Chapter Two
Mom pulls up along the sidewalk of my private school in our luxury Cadillac, which is right in style with the other cars dropping their kids off. Looking out the window, I see Marie, my best friend, waiting in the drop-off zone for me, as usual. Her head turns in our direction, and when she spots our vehicle she smiles brightly, waving as the car comes to a stop. Her appearance matches mine at the moment: dark hair brushed straight down, a white polo, and grey skirt, both ensembles without a wrinkle in sight.
“Have a good day at school,” Mom drones her usual spiel on auto-pilot while I open the passenger door.
Stepping out, I bend a little to look back in the car. “I will—and don’t forget I don’t need a ride home.”
“I remember,” Mom replies, then looks around me to address my best friend. Mom yells out, “Hi, Marie,” while waving her hand like a madwoman.
If they only knew! I keep quiet, but roll my eyes.
“Hi, Mrs. Reynolds,” Marie responds politely as I shut the car door. She takes my hand in hers, and off we go to the girl’s bathroom.
“How was dress shopping this weekend?” Marie asks while applying her blue eyeshadow, teasing her brown hair into a ratted mess, then using enough hairspray to make me cough up a lung. She then rolls up her school uniform skirt a few times. This is Marie’s morning routine, and before we leave school she will wash off the makeup, tame her hair, and pull the skirt back down to return to the innocent girl she portrays to both her parents and mine.
“Boring. You wouldn’t believe the dress they are making me wear for the wedding.” I grimace in the school’s bathroom mirror while watching her primp and prep, wishing I could be more like her.
“I can imagine.” Marie’s green eyes cut to mine in the mirror. She pats her lips together, fluffs her hair once more, and gives herself another good look before spinning to face me. She smiles. “Ready?”
Nodding, I walk over and open the bathroom door. We step into the busy hallway amongst our peers as we rush to first period.
Marie has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Our fathers work together and our mothers plan events together. Unlike me, Marie is wild, rebellious, and outgoing. Our parents don’t know what she is really like, or mine would never allow me to be friends with her. As for hers, they’d lock Marie up and ground her for life. Even though we’re so different, our friendship works, and she uses me as an excuse a lot of times to go to parties, but I don’t mind so much. I don’t have any other friends outside of school, so I let her use me for her own social benefit.
My first three classes have gone by in a blur, my mind distracted. I keep thinking about Snake and how it all seems unreal. Did I really hop on the back of his motorcycle, ride off, and spend hours with him? Or was it all a dream? I guess I’ll find out when school is over. I told my mom that I was going to stay after to work on a project—lucky for me, she bought it.
“I made out with Billy at a party Saturday night,” Marie gushes as we stand in the lunch line, waiting to grab our trays of food.
“Billy! As in, most popular boy in school Billy?” My mouth has got to be hitting the floor and my eyes are probably the size of saucers at her unexpected news. I know better than to ask her if they are dating—Marie never dates.
“Are you going to see him again?” I question, grabbing my tray with today’s meatloaf special. It doesn’t look too appetizing. Scrunching up my nose, I give the lunch lady at the end of the line my number and she charges it to my lunch account.
Marie and I walk to our normal table in the middle and off to the left. We are the only two that sit at this table. I remember the days we used to fantasize about being with the in-crowd. Nowadays Marie is in on the weekends, but I am still sitting on the outside, living through her stories.
Shrugging her shoulder, Marie answers, “I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see what happens next weekend. Speaking of the weekend, what else did you do besides the gnarly dress shopping?” Marie takes a sip from her milk carton.
Postponing, I take a bite of my wheat roll and chew, contemplating whether I want to tell her or not. I decide I’d better do it in case it becomes my turn to use her for an excuse. “I met a guy.” I don’t make eye contact with her, afraid my blushing will be evident.
Marie starts coughing and my eyes shoot to hers in concern.
“Are you okay?”
Waving me off, she repeats, “You met a guy?” She has to clear her throat from the sudden choking I caused her.
Beaming a smile, I nod my head.
“Details! I need details!” She smiles right along with me. I go over every detail from Saturday after I walked out of the bridal store.
“Holy shit, Vic! I never thought you would be such a rebel.” She laughs, but adds, “Just be careful. The nice girl and the bad boy never work out, so don’t put your heart in it.” An unexplainable expression passes over her features before her smile is back in place.
Way to burst my bubble, best friend!
“I’m not falling in love, Marie. It was nice to get away—besides, who knows if he’s even going to show up today.” Shrugging my shoulder, I continue to eat my lunch quietly.
I know Marie is looking out for me and all, but I don’t express my feelings on her easy ways. Is it so wrong that I would like my best friend to just be happy for me for once?
Last period feels like it takes a decade to end. Five minutes before the bell rings, Mr. Johnson ends literature class with a homework assignment of reading the first five chapters of our assigned book this week and preparing review questions for the next day’s class. Mr. Johnson is a short, overweight man with white hair who looks close to retirement age. He is by far my toughest teacher.
After the final bell rings, I meet Marie outside of the government classroom, then we go to our lockers to drop off the books we don’t need, putting the rest in our backpacks. Then, we walk outside.
“I guess the bad boy showed,” Marie announces with a little snippiness.
“Yes, he did!” I can’t help the excitement and my ear-to-ear smile at seeing Snake leaning against his motorcycle, a cigarette hanging from his lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I throw over my shoulder as I jog towards Snake. I can’t take my eyes off of him. He looks better than I remember. Cute doesn’t fit him; he’s too manly for such a word. Ruggedly handsome, dangerously sexy… Yes, those are perfect to describe the man waiting for me.
“You ready to ride?” His dazzling smile warms my heart. His arms wrap around my waist and he spins me in a circle, making me giggle like the seventeen-year-old girl I am.
“I’m ready,” I respond when he sets me back on my feet.
Before Snake grabs his helmet, he shows me his wrist—which is now sporting a watch. “So you won’t be late for dinner.”
That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. “Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me. I liked spending time with you Saturday and if you get in trouble, I can’t do that. So, really, I’m doing it for my own selfish reasons.” He pushes the helmet down on my head, not letting me respond. Getting in position behind Snake, I look towards the school once more before we take off. Marie is standing there, watching us with that unexplainable expression again.
Today we didn’t stop anywhere; we just rode for a couple of hours. I love being on the back of his motorcycle. I feel so free, without a care in the world, and my smile doesn’t falter until Snake drops me off two blocks away from home. He helps me to stand, and I’m glad I’m not so unsteady this time.
Instead of letting my hand go, he keeps ahold of it.
My heart slams inside my chest and butterflies have started swarming in my belly. He pulls me close so I’m standing between his thighs as he leans against the motorcycle. Lacing our fingers together, his eyes search for something I’m not sure of.
“Tomorrow?” he questions, looking unsure.
“Tomorrow,” I state. Biting the corner of my bottom lip, I try to hide my excitement, but my happiness is evident. With his other hand, Snake reaches up and pushes a few stray hairs behind my ear. Cupping my cheek, he runs his thumb back and forth over my heated flesh.
My smile falters and my breathing hitches; our eyes are glued to one another as he starts to lean in. “Are you going to kiss me?” I whisper, already knowing the answer.
Snake nods. I close my eyes, and his soft, wet lips land on mine. I swear, in this moment my heart could leap right out of my chest because of how fast it’s beating. It’s my first kiss, and I have no idea what to do, so I let him lead.
Snake’s tongue pushes against my lips, so I open willingly and let him invade my mouth. His tongue slowly slides against mine, causing a funny feeling—not bad, though. No, it’s definitely a really good feeling, and it’s affecting other parts of my body. I’m flushed, tingly, throbbing, and needy. I follow his movements, letting them guide my tongue to do exactly what his does. My free hand lands on his chest, and I move it up until I grip the back of his long hair. Snake gently bites down on my bottom lip, then pulls away. I want to fight against stopping, I want to beg for him to kiss me again, and I want to stay out here with him all night long, but I can’t. I have to get home.
“Tomorrow,” he says confidently this time.
“Tomorrow,” I confirm. Our hands stay connected until I’m almost forced to let go, but he pulls me back against him.
“I can’t wait.” His lips crash down on mine once again.
“Me either,” I mumble when we break apart. We smile at each other, and this time we really do let go. Just like Saturday night, he waits until I’m opening my front door before he pulls away, but tonight I’m not late for dinner.
The rest of the week went by in a flash between going to school, spending time with Snake, and talk of Emily’s wedding. Mom is so consumed by every little detail—which invitation design to pick, what flowers would look best, the best color of tablecloths—that she barely notices I’m hardly home. I am on time every night so as not to give her reason to question me, but I haven’t needed to give any excuses since the third day. I just told her I would be spending a lot of time between staying after school, hitting the library, and hanging at Marie’s—it sufficed, and I have yet to get caught in my lies.
Snake picks me up every day after school and we spend our time riding or going to the pond, which is where we are now on this beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon.
“Where you see yourself in the future?” Snake asks while skipping rocks.
“Finishing up school then going to college, maybe being a journalist or a writer.” I laugh. “I don’t really know yet. I’m just ready to be out of my parents’ house and on my own. Living for myself instead of all the rules my mother expects me to abide by. What about you?” I question, watching him walk back over and take his seat next to me. He grabs my hand and entwines our fingers.
“Eventually I’ll become a patched-in member for the Cobras, maybe be president one day. Never really thought about it until now—I always just lived in the moment.” His thumb lightly rubs along my knuckles. Taking a deep breath, Snake looks out at the water. “When you go away to college, what does that mean for us?”
Gazing in his direction, I don’t know how to answer; it’s only been a week since we first met, and it seems presumptuous to assume that we would even be thinking about a future together… But for some reason it feels right with Snake.
Since our first kiss, we’ve had a lot of make-out sessions, but he never tries to take it further than that. Maybe that’s because of my age, but the truth is I’m not ready to lose my virginity yet, so I’m relieved. My feelings grow stronger for Snake each day we spend together, but I’m just not ready for that step yet. His question has stunned me; we haven’t talked about feelings or what we are exactly. “I don’t know, Snake, is there an us?”
His confidence wavers and a shyness washes over him that seems unnatural on someone like him. “I like you a lot and I love spending time with you. I’ve never had a girlfriend before; I never really cared about getting to know a woman on a personal level. You’re different, though, and from that first day you intrigued me. I wanted to know more about you. If I was to have a girlfriend, I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else. And now I’m fucking rambling because I don’t know how to do this.” Snake laughs, and his blue eyes connect with my hazel ones.
“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” I ask teasingly, but my heart is galloping like a racehorse, and those pesky butterflies are swarming in my belly again. It happens a lot when I’m in the presence of this man.
“Yeah, I guess I am.” Giving me a dazzling smile, he brings my hand up to his lips, grazing them lightly across my knuckles.
“Then I would love to.” My wide smile matches his. Snake moves in close, his lips descending on mine.
We spend the rest of the day soaking up the sun, kissing the hours away, and getting to know each other a little better.
“Now that you’re my girl, I want you to come meet the guys at the club. We’re having a BBQ next weekend, will you come?” Snake asks when we’re standing at our drop-off spot a couple blocks from my house.
I hesitate for a second because it makes me nervous thinking about going to a club with a bunch of bikers. I don’t know what to expect. I know Snake would never let me get hurt, but it’s still scary thinking about it. “Can I bring a friend?” Having Marie with me may ease some of my discomfort.
“Sure.”
“Okay, then yes I will go.” He gives me that gorgeous smile, then pulls me in for one last kiss of the evening before letting me go.