Before Sunrise (13 page)

The week had been fabulous. They’d
frequented nightly beach parties in search of Liam. Last night,
Kennedy actually got close enough to get Liam to talk. He called
her a spoiled little rich girl and teased her mercilessly. Sierra
later pointed out to her his words might have been blowing her off,
but he glared down any guy that glanced her way when she stood next
to him. Kennedy believed her.

Everybody stepped aside when Liam walked
through. He was big, but he wasn’t a bully. In fact, he didn’t talk
or mingle much. People sort of drifted to him. Liam possessed this
quiet presence about him. It commanded respect from others. Kennedy
thought he couldn’t be more awesome. Beyond perfection. She had to
have him, whatever that meant.

In two more days she’d be headed back home.
It was now or never, so she and Sierra devised a bulletproof plan.
It started with Heath. Sierra flirted with Heath and dropped hints
that Kennedy was nineteen and interested. Liam seemed to notice her
a little more after that. He’d even spoken to her tonight when they
first showed up. He’d also watched her, too, from across the
fire.

“
Go on over there. Ask him
if he wants to go for a walk,” Sierra urged.

“
Don’t rush me,” Kennedy
said between clenched teeth.

“
Here, drink
this.”

Sierra thrust a red plastic cup at her.
Without thinking, Kennedy accepted the drink. She gulped down the
punch too fast and the bitter alcohol seared her throat. She began
to gag and cough. Sierra laughed, and patted her shoulder blades.
When she looked up past the flames of the fire she saw Liam
watching her. He wore a sly smile, too. She was mortified. So she
tried to be cool and drink the rest without incident. Wow, she
hated alcohol. Thankfully, the buzz she got had been instant. Her
head swam a little and she giggled. Her mother would kill her if
she knew.

“
He’s looking,” Sierra
whispered, giving her another nudge.

“
I know,” Kennedy glanced up
at him and when he didn’t look away, she smiled.

“
The time is now. Take the
blanket and go ask him to go for a walk. Do it,” Sierra
urged.

Kennedy had confided in her
friend that she wanted Liam to be
the
one
. Sierra had chosen Chauncey to be her
‘one’ last spring break, so she definitely understood. From the
moment Kennedy saw Liam, he had been all she could think about,
talk about, dream about. So Sierra did some checking around. He
didn’t sell drugs like Heath. He worked the shipping docks in
Newark and just hung out with his cousin and the uptown crowd,
since Heath was every preppy’s downtown drug connection. Sierra
thought Heath used Liam as muscle to scare the other guys from
trying to jack him or something. But the rumors of Liam fighting or
punching out guys over cigarettes proved to be lies.

None of it mattered much to Kennedy. She
only had one question about Liam Flanagan she needed answered. And
she soon learned the truth. Liam didn’t have a girlfriend.

Kennedy picked up the rolled blanket and got
to her feet. She’d chosen a yellow sweater over a white sundress
for her first time. She liked the way it tightly fit her waist and
draped off her hips. Sierra said from behind it swayed a little and
flattered her bubble-butt booty. She added large silver hoop
earrings and they swayed a bit when she walked. She’d washed her
hair and let it air dry, then curled and teased it into a puff. Her
mom hated when she wore her hair this way, calling it messy, but
Sierra said it showed more of her face and looked hip. She hoped it
made her look older. The truth was, she had only turned seventeen
two weeks ago.

Kennedy circled the fire. With each step,
her feet sank into the sand, it slowed her approach. Only a few
faces looked up. Liam’s didn’t. Swallowing her nervousness, she
stepped behind him and glanced across at Sierra through the flames.
Sierra nodded encouragingly. Kennedy did as they’d practiced. She
dropped her voice to a low, seductive whisper in his ear.

“
Liam. Wanna go for a walk
with me?”

Kennedy held her breath and clutched the
blanket. Liam stood. He took her hand and pulled her away. Kennedy
looked back once to see Sierra’s wide grin. She wanted to wave, but
played it cool.

They walked down the beach, away from the
others. The wind blew under the hem of her dress. Forceful gusts
pushed the fabric up high on her thighs. There were too many clouds
to see the stars or the moon. But Kennedy’s eyes adjusted quickly
to the night.

Liam didn’t speak at first and she was too
nervous to think of a witty comment. When they were far enough away
they couldn’t hear the music, Liam stopped. He looked to his left.
A beach pavilion under a malfunctioning street lamp could be seen.
Dark and vacant, it was adjacent to an empty parking lot. Liam then
swung his gaze behind him, and Kennedy’s eyes followed his. The
distance proved far enough to reduce the bonfire to a speck of
orange.

“
We can chill here, or up
there. Your choice,” he said.

“
Here is fine,” she said
softly. “Anywhere is fine with you.”

She thought he frowned at her. But she
couldn’t see much of his face in the shadows under his cap. He
shook his head and took the blanket from her. He tried to spread it
out over the sand but the wind kept lifting the tail end. So
Kennedy dropped down to her knees to help.

“
Fuck it. Let’s go up there.
This is too windy,” said Liam.

“
Okay.” Kennedy agreed
readily. In the movies it would be different. In the movies, the
moon would be full in the sky and the stars twinkling. The sexy
hero would lay out the blanket as waves broke over the sand in a
white, sudsy foam. In the movies, the guy would pull you down on
the blanket and then shower you with kisses and profess his
unending devotion before he made love to you under the stars. It
would all be so serene and romantic.

But it wasn’t quite so for her tonight. The
wind blew cold, tiny grains of sand that stung her eyes and the
salty aroma of the ocean burned her nostrils and throat. She
sneezed. Liam grunted, and marched off. He walked ahead of her. He
wasn’t holding her hand. Kennedy hurried to catch up to him. She
kept looking up at him, wanting to say something, but everything
she thought to say sounded dumb.

They climbed the wooden steps and walked
over the small bridge to the picnic pavilion.

“
So what’s up with you, rich
girl? Why are you out here?”

“
Partying like
you.”

Liam chuckled. “You’re not partying. I’ve
seen you. You don’t drink, you don’t smoke buddah, hell, you don’t
even dance. Heath said you just recently started hitting the spots
with Sierra. He said you were probably out here vacationing—”

“
You asked him about me?”
Kennedy’s heart skipped a beat.

“
What is it? You hate your
parents or something? Trying to piss them off?”

“
Huh?” Kennedy asked,
confused.

He stopped under the pavilion. The picnic
table was clear of debris. He spread the beach blanket over it. She
watched. Did she hate her parents? She loved her daddy. He was the
best father and he treated her like gold. And her little sister
Harper was a pain, but she loved her too. It was her mother she
could never please. But she didn’t hate her.

“
No, I don’t hate my
family.”

Liam grabbed her by the waist and lifted her
to the table. Kennedy couldn’t help but smile. He had such strong
hands. He was so cute, too. She wished he didn’t have his blue
baseball hat with the red C in the middle pulled down so far on his
brow. She wished she could see his eyes. She scooted over and he
sat on the table with her. They stared out at the ocean. It was
dark, and a little spooky, but Kennedy wasn’t afraid.

“
What are you thinking?” she
asked.

“
About leaving,” he said,
his voice somber and remote.

Kennedy’s heart began to race. Was he
serious? He’d just got there. Hell, it was only eight-thirty.
“Why?”

Liam just stared ahead. Kennedy had to think
of something to say. Her plan wouldn’t work if she came off naive
or inexperienced, which she was. “Where do you want to go
tonight?”

“
Not talking about tonight.
Just leaving period. And I don’t know yet. Just somewhere. Ever get
the feeling that there’s something out there for you? Somewhere you
belong?”

“
Yes,” she lied. She didn’t
usually worry about any world other than the familiar, the world of
her parents. But with Liam she could imagine anything. He cast her
a look that said he didn’t believe her.

“
How old are you, rich girl?
Heath says you’re nineteen, but you….” Liam looked her over. “You
look younger.”

“
I am nineteen.” She lied
again.

“
Are you in
college?”

Kennedy bit her bottom lip. She hadn’t
thought the story through. What was she to say? She decided to go
with the truth. “No.”

“
So what’s up, then? Why you
keep sweating me?”

Kennedy flinched. She frowned at him. He
continued with that sly smirk on his face. She didn’t like the
arrogant way he sounded. “You the one sweating me. I see you
staring at me when I come around. Don’t front.”

Liam laughed at her. She’d put a little sass
in her urban speak but even to her own ears, it sounded as strange
from her lips as Celine Dion trying to rap like Notorious
B.I.G.

“
True,” he chuckled. “I
think you’re hot. Not stuck up and slutty like most of these
spoiled Hampton witches.”

Kennedy smiled. So it wasn’t her
imagination. He was checking her out, too. Sierra said she wasn’t
sure, but Kennedy got this tingly feeling in her stomach whenever
he was close. There was something in the way he stared.

“
I should have brought us
some beer.” He returned his gaze to the ocean. “Wait, I forget you
don’t drink.”

“
And you drink too much,”
she blurted out.

He laughed again. “True.”

“
Do you have any brothers or
sisters?” she asked.

His face didn’t change but she felt him
stiffen, pull away, even though he hadn’t been touching her. He sat
there for a beat, unmoving. Then he nodded. “I got a kid sister.
Name is Mackenzie. We call her Mac. She’s…she’s gone.”

“
Gone?”

“
Dead.”

“
Oh.”

“
Right. Oh.”

Kennedy kicked her feet out, back and forth.
“Mackenzie. Aww, that’s pretty. I like that name. I’m sorry she’s
gone.”

“
Mac was cool. Thought I was
her hero. But I…she was wrong, there are no heroes. Just a lot of
pretenders.”

“
Hero, hunh?” Kennedy found
that sweet. Little sisters loved big brothers, she supposed. She
wanted to ask more questions about this Mackenzie, but it changed
him when he spoke of her. The tone of his voice sounded tight and
bitter. “So you miss Chicago?”

“
Nah, wait. How do you know
where I’m from?” he asked.

He stared at her now. She liked that. She
liked when his attention focused on her and not the sea. When he
looked out to the sea he seemed sad. “I know all about you.”

Again he laughed. Kennedy did too. She found
the ease between them a bit surprising. All the rehearsed words of
seduction that Sierra had pumped into her head slipped away. She
figured she’d just do it her way.

Still, Liam hadn’t touched her. To be
truthful, she had envisioned their encounter all week. She’d
practiced everything down to the details, how she would talk, how
she would respond. Sierra had given her a condom, which she’d
tucked away in her sweater pocket. Sierra had also told her it
would hurt a little, but if she relaxed it would pass, and then
she’d asked if Kennedy were sure she wanted Liam to be the guy.
Kennedy squared her shoulders. A girl got to choose who was her
first, and she chose him. He was cute, smart, tough, and he didn’t
grope on her or say nasty things to her the few times she’d been
close enough to strike up conversation.

Now he just sat at her side, as if all he
wanted to do was talk.

“
I like you,” she
said.

To this, he turned his head and fixed her
with a hooded gaze. “Why? You barely know me.”

“
I told you I did. I know
you’re from Chicago, and you stay with your cousin for now. I know
you like beer and not that nasty punch everybody drinks and I know
you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“
Right, princess, and those
are qualities you like?”

He was teasing her. She bit down on her
bottom lip. She wasn’t sure of the comeback. She looked up and saw
he waited for her to respond. “Yes. Those are qualities I like in a
boy.”

Liam stood up. He stepped in between her
legs and leaned into her, with his hands flat on the wooden table
on either side of her hips. The brim of his cap bumped her
forehead, but not in a hard way. “First, Kay, I’m not a boy. I’m a
man. A twenty-two year old man.”

“
Okay.”

“
Second,” he paused. “I like
you too.”

“
Really? I mean, um, cool.
Why? Why do you like me?”

“
Because every time I look
at you it makes me wonder.”

“
Wonder what?” She
gulped.

“
If you’ve ever been
kissed.”

Kennedy’s eyes went wide. It was true. She’d
never gotten to first base. The only freedom she ever had came when
she hung out with Sierra, and it had usually been weekend trips.
Besides, she hadn’t necessarily warmed up to the idea of kissing a
guy until she’d seen Liam. The swapping of spit seemed a little
overrated to her.