Everything Changes (23 page)

Parker’s hands finally found my hips, and he
pulled me from beside him to his lap.
 
As
I straddled him, a gentle hand slid from my hips up my sides to remove the
sweatshirt I had stolen from him.

Leaning back against the mattress, he looked up
at me, his eyes staring deeply into mine. “I’ve dreamed of having you here with
me in this exact position.” He breathed.

I lifted my hand to stroke his cheek. Seeing his
eyes in the moonlight made me realize how far we’d come.

Parker smiled when I reached for the button of
his jeans, but he stopped me, rolling over so he was hovering over me. The
smell of racing gas and summer was all around me, and I could almost taste it.

He buried his face into my neck, kissing me while
his hands started to knead into my skin, like he was getting worked up, like he
was getting impatient.

When he pressed his weight forward, I felt his
hardness.

Everything about it was slow and full of passion
that two seventeen-year-old kids knew nothing about. We felt things, deep
things, that we had no idea would control us for years to come.

I moved my mouth to his jaw, kissing along it
until I found his lips. My breath blew over his face as I spoke the words. “I
love you…”

As my lips moved from his jaw to his neck, he
gave me all of his weight, gripping my hands over my head. “I love you too,
Ro.” He hissed as I sucked under his ear.

Our bodies moved together, loving each other the
only way we knew how.

Parker took control, removing my clothes, and
with shaking hands from my confession, I removed his. This time seemed
different, more passion, more love, more of everything.
 
His breath on my skin made me feel more, want
more, give more.

We tried a few new positions this time, but when
I was on top arching my back and really getting into, Parker lost control.
“Fuck. Ro, I’m sorry but you…I…” His voice faded when his back arched and I
knew what was happening.

Thankfully, I was already there too.

Trying to control our breathing, I lay against
his chest with him still inside me, his hands rubbing my back.

“Yamaha called yesterday,” he said sort of
somberly, taking the conversation in a completely different direction as if
trying to prepare me.

“I figured they would.” It was all I could think
to say without bursting into tears.

Parker tipped his head forward, his lips finding
my ear. “I haven’t called them back.” He sighed. “I don’t know if…well…I don’t
know…” He sounded frustrated and somewhat disturbed.

“They want you back. It’s a good thing,” I said,
trying to put myself in Parker’s shoes.

Parker nodded. “I know,” he whispered, his voice
distant.

I put my head back on his shoulder. “Sometimes I
think what you’re meant to do has a way of finding you.”

A light laugh shook Parker’s chest, and he moved
so he was hovering over me pressing between my legs again. “I found you…does
that mean I was meant to do you?”

“So mature…” I laughed kissing him. “But yes...”
my hands moved from his shoulders to his backside to make my intentions clear
“...by all means, do me again.”

A low groan escaped him before we were going at
it again. I loved that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other and that I
never wanted to be away from him. I loved that he was learning my body and
wanted to know me more than he wanted to know my body.

We had a line figured out and it was nice.

July
22, 1997

A yawn overtook me, rippling through
my body. Feeling the heaviness in my eyes watching the trees outside his room
sway with the summer breeze, the pull of sleep became stronger than the pull
Parker had on me.

  
I
blinked my bleary eyes. “What time is it?” I asked Parker, lying against his
chest again as another yawn escaped me.

  
Craning
his neck forward, he checked the alarm clock on the nightstand. “Shit, it’s
three in the morning,” he said. “I should get you back. You might turn into a
pumpkin.” He kind of chuckled as he removed himself from the bed.

“I think I would make a good pumpkin pie.”
That remark made him laugh, and it was a sound I loved.

We got dressed quickly but I wanted
to say something before we left. I took a hold of his wrist as he reached for
the bedroom and found his eyes. “Thanks for sneaking me out,” I said with a
smile, trying to convey my love.

Parker smiled and brushed my tangled
hair back with his hand. “Thanks for getting in my bed,” he said, simply being
a boy.

I was so tired I couldn’t remember
how we made it back to my house. I fell asleep in his lap while he drove his
truck.

His lips softly brushed mine outside
my window as he helped me back in my room. “Bye,” he said, smiling his adorable
smile.

“Be careful,” I said, watching him as
he climbed down the tree.

I heard him whisper, “I will.”

When he turned the corner and was out
of sight, I ached to have him back, to have more. My heart was overflowing with
emotions, most of which I wasn’t sure how to handle. Everything he did and said
made me fall a little deeper into whatever this was. He was the only thing I wanted,
the boy that filled every thought I had and every desire that coursed through
me.

I fell into bed with my clothes on,
still wearing Parker’s hoodie, and kicked off my shoes as my heavy head hit the
pillow. I was so tired but I was also at peace.

Far too soon, before I had time to
dream, the summer heat and glare of the sun beat down on me through my window.
The sounds of the day picked up: children playing, my mom and her Shania Twain
music, dogs barking, log trucks in low gear, lawnmowers…the sounds of summer.

I had to work that morning, as did
Parker, so that was my only reason for forcing myself into the shower and then
down the road to the shop.

When I saw him, his head was down,
and his were practically closed as he came towards me with a parts order in
hand. I gave him a pensive wave and waited for his reaction. I was looking for
a smile or something to let me know that he was happy to see me. When I finally
caught his attention, he raised his chin at me and smiled.

“I’m sorry,” I said apologetically,
finding his tired eyes. When I got to him, I pressed a cup of coffee into his
chest. “Here, this will help.”

Parker smiled looking down at the
cup. “Thanks,” he said, wrapping his perfect fingers around it and then pulling
it to his lips and taking a long sip. “Coffee is good, even though I don’t
drink it,” he said slowly. “I can think of something else that might make it
better too.” He hinted with a tired grin.

“Drink your coffee,” I said,
laughing.

“I don’t drink coffee.”

“Yeah, but I made it, so it’s good.”
I was trying to be cute and he knew it. We were the only two people in the shop
and he also knew that.

“You are cute…too cute for your own
good right now.” He winked but the action seemed more drawn out. He was really
tired.

“How early did you get up?”

Parker took another long sip.
“Seven,” he said. “Got a couple hours sleep.” He laughed, his eyes curious
looking over the bruise on my neck. “What’s that?” His hand raised to touch it.

Damn it. I noticed it getting dressed
but refused to acknowledge it. Now there was no way around it.

My hand shot to cover my hickey.
“Nothing,” I said nervously, feeling my face get hot.

“Why are you covering it then?” he
asked, reaching for me again to remove my hand. His face lit up with an amused
smile.

When I finally dropped my hand and he
saw it, I was worried about his reaction. He seemed confused at first but then
his eyes lit up with recognition. He put the coffee cup down on his tool box
and grabbed my neck, his green eyes zeroing in on his handy work. “Damn,” he
said.

“It’s really obvious, huh?” I asked,
hoping that he would say no.

Parker laughed. “Well, now that you
said it, yes, it is.” Then he turned my neck to get a better view. “Are you
sure I did this?”

“Shut up,” I whined, shoving his
chest back with my palm when he tried to push me against his tool box.

I was weak and in love with him, so I
let him trap me when he tried again. “Sorry,” he whispered, the smell of motor
oil, gas, and paint thinner filling my nose. “But it’s kind of your fault,” he
said with a sly smile.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How is it
my fault?”

“It just is.” He smiled, tossing a
wrench around in his left hand and backing away to lean against the bumper of
the Chevy pickup in his stall.

Joey and Ben came through the side
door filling the shop with their loud voices. I rolled my eyes at them and
looked back at Parker who created a little more distance between us. “Keep
telling yourself that,” I said, walking towards the office.

Parker let out a soft chuckle but
said nothing more. Before I got to the office, Ben noticed. “Wow, look at
that!”

I punched him in the gut as hard as I
could. “Shut the fuck up, Ben!”

Choking on his laugher and holding
his stomach, he shouted at Parker from across the shop. “Didn’t know you had it
in you, glamour boy,”

Glaring, Parker wasn’t impressed by
Ben and just gave him a nod, before going back to work.

I caught shit all day long over that
damn hickey, mostly from Ben and then Joey, but Parker never mentioned it
again.

July 25, 1997

My parents knew about what was going
on between Parker and I. They weren’t stupid.
 
They saw me sneaking out, found it entertaining to lock me out a time or
two, and made fun of my
hickies
and sprained ankle
from falling out of my tree. Friday morning before work, my dad informed me of
some news I wasn’t expecting. He had invited Parker’s family over for
dinner…and they agreed.

“You did what?” I asked, filling
purchase orders.

“Well...” he gave an entertained
glance before going back to his paperwork “...I figured if you were going to
continue to sneak out every night with him, we outta get the boy and his family
over.” He laughed shaking his head. “He doesn’t talk much, does he?”

A smile overtook my face knowing he
was comfortable around me and wasn’t shy. “He can be shy…”

I spent the entire day fretting over
it, worrying that Jack and Michelle wouldn’t like me or that they would think I
wasn’t good enough.

Parker, witnessing my nerves, tried
his best to comfort me. “It’ll be okay, Ro, they’re great people.”

“Yeah, you say that but they’ve never
met me before. I get really nervous sometimes, and then I say stupid things,” I
explained. “What if I say something stupid?”

He gave me a look of disappointment.
“You don’t see yourself clearly. They will love you, just like I do.”

We left the conversation like that
when
Addy
and Justin arrived. They’d gotten so close
since they got back that this was the first time I had seen her outside of
work, and that was rare for
Addy
and I.

Immediately, I dragged her upstairs
to my room. “Have you met Jack and Michelle yet?”

Addy
smiled, going through my closet and
yanking out a lilac summer dress she found. “Put this on… It’ll look better
than jean shorts.” I did and she smiled. “And, yes, I’ve met them. You’ll love
them and they will love you.”

I wasn’t convinced until they arrived
and looked like normal parents would. Jack was tall and slender, dressed in a
Yamaha Racing t-shirt and jeans that had an outline of a chew can in his back
pocket. Normal.

Michelle was tall with long legs and
dark flowing hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail. She was normal too,
dressed comfortably in a pair of shorts and a tank top.

Normal. We walked out of the sliding
glass door to the large deck where the barbeque was, and
Addy
stayed close to me. Jack and Michelle already had a beer and were chatting with
my mom and dad.

Everything was normal.

Parker found me, his grin wide, his
eyes bright, and his summer cheeks, two Pepsi’s in hand. “Come on...” he tipped
his head the direction of our parents “...I’ll introduce you.”

Afraid, like I wasn’t in my own
house, I followed him.
 
Parker sensed my
nerves and his fingers gripped my hand a little tighter. “Relax, Ro.” His soft
tone was reassuring and meant for only me. He didn’t want anyone else to hear
him. “They’re great.”

Jack was the first to see me hiding
myself behind Parker. My face was pressed to Parker’s shoulder, my hand
intertwined with his. My other had wrapped around his forearm, my fingers
rubbing against his arm hair.

My tummy was in my throat.