Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)(6)

"Dammit, Will! Butterflying kiss me already!"

I release her hands and she grabs my face and pulls my mouth to hers. We continue kissing until we get to the ‘point of retreat,’ as Lake likes to call it. She climbs out from under me and sits up on her knees as I roll onto my back and remain in the floor. We don’t like to get carried away when we aren’t the only ones in the house. It’s so easy to do. When we catch ourselves taking things too far, one of us always calls retreat.

Before Julia passed away, we made the mistake of taking things too far, too soon…a crucial mistake on my part. It was just two weeks after we started officially dating and Caulder was staying the night at Kel’s house. Lake and I came back to my place after a movie. We started making out on the couch and one thing led to another…neither of us willing to stop it. We weren’t having sex, but we would have eventually if Julia wouldn’t have walked in when she did. She completely flipped out. We were mortified. She grounded Lake and wouldn’t let me see her for two weeks. I probably apologized a million times in those two weeks.

She eventually sat us down together and made us swear we would wait at least a year. She made Lake get on the pill, and made me look her in the eyes and give her my word. She wasn’t upset about the fact that her eighteen-year-old daughter almost had sex. Julia was fairly reasonable and knew it would happen eventually. What hurt her was that I was so willing to take that from Lake in such a short time frame, after only two weeks of dating. It made me feel incredibly guilty, so of course I agreed to the promise. She also wanted us to set a good example for Kel and Caulder and made us swear we wouldn’t spend the night at each other’s houses during that timeframe either. After Julia passed away, we’ve stuck to our word. More out of respect for Julia, than anything. Lord knows it’s more than difficult sometimes. A lot of times.

We haven’t discussed it, but last week was exactly a year since we made that promise to Julia. I don’t want to rush Lake into anything. I want it to be completely up to her, so I haven’t brought it up. Neither has she. But then again, we haven’t really been alone, either.

“Point of retreat,” she says and stands up. “I’ll see you tomorrow night. Seven o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“Go find your phone and text me goodnight,” I tell her.

She opens the door and faces me as she backs out of the house, slowly pulling the door shut. “One more time?” she says.

“I love you, Lake.”

Friday, January 6th, 2012

I’m giving Lake her present in a little while. I’m not even sure what it is, since it’s not something I picked out. I can’t write any more right now, my hands are shaking. How the hell do these dates still make me nervous? I’m so pathetic.

Chapter 2

“Boys, no backwards tonight. You know Gavin can’t keep up when you guys talk backwards.” I wave goodbye and shut the door behind them.

It’s almost seven. I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, then grab my keys and jacket and head to my car. I can see her watching from the window. She probably doesn’t realize this, but I could always see her watching from the window. Especially in the months before we were officially dating. Every day I would come home and I would see her shadow. It’s what gave me hope that one day we would be able to be together…the fact that she still thought about me. After our fight in the laundry room though, she never watched from the window again. I thought I’d screwed everything up for good.

I back out of the driveway and straight into hers. I leave the car running and walk around to open the door for her. When I get back inside the car, I get a whiff of her perfume. It’s the vanilla one…my favorite.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

“You’ll see. It’s a surprise,” I say as I pull out of her driveway. Rather than turn onto the street, I pull up right into my own driveway. I kill the ignition and run around to her side of the car and open the door.

“What are you doing, Will?”

I take her hand and pull her out of the car. “We’re here.” I love the look of confusion on her face, so I spare the details.

“You asked me out on a date to your house? I got dressed up, Will! I want to go somewhere.”

She’s whining. I laugh and take her hand and walk her inside. “No, you made me ask you out on a date. I never said we were going anywhere. I just asked if you had plans.”

I've already cooked supper so I walk into the kitchen and get our plates. Rather than sit at the table to eat, I take the plates to the coffee table in the living room. She pulls her jacket off and seems a little disappointed. I continue to elude her while I make our drinks, then take a seat in the floor with her.

“I’m not trying to seem ungrateful,” she says with a mouthful of pasta. “It’s just that we never get to go anywhere anymore. I was looking forward to doing something different.”

I take a drink and wipe my mouth. “Babe, I know what you mean. But tonight has sort of already been planned out for us.” I toss another breadstick on her plate.

“What do you mean planned out for us? I’m not following,” she says.

I don’t respond. I just continue eating.

“Will, just tell me what’s going on, your evasiveness is making me nervous.”