Salvaged (39 page)

She smiled and held her hand out to me.

(Attie)

Riley held my hand as we pulled into the driveway. Giving it one
last squeeze, he grinned before easing out of the seat and making his
way to my side of the car.

Getting out, I slid out of the way so he could close the door.
Leaning against the car, I waited to see what he would do. The day
was almost over, and my birthday wish still hadn't come true. Even
though he swore he wouldn't kiss me again until he spoke to Pops,
I was still holding out hope that he wouldn't allow himself to disappoint me on my birthday.

He leaned against the car with one hand and then gently placed
the other hand just below my neck, flat against my sternum. As he
slowly leaned in I closed my eyes but was disappointed when I felt
his lips kiss the tip of my nose. It lasted only a second before he
pulled away, but I understood in that short moment that Riley was
battling two desires: to either kiss me or honor the commitment he
made to himself and not pursue anything until I'd moved out of his
home. Of course, he'd already breached the agreement during the
camping trip, but I didn't want to bring the incident up again.

I was disappointed when he grabbed my hand and led me
toward the house. I was aware that once we made it inside, there was
no chance he would kiss me tonight. My heart sank, but I followed
his lead. The fulfillment of my birthday wish would have to wait for
two more weeks.

The closer we got to the house, the faster he walked. Trying to
keep up, I walked carefully on my sore feet. He wanted to get me
inside before he changed his mind and gave in, but just before reaching the porch steps, he veered off course. We were no longer heading
into the house but around the side instead. I smiled, knowing what
would happen, and as soon as we were out of sight, Riley turned and
pulled me close to him.

"Happy birthday," he whispered before kissing me delicately for
a moment and then hugging me tightly to him.

Placing his cheek against mine, he spoke quietly into my ear. "I
think I'm in love with you, Charlie, and I have been for our entire
lives."

It was the most wonderful proclamation anyone ever made to
me, and I felt like the most special girl in the world. Not only was
Riley Bennett choosing me, but I was his first and only choice.

I started to reply, to tell him how I felt about him, but a light
caught our attention. I turned to see where it was coming from but
was blinded. I felt Riley protectively shield my eyes and pull my
head to his chest.

"Hello?" Riley called out. "Who's there?"

"Hey, Riley ... and Attie." I heard a girl's voice. "Did I interrupt
something?"

"Turn the lights off, Tiffany," Riley snapped.

The night went black, and it took a few moments before my
eyes readjusted to the darkness. I glanced up at Riley. His jaw locked
and his eyes glared toward Tiffany. "Riley?"

He looked down at me, his face immediately softening. "Go on
inside, Charlie; I've got some business to take care of."

"But-"

"It's okay; I'll be right behind you. No big deal."

As I turned to go he grabbed my hand, pulled me to him, and
quickly kissed me again. "I'll only be a minute. Go on inside."

As swiftly as possible, I made my way inside and up to my room.

Riley)

"What are you doing here, Tiffany?"

"What am I doing here?" she asked, walking toward me. "I just
came by to talk. The real question is what are you doing, Riley?
Playing house with your summer guest?"

I was silent.

"Enjoying a summer fling? Pretty easy bait, don't you think? Let
me guess, she's sleeping in the room next to yours? I would know.
I've had a nice visit to your room a time or two."

I remained silent and still as my anger rose.

"Come on," she urged while putting her hand on my arm.
"Summer's over, and it's time for the fun and games to end. The
little prude isn't going to give you what you want anyway."

"Since when do you know what I want?"

"Oh, I don't know, I remember being pretty good at making you
happy," she whispered as she untucked my shirt from my jeans. "You
can have a lot more fun with me. Do you remember how much fun
we used to have?"

"I think I'll pass," I said firmly while grabbing her hands and
throwing them to her side. "We kissed a few times; don't try to make
it sound like we did more than that."

"We had fun together, though, didn't we?"

"Look, I guess our wires got crossed, and I take full responsibility
for that. I wanted to avoid an argument, and I thought that if I didn't
call you over several months that you would realize I wasn't interested in seeing you. Evidently, I should have been more forthright."

She looked hurt for an instant, but then her face turned cold.
"You like this girl, Riley? Come on, you can't be serious."

"It's none of your business, Tiffany."

"She's plain, boring, and a religious freak," Tiffany spat.

"Enough!" I grabbed her arm and drug her to the car. "I think
you should go now."

"She isn't even your type," she argued.

My anger getting the best of me, I opened the car and shoved her in. "She's exactly my type. Now get off my property!" I slammed
the car door and stood glaring at her.

Tiffany threw the car in reverse and peeled away as I ran back
toward the house. Dad was standing in the entryway as I made my
way inside. "What was that?

My teeth were clenched. "Tiffany, it's not a big deal." I turned
and started up the stairs.

"Then what is it?" he yelled after me.

"Closure."

When I reached Attic's room, she was sitting on her bed looking out
the window.

"Charlie?"

She turned to look at me, and I gave her a reassuring grin.
"Everything's fine. I'm gonna run change clothes and I'll be right
back. Okay?"

She nodded and then turned and looked out the window.

I walked into my room, slammed the door, ripped my jeans off,
and threw them into the closet. The most incredible night of my life
had been sabotaged, and somehow I needed to salvage it.

Pulling on sweatpants, I made my way back to Attie's room.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a small, weak smile on her face.

"Perfect." I joined her sitting on the bed and leaned over to kiss
her on the forehead. "Just a little unfinished business, that's all."

"You know, Riley, you don't have to cut things off with her
because of me."

I was shocked at her response. "What?"

"We're in high school; nothing has to be exclusive. There's no
sense in missing out."

"Do you not remember what I said to you out there? I told you
that I thought I might be in love with you."

"I remember, but I also realize that you lived a life before I
showed up, and I don't want you to have to change because of me.
You give up a lot by being with someone like me."

"Someone like you?"

"Plain, boring, and a religious freak."

"You heard that?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping; you were yelling at each other. It was
kind of hard not to hear." She turned away from me and looked out
the window again. "Riley, she was right."

"No, she wasn't." I shook my head in frustration.

I couldn't believe we were about to have this discussion. Attie
was about to break things off with me before we officially got started.
My chest ached.

"How did we get to this place? From what we shared on the
camping trip and just now outside to this?" I knew I was whimpering, but I didn't care. Attie was the most important thing to me
right then, and I wasn't gonna let the night change course in such a
drastic way.

"It's called waking up to reality." She looked back at me. "School
starts in a little over a week, and I'll be moving out. You'll go back to
being the popular, handsome jock, and I ... well, I don't know what
I'll be."

I gave her a grin and grabbed her hands. "You'll be my girlfriend. At least I hope so."

"No," she said, pulling her hands away from mine. "I can't be the
reason you change and then miss out on stuff. It'll make both of us
miserable. We're great together, Riley; honestly we are. But I don't
know if we can work outside the confines of our little world. Out
there, I don't know if we make sense."

"We make perfect sense. Charlie, please don't do this." I stood
and began to pace. "I'm not changing for you. I'm changing for me
and because I believe that's what God wants me to do. A lot of my
transformation started long before you arrived. You just made me
wanna complete the transition a lot faster. The things that someone
like Tiffany offers just don't appeal to me."

Her face turned cloudy and revealed her thoughts. I knew I
needed to address her concerns. "What happened yesterday-"

"We don't have to go back to that."

"Yes, we do, because I wanna make sure you understand where
I'm coming from and what I feel for you." I put my head in my
hands and tried to think, praying that God would give me the words
I needed to say.

She sat waiting for my explanation.

I took a deep breath and began. "I'm attracted to you emotionally
first and foremost. I'm crazy about your personality. You're spunky,
witty and pigheaded, kind, and sensitive. Dramatic and even manic
sometimes, but I love that about you.

"We laugh all the time, and unfortunately you make me cry-a
lot. The impact you have on me isn't like any other person I've ever
been with. You bring out the best in me, and I'm not willing to give
that up, to give you up so that I can have a physical relationship with
someone else. To use one of your words, that would be nonsensical.
I'm willing and I wanna abstain from a physical relationship with
you as long as I have to in order to keep the emotional and spiritual
bond that we have. It's that important to me. You're that important
to me."

She interrupted. "No, Riley. This isn't about waiting for as long
as you need to or waiting until I'm ready. Until I get married, I won't
ever be ready. Unless by some miracle we end up married someday,
we will never have a sexual relationship; do you grasp that? Do you
realize that's what you're giving up for as long as you're with me?"

"Yes, I do. I want the same thing. I know it's strange to hear that
come out of a guy's mouth, but I believe that's what I'm called to,
just as much as you are. It's not as if God holds females to a different
standard than males. We're all held to the same principles.

"It won't be easy, and there are times when I'm not thrilled about
this particular condition being placed on me. By God, not you, by
the way. But it has been, and I'll have to learn how to deal with it. I
can guarantee you that I'll mess up every once in a while, but I won't
hurt you again like I did yesterday.

"We'll just have to make sure that we don't put ourselves in situations where we could get carried away, or Ican get carried away like
that again.

"And you're right, I did have a life before you, but it wasn't the
life that I wanted for myself, and it's a life that won't be hard for me
to leave behind.