Gone

Liam groaned against my mouth, his hand tightening at the back of my head, where his fingers were laced through my long, free hair. His tongue slid delightfully across mine, and I had to struggle to keep from getting totally lost in the moment.

“Liam,” I breathed against his mouth, finally pulling away. “I’m going to go inside now.”

“Please don’t,” he laughed. “You told me I had a chance tonight. I’m sorry about throwing the match, okay? How about we go back to my host family’s house and-?”

I pressed my lips to his again, teasing him as I tugged his bottom lip gently with my teeth, which made him let out another moan of lust. “There will be other times,” I assured him. “Tonight’s not the night, and it has almost nothing to do with you throwing the match. Actually, that was kind of sweet of you, not wanting to make me go out with you against my will.”

He looked like he wanted to protest as I threw open the car door and stepped out onto the pavement, but he finally sighed and said, “Okay, that’s good to know. Goodnight, Frankie.”

“Goodnight.”

I slammed the door shut and watched as he pulled out of the driveway, my fingers absently brushing down my hair to make it look like I hadn’t just been hardcore making out with a foreign exchange student in his car.

After smoothing down my dress and making myself look somewhat presentable again, I entered my house. The entire house was covered in darkness, alerting me that everyone had already gone to sleep, trusting me to lock the door behind me whenever I got home. When it came to curfews and the like, my parents didn’t care. They believed that I would make good decisions, and the fact that they always thought so highly of my responsibility kept me honest.

I kicked off my shoes onto the mat that rested next to the door and padded up the stairs into my bedroom. And I nearly screamed bloody murder when I saw the mass sitting on my bed until I flicked on the light and stared.

“Wow, things got hot and heavy.” Manny’s smile nearly took up her whole face as she examined my appearance. “Your makeup is totally destroyed, and your hair looks mighty tangled. How was he?”

I turned and closed the door without answering. “We didn’t have sex,” I told her in a whisper, even though I knew my parents wouldn’t be able to hear. “We just made out for a little bit in his car. We didn’t go far at all.” My mind flashed back to when he tried to take things to the next step, his fingers slipping under the top of the bodice of my dress, and I’d redirected his hand to my waist before he got the chance to feel anything.

“Bummer.” She shrugged and leaned back against my pillow, looping her arms behind her head so she could watch me take out my earrings and throw my hair up into a ponytail. “But was his kissing good, at least?”

“Incredible.” My teeth subconsciously latched onto my bottom lip as I thought about how he knew how to put just enough pressure on my lips so it wasn’t too soft or too hungry and harsh. “I actually had a really good time tonight overall, not just with the part in his car afterward.”

“Please tell me you didn’t eat a burger,” she begged. Manny had been trying to tell me for years that eating a burger on a first date was a total turn-off for guys and made me seem like I was a future fat-ass, but I’d told her repeatedly that she was ridiculous.

Although I maintained that idea, I hadn’t eaten a burger. “No, I had a grilled chicken sandwich. Mom made hamburgers a couple nights ago, so I didn’t want one again. I love ground beef, but I don’t quite love it that much.”

“Wise choice,” she agreed. “And since you got action, I’m assuming you asked for it without onions.”

“I thought ahead,” I confirmed. Without looking at her, I piled a pair of flannel pajama pants and an old Beatles t-shirt onto the bed before pulling my dress over my head.

“I’m proud.” Manny’s grin was audible in her voice, and the bed squeaked under her weight as she changed positions. “And I like how you never asked me how I got here.”

“I assumed my mother let you inside, told you I was on a date, and told you to wait in here. Was I wrong?”

She let out a small grumble, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “But what if I’d scaled your house, opened your window, and slithered in without anyone noticing? How sick would that have been?”

“Super sick,” I confirmed. For a second, I caught my reflection in the mirror, tucking a couple baby hairs that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear. “But also not very realistic, which is why I guessed what I did.”

“Yeah, well, you were right.” There was a short silence before she said, “So do you not have anything else to add?”

“Nope. In the restaurant, we just talked a lot while we ate, and then we made out in the car and I didn’t let him get to second base, and then I came inside.”

“You didn’t let him get to second base?” Manny looked like a scolding parent when she narrowed her eyes at me. “God, girl, you’re holding out on him.”

“I am not!” I laughed. “It was our first date. There will be plenty of time for that before he goes back to England.”

“I’m just teasing you.” She let out a small chuckle and gathered her hair so it spilled over her shoulder. “You should make him wait a little. If you give everything away on the first date, then what keeps them coming back for more?”

“Strange philosophy, coming from you,” I teased as I lied down on the bed next to her. She immediately lashed out and smacked me off the back of the head, which made me snort with laughter and cover the place she’d hit with my hand.

“Alright, now for a movie.” Manny climbed off her space on the bed for the first time, going through the DVD tower I had set up next to my television. Her fingers grazed against each one of the DVDs as she perused, mumbling distractedly under her breath. “I’m really in the mood for a good chick flick. Something that’ll make me feel giddy inside.”

“Like Ben?” I teased, grinning at her cheesily.

She turned and scrunched her face at me before giggling. “Yeah, kind of. I can’t wait to see him tomorrow. We’re going to go out for lunch and go out to a movie before he has to go to his friend’s birthday party.”

“That sounds sweet.” I smiled at the pure joy written all over my best friend’s face. I really did love that she was looking for a real, true relationship, not one that was dictated by how well she could give a blow job. “I want to meet him soon, by the way.”

“You’re not going to meet him.” She finally plucked out a case, though I couldn’t see from where I was which one it was. “You’ll scare him off. I’m going to pretend I have good taste in friends for as long as I can.”

As Dirty Dancing started on the screen and Manny walked toward the bed, I stuck my tongue out at her. “I’ll have you know that I am definitely the better half of this friendship pairing. Without a doubt.”

“Okay. Have fun in your little fantasy land. I’d join you, but I’m a little busy living real life.”

I would have picked up my pillow and smacked her in the face with it, but I was too tired from the events of the day, and all I could do was snuggle under my blankets, cocooning them around myself, and watch Baby and Johnny fall in love.