Megan and I had only skipped two periods in my bid for some calm. Our trip out to the abandoned tracks on the outskirts of town had helped, just like it always did. Knowing exactly what I needed was one of the benefits of having a friend who knew you almost better than you knew yourself. Standing there on a cold day with an ice cream in my hand, I’d screamed to the abundant rolling fields all the things I really thought about Libby, and exactly what she could do with her claims on Dustin. I think I even surprised Megan with my colorful language—something else that could be attributed to my father and his assortment of guests who made their way through his home.

Once the ice cream was gone and my throat hurt from screaming, I knew I had to talk to Dustin before the situation became an awkward thing between the two of us. The sooner we talked this stupid faux pas out, the sooner I could move on from the guilt and nervousness that was eating me alive. Searching the school for him had become fruitless, though. Megan and I had come back in the middle of the period before lunch, and he hadn’t been where he was supposed to have been, which meant he was in one of two places. If I knew him like I thought I did, he’d have had the same idea as I did and would be waiting for me where we could talk about what had happened.

The cooling breeze tangled in my hair as I straightened from my climb to the roof of the gym. The strands whipped against my face as a gust swept past me, carrying with it the dulcet tones from a country station on the radio. Apparently, I knew Dustin better than I thought I had. When he was feeling upset about something, he always reverted to country music. Garth Brooks, in particular. The only difficulty now was figuring out exactly what he was upset about.

Standing and listening to the closing bars of the playing song, I knew I had to be the one to approach him and make apologies. So, I sucked in my breath and marched across the gravel, knowing full well the sound would give away my approach as the small stones popped and rubbed against the others under my steps.

Not bothering to knock, I pulled the door of the shack aside and peered in, finding Dustin sprawled out on the twin bed in just his jeans, one arm flung over his eyes. The warmth from the small space heater made the air in the room oppressive, but he barely seemed to notice. Dustin looked amazing half-naked, and I took all the time I had available to drink him in while I waited for him to acknowledge my presence.

“I feel your eyes on me,” he finally said in good humor, his arm dropping until his palm was resting against his chest. He held out his other hand in invitation, his eyes pleading for me to take the olive branch.

I didn’t hesitate.

I couldn’t, not when he was offering me solace and comfort after I’d been the one to lose my temper with Libby. The moment my fingers slid against his palm, his hand closed around them and pulled me to him, locking both arms around me as I landed on his front, my chest finally settling against his.  

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I figured,” I admitted, pressing my cheek against his warm chest. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper with Libby today, Dustin. The last thing I wanted to do was risk the deal you have with your dad. I just got so mad. She…”

“Wait. You think that’s what I’m upset about?” he asked, one of his hands moving to the nape of my neck and tangling with my hair. He pulled my head back gently and met my eyes. “I don’t give a shit about Libby or what she feels, Mik. I was upset because I couldn’t defend you. I couldn’t tell the people standing around and listening that you’re the one I want in my life, or that she and I are the lie. More than anything, I hated that I couldn’t follow you when you rushed off with Megan because the girl who is pretending to be my girlfriend gave me a threatening reminder of the deal she made with my father when I turned to follow.”

Dustin rolled so we were both on our sides, him hovering over me only the smallest amount, but enough to make me feel overwhelmed by his presence. One of his legs nested between the two of mine, an easy and familiar position for us both.

“I was pissed at myself because I was too much of a coward to call her out then and there like I should have.”

I couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of love that washed over me as I looked up into his eyes. He’d wanted to protect me. He’d wanted to comfort me. He wasn’t upset with me, and he understood me enough to know why my need to flee had arisen. The only thing I hated was that he felt upset with himself over the misunderstanding.

“I was jealous,” I admitted, flopping to my back and looking up at the ceiling. “Everything she said ate away at my self-control until I had only two choices.”

“Walk away or slap the shit out of her? She has that effect on most people.” Dustin rolled until he was completely hovering over me, his amusement now lighting his blue eyes. “The thing is, she’s jealous of you, Mik. She confronted you because she knows you’ve got more class and grace than she could ever have. You’re more beautiful; you’re sweet, kind, and pure-hearted. Even Troy adores you, and he’s never liked her. Libby knows these are her golden years. She knows she will never mean this much to this many people again and she feels threatened by that. She has no idea how little you want that kind of adoration. She just sees competition. She can see how much I want you, and she tries to eliminate the challenge before anyone else notices.”

“I only want one thing she has,” I whispered, reaching up and brushing my fingers along his jaw. “And that’s you.”

“You already have me.” Dustin kissed me harder than he normally would at school. The kiss was filled with promises and declarations, passion and need. This was a kiss filled with love, even if he hadn’t said the words aloud. He didn’t need to say them. I understood. I felt my love for him and his love for me in the very depths of my soul.

Heat flooded my body, channeling through my veins and pooling in the pit of my stomach. When he eventually slipped his body between my legs and rocked against me, I knew we were about to take this further than we had before in this little shack of ours.

Piece by piece our clothing came off until we were skin against skin, our breathing ragged and needy as the magnetism between us fell into place. Sex was now inevitable and welcomed. I needed to feel him as much as he needed to claim me, so I gave myself over like I always did.

I must have fallen asleep after we’d made love. That was fast becoming a habit for the two of us as we exerted ourselves, bleeding every last ounce of energy from one another until we collapsed, spent and limp-limbed. My favorite thing to do was wake up tangled with Dustin, my body aching and flesh tingling. Only this time we were at school in the middle of the day, the distant sound of gym class trickled in through the window.

“Dustin.”

“No one knows we’re here,” he whispered into my hair, already figuring out what I was panicking about. He was always so intuitive when I least expected him to be. His gentle kiss on the crown of my head had me relaxing infinitesimally. He and I were the only two with a key, and we were safe, even if I did feel really strange knowing I’d had sex with a class full of freshmen and juniors below us in the gym.

Dustin ran his fingers up and down my bare arm in slow, languid strokes as we lay there together in a comfortable silence. My thoughts were miles away from the screaming match I’d had with Libby, but as much as I hated to admit it, I would have to see her sooner or later. I wasn’t sure what to expect from her, but the slip about blackmail had more than likely tipped her off to the fact that I knew more than I should. When I felt Dustin’s slow inhalation of breath under my fingertips, I assumed that he had been thinking along the same lines, but he surprised me.

“What are you doing for Thanksgiving?” he asked, he stubbly chin catching some of my fine hair.

“Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah. It’s only a week away.”

I gave a small shrug, my fingers pausing momentarily before continuing the lazy pattern they’d been idly making. Thanksgiving was normally spent at the Hern’s house. They ate at around one and then we all took a nap before the football game started. That’s when Megan and I escaped as quickly as humanly possible. She may have enjoyed high school football, but that was her limit when it came to sports.

“I eat with Megan and her family every year.”

“Your dad doesn’t do Thanksgiving?” he asked, surprised.

“I stay away from the house on Thanksgiving. I might even sleep here. He has a party rather than the small gatherings he usually has. Fights are the norm.”

“Damn. Can I meet you here?”

“I thought that was a given.” I grinned and kissed his shoulder.

“What about Megan?” he asked thoughtfully, his fingers still moving in their pattern along my arm.

“That would be a little awkward.”

The quiet chuckle from Dustin made me smile. His laughter was always something to cherish. Often, when we were together, that happy facade he put on for the school dropped. With every day that passed, his mom was deteriorating. She was frail and weak, but her inner strength had her holding on, and Dustin was torn between the pain of seeing her so poorly and his pride in her strength of spirit. This private person who I spent so much time with was the real Dustin, and I coveted those smiles and laughs we shared because they were genuine moments of happiness during a trying time for him.

“Not what I meant.”

“I know.” I smiled, my chin resting on his shoulder as I watched him. “She’s made plans with Rob that evening. She assumed we’d be together, and I didn’t correct her because I didn’t want her changing her plans for me.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me, too,” I whispered conspiratorially. I sank back against him, but the moment was short-lived. The sound of the stones popping beyond the door had us pausing for just a second before springing from the bed and sorting through the clothes that littered the floor by the bed. When I had something of Dustin’s, I threw it over to him, and vice versa. The inclination to laugh was dampened by the very real chance of trouble that was getting closer by the second. I grabbed my hoodie and bag, kicking my shoes toward the entrance, and eventually pressing my back against the wall so I would be concealed behind the door once it was opened. Fully dressed, Dustin pulled it open, his hand white-knuckling the wood.

“Coach?”

My stomach dropped, and I froze, my heart pounding loud enough for each staccato beat to echo in my temples. If the coach came in and saw me, the school would make the correct assumptions about what the two of us had been doing in here, and they would call my dad. If he was bothered at this time of the day… Well, he’d probably yell at the principal and the principal would get the authorities involved, and I would end up in a foster home God knew where.

“Listen, kid, you’re putting me in a bind. I know you had a fight with your girl today, but you can’t just sit in here and skip classes all day.”

“I know. I just needed to cool off for a bit. It won’t happen again.”

“You’re a good kid, Dustin, but I’d prefer not to come up here and catch you doing something you shouldn’t be doing.”

“I’ll be in my next class, Sir.”

“Thanks, kid. I’ll see you in practice.”

Dustin’s shoulders sagged, and he stayed at the door as the footsteps moved farther and farther from the shack until they disappeared completely. Closing the barrier between the cold and us, he dropped his head against the wood and started laughing.

“It’s not funny.” The statement was moot as my own smile came easily. This had definitely been a near miss. A very near miss, but now the danger had passed, and I could finally breathe again, I couldn’t help but see the humor in the situation.

“That was close.”

“You think?” I giggled. “That was too close. If he’d come in here…”

“I don’t think he would have,” Dustin said thoughtfully. “Coach is a hard ass on the field, but outside of the shit he and my dad pulled, he’s a good guy. He doesn’t agree with some of the rules my dad put on me after I skipped that game, so he’s laid off a bit. I’m pretty sure he knew someone was in here with me, but he wasn’t going to embarrass us…”

“Or get you suspended from the next game,” I finished for him.

“That, too.”

I shook my head and smiled, dropping my shoes and bag to the floor so I could run my hands through my hair in an attempt to calm the rapid beating of my heart. Falling back against the wall of the shack, I tried to breathe normally through a quiet laugh. This was the first time in my life I was happy about the preferential treatment of the school’s football players. Those benefits had given me a safety net today, too.

“You okay?” Dustin asked his eyes on my face.

“I’ll let you know when my heart falls back into a normal pace,” I admitted with humor. “No more sex in Coach’s Retreat.”

“Well, fuck.” I could hear the humor in Dustin’s tone and rolled my eyes at him. Stepping toward me, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “Can we do other things?”

“You’re such a guy,” I teased, my hands resting on his arms. “What kind of things?”

Dustin’s smile answered for him, and I was sure my blush did just as good of a job in responding to his request. I wouldn’t begrudge him anything,—he should have known that, especially when his request was something I wanted just as badly. Kissing me lightly on the lips, Dustin sighed and stepped back, putting some much-needed space between us.

“We should go before he comes back. Meet you after practice tonight?”

“Sure. At the trees?” I asked, my face blank.

“Why the trees?”

“I don’t like to break my own rules,” I said, squealing as he dived toward me and pulled me up against his body.

His lips dropped to my neck and made their way up and along my jaw to my mouth, where he indulged himself in a way that promised me what was to come later. When he pulled back, he left me panting.

“The trees it is.”

We both managed to make our way out of the small shack before the next classes started, and as I slid into my seat next to Megan, I could see the humor shining at me in her eyes. I hoped that recognition was because she knew me well, rather than my calm and sated state being obvious because I wasn’t sure how to hide the white-hot glow that now resided inside my chest.

Megan slid me a note, her eyes on the teacher as though nothing was going on between us.

I see you two made up.

Smiling down at the paper, I looked around to make sure no one had noticed the exchange before scrawling a reply.

He wasn’t upset with me. He was pissed at the AW.

AW was what Megan and I called Libby. Attention Whore just seemed to fit and meant that if we were caught passing notes, it wouldn’t be revealed who we were talking about. FH—Football Hottie—was Dustin, and BB—Baseball Boyfriend—was Rob. These code names gave us complete anonymity if the notes were read out in a vindictive attempt to stop them from being passed around. We’d seen too many people fall prey to the note reading. Although the reading aloud was how we found out that one of our classmates was secretly dating her best friends brother… quite the scandal.

Megan read the note and responded.

I could have told you that. You just weren’t in the frame of mind to listen.

I smiled and wrote back.

Know it all… Thank you for today!

She didn’t respond that time. Instead, winking at me before looking back at the teacher. I noticed that one of our classmates was watching us out of the corner of his eye, and if he became too curious, he could just tell the teacher and find out what was in the note when we were forced to read it aloud. Considering most of the school had witnessed the confrontation between Libby and me, the contents were golden for the gossip mill. I still wasn’t a willing subject of the purple monkey dishwasher crowd at Childress High.

Once we’d put the paper away our classmate had nothing and knew it, so he went back to work, his attention now at the front of the class rather than on us. I smiled and looked down at my notes, realizing that I hadn’t listened to a word that had been said since I’d sat down in class. My head was somewhere else, with love warming my chest as I rested my chin on my hand. Doodling all over my notebook with little hearts, arrows… and trees.

Lots and lots of trees.