CHAPTER 11

“Why did you do that?” Dawn asked, a bit flustered.

“You didn’t want me to?”

“I, I…I guess I did.”

“You guess?” he asked.

Dawn looked up at him and smiled. He was smiling knowingly down at her. Most people would have been surprised to know that they had never kissed in all these years. People at school assumed they had done much more since he had nothing to do with anyone else and they were always together. The truth was that even though she had wanted him to, he had never tried to kiss her and she had never tried to kiss him.

Perhaps she had been afraid of rejection. It was easy enough to assume he had not done so because he just wanted to be friends. Even their recent admission that they loved one another could easily be construed as platonic.

“I don’t have to do it again,” he said, pulling away from her.

“Yes, you do,” she replied, putting her hand on his face and pulling him closer into another kiss.

Dawn felt something she had never experienced before, something she had only heard the other girls whispering about when they thought no one could hear. She knew all about sex and how it worked. She had seen their memories with boys at school. Some of them had beautiful memories. Some, not so good, and still others were horrible thoughts about unwanted advances or worse.

It all left her with a curiosity, but one she was in no hurry to explore. What if the one guy she loved most in the world turned out to be like one of their bad experiences? She couldn’t imagine him being unkind to her, but he was just as inexperienced as she was. Though he had always done his best to keep thoughts about sex away from her, she had seen them from time to time and knew he was a virgin like her.

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway drove them apart. They quickly sat upright on the sofa and smoothed themselves down for a moment in an effort to pretend like nothing had been happening.

“We’re supposed to be doing homework,” Liam said guiltily.

“Right!” Dawn replied, hurrying over to kitchen table with him in tow.

They opened books and went back to work, already engrossed in picking up where they left off by the time Dawn’s mom came in the door with her arms full of packages.

“Oh, I’ll help you with those!” Liam said, jumping up and reaching out to help her.

“I’ve got these, Liam, but there are some more in the car if you don’t mind grabbing those for me.”

“No problem,” he told her.

Dawn smiled as he walked out and her mother began babbling about how bad traffic had been. She was still waffling on as Liam came back in with the rest of the bags and sat them on the counter.

“Do you have a lot more homework to do?”

“A bit,” Dawn admitted.

“Then I’ll let you guys get back to work while I finish up dinner. You are staying to eat, aren’t you, Liam?”

“You know I am, Mrs. McCord,” Liam replied.

Dawn noticed that even though talking to her mother, his eyes never left her for a moment. She could feel his heart, and it was full of love, a love that she returned wholeheartedly. They settled back into their work, their legs touching softly beneath the table. Dawn’s father came home and joined them after a while.

“Everything okay?” Dawn’s mother asked.

“Yeah, just had to gather up the council to make a decision on the boys that bullied the young man that died.”

“Harlan?” Dawn asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Yes, Harlan.”

“What will be done to them?” her mother continued.

“Unfortunately, most of them will escape without more than a slap on the wrists.”

“What? How? They deserve to be punished!” Dawn complained.

“I agree, but we just don’t have the evidence to do anything to them with the exception of Tommy, and we can only charge him for assault based on the accounts of witnesses.”

“Assault? He murdered him!” Dawn protested.

“Dawn, it’s not that simple.”

“It is in the eyes of the council. He will spend five years in jail and be exiled upon his release.”

“Five years for taking the life of someone who was weaker than him, someone who did nothing wrong,” Dawn barked back.

“I’m afraid you’re not going to get any disagreement from me, but it’s not my decision. We have a justice system here like anywhere else. We all must abide by it.”

“It’s not right.”

“Right or wrong, it’s out of our hands.”

Dawn scowled at him. Liam was frowning as well, but what could they do or say to really change anything? Five years and exile would have to do.

“Okay. Enough of this talk. Liam and Dawn, if you’ll clear your homework away, we’ll get dinner on the table. Some nice, hot food will do everyone some good,” her mother told them.

Dawn and Liam did as asked, putting their things in the den and returning to a table filled with delicious food. Everyone settled into their meal and conversation about anything but the situation with Harlan and Tommy, though Dawn knew all of them were thinking about it in some way. When dinner was over, Liam excused himself to go home, and Dawn walked him to the door.

Her parents laughed in the kitchen as they cleared away the dishes together. Dawn knew she was lucky to have parents that not only loved one another very much but always seemed to be having a lot of fun together. She couldn’t help but wonder if she and Liam would one day be that happy together as she kissed him goodnight, something that was new but that she felt like she could get quite used to.

“Goodnight, Liam.”

“Goodnight, turd.”

Dawn chuckled as she shut the door. At least some things didn’t change. She was still Liam’s favorite turd.