Page 64 of Honey Pot

The front street was quiet, with only the occasional street lamp to guide my way back to the path that led to my house. It was only a fifteen-minute walk, but the further I got down the street, the more apparent it became that Kiefer had listened to what they had to say and, yet again, I was alone.

“Aye, Matthews!” His voice echoed against the night sky, tangling with the breeze that pushed through the treetops. “Where are you going? My twenty minutes aren't up!”

I turned to see him jogging down the road. “It’s been over,” I said, shaking my head at him.

“Nope! You aren’t allowed to count the two minutes those assholes wasted.” He shrugged with a smile on his face that screamed‘I’m sorry.’

“I told you I don’t really fit in at parties like that, Kiefer. You tried, and the effort was noted. I’ll see you in class next semester,” I said with my arms wrapped around my body.

“No, hey.” He shook his head. “That was my bad.” He pulled off his hat, rubbing his hand over his neck, and looked up at me from the ground. “I should have asked you on a real date. I was just being a coward and thought having people around would make you more comfortable, but now…” He trailed off as he came to stand toe to toe with me. “I should have just listened to you.”

My heart stopped at his confession. No boy had ever talked to me that way.

No boy except Cael.

“Are you cold?” He asked, brushing a finger down my arm. I shook my head. I just wanted to curl in on myself and become as small as possible at that moment. “Will you then?”

“Will I what?” I asked him.

“Let me take you on a date?” He laughed, hat still hanging from his fingertips as the wind tangled in his dark hair.

“Uh…” I opened and closed my mouth.

“Please?”

“I snuck out to come here tonight because my Daddy doesn’t really let me… do fun teenager things?” I confessed, and my cheeks flushed.

“You go out with Cody all the time?” He questioned, and he wasn’t wrong about his assumption.

“There’s a rule that I’m not allowed to go out with anyone that my Daddy doesn’t know.”

“Then I’ll come meet him.” Kiefer shrugged. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow in the afternoon. We can go to a movie. I’ll have you home before the sun sets.” He stared at me, his face begging me not to say no to him.

“Are you sure?” I asked in disbelief.

“Let me make up for tonight?” He pleaded. “One movie, and I’ll meet your Daddy if that's the stipulation to get you out, pretty girl.”

CODY

“You’re more screwed than I thought.” Dean was still lying in my bed, his hands under his head. The sun pushed through the curtains and bathed his naked torso in warmth, highlighting the spots where Clementine’s nails had marked him the night before.

She hadn’t been so inclined to stay.

“Are you sure you’re not upset about last night?” I asked him, suddenly feeling too far away.

“It hasn’t been easy, Cael.” He looked up at me, and there was a pang of sadness that vibrated off of him. “But it was fun. I’m figuring things out about myself I didn’t really understand. But I don’t know,” he swallowed, “seeing her with you yesterday, seeing…” He stopped and sat up so we were at eye level. “You’ve been different. Happier. We’ve all noticed. You haven’t slipped, not once since she’s been here.”

“Don’t do that, don’t attach my recovery to her,” I said lazily, putting my hand out. “I understand what you're saying, but I’ve been working hard before she got here.”

“Yeah no, man, you have been. But she’s made iteasier,” Dean said quietly, “and Cael.” he scooted forward to take my face in his large hands, calloused from the bat. They scratch my skin in the best way as he lifts my chin to look at him. “It’s alright that she has.”

“Is it?” I narrowed my eyes at him because it didn’t feel alright. “I enjoy the game we're playing, it’s fun.”

“But?” Dean asked,reading me like a book as I paused. A few tufts of his sweet blond hair fall against his forehead, and it takes everything in me not to be soft with him.

My heart aches. I wish I could love him the way he deserves.

“Do you know why she won’t kiss me?”

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