My Once and Future Love (21 page)

“Monday?”

“Yeah. He knows a studio that’ll cut a
two-song demo on the cheap. Get it down before I fly home.” He put
his guitar case in the trunk of his mother’s car and shut the lid.
“Did you drive tonight?”

“Nah, took the Metro since it was a straight
shot. That’s nice about the demo. I know you’re disappointed in the
band’s.”

He unlocked the passenger door. “Yeah. I
won’t stop ‘em from shoppin’ it around, but I don’t think we’ll get
anywhere with it. Club money’s alright, but I want to be prepared
if it all falls apart.”

“Sensible.”

“I can be.” He pulled on the street and
headed home.

I told my parents I’d be back after they were
in bed, so when he invited me inside, I agreed. He went to the
kitchen straight off and took a pizza box out of the fridge.

“Want some?”

“What kind?”

“The Works, of course.” He bit into a cold
slice.

“Eww, with the fish, too?”

“With anchovies, too.”

I shuddered. “You’re not kissing me again
until you brush your teeth.” He was like a goat when it came to
pizza, throwing anything they had on there. I could never stand to
watch him eat the anchovies.

“Chicken,” he said, and swallowed a little
fish whole just to gross me out. It worked.

“You are disgusting. I’m…going to watch TV.”
I fled to the living room with his laughter on my heels.

First the concert, now a demo…it was all
moving, wasn’t it?

“Are you going to do more gigs?”

“Dunno.” He swallowed more pizza. “Not
expecting to. Be nice to play, though. Maybe I’ll do some
busking.”

“Busking?”

“Yeah, playin’ on the street for tips. Can be
sweet dosh if you pick the right place. Your idea, remember?” He
plopped on the sofa, stole the remote from me, and muted the volume
of the news. “We okay?”

“Hope so. Have you noticed we don’t fight on
the phone?”

He smiled. “Yeah. Thought of that this week,
myself. Don’t remember butting heads so much in high school.”

“We had strict boundaries then. Still
happened sometimes, though.”

“You’ve gotten more stubborn in two
years.”

I scowled at him. “I grew
up
in two
years. I was a kid when you left.”

“You were my best friend, Beth, and you still
are. Younger, older, it doesn’t matter. We have a connection I
haven’t shared with anyone else.” He cupped my face in his warm
hands. “Even when you make me mad, I’m not walking away. You’re
goin’ to have to throw me out the door and lock yourself away.”

Wow. Maybe that’s what I’d been doing—testing
if he’d walk away. The intensity we shared scared me, but it
frightened me even more to think of losing him. Yet, if I could
blame it on him, then I could be mad and move on with a scab on my
heart. Though if I severed the tie first, I could say I was saving
myself from greater heartache later.

Despite what he said, I didn’t believe I
could hold onto him in the long run. I was Beth, Queen of the
Friend Zone. This passion was a fluke, a flame that would burn
itself out when it consumed its fuel too fast. But, while he
offered it to me, I’d take advantage of the buffet.

I focused my mind to the present when my
shirt was lifted over my head. My body had no problem following his
lead and our make-out session on the sofa soon turned more
X-rated.

“Lace. I like it,” he said, referring to my
bra.

I had one girly bit of lingerie, an eyelet
lace white bra and matching panties. When I got dressed tonight, I
chose them because I needed to do laundry, but maybe my
subconscious was at work at the same time. He sucked on my nipple
through the cotton, making me hiss and arch my back. He slid my
jeans off my butt and pushed them down to the limit of his reach,
his lips still attached to my breasts. Fingers slid under the edge
of my panties and stroked my flesh.

“Love how you’re always wet for me.”

“I have good incentive.” Why would I fight
bliss?

He chuckled and pulled me to sit up. “Hold
on, kitten.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. Yay, bed!
Once he was inside me, nothing else existed.

Not London.

Not college.

Not fear.

Chapter Seventeen

Bethie’s mood improved dramatically. July was
a tough month, but they were finally through it, though she had yet
to tell her parents they were dating. He could wait, though. Seeing
her smile, happy to spend time with him and exercising her
independence, was all he needed. They saw each other every
day—“hanging out” as far as her folks were concerned—and she
usually slipped over to his house once they were asleep. His
favorite weekend was when her parents went away and he got to fall
asleep with her and wake up with her there.

They were tucked together like spoons; her
feet nestled in between his legs. It was bloody wonderful to wake
up with a soft breast in his hand, though she’d smack his arm if he
said it out loud, then hit him some more if he laughed. Every
gent’s role was to make his woman give him that look or sigh only
they can do when they think you’re being too male. Kept things
interesting.

So, naked Bethie, a late summer morning, and
nowhere to be. Perfect.

She stretched in her sleep then curled up
tighter, pulling his arm closer to snuggle like a stuffed toy. He
kissed her shoulder. Always a hard choice in the morning between
watching her sleep and waking her with a bit of fun.

“I can feel you looking at me,” she
mumbled.

“Best view in the whole room.”

“Let me sleep. You kept me up late.”

He nuzzled the soft spot behind her ear. “Had
no complaints last night.”

“Why aren’t you tired? Freak.”

“I am. But I’ll always want you,” he said,
and pressed the evidence into her backside.

She wiggled away. “Until the clock says noon,
I say no.”

“Holdin’ you to that.”

She sighed and he let her fall back
asleep.

With his departure date less than a month
away, he wanted to spend every minute with her, at work or play,
and it was hard to let her out of his sight. It would only get
harder to stay on each other’s good sides over the school year.
Christmas break was a long way away and what if he couldn’t get
back? That left Spring Break, with no guarantee they’d be off
classes at the same time.

He was busting his ass to raise the dosh,
though. Anywhere he was allowed to sing, he did, and Greg was a bit
of help. Bethie came to the gigs, but he couldn’t blame her for
letting him play on the streets on his own. Most days were at least
ninety and more humid than people expected California to be. He
came home desperately in need of a shower every day, but with a
pocket full of cash.

“Do you think you’ll have to continue solo
when you go back?” Beth asked one day.

“You mean the band? Don’t know, love. Time
off wasn’t their idea.”

She lifted her head from his chest. “Well,
don’t hate me, but I think you sound better doing your own style,
so I think you’ll land on your feet.”

He stroked her back. “Could never hate you,
but thank you. We’ll see how it goes. Might be too busy with school
to perform much, anyway.”

“Yeah, the last two years are supposed to be
tough, and I won’t be there to help you study.”

“Hmm, be hard to study with a warm brunette
next to me, anyway.” He rolled them over, switching their
positions. “Why stare at a book when I can kiss you?”

She lifted her head to meet his lips. Every
moment like this had to be locked into his mind for the long months
without her. He loved everything they did in bed, even just the
talking.

****

Late August

I was moving into the dorm today. It was a
Wednesday. Jacob would fly out Friday morning. We’d been relating
better since Mom got the all-clear and my parents spent more time
out of the house together.

He’d been busier than I liked, but one, it
was money, and two, probably good for us to not be locked at the
hip before he left. Greg was apparently connected up the wazoo with
small-time pros and had hooked Jacob up as a studio musician a few
times. He was busking at the tourist areas the rest of his free
days. Nights were ours, and sometimes mornings.

My roommate wasn’t here, yet, but it was only
the first day we were allowed to move in. She could be coming from
anywhere until classes started.

Daddy carried in my mini-fridge. “Where do
you want this, Elizabeth?”

“Under the bed, for now. Jacob, be careful
with that box! It’s marked ‘fragile’.”

“I know, I know…” He set it on the desk and
left the room.

Mom hung more clothes in my closet. “You’re
lucky home is only a drive away, honey. You don’t have to bring
nearly as many clothes with you to be prepared.”

“Mom, you’re hanging things up like a lefty
again.”

“Ooops…force of habit.”

I started putting clothes in the plastic
drawers we’d moved in first under the bed. It was a rolling unit
with four semi-transparent drawers. Next to it, I had a stack of
plastic boxes that might fit in the closet once Mom was done.
Space-saver efficiency for the win.

Jacob came in with my computer case.

“Put that under the desk,” I said. Gave me a
nice view of his butt bending over.

“Ah, there’s an outlet right there.”

“Yup. Where’s Dad?”

“Moving the car to a different space. Time
ran out.”

“Oh. I think the box for the bathroom is
still down there.”

He brushed his hands off on his jeans and
knelt on the floor next to me. “Need to christen your new bed once
the ‘rents leave,” he whispered in my ear.

“One. Track. Mind! Go be useful.” I pushed
him over. He laughed.

With a room this size as an “apartment” I
could only move so much in, so it didn’t take long to get things
set up how I liked. One small lamp went on my desk, the other on my
nightstand (a place to put my glasses at night), and my toiletries
were set out in the bathroom I shared with the dorm room next door.
It had two sinks. I hoped we wouldn’t all be trying to get ready
for classes at the same time.

The four of us ate in the university
cafeteria before my parents left. The food surprised me, or rather,
the variety of it. There were healthy choices as well as the
fattening junk. I had a meal plan bought, so I only needed to swipe
my card there for two meals a day and I could have as much as I
wanted.

It was suddenly time to say goodbye. I’d be
heading home for the weekend because there was nothing to do here,
but until then…

“Mom, don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry…I’m just so proud, and I’ve been
used to greeting you every morning.”

“I’ll call, okay?”

She wiped her eyes and nodded, then hugged me
tight. Dad looked extra stoic, meaning he was feeling emotional
about this, too.

“I’ll see you both Friday night,” I said.

He gave me a stiff hug. “Anyone bothers you;
you call, day or night.”

“Yes, Dad. I know. I’ll be fine.”

He nodded once and led my mother to the car.
Once they were out of sight, Jacob wrapped around me from
behind.

“You okay?”

“It’s weird. Like going to camp, except a
whole lot longer. I’m glad I didn’t go out of state…I’d be a mess
right now.”

He kissed my neck. “Show me what you liked
about this place so much.”

I turned and took his hand. “Okay.”

****

We made love in my new room, careful not to
roll off the bed, and he stayed the night. It wasn’t a spoken
agreement, but we both wanted to spend the last hours of his stay
together.

The next day, we shipped the last of his
stuff in the house he wasn’t flying with and spent the night there
with Chinese takeout and a last romp in his bed. Since his mother
lived in England and already had a fully-furnished house, the big
pieces were being sold with the place and that included his bed
frame.

“Unless you want to take it,” he
suggested.

“Where would I put it?”

“At your parents’, duh. You keep complainin’
your bed is too small for you.”

“True… I suppose my father can’t complain
about a free bed…”

He trailed his fingers down the center of my
naked torso. “And it has so many memories for you.” He followed his
fingers with open-mouth kisses.

“Uh-huh.” I arched off the bed when his
tongue flicked my clit. “Don’t think the new people would want this
mattress if they knew what’d been done on it, either.”

“Undoubtedly. They’d be jealous.”

“Unh…” Don’t stop
.
“It’s amazing your
ego fits through doors, Jacob.”

“Takes two, baby…takes two.”

Yeah, the bed was
definitely
mine.

****

Walking away from her at the airport was one
of the hardest things he’d ever done, and he almost missed his
flight from stealing one last kiss after kiss. They made a pact to
talk on the phone every Sunday, with one week being his turn and
hers being the other to split the costs.

Leaving his keys with the realtor for the new
owners was a more emotional thing than he expected. The house held
a lot of good family memories, but it had taken on more meaning of
late. Without a place to stay when he visited, without a home…it
didn’t seem right for strangers to hear the Lawsons in the backyard
or some kid to have his room. They could even all become friends
and he and Mum would be replaced. It was the Lindsey’s house for
fifteen years—what if the new people wanted to change
everything?

“Jacob. Welcome home.” His mother met him
outside the terminal with their driver.

He hugged her. “Think I left that behind,
Mum.”

“We’re not talking about the house, are
we?”

He let her slide in the backseat first. “What
do you mean?”