A short story

First off, apologies for the long silence. I promise I'll try to do better. I've written a little story which I've entitled "Seventeen" and it may or may not be based on true events. I hope it brings you back to a time when you were seventeen. I hope you enjoy it.

The text message said, “Hey I’m headed up your way. Can I stop in and see you?” ;-)”

She had been crushing on him since she was only thirteen but they had never taken their friendship past the flirting stage. He was a couple years older. Worldly. Hot. The sexual tension was almost tangible as she tapped back: “You can’t. My parents are home.”

“Aren’t they asleep?”

She bit back another smile. “Yeah. They are.” She paused. Then in a desire to live boldly, she wrote, “I think I could sneak outside for a few minutes and see you if you wanted.”

“Be there in about five minutes.”

She urgently wrote, “Pull in across the street, not in our driveway. My parents will hear. And shut off your lights.”

Heart pounding, she popped a stick of gum in her mouth, chewed hard and swirled it across her teeth. Then she spit it out and checked her hair in the mirror. Not that he would be able to see in the darkness anyway. Then she turned off the light in her room and slowly opened the door and peered out. Nothing but silent darkness. 

Like a SWAT team member clearing a building, she crept down the hall and through the living room to the front door. She slowly opened the dead bolt. Still only silence. She turned the knob slowly, ears perked for any sound from her parents’ room. Suddenly her phone buzzed in her pocket. The sound seemed to echo off the walls. She jumped and pulled it out quickly. The screen lit up the dark room.

“I can’t wait to see you.”

Her grin nearly split her face in half. She turned the knob on the door again, more determined this time. Her heart seemed caught in her throat and her hands were trembling, but it was a good kind of nervous, she thought.

When the latch clicked open, she slowly pulled on the door. She was sure it had never creaked this loudly before. When it was open just enough that she thought she could go through, she turned sideways and slipped outside. A cricket chirped somewhere and she thought she heard the hoot of an owl.

She was finally outside. She dashed across the driveway. Suddenly a light came on in the living room. He stomach nearly ended up in her mouth as she stepped behind a tree, praying that no one had seen her. After a moment she peered out. Her mom was in the living room, looking out the window. She looked across the street. His truck was there and she saw his shadowy figure headed up the driveway towards her. In a moment, her mother would catch sight of him. She wondered if she could get to him before her dad got his shotgun. She suddenly had visions of throwing herself in front of the bullet to save him from her father’s wrath. Of her funeral, when everyone would appreciate her sacrifice. When the boy that came down the driveway now would plant a kiss on her cold, pale lips as she lay in the coffin.

But luckily, no sacrifice was needed. Her mother turned off the light and went back into the bedroom. She flew out from behind the tree and then nonchalantly approached him with a smile.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.” He put his arms out and she gave him a hug as she had done hundreds of times before. The sharp smell of men’s deodorant and vaguely behind it, the slight musty smell of beer.

“Let’s go back across the street. I don’t want my parents to hear us.”

They hurried across the darkened road. A light rain began to fall.

“How you doing?” he asked.

“Better now.” Somehow that line sounded more seductive in the movies.

He held her close, and bend his head to her neck. She felt lips against the side of the cheek and her heart swelled against her chest. She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. Then, all at once, his mouth was on hers. She kissed him back, hard and passionately and the feeling of his lips made her knees feel like jelly.

They kissed for a few minutes and then she said,

“I have to go.” She was afraid that her parents would notice she was gone and spoil this beautiful night.

He stroked her cheek. “Alright. But you’ll text me, right?”

“Of course.” She smiled up at him and then turned to leave. He grabbed at her hand and pulled her back towards him. She spun around and, like two magnets that do not have to be aligned, their lips found each other again in a hard kiss. For a moment she worried she cut her lip on her teeth but she didn’t really care. Then she turned and waved goodbye and hurried back towards her house.

As she slowly crept back inside, repeating the motions she had done only a few minutes ago, her phone buzzed again.

“Damn you’re a good kisser.” was all it said.