A slap on my back and a whistle announces Dex and Sam’s emergence out of her bedroom. Reluctantly, I tear myself away from Kailey, and she smiles up at me as she takes in a deep breath. I love seeing her expression when I stop kissing her, it’s like she’s disappointed that it ended. “We’ll finish this later,” I softly say, and she nods.

The rest of the night goes smoothly, except for running into Jessa’s ex, which Grant handled with nothing but benevolence. As for Kailey, she held my hand the whole night, letting me steal kisses and move her onto my lap. We were a couple, if only for the remainder of our time in Colorado.

Our last night, the reluctance to drop her off at her aunt and uncle’s has me driving slower than normal. My hand has been warming inside hers the whole trip, and I’m not ready for it to become cold again. The few glances we’ve made toward one another tells me she feels the same way. I just wish, she would give me her whole self; it’s obvious she’s holding something back.

I put the van in park and turn toward her. “I hate that we go back tomorrow,” I tell her, fear rushing over me that this could be my last time alone with her. She hasn’t been reserved, but she has obligations back home. Ones she clearly doesn’t want me a part of.

“I know,” she softly says, staring down at our entwined hands. She takes her other hand and rubs it on top of ours. “Do you remember what I said this morning? I can’t promise you—,” she begins the usual rant.

“I remember.” Although I’m hoping like hell something changed her mind tonight. She picks up her head, and I see a tear welling up, about to escape her eye. “Hey.” I reach my hand to her cheek, but she quickly turns toward the window.

“I’m sorry, Trey. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She wipes her own tear away, sitting up straighter in the seat.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I don’t understand, Kailey. Why are you crying?” I tentatively ask, knowing if I push to far she’ll run.

“When I get back home, I don’t have time like this. I barely have enough time to study and attend classes, but... I’ll miss this.” I notice another tear fall down her cheek, landing on her nylon coat.

“You can trust me,” I say, leaning closer. “What’s back home?” I’m eager to know what keeps her so closed off.

“Just family pressures.” She looks up at me finally. Placing my palm against her cheek, I display a clear concern for her and what her problems are. But before we can go into it any further, she leans over and smashes her lips against mine. Soon she’s on top of me, straddling me with her back against the steering wheel.

She’s so similar to me, masking her problems with anything but what it is. I allow her to hide, and we make out in the car for a while. By the time I have to leave, the sun is about to come up. Walking her to the door, I wrap her in my arms, kissing her with every ounce of me. Hoping it pushes her to continue this between us. Her last words aren’t what I hoped for.

“It’s been nice here with you.” She kisses me one more time before walking into the house and closing the door behind her. The porch light turns off while I make the lonely way down the steps to the van.

Chapter 6

When the wheels of the airplane skid to a stop on the runway, my heart plummets thinking my time with Kailey is officially over. Although, I persuaded her this morning to keep seeing me after we return to Western, she put stipulations on it. Weekends only is her rule. When I squeeze her hand before the pilot announces we can unbuckle our seatbelts, I already know, I need her to break that rule. We file out of the plane and walk down to baggage claim. The whole time, I’m just a zombie going through the motions. I hold her hand, grab her bag and kiss her on the head a few times. Depression is beginning to take root in me with the thought that I won’t be seeing her every night.

The gang says goodbye to Kailey by the baggage claim and sit down on the benches to wait for me. Taking her hand in mine again, we make our way to the arrival pickup area. “I’ll call you,” she says. For some reason it sounds more like a line, making me question her truthfulness.

“Sounds good,” I attempt to be aloof about the whole situation when in reality my insides are twisting and turning in despair. “Kailey—” I’m about to plead with her again when a red mini-van comes to a halt in front of us.

A man in his early thirties with dirty blond hair and scruffy face rushes out. He’s a lanky guy, but I could see where girls probably find him attractive in that schoolboy crush kind of way.

“Hey, Kailey,” he sounds exhausted and when the door of the van opens, I quickly find out why.

“Aunt Kailey!” a little girl screams out the door. If the girl doesn’t appear to be enough, I spot two other occupied car seats in the van. A blonde girl and a baby with a bottle are calling for her attention as well. Shit, this guy has his hands full.

“Hi, Caden,” Kailey says, walking up to the van. “Hiya, gals and guy,” she says into the van, tickling the oldest girl. “I missed you.” There’s sadness in her voice.

I take her bag to the back of the van, where Caden is standing with the tailgate open. “Hi, I’m her brother-in-law, Caden,” he introduces himself, holding his hand out to me.

I quickly shake it. “I’m Trey,” I say, and he smirks up at me.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about you.” He chuckles. At the look of surprise on my face, he adds, “News travels fast in this family.” He pats me on the back. “Nice to meet you, but we really need to get going.”

“Nice to meet you too.” I stand there wondering why anyone in her family would know my name.

“Don’t be too flattered, Uncle Clyde is like a little biddy sometimes.” She laughs.

“I can see that,” I lie, knowing Holly must be the party guilty for spreading the news.

“Well, I have to get going. Thanks for this week, Trey. I’ve had fun.” Her voice shakes, and I know deep down she doesn’t want the finality her mouth is currently speaking.

“Call, or text, me tonight,” I ask, and she nods her head. One of the kids starts screaming, and she steps back, but I’m not about to let her go without tasting her. It might be my last time.

Grasping her arm, I pull her toward me and crash my lips against hers the second she lands into my arms. I don’t wait for her permission, but nudge my tongue through her parted lips, tasting that sweet ginger ale she had on the plane. She sinks into my arms, and I hold her upright, allowing my tongue to explore her mouth in the tenderness she deserves. “Don’t forget,” I remind her to call me when I’m done showing her why she should. She nods, backing up to the van.

When she opens the front passenger door up, the girls’ laughter floats out. Caden chuckles to himself as I hear the oldest saying, “Kailey has a boyfriend—” Kailey shakes her head, smiling over at me. Right before she shuts the door, she turns around and tells them, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

Watching the van pull into the line of traffic, I refuse to blink for fear she was all a dream. Too fast for my liking it disappears from my sight. “Not yet, little girl, but I’ll be her boyfriend soon enough,” I whisper to myself.

The looks of sorrow on my friends faces when I come back into the building is enough to make someone want to drown in a bottle of Jack, but then again, maybe that’s just me. Ignoring four of them, I concentrate on Dex, the only one who doesn’t look like my dog just got ran over. We lead the way to the cars in silence, and I remain quiet for the whole ride home. I want to punch myself in the face over the way I’m checking my phone constantly, like some lovesick teenage girl.

After two hours and still no word, not even a god damn text back from the one I sent to her, my mind starts going crazy. I lay in my bed, mindlessly tossing a baseball in the air with the hopeless attempt to calm my mind. I shouldn’t be this insane over a fucking girl. When ball tossing—baseball tossing, that is—doesn’t work, I pull out the picture from my nightstand, and my body calms slightly. I imagine how different my life might have been, how I would’ve never met Kailey, or any of my friends, for that matter. God knows where I’d be right now. But one thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t be wallowing in my own self-pity over a girl. Isn’t that what I swore to myself? I would never do this again.