Grace age 16
Noah age 17
I finally have what I’ve always wanted. I know not to take it for granted.
I’ll savor her, treat her like the jewel that she is in my eyes.
She’s everything and more… So much more.
I might still be young, but I know what I want.
N.P.
I wasn’t the only one in a good mood Saturday morning. Dad twirled Mom around in the living room, saying a bunch of gooey crap that had me shaking my head and smiling. “Okay, what’s going on?” I asked as I maneuvered around them to flop down on the sofa. Gus was wagging his tail and attacking their feet.
Mom was laughing and swatting at Dad. “Your father remembered that our anniversary is today, it seems,” she told me.
“Nineteen years. Doesn’t seem like it’s been that long,” Dad muttered with a kiss to her lips. “Still feels like the first time.”
I covered my ears. “Y’all are being too ooey-gooey this morning.”
They both sniggered. “Your dad’s going to take me out later, you’ll have to cook for yourself today,” Mom informed me.
“I’m going out later anyway.”
“Who with?” Dad made sure to ask. “Are you still dating the Dustin kid?”
“I’m not,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t ask who I was going out with again.
“What happened? He seemed like a good kid.”
I glared. “You met him one time when he came to the door.” Noah was ten times better than all the guys I went to school with but Dad was so judgmental when it came to him.
“All right,” Mom intervened. “Which one of you want to help me with breakfast?” Dad pointed at me the same time I pointed at him, then our eyes locked in a glare again.
Mom swore and walked away. “You’re such a bad husband,” I told him.
"You’re such a bad daughter,” he countered back.
Then we smiled and went to go help Mom in the kitchen.
______
An hour after Mom and Dad left, Noah pulled into the driveway. I petted Gus before locking the house and rushing to the Jeep. Once inside, Noah pulled me into a kiss. “I don’t know how I’m going to manage through the weeks now without seeing you,” he said as he pulled out.
“You just saw me last night,” was what I said, when in reality I felt the same way. I hated that we lived in different counties and went to different schools.
“I want to be with you, always,” he told me.
“Ah,” I mumbled, pleased, “you have a way with words, don’t you? Better not be whispering sweet nothings to nobody else but me.”
He grabbed my hand and kissed it with a smirk. “Never.”
I monkeyed with the radio as he drove. “Are you sure they don’t care that I’m coming over to eat?”
“Are you kidding?” he asked. “Janet is so excited to finally meet you, she’ll probably cook everything in the kitchen.”
I leaned my head back and just admired the way he smiled. “You really seem to like them. I can tell by the way you talk about them.”
“Of course, I do,” he said without hesitation. “I could have been placed in a shitty home with someone who only fostered kids for the check every month, but for once, luck was on my side and I got Dean and Janet. They’re amazing people, Grace, and I can’t wait for you to get know them.” He wanted me to know these people, and to me, that was what made it important. I wanted to see the couple Noah wasn’t embarrassed to talk about. This was so unlike the boy I grew up with, that boy didn’t have parents he wanted me to meet. From what little I spoke to Dean the other day, I had a good feeling about them too.
Their house was like any other two-story, it was their yard that I knew I’d love in the summertime. It wasn’t much land but they had all kinds of apple trees, and just picturing what it looked like in the summer had me smiling. Two other vehicles were in their driveway and a boat was covered underneath their shed.
Noah walked around the Jeep as I got out and took my hand as we walked to the door. Dean opened it and stepped out before we made it to the steps. I smiled because he was grinning at me, and I just wasn’t one to refuse a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Grace. Come on in,” he took me away from Noah and pushed me into the house. “I’ll introduce you to my darling wife. Janet,” he called for her, but all I could focus on was the delicious aroma coming from their kitchen.
“Something smells good,” I mumbled, taking in the homey feel of the place. It reminded me of my grandparents’ house growing up before they passed away.
“She baked some BBQ ribs, taters, and all kinds of other foods that we hope you like,” he said as Janet stepped out into the hallway.
She was short with brown hair and highlights of gray peeking through. Her face was red from cooking but she welcomed me with a smile and before I knew it, she wrapped me up in a hug. “It feels like I already know you, child, with the way Noah talks about you,” she said, and I stole a peek at Noah who was a little red himself.
“Let’s get out of this small hallway and into the kitchen,” Dean told everyone.
My stomach got a hunger pang just looking at all of the food on the table. “Everything looks and smells so good,” I told Janet.
She beamed and ushered us to sit down. “Come on, let’s eat.”
“We haven’t had a girl over since our boys were in school,” Dean added with a smile.
“Noah told me they were in the army.”
Dean nodded. “Yeah, one’s in Iraq and the other is stationed in Arizona living with his family, so we don’t get to see them much.”
“Good thing we found Noah when we did, things were a little boring around here with just Dean,” Janet winked and I laughed.
“I’m glad you found him too,” I said and everyone looked up from their food. “Honestly, it feels like the weight has been lifted to know he’s been living here in this kind of warm environment… Was it hard?” I asked them all.
Janet set down her fork. “Yeah, you made it hard on all of us, dear.”
“Me?” I blinked.
“Janet,” Noah groaned, covering his face.
“All we heard from him was about how much he needed to get back to you. He tried his hardest at first to make himself look like a bad kid.” She paused to laugh. “And we’d catch him crying and at first, we thought it was because of his situation and the fact that he was living with strangers… but it was because he was missing you.”
I smiled over at Noah who was still covering his face up. “Did you cry over me, Noah?” I asked him playfully but I was trying to keep the tears at bay as well. “I cried for you every day, for a long time too.” I grabbed his hand and he finally moved his other hand to reveal his reddened cheeks.
“That Mom of yours, I felt like calling her up myself when Noah told me what she said,” Janet muttered.
“Janet,” Noah said again.
“I know,” I found myself agreeing.
Janet nodded as if she knew I understood. “But, Noah talked good of her and if he was willing to do as she said, then I wasn’t going to stop him. Calling her did help, though. It was then when he allowed us to get to know him.”
“Yeah,” Dean agreed. “He’s a good boy, he is.”
I lifted my face and smirked. “That’s something I’ve always known.” They both smiled at me.
“Do you have Facebook?” Janet asked and I nodded. “I would like to add you so we can keep in touch.”
I couldn’t help but turn and glare at Noah. “Really? Everyone has Facebook and you don’t?” He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly and Janet laughed.
“I don’t know anything about the Internet, but Janet likes to have that ole’ Facebook so that we can keep up with the boys… We have a granddaughter on the way.”
“Congratulations,” I told them. “Well, she’s gonna be very lucky to have grandparents like y’all.”
“Yes, hear that, Noah, we’ll make really good grandparents in the future as well,” Janet said it like she was hinting around, now I was blushing like Noah. Elderly people were so different than the rest of the world, they didn’t care to pair you up when you were just a teen.
After we finished eating, Noah showed me to his room upstairs. Once the door was closed, I grinned and said, “I feel like they’re the type of people that end up with a lot of grandkids for letting the opposite gender share a room.”
He laughed. “They’re very laid back.”
“I like them, they’re very easy to be around.”
I looked around the room and saw some of his woodworks in the corner. He turned around and grabbed a bag off the TV stand. “Come here,” he said as sat down on the bed. I joined him on the bed and he placed the bag in my lap.
“What is it?”
“Just open it,” he urged me. I stuck my hand in the bag and immediately recognized what was inside. I pulled out the one top. A sticker was placed on it that said: 16.
“Happy late birthdays,” he smiled and it made stomach my clench up. “Next month, I want to be with you on your birthday.”
It was an owl, and it was so beautiful. “You still made them every year?” I asked a bit emotionally.
He nodded. “Look at the rest.” I pulled out an Indian head that had 15 on it, then an eagle with 14. “When I brought you over that first crappy piece of work and handed it over to you for your seventh birthday and saw the way you looked at it like it was the best thing ever, and the way your mom praised me for it, I don’t know… I guess it just made me feel like I could do anything if it meant getting to see you smile.”
“Where’s the one for my birthday coming up?”
He arched a brow. “I don’t think so, I’ll give it to you on your birthday, besides, I’m still working on it.”
I studied the rims of his blue eyes. “How is it you are so good all the time?”
“I’m not good,” he muttered. “Even as a kid, I’ve had this thing for you that’s run so deep and for so long that I’m afraid of what I might become now that I have you.”
I pressed my thighs together and cupped his face with my palms. “You’re never going to be one of the bad boys but when it comes to me, I hope you want to do bad things. Dirty things.”
His eyes took on a whole new meaning as he scooped me up and placed me in the middle of the bed before pushing me down. “Oh, you have no idea.” He leaned over me, his hand crawling underneath my t-shirt as he bit into my neck.
I gasped. “No, Noah, you have no idea what you’ve made me into. You don’t know the thoughts that keep me up at night, all the ways I’ve imagined while waiting to find you.”
He pushed my bra up and gripped one of my breasts. His rough touch was just what I wanted. He placed my nipple between his fingers before pinching and pulling it up to his mouth where he bit into it through my shirt. I exhaled and moved my legs, the ache was already there, pressing between my thighs. “I’m pretty sure it’s nothing compared to what I’ve pictured doing to you.” He tortured my nipple then did the same to the other, and he wasn’t even lifting up my shirt.
This conversation was burning me from the inside.
“Show me,” I begged and he kissed me. No, he breathed fire into me because that was what his touches felt like to me.
He moved down, yanking up my shirt and revealing my breasts. He dropped his face between them. “I’m so weak when it comes to these, they look even bigger, how is that possible for someone as tiny as you?”
“You’re a boob guy.”
“No, I’m a sucker for everything-that-is-Grace guy.” His hot mouth came down over one of my nipples and I moaned, pulling at his hair. I rocked my hips into him and his fingers crawled down my body and unbuttoned my pants before they disappeared into my panties. I arched into his touch immediately.
“Noah, can you come help with the truck for a second?” Dean hollered from downstairs. I deflated against the bed, the heat of the moment leaving me as I remembered where we were. “You can get underneath it easier than what I can,” he added.
Noah eyed my breasts before dropping his head between them. I giggled. “What were we thinking? They’re right downstairs!” I asked him.
“We weren’t thinking,” he said, climbing off me. He leaned back down as I pulled down my shirt and tucked my hair behind my ear. “And I want to think, I don’t want to rush, and I feel like that’s what we’re doing. The last thing I want to do is ruin this with you.”
I cupped his hand that played with my hair. “Maybe we are moving quickly but these are all things that we would have done if you hadn’t been taken from your dad.”
“My pace will be your pace,” he whispered softly.
“Then I want you to take my virginity on my birthday.”
The expression on his face said it all.