 7:55.

Chapter Fourteen

Jessie strolled to Stacey’s car from his apartment, whipping his still wet hair from his eyes. He was back in his basic outfit of board shorts, a wrinkled T-shirt, and a puka-shell necklace.

Way to dress for our date, dude.

Jessie got in the car, grinned, and leaned toward her. Stacey steeled herself for his kiss. Instead, he reached in the back seat, and grabbed her book of CDs.

“We need mood music,” he said, flipping through the pages.

“Good idea.” Stacey chuckled nervously and pulled the car onto the main road. “So, where do you think the best spot will be to see the meteor shower?”

“You know where Avenue A runs out, turns into a dirt road?”

Stacey nodded.

“If you keep going a half mile or so, past all the fences, there’s a clearing that’s perfect.”

“This car can’t really offroad,” Stacey said.

“Don’t worry. The path’s pretty smooth. Trust me. We’ll be fine.”

About twenty minutes of dusty, bumpy roads, and several Fugees songs later, the livestock fences ended. Stacey stopped and pulled up on the brake. She wasn’t comfortable going any further.

“This is good,” Jessie said. “Cut the lights.”

Stacey turned off the headlights and they were engulfed in total darkness. The final notes of “Killing Me Softly” played, with only the green glow of the digital clock display on the radio illuminating the space around them. Stacey leaned forward to try to look through the windshield, but could only see dried bird poop and dust on the window, and nothing but blackness beyond. Nothing like the shooting stars she’d fantasized. Nothing like the aurora borealis she’d painted.

“Should we get out?” Stacey asked, trying to remember if rattlesnakes came out at night.

Jessie pressed eject on the CD player and placed another disc in the slot. The hiss of the newly spinning disc took hold and Stacey recognized the deep voice moaning “Blue Spanish Sky.”

For two days, Stacey had imagined their next kiss would be even more romantic than the first. That there would be build up, holding hands, making a wish on a shooting star, and looking deep into Jessie’s eyes before their lips ever touched. Now, theMTV images of Chris Isaak shirtless, dark, and brooding flashed through her mind, tumbling with supermodels in the sand, the sheets, a pool. It was overwhelming. A lump formed in her throat and she scratched at the back of her neck.

She turned to look at Jessie for a clue of what she was supposed to do next. Before she opened her mouth to speak, Jessie leaned over and kissed her. His lips pushed hard. It didn’t feel the least bit romantic.

The further she tilted back, the further Jessie pressed into her, bracing himself on the steering wheel. His tongue searched deep in her mouth.

She could hardly breathe. Stacey put both hands on his chest and pushed back gently. She turned her face from his. “Whoa. Slow down.” His chest was hot and firm beneath her hands and she kept them in place.

He inched back, sheepish. “I’m sorry…I…” His eyes flashed back and forth between hers, then scanned quickly down to her cleavage. “I can’t help myself. I’ve liked you for so long. Never thought I had a chance.”

“A chance? With me?” She searched for a sign he was joking. “At the end of school you thought my name was Stephanie.”

He perched on his seat, one hand on her seat back and the other resting on the steering wheel, hovering like he was ready to pounce again. “Nah. I always knew who you were. So smart. So pretty. I had to act like I didn’t know how out of my league you were.” He grazed her cheek with his right knuckles, gently, like before that first kiss. “I thought for sure you’d turn me down if I ever asked you out.”

She shivered as his fingers ran through the strands of her hair that draped over her arm.

He rested his hand on her thigh.

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