Hurricane

July 2005

Pete was at my house early again the next day, but this time my mom was already gone. I smiled when I saw him and he smiled back.

“Good morning,” he said and when I was close enough he kissed me softly. All I could do when he pulled away was smile. “Ready to go?”

I nodded my head and followed him out to his SUV. We were silent during the ride to his house. When we got there, we went straight up to his room and to our usual spots. I sat on Pete’s bed and Pete sat at his desk and opened his notebook. But before he started writing, he looked up at me.

“Molly?” he said.

“Yeah?” I said.

“It’d be best if you know now that next month my band and I are going to go away for a few months to start recording the new album,” Pete said.

“Oh,” was all I could say. What else was I supposed to say? I felt my eyes water as I remembered what happened the other day. I couldn’t even last a day without Pete. I blinked a few times to try and clear my vision. Pete was still watching me and I could tell he was worried. “Okay.”

Pete set his notebook down and got up from his seat. He sat next to me on the bed and placed a hand on my back.

“Hey,” Pete said quietly. “It’s going to be fine. There’s still a month to go and so much could change till then. Besides—it’s not like I won’t be gone forever. I’ll be back before you know it.”

I knew that these things were true but that didn’t stop the tear that slid down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly.

“Won’t you have to go on tour afterwards?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “But that won’t be until the CD is released. There’s no need to worry about it now.”

I nodded my head.

“Okay,” I said. Pete pulled me closer to him and kissed my forehead.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he said. I sniffled slightly and Pete let go of me before getting up to go back to his desk. I laid down, pulling the blanket over me. I shut my eyes and let out a breath when Pete started writing.

A little while later I was still awake. And I knew why I couldn’t fall asleep. My own theory. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that I knew that Pete was writing a song for his new album—and Pete would be leaving to work on it. I was so worried about how things would be when Pete left. How I would be.

Suddenly, Pete stopped writing and I took this as an opportunity. I opened my eyes and pushed myself up a little bit so that I could look at Pete.

“Pete,” I said. He looked up at me from his notebook. “Will you lay with me?”

He closed his notebook and set it on his desk. He came over to the bed and slipped his shoes off before lifting the blanket up slightly and getting in. When he was in the bed he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. His face was so close to mine and I reached a hand up carefully and traced it down the side of his face before leaning in to kiss him softly. We kissed for a few minutes before pulling away. I smiled at him and relaxed more, closing my eyes. A few minutes later and I was asleep.