Page 95 of You've Got a Place Here, Too
Still, I have to get her alone. I look into her eyes, full of passion, and that’s when I notice her chest still rising and falling rapidly.
I remember I have Jared’s keys.
“Let’s go outside and talk,” I whisper in her ear.
She nods, but before we reach the door, she finds her friend and tells her she’s stepping out. Her roommate looks at her, then me, in shock. Lynetta laughs. “Take a chill pill, I’ll find you at let out!”
Outside, I escort us toward Jared’s Cadillac.
“You want to keep walkin’—” she says, until she watches me dangle keys from my pocket.
“Oh, excuse me. Upgrade?”
“My friend’s,” I say, chuckling while opening the back door. “Let’s sit in the back so we can talk in a warm car.” She gives me a look. “What?” I respond to her questioning eyes.
Then she looks around nervously before getting inside. I do the same, making sure no one sees her with me to start homecoming gossip I don’t want on her name, and cops aren’t around to bust us doing anything we shouldn’t.
She investigates the burgundy velvet interior as I lean over the front seat and stick the key in the ignition. “This car is…expensive. I bet he hooks up with girls all the time back here.”
“Who knows, but this is one of his three cars that he’s had on campus, so maybe not as many girls as you think.”
“One of three?” she exclaims.
“Yeah,” I respond, laughing. “His parents have serious money.”
“Rich kid problems,” she says, folding her arms. Then we gaze into each other’s eyes, and hers grow soft.
For me.
Hoping after tonight’s dance we do a few things we shouldn’t.
“You look fresh tonight, Lynetta,” I say as we settle into the back seat, her crimped hair nestled past her shoulders. “Quite different from freshman year.”
“You were checking hard for me at that pinning ceremony, stop playing. Talkin’ ’bout someI can’t wait to see you again,” she says, imitating a low voice that sounds nothing like mine.
“That’s not what I said!” I say, laughing. “And that’snothow I talk.”
“I’m horrible at impressions,” she responds, shrugging.
“You do look the same,” I say. “Still as beautiful as the first day I met you. Just more mature. More you.”
She smiles.
Lynetta
I know it’s the Manhattan. And it’s homecoming, and the car speakers are playing The Whispers’ “Lady,” and as much as I want to listen to my mama, I just don’t care. He seems sincere and I’m tired of wondering what’s going on between us. So, I grab his shirt and pull him near to me.
And he does the rest.
The next thing I’m feeling is his lips. He first presses them on my cheek, which causes my teeth to clench. My body trembles as his lips move to trail my neck, back to my jawbone, then meeting my chin, and finally the sensation of his mouth meeting mine. Pushing closer.
He practically lifts me from the back seat, and I can’t swing my leg across his lap fast enough, straddling him. His fingers grip my waist tight while our lips connect, until our mouths part, and I feel the tip of his tongue. I’m eager to lift his shirt over his head and lower my straps, taking him right here in the back seat of his friend’s car.
I want to…
But I can’t.
I pull away and face him.
